Miracles, past and present

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MIRACLES

PAST AND PRESENT

WILLIAM MOUNTFOKD

BOSTON

FIELDS, OSGOOD, <fc CO,

1870

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by

WILLIAM MOUNTFORD,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co.
Cambridge.

PREFACE.

THE subject of the Supernatural has engaged my
attention, as a student, during many years. It
grew upon me as to importance, and deepened as to
interest, while I was at Eome, where, like St. Paul,
I dwelt two years in my own hired house. This
book, which I offer to the public, was written simply
because the times seemed to be asking for some such
work. And, as nobody else was answering to the call
of the times, it occurred to me suddenly, one morning,
some sixteen months ago, that perhaps I might myself
be not quite clear of the summons. Doubtless a bet-
ter man than I am was called upon, and a better book
was asked for than what I have to offer. I confess
that I feel so. And let this acknowledgment be
accepted as an apology for such a venture as this is
upon such a theme.

Some persons have wondered that I should have
attempted to strengthen my argument by availing
myself of the phenomena of Spiritualism as evi-
dence of there being about us a sphere of life alto-
gether different from this of nature, and for which
science has no methods nor instruments, and for
which, therefore, it should not have even one word
of denial, or even of doubt. Those phenomena may
be called ridiculous, or they may be called demoniac ;

iv PREFACE.

but at least and certainly they are cosmical. And,
indeed, if I had ignored the subject of Spiritualism
because of its being unpopular, how could I ever have
borne afterwards to think of Henry More, or of Eich-
ard Baxter, or of John Wesley, or his dear brother
Charles ? Or how could I ever again have consulted
Ealph Cudworth, as to the Intellectual System of the
Universe ? Or how could I have remembered, thence-
forth, without shame, the Christian writers from Her-
nias to Augustine ? Or how could I have endured a
life among books, when all those, with the greater
names, would have seemed to be saying, with one
voice, " Thou shalt not bear false witness."

Perhaps I ought to say that I sympathize with the
early Christians and their faith as to the Spirit, rather
than with anything which I may have seen or heard
in Eome, at Whitsuntide. St. Chrysostom says, in
one of his homilies, delivered at Constantinople, prob-
ably towards the end of the fourth century, that there
had been used to be a pause, during the service in the
church, wherein for persons to rise, who were moved
by the Spirit, and that that space had been closed,
almost within his own time. Also after saying that
many of the miraculous gifts of the early Church had
been withdrawn, he says : " And among the rest, the
gift of prayer, which was then distinguished by the
name of the Spirit. And he that had this gift prayed
for the whole congregation. Upon which account
the apostle gives the name of the Spirit, both to this
gift and to the soul that was endowed with it, who
made intercession with groanings unto God, asking
of God such things as were of general use and ad-

PREFACE. V

vantage to the whole congregation ; the image and
symbol of which now is the deacon, who offers up
prayer for the people." Into that customary ancient
place in the service, that deacon ought never perhaps
to have been intruded. For even when there was in
it nothing but silence, it was a place wherein for peo-
ple to wonder, and to feel conscious of there having
been something lost or suspended, as between the
Church and its invisible Head.

However, that solemn significant pause, which
anciently there was in the public services of the
Church, would not have been endured in this present
century. Of a certain period in the history of the
Israelites, it is written that, in those days, " There
was no open vision." But than the frankness of such
a statement as that, spiritually, there is nothing which
is more foreign to the world as it now is ; for the
world to-day thinks that, on account of its high civil-
ization, the universe must surely be pledged to its sup-
port, in every way which is possible. And it thinks,
also, that never could any age previously have been as
open to light from every quarter as this present time
is. However, the way, according to Chrysostom, in
which the Church was closed against the Spirit, during
the services on the Lord's day, should hint for us that
there may have been also many other ways, by which
Christians may have been discouraged from waiting on
God, for the Spirit.

Earlier in the Church than Chrysostom, by some
four or five generations, was Origen, and he wrote
that " all who can say truly that they have risen with
Christ, and been seated with him in the kingdom of

vi PREFACE.

heaven, live always in Pentecostal clays." And as to
public worship, very noteworthy is his opinion ; for he
says that the special advantage of public worship is,
that individuals are thereby in communion with those
who worship in the Spirit, and in the presence of the
Lord and the holy angels ; and he adds, " and as I
think also of the spirits of the departed." That is a
thought akin to the age, wherein originated the phrase
of " the communion of saints."

The Church of the Future will be, of course, in some
degree, a continuation of the Past ; but it will specially
be, earlier or later, a revival of the early Church, at its
best. And this book has been written and is pub-
lished under the persuasion that the voice of the early
Church is as distinctly audible to-day as it ever was ;
and that, as far merely as the miraculous is concerned,
the Scriptures, when fairly considered, at this present
time, are as credible as ever they were.

W. M.

Boston, February 22, 1870.

CONTENTS.

Page

The Anti-Supernaturalism of the Present Age . . 1

Science and the Supernatural 38

Miracles and Doctrine 71

Miracles and the Believing Spirit .... 90
The Scriptures and Pneumatology . . . .110

Miracles and Science 120

The Spirit and the Prophets thereof . . . .131

Anti-Supernatural Misunderstandings . . . 144

The Last Ecstatic 152

Matter and Spirit 166

The Outburst of Spiritualism 184

Thoughts on Spiritualism 205

A Miracle defined 224

Miracles as Signs 249

Miracles and the Creative Spirit 262

Miracles and Human Nature 285

Miracles and Pneumatology 309

viii CONTENTS.

The Spirit and the Old Testament .... 340

TriE Old Testament and the New 382

The Spirit 399

Jesus and the Spirit 430

Jesus and the Resurrection 452

The Church and the Spirit 478

Index to Texts quoted ....... 505

Index of Subjects 509

MIRACLES PAST AND PRESENT,

THE ANTI-SUPEENATURALISM OF THE
PRESENT AGE.

IT is proposed to consider the subject of miracles as
connected with Christianity. And perhaps than
this there is no religious topic which has been more
variously and strangely treated, during the last century.
And this is saying a great deal. Eor how has it fared
with Christianity, and even at the hands of those, some-
times, by whom it has been accounted as the Tree of
Life ? Often, among other anomalous doings, it has
been treated as though a gardener should take up a
tree and turn it about, to humor everv change of wind
upon it ; and as though, to prove it to be a living thing,
he should lay bare its roots for every questioner, and
even paint them, to make them more seemly.

Miracles are the possibilities of a miracle-bearing
tree ; but commonly they are regarded as though they
were some arbitrary manufacture. In the New Testa-
ment they are simply called " signs and wonders " ;
but in this age, among both believers and unbelievers,
it is agreed that they are suspensions of the laws of na-
ture, or else are nothing. Miracles presuppose the ex-
istence of a spiritual world containing spiritual agents
and spiritual forces ; with laws peculiar to it, and with

1 A

2 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

some laws also capable of intertwining and inosculat-
ing with some of the laws of man's nature and of the
material world. And yet often, by even the advocates
of their reality, miracles are argued wholly and simply
as material occurrences, and quite apart from the phi-
losophy of their nature, and, indeed, as though there
were really no such philosophy known. And this is
because of the spirit of the age, which is so strong in
us all. For it is no matter what a man may be,
whether philosopher, theologian, or anything else, al-
most inevitably in some way or other, the spirit of
the age will have its say through him, and pervert, if
not quench, his meaning.

No doubt, things have often been credited as mirac-
ulous which were no miracles at all. But the precise
opposite of credulity is not wisdom, always. And if
it be said that it is only at Naples that the blood of
St. Januarius will liquefy, it may be answered that
there has also been such a place as that in it, nei-
ther would " they be persuaded, though one rose from
the dead." And to-day there are eminent places,
where men hold that neither their own eyes, nor the
eyes of all other persons, are to be trusted for a mira-
cle, or, as they would say, for anything different from
the laws of nature. But, with all their scepticism,
these sceptics do not remember that a law of nature
may be one thing, and their notion of that law be
something else, or something a little different. But,
indeed, when incredulity becomes as intense as that, it
is self-confounded, self-confuted, even though it should
be in regard to such a miracle as that which happened,
when the axe-head fell into the water, and Elisha " cut

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 3

down a stick and cast it in thither, and the iron did
swim." For, if a man cannot trust his eyes and ears,
how can he rely on his doubts ? And how does he
know but doubting his senses may be an unworthy,
untrustworthy act, and even may, perhaps, be a mere
nervous boggling ? And how should even a materialist
trust the wisdom which has been filtered for him, as he
thinks, from outside, through his eyes and ears, if he
cannot trust his eyes and ears themselves ? But, in
the spirit of his times or neighborhood, a man will
think and hold what, under other influences, would
have been for him only a speculative, tentative posi-
tion. And because of its being in us and of us, the
spirit of the age is the last tiring to be suspected, as
vitiating sound judgment.

It is in this spirit of the time to judge of everything
by uniformity, whether as regards the world or man-
kind. And so, from what he understands to be the
uniformity of the laws of nature, a man of the time
thinks himself competent to check the report of the
past, and decide that there never could have been wa-
ter changed into wine, or a demon exorcised, because
at this present time water is never seen changing into
wine, nor a demon known to be dispossessed of his cor-
poral lodgings. And because of what he fancies must
be .the uniformity of human nature, this man of the
time thinks, too, that from himself he knows of every-
body else, as to what they can have seen or cannot
have seen ; can have heard or cannot have heard ; can
have felt or cannot have felt ; and in the same way, as
differing from himself, he is certain that in the past
they must all have been loose thinkers ; and not the

4 THE ANTI-SUPKRNATURALISM

Jews only, but the Greeks and Romans too, and even
Socrates and Plato, because of their having reasoned
about things which he himself has never met with,
and which, if he did meet, he would never believe
his own eyes about.

It is by availing himself of this temper of the times
that largely Ernest Renan gets his strength as a con-
troversialist ; for what he has to say on the subject
of miracles would have been but feeble talk anywhere,
one or two hundred years ago, and would sound but
inanely even to-day, in such regions as are clear away
from the influence of Paris and London. " A miracle
is not to be regarded, because it never could have hap-
pened; and because even if, perchance, it had hap-
pened, there never could have been any people who
could have been believed about it." This, in form, is
the argument of Renan. But, of course, it is good only
for people of that way of thinking, only for persons
sensitive to the spirit of the age, and who are ready to
add, without another word, "And so I think, -because
so I am sure."

The following quotation is from the introductory
chapter to " The Apostles," by Ernest Renan : " The
first twelve chapters of the Acts are a tissue of mira-
cles. It is an absolute rule in criticism to deny a
place in history to narratives of miraculous circum-
stances ; nor is this owing to a metaphysical system,
for it is simply the dictation of observation. Such
facts have never been really proved. All the pretended
miracles near enough to be examined are referable to
illusion or imposture. If a single miracle had ever
been proved, we could not reject in a mass all those of

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 5

ancient history ; for, admitting that very many of these
last were false, we might still believe that some of
them were true. But it is not so. Discussion and
examination are fatal to miracles. Are wre not, then,
authorized in believing that those miracles which date
many centuries back, and regarding which there are
no means of forming a contradictory debate, are also
without reality ? In other words, miracles only exist
when people believe in them. The supernatural is but
another word for faith. Catholicism, in maintaining
that it yet possesses miraculous power, subjects itself
to the influence of this law. The miracles of which it
boasts never occur where they would be most effective.
Why should not such a convincing proof be brought
more prominently forward ? A miracle at Paris, for
instance, before experienced savans, would put an end
to all doubt. But, alas ! such a thing never happens."
But, now, oracular though this might be, judged by the
manner in which it has been bowed to, what is there
in it all more than the mere sceptical spirit of the
age ? What does it do more than simply tickle the
humor of the time ? Psychologically, it is a curious
passage, because the sweep of its intention is so wide ;
while the wording of it is so like the unconscious, in-
nocent expression of a child. It is as though a boy,
as the easier way of settling with a problem in mathe-
matics, should say : " There is nothing in it. There
never was anything learned from that direction. O
my master, all the best boys have looked at it, and say
that there is nothing in it, — nothing at all. And so,
now, how can there be ? And, please, even if it be
true, it cannot really be unless we let it be." But

(3 THE ANTT-SUPERNATURALISM

here it may be asked, whether it is likely that Ernest
Kenan, as a boy, ever talked in that manner ; and to
this it may be answered, that it is very unlikely, con-
sidering that he was born in Brittany. And it is just
as unlikely, too, that he could ever have written the
preceding quotation from one of his works, but for his
education, direct and indirect. For he was born in
Brittany, a country of simple, fervent, unquestioning
faith as to the Church. Thence he was carried to Par-
is, and placed in a primary theological school, whence
he was passed on to a similar school elsewhere. Hav-
ing finished witli the latter school, he became a resident
in the Seminary of St. Sulpice, which, indeed, inside,
is wholly ordered by members of the Society of Jesus,
but on the outside is pressed upon by the light, sceptical,
and anti-Christian air of Paris. Ernest Kenan had been
brought up like a child of the Middle Ages, and then
found himself, as a young man, where, with a few steps
out of doors, he was in the atmosphere of Paris and
under the influence of the Sorbonne. And now, with
all this, was it not natural that Penan should have
become a Rationalistic author instead of a Catholic
priest ? And because of his being a simple, earnest,
intellectual man, was it not all the more natural still,
that, by contrast with the air of St. Sulpice, he should
mistake for the spirit of truth itself what was but the
spirit of the age manifesting itself through a highly
educated class, in a city singularly self-centred and
self-sufficient ?

But, says the critic here criticised, " A miracle at
Paris before experienced savans ! " Elsewhere, too, he
explains more exactly what would suit him as to a

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 7

miracle ; that it should be wrought under conditions as
to time and place, in a hall, and before a commission
of physiologists, chemists, physicians, and critics ; and
that when it had been done once, it should, on request,
be repeated. And no doubt, to the writer, this ap-
peared to be a very fair way of dealing with miraculous
pretensions ; and no doubt, too, of his most emphatic
opponents, there are many to whom, in their secret
thought, it would be a puzzle, if such a proposition had
been made to Jesus at Jerusalem, why it should not
have been accepted at once for the market-place, or
the court of the temple. For Renan is simply strong
in that way of looking at things, which is characteris-
tic of this present age, and which commonly is called
sceptical, but which, also, sometimes is called practical
and even business-like. Not jocosely, but in all seri-
ousness, every now and then are put forth and read in-
vitations to the miraculous such as that which Ernest
Renan makes. One man writes in abstract, scientific
terms, and another in plain English ; but both one and
the other mean the same thins, " Let miracles come
to me in my study, and show themselves inside of my
crucible, while my friends are all standing round, and
at the moment exactly when it shall be said that
we are all ready, and then I will believe ; though of
course, even then, I should not be absolutely forced to,
but still I should, I think. And now what do you
say to that ? " And there really is nothing to say to it.
Martin Luther, indeed, said once what probably he
would have remarked again, if he had heard this scien-
tific, common-sense proposal, that for certain, some-
times, over some of his creatures God Almighty must
laugh.

8 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

But now, as to miracles, it is' not pretended that
they are absolutely at the ordering of any man as to
time and place. But, indeed, is it so that science treats
a subject, even less foreign to its own domain than
miracles ?

Are earthquakes, as reports, accounted incredible, as
not occurring at a time and a place known beforehand,
and submissive to the directions of men with clocks
and spirit-levels, and with magnetic and other ma-
chines all ready for use ? And, indeed, a miracle com-
ing to order would scarcely be a miracle. For, coming
to order patiently, punctually, and as a scientific cer-
tainty, it would by that very fact have parted probably
with something essential to its nature as commonly
understood.

But really a Kamtschatkan, unmitigated and sim-
ple, arguing with Ernest Eenan on Sanscrit, could not
show himself more insensible as to the laws of philol-
ogy than Eenan shows himself on the subject of mir-
acles ; for he is utterly unconscious, apparently, of
there being any philosophy connected with them, and
of there being laws as to miracles, known more or less
by some men in all ages, and as certain as gravitation.

But it may be asked how this can be, Benan being a
very sensible writer. And so a man may write well
on geometry, and yet show himself to be very stolid
as to poetry, and even also as to those thoughts akin
to the spiritual universe, which are suggested by the
strange properties of numbers, or which come in upon
the mind, like corollaries on the demonstration of cer-
tain problems. Thus, even by his constitution, Benan
may have a strong, keen, serviceable, excellent sense

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 9

of the life which Jesus lived as other men live, and
yet be utterly insensible to the life of Jesus the Christ,
as fed by the Spirit, and going forth in miracles, and
incapable of seeing corruption. But, indeed, for his
manner of writing the spirit of his age abundantly ac-
counts, just as it accounts for some of the more fervent
of his admirers, who like in his writings what is weak-
est, as much as they do what is best.

Of what use, it is asked, can miracles ever have been
among people not fit to be believed about them, such
as were the people of old time and the people of the
Middle Ages, and such as are all the people of the
provinces of France, and men of the people and men
of the world everywhere ? For, as Eenan says, neither
men of the world nor men of the people are " capable
of establishing the miraculous character of an act."
An act is what he says, any act, any miraculous act,
and not merely some very recondite thing hard to no-
tice. This is one of those general statements which
often pass unchallenged, because nobody thinks that
they can mean him ; but it is not, therefore, the less
mischievous. Perhaps there is not a man of the world
who allows this opinion, as he reads it, but thinks,
though he is no physician and has never been publicly
recognized as critic, chemist, or physiologist, that some-
how, certainly, he himself must have science and art
enough, for being one of Eenan's judges of the miracu-
lous, and must have been intended, indeed, to be includ-
ed amongst them. Physicians, physiologists, men of
criticism and chemistry, men of science, the only com-
petent judges as to miracles ! For some conceivable
miracles they might be ; but for some others detective
1*

THE AXTI-SUPERNATURALISM

: would be far better witnesses. And, for still
other miracles, that men of the world, as judges,
are inferior to chemists, — this is a sentiment which
- >nly from scientific folly, or from much learn-
a 'in- mad. As to whether the true magnetic pole
I be made to swerve fur a moment in the heavens,
. 1 men would be the better and perhaps the
only proper judges. But men of the people and men
of the world are as good judges as men of science on
a miracle like this, which occurred in the wilderness :
' Bis disciples say unto him, Whence should we have
1 in the wilderness as to fill so great a
multitude \ And Jesus saith unto them, How many
■•■•■ ? And they said, Seven, and a few little
- And lie commanded the multitude to sit down
on the ground And he took the seven loaves and the
i ve thanks and break them, and gave to
hia di aid the disciples to the multitude. And

they did all eat and were filled; and they took up of
the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. And
that did eat were five thousand men, beside wo-
men and child]

now what a want of taste and feeling it seems
i pause here for a little while, after such aglimpse
at that wonderful time. But it is not
permitted, as the world now is, to those who know it
theologically. Forin comes, on the mind, the recol-
: id F. Strauss, the famous writer on the
that he himself cannot believe in a
:" until he has had a solution of the philosophi-
cal views whirl! he entertains against the possibility
ii a thing. 80 that with him, even seeing would

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 11

not be believing, unless, by good luck, there were some
sophist standing by, more cunning than himself, who
could unloose for him, in his mind, the knots of his
own tying. Any man, down in the depths of learning,
or up on the heights of science, in a difficulty of that
kind, is to be pitied, because of the pains which he must
have taken before he could have got there in his senses.
But now for David F. Strauss himself pity is not the
word, but sympathy. And the sympathy to be felt for
him is profound, and as though for a pioneer in the
grand advance of civilization, who had got bewildered
in a thicket, and at whose position only they can laugh
who cannot even faintly conjecture what it is to try
a step forwards in theology under religious responsi-
bility. Still, however, it is a certainty that such an
avowal as that which Strauss makes of himself, is the
self-exposure of " philosophy falsely so called."

And now let us consider the arguments against the
supernatural from the uniformity of human nature.
At present almost everybody feels the force of it more
or less, and not the less unduly often because uncon-
sciously. But, as a dogmatic position, it is commonly
assumed by persons belonging to two very different
classes, — by studious, scholarly men, and by people
who call themselves self-made men, and who boast
themselves of having been sharpened by collisions
with their fellows. Human nature, it is supposed, is
everywhere and always the same, and as uniform as a
law of nature ; so as that everybody knows of him-
self whether a spirit has ever been seen anywhere, or
a vision ever been had, or a miraculous cure ever been
experienced. Now certainly human nature is every-

12 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

where human. But then what is this humanity ?
For, before beginning to deny from it as a ground, it
should be absolutely certain how far the ground reach*
es. Plainly, we are not all the equals of Plato, or Sol-
omon, or Newton. And if, now and then, individuals
have proclaimed themselves sensitive to a world of
spirit, it would hardly seem to be a greater variation
in human nature than what is common in every city,
where one man wallows in the mire of sensuality,
while another feeds on fruits ripened on the topmost
boughs of the tree of knowledge. And certainly a seer
does not vary from a Troglodyte more than Plato does ;
and so why should he not be believed in, on good evi-
dence as to his character ?

But, indeed, for those who hold that man is body
and spirit, why should it be incredible that there
should be varieties of spiritual experience among men,
considering that some men do nothing but live to the
body, while others live earnestly to the spirit ?

If there be a spirit in man, and a spirit Avith the
powers of a spirit, why should it be reckoned a thing
impossible, that it should make itself more distinctly
felt in one man than another ? And why should it
be beyond belief or expectation even that, now and
then, there might be a person with whom some faculty
of the spirit should be more than dormantly alive ? —
the eye for spirits even, if any should be near ; the ear
for more than mortal sounds ; and the spiritual under-
standing for a prompting other than that of flesh and
blood ? But the fact is that the anti-supernaturalism
of our times is the result of thought akin to materi-
alism ; and from this effect of materialism very few

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 13

persons are wholly exempt. For even the partisans
of a spiritual theology argue it commonly like material-
ists, — argue it as though it were some field of nature,
reaching out of sight, indeed, but to be pronounced
upon, from familiar analogies. Even those who rank
themselves farthest from the professors of materialism,
show themselves to be inwardly affected by it, by
their unwillingness to have spirit defined in any other
way than negatively. They say that spirit is not sub-
stance because matter is substantial ; that spirit can-
not be known of by men because, though they may be
spirits themselves, they can learn only through the five
senses ; and that spirit cannot act upon matter be-
cause it cannot touch it, from the want of some prop-
erty in common with it. So that, for some fervent disci-
ples of a spiritual philosophy, spirit is not much more
than the indefinable. The universality of the materi-
alism of the age is illustrated by the manner in which
even immaterialists agree with their opposites on some
most important points of denial and disbelief. Some
of them talk reverentially of George Fox and his doc-
trine and experience of the Spirit ; but they resolutely
ignore all the signs and wonders in his history, which
by Fox himself are ascribed to the Spirit. Others of
them hold the writings of Jacob Boehme like oracles
of spirituality, while they treat like an idle, unmeaning
preface, the assertion prefixed to one of them, that it
was not written out of his mind, but from thoughts
which forced an utterance through him from the Spir-
it. And still others of them affect Plotinus as a great
spiritual teacher ; but they shut their eyes on the in-
tercourse with spirits which he held, and on his expe-
riences of the ecstatic state.

14 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

A man may hold the creed of his sect or party ever
so firmly, but yet largely his thought will be governed
by what he can never quite escape from, — the spirit
of his age. And narratives or doctrines of the super-
natural, in a time like this, can be, at the best, only
just not rejected. At present, in meditative stillness,
spiritual perception may be attained ; but out in the
world, almost it quite fails at once, from being stifled
by the atmosphere of the world's common thought.

True, thousands and tens of thousands of clergymen
preach the supernatural, and millions of persons, week
by week, sit and hear them. But this is not evidence
of faith any more than the discords, deceits, and dis-
content, the treacheries, sensualities, and blasphemies
of Monday are proofs of what was preached and ac-
quiesced in on Sunday. Perhaps nearly every learned
and thoughtful clergyman might express himself in
something like this manner : " I am one of His witness-
es for these things. I see that they were so and are
so. And yet, strange to say, I cannot preach as I feel ;
or rather I cannot make my hearers feel what I wish
to preach. And the sermon which I thought was full
of the arrows of the Lord hits no one where I aim, and
is indeed no more than the ' lovely song of one that
hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instru-
ment.' " And, more than that, the sermon does not
sound like the same thing, even to himself. And the
words which, while they were meditated in secret,
were fraught with the Spirit, being uttered in public,
do not reach the spiritual man, but only the ear of the
natural man, and are powerless except as they may
chance to be approved by the intellect testing them by

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 15

logic, rhetoric, history, and some of the natural sensibil-
ities. And the reason is very simple, for the atmos-
phere of the world and of a worldly church is not that
of a Christian study, with its windows opening towards
Jerusalem. And even a preacher may be really " in
the Spirit on the Lord's day " ; but he must be very
happily constituted if he does not find that, with cross-
ing the street, on his way to the pulpit, the Spirit has
been more or less quenched in him. And, from ex-
changing looks with his hearers, he is conscious that he
is not quite what he was while in the presence of the
fathers, and in sympathy with Jeremy Taylor, and in
fellowship with Baxter and Doddridge, and in the com-
munion of the saints. Partly his rationalistic dogmas
and forms of speech do not admit fully of either the
doctrines or the utterance of the Spirit ; and partly,
what utterance of the Spirit his words suffice for, often
his hearers are not capable of receiving, because in
them the sense* of the supernatural is very commonly
almost quite suspended ; and so " they seeing, see not ;
and hearing, they hear not; neither do they under-
stand." And with the people as well as the preacher
this is not so much their fault as their misfortune, —
the tendency of the time which they belong to, and
which it is not possible to quite escape. And this
tendency, this spirit of the age, is not of yesterday
merely, but of previous ages. It is an effect of the
manner, in which the souls of men have been stupefied
by the astounding disclosures of science. It results,
also, from the fact that the ordinary modes of religious
administration are what have been persisted in, with-
out the slightest modification, since the days when

1G THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

they were the agony of George Fox's soul, and the
scorn of Eobert Barclay's logic ; and in part, also, it is
a consequence of altered ways of life, the growth of
luxury, the increasing subordination of the individual
to the body politic, and the predominance of the pecu-
liar influences of the city over those of the country.

Perhaps never before has there been as much unbe-
lief, innocent in its origin, as there is at present. In
former ages widely prevalent unbelief was caused by
moral corruption. But the peculiar scepticism of the
present age is not as desperate as that. It is not
mainly of the heart, and thus the issues of life are not
thereby corrupted, as they otherwise might be. And
so at present, in their inmost hearts, men have really
more faith than they themselves know of. And often
it is observed that, apparently, while sickness thins
away the body, there is also a mental incrustation
which gives way too, and through which the soul
seems to look out with a sweet surprise, and a glad
sense of the God who is nearer than was thought. If
it may be so expressed, it is for the comfort of the
strong more than even of the dying that faith at the
present day needs to be strengthened. What general
uneasiness there is theologically ! Every church is
opposed to every other church, and yet also is divided
against itself. And the same want of faith, or satisfy-
ing conviction, is largely evident in individuals. Vast
numbers simply acquiesce in their creeds, and tim-
idly recoil from even learning about them. And how
often it is to be seen, that if an individual tries to
think for himself, he is at one time zealous for cere-
monies, and at another time resolute against them, as

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 17

embarrassing crutches ; and is a believer in mainly one
article of his creed one year, and in another article an-
other year. And from those hearts which best know
themselves, what an unceasing prayer must be rising
from closet to closet, from church to church, from town
to town, all round the world, " Lord, I believe ; help
thou mine unbelief " ! The unbelief which is specially
of this age is so far from being atheistic that it even
prays ; for such atheism as is possible now, is what
really may be confuted within the range of the mind
of a child. Indeed, the unbelief of our time is mainly
anti-supernaturalism, or more precisely, perhaps, anti-
spiritualism. It is not, however, a denial of the angels
any more than of God. But exactly it denies that
man, as a class of creatures occupying that particular
place in the universe which is the kingdom of nature,
is liable to be visited by any other creatures, whether
higher or lower, not also denizens of nature. It denies,
too, that there are any other avenues to the human
mind than what the anatomist can indicate with his
scalpel ; and, therefore, it denies that the human spirit
is open to be acted upon by the Holy Ghost as in the
early days of Christianity ; and denies, also, that men
are ever approachable in any way, or for any purpose
whatever, or ever so slightly by angel, spirit, or devil.
The denial runs thus : " As to spirit, I have never seen
it, and I will believe it when I have. And, what is
more, I never have heard of any one worthy of belief
who ever did see a spirit. When I am told about my
head or my hand I know what is talked about ; but
about spirit I know nothing, nor anybody else either ;
and my common sense tells me the same thing. And

18 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

that God has given me common sense I do know. I
do not mean to say that we shall not live again ; but
I mean to say that at present spirit is what my com-
mon sense knows nothing about ; and I am for com-
mon sense." True ; but uncommon things may re-
quire an uncommon sense, or rather a sense which is
too commonly fast asleep. For the purposes of the
natural man which are common sense, the faculties of
the natural man suffice ; but things which are of God,
or which look towards him, are not so discerned. Says
St. Paul, " Now we have received not the spirit of the
world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things which are freely given to us of God."
Often, in the very arguments which they employ,
persons writing in defence of the Christian miracles,
evince their own latent anti-supernaturalism. Contin-
ually, in theological works, miracles are defended as
realities by those who have no perception whatever of
spiritual laws, and no sense whatever of the miracu-
lous. How much infected by materialism persons may
be who fancy themselves to be very spiritual in their
views, is shown in the attempt which frequently is
made, to render miracles credible by analogy with
Babbace's Calculating Machine. This wonderful ma-
chine is said to work accurately through a long series
of figures, till suddenly it throws up a number which
is out of nidcr, and which cannot be accounted for, but
which, it is supposed, may possibly result from some
undiscovered law of mathematics. And it is gravely
suggested that, in obedience to some occult property,
the great machine of nature has here and there, and es-
pecially about Palestine, stopped its regularity for an

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 19

instant, and thrown out a miracle, at a time foreor-
dained in the making of .the clockwork. Anything,
rather than suppose the intervention of God, or angel,
or spirit ! Anything rather than a miracle, as being
out of the order of nature, even though really it should
be in the order of Heaven ! A thousand miracles of
the strangest origin may be brought in at the back-
gate, if only they can be used for barring the front-
door of the intellect, against admitting the possibility
of signs and wonders having ever been fresh from
Heaven, ever having been supernatural ; willed, that
is to say, in the spiritual world, outside of nature, and
at the very seasons respectively of their being shown.

By certain professors of theology there has been
lately published an explanation of the day of Pente-
cost, as having been a day of misunderstanding among
the frightened apostles, in consequence of there having
been an earthquake, which they thought was a mighty
rushing wind, in the house where they were sitting.
And the speaking with other tongues, at which the
foreigners were amazed, is argued to have been alto-
gether a mistake, and in keeping with the impenetra-
ble darkness plainly discernible in the ingenious but
excusable manner in which the Acts of the Apostles
are narrated, up to the day of Pentecost, from the
resuscitation of Christianity, whenever and whatever
that may have been.

The operation of the Spirit by its gifts, as described
by St. Paul, tests scriptural expositors very curiously.
One says, virtually, that it means what it means, with-
out attempting to realize it in any way. Another sees
into not only the credibility, but also the philosophy,

20 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

of the various gifts, and yet, as even Neander does, finds
the gift of tongues to be unintelligible and improbable.
And a third expositor teaches that the gifts of the
Spirit are simply natural endowments ; that coveting
earnestly the best gifts is merely attempting self-cul-
ture ; and that by the gift of tongues is to be under-
stood not a power for speaking languages, foreign or
unknown, but the interjectional, broken utterance of a
man choking with emotion. The spiritual blindness
Of the age is such, that often there is not much more
light to be perceived in the Church than there is out
of it. And everywhere, too, and in every section of
the Church, are to be seen blind leaders of the blind ;
and continually one or other of them looks up, and
with authority says some such thing as that the gift of
tongues means broken utterance, an inability to speak.
The anti-supernaturalism of our time is shown,
again, in the state of feeling which generally exists
on prayer, the Holy Spirit, and everything else which
supposes either that the spiritual world can open in
upon the soul, or the soul open out on that. Of mod-
ern treatises on the nature, operation, and effects of
the Holy Ghost, the best which can be said is, as Cole-
ridge expresses it, that they believe that they believe.
They believe, indeed, but with a faith which has never
realized itself. Why is it, that so rarely the scriptural
doctrine of prayer is enforced, except by such men
as preach everything which is written, and everything
alike ? Why is it, that so commonly men pray by the
way of duty merely, and with no sense of the Divine
bosom to lean against ? WThy is it, that so many good
men pray only the prayer of self-recollection before

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 21

God, and never the prayer of faith ? Why is it,
that they go through their daily supplications as a
spiritual exercise, but never both delighted and trem-
bling at once, feel their souls in that state when they
not only speak, but are spoken to, when they not only
humble themselves, but are consciously lifted up ?
And in almost any church, anywhere, why is it that it
feels as though the heavens overhead were like brass,
but that men's hearts fail them for fear, lest praying
with the apostles, they should be really hoping against
the laws of nature ? There is hardly anything which
is more foreign to our modern ways of thinking than
that a sensible sick man should ever have thought to
be the better for calling the elders to pray over him.
Says the Apostle, " The prayer of faith shall save the
sick." But to-day, faith feels itself powerless for such
a prayer, being benumbed by the phrase " laws of dis-
ease." And yet the very same persons, who would
scout a miraculous cure of the Middle Ages, because
of the laws of disease being as inviolable as the bands
of Orion or the law of gravitation, these same persons
continually forget themselves, and allow or assert that
the will of a patient helps on a cure. But, in doing
this, they indicate the way in which exactly a miracle
is to them incredible. For, precisely their objection to
believing in a miracle is because it implies a hand
thrust into nature from outside of it; is because it
implies the will and action of some one not of this
world, God, angel, or spirit.

It is an old proverb, " Like people, like priest." Of
course, instances to the contrary must be allowed for ;
and then it may be said that the spirit of the age

22 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

preaches from every pulpit. Nor can this be reason-
ably expected to be otherwise, unless the preachers
should be at least all men of rare genius, or have been
educated in some other earth than this. The spirit of
the age is like the atmosphere ; it reaches men every-
where, as they sit at the fireside or in the lecture-room,
and as they wander in solitude or kneel in the closet.
And with breathing it, when baleful at all, there are
very few persons, if any, who can resist being injured
by it. And, notwithstanding creeds and articles of ad-
mission, it is yet no more to be shut out of a church
than air is. And if it could be so excluded, then
the remedy of intellectual suffocation would itself be
worse than the disease. And thus everywhere among
the clergy, when they utter themselves, is manifested
something of the same anti-supernatural, anti-spiritual
state of mind as what plagues other people. It is true,
that the doctrines of supernaturalism are almost uni-
versally preached; but a discerner of spirits judges
not only from doctrine, but from the manner also in
which it is developed. And a preacher may set forth
doctrines of a supernatural character, and support them
by arguments from history and logic, and he may grace
them, too, with rhetoric, and lend them also a sincere
utterance, and yet have no lively sense of the miracu-
lous, nor much perception of the spiritual, of which
miracles are a manifestation. Miracles are for signs ;
but they are no proper signs, unless there be in us
some faculty or mental state to which they signify. A
miracle, believed merely from the force of testimony,
and from simply the same state of mind as what be-
lieves in the reports of the diving-bell, is not rightly

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 23

believed, is not believed in the right way, is not be-
lieved from that spiritual state from which it ought to
be believed, and through which only is it of any good.
And that state of feeling is conscious of susceptibili-
ties of its own, and of an order higher than that of
nature, and of relations to high answering purposes in
God, through which there is not a soul but may possi-
bly be vouchsafed a miracle, and not a neighborhood
but may perhaps have the Spirit poured out upon it.

In order to have the miracles of the Bible answer
better the purpose of doctrinal proofs, the theologians
of this century have often largely availed themselves
of the spirit of the times for the prejudices which it
prompts against the possibility of the supernatural in
any other locality or age than the scriptural. But now
Chubb, Toland, and Anthony Collins were unbelievers ;
and yet they were harmless men, compared with the
hapless clergyman who thinks to uphold the miracles
of the Holy Scriptures by denying the possibility of
any others. He may not know the mischief of his
course, but his successor will inevitably develop it.

On the evidences of Christianity there is an argu-
ment often made, according to which one well-attested
ghost-story would countervail all the angels who have
ever visited this earth, whether singly or in hosts, and
all the words of the Lord which have ever come to
prophets, and all the miracles of Jesus and his apos-
tles, and all the visions of John the Divine. But
Richard Baxter knew better what he was arguing
about than perhaps any English controversialist of this
day : and his manner of arguing was the very opposite
of that. For he published a collection of narratives of

24 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

supernatural occurrences in his own time, which had
been attested to him as being true, by the persons to
whom they happened, or else had been vouched for,
as well authenticated, by friends whose judgment he
thought he could trust. Such histories were becoming
unfashionable in his day, but Baxter saw clearly and
published, that to yield the credibility of such things
to the sceptics was blindly to betray Christ to the Sad-
ducees.

Let facts be facts, and good evidence be evidence
everywhere, or truth can never be itself. Christianity
will never be itself while disciples fear for its fate, or
feel it necessary to argue among themselves as to its
essence. As an inheritance from the past, the gospel
is defensible easily and perfectly ; but when it is it-
self, it is its own sufficient evidence. But even as Je-
sus in his own country had to marvel at unbelief, and
" could there do no mighty work," so might Chris-
tianity now, in its own country, complain of unbelief
not as directed upon itself, but, worse than that, as gen-
eral anti-spiritual sentiment, weakening the air ; so as
that the soul of man can get no breath nor strength, nor
can think freely, nor look clearly into the past, nor
hope for what is offered it from above, nor trust even
its own faculty for receiving.

In those in whom it is strongest, the spirit of the age
boasts itself against all the ages of the past, and de-
nounces them as being unworthy of credit on the great-
est things which they have to tell about, and as being
incapable, incompetent witnesses on even some very
simple subjects of observation. And this it does, not-
withstanding that, though calling itself the spirit of

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 25

this enlightened age, it is the avowed spirit of perhaps
not one person in a hundred. Every now and then
comes forth some one, who says aloud, after this man-
ner, " I know it, and also every man living, knows by
his own eyes and ears, that there has nothing ever been
known of the spiritual world, not a word from it even,
not a miracle. That there is a state, a region, a foun-
tain-head, a something of spirit, it is now agreed shall
be considered as certain. But that anybody knows or
ever has known more about it than anybody else, is
nonsense. I am myself the standard by which you
may measure Abraham the patriarch ; and as to his
visions, they were merely dreams, such as I have my-
self. I am the measure of the man Paul. And, you
may believe me, as to voice or light from heaven ever
having come to him at the time of his conversion,
that it was not so. Simply, at that time, he had an at-
tack of vertigo, such as we all know something about.
0, the glorious freedom of the spirit, by which I am
free to ignore the weary past, so hard to understand,
with its miracles and histories ! O, this glorious clear-
ing of the mind, by which now, in my view, there is
nothing higher anywhere than the level of my own ex-
perience ! 0, what a comfort it is to have miracles
shrink into common earthly things, and to know that
nobody has ever seen them, any more than I have ! "
This wTould seem to be odd comfort; but there are
persons who think that they feel it.

The spirit of the age ! Just as it is of this age pre-
cisely, so certainly is it but a bubble on that stream
of spirit which comes down through all the ages of the
past, and which will run on for men and through them,
2

26 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

till they all on earth shall be no more. Soon, of the
self-gratulation and self-glorification of the spirit of
the time, all that will remain as palpable effect will be
a few very curious lines in the History of Man.

As certainly as the pendulum swings from side to
side, as certainly as feeling is subject to revulsion, as
certainly as man walks by one step to the right and
another step to the left, so surely in the next genera-
tion will men of science generally believe in the mira-
cles of the Scriptures, and be curious students also in
the idolatries of Egypt, Greece, and Eome, and be in-
terested even in the superstitions of the tribes of
Africa, as seeming to suggest the possibility of some
singular variations from the commonly received opin-
ion as to spiritual influx.

This world of ours, — this world of our eyes, and of
the optical, electric, and other instruments, with which
our eyes are helped, — this world of our bodily senses
has circumfused about it and permeating it a world of
spirit, as to which philosophy conjectures confidently,
and which faith is sure of, and as effects resulting from
which experience tells of miracles. It may be that in
some, perhaps even in many respects, this world may be
the antitype of that world invisible ; and it may be, as
Plotinus has said, that we human beings are the dregs
of the universe ; but even if it should be so, between
us dregs and the good wine above there may be a
great difference by inferiority, but there must also be
a great likeness. To that spiritual world and this
world of ours at least there is one thing in common,
a great thing, — the company of vanished friends we.
have had, who know of our wants and ways and wishes,

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 27

and, at least, who wonder about us. Between us
here and them over there, on some points there must
be affinity. And it may be, as sometimes philosophy
has taught, that the atmosphere of that world, or rath-
er, perhaps, an effluent, diffusive effect from it, may be
necessary to our consciousness as thinking beings, just
as the atmosphere of this earth is the breath which we
draw in common with other earthly creatures, such as
cats, dogs, and horses. But should there be anything
like such an atmosphere surrounding us, it would not
probably be to be known of very often ; and indeed, it
might never be distinctly perceptible, except on some
occasions of a miraculous kind. But, whatever may
be the philosophy of the connection between the world
invisible of spirit and this visible world of us people
in the flesh, that connection does exist.

It is true, that, above and beyond the ordinary ex-
perience of mankind, there is an influence sometimes
felt, of which the effects are what is called miraculous,
or wonder-causing ; and, in the strength of which, it is
possible that a common man might show himself like
an angel, for wisdom ; and, with stretching out his
hand, have it answer like the finger of God for mira-
cles ; and have, indeed, the inborn, latent faculties of
his spirit so quickened, as that both his words and
deeds together would be like signs and wonders from
Heaven. And, it is true, that the ongoings of this
world are capable of being quickened by power from
the world invisible, so as that a man might be con-
verted from sin to holiness in a moment ; and a man
that is a leper be restored in an instant ; and even in
such a manner, as that a dead man in the tomb might

28 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

hear and come forth ; and so as that in a vessel, water
might be so affected, as that upon it might occur, in-
stantaneously, what could otherwise only be the result
of slow processes in the earth, on the vine, and at the
winepress, and afterwards. It is true, also, that now
and then in the process of the ages there have been
seasons in which, from the outpouring of the Spirit,
young men have seen visions, and old men have
dreamed dreams, which were signs and wonders, and
proofs of that higher order of things which mortals
belong to.

It is true that, from outside of the circle of human
nature, there are influences for human spirits, such as
those which once, for a simple maiden, quickened fore-
thought into the power of prophecy, and made strong
feeling be the outgoing of angelic power, and caused
the life of a peasant-girl of Domremy to become the
career of Joan Dare ; and such as those, with the expe-
rience of which George Fox grew to be a prophet and
the mouthpiece of power from above ; and under the
sense of which John Wesley was wrought up to the
recognition of spiritual marvels, which the multitude
could not believe, and at which still the majority can
only laugh, — influences by which every now and then
persons are able to affirm, some that they have felt
themselves called, warned, or comforted ; others that
they have been inspired for work, such as otherwise
they could only have wondered at and never have
done ; and others, that they have been conscious of
having been guarded in times of exposure, sometimes
by angels in person, and sometimes by tendencies
started upon them, angelic as to their ends, — influ-

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 29

ences from above, by which there have been in every
age, since the time of Paul, persons who have known
what it is to be lifted up, above the beggarly element of
mere law, into that liberty with which Christ has made
men free, which, however, as to the ends of service,
is stricter than even the letter of the law, and concur-
rently with which often the Spirit will work on a
man simultaneously as conviction for sin, as absolu-
tion by grace, as inspiration from above, and as accept-
ance with God.

It is true, that the Waldenses are worthy of belief,
and that they hold that among them, at certain periods
in their history, there have been events sensibly
pointed by the finger of God on their behalf It is
true that in the Cevennes, when the Huguenots were
nearly in the last agony from persecution, there opened
among them a power, by which the machinations of
their enemies afar off were sometimes disclosed to
them, as though by sudden revelation to one or other
of their members, — a power which clothed them with
such terror, as that, almost in the manner of the old
promise, one of them could chase a thousand ; and so
as that, indeed, a mere handful of men, as they were,
they resisted for long years and successfully the con-
centrated armies of France, — a power which, going out
from a speaker, made even Catholic enemies succumb
and confess themselves, — a power which often uttered
itself from the mouths of little children, — a power
through which they believed many times, and where
it is impossible to think that there could have been
mistakes, that there was let in upon their mortal ears
the songs of the hosts of heaven. It is true, that men

30 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

worthy of all credence have testified of experiences
by which the early history of the Church of Scotland
is not unlike a continuation of the Book of Acts. And
it is true, that by what the Spirit has been and has
done amongst them, the Friends have been justified in
trusting to it. It is true that, even in these latter cen-
turies, there have been branches of the Church which
have blossomed with the marvels of ancient times, be-
cause of the Spirit which has been in them. And it
is true, that still and now, there are good reasons for
trusting and expecting the Spirit.

The Spirit ! The saints of all ages cannot have been
deceived, or been self-deceived, as to what they felt
and trusted ; the martyrs who, one after another, laid
down their lives for Christ, until they became a great
army; the fervent spirits, like Augustine, who tried
one way of life and another, till at last, with turning
about, their souls caught the light, at which they re-
joiced with trembling ; the scholars, like Thomas
Aquinas, who, with studying themselves as to the nat-
ural, became but the more persuaded as to a something
that touched, or held, or drew, or whispered them that
was supernatural ; and students like Cudworth, who
gathered up the experiences of the ages and the
thoughts of all great writers, as to what of a spiritual
nature had ever been known, or felt, and who gazed
upon it, till they saw the Intellectual System of the
Universe take shape in it ; and hosts after hosts of
gentle souls, such as Madame Guion and the poet
Cowper, who tasted, as they thought, of the powers of
the world to come. It is true, that, except when it
gets impeded and disbelieved, there is an opening be-

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 31

tween this world and the next, as it is called, by which
comes the Holy Ghost, and through which it may be
that sometimes we some of us are approachable by va-
rious occult influences, some of a high origin, and oth-
ers of a nature not so good. And it is true, that there
are good reasons for believing that when Christians
can pray again as Christians used to do, and have fit-
ted themselves by acts of faith for seeing it, that there
will be felt the approach of a day which, with its com-
ing, will assimilate, still more nearly than at present,
the lives of modern disciples to the experiences of the
saints of all ages.

One swallow does not make a summer, nor does one
Christian make a church. A believer separated from
his fellow-creatures by convictions which they do not
share ; a man living apart from the sin about him in
loneliness ; a woman shrinking from unsympathetic
contact, and dwelling in seclusion with her own heart,
— for these all there is communion with God by the
Spirit. But there is an answer from above, which is
specially for the prayer of two or three. And on an
age of controversy separating believers from one anoth-
er, even though through it there should be higher and
better ground to be reached, there is an irremediable,
unavoidable drawback attendant, and that is the loss
of the unity of the Spirit. The joy which a man has
in common with a multitude, is not the same joy which
he has all to himself in his closet. And however a
man may be sanctified by the Holy Spirit, through re-
ligious experiences apart from his neighbors, yet should
he ever become one with a great body, wherein by that
same Spirit all the members are harmonized together,

32 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

he would feel a triumphant joy quite new to him ; and
he would have such a sweet confidence of God's love
to men everywhere and in every state, as would be for
him like a new sense of salvation.

Fearful is the penalty which the holiest of dis-
senters incur, and sometimes without knowing it, and
even while, perhaps, it is the voice of Christ from
Heaven which they obey, though they do not go
without compensation from the grace of God, nor yet
without that crown which is sj>ecially vouchsafed for
martyrs. But yet, so it is, that, in the Church of
Christ, with losing the unity of the Spirit, or the Holy
Spirit in common, there is a great, grievous loss.

The Spirit may be quenched in the present age from
one cause and another, as so largely it is ; but it can
re-assert itself. If to-day be clouded by scepticism, to-
morrow may be broad daylight from a " sun with heal-
ing on its wings." And if in this age, because of sec-
tarianism, Christians can hardly be what they ought
to be, as to faith, hope, and charity, perhaps in the
next age divisions will have ceased altogether. It
may be asked, perhaps, how such a thing as that can
ever be hoped for. And certainly it cannot be ex-
pected humanly, as though from controversies having
been argued out. But even as Jesus Christ, after his
resurrection, appeared among his disciples suddenly,
while the doors were shut, so perhaps he may again ;
and thus it may happen that the various churches of
Christendom, which to-day have their doors shut
against one another, will some time find themselves all
included in one great fold, by the manner in which,
through the Spirit, Christ will manifest himself, so as

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 33

to be recognized of all, in one church and another,
irrespectively of walls of separation.

And at that time, — O, dear anticipation, sure
though as the heavens themselves, however far off, —
at that time Christians will know one another, almost
without a word, because of the Spirit ; and with assem-
bling together, they will feel joy in the Holy Ghost,
such as at present public worship stirs but rarely. In
meditation, also, because of the ease with which men
will apprehend spiritual things, it will be as though
they " were all taught of God." And while inquiring
in some particular direction, where there is no seeing
for the eye, and no hearing for the ear, — strange and
holy experience, which only the holiest hearts are fit
for ! — while so inquiring, often for the natural man,
the darkness will yield to a light not of this world, nor
of mere reason, but of the Spirit quickening him from
within, by which man sees what he could not other-
wise have seen, and understands what is only to be
spiritually apprehended ; " for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God."

Strange and incomprehensible language this is for
many persons. But yet it means what is the same
thimj as the text : " Draw nigh to God, and he will
draw nigh to you " ; it means that it is of the nature of
Deity, to gravitate towards souls in earnest. Men, too
are encouraged to hope even more than that, and to be-
lieve that God will help our helplessness, and inform
our ignorant prayers, if we will let him. " Likewise the
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities ; for we know not
what we should pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which
2* o

34 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

cannot be uttered." And now again, because of this age
which we live in, does this text seem to need still fur-
ther translation ? It means that there is direct action
of God upon the soul, and which a man may yield to
or resist ; and that that operation is not merely such
force as that by which the eagle lives, or the pulse
beats, but rather is like the presence of a dear father
with his son, in a time of trouble, by which the child
feels himself fill with courage, and grow strangely
quick of apprehension.

In the next age, when men shall have learned how
and where to find themselves ; when they shall have
escaped from the bewildering effects of human science
imperfectly mastered, and disproportionately esteemed ;
when they shall have come to see how this earth re-
volves, and may yet, very well, have been visited by
angels at times ; when science, in some great professor,
shall have been baptized by the Spirit, then will be-
gin great and multitudinous effects to ensue. And be-
cause of the spirit of the times, science then will grow
poetic with rainbow beauties, and poetry will grow
towards prophecy, from the deeper strain which will be
in it of spiritual and eternal truth. It will sing famil-
iarly in a style which Milton reached only a few times,
and which ^Eschylus just knew of, but which more
exactly, will be as though King David should return
to chant, from his heavenly experience, fresh psalms
for his friends on earth.

Also, under the influence of the Spirit from on high,
social problems, which now seem to be hopeless, will
become very easy of solution. For, when people shall
wish to stand right before God, when they shall be

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 35

willing to let their hearts be drawn and draw them, it
will be wonderful, in all righteousness, how soon and
naturally and easily they will find themselves standing
towards one another as they ought to do. With a gen-
eral experience of the Spirit, yet no greater than there
is to-day of scepticism, but with such an experience
of the Spirit, what is there socially which might not
be hoped for ? Since, because of the Spirit in com-
mon, there will be a feeling, — of exactly the opposite
origin, however, from communism, — there will be a
feeling with the rich for letting their wealth run to
common uses, as far as prudence, and political econo-
my, and the state of the world will allow ; like the im-
pulse for having all things in common, which was felt
by the first Christians, during the first few days after
Pentecost. And things which at present are continually
being reformed, and always to no purpose ; things in-
vincible to reason, and incapable of being corrected by
utilitarian philanthropy, will yield at once to the
sweet, subtle effects of that Spirit, by which believers
will feel themselves to be all " baptized into one body,"
and by which they will know themselves, for glory and
shame, for joy and sorrow, to be really and vitally
" members one of another."

There are some special causes of scepticism to-day,
which in perhaps the next age will have ceased almost
altogether. And, in that better temper of the times,
Christianity, as the work of Christ through the Spirit,
will manifest itself still more distinctly than it does
to-day. It is oddly characteristic of these times, that
as regards the gospel, men are more dutiful than believ-
ing. They act out of a higher spirit than they are

36 THE ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

quite sure of. " Lord, I believe ; help thou mine un-
belief," — this precisely is their state of mind. With
their hearts they believe, but not quite, not altogether
with their minds. They would believe wholly but for
an accident in social progress, and which indeed is a
temporary humor, the mere spirit of the age.

But already signs are visible of a new period, and
with its arrival, fresh impulse will be felt from " the
powers of the world to come " ; and God will be
known more dearly, as a mighty fatherly presence
about us and awaiting us ; and by every believing
heart Christ will be more tenderly felt as its per-
sonal friend ; and by every bereaved and suffering
spirit, more vividly still than now, the communion of
saints will be felt across the grave.

And because there have been wonders in the past,
they will not, perhaps, be wanting to the glory of the
future. And again, it may be, will the gifts of the
Spirit subserve the work of the Spirit in the Church ;
and one man find himself preternaturally quickened in
wisdom, for the benefit of his fellows ; and another,
by the way of prophecy, become like the mouthpiece
of thought from outside of this world ; and another,
by reason, perhaps, of some personal and fitting pe-
culiarity, be known as a channel of healing power
for the afflicted ; and still another, from perhaps some
special susceptibility, be remarkable for the faith that
will possess him, and through him that will strength-
en the brethren.

These are things which we may never see, per-
haps, but yet as mere possibilities, they have some
meaning for us. It is for human beings that the or-

OF THE PRESENT AGE. 37

der of nature is orderly, and not for any other crea-
tures. And when signs and wonders are vouchsafed
on earth, it is only to men that they are significant,
at all. And no doubt, if men could be the better
for it, the heavens themselves would be bowed and
brought down. The Lord is willing to meet man as
far as possibly he can, consistently with allowing
man himself to stir at all.

We men are but like creatures, which have just
struggled into life, from out of the dust ; and there-
fore it is no great wonder if we should, some of us,
be tempted to think too highly of mere dust.

But beyond the realm of the natural is the re-
gion of the supernatural, which we know of, and to
which, as knowing of it, we must certainly belong.
And reasonably and rightly may we trust those
glimpses of it, which have been caught and reported
by previous voyagers across the sea of time, even
though they may have been but as momentary as
the observations at noon, which sometimes have to
suffice the sailor for a stormy passage across the At-
lantic ; for, even of ourselves, we can judge as to
whither the current sets which carries us. And, for
our comfort, we have faith, which has been wrought
into our nature, like an instinct, by our Creator ; and
therefore it is what may be trusted like God himself.
And faith points for us, like the magnetic needle, in
a starless night, and is, exactly and truly, u the evi-
dence of things not seen."

SCIENCE AND THE SUPEBNATUEAL.

AS to spirit, and its laws and likelihoods, a man is
prepared for judging by zoology, chemistry, and
star-gazing, no better at all than he would be by accu-
racy as to the Greek particle, or by a good instinct for
Hebrew roots. Every man to his trade. Ne sutor idtra
crvpidam ! We will listen respectfully to the man of
science for what he has to say as to the operations and
limitations of the laws of nature, within that circle
of the sphere of nature which has been explored ; but
when he would dogmatize on the supernatural, — when
he would arrogate the right to deny the possibility of
effects which claim to originate with a cause outside
of what himself he calls the bounds of nature, — then
we would remind him that he ought to keep within
his jurisdiction, and not pronounce on matters alto-
gether foreign to him, and which, perhaps, belong to
the province of another man. But, the higher the
order of mind which they are of, the further are scien-
tific men from the danger of falling into a mistake
like that. Many trades and professions have diseases
peculiar to them. For the painter there is colic, for
the clergyman, sore throat; for the workers in fine
steel, consumption ; and for the shoemaker, hepatitis.
And in the middle ages physicians used to be sus-
pected of the morbus medicorum, or a peculiar ten-

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 39

dency to unbelief, as the result of their special
studies. And, indeed, from a special study of the laws
of nature there is of course the danger of making too
much of them; an undue tendency towards judging
other things by analogy with them ; an inclination to
deny miracles merely because of their not being uni-
form with common life and surrounding nature.

There have been persons who have accepted some of
the miracles, and denied others, by a curious eclecticism
resulting from their special studies or individual char-
acters. One theologian has thought that there may
have been some misunderstanding as to the cure of
diseases by the laying-on of hands ; while he had no
doubt at all about the miraculous draught of fishes.
And another has believed implicitly in the miraculous
multiplication of the twelve loaves and a few fishes,
because of there having been three thousand fainting
persons to be fed; while he has confessed himself
doubtful about the first miracle at Cana in Galilee, be-
cause of its having turned water into wine at a festival.
And a third theologian has accepted all the miracles
of the Gospels but one, but has doubted of one, be-
cause of his being unable to see that any good purpose
could have been answered, by the withering of the fig-
tree. And there have been those who have been un-
able to believe in miracles affecting matter, but who
have been enthusiastic believers in prophecy, and in
the spiritual miracle of our Lord's character. But of
judgments on this subject, affected by personal pecu-
liarities, perhaps the most curious is that of Lord Her-
bert of Cherbury, who prayed to God for a sign, which
he believed was given to him, to direct him as to pub-

40 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

lislnng a volume, which he had written against the
probability of revelations being given from heaven, to
individual men, or to particular places.

By a man of the same order of mind, perhaps, with
Lord Herbert, though perhaps more ingenious, a theory
was invented eighty years ago, and which is still advo-
cated, for maintaining the reality of miracle concur-
rently with the unchangeableness of the Order of
Nature. Thus, it is said that miracles were inserted
in nature at the creation, to be developed in order, in
its course, just as there is a striking of the clock at
certain points foreordained by the maker. On this
theory, Christ, by a prophetic impulse, called into the
tomb to Lazarus to come forth, just at the moment
wKen the buried man was already waking up from
death by a foreordained irregularity, inserted in the
Order of Nature. Curious believing this is, even
though according to the order of nature ! Predis-
positions of thought, caused by peculiar studies, very
easily become prejudices ; and they are none the less
bigoted and blinding, if they result from science.

This is a common argument. God made the world
perfect ; and if it be perfect, its laws must be unalter-
able ; and if its laws are unalterable, they have there-
fore never been suspended ; and if they have never
been suspended, then there has never been a miracle.
But now this is absurd, even in its own way of reason-
ing. For, indeed, the more absolutely perfect the world
is reckoned, precisely the more significant does any
variation become in the uniform working of its laws.

But probably a miracle never was a suspension of
the laws of nature. The Scriptures do not so define

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 41

it. And, indeed, about the laws of nature they never
say anything at all. And it is very likely that what
in our blindness, we should call a suspension of the
laws of nature, or a momentary stoppage of nature's
clock-work, is really more than that, and is, indeed,
matter pliant to spirit ; and has occasionally been
something more important still than that, and has
been really the finger of God in the laws of nature,
pointing them to a special purpose of his own ; and
been, indeed, the showing from heaven of a sign and
wonder.

It is true, that, from studying the laws of matter, a
man may be indisposed for believing in spirit. Not,
however, that the laws of nature have anything to
suggest against the existence of spirit ; for they have
not. But it is an effect of our human weakness, that
if habitually we look intently in one direction, we find
ourselves disinclined from the opposite. And so it may
sometimes be, that the farther a man sees into nature,
the blinder he may grow as to what is above it, or to
the supernatural. But Bacon and Newton were not
sceptical as to miracles. Philosophers, such as they
were, have eyes not merely for details, but for the uni-
verse as a whole. They are more than the owners of
lamps, to grope with, as being themselves illumi-
nated from within ; and under their analyzing eyes
even solid matter itself seems but like the mist which
just holds the beauty of the rainbow ; while also to
them the laws of nature are not mere enactments, but
are qualities of that creative power which is every-
where present, and which everywhere is undivided
and uncompounded, simple in essence but various in

42 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

manifestation ; a power which is attraction and re-
pulsion, both in one, and life and death on the same
impulse.

The truths which flash like lightning in the soul of
the prophet, are not without corroboration from the
long processes, by which philosophy investigates. And
when he attends reverently to the experiments of sci-
ence, often the true philosopher testifies that to his
feeling there are reported, not only forces pervading
matter, but also from outside of nature and above it;
and from the place of spirit also, the living eye and
the working will, and the existence incorruptible, from
which those forces begin.

In the long, early morning of creation, after the
world had been without form and void, everything
everywhere was a miracle, — the first fern, however it
may have been produced, with its leaves heavy with
moisture and sparkling in the sun ; the first oak, long
afterwards, in an atmosphere grown cooler and drier ;
the last ichthyosaurus, as it died of an altered world ;
the first horse, proud of his speed on the green turf ;
the lion, as he first roared after his prey, by an instinct
which had not yet learned its own meaning ; and the
lark, as it first went up into the sky, and filled the air
with its song. And so, by the true philosopher re-
membering this, miracles are not thought of as being
antecedently impossible. Nor to him, either, is it an
impossible thing, that a disembodied spirit should be
able to act on matter move a table, throw stones, make
noises ; for he remembers that there is no real knowl-
edge of the manner by which even the living man has
his limbs actuated by his spirit. A belief in the pos-
sibility of miracles is not, then, barred by 'science.

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 43

That God, as being perfect, must have made a world
perfect in itself, and with perfect laws, and therefore
with laws which never can need to be meddled with,
is the great argument against the possibility of miracles.
It is of the same kind with that, which the heathen
Celsus urged against the probability of redemption
through Christ, which indeed was a miracle at the
beginning, — " That God has made his work perfect
once for all, and does not need, like a man, to mend it
afterwards." But perhaps it is exactly because God is
not like a man, that he does not make his work per-
fect once for all, is not obliged to complete it absolutely
and at once, and to get it off his hands. Perhaps the
world is perfect, not in time, but in eternity. It was
not absolutely perfect when it was merely crept upon
by the Saurians, nor was it perfect as surveyed by the
childlike eyes of Adam ; nor is it perfect now, being
as it were a creature, groaning and travailing in pain
along with man, as St. Paul would say. But perhaps
it is really perfect, only as it looks to the angels ; only
as seen from the be^innin^ all through to the end, with
its uses all plain, and its susceptibilities of divine agency
all manifest, whether for uniform law, or for signs and
wonders from heaven ; whether as a school for the
education of the human intellect, or as a land, where
what is natural, at first, grows to be spiritual ; and
where man arrives at, and tastes of the powers of the
world to come.

Also, there is no analogy between God and man as
to their works, whence to argue against miracles. Man,
of himself and by himself, can do nothing whatever,
absolutely nothing, whether perfect or imperfect. For

44 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

he cannot stir himself, cannot even lift his hand, but
by the help of powers, about which he knows almost
nothing whatever, — vital force, the will, the con-
tractility of the muscles. Also, when it is to be rea-
soned from, the word " perfect " means finished, done
with. Now this is a very good word, for the good
work of a mortal. But it would seem that sometimes
the work of God, who is a spirit, eternal, immortal,
might rather be expected to be perfect, by being in a
way comparatively imperfect ; that is, by being filled
with a spirit of growth, and, therefore, of improving
change, and by continuing forever in connection with
that sustaining power, through which things change
" from glory to glory." For the children of the High-
est then, as growing more and more receptive, it might
be expected that there should be " times of refresh-
ing " to come " from the presence of the Lord " ; that
it should be in the order of Providence to " put a new
spirit within " men from time to time, and subserving
the same purpose as creation itself, also to " show won-
ders in the heavens and in the earth."

And now these wonders do not derogate from the
wondrousness of the universe, but really they enhance
it. For, as a fact, would the laws of nature be less re-
liable for a philosopher, because of his believing in the
possibility of exceptional occurrences like miracles ?
And the answer is, No ; emphatically, No. Sir Isaac
Newton was not a matter-of-course Christian ; indeed,
he was a Christian scholar. But, from believing in
miracles, he does not appear to have been weakened
or confused, as a believer in the Order of Nature.
And actually it was by him, that the law of gravita-

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 45

tion was discovered. It is a legal maxim, that " ex-
ceptions prove the rule " ; and some day or other, it
will commonly be held, that, by their nature and man-
ner, miracles make more plain the very laws against
which they would seem to except.

A perfect God can only have made a world perfect,
of its kind ; and a perfect world must be made of per-
fect laws ; and perfect laws can never need to be sus-
pended or supplemented ; and so there is no possible
room in nature for a miracle. It is ludicrous, how this
argument has been iterated and reiterated, as though
logic were just as good against facts as against doc-
trines. In the last century, by men of science and
others who never saw one fall, it was proved to a
demonstration, that meteoric stones were vulgar er-
rors. To-day, however, science is sublimely persuad-
ed of them, notwithstanding their having once been
natural and scientific impossibilities. And hereafter
miracles will be believed, for reasons of various kinds,
and for twenty thousand analogies, by the successors
of the very men who to-day argue that there is
logically no room for a miracle in the world.

The perfect world of a perfect maker excludes
miracles ! But now, perhaps, the world is not as
perfect as it seems, or as some people fancy them-
selves bound to affirm it. Perhaps, too, it is ab-
solutely perfect only in logic. And perhaps in this
case, as is often done, the form of logic has been bor-
rowed by arrant nonsense.

A perfect world, in perfect order from the beginning,
and that will keep perfect to the end ; and which,
therefore, will admit of nothing new in it, not a single

46 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

miracle, — why, what an assumption this is ! For,
when the argument takes this turn, there are some
questions to be asked. What is this world ? What
is perfect order ? Whereabouts, even, is this world
we talk about ? Whereabouts is it in those fields of
space, which are crossed one way and another, and up
and down, by those infinite lines, measured by which
from here to the sun is as nothing, and in the course
of which, earth and suns and planetary systems are
passed by, like moths on a sunbeam ? The perfect
Order of Nature pleaded against the possibility of a
miracle ; while nobody knows, or is ever likely to
know, in the full sense, what that order is ! Perhaps,
after all, miracles were in order always, in perfect
order, in the order of the universe : as of course they
must have been. Perfect order may be one thing, as
viewed in the system of the universe ; and may be the
same thing, with a difference apparent or real, as dis-
cernible in some little dim corner in creation, or as
manifested in a load of matter whirling on its way, a
quaking earth with a magnetic affinity for the north
pole, and with other affinities quite as important as
that, perhaps, although at present quite unsuspected.

Miracles, or many things in the Bible which com-
monly are so denominated, may be exceptions to what
are called the laws of nature, as at present understood
by the best student ; but, as witnessed by a seraph,
they may have been but the effect of laws more in
number than we know of, and some of which acted
marvellously, by being in connection with a mind as
peculiarly organized as a prophet's is, at a moment of
faith in the head of the universe, as almighty and

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 47

good. And some other miracles may have been mo-
mentary effects from this cause, — " There is a spiritual
body." Every mortal is both body and spirit ; or, as
it would be better to say, he is and has what St. Paul
means when he says, "There is a natural body, and
there is a spiritual body." By death, the natural body
is loosened from the spiritual body, and drops and
begins to decay, like an old cloak ; while the spiritual
body has its senses slowly open to the world, in which
it finds itself. But, even while cased in flesh, it is
possible that some of the faculties of the spiritual
body, either by accident or by the grace of God, may
be so quickened as to act independently of the flesh.
The eye, with which I am to see hereafter, might be
opened for a moment, so as that I should get a glimpse
of spiritual marvels ; and that opening of my eye
would be a miracle, like what happened when the
prophet Elisha, with his servant, was beleaguered by
the army of Syrians. " And Elisha prayed, and said,
Lord, I pray thee open his eyes, that he may see. And
the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he
saw ; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and
chariots of fire round about Elisha." And in the same
manner might the dormant ear also of my spiritual
body be momentarily quickened, so as to catch just a
word or two, a sound, an alarm, a message, from the
spiritual world ; which indeed is intimately near, and
yet also infinitely far off. And this would be a miracle,
like what Paul experienced at his conversion. Also,
if by some chance, through some inward predisposi-
tion, a man should catch a breath from the air of that
world, where the Great Eirst Cause is first felt, where

48 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

spirits are made messengers, and where ministration
looks like flaming fire, the effect on him would be a
miracle like what the last words of David tell of, —
" The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word
was in my tongue." These illustrations may be enough
for hinting that there is a philosophy of religion, in
which faith and science are to be reconciled, and in
which the natural and the supernatural may be of one
accord. But let now one other illustration be taken.
It is conceivable, what in many ages has been generally
believed, under the best philosophy of the time, that
between us and God, neighbors of ours almost, far be-
low the region of seraphs, not nearly as high up as
where angels, with their archangels, congregate, and
indeed near upon and sometimes fairly withinside of
the realm of nature, are beings who could, for mo-
mentary effect, and as though from a long distance, play
upon the laws of nature, so as to work what Hugh
Farmer and Baden Powell would even call miracles,
as being in their estimation acts suspending the laws
of nature. Philosophy had very close blinders on,
when it decided, with Farmer, that for the elevation
of a man in the air, without human assistance, there
must be a suspension of the laws of nature. A law
of nature suspended for that ! It was no more neces-
sary for that, than it is for a man's lifting his hand in
the air. Something additional to the laws of nature,
as catalogued by philosophers, may have been neces-
sary, some occult law it may be, in unusual strength,
or perhaps an agent from a foreign world. But a sus-
pension of the law of gravitation it certainly is not
necessary to suppose. As Jesus with the law of

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 49

Moses, so miracles with the laws of nature, do not
destroy, but fulfil.

Also, in view of an argument, it is always to be re-
membered that the phrase " laws of nature " is a figure
of speech, good enough for ordinary purposes, but liable
to be deceptive at a critical point. Law is what has
been written for the purpose of being read ; and also
it is what has been written for the purpose of being
read, on the supposition of there being a joint under-
standing between the writer and the reader. That is
law ; and it is because of that sense of the word " law,"
that the phrase " laws of nature " is used against mira-
cles. But now, has ever the God of nature been
pledged to any text-book of natural philosophy, so as
that Science, or any son of hers, should be able to say,
" Because of this book of mine I know all about God,
as to what either he will do or what he can allow in
this earth " ?

Also, it is of the nature of " law," in its primitive
meaning, that it should need, and from time to time
should admit of adaptation, and amendment by inter-
pretation. But that exactly is what is forgotten, when
the majesty of the word "law" is adduced in a con-
troversy on the subject of miracles. And thus it is
that against the possibility of miracles, a phrase of
fallible origin is urged as an infallible argument.

Laws of nature working together, and yet distin-
guishable from one another, like powers harnessed in
machinery, — of the on-going of nature, this may be a
good definition for most purposes ; but when by this
definition it is proposed to falsify the truthfulness of
our Lord Jesus Christ, as to his miracles, then, in the
3 d

50 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

sense intended and for the purpose in view, let it never
be forgotten that really there are no laws of nature, and
that there never were any. Men talk of forces cen-
tripetal and centrifugal, and as though one might have
been enacted first, and then the other : but the truth
probably is, that the two are but diverse manifestations
of a common cause ; or, rather, that the two are one,
while seeming diverse. Also this common cause seems
to man like two different forces or laws, only because
of the peculiar and limited manner in which he can ap-
prehend. What poor creatures really men are, as they
look about them, with no very wide or keen gaze, as even
telescopes and microscopes might remind them ! For,
with far better instruments than have ever yet been
made, and with better eyes than children have ever
yet been born with, what marvels might not men see,
to their amazement ! And yet these men, or some of
them ; dwellers, too, in a little earth surrounded by
infinity ; born also in time, as they know they are, yet
having also some sense of eternity; these men of a
day, and creatures of God, — Feuerbach, the German,
and Strauss, a German too, and Renan of France, and
Buckle, who was English, with others like-minded, too
numerous to count, — these all have proclaimed aloud,
that, because of what they know, there cannot have
been anywhere, at any time, anything but what they
might have expected, and precisely that there never
has been a miracle. But for all that, and in spite of
their logic, "the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the
wise, that they are vain." This sentiment a Psalm-
ist uttered once among the Hebrews, and long after-
wards it was quoted by Paul in a letter to Corinth ;

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 51

but it was never more pertinent than it is to-day.
Arago said that outside of mathematics the word " im-
possible " for anything was rash. Perhaps he said it
out of what may be called the common sense of sci-
ence ; which common sense, however, is as rare in
connection with science as with anything else. Or it
may be that he said it, because of his having studied
the case of Angelique Cottin, a girl who was attended
by some curious phenomena. But any way, he was
very unlike Michael Faraday and some others. " Pos-
sible and impossible pronounced upon, by the last
edition published of the laws of nature ! " This is
what is continually being proclaimed by one man and
another. It would make people all laugh or else pity,
but for the spirit of the age ; for, indeed, we are all of
us much inclined to the same thing. But it is no mat-
ter for these philosophers and their followers, as to who
they are or where, — the wise men. For certainly
somewhere there is wisdom higher than their wisdom,
and from the height of which their self-complacency
must be something very curious to witness. But, above
and beyond all, there is the truth of the text that " the
Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are
vain."

Laws of nature arrayed against miracles ! For an
argument in that direction, there are no such things
as laws of nature. Or if the phrase " laws of nature "
should be allowed to stand, on its being made right by
accompanying explanation, it would be found then to
be the same thing as the spirit of God, which, like
" the wind bloweth where it listeth," and not merely
for human creatures on their way from the cradle to

52 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

the grave, but for worlds, also, while slowly growing
into form, and while lengthening out, with change and
time, the fulfilment of their respective purposes. It
is that spirit which is the transient life of the butter-
fly, and the inspiration which " giveth man under-
standing " ; that spirit which holds the earth to its
time and place, and which yet also strives with men
through the conscience ; that spirit which is the life
of all lives, from the worm to the seraph, and of which
the Spirit of Nature, as it is called, is but one of many
manifestations.

On arriving at the point of view which we have
now reached, there have been persons who have felt the
atmosphere about them grow more favorable to faith,
and who have exclaimed, " Now I hear them more
plainly, those witnesses of old, chosen beforehand.
Now I am less a't variance with some of the possibili-
ties of faith. Now some things which were hard to be
understood are easier. 0 holy prophets and apostles !
forgive me, in these times when the pathway of thought
goes winding about, if I have sometimes, with turning,
heard you but indistinctly, and fancied that the fault
was all with you ! "

But there are others, to whom all this would be
quite unintelligible, and who simply iterate and re-
iterate words, outside of the circle of which they can-
not see. And now for them, also, let us see if there
be anything more to be said, which may avail. It is
an eclipse of faith for us all at present : and things
which were simple enough formerly, in the broad clay-
light, now look strangely ; and what once would have
been comparatively of little significance may now be
a great help.

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 53

But first let us hear again exactly what Strauss
would say. And he says, very emphatically, " There
is no right conception of what history is, apart from
a conviction that the chain of endless causation can
never be broken, and that a miracle is an impossi-
bility." But how, then, has it been with almost every
historian, of every age, before David Hume ? How
was it with Josephus, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plu-
tarch, Tacitus, Diodorus Siculus, Dionysius of Hali-
carnassus, Pausanias the Topographer, and their com-
pany all ? According to that little formula by Strauss,
they would all be disqualified. Surely, surely, by at-
tempting to prove too much, Professor David F. Strauss
has disproved his own position. He is famous for his
work on the four Gospels, in which he laboriously
eliminated every miracle from the life of Jesus. It
was after the publication of this work, that there was
offered to him the professorship of theology in the
University of Zurich, and which he would have ac-
cepted, but for an insurrection of the people of the
city. The end of the matter was a letter in which he
stated his opinions, and in reference to which it may
be said, that he perhaps had more faith even in deny-
ing, than possibly some others had even in the heat
of dogmatizing, and that not improbably Jesus Christ
would sooner have accepted even his unbelief than
the unmitigated virtues of some of his opponents.
But still, in his attempt to go to Zurich as Professor
of Theology, he was in the curious position of propos-
ing to lecture on Christianity, without believing in a
single miracle ; and of attempting it, too, by the help
of historians, not one of whom, as he thought, had

54 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

any right conception of history. Alas, alas ! but so
it is, that every step forward intellectually costs a hun-
dred failures first ; and it is because of the tears and
misery of adventurers on the road to knowledge, that
the flints of difficulty are found smooth, by the multi-
tude as they advance from behind.

There has lately been published a volume entitled
" Christ the Spirit." It is the serious work of a de-
vout mind struggling with theological difficulty. Says
the author, E. A. Hitchcock, in regard to the Scrip-
tures, " If, therefore, we accept these miracles as his-
torical realities, we must refuse the idea of law, and
must admit that .there is no truth in the doctrine
which affirms an order in the course of nature."
Perhaps the force of this opinion may have been
anticipated, and even perhaps prevented, by some
previous remarks. Also it is said, that, if those mira-
cles are to be believed in, there is no such thing pos-
sible as science. But that would not appear to have
been the opinion of Sir Isaac Newton, the man, of all
men, best fitted to judge. And further it is added,
that if those miracles are to be believed in, then rea-
sonably Grecian mythology must be believed. Grecian
mythology might, for that reason, claim to be ex-
amined ; but not necessarily claim, therefore, to be
believed. And also it is not theology, but sciolism,
which would wish to argue Christianity in ignorance
of the philosophy and religion of Greece. Light,
and still more and more light, let us have, wherever
we may be, and even though it should fall on our
Bibles, through some crevice in the wall of a Grecian
temple !

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 55

And now who offers himself next as a witness on
this subject ? It is Henry T. Buckle, who would tell
us, out of his " History of Free Thought," that there is
little reason to hope for the enlargement of the ground
of the evidences of Natural and Eevealed Eeligion;
that the materials already exist from which thoughtful
students must make up their minds finally on the
questions at issue; that already men are taking up
their places, in hostile array, on subjects where no
further evidence can be offered, and where there is lit-
tle reason to hope for the alteration of the state of par-
ties to the end of time ; that, as regards Christianity,
there never has been an age so hostile to it as the pres-
ent, and never an age, either, so much actuated by it.
Nothing more to be expected on the greatest possible
subject of thought ! Why, what advanced times we
live in ! and even without our knowing of it, some of
us ! The field of thought is cleared by scientific method,
and there is no chance of anything to the end of time !
This may be true for a near-sighted thinker, but hardly
for any one else. Are there, then, experts who can look
through the universe as though it wTere machinery ?
Electricity, magnetism, and odic force, with which
man has affinities, and by which indeed, apparently,
he has all manner of possible connections, — have
these all been thoroughly explored ? And is it so
absolutely nothing, as not to be worthy of mention, —
the chance of there being a Master for the great Ma-
chine, with a will of his own ; the possibility of there
being a Father in heaven with children on this earth ?
Man proposes, but God disposes. That is a French
proverb, to which every now and then there is a won-

56 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

derful point, and that point may possibly show itself
at any time.

And now next, let what Baden Powell would say
be considered. He is Savilian Professor of Geometry
at Oxford, and a clergyman, yet he is of opinion that
it would be a great good done, if Christianity could be
relieved of its responsibility for miracles. Prophecy,
however, and some other spiritual marvels, he thinks
may rationally be connected with Christianity. This,
however, Pienan would not agree to ; for he holds that
miracles are no more possible or credible for the souls,
than for the bodies of men. However, Baden Powell
is certain that the Order of Nature is the first thing,
and everything for belief; and then he argues, very
properly, for patience with untoward facts, as likely,
some time or other, to get subordinated. He has heard,
however, of apparently marvellous occurrences, " such
as implied a subversion of gravitation, or of the con-
stitution of matter ; descriptions inconceivable to those
impressed with the truth of the great first principle of
all induction, — the invariable constancy of the order
of nature." But then, as about a thing, with which he
could have no patience, nor his system either, he cries
out that he has " heard it positively affirmed by vera-
cious, educated, and well-informed persons, in perfect
good faith, that a solid mahogany table has been seen
to rise from the ground and its surface to move in
waves." For that, of course, was a thing for which, in
his philosophy, there was no hope of a place, any more
than for the miracles which he wished Christianity
could be freed from. Order of Nature ! always only the
Order of Nature, — as though there were no such thins

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 57

conceivable as the Order of the Universe. And yet,
by way of analogy with his special studies, it would
seem as though he might have thought of it. For
problems which are utterly insoluble by arithmetic,
and which are outside of its range, are the objects and
beauties of algebra, which has been called a diviner
arithmetic, and which may well he reckoned by some
persons to have wonder-working laws.

And now, on this subject of the Order of Nature,
has Baden Powell ever been answered ? A table ris-
ing in the air, if such a thing might be, would be a
sufficient answer for his style of scepticism, according
to his own words, apparently. But, apart from that,
has any answer been made, by which to justify a be-
lief in the miracles of Christianity, against the Ox-
ford professor with his grand argument against it ?

And now, in the sequence of thought, appears James
A. Froude, also of Oxford, and late Fellow of Exeter
College. And in a recent publication, in a passage
which specially refers to the volume of " Essays and
Reviews," of all the authors of which Baden Powell
was the most notable, J. A. Froude says, that against
that style of thought there has nothing been adduced,
but " the professional commonplaces of the members
of a close guild, men holding high office in the Church,
or expecting to hold high office there." Professional
commonplaces ! Many others besides Froude have
found them such, and have thought them to be in-
sufficient answers for the new scepticism. But now,
like Baden Powell, J. A. Froude, by implication at
least, distinctly acknowledges that the miracles of the
Scriptures would be credible, if some of the phenom-

58 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

ena of Spiritualism should be realities. To these
things his attention had been drawn ; and bo his knowl-
edge,]^ avers that they have been vouched for by per-
sons, \\lu> would be good witnesses on a criminal trial.
But yet he says, "Our experience of the regularity of
nature on one side is so uniform, and our experience
of the capacities of human folly on the other is so
large, that, when people tell us these wonderful stories,
most of us are content to smile : we do not care, so
much as bo turn out of our way to examine them.
The Bible is equally a record of miracles." The
Bible! But, indeed, of what use is it to mind any-
thing, which he may say about the miracles of the
Bible, when, according to Ids own showing, he would

not even go OUl Of his way, to sec whether they might

not be true ? For, things which to his mind, — whether
rightly or wrongly is no matter, — things which to his
mind were of a piece with the miracles of the Bible,

he would not even turn out of his way to examine.

But against a belief in miracles he urges not. only
that they are impossible, but that " the miracles of St.

Theresa and St. Francis of Assisi are as well estab-
lished as those of the New Testament." And now,

even it' this should be so, what then ? Are we for that

to forego our belief in the miracles of the Bible ? No :
quite otherwise. And, if there he anything to he
learned from Assisi, so much the better.

Next in order of time, with an argument upon this
subject, appears Dr. Louis Biichner, with his volume
on " Force and Matter." Says this author, " We should

only WOSte words in OUT endeavor to prove the natural
impossibility of a, miracle. No educated, much less a

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 59

scientific person, who is convinced of the immutable
order of things, can nowadays believe in miracles.
We find it rather wonderful that so clear and acute a
thinker as Ludwig Feuerbach should have expended
so much logic in refuting the Christian miracles.
What founder of any religion did not deem it neces-
sary, in order to introduce himself to the world, to
perform miracles ? The miracle-seeker sees them daily
and hourly. Do not the table-sj)irits belong to the
order of miracles ? All such miracles are equal in
the eye of science : they are the result of a diseased
fancy." These are the words of a man very clear in
his mind ; though his mind is not of the same order
with Plato's, certainly. " Do not the table-spirits be-
long to the order of miracles ? " Dr. Biichner him-
self would seem to think so, by the way in which he
asks the question. Baden Powell too, no doubt, would
have agreed with him ; and so also would Fronde, the
historian. But Biichner has one other word for us.
" Even to this day, there is no deficiency of miracles
and powerful spirits among savage and ignorant tribes."
Are we, then, to be frightened from believing in mira-
cles, because, if there are any at all, there are some
also among savages ? Just as well might Dr. Bin -li-
ner expect a Christian to be ashamed of the sun, be-
cause the red Indian hunts in the light of it. " Miracles
and powerful spirits among savage and ignorant tribes ! "
Well, the better we know about that thing, the wiser
we shall be, and the better it will be for our theology ;
and it is not everybody who is afraid of learning.

Baden Powell, James A. Froude, Dr. Biichner, and
with these might be joined one or two other leaders in

60 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

the argument against the credibility of miracles, —
these would all apparently be ready to test the reality
of the miracles of the Bible by the phenomena of
Spiritualism, or perhaps more definitely by the reality
of the raps, which are called spirit-rappings. In some
sense, they may even be said to dare the experiment ;
and by many high authorities of the Catholic Church,
from early down to more modern times, it would have
been deemed a simple and very cheap way of set-
tling such a controversy. This is said, however, not
because exactly what is called spirit-rapping to-day
was known in the Middle Ages, but because of its
being certainly akin to many possibilities, which the
Catholic Church has always maintained, and faith in
which has been a large part of that Church's vitality.
The early Fathers of the Church did not think it to
be derogatory to their charge, even as Christian chiefs,
to show Pagans how to draw an inference from their
own Pagan prodigies. And it would have seemed
a grand chance to Henry More and Eichard Bax-
ter if the opportunity had been offered of arguing
from spirit-raps to the truth of the Scriptures, as is
abundantly evident from their many works respec-
tively. It would have been an argument, to the nature
of which Pialph Cudworth would have assented, and
for which at once he would have found a place in the
" Intellectual System of the Universe." And Jeremy
Taylor, with eyes glancing from high to low, and from
unearthly depths to prophetic heights, and with a
power of vision for following the strange lines of
similitude which permeate creation, and which make
it continually, in one quarter or another, glitter and

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 61

flash with the light of unexpected analogies ; Jeremy
Taylor — but indeed, as sanctions for the purpose in
view it is superfluous to name any more names than
those of Cudworth and More and Baxter ; for prob-
ably with them would have assented nearly all the
great men who were eminent in theology in the days
when theology itself was eminent. But now, before
attending to an incident of yesterday, let us have in
mind what the great Platonist addressed to Lorenzo
de Medici on the subject of the Christian religion : " I
certainly think that, to us undeserving, certain mirac-
ulous signs have been divinely given. But all things
are not shown to all : many also are not written down,
or, if written, are not credited, in consequence of some
wicked and detestable men imitating miracles. I have
heard of some miracles in our own time, and in our
city of Florence, which are to be believed. Do not
be surprised, my Lorenzo, that Marsilius Ficinus,
studious of philosophy, should introduce miracles;
for the things of which we write are true, and it is
the duty of a philosopher to confirm everything by its
own proper kind of argument."

A short time since in London, one evening, a gentle-
man enumerated jocularly what he thought were Yan-
kee notions, and he named spirit-rappings. The speaker
was a distinguished man of science, and religiously a
man after the manner of Baden Powell, with a truly
Christian heart, but on the subject of miracles hav-
ing, perhaps, the eyes of his understanding somewhat
" dazed with excess of light " from the sun of science.
Suddenly he was accosted by a stranger present, who
said, " I am a denizen of that New World ; and it is

62 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

said that in some places there, with walking briskly
over the floor at certain times, a man emits sparks
from his fingers, with which even gas can be lighted.
What would you say to that ? " It was replied, " Non-
sense ! it is impossible." Then said the American, " It
was because I expected that answer that I asked you
the question. In a scientific circle, I once knew
twenty-eight persons out of thirty assent to that
same opinion which you have now expressed ; but
there is not one of them to-day that would. In New
York certainly, and in Boston, and perhaps all over
America, on a frosty night, in a house warmed by the
best modes, often a person with walking briskly over
a carpet, and offering the knuckle of a finger to some
metallic object, has it emit a blue, detonating spark.
And now, by experience, as common almost as that of
those electric sparks, I tell you that what are called
spirit-rappings are true ; or, rather, that those rappings
are real which are called spiritual. And now I will
ask you in all honesty to answer me as you would in
your place in the Eoyal Society. And supposing that
you heard on a table raps, the origin of which you
could not possibly connect with cheating, nor yet with
science, as it is understood to-day; and supposing,
too, that these raps evinced as much intelligence as
a boy of five years old, — what now would you think ? "
Said the man of science, thoughtfully, and after a long
pause, " I should say that, to my present belief, it was
the greatest thing which had happened since the crea-
tion of the world." To this the American rejoined,
" Those raps are of far less peculiarity as to signifi-
cance than you think. But, like many other persons

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 63

in pursuit of a special business, you have got lodged
in a mere corner of the broad field of knowledge, and
where you are capable of being astonished by what
would be no absolute novelty to the Esquimaux, or to
the Maoris of New Zealand."

What is called " rappings " is the most common of
all the spiritualistic manifestations, and, for the pur-
pose for which the thing is referred to in the preced-
ing anecdote, it would no doubt have been agreed to
by Baden Powell and his fellow-philosophers as being
a sufficient test. But also for that thing precisely
which he mentions — of the rising of the table from the
floor — there is abundant evidence, and some of which
is of the very best kind. Blichner says that because
of the laws of nature " there exist no supersensual and
supernatural things and capacities, and they never can
exist " ; and so he denies at once table-spirits and all
other spirits, and also the possibility of Pievelation ;
but luckily he does also, with other things, deny that
any one can read an opaque sealed letter, or guess the
thoughts of another ; for, besides being mesmeric
experiences, these things are spiritual phenomena
connected with the rappings, of the certainty of which
whole armies of witnesses could testify.

That these rappings do really exist, and that they
are as real as gravitation, or as thunder and lightning,
may now be fairly and properly assumed, since about
them it is no longer a question of the value of testi-
mony. For persons open to evidence on the subject,
one hundredth part of the testimony which now exists
would be enough ; and, for those who cannot believe
the present evidence on the matter, a thousand times

64 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

more evidence ought to be insufficient, and probably
would be. Whatever it may be, whether good or bad,
the thing is real. Multitudes may have had no oppor-
tunity of personally knowing about it ; and many per-
sons may think, very properly, that they would them-
selves be none the wiser for meddling with it ; but still
it may now reasonably be assumed as a fact. As a
matter of evidence, the thing is not as it was twenty
years ago, when it was first known of by rumors from
Rochester ; nor as it was ten years ago ; nor even as it
was five years since. And science and people who
believe by its permission may as well accept the fact
to-day as wait for fifty years. For if those rappings
should stop to-morrow as suddenly as they began,
which not improbably some day they will, yet cer-
tainly in the next century they would be believed in
as having been real, because of the testimony and
literature and wide belief existing to-day on the sub-
ject.

But perhaps it may be said that mere unaccountable
rappings, even though somewhat intelligent, are no
great matter. And they are not any great thing for
a child learning the alphabet, it is true ; but they
become of infinite importance when, by dominant
science, they are pronounced to be impossible. A
scientific impossibility proved to be true is a wonder-
ful thing ; and so wonderful is it, that under no mag-
nifying-glass can it be made to seem too wonderful.
But it is also a wonderful thing, with all manner of
wonders behind it, possibly.

And it may be asked whether it is good or devilish.
For our argument that does not matter. And besides,

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 65

that question implies what has not been at all assumed,
— that the rappings are connected with the spiritual
world. But, with a view to the next question, let it
be allowed that they are so connected. And now per-
haps it is asked whether they are Christian or Mo-
hammedan. And the answer is, that they are both,
just as talking is. They are a way of conversing
with spirits who may be good or bad, wise or silly,
and through which a man may have some such ex-
perience as he might have in his native town, if he
should, after a long absence, go into a crowded hall,
and from a gallery, in the dark, talk with voices down
below.

But an argument on Spiritualism started from "the
rappings " would be about the same as though, because
of having learned the first letter of the alphabet, a man
should think to read Hebrew, and want to argue the
value of the Mazoretic points, or the nature of proph-
ecy, or the comparative antiquity, respectively, of
the various parts of the Book of Genesis. Spiritual-
ism, as it is called, is a field as broad nearly as the
presence of the human race, and as long almost as the
ages themselves have been. It illustrates the pneu-
matology of the Scriptures ; it is a key to the inner-
most rooms of the temples of Greece ; and it avails
for the better understanding of Plato. It solves enicj-
mas as to Mahomet, and it accounts for the career of
Joan Dare. It is the light by which in these days to
read intelligently the history of Salem witchcraft, the
Journal of George Fox, and the account of Edward
Irving and the unknown tongues. It is enriched by
the study of the Talmud, and not confused ; and it

66 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

answers for information, when it is tried on the re-
ligion of almost any primitive tribe, which has been
reported upon, even the very latest.

Spiritualism is of many grades ; and it may be con-
nected with every sect in Christendom, and with every
sect that follows Mahomet, with Buddhism, and with
Brahminism. It is the silliness of silly people to-day,
multitudes of them ; and it is the wisdom of wise men,
not a few. Spiritualism, as intercourse with spirits,
has its dangers, and in ancient times was helplessly
prone to idolatry ; and it was on this account, prob-
ably, that it was guarded, limited, and directed for the
Jews by severe legislation. But like the circumnavi-
gation of the globe, by which, with sailing straight on,
man goes out on one side of the world, and returns
on the other, so what was the peril of the ancient
Jews religiously seems now to stand opposed to that
idolatry of science by which the laws of nature are
pleaded against the miracles of God.

A strange land is that of which glimpses are got
through Spiritualism ; a border-land between this
world and the next ; a region whence spiritual causes
can start material effects, and wherein the laws of
Nature are in some degree pliant to spiritual agents,
and along the line of which, with strange consequences,
spirit and matter interosculate through their respective
laws ; a region where it is suddenly bright, unearthly
light, and then as suddenly darkness, and wherein
easily a man gets bewildered and befooled ; a realm
where flits the will-o'-the-wisp, and where fog-banks
roll, where often truth looks like illusion, and where,
too, illusions are often taken for truth ; a field where

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 67

light is reflected and refracted in a hundred ways, and
so as to confuse sometimes like darkness itself; a land
whence voices call, sweet and saintly perhaps, but lia-
ble in a moment to be cut short like telegraphic wires,
and to be continued perhaps by impostors ; a region
of marvel, with gazing at which many persons have
found themselves actuated as though by enchantment ;
a realm in creation, which sceptics may ridicule, and
which some good Christians may ignorantly deny, but
in connection with which exist pathways of thought,
and across which are distinctly discernible objects,
which theology ought to know of.

There is a proverb, that " any stick is good enough
to beat a dog with." And the first stick out of the
thicket of Spiritualism silences the argument short
and sharp, and as incessant as the barking of a dog,
which has been kept up so long, and especially in
Germany, about the Order of Nature.

By the rappings which come upon a table in the
presence of a medium, the laws of nature call out
against the philosophy of Baden Powell ; and they
protest against the notion of Buckle, as to there being
nothing new to be expected; and they deride the
contemptuous self-complacency of Froude ; and they
explode the dreary vantage-ground whence Buchner
would deny the immortality of the soul.

And now, perhaps, some one will wonder whether
the writer thinks that his argument is a cure for
scepticism. For every variety of scepticism, he cer-
tainly does not think that it can be. There is scepti-
cism which is a part of good sense. And of scepticism
as a mental disease there are degrees, just as there are

68 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.

varioloid, small-pox, and confluent small-pox. There
is a mild scepticism, which is simply the spirit of the
age, and there is a scepticism which is the result of
undue constitutional tendency combined with the tem-
per of the times ; and of the same thing, viewed as a dis-
order, there is an extreme degree, which may be called
confluent scepticism, and which mostly is incurable. It
is more common in Paris than in this neighborhood.
It is the state of a person with whom everything
runs to doubt. It is a mental state in which a man
might see a miracle, only to wonder whether it could
be done again ; and who would not believe either,
though one rose from the dead; and who, if he saw
nine men out of ten raised from the dead, would only
doubt nine times the more, as to whether the remain-
ing tenth man could possibly be raised. This is con-
fluent scepticism; and it is what converts even rem-
edies themselves into disease.

There have certainly, however, been intellectual
Christians, who had been caught at their studies by
the spirit of scepticism and been manacled by the
logic of science, and who had been unable to get
themselves exorcised or liberated by the greatest di-
vines of Protestantism, who yet have felt themselves
freed by the first sound of those unaccountable rap-
pings, and able to enter " into the temple walking and
leaping, and praising God " ; being enabled to pray and
trust and hope, by having learned that the Order of
Nature is not everything, and that their souls may
perhaps be free of it, and free for something higher.
And these persons have continued in the same state
of joy and freedom and holy hope, comparatively care-

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. 69

less as to whether the rappings had been spiritual or
demoniac ; being only too happy with simply believ-
ing them to be something supernatural, something to-
wards a proof, that perhaps the heavens are not brass
against us, and that the Order of Nature does not
close about our souls like a living tomb.

That the writer hereof should ever have had this to
say, of his own knowledge, would have seemed to him
in those days, when his faith was according to Mill's
Analysis of the Human Mind, to be just as unlikely as
his becoming a dancing dervish ; or a silent, barefooted
Trappist ; or a turbaned hadji, squatting on the ground,
and intent on the Koran, all day long, at Mecca ; or a
missionary to the ten lost tribes of Israel ; or a Eoman
prelate pleading with cardinals, against the Devil's ad-
vocate, and for the canonization of monks and nuns.
But the world is wide, and the world of thought is
wider still. And wider and wider still it grows, and at
an ever-growing pace, in these days, when with many
running to and fro, knowledge is increased ; when
every ancient history is being drawn forth, to be
perused afresh by every light which can be got to
bear upon it ; when every savage tribe is being re-
spectfully solicited for its traditions ; when the mon-
asteries of Mount Sinai and along the frontier of
Christendom are yielding up their ancient parchments
to enthusiastic scholars ; when the King of Siam sud-
denly stands forth, an eminent astronomer, as the
shadow of a great eclipse comes along to cross his king-
dom ; when, too, the old foundations of Jerusalem are
being carefully explored by an English Commission ;
and when, also, the Great Pyramid is being questioned,

70 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL

stone by stone, as to those singular secrets of which it
is believed to be the depository.

How much of what is knowledge to-day will be
ignorance to-morrow ! And how certainly truths,
which in this age are taken for errors, will subserve
the pioneers of thought in the age to come ! But in
this world, where light leads up to a wall of darkness,
and where darkness yields indeed, but only recedes,
scarcely could man dare to advise with man, but that
certainly all things human must be rounded by the
infinite mercy of God.

MIEACLES AND DOCTRINE.

OFTEN a painful calculation of the orbit of a
comet has been falsified, because of some heaven-
ly bodies which 'had not been taken into the account,
and therefore because of disturbing forces which had
not been allowed for. And often an inquiry in phi-
losophy has been futile, because of disturbing forces,
which had not been allowed for from theology or his-
tory. On the subject of supernaturalism, many per-
sons are prejudiced by what they suppose to be their
position as Christians. They lean on faith, as they
think ; and lean so, as they think, on certain ancient
facts of which Palestine was the scene. But there are
other persons who not only have faith, but who are
themselves, as it were, possessed by it. They say for
themselves, like Peter, " Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God " ; and to them this revelation has
been made, not indeed apart from all agencies of flesh
and blood, but yet from the Father which is in heaven.
And these believers find themselves upon a rock, joy-
ful and curious spectators, who know, as they look
around, that whatsoever things are true are really in
their favor ; and that the gates of hell can never pre-
vail against their standing-place, whatever hosts or
forms or blasts may be let out. And certainly before
all things, men have to be true ; for never can the

72 MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE.

whole body be full of light, Christian or any other,
unless the eye be single.

How often has there been willingness to have the
subject of miracles grievously misunderstood rather
than have it scrutinized ! But now, there is no really
wise man but will say, " On any book which is worth
reading, let us have all the light which we can. And
if the Bible be, in any way, the word of God, and it
be allowed us to read it, then let all the light of God's
world come in upon it, and it will only be the plainer
and the clearer. Truth forever, — ' the glorious gospel
of the blessed God!'"

And there are theological zealots, who think that
they can help a sacred cause by means, which one
side of the mind does not wish the other side to know
of, by such means as the understanding would keep
secret from the conscience. As connected with the
Scriptures, how much has been said and done which
was not candid ! But whether statesmen or cardinals,
or preachers to the heathen, — no matter who they are,
or under what pretext, — no man can sow the wind,
and not leave the whirlwind to be reaped. Help out
the cause of God, help it by any other means than the
fairest, help it by the wisdom of this world ! Remem-
ber what happened to Uzza for putting forth his hand
to support the ark of God, when that seat of mirac-
ulous power seemed to shake upon the cart. If a
cause be of God, it will not bear to be propped by the
hand of a little faith. And for its support finally, no
means will avail but what are holy.

And now let the modern stumbling-block as to
miracles, be still further considered than it was in the

MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE. 73

preceding chapter. The common presentation as to
miracles is, that they are acts suspending the laws of
nature ; that suspensions of the laws of nature are
impossible, except by the direct permission of God;
that God never would suspend his laws, except for a
purpose greater than the laws themselves, — the reve-
lation, that is to say, of himself ; and thus that all mira-
cles reported outside of the Bible may be instantly
denied. This is the argument of the best book of its
kind, — that of Hugh Farmer on Miracles. But at the
very beginning it begs the question, in its way of de-
fining a miracle, as being a suspension of the laws of
nature. When the apostles and prophets showed signs
and wonders, or wrote about them, they never talked
about suspending the laws of nature. And really, our-
selves, we do not know but what we should call a mira-
cle might be, not an act suspending some one law of
nature, but simply an act using, in some new way,
another law very familiar perhaps, or very occult.
The laws of nature, — this is a convenient phrase for
ordinary use. And for the purposes of natural sci-
ence, and restricted to such ends as those of geology,
chemistry, and astronomy, investigation may properly
proceed, on the supposition of the laws of nature.
But when the suspension of the laws of nature is
argued about, for purposes not geological or chemical,
but divine, then it behooves us to think more exactly
what it is which is talked of.

A certain manifestation in nature is called a law ;

but it is so called by simply a figure of speech, derived

from the manner in which men mutually arrange their

affairs. And yet often there is great stress laid on the

4

74 MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE.

phrase " laws of nature " for just that very purpose, in
regard to which chiefly it is objectionable. And this
is done as though it were supposed that, as the com-
mandments were written in Horeb, one two, three,
ten commandments, on tables of stone, so laws of
nature were devised and instituted by God, for shap-
ing the void and formless world, — first, the law of at-
traction, and then that of gravitation ; and next one
chemical affinity, and then another. For many and
most purposes, we do well to speak of the laws of
nature ; but there are some purposes, in view of which
we are to remember that we talk about the laws of.
nature only by a figure of speech, and when indeed
it would be better that we should be speaking of the
properties of nature, the qualities of nature, or the
spirit of nature.

Suspension of the laws of nature ! The force of
the phrase, as an objection to the possibility of a mira-
cle, vanishes as soon as ever it is remembered that by
the laws of nature, we do not really mean what can
be broken one by one, or what can be broken at all ;
do not at all mean enactments of God, but simply the
spirit of nature. To define a miracle, then, as being
an act by which a law of nature is suspended, is not
according to true philosophy. Also, it is being wise
beyond what is written ; or, rather, it is very unwise,
and especially on the part of the advocates of Scrip-
tural narratives; for the time when the miracles of
the Bible were wrought, and when they were written
of, was many hundreds of years before what is called
the discovery of the laws of nature, and longer still,
perhaps, before the invention of the phrase, " Suspen-
sion of the laws of nature."

MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE. 75

One of the early miracles of Christianity was on a
man " which sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the
temple." Peter, having been entreated for something,
did not say, " I hereby suspend, over thee and in thee,
laws of nature, by number, one, nine, and thirteen;
and now thou art well." And it has been very incau-
tious work in controversy to commit Peter as though
he had said such a thing, or anything at all like it.
What Peter actually did say was, " Silver and gold
have I none ; but such as I have give I thee : in the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."
As a preliminary to this, however, is written what may
have been' directly connected with the miracle, that
" Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said,
Look on us." There is no man but, as to quality, is
more than all the laws of nature put together. And
so it may well be that the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth may have been a symbol, an invocation, a
channel of power which may have been natural indeed
as to its ultimate effect in healing, but supernatural as
to origin and intensity.

The Jews and all the disciples of Christ regarded
miracles as being of various degrees, and as differing
in magnitude and decisiveness. And, in their defini-
tion of miracles, Catholic theologians have degrees of
greater and less, and always have had. In this man-
ner of estimating miracles, there would seem to be in-
volved another apprehension of them, than as though
they must necessarily all of them argue equally the
divine will, be all of them the pronunciation of God,
and each one of them just as emphatic and distinct
and peremptory as another.

76 MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE.

It is often argued as though miracles were credible
only as happening among persons in covenant with
God, through Abraham or through Christ. Yet the
fullest account of prophetic vision in the Scriptures is
connected with Balaam, a resident of Moab. And, of
all the prophetic dreams in the Old Testament, the
most wonderful was that with which the Egyptian
Pharaoh was inspired, and which Joseph interpreted ;
and those with which Nebuchadnezzar had his spirit
troubled, and which were connected by Daniel with " a
God in heaven that revealeth secrets." And at the
birth of the Saviour, if wise men arrived at Jerusalem
from the East, guided by a star spiritually discerned,
it was because, apart from the stock of Israel, there
were persons susceptible of miraculous instruction, and
favored with it. Dean Stanley says truly, in his work
on the Jewish Church, that, unlike the temper of the
present age, the Scriptures are always ready to acknowl-
edge divine inspiration outside of the chosen people,
and so to admit the higher spirits of every age and
every nation among the teachers of the Universal
Church.

It will help us to understand better the significance
of a miracle among the Jews, if we remember that
they were instructed not to follow always even an ac-
knowledged miracle. " If there arise among you a
prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a
sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder come to pass
whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after
other gods which thou hast not known, and let us
serve them ; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of
that prophet or that dreamer of dreams ; for the Lord

MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE. 77

your God provetli you, to know whether you love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear
him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice,
and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And
that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall he put to
death, because he hath spoken to turn you away from
the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land
of Egypt." A miracle might, then, be acknowledged,
and yet its cogency be denied. And even an acknowl-
edged prophet was not to be followed in every direc-
tion. In the Book of Exodus, we read that one miracle
after another, which Moses showed to Pharaoh, the
magicians repeated by their enchantments ; and that
it was only when their power was surpassed by the
fourth miracle of Moses that " the magicians said unto
Pharaoh, This is the finger of God." And, as we learn
from what happened to Ahab, even four hundred
prophets might conjointly prophecy untruly, and that
through a lying spirit in the mouth of them all, and
of the Lord's direct permission. It would seem, too,
that, simultaneously with the mission of Jesus, a mir-
acle might be wrought, to which the apostles could
demur. " And John answered him, saying, Master, we
saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he follow-
etli not us ; and we forbade him because he followetli
not us. But Jesus said, Eorbid him not ; for there is
no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can
lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against
us is on our part,"

It is to be noticed that a miracle, simply as a mira-
cle, Jesus probably never wrought ; and Lightfoot, in-

78 MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE.

deed, says so absolutely, and perhaps correctly. Jesus
works miracles out of pity, for love, as illustrations or
corroborations of doctrine, but not for the sake of the
marvellous merely. And further it would seem that
when he was sometimes invited and sometimes chal-
lenged to evince his Mesiahship by showing a sign, he
never consented, but called that manner of testing
him the craving of an evil and adulterous generation.
His words, when trusted by a sick man, became a mir-
acle of health ; when uttered in prayer at the tomb,
quickened the dead with life ; and when breathed in
blessing over five loaves, multiplied them into food for
five thousand persons and twelve baskets full of frag-
ments. Even the hem of his garment, a widow could
touch in a crowd, and find herself healed with so
doing. Signs and wonders went out from him as fast
as words, and as easily, too, sometimes. From side to
side of the sea of Galilee, and from Capernaum to Je-
rusalem, he was to be tracked by his miracles. There
was a miracle for the Eoman centurion, and a miracle
for the poor Syrophenician woman ; but a miracle never
for those who demanded it as such, for Pharisees
and Sadducees tempting him, for Jews demanding of
him, " What sign showest thou unto us ? " Once, in
the midst of a great crowd, he was asked, " What sign
showest thou, then, that we may see and believe thee ?
what dost thou work ? " But, for answer, he asserted
that his doctrine was greater than the miracle of man-
na in the wilderness ; that persons to be converted
would follow laws of the spirit, rather than the attrac-
tion of a sign ; and that himself he was a sign and
was also bread, and that more wonderful than the

MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE. 79

manna of the wilderness. It is consonant with what
precedes that St. Paul classes miracles below teaching ;
though of course it was not ordinary instruction, for
which teachers were ranked next after prophets, —
"And God hath set some in the church ; first, apostles ;
secondarily, prophets ; thirdly, teachers ; after that, mir-
acles ; then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diver-
sities of tongues."

A miracle may be convincing ; but evidently, at the
best, it is npt the best occasion of conversion. There
is a happier, better reason for conviction about Christ
than even seeing the greatest miracle with one's own
eyes, or our Saviour would never have said to Thomas,
as he felt of his hands and side, after his crucifixion
and resurrection, " Thomas, because thou hast seen me,
thou hast believed : blessed are they that have not seen,
and yet have believed." And just as Moses forewarned
the Jews against following the lead of every sign or
wonder, so does Jesus Christ forewarn the Church :
" There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and
shall show great signs and wonders ; insomuch, that, if
it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." The
thoughts of St. Paul were familiar with Providence as
manifesting itself among Jews and Gentiles, as evin-
cing itself in the world's conflicts, as summoning its
subjects to put on the whole armor of God, for a fight
of a wider meaning than they would perhaps well
perceive, as being not against flesh and blood merely,
furious Jews, tyrannical magistrates, or Ceesars calling
themselves gods ; but as being " against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

80 MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE.

And so, writing to the Thessalonians in the spirit of
prophecy, he warns them of that wicked one to be re-
vealed, " whose coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power and signs and lying wonders." And
St. John writes on the same understanding and to the
same purpose : " Beloved, believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits whether they are of God ; because many
false prophets are gone out into the world." In the
Book of Revelation, we have the visions of one in
the Spirit, of one who not merely saw further on than
common eyes, but who discerned also the essential
characters of coming powers and ages. And listening
to the Apocalypse, as it is disclosed, we hear of how
" the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet,
that wrought miracles before him." And more dis-
tinctly, too, we are told that there were to be expected
" the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world."
Miracles actually to be looked for from the spirits of
demons ! Let that be remembered.

But here some persons may ask anxiously, " Can it
be that there should be a miracle, any kind of mira-
cle, and the worker of it not be approved of God ? Can
there be a prophet ever, once in even a thousand or
two thousand years, and he be a false man ? How
shall we know the false prophet ? " To this it may be
answered, that for all the ends of holiness and faith
we may know them by the words of Christ, " Ye shall
know them by their fruits." There is, too, a capability
in man, which, with the quickening of the Holy Ghost,
becomes discerning of spirits ; ability, that is, for judg-
ing of what spirit a prophet's inspiration is. Lightfoot

MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE. 81

supposes that in the first age of the Church it was al-
most impossible to distinguish between magical, dia-
bolical spirits and their operations and the operations
and utterances of the Holy Ghost ; but that the diffi-
culty was remedied by there having been among the
early disciples, a gift for the " discerning of spirits." It
may have been that that gift was specially imparted
and specially effective for times, when almost it was
possible for the very elect to be deceived. But now
and always with Christians, for discerning false proph-
ets, seducing spirits, and false teachers, the words of
Christ — uttered, too, for this very purpose — are
enough : " Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do
men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? "

It would be well for us, no doubt, to get back into
the primitive feeling about the miracles of the Bible.
It may be that really ourselves we falsify the miracles,
by making them more peculiar than they are. It may
be that we miss the meaning of a miracle, by thinking
that miracles are not only improbable at present, but
impossible, and one just as much so as another, the
healing of the sick as the raising of the dead. And
it is perhaps only with knowing how a false prophet
might possibly have a miracle work its way through
his nature, that we can even recognize the channel by
which the Spirit flowed in upon Christ, not by measure,
but as a stream of truth and miracles. In the Scrip-
tures, then, we find that by our position as Christians
we are not committed to a denial of the miraculous
in any age ; and we also find that, indeed, the early
Christians were taught to expect it, even aside from
Christian uses. What, then, is the proof of Christian-
4* p

82 MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE.

ity ? and what are the miracles as evidences ? The
answers to these questions shall be in the words of
others ; and they are all the better for the purpose,
that they were not written for an exigency, or to meet
any modern difficulty on the subject of miracles : and
so there shall be no quotation here of the opinions of
Arnold, Newman, and others of the present age.

John Owen of the seventeenth century, in a manly
tone, which gladdens the reader, says, if one would
begin with the miracles as the foundations of Chris-
tianity, that he can get no tolerable assurance that
any such miracles were ever wrought. Does he doubt
them then ? Owen doubt them ! No more than any
person doubts the sun because he cannot touch it.
Hear what he says further : " Many writers of the
Scriptures wrought no miracles. And by this rule
their writings are left to shift for themselves. Mira-
cles, indeed, were necessary to take of! all prejudices
from the person that brought any new doctrine from
God ; but the doctrine still evidenced itself. The
apostles converted many where they wrought no
miracle ; and, where they did so work, yet they for
their doctrine, and not the doctrine on their account,
was received. And the Scripture now hath no less
evidence and demonstration in itself of its divinity
than it had when by them it was preached." He
adds, that they who do not receive the Bible on this
ground will never receive it on any ground as they
ought. Says his contemporary, Eichard Baxter : " I
more sensibly perceive that the Spirit is the great wit-
ness of Christ and Christianity to the world. And
though the folly of fanatics tempted me long to over-

MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE. 83

look the strength of this testimony of the Spirit, while
they placed it in a certain internal assertion or enthu-
siastic inspiration, yet now I see that the Holy Ghost,
in another manner, is the witness of Christ, and his
agent in the world. The Spirit in the prophets was
his first witness ; and the Spirit by miracles was the
second ; and the Spirit by renovation, sanctification,
illumination, and consolation assimilating the soul to
Christ and heaven, is the continued witness to all true
believers. "And if any man have not the spirit of
Christ, the same is none of his." Even as the rational
soul in the child is the inherent witness or evidence
that he is the child of rational parents."

Baxter and Owen were men of other days than these,
and ministers of another training than the ten thou-
sand clergymen in England, who were lately made to
tremble and petition their bishops, in consequence
of a volume of " Essays and Reviews," to which four
or five of their fellows had been accessory. All this
modern talk, about miracles being the foundation of
Christianity, by one party, and about their being im-
possible to be proved, by another party, — it would all
have been but as the idle wind to Baxter and Owen.
Ministers who knew of the rock on which the Church
is founded, — they would have looked round them,
on one side and on the other ; and they would have
said together, " Christianity based on miracles ! 0
you unspiritual brethren ! The miracles of the New
Testament impossible to be proved in a court of law !
So they are ; and we acknowledge it willingly. But
they are true nevertheless, a thousand times true."
But Baxter and Owen were theologians, eminent and

84 MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE.

acknowledged, in an age when it was not strange to
remember that the word theology means the sci-
ence of God. They were men for whom there was a
world of spirit just as surely as a world of matter.
They were men of learning, and also they were men
of wide and various experience in the world. And
they were men, too, of a rarer wisdom than is ever
caught from either books or fellow-creatures, men of
spiritual insight, and men who knew, or thought that
they could know, " the things of God by the Spirit
of God."

Baden Powell regards miracles as hard to be be-
lieved by the scientific mind, and as becoming more
and more incredible to the world at large. And he
says expressly : " If miracles were in the estimation of
a former age among the chief supports of Christianity,
they are at present among the main difficulties and
hindrances to its acceptance " ; and Eenan and others
say so too. To this Baxter and Owen, only that their
time of speaking in this world is over, might be sup-
posed to answer : " To the scientific mind miracles are
incredible. Nor is this to be wondered at, since the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God ; for unto him they are foolishness. But, to him
that is spiritual, they are the wisdom of God and the
power of God ; for they are not only reported to the
world by history, but also by Christians they are sus-
ceptible of being spiritually discerned." And such a
statement would be legitimate and sound ; for what
cannot be quite proved in one court by direct testi-
mony may be abundantly demonstrable in another
court, by circumstantial and presumptive evidence.

MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE. 85

And what can never be proved to a scientific demon-
stration, a man may yet be insane if he does not be-
lieve. And things which would be utterly impossible
to a man of the earth, earthy, even though his earthi-
ness were of the very finest kind, and energetic as a
tiger's, and sagacious as an elephant's, — these same
things might become abundantly credible to him, as
soon as ever his earthiness had been touched by " the
second Adam," the " quickening spirit," " the Lord
from heaven." And about God, though viewed, as
often he is, as being a mighty machinist, heartless
really, though delighting in work, there are things
which would seem to be very unlikely, but which are
easily credited by a man, who, because of his having
been reached by the Spirit, has felt himself " in sub-
jection unto the Father of spirits." For, whatever
the eternal necessity of things may be, it can never
be supposed, before the throne of grace, if there be
one, that necessarily men and butterflies must be
alike.

But now, because the thing has got to be done, it
must be done, but yet it is not without reluctance
and even some pain ; for Eenan is a man of some fine
characteristics, though not perhaps, in all respects, of
the very happiest schooling in life. Preferring to the
earlier chapters of the Book of Acts, in his volume on
the Apostles, he says, "It would be unjust to dwell on
anything we may see to be shocked at, in this sad page
of the origin of Christianity. For vulgar hearers, the
miracle proves the doctrine ; for us, the miracle causes
the doctrine to be forgotten. When a belief has con-
soled and ameliorated humanity, it is excusable for

86 MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE.

having employed proofs proportioned to the weakness
of the public, whom it addressed." There are persons
who would call this French sentiment. There are
others who would utter words about it, keen enough
and true, but words also of crimination and condemna-
tion. But that shall not be done here. Christianity
is an excusable imposture, according to Eenan. That
Christianity is an imposture, possibly a man may be-
lieve honestly ; but that, as an imposture, it is excusa-
ble because of what has happened with it, — for the
supposition of such a thing as this, there are no easy
words to comment with which are strong enough. Let
the reader peruse again the words of Baxter and Owen,
and thank God that he can so readily sweeten his
mind, after such a sentiment as has been submitted to
him.

Miracles are so intimately connected with the per-
sonality of Jesus and with the lives of his apostles,
that it would seem as though it might be impossible
for a sane man, should he bethink himself, to say that
the miracles are false, while Jesus is true ; or to say
that Paul could write as he did out of a mind either
crazy or deceitful. Concurrently with a belief in
Christ, as a manifestation of the Highest, a man in-
deed may say : " Christ Jesus I bow to, as a Bevelation
started from somewhere between me and the unknown
God ; and he is the highest, holiest manifestation,
amidst primeval darkness which I have to trust to.
As to the miracles connected with Christ, it is so that
I cannot understand them, that I cannot conscien-
tiously say, in the proper meaning of the word 'be-
lief/ that I do believe them. It may be that consti-

MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE. 87

tutionally I am unfitted for a belief in the marvellous,
just as many men are disqualified for music and math-
ematics ; and it may be that some time my mind will
open to light, which at present it is closed against ;
and, should that light ever come, it will be welcome
and blessed." A man may be in such a position as
that mentally, and be a very good Christian perhaps.
But there would seem to be a wall of separation be-
tween him and the man who denounces the miracles
of the New Testament as being impostures. For the
latter person really can find in Christianity but very
little which is worthy of respect ; vitiated to his mind,
as it must nearly all of it be, by its connections with
what he supposes to be imposture, — that is, if he be
a man who can be justified in reasoning at all on such
a subject as Christianity.

In illustration of the subject of Christianity, as
vouched for by miracles, may be considered the follow-
ing passage from a homily by St. John Chrysostom,
about the beginning of the fifth century : —

" Tell me, if it were at your choice either to raise
the dead in the name of Christ, or to die for the sake of
his name, which would you wish to do ? Would you
not certainly prefer the latter ? And if there were of-
fered to you either the power of changing fodder into
gold, or a will which could despise wealth like fodder,
wTould not you choose the latter of the two ? And
rightly would you do so, because men would be best
persuaded in that manner ; for, if they saw you change
fodder into gold, like Simon, they would wish to share
the miraculous power with you ; and so their love of
money would grow upon them. But, if ever they

88 MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE.

could see gold despised like fodder, they would soon
be cleansed from their disease. You see, then, that it
is a good life which avails most."

And, now, a very different man from the golden-
mouthed bishop, an ancient Eabbi, Simeon Ben Lac-
hish, from his point of view would remark : —

" The proselyte is more beloved by the holy, blessed
God than the whole crowd that stood before Mount
Sinai. For unless they had heard the thunclerings,
and seen the flames and lightnings, the hills trembling
and the trumpets sounding, they had not received the
law. But the proselyte hath seen nothing of all this,
and yet hath come in, devoting himself to the holy,
blessed God, and hath taken upon him the kingdom of
heaven."

And here may come in a quotation from the Pneu-
matology of Heinrich Stilling, as corroborating some-
what indirectly, but from the fact of experience, the
position of Baxter and Owen, as to the relative influ-
ence of miracle and doctrine. After saying that an
apparition may cause a panic, but seldom or never
operate a conversion, he adds, " I know instances of
professed materialists and freethinkers having posi-
tively seen spirits, so that they were convinced that it
was the soul of one of their deceased acquaintances ;
and yet they continued to doubt their own immortal-
ity and self-consciousness."

From a very different quarter, very rich, however, in
psychological information, may be adduced the follow-
ing testimony of Emmanuel Swedenborg : " A sixth
law of the Divine Providence is that man should not
be reformed by external mediums, but by internal me-

MIRACLES AND DOCTRINE. 89

diums ; by external mediums means by miracles and
visions, also by fears and punishment ; by internal
mediums means by truths and goods from the word,
and from the doctrine of the Church, and by looking
to the Lord ; for these mediums enter by an internal
way, and cast out the evils and falses which reside
within : but external mediums enter by an external
way, and do not cast out evils and falses, but shut
them in. Nevertheless, man is further reformed by ex-
ternal mediums, provided he has been before reformed
by internal mediums."

Not in controversy about miracles, as disconnected,
isolated facts, can there ever be found the truth about
them. But let the denier of miracles study pneumat-
ics, and learn the marvels which will be disclosed to
him : and let the mere dogmatic asserter of miracles
explore the philosophy to which they belong ; and then
the two will find themselves meeting on peaceful
ground, amazed, indeed, but not lost in amazement.

MIEACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIEIT.

AND with the event just now supposed a new era
would probably begin for the Church. There is
nobody living who can read the Bible as he ought to
do. If he be not a Christian, he reads it with at least
some small remains of the hostility, which was wak-
ened in his predecessors by the hatred with which they
were once pursued. And if he be a Christian, he reads
it as though it were a book by itself ; as though there
had been no time anywhere else, while the ages of
Jewish history were slowly passing ; as though, body
and soul, the ancient inhabitants of Palestine had
been such a peculiar people as that poetry, with them,
had been altogether another thing from poetry in
Greece ; and as though the prophets of Homer, Plato,
and Pausanias were so utterly different in constitution
and purpose from the prophets of the Scriptures as
that even the false prophets of the Bible could not
possibly be likened, in any way, to the prophets of the
Iliad, or of the Travels in Greece. Even the heathen-
ism denounced in the Scriptures is held, not in vener-
ation certainly, but yet in such a reserved, conservative
temper as that hardly ever does any one think to illus-
trate it by the heathenism of Eindostan or Africa.
Analogy is rarely thought of as being possible between
the demoniacs of the New Testament and " the suffer-

MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT. 91

ers " in Salem, some two hundred years ago, or the
people of strange experiences lately, at Chambery in
Savoy, and more recently at Morzine. And notwith-
standing the little philosophy which is accessible on
the subject of prophecy, never perhaps to any formal
commentator on the Scriptures has it occurred to illus-
trate the manner in which, characteristically, as it
would appear, often the prophets of the Old Testament
were convulsed, by any reference to the peculiarity
which caused the society of Friends to be called Qua-
kers. It is as though it were thought that even the
devils, mentioned in the New Testament, would be
profaned by having anything modern likened to them.

More and more the tendency has been to read the
Scriptures by the least light possible of a spiritual
character ; but sea and land, the while, have been
compassed to learn about the mustard-tree, or as to
leprosy, or as to how wine was made, and cakes were
baked, anciently, or as to the niceties of the old law
on polygamy and divorce. And it seems like a daring
statement, when one reads, in the grave work of an
English dignitary, that prophetic power has existed
outside of the churches, both Jewish and Christian.
And it has seemed to be very anomalous, when it has
been hinted, by the way of comparing small things
with great, that there may possibly be some analogy
between the ancient "laying-on of hands" and the
processes which were stumbled upon by Mesmer.

And yet to demur to illustrations of the Scriptures
from psychological experiences, modern or mediaeval,
is really about the same thing as though one should
hold that Miriam's triumphal ode, on the shore of the

92 MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT.

Red Sea, could never have been made audible by such
breath as mortals draw ; or as though one should deny
that the harp to which David sang from inspiration
could possibly have been such an instrument as might
have been bought in a market-place. Such confusion
often do men seriously and solemnly, — and all the
more readily because of the solemnity which they are
under, — such confusion do men make between a mere
channel and the water in it, which really constitutes
the stream. As Jesus ascended from Jericho to Jeru-
salem, a whole multitude accompanied him, with their
hosannas " for all the mighty works which they had
seen." This action of theirs the Pharisees would have
had Jesus rebuke. " And he answered and said unto
them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace
the stones would immediately cry out." And if this had
happened, as it might have done, it would not have
been that the stones would have become adorable, or
that they would have remained anything else than com-
mon stones ; bu^ simply it would have been made plain
and memorable that the Holy Spirit which was shed
abroad there, can make anything vocal, though per-
haps the stubborn heart of a man may be almost the
last thing to be pliant to its promptings.

On the subject of miracles it is very curious how
men dogmatize sometimes ; for a man will argue on
behalf of the miracles of the Bible as though they
were simply things of history, and almost of yester-
day, in a neighboring city, having no eye for the long
perspective of history, and having also no more idea
of the history of the Bible, and the books which com-
pose it, than the wicked Ahab had of geology and the

MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIKIT. 93

formation of mica slate ; while another man in at-
tacking the credibility of miracles does it as though,
"by the grace of God," he were a king of thought,
with a right to legislate for his own wants in argu-
ment, and to raise up and put dowu witnesses at will.
This man, however, is essentially of the same char-
acter with his humbler brother, who holds simply,
" Everybody is as good as any other body, and is just
as much entitled to an opinion ; and let him have it
and say it."

A man must have some sense of the miraculous be-
fore miracles can be to him what they ought to be.
He must believe them himself aright before he is fit
to convince others. And to argue them simply by
the way of testimony and history, as is commonly
done, does more mischief than good, and has often,
with pressure, roused a conscientious antagonism of
unbelief. Now and then a man is to be heard who
takes credit to himself for belieAdng in the miracles
of the Scriptures, while actually his belief is just
what he might have for the measurement of Nineveh,
should it ever be published, or for the locality of the
pool of Siloam. "Believing in miracles, is believing
in history," says the confident man, " and when I say
history, I mean the Bible." But now history is not
exactly the same thing to one man as it is to another,
nor to the same man is it the same thing at all times.
And. miracles, as a subject, need for their appreciation,
not the temper of the market-place, nor the tone of
the council-chamber, but the spirit of a worshipper,
who has been admitted further into the temple than
the fore-court, and who, if he has never seen inside

94 MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT.

of the holy of holies, has yet distinctly recognized
the veil of separation, which hangs before it.

"What constitutes a prophet ? How did the word of
the Lord come ? and by what faculty was it received ?
How did the Spirit rest upon a man ? What exactly
was the state of a man when he saw visions ? And
what precisely was it which happened when a man
had a revelation in a dream ? Surely, these are ques-
tions which theology ought to be ready to answer any-
where, in a moment ; and especially, as at least, the
answers have always been latent in the Scriptures
themselves. And yet there are theologians by pro-
fession, who are very impatient of such inquiries as
these, who yet would be scandalized at being thought
to be impatient Christians. The pneumatology of the
Scriptures, from one cause and another, is utterly un-
known, and even unsuspected by many persons, who
perhaps would be ardent students in it, but for the
spiritual twilight of our day, occasioned by the long,
low, dense cloud of anti-supernaturalism, which has
been passing over us. Often in controversies about
miracles it would be ludicrous, only that it is sad, to
see and know that on neither side have the opponents
a right to any opinion whatever, any more than if they
were two unlettered Celts arguing about the binomial
theorem.

And among even the assailants of miracles as
being credible, there is that difference of opinion
which argues that it is not because of broad daylight
that they act, but really because, being intellectually
active, they have been unable to sleep through this
long " eclipse of faith." Eenan thinks that visions

MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT. 95

and prophecies are as much exceptional to order, and
as incredible as material miracles. But Baden Powell
does not think so. He would have been perplexed
and almost shocked by a miracle involving atoms of
dirt, or which might have, seemed to compromise
chemistry, as in the healing of a sick man, or the
multiplication of loaves and fishes by Jesus ; but
readily he would have credited visions and prophecies,
as the result of spiritual interference with the spirits
of men.

In the immortality of the soul a man may believe
for fifty years, and in the fifty-first year, with " new-
ness of life " may find that for the half of a century
he had been believing with his fancy only, and not
his heart. And after illness or great trouble often a
man finds that, in some way or other, he has become
" a new creature," because of the new book into which,
for him, the old Bible would seem to have changed.
And in this world's darkness there have been leaders
of the people religiously, who, because of their having
been enlightened from above, have been ready to hum-
ble themselves in the dust, not only before the Lord,
but in the congregation of their fellow-creatures, be-
cause of their having spoken of "the things of the
Spirit," without having personally known of the
Spirit, and who would have wished to have said with
Isaiah, " Woe is me ! for I am undone ; because I am
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips : for mine eyes have seen the
King, the Lord of hosts."

Miracles presuppose a miraculous world, a world
of spirit, from which, now and then, may be manifested

96 MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT.

" signs." But if that world be itself denied, or if the
means or channels for any effect from it be disbelieved,
or if the sense for it be asleep, men may talk about
miracles, and may believe them, as they believe in the
rim* of Scipio Barbatus, which is said to have been
found in his tomb. But believing in that manner,
they do not believe miracles aright, do not believe
them, as being what exactly they call themselves,
which is "signs." Miracles are "signs." And signs
presuppose a quarter whence they are made, and a
mind which makes them. In the New Testament, at
least, miracles are " signs," — signs of a presence
which could not itself be borne perhaps, — signs of a
something which of itself would be too vast for hu-
man comprehension.

But the significance of miracles in this manner, is
exactly what has been generally surrendered to the as-
saults of science. Theology grown timid from many
causes, and feeble too, has allowed young audacious
science to strip it, almost without resistance. And
outside of the Catholic Church, the utmost which it
attempts to-day is to entreat scientific men, for the
love of God, to spare some of the miracles of the Bi-
ble, and to let believers believe them, because of vari-
ous ingenious theories, by which miracles may con-
ceivably be true. And this it does very often, without
remembering that these various and ingenious theories
are opposed to one another, and do not need the unbe-
lief of an enemy to expose and quash them.

Angel or vision, spirit or demon, dream or impulse,
— none of these things ever come into this world, to
anybody, from out of another world : that is what the

MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT. 97

common philosophy of the day says ; and it is what
generally, among Protestants, theology agrees to, though
with many curious make-shifts for saving its dignity,
and with one reservation. And the reservation which
theology makes for itself, before succumbing to the
imperious scepticism of science, is merely this : that in
a certain country, at certain times there may have been
miracles, though provided for, perhaps, from the begin-
ning of the world in some curious way, by which
science need not feel itself compromised, except very
slightly or almost not at all. And this is theology, is
it ? Modern theology, it may be, but it is wofully
weak. And it is no wonder that the miracles of the
Bible are regarded as untenable accounts, and as
scarcely worthy of an argument, by young students,
in whose eyes they can be, at the best, but like relics
descended from a mighty past, dead now and over ;
and vouched for also in merely the same traditional
way as the holy curiosities in the treasury of some
Catholic church in France or Italy, — a skull perhaps,
a piece of a cloak, an old shoe, a little ringer, a lock of .
hair, and other tilings, for which, living connection and
vital significance have lonq; since ceased.

During the last three or four generations, the mira-
cles narrated in the Holy Scriptures have been de-
fended, variously defended, ingeniously defended, hotly
defended, defended with lofty scorn, and defended with
erudite contempt ; but they have not proportionately
been preached upon, or expounded, or gloried in. And
it is a very singular, significant fact, that latterly the
subject of miracles has been avoided by genius as
something unattractive, and by holy meditation as
5 g

98 MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT.

something uncongenial. The defence of miracles has
been free and multitudinous ; but then it has been
made much in the same way as the doors of a church
might be barred against a mob, and in much the same
temper. Miracles have been defended against the
spirit of the times, by men of the same spirit them-
selves. And by the very way and tone in which mir-
acles have been defended, there has been drawn upon
them a keener and more concentrated attack.

The arms with which Christianity is assailed to-day
on account of the miracles connected with the gospel,
the ingenious arguments against them, have nearly all
been got out of Protestant armories, and are actually
the same weapons which Protestants, during two or
three centuries, have devised and welded, and used
against the credibility of the miracles of the Catholic
Church. "Anything outside of the order of Nature,
must be a miracle inside of the Church, or else it must
be the work of the old enemy of the Church, and
therefore, in a way, is still a testimonial to the Church."
And not* a little of the controversy between the Cath-
olic Church and Protestants, has presupposed this
false issue. And always it has been done to the detri-
ment of Protestantism ; for a man cannot fight, any
more than he can sleep in a cramped attitude, without
being the worse for it. Perverted by philosophy some-
times, and heated by controversy, it has often happened
that Protestantism has defined miracles not quite right-
ly, as to both their nature and significance ; and thus
it has chanced that while combating the credibility
of the mediaeval and modern miracles of the Catholic
Church, the leaders of Protestantism have actually

MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT. 99

exposed their own position, as Christian believers.
And all the while really, in one place or another, age
after age, have been occurring, among Protestants
themselves things of the same nature as have sufficed
at Eome for the canonization of saints, or for evidence
of close communion with the spiritual world.

In the seventeenth century lived an Irish gentleman
of the name of G-reatrex, who healed diseases in a
manner which would be commonly understood as be-
ing miraculous. The evidence about him is what
would be supported by Evelyn and Jeremy Taylor.
But now, what that man did would suffice in the Con-
gregation on Eites at Eome for the canonization of
fifty saints. And in the life of the Seeress of Pre-
vorst, within the present century, were instances of
intercourse with spirits, so many and of such a nature
as would have made her the glory of any Order of
Nuns for ages. It is not in the Catholic Church only
that people sometimes are pious and clairvoyant both ;
and there have been many Protestants, and especially
while in suffering, who have had spiritual experiences
which, in the life of St. Philip Neri, would have count-
ed for additional graces. There is a book entitled,
" Devotional Somnium, or a Collection of Prayers and
Exhortations, uttered by Miss Eachel Baker, in the
City of New York, in the winter of eighteen hundred
and fifteen, during her abstracted, unconscious state."
The account of this Presbyterian girl presupposes a
spiritual peculiarity like what constituted, not indeed
the saintship, but the marvellousness of St. Bridget, in
relation to whom there is a folio volume, in Latin,
printed at Munich, in the seventeenth century, edited

100 MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT.

by a Cardinal, and enriched by various historical, liter-
ary, and philosophical illustrations, — " Celestial Eev-
elations of the Seraphic Mother, St. Bridget, of Sweden,
the Foreordained Bride of Christ, and the Foundress
of the Order of her Bridegroom, the most Holy Sav-
iour."

It has been the misfortune of Protestantism in its
controversy with the Catholic Church, that it has had
to argue the subject of miracles, as authorization of
doctrine, while itself suffering, by way of circumscrip-
tion, from " philosophy falsely so called," or only in
part ascertained. Twelve years ago, there was pub-
lished in Paris, a Life of St. Joseph of Cupertino. It
was preceded and accompanied by a loud challenge to
Protestants, on account of certain marvels which had
happened in connection with the saint. The Protes-
tant notice of the work was simply a jeering, flat de-
nial of the marvels which seemed, however, to be well
fortified by documents as to their credibility. And
yet actually to that Catholic challenge it might have
been answered, that, apart from goodness, the marvels
for which St. Joseph of Cupertino was canonized are
not peculiar to the Catholic Church, but are incidental
to human nature, as is the truth to the knowledge of
the writer hereof, and of perhaps a whole host of other
Protestants. Dreams, visions, and impulses, of an ex-
traordinary character, are of infinite interest to Catho-
lics, religiously ; but during the last hundred years or
more, to nearly all enlightened Protestants, they have
been, at best, but the halves of " singular coincidences,"
or they have been " queer things," and things not to be
named or even thought of respectfully, for fear of
science and public opinion.

MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT. 101

On this subject of miracles, through controversy
with the Catholic Church, there is another way in
which Protestantism has suffered. Any statement as
to miracles by a Catholic is what has been prepared
and indorsed for him by the concentrated authority,
learning, experience, and wisdom of his Church.
Whereas, any statement by a Protestant is merely
what an individual can best make. And thus it hap-
pens that Protestants argue about miracles in different
ways, and in ways which are destructive one of an-
other; and by the conflict of which, generally, faith
is weakened and bewildered. But perhaps, any time,
if the average sentiment of Protestants on the subject
of miracles and the Catholic Church could have got
embodied and expressed, it would have been something
very different from that of their foremost controversial-
ists. But such an expression of opinion, of course,
could have been only conglomerate and not homo-
geneous. For Protestants are people of varieties and
characteristics known, all of them, to no man living,
perhaps. They are Lutherans, Calvinists, Episcopa-
lians, and Presbyterians ; Unitarians, Moravians, Qua-
kers, Baptists, Methodists ; people who eat, and drink,
and work, and go to church, but who never think seri-
ously ; people who never go to church, except now and
then in some regions, to assure themselves that they
are Protestants ; and people who go to church for duty,
and who, at home, think so differently and so sweetly
otherwise from what they have been taught, that they
are an astonishment to themselves ; Fellows of the
Eoyal Society of London ; English peasants, who have
never been outside of their native counties ; occupants

102 MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT.

of Swiss valleys, like the Ban de la Koche ; and suf-
fering, sorrowing pietists, in such spots of dense hea-
thenism as exist in London. And out of all these
classes, the aggregate expression would probably have
been, " You Catholics are not afraid of science, for in-
side of your countries it can only speak by permission
of the Church. But with us Protestants, it is differ-
ent. And somehow, our scholars can neither think,
nor speak, nor feel, nor see, except wTith a twist, which
they got in college. About science we generally know
nothing, but w^e hope the best. However, we do know
about facts. And your miracles, if that be what you
call them, — things like some of your miracles, — have
always been as common among us as they are with
you ; only that we do not think as much about them ;
nor have we either any authority among us to inter-
pret, and magnify, and publish them."

Much of the salt of the Church has been what
never was dropped from the pulpit. And there have
been quiet, reverential, God-fearing peasants, believ-
ing in ghost-stories, who, simply because of their sense
of the supernatural, have done more for Christianity,
without one word for it intentionally, than many a
doctor of divinity with even a quarto volume.

Of all the mistakes committed by scholarship, there
is none worse than to forego sympathy with the
ways of unlettered thought, and to feel contempt for
the multitude. The primitive instincts are the best
part of our lives ; and household phraseology is the
better part of our speech. A philosopher cannot de-
liberately and contemptuously forego communion with
the poor, without being liable to drift away into

MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT. 103

vagaries and ineptitudes of thought ; and especially
and manifestly has this been the case on the subject
of the Supernatural.

There is in existence a hymn-book, and of no ob-
scure use either, in its day, in the preface to which it
is said, that the hymns have been made to conform
to modern philosophy, by the words, soul, and spirit in
them having been changed into mind, reason, and
understanding. "Philosophy to-day is not so widely
different from that modern philosophy as it might
seem to be, by its affecting strongly the words " soul "
and " spirit," and even making them fashionable ; for
always that philosophy will have us understand by
spirit a something largely void of spiritual character-
istics, as known alike to both Jews and Greeks. This
emptying the word " spirit " of its meaning is in ac-
cordance with the anti-supernaturalism of our times.
And, in the same manner, the Scriptures have been
discharged of much which wo*uld imply preternatural
connections for man. This, however, is a subject for
further and fuller consideration.

Very largely a man can find in the Scriptures only
what he is prepared to see. This is true of any book.
But over and above those reasons which rule for
a legal document, there are others which specially
govern as to such subjects as are involved in an ear-
nest study of the Scriptures. Before a man can be
open to the full meaning of words which were written
by persons within the sphere of the Holy Spirit, he
himself must have been touched by that Spirit. That
touch is what is said sometimes to throw an ignorant,
disorderly backwoodsman into convulsions, because of

104 MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT.

the manner in which body and spirit are laced to-
gether. But it is different with a quiet, orderly per-
son, studious of truth, and seeking for light. And
when the Spirit reaches such a person it affects him
like a great thought, like a flash of light in his soul,
from above, and with the coming of which he feels
at once humiliated and exalted, and as being what
truly he is, — a creature in affinity with the Creator,
and a child on earth suddenly found, and touched,
and drawn by the Father in heaven.

By argument merely an anti-supernaturalist may be
convinced that he is not justified in denying the
miracles of the Scriptures. And by argument, per-
haps, he may be made even to believe them histori-
cally. But for making him believe them aright, be-
lieve them to the best purpose, argument is not
enough. To believe miracles with the intellect is one
thing, and to believe them with the heart is another.
A true believer believes them with both head and
heart. In these times to propose converting an un-
believer to Christianity, as is often attempted, by sim-
ply historical argument, long drawn out, as to the
reality and authority of miracles, is about the same
thing as though, in the case of a priest losing his
faith, it should be proposed to revive him spiritually
by clothing him with surplice, bands, and beretta, and
reading to him a lecture on apostolic succession.

According to the Psalmist, " The fool hath said in
his heart, There is no God." His atheistic folly may
be corrected, to a certain extent, by a good theologian.
And the fool may be made logically to see and know
that there must be a God. But he can have his heart

MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT. 105

revive from its atheistic numbness only with waiting
and humility, and by the healing influence of that
Spirit which indeed is the God " in whom we live and
move and have our being," which makes ministers out
of angels, and which perfects praise out of the mouth
of babes ; which gets itself glorified as to its purposes,
by even the wrath of man ; and which, reaching us as
Christians is the Spirit which bears witness with our
spirits that we are the children of God ; and which,
blending with our spirits, helps our infirmities, and
prays in our prayers ; and which manifests its strength
in man the most, wrhen man himself is at his weakest.

A Christian believer being of bad habits may be per-
suaded to reform his manners ; but it is not at the will
of either himself or his advisers, that he shall have
what, however, will surely come, with perseverance, ■ —
joy in the Holy Ghost.

A philosophical materialist may have been con-
vinced of the system, wdiich is the opposite of what
he had held ; but yet, not at all as a sequence to his
reasoning, and altogether really apart from his logic,
it may flash upon him that he is not only a spirit
clothed in matter, but that also he is a spirit in a
spiritual world, a spirit open to he knows not what ;
but certainly, if anything be certain, open to the Holy
Ghost ; open to the gentle approach of the God under
whose supremacy he came into being, and began to
know of hope and fear, and of the struggle between
virtue and vice.

If a creature of yesterday be to meet what is from
all eternity, if what at its very best is folly is to be
noticed, however distantly, by infinite wisdom, it can
5*

106 MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT.

only be because wisdom from all eternity must be of
infinite condescension, and willing even to "bow the
heavens and come down " ; and because, now and al-
ways, as to true worshippers, " the Father seeketh such
to worship him."

And on the subject of miracles, argument, however
acute it may be, is not everything. A man may be
convinced of a mistake without therefore being filled
with wisdom. And a man, by argument, may be
made to feel that he has no right to deny the reality
of the miracles of the Scriptures. But before they
Ean become to him signs as well as wonders, there
must be open in him an apprehension to which they
signify ; and there must be waiting in him a state co-
mingled of expectation, awe, and faith, to which they
answer.

After Thomas the apostle, who could not believe on
testimony, had been satisfied, by the details of a per-
sonal interview, that his Lord was alive again, after
his crucifixion, death, and burial, "Jesus saith unto
him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast
believed : blessed are they that have not seen and yet
have believed." By this text, not a little witticism
and worldly wise remark has been started, as though
it had been a sentiment devised for proselytizing pur-
poses. Whereas, simply it would mean that blessed
were the}^ who could believe in his resurrection, on
good testimony ; because of their having souls larger
than what might suffice for a detective policeman ;
because of their being of a temper which could possi-
bly believe in a miracle, without seeing it ; because of
their not being too hard of heart ; because of their

MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT. 107

knowing that the world is governed not only by
magistrates like Caiaphas and Pilate, but by author-
ities and powers, invisible indeed, but higher still than
they, by the ministration of angels, and by God Most
High ; and because of their being of a spirit, informed
by the experiences of their people ; — hopeful on ac-
count of their having Abraham to their father, and
from the expectations, with which prophetically they
had been inspired as to a Messiah ; and ready in an
hour of darkness to trust the future, because of what
Elijah had been, and Daniel had been proved. And
perhaps, also, this further thought may have been in-
volved in those words of the Lord, — that blessed
were they who, because of what they knew of Jesus,
and because of what they had felt of his transcendent
spirit, and because of their sense of him as the Holy
One, could readily believe that his soul was not to be
left among souls below, and that indeed by death " it
was not possible that he should be holden."

But there are persons who say, with many airs and
much emphasis, " What have I to do with the past ?
Let the dead past be buried with the dead. I am a
child of the present." And anything more derogatory
to his manhood could anybody well say ? A child of
the present ! That is exactly what a monkey is. But
all the more that a man is a man, the more truly is he
not only the child of the present time, but the grand-
child of the last century ; and also a descendant of the
ages which were before Luther and Cranmer, and be-
fore William the Conqueror, and before Justinian with
his Pandects, and before Plato and Homer, and before
Christ, and before the captivity of the Jews, and be-

108 MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT.

fore Moses, and before Abraham was. A monkey may
chatter to-day, and does, as monkeys chattered thou-
sands of years ago. But no man to-day speaks exactly
as anybody did a hundred years ago. There is no man
but speaks by his connections with almost every de-
cade of every century of recorded time. And the bet-
ter he speaks, the more widely does the man evince
what his connections are, with Saxons, Normans,
Danes, Britons, Piomans, Greeks, with France and
Spain, with Arabia and Persia. A man cannot well
even order his dinner, but in words which connect
him not only with the cooks of to-day, but with the
ancient Germans in their forests, with the Normans
of a thousand years ago, and with Britons, ages before
Julius Caesar. By almost every word he uses, by al-
most every inflection in his speech, by almost every
thought he has, and by almost every shade of every
thought, the man of to-day is the child of the past, a
thousand times more than he is a child of the present.
But the monkey is really the child of the present, and
of it only, and always is so. Monkeyhood is exactly
the same, to-day, which it was a hundred, a thousand
years ago, or when Aristotle was alive.

Man is a child of the past, and ever more and more
anciently descended. But concurrently with the men-
tal wealth which is derived to him from the scholars
and institutions and nations of the past, there are ob-
ligations and fealties to the past, which get fastened
upon him.

By courts, and lawyers, and judges, and great rev-
erence, do men endeavor to perpetuate among them-
selves, and to get expounded and made intelligible,

MIRACLES AND THE BELIEVING SPIRIT. 109

the principles of law, which are the essences of the
accumulated experiences of many men, in many ways,
in many ages, and in many lands.

And a man has no right to denounce or discard, or
even to suspect, the miracles of the Scriptures, merely
because they are not in keeping with his own notions,
or, as he says, because of his being himself a child of
to-day, and free of the past. For free of the past,
whether for knowledge, or obligation, or fealty, is
what a man can be, only just as he nears the irre-
sponsible, disconnected, untaught, playsome individ-
uality of the monkey in the woods.

THE SCRIPTURES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

THE Bible is a book which "he who runs may
read." But if a man will read it, as a critic, he
is bound to read it by all the light which he can get ;
and to remember also, that even so he may be but in
a dim twilight. " Bise, take up thy bed and walk,"
were words which turned to a miracle of healing for a
poor man, so as that he could roll up his bit of car-
pet and walk away. But for want of that informa-
tion, with which always the background of Scriptural
scenes ought to be filled up, in an old Dutch engrav-
ing, the sufferer of thirty-eight years is pictured as
walking away with a four-post bedstead, curtains, and
bedding on his shoulders. And often on the miracles
of the Scriptures there are comments made which,
philosophically, are just as unwitting as that Dutch
picture. For indeed miracles presuppose some kind
of pneumatology. But this is a thing which is hardly
ever thought of, because of the anti-supernaturalism
of the times, which latterly men have been living
through. " Pneumatology, — what is that, and what
can that have to do with the Scriptures ? " These are
questions, which have been asked in all seriousness,
by persons, like whom there are thousands of others,
both among those who attack and those who defend
the Scriptures.

THE SCRIPTURES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. Ill

Pneumatology is the science, or rather is the best
understanding of men as to the spiritual universe, as
to the ranks of spiritual "beings, from the highest to
the lowest, and especially of men as spiritual beings,
and of the ways in which spiritually they may affect
one another ; of their connections also with the spirit-
ual world, and of the modes by which men may be
affected, while yet in the flesh, by the influences and
occupants of that world to which they belong spirit-
ually, and also for eternity ; and of the liabilities, too,
and possibilities incidental to human nature, because
of man's mixed constitution, as to body and spirit.
This is pneumatology. And the pneumatology of the
Scriptures, is that understanding of the spiritual uni-
verse which the sacred writers had, when they wrote
their respective books, psalms, and epistles. A matter
this of infinite importance ! And it never could have
been so commonly lost sight of, as it has been, but for
the anti-supernaturalism of these latter times, and but
that the best belief of the best believer to-day is not
much better than the glimmering perceptions of some
materialist philosopher, when first the eyes of his
understanding begin to open spiritually. Deny the
miracles of the Scriptures, without ever having known
of the pneumatology involved in them ! A man might
as well denounce the calculations and predictions of
astronomy, because they are not of a piece with his
pocket arithmetic.

And the defence of the Scriptures, in ignorance of
the pneumatology pervading them, is, of course, but
blundering work. And with a pneumatology of his
own, however imperfectly understood, the ordinary

112 THE SCRIPTURES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

Jew, of ancient times may have been a much better
witness as to miracles than many a modern critic, in
his place, would have been, who, however scientific he
may be as to matter, has no science of spirit whatever.
From the want of a Scriptural pneumatology, some
things in the Bible are almost unintelligible, which
would otherwise be very simple. Also the necessities
of theologians in controversy have betrayed them
into some false positions on Scriptural subjects, which
they would never have occupied, if they had known
the lay of the land on which they were contending, as
through a pneumatology properly ascertained they
would have done.

It has been widely held as a truism, that there never
have been any other miracles than what are recorded
in the Bible, or than certainly what happened in Bibli-
cal ages, or than what were seals of the Almighty set
upon doctrines. This, however, is not Scriptural, and
though it is intended as a defence of the Scriptures, it
is ruinous to the philosophy of miracles.

That the gods of the heathen were stocks and stones,
or, at best, fine statues, is become even a truism. And
yet, notwithstanding what two or three passages in the
Old Testament may seem to say differently, it is as
certain, apparently, as the reality of the first com-
mandment, that besides Jehovah there were other
gods of some kind to be had.

And similarly, at present, the prophets denounced
in the Old Testament are commonly supposed, all of
them, to have been persons who pretended to proph-
esy, while they knew themselves that they were only
impostors. Whereas commonly, the false prophet was

THE SCRIPTURES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 113

a man of prophetic nature, who was false to the Lord,
and who allowed himself to be used as a mouthpiece
or other agency, by some false god, some demon or hu-
man spirit, who had got lodged, it may have been, in
a temple, and by some such means, probably, as are
used now for enticing martins to build in a garden.

And because magic might seem to render miracles
less miraculous, it has been fancied, that there may
have been anciently, a curious modification of lan-
guage taken for granted, occasionally, by which, when
a thing Avas said to have been done, it was understood
as having simply been pretended to have been done.
And thus in Exodus, in rivalry with Moses, when
"the magicians did so with their enchantments," it
has been held that the proper understanding is, that
merely the magicians seemed or pretended to do so.

It has been supposed absolutely, that before Christ,
there was no belief in another life among the Jews.
And on this account, the revelation of a future life by
Jesus Christ is thought to have been the more pecu-
liar and wonderful. What, then, does all the legisla-
tion by Moses mean, as to " familiar spirits," if such
a thing as a familiar spirit had never been conceived
of? And if it should be said that one might have
believed in a spirit, without necessarily having con-
ceived that that spirit was a man with prolonged ex-
istence, then let the account of the woman of Endor
be considered, — a woman that had a familiar spirit.
Through her, says the narrative, she having seen " gods
ascending from the earth," Saul talked with Samuel,
much to his distress. The ordinary comment on this
interview says that it was all imposture. But the

114 THE SCRIPTURES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

Bible itself does not say so. But even supposing that
one might contradict the history, in that flat manner,
there still would remain all for which it is here cited,
that among the Hebrews, at that early time, there was
such a belief, in a disembodied existence of the human
soul, as that Saul the king thought that the prophet
Samuel, though dead and buried, might yet have a
word for him in his sore extremity No belief,
among the ancient Jews, in another life, even though
it were only before Malachi, the last of the proph-
ets ! It would seem as though it might have been
common even as " a familiar spirit." Certainly Jesus
fully presumed on such a belief amongst them, when
he said, " As touching the resurrection of the dead,
have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by
God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? God is not the God
of the dead, but of the living." And surely this is a
plain statement of doctrine. But it may be asked,
what, then, was meant by St. Paul when he wrote that
our Saviour Jesus Christ " hath abolished death, and
hath brought life and immortality to light, through
the gospel " ? Perhaps this may mean something far
in advance, doctrinally, of what is commonly thought.
As a matter of fact and history, it is certain that, at
the appearing of our Saviour, the Jews did all believe
in a life to come, with the exception of the small sect
of Sadducees. But by those words of his, what, then,
did St. Paul mean, over and above the general belief
of the time ? He says that life and immortality were
brought to light ; he does not say that they were
brought out of utter darkness; but he adds, that it

THE SCRIPTURES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 115

was by the gospel. By the visible resurrection of
Christ, it was evident that there was a way by which
men might live again. But besides that, though
simultaneously with that knowledge, by the spirit of
Christ, the connections between this world and the next
were made manifest, and especially as regards faith
and righteousness. Because of the spirit which they
had got from him, all the early Christians felt them-
selves as though raised from the dead in Christ. In
Greece and Rome, a life after death was as distinctly
believed in by the Pagans as it is to-day at Rome or
Athens. But why, then, was not ancient literature
more tinged by some coloring reflected from the world
believed in ? Precisely because the Pagans were
without Christ. Life and immortality were believed
to exist, but they were not brought to light as they
are by the gospel ; were not felt as familiarly as Chris-
tians feel them ; were not believed in, because of the
indwelling Spirit, which teaches, but were credited
mainly because of ghost-stories, which were true
enough, perhaps, in themselves, but which could affect
only the externality of a man's nature, and not his
inmost heart, out of which are the issues of life for
this world and the world which is to come, — thought,
speech, and holiness, literature and righteous action.

In the Hebrew Scriptures there is a word which is
commonly translated "grave," but sometimes when
that could not possibly be the rendering, it is trans-
lated "hell." But it means neither; and it means
simply and exactly the place of souls. The word is
" sheol." " The place of ghosts " is the meaning of
the word, according to the Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon

116 THE SCRIPTURES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

of Dr. G. B. Winer, published in Leipsic. But how,
then, does it happen that a mistranslation of the word
into " grave," or " hell," should run throughout the Old
Testament ? It has been for the same reason, for which
that mistranslation has been recently perpetuated in a
late Cyclopaedia, published in England. It was clone
originally, because the early English translators of the
Bible could not think that any word therein could possi-
bly lend any countenance to the Catholic doctrine of
purgatory, or ought to. The place of souls might have
been understood as purgatory possibly, and so it was
translated either into hell outright, or else into the grave.
And the consequence of this is to the English reader,
that the ancient Hebrews, from their Scriptures, would
seem to have been a people who almost never had a
thought of another life, except now and then of hell,
topographically. The word " hades " is mistranslated
in the New Testament in much the same way. This
all, at present, would be a great disgrace to the quarter
where any authority or responsibility on the matter
may belong, only that every Protestant living, perhaps,
by his own mental condition, is more or less accessory
to it. The Eabbi Ben Levi assured Dr. Priestley in a
printed letter, that through Moses there was known to
the Jews the certainty of a life hereafter. And no
doubt this was much to the philosophic doctor's
amazement and amusement, both. For on this subject,
about every good Protestant, the words are true which
Paul wrote to the Corinthians in regard to a kindred
subject of ignorance. " But even unto this day, when
Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart."

The demoniacs are another illustration of the anti-

THE SCRIPTURES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 117

supernatural understanding, with which the Scriptures
are read by many implicit believers of the New Testa-
ment, both scholars and pietists. "The demoniacs
were merely epileptic patients," say certain ponderous
theologians. And in this opinion certain other theolo-
gians acquiesce, belonging to two or three different
schools, and they say, " We do not see what else they
could have been." And so the demoniacs of the New
Testament are to be accounted epileptics, mainly be-
cause modern theology cannot conceive of a demoniac.
And why cannot modern theology conceive of a de-
moniac ? Because it can hardly even conceive of a
prophet ; because of the nature of prophecy it has
scarcely a word to say ; and because, though intensely
spiritual with some professors, it is yet almost as desti-
tute of pneumatology as materialism itself. And yet
in the Gospels, if there be any one thing which would
seem to be plainer than another, because of the many
times when it is mentioned, and the various ways in
which it is presented, and the solemn manner also in
which it is complicated with the highest claims of Je-
sus as the Christ, — that one thing would seem to be the
reality of spiritual possession, the certainty that there
have been demoniacs. Possession by intruding un-
clean spirits, is a liability to which human beings are
subject by nature. It is a human trouble, as rare, per-
haps, as the plague or the black death, but historically
just as certain. Nor has it been an abnormal thing, prob-
ably. But whenever it has happened, no doubt, it has
been as the result of laws as definite as those which used
to conduce to leprosy, or as those which are now con-
cerned with cholera. But now if really devils, demons,

118 THE SCRIPTURES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

unclean spirits, or intruding spirits of any degree of
unworthiness, were ever cast out of men by Jesus
Christ or his apostles, then is this world a very differ-
ent place from the world which Buckle knew all about.

When the Eeformers broke away from the Catholic
Church, they did leave, probably, much bad practice
behind them, but they abandoned also some good the-
ology, as well perhaps as much that was bad, and also
a great deal of useful pneumatology, besides probably
information, which was of an esoteric, oral character,
though not the less important on that account. And
besides this, they wrenched themselves from Catholi-
cism so violently as to twist themselves, and distort
their judgments. But indeed that wrench away could
not well have been different from what it was, when
an argument, whether good or poor, was foredoomed
to conclude with a death at the stake. However, Prot-
estants complain, and not unfairly, of the vulgate ver-
sion of the Bible, as being Boman Catholic. But
certainly the mistranslation of the word " sheol " into
"hell" or "grave" makes the authorized version of
England be essentially Protestant.

In the Bible, managed as it has been by prejudiced
translators and sectarian commentators, the miracles
narrated are more miraculous, that is, they are prima-
rily less credible, than they ought to be ; because the
general narrative and doctrine are not in as good keep-
ing with them as they ought to be, in some respects.
The prophet Samuel, emerging from a state of corrup-
tion in a hole in the ground, would be one thing ; but
a very different thing indeed, as to conceivableness and
credibility, would be the prophet Samuel emerging on

THE SCRIPTURES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 119

mortal vision, like "gods ascending from the earth," for
people who believed that there was a " sheol," a region
of departed spirits. When the patriarch Jacob was at
the end of his life, he said, " I am to be gathered unto
my people : bury me with my fathers, in the cave that
is in the field of Ephron the Hittite." It was the
death of a man who had no knowledge of a hereafter,
many theologians have said. But now how differently
these words sound, if it be supposed, on perhaps a good
translation of his words, that in his grief for his son
Joseph, " He refused to be comforted, and he said, ' For
I will go down to the assembled spirits, unto my son
mourning.' "

Miracles for people, whose fathers and forefathers
were living souls, angel-visits to people who believed
in a disembodied life, would seem to have been more
probable in themselves, and more credible, than as
though they had happened among persons who were
without any knowledge of another world, and who were
also without any of the ways of feeling which are akin
to that knowledge. The Catholic Church may perhaps
formerly have made too much of the Supernatural;
but through recoil and accidentally, Protestantism
from its very beginning would seem to have had some-
thing of an undue tendency towards anti-supernatural-
ism. The effect of this inherited prejudice, a student
has got to allow for, if he would find his right place
on the field of thought.

MIRACLES AND SCIENCE.

MULTITUDES who read the Scriptures have
quick eyes for the texts which seem to concern
the doctrine of the Trinity, or the nature of baptism,
or the manner of church-government. Jhit they are
very few indeed who have an eye for the supernatou*
nil. Long ago, even Richard Baxter, towards even the
end of his life, ingenuously confessed how much he
had been astonished, on counting up, at the number of
occasions on which angels are mentioned in the Bible.
As to there being a science of spirit involved in the
Scriptures, how very few people ever think of such a
thing ! And of those who attack the credibility of the
Scriptures, as compromising the dignity of Jehovah
by making him appear to men and talk with them,
and give them visions, how very few remember that
already and a very long time ago it had been said, " No
man hath seen God at any time " ! And of these in-
considerate critics, how much fewer still are they who
have tried what Maimonides — good old Rabbi — could
do lor them, even though indisposed to follow him
entirely! Thus writes Maimonides in his book
" Gad " : " Know also that all the prophets who men-
tion prophecy as coming to them ascribe it either to an
angel or to the blessed God, although it was by means
of an angel, without doubt. On this point, our rabbies

MIRACLES AND SCIENCE. 121

of blessed memory long ago delivered their opinion in
explaining, 'And the Lord said to her' thus, — by
means of an angel. And know further, that whenever
it is written that an angel spake with one, or that the
word of the Lord came to him, this has not taken
place in any other way than in a dream, or in a pro-
phetic vision. There is an ancient agada respecting
communications made to the prophets, as they are re-
counted in the prophetic books, which states that they
were made in four ways. First, the prophet makes
known that the communication was made by an angel
in a dream or vision. Secondly, he merely mentions
the communication of the angel to him, without ex-
plaining that it was made in a dream or vision, because
of the well-established principle that prophecy is con-
fined to one or other of these two methods, ' I will
make myself known to him in a vision, I will speak
unto him in a dream.' Thirdly, the angel is not men-
tioned at all; but the communication is ascribed to
God, the Blessed One, who speaks it to him, but who
makes known that it comes to him in a vision or
dream. Fourthly, the prophet simply declares that
God spoke to him, or said to him, do this, or say this,
without explaining, either by mentioning an angel, or
by mentioning a dream, on account of the well-estab-
lished, fundamental principle, that prophecy or pro-
phetic revelation comes only in dream or in vision,
and through the agency of an angel." And in expla-
nation of another point, Maimonides adds, " Further-
more it ought to be known that the expression ' And
the Lord said to such an one ' is used when, strictly
speaking, he has no prophetic vision, but the commu-
G

122 MIRACLES AND SCIENCE.

nication was made to him by means of a prophet." It
will be remembered, of course, that by vision is meant
what is experienced in a preternatural, trance-like
state. Thus, at Joppa, the Apostle Peter " fell into a
trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel
descending unto him." But at Jerusalem, giving an
account of this experience, he said, " I was in the city
of Joppa, praying ; and, in a trance, I saw a vision, a
certain vessel descend." This is the meaning of the
word " vision," as it is used by Mainionides ; it is a
vision during a trance.

Does all this seem strange ? Yet it is all, or very
nearly all in the Old Testament itself, and not very
hard to find ; only that we are " slow of heart to be-
lieve all that the prophets have spoken," and need for
our enlightenment almost a miracle, like that with
which Christ favored the two disciples, on their walk
from Jerusalem to Emmaus, when he expounded the
Scriptures, beginning at Moses and all the prophets.
Christian divines of all ages, and some of the greatest,
have agreed with the statement just quoted from
Maimonides. But indeed, a thousand years before the
Iiabbi, one of the earliest of the Christian fathers,
Justin Martyr, had written, " He, whom we call the
Creator of all things, has never been seen by any-
body; nor has he ever of himself spoken to any
man." Philip a Limborch, explaining in what sense
Moses saw God face to face, on a comparison of
texts, says, " Hence it results that the whole revela-
tion made to Moses was by the instrumentality of an
angel, who represented God, and who was therefore
exactly like God himself speaking." It was to that

MIRACLES AND SCIENCE. 123

abbreviated way of describing revelation that Jesus
perhaps referred when, in argument with the readers
of the Old Testament, he said, " If he called them
gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the
Scripture cannot be broken." Soon after the resur-
rection of Jesus Christ, the Jews were addressed by
Stephen as having "received the law by the dispo-
sition of angels." This view of the Jewish revela-
tion is evidently taken for granted in the Epistle to
the Galatians. And in the Epistle to the Hebrews
Judaism is described as " the word spoken by angels."
And writing to Timothy, Paul said that the appearing
of our Lord Jesus Christ was what " in his times he
shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate,
the King of kings, and Lord of lords ; who only hath
immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can
approach unto ; whom no man hath seen, nor can see :
to whom be honor and poAver everlasting." This is
not quite the state of things spiritually, which some
people would seem to suppose. And there must be
agencies active in this universe, and after a manner
which would surprise not materialists only, but some
very good Christians also.

After what has preceded, it will strike the reader
more ; but otherwise how few people are ever prop-
erly impressed by the commencement of the Book
of Pievelation ! " The Eevelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants
things which must shortly come to pass ; and he sent
and signified it by his angel unto his servant John :
who bare record of the word of God, and of the testi-
mony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw."

L2 I MIRACLES AND SCIENCE!

The Revelation was given by God to Jesus Christ •
and by Jesus Christ if wag communicated fco an angel;
and by the angel it was delivered fco John: and by
«I olm it was published in fche Church, — a revelation
from fche Father o[' Lights, that came down from
above, and, as it were, through one world and an-
other, till it reached this earth, fco show unto his ser-
vants things which must shortly borne bo pass.

Many a Christian divine would ho astonished at the
position with which ho would have to bake up, if ho
were asked by a Jew to toll him, out oi' bhe Book of
Acts precisely and exactly, how it was that Christian
Jews Pell themselves authorized to baptize and accept.
Gentiles as Christians. And many a good Christian^
who thinks that he knows all about Providence, would
feel himself, as it were, called away into a strange re-
gion, it' he were asked to explain why God commu-
nicated with the Jews through angels, while all the.
While not a sparrow fell to the ground without his
knowledge, lior was there a man even hut on his head
the hairs were all numbered,

It' the miracles oi' the Bible seem incredible to any
one, let him bethink himself that he perhaps has
never read the Scriptures; tor passing the eye over
the words is certainly not the same as catching the
sens.'. Many a man has defended the reality of mira-
cles, out of a Bible which was blinded against him by
his own unconscious anti-supernaturalism. And many
a disbeliever, it' he knew fche spiritual philosophy in-
volved in the Scriptures, would accept both miracles
and doctrine alike, and at once.

When the words are read in church, "The Word oi'

MIRACLES AND SCIENCE. 12.r)

the Lord came," liow few people have ever wondered
as to how it came, or as to bow [saiah or Eosea re-
ceived it! Am! worse still than this, there are persons
who deride the prophets, who yet have never thought,
nor inquired, nor even suspected, whether, possibly a
prophet might not have been an honest man, with
some constitutional peculiarity, fitting him for proph-
ecy. "And he said, Hear now my words: if there
be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make my-
self known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto
him in a dream." There are many scientific men who
would not doubt, for a moment, but that they know
proportionately as much about Christianity as they do
about science. And yet, out of all their multitude,
for one man who could define the nature of prophecy,
there must be a thousand utterly ignorant about it,
though they know well about chemical affinities as
operative on the floor of the ocean, and have curious
information as to bivalves, and as to the manner in
which Hat fish are aeted upon by light reflected from
below.

Miracles incredible as narrated in the Scriptures, —
it is no wonder that they should have become so, to
some persons ; because so many connections of prob-
ability and credibility have been stripped away from
them, or have been at least forgotten. And now for
this state of things what is the remedy? It will
come not with argument at all, perhaps; nor will it
probably result much from any forthcoming informa-
tion ; but it will come with time and the grace of
God ; and for some persons it may be that it will
come in a way not altogether alien to that by which

126 MIRACLES AND SCIENCE.

the earliest Christians, on the reappearance of their
crucified Lord, were mentally reinstated after their
bewilderment. "Then opened he their understand-
ing, that they might understand the Scriptures."

And indeed not the Bible only, but even the globe
itself, is to a man what simply himself he is ready to
have it be. To one man this earth is a heap of dirt
in which to worm his wTay ; and to the red Indian,
uncorrupted, it was a broad hunting-field, on which
the Great Spirit showed him favors. To one man it
is chiefly of interest as having been once the play-
thing of natural forces, geologically, the ways of
whose gambolling he delights to trace and classify.
While in the eyes of another it is like a great egg,
with vital powers operative in it and about it, which
are instructive to watch. And for still another man,
scientifically, it is like a book of common understand-
ing between himself and the Creator. And for still
another student of science the earth, with all its ful-
ness of laws chemical, dynamic, and vital, is as to-
wards God but " the hiding of his power." And an-
other rarer person still, feels as though continually a
voice were calling to him, " The place whereon thou
standest is holy ground," because of the heavenly
affinities with which the world is wrapped about for
believing souls ; because of wdiat prayer effects all
round the earth ; and because of the manner in which
the forces of nature concur with spirit for spiritual
ends. And to spirits of different orders, it is con-
ceivable that our earth varies still more than it does
to the feelings respectively of its own inhabitants.
And even of spirits, who have departed from the life

MIRACLES AND SCIENCE. 127

of this earth, there is an old philosophy, according to
which, for various reasons, one spirit might for a while
keep a clear view of the earth and its inhabitants,
while another might have lost all sight of it, with his
last mortal breath. And it is conceivable, too, that
the most familiar spot in this world is what we should
not know, if we could look at it through the eyes of
a seraph.

And what happened for his servant at the instance
of the prophet Elisha, " Lord, I pray thee, open his
eyes that he may see," — were this done for any man
to-day, what a change, in a moment, there would be
in everything about him ! The solid earth, perhaps,
would have become but as a vapor, just dense enough
to hold the spirit of nature and manifest its play and
glow ; while distances above, around, and below would
be felt to be at once infinitely great and curiously
small, changing, so to say, with the spectator's chang-
ing mind. Also, for that man, the clouds and atmos-
phere would have disappeared, while the invisible
ether perhaps would have become visible, and alive
with currents of fluid more subtile than electricity,
and with angels passing in glory like shooting stars,
and with resemblances of auroras and seas of gold,
and also with threads of sympathy between souls on
earth and souls departed, and which may be none the
less real or useful, for not being known of, en either
side. Also with some appearance, not far from him,
some silvery, golden sheen, which he might notice,
he might have an experience like that of St. John
the Divine, and see the smoke of incense, with pray-
ers of saints, ascending up before God, from a golden

128 MIRACLES AND SCIENCE.

censer in an angel's hand. And after this in a mo-
ment, with merely remembering his dead father, he
might find himself, face to face with him. And then,
as this opening of his eyes was closing, and while his
sight was becoming again that simply of " the natural
man," he might retain perhaps, out of all that he had
seen, only some few incongruous reminiscences, and a
sense that the great glory itself of the vision was
what it is not possible for a man to utter.

World beyond world ! World within world ! Not
only are the miracles of the Scriptures credible, but
because of what information now faith can extract
from science, more and more natural does the super-
natural seem to become, and more and more super-
natural, because of its susceptibilities, does the king-
dom of nature seem to grow.

A glimpse about us with those eyes, which will open
for us first probably only after death, — a glimpse with
those eyes, with which we are to see to all eternity, —
just a glimpse of the spiritual world, which indeed
already we are living in, though we are cased against
it by the flesh, — with just one glimpse we should
feel, that in such a world as there is about us, and
that with such worlds within worlds, as there are
which probably concern us, that the promises of
Christ may yet perhaps be to he fulfilled, and that
greater works than have yet been done, Christians
may yet do by invoking, in faith, Him of that name,
which is above every name, and unto whom morals,
politics, and science, rule, authority, and power, and all
things, are to be subdued. And with that one glimpse,
too, what impossibilities as to belief would vanish !

MIRACLES AND SCIENCE. 129

For in that widened sphere, vitally connected with
humanity, that the spirit of demons might be com-
petent to add confusion to human affairs, by working
miracles, in some way or other, on the road, and at the
time contemplated in the book of Revelation, — this
all would seem to be not much more improbable than
that wicked rulers should ever be backed by genius.
And between the highest and the lowest sources of
miracles, foretold in the New Testament, there would
seem to be place for those spirits, about whom there is
a forewarning by St. John, that they ought not to be
believed as spirits simply, but that they should be
tried as to their being of God, because that actually
and already, and to John's own knowledge, and as
though by inspiration from spirits, there were many
false prophets " gone out into the world."

Miracles impossible because of science ! They are
impossible to the belief of a man, simply because of
the conceit which comes of learning, but in no other
way. For really the powers of nature, as they are
discovered by science, would seem to be the ready,
pliant agencies of supernatural purposes. Why should
not the demons of Plato's theology be as much at
home on magnetic currents as men are in steamboats ?
Why should not an angel be able to approach this
earth, by subordinating electricity to his use, as well
as Benjamin Franklin have been able to draw, and
concentrate, and enslave it for human purposes ? Sci-
ence ! what has science, in the court of common sense,
to say against the miracles of healing, by a word or a
touch, which are told of in the Scriptures ? It has
nothing, absolutely nothing whatever to say, except
6* i

130 MIRACLES AND SCIENCE.

that it has not heard of such things of late centuries,
and that they do not appear ever to have "been very
common. But that is nothing for science to tell. To
an angel of wisdom, or to the eyes of the best inhab-
itant of the star Sirius, imported into this earth, as-
a judge, belladonna would not seem to be any more
likely, as a curative agent, than a man's hand. And
when it is remembered what a man's hand may be as
a channel, — how it is connected with his brain, and
through his brain with a wide universe of forces
known and occult, and with God, the fountain-head
of all power ; and when, by Christians, not as neces-
sary to the argument but additionally, it is remem-
bered that through the Spirit, God was in Christ, and
Christ in his apostles and others, it does not then seem
to be incredible, even in itself, that the human hand,
stretched forth in faith, may have been as efficient for
healing as dried herbs at their best, and quicker than
they as to operation. In the Gospel of Luke it is
written that "it came to pass, when he was in a cer-
tain city, behold a man full of leprosy, who, seeing
Jesus, fell on his face and besought him, saying, Lord,
if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put
forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will : be
thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed
from him." •

THE SPIEIT AND THE PROPHETS THEREOF.

AND now let miracles be considered in connection
with persons. There is a restricted use of the
word " miracle," as what might concern only material
substances. But it is not Scriptural. And there is a
restricted use of the word "prophet/' by which it
means simply a foreteller. But neither is this Scrip-
tural. In the Scriptures themselves, prophets are not
all of one class. Also in the times of the Scriptures,
a man was specially a prophet who filled officially and
by public recognition the place of a prophet. Daniel
was a prophet, but he was also an exile in Babylon ;
and it may be for this reason that, in a Hebrew Bible,
the book of Daniel is not printed along with the books
of the prophets, but elsewhere. Then again, however,
Abraham is styled a prophet. But some little varia-
tion in the use of words during two thousand years
is of course to be expected. And so, in the account
of Saul's first visit to Samuel, it is written " he that
is now called a prophet was beforetime called a Seer."
What, then, was a prophet ? He was a channel for
spirit, — for the Spirit of God, or for the inspiration
of an " evil spirit " ; he may have been, according to
Jeremiah, one of " the prophets that prophesy lies,"
or one of "the prophets of the deceit of their own
heart," or he may have been according to what is per-

132 THE SPIRIT AND

haps the better understanding of a text in Zechariah,
the prophet of " an unclean spirit " ; he may have
"prophesied in the name of the Lord/' or he may
have " prophesied by Baal." He was a man through
whom incorporeal, intelligent power expressed itself,
by thoughts foreign to the man's mind, or by actions
passing human ability, as to quality or intensity. In
this definition, the word "through" is used in its
broader signification, and as meaning sometimes " con-
currently with," and thereby as embracing some
miracles, which were begun and finished outside of
the person of the prophet, but yet withinside of a
sphere, wherein was available that peculiarity of his
constitution whereby he was prophetic. Though also
it would seem as though some few of the miracles
narrated in the Bible, and especially in the earlier
ages, may perhaps have been independent of the per-
son of a prophet, and connected with him simply as
an associate assistance.

But there are yet two or three other things to be
noticed. Balaam is not called a prophet, notwith-
standing that wonderful history, in which he was con-
cerned : and notwithstanding that " the Spirit of God
came upon him " ; and notwithstanding that he was
Balaam, the son of Beor, " which heard the words of
God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High,
which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a
trance, but having his eyes open." This is an exact
description of the prophetic state. Nor yet was Gid-
eon called a prophet, notwithstanding his having been
addressed by an angel, and been favored with mira-
cles, and notwithstanding that " the Spirit of the Lord

THE PROPHETS THEREOF. 133

came upon Gideon." But this may have been because
of his never having had any experience like the special
characteristic of a prophet, because he never " saw the
vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but hav-
ing his eyes open." Also as used by St. Paul, proph-
ecy is simply speaking from the Spirit, and might
seem to be of no kinship with miracles. But then
there are those famous words addressed to the Co-
rinthians, in which miracles and prophecy are said to
be of the same origin, and to be indeed one and the
same thing, at their coming forth from spirit into
nature. " There are diversities of operations, but it is
the same God which worketh all in all," quickening,
illuminating, and endowing men, according as they
are susceptible and willing. "The manifestation of
the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 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 discern-
ing of spirits ; to another divers kinds of tongues ; to
another the interpretation of tongues ; but all these
worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to
every man severally as he will."

Also, says St. Paul, "He that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit " ; and so, necessarily, he is become
a man of infinite and innumerable possibilities for
this world or the next, being united with the fountain-
head of all goodness and truth and power, even though
for the present it be only by a channel coming down
from above, and along the far-away course of which

134 THE SPIRIT AND

angel calls to angel, up the heights of heaven. By
the Spirit of God, all men are not affected exactly
alike, because with it men are still men, and of their
respective nationalities, generations, and individual-
ities. Samson was a man of rude strength, and in a
rude age, and with Philistines to think of. " And be-
hold a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit
of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him,
as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in
his hand." But Paul in Samson's place, probably,
could never have done the same thing, or have been so
strengthened perhaps, any more than the hand of
Samson would have availed for Paul's epistles. And
so differently indeed, by the same Spirit, was Paul af-
fected from Samson, that he wrote, " When I am weak,
then am I strong."

And Gideon, — "The angel of the Lord appeared
unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee,
thou mighty man of valor." And how was the Lord
with him ? It was through the channel of the valiant
man's valor. For "the Spirit of the Lord came upon
Gideon," and it blew through his trumpet, and it
clenched for him his right hand upon his sword ; and
that sword was " the sword of the Lord and of Gideon."
Azariah and Zechariah being prophets, the Spirit of
God with them became messages, beginning with
" Thus saith the Lord." Says David, " The Spirit of
the Lord spake by me " ; and the historian adds,
" Sweet psalmist of Israel." And his psalms are the
psalms of the Spirit and of David. And now how
was it with Simeon of Jerusalem, when "the Holy
Ghost was upon him" ? It was according to his con-

THE PROPHETS THEREOF. 135

dition, which was that of a devout old man, hopeful
and expectant, at a time of extremity, because of what
his nation was historically.' "And it was revealed
unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see
death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he
came by the Spirit into the temple, and when the
parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him
after the custom of the law, then took he him up in
his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy
word : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

The protomartyr Stephen probably knew of the
council, as to taking no thought beforehand for magis-
trates, for what he should say. And how was it with
him, "full of faith and power," when he was con-
fronted by enemies ? " They were not able to resist
the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake." And
more than that, "all that sat in the council looking
steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the
face of an ancjel." Altogether different from that of
any of the personages before mentioned was the ex-
perience of the Spirit by St. John the Divine : and
very widely different it certainly was from what Gid-
eon or Samson knew of. Says John of himself, being
in Patmos, long enough after the death of his Lord,
to date by the Lord's Bay, and with a mind in all
probability anxious about the future of the church,
" I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard be-
hind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am
Alpha and Omega, the first and the last : and what
thou seest write in a book."

Before one can estimate fairly the significance of a

136 THE SPIRIT AXD

miracle, he must know how the worker of the mira-
cles was estimated. Commonly every prophe: is sup-
posed to have been " a man of God " even through the
name of prophet merely; and every word which he
have utter-d, it is often supposed, must have
been holy. And yet there is an account, under the
i am, of the misdeed and capital punish-

ment of " the man of God, who was disobedient unto
the word of the Lord."

The history of King Saul is very instructive as to
the faculty of prophecy in connection with character.
. he had been an y the prophet Samuel,

and just as had : a pi acted for him, "Behold, a
company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of
God came upon him, and he prophesied among them."
Awhile afl r tl t,l - A an atrocious proposal of

the Ammonites, " the S I came upon Saul,

when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kin-
dled greatly.'" Affcei this, there are accounts of the
untoward S tl: tnd then it is to be

that -' the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and
an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him/' S
after this •the evil spirit from God. came upon 8
and he prophesied in the midst of the house " ; and
directly afterwards "Saul was afraid of David, be-
cause the Lord was with him, and was departed from
Saul.;; And then a little later, because of the Spirit
of God, which mastered all his me- and made

them pro; they approached Samuel, instead of

discharging their errand, himself, " he went thither to
th in Eamah : and the Spirit of G upon

him also, and he went on an I until he

THE PROPHETS THEREOF. 137

came to Xaioth in Raman. And he stripped off his
clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like
manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that
night. "Wherefore they say. Is Said also among the
prophets?" According to this history, then. Saul
prophesied at one time from the Spirit of God, and
at another time from an evil spirit, and then again
from the Spirit of God. With Saul, then, the faculty
of prophecy was independent of its use ; just as po-
etry may sing to the glory of God, or may be a ribald
jester in the household of Satan.

There is a curious history in the thirteenth chapter
of the First Book of the Kings. A prophet had been
on a wonderful errand to Bethel, and by the word of the
Lord, had been ordered not to eat or drink there. But
he was accosted by an old prophet, who " said unto
him, I am a prophet also as thou art : and an angel
spake unto me, by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring
him back with thee unto thine house, that he may eat
bread and drink water. But he bed unto him. So he
went back with him, and did eat bread in his house,
and drank water. And it came to pass, as they sat at
the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the
prophet that brought him back. And he cried unto
the man of God that came from Judah, saying. Thus
saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the
mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the command-
ments which the Lord thy God commanded thee, but
earnest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in
the place of the which the Lord did say to thee. Eat no
bread and drink no water ; thy carcass shall not come
unto the sepulchre of thy fathers." Here a man

138 THE SPIRIT AND

known as an old prophet, immediately after hearing of

a series of striking miracles, lies fearfully in pretend-
in^ a message from an angel by the word of the Lord.
And vet quickly afterwards to that same old prophet
" the word of the Lord came *' with a prophecy against
the prophet who had been deluded by him. and which
was almost instantly fulfilled.

Moses and Aaron and Miriam were brothers and
sister, and had been witnesses together of great mira-
cles in Egypt, at the Led Sea. at Mount Sinai, and at
Taberah. Yet Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses :
and they said. " Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by
Moses • hath he not spoken also by us .; And the
Lord heard it." And although she was a prop]:
and even perhaps all the more readily, because of that
psychical channel or condition through which she was
capable of being made prophetic, she found induced on
her suddenly a miraculous leprosy. And of Moses him-
self, there is to be read what is very striking. He had
gone up with miraculous attendance, and at the call
of the Lord, on to Mount Sinai, where he remained
forty days. And the Lord ••gave unto Moses, when he
had made an end of communing with him upon Mount
Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written
with the finger of God. And when the people saw
that Moses delayed to come down out of the Mount,
the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron,
and said unto him, Up. make us gods, which shall go
before us ; for as for this Moses, the man that brought
us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is
become of him." Whereupon ensued bestial idolatry,
of a piece with what they had known in Egypt. "And

THE PROPHETS THEREOF. 139

it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp,
that he saw the calf, and the dancing : and Moses* an-
ger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands,
and brake them beneath the Mount." It was in holy
indignation that this was done, no doubt, but still it
was, as it is written, in anger.

David was a prophet, but yet there was a terrible
occasion, on which another prophet, Nathan, was sent
to him to say, " Thou art the man." Peter is called at
Eome the Prince of the apostles, but yet, it was he
who denied three times over that ever he had known
his Lord. As St. Jerome remarks, miracles were
wrought by Judas the apostle, even when he had in
him the mind of a traitor. And even of that high-
priest Caiaphas, who was accessory to the crucifixion
of Jesus, it is written that just before that event, be-
ing in council, he pronounced an opinion. "And this
spake he not of himself: but being high-priest that
year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that na-
tion."

Xot only do miracles not vouch for character ; but
even the very agents of miracles could quarrel among
themselves, and be doubtful about doctrine. In his
epistle to the Galatians, Paul writes, " He that wrought
effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circum-
cision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gen-
tiles." And then because of the time-serving of Peter,
Paul says, " When Peter was come to Antioch, I with-
stood him to the face, because he was to be blamed."
On one occasion Barnabas and Saul, " being sent forth
by the Holy Ghost," journeyed together. And Barna-
bas saw great miracles wrought through Paul, at

140 THE SPIRIT AND

Paphos and at Lystra ; but for all that, after a little
while, " the contention was so sharp between them
that they departed asunder one from the other." That
miracles were wrought through Paul, did not make
Barnabas think that Paul was a better judge than
himself in common things. Nor apparently would he
have yielded to Paul, if even he had known already
what happened soon afterwards. " And God wrought
special miracles by the hands of Paul : so that from
his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or
aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the
evil spirits went out of them."

And indeed it is one thing for a man to serve as a
channel for the Holy Ghost ; and it is a very different
thing indeed, for that man himself to appropriate that
Spirit for his own enlightenment and sanctification.
St. Paul himself had a very vivid sense of this. And
on this very point, writing to the Corinthians fourteen
years after his marvellous experience, he says, " I knew
such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body,
I cannot tell : God knoweth) how that he was caught
up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which
it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one
will I glory : yet of myself I will not glory, but in
mine infirmities." He could glory in the miracle but
only as though he himself had had nothing whatever
to do with it. A wonderful man ! The apostle, too, of
everything in the Church which is not Jewish ! The
great apostle of the Gentiles ! But inwardly also he
was great. And the greater the insight has been,
which the greatest men have attained to, the more
wonderfully plain has it become to them, that Paul

THE PROPHETS THEREOF. 141

was a channel for the Holy Spirit, not merely with his
lips and the surface of his nature, but through that
great heart of his, which for that purpose had ripened,
as the tenantless earth did in the broad light of the
sun, by inward heat and convulsions from mysterious
powers, and by processes which were at once purifying
and enriching, and also terrible.

Paul might have been able to withstand harmlessly
the bite of a deadly viper, because of the power which
was in him ; he might have been once and again taken
for a god by both Greeks and barbarians ; he might at
one time, by merely sending his handkerchief have
cured disease, or have chased away evil spirits ; or he
might have been able to say to the Corinthians, " I
thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye
all." But it was because of what was more than all
that, because of his wonderful self-knowledge, because
of his philosophy, because of the quickening which he
had had from the Holy Spirit, that he could also say
to the Corinthians, " I keep under my body, and bring
it into subjection : lest that by any means, when I
have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-
away."

What an autobiography Paul might have written !
It would seem as though it might be like a key to end-
less mysteries, if only we could know the process of
his feeling during his time of isolation in Arabia.
"When it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal
his Son in me, that I might preach him among the
heathen ; immediately I conferred not with flesh and
blood ; neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which

142 THE SPIRIT AND

were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia." Af-
ter that wondrous conversion of his, and he being the
man he was, what was it which went on with him and
in him, during that seclusion in Arabia, before he re-
turned again to Damascus, whence, after three years,
he went up to Jerusalem to see Peter ? Perhaps
really he never could have reduced it into words, any
more than he was able to tell what it was that he saw
when he was " caught up to the third heaven." For,
indeed, very often, by persons of marked experience,
it has been a confession, that withinside the surface,
which had been witnessed by the public, and within-
side still of what they themselves could tell of, there
was a dim sense of what they had been drawn through,
which it was not possible for them to explain, — as
being a something concerned with powers outside of
the material world, and for which, as to the inter-
course, the words of mortals are nothing.

And now, from this chapter what is the inference ?
For fairly stating it, some accompanying explanations
would be necessary ; but, in a general way, it may be
said to be this : The Spirit of God would keep itself
for recognition, as distinct as is possible, and as free
as possible from confusion with the human agencies,
through which it signifies itself. And, indeed, if it
were manifested only through saints, it would be
thought to be an attribute of human goodness ;
whereas, really, it is a manifestation, more or less
direct, and more or less imperfect, because of human
infirmities, — it is a manifestation of the Spirit of the
universe, and of the God, who is that Spirit. And
thus it is, — and no thanks to Jonah or any man of

THE PROPHETS THEREOF. 143

his kind, — thus it is, that the Spirit of God, for its
purposes, can make use of an unwilling man, and an
unmerciful man, like the prophet Jonah.

But, indeed, every gift or grace of any magnitude,
is almost instinctively held by the heart, like treasure
in an earthen vessel. And with the least glimmer of
insight, a man of any greatness sees at once, that the
best part of himself is not himself at all, but what is
confided to him, like "treasure in earthen vessels."
Those words of St. Paul, as to his experience, have
been repeated age after age, by the greatest men,
sometimes in triumph, and sometimes in tears ; by
scholars as to their faculty, by poets as to their genius,
and by every saint as to his holiness. Those words
of Paul are what John would have joined in, and
what Peter would have affirmed ; they are what David
would have gloried in, for singing like a psalm ; and
also of all " holy apostles and prophets " they are the
solemn testimony to the world, and before Heaven,
— " But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that
the excellency of the power may be of God, and not
of us."

ANTI-SUPERNATURAL MISUNDERSTAND-
INGS.

NOR is it the Bible only which is wronged by the
anti-supernaturalism of the reader, but other
ancient writings also suffer from the same cause. And
from the same cause also there is sometimes a great
misapprehension of certain eras of history. There are
some words, frequently quoted from a work by Cicero,
which simply are a sentiment which he puts into the
mouth of a man in an imaginary conversation. But it
is quoted as though it were his own deliberate opinion ;
and it touches heathenism only on one point, which
by its nature was always accounted as being variable ;
and yet it is often adduced to show that Cicero was
estranged from heathenism with his whole mind, and
that also every educated person was ready to abandon
heathenism, before the birth of Christ. But a Roman
might say all that Cicero said on the nature of the
gods, and yet continue to be especially heathenish, and
might have a soul liable, any day, to flash up and fill
out all the old creed with credence. And actually,
on the death of his daughter, Cicero built a temple,
which he dedicated to her ghost.

It is quite true, that the worship of Jupiter Capito-
linus declined very largely during the first century of
the present era. Was it, however, because Rome had
become less earnestly idolatrous ? No ; not in the

ANTI-SUPERNATURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS. 145

least. It was because Eome had become more idola-
trous than when it was founded, and because the
idolatries of all nations had been brought and assem-
bled there. And this is certain by legislation on the
subject; for age after age, the Senate issued injunc-
tions and complaints as to the manner in which the
old gods of the country were being neglected, for the
more fashionable deities and services of foreign origin.
It is not true, that Christianity had its way in the
world largely facilitated by the decline of heathenism.
It is an anti-Christian position which is never chal-
lenged, but yet it is not tenable. Heathenism did not
die of public indifference, nor of indifference at all.
It never was more thoroughly believed than it was by
its last professors. And as to favors granted him by
his gods, there never was a man more thoroughly per-
suaded about anything than the Emperor Julian was
about that. But that he could have been so persuaded
is what is almost impossible for a scholar to think, be-
cause of that general anti-supernaturalism, which every-
body suffers from, like an influenza. Even a writer
like the German Tholuck can instance Pausanias as
being sceptical about his religion. But now that
writer was of a certain school in Pagan theology ; but
he was not, therefore, the less thoroughly hearty in his
Paganism, if that may be called so, which got the
name somewhat later than his time. To suppose that
he doubted about Hellenism, for any reason contained
in his book, is "much about the same thing as though,
by way of an incongruous comparison, yet apt enough
for the point, one should doubt the Christianity of
Izaak Walton, because of his friendship with Bishop Ken.

146 ANTI-SUPERNATURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS.

Pausanias, who writes of the various occasions on
which he was warned by visions or dreams sent from
the gods, and of his sacred obedience accordingly ; who
tried, too, some of the marvels connected with Pagan-
ism, and who testifies about them as being real ; and
who, besides, had a most affectionate and tender inter-
est in all the antiquities of Paganism in Greece, —
Pausanias, a doubter, and, in the second century of the
Christian era, an example of failing faith in his re-
ligion ! It might as well be said that the Maccabees
were doubtful about Moses, or that Alban Butler, in
the " Lives of the Saints," was not quite sure about
the Church. And there have been persons who have
so written about Plato, as though it might have seemed
evident that, to their apprehension, there was no de-
monology of any kind involved in his writings. How
has it happened that of what Plato% wrote there are
things which some of his most fervent disciples would
seem never to have noticed ? This case may be passed
over to Pausanias. And how has it been that Pausa-
nias could ever have been accounted an instance of
declining faith in Hellenism ? For the whole tone of
his book is that of a fervent, unquestioning believer.
And there are perhaps ten narratives of what he be-
lieved were his own experiences of it, preternaturally.
How, then, is it that he should ever have been ac-
counted a doubter, or even a man with misgivings as
to his Pagan religion ? It could only have been from
prejudice, and from thinking him, perhaps, a man too
wise to mean exactly what he wrote. Or rather, the
writer who first published that impression about him
must have been a man whose eye, by anti-supernatural

ANTI-SUPERNATURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS. 147

habit in reading, slurred over what really Pausanias
had to say about himself.

Paganism growing effete as a power, and thereby
yielding the more readily to the preaching of Chris-
tianity ! It is what never happened. That anti-Chris-
tian position has been acquiesced in by some Christian
divines, from a mistaken notion as to the law of pro-
gress, by which it has been fancied that, as one religion
was dying out, it was of the mercy of God that there
should be, under Providence, another and better re-
ligion to succeed it. The notion of those divines was
true ; but it was not the whole truth, even on their
plane of thought. Heathenism as a social power,
yielding easily to the soft coming of Christianity, — is
that, or anything like it, corroborated by the history of
the Colosseum ? No : and there is not a brick there,
nor a stone, nor scarcely a grain of dust, but, like blood
crying from the ground, protests in every intelligent
ear against Gibbon, the historian, for what he has said.
And how is it about the other monuments of ancient
Rome, as connected with that idolatry which was the
soul of it ? They nearly all of them witness, in one
way or another, to the strength of that heathenism
which had to yield to the " foolishness of preaching."
The circus of Maxentius was dedicated, and the temple
of Romulus, the son of Maxentius, was built only in
the very last year of heathenism, the very year before
Constantine entered Rome as a Christian emperor.
And the grandest monument surviving of ancient
Rome, the Pantheon, was but a fresh building at the
birth of Christ, having been finished and inscribed
less than thirty years before. Of nearly all the tern-

148 ANTI-SUPERNATURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS.

pies which remain in Rome, the very dates attest the
strength of idolatry there, ages after Paul had looked
on, as a prisoner, — the temple of Remus, that of
Ceres and Proserpine, that of Vesta, that of Antoninus
Pius, that of Venus and Rome, built by Hadrian, and
that of Minerva Medica, of the age of Diocletian.
And all round the Forum, by the dates at which they
were built, all the temples attest that heathenism was
never stronger socially than whilst Christianity was
preaching against it, — the temple of Concord and that
of Vespasian, — the temple of Saturn, between the
Foruni and the Capitol, and the temple of Antoninus
and Faustina, with its startling inscription, alongside
of the Via Sacra. And if more testimony were needed,
it might be reasoned out from the arch of Constantine,
erected in the fourth century of our era, and from that
arch of Titus, in the first century, which bears in-
wrought into it, what is almost a ciy from the dead, in
the marble form of Simon the son of Gorias, as he was
dragged triumphantly into Rome, after the capture of
Jerusalem, along with the spoils of the temple, sculp-
tured also on the arch in colored marbles, — the silver
trumpets, and the table for the shew-bread, and also
the seven-branched candlestick. The history of Chris-
tianity in struggle with Paganism has not been written
yet ; nor can it be written, but under another philos-
ophy of religion than what has prevailed since the
archives of the past have begun to be generally acces-
sible. And the persons through whom, by one trial
after another, it shall ultimately have been accom-
plished, will have testified to a very different struggle
from what Gibbon ever thought that he was writing

ANTI-SUPERNATURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS. 149

about, and will have attested the words of St. Paul,
as having been true : " For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against pow-
ers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places."

How wonderful is that text in Isaiah, new once, but
now again almost as fresh for meaning as it ever was :
" The vision of all is become unto you as the words of
a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is
learned, saying, Eead this, I pray thee ; and he saith,
I cannot ; for it is sealed : and the book is delivered to
him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee :
and he saith, I am not learned." A general blindness
this, and perhaps without the fault specially of any
individuals. And what came from Isaiah in proph-
ecy as to his time and nation is what in modern times
people have been undergoing, and especially in Prot-
estant countries. Has this been for any special fault
of theirs ; or is it to be counted for a disgrace ? By
no means. It has even become a proverb : " I would
rather be wrong with Plato than right with any one
else." And the writer hereof would rather be wrong
with some anti-supernaturalists than be right with
some good people whom he has known at Rome. On
a choice between poets and merchants of the same
honesty, it would be beyond all comparison better that
this world should be managed by men of business than
by men of " vision and faculty divine." And if there
is to be advance in the world, as the world is, it can
only be by steps, for every one of which really there
must be some drawback. But the recognition of that
drawback is a large part of philosophy at any time.

150 ANTI-SUPERNATURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS.

And in it indeed is involved that philosophy of human
nature, never distinctly recognized but under Christ,
by which it is plain that human creatures are meant to
be mutually helpful, and " members of one another."
In a good spirit, the man who contradicts me is one
side of my mind. And surely and reasonably, there
must always be a private account to be balanced, if
only it could be done by any happy mediation, be-
tween the man of introspection and old books, and the
man of outlook by the telescope and the chemical retort.
For neither of them, by his speciality, is likely, as it
would seem, to be right on all points absolutely. And
even, perhaps, the best application of a spiritual phi-
losophy to human wants may be expected from men
who have known to the uttermost, by experience, what
Rationalism can do. •

At this point, especially, does the writer hereof re-
member a very dear life-long friend, a native of New
York, though a British subject, who has never been
long absent from his thought while these papers have
been in preparation. At one time it was a sore trouble
to him, that he was unable wholly to believe in the
miracles of the Scriptures ; and all the while his
doubts about them were more believing than the
certainties of some other persons. But he lived to
publish, a little before his sudden death, a work on
" Unconscious Prophecies, and their Fulfilment." The
miraculousness of human nature, as connected with a
world of spirits, and the prophetic susceptibility of hu-
man nature, — of these things he had become persuaded
by wide observation and wise induction. And by
the force simply of wide notice and patient thought,

ANTI- SUPERNATURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS. 151

he had attained to a better sense of prophecy than he
could ever have got fiom any theological treatise, of the
last hundred years. The public was indebted to him
without ever having known of him. Somewhat of a
sufferer, but cheerful, hopeful, and almost joyous as to
his tone of life, and with an easy, infinite confidence
in God, which was a veritable gift of faith, he was a
blessing simply to know of. He was always among
advanced thinkers on all subjects. And that Arthur
Lupton believed in prophecy may be accounted a sign
of the times, on account of the scientific manner in
which his conviction about it had been wrought out.
For his friends, it is still as though he were within and
above their horizon, because of the trail of light which
survives in the sky, and which he left behind when he
vanished like a shooting-star. And, as Jeremy Taylor
might have said, there is one who could wish, at the
end of the great harvest, that his soul may be found in
the same bundle of life with the soul of his friend.

THE LAST ECSTATIC.

AND now let the line of remark be resumed, as to
blindness to things immediately under the eye,
but of which, every now and then, somebody unexpect-
edly becomes conscious. Less than a month ago there
appeared in the Times newspaper, of London, what has
already been republished in this country, an account
of an ecstatic in Belgium : —

" A New Ecstatic. — The Impartial de Soignies devotes
five columns to a description of a new ecstatic named
Louise Lateau. It appears from the statement of the Bel-
gian journal that for some months past this young girl
presents every Friday the phenomena which are called the
stigmata of the Passion. She has on her hands, feet, and
over the heart sanguineous blisters, which exude abundant-
ly. The ordinary functions of life are suspended. The
eyes open, and, turned obliquely towards heaven, appear to
be attentively fixed on some object. The pupils are di-
lated, the face is pale, the mouth partially opened, and the
features express a sentiment of admiration mingled with a
sweet sorrow. At times the object she seems to contem-
plate produces a painful starting. When not in ecstasy,
she is in catalepsy. At three o'clock she starts up all at
once and suddenly flings herself on the flags, without the
least attempt to protect her face with her hands ; yet she
receives no injury. She remains for an hour in this hori-
zontal position, her arms and feet crossed. About half past
four o'clock she raises herself quickly, without any assist-

THE LAST ECSTATIC. 153

ance, her arms still in the form of a cross, as if some invis-
ible power had placed her in this vertical position. She
then falls on her knees, next sits down, and in about ten
minutes the body is subjected to a kind of torsion, and the
Ecstatic of Bois d'Haine — for so she is called — throws
herself supine on the ground. Then it is that she is waked
up ; but to accomplish this, the persons about her must be-
long to the Order of the Passion."

And now what is to be thought of this account ? It
is an easy thing for blind leaders of the blind to jeer
at it, and to get honor of such a kind as their followers
have to give. But all that cannot avail long in an era
like the present, in which news and opinions are ex-
changed so fast.

Some twenty-five years ago, tales went through the
newspapers in England as to a young Tyrolese girl,
who was an ecstatic. At these tales many Protestants
thanked God that they were not superstitious Catholics.
But at that time, also, the Puseyite movement was
gathering strength. A letter was published in The
Morning Chronicle by the Earl of Shrewsbury, who
had visited the saintly sufferer, or the suffering saint.
The letter might have been published in a Catholic
newspaper, and never have reached a Protestant. For
what is published in a religious newspaper is read by
its subscribers only ; and if anything extraordinary
of any kind happens to appear in such a paper, it is
scarcely regarded as credible, even though written,
printed, published, and vouched for by some of the
best men in the world, unless they should happen also
to go to the same church as the reader. The letter,
however, of the Earl of Shrewsbury, descriptive of the

154 THE LAST ECSTATIC.

Ecstatica of Caldaro, was published in the chief lib-
eral, secular newspaper of the time in London. By
that letter there were a few persons, who were made to
pause with wonder, like the writer hereof. But there
were still more people, through Puseyite preparation,
who read- the account excited, aghast, arid wondering
what they should do to' be saved. And it was not
without assistance from that letter that many Pusey-
ites became Catholics. For the old way of settling
such a point, as was involved in that letter, was no
longer quite sufficient, although it was very nearly so.
But there were Puseyites, who could not feel that a
letter like the earl's, was answered by two or three good
jokes from Oxford Fellows, or by a running fire of
laughter all over the country from comfortable rectors,
strong in their legal position as members of the Estab-
lishment.

And now, how did that letter of the earl's act ? Let
us see how it was pointed. This, however, can be done
now only from the book into which the letter grew, by
additional accounts of other ecstatics. Let it be re-
membered that the letter was dated from circumstances
much the same, and in kind exactly the same, as the
phenomena attendant on the Belgian ecstatic, which
have just been described. "Are we not safer in be-
lieving with Maria Mori and the two Domenicas, and
the great body of the Christian Church, both ancient
and modern, than in pinning our faith — if such were
possible — upon the dissenting tenets of one solitary
fanciful individual, — tenets all of them easily proved to
be erroneous ? " But becoming still warmer and still
more personal with his argument, the earl says : " Put-

THE LAST ECSTATIC. 155

ting all other evidences out of the question, can Dr.
Pusey give me any one sign and wonder in defence of
his doctrines, equal to the assurance I have received in
favor of mine, from these simple, humble, but gifted
souls ? "

But now, instead of succumbing helplessly to any
meaning, which anybody may please to put upon a
prodigy, it would seem to be right to ask, what actual-
ly the meaning of the prodigy may be. Maria Mori
may have instanced effects resulting from intense devo-
tion of a certain kind, without necessarily having been
thereby marked out as a favorite of heaven, or even as
an example to be patterned. And unless for persons
predisposed to think so, really the state of these Ital-
ian ecstatics, entranced at times, but bedridden, and
at times cataleptic, clairvoyant often, but very weak,
and made still more singular as to their condition by
those strange marks on the body, — all this would not
necessarily and obviously seem to mean the special
favor of Heaven, for a particular mode of worship. No
doubt, there was something very extraordinary in their
cases. But that the meaning of those extraordinary
manifestations bore against Dr. Pusey it is not neces-
sary to suppose, notwithstanding that some of his fol-
lowers did think so, to the great discomfort of the
Church of England.

In view of his book, to doubt either the earl or the
witnesses whom he cites as to what was seen, is what
the present writer would not think of, for a moment.
Also, he would think it to be a great good if certain
other people, within a certain sphere, could feel as he
does. For, truly it is not for everybody, in every sphere,

156 THE LAST ECSTATIC.

to get good from everything. And for all persons, out-
side of what they are ready for, it is better that they
should flatly deny than weakly affect to believe.
Though yet there are some few better people who,
though finite by nature, do yet know and feel them-
selves to be children of the Infinite, and who therefore
do not feel bound to deny and denounce everything,
which they may not be ready to understand, at any
moment.

Dr. Pusey must have felt himself sorely pushed by
the earl at that time, while he was struggling hard to
be thought a Catholic, when he found himself con-
trasted for the worse with Domenica Barbagli, the
ecstatic of Monte San Savino, "this pre-sanctified
spirit, this chosen soul, undoubtedly favored by seraphic
communings with her God." But what he felt has
never appeared, nor yet the way by which he avoided
the conclusion on to which the earl would have forced
him. But on his followers the appeal had great effect.
And, at least, the remembrance of it will be revived by
the report of the ecstatic in Belgium, so near to Eng-
land.

Towards the end of his book the earl, a very candid
writer, says that his attention had been drawn to mes-
merism, as accounting for many of the phenomena
which he had witnessed in the ecstatics. He acknowl-
edges the pertinency of the suggestion ; but he demurs
to it as an explanation, for several reasons, of which
the first is the best, although it is worthless. And that
reason which the earl alleges, is simply that mesmerism
is not known in the Tyrol. But he might as well have
said that electricity and thunder-storms are unknown

THE LAST ECSTATIC. 157

in the Tyrol, because the names of Benjamin Franklin
and Joseph Priestley had never been heard there, and
because, perhaps, an electrifying machine had never
been introduced into Caldaro or Capriana. And really
all which the earl witnessed in those ecstatics, about
whom he wrote, except as to the stigmata, are things
fairly within the circle of mesmerism. Though very
curious, and what astound millions of intelligent per-
sons, yet they are some such effects as could be in-
duced and manifested by processes which are called
mesmeric. For mesmerism, as it is called, is by thou-
sands of years older than Mesmer, good man. The vital
forces of which he availed himself are, of course, as old
as Adam : nor was he the first person, by hundreds,
perhaps, to systematize as to observation and use in con-
nection with them. And when mesmerism was sug-
gested as accounting for the clairvoyance, catalepsy,
and trance of the ecstatics, it was not probably meant
that there were persons who mesmerized them know-
ingly, on purpose, and by art ; but that accidentally, so
to say, and naturally too, through intense suffering and
almost continual fasting, they were in an abnormal
condition, through which they were readily suscepti-
ble of catalepsy, clairvoyance, and trance, and through
which, too, they were liable to be mesmerized by
chance. And even in illustration of the stigmata, the
records of mesmerism might be found to furnish some
curious though distant analogies. And the marks on
the body, even though they be like those of a crucifix,
would not seem of necessity and exclusively to argue
the especial favor of God Most High. Perhaps even
they might more properly be regarded as manifesting

158 THE LAST ECSTATIC.

human nature, and the manner in which the body can
be acted upon from the state of the soul ; the soul of
the ecstatic being full of longings and expectations,
and full of sympathy with the sufferings emblemed by
a crucifix, and also in affinity, perhaps, at the same
time, preternaturally with attendant spirits of the same
household of faith as her own.

The utmost, logically, which would seem to follow
from the earl's premises would perhaps be, that among
sensitive, ascetic, and exhausted persons there may be
a rare case, now and then, which may show that a
strange marvellous likeness to a crucifix may be in-
duced by a profoundly reverential contemplation there-
of. For the mere marvellousness of the thing is not
of itself necessarily encouraging. It may have been
supernatural and yet not divine. And miracles have
sometimes touched where they certainly did not mean
to sanction.

Perhaps it ought to be noticed here that ecstatics
have been long known, and that the word " ecstasy "
was not probably of Christian origin. The experience
described by the word was common among the Neo-
Platonists in the fourth and fifth centuries. Thus, by
his biographer, Plotinus is said " in ecstasy to have
seen the supreme god," and also in ecstasy to have
been elevated from the ground. The manifestation of
the stigmata, was that by which Francis of Assisi be-
came famous in the thirteenth century. Since the
days of St. Francis, there have been about sixty simi-
lar cases recorded, of which perhaps ten have been
within the last thirty years. When the stigmata ap-
peared on the person of Maria Mori, they had even

THE LAST ECSTATIC. 159

been anticipated by her confessor for five months.
And one of the ecstatics whom the earl saw, he ex-
pected would have been favored with the marks, but
she was not.

But it is curious, that as to the clairvoyant and cata-
leptic states, and as to the levitation of the body in
the cases of these ecstatics, there was nothing detailed
by the earl as heavenly sanction, but something like it,
long ago, had been alleged as condemnatory fact, on
trials for witchcraft.

Of transference of marks, there have been some cu-
rious cases by electricity. Once the exact likeness of a
tree was printed on an object near, by a flash of light-
ning.

These words of the earl are noticeable : " Yes ! it is
under the very shadow of the large crucifix, which is
suspended over her head, that the spirit of ecstasy is in-
fused into her." And now for an incident that stops the
earl's argument short, and which would seem to argue
the favor of Heaven for Protestants, more distinctly
than all those sixty ecstatics argue it for Catholics.
In the " Adversaria " of Isaac Casaubon, there is an ac-
count of a storm at Wells, in England. The informa-
tion was given to Casaubon by the Bishop of Ely, who
received it from the Bishop of Wells, and other per-
sonal witnesses. On a Sunday morning in the year
1596, while the people were in the cathedral, there
was such a tremendous burst of thunder, that in their
terror the whole congregation knelt together. Though
a thunderbolt fell, there was no one hurt. "But a
wonderful thing was afterwards discovered by many
persons. For images of the cross were found marked

160 THE LAST ECSTATIC.

on the bodies of those, who had been at the time in the
cathedral. And the Bishop of Wells told the Bishop
of Ely that his wife (and she was a most honorable
woman) came to him and told him, as a great miracle,
that there were marks of the cross on her body. But
when the Bishop laughed at this, his wife uncovered
her person, and proved that what she had said was
true. And then he noticed that the same very plain
mark of the cross was impressed on himself, and as I
think on his arm. While with others it was on the
shoulder, the breast, the back, and other parts of the
body. And that most illustrious man, the Lord of Ely,
narrated this to me, in such a manner, as forbade any
doubt about the truth of the history."

In this brief account there is involved probably a
grand chapter on psychology, if only one knew how to
evolve it. But the philosophy of the matter is akin
to the marks of crucifixion on the ecstatics, much
more closely than would at first thought seem at all
likely. Also, there have been persons, as the writer
hereof can testify, as it happens, on his personal
knowledge, although they are perhaps more rare than
ecstatics, with whom have appeared spontaneously on
the skin, and as though very slightly embossed, letters,
figures, and flowers. One of these instances was a rose
of the breadth of two inches, which appeared in an-
swer to a sudden suggestion, and which was as accu-
rately marked as in a fine etching. The explanation,
not of course of the shapes, but of the marks, was that
they had been made by the blood having been forced
into capillary veins, so as to press them against the
cuticle, and thus'to redden and slightly raise it. These

THE LAST ECSTATIC. 161

marks, which had been watched while coming out,
vanished without leaving a trace in less than ten min-
utes. As to how this happened, even though it were,
as it might well seem to be, through an inflation of
capillary veins, passes conjecture : because a certain
belief that it was by the agency of an intervening
spirit, if adopted, is not explanation, but only some
semblance of information, and is indeed marvel added
to mystery.

It is a matter of not unreasonable conjecture, whether
Dr. Newman would have entered the Catholic Church
in his state of mind, if he had known of the experi-
ence of the Bishop of Wells ; for, not improbably it
would have seemed to counterbalance the argument
from the ecstatics, by the Earl of Shrewsbury.

But however that may be, with the preceding com-
ments, the latest account of an ecstatic may be read
by some persons with more patience, than it might
otherwise have been, and by some others with less be-
wilderment. For the excitement made by that famous
letter of the earl's was not so much because of what it
was in itself, as it was through the temper of the peo-
ple addressed. They were acted upon by that letter
as though by an apparition ; whereas they would not
have been affected by it so strongly, if they had not
been men of their time, even while trying hard to be-
long to the Middle Ages, and if they had not been, so
to say, anti-supernaturalists in reading and observation,
like almost everybody else.

The account of the Belgian ecstatic has been seen
by multitudes of Protestants, but it will have been no-
ticed by very few persons, because generally the eyes

1G2 THE LAST ECSTATIC.

of Protestants are proof against reporting such things
to their brains. Marvellous occurrences are as com-
mon now, perhaps, as ever they were in the Middle
Ages ; and they are published in the newspapers, to a
far greater extent than most readers would easily be-
lieve. But even what are read and accepted as facts are
seldom or never retained in the mind, but fade from the
memory like dreams, as having no hold and no proper
place. For indeed by education, and in accordance
with the intellectual temper of the age, and as an ef-
fect of modern literature, there is an effort, unconscious,
but not therefore the less real, in almost every mind
to throw off every preternatural recollection as being
useless, foreign, uncongenial, and inwardly indigestible.
And thus always many good intelligent persons are
at the mercy of the first prodigy, which may actually
strike them. And if they should show themselves in-
sane with it, it is because really they were already in-
sane, as having been unreasonably sceptical, as hav-
ing hardened themselves habitually against the facts
of the universe, and as having despised the hints
which are allowed to transpire from time to time as to
a world of spirit, invisible indeed, but interfused among
things seen and temporal, and pervading them, though
commonly it may be without touching.

And now if any one would ask the writer, as to what
then he thinks of the stigmata on the persons of the
ecstatics, he would say that they may be preternatural
without therefore being divine ; and though they may
be the effects of a certain kind of intense devotion,
that they may still not be distinguishing favors. The
case of Louise Lateau, of Belgium, could it be under-

THE LAST ECSTATIC. 163

stood as the angels see it, would no doubt be of great
use for clearly understanding spiritual laws, which
every person is living under, though blindly. Nor
does this remark presuppose, that her state must there-
fore be akin to the angelic ; because it is even from the
study of disease, that much has been learned as to the
laws of health. And it is reverently suggested that
Louise Lateau is an ecstatic with the stigmata, not
probably because she is more favored of heaven than
every other girl in Belgium, nor primarily because even
of her being a Catholic, but because of some pecu-
liarity in her constitution, by which anciently perhaps
she might have been a prophetess, if the Lord had
needed her ; and by which, too, if she had been a fer-
vent Friend or an earnest Methodist, she would have
been receptive of gifts and graces corresponding per-
haps to her faith, and to such hopes and expectations
as might have been strong in her, by her religious con-
nections.

By peculiarity of constitution, however, is not meant
anything in kind different from human nature, but
only something remarkable in degree, — a sensibility in
receptiveness common to everybody, though only very
feeble perhaps in most persons ; and which being great
in itself and from birth, may now and then operate
wonderfully, from accidental causes such as fasting, or
through illness, from some negative and restraining
powers in the system having been enfeebled.

A case like this of Louise Lateau ought to be of in-
finite interest in theology. That there may be no know-
ing what to make of it is no reason for ignoring it, but
is a reason rather for keeping it, in mind, against the

164 THE LAST ECSTATIC.

coming of light on it from heaven : and which no donbt
will arrive as soon as men are willing to receive it.
And it will come probably by channels already exist-
ent and waiting, psychological, medical, and scientific.

Of course, all facts are not of equal use to every-
body, any more than hay is good for chickens as well
as horses, although oats may be. And there are large
classes of creatures for whom diamonds must ever be
valueless, such as bumble-bees, pigs, and the dirt-eat-
ing men of South Africa.

And it is not everybody, for whom the case of Louise
Lateau can be expected to be interesting ; and neither
is it likely to be so for all theologians, though it really
ought to be. And there may be some who will wish
that it had never happened, or had never been pub-
lished. And what will that wish of theirs be but in-
fidelity to the truth ; and what will the state of mind
of such persons be, but blasphemy against the manner
in which, under God, the world manifests its hidden
powers ?

As to the story of Louise Lateau, and other such
things, there are words of Plato which are worthy of
notice by all persons, and especially by some good
Christians, although they are older than Christianity
by some four hundred years. They are contained in
his Second Epistle : " For almost as it seems to me,
than such as these, there are no histories, which are
more ridiculous to the herd of men, and none either,
which to better minds are more wonderful, or more
capable of inspiring them with a sense of God."

And now since this last paragraph was written, there
has been published a volume entitled " Planchette ; or,

THE LAST ECSTATIC. 165

The Despair of Science." And if indeed science should
despair of the planchette to-day, it ought not to do so
long, any more than the left hand should despair of its
ability, while there is a good right hand to help it.
And through science, when it is informed by psychol-
ogy, the strangeness of the planchette may develop
like the Greek mystery about amber. Amber, with
the Greeks, was " electron " ; and with rubbing it, was
got what was called electricity. It was an unaccount-
able, useless manifestation. But since the time of
Aristotle, and through science, it has developed into
speech like lightning, between man and man, and
across distances perhaps twenty or thirty times greater
than any flash of lightning ever illumined.

In the volume referred to there is quoted a letter
written at Eochester, nineteen years ago, and which
was published in many newspapers at the time. That
letter was by the present writer. It told fairly what
was witnessed at a spiritual sitting, and which, as it
happened, was nothing satisfactory whatever. And if
the writer did not conclude correctly as to the motives
of the mediums, it may be some excuse for him that
at that time the Eochester knockings were to him an
unheard-of novelty, and that the mediums themselves
at that time knew nothing of the laws and limitations
of the phenomena which were manifested through
them.

MATTER AXD SPIRIT.

GEXEEALLY at present the minds of men are
very impatient of anything supernatural. It is

i suit partly of the materialistic philosophy which
lately dominated in all things, and partly also of the
hard, practical tone of the times, by which everything
is judged according as it will work somehow or other,
and promptly in a factory or a creed.

N w and then perhaps on a Sunday, or in the evening
twilight, a man thinks gently on some strange occur-
rence, bordering perhaps on the supernatural, which he
has heard of, and which perhaps may have been a fam-
ily tradition. And thus he has his mind filled with
thoughts and feelings from his inner spirit. The air
about him feels as though almost it were aglow with
latent light. In his ears there is an expectant sense,
as though of something just ready to speak. And al-
most it is as though he felt himself, through all his
senses, porous and open to a surrounding world of spir-
it. But with a rap on the door, or a sudden start, the
man is hims li _ in, as he thinks : though indeed it
is only his inferior self which he thus suddenly be-
comes. And he is a man of the world a^ain, because
some divine affinities of his nature have suddenly
shrunk into unconsciousness. And so, in a moment,
things have become incredible for him, with which,

MATTER AND SPIRIT. 167

however, his soul had been delighting herself, as con-
nected with the communion of saints, the significance
of miracles, and the nearness of the spiritual world.

There is an inner spirit in us, or rather there is an
interior state of the spirit, which sometimes we know
of ; and when silently and softly we seem to breathe the
air of another world than this ; and when there comes
over us a peace, not as the world gives ; and when our
thoughts come in upon our minds steadily and grandly,
and as though from afar off; and when the heart feels,
as it were, the magnitude of some crisis closing round
it; and when indeed we are a wonder to ourselves.
And under the fresh effect of such an experience
the miracles of history seem to be but in fair keep-
ing with human nature, and even with our individual
selves, because of " the signs and wonders " which our
own souls are capable of giving out. But more quick-
ly than the sensitive plant, at the touch of flesh and
blood, does this inner self shrink and contract, and,
immortal as it is, yet seem to fade and disappear.

The Book of Eevelation is not for reading in any and
every mood. And it is not at all possible that a Mate-
rialist can understand St. John, as he writes, " I was
in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a
great voice, as of a trumpet." And a man must be a
Spiritualist by philosophy, and at least as intelligently
so as George Fox, the Quaker, before he can know what
was to be listened to and how, when he reads, " He
that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches."

And it is because the Book of Eevelation, manifest-
ly, is not for every state of mind that we may infer or

I liS IfATTKB AND BPIBIT.

at least, suspeci that the Scriptures, generally, may not
always be read aright by human eyes, .imply as being
very sharp. The Bible cannol possibly be a revelation
of the Spirit, bo the angry minds of textual controver-
sialists. Ami therein lies indeed the true objection to
the use of creeds. For supposing that Christianity, as
a whole, were capable of being put into words, an at*-
tempi at a i reed might be reasonably and 1'airly made,
on every fresh kaleidoscopic combination of texts or
doctrines, which a congregation or an individual might
believe. But for really Christian effect, it would seem
as though every individual spirit ought for itself to
find ami feel the Spirit in the Scriptures, notwithstand-
ing any intellectual aids, by which reverentially it
might be thought desirable that a person should be
prepared for that solemn communion of the finite with
the infinite.

By the temper of the times it is the last thing to be
wished for, or hoped for, and so, of course, it would be
the very lasi thing to be minded,. — anything fresh of a
spiritual origin. It is a disease of this age, though now
rapidly abating, that was just breaking out when the
word for it was invented by Ralph Cud worth, which
was pneumatophobia, — a shrinking from spirit, as
cause, or explanation, or hope, and thereby and there-
fore, of course, from belief even, as very strongly felt.

There have been ages not barbarous, nor yet besot-
ted, when a variation from the order of nature, or what
seemed to be such, was what kingdoms would have
consulted about, through eminent men. But to-day,
by thousands of the most intelligent persons, varia-
tions from the laws of nature might be heard of and

MATTER AND SPIRIT. 169

even credited, and yet awaken no interest. And now
why should this be, or even be possible ? Simply it is
because it is not in the people to be interested. And
that is because they have not such a belief in the spir-
itual world, as that they can possibly imagine even the
possibility of a sign of it near them. The spiritual
world about them, and they themselves now in it, and
connected with it, and as certainly so as they ever
will be, after they have lost or slipped their bodies,
and according to philosophy and revelation both ! It
is a thing to them inconceivable, provoking, and ridic-
ulous, and what they can neither think nor feel. But
really, whether it pleases them or not, it is so that they
are made ; and also the thing which they do not like
to think has been the glory of the greatest thinkers,
since the world began, and has been the inspiring and
informing thought, by which, as by a thermometer, the
spiritual height of any age is to be measured, — not its
height indeed, as to the externality and fashion of
life, nor as to science which is conversant with the ex-
ternality of the universe, but as to faith and poetry,
and those virtues and graces, which in greater or less
numbers are their inseparable concomitants.

Often a good Christian will say, " I hope, and for
worlds I would not but think, that after I am dead
somehow I shall be resuscitated and live in God for-
ever." And then it is a terrible shock to him, should
he be reminded that now already in God " we live and
move and have our being." And then such a man
will look about him in despair, and wish that he were
not bound quite to believe it. For he is thinking to
himself the while, " What ! living in God now, and I
8

170 MATTER AND SPIRIT.

what I am ? " And the worst of it is what the man
himself does not know, that so probably it will have
to be with him to all eternity, so long as he himself is
what he is, — so long as, somehow or other, the primi-
tive instincts of his spirit are stifled : because an actual
spirit, as he is even now, though embodied for a while,
the man has no feeling of the spiritual universe sur-
rounding him, no sense of it as power, nor any imme-
diate expectations from it, by the way either of fear or
hope.

We are spiritual creatures now, though embodied,
and really living in a spiritual world, however much
it may be clouded to our perceptions, or it would never
have been written for Christians, " Draw nigh to God,
and he will draw nigh to you." And that which is
written is written, although we are what we are, and
notwithstanding however divinely we may walk, that
we are not to expect ever to be met by the glories
which were witnessed by " the seven angels before the
throne of God." But still, just as really as there were
unearthly splendors for those heavenly eyes to see, when
they looked, so there are experiences of unworldly ori-
gin which, with expectation, our spirits are in the way
to find, and which serve as assurances of faith and an-
swers to prayer. Speaking like an immortal, but with
a sense of our infantile state for fleshliness, says St.
John, " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it
doth not yet appear what we shall be : but we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for
we shall see him as he is." Already in us prisoners
of nature there are powers, susceptibilities, and right-
ful expectations which reach beyond the region of

MATTER AND SPIRIT. 171

nature for their objects. " Our Father which art in
heaven" may begin a prayer, which may be heard
beyond the sun, and quite apart from the laws of
acoustics and gravitation ; and perhaps also it may be
offered as incense before the throne by angels in whose
view, amid wide-spread splendors, all earths and suns
are but like thin vapors.

The child unborn has its senses for the world upon
which it is to emerge : eyes for the light by which it
is to see ; ears for those waves of sound through the
atmosphere by which it is to hear, and infantile in-
stincts, serving for life and prophetic of it, and which
it delights a mother's heart to recognize. And indeed
a child in the womb has not only an eye for seeing
about the world into which it is to be born, but an
eye also which will fit a telescope upwards and a mi-
croscope downwards for exploration ; and has also con-
genital faculties, through which it will grow into the
ways of the world, and fill a place in society. And
just so, in this womb of nature, wherein " the crea-
ture waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God,"
human beings have all the spiritual faculties which are
to fit them for the spiritual world, — eyes of the spirit,
a spiritual understanding, ears with which to hear
what the Spirit saith, and — 0 strange, unearthly, but
sure experience ! — a susceptibility by which " the
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities ; for we know not
what we should pray for as we ought : but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered."

All that is here attempted to be said, about persons
in the flesh being open to effects from the world of

172 MATTER AND SPIRIT.

spirit, is strong conviction, is inmost knowledge to tlie
man who lias ever felt the Spirit praying inside of his
spirit, and informing his prayers, with an earnestness,
and faith, and wisdom which were a wonder to him-
self, and an awful mystery, when at the end he said
"Amen." And the inference from this is what St.
Paul shall declare. And the words are from his grand
argument on the struggle of the creature in its earth-
ly environment, and against it, and they are that Ave
mortals are " waiting for the adoption, to wit, the re-
demption of our body."

" There is a natural body, and there is " — the apos-
tle does not say that there is to be, or shall be, but
that there is — " and there is a spiritual body." And
the Greek word for renewed life after death recognizes
that statement of St. Paul's in a manner which 'the
Latin-English word " resurrection" does not, common-
ly. By dissolution in the earth, " bare grain, it may
chance of wheat, or of some other grain," shows what
a body had been latent in it, though invisible, yet alive
and wonderful, " first the blade, then the ear, and af-
ter that the full corn in the ear." And there is not a
man living but has in him latent a spiritual body,
endowed already with all those faculties, by which
hereafter he may be free of the heavens, and feel
himself at home in the house of many mansions, and
as St. Paul would say, no stranger or foreigner, but a
fellow-citizen with the saints, and of the household
of God. The saint on earth has in him already all
that he is to be in the great hereafter.

And thus for a human being with a twofold consti-
tution, by which, mentally, he is adapted to this earth,

MATTER AND SPIRIT. 173

and spiritually also to a new earth, under new heavens,
it might seem that not impossibly or incredibly a person
might now and then, and through some one or other of
the thousand sensibilities by which he is an immortal
soul, have experiences outside of the sphere of the nat-
ural man. And unless barred from such a supposition by
a divine revelation, it might seem reasonable to antici-
pate that sometimes, with the weakening of " the body
of this death," the latent faculties of the immortal
spirit might even begin to manifest themselves. And
indeed than the preternatural experiences of the dying,
there are no phenomena perhaps in mental history
which are more common. Said Schiller, for his last
words in dying, " So many things are becoming to me
so much plainer than they were." And no doubt the
light in which he had wished to live was brightening
on his soul. But more express even than this is the
multitudinous testimony, which might easily be gath-
ered, as to the death-bed experiences of persons within
the last few years, and by which it would seem as
though the departing spirit were sometimes met, before
parting from the body, by some sign of the new world
near it, by unearthly music perhaps, or by some spirit
who was once an old friend, or by some vision of glory
unutterable.

But also, in the same manner, and for analogous
reasons, strange preternatural experiences, originating
with spiritual causes, may reasonably be credited, for
persons of peculiar conditions, whether congenital as
to the body, or accidentally incurred by disease, or
occasioned perhaps by an unusual sensitiveness, as to
some of the forces which are necessary to vitality,

174 MATTER AND SPIRIT.

electric, magnetic, odic, and others perhaps more occult
than they. Thus somnambulism supposes the natural
eye to be asleep, while the eye of the spirit sees through
it. In clairvoyance there is sight independently of
matter, as to the substance of the eye, and whether
bandaged or not, and as to walls or long distances ;
and yet, as an effect of looking through a material eye-
ball, the spirit sees material objects. But indeed won-
ders would seem to be likely enough, as the experi-
ences of spirits in the flesh, and of mortals on their
way to immortality. And how, then, might it be prop-
er that such things should be judged of ? Just as such
things ought to be, by such creatures as men and espe-
cially by the enlightened disciples of Christ, — by rules
of probability and analogy and good sense, and by the
grand ruling test as to what " the Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirits." And indeed St. Paul could
imagine the possibility of an angel from heaven preach-
ing what Christian common sense might boldly and at
once count accursed.

Always in an emergency of thought, it is well that a
man should bethink himself as to where he is, and what
.he is. Because all things are not uniformly of the same
significance everywhere. That may seem to be erro-
neous which is absolutely correct. And scientifically
between navigators and the polar star there are causes
of variation, as to guidance, which have to be allowed
for, if that guidance is to prove exact. The polar star
is polar truly for only the wisest people. And it is
not to everybody, idle and studious alike, and not to
the prejudiced at all, that even the Scriptures can
yield their true meaning. What a man does not want

MATTER AND SPIRIT. 175

to see, he will be very likely not to recognize. And
this may happen about a fact, perhaps of no great im-
portance in itself, but which yet, because of his state
of mind, might for him individually be newness of
thought, or a clew to some baffling and bewildering
mystery.

That method of picking and choosing evidences,
that fashion of thinking only alongside of well-trod-
den roads, that determination which idolizes agreeable
facts, and winks hard against what are irreconcilable,
which has been so common in theology, and for the
sake of it, - — of all that, what possible outcome can there
be but folly, such as earlier or later must become plain ?
" Unclean spirits" are not a very pleasant subject of
thought to any one, and to theologians in some en-
lightened regions almost they are inconceivable and
incredible. And yet because of the New Testament,
it might seem as though a person could not quite well
understand what Christ was in the world, without some
philosophy or understanding as to those " unclean spir-
its " whom he commanded, and against whom he gave
his apostles power. And in the Old Testament, " fa-
miliar spirits " and their kindred are as essential to
the action as Moses and Elijah. And for lack of this
perception, there are many ingenious and elaborate
works on the Old Testament, which could only be
equalled by some such work as a history of the battle
of Waterloo, wherein the French should be regarded,
for some philosophical reasons, as having been only
figures of speech. And yet the historical reality of a
" familiar spirit " made certain by modern analogies,
would probably be but an unwelcome fact, in many

176 MATTER AND SPIRIT.

theological schools. Yet facts — facts are the words in
which the universe reads to man its unending lesson.
They may be odious by themselves, sometimes, while
yet through their connections, they may be very val-
uable. But because of human weakness, it is often
the alternative about a new fact, that either it is an
idol, or else anathema. And truly also a fact is
often treated in this manner, when really, except as
being novel for a few people, it is nothing more than a
pebble, a mere make-weight in the universe, which
pebble, however just in its place and office, is of uni-
versal concern.

But with anything extraordinary to think of, or phe-
nomenal, a man should remember himself. And then
instead of finding himself on a judgment-seat, or right-
fully glowing with the consciousness of a seraph, he
will feel himself to be but a mortal creature, walking
and working about a little spot in a little planet, at-
tendant upon a sun, which sun itself is reasonably sus-
pected of being also only a planet. But " he that hum-
bleth himself shall be exalted." And when a man in
that manner has felt his nothingness, he is ready then
to appreciate the compliment which science pays him,
by her assurance that the weight of his body, his mere
fleshly clothing, is what the universe could not spare,
without planets and suns and fixed stars running to-
gether, and there being an end of all things.

And in this way, even were there no other way,
might a man reasonably suspect that perhaps also
there are conditions concerning him as a spirit, of
which he may not necessarily be aware. But then it
is said that between mortal and immortal, and between

MATTER AND SPIRIT. 177

matter and spirit, that the difference is such that
there can be no reasoning with a man from any cir-
cumstances of to-day as to his connections with the
spiritual and eternal.

And by some, who hold that this earth is isolated
from the spiritual universe surrounding it, on the sub-
ject of miracles, often axioms are used as authorities,
which really have long been anile and effete. That
spirit can never impinge upon matter is assumed as
an axiom by Thomas Aquinas ; and it is pleaded to-
day like a text from the gospel. But even supposing
that it were true, it would not therefore follow that
means might not be found or contrived, by which
devils or angels might make themselves sensibly felt,
and might act upon matter. It is true that spirit is
spirit, and matter is matter. But then what is spirit,
and what is matter ? Of the difference between the
two there are notions of mediaeval origin, which are
obstinately pleaded to-day, for ends which Thomas
Aquinas and the schoolmen would never have sanc-
tioned. Also, what did Thomas Aquinas know of
electricity, galvanism, or magnetism ? What did he
know of the odic force ? He knew no more of them
than he did of optics, or chemical affinities, or the law
of gravitation. Definitions as to spirit and matter,
originating ages before Bacon, adduced to-day on the
subject of miracles are gross anachronisms.

Matter ! what is that as a basis whence to argue
psychologically, while even by science it is speculated
that all the matter of this earth may perhaps be com-
pressible into a nut-shell ? Really science is the
young sister of spiritualism, and is of no kin whatever
8* * L

178 MATTER AND SPIRIT.

with materialism, to the positive knowledge of those
who know them all three. The old mediaeval under-
standing as to spirit and matter is obsolete ; for through
science matter itself seems semi-spiritualized. And,
so to say, rightly understood, matter and spirit, in the
common use of the words, are not opposites, except in
some such way as that by which the roots of a tree
in the ground are opposite to the blossoms high up
in the air.

Spirit cannot impinge upon matter, because spirit
is spirit ; and spirit is impalpable, and therefore it
cannot affect what is solid and hard ! But when con-
fronted these are but old-world positions, which prop-
erly were obsolete long ago. For perhaps the fluids
called electric, galvanic, and magnetic are material, or
perhaps they are spiritual, or perhaps they traverse
fields intermediate between matter and spirit. But on
any one of these suppositions, there are one or two old
philosophical axioms as to spirit and matter, which are
falsified at once, just as owls show themselves to be
out of time and place when they attempt to fly in the
broad sunshine.

The body of a man is not such matter as might
sometimes seem to be supposed by some philosophers,
but is really * dust of the earth," porous throughout
every particle, to electricity and magnetism, which at
least are semblances of spiritual forces. And if
Thomas Aquinas had lived in these last days, instead
of writing what he did on some points, and getting
quoted by people of another dialect in philosophy than
his, as having meant what he certainly did not intend,
he would probably have held that matter was such a

MATTER AND SPIRIT. 179

mere nothing, such a mere meeting-place of immate-
rial forces, as scarcely itself to need notice.

Instead of something like untanned leather, a man
has a skin, by which he is open to influences and ef-
fects from the ends of the world, from the sun, and
from the circumambient atmosphere. And all the
more he learns from science, the more wonderfully
does he feel this. And spiritually, when he is willing
to attend, he finds himself connected in an equally
wondrous manner. And many a man who thinks
himself to be an Anti-Supernaturalist, with an honest
confession of himself, as to some of his private expe-
riences, which, for fear of being nonsensical, he is
hardly willing to acknowledge even to himself, and
also with fair respect for testimony from friends whom
he personally esteems, — many a man, in this way,
would find that a field of wonder widened round him,
away in the far east of which he would feel that very
probably there may indeed have been gates of revela-
tion, and the place of rising of the sun of righteous-
ness.

In Boston an Englishman was staying, who " many
lands and many men had seen," and also many years,
since the time of his leaving school. He certainly in
his life had never dreamed of the school, and for many
years had scarcely even had a thought of it. But one
night he had a dream of it. Accompanied by his
aunt, he walked up the road which led to the school,
wondering all the while at the perfectness with which
he remembered every little object. He passed in
through the gate into the yard, when he noticed heaps
of rubbish under the walls ; on which, he turned to his

180 MATTER AND SPIRIT.

aunt and said, " This stuff ought to be cleared away.
It never ought to be allowed here." Then, with the
old familiar feeling, he went up the steps, and opened
the door of the school, and was surprised at seeing,
not boys at their desks, but six or eight workmen
busy on the demolition of the building. And at this
point he awoke. But in the morning, while he was
at the breakfast-table, he received a foreign letter,
which proved to be from a trustee of the old gram-
mar school, soliciting a subscription from him towards
the rebuilding of the edifice. It was an undertaking
in which his aunt was much interested ; and she had
herself given the address for the letter.

The following narrative is vouched for by the best
possible evidence. When the emigration for Califor-
nia had begun, a youth belonging to the town of
Lynn embarked for San Francisco. After some months
had elapsed, his mother dreamed that she saw him,
that he looked wofully wasted, and that he stretched
out his arms to her, and cried, " 0 mother, mother,
take me. I am dying of thirst." Early the next day,
she went to a very intelligent gentleman, with her
heart full of agony : and at her request, he put the
history and date of her experience into writing. After
many months, eleven perhaps, a letter reached her
from the captain of the ship in which her son had
sailed. The vessel had suffered much in storms off
Cape Horn. Because of the long passage, the supply
of water had not lasted. And for want of water, sev-
eral persons on board of the vessel had died before
reaching port; and among them was her son. And
the time of his death, as given by the captain, corre-
sponded with that night of the mother's dream.

MATTER AND SPIRIT. 181

These two incidents have never been published be-
fore ; and it is because they are new that they are
given ; for it would be very easy to cite hundreds, and
perhaps thousands, of recorded dreams, which are at
least as impressive as the preceding, and some of
which are even more striking.

Some six or seven years ago a vessel arrived in Bos-
ton with a great number of shipwrecked people on
board. The ship in which they had been sailing had
foundered at sea, and left them on the water, clinging,
most of them, to floating objects. A vessel, bound to
Boston, arrived in their midst and picked them up.
But how did that ship get amongst them ? The cap-
tain of it said that he was on deck at night, and a
bird flew in his face, and at the same time he was
filled with a strong, strange feeling for putting the ship
about, and sailing back on the course by which he had
been coming. A second time, and a third time, a
bird flew in his face. And the feeling with him for
putting the ship about became irresistible. And after
sailing for three hours in the dark, he found himself to
be a savior at a great shipwreck.

In such incidents as the preceding history abounds,
whether ancient or modern, classical or profane. And
why is it that they are read contemptuously, or heard
with impatient pity ? Simply it is because of what is
ignorantly fancied about the laws of nature, as being
exclusive of marvels of unknown origin. And just as
though also the laws of nature, to common notion, would
not have been against the possibility of submarine whis-
pering, if it had ever been thought of, before electri-
city had yielded itself to human management ! And

182 MATTER AND SPIRIT.

just as though a thousand and ten thousand similar
facts do not imply something in common, some com-
mon cause, and it may be probably some common law !
And what if that should seem to be a spiritual law ?
Is that a supposition so improbable as that even Chris-
tians cannot think it ? Such Christians certainly as
many people say they are, cannot think it : and worse
than that, they would rather not believe it, as they say ;
and what is worse still than that, they avow that they
would rather not believe what might seem to diminish
the peculiarity of the miracles of the Scriptures. " 0 ye
of little faith ! " As though God would be less God for
any man's knowing something about him of his own
knowledge ! As though the Bible would be less credible
for being confirmed in any way, even the least ! As
though it had not been a Scriptural promise, as to some
spirit-stirring times, both in the Old Testament and in
the New : " Your young men shall see visions, and
your old men shall dream dreams " ! And as though
it were not one grand purpose of the Bible to develop
the mysteriousness of human nature, and to make
men feel, with many other strange things, that wheth-
er there be hosts below them or not, or hosts above,
that by Jesus Christ they have been made "kings
and priests unto God and his Father " !

There is a containing sky about us, in which the
aurora flames. There is an air about us, in which it
thunders and lightens. And surrounding us there is
an atmosphere, through which we are affected for life
and for death, in ways which, year by year, are enu-
merated by science more and more wonderfully.

A spiritual atmosphere about us, or an atmosphere

MATTER AND SPIRIT. 183

slightly spiritual, or something which we mortals
should call such, — why should it be accounted strange
or incredible ? Surely not because the knowledge of it
was not given by Moses, or through the New Testament.
And if such a belief be fairly declucible by observed
facts, what is it but a thing for which to thank God, as
enabling believers in the Scriptures to conform the
better to the rules of what is called modern science,
even on its own plane ? Eevelation ! People who
believe in it ought to be afraid of nothing, as against
it. And no man, with a soul to believe, does believe
in it, with earthly misgivings of any kind.

It has been supposed, what is even the besetting
difficulty of many earnest persons, that' there never
can have been a call upon mortals from the world im-
mortal, for want of a way, a channel. Does therefore
the significance of that call diminish because there
might seem to be a greater possibility for it ? Says
some one, " Eh, eh ! I never believed it. But now I
see a quarter, a law, a spiritual connection, whence
that old call may have come." But that would not
seem to be all that is to be said, unless a man should
think more of the importance of his own sense than
of what the universe itself may have to say to him.
And when such a man finds his own earthiness to be
more spiritual than he had thought, it is surely no
reason for his beginning afresh to doubt about his
spiritual connections.

THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM.

THIS is a great subject, which can he noticed in
this place only just as it illustrates the line of
thought in these essays.

The phenomena of Spiritualism, even the simpler,
are very curious in themselves, but they are important
mainly for the method which is in them, and for the
philosophy which they involve. Witchcraft was no
good in its day, certainly ; " but," said John Wesley,
" to give up witchcraft is to give up the Bible." And,
similarly, to gainsay the possibility of Spiritualism is
to repudiate the spiritual philosophy of the Scriptures.
The writer hereof has what is for him an opinion
about Spiritualism, but it would need the space of a
volume in which to justify as well as unfold it. And
therefore any mention of it here should be taken, just
as it is made, merely by way of allusion, and for the
special points indicated.

How vast and various is the universe, even to hu-
man apprehension ! The infinity surrounding them,
men are ready enough to remember /or glory, but not
for humility. And so, under the lamp-light of histo-
ry, merely, some great philosophers show very strange-
ly, as critical occupants of the universe. So, often, on
one subject or another, have even great men shown
themselves to be as blind as ants in a hillock. What

THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM. 185

would ants be the wiser, if alongside of their hill
there were a highway of commerce reaching to the
ends of the world, or an observatory by which, as to
view, the heavens are brought down ? It is true that
emmets are born with the knowledge which they need,
and that human beings are born to the knowledge
into which they are to grow. Yet still many men are
as blind as ants to " the balancings of the clouds " ;
and many immortal souls have their faculties for un-
derstanding and belief fast closed against evidences
of the spiritual universe about them. And as to the
things of the spirit, and the philosophy of the spirit-
ual world, and the ongoings of the spiritual universe,
there are still those even who can " see and not per-
ceive," and who are altogether amenable to the remon-
strance, " Having eyes, see ye not ? and having ears,
hear ye not ? "

Is it indeed true philosophy, which thinks that every
fresh suggestion from the universe must necessarily be
just what might have been looked for ? And as to
signs and effects from the spiritual world, is mere
probability any kind of a rule by which for souls to
judge, who themselves are but of yesterday's creation ?
Yet there are people who are confident as to the possi-
bilities of the universe, merely through their own feel
of it. But even though his five senses be sharpened
to the utmost, and be helped by every kind of instru-
ment and contrivance, yet what is any man for a judge
as to the likelihoods of a universe, which appeals, not
to five senses only, but perhaps to five hundred facul-
ties ! And the claim of Christianity is that the soul
has senses or sensibilities for channels and quarters,

186 THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM.

outside of the range of what technically is called sci-
ence.

In the " Precognitions of Clement," that oldest of
Christian novels, says Simon Magus, " While all sensa-
tions possible belong to one of the five senses, that
PoAver which is superior to all things, cannot add any
new one." But to this it is replied by Peter, " That is
false ; for there is a sixth sense, that of prescience ;
for the other five senses are capable only of knowl-
edge, but the sixth of foreknowledge ; which sense
the prophets had." As being a spirit imprisoned in a
body, a man has extra-mural relations, and as a living
soul he has supersensual susceptibilities. And so it
might seem to be, in itself, anything but incredible, if,
now and then, some soul should have something to re-
port as to some foregleam of immortality ; or as to some
glimpse faintly caught of the scenery or the company,
to which it is itself predestined ; or as to occurrences
as fitful as the aurora of the north, and as wayward as
the lightning, and which, for earthly effect, start per-
haps from the meeting-point between spirit and mat-
ter ; and which point, it may be, is more mysterious
than even spirit itself is.

To what can the outbreak of what is called " Spir-
itualism " be likened for effect ? On the world at
large, it has been as though a ghost had appeared at a
sitting of the Eoyal Society, in London. But a thing
may seem to be out of place, because really the ob-
server himself is out of his own proper place. And many
Christians have been startled, provoked, and confounded
by " Spiritualism " because of the extent to which they
themselves were out of place, intellectually and relig-

THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM. 187

iously. Not improbably, if Christians bad been such
believers as they ought to have been, the thing which
technically is called Spiritualism, might never have
been manifested amongst them. Near Jerusalem
once, if the multitude of the disciples had not praised
God, the stones might immediately have cried out.
The testimony of the stones would not, perhaps, have
been very edifying, except by being very startling.
Even though the various conditions necessary to the
phenomena of Spiritualism are not well known, yet it
is conceivable and it is highly probable that, if the
atmosphere of the Christian Church had been what it
ought to have been, instead of there being mediums
and their attendant marvels in the world, there would
to-day have been in the Church the manifestation of
the Spirit, and one good man would have been full of
the Holy Ghost, and another man, perhaps, would have
seen visions, and still another would have abounded in
hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost ; while for
the public benefit one man would have shown the gift
of healing, and another have been endowed with the
word of wisdom, as a gift.

As it is, however, some of the more material of the
Spiritualistic phenomena, such as noises, are as though
the stones cried out, to assure men that really they are
not as much at home in the universe as they fancy, —
that there may be qualities, and ways, and a soul in
the universe, such as they have never thought of, —
and that themselves instead of being altogether self-
sufficient, actually that they are but like bubbles made
of the will of God and spared of his mercy.

There is a philosophy, and that, too, of fervent

188 THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM.

Christians, which would have taken up at its very
commencement, this portentous subject of Spiritual-
ism as a very little thing, — the philosophy of Henry
More and Ralph Cudworth, and a long ascending line
of scholars, reaching up to the Fathers, and in amongst
the foundations of the Church. From this philosophy,
which implies the coexistence of two worlds for man,
— one for the body and another for the spirit, — think-
ers have been greatly estranged during the last century,
because of the inordinate and disproportionate atten-
tion which has been drawn to the material world, by
the novelty and multitude of its disclosures scientifi-
cally. But the more that the range of the five senses
is explored, and the more definitely it is ascertained
what the properties are of which matter is susceptible,
the more certain it becomes that in the universe there
is a causative power transcending what the sun and
moon have ever felt, and of which man is an object.

Spiritualism ought to be nothing novel or strange to
a theologian, and would not be but for the anomalous
state of theology itself. Men have been' so intent, so
long, on splitting hairs metaphysically, for theologi-
cal use, that almost the breadth itself of theology has
been forgotten. By the modes which are called Spirit-
ualistic people are to-day communicating with spirits
from a plane which is common to them, with the Chi-
nese, the Esquimaux, and the aborigines of Australia,
and probably with the prophets of ancient Greece, and
the priests of ancient Pcome, and with the last philo-
sophic survivors of Hellenism. And if any Christians
think that thereby there is over them the supremacy
of heavenly illumination, by that much, at least, they

THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM. 189

may "believe themselves, as before heaven, to be stand-
ing apart from where the early Christians stood.

All the preceding remarks will hold true by those
laws of evidence by which still higher things than
Spiritualism will be judged a hundred years hence.
For, what is under our eyes proverbially is the last
thing to be noticed. But when, with the recession of
time, it has got to be viewed on the plane of history,
along with other distant even though more important
objects, then it becomes what cannot so easily be over-
looked. And it will certainly be well for some persons,
if by fairness or spiritual receptiveness they should be
enabled to anticipate the use of that information, which
is certain to pass on to the next generation, and if
possibly in no other way, then certainly as an unopened
letter, wonderful in itself, but more wonderful still,
perhaps, as having never been minded when it was
written.

Rightly considered, though more fully than is possi-
ble here, the manner in which the announcement of
the phenomena commonly called Spiritualistic, was
received is almost as instructive as the manifestations
themselves. For it is only by an invincible, inward
anti-supernaturalism, which has grown with them from
childhood, that commonly men of ordinary sense have
been able to withstand the multitudinous testimony,
which exists as to some of the simpler phenomena
which are called Spiritualistic. Nor is it out of his
own strength, nor yet out of his own weakness, that a
man is able to contradict, as he sometimes does ; but it
is from the spirit of his age, from the breath which he
draws of public opinion, and from his being one of a

190 THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM.

banded host. And this remark is made quite inde-
pendently of what the thing called Spiritualism may
be in itself, whether sense or nonsense, and whether
good, bad, or indifferent. " Spiritualism is the work of
evil spirits," says one who had never in his life before
had a word to say about devil or evil spirits, and into
whose theological mind never a thought of one could
have entered, but as a ready way of answering what
he was not prepared to argue. Says another, " It is
either the Devil, or else it is imposture, or else it is all
a misunderstanding by the people concerned." This
might be the judgment of some personage standing
aback and above the origin of all philosophy and all
action on this earth, but for the comments which are
adjoined, and which show that the utterance was sim-
ply a superficial view of possible chances on the sub-
ject, and made by a man who knew that he did really
know nothing at all about it. So again there was once
a warning against Spiritualism given from the text :
" And when they shall say unto you, seek unto them
that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep
and that mutter : should not a people seek unto their
God ? " The warning was well meant, and much of it
was good. But in the ear of reason it was all spoiled,
when there was added to it, from conscientiousness,
that really there never had been any " familiar spirits,"
and that their mention in the Scriptures was only by
way of accommodation to the prejudices of ignorant
times. And so it was that a theologian thought he
was denouncing from the Scriptures, what all the
while was actually corroborating the Scriptures against
him.

THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM. 191

Often, when overwhelmed by evidence, and unable
to deny the reality of the phenomena of Spiritualism,
people say, " Well, what of it ! what does it all show ? "
To which the answer is simple enough, though it can-
not always be made for fear of discourtesy, that the
Spiritualistic phenomena are fairly and properly for
intelligent persons, and fully as much so as algebra, or
trigonometry, or logarithms. Says one, "I have no
doubt that, in the presence of some persons, called me-
diums, tables dance and are rapped upon, and in fact I
know it ; and I have no doubt that persons have been
raised into the air without any human agency, because
of what I have been told. And I will acknowledge that
the secret thoughts of my mind have been recognized
and published in a way which I could not have be-
lieved, and could hardly have wished. And it is all very
funny ; but what of it ? " And this is sometimes said as
confidently as though the intellectual system of the uni-
verse would echo the words and say, " What of it ? "

And what of the theology which talks in that manner,
what of that ? What else can it be than a mere sem-
blance of something, the mere ghost of a faith, a shell
empty alike of learning, sense, and earnestness ? The
phenomena of Spiritualism acknowledged to be real, and
yet scorned as being unimportant, unsuggestive, mean-
ingless, and unworthy of theological notice ! What
flippancy ! What mere blind leadership of the blind
such theology must be ! What a fantastic trick before
high heaven ! " Thou hast a name that thou livest,
and art dead."

As to the significance of those phenomena, it is
enough to say, that by them Bishop Douglass, with

102 THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM.

his great name in theology, would have been amazed,
as though by a latter-day revelation ; and that Hugh
Farmer, formerly the great authority as to miracles,
would have found himself thereby flatly contradicted
on important points, though not much to his grief,
because of the good, honest man he was.

St. Bonaventura, while writing the life of St. Francis
of Assisi, and entranced in thought, was, according to
history, seen to rise in the air. And Thomas Aquinas,
who happened accidentally to be a Avitness of the mar-
vel, said, " Let us leave a saint to write for a saint."
This anecdote has been much ridiculed, and yet it has a
wide kindred in history. Thus it is said that Ignatius
Loyola was seen in prayer to be raised more than a
foot from the ground, saying, " 0 my God ! O my Lord !
0 that men knew thee ! " But for persons who would
wish to belong to the communion of saints, whether
with or without a pope, it would seem to be important
and interesting, if anything might enable them to be-
lieve, instead of harshly denying what implicates such
names as Bonaventura and Thomas Aquinas.

According to Farmer, in his Essay on Miracles, a
human body raised into the air, without any human
agency whatever, would be a real and evident miracle,
because contrary to the known course of nature. A
man may affirm a thing to be true, and say, " What of
it ? " But if he affirms that to be true which Hugh
Farmer could not imagine as possible, except by the
direct intervention of God, the man may be certain
that he has done a great thing, whether he knows it or
not, or whether he knows or does not know how to
make use of his own knowledge. The levitation of

THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM. 193

the body is affirmed in history, in regard to persons
canonized as saints, and also as to people accused of
witchcraft, and it has been again and again published
as to Pope Pius the Seventh. At present, for almost
all Protestant eyes, even when acknowledged as being
probably true, it is an incongruous fact, but surely it
ought not therefore to be despised as useless ; but rath-
er it should be reverentially remembered, as being
likely, some day, to flash light on the mystery of the
connection between the soul and the body. And in-
deed it is really anything but ridiculous to think of,
by a person of reading, and of good common sense and
earnestness. And if it does not immediately teach any-
thing, it may yet draw one up into the mount of con-
templation, whence things have a different look to what
they have in the common world below, and whence, too,
the laws of nature seem but like the surface, and not
the soul of things, — a surface, perhaps, of a lake, on
which for ripple, and figure, and glancing sheen, it is
because " the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence
it cometh, and whither it goeth." And it may be added
that also the remaining clause of the text is true, not
only as to the conversion of a man morally, which
properly it means, but also as to the change which a
man may, and often does, experience as to his estimate
of nature and science, under a vivid sense of what is
omnipotent and omniscient, — " So is every one that
is born of the Spirit."

" And what of it ? " many good people have said,
while acknowledging that, in connection with what is
called Spiritualism, their secret thoughts had been rec-

9 M

194 TITE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM.

ognized and answered through many secret windings ;
as though such a fact were nothing more than the
capricious barking of a dog as to significance. In a
recent theological work, Dr. Walter Scott says about
some printed account of a boy, who was supposed to
be a demoniac, and to have been sensible of an adju-
ration, even when only addressed to him in the secrecy
of the mind, " I would ask, Are we warranted by either
Scripture or reason to believe that any evil spirit, even
if it had been Satan himself, can know the thoughts,
the most secret workings and prayers of the heart in
the way in which this is supposed to have been done ?
I must think that we are not." The theology of Dr.
Scott, in the history of opinion, is what dates mainly
from St. Augustine. And the writings of Augustine
should have instructed him differently from that state-
ment of his, and by the saint's personal experience.

The previous quotation is contained in a work, highly
important at least as to the auspices under which it
was published, and the man who knows anything dif-
ferently, and thinks nothing of it, stands opposed sim-
ply by information to people whose looks would aston-
ish him, if they were assembled about him in their
multitude and respectability. And if such a man should
further wish to try out of the present age, and in the
last, the importance of what, though real, he accounts
as worthless, then let him listen to a remark of Jortin
on Ecclesiastical History. " It seems to be beyond the
abilities of any created being to know the thoughts of
a man, particularly of a man who is agitated by no
passion, and gives no indications of his mind by any
outward sign." Such a different thing it is, for a man

THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM. 195

to talk just out of himself, and for a momentary pur-
pose, from being ready to hold his position in full view
of histoiy and men of earnest thought !

It may be, that two persons might be found of the
same school in philosophy, according at least to the
words in which one would claim fellow-belief with the
other ; and of these two, one would say that the phe-
nomena of Spiritualism are impossible, while the other
would say that they are as meaningless as the miracles
of the Scriptures, which may or not be true. But now
thence it might seem, as though the occurrence of an
impossibility might be nothing wonderful.

One man, with the first report of the simpler phe-
nomena of Spiritualism, exclaims, " That is the Devil."
And another, with the first certain communication of
something which could not be other than preternat-
urally given, exclaims, " The heavens are open again."
And besides these, there are the large classes who say,
some in one way and some in another, but all of them
conjointly what is tantamount to this, — " Ah, well,
very likely, no doubt, but perhaps there is possibly, no
knowing truly, so to say, anything about anything."

In such an atmosphere of thought, spiritually, as
almost all people would seem to be living in, so thin
and hazy and uninspiring, so dead and bewildering, it
might seem as though for a theologian, anything spir-
itual, even though it might really be devilish, ought
to be useful, as enabling him perhaps to find his where-
abouts, or, as the French say, " to face the East " ;
though certainly it could not aid him to do so, unless
by nature or grace he might happen to be ready for
the guidance.

196 THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM.

It is sometimes pronounced as though judicially, for
a verdict, " By acclamation of the public, Spiritualism
is a thing which cannot be entertained for a moment."
But now how is this pretended verdict ever supposed
to be made up ? It is agreed upon by people who do
not agree among themselves, even as to the facts con-
cerned. One party says, " By the laws of nature what
is called Spiritualism is impossible, and therefore it
is not a subject to be entertained for a moment."
Another party says, " Spiritualism is true, horribly and
fearfully ; and, therefore, as a subject of thought can-
not be entertained for a moment." And a third party
says, " The intuitions of the individual mind are for
the individual. And therefore also for the public, as
far as the public may be complicated with his individ-
uality, the intuitions of the individual are supreme.
And from outside whatever would conflict with the
supremacy of intuition, may be accounted extraneous,
intrusive, and, like Spiritualism, a thing not to be en-
tertained for a moment." And a fourth party says,
" The Bible is enough for us, and as we have not time
for everything, Spiritualism cannot by us be enter-
tained for a moment." Strange parties these to a
common verdict, — parties who disagree about the
facts concerned, and who vet are summed ivd together
for apparently a unanimous opinion.

But whatever Spiritualism may be, it has had a sin-
gular, instructive effect, by the remarks which it has
elicited from philosophers taken by surprise ; from
" children tossed to and fro and carried about with every
wind of doctrine " ; from self-opinionated men, exas-
perated by the rebelliousness of facts against them ;

THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM. 197

and by theologians who, with denying the possibility of
Spiritualism, have suddenly found themselves flatly
opposed to the Bible. For both theology and philos-
ophy have been wofully at fault about Spiritualism ;
which, however, they never would have been, only that
first they had themselves become egregiously faulty
by having become too set in doctrine, and by having
thereby largely foregone the perception and the love
of facts, as evolved by daily experience, or as recorded
in history.

While he wras a Jew, Neander was turned towards
Christianity by the Pedagogue of Plutarch. This inci-
dent was a sign of the times, really. For by an old Pa-
gan was done unintentionally, what all the Christian
apologists of the day might have attempted in vain.
For, by timidity and by the taint of anti-supernatural-
ism in many places, Christianity has been so weakened
and attenuated, as that it cannot be spiritually or in-
tellectually attractive, for persons of intelligence. And
indeed by a man of spiritual insight and critical fac-
ulty, there is more Christianity to be distilled out of
Paganism itself, than some theologians seem able to find
in all the New Testament.

Belief in a spiritual world, as the early Christians
felt it, has become so much weakened by sickly intel-
lectualisms of materialistic kinship, that really what
the earliest disciples eschewed might serve to-day as
a first lesson in pneumatology, for many Christian
divines. Many believers in Spiritualism are as igno-
rant as other people, and some of them as ignorant
perhaps as even Abyssinian Christians. But the Spir-
itualism of the most ignorant Spiritualist persuades

198 THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM.

him, of his personal knowledge, that the demonology
of the New Testament was true.

As lias been stated before, Spiritualism is not of any
particular church or creed, any more than a telescope
is, or an electric telegraph, or a badly kept post-office,
or a miscellaneous library. But just as Paganism
itself might help to make some Christian believers to
be better believers than they are, so even Spiritualism
might avail theologically for some distinguished di-
vines. And truly such is the spiritual ignorance of
this highly scientific age, that " an unclean spirit," fit
only for exorcism in ancient times, would to-day, for
importance, in almost any theological school, be like
a new revelation ; because a real, earnest belief in
the demoniacs of the New Testament would necessi-
tate the formation of a pneumatology of the Scrip-
tures, for want of which, to nearly all readers, the sen-
tences of the Bible sometimes hold together but like
ropes of sand.

" And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a cer-
tain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met
us." If anything to-day might make her seem, by
analogy or otherwise, to have been exactly -what
the writer says, then there would be many an
honest doctor of divinity, on that knowledge, who
would confess that what little pneumatology he might
have was wrong, and #lso his philosophy of religion,
and also that inspiration was a more real thing than
he had ever thought. But now the account of that
girl, with the spirit of Pytho, is to be believed in,
according to Spiritualism, exactly as it is written, and
not stupidly, but with a lively, intelligent apprehen-

THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM. 199

sion. Can it be that anything in the Scriptures should
be the plainer for Spiritualism ? Certainly, and no
great wonder either ! How many various understand-
ings there are of the New Testament, — Catholic,
Trinitarian, Arian, Unitarian, Calvinistic, Arminian,
and five, ten, twenty others ! There can only one of
them be right absolutely, and probably there is not
even one. Such various understandings of the same
book argue the obfuscated state of theology, and ar-
gue too the probability, that theologians differ from
one another so variously, for something else than the
letter of the Scriptures ; and indeed because of a some-
thing which, more or less, they all lack, and which
in full strength with them would be "the unity of
the Spirit " ; and because largely of the general infec-
tiousness of the anti-supernaturalism of the times.
But, as has been«already remarked, it is such a state of
things at present, that even " the unclean spirits " men-
tioned in the New Testament, if made certain by anal-
ogy or any other way, and even though of the same
class as the " dumb and deaf spirit," would yet, simply
as beinof known of, be of ^reat use to wanderers in
the field of theology, bewildered as it now is.

Spiritual rappings have been derided as mere mate-
rialism, but only, however, by persons who must have
been intensely materialistic without knowing it ; be-
cause an intelligent rapping or word by a spirit, suggests
to a spiritually-minded man, that there must be chan-
nels and conditions through which a spirit can partially
return into nature, and also that possibly there may
be some human beings, who may be spiritually acted
upon, as well as tables. Then, too, it is said that Spirit-

200 THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM.

ualism is worthless as a subject of thought, because the
spirits never tell what was not known before. But no
matter how stupidly it may be done, if a spirit can show
himself at all, he does the greatest thing of the age, on
this earth ; for he returns by a door where theology has
said there was no opening.

And now again let it be said that all this, which may
seem novel and startling on the first reading, is yet
nothing strange, if read in the spirit of the Scriptures,
and by the light of history.

Spiritualism, dated even as of Eochester origin, is of
infinite importance to the state of mind which denies its
possibility. But to the mind which believes it, it may
be very mischievous, or at best may minister to a poor,
low kind of spirituality, apart from the philosophy con-
nected with it, and which involves in its completeness
both modern science and ancient history, and the ex-
periences of almost every primitive tribe ; and also which
appeals to the New Testament as to the discerning of
spirits, and which strengthens itself as to its positions,
by the history of the Christian Church, while it was in
conflict with heathenism.

In manner there is a great likeness between the
mistakes respectively of some men of science and some
adepts of Spiritualism, — between philosophers with
telescope and microscope, who think that they know all
about God, because of their having searched out some
of his ways, and Spiritualists who think that they know
all about the spiritual universe, from having a few spirits
to talk with. And in neither of these classes, do the
professors remember the limitations* under which they
learn. For through a telescope God is not seen, but

THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM. 201

only the divine way of handling dirt. And through
spiritual mediums there is communication with the
spiritual universe, but only as to the first step perhaps
on an endless flight, and on which step, also, it is, as
Henry More said two hundred years ago, that often,
spirits " are very great fools ; that there are as great fools
in the other world as there are in this."

By the necessity of things, the best effect from the
spiritual world cannot ordinarily result from such com-
munications as departed spirits can ever word, though
even they may themselves rank with seraphs in wis-
dom ; but it must come from such thought as may be
quickened in good minds, well prepared by education,
and by faith in the Holy Spirit, with a willingness to
wait for it and to trust it. And in the same manner,
however mysterious may be the way of it, the first true
thought of God in any soul is by revelation ; for it is
a flash of light in the mind, or it is a sudden terror
of the conscience, or it may be that it is an infinite
yearning of love. But whatever it may really be, it
is a something with very different qualities from any-
thing, which can enter the mind through the tube of
a telescope, or be started in the understanding purely
by science.

There have been many outbursts on the world, which
have been in a general sense like what is now called
Spiritualism. Such was the movement which began
with George Fox. Such also was the commencement
of what is called Shakerism, and such, though in a
manner less strongly marked, were the beginnings of
the people called Irvingites, of some thirty years ago,
and also of the Franciscans, who are an order of friars
9*

202 THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM.

in the Catholic Church. These, however, are only in-
stances out of a multitude of such things, which might
be cited at will, from history, ancient and modern, and
from the experiences of the last thirty years.

Through George Fox, " the Spirit " was a rebellion
against that formalism of thought, into which English-
men began to fall soon after the Eeformation. And
whatever else it may be, the Spiritualism which is com-
monly supposed to have begun at Eochester is a witness
against the materialism to which men were inclining
to succumb, under the undue influence of science. And
indeed as to these things there actually is a philosophy,
and which is none the less sure for being only dis-
tantly akin to mineralogy and ichthyology.

There are two sides to a thunder-storm, — what is
below and what is above, as to state. And similarly,
there are effects to be experienced, and even perhaps
to be incurred, by laws which act through human
wants, and which may be not unlike perhaps to the
demands of a decaying region below, on an atmosphere
above, and which get answered by thunder and light-
ning and sanitary good.

Electricity is generated in more ways than one, as
by the spontaneity of nature, by artificial contrivances,
and by what may be called accidental causes. And so
spiritual fire may flash on a man from above ; or it
may be caught from another like a flame ; or it may
burst from some heart, like spontaneous combustion,
and like the experience of the Psalmist : " My heart was
hot within me ; while I was musing, the fire burned :
then spake I with my tongue."

The recent revival in the north of Ireland, like

THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM. 203

twenty other revivals, was an outburst of spiritual
power, by which many hundreds, and even perhaps
thousands of souls were acted upon in a way, by
which they manifested many things, in curious analogy
with the phenomena of Spiritualism. Why was this ?
And if that revival were a reality, and Spiritualism be
not an imposture, why were not the two things exactly
alike as to their effect ? Simply because the people
concerned were not the same people in the two matters,
and were not looking in one and the same direction.

o

Pressure on a man bodily may vary in many ways,
and so may pressure on a man spiritually. And per-
haps the connections and susceptibilities of a man
through his spirit may be innumerably more than
through his body.

The Spirit, as it came on Samson, was one thing, for
result ; and as it came upon Paul, it was another ;
though to both it was from the same God that the
visitations were made.

In an age characterized by an infestation of " un-
clean spirits" exorcism was an appropriate manifes-
tation of power superhuman or extra-natural. And if
to-day tables are tipped, or danced about, or made to
seem intelligent, contrary to the laws of nature, it may
be because of what has seemed right to spirits, perhaps
at no great height above this earth, and far below that
step on which the seraphs stand in ranks about the
throne of God. Or it may be that table-tippings and
similar things are even directly concurrent with the
designs of Providence, and are to be accounted as
means, whereby the minds of men may be exorcised
from fascination by the laws of nature, which, though

204 THE OUTBURST OF SPIRITUALISM.

true enough for men as mere mortals, are not the half
of the truth for them as immortal souls.

And if through some mediums Spiritualism should
seem to stand apart from Christianity, and therefore to
be strange and portentous, then let an incident in the
Gospels be considered ; and let it be noticed how easily
the confidence of a Christian ought to transcend even
the heroism of mere honesty. " And John answered
and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy
name ; and we forbade him, because he followeth not
with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not ;
for he that is not against us is for us."

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM.

SPIRITUALISM is properly the antithesis of ma-
terialism, and holds that man is not only an
animated, highly organized body, but also a living
soul, and from his birth connected with a world
spiritual and eternal. And Spiritualism technically
so called is simply an affirmation of the foregoing
statement, under the interest and conviction produced
by certain phenomena of the last few years, and which
are very curious, and apparently preternatural.

A medium may be lowly and ignorant, and also
laden with every infirmity of the flesh, and yet can be
the sudden, utter confutation of materialism, even while
it is affecting to lean upon science, and to deck itself
with the beauties of poetry. But some persons may
think it strange, that instruction is to be got from a
lowly, ignorant medium. But surely the loftiest phi-
losophy should be able to condescend to new facts,
anywhere, and at any time. Yet often the phenomena
of Spiritualism have been despised by persons who
yet gloried, under science, in having been instructed,
by mere stones and petrified bones, as to the order of
creation, and as to the look and habits of creatures,
animals, and vegetables, as they appeared and fulfilled
their times and uses.

To the writer hereof, the phenomena of Spiritualism

206 THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM.

are useful, not so much because of what they are in
themselves as incidents, as because they are evidences
and illustrations as to pneumatology. Through the
persons called mediums is there really communication
with the world of spirit ? That there is intercourse
to be had with that world is certain ; but as to the
spirit to be talked with, there can be no absolute cer-
tainty. Because of some men at least, the minds lie
open to the inspection of spirits, like the most com-
pendious and convenient of day-books, so as that,
through a medium, a spirit can read to a man out of
his own memory tilings which he had himself for-
gotten. And for this and other reasons an impostor-
spirit can have a mortal at such a disadvantage, as that
actually for the present writer, conviction as to the
identity of a spirit communicating through a medium,
would not be wrought by even fifty times of the
amount of evidence, which would suffice for identify-
ing a person in a court of law. How is this then ?
And what, then, does this mean ? It means that mor-
tals must remember at least what they are ; and that
as clay-clad creatures they are but dull and blind as
to the spiritual world and its ways and occupants.
Nor should this be any marvel ; " for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light."

And now the way is open by which the writer can
express himself still more freely. From his own ex-
perience, then, he is satisfied that some spirits have
power to come into the realm of nature some little
way, and so as to be able to make some signs, such as
the moving of objects, the ringing of bells, playing on
a harp, and touching a person, and such also as taking

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM. 207

possession of the body of some living person, more or
less completely, and using the hand for writing, and
the voice for speaking, and the eyes for seeing with,
after the manner of a mesmeric clairvoyant, only much
more successfully. Also he knows that the death of a
person can be announced, and that even also minute
peculiar circumstances attending it can be detailed,
some days before there could be even a possibility of
such information being to be given by natural means.
Also the writer would tell, in obedience to a sense of
duty, of his having seen and examined and seen vanish
ghost-hands, — hands of spirit, which had been material-
ized as to surface, at least, and which had thereby been
made capable of looking and doing, for a little while
and to some little purpose, like hands of flesh and
blood.

There may be, and perhaps, all things considered,
there really is, through a medium, sometimes at least,
communication between friends in this world and
friends departed ; though perhaps it may be as rare as
the loving appearance of a mother to a distant child,
whom she could not but long for as she died. For
reliable intercourse between a person in this world and
a particular spirit in the world of spirits, there must be
a right adjustment of conditions, of which some perhaps
are known, but of which many more are not even to be
conjectured.

But now really, of my vanished friend, I am sure as
to the love, already and out of my heart, beyond all
assurance which he could ever possibly give me, by
getting his hand inside of the sphere of nature, and
making signs to me ; just as when he was a mortal

20S THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM.

I credited him for affection, beyond what he ever
uttered, or what I should have wished to hear him
breathe.

What, then, do these phenomena testify ? They wit-
ness as to human nature what it is in itself, and what
it is open to, through exposure or by grace. And they
are proofs as to what a world of mystery it is, in which
men live. And also they are challenges to inquiring
minds.

People are amazed at the phenomena of Spiritualism,
and astounded by them, and are sometimes even scep-
tical as to their possibility ; and all the while, really,
they are but the accidents of our transcendent con-
nections, of our being immortal though mortal, and
spiritual while yet of the earth, earthy. Are they
therefore supernal ? No. And the proneness which
there is to worship prodigies, though they should be
only such things as haunted houses or wonderful
dreams, begins really in the same state of mind as
that in a theologian, which defines a miracle as being
a suspension of the laws of nature. By making too
much of the supernatural, it may actually be nullified
as to usefulness.

And indeed to such a pass had things come, on the
subject of miracles, among honest controversialists, that
it might seem as though it had been in the order of
Providence that the phenomena of Spiritualism should
be developed, merely as materials for pneumatology,
and for the use of competent observers. And by this,
it is not necessary to suppose that Spiritualism is
divine, any more than is the cholera which enforces
useful lessons. There are diseases of the spirit, which

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM. 209

begin with God's mercy, and which end more merci-
fully still. And it would not be without historical
analogies, as strong almost as demonstration, if it should
be said that the Spiritualism of to-day, so abundant,
familiar, extensive, is a reaction, not of the will of
man of course, but of the constitution of the universe,
against the materialism, which was beginning to affect
Christianity itself as an easy conquest.

Spiritualism is of great interest, as restoring the
background of the Scriptures, as a picture, and as there-
by also making the foreground more vivid, if not more
intelligible. By Spiritualism certainty is restored as
to the familiar spirit of the Old Testament, and as to
the nature of the unclean spirits mentioned in the New
Testament, as to the history of the woman of Endor, as
to the seductive nature of the worship of Baal, and as
to the actual possession of a certain damsel by a spirit
of Pytho. And there is no honest divine, among
Protestants, but would say, if those things were made
certain, that then the field of theology would widen
about him/ and have indistinct traces grow into plain
paths, and have also certain dark quarters in it illu-
mined with unexpected light. And if Spiritualism
can illustrate the manner in which Saul prophesied
from an evil spirit, it aids thereby, some little at
least, in making intelligible the manner in which
" the Spirit of God came upon him ; and he prophe-
sied." By Spiritualism, too, for Christian use, is
affirmed emphatically and amended as to translation,
that text which latterly has been understood distinctly
by very few divines. " Now the Spirit speaketh ex-
pressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from

210 THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM.

the faith, giving heed to wandering spirits, and the in-
structions of demons."

And if Nature for a theologian be suggestive of many
contrarieties, so also is that region in the spiritual world
which is nearest to the natural, and whence mostly
spiritual approaches are made to men. And just as the
Christian has a faith, — which through all her regions
Nature can only illustrate humbly, and never fully cor-
roborate, — so also the faith of a Christian is what can be
curiously indeed, but yet only partially, supported by
evidences from the spiritual world, such as can be given
through tables, or even by the hands and tongues of
men, as mediums.

The reach upwards of the human soul, the yearning
affinity of its faith, surmounts the region of nature, and
goes up beyond the level of the world of spirits, and
aspires after what alone is its proper object, — the Spirit
of God Most High.

There are men of intellect at this day, who would
readily believe in Moses, if merely they could be satis-
fied as to the magicians of Egypt, who yielded to him.
There have been persons, darkened in their minds by
materialism, who, with seeing merely what they thought
was an apparition, have had their eyes so thoroughly
and effectually opened, as that the spiritual world, and
all their relations to it, were credible at once and in-
telligible. And there have been travellers who have
returned from the East, stronger in their faith as Chris-
tians, for knowing of the preternatural things, which
in some places, the natives sometimes assemble for,
at their temples. And there have been persons who
have been benefited by the counterpart of what was

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM. 211

anciently accounted as dangerous and unworthy, — " the
familiar spirit." These and many other such things
may, under Heaven, be good, not so much because of
what they are in themselves, as because of the lowliness
of the persons for whom they can be lessons. Many a
man has thought that the heavens were opening above
him, because of the spiritual phenomena which he had
experienced. Whereas mainly the things were wonder-
ful only to his spiritual ignorance, only to his never
having known of matters with which, in one a^e or
another, and in one place or another, the human race
have always been familiar. Height above height !
There are many steps from an emmet to " a familiar
spirit " ; but more than they countlessly are the steps
between the level of "familiar spirits" and the first
even of those spiritual heights, down from which
comes "every good gift and every perfect gift."

What are called the Spiritualistic phenomena are
never all of them manifested through one medium.
Sometimes a person is a channel for one marvel, and
sometimes for two, three, four, and five varieties of the
marvellous. But of all these marvels, there is scarce-
ly one but reaches out into history in all directions.
And there has scarcely ever been an age, but, in
one place or another, was familiar with two, three, or
more of the prodigies of the present day. Of marvels
united to-day in the same medium, some have been
evidences on which persons have been canonized as
saints in the Church ; and others have been proofs on
which poor wretches have been executed as witches ;
and one at least, in the same age, has served as con-
clusive testimony in Italy as to holiness, and in Eng-

212 THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM.

land as to deviltry. It is so as a fact, and perhaps
also, under Providence, it is vouchsafed as a privilege,
that by the commonness of these spiritual phenomena,
it is as though the past returned upon the present, and
offered itself again for study, and the chance of a bet-
ter understanding.

Sometimes the phenomena of Spiritualism remind
one of agencies active in the Scriptures, and some-
times of narratives in the ancient classics ; sometimes
of Plotinus, the scholarly heathen of fifteen hundred
years ago, and sometimes of St. Augustine, the great
father and doctor of the Church, and continually also
of the lives of saints, and the charges against wizards,
and of the records of the Catholic Church. And in-
deed there is no general reader, with his eyes more
than half open, who is acquainted with Spiritualism,
but recognizes the existence of the common phenom-
ena of Spiritualism, from north to south, the world
round, among all primitive nations and tribes, even
though described as ignorantly as things commonly are
by mere travellers. The angekok of the Esquimaux
is exactly some good American medium. And at the
other end of the world, in New Zealand, are phenom-
ena which correspond spiritually with those among
the Esquimaux. And Madagascar offers for examina-
tion the same state of things spiritually, wdiich obtains
among the Maoris, and among their Northern oppo-
sites. Through spiritual mediums to-day there are
concentrated, within an area of two hundred miles
round Boston, phenomena which are akin to the an-
cient oracles, and to the marvels of Mohammedanism,
as attested by Oriental writers and by European trav-

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM. 213

eilers, and to the miracles of the Catholic Church,
during the last — during indeed all the years since
the Catholic Church has been specially Roman Catho-
lic.

The Spiritualism of to-day is nothing new, and
might even by the Scriptures, almost, be called as old
as Adam. What there is new in it is simply the
easiness with which preternatural phenomena are to
be got at. But may not this be in accordance with
that grand overruling law, by which one change, and
another, and another are like successive mile-marks
along the earth, while yet also under the arch of the
heavens ? Under God, the material universe is al-
lowed to disclose its laws astronomically, electrically,
chemically, optically, magnetically, dynamically. And
so might it not then seem to be by analogy, if con-
currently, also the spiritual world should appear to
be opening before mortals ? As a mortal within a
hundred years, how much man has been enlightened
as to the earth, which he lives in, and also as to the
wide kindred of worlds which sparkle in the sky at
night ! And proportionately, under Providence, it
might seem as though openings and disclosures might
be expected as to the position of man as an immortal
soul, among the influences, forces, and inhabitants of
the spiritual universe.

As has been said already, the Spiritualistic phe-
nomena of to-day are simply easier of approach, and
more common perhaps than they have ever been be-
fore. And that they are not new, whole volumes of
evidence might be adduced to show. In the "Life
of a Chinese Traveller in India," the autobiographer

214 THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM.

ta china, although Brahma had not been born in
it, because there "they know how to make demons
and spirit- appear." Just about two thousand years
said to have been in the upper classes in
China a great panic about death, and for which the
writings of Confucius were no comfort. And upon
this ensued ;i great resort to the schools of Tao-tse :
the Tao-ists, at this time, having become great theur-

ind even professing to give prescriptions for dis-
firom the prince of demons, in his own handwrit-

At this present time a spiritual medium is called
in < 'hina, "a celestial doctor."

And now let us read evidence from as different a
quarter from China as can well be found. In his

t ise on the Soul," Tertullian gives what probably

ne of his Montanist experiences. Nobody could
define better than he the difference between body and
soul, so that when he speaks of the soul as being cor-
poreal, lie is to be understood as meaning that the soul

spiritual body." "To the soul also we attribute
corporeal outlines, not only from our judgment being
persuaded of its corporeal character, but also as decided
for us, by grace, through revelation. For because we

aize the gifts of the Spirit, we have been favored
with obtaining a prophecy, after the manner of St. John.
At tin's very day there is with us a sister endowed with
the gift of revelations, which she receives in spiritual

v, -luring the services of Sunday. She converses
with angels, and sometimes even with the Lord, and
both sees and hears holy things. She discerns the
hear! of some persons, and she prescribes medicines to
those who wish But now according as the Scriptures

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM. 215

are read, or Psalms are sung, or addresses are delivered,
or prayers are offered, are supplied the subjects of her
visions. On one occasion we discussed something or
other about the Soul, when as it happened this sister
was in the Spirit. The people being dismissed at the
conclusion of the services, in accordance with her custom
of telling me whatever she sees, — for indeed these things
are all most carefully, reported, so as that they may be,
tested, — says she, " There is shown to me a human soul.
And truly the spirit was seen, but not empty, not des-
titute of all qualities, but in such a manner as that it
would even allow itself to be held. And it was tender,
lucid, and of an aerial color. And in all respects it was
of the human form." Tertullian then adds that if this
corporeality of the soul be not credible from its reason-
ableness, yet that it ought to be so from this vision,
which was not without God as a witness, and not
without some concurrence from that apostle, who is
the appropriate surety as to future gifts in the Church.
Bound Tao-tse and Tertullian, in regard to the super-
natural, in their respective eras, might easily be as-
sembled a crowd of witnesses, Socrates and Plato,
Plutarch and perhaps more than half the people of
whom he was the biographer, Pliny, and it may be
almost all the classical authors, nearly every father of
the Church, and nearly every historian of the Catholic
Church, during the Middle Ages. And if these mag-
nates of intellect could be assembled together, they
would be found agreed in a state of mind, to which at
once would be credible such works as Baxter's " Cer-
tainty of the World of Spirits," and Aubrey's Miscel-
lanies, and Turner's Providences, compiled though these

216 THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM.

relumes laigely are from incidents, snch as transpire at
:.: merely to be despised, or at best to be whis-
| among friends only in moments of confidence.
And now of the state of mind of all these great think-
,1 as to the preternatural occurrences which they
at, ami as to the modern marvels, which they
would have been ready to credit, Spiritualism furnishes
xplanation, being, as it is, the key which fits an
intricate lock, and yielding as it does to intelligent in-
quirers knowledge as to the laws involved in portents
and prodigies.

And m »w possibly somebody will exclaim, " Then the
writer thinks Spiritualism is divine." But now he
d tea not think so, any more than he would think that
the dry old bone would be divine, from out of which,
as belonging to any creature whatever, it is said that an
eminent naturalist could evolve the outline and habits
of the animal, when it was alive, and therefore also the
general character of the climate and country in which
it lived. Learning, to-day, reaches over a wider field
than some people would suppose; and even the meth-
ods of science are applicable in ways which some
persons have never thought of. Earthquakes, the
plague, the black death ! What is there to be named,
as mischief, like what folly, like what even fool-hardi-
ness has been in theology? In manners, there is no-
body so insolent as a person of weak pretensions ; and
in theology there is nobody so bigoted as the clergy-
man who is too weak inwardly to digest the creed, which
outwardly he has had to mark and learn.

Many ( Ihristians are provoked by the phenomena of
Spiritualism, in just the same way as they have been

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM. 217

annoyed .sometimes by the marvels which have been
reported as attendant on religious revivals. A spiritual
novelty troubles them, unsettles them in their minds,
and makes them feel as though nothing were certain.
And this is because they do not half know themselves.
For, man as a spiritual being, whether looking towards
heaven or towards hell, or towards some opening be-
tween the two, with earnest longing, is thereby in af-
finity with the powers of a spiritual world, and capable
of being quickened by them, as to faculties in him
which ordinarily are latent. But truly, if the universe
be infinite, it must have myriads of qualities ; and if
God be the head thereof, and we " heirs of God, and
joint heirs with Christ," we must have senses, suscep-
tibilities in us, many more than five. And it would
seem as though such a multifarious nature might, now
and then, by accident or the favor of Heaven, express
itself or be receptive in ways, which are outside of the
utilities of ordinary life : just as some common flower
with five petals might show ten with cultivation.

If tables, by the presence of a medium, should simply
beat time to sacred music, millions of people would be-
lieve that the heavens did thereby vouchsafe to show
their sympathy with men. But as that tipping of the
table is not for sacred music only, but for anything else
almost, just as man talks with man, it would seem as
though something through it might be inferred, more
important still, as information, than even the sympathy
of the heavens. For of heavenly sympathy with him,
there is no poor wretch but ought to be sure, who has
ever been inside of a church. But if, through a table
or anything else, there be signified from outside of this
10

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM.

visible world, a common understanding with man, and

of all kinds of persons, good and bad, wise

and silly, thru is man informed, not- so much as to the

boul the favor of which he ought already to

Bure, but as to there being spirits and regions,

intermediate between earth and heaven. And with

knowledge like this, and with even a suspicion of it,

there are texts of Scripture, which deepen in meaning,

as the eye regards them.

The susceptibility of man as to the spiritual world,
— this is what Spiritualism would teach. At a re-
ligious revival, the strange things, which sometimes ac-
eompany conversion, are akin to the manner in which
the prophets were affected; and that this is so is a
truth, made sure and evident to a Christian, by the"
] isychical laws, which are involved in the phenomena of
S] . i lit ualism. It is an easy thing for a man to say that,
as a Christian, he cares only about the temper of the
New Testament, and to keep himself in it. But surely
the Scriptures do not justify an expositor in that*
position. Signs and wonders, or rather the possibility
and the way of them, are essential to the philosophy
of revelation. Miracles may be no more, but at least
they are a proclamation of the channel, and proofs as to
an openness, by which revelation may be made. They
may sometimes in the past have been false cries ; and
jusl as a boy might alarm a neighborhood, so miracles,
may have startled people in the past, and may again in
the future, though starting, as the Scriptures have fore-
warned, from where there is nothing good to follow, and
Bounding like " 0 earth, earth, earth, hear," when really
there is do word of the Lord to ensue. There is a chan-

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM. 219

nel, by which human beings are open to the spiritual
world, and to effects from it. To deny the worth of
what comes through it may be sometimes right, and
be sometimes, according to the Scriptures, even an im-
perative duty ; but to doubt the reality of the channel
itself may be a grievous mistake and be indeed what
may vitiate a whole system of theology.

But why should these spiritualistic phenomena be so
much more abundant and familiar in this age than
apparently at any former period ? Why are there so
many more mediums to-day than were ever known be-
fore ? It may be because of an occult something in
the air ; or it may be because of something, by which
the bodies or the souls of this generation are affected
unconsciously, and perhaps only for a time, and in a
manner which may be disease, or even perhaps im-
provement. After having agonized in spirit, for some
years, George Fox suddenly found himself living in
light, and also preternaturally acquainted with the names
and properties of all vegetables and minerals. Also he
found that he had become a mouthpiece for the Spirit,
and a man with attendance on whom people were con-
vulsed in their bodies and quickened in their souls, and
often also made into such channels of the Spirit as he
himself was. And in the early days of the Shakers
and the Irvingites there were many things which were
curiously like the marvels which attended on George
Fox. And indeed in history are many instances of
movements which began from the spiritual world, and
which yet were also characterized by the wisdom or
ignorance or other peculiarities of the mortals through
whom first the impulses were given.

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM.

If certain psychical channels were a little enlarged
with men generally, and yet not more than they have
often been, men to-day would find themselves, as it
staggering to and fro, under the bewildering
intensity of influences, against the coming of which
mere schooling in the order of nature would prove to
have been no preparation whatever. And judging by
the signs of the times, the guides of public opinion
i< »r keeping it both sober and enlightened will need to
understand well the pneumatology of the Old Testa-
ment, and the nature and reasons of the Jewish the-
ocracy, and also the psychology involved in the New
Testament, and the nature of the liberty, and there-
by also of the responsibility, " wherewith Christ hath
made us free."

It is but walking in a vain show, when a man is
thoughtless as to the spiritual world, to which already
he belongs, and careless as to the channels by which
he is himself approachable from it, and heedless as to
its atmosphere, which yet he may sometimes be inhal-
ing as breath, without knowing of it.

According to the phenomena of Spiritualism, the
constitution of human nature is manifestly still the
same, as what the lawgiving of Moses presupposed,
and as what the revelation of Jesus Christ was given
to meet; and still the same as it was at Athens,
Rome, and Antioch, when the gospel began its strug-
gle with idolatry. And it is only with ascertaining
the place where the first hearers of the gospel stood
mentally, that one can catch with full force the words
which were addressed to them. And anything to-day
which might, more or less, enable a student to read the

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM. 221

Epistles of Paul, in that state of mind about the uni-
verse, which Paul" addressed, would be or should be a
great blessing. And the Christian expositor, who is
regardless of the philosophy which attaches to the
case of that " certain damsel who had a spirit of
Pytho," and who was exorcised by St. Paul, would
seem to be a little out of the light in which the Epis-
tles of Paul ought to be read.

But now a man may live a healthy life and a good
life, while ignorant of geography, and of his relative
position among a thousand million fellow-creatures on
this earth, and while utterly ignorant even of the
chemistry of his own bodily economy. And whatever
may be our locality in the spiritual universe, and
whether we suspect it or not ; and whatever may be
the channels by which spiritually our lives are sus-
tained; and whatever the mysteries of our spiritual
constitution ; and whatever also may be the gifts of
the Spirit of which we may fail, from causes con-
nected with our individual personalities, or with the era
which we belong to, yet there is certain for us, under
Christ, a more excellent way than any, which can be
accidentally or blindly missed. "For now we see
through a glass, darkly ; but then face to face : now I
know in part ; but then shall I know even as also I
am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity,
these three ; but the greatest of these is charity."

But that charity — what is it ? It is not simply
giving goods to feed the poor, nor is it even a man's
willingness to let himself be burned alive. For it is
what is more than that, being, as it is, what is of
a man's inmost nature. Because it is that sympathy

222 THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM.

which rejoices with them that do rejoice, and which
we* ps with them that weep, which "believes all things

and hopes all things ; and winch therefore is that at-
tractiveness in a man's spirit, which silently and im-
: ptibly procures for him more of the spiritual use
of the universe than possibly his intellect could ever

h out.
Really to a true Christian, and still more to a Chris-
tian as well instructed for his day as Moses was, when

was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,"
the phenomena of Spiritualism may be interesting, but
they ought not to be amazing. And it is just as far
as a man denies their possibility, that he may measure
his distance from the pneumatology of the Scriptures ;
or, more precisely speaking, from that point where the
sties would have had him sit down as a heathen
learner, and sit long as a Christian hearer, before they
would have had him stand up as a teacher. There are
many persons who by birth and happy education are
such, that the actualities of Spiritualism have nothing
to show them except what they may well believe, on a
mere hint almost. But then of these born priests of
the church there is never one — blessed man — that
fch in the seat of the scornful." Alas! in unset-
tled, discordant times, like the present, how large a
t' our best learning is simply getting to unlearn !
And in regard to bad habits to be broken, when life
becomes earnest, how much caution there has got to
b«- about that seat of the scorner ! So often the foun-
tain-head of wisdom in a man is choked by notions
originating with people wise in their own conceit, or
perhaps with blameless men helplessly bewildered in

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUALISM. 223

intricacies of thought ! But when wisdom is not to
be got from the outside world, there is still a way
through which it is to be gained by simplicity and
faith. "I said, Days should speak," — but then so
often they do not ! " I said, Days should speak, and
multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there
is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty
giveth them understanding."

A MIPACLE DEFIKED.

WHAT is a miracle ? It is a fearful question to
start in a theological library. For at once that
library becomes a Babel of angry disputants, scarcely
one of whom can understand another or would even
wish to. A miracle has been defined in one way, and
another way, and in so many ways, that almost, as a
word, it has become meaningless. It is plain, that
commonly Protestants in defining a miracle, have been
actuated by anti-Catholic prejudice, and not simply by
that spirit of truth, which would guide into all truth.
And this remark is true even of some Protestants,
who, for purity of character, might very properly, as
Catholics even, have been sainted. And indeed, al-
ways, more or less of allowance will have to be made
for a writer, as long as he is connected with books,
and breathes vital air, and is capable of being provoked
by his fellow-creatures.

As to their reality, miracles may be tested by their
usefulness as to the gospel: miracles are credible, as
good evidence, if accompanied by inspiration : miracles
not directly connected with doctrine are not worth
thinking of: miracles are of use in founding a faith,
bu1 not in preserving it, and therefore can never have
happened since the earliest days of Christianity:
miracles were acts, by which the laws of nature were

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 225

suspended, and which acts are made certain through
history, because of considerations which are acquiesced
in by learned and honorable men.

But now all these definitions of the miraculous
were made with a view to the claims, controversially,
of the Catholic Church. Catholicism, throughout the
wide regions which it covers, appropriates every marvel
to itself, and knows how to use itself skilfully. An
ecstatic, the report of an apparition, a wonderful
dream, healing in the manner which is now called
mesmeric, — all such marvels as these the Catholic
Church can argue from, in one way or another. " See
the marvels which are among us every day, some-
where or other. See how these things are a continua-
tion of the miraculous powers, which witness our
special descent from the apostles. Or else, see how
they happen in attestation of our doctrines as to the
spiritual world."

To all this, practically, Protestants have said : " We
cannot look, and we will not look. We should be
silly to look at what is impossible. But we will de-
fine against you." And so a late English Dean, while
attempting to define a miracle, was evidently conscious
of his scarlet hood, and of the front which it was de-
sirable to show against the Papists, — mild, firm, and
justly dogmatic. And in his definition of the miracu-
lous, the Protestant minister of Paris evidently had
in view things among Catholics, the reality of which
as facts he was not willing to challenge, but the co-
gency of which as marvels it was his object to fore-
stall. Miracles are to be tested by their necessity to
the gospel, — but this leaves it uncertain what the
10* o

22 G A MIRACLE DEFINED.

gospel may be, and what necessity may be; and as
coming from Bishop Warburton, it leaves it uncertain
also whether those divines of his age might not by
him have been accounted right, who argued that mira-
cles ceased in the Church, with the political establish-
ment of Christianity by Constantine ; and in whose
minds, therefore, Christianity was a gospel, which could
spare " the manifestation of the Spirit " as soon as it
became strong in armies, old temples, and money.
And there is the Scotch bishop, Douglass, who in his
time and place defined a miracle as being credible,
if accompanied by inspiration. That definition may
have seemed good to some people at a particular time :
but to-day it appears as though it would say that a
miracle by itself is impossible, but that a miracle, con-
joined with a mystery is fairly credible.

At one time a miracle was defined as against the
doctrinal claims of the Catholics, and at another time
as against the Catholics and Gibbon, and with an eye
also to Hume. And to-day the acute Protestant
theologian, who fancies that the Church is a fortress
of which he is a defender, would wish to define a
miracle so as to stop off Catholics, Spiritualists, and
anti-supernaturalists.

And now for intelligent, discriminating, earnest per-
sons, what is the outcome of all the controversies of
the last hundred years, as to miracles ? It is simply,
at the best, the hope that none of the parties con-
cerned may have known what they were talking
about ; as so few out of the number of mutually con-
tradictory opponents can possibly have been right,
even if any were. And thus in these latter times, on

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 227

the subject of miracles, it would seem as though
something had been happening like what Paul was
thinking of, when he wrote of how "the world by
wisdom knew not God," or like the nullifying effect
of that inappropriate learning with which Jesus re-
proached the Jews, — " Thus have ye made the com-
mandment of God of none effect by your tradition."

Thoroughly persuaded as to the supernatural, and
speaking to people who no more doubted about it
than he himself did, Luther, in his fearless, unguarded
way, once spoke of miracles as playthings, which the
Father Almighty in heaven let fall among his chil-
dren on earth ; and Jerome Huss also expressed him-
self as to miracles in the same way. And they both
of them did well enough, thinking, no doubt, while
they were speaking, of the priesthood of their time ;
which commonly was eager to magnify every little
marvel of the day or neighborhood, for purposes more
exactly ecclesiastical than religious.

In the common version of the Scriptures, the word
"miracle" occurs in all the Old Testament but five
times ; and in the Gospel of Matthew, not once ; in
that of Luke, but once only; and in the Gospel of
Mark, but twice. And of those instances in Mark,
one use of the word " miracle " is in a passage, where
nothing like the word was written by St. Mark, in
Greek ; and the other is in a text, where more prop-
erly it might be translated as meaning " power " or " en-
abling faculty." But in the Gospel of John, the word
" miracle " occurs eleven times. How then is this ?
It is because the word which is commonly translated
" miracle " means really " a sign." In the three first

228 A MIRACLE DEFINED.

Gospels, it is always so translated, except on three oc-
casions ; in two of which the original Greek is not
concerned, and in the third of which, it is the same
word which otherwise is always translated as meaning
" a sign." But now, why is there this difference in the
rendering of a common and important word from the
Greek into English ? It is, no doubt, because the
Commissioners for translating the Scriptures, under
the authority of King James the First, of England, at
their separate pieces of work, translated the same
Greek term, some of them by one word, and others of
them by another.

What a relief it seems to be to learn this ! For,
about that word " miracle," there has gathered such a
darkening of " counsel by words without knowledge " !
To theological students the word is like a football,
kicked and indented on the field of controversy,
amidst the shouts and passions of opposing parties,
age after age, till for any exact use it has been kicked
out of all shape.

Sometimes in the New Testament " signs and won-
ders " are mentioned, but this phrase means simply
" wonderful signs." Sometimes things of a miraculous
character are called in the Greek, and are translated
into English, as merely " works." But the original
Greek word, whether any dictionary knows it or not,
means a peculiar kind of works, with a mighty spirit
in them ; as is evident by the use of the word among
the Neo-Platonists.

About things called miracles, then, the general mean-
ing of the phraseology employed is that of signifi-
cance. Miracles are signs ; or rather " signs " really

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 229

and exactly are those things, which are commonly
called miracles. Indeed, the word " miracle " has been
so miserably abused by controversialists, that it would
be well if it could be disused for fifty years, and some
synonyme be employed in its stead. But as that thing
cannot be, then always let it be remembered that in
the Scriptures by " miracles " are meant " signs," or
manifestations of power originating outside of the
sphere of nature.

Of all the passages in the Bible, which implicate
the subject of miracles, it is of course impossible,
here, to enter into an examination. But there are cer-
tain distinct, grand, overruling enunciations as to mira-
cles, to which all other texts must be regarded as sub-
servient, for reasons as to incidental utterance or local
connection. And perhaps there is no honest theolo-
gian but would acknowledge in a moment, that there
are no texts in the Scriptures but actually are congru-
ent with these £reat direct statements. According to
the Gospel of John, Jesus said : " Believe me, that
I am in the Father, and the Father in me ; or else
believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works
that I do shall he do also ; and greater works than
these shall he do : because I go unto my Father." In
this passage are foretold the powers with which the
disciples might find themselves invested. And in the
following passage from the Gospel of Matthew, it is
foretold that miracles may not only be signs of the
coming of the kingdom of heaven, but may also herald
a movement from the side of the Prince of Darkness.
" For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,

230 A MIRACLE DEFINED.

ami shall show great signs and wonders ; insomuch
that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very
elect. Behold I have told you before." Also St. Paul
howed to the Thessalonians the working of a mys-
tery of iniquity, through which lie would be revealed,
" whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all
power and signs and lying wonders." Through the
Apocalypse, St. John foresaw the struggle between the
gospel and hell, typified in various ways. " And every
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are
in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory,
and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four
beasts said Amen. And the four and twenty elders
fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and
ever." But John saw also something else, as he stood
upon the sand of the sea, and beheld a beast come up
out of the earth. " And he doeth great wonders, so
that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the
earth, in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that
dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles
which he had power to do, in the sight of the beast."
The early Christians then expected miracles from more
quarters than one, and from elsewhere than heaven ;
and they were prepared for the coming of false proph-
ets as well as true.

In the Gospel of Mark it is promised, " These signs
shall follow them that believe ; in my name shall they
cast out devils ; they shall speak with, new tongues ;
they shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 231

hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Signs
were to follow them that believed ; and also were to
be looked for from persons who were worse than unbe-
lievers. For still as written in the Gospel of Mark,
and still also as the words of Jesus himself, it was
foretold that " false Christs and false prophets shall
rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if
it were possible, even the elect."

That through miracles there is a manifestation of
the Spirit St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians. And to
the Thessalonians he wrote, that power and signs
would some time be, from the working of Satan.

A miracle is a seal beyond a counterfeit, which God
sets to his word when he speaks. This is a statement
which has been agreed to by theologians of all degrees,
by bishops and priests and ministers and laymen, but
never by either fact or the Scriptures. The voice of
the Scriptures, indeed, on the subject enunciates dis-
tinctly its meaning through the texts just cited, which
are direct, emphatic, and overruling.

The field of the miraculous is wider and more mys-
terious, than might seem to be supposed by some
people, and even by many divines. According to the
Scriptures, miracles, and of more kinds than one, ap-
parently, a man might work, and yet be no Christian.
And, as it would seem, a man might even work mira-
cles in the name of Christ, and possibly by even the
virtue of that name, and yet truly himself not be a
Christian. " Many will say to me in that day, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name ? and in
thy name have cast out devils ? and in thy name done
many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto

L»;;2 A MIRACLE DEFINED.

them, T never knew you : depart from me, ye that
work iniquity." That is a warning for persons about
themselves, as channels for the miraculous. And now
let a caution be considered, as to the origin and laws
of marvellous manifestations. Because there were go-
ing about many false prophets, that is, many persons
who were liable to be inspired by bad spirits, St. John,
in his first Epistle, gives what would be a test, for
at least the people individually to whom he wrote.
" Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits
whether they are of God ; because many false prophets
are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God : every spirit that confesseth that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is of God ; and every spirit
that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh is not of God."

And now let it be understood that, no doubt, these
false prophets appeared among the Christians as they
assembled themselves* together, and, so to say, in
Church. And as to the opening which was possible
for them, let the fourteenth chapter be considered
in the first Epistle to the Corinthians. In that
chapter is indicated remarkably the attitude which
Christianity would have its disciples assume towards
spirits who might wish to inspire any of them, and,
therefore, also towards the prophets themselves, as to
what they might have to say on the prompting or in-
spiration of those spirits. " The spirits of the prophets
are subject to the prophets." The prophets are to ex-
ercise their own discretion, as to time at least, towards
the spirits, who would wish to make them speak.
And with this monition of St. Paul agrees curiously

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 233

and wonderfully that advice by St. John : " Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether
they are of God."

By the foregoing texts, lines are marked on a field
of thought, in which possibly some persons may feel
as though they could only move blindly. And yet some
time, perhaps, it may be to them like a familiar re-
gion; after they have been, as St. Paul would say,
renewed in the spirit of their minds by, it may be, a
new philosophy which they may have taken to, or by
internal processes in the spirit which they may have
experienced ; and as to which, perhaps, there is noth-
ing to be suggested more distinctly than what is to be
read in the book of Job : " For God speaketh once, yea
twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a
vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men,
in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the
ears of men, and sealeth their instruction."

And truly the world intellectual and spiritual must
be alive with laws, powers, and agencies, in a thousand
ways, as to which we mortals can know nothing what-
ever, but of which for importance and nearness we
may conjecture something, from the manner in which
the outer material world has revealed itself to eyes,
fitted with telescope and microscope. In the fourteenth
chapter of the Epistle to the Corinthians there is a
glimpse of what the souls of men are capable of mani-
festing as to prophecy, and as to the discovery of the
secrets of the heart, and as to speech in unknown
tongues of men and, it may be, of angels. But it was
the doctrine of Paul, that than all such marvels as
these, charity is far better evidence as to the opera-

234 A MIRACLE DEFINED.

tion of the Spirit. By these remarks there is implied
another spiritual world, than what some theologians
suppose; but it is not, therefore, the less certain or
Scriptural.

And now again, what is a miracle ? Of all the
words then in the Scriptures, so translated, and guided
also by the connections in which the words are used,
the general sense of " miracle " would seem to be " a
sign." And a sign would seem to be of various de-
grees and even varieties of significance, and even per-
haps to be more or less contingent on human or earthly
conditions. That wonderful scene of the Transfigura-
tion was not for all Jerusalem, nor even for all the
twelve apostles. But it is written : " Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them
up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured
before them ; and his face did shine as the sun, and
his raiment was white as the light, and behold, there
appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with
him." But in his own country, where people asked
in reference to his miraculous power, as to how it
was, and why it could be, and whether he was not the
carpenter ? " Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not
without honor, but in his own country, and among his
own kin, and in his own house. And he could there
do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon
a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled
because of their unbelief."

Of there having been a varying estimate as to
miracles, among the multitude at least, this text
would seem to show, " And many of the people be-
lieved on him and said, When Christ cometh, will he

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 235

do more miracles than these which this man hath
done ? " And that ultimately miracles, as to signifi-
cance, have to be understood by doctrine, that is,
through the human reason quickened and enlightened
by the Holy Spirit, is evident even from the position
which Jesus Christ assumed in argument. " Then was
brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind
and dumb ; and he healed him, insomuch that the
blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the
people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of
David ? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said,
This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub,
the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their
thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided
against itself is brought to desolation ; and every city
or house divided against itself shall not stand : and
if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself:
how shall then his kingdom stand ? "

And so, there is recorded another argument by Jesus,
made apparently with reference to what he was him-
self, and as to what the world about him was, with his
being in it, and its being thereby alive with miraculous
possibilities : " Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face
of the sky and of the earth ; but how is it that ye do
not discern this time ? Yea, and why even of your-
selves judge ye not what is right ? " And for the
estimate of miracles as connected with the apostles, it
would seem as though these words might be fully ap-
plicable, as implying that the miracles of the apostles
were like those of Jesus as to significance : " The disci-
ple is not above his master, nor the servant above his
lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his

236 A MIRACLE DEFINED.

master, and the servant as his lord. If they have
called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much
more shall they call them of his household ?"

As to the significance by authority, which miracles
claim in the New Testament, perhaps the preceding
texts are sufficient. And as to the authority of mira-
cles in the Old Testament, perhaps Maimonides, the
Eabbi, may be a good teacher; and what he says
agrees altogether with the Gospels, and with the doc-
trine of St. Paul. " We do not believe every one who
works a sign or a wonder to be a prophet, but only the
man whom we have known from the beginning to be fit
for prophecy, — to have raised himself, by his wisdom
and his works, above all the men of his age, and to
have walked in holiness and separation. Afterwards,
if he come and do a sign or a wonder, and say that
God hath sent him, the command is to hear him, as it
is said, ' Unto him shall ye hearken.' "

The general sense, then, of the word " miracle " in
the Bible is " a sign " ; as in Exodus, where it is said
to ?\ Toses by the Lord, " And it shall come to pass, if
they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice
of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of
the latter sign " ; and as in the account of the expul-
sion of the traders from the court of the temple,
when " answered the Jews and said unto him, What
sign showest thou unto us, seeing thou doest these
things ? " and as on other occasion, when " certain of
the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying,
Master, we would see a sign from thee."

The word " sign " is a general word, though more
precise than the word " miracle." For a sign of mi-

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 237

raculous origin means at least something of an un-
earthly origin, intended for the notice of earthly peo-
ple. There is, however, no word in the Bible which
distinguishes as to the marvellous, between what might
herald an angel, or such a startle as might be given by
Satan, or by any one of those spirits or agencies, for
which in the aggregate, perhaps, the word " Satan " is
a synonyme in the Scriptures. In the Apocalypse were
foreseen " the spirits of demons working miracles."
But the word which is here translated as " miracle " is
the same word " sign " which was used by Jesus when
he said, " The powers of the heavens shall be shaken ;
and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
heaven." And according to the prediction of Jesus,
" signs " were to attend upon those who believed in
him, and also " signs " were to be shown by false
Christs and false prophets.

And now let us notice the tone, simply, in which
miracles or signs are spoken of, and we shall feel
perhaps that miracles, or signs and wonders, are signs
simply, and not absolute proofs. In the Gospel of
Matthew it is written, "Then certain of the scribes and
of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would
see a sign from thee. But he answered, and said unto
them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after
a sisrn ; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the
sign of the prophet Jonas." And so by implication,
at least, and actually by the philosophy of the Scrip-
tures as to miracles, the argument of Jesus is, that
miracles were not for them — Scribes and Pharisees
— because of their souls having been averse to his
preaching. " The men of Nineveh shall rise in judg-

A MIRACLE DEFINED.

mcnt with this generation, and shall condemn it : be-
cause they repented at the preaching of Jonas ; and
behold a greater than Jonas is here."

In the minds of the Pharisees, the cure of the man
born blind scarcely counterbalanced by its miraculous-
ness the prejudice which was created by its having
been wrought on the Sabbath. " They brought to the
Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And it
was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and
opened his eyes. Then again also the Pharisees asked
him how he had received his sight. He said unto
them, He put clay upon mine eyes; and I washed
and do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees,
This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the
Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a
sinner do such miracles ? And there was a division
among them." According to some theologians, every
miracle is the direct act of the Most High God. And
thus a miracle to-day should be like the sound of a
trumpet, in advance of legions of angels and of heav-
enly hosts, and of power almighty. But it was not so
that miracles were regarded at Jerusalem, by the chief
people. After Lazarus had been raised from the dead,
" Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and
had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on
him. But some of them went their way to the Phari-
sees, and told them what things Jesus had done. Then
gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council,
and said, What do we ? for this man doeth many mir-
acles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe
on him ; and the Romans shall come and take away
both our place and nation."

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 239

To the apostles Jesus said, " Believe me that I am in
the Father, and the Father in me ; or else believe me
for the very works' sake." This was as though his own
sweet words should have been more persuasive than
miracles. In his own country, "When the Sabbath
day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue :
and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From
whence hath this man these things ? and what wisdom
is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty
works are wrought by his hands ? " The mighty works,
however, even though thoroughly credited, were not
supposed to be for significance, what should have
stopped the rudeness of the further questioning, "Is
not this the sarpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of
James and John, and of Juda, and of Simon ? and are
not his sisters here with us ? And they were offended
at him."

By contrast with the preceding occurs to the mind
the account of the poor woman, who said, " If I may
touch but his clothes I shall be whole." From her
case there is a little more to be learned as to miracles.
" She felt in her body that she was healed of that
plague " ; and she was cured as to her body through
her soul, or rather through that state of her soul which
was like a sensation of Christ, as " she touched his gar-
ment." After this, " the woman fearing and trembling,
knowing what was done in her, came and fell down be-
fore him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto
her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole ; go in
peace, and be whole of thy plague." At Capernaum,
when the heathen centurion told his tale ; and " when
Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that fol-

24Q A MIRACLE DEFINED.

lowed, Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel." And then, as showing that the
spiritual state of the " man under authority" was con-
senting to the miracle or concerned with it, "Jesus
said unto the centurion, Go thy way ; and as thou hast
believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant
was healed in the selfsame hour."

Of the soul there is a state or an attitude, by which
it is " right before God." It does not follow, however,
even under Christ, that every spirit right before God
should be a channel of miracles, whether few or many.
For, all the conditions concerned with miracles are not
known. As a right state of the body is favorable to
rio-ht thinking, so there may be some nervous condition
or magnetic peculiarity, which may favor the soul's
expression of itself by miracles. And with the free
manifestation of miracles, it would seem as though
not only the spiritual state of individuals might be
concerned, but also the state of the community of
which they may be members.

Also, religiously all times are not the same. One age
is a time of fervor and trust, wherein man can walk
with God gladly and joyously, though clouds and dark-
ness be about him. Another age is a season of intel-
lectual curiosity, when men fancy that they can " by
'searching find out God " and that indeed they ought
to learn about him before trusting to him. But really
that picture of the Transfiguration by Eaphael, at Borne,
has never been seen through a microscope, and never
will be, even though every bit of the canvas should be
passed across the field of the best possible instrument.
A believer can walk with God in spirit, but not the

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 241

man who thinks that before starting he ought to find out
God by analysis and logic, even though not unto perfec-
tion. And in many other ways, too, may men disqual-
ify themselves spiritually for things which they would
attempt, Often in the chambers of his soul a man will
deliberately close the skylights and the higher windows,
and try to see only by such light as is nearest to the
basement ; and he thinks, in so doing, that he is keep-
ing close to nature. But he makes ' the same blunder
as that which would search out the beauty and mean-
ing of Eaphael's great picture with a microscope.
Dogs are excellent within the range of their faculties,
— the mastiff, the setter, the- Newfoundland ; but as
something to be judged upon, " Give not that which is
holy unto the dogs."

And not only can a man not judge who is no judge ;
but under no outpouring, whether Pentecostal or any
other, can a man receive who has no receptiveness.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were not often the peo-
ple, through whom there was any manifestation of the
Spirit. In the time of Jesus it does not appear that
ever a Pharisee was healed ; or that there was a Phari-
see among the seventy sent out by Christ, who found
themselves endowed with miraculous power. And
commonly the Pharisees would seem to have been
spiteful about the miracles, even when they could not
but acknowledge them, as being real. The seventy
had returned with joy at the effect of their new pow-
ers in the places where they had been, saying, " Lord,
even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."
At this, and thereby also at the state of mind which
had been thus found existing abroad, " Jesus rejoiced
11 p

242 A MIRACLE DEFINED.

in spirit, and said, I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes : even so, Father ; for so it seemed good in thy
sight,"

It has been quoted already, but it is of that signifi-
cance that it may well be cited again, that when Jesus
was in his own country, " he could there do no mighty
work," but only heal a few people, by laying his hands
on them. There was then possible a state of feeling
in a place, at a certain time, which could hinder the
working of miracles even by Jesus Christ.

And as what may result from spiritual recognition
between persons, and from trust and faith, the miracle
at Lystra is an instance ; at which city there was a
poor sufferer, who happened to be within the reach
of Paul's voice as he preached. "The same heard
Paul speak : who steadfastly beholding him, and per-
ceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud
voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and
walked." By tins it would seem to be implied that
for miracles in curing there was necessary, not only a
power ready to heal, but also a state of expectancy,
receptiveness, and faith on the side of the sufferers.

" Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you,"
says St. James in his Epistle ; and if there be an age,
by the spirit of which men generally are withdrawn
from God, then necessarily the manifestations of the
Spirit must become very few, and be what can be
credited very faintly by most persons. And this must
be, notwithstanding what concurrently may be the ex-
periences of individual Christians, who perhaps may be

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 243

peculiar as to constitution, or happy in some way, as to
education, associates, or neighborhood.

From Jesus, after he had risen, and before he had
ascended, the apostles received as an answer to a ques-
tion, " It is not for you to know the times or the sea-
sons, which the Father hath put in his own power."
And that there is a varying distance, in some sense,
between mortals and their God, is implied in the
words of Peter, in his address at the temple, in Solo-
mon's porch, when he said to the people who had come
running together on account of a miracle, " Eepent ye
therefore and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out," against what is in the future, " when the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of
the Lord."

And as showing the manner in which the human
spirit may be in connection with powers outside of
itself indeed, and which yet are not foreign to its na-
ture, let the words of Jesus, spoken to his immediate
disciples, be noticed ; for though they were not ful-
filled in the age when they were uttered, and are not
likely to be at this present time, yet they hold good
for all who are, or who ever shall be in him, " that is
true, even in his son Jesus Christ." It is the philoso-
phy of faith, which is stated in this merely occasional
remark, " Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a
grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this moun-
tain, Eemove hence to yonder place ; and it shall re-
move ; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

And now what is faith ? It is the confidence of
moral persuasion, — it is the sense of what must be,
because of what ought to be : it is the state of a soul

244 A MIRACLE DEFINED.

which is open towards God, and therefore receptive of
the Holy Ghost ; and which thereby also is capable of
becoming prophetic, and of blossoming with Christian
graces, like gifts, and of developing latent powers, in a
superhuman way, for teaching and healing, and for
spiritual perception, and communion. Faith is the
instinct of a soul, as to its affinities ; and about which,
as to reliability, the blind life of a bee in the hive
ought to be hint enough.

There is an instinct of faith in us, or a something,
which for want of words, cannot perhaps be better de-
fined, but which men are free to trust or not, because
of the manner in which they are created to live, or are
let live, or at least are free to feel.

" Faith as a grain of mustard-seed ! " There is a
whole volume of spiritual philosophy in these words,
though only dimly discernible by the writer hereof, and
perhaps by most other persons, at present. In a para-
ble Jesus spoke of " a grain of mustard-seed, which,
when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds
that be in the earth ; but when it is sown, it groweth
up and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth
out great branches ; so that the fowls of the air may
lodge under the shadow of it." And just as in a mus-
tard-seed there is the possibility of a tree, so in every
man of faith there is what might remove mountains, not
perhaps any day in any century, but in Pentecostal
times. That our souls begin from God, and live by
him, is Christian doctrine ; and it was the belief of the
best of the heathen, as St. Paul showed to the men of
Athens, when he reminded them of the words of one
of their poets, " For we are also his offspring." And

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 245

if only by faith our souls were as natural as mustard-
seeds, or as pliant to super-agency, they would have
their various faculties supplied and filled from a foun-
tain-head eternal of wisdom, power, and goodness, and
have all such desires, as faithful souls can have, easily
and abundantly satisfied.

And now again what is a miracle for us human be-
ings, according to the Scriptures ? But as preliminary
to the answer, let it be remembered that our souls and
all souls are living in God, as indeed, in some way, all
things must be ; and not merely such intelligences as
Moses and Socrates were, but also bees busy in the
hive, and devils even while they believe and tremble.

According to the Scriptures, then, miracles are
" signs " of activity in a moulding and pervading world
of spirit ; and which were appealed to, by the Jews, as
proofs sometimes of greater and sometimes of less sig-
nificance, in connection with the persons through whom
they were wrought. Also, concurrently with the fore-
going statement, and as enlarging it, it is to be remem-
bered, according to the Scriptures, through the world
of spirit which is round us, that demons, like any
other spirits, may possibly make " signs," and may try
even to be taken for angels of light.

And thus, according to a Pindaric phrase, by many
windings of thought, or as Swedenborg might say, by
a spiral progress, we have arrived at a point, perhaps a
little higher on the scale of information, but still with
the same view, whence Ealph Cudworth looked out, as
a student of the Intellectual System of the Universe,
when he wrote, after citing Pagan as well as Christian
miracles and prophecies, " All these phenomena of

246 A MIRACLE DEFINED.

apparitions, witchcraft, possessions, and prophecies, do
evince that spirits, angels, or demons, though invisible
to us, are no fancies, but real and substantial inhabi-
tants of the world ; which favors not the atheistic hy-
pothesis : but some of them, as the higher kinds of
miracles and predictions, do also immediately enforce
the acknowledgment of a Deity, a Being superior to
nature, which therefore can check and control it, and
which, comprehending the whole, foreknows the most
remote, distant, and contingent event." Also, though it
be the same thing in other words, it is yet worthy of
being read again, " Though all miracles, promiscuously,
do not immediately prove the existence of God, nor
confirm a prophet, or whatsoever doctrine ; yet do all
of them evince that there is a rank of invisible, under-
standing beings, superior to men, which atheists com-
monly deny."

Those last words as to an atheist remind one of a
fact, which by a late writer was stated very vividly,
that in modern times there has nothing been debated
or proposed in the realms of thought or imagination,
as to theology, or metaphysics, or social organization,
but was agitated in England during the times of the
Commonwealth. And from that furnace-like condi-
tion, in which mind once was in England, no doubt
there has resulted in its inhabitants that something,
which is a part, at least, of what by foreigners is
sometimes called sobriety, and sometimes slowness of
thought.

Ralph Cudworth, Richard Baxter, John Owen, Hen-
ry More, John Smith and their compeers, may be sup-
posed by some critics to be out of date for citation as

A MIRACLE DEFINED. 247

authorities on philosophical or religious subjects, as
having been persons innocent of a thought of Panthe-
ism, and too simple and professional, ever to have
known what hostile scepticism might have had to say
for itself, in their time. But than this there is not a
greater mistake to be made in literature by anybody.
For the foregoing are all men of great names ; and the
age in which they lived was not a time for cheap repu-
tations. And, indeed, for spiritual insight and learn-
ing, and for experience from a wide knowledge of men
and collision with them, there are no twelve men, to-
day, to be found in all England, or throughout the
United States, who could be fairly compared as a jury-
on a theological question, with such men as were
known to Henry More and Eichard Baxter. And
truly, at this time, the direct affinities of the best
thinkers are with the scholars of two hundred years
ago, rather than with those who wrote English under
Queen Anne, or who loved to be Addisonian while
George the Third was king. By searching upwards
and around with the telescope, and downwards with
the microscope, into the magnitudes and affinities
which are latent in every atom, science confirms the
doctrine of the Unity of God. But that doctrine had
been a primary truth of revelation for thousands of
years before those optical helps were invented. And,
indeed, beyond its assent as to the doctrine of the
Unity of the Godhead, and those illustrations which
it furnishes of truths which are at least as old as the
Old Testament, science has yielded nothing new what-
ever for the uses or the consideration of theology.
With the discovery of the law of gravitation Newton
did not find himself changed theologically ; and to the

248 A MIRACLE DEFINED.

end of his life lie believed profoundly in a world ex-
tra-human and spiritual, and in prophecy, as an effect
from it.

And now, after having striven to view this subject
of miracles, as it exists in the Scriptures, by light
from every quarter which is open towards him, the
present writer would suggest the following proposi-
tions.

I. A miracle is a " sign " that men are vitally con-
nected with a sphere, which is wider than what is
commonly called " nature," and which transcends it.

II. A miracle is a "sign" as to individuals and
sometimes as to communities, of an increase in sensi-
bility as to influence from the spiritual world.

III. A miracle is a "sign" that in the persons
through whom it is wrought, there is a state of open-
ness towards the spiritual world, through which, more
or less effectually, they may be receptive of spiritual
suggestions, prophetic and doctrinal: which sugges-
tions, however, like the miracle itself, may possibly be
not from above.

IV. A miracle of magnitude and beneficence would
seem to create a high presumption, and to be a " sign "
as to the goodness, and therefore as to the reliability
of the person through whom it is wrought.

V. A miracle or sign is a possibility of the present
day, and from quarters both good and bad.

VI. As to the significance of miracles, or as to signs
given or coming from the spiritual world, men ordina-
rily may judge of themselves, and always they may
learn from the Holy Spirit ; the monitions of which will
never fail, while there are two or three disciples to
gather together truly, in the name of Jesus Christ.

MIEACLES AS SIGNS.

BY anti-supematuralists it is an argument against
the probability of miracles ever having happened,
that the force of them as to authority, and therefore also
as to credibility, must depend on the mental state of the
person witnessing them, or hearing of them. But this
is no new discovery ; for it is implied in the Scriptures
continually. And St. Paul, in his First Epistle to the
Corinthians, discriminates thus as to miracles which
might even happen together in the church, " Tongues
are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them
that believe not : but prophesying serveth not for them
that believe not, but for them which believe." And
in the first chapter of the same epistle, St. Paul would
say that there are conditions as to preaching Christ,
under which " signs " are not thought of, and wisdom
of the Greek kind is not minded, " For after that in
the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to
save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom : but we preach
Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and
unto the Greeks foolishness ; but unto them which are
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of
God, and the wisdom of God."

Miracles dependent for their meaning on the persons
11*

250 MIRACLES AS SIGNS.

attending to them, — of course they must be, and
always have been. For, outside of what is mathemati-
cal, hardly anything can be uttered but varies as to
force, with the various minds which receive it, and es-
pecially on such subjects as are moral and religious.

It has been said, as though by the complaisance of
lofty intellects, and as though by concession to the
ways of Providence, that a belief in miracles may have
had its use in times of darkness, and so may have
served a good end, though itself being utterly baseless.
But a sentiment like that, instead of being welcomed,
is eschewed by anything like "the truth as it is in
Jesus," and by every honest atom in the universe.

It is true that a miracle may be more striking one
day than another, and in one age than another, just as
it might be with one person more than with another.
But what of that ? From even the same occurrence
do all the spectators receive uniformly the same im-
pression ? What sermon ever was exactly the same
thing, to even only two persons in a congregation ? A
miracle might be seen and acknowledged by twenty
witnesses ; and some of them would thank God for " a
sign and wonder " ; and some others would say that it
was very curious, and worth thinking about : while still
more, by their utilitarian remarks, would show them-
selves to be of the same mind with the people, whom
Jesus once answered, when he said, " Yerily, verily, I
say unto you, ye seek me, not because ye saw the mir-
acles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were
filled."

Never were miracles understood in the Catholic
Church, as bein<? of the same significance as in the

MIRACLES AS SIGNS. 251

Evidences of Eeligion, by Joseph Priestley. And
before Moses addressed Pharoah, it was anticipated
that among the Egyptians one sign might be more co-
gent than another, and two signs be more persuasive
than one. " And it shall come to pass, if they will
not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the
first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter
sign." Is a miracle, then, really the less probable as
an occurrence, or is its significance the less certain be-
cause the minds of men, as to the " sign and wonder "
may not be uniform, age after age ?

It has been said that the day for miracles is past, and
that whatever use there may have been in them is worn
out. This, however, is the word of a writer who ac-
tually never knew what a miracle was, and who there-
fore could never have known properly about its signifi-
cance and use. For really and truly, there never was
a time when a miracle was as much itself, as it is to-
day. There never has been a period when a miracle
could have been as suggestive and as instructive as it
might be at present. There never has been an age
when a miracle could have meant as much as it does
at this moment. And never, in all time past, could a
miracle have been as much of " a sign and wonder " as
it might be, and should be, at this present time. Eor,
as is commonly and scientifically supposed, the Order
of Nature is clearly and distinctly against anything
like a miracle ; and those powers of omnipotence and
omniscience, by which the realm of nature is pervaded,
are rightly regarded as guaranties against the possibil-
ity of a miracle by accident. And so, in these en-
lightened days, the humblest miracle, or work, or sign,

252 MIRACLES AS SIGNS.

on which formerly only a minor stress would have
been laid, is arrayed in a portentousness of meaning,
with which anciently it was never accredited, even by
those who most heartily believed it. And thus, like a
remark which has been already made, for such spiritual
discernment, as most persons have at present, or are
likely to have before they die, " the unclean spirit," so
often mentioned in the Bible, would, as to the consti-
tution of the spiritual universe, be as great a sign as
they are capable of receiving. And yet from the
Spirit of God an abundance of other " signs " are wait-
ing on us all. But as to these invisible signs we ex-
perience nothing, and can scarcely even think or feel
anything, because of our living, for some reason, in a
state as to the miraculous, somewhat like that of those
Jews to whom Jesus said, " Perceive ye not yet, neither
understand ? have ye your heart yet hardened ? Hav-
ing eyes, see ye not ? and having ears, hear ye not ? "

Certainly a miracle is not of the same meaning in
every age : but it is not always because of its seeming
to diminish in significance. King Saul believed that
Ahimelech the priest had "inquired of God," at the
request of David. At this day it seems, that what-
ever the answer might be, which even an enemy might
get as an oracle from God, as though certainly, we all
of us could only say, " The Lord's will be done ! " But
Saul did not feel so : but said, " Thou shalt surely die,
Ahimelech, thou and all of thy father's house." This
seems to be like insanity ; but things have been en-
acted and done in Europe within the last century, from
a state of mind not as intense indeed as that of Saul,
but like it. And indeed, history may well make the

MIRACLES AS SIGNS. 253

most intelligent man fear for himself, as to what non-
sense or wickedness he may some time find himself
committed to, for what may have seemed to him to be
good reasons drawn from theology. But in connection
with Saul, let us read further. " And the king said to
Doeg, Turn thou and fall upon the priests. And Doeg
the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and
slew on that clay fourscore and five persons that did
wear a linen ephod." Kill a man who could " inquire
of the Lord," — kill a man who was like the mouth-
piece of God ! This would seem to be like anything
but a belief in miracles. Yet actually, it was because
he was believed to be a man of miracle, that Ahimelech
the priest was killed.

" A man of God " had wrought great miracles at the
altar in Bethel, and an old prophet wished to detain
him, notwithstanding that he pleaded " the word of the
Lord " to the contrary. " He said unto him, I am a
prophet also as thou art ; and an angel spake unto me
by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with
thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink
water. But he lied unto him." Certainly the force of
a miracle varies with different persons, and from one
age perhaps to another. But the anti-supernaturalists
of this age would probably think much more of a
miracle than would seem to have been felt by an
ancient Israelite, who not only believed in the possi-
bility of miracles, but who also was himself known as
" an old prophet," and who indeed was himself again,
just about to be made prophetic. In the book of the
Acts of the Apostles, it is to be read, "And when
A^imon saw that through laying on of the apostles'

254 MIRACLES AS SIGNS.

hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them
money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whom-
soever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
But Peter said nnto him, Thy money perish with thee,
because thou hast thought that the gift of God may
be purchased with money." But here some one may
say, " By the manner in which miracles seem to have
been regarded anciently, and sometimes perhaps by
those even, who knew best about them, they may not
really have been what I have thought they were." For
which the answer is, " Perhaps not : but they are not
therefore the less true, nor the less Scriptural, nor the
less significant, nor yet the less reliable as being the
spiritual mortar with which are cemented together
those human experiences which constitute the Bible,
and which make it be like the visible gateway and
gate, which open into glory, and into the " house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

Miracles not as wonderful to-day as they were be-
fore the days of science began, — this is what has
been sometimes said, and what has been still oftener
felt. It is true, that we are not as the Egyptians were,
nor yet as the Jews were, scientifically. But neither
yet are we as they were, geographically, or historically ;
and yet vitally we are very like them. Be it so, that
there is knowledge now about what are called the laws
of nature ; and that even some of the laws can be in-
dicated, through the use of which some miracles may
perhaps have been wrought. What then; does that
abolish the meaning of a miracle, as a sign ? Or does
that properly end our human wonder, as to what a
miracle may mean, or as to who may be the primarV

1

MIRACLES AS SIGNS. 255

cause of it ? It might as well be supposed that with
learning the Greek language, as Plato wrote it, that his
wisdom would be found to evaporate. The radicals
and inflections of a language are not thought, but only
a channel for the expression of thought. And for such
a " miracle " as is a " sign," the laws of nature, when
they are concerned, are but the channels of will, power,
and intelligence, combined in an agency which is in-
visible, and not fleshly, mortal, nor human. When a
message reaches a person by telegraph, electricity is
not the whole explanation of it ; for the significance
of the message began actually with the person who
from a distance caused the sign, and sent the commu-
nication. Science does but make a miracle to be more
distinctly a a sign."

It is pleaded as an axiom by some theologians, " If
we can prove the miracles, we have proved Christian-
ity." What a sense of pertinency these theologians
must have ; and what a sense, too, of moral fitness !
For almost they might as well say, " Learn well the
multiplication-table, and you will certainly feel the
genius of Eaphael." Before any one can prove the
truth of Christianity by the miracles of the Scriptures
he must be able to show the. spiritual philosophy oi
miracles, and thereby be able to make people discern,
for themselves, the possibility and probability of mira-
cles having really happened. But this is a thing which
is never thought of by the man, who thinks that he
can create a belief in Christianity, by an historical
argument as to miracles. "The Bible is the word
of God, and the miracles in it are the seals of the
Almighty ; and I can show that always those miracles

256 MIRACLES AS SIGNS.

have been believed ; and if we believe them, then we
are Christians." A very simple argument this is,
certainly ; but somehow, the end of it, even when it is
best managed, is acquiescence, simply, and not convic-
tion, and of course, not fervent conviction. As indeed
how should it be ? For actually the argument, as it is
usually conducted, presupposes a state of mind, un-
fortunately not unlike that of the Israelites under
Moses. Says Lightfoot in his Horse Hebraicse et Tal-
mudicae, " They went under four or five miracles : as
the appearing of the cloud of glory, the raining of
manna, the flowing of the rock, or the waters at Horeb,
the continual newness of their clothes, and the untired-
ness of their feet. Yet did they forget and were con-
tinually repining against him, that did all these won-
ders for them."

There is a curious narrative connected with the Jews
while in the desert, which shows that miracles may be
profoundly believed by some persons, and yet to no
good purpose ; because of their state of mind, being
itself akin to idolatry, as being blind and sensual.
For the sins of the people, there was amongst them a
plague of fiery serpents. But afterwards, " The Lord
said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it
upon a pole : and it shall come to pass that every one
that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live."
This was a miracle, which was of a kind, by which
there was likely to be a deep and permanent impres-
sion made. And so in the Second Book of Kings, at
a date which would seem to be seven hundred years
later than that miracle in the desert, it is to be read
that King Hezekiah "removed the high places, and

MIRACLES AS SIGNS. 257

brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake
in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made ; for
unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense
to it. And he called it Nehushtan," that is, a piece of
brass. And at the present clay, there are persons, high
and low in intelligence, and some of whom would look
grandly, if arrayed in their worldly circumstances, who
inwardly are of that old Jewish company in the des-
ert, and who, but for the spirit of the time, could
almost more easily worship a " sign " rather than God,
who reveals himself through it.

It has been said, rather arrogantly, that with the
growth of intellect miracles will cease to interest men.
What, then, with the growth of intellect, will men be
curious about ? Because oysters, intellectually, will
not serve forever, nor monads, nor yet gorillas. And
it would seem, indeed, as though miracles might serve
men as subjects for inquiry, and as suggestions for
speculation, even after the earth shall have yielded
up every one of its hidden secrets.

With the growth of intellect, some men have fancied
that the basis of morals, and also the sanction, is sim-
ply utility. And it has happened even that "the
world by wisdom knew not God." At present, of that
world, to which men are related by bodily organiza-
tion, the curiosities and laws draw an interest dispro-
portionately great in comparison with what is felt as
to those laws and wonders, which are connected with
man as " a living soul." This, however, is only by an
accident of the moment, and because of the weak-
ness of the human intellect; which, though it be
only of yesterday, is yet confronted simultaneously

258 MIRACLES AS SIGNS.

with the necessities of the passing hour, and with
problems akin to the infinite and eternal. There may
have been times when miracles were senselessly mag-
nified ; and it would seem as though there might also
be a time when they may be as absurdly neglected.

But yet miracles, and even of the far distant past,
will interest man as long as he is a creature of aspira-
tion and hope, because of their being evidences of a
spiritual world, and proofs also, that man spiritually is
enriched with receptiveness against " when the times
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the
Lord," whether in this world or the next. For indeed
there is not a miracle but is an argument as to our hu-
man nature, for what it is in its faculties, and what its
connections must be with a world invisible, of angels
and agencies, which it is a glory to think of.

Miracles effete as to meaning, — what a strange no-
tion ! Because that they never can be, while men can
wonder and reverence, and believe in the certainty of
what must transcend their own pettiness, and dust,
and ignorance.

Miracles effete as to meaning ! That they never can
become while men are human, mortals who have not
yet become immortal, and clear of the fleshly veil,
which separates between us newly created spirits, and
that world eternal, immortal, invisible, for which we
are predestined, but which yet " flesh and blood cannot
inherit."

Miracles effete as to meaning ! That they can never
be ; while men can have their thoughts started afresh,
from time to time, as to who they themselves may be,
or what, relatively, their place in the universe may be,

MIRACLES AS SIGNS. 259

under that Supremacy of Power which is called God,
and as among " all things created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible, and invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers."

Miracles effete as to meaning ! That can never be,
while the human soul is in its inmost self, prophetic,
and capable at times of being " taught of God," and
of showing graces, which have been quickened from
above.

Miracles effete as to meaning ! That can never be,
while a man can be a wonder to himself ; for, by the
mysteriousness of his own nature, when he feels it, a
man knows that the surrounding universe must cer-
tainly be alive with laws and marvels, against the as-
tounding effects of which his soul is saved, only by
the creative arrangements of God, who lets his uni-
verse " not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as
unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ."

Miracles may cease to interest men, as prodigious
tales of distant ages, and remote places ; or as occur-
rences, of which there can nothing be made. But
" miracles," as " signs," will be significant as long as
human nature lasts ; which means, so long as men are
mortal, and have their daily walk bordered by a world
immortal, whence effects are possible, or can even pos-
sibly be imagined, as to influence or intervention.

Because, according to the Scriptures, all human be-
ings are more or less susceptible of the miraculous, or
of being acted upon, otherwise than through their
bodily senses ; or, more exactly still, of being influ-
enced from the spiritual world.

260 MIRACLES AS SIGNS.

It is true, that we live by laws, some of which prob-
ably are unknown, and others of which are named re-
spectively as being chemical, dynamic, electric, odic,
and vital : but, at the best, this all is but a scientific
and incomplete statement of what St. Paul credited
even the heathen for knowing as to God, when he said,
that, " In him we live, and move, and have our being."

Living and moving in God, and as his offspring !
Then the realm of nature does not bound the circum-
ference of our susceptibilities, even at this present time,
probably. And then certainly, also, there must be la-
tent in us the germs of new beginnings, which may
start with us, as to effects, in one world after another,
on our eternal progress ; and as to which, for opening
and delight, he may well be trusted, to whom we be-
long, and who is " from everlasting to everlasting."

And now, finally, a " miracle " being a " sign," what
is a sign ? It may have at the time of its giving, an
individual and momentary pertinency ; but it has also
for everybody, who knows of it, a personal and eternal
meaning. In the sense of " miracle," a " sign " is a
sign made for mortals, from the world immortal ; and
it is also a proof that the soul of man is in some kind
of affinity with wonder-working powers, which are
active outside of that realm of nature, with which we
are familiar by our bodily senses or common experi-
ence.

When read of in a thoughtless way, miracles in the
distance may be but mere marvels ; but really when
they are " signs " they are signs which have been made
for men, from the spiritual world ; and they are illus-
trations of the laws of that world, which we mortals

MIRACLES AS SIGNS. 261

belong to spiritually ; and they are evidences of the
interest, which is felt there, about us spirits in the
flesh. Miracles considered as signs, are flashes of light
by which we all of us may discern the grandeur and
also the peril of our earthly walk.

It was argued by St. Peter, that prophecy in the
Scriptures had never been merely for individuals, be-
cause of its having been a movement by the Holy
Ghost. And like his argument, is what St. Paul wrote
to the Corinthians, as to even the distant miracles of
the age of Moses : " Now all these things happened
unto them for ensamples ; and they are written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
come."

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

ACCORDING to the book of Genesis, the creation
of man was thus, — " The Lord God formed man
of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nos-
trils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul."
There may perhaps, at the Creation have been more
ways than one, by which man might have grown in
knowledge ; but that which obtained with him, was
what is referred to, in Ecclesiastes, where it is said that
"much study is a weariness of the flesh" ; and which
indeed often ends in self-confusion ; and which also, at
the best, commonly incurs some loss, as a counterbal-
ance against every gain. And because for us human
beings, science, or philosophy, or learning, or all of them
combined, are only a lamp of knowledge, it happens
that things are out of sight or in it, and seem great or
seem small, not because of what they are in them-
selves, as because of the light, by which they are
looked at. And hence partly has resulted the strange
variety of opinions, which have been published on the
subject of miracles. Man indeed may well be the
subject of marvellous experiences : " For we are but of
yesterday and know nothing." And yet there is not
one of us but might say, "The Spirit of God hath
made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given
me life." Images of God as we are, and living souls,

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT. 263

we have all of us, been created in the spirit of the
universe, and are therefore susceptible of its disclos-
ures. And if we have no great or common experi-
ence of them, in these days of dulness and flesh and
mortality, we are yet none the less certain of having
them hereafter, when seraphs shall be on the wing
about us, and we be walking alongside of " a pure
river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out
of the throne of God and of the Lamb."

In the Scriptures, it is to be read that, more than
once, leprosy was caused by a miracle, and that several
times, by a miracle, it was cured. And perhaps by the
way in which the first man incurred disease, there was
something miraculous involved, just as certainly as at
Lystra and other places, through Paul by a bodily
touch, or by some point in them spiritually being af-
fected, sufferers were strengthened and cured. Finite
creatures, surrounded by the infinite, and more or less
vitally connected with it, we are wrapped about, and
we are pervaded, by possibilities of a miraculous char-
acter. " For I am fearfully and wonderfully made :
marvellous are thy works ; and that my soul knoweth
right well."

As to outward appurtenances, and as to those powers
of his, which tell instantly on the surrounding world,
generally a man is quick enough, but as to his make,
it is almost the last thing ever to be thought of. So
wonderfully am I made, that I do not know myself,
nor understand myself. And the constitution of my
body is known to me through discoveries, which are
only very recent, notwithstanding that the nature of
the human body was a matter of great and vital con-

2G4 MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

cern, to millions of men, in many past ages. And the
more there is known about it, manifestly the more
there is to learn ; not perhaps as regards its composi-
tion, but as to its relationship by electricity and mag-
netism to the atmosphere, and it may be to the sun
and moon and planets. For indeed we are not simply
denizens of this earth, but we are creatures of the uni-
verse, borne about by a planet, which is one of many
sisters ; the whole family of which are related in every
direction infinitely.

A man can hear only what his ears will let him
hear. Over our heads may be made the music of the
spheres, though inaudibly to us ; and yet it might be
distinctly perceptible perhaps, were our hearing a little
quickened, or were the reporting power of the air or
the ether a little intensified. This is readily credible.
And really, by analogy, which is largely what we all
of us think by, the ongoings of the universe hint to
all persons, who are not mere arithmeticians or logi-
cians, that we are concerned with laws, which science
has never yet detected, and which perhaps, by their
nature, transcend its methods. And therefore any-
thing, which might be called a miracle, instead of
being treated defiantly, should as perhaps being spirit-
ually " a sign," be as welcome, at least, as the news of
another asteroid, or of some affinity among salts, just
freshly detected. " Oh," says some one, " but the Bible
is enough for me." And so truly it might well be, if
only he could read it aright. But apparently it was
not meant, that the Scriptures should be a very easy
book for everybody, and for all persons alike, the self-
conceited and the humble, the worldly-wise and the

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT. 265

man " taught of God." Else, how does it happen,
among Christians, that there are so many sects, Eoman
Catholic, Greek Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist Epis-
copalian, Presbyterian, Orthodox, Unitarian ? The
Bible, as a history of the manifestation of the Spirit
of God, the writer hereof trusts to, as his highest
guidance ; but he believes that it was meant to be read
as it was given, concurrently with Providence, and by
the help of such light therefrom, directly and indi-
rectly, as may fall, from time to time, on such eyes as
may be open to receive it. All criticism,' historical,
dogmatic, chronological, being fairly allowed for, the
Bible is manifestly to-day, the greatest treasure which
is held in any earthen vessel ; and such it will be to
the end of time, no doubt, or at least till time shall
begin again in some new geon, millennial or other.
But though the Bible is always the same, as to what is
written, the eyes with which it is read vary at least
from one generation to another. By Providence, it is
ordained that men shall pass through this life of ours,
one generation after another ; and through Providence
also it is foreordained, that for the people who read it
in succession, the Bible shall widen in meaning. For,
anything from the Spirit of God, addressed to mere
spirits in the flesh, must be found to mean more and
more, the longer it is looked at.

No one, with an eye for history, can glance across
it, without being struck by the manner in which often
beliefs grow and fail, and apparently without sufficient
reasons, from among men themselves. A striking re-
mark was made by an awe-struck writer as to the French
Ptevolution, and by De Tocqueville, perhaps; and it
12

266 MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

was this, that the spirit of that revolution went abroad,
touching and transforming persons in a way, which
was not to be accounted for humanly, either as to be-
nevolence, religion, or taste ; but spreading as though
by infection. And no doubt with that strange mani-
festation, there was more concerned than simply the
diffusion of words. Men were men, and tongues were
tongues ; but there was that in the air, which the men
breathed, which perhaps was new. It may have been
something of the nature of magnetism, which may
possibly have originated altogether with men them-
selves ; or it may have been something of that kind,
intensified through spiritual affinities, active in more
directions than one. It was a something, so to say, in
the air : and as some bodily diseases are infectious, so
also, it would seem, are some diseases of the spirit.
And in both cases the condition of disease is sugges-
tive of the channels of health, and may illustrate
them. And the reverse of panic or of fanaticism by
infection is courage or is faith, by the Holy Ghost.
And we are Christians fully and joyously, only as far
as it has been our personal experience, that " By one
Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we
be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and
have been all made to drink into one Spirit." Com-
monly, logic is but an oar, almost without a blade, by
which a thinker fancies that he is making an inde-
pendent course ; while really his soul is afloat upon a
stream which is infinitely stronger than his arm : and
while he thinks that he is rowing himself indepen-
dently of all the forces of the universe, he is carried in-
deed to a port of his willing, but which he would never

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT. 267

have aimed at, but for the air upon the water, and
which indeed he had to breathe for his life. And at
the best, and in order to be at its best, logic is only
movement, step after step. It does but work slowly,
and as it were on the deck of a ship, which itself may
all the while be driven of the winds of heaven, and
tossed upon the waves of the deep.

Live believingly by logic alone ! That is what a
man may do, with only the one half of his nature
alive ; and that, of course, the half of him, which is
only a little more than what does live "by bread
alone." But to find the way to the Father in heaven
by logic would be such a hard thing for even the
greatest intellect that God condescends to us. And at
this day, by a miracle, which has never been inter-
mitted since the days of Pentecost, for those of us who
are willing, " God hath sent forth the Spirit of his
Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."

To live by logic, working merely on earthly infor-
mation, is what may be done by individuals, and
almost even by individual generations ; but it is what
cannot last, because of its not being human. For we
human beings, though native to " the heavens and the
earth, which are now," are yet now already living with-
inside the outskirts of " a city, which hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God." And so, certainly,
until the last man shall have been gathered into the
bosom of eternity, miracles, marvels, wonders will be
dear to the human race as proofs, presumptively, that
men are of more than fleshly make, and as " signs," per-
haps even vouchsafed to them, of there being another
world than this, in which we live, and have to die.

268 MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

Hard as glass is, yet it is pervious to the impalpable
rays of light; and electricity will run along a wire
hundreds of miles in length. Well then may the
" wonderfully made " body of man be credited for sus-
ceptibilities, which though they may commonly be
occult, may yet also sometimes be the channels of
great wonders. "As thou knowest not what is the
way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the
womb of her that is with child, even so thou knowest
not the works of God who maketh all."

Human beings are spirits held in clay ; and though
that clay indeed be vitalized by the lungs and the heart,
it is yet porous and pervious to forces which sweep
round the world, or which stream from pole to pole,
such as electricity and magnetism. And there is also
the oclic force. And concurrently with these forces,
only so lately known of, though now so positively
ascertained, it would seem as though there might be
other powers, higher and still more occult than they.
And therefore it might seem as though some doctrines
and statements in the Scriptures should reasonably ap-
pear to be more credible to such persons as have doubted
spiritually, because of their having been infected by
materialism. In man there is an eye for seeing, and an
ear for hearing ; and it is, through the air that ear and
eye both perceive. And through the air also there is
the possibility by which a great thunder-storm at the
Cape of Good Hope might be known of almost in a
moment, as affecting the atmosphere electrically, at
Cape Horn, and on the Himalaya Mountains.

Think of the electric telegraph, as to what it is in
itself and as to the way in which it works ; and under

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT. 269

the best information, consider what man is as to body
and spirit ; and then many strange marvels will seem
indeed to be transcendent, but not therefore unnatural
nor incredible, — such as prophetic dreams, sudden
persuasions as to far distant occurrences, the expe-
riences of second sight, an occasional apparition even,
and deep, true impressions received unaccountably, and
as though from some whispering spirit. Electricity
seems to be, in common lanjma<*e, more than the half
of the distance from matter to spirit. And it is con-
ceivable, and it would seem even to be highly proba-
ble, that as electricity coexists with gravitation, so
there may also be forces in the universe, transcending
electricity, and nearly akin even to spirit itself. And
with these powers, probably, we mortals are concerned
more or less, as we are with magnetism or with the
oxygen of the atmosphere.

But it may be asked, " If there be a spiritual atmos-
phere, or anything like it, which concerns man, and
through which spiritual causes may affect him, why
has he never been informed of it, by revelation, just
as by revelation he learns that he is spirit as well as
body ? " To this question the answer is very simple.
Man lives by breath ; and yet he was not born with
an instinctive philosophy as to the properties, uses, and
dangers of the common air. And after all these thou-
sands of years, since the first man died, men are but
now just beginning to understand the nature of the at-
mosphere. Even if the science of spirit had been im-
parted to the first man, it could not have lasted long
with men, if it had been widely out of keeping with
their science as to nature. And this indeed would

270 MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

seem to "be implied by the words of Jesus, "Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and
testify that we have seen ; and ye receive not our wit-
ness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye be-
lieve not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly
things ? " And thus, indeed, ultimately, instead of
there being a domination of Christianity by science,
it will result that science will but have predisposed
Christians themselves for a better understanding of
the Bible. For there are some important verities in
the Scriptures, which are almost latent at present.
And indeed truths uttered from the Spirit, in human
words, or in metaphors derived from nature, must
always have to wait long, before they can commonly
be well understood, because they are only to be " spirit-
ually discerned."

A thousand years ago, and even almost within the last
two hundred years, in the most enlightened spot of Eu-
rope, a farmer toiled upon his land, and felt the while
as though outside of his township there was nothing
but danger and darkness. To-day, however, there is
not an American agriculturist but feels that to do well,
he must know of the circumference of the world, and
also of the natural forces which sweep through the
land, and which keep the earth alive ; and that indeed
for skill, he has got to be one of " the laborers together
with God." There has been this great change with
" the natural man." And is it not, then, reasonable to
expect an extension of that knowledge, which is the
field of " the spiritual man " ?

Doubt about a miracle, merely as a great surprise !
And yet by optics, there have been as great surprises

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT. 271

given to men, as any spirit ever gave. And surely, if
a man did not study science, and think by it, as a sol-
dier moves, who has been sworn to service, and whose
business it is to know no more than what he is put
upon, optics alone might well predispose him to believe
in marvels, without end.

Look at a tadpole through a microscope, and what a
marvel is manifested out of nothing'! Yet the micro-
scope is as true, in its way, as the telescope ; and prob-
ably there are spirits living, in the universe, who be-
long to a region far below the steps of the throne of
God, whose eyes have of themselves the power of both
telescope and microscope combined. Also we, human
beings, by birth, probably have visual faculties as
strong as telescope and microscope, but for the flesh in
which we walk about. With a little bodily disorgani-
zation, the spirit of a man becomes " clairvoyant," and
he can read well, and can even walk and climb more
securely with his eyes shut than when wide awake.
So, even scientifically, a man should be inclined to be-
lieve in miracles, as wonders, or as signs made from
steps above him, in intelligence.

By the electric telegraph, we begin to realize certain
characteristics of the spiritual world, and, as Sweden-
borg would say, the comparative unimportance of time
and space. At any hour, almost, it is possible for a
person to communicate with any city in Europe, though
at a distance, perhaps, of three or four thousand miles.
But, in comparison with this actuality, it would have
seemed, a hundred years ago, that intercourse was just
as likely with " Jerusalem, which is from above." And
surely, if man be " a living soul," and be, by birth, a

272 MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

native of " the world which now is," and heir to "the
world which is to come/' it would seem as though the
marvels which science discovers might be but the
earthly counterpart of miracles or " signs " unearthly,
which denote solemnly the opening of the heavens,
and that something may be happening, like what was
meant when it was said, prophetically, that " times of
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."

If the ancients could possibly be confronted with
the philosophers of the present time, it might well be
proposed for them to compromise as to incredulity, and
that the moderns should believe in the spiritual world
because of science, and that the ancients should be-
lieve in science because of their belief in spirit ; for,
really, miracles are what signs are possible from an ex-
tra-sensual world, while science is largely the report
of semi-sensual forces, outside of that solid world in
which anciently men thought that they lived.

But, if we are accessible from the spiritual world by
influences or visitants, why have we never been told
of it ? And now, really, what more express telling-
could there possibly be, on any subject, anywhere, than
there is on this, in the Scriptures ? And again, if there
be an opening between this world and another, it may
be asked, why the way of it is not to be read of in the
Scriptures. But now, there is a philosophy of this
present world, which has only very lately been known
of, but yet to the advice of which chemically, as to
health, we trust ourselves implicitly. And if it should
be objected, " Oh, but the soul ! How can a man think
to know more about it than his ancestors did ? " And
to this, answer may be made by another question, and

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT. 273

it is this : " What kind of a creature would man have
been, if, by his science, he had been a Troglodyte or a
dirt-eater, and been also bright the while, with the
wisdom of a seraph, and warm with the love of a
cherub ? " Certainly, it cannot have been otherwise
than that at the creation of man, it must have been
ordained, that he should have the Intellectual Universe
disclose itself to him spiritually, as fast at least, as he
of himself should be able to find it out scientifically.

" The heavens declare the glory of Gocl, and the fir-
mament showeth his handiwork." That was David's
belief. But then David believed in enlightenment
from above ; and indeed, among his last words he said,
" The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word
was in my tongue." The Psalmist said, " The heavens
declare the glory of God." But there are persons as-
suming the attitude of philosophers at this present
time, who would say, " There cannot, perhaps, be glory
for what has not self-consciousness ; but truly and
grandly the heavens, on being found out, do declare the
glory of astronomers and the human intellect," And
there are people who think that this sentiment is
something new ! And yet their forefathers in intelli-
gence, thought in the same way, perhaps, twenty-five
hundred years ago ; for, in the book of Habbakuk the
prophet, there is to be read of fishermen who worshipped
their nets, because of a good catch. " Therefore they
sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their
drag ; because by them their portion is fat, and their
meat plenteous." To grow in intellect, or even in the
humblest skill, is to grow godless, except as those sus-
ceptibilities in a man are kept open which are God-
12* R

274 MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

wards. " But," as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
" but as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit :
for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things
of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man,
save the spirit of man, which is in him ? even so the
things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."
And in the proper sense of the word " miracle," the
Spirit of God, as it is experienced by individual Chris-
tians, from one generation to another, is itself a con-
tinuous, unceasing miracle in the world.

In a right temper, when a man remembers that his
life began with his birth, only a very few birthdays
back, then no wonder seems to him so great, as even
his own ability to ask about a miracle. And no mira-
cle, perhaps, ever was greater than what is implied by
the manner, in which a person can be accused by his con-
science all through his life. For, what actually would
conscience seem to be ? It is a faculty of human na-
ture, certainly, and yet, certainly, not in quite the same
way as logic is ; for, it is a faculty which would seem
to be open to re-enforcement, and to have in it the
spirit of a higher world, for meaning and strength.
Conscience, by its manner of acting, would predispose
to a belief in " signs and wonders " and miracles.

It is a common conceit, that between matter and
spirit there is such a gulf of separation, as that the
possibility of anything spiritual in this world, may
rightly be denied at once, whether it be as regards
angels or devils or apparitions, or the Holy Spirit, the

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT. 275

Comforter. And this notion is common even with
some mere Scripturists. And yet, surely, there is
nothing like it in the Scriptures. The laws of the
material world act together, like those of the human
body : and they connect together in such a way, the
lower with the higher, as to suggest spirit itself as the
end, if that may be called an end which is a begin-
ning, connected with immortality.

In the human body, what diverse laws do by some
means communicate with one another ; as the chemi-
cal with the dynamic, and these again with other laws,
such as those of gravitation and electricity f Spirit
unable to touch or affect matter under any conditions
— what nonsense ! For, in the body of a man, laws,
hard, to distinguish from spirit, are assembled together,
and blend, as it were, into one spirit-like force, which
is called vitality.

That a spirit cannot do anything for men to know
of, and cannot give " a sign," seems to some persons to
be absolutely certain, because, as they think, spirit
cannot possibly touch, nor handle, nor know of matter ;
and yet they believe that they, individually, are body
and spirit united. They cannot tell how anger clenches
for a man his fist, nor how their own thoughts become
words ; and yet they are certain that spirit can never
affect matter in any way ; and they are certain of this,
notwithstanding that they do not even know what a
spirit may be. And yet, actually, by its immortal na-
ture, a spirit may have endless aptitudes, and appli-
ances, and powers of self-adjustment.

At one time, anciently, it was held in psychology
that some demons or wandering spirits were spiritual

276 MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

bodies possessed of absorbent powers, by which they
could assimilate some of the finer particles of matter
from the air, and so become thinly embodied, and
faintly visible. And it would seem as though it prob-
ably might have been so ; and if so, really it is a very
curious fact. But other things like it have been re-
corded; and of which one or two, by pneumatology,
would seem to have analogies in the Scriptures. And
on the supposition that they are true, they are more
important than they might seem to be at the first sight ;
because they illustrate the possibilities of the universe,
and the manner in which the supernatural may begin
from the natural; and even also they may elucidate
perhaps Christian doctrine. For, if we are the work-
manship of God, and are created in the image of God,
it would seem to imply that there must be latent in
us many affinities, by which hereafter we shall be con-
nected with the works of God, in many and perhaps
infinite directions. For if men be "heirs of God,"
they would seem to be qualified by their spirituality,
and under the Divine permission, to reach and enter
upon one world after another, notwithstanding what
the constituent arrangements of those worlds, individ-
ually, may be. It is to be read in the Book of Eevela-
tion, " Write, Blessed are they which are called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb." And blessed are
they in the highest ; for, by the wedding-garment they
are free of every mansion in the Father's house. And,
as children of God Most High, it would seem as though
there must be the possibility by birth, for all souls to
be free of all worlds, not in a moment, of course, but
only very slowly. Because human souls are but crea-

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT. 277

tions, as it were, of yesterday; and though they are
predestined to be eternal, yet, while living by the
laws of nature, they might well appear in the eyes of
an archangel to be but like phosphorescent particles
upon the sea of time, which are bright for a moment,
and then vanished forever. " But thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ."

Some persons are utterly disconcerted, when it is
urged seriously as to God, that " In him we live and
move, and have our being," and that, thence as a fact,
there are inferences to be drawn, as to what human
beings are, or may hope to be. And yet that text,
" Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you,"
and that beginning of prayer, " Our Father which art
in heaven," — these would seem to teach that, while
yet in the flesh, we may be living by the Spirit, and
that really " signs " are possible for us, even though
there may never be more than one " sign " to be real-
ized by us, while we are earthly. But that one sign,
however, should perhaps be the greatest of miracles
for those who can apprehend it ; and it is this, — that
we and God are living together — he " from everlast-
ing to everlasting," and we by " the breath of the Al-
mighty."

Oh that infesting, nonsensical notion of there being
a sharp line of demarcation between matter and spirit,
in consequence of -which, in the universe, somewhere
or other, there is non-intercourse ! And if really there
were such a line, man would not be concerned with it ;
for, if man be clay, he is also spirit with all its prop-
erties, some of which certainly are active with him,
though others may be dormant.

278 MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

Under God, this universe is a living whole, dust and
stars alike included, and from coral insects up to " the
seven Spirits which are before his throne."

For most persons, the omnipresence of God, notwith-
standing its infinite significance, is almost a benumb-
ing phrase, because of the inane manner in which it
has been taught as a doctrine. " Fear not them which
kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul : but
rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a far-
thing ? and one of them shall not fall on the ground
without your Father. But the very hairs of your head
are all numbered." The full meaning of these sayings
of Jesus perhaps the most pious man living has never
felt, even while agreeing to it thoroughly as being the
truth. And as to miracles, there is more than one way
of believing. For, to acquiesce in certain ancient state-
ments, merely because we cannot deny James, and
John, and Peter, is not a very quickening faith. And
even to trust our own senses, as to marvels, may well
be, without our being spiritually minded. Mere assent
as to miracles is a very different thing from knowing
of them believingly, in the spirit of wonder, and from
a sense of our being widely connected with an un-
known universe.

Unknown by us, and yet not utterly unknown is
this universe, wherein we are dwellers. Our souls, at
present, live cased in clay, and according to the laws
of this planet, which is called earth ; but when our
souls, by the death of the body, shall be free of such
laws as enchain us through matter, we shall find our-
selves as to God, still saying as we do now, that " In

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT. 279

him we live and move and have our being." And so
shall we have to say to all eternity : because by our
living and moving in God, we are now already, living
in that Spirit, infinite and eternal, which knows noth-
ing of height or depth, as being itself all which there
is of either, — that spirit, without which the lightning
cannot flash, nor the glow-worm shine, which lets loose
"the sweet influences of the Pleiades," and which
strengthens " the bands of Orion," and from the sense
of which, once, about this earth, " the morning stars
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy,"
— that. spirit, which is nature in those "who, having
not the law, are a law unto themselves," and which
again as being above the law, can quicken where " the
flesh profiteth nothing," — that spirit by which the
prophets prophesied, and David as a psalmist was in-
spired to sing, and which yet is freer than daily bread,
for such persons as can really ask for it, — that spirit,
which is the consummation of all miracles in one, for
the man who has full experience of it, because " Now
the Lord is that Spirit," and " He that is joined unto
the Lord is one spirit."

That a miracle should be defined or be objected to,
as an act suspending the laws of nature, may seem, at
this stage in our argument, to be absurd, as perhaps it
really is. For a miracle says about itself, only that it
is " miraculum," a little wonder, or a " sign and won-
der." An angel might give me a sign, at the recollec-
tion of which hereafter, I should smile, should I ever
become an archangel. But because I can anticipate
the possibilities of eternity in this bold manner, it does
not follow that a miracle is anything less than miracu-

280 MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

lous to-day, or less than a precious hint given to me
from outside of this world, as to there being more
spiritual activities than I know of, and with some of
which my own nature may be more or less involved,
by affinity.

Miracles are like signs, made from steps above me,
on Jacob's ladder. The dream of Jacob, on leaving his
father's house, is curiously illustrated by the theory of
Plato, as to the spiritual universe and the manner in
which men are influenced and taught ; and it is won-
derfully corroborated by the spirit of the Book of
Revelation, and incidentally indeed and often by texts,
throughout the New Testament. St. James writes in
his Epistle, " Every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above, and cometh down from the Father of
lights." Most wonderful indeed is that dream, or
probably that vision in a dream, which happened to
the patriarch Jacob in Syria, some thirteen hundred
years before the age of Plato the philosopher of Greece.
" And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the
earth, and the top of it reached to heaven : and behold
the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
And behold the Lord stood above it, and said, I am
the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of
Isaac." And to-day that ladder stands over every one
of us, the emblem of revelation, and of the divine
government of the world; even though on to the
lower steps of it, spirits, who are not angels, may get
to stand for a moment, and thence give signs occasion-
ally. It is true, that when my spirit shall be called up
the height of that ladder, I shall transcend the greatest
of all such miracles as I have ever yet known of ; but

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT. 281

then, too, I shall have the stars beneath my feet, and
science itself also, and I shall have learned perhaps
what the song was, which was sung over our newly-
created earth, when " all the sons of God shouted for

joy-"

Men are the children of the Father in heaven, and
not simply occupants of a planet, and natives of dirty
cities or the sweet country. And there is in every one
of us, now already, what will correspond with every
step on that ladder, which Jacob saw reach up to
heaven. And what becomes us, as mortals, is to trust
in the certainty of that ladder, and in the reality of
those affinities, by which we are connected with spirits
and angels, and through which miracles are possible,
and signs can be vouchsafed for us.

Said Jesus to his disciples, " Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I
do shall he do also : and greater works than these shall
he do, because I go unto my Father." In comparison
with greater works miraculously, there must be some
which are less. And it would not be altogether apart
from the prophecy of Jesus himself, should it be found
that in some jxlaces, at certain times, miracles of heal-
ing, because of their frequency, had been less thought
of, than they were among the Jews, in the age of Jesus.
And if this were true, what then ? For, what is a
miracle, but a sign ? And what is a sign, in the sense
of a miracle, but signification of there being power
which concerns us, though outside of our ordinary
world. It would seem, then, as though conceivably
the miracle of one age, might become so common in
another, as to begin even to grow less wonderful. But

282 MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

the more, what had been a miracle, should lose in won-
der, the more significant still would it grow in another
way, as making more and more certain what at first it
had only hinted as to the vital, spiritual, eternal con-
nections between spirits in the flesh and the spiritual
universe. Because, indeed, we mortals belong to the
world immortal, invisible, through our spiritual nature,
by perhaps a thousand powers or susceptibilities, which
probably are nearly all of them merely latent in us at
present. And of these latent powers, it may be, that
the miracles of all ages have been intended to suggest
for us the actuality of some five or six.

For the " heirs of the kingdom," doubtless it will
prove that all the miracles of the Scriptures will have
been but like prophecies of the powers, and the joys, and
the company to which they were destined to attain.
And this supposition is perhaps by the same line of
thought as that along which St. Paul looked, when he
foresaw as to Jesus Christ that " when all things shall
be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also himself
be subject unto him, that put all things under him
that God may be all in all."

There cannot possibly be any power in nature at
large, which man can discover, but must have some
meaning for him, as to his own nature, and be indeed
in some sense, an extension of it. Nor is there anything
spiritually, of which man can be persuaded, as having
spiritually discerned it, but must prove for him, an in-
troduction to some glory beyond, and which may reach
up the heights of heaven to all eternity.

The telescope and the microscope are merely human
inventions, but even they report that there are worlds

MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT. 283

within worlds, and worlds beyond worlds, which con-
cern us. But when these instruments discover won-
ders, in their way, in the material universe for the ma-
terial man ; they do also, to the man who is spiritually
minded, suggest prophetically as to the spiritual world,
of there being wonders there, which are only the be-
ginnings of wonders, and of there being one heaven
above another heaven.

As binding worlds together, and as holding them in
intercourse for some purposes, gravitation and magnet-
ism and electricity may be instanced as powers. And
also they may be regarded as gross similitudes as to
the ways, by which our spirits will find themselves
living hereafter, when possessed by aspirations after
the heaven of heavens.

The universe is all alive, and it is alive all through-
out it. And miracles are signs made for us mortals by
spirits, in different conditions from ours, higher it may
be, and perhaps even lower, and perhaps even as high
as that of the Seven Spirits.

But when miracles are signs from heaven, there
comes with them that Spirit, which is its own evidence
for those who can feel it, because of the irresistible
manner in which the spiritual man is thereby per-
suaded. When God Most High touches a man with
the finger of miracle, the man feels that touch in his
inmost nature, as to holiness and newness of life. But
miracles of a lower origin than the highest, may for
some persons, excite only the externality of their na-
ture, and make them perhaps merely wonder, and per-
haps also grow in self-conceit.

But whatever the constitution of the universe may

284 MIRACLES AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT.

be, of worlds within worlds, or of heavens one above
another, we mortals are the offspring of the living God,
the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible. And there is
that in every one of us, which quickened by his
Spirit, would be affinity with all worlds, and with
everything which has ever happened under the throne
of God. " The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are the children of God ; and if chil-
dren, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ."

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

AGAINST the probability of miracles, or of " signs
and wonders," ever having been vouchsafed, it has
been objected that they are such things as could not
always and everywhere, and to all men be equally
credible and important. And so it is supposed, that
the miracles of the Scriptures are inconsistent with the
Providence of a just God, unless the impression made
by them should have been uniform as to meaning and
authority, from the time of the eyewitnesses to the
last public professions by Christian converts in Mad-
agascar and China. But otherwise are all men im-
pressible alike, and exactly by the same thing ? Is
the same sensation received from the sun, by both
Lapps and Bengalese ? Is there any drug, which is
uniform as to strength and effect on persons of every
age, tribe, and region ? From even a table of loga-
rithms, would a uniform impression be received by
everybody, withinside of even the four walls of a mar-
ket-place ? And from any chapter of the Bible, even
though read by the best reader, are there two hearers
in any church or any street, who would receive a uni-
form impression ? Also, is justice the less certainly
just, because of the Dyaks of Borneo ? Or is purity
the less pure, because the negroes of Bonny are not
impressible as to that virtue, equally with the best

286 MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

nuns of Pome, or with Christian matrons radiant with
" the beauty of holiness " ? The miracles of the Scrip-
tures are for all men, but only just as everything spirit-
ual and intellectual, is for everybody. And indeed the
full meaning of miracles can be developed, only as they
are differently apprehended by different minds, by Ori-
gen and Augustine, by Bossuet, Fenelon and Pascal,
by Jeremy Taylor, Eobert Barclay, Swedenborg and
Neander.

It is even possible, that the resurrection of Jesus,
may be more significant to-day, than it was on that
" first day of the week," and that it may be better be-
lieved at this time, after eighteen hundred years, than
it was even by those who " departed quickly from the
sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to bring
his disciples word." And indeed there seems, at this
present time, to be forming such a philosophy of the
Intellectual Universe, as that in the light of it, the
fragmentary account of the resurrection of Jesus will
glow with that newness of meaning, which will be its
own sufficient evidence as to truth. And already on
some minds there dawns a light, in which it seems as
though reaffirmed from above, when it is read, " And,
behold, there was a great earthquake : for the angel of
the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled
back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His
countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white
as snow, and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and
became as dead men. And the angel answered and
said unto the women, " Fear not ye : for I know that ye
seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here ; for
he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE. 287

Lord lay and go quickly, and tell his disciples that he
is risen from the dead ; and, behold, he goeth before you
into Galilee : there shall ye see him : lo, I have told
you."

In its relation to human nature, what is a miracle ?
Simply it is an incident which happens to a mortal
through his immortal connections. At the mountain,
by the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus with handling five
barley loaves, fed five thousand men, " those men, when
they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said This is
of a truth that prophet that should come into the world."
But the next day, in consequence of their behavior,
" Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles,
but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled."
But indeed of the apostles themselves, the night after
the miracle, it is written, that having seen Jesus walk-
ing on the sea, in a storm, and having taken him for
a spirit, and having had that storm subside with his
mounting their ship, " they were sore amazed in them-
selves beyond measure, and wondered. For they con-
sidered not the miracle of the loaves ; for their heart
was hardened." The loaves and fishes of the miracle
had been wonderful food, but yet what could be swal-
lowed and forgotten; but if the miracle had been
understood, and been taken for " a sign and wonder,"
then Jesus would at once have been known as " the
bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man
may eat thereof, and not die." According to the Scrip-
tures, then, a miracle might be food for the body, or it
might be a cure for it; but when " spiritually discerned,"
it was also " a sign " as to realms and connections out-
side of the range of " the natural man."

288 MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

It is the Scriptural philosophy as to human nature,
that man is both body and soul ; and that though
born into this world, he belongs to a world which is to
come ; and that he is capable, even on this earth, of
being born again. This is man as he is known to " the
Shepherd and Bishop of your souls " ; and also as he is
created by the Father Almighty, who numbers, every
moment, everywhere, the hairs of every head, whilst
yet, also, he is the circumference of the universe as to
power, and is also Providence to "the young ravens
when they cry."

Miracles have occurred to men, not unnaturally, but
conformably to their nature. A spirit living and mov-
ing in a marvellous clothing of flesh, — that is what
man is. A man in a diving-suit, weighed down to the
floor of the ocean, and exploring it, but endowed with
faculties by which he would be more completely at
home in the upper air, hints to us the condition of the
human being, as he ploughs the earth, and journeys
about it, endowed the while with faculties, by which he
may be perhaps free of the heavens, and rich in instincts
which never here leave him quiet as to his hereafter.
" For we know that if our earthly house of this taber-
nacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed
upon with our house which is from heaven : if so be
that being clothed, we shall not be found naked."

Instead of aspiring to what is above, and living by
aspiration, we may try to accommodate ourselves to
our immediate circumstances, and propose to " live by
bread alone," and with only such thoughts and feelings,

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE. 289

as are akin to daily bread of our own procuring. But
in so doing, we can live only, as creatures of the earth,
earthy. For, by our better nature, there is always in
us a hunger " for that meat which endureth unto ever-
lasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you."
And as to this spiritual meat being within our reach,
and as to the " well of water springing up into everlast-
ing life," perhaps miracles, rigidly understood, always
are suggestions or proofs. This, even the woman of
Samaria would seem to have felt, as, humble and igno-
rant, she talked with Jesus by the well. And indeed
always, the more a man has " tasted the good word of
God, and the powers of the world to come," the more
confident must he be of that world, as being his natural
and predestined home. " For the Spirit itself," — and
therefore, also, all its gifts, whether prophecy, or the
gifts of healing, or faith, or the working of miracles, —
" the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
we are the children of God."

In the book of Deuteronomy there is to be read,
what was affirmed anew by Jesus, when he " was led
up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of
the devil " ; and when " he answered and said, It is
written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
And by this text, it would seem to be implied that man
lives, at his best, contingently on a dispensing will,
which is higher than nature, and not merely by such
laws of nature as fulfil upon him the prediction, " In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou re-
turn unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken.

That there is spiritually any higher source of thought
13 s

290 MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

for us than nature, and any other inspiration for us
than from surrounding nature and fellow-creatures, is
denied by implication, when the possibility of miracles
is denied. And the possibility of miracles is denied,
because of what is fancied must be the inviolable uni-
formity of the laws of nature. And this is said and
done, as though all the forces and properties and con-
tingencies and affinities of nature, and the whole broad
field of it also, were as familiarly known as what a
player relies upon for his game at a billiard-table.

For the universe there are laws, some palpable, and
others which are more or less occult, and there are
some laws, which, as blood in the veins, are like laws
within laws ; and of these laws there are some which
have affinities for one another, and some which are
mutually repellant. And from all the agency and in-
tercommunication of these laws, it results that the
material universe is sustained and quickened by laws
innumerable, for which as a whole, spirit is the name,
and no other word. Spirit, indeed, in the full sense
of the word, is all laws in one : and God is spirit.

But God manifests himself through what is beneath
him, and yet mostly perhaps through ranges and
spheres, far above what men know of. But in our
planetary system, and in this earth, his creative power
operates through five, ten, fifty, and perhaps hundreds
of separable, distinguishable manifestations, which may
be called laws. And yet because of their four or five
senses, aided one of them by glasses telescopic and
microscopic, there are men, who think that from their
personal knowledge of the ways of the universe, they
can positively deny the possibility of a miracle, or of

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE. 291

any opening, by which an angel, or a spirit or a demon
might be able to make " a sign."

A man denying the possibility of a miracle, is a
creature of yesterday with a little knowledge, and at
the best, only a very little, who yet dogmatizes about
the possibilities of the infinite, the invisible, and the
eternal.

Telescope and microscope being allowed for as to
their powers, and anatomy, chemistry, and geology also;
and botany and icthyology and palaeontology being fully
credited for their reports, yet the words of Zophar are
no less pertinent to-day than they were of old, though
they may sound somewhat more scornfully now than as
they were first spoken to Job. " Canst thou by search-
ing find out God ? Canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection ? It is as high as heaven ; what canst
thou do ? deeper than hell ; what canst thou know ? "

High as heaven, deep as hell, — how possibly could
it be found out ? And miracles are hints, suggestions
vouchsafed to mortals, as to the inscrutable.

But how, then, is a man to know a miracle when it
occurs ? He may know it by his astonishment. For a
miracle calls itself simply a wonder. If a miracle called
itself, or if the Bible described it, as being a suspension
of the laws of nature, it would, of course, be necessary
to know altogether about all the laws of nature, before
there could be any certainty as to whether one of them
were suspended or not. Generally, in the Scriptures, a
miracle is a wonder. But " a sign and wonder " would
seem to mean something more express than the vaguely
wonderful, and to be indeed a significant wonder, " a
sign from heaven," or possibly elsewhere, made and
given for a particular purpose.

292 MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

And it is at this point that the subject of miracles
becomes serious. For, as to the miracles of the Scrip-
tures, there are persons who say, as they would say also
about the marvels of all ages, " It is very likely that
they did happen ; for all laws have exceptions which
are wonderful. Also, strange things certainly do hap-
pen, but always, of course, according to the laws of
nature. Though we can only seldom know what the
strange things were exactly, and still less can we ex-
actly know what the laws of nature were, which may
have been concerned." These persons do not object to
miracles, as curious, exceptional facts, and especially
when ancient. They demur only to the essence of a
miracle, its soul, its main reason, to its connection with
another order than this of things visible, and especially
to its being " a sign " made or given. They would be
willing to allow that perhaps " Stephen, full of faith
and power, did great wonders and miracles among the
people." And miracles in connection with Jesus Christ,
they would think, might be credited. But miracles
with an earnest meaning, and connected with God, are
what they cannot agree to, as being likely. They can
get back to the day of Pentecost. They are even ready
to believe that miracles may have happened ; and they
can get within hearing of the appeal of St. Peter, " Ye
men of Israel, hear these words ; Jesus of Nazareth, a
man approved of God among you by miracles, wonders,
and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you,
as ye also know." But this argument they cannot as-
sent to. They can believe in a miracle as a marvel,
but not as " a sign," and especially as vouchsafed by
God : because for that belief, as St. Paul would say,

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE. 293

they have been spoiled " through philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments
of the world." They can assent as they read, " and
fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and
signs were done by the apostles." They can believe
that miracles and wonderful works may have happened ;
but that they were started as signs from the spirit-
ual world is what they do not like to have to think.
Yet of Paul and Barnabas at Iconium it is written
that "Long time abode they speaking boldly in the
Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace,
and granted signs and wonders to be done by their
hands." So, also, they can acquiesce, as they read
about Philip in the city of Samaria, " And the people
with one accord gave heed unto those things which
Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he
did." But the following verse they can assent to, only
on the supposition of its being ancient and obsolete
phraseology. " For unclean spirits, crying with loud
voice, came out of many that were possessed with
them." Because that ever the other world was so near
to this, as to let out upon it " an unclean spirit," which
could enter into a man or haunt among tombs, is
what they can think no more than they can heartily
believe that God " maketh his angels spirits."

Commonly at this present time, religionists think
more of the machinery of the universe than of the uni-
verse itself, and more of even the lowest of his laws
than they do of even God Most High. Whether of
demon, ghost, spirit, angel, Son of man in glory, Father
in heaven, or any other spiritual being whatever, that
the will can possibly make itself felt by mortal beings,

294 MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

is a supposition which is repugnant to the philosophy
of the day, or rather to the prejudices which were
created by science when it was young and insolent, and
very ignorant of even its own domain, some seventy or
eighty years ago. That the universe, and that even
our little surrounding world may have many properties
of which there is nothing known, is a speculation with
which science easily coincides, notwithstanding what
some of its professors may think. The ear, the eye, and
the tip of the finger are the chief channels of commu-
nication with the universe for men, by their state of
nature. But there may be other beings, to whom this
earth may be another thing than what mortals see ; and
to whom it may report itself in ways, of which man
may never get a glimpse. And, conceivably, these
creatures may be as invisible as electricity is when it
is latent ; and yet for movement may be as swift as
thunderbolts, and, as regards God, be even familiar with
what mortals would call "the hiding of his power."
Verily, who we are, and what we are, being considered,
there is a way of arguing from even our human igno-
rance, which is truer, more just, and more profitable,
than even the logic of science, as it is narrowed by some
men.

As to miracles by the will of God, being incredible
as acts of divine condescension — that would hardly
seem to be a just sentiment, while a sparrow cannot
fall to the ground without the knowledge of the Father
in heaven ; while the lily is arrayed in glory greater
than that of Solomon ; and while year after year, an in-
heritance of instinct is perpetuated from worm to worm
in the ground. While the glow-worm shines, and while

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE. 295

the young ravens are fed for crying, while the turtle,
the crane and the swallow are shown the times of their
coming, it may well seem credible as to man, that
" the inspiration of the Almighty " should be his under-
standing ; and even that, as he draws nigh to God, he
should have God draw nearer to him, and lend him
perhaps his finger for miracles, and have him pour out
of his Spirit for Pentecostal purposes. No doubt, as
true philosophy widens, some words also will widen
and deepen in meaning. But while " father " means
father, and essentially is the same thing in Christian
households, and among aboriginal savages, the word
" God " will never part with its essential meaning, and
will continue to be, for condescension and love and as-
sistance, what Paul felt, when he wrote of what he had
been as an apostle " through mighty signs and wonders,
by the power of the Spirit of God."

But it is questioned, why one man is not a subject
for miracles, or an agent, as well as another. But it
might as well be asked why every man is not a poet,
and why poets are not all equal. One man is doomed
by his constitution to die at his thirtieth year ; while
another man by birth is heir to threescore years and
thirty. But why is that ? As to ancient Greece, why
were not the periods of history uniform ; why did not
every age flower with names as great and rich as those
of Plato and iEschylus ? And after the death of Eu-
ripides or the last speech of Demosthenes, why did the
inspiration of genius fail ; and why was Pausanias a
mere antiquarian instead of being inspired like Pindar ?
Why a thing wonderful is not repeated, — this, instead
of being the first objection to be made to a miracle,

296 MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

would seem as though it ought to be even the last, in
accordance with human experience generally.

As to the probability of miracles having ever oc-
curred or been vouchsafed, it has been objected that a
miracle, with advancing intelligence, cannot continue
to be of the same importance, as at the time of its
manifestation. But really what inconsideration that is !
Shakespeare is a greater man to-day than he was in
his own age : and so is Milton. And with the growth
of intellect, and the widening of human experience, a
miracle instead of meaning less, may actually grow to
be more significant with the lapse of time. But as one
miracle may gain in expression with the widening of
science, so another may lose. For the word " miracle,"
according to the Scriptures, is a general word, covering
wonders of more classes than one. The casting-out of
unclean spirits was one of the miraculous works of
Jesus Christ, though not one of his " greater works."
But to-day, an " unclean spirit," if it could be proved
to be existing within human cognizance, wTould, for the
Boyal Society of London, be as great " a sign and won-
der " as even " though one rose from the dead."

" But," says the modern philosopher, " Oh, but un-
clean spirits are absolutely incredible, being so utterly
foreign to our experience. And if really any ever did
exist, why are there none known of now ? " But perhaps
they are known of, though not very widely reported.
Also, if there be any virtue in Christianity, ought it to
be expected that unclean spirits should be as common
a nuisance to-day as when Jesus Christ and the early
disciples first began to cast them out ? Also, if our
human world changes, may we not also suppose that

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE. 297

there may be changes on the spiritual borders of it, and
along that line, which "> unclean spirits " anciently were
supposed to haunt ? These questions may appear to
be strange ; but that they should seem so, is itself, per-
haps, a still stranger thing. But indeed as to strange-
ness, what is there which can be greater than the fact
that three, four, and five Christian sects should be in
controversy with one another as to what really Chris-
tianity itself may be ?

For Dr. Biichner and some others, according to their
own words, clairvoyance or somnambulism, or a per-
ception of a road or a book, independently of the
humors of the eye, would be a miracle. And this
would be because of what they think they know by
anatomy. For a materialist a clairvoyant is as great a
miracle as he can ever be shown. But for a Spirit-
ualist a clairvoyant is no great wonder, even though he
manifests the certainty that " there is a spirit in man "
by showing that, with bandaged eyes, there may be
perfect sight, and what even can see through a wall.

Such cures as were wrought through the Prince Ho-
henlohe, in Germany, about forty years ago, were be-
lieved by Catholics to be miraculous. But at present,
cures of the same nature with those of the German
Prince are common, at the hands of persons who are
not Catholics. Be it allowed that they are done
through mesmerism : but that would mean only that
they are wrought through a faculty which was partic-
ularly strong seventy years since, in a man by the name
of Mesmer. But that faculty would better have been
named after Greatrex of the seventeenth century, only
that even before him the faculty had been manifested
13*

298 MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

by multitudes of persons, not of one country only,
nor of one century merely, nor even of simply several
regions and ao-es. At this moment, the writer hereof
has on his table an engraving, in which St. Philip Neri,
by his handling, cures Pope Clement the Eighth of the
gout. According to the Catholic Church, and the text
which accompanies the picture, the success of Philip
Neri was a miracle : and so it was, in a higher or lower
decree. And that miracles are of various orades as to
significance, is according to the canons of the Catholic
Church, and the estimate of the Middle Ages, and the
doctrine of the Scriptures. Miracles of healing are
more frequent to-day than they were in the age of St.
Philip Xeri. But the less wonderful miracles of any
kind become by frequency, the more significant also
they become in another way. Mesmerism is the rec-
ognition of the nervous system of a man, as being
through his fingers, more or less, an outlet of power,
just as his tongue is. And to-day, mesmerism, with
the philosophy thereof, means, that after thousands of
years, men have attained to the knowledge of there
being one or more psychical laws, through which some
persons, under some circumstances can help others
medically.

Among the Jews, miracles of healing were accounted
as being greater or less in themselves, and also by com-
parison, as when it was written of Jesus, that " he
could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his
hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them."

That miracles should ever lose in force by becoming
common, is an inconsiderate, unspiritual fear. For that
was never the feeling of those who knew best about

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE. 299

miracles. At Taberah, the spirit which was in Moses
had been imparted by the Lord, to seventy elders of
the people, stationed about the tabernacle. But si-
multaneously also two men in the camp prophesied.
" And there ran a young man, and told Moses and said,
Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And
Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of
his young men, answered and said, My Lord Moses,
forbid them. And Moses said unto him, "Enviest
thou for my sake ? Would God that all the Lord's
people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his
spirit upon them ! " For indeed a miracle in itself is
nothing in comparison with the spiritual universe, as
to the constitution of which, it is " a sign." As argu-
ing the reality of a spiritual world and of spiritual
agencies as affecting men, miracles never possibly can
lose their meaning, by becoming common, any more
than logarithms • by use would dwindle into common
arithmetic.

The more common of the phenomena of spiritualism
may reasonably be accounted as indisputable facts.
But they are not equally impressive for all persons.
For by them, one man is converted instantly from
materialism to a belief in spiritual power of some kind.
While another man can be astounded by them, one
day, and then, the next day, forget utterly what an as-
tonished man he had been, and a third person will ac-
knowledge the reality of the marvels, but will hold
that they are not so useful or suggestive as the tat-
tooed skull of a Maori, or a potsherd from the mud
of the Nile. The four rules of arithmetic have the
same meaning for all intelligent beings, but a poetic

300 MIRACLES AND IIUMAN NATURE.

phrase has not. And in connection with Jesus himself,
men were affected by miracles, some in one way and
some in another. jSTicodemus could say, " Babbi, we
know that thou art a teacher come from God ; for no
man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God
be with him." But the Pharisees could argue and say,
" This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub
the prince of the devils." This was a strange diversity
of opinion as to the same facts ; and it was not probably
of intellectual origin, but moral ; and also perhaps not
moral merely. "At that time, Jesus answered and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these tilings from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." And
when Simon Peter recognized Jesus as being the
Christ, Jesus said, " Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona ;
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but
my Father which is in heaven." Fearfully and wonder-
fully we are made ; and there are conditions in us, both
of body and spirit, which may have accrued, since our
birth, quite unaccountably; and through which one
man is strong in an atmosphere, by which another
man is weakened ; and through which, also, one per-
son can believe only a very little beyond what he
sees ; while another, being receptive of " the spirit of
wisdom and revelation," sees things, the eyes of his
understanding being enlightened.

It illustrates the manner in which the ways of
thought have become materialized, that some such a
sentiment as this can be published, and can even get
the acquiescence of persons, whose business it is to
know better. "As to the being of a God and his

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE. 301

character, the sons of science must ultimately be the
judges. And their verdict will have to depend on con-
troversies and inquiries which are already initiated."
What a notion ! " Who is this that darkeneth counsel
by words without knowledge ? " Almost it is the spirit
of the age, and what might reply for itself in the words
with which Jesus Christ was answered by a demoniac,
when " he asked him, What is thy name ? And he
answered, saying, My name is Legion : for we are
many." Wait for geologists to tell whether there is a
God or not ! Does not the human soul know about
that, as well as ever it can be known ? It might as
well be said, before loving their babies, that women
should wait for science to justify them, as to the reason-
ableness of the maternal instinct. A man who does
not feel God can never find him. And it is only as a
child of God that ever a man can possibly know of the
Father in heaven, however great his science may be.
God is not at the end of a telescope, nor to be dis-
covered by search among the primitive rocks. God is
an instinct for us, or else he is nowhere. Wait for
what science may say, while the human soul itself is
higher evidence as to God than all surrounding nature !
Words of prophecy, and of the highest, and as true as
nature itself, and as simple, are these : " Zion said, The
Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten
me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she
should not have compassion on the son of her womb ?
Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee."

A scientific examination, completely successful, will
report God as he is to the stars, and as he was at the
composition of the rocks of the primitive and the last

302 MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

formations, and as he still is for what power he endows
the whirlwind with. What God is to the worm may
be learned from the worm perhaps ; and what also he
is to the cricket in the grass may be learned by the
study of its habits.

" But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee ;
and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee : or
speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee ; and the
fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee," But rocks
and barnacles, birds, beasts, and fowls, the sea, and the
sands upon the sea-shore, lilies of the field, and cedars
like those of Lebanon, — these things all, individually
and conjointly, can report no more as to God than
what they can, than what they have experienced. And
what are they all, altogether, with all their properties
and qualities combined, in comparison with a human
soul ?

What God is to the human soul must be something
more than he is to all external nature, and be therefore,
probably, something even more hopeful.

That which God is to the human body may be in-
ferred from those laws of nature, by which man is akin
to nature. But what God is to the soul there is nothing
in nature to suggest, and therefore also nothing to limit.

Of God in the realm of spirit a mere scientist can
know nothing from the study of rocks, beetles, and
astronomy, though the prophet indeed can speak of
him from inspiration, and the true poet, in his highest,
happiest mood, from intuition.

God is more to a butterfly than he is to Mount
Ararat ; and he is more to an eagle than to a butterfly,
and he is more to " the natural man " than he is to any

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE. 303

eagle. And to man through his spirit God is more
than he is through his body. And so there may be
methods of God with man, and expectations from him
and transcendent hopes, which may be worthy of all
trust, notwithstanding that nothing like them has ever
been experienced by dogs or oxen, or been even hinted
by geology.

But it may be asked, perhaps, whether it is not
written that even a sparrow cannot fall to the ground
without the knowledge of God. And certainly and
happily it is to be read so, and in a connection, also,
from which it might be inferred that even its feathers
may be all numbered. And, no doubt, the sparrow
was one of the fowls of the air which Jesus pointed to,
as neither sowing nor reaping, but as being fed by the
Heavenly Father. Also in one of the Psalms it is to be
read of how the sparrows had built about the temple.
" Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow
a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even
thine altars, 0 Lord of hosts, my King and my God."
But, in the Scriptures, are men and sparrows referred
to in the same tone ? In the Bible is not man recog-
nized as having faculties, susceptibilities, and for God
Almighty an interest, such as the sparrow, the stork in
the heaven, the crane, and the swallow have not ? " O
Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou
knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising : thou
understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest
my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with
all my ways : for there is not a word in my tongue, but
lo, 0 Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset
me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me. .

304 MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me ; it is high ; I
cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy
Spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? "

David was more to God than the sparrow of which
he sang in his psalm. And the sparrow, chirping and
feeding, and the same from age to age, for what divine
care it may exemplify, is surely no argument as to
human experience of God, as regards either uniformity
or miracles. Nor rightly can it be, by its monotony
of life, any presumption against the possibility of there
having been " signs and wonders " in connection with
" Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God," or with the early
Christians, as they watched the fall of the Eoman
Empire, or with George Fox, as he waited for the
Spirit, or with John Wesley, in his newness of life,
after he had been " born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, but of God."

After a sensible, good man has learned everything
which is to be learned from ornithology and palaeon-
tology, then let him correspond with the mind of Christ,
and he will learn that he is of more value than many
sparrows, and that he therefore is probably treated in
more ways than sparrows are, and for more wants than
they have, by the Maker of both men and sparrows,
and of all things visible and invisible.

The laws by which the sphere of nature was rounded,
and was filled with things animate and inanimate, are
no evidence as to the susceptibilities and connections
of man as a living soul, within reach of the Spirit, and
liable to temptation.

As to the operation of the Spirit on human souls,

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE. 305

there is nothing to be argued from the chemistry of the
body, any more than the law of gravitation can hint as
to the manner in which the lightning flashes, or the
electric current darts and strikes.

As to whether Moses and Elijah could ever have
been visited by angels, there can rightly be no hint
expected from rocks and fossils, unless it can first be
shown that those rocks and fossils, at some time in
their history, were what angels could have talked with
by the Divine permission.

The providence of God, as sparrows can experience
it, through the laws of nature, cannot be the measure
of that providence, as it adapts itself to living souls,
and wraps man about with a care, which death is not
to end, but only to manifest. And whatever the con-
nections of man may be through his body with nature
and seed-time and harvest, it is yet not inconsistent
with them all, that at one time " man did eat angels'
food."

There are Christian divines — blind leaders of the
blind, surely — who hope to have the miracles of the
Bible made more credible, by the result of a scientific
controversy, as to whether creation occurred by de-
velopment or by stages. But really, whether God made
the world with his right hand or with his left, though
a very curious inquiry, cannot possibly be any new
light as to the way in which he may have treated
primeval man when " he led him about, he instructed
him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."

By his free will, or what feels like it, a man can turn
and twist himself intellectually, to strange effect, and
can get himself bewildered by curious fantasies, and

T

306 MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

can even become like the absurdity of clay upon the
wheel criticising the mind of the potter. At this
present time there are hundreds of persons who think
that, for acuteness, they are intelligences of mysterious
growth, because they can ask themselves the question,
" Has God self-consciousness ; or is the Godhead a
blind force ? " But actually, ability for asking that
question was attained long ago, and twenty-five hun-
dred years since was derided by a prophet in a text,
which, combines the subtlest philosophy with the rarest
wit : " Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker !
Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth.
Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What
makest thou ? or thy work, he hath no hands ? " And
what is there so like that fancy of ancient prophecy as
the modern objection ? " A miracle ! God allow a
miracle ! Does not God live and act by laws ? " And
to this question the answer is, " Yes, by laws, and even
also by his Spirit, which is like a combination of all
laws in one."

By his senses, which are only four or five, man is
limited as to his outlook on the universe scientifically,
as though he perceived it, for its grandeur and circum-
ference, merely through a loop-hole. And yet, every now
and then, somebody, who has learned all that he knows
within seventy years, turns round on the public as an
observer, to dogmatize in a manner which an archangel
would never attempt, even among mortals. " An angel !
This world is everywhere impervious to his entrance,
and always must have been. A miracle ! It is con-
trary to experience. A spirit appear! That is im-
possible, because of the laws of matter, and because of

MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE. 307

surrounding matter, earthy and atmospheric. Science
is the true light ; and apostles and prophets were not
scientific persons." As to effect, this is a speech which
is often made in public, and yet for confidence in self-
assertion it is what would not become even a seraph,
and " how much less man, that is a worm, and the son
of man, which is a worm."

Goethe was a singular combination of worldly
shrewdness, scientific perception, and poetic faculty.
And, considering the manner of man he was, he was
still more remarkable for what spiritual insight he had.
Probably there is not a theological speculation of the
present day, and of scientific origin, with which his
thoughts were not familiar. And he said, once, what
may be considered as clenching all the vague, wander-
ing argument of the present time as to the being of a
God. And never did he say anything more character-
istic of himself. It is a verdict on the evidences of
religion, when estimated at their lowest.

Argued out from history, and from the make of the
world, and from human nature, there are certain lines
of thought which converge at what cannot be anything
else than a throne, whether thunderbolts be launched
from it or not, and even though at present there be round
about it the silence of that state wherein one day is
" as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

And very likely it was in rebuke of some scoffers
that Goethe said what has been referred to, and which
was this, " If there be not a God now, there will be one
day."

Is daring speculation, then, at its best, preclusive of
the subject of miracles ? It is anything but that. And

308 MIRACLES AND HUMAN NATURE.

really from the direction and the depth whence we,
human beings begin our aspiring path, which is from
glory to glory, it cannot be otherwise than that our
ascension should be distinguished and solemnized hy
" signs and wonders."

MIEACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

THERE is, of course, a science of spirit, as certainly
as there is of nature. And even if it should be
thought to be utterly inscrutable by men, it yet must
exist somewhere; and no doubt it is well known to
" Michael the- archangel," and to Raphael and the rest
of " the seven holy angels, which present the prayers
of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory
of the Holy One."

However men may think or despair about it, pneu-
matology must exist somewhere, as certainly as geology
does, or astronomy. And why should it be inconceiv-
able that men should learn it, to that humble extent,
which immediately concerns mortals ? Science as to
the soul would not seem to be anyjnore improbable
of attainment, than formerly science was as to the body,
and as to those laws by which the body for its wonder-
ful make is only less wonderful than a spirit itself.
It is a subject, however, which has been so confused
and embroiled as scarcely even to be mentionable ;
though it may yet really, perhaps, be very simple. But
often simplicity is more bewildering than art. And
continually, as to spiritual things, it is as it was at
Chorazin and Capernaum, in the time of Christ, when
they were revealed unto babes, while kept hid from
the wise and prudent.

310 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

Fneumatology, as the method by which the universe
is informed with spirit and divinely governed, is cer-
tainly an impossible attainment for us " living crea-
tures " ; nor perhaps will any mere mortal ever fully
understand that occurrence in the spiritual world of
which Daniel was told in a vision, by a man with a
face like lightning, and with a voice like the voice of
a multitude. " Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel ;
for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to
understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy
words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But
the Frince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one
and twenty days : but, lo, Michael, one of the chief
princes, came to help me ; and I remained there with
the kings of Persia, Now I am come to make thee
understand what shall befall thy people in the latter
days : for yet the vision is for many days."

At the time of this vision, and with a view to it,
Daniel had been abstaining from flesh and wine for
three weeks. When the vision occurred, the men who
were present saw nothing, but they felt what made
them quake and run away. Daniel himself lost all his
strength, and lay on the ground in what is called a
deep sleep. But the sleep was a state in which he
could hear and speak and remember. His body was
asleep in all its senses, probably ; while his spirit was
awake, and therefore conscious. For a few minutes,
perhaps; and by an experience like the beginning of
death, Daniel was in a state in which he could talk
' with angels, like one of themselves, and see them with
the eye of his immortal spirit, and hear them with his
inward spiritual ear.

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 311

Pneumatology may not be able at present, to ex-
plain every word which an angel may have spoken on
earth, nor to disclose the higher mysteries of the spirit-
ual world, nor to make us understand what exactly was
meant as to angelic superintendence, where it was said
to Daniel in the vision, " I will show thee that which
is noted in the scripture of truth. And there is none
that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael,
your prince." But pneumatology can suggest the man-
ner by which Daniel was able to talk with " one like
the appearance of a man " ; and it can adduce classical
narratives and monastic annals, and medical experience,
and the facts of animal magnetism, to illustrate from
the mortal side what that deep sleep was, by which
there were spirits about him, as he " was by the side
of the great river, which is Hiddekel."

The New Testament presupposes the pneumatology
of the Old Testament ; and there can never be a right
understanding of the New Testament, until for faculties,
susceptibilities, and hopes, the human soul is thought
of, agreeably to that opinion of it, which was held in
common by Jesus and his first disciples, and along
with them, by St. Paul, as he wrote his epistles. There
are Christians who philosophically are materialists, and
who hold that man is only organized matter, and that
indeed the word soul, as it is used in the Scriptures, is
a synonyme for a human body. And there are spirit-
ualists who are strongly opposed to these materialistic
Christians ; yet for whom the soul is in the body, but
like a pip in the core of an apple. Joseph Priestley
was a materialist ; yet his dogma as to the constitution
of human nature would include in its sphere all the

312 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

spiritualism worthy of being mentioned, of more than
half < >f his opponents. It is a common experience, and a
common confession, with laymen of clear, discriminat-
ing minds, and especially if they have been legally
trained, that they can read the Scriptures readily and
well, for all the ends of piety and morals ; but that con-
tinually at words and points of great interest, percep-
tion seems to fail them. And that failure is for want
of pneumatology.

There is to be read, " The word of the Lord, that came
unto Hosea, the son of Beeri." An intelligent reader,
with such earnestness as has availed him in commerce,
or with such courage as has sustained him in deep in-
vestigations, feels rightly, that it might be a half of the
worth of the message to know how it came, and was
apprehended as being divine. A rationalist may tell him
that the word of the Lord is a figure of speech, and a
bishop may advise him to trust the words blindly.
But as a sensible layman, even though unable to see
any better than his advisers, he will know them both,
for blind leaders of the blind, certain of falling into
a ditch. Whereas a man, who knows when it is dark
about him, and who also believes in light and in its
coming, will some time, with patience, find himself in
the porch of that temple of truth, where the Lord is
the nearer for being called upon ; and wherein are ways
which are not as the ways of men ; and from the steps
of which once, "holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost " ; and withinside of which,
in some coming age, according to the prophets, men
even yet " shall be all taught of God."

There is a pneumatology implied in the Scriptures,

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 313

however latent it may be in this materialistic age ; and
it is of the utmost importance. What would the epistles
of Paul be, without the Old Testament being to be
known of ? And the Old Testament again cannot be
fully understood apart from the knowledge which it
presupposes as to its earliest readers ; and which, in-
deed, was a pneumatology according to which false
gods might be actual beings, and as an effect of which
men were predisposed to believe in the supernatural or
the spiritually wonderful, rather than to feel, as many
men boast of themselves, at present, " I would not be-
lieve it, even if I saw it ; no, not I ! "

Of this science of the soul, the Catholic Church has
always had something, while Protestants have never
held anything definitely and unanimously. And there-
fore as fronting the Pope, always Protestants have been
a discordant host. And among them all, in these latter
days, the most dissonant have been people eminent
for science, or divines with a predilection for it, and
who have been persons acted upon in a way, which
Paul knew of, when " the world by wisdom knew not
God."

Science, or information about the ways of God in
matter, or with bees and elephants, is at the most but
a mere hint as to the power, and intelligence, and will,
and intentions of Him who, from outside of nature, and
from above it all, proclaims as to souls held in it, at
school, " Behold, all souls are mine : as the soul of the
father, so also the soul of the son is mine." And un-
sophisticated souls, as they look upwards, know and
feel themselves to be endowed and to be distinguished
by faculties, which worms and fishes, and birds and
14

31-4 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

beasts have not. Men live inside of nature, as it is
called, as moles and butterflies, and eagles and lions do.
But there is not a very fool of civilization, nor an ab-
original savage anywhere, but by the ongoings of his
thought is evidence as to a Providence higher in order,
and farther reaching as to its purposes, than what even
the elephant can be subject to.

And yet as to what God may be meaning with the
soul of man, the soul itself is often almost the last
witness to be examined. From science, as it anato-
mizes the human body, theology learns that God is
wonderful at the adaptation of means to ends : but the-
ology just at present very seldom asks of pneumatol-
ogy what the human soul may have been disclosing
of its nature, adaptation or correspondences. The the-
ology of the day knows disproportionately much about
the Dead Sea, and ancient sites, and as to mint, anise,
and cummin, and tithes in the Holy Land ; but it is at
fault as to " the first principles of the oracles of God."

A man may be of a name, illustrated in many ways,
and through many generations, and at the battles of
Bannockburn, and Evesham, and on the field near
Hastings. But even though also the man could derive
his descent from an age anterior to the Tower of Babel,
and even directly from Tubal-cain, what would it all be
for glory, in comparison with what probably he would
be disabled from feeling by ancestral pride, and that is,
the actual height of his descent ! For fleshly parentage
is but the channel, through which the universe itself
gives birth to human beings endowed with feelings, by
which every man is akin to every spirit, in the image
of God, everywhere, irrespectively of time and solar

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 315

systems ; and by which also he is blest with faculties,
which will manifest themselves afresh to all eternity,
as he passes from world to world, or ascends the
heavens, one above another.

The preceding sentiment is worth more than a duke-
dom to the man who can make it his own. But nearly
everybody fails of it more or less, and just as the Gos-
pel is failed of, and merely because of " the lust of the
eye and the pride of life."

And the theology of the present day is characterized
by a similar externality of view. And thus it is that
pneumatology or the experience of men, as to the soul,
through thousands of years, is what is utterly unknown
in many schools of divinity, though actually it may be
called the grammar of revelation. Also, commonly
persons read the Bible, being ignorant as to the differ-
ence between soul and body, and as to what anciently
was understood and believed, as to spirit. And even
persons of mental training will talk about the spirit as
though it were a religious word for the body, and some-
thing very simple and familiar. And yet some of these
same persons would be very careful as to thinking
about an oyster, or how they gave an opinion about the
habits and connections of a beetle.

The degradation of sentiment alluded to above is a
thing of the last hundred years, and mainly of even the
last fifty. For, before that time, the word spirit meant
more, religiously, than it now does ; and it was more
nearly akin to revelation and miracles than it is now
thought to be.

It has already been remarked that the best thinkers
of the Christian Church have recognized persons of

316 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

different ages and places as being prophets who were
neither of the seed of Abraham nor of the Christian
name. Capacity for prophecy is of human nature ;
while the inspiration itself may be of extra-natural
origin.

Christianity and heathenism were in direct, daily
controversy, when it was held in the Church, that the
philosophy of Plato. was the long dawn that preceded
the rise of the sun of righteousness. But how different
is this opinion from the jealousy of everything spirit-
ual, outside of the Bible, which is so common with
Christians to-day!

It has often been a great shock to people, when they
have heard, for the first time, that one or two of the
moral precepts of Christ had been anticipated by clas-
sical writers. As though eighteen hundred years ago it
had been possible for Jesus Christ or for an angel from
heaven, to have said anything absolutely new as to
mere morality. And so there have been persons who
have felt as though Christianity were scandalized be-
cause Matthew the publican is found not to have
written as good Greek as Thucydides, the historian of
the Peloponnesian war, and because the style of St.
Paul in his epistles is not faultlessly classical. But
what says Paul himself as to his language ? " Now we
have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit
which is of God ; that we might know the things that
are freely given to us of God. Which things also we
speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth ; comparing spirit-
ual things with spiritual." Why did not Paul pick
and choose his words for himself ? Because he was not

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 317

always merely himself, when he wrote, and did not
wish to be ; and because to an argument, of his own
apparently, or possibly, he could add, " And I think
that I have the Spirit of God."

Some persons suppose that the preceding words are
merely Paul's Jewish way of hoping that he was a
good man, and therefore entitled to give advice. Than
which a more violent misunderstanding of words could
not well be, if Paul may be interpreted by himself, and
by the tone and purpose of his epistles, or even by his
words to Timothy about the world's " sinners, of whom I
am chief." For these words of Paul, as to his having the
Spirit, are expressive of a pneumatology, presupposed
by the Gospel, and in ignorance of which the best lines
of Paul's writing fail and fade before the eye of the
reader. For it is as being from over and above him
that the Spirit is authority for the promises, which are
made through him, and as to the communion of saints,
to the sense of which Paul would quicken us, and as to
the liberty which may be claimed and trusted " where
the Spirit of the Lord is."

That the Spirit of God, for inspiration, may operate
through human receptiveness, irrespectively of nation-
ality, was an opinion which might well have been held
by the readers of Paul's epistles, and even by the
ancient Jews generally. In the book of Joshua, Ba-
laam is described as having been a soothsayer. And
yet through him was given the grandest prophecy in
the Old Testament. And the circumstantial detail
connected with that prophecy is what makes it to be ,
its own all-sufficient evidence, for reality, as an histori-
cal occurrence, with all such persons as have any right

318 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

to judge about it. Balaam was famous as a soothsayer,
before the Israelites on their journeying came within
his sight. Probably he was inspired by the Lord only
on that one occasion, when he was confronted with the
Lord's people, with a hostile view. Balak, the king
of the Moabites, summoned Balaam and said to him,
" Behold there is a people come out from Egypt : be-
hold they cover the face of the earth, and they abide
over against me. Come now, therefore, I pray thee,
curse me this people, for they are too mighty for me."
It was Baal against Jehovah. " And it came to pass
on the morrow, that Balak took Balaam, and brought
him up into the high places of Baal, that thence he
might see the utmost part of the people." And prob-
ably it was because he was conscious of another kind
of inspiration than what had ever come upon him from
Baal, that " he went not as at other times to seek for
enchantments," or artificial means, by which to fit him-
self for being spiritually possessed. Balaam was an
Ammonite perhaps, or an Edomite, and he was even on
one of the high places of Baal, when his spiritual sus-
ceptibility was used by the Lord for prophecy.

And if, "when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of
Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold there
came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying,
Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for we
have seen his star in the east, and have come to wor-
ship him," it could only have been because of their
nature as Magi, having been wrought upon spiritually
by the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and
Moses, David, Isaiah, and Daniel. The star by which
they were guided would seem to have been visible only

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 319

to them, and therefore to them only " in the spirit."
On finding " the young child with Mary his mother,"
at the end of their long journey, " they presented unto
him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh." And so
through that act of theirs was manifested that from
the best of the Gentiles, as well as with the Jews, " the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

Plato was for the Greeks what Moses was for the
Jews, and was a schoolmaster to prepare men for
Christ. This was a Christian opinion in the early days
of the Church, and while still Greek meant Gentile.
In this sentiment, a belief is implied in spiritual sus-
ceptibility, as being an endowment of the soul. And
the name of Plato is but the greatest, on a long shining
list of natural saints. For, always and everywhere,
whether in vile neighborhoods or amidst the splendid
temples and monuments of paganism, the simple, long-
ing, unperverted soul does, by its spiritual susceptibil-
ity, become of itself a temple of the Holy Ghost, and
an oracle for consultation ; and has in it an odor of
sweet thoughts like grateful frankincense, and strains
of sweet music, as though from angelic choirs, high up
in heaven.

That the Holy Spirit does not inform men as to
natural history, nor correct them as to bad logic, is not
inconsistent with the certainty of its effects as to en-
lightenment and faith. Gregory Thaumaturgus said
as to Origen, his master, that he had received from God
a large share of the greatest of all gifts, that of inter-
preting the words of God to men, and of understanding
the things of God, as if God himself were speaking.
Whatever the special application to Origen may be of

320 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

these words, they yet illustrate the philosophy of early
Christian belief.

Before a man can take, he must have a hand to open
and to stretch forth. And for being quickened by the
Spirit, a man must be, not a statue in marble, but a
living, suffering, craving soul. And it is only as he
craves and covets earnestly, that the best gifts can
either be attracted to him or be received. The gifts of
the Spirit presuppose spiritual receptiveness.

And the variety of the gifts of the Spirit, as they
are enumerated by St. Paul, is presupposed the variety
of the ways, in which men may be quickened, taught,
and endowed from above. It is probable that of all the
myriads of millions of human beings, that there are no
two souls alike, any more than two faces are. And
therefore probably with the Spirit, no two souls
quicken in exactly the same manner, or are endowed
to precisely the same purpose. The young man through
it may see visions, and the old man by it may dream
dreams. One man is helped by it, as to infirmities,
and another as to prayer. One man abounds in hope
through the Holy Ghost ; and another man, through the
Spirit, is encouraged to wait for the hope of righteous-
ness by faith. By the Spirit of God in his words, one
man may cast out devils, without knowing of it, while
another man sheds abroad the love of God. " 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 gift of healing,
by the same Spirit ; to another the working of miracles ;
to another prophecy ; to another discerning of spirits ;
to another divers kinds of tongues ; to another the in-

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 321

terpretation of tongues ; but all these worketh that one
and. the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man several-
ly as he will." And not only as to manifestation may
the Spirit differ in different men ; but more broadly
and more distinctly still, must it differ from one
age to another, in the Church. And even it may hap-
pen, that a man may have been so instructed about the
Spirit, as to think of it mainly for some of its more
noticeable manifestations, and as being sharpness in the
sword of the Lord, or inspiration in psalms and high
thought, or as being a baptism of fire ; and so may fear
that he may be a stranger to it, while yet himself he is
actually walking in it.

And indeed it is^as men "walk in the Spirit" that
chiefly it is blessedness. For the more marvellous
manifestations of the Spirit, which are the exceptional
experiences of individuals, are really for the good of
all; just as Peter argues that " no prophecy of the Scrip-
ture is of any private interpretation."

One man in a generation may be so rapt in spirit,
as almost to have his soul thrill to the joy, which there
is in heaven, when some fresh word of the Lord is
evolved; or he may be so sensitive through the Spirit,
as to have some dim sense of angels on the wing, and
so appear to have a prophetic instinct as to critical
events foreordained of God. Or with being lifted up,
in spirit, and breathing, for an instant, what is more
than mortal air, a man may have a thought grander
than the tone of ordinary thinking, and what may
make him famous amon^ his fellow-mortals. But it is
scarcely possible for a person to have transcendent
experiences, without incurring some earthly disruption.
14* u

',V22 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

Just as Paul found, after the visions, in which he was
called and qualified to be an apostle, that there was
Lodged with him a life-long trouble, lest he "should be
exalted above measure through the abundance of the
revelations." And a man has found himseK become
like a stranger among his kindred and his acquaint-
ance simply from having been sublimed by a prayer,
of agony and faith combined.

The soul of man is susceptible of the Holy Ghost.
It is not born with the Spirit, but only with a nature
fitted for its coming. The apostle Paul asks, " Know
ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? " And it may be, that
it is through the same susceptibility of spirit, that
one man receives the Holy Ghost, and another man
" drinketh iniquity like water." As a young man with
his face in the right direction, Saul had the Spirit of
God come upon him. Thirty years afterwards, with
his face set wilfully wrong, "the Spirit of the Lord
departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord
troubled him." And probably the same spiritual sus-
ceptibility, by which he had been receptive of the
Spirit of the Lord was the channel by which "the
evil spirit," sent on its errand, got at him. That spirit-
ual susceptibility, for which perhaps Judas was chosen
as one of the twelve, and through which perhaps he
received " power and authority over all devils and to
cure diseases," was, in all probability, the same sus-
ceptivity, through which diabolically it was " put into
the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him."
Demoniacal possession as the Jews knew of it, and as
it is known of to-day, in many parts of the world,

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 323

illustrates human nature, as to its susceptibilities spir-
itually, and as to its exposure to dangerous, disembodied
agencies, and invisible forces. But from the Scriptures,
it might seem, as though in the age of Jesus Christ
that that spiritual susceptivity, by which the " spirit
of an unclean devil " could get entrance into the temple
of a human soul, was actually what, with a better man,
would have been receptiveness of the Holy Ghost.
This spiritual' susceptibility is by nature ; though one
man may perhaps have more of it, than another ; just
as one man is more tender in heart, or poetic in
thought, than another. But perhaps by prayer and
other means, it is what a man can get quickened and
purified for himself, more surely than he can hope
as to the enlargement of any other faculty of his
nature.

Let this susceptibility of spiritual influence be called
magnetic, if it may thereby seem to be more credible.
For man is organized magnetism, as certainly as also or-
ganically, he is flesh and blood. A skeleton is humap,
but senseless. A skeleton properly clothed with flesh
and blood is a living creature, with adaptations, by which
it is fitted to a world of earth, air, and water, light, heat,
and fruits. But as a magnetic man in a magnetic
world, I am a creature of affinities and possibilities in-
numerable. Of many and of most of them, I may have
only a faint and scarcely noticeable experience. But
whatever anybody has ever felt or seen or known, is
testimony as to my nature. Also I am alive with
odyle, and by the odic force I am connected with
things unknown on the earth and under it.

For indeed man is not born of flesh and blood

324 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

merely, nor of two parents simply, but of the universe,
both material and immaterial, and with an aptitude,
which high angels will respond to hereafter, and with
a susceptibility as to spiritual influences of various
kinds, which is none the less real because often it is
very weak, and because, whether it ■ is seated " in the
body or out of the body," not every one can tell.

By means of electricity, it is possible for a person in
Boston, simultaneously almost, to be connected, as to
intelligence, with persons, in every city in North
America, and perhaps in Europe. And that it is pos-
sible for one mind to act upon another, without any
intervening agency, and from a long distance, is an
established fact of pneumatology ; and it has been
demonstrated artificially, by mesmerism, many hun-
dreds of times. How often and continually mothers
are impressed as to critical events concerning their ab-
sent children ! And how frequently instances occur,
in which the dying believe that they see spirits, and
hear unearthly music ! Also how numerous, even
within the last few years, have been the cases, which
have been published of strange and irresistible im-
pulses, which proved afterwards to have been prophetic
and guardian !

"When all the varieties of information which exist as
to the human body are collected, science would seem
to hint, that possibly in the eyes of an angel, man as a
mortal may seem like a spirit aglow with all the colors
of the rainbow, though with just enough materiality
about him, to keep him at school inside of the walls of
nature.

Doubt about miracles as not perhaps being natural

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 325

to man ! But really even "bread is not more so ! Mira-
cles— those of the Scriptures, and, as being nearer to
our own times, those of the New Testament especially
— miracles are true to human nature. But human
nature is not like the make of a cast-iron machine
working by rule.

And indeed we human beings as children of the uni-
verse, and heirs of God, have in us, by birth, a capacity
for being born again, and germs also of marvels, which
will be opening to all eternity. And thus, too, we find
ourselves endowed with some powers and affinities,
which appertain especially to a world which is to come ;
but which yet may manifest themselves faintly and
fitfully through individuals, in this present world, and
so hint for us all, as by flashes of lightning, that, be-
cause of the flesh, life at its brightest, is what " now,
we see as through a glass darkly."

Such facts as have been supposed to be supernatural,
of the nature of dreams, apparitions, and strange im-
pressions and impulses, and which have happened and
been published, within the last twenty years ; and such
narratives of a mesmeric character as are to be found
in the Zoist, — were these things to be gathered, ex-
amined, and collated, with as much care as has been
given to the lives and classification of butterflies, and
with as much acuteness as what caught the lightning
in its ways, there would result a pneumatology, by
which the Scriptures would be illuminated for dark-
ling readers ; and by which men would believe in the
immortality of the soul, as they never can, until they
have some understanding about the soul itself, and dis-
cerningly " have tasted the good word of God, and the
powers of the world to come."

326 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

But some persons perhaps will exclaim, " Mesmer-
ism : What has that to do with the Scriptures ? A
thing of the last century ! " It is, however, an old thing.
And of its connection with the Old Testament, there
is this to be read. Naaman from Syria had been
directed, for a cure, as to leprosy, by Elislia the
prophet, to wash himself in the Jordan, seven times.
But he would seem to have felt himself aggrieved by
the simplicity of the remedy. " Naaman was wroth,
and went away, and said, Behold, I thought he would
surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name
of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place,
and recover the leper." That the prophet would move
his hand up and down, over the diseased part of his
body, was what was expected by Naaman accord-
ing to a correct translation of his words. And appar-
ently it was a mode of healing, which the Syrian knew
of, before his resort to Elisha. And it is certain, that
mesmeric practice is to be seen sculptured on ancient
monuments in Egypt.

Mesmerism is not the Gospel, and God be thanked
that it is not, and that there is come to us " the glori-
ous gospel of the blessed God." But mesmerism is
more of a gospel than the doctrine of those who believe
in spirits and angels, only as pious words in the Bible,
and who know of Christianity, in the letter merely, and
as though apart from " the everlasting spirit," and who
fancy that there can be faith in Jesus as the Christ,
with those who cannot conceive of the possibility of a
prophet, in the way in which he was thought of, by the
Jews of the Old Testament.

It was one of the parables of Jesus, that " The king-

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 327

dom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman
took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole
was leavened." But very unlike the spirit of this para-
ble, is the mental state of some believers to-clay, who
confess their jealousy of studies, through which any word
or incident of the Scriptures, might have its apparent
peculiarity diminished. 0 they of little faith ! Would
Jesus Christ himself be less important, by having his
words fulfilled, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that
belie veth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also ;
and greater works than these shall he do, because I go
unto the Father " ? Do the heavens declare the glory
of God the less, because now more is known of them,
than what David sung of by inspiration ? Is man's
make any the less fearfully and wonderfully felt, be-
cause of the discovery of the circulation of the blood ?

That some sentences in the Lord's prayer are older
than Jesus himself has been urged as a fact derogatory
to Christianity. But it might as well be said in dero-
gation of Jesus, that he made use of common words as
well as the common sentiments of his day; and that
he was furnished with parables by such common ob-
jects as a mustard-plant, a sower going forth to sow,
a net that was cast into the sea, and a woman with ten
pieces of silver.

There are persons who feel as though ghost-stories
infringed on the Scriptures, as to the revelation of an-
other world. And there have been persons who have
held that there never was any knowledge of a future
life, till the preaching and the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. Yet it is plain, from the four Gospels, that
Jesus did not address men as apes and gorillas, but as

328 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

believers in a world to come. Jesus did not invent the
woids "spirit" and "soul/' "heaven" and "hell."
And when he first used them, they were very old
words, and meant conceptions that were ancient. Ac-
tuallv there are theological writers at this present time
who have less knowledge as to the soul than what was
taken for granted by Paul with the heathen, and by
Jesus with the Jews. In the Middle Ages, and in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, theology vindi-
cated for the service of the Church, facts such as are
common in the records of animal magnetism. But to-
day, animal magnetism is commonly the terror of theo-
logians. Yet men will never be religiously what they
ought to be, in the light of these latter days, nor be
Christians with Paul's courage, till it shall be under-
stood that pneumatology is a handmaid in the house-
hold of faith, and not a suspicious vagabond about the
temple, who will not be driven away.

" The word which God sent unto the children of
Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ," is anything
but what ouoht to be isolated from science, and from
the facts of human experience, as they accrue. For, as
to the earth, it is as true to-day, for eyes that can see,
as it was in the year when King Uzziah died, and
when Isaiah saw the seraphims ; and when " one cried
unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory ! "

Fearfulness for the Gospel, as to geology, or animal
magnetism, or the publication of the Talmud, or as to
the gates of hell, is utterly uncongenial with " the eter-
nal Spirit," and inconsistent with any experience of it.

Who and what, then, is Jesus Christ ? He is " Jesus

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 329

Christ our Lord, which was made of the se'ed of David
according to the flesh ; and declared to be the Son of
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead." But for us in this
age, individually, what is he ? He " is the Lord from
heaven " ; he is " a quickening spirit." And the Holy
Spirit, the Comforter, which comes of him, is what my
nature has a sense for ; and it is also what my nature
has groaned for, and travailed in pain, to have come.
And this spiritual susceptibility which I have, by crea-
tion, not only argues my want, but as under God, fore-
tells also, as to itself, that it will certainly be met from
above. " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness : for they shall be filled." And to-
day, as in the first days of the gospel, by God cer-
tainly " the Holy Ghost is given to them that obey "
Christ. And therefore through that susceptibility to
spiritual influence, which is natural to me, by sympa-
thizing with Christ Jesus as a man, in his heavenward
aspirations, I may trustfully expect the Holy Ghost,
and be certain of it, even though through me, it may
make no " manifestation " of those special " gifts," which
though vouchsafed to individuals, yet are for " every
man to profit withal."

The Spirit of God may be intimately mine, and so
as even possibly to be cunning in the hand for work-
manship, as it was with Bezaleel. It may be like a
part of myself, and as intimately so, at least, as the
strength which results from food. But yet it is what
is separate from me ; and it is what may be quenched
in me. David prays to God, " Cast me not away from
thy presence ; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me."

330 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

And Paul writes to the Ephesians, " Grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the
day of redemption." And to the Thessalonians he
writes, " Quench not the Spirit." The Holy Spirit is
part of me ; it is what I can think by: it is what will
inform my prayers for me ; it is joy in me, and it is as
though I myself were it, as long as I myself am right.
But with vanity or wrong-doing, it fails me, just as his
strength fails a fainting man. The Holy Spirit was in
me, like the inspiration of my understanding ; it was
the life of my higher life ; it was the soul of my better
soul ; and it was the holiness of my spirit. And sud-
denly with sin, it is gone ; and my most familiar con-
nection with heaven is stopped, And though I may
not have been certain, as to whether I ever did have
the Spirit, yet with the loss of it by sin, I know well
what I have been parted from.

A man may never have it but once ; and indeed he
cannot have it more than once, with the same effect —
that strange experience of grieving the Holy Spirit,
with a sense of revelation afterwards. For when the
Spirit is withdrawn, or fails from a person who has
been walking in it, his joy stops, and his prayers grow
dry and unbelieving. And it is like a revelation by
darkness, what he feels, at finding himself to be left
to himself, and cut off from heaven, and from that Holy
Spirit, which, among mortals, is like its outer sphere.

In all this experience as to the Holy Spirit there is,
what essentially is meant by the word, miracle, for there
is the experience of extraordinary, extra-natural, and
and therefore occasional forces. " Spieak, Lord, for thy
servant heareth," said the child Samuel by the advice

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 331

of Eli, the prophet, in the dark, in the temple, and be-
fore he yet knew the word of the Lord. And whatever
it may "be in high heaven, still among us mortals, every
word and influence not from the Lord only, but from
withinside of the spiritual world, from any one, is of
the nature "of a miracle.

Every man is a creature of miraculous possibilities.
And by comparison with the uniformity of nature,
there are thousands of human beings, at this day, whose
lives are of a miraculous character, because of preter-
natural influences. Miracle ! All human intercourse
with the world invisible, whether with spirit, or angels,
or with God Most High, must necessarily flash with
" signs and wonders," as being itself miraculous:

In the Iliad of Homer there is the saying, "The
dream is from Jove." And Cicero has the sentiment
that " Dreams are the natural oracle." Let these two
quotations represent almost two thousand passages,
which might easily be cited from ancient authors, as to
the philosophy and authority of dreams, and as to the
supernatural communications, of which they have been
believed to be the channel. But by dreams, of course,
are not meant mental movements started by an uneasy
stomach or any other accidental cause, nor even such
wanderings of the mind in sleep, as idleness can have,
when much at its ease, and wide awake. The Greeks
and Eomans knew very well, that dreams have not all
the same origin. And men like Pausanias, and the
students of Plato, were little likely to attribute the ab-
surdities of a crude stomach to a heavenly origin.

That " dreams are the natural oracle " is a sentiment
which involves the philosophy of revelation. For, it

332 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

asserts tlie existence in man, of a susceptibility to the
influences of the spiritual world. And that sentiment
did not originate in any such nonsense about dreams,
as a modern materialist would suppose, but in experi-
ences and traditions, as respectable as the names of
Socrates and Plato, as wise as ancient Greece, and
broader even than the Eoman empire.

But here some one will ask, in the special way of the
modern unbeliever, " If it be true that dreams are the
natural oracle, why do not I have good dreams ? For
I am as good as another, certainly." But now it is
simply for the same reason, as that for which every
man is not a born archangel, nor even a saint of the
earth. To justify the sentiment from Cicero, it is
enough that one man in a million should have what is
called " a remarkable dream." Just as one true poet
in an age is enough for enabling men to feel them-
selves aright, and to know of a glory in the world, sur-
passing that of Mammon, and an interest, compared
with which battles and revolutions are but bubbles.

In the Scriptures, and especially the more ancient,
and as though more particularly connected with the
primitive, unsophisticated nature of man, dreams or vis-
ions in dreams were not uncommon experiences, whence
men might infer themselves to be within spiritual
reach. The sentiment in Cicero as to oracular dreams,
pagan though it be, coincides with what is said in the
book of Job by Elihu, " For God speaketh once, yea,
twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a
vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men,
in slumberings upon the bed, then he openeth the ears
of men and sealeth their instruction, that he may with-

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 333

draw man from his purpose and hide pride from man."
Spiritual susceptibility during sleep, or capacity for
visions like dreams while asleep, would seem to have
constituted a prophet. From the pillar of cloud at
the door of the tabernacle the Lord said, " Hear now
my words : If there be a prophet among you, I the
Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision,
and will speak unto him in a dream."

But the susceptibility to spiritual influence through
which a man in his sleep may have had his soul ad-
dressed by angels or spirits, though it may have been
a peculiarity with him for its greatness, was yet cer-
tainly not so for its nature. It is the action of the
Spirit and that susceptibility which all men have, in a
greater or less degree, which is referred to in the
prophecies of Joel. " And ye shall know that I am
in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your
God, and none else ; and my people shall never be
ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward that I
will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy ; your old men
shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions :
and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids
in those days will I pour out my Spirit." Let there
be some change which shall refine the flesh of my
body ; or let me experience all that is meant by being-
born again ; or let my faculties open heavenwards by
the intensity of my faith ; or let me be within reach
of some Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit ; and I
should then know of myself, how it was that " God
came to Abimelech in a dream by night"; and how
true were the words of Jacob about himself, " The an-

334 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

gel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob :
and I said, Here am I " ; and how it was as natural as
man talking with man, when Jesus Christ in heaven
talked with the spirit of Paul, while his body was
asleep in a house hard by the synagogue in Corinth.
" Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision,
Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace ; for
I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt
thee ; for I have much people in this city."

The manner in which Paul was waked up in spirit,
while his body was asleep, is a way which is possible
with all men, however improbable it may be, that there
should ever be common experience of it. And it is
of our nature, that in deep sleep possibly our ears
might be opened, as Elihu said, and instruction be in-
fused into us. And when Pharaoh and Nebuchadnez-
zar were inspired with dreams, which were concurrent
with Divine Providence, it was through their natural
susceptibility to spiritual influence, and not through
such an operation of Almightiness, as would be neces-
sary for making a statue of Hercules dream and re-
member.

The dream was described by Cicero as being a nat-
ural oracle, in contradistinction to other oracles, which
were got from gods and demons by various artificial
means. At Delphi, they were obtained through a
woman, who was supposed to be entranced by Apollo ;
at Lebadea, after certain ceremonies of purification,
the oracle was got in the dark cave of Trophonius,
sometimes from a voice there, and sometimes by other
means. In Greece, there was a cave, which Pausanias
saw by the wayside, in which was a statue with a

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 335

table before it, and at which oracles were to be ob-
tained by the throwing of dice. And there was a
temple in Egypt, at which oracles were got by asking
questions before a wooden image, which was thought
to answer by shaking its arms when possessed by a
demon.

To all the preceding ways of obtaining oracles the
Jew would have been opposed. He would have ac-
knowledged them as being real, probably; but he
would have repeated to himself the commandment, " I
am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou
shalt have no other gods before me." But the Jew
would have joined with Cicero, as to his sentiment
about the dream-faculty, and would have acknowl-
edged it, for a part of the primitive religion, which
was before Abraham was.

As to dreams, which have been vision-like for veracity,
there is an allowance to be made, according to the doc-
trine of chances, for cases of mere coincidence. But
after everything has been said and allowed for, it would
seem as though in every country there may always
have been occurring dreams of an extraordinary na-
ture, enough, fairly considered, to make everybody feel
himself to be a creature of spiritual faculty, and spirit-
ually connected.

But at this point there are persons who would ex-
claim together, as one man, " Dreams ! and meant seri-
ously too ! Dreams ! as though there ever could be
anything in a dream ! It is too ridiculous ! " But is
Plato then ridiculous ; or is Socrates ? Is Plutarch
ridiculous ; or are the philosophers and heroes of whom

336 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

he is the biographer, mostly ridiculous ? Ridicule ! was
Cicero a subject for it ; or of the two Pliny s, was either
the elder or the younger ; or was Galen ? And can a
subject be ridiculous, whereon as to belief, along with
the foregoing great names, nearly and probably, all the
Fathers of the Church coincide, from Polycarp to St.
Augustine ? And whether intended or not, it cannot
but be a laugh of pitiable inanity, which happens to be
turned simultaneously against Cardan and Petrarch ;
against the Emperor Theodosius and the Emperor
Charles the Fifth of Spain ; against Francis Bacon and
Halley the astronomer ; against Sir Christopher Wren
and Sir Eoger L'Estrange ; against Defoe and —

But enough of this ! For there is no man but must
feel abashed, when actually he finds himself to be
lightly laughing in the grand awful face of antiquity,
and with the fathers, martyrs, and doctors of the Church
against him.

But indeed the man, who is the grandchild of the
last century, and the child of this, is almost necessarily
a person of contradictory notions. And so it often
happens that a person will say philosophically what,
if it were true, would be ruinous of the religious belief,
which he holds even fervently. And that is, just as
there have been many divines, who with pleading for
the Church, have made void the Gospel.

Nor, should this argument seem to be novel, is it
therefore necessarily the less trustworthy. For, even
as to his bodily constitution, man in these latter days
is continually discovering something new, and by which
he finds his health, or temporal salvation, to be largely
dependent on laws, of which Abraham knew nothing,

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 337

nor Julius Caesar, nor yet Martin Luther. The primary
facts of life, as connected with his skin and lungs, man
is but just now learning ; and so it may well be sup-
posed, that, as connected with his spiritual nature, there
may be common things, of which the full significance
has not yet been taken.

A dream of much particularity which comes true, —
an oracular dream argues not only that man can have
dreams which come true, but that he can dream under
influence, and from spiritual connection of some kind.
And if one man can dream in that way, so perhaps in
that way may another be capable of inspiration, even
while wide awake. That kind of dream, which Cicero
calls the natural oracle, is presumptive proof as to the
actuality of revelation, and as to the reality of those
spiritual faculties in man which Christianity presup-
poses.

There have been some eight or ten dreams, which
have been had and published in this neighborhood,
during the last twenty years, which, for an earnest
thinker, would be more valuable than the whole of
some metaphysical libraries. Because one fact accruing
from nature is better than all the argument which is
inconsistent with it, however ingenious and laborious it
may be.

What is properly the dream-faculty may be regarded
as the primitive germ of revelation. It is also a simple
and good proof that man is spiritually connected ; and
that therefore also he himself may probably be a spirit.

Actually and with full consciousness to feel himself
to be a living soul, by any trial, test, or experience,
within the range of his own understanding, is the
15 v

338 MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY.

hunger and thirst of myriads ; though also it is a
craving, which is as dull as despair itself. And all
that merely primitive want might for many a man be
satisfied by a dream, which has been had by some poor
chastened widow, in his neighborhood, anxious about
her absent son ; only that theology has got so far away
from common life, that it would wish to scout the
smallest possible miracle of the present day, for fear of
being challenged by science, in the names of uniformity
and law. But actually, though those words are good
enough for a lecture-room, they are altogether inade-
quate for what Christians ought to be ready to main-
tain in the Church.

How many persons there are who sit in church, only
to feel as though the darkness about them were grow-
ing more visible ! How many men of ability there
are, who have the gospel sound to them like an un-
known tongue ! Said the voice which was heard by
St. John when he was in the Spirit, " He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches." But how can he well hear to-day, who
cannot well conceive how the Spirit could ever have
spoken ? Persons whose ways of thinking have been
almost altogether materialized, — how should they un-
derstand the things of the Spirit ? " The God of the
spirits of all flesh," — how possibly can they pray to
him. in the fulness of belief, who think that they
themselves, perhaps, are flesh only ?

Yet if men were willing to be taught by it, a dream
which is a dream in Cicero's sense of the word, or in
that of the Bible, would be enough for any ordinary
degree of doubt as to the spiritual world. But the

MIRACLES AND PNEUMATOLOGY. 339

dread of acknowledging in any way what science
might perhaps challenge for a miracle and a violation
of law, is the nightmare of theology at this time.
However, it is what is nothing more than a nightmare ;
and it will probably soon be over.

THE SHBIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

THE Scriptures are the history of a particular peo-
ple, or line and succession of persons, as they
were acted upon by the Spirit of God.

When everything was nothing, and while as yet
darkness was on the face of the deep, it was the begin-
ning when " the Spirit of God moved upon the face of
the waters." Also, " by his Spirit he hath garnished the
heavens." And said the Psalmist, as he sang in view
of both Lebanon and the sea, " Thou sendest forth thy
spirit, they are created," — the stork to house herself in
the fir-tree, the fowls of heaven to sing in the branches,
the young lions to roar after their prey, the wild asses
with their instinct for the springs among the hills, grass
as it grows for the cattle, and herbs for the service of
man. And not these only, even though along with the
sea and leviathan ! For also " the Spirit of God hath
made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given
me life."

But there is another and higher sense of the phrase
" Spirit of God " than that use of it. The Spirit of
God created man, as it made the elephant, and it
might have maintained man as man, at a certain uni-
formity of intelligence and character, just as, for thou-
sands of years, it has perpetuated nature in elephants.
As the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God finds in man a

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 341

susceptibility which the elephant has not. And it is
this spiritual susceptibility which is the great, grand
distinction of man.

Men are the creatures of God, as the elephant and
the lion are, and as the dove and the provident, skilful
beaver. But the elephant lives from God more largely
than the dove ; and man, as a biped with his head
erect, lives from God more fully than the elephant.
But the truth as to man is more than that ; for he
does not merely live and move like a superior elephant,
but also he has and derives his being like a child of
God. In the great sphere of life of which God is the
fulness, man lives in God, and yet in some way as
though detached from him. And it is through, that
way, and because of it, that man is specially dear to
God, and of more value than many sparrows ; as being
not only a creature of instinct, but also a child capable
of instruction, and a soul susceptible of inspiration ; and
as being possibly a son, for companionship with him,
to all eternity, through the Holy Ghost. And the
Scriptures illustrate this relation, as it exists and al-
ways has existed between God and man.

By the gospel, human beings are invited to become
sons and daughters of the Most High. But often per-
sons avert their faces from God, and turn and look
along with the people, as to whom, once Jesus said,
" Ye are of your father, the devil." And it is only just
as we believe in its being possible for us to become the
children of God, that the Bible belongs to us, as a thing
of any meaning.

In the Scriptures, the special action of the Spirit of
God on the soul is called " the word of God." Some-

342 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

times it is so called, when it is simply a Divine mes-
sage to an individual ; and sometimes it is so called
when it is addressed to a nation ; and it is also used
for that expressiveness of the Divine will, which was
the act of Creation ; as when Peter writes " that by
the word of God the heavens were of old, and the
earth standing out of the water, and in the water."

" The word of the Lord " is a special completed act
of " the Spirit of the Lord " ; and always it is inspira-
tion, as unto the formless, void world for creation ; or
into the consciousness of a prophet, for a communica-
tion ; or into the mind of a man, like David, for the
beauty of a psalm. And in the personality of Jesus,
the word was so completely incarnated, as that himself
Jesus became "the word" itself. "And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the
Father), full of grace and truth."

Sometimes the word of the Lord was a voice in the
ear of a prophet ; and sometimes it was a picture before
the eye of his mind ; and sometimes it was the appear-
ance of ,an angel. And there are two or three other
ways, by which the word of the Lord was given, which
are mentioned in the Old Testament, though obscurely,
and which perhaps were never commonly used.

What books have been written and what nonsense
has been talked about the Jewish theocracy ! It has
been supposed to have been the government of a priest-
hood, which is exactly what it was not. And it has
been supposed to have been mainly and characteristi-
cally the sacerdotal ministration of a written law, which
also it was not. Prophets were the theocracy, — men

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 343

who could even denounce the priesthood, and who were
not necessarily even Levites. They were men of God,
and not merely men of the temple of God.

As was said to the Jews in the wilderness of Sinai,
" Hear now my words : If there be a prophet among
you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in
a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream." But
then it is added as to Moses, " with him will I speak
mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark
speeches." And of how that was, this is an instance.
In the wilderness, two men appealed to Moses about a
ceremonial difficulty. "And Moses said unto them,
Stand still, and I wTill hear what the Lord will com-
mand concerning you." And standing still with the
people about him, under the eastern sky, Moses listened
for a voice, which nobody else could hear. And that
voice he heard spiritually. " And the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,
If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean
by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off.
yet he shall keep the passover unto the Lord." Also
that precept, as being got and given in that manner,
is an instance of theocracy.

And now, how were prophets commissioned, or how
did a man know himself to be a prophet ? David be-
came a prophet, with being anointed for king ; though
perhaps his spiritual susceptibility may have been a
reason for his being chosen as king. He was fetched
into the house from keeping the sheep. " Now he was
ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and
goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint
him : for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of

344 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren.
And the Spirit of the Lord came npon David from that
day forward." Very different from that is the account
Jeremiah gives of himself. " The word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the
belly I knew thee ; and before thou earnest forth out
of the womb I sanctified thee : and I ordained thee a
prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord God !
behold, I cannot speak ; for I am a child. But the
Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child : for thou
shalt go to all that 1 shall send thee, and whatsoever I
command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their
faces : for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the
Lord." And very different again from the call of young
Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, was the experience of the
prophet Amos. " Then answered Amos, and said to
Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither wTas I a prophet's
son : but I was a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore
fruit : and the Lord took me as I followed the flock,
and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my peo-
ple Israel." And when Barak received the command-
ment of the Lord, in connection with a striking episode
in Jewish history, it was through Deborah. And what
is to be read about her is like a wonderful little pic-
ture. " And Deborah a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth,
she judged Israel at that time. And she dwelt under
the ] >alm-tree of Deborah, between Bamah and Beth-el
in Mount Ephraim ; and the children of Israel came
up to her for judgment."

And it would seem also that " the word of the Lord "
found its recipients or prophets, quite irrespectively of
worldly circumstances. Kings and peasants were alike

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 345

to it. Solomon was a youthful king when " in Gibeon,
the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night :
and God said, Ask what I shall give thee." And it
was while he was " in all his glory " that " God gave
Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much,
and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the
sea-shore." And when the Queen of Sheba, having
heard of what Solomon had become through " the name
of the Lord," journeyed to Jerusalem to try his wis-
dom, she found him surrounded by pomp and grandeur.
But his magnificence was no bar to the attendant power
which fed his intellect with wisdom. And as he heard
questions she asked, answers like miracles rose in his
mind. " And Solomon told her all her questions : there
was not anything hid from the king which he told her
not." At one time Elijah lived by a brook and was
fed by ravens ; and at another time he was lodged by
a widow whose mind had been miraculously prepared
for receiving him. " And when he came to the gate
of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gath-
ering of sticks." A priest was always probably far
above want, because he was always well provided for,
by his birthright. But for the prophet, there was no
provision in life, which might be called special ; unless
indeed that quality might be so called by which na-
ture answers to nature, and persons who are spirit-
ually-minded are drawn towards those who are in any
way like themselves, such as prophets, men of genius,
and sufferers living by faith. Owing to the kind im-
pulse of a Jewish lady, there is to be read, what is like
a sudden distinct glimpse of a prophet moving about.
" And it fell on a day that Elisha passed to Shunem,
15*

346 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

where was a great woman ; and she constrained him to
eat bread. And so it was, that, as oft as he passed by,
he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said nnto
her husband, Behold, now, I perceive that this is a
holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.
Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall ;
and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a
stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be when he
cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. And it
fell on a day that he came thither, and he turned into
the chamber, and lay there." The prophet was very
unlike a priest in his mind, and so he was in his ex-
perience, usually, in one way or another. Says St.
James, "Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have
spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of
suffering affliction, and of patience."

And now what was the position of the prophet so-
cially ? He had a right to utter himself, but on certain
conditions, which might involve even his life. Ahab
the king wanted the word of the Lord from the prophet
Micaiali ; and was enraged by what he got ; notwith-
standing that the prophet had said, "As the Lord
liveth, what the Lord saith unto me that will I speak."
"Whereupon a false prophet, a prophet of Baal, proba-
bly, who had been flattering the king along with four
hundred others, Zedekiah, " went near and smote Mi-
caiali on the cheek, and said, Which way went the
Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee ? And
Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when
thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.
And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry
him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 347

to Joasli the king's son, and say, Thus saith the king,
Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread
of affliction, and with water of affliction, until I come
in peace. And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in
peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said,
Hearken, 0 people, every one of you." Then the king
went up to Eamoth-Gilead to battle, and never came
back ; and the prophet with having his prophecy ful-
filled, saved his life, according to the law.

And of what the prophet was among the people, for
his work, as compared with the priest, there is an illus-
tration in one of the prophecies of Hosea. The priest
was the man of ritual, and the prophet was the man of
the Spirit. " 0 Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee ? 0
Judah, what shall I do unto thee ? for your goodness
is as a morning cloud, and as the early clew it goeth
away. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophet ;
I have slain them by the words of my mouth : and
thy judgments were as the light that goeth forth. For
I desired mercy, and not sacrifice ; and the knowledge
of God more than burnt-offerings." And as Christian-
ity becomes, as certainly more and more it will become,
a ministration of the Spirit, it will be well to remem-
ber and know thoroughly, that the Holy Ghost may
probably get itself uttered, not so much through func-
tionaries of the Church, as through those whom the
Spirit, for any reason, may find to be approachable ; and
who perhaps may* often seem to be but mere earthen
vessels, when compared with honored and honorable
personages, arrayed, it may be, in official robes, and in-
vested with the privileges of high places.

But now how was the prophet received ? Exactly

348 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

as conscience is received to-day ; and those who did not
want to know of him could ignore him. And those
persons, who were actually reached by his words, could
do with God in his words, just as they were in the
habit of doing with God in the suggestions of their
own consciences ; they could exclude him, in some
way, or else elude him. There had been the grossest
wickedness ; and with an impulse from the Lord, " Na-
than said to David, Thou art the man." And being
charged thus and threatened, " David said unto Nathan,
I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said
unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin ; thou
shalt not die."

But David was a man of conscience, as well as pas-
sion. Two or three hundred years after him there was
a prophet, who did not get even from a priest that ac-
knowledgment of his character which David would
have left his throne to yield. Amos, the prophet, had
terrible truths to utter. But it was not precisely so ;
for Amos himself actually had nothing whatever to
say, as being simply a man of the country, and spe-
cially of sheepfolds and sycamore-trees. But it hap-
pened to him that he became at a particular time the
mouth-piece of the Lord, because, as he said, the Spirit
of the Lord took him. And, at Bethel, he had visions,
which he told of, as of the Lord, in awful action among
men. But Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, was thereby
greatly scandalized, as indeed well he might have been,
as a chaplain to royalty. "Also Amaziah said unto
Amos, 0 thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land
of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there :
but prophesy not at Beth-el, for it is the king's chapel,

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 349

and it is the king's court." The way of this priest of
the court held good for eight hundred years, so as that
when there was a great excitement about John the
Baptist, in speaking to the people, Jesus said, " Behold,
they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately,
are in king's courts. But what went ye out for to see ?
A prophet ? Yea, I say unto you, and much more
than a prophet." But even though the Baptist was
worthy of this testimonial, and was "more than a
prophet," yet not only was his life apart from the
court, but even it was passed outside of the region of
respectability. And also said Stephen to the bigots
about him, just before he was stoned to death, " Ye do
always resist the Holy Ghost : as your fathers did, so
do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers
persecuted ? " But about the prophets, complaint was
not always of persecution, but sometimes of something
else, as bad or worse perhaps than that. Ezekiel, man
of wonder and fire and vision, ■ — prophet and man of
God ! How was Ezekiel treated ? He was treated in
his own land, just probably as he would be to-day in
Boston or Washington. For proportionately there are
no more people with a true ear for prophecy, to-day,
than there were anciently in the worst of times. And
in what follows, let it be noticed that the audience
were people of what may be called literary taste.
"Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people
still are talking against thee by the walls, and in the
doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every
one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear
what is the word that cometh from the Lord. And
they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they

350 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words,
but they will not do them : for with their mouth they
show much love, but their heart goeth after their
covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very
lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can
play well on an instrument." The Spirit of the Lord
might speak, and actually the style only of the words
be noticed !

And furthermore the prophet was* the prophet of
the Lord, and not of Baal or any other heathen god.
The prophetic was a natural susceptibility, through
which a man might be a channel either for the word
of the Lord or for the influence of Baal. And indeed
Balaam was up at the high place of Baal with his
mind and will against the Israelites, when words not
of his own thinking passed from his mouth : and it
was because " the Lord met Balaam and put a word in
his mouth." On finding himself overmastered, Balaam
yielded, and " the Spirit of God came upon him " : and
the grandeur of his prophecy was because of his be-
ing a man " which heard the words of God, which saw
the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but
having his eyes open." It was through the prophet
that the Spirit had its utterance against those who
succumbed to the vile seductions of heathenism.

The Lord said to Moses that sacrifices should be of-
fered only at the door of the tabernacle of the congre-
gation : " and they shall no more offer their sacrifices
unto devils." Tor indeed it had been only a little
while before that " they sacrificed unto devils, not to
God : to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that
came newly up, whom your fathers feared not." And

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 351

the Scriptures of the Old Testament are largely the
history of the Spirit of God, as to its conflict with the
devils, and altars, and prophets, and villanies of heath-
enism.

As soon almost as the Israelites of the desert had all
of them been buried in the land of promise, "the
children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,
and served Baalim. And they forsook the Lord God
of their fathers, which brought them out of the land
of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the
people that were round about them, and bowed them-
selves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger.
And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ash-
taroth." It was eight hundred years later than that,
that through the prophet Jeremiah the Spirit com-
plained of the persistent rebelliousness of the Jews.
And in this passage, let it be noticed, that a prophet
was a man of prophetic susceptibility, who could let
himself even prophesy from Baal. " The priests said
not, Where is the Lord ? and they that handle the law
knew me not : the pastors also transgressed against
me, and the prophets also prophesied by Baal, and
walked after things that do not profit." And it was
not till after the Babylonish captivity that the Jews
became safe from idolatry, and able to believe and glo-
ry in the proclamation, " Hear, 0 Israel : the Lord our
God is one Lord."

Five hundred years had the Jews been in Palestine,
and the adventures' of Samson had become an ancient
history, and Eli and Samuel, Saul, David, and Solomon
had been successively gathered to their fathers, when
Jeroboam " ordained him priests for the high places,

352 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

and for the devils." And what follows was still eighty
years later than the age of Jeroboam. " And Ahaziah
fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber, that
was in Samaria, and was sick : and he sent messengers
and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the
god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease.
But the angel of the Lord said to Elisha, the Tishbite,
Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Sa-
maria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is
not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baal-
zebub, the god of Ekron ? Now, therefore, thus saith
the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on
which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And
Elijah departed." The messengers thereupon returned
to the king. " And he said unto them, What manner
of man was he which came up to meet you, and told
you these words ? And they answered him, He was a
hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his
loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite."

It was just about the time of the preceding incident
that there happened what marks the heathen notion
of the Jewish theocracy. " And the prophet came to
the Kinsf of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen
thyself, and mark and see what thou doest : for at the
return of the year the King of Syria will come up
against thee. And the servants of the King of Syria
said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills, therefore
they were stronger than we : but let us fight against
them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than
they." Three hundred years later even than the period
just mentioned, and just before the captivity, the
Spirit spoke through Jeremiah and said, " Seest thou

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 353

not what they do in the cities of Jndah and in the
streets of Jerusalem ? The children gather wood, and
the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their
dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to
pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may
provoke me to anger." But what was threatened
through Moses was close upon them, and though it
was predicted as being imminent, it was not believed.
" I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them
in the day that I brought them out of the land of
Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices : but
this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice,
and I will be your God and ye shall be my people :
and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded
you, that it may be well unto you." Also says the
voice, which they had not obeyed, " Since the day that
your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto
this day, I have even sent unto you all my servants the
prophets, daily rising up early and sending them : yet
they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear,
but hardened their neck : they did worse than their
fathers."

During the eight or nine centuries, of which the
last lines were a retrospect, there were many more
prophets than are known of now. And of some
prophets, the experiences were once extant as books,
of which now only the titles survive. In connection
with Solomon alone there were three books of prophets,
which are lost ; as is evident from a passage in the
Second Book of the Chronicles. " Now the rest of the
acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in
the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy

w

354 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

of Abijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the
seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat ? "

Prophets may have been numerous or few in dif-
ferent ages. At one time there may have been " no
open vision/' and at another time, for some cause, the
prophets may have "become wind." And it might
also often have been perhaps that individuals may
have failed of getting their inquiries of the Lord
answered ; as Saul failed, just before he applied to the
woman at Endor. " When Saul inquired of the Lord,
the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by
vision nor by prophets." But it would seem as though
always " the Spirit of God — the word of the Lord "
— the voice had been more or less near and ready for
communication, through angel or prophet, vision or
dream, or some other authorized oracle, from Abraham
to the captivity.

According to the Book of Judges, during a space of
a hundred years, apparently there was no experience
of a vision, by any one ; but there was a wonderful
experience as to angels at two or three critical seasons.
Gideon saw an angel of the Lord, face to face, and
talked with him, and had from him one sign and
another. And his experience illustrates the Divine
action, and the manner in which one man can be
reached in one way, and another man in another way,
and even the same man by means, both direct and
circuitous. Gideon had been addressed and commis-
sioned by an angel, and had had the Spirit of the Lord
come upon him : and yet it was by a dream, which one
man had in the camp, and another man interpreted,
that he learned that the hour had come for him and

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 355

the Spirit, and for " the sword of the Lord and of
Gideon." There may be various ways, through which
the souls of men may be affected, as to their spiritual
susceptibility. An age of fierce excitement from bat-
tle, and an age of long-continued, contented quiet
must necessarily differ as to what manifestations they
may be ready for, from the Spirit. The age of Samson
or that of Jephthah was not likely to have had the
visions* of Ezekiel disclosed to it. And whenever
people were secretly longing for the licentiousness of
Baal, they could hardly have been approachable by the
Spirit of the Lord, in any other way than through an
indignant prophet.

It was a belief with the Jews that fasting or a
simple diet might end in fitting a man for spiritual ex-
periences. And even a prophet would sometimes try
to prepare himself for the Spirit by the soothing effect
of music. And so experiences from the Spirit of
God may well be supposed to have been affected by
the varying spirit of the centuries. Also, prophets
open to the Spirit of the Lord, evidently had that
Spirit affect them, according even to their state by
education. The prophecies of Amos have an odor of
the country, which is sensible to everybody : and the
prophecies of Jeremiah are uttered in imagery, with
which he was furnished by his personal experience.
And similarly, the epistles of Paul are the penmanship
of a man whose learning had been gained at the feet
of Gamaliel, but whose enlightenment had been on a
journey to Damascus, from a vision of Christ in glory.
And thus it may have been, as between mortals and
the world immortal, that at one time, influence from

356 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

above may chiefly have been by dreams and visions,
and at another time, through angels, and at still another
time, through prophets, more or less entranced.

But besides the preceding, there were ways of ob-
taining oracles from the Lord, of which but little is
known, and which may have answered, only perhaps
at intervals, such as Teraphim, and Urim, and Thum-
mim, and casting of lots.

And now through these various agencies, with what
results were men affected by the Spirit of God ? There
would seem then to have been scarcely anything hu-
man, on which " the word of the Lord " might not have
been had. And it would seem to have been obtained
much more commonly than might, at first, be thought.
Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, when she was about to be-
come a mother, " went to inquire of the Lord " as to
her condition, and was answered by a strange and won-
derful prophecy. It is the only occasion recorded, but
it cannot probably have been the only time in her life
of her inquiring of the Lord. It is only incidentally
that it appears what a place of resort the house of a
prophet may have been sometimes, and on what merely
personal matters he may have been approached. " And
when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said
to his servant that was with him, Come and let us re-
turn, lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take
thought for us. And he said unto him, Behold now,
there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honor-
able man ; all that he saith cometh surely to pass ;
now, let us go thither ; peradventure he can show us
our way that we should go." And it was only by an
accident, that the fame of Elisha as a healer is known

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 357

to-day. The Syrians had gone out by companies, and
had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a
little maid ; and she waited on ISTaaman's wife. " And
she said unto her mistress, Would God my Lord were
with the prophet that is in Samaria ! for he would re-
cover him of his leprosy." And only in the same inci-
dental manner is the wide reach of his spiritual hear-
ing or information told of. During a war with the
Israelites, the King of Syria was troubled at the discov-
ery of his plans and secrets, and thought that among
his servants there must certainly be some traitor. " And
one of his servants said, None, my Lord, 0 King ; but
Elisha the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the King of
Israel the words that thou speakest in thy chamber."

In art, in architecture, and in poetry also, the Spirit
was inspiration. For work in the tabernacle "the
Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See I have called by
name Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the
tribe of Judah ; and I have filled him with the Spirit
of God, in wisdom, and in understanding and in knowl-
edge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise
cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in
brass." David wished to build a house for the Lord ;
but he was forbidden by the Lord, because of his hav-
ing been a man of bloodshed and war. But he was al-
lowed to make preparations for it, for his son Solomon
to make use of. Gold and silver, and iron and timber,
David made ready. And along with all this material,
he delivered to Solomon building-plans, of which the
account is very noticeable. " Then David gave to Solo-
mon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses
thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper

358 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

chambers thereof, and of the inner parlors thereof, and
of the place of the mercy-seat, and the pattern of all
that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of
the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the
treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of
the dedicated things." And still more explicitly as to
the plans and patterns, and the way in which he had
obtained them, " All this, said David, the Lord made
me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even
all the works of this pattern." And as to that poetry,
in which men have gloried and worshipped so long,
" Now these be the last words of David. David the
son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up
on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the
sweet psalmist of Israel said, The Spirit of the Lord
spake by me, and his word was in my tongue."

For war also, the aid of the Spirit was promised to
the peculiar people. And on going to battle, the priest
was to exhort the people and to tell them " The Lord
your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you
against your enemies, to save you." On one occasion,
we read that the Lord said to Moses, " Say unto them,
Go not up, neither fight, for I am not among you : lest
ye be smitten before your enemies." And on another
occasion it is to be read, " And, behold, there came a
prophet unto Ahab, King of Israel, saying, Thus saith
the Lord, Hast thou seen ail this great multitude ? be-
hold I will deliver it into thy hand, this day : and
thou shalt know that I am the Lord." And then the
prophet directed him as to his battle array. Samaria
was besieged and at the worst extremity from famine.
Elisha sat in the house and the elders with him. The

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 359

king had just lost his faith, and was abjuring the Lord :
and a messenger was on his way for the head of the
prophet. " Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the
Lord : Thus saith the Lord, to-morrow, about this time,
shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and
two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of
Samaria," And so it happened, because the Syrians
deserted their camp. "For the Lord had made the
host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and
a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host : and
they said to one another, Lo, the King of Israel hath
hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the
kings of the Egyptians to come upon us. Wherefore
they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents,
and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it
was, and fled for their life."

In a psalm, which is like his autobiography set to
music, David says of the Lord, " He teacheth my hands
to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms."
And by these words, doubtless, he meant something
of what Jephthah felt, when " the Spirit of the Lord
came upon him," and like what Samson experienced,
when " the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at
times in the camp of Dan."

Also, the Spirit, for the Jews, was as a judge. One
day, Moses sat in judgment among the people, from the
morning to the evening. " And Moses said unto his
father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to in-
quire of God : when they have a matter, they come
unto me ; and I judge between one and another : and I
do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws."
Moses needed as a judge to have a successor. Joshua

360 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

was appointed as being a man in whom was the Spirit.
And now how was he to judge, how was he to be
guided and directed as to his judgments ? " He shall
stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel
for him, after the judgment of Urim before the Lord."
And indeed this judgment from God became an institu-
tion, to which appeal was made in difficult cases of the
highest importance. " Then shalt thou arise and get
thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall
choose ; and thou shalt come unto the priests, the Le-
vites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days,
and inquire ; and they shall shew thee the sentence
of judgment." And refusal to submit to the sentence
thus rendered was a capital offence ; on which judg-
ment was to be executed. " And all the people shall
hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously."

Also over the Israelites, the Spirit of the Lord was
king ; though commonly the subjects were in rebellion
against it, in much the same way, and with much the
same results, as at the present time, when men rebel
against God, and equivocate with him, and hide them-
selves from him, as he looks in upon them, and talks
with them through their consciences. The Spirit was
King of kings, after the Israelites, by asking for a king
to be set over them, had Saul and his successors ; and
after it had been said at the inauguration of Saul, " Ye
have this day rejected your God, who himself saved
you out of all your adversities and your tribulations,
and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over
us." Saul was chosen by the Spirit of the Lord, and
so was David. And even than in those instances, a still
more striking intervention of the Spirit was in connec-

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 361

tion with Jeliu. It began with Elijah at the end of
his wonderful experience at the cave of Horeb. " And
the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the
wilderness of Damascus ; and when thou comest,
anoint Hazael to be king over Syria : and Jehu the son
of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel :
and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, shalt
thou anoint to be prophet in thy room." Years passed
on. " And Elisha the prophet called one of the chil-
dren of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy
loins, and take this box of oil in thy hand, and go to
Eamoth-gilead : and when thou comest thither, look
out Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi,
and go in, and make him arise up from among his
brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber: then
take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say,
Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over
Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not."
After this was done, the first thing said to Jehu was,
" Is all well ; wherefore came this mad fellow to thee ? "
But the end of it was that Jehu became king, and
the instrument and object of the fulfilment of other*
prophecies.

The Spirit of the Lord intervened as to the election
and dethronement of kings, and with advice and com-
mands, as to foreign powers ; and also, apparently it
was accessible to the petitions of the humblest inquirer.
Sometimes " the word of the Lord came " to a prophet,
wherever he might happen to be, and started him off,
with a sudden message, beginning, "Thus saith the
Lord," to be delivered in a market-place perhaps, or at
a palace. And sometimes it would be as thus : King
16

362 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

Jehoshaphat and Jehoram, the idolatrous King of Israel,
were in trouble together. " But Jehoshaphat said, Is
there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may in-
quire of the Lord by him ? And one of the King of
Israel's servants answered and said, There is Elisha
the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands
of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the
Lord is with him. So the King of Israel, and Jehosh-
aphat, and the King of Edom went down to him. And
Elisha said unto the King of Israel, What have I to do
with thee ? Get thee to the prophets of thy father,
and to the prophets of thy mother."

And now, how was it with Elisha at that moment ?
He was very likely affected in some such manner as
Stephen was. He certainly had not needed to take
thought beforehand what he should say. Nor could
there have been any resisting of the wisdom and spirit
which he spoke with. And not improbably because of
the Spirit, his face may have shone like the face of an
angel.

Sometimes the Spirit of the Lord expressed itself
through a visible angel ; as Zechariah writes was his
experience. "And the angel that talked with me
came again and waked me, as a man that is wakened
out of his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou ? "
And sometimes the Spirit was " the word of the Lord "
in human words, which could, at first for the sound of
them, even be taken for the voice of a man. Of this
the experience of Samuel was an instance, before he yet
knew the word of the Lord. In the night, hearing
himself called by name, once and again, he answered
Eli, and went to him. And at the third time of his

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 363

answering so, " Eli perceived that the Lord had called
the child." The Spirit of the Lord spoke through Jere-
miah, when he was but a child ; and through Elijah,
a hairy man girt with a girdle, it confronted Amaziah
the king ; of whom it is written, " So he died, accord-
ing to the word of the Lord, which Elijah had spoken."

Not only was Jehovah the Lord God of their wor-
ship, for the Jews, anciently, but also he was their
king, the commander-in-chief of their armies, their su-
preme Judge, and was also amongst them inspiration
from the highest, as to art and poetry. But indeed
against him as king, and perhaps against his influence
in all other ways, they were almost continually in re-
bellion. At the first thought of it, it seems incredible
that a nation, or even an individual, could possibly
rebel against Jehovah as a king. And for this seeming
improbability men have doubted the Old Testament,
as a history ; while actually they themselves, more or
less, every day, were rebelling against God, and pre-
varicating with him, in the chamber of conscience, just
as 'the Jews did with God as connected with their
temple.

The Old Testament is the history of the Spirit of the
Lord, as a fountain-head of influence for men, and su-
premacy over human rebellion and helplessness. That
Spirit, Saul might have, and might have it withdrawn,
and Solomon might have and lose it with his becoming
foolish. The Israelites, as its subjects, might be faith-
ful, or be apostates to Baal ; or in their fear of Syria,
they might look to Egypt for help. But whether they
were dutiful or rebellious ; whether they were judged
by Deborah the prophetess, or lived prosperously under

364 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

King Solomon, or were captives by the river of Baby-
lon, there was over them always the supremacy of the
Spirit, as it vindicated itself by judgments, and fulfilled
upon them the prophecies of its own inspiring, and got
itself as to its ends, praised by even the wrath of man.

Jehoram might reign in Samaria, and Jehoshaphat be
King of Judah, and Mesha might be King of Moab and
be also a great sheep-master ; and the King of Syria
might war against Israel, and compass Dothan with his
army ; but it was the Spirit, as it spoke from Elisha,
which was the ruler of events. From the prophecies
of Balaam to those of Malachi are a thousand years,
but all through, it was from the selfsame Spirit, that
the judges judged divinely, and the seers had visions,
and the prophets prophesied, and the psalmist sang
sweetly. " But the word of the Lord was unto them,
precept upon precept, precept upon precept ; line upon
line, line upon line ; here a little and there a little."
And by inheritance in Christ, that word in its devel-
opment is ours.

And here there are persons, who will be ready to
exclaim with one voice, " The Old Testament ! The
miracles of the Old Testament ! Does the man know
what he is writing about ? Does not he know even
about the Book of Genesis ? Does he not know of what
Ezra the scribe has been suspected of having done ?
Does he not know what is as good as certain about the
Book of Daniel ? Baur and De Wette, — has he never
even heard of their names ; Does he not know about
the earlier Isaiah and the later ? Does he not know
what has been done with the Old Testament so ad-
mirably and so thoroughly, by criticism, that is to say,
by theology ?

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 365

Truly, the writer is humbly aware of all that. But
he thinks also that as to the study of the Scriptures, an
instinct for the Spirit is quite as important as mere
lexicology. " Oh, oh ! " they exclaim again, " but do you
believe in the tower of Babel, and in the whale that
swallowed Jonah ? Do you believe that ever the sun
stood still upon Gibeon ? And if you do not believe
in those things, what right have you to believe in other
things of the same kind ? " Perhaps my believing fac-
ulty may not be very large ; but would that be a good
reason for my wishing to have none at all. Because
my eyes will not reach the Pyramids, ought I there-
fore to shut them, as I walk about the streets of Bos-
ton ? A real believer is a man who believes intelli-
gently and not indiscriminately. And now as to the
sun standing still, — have my opponents never heard
of figures of speech : and though they often say that it
does, yet is there even one of them, who believes that
ever the sun does actually rise ? And as to Jonah, —
is there one of all my opponents who can inform a
good Hebraist as to the origin and undoubted meaning
of the word which is translated whale ? And as to the
tower of Babel, has it never occurred to them, as it does
occur to me, that perhaps some time that tower will be
regarded as having been singularly monumental in hu-
man history ; and that the confusion of tongues may
perhaps come, on good reasons, to be accounted as evi-
dence of some great psychical change in human nature,
analogous perhaps, in the infancy of the race, to the
change which takes place with a child, when instinct
begins to yield to the growth of reason.

As derived by creation from the Godhead in its

366 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

unity, it might be expected that religiously and spirit-
ually there would be analogies which might corre-
spond with the world geologically. And in the early
part of the Book of Genesis there are what seem like
hints of such things. Whether regarded as literal or
as symbolical, the narrative as to Adam and Eve and
Paradise means something. There is a curious mention
of the time concurrently with the birth of Enos, when
" men began to call upon the name of the Lord," which
would seem to mark some change with man, rather than
simply his having begun to ejaculate devotional words.
" And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive
with man, for that he also is flesh ; yet his days shall
be a hundred and twenty years. There were giants in
the earth in those days ; and also after that, when the
sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and
they bare children to them ; the same became mighty
men, which were of old, men of renown." What this
may mean there is no knowing, at present. But it
will probably some time dawn on some mind, and be-
come apparent, and be like the deciphering of some
primeval inscription.

Is it not in analogy ; is it not in recognition of that
great law of progress, attendant on the earth's creation,
to suppose that its human inhabitants have been under
a similar dispensation of advancement by convulsion,
and thereby also under a corresponding law as to spirit-
ual assistance ? Jesus was a communication of God,
after another manner than Moses was : and so was
Moses after another manner than what Abraham knew
of. And the terrible miracles from which the Egyp-
tians suffered, and of the like of which there was some

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT, 367

manifestation in the time of Elijah, when the Israelites
were succumbing to the devil-worship of their neigh-
bors, — these would seem to have been in some kind
of keeping with the convulsive forces by which the
earth was rounded and enriched, and made ready for
men.

The philosophy of the phrase, "the word of the
Lord," is spiritually as much in advance of mere ra-
tionalism as a rationalist himself is in advance of an
elephant. What calls itself rationalism, walks and
talks by a lamp, which it does not know, has a hundred
slides, of two or three of which there is some experi-
ence with a few persons, even in this life. One man
discerns acutely as to things within his vision, while
yet he is blind to things which to another man of in-
ferior acuteness are very plain, because of his seeing
by a lamp with another slide. What ! shall Ave go on
to all eternity, seeing just as we now see ? But truly
we are already in germ what we shall be to all eter-
nity. And the germinating principle is already activfe
in us ; and in some persons it is more developed than
it is in others, as may very credibly be supposed for
many reasons.

Most men have eyes only for material objects, but
some men have had eyes for angels, and for seeing in
vision. And at this present time there are persons
who see spirits occasionally, as always there have been
such. Spiritual sight is an attribute of all persons,
though commonly it exists only as against the world
to come. There is the understanding of the natural
man : and there is also a spiritual understanding : and
a man may have the one actively, while of the other

363 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

lie may never have had the least opening. To the
merely natural man, miracles, and angels, and spirits
are necessarily incredible.

The different look, which the Scriptures may have
to two persons of the same intelligence is to be ac-
counted for, very often, by a difference between them
as to spiritual condition, not moral nor religious, but
simply psychical. There are persons who cannot pos-
sibly believe the Scriptures, nor love them, and who
never will, until they shall have been baptized in the
sea of affliction, and so have had their souls waked up.

" Oh, oh ! but what would that have to do with criti-
cism ? " Much and justly. Because, for lexicology the
Spirit has no meaning but only words : and science is
no more a judge as to miracles than it is as to the
chronology of the Amorites. The appeal of the Scrip-
tures as to credibility, is not to the science of either
words or matter, but to the soul of man, learned with
all possible learning, and alive through all its faculties.
1 The Old Testament is its own evidence as to author-
ity, to all persons competent to judge about it, and
who also believe in the unity of God, and are well in-
formed as to ancient nations, and as to the religions of
primitive tribes and peoples, outside of Christian civil-
ization. For the Old Testament is the history of the
manner in which that happened which is the greatest
miracle, of which it has to tell, and by which a whole
nation, man, woman, and child, priest, rabbi, and fish-
erman, became intelligent, persistent, enthusiastic, de-
voted believers in that doctrine as to the unity of God,
of which it has been the distinction of Plato, that he
caught a glimpse of it, as of some distant starry truth.

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 369

It has been a common confident objection to the
credibility of the Old Testament, that it recognizes
necromancy as a real thing. And the account of the
woman of Endor has been reckoned sufficient to vi-
tiate the whole history of the Old Testament. But
that strange narrative, by every word with which it is
worded, authenticates itself to-day, for those who are
willing to learn. From Spiritualistic experiences, at
the present time, any one can learn, that the Scriptures
were written about realities, when they mention Baal
and Baalim, and the God of Ekron, and divination by
unclean spirits. Nor am I to be deterred from this
position, by being asked whether I will support the
Bible by reasons drawn from hell. For do not most
men believe that even their respective churches are so
supported ? Baal and his crew, however, are not the
only spiritual agencies in the Old Testament, which
are made certain by Spiritualism ; but even if they
were, they would be enough for our present purpose,
with a little thinking. Hell and its ways are exactly
the opposite of heaven and those ways which lead up
to it. Always there is good reasoning from the ob-
verse. And if I am made certain as to the devils,
who got themselves worshipped anciently, then also as
a thinking creature, I am assisted as to my belief about
the prophets of the Lord, and about ministering angels,
and the angels that encamp about the righteous. And
so it is, to-clay, that a man can affirm of his own
knowledge, that the scriptures of the Old Testament
are true to the facts and powers of the spiritual uni-
verse.

There are persons, who profess to be theologians,
16* x

370 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

who are light and derisive as to the Old Testament,
and who obstinately and contemptuously harden them-
selves in their blind leadership of people, by ignoring
what might be learned from Eastern travellers, and
from the long-continued experiences of the Catholic
Church. But the theology which cannot eagerly ap-
propriate facts, instead of eschewing them, is no the-
ology at all.

The Old Testament authenticates itself for all those
persons, who have a sense for the perspective of his-
tory, good for the length of fourteen hundred years, and
who have also along with that sense, some instinct as
to spirit, and its laws and ways.

On the subject of anthropomorphism, both among
those who have assailed and those who have defended
the phraseology of the Old Testament, the ignorance
often has been indescribably great. And on neither
side do the partisans ever seem to have suspected that
perhaps the writers of the Scriptures may have written
from an understanding into which they themselves
may not have entered. That the law " was ordained
by angels in the hand of a mediator" is a controlling
fact, which it is always necessary to remember as to
the Old Testament, and which yet has never been
thought of by some of its censors. And so they have
been like persons, undertaking with a foot-rule and
compass to measure and criticise the perspective of
Eaphael's great picture of the Transfiguration. The
writers of the Books of Samuel and of the Kings
were certainly readers of the Book of Genesis ; and
therefore whatever words or figures of speech they
may have employed as to what God may have done or

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 371

said or felt, are manifestly to be understood in some
manner which may be consistent with the sublimity
and spirituality of the account, in which creation is
said to have begun, when " the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters."

But it will be objected perhaps, " Do you then really
believe that the Canaanites were slaughtered at the
instance of the Lord ? And you do believe that the
disobedient prophet was killed by a lion in fulfilment
of a Divine prediction ! And you believe that the
Lord sent a pestilence among the people when he was
displeased with them ! " Well, yes ; I do believe all
those things. But then I think about them with a
better belief than some persons can conceive of. It is
certain that the earth is the Lord's, and yet somehow
the Canaanites were slaughtered in it. And it would
seem probable, that, like many another man, a disobe-
dient prophet was killed by a lion. And that a plague
wasted the people of Israel two or three times is cer-
tain, just as hundreds of pestilences have wasted other
nations, whether they were sent or incurred or encoun-
tered. And how can a pestilence possibly ever waste
men, without the Divine concurrence being in some
way implicated ? " Shall there be evil in a city, and
the Lord hath not done it ? "

Was there necessarily a greater amount of suffering
in the world than usual, in those years when a part of
it was specially directed ? And if a man died a death,
wdiich was foretold as well as foreknown by the Lord,
should it be hard to be credited as a fact, or be counted
for an incredible thing as to the Lord, by us human
beings, who, at this moment, have, every one of us,

372 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

" the sentence of death in ourselves," either by a lion,
or a railway car, or through violence in some other
form, or else by disease ? We shrink from thinking as
to a few individuals, that certain things were divinely
done, which yet, a million times over, we say, are the
divine will as to the human race. It is the old reluc-
tance, which can believe in God easily and grandly as
the Lord of hosts, but not so readily as being " him
with whom we have to do."

It was asked of the Jews, through Moses, "For
what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh
unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that
we call upon him for ? " And really it is simply for
nighness, and not for quality of action, that exactly
objection is made to the credibility of Jewish history,
as to the Lord. And on the foregoing understanding,
nighness is simply and fairly a matter of historical
inquiry; and it is not of that utter improbability,
which is sometimes lightly supposed.

As to some actions, which purport to have been
directed by the Spirit of the Lord, objection has been
made, as not having been as merciful as Christianity, or
as vigorous as Almightiness might have made them, or
as being even of the nature of repentance. But the
action of the Spirit among men is not to be judged of
as human actions are : because the everlasting Spirit
is not as the spirits of men are. The spirit of a man,
to be its best, must strive to the uttermost : but the
Spirit of the Lord, to be at its best with men, must
temper itself for them as being weak and ignorant, and
must adjust itself to those human circumstances which
cannot be changed, without changing man himself, to

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 373

an extent which would be almost like annihilation.
Nor is the Spirit to be judged of as to its manifesta-
tion in time and space, by what men may think it
ought to show itself: since the Spirit is unchangea-
ble, because of its being actually of the essence of all
possible changes, and of all creations which ever have
been, or can be.

The Spirit of the Universe in action, is necessarily
manifested for men withinside of their human condi-
tions : and for the Jews, that it might be the better
humanized for human apprehension, it even gave " the
law by the disposition of angels."

In the Old Testament, instead of the Lord, or the
Lord God, or the angel of the Lord doing things, let it
be supposed that it was written that the Spirit of
Nature favored one race and extirpated another, and
that for violation of her laws she suddenly visited
men, with what truly were simple effects, but which
apparently were like magical punishments. And let it
be supposed, besides, that it were found to have been
written, that the Spirit of Nature was recognized by
the Jews as blasting the fields at one time and blessing
them at another, at her will. Would that sound in-
credibly to-day ; and is it not indeed what is actually
going on about us, always ?

Now the Lord God is the soul of nature. He may
be more than that and infinitely more. And he may
be the soul of various other natures, than this one,
inside the circumference of which we live. Bat
nevertheless, in a sense, God is nature. And now
plainly does not nature favor individuals, one above
another ; and one family more than another ; and one

374 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

nation above other nations, as to strength, or beauty,
or intellect, or wealth, or even sometimes as to all of
them combined ? The word " luck " is derived from
the name of a heathen deity ; and is it not still felt,
as though by nature some persons were more lucky
than others ?

For a special purpose, the Lord, as regards a particu-
lar people, acted avowedly through the forces of na-
ture, but yet not more certainly than he is always act-
ing. Spirit is the God of nature ; and also it is
animal life with "man. Also the Spirit is God Most
High, and in the souls of good believing men it is the
Holy Ghost. And as to whatever spiritual plane men
may choose to live upon, or may be raised to, the words
of Christ are true, " With the same measure that ye
mete withal, it shall be measured to you again." It
was from the Spirit, with which his soul was quick,
and from his being like the mouthpiece of Divine
Necessity, that Hosea at one time said of the Jews,
" For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the
whirlwind."

God as he is known to the seraphs, and is expe-
rienced on the seraphic plane, is not God as possibly
he could be felt on the human plane, intelligibly and
according to human wants, any more than a pious
book by William Law could answer religiously such
wants as a Kaffir may have. And God, as he is
thought of, on steps far lower down, before his throne,
than where seraphs and cherubs have their regions, is
not God as he would be intelligible to persons living
on this earth, and limited as to their capacities of
thought, by the narrowness of their experiences, and

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 375

by prejudices and feelings connected with their cra-
dles, and which they can never get clear of, but along
with their bodies. God can possibly have to do with
us, only as being ignorant. For if he should approach
us, as seraphs, we should never know of him, because
of our senses and susceptibility being inferior to the
seraphic. " Every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above, and cometh down from the Father of
lights." Yet it reaches this earth through agencies,
and perhaps even through angelic intermediations.
And certainly as it enters into this world, it is through
some particular channel ; it is through the mind of
a poet, or the apprehension of a philosopher, or dur-
ing the meditative mood of some religious genius ;
and it is, therefore, through a certain few persons, who,
whether they know it or not, are in their time and
place, more or less successfully, and more or less faith-
fully, like ministering Levites, standing before the
Lord. And it was through a similar ministration of
the Spirit, that the Old Testament was made the long-
preparatory introduction to the New. Also, of the
Gospel, the first believers and preachers as being He-
brews, were men of hereditary fitness, as being mem-
bers of a family, whose minds had been shaped as to
apprehension, expectation, and belief, by the manner
in which their forefathers had been divinely dealt
with, during more than a thousand years. And it
was from this point of view, that St. Paul wrote to
the Galatians, " Wherefore the lav/ was our school-
master to brino- us unto Christ."

o

And now let another point be considered, connected
with the miraculous. The natural eye, it may be, with

376 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

infinitely various splendors before it, can see only what,
by its nature, it is ready to perceive : and so it is with
the spiritual eye. The natural eye is fixed as to its
constituents, and therefore as to its capability of being
strengthened, and its ability of perceiving. But the
spiritual eye is not so fixed, because of its being an
organ not only for ever-widening fields, but also for
states, which may become more and more interior, to
all eternity. The eye of the spirit, therefore, when it
is open, is probably the eye of that state, in which the
spirit is, for a time, by information and faith.

It is one of the primary and deepest truths, as to
human nature, " Draw nigh to God, and he will draw
nigh to you." But a man can see only what he is
ready to see. And a Divine communication pressing
into the mind of a prophet, has shape and coloring,
from the imagery and religious expectations, with
which the receiving mind may be furnished. And so
it was, that the Father Everlasting, without beginning
or end of days, seemed to Daniel, in his vision, as
though " the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment
was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the
pure wool." Also, in the first vision of the prophet
Ezekiel, there was a manifestation of the Spirit,
through which " when the living creatures went, the
wheels went with them : and when the living creatures
were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted
up. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went."
And of this imagery, it may be, that the original, as
Ezekiel saw it, or what is some copy of it, is to be
seen to-day, among the sculptures, Assyrian perhaps,
which are preserved in the British Museum.

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 377

World beyond world, and state within state, — this is
the condition by which we live. Are there varieties of
report amongst us resulting thence spiritually ? Certain-
ly there are, and there must be ; just as in England, a
coal-heaver, a mason, a brass-founder, a glass-polisher
and an astronomer-royal, would vary infinitely about
what the heavens may be, or may have to show, though
even they may all of them actually have worked to-
gether, for the construction of the same observatory.

And if a star can shine differently into different
minds, because of their being informed, some more than
others and some less ; so may some primal truth of the
spiritual world, shining on the minds of men, be ap-
prehended by one person in one way, and by another
person in another way. And thus it is that for saints
in the same spiritual sphere with St. John, " God is
love " ; while yet for men, in a lower sphere, wanton
against grace, brutish, and rebellious, " Our God is a
consuming fire." And that indeed he must be, or else
be nothing. And perhaps revelation and the probabili-
ties of human expectation as to the next world, will
all be fulfilled in spirits having the scene about them
change with their love of God.

Much difficulty has been felt about the Old Testa-
ment, as though it were inconsistent with the impar-
tiality of God ; and as though it were a thing incredi-
ble, that God should have had "a chosen people."
But now in what manner, and for what end were they
chosen ? Was it favoritism ? But really that could
not be argued from their history, from the pestilences
and the famine which they endured, and from the
manner in which their sins were visited upon them,

378 THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

and from their captivity in Babylon, and their disper-
sion by the Eomans. And certainly with the proph-
ets, age after age, " the word of the Lord," as it came,
was commonly reproach, indignation, and warning. A
chosen people they were ; but they were chosen for the
good of others, just as much as for their own. The
promise, as it was made to Abraham, at his call, was
" And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
But why through the Jews was this blessing to accrue,
rather than through any other people ? Simply per-
haps because, as it had got to be given through some
nation, they were as good for the purpose as any other.
Or, it may be, that without being morally either better
or worse than other nations, there was in them some
constitutional peculiarity, through which they were
eligible for a particular purpose. But the use to which
God puts a man is no pleasure for him, unless first his
heart be right with God. And if a man be a born
poet, it is only with his singing aloud and well and re-
joicing others, that he can truly know and feel himself.
In what way, then, have all the families of the earth
been blessed through Abraham ? They have not all
yet been blessed, but are many of them only about
to be. But Christ was the blessing predestined. And
the Jewish mind, as it was schooled by experience,
and solemnized by the Lord, and taught of God, was
in the fulness of time, like flesh for " the Word," when
it was to dwell among us.

The experiences of the Jewish people, as they are
written in the Old Testament, regarded as mental, do-
mestic, political, and spiritual preparation, are what is
meant in the epistle to the Hebrews, where Jesus is de-

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 379

scribed as contemplating an entrance into this world,
in concurrence with prophecy, to do the will of heaven ;
and when he says, as before God, and looking down
•upon the earth, " A body hast thou prepared for me."
And thus it was actually towards us Christians of to-
day that God condescended, when he called Abraham.
And it was for us that the prophets prophesied. And
when the psalmists sang, they really sang for us of
this age, and more effectively perhaps than even for
their own immediate friends. In the Babylonish cap-
tivity, it was what might have been our faithlessness,
individually, which was chastened ; and it may be, that
through the punishment of the Jews, and their " stripes
we are healed."

The marvellousness of Jewish history is the glorifi-
cation of my nature. And whatever the graciousness
of God may have been towards Saul, it may yet avail
me to-day in the flesh, as a mere history, more than it
ever did him. And that wisdom, of which Solomon
was the channel, but which he failed to appropriate for
his own good, has been of some profit for me, through
perhaps ten thousand unknown channels.

As to every true poet that ever sung, as to every
person of spiritual insight that ever spoke, as to every
man that ever God raised up, for an emergency in hu-
man affairs, and also as to those nations, who may have
been receptive of it in any way, whether in Greece,
Italy, or Palestine, the Spirit has been manifested " for
every man to profit withal." And it is the explanation
and the justification of Jewish history, as to the pecu-
liar people, and the covenants and the fathers and the
promises, and the glory, that out of it all " as concern-
ing the flesh, Christ came, who is over all."

380 THE SPIKIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.

It would seem as though there were descent by spirit
as well as by blood ; and it would appear also as though
there were a descent by spirit, in connection with blood.
And it would seem too, with living together earnestly,
that people strengthen and perpetuate ways of think-
ing, and even generate a spirit which, for intensity and
thoroughness, is like infection for those who come with-
in its reach. And by the manner in which the Jews
were secluded from other nations, and through their
sympathy with one another as fellow- worshippers, man-
ifestly there was induced an intensity of belief as to
the unity of God, which has been like leaven for leav-
ening the whole world. And, but for the Old Testa-
ment, there never could have been the New, nor ever
could the Son of God have been manifested, nor possi-
bly could the Holy Spirit have had its right action
on believers.

And now, not unreasonably, it may seem, as though
a man of the highest science, and of the truest intui-
tions, and of the widest information as to history, might
say, " When I pray, I pray out of my heart, trusting
that the Spirit of God's sending will inform my prayer
and quicken me. And at times, also, I am glad to
think, as I kneel before my Father in heaven, that I
am looking in the direction of the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Glory to the Lord my God, who knows me better
than I know myself, and who, whatever else he may
be, is surely better than my goodness !

Glory to God, who " created the heavens and the
earth," and because of whose outflowing Spirit things
seen and temporal are but like the dark shadows of
things unseen and eternal !

THE SPIRIT AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. 381

Glory to God, whose word as it goes forth lights
high heaven with splendor, and kindles every seraph,
and enlightens every angel, and is an impulse among
men, which utters itself more or less effectively in the
languages of many lands !

Glory to God in the highest, as that archetypal mind,
whence the elements derive their properties, and whence
also are evolved the ages as they come and pass ;
wherein, too, the first man existed as a thought, before
he walked this earth in form ; and without which, no
kingdom can rise to its destiny, nor even a sparrow fall
to the ground !

Glory be to Gocl, for he makes spirits be his angels,
and flaming fire do him service !

Glory to God ! " who at sundry times and in divers
manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets."

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW.

THE New Testament is no detached piece of his-
tory ; and the documents of which it is com-
posed have other connections than simply with one
another. Its title as the New presupposes the Old
Testament : and throughout, it is alive with the spirit
and phraseology of Isaiah and Jeremiah and David
and Elijah and Moses. And just as a government may
for continuity and spirit be the same government,
throughout many generations of ministers and subjects
connected with it, so was the era of the New Testa-
ment a continuation of the line of ages, which dates
from Abraham.

At the birth of Jesus there was present a con-
tinuity of custom, thought, and hope, which began, as
all the Jews of the age gloried in believing, " with the
faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all." At
that time, for everybody, everywhere, with the excep-
tion of a Eoman garrison, for everything it was the
law of Moses. The smoke of the morning and of the
evening sacrifice went up from Mount Moriah, over
Jerusalem, just as it had been commanded in the
desert. The foundations of the temple were what
Solomon had laid. And as the priests chanted their
psalms, often it was in the words of David and of
a thousand years before. The prophets indeed were

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW. 383

dead, but in every synagogue, on every Sabbath, still
they were to be heard, speaking from their books.
And outside of Judea, in Eome probably, and in Cor-
inth, and in many other places, there was a state of
things, like what was pleaded as a fact, in a conference
of the earliest Christians about the Gentiles, and
which is thus written of in the Book of Acts : " Moses
of old time hath in every city them that preach him,
being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day."
And throughout Palestine, all the localities, loudly as
they speak to-day, yet spoke still more impressively,
eighteen hundred years ago, of Samson, Samuel, Saul,
David, Solomon, Elijah, and Elisha. And at that time,
no doubt, there were places, which seemed, as though
still glowing with the presence of Isaiah, or mourning
along with the spirit of Jeremiah, and as though still
fresh from the footsteps of Hosea and Amos, or as
though made holy by the life of Malachi, the last of
the prophets. Nor, as it would seem, had the voice of
prophecy then been quite suspended, because with his
annual entry into the holy of holies, in the temple, it
was believed that the high priest for the year became
prophetic for some particular purpose. And indeed,
at that period, all the land of Judea was alive with
traditions of what the angel of the Lord had been ;
and of what judgments had been incurred, and what
hopes had been imparted from the Lord ; and of what
miracles had been wrought, at one place and another,
and what visions, also, and dreams had been vouch-
safed to one man and another. By its nature, -time
past in Judea, for effect had become prophetic of a
future wonderful and miraculous.

384 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW.

The Old Testament was like the soul of the Jewish
people. It was what they thought from, what they
prayed by, and what they trusted to. The God'of Abra-
ham and of Isaac and of Jacob was the God they looked
to, and towards whom their souls were open. Histori-
cally, they were the Lord's people, but not therefore
spiritually, all of them, and altogether ; for it was then,
as it is to-day, when Christians pray for that coming,
which would destroy many of them with its bright-
ness. And so it was that, at the commencement of
our era, every mountain and valley and city from
Beersheba to Lebanon, every fisherman on the lake
of Galilee, and at Jerusalem every member of the
Sanhedrim, and every man in the market-place,
Scribes and Pharisees all, and every worshipper also,
that went up into the temple to pray, was alive
with the spirit of the past, and with hopes accruing
from it.

From the termination of the Old Testament to the
commencement of the New, there was a space of four
hundred years, which, however, was not without its
documents, which are to be found in the Apocrypha.
During this interval, the Jews had become more and
more a peculiar people, so as indeed to have hold of a
right belief, many of them, in a most unrighteous
spirit. And indeed they had become, and they were
what they were, a mere earthen vessel, wherein was
held aloft and before the whole world, the golden,
heavenly, eternal truth of the unity of God.

The day, which Jesus Christ said that Abraham had
rejoiced at foreseeing, was coming. And for many and
perhaps a thousand converging reasons before the

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW. 385

throne of God, " now the fulness of the time was
come." These are the first verses of the Gospel ac-
cording to St. Mark. " The beginning of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God : as it is written in
the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy
face, which shall prepare my way before thee. The
voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the
way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did
baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins. And there went
out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jeru-
salem, and were all baptized of him in the river of
Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed
with camel's hair, and with a girdle of skin about his
loins ; and he did eat locusts and wild honey ; and
preached, saying — "

And here now on the instant starts up our modern
scepticism and exclaims, " Written in the prophets, the
old prophets ! That is a A^ery good beginning certain-
ly ! But preaching in the wilderness ! A popular
preacher keeping to the wilderness, — that is too ridic-
ulous. And who was John ? who was his father ? 0,
Zacharias, indeed ! But who then was the Scribe that
registered his birth ? For, it is pretended, that the
Jews had registers of births among them. Preaching
the baj)tism of repentance ! What an audacious under-
taking ! Why was he to preach in that way, rather
than anybody else ? And then for his food, locusts
and wild honey ! Did anybody ever hear of such a
diet ? But, no doubt, he was secretly supplied from
the city with something better than that; was not
he ?" And to this, answer is proper thus : "No, he was
17 Y

386 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW.

not, probably. Go away, poor child of self-conceit
and misfortune, go away. What have you to do with
the time and scene and spirit, which we are trying to
realize ? Get away into the fields, and find, if you
can, the prodigal son ; and, far away from the flippan-
cies and fashions of the day, think with yourself till
you come to yourself, and feel yourself to be a living
soul with the feelings, responsibilities, and connections
of a soul immortal." Eeason in its majesty ought to
be welcome everywhere ; and it has a place, indeed,
immediately under the throne of the Most High. But
what has mere pertness to do at the gate of the holy
of holies ? It can really do nothing there, except
incur penal blindness ; as the Syrians did at Dothan,
when they reached out their hands for the life of the
prophet Elisha.

At the birth of Jesus Christ, it was, as St. Paul wrote
to the Galatians, because " the fulness of the time was
come." And not improbably, it was, for the whole
world, a more complete fulness of time than what
Paul of himself could ever have thought. Because, as
to the providential agencies concerned with a great
crisis in human affairs, the chief actors in it may per-
sonally know no more than many other people of the
time. For, persons may meet together for a settlement
of their differences, by argument, fight, or otherwise, and
yet be merely the representatives of forces, external to
themselves, and of the potency of which they may be
quite unaware. A great crisis like " the fulness of the
time " is to be known of by men thoroughly, only from
some watch-tower commanding the stream of time.
And so it is possible, that Paul as to the fulness of

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW. 387

time, wrote by trie Spirit, more truly than he himself
knew of.

Four hundred years previously, Plato had written,
that in his view, there was no hope of deliverance
for man, from the vile slough into which they had
fallen, but through the intervention of that Power, by
which they had been created. And as appears also,
from classical authors, there was, about the commence-
ment of our era, in the Eoman Empire, a strange, wan-
dering, prophetic sense abroad, that there was a crisis
rising as to human affairs. In describing the capture of
Jerusalem by Titus, it is said by Tacitus in his heathen
way, " Omens had happened, for averting which, there
is no rite practised by a people, who are opposed to all
religion, though actually very superstitious. Troops
were seen to meet in the sky, and arms to glisten, and
the temple was suddenly illuminated by light from
the clouds. The doors of the inner temple were sud-
denly thrown open, and a voice more than human was
heard saying that the gods were going. These things
frightened some people. But most persons were there-
by more fully persuaded, that what was contained in
the ancient writings of the priests was coming true,
that the East was about to be magnified, and people
from Judea about to rise to power." And Suetonius
writes to the same effect and says, " A certain ancient
and persistent notion had overspread the East, that by
Fate, people from Judea would become supreme." And
in the same way, Josephus wrote, after the fall of Je-
rusalem, that what had emboldened the Jews, to resist
the Eomans, was an uncertain oracle contained in their
sacred books, that some of them, about that time, would

388 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW.

rule the world. Very singular indeed was that expect-
ant state of the public mind, which there was, among
both the Jews and the heathen, during that century,
in which Jesus Christ was born. No doubt, the world
had grown ripe for a great change, and was also con-
scious of that ripeness, through the best intellects of
the age.

Greece had yielded its best as to intellectual prepa-
ration, for the world. And Borne had subordinated all
nations to itself, from Britain to the borders of Bersia,
and by permeation, had made them like one people,
and had tied them together with roads, opening in
every direction, from the Forum. The Gentiles had
been working for an end beyond their thought, and
had unconsciously been fulfilling ancient prophecy, and
preparing the world for the new doctrine that should
proclaim the brotherhood of man. Borne had uncon-
sciously been making ready with its work, and Judea,
without knowing it, had been producing the man,
against " the fulness of the time," and the fulfilment of
the prophecy of Isaiah : " The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, Brepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and
hill shall be made low : and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough places plain ; and the glory of
the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
together : for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

Brobably it was as the earth answers to heaven, elec-
trically ; but any way, so it was, that the world, at its
best, was as though expectant, about the time when
Christ was manifested. This state of expectation may

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW. 389

perhaps have been from what Plato had said, or it may
have merely been occasioned by some Sibylline proph-
ecy, such as every now and then got wandering about
the world and exciting men's minds ; or it may have
been caused simply by the shadow of a great event,
forthcoming from the gates of destiny. There is an
eclogue of Virgil, which has always had a fascination
for some minds, as seeming like what might have been
written from inspiration at Jerusalem. And certainly
it is a strange, singular poem ; for it is in the spirit of
Isaiah, rather than like the Muse of Theocritus. And
it is as though in some high mood, while Virgil was
thinking to express his best wishes for the newly born
child of a friend, he had actually been caught by the
spirit of prophecy, and been lifted up like Ezekiel, and
been made to shape his words, as though for a Messiah
just born. And if any one should think that so this
may have been, he might maintain his belief by many
analogies and instances. For, through being possessed
and overmastered by a mighty spirit, often a man has
said grandly what he never thought, and been even
like Balaam, who blessed sublimely, while wishing
only to curse. But, however that may have been, there
was, at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ, a pro-
phetic sense abroad of something great about to hap-
pen, and not in Judea only. And so it was, " now
when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the
days of Herod the king" that the words of Haggai
came true, which had been uttered five hundred years
before, not out of his own mind, but by the spirit of
prophecy, " And I will shake all nations, and the de-
sire of all nations shall come : and I will fill this house
with glory, saith the Lord of hosts."

390 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW.

And here abruptly our modern captiousness calls out,
" Somewhat indefinite that, is it not ? If there was to
he a prophecy, why was it not accompanied by the
names of persons and places, and by exact dates, and
by the names of the kings, or emperors, that were to
be ? " To which the answer is, But now the end of
that course of thought is, that you can have nothing
to do with God Almighty, unless he will show himself
in a court constituted after human methods, and be
examined and cross-examined as to his right to own
human creatures and to deal with them. Woe unto
him that striveth with his Maker ! Potsherd of earth,
is that the temper, in which you can even treat with
your fellow-potsherds ? Or is that the spirit, in which
men of the least success have ever contemplated the
earth, geologically ? Also, what, necessarily has Spirit,
foretelling its course, to do with names ; for, what has
the mere name of a man to do with the spirit of an age ?

This matter of prophecy is not for a man, whose
mind has been narrowed to the mere methods of sci-
ence, nor yet for a bigot of the Talmud, nor yet for a
bigot of any Christian kind, because really it is the
affair of human nature at its highest and truest. And
indeed it is a subject for men, not of mathematics
merely, but of poetry and intuition, and of wide learn-
ing as well as modern sharpness ; and who also have
had personal experience of the Spirit, as dealing with
them, for sin, and redemption and hope. And for such
men, the Old Testament is one long grand prophecy as
to the " desire of all nations," and the manner of his
coming.

The people of Israel were a chosen people ; were

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW. 391

they ? They were ; but yet not to the exclusion or
detriment of other nations ; because, through the
choice of them, divinely, all other nations were to be
blessed, and to know the Lord, and have a Messiah,
and receive the Spirit.

The beginning of Christianity was not at Bethlehem,
nor yet at Nazareth ; and it was indeed, very long be-
fore Caesar Augustus became emperor : for it was when
there was " preached before the gospel unto Abraham,
saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." And if
it were as Paul writes, that it pleased God " to reveal
his Son in me, that I might preach him among the
heathen," it was because, first, as he says, God " sep-
arated me from my mother's womb, and called me by
his grace." And before the words, God, Father, faith,
and Spirit could have their right meanings, as spoken
by the apostles, it was necessary that they should have
been used in joy and sorrow, and hope and fear, by one
generation after another, and by Moses as a lawgiver,
and by David as a Psalmist, and by the prophets, one
after another, in their various messages of love, or an-
ger, or direction, or encouragement.

There is not an age of the ancient Church, but lives
to-day, by its influence, in every member of the Church
of God. If faith avails me to-day, for righteousness
or a hereafter, it is because I am " blessed with faithful
Abraham." The heathen are the majority in the world,
as yet, and according to them, "there be gods many,
and lords many." And " the fool hath said in his heart,
There is no God." And that everything is God, is what
a student is liable to think, if he forgets himself, as a
finite limited creature, with whom sometimes inquiry

392 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW.

must grow microscopic as it grows intense, and there-
fore must report less and less of the infinite and eternal.
And if my soul lias in it provision against its times of
trial and agony, it is because of something in me, which
is like an instinct ; it is because of spirit by descent ; it
is because of an inherited feeling, from ages long be-
fore the commencement of our era, as to the God of
heaven and earth being the God of persons, the God
of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob ; and it is be-
cause of great souls, that wTere before Christ ; because
of the manner in which David agonized, and had his
spirit drawn, that myself I can exclaim and plead, " O
God, thou art my God."

Jesus said to the Jews, in the temple, on an occa-
sion when he was charged, somewhat indiscriminately,
with being a Samaritan, and also with having a devil,
"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and
he saw it, and was glad." This prophetic view of the
future had been a grace vouchsafed to Abraham by the
Spirit ; and apparently also it wras through the Spirit,
that Jesus was enabled to speak of it.

The Spirit of the Lord, as it legislated for the Jews,
anciently, was making ready for that wonderful liberty,
wherewith Christ was to make the whole world free.
The Spirit, through the prophets and through the
agency of nature, taught and guided the people of Is-
rael, and warned and punished them, and cheered and
blessed them, not for the sake of them, as individuals,
merely or mainly, but because they were to be a peo-
ple, " of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ " was to
come. The Spirit, as it ruled the Jews, foretold in its
action, the future of the Gentiles. These words were

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW. 393

from the Spirit, through Isaiah, nearly eight hundred
years before the birth of Jesus Christ. " And it shall
come to pass in the last day, that the mountain of the
Lord's house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; and
all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall
go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob ; and
he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his
paths : for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the
word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge
among the nations, and shall rebuke many people ; and
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and
their spears into pruning-hooks : nation shall not lift
up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
any more." The vision is not yet as to accomplish-
ment, on the subject of war : but it is not therefore the
less wonderful for any man, who has an eye for his-
tory, and the workings of the human spirit, and for those
many other signs of the times, which are to be discerned
to-day, besides what glitter from the points of bayo-
nets. Ten or twelve generations had lived and died in
the knowledge of the preceding prophecy, when, through
Malachi, the Spirit predicted as to its own course, " Be-
hold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare
the way before me ; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall
suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of
the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall
come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide
the day of his coming ? and who shall stand when he
appeareth ? " This anticipation of the Spirit was what,
four hundred years later, was to be continued as a
17*

394 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW.

lamentation of the Spirit, by the utterance of Jesus
Christ, " 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the
prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee,
how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
and ye would not ! Behold your house is left unto you
desolate." As to the preceding prophecies, the Spirit
justified itself. For, to Jerusalem, it happened, just as
was said by Jesus Christ, as he looked at it, from the
Mount of Olives. And we Christians all, do we not
worship in a temple, which though not made with
hands, has yet for its porch and entrance, that house of
God upon the mountain, which Isaiah knew of ? And
are we not Christians, because of what the Jews were
anciently ?

They were almost the last words of the last of the
prophets, " Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet,
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
Lord." They had been pondered by the Jews for four
hundred years. And so, on his appearance, John was
asked if he were the Christ, and if not the Christ, then
if he were Elias. Both which things he denied. That
the Christ was near him, he felt, but apparently without
being certain as to who it was. " And John bare rec-
ord, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven
like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him
not ; but he that sent me to baptize with water, the
same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the
Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is
he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw
and bare record that this is the Son of God."

But it is asked, "Why was that particular person

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW. 395

chosen rather than anybody else ; and why was Christ
manifested at that particular time, rather than a hun-
dred years earlier or later ? But it might as well be
questioned, as to why Milton should have been more
of a poet than all other men of his generation ; and
as to why some plant should flower certainly, and yet
only once in a hundred years.

" When the fulness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons." The
Jewish people were ripe for his production ; and all
nations were awaiting him, as their desire. And for
the fulness of the time, it was as though the whole
world were folded about by eternity, with forces and
tendencies converging for a crisis. The air felt as
though it had grown prophetic ; and men were " wait-
ing for the consolation of Israel," as Simeon was, before
it was revealed to him about the Lord's Christ. And
indeed nature now was about to let in " a multitude of
the heavenly host," for praising God, within the hear-
ing of mortals : and about to be ready also for admit-
ting inside of its walls more than twelve legions of
angels, should Jesus pray for them to the Father.

For "the fulness of the time," other conditions
may have contributed, besides those which are dedu-
cible from prophecy and history. The philosophy of
what is called a Revival of Religion might perhaps be
made to yield some information on this subject. In-
deed, historically, it is evident that there are times of
what the Scriptures call refreshing from the Lord.
And to philosophers, who even have been irreligious, it
has seemed as though at certain emergencies, there

396 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW.

certainly must have been a force, extraneous to men,
individually, which quickened and whirled them, and
disposed of them by a will of its own, independent
and irresistible.

And perhaps, also, we mortals may be spiritually
affected, for numbness or quickness, by conditions de-
pendent on even the particular quarter of the universe,
wherein our earth may happen to be carrying us. It
is common experience that we are dull or lively, with
the state of the atmosphere, and especially as to elec-
tricity. Also, at present, we are borne, annually,
through showers of what are called falling stars, but
of which, anciently, there would seem to have been
no knowledge. Men " are fearfully and wonderfully
made " ; and as being possibly children of God, they
are the creatures not of a Commonwealth simply, nor
a continent, nor even of a planet, but are natives of
the universe. And a grand and worthy saying was
that of Paul, as to the coming of Christ, and sounding
like what he might have been taught of God, — " The
fulness of the time was come."

But why did not everybody know it, when the time
was come ? But further yet than that, why has not
everybody since Adam known all that the heavens
have been proclaiming : and why do so few people
know even to-day what the best astronomers have
caught ? John the Baptist could scarcely believe in
himself He knew that he was the " voice of one
crying in the wulderness " ; but he did not know that
he was Elias. As indeed how could he know that at
a time, when all that he knew of the one behind him
was, that himself he was not worthy to take off his

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW. 397

shoes. By the Spirit, afterwards, he was shown that
the Christ was Jesus. And Jesus subsequently was
enabled to say of him, " This is Elias which was for to
come." Truths from the highest are not readily sub-
ordinated by the earthly understanding : and the moni-
tions of the Spirit are but slowly translated into the
dialect of common life.

Of the preceding remark, there is some illustration
even in the life of Jesus. When the Spirit came upon
him, in John's sight, there had to be a reception of it
and appropriation. And Jesus did not on the instant,
begin to teach on the river-side, nor look round for the
nearest sick person to heal. " And immediately the
spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was
there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan ;
and was with the wild beasts ; and the angels minis-
tered unto him." This was not unlike what happened
to Ezekiel, when the word of the Lord first came to
him. " So the spirit lifted me up and took me away,
and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit ; but
the hand of the Lord was strong upon me." For soli-
tude and fasting, Jesus was, for the time, like some
prophet of the Old Testament. But not even once
would he seem to have been a subject of that ecstasy,
which was characteristic of the prophets. Nor even
would he seem to have had what was a common expe-
rience with Daniel. " And I Daniel fainted, and was
sick certain days ; afterward I rose up, and did the
king's business ; and I was astonished at the vision,
but none understood it." But still apparently, Jesus
was not on the instant, both as to body and mind, ab-
solutely congruent with the Spirit, which had come

398 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW.

upon him. And indeed long afterwards, the Son of
man prayed in regard to his suffering greatness as the
Son of God, " Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove
this cup from me : nevertheless, not my will, but thine,
be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from
heaven, strengthening him."

And so when Jesus was " led up of the Spirit, into
the wilderness," it was that he might be tempted, as
indeed he could not but be ; it was that he might man-
if est his temper, while growing suddenly out of the
condition of a humble Nazarene, into something even
greater perhaps than " the nature of angels " ; it was
that he might commence his Messiahship with over-
coming Satan, at his greatest advantage ; and it was,
that in quiet and apart from the world, he might have
his soul quicken, and fill, and strengthen with that
Spirit, which was to become his without measure.

* THE SPIRIT.

THE Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of
God, the Holy Ghost ! There is nothing which
more intimately concerns us than that, and nothing,
also, which is more difficult to know about, theo-
logically. And yet perhaps it is simple enough, for
willing and simple people. However, of all the various
kinds of knowledge, proverbially self-knowledge is the
most difficult. And perhaps it is because the Spirit
is so near to us, and is indeed part of us, at times, and
like the breath we draw, and the strength we have,
and the light we see by, that it has been so hard to
think about.

Says Baumgarten : " The doctrine of the Holy Spirit
remained a long time undecided. It lay near to the
first church in a practical respect only." And says
Neander : " Some believed him to be a mere power ;
some confounded the idea of person with the charism ;
others supposed him to be a creature ; others believed
him to be God ; and others still were undecided.
The practical recognition of him, however, as the prin-
ciple of the divine life in man, was almost universal
in the early church." It would seem, however, as
though perhaps the uncertainty of the primitive Chris-
tians may have been a better thing than the certainty
of their successors could possibly have been, two or

400 THE SPIRIT.

three hundred years later. For, in the fourth century
of our era, the Christian Church was permeated through
door and window, by influences from the surrounding
world of heathenism and " philosophy falsely so called."
The Apostles' Creed, as it is called, would seem to have
been the earliest creed of the Church. And as to the
Spirit, this creed says simply, " I believe in the Holy
Ghost." And for a more particular belief than that,
the Creed would certainly commend us to the Scrip-
tures, and not to the controversialists of the third and
fourth centuries.

What, then, is to be understood by the Spirit of
God, the Holy Spirit ; that Spirit which was promised
and poured out ; which rested on a person, and with
which people were baptized ? Like " the Word," it is
a phrase both generic and special, and of various mean-
ings. The primary meaning of the Scriptural word
for Spirit is breath or wind ; just as the primitive
meaning of " Logos " is that by which men word their
thoughts. Other meanings of the word "spirit" are
the spirit of a living man, and the spirit of a man
which has departed the body. Angels are called
spirits. God is described as being spirit ; and his ac-
tion in nature and on man is said to be through the
Spirit.

Jesus Christ said that God is spirit. At the beginning
of creation, " The Spirit of God moved upon the face of
the waters." And said Job, " By his spirit he hath gar-
nished the heavens." And said Elihu to Job, " If he
gather unto himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh
shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto
the dust." It is true that " there is a spirit in man " ;

THE SPIRIT. 401

but it is from another spirit than itself, that it lives to
any good purpose ; for it understands aright only by
" the inspiration of the Almighty." Spirit is the life
of everything. And it is the life of my life ; and it
is also what must be with me, as a foreign presence, or
else I could not be myself, nor think, nor have a word
on my tongue. " Such knowledge is too wonderful for
me ; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither
shall I go from thy spirit ? " But besides this pervad-
ing, life-supporting presence of the Spirit, there is an
action of it which is intermittent, conditional, and
occasional.

When " all the sons of God shouted for joy " at the
beginning of our earth, no doubt, it was mainly, be-
cause for them, the new house prophesied of its in-
habitants, that were to be, age after age.

And as to the human body merely, it is plain now,
that type after type in creation, it is what nature had
been forecasting, from the first saurian that ever crept,
and from the time when the elephant was endowed
with a trunk, so wonderfully like the arm and hand
of a man, for pliability, adaptability, and delicacy of
touch. Yes, and from a period long before Adam, by
a hundred symptomatic creations, nature prophesied
of man, as he was to be, not merely as to the shape of
his body, but even also as to those instincts which
largely determine his manner of life.

Out of the same dust of the ground as an elephant
was the body of Adam formed, by the Lord God ; but
into that human body, as being a temple, wherein there
was to be worship afterwards, there was breathed " the
breath of life ; and man became a living soul." That

402 THE SPIRIT.

breath ! to all eternity, it is the difference of a step be-
tween the highest bestial and the lowest spiritual ; it is
the width of a proper miracle, on the scale of creation.

He is liable to be confused by light, for which inci-
dentally he may not be ready ; but otherwise by na-
ture, man is all that the best beast is, and additionally,
he is created with a susceptibility as to influences, from
what is super-bestial, and even supernatural. What
was written as to a higher plane spiritually than what
Adam started on, is yet applicable as to the coining of
the first man into the world, — "A body hast thou pre-
pared for me." And because of its adaptation as to the
world which now is, and because also of its porch-like
nature as to the world which is to come, the frame of
man, as connected with the book of nature, is what
might well prompt the soul to say, " Lo, I come (in the
volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will,
0 God."

A living soul, that could be spoken to, spiritually,
and that could hear, and that was even also free to
hear or not to hear, to obey or not to obey ! A new
creation this ! And also this was the commencement
of a new era under the skies. For " the Spirit of God "
which had been moving " upon the face of the waters "
had become now a voice in the garden of Eden, — the
Lord God speaking.

" The Lord God speaking ! " exclaims our modern
scepticism. " That could not have been, for he was
not obeyed; and so on any understanding of it, sym-
bolic or otherwise, there can be no meaning in that
narrative." And who are we that think so ? We are
persons certainly that own to conscience, and who have

THE SPIRIT. 403

therefore been like Adam and Eve, over and over again,
for that disobedience, which seems so incredible in
them. For, certainly, we cannot say that the voice of
conscience would be more authoritative than it now is
with us, merely for quivering on the air before reach-
ing us spiritually.

When man was created, it was by the same Spirit
as that which garnished the heavens, though by a
diversity of operation. And when that Spirit which
had coerced and informed the elements began the
training of creatures in the image of God, it was neces-
sarily through adaptation, and by being fatherly as well
as almighty, and by being perhaps a voice, while as yet
conscience had not begun to speak, and by being com-
panionship for the first human beings in the solitude
of an unpeopled world.

In the Scriptures, when it is said that God spoke,
the right understanding would seem to be, that it was
through an angel. Jacob had a dream, or more pre-
cisely perhaps, a vision in a dream, as to which he
says what follows. " The angel of God spake unto me
in a dream, saying Jacob : and I said, Here am I."
But then that same personage, which had commenced
speaking as an angel, as he continues his speech, says,
" I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the
pillar, and where thou voweclst a vow unto me." When
Moses was keeping his flock of sheep near Mount
Horeb, " the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a
flame of fire out of the midst of a bush." And when
Moses went near to see how there could be such a fire,
and the bush not be burning with it, the voice which
called to him out of the bush was from God, and it

404 THE SPIRIT.

said, " I am the God of thy father, the God of Abra-
ham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And
similarly, it is to be read, " The Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way."
And almost immediately afterwards it is written, " And
the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel,
removed and went behind them : and the pillar of the
cloud went from before their face, and stood behind
them."

In the Book of Numbers, it is to be read that Moses
talked with the Lord, and said as to the Egyptians,
"They have heard that thou Lord art among this
people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that
thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest be-
fore them, by daytime in a pillar of a cloud, and in a
pillar of fire by night." And yet at the commencement
of the Gospel of John it is written, " No man hath seen
God at any time." Now, how are these two very dis-
tinct statements to be reconciled ? It is to be done
through a third, very simply; and it is to be read in
the Book of Exodus, along with many laws, which
were given at Sinai. " Behold, I send an angel before
thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into
the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and
obey his voice, provoke him not ; for he will not par-
don your transgressions : for my name is in him. But
if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I
speak ; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and
an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine angel
shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amo-
rites and the Hittites."

When then by the letter of the Scripture it would

THE SPIRIT. 405

seem as though God had been seen or heard, it is to be
understood that it was through his angel that God was
manifested. No doubt, in the preceding text, there is
implied a philosophy of revelation which has not been
common, for many ages ; but it is not therefore the less
certainly Scriptural : and it is indeed the philosophy
of the Spirit.

Seven hundred years later than the giving of the
Decalogue at Sinai, was this utterance through Isaiah
the prophet, as to the Lord, and the angel of God.
" For he said, Surely they are my people, children that
will not lie : so he was their Saviour. In all their
affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence
saved them : in his love and in his pity he redeemed
them ; and he bare them, and carried them all the days
of old. But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit."
Later still than these words by three hundred years,
were the prophecies of Malachi. The last of the proph-
ets he was. And the Spirit as it spake through him
anticipated the Gospel. And the following words
would seem to foretell that the inauguration of Chris-
tianity would, in some way, be attended by that angel
of God who had been "the angel of his presence" for
the Israelites. " Behold, I will send my messenger, and
he shall prepare the way before me : and the Lord,
whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple,
even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight
in : behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts."
What a strange and wonderful utterance this is to
think upon ! It is the Spirit speaking from afar off,
but for effect at the present day, almost as though in
an unknown tongue. For it implies probably knowl-

406 THE SPIRIT.

edge which is lost, though not perhaps irrecoverably.
The words of that prophecy are to be read to-day by
the natural eye. But some time they will be spirit-
ually discerned ; and then they will be like an angel
testifying as to the Gospel, from his own connection
with it.

In the Scriptures, then, an angel of God is God him-
self, as it were. And it would seem also as though a
spirit in the service of God might some time have
been accounted as the Spirit of God. And this per-
haps is an import of the phrase which is illustrated by
the saying of a Jewish Eabbi, as quoted by Lightfoot,
in his HorcB Hebraicce et Talmucliccc. The Jews be-
lieved anciently that a man who wished to become a
diviner might get a demon or unclean spirit to enter
him, by a preparation of the nervous system through
fasting, and by waiting in a graveyard. Said the
Eabbi Akibah, "Does the unclean spirit come upon
him that fasts for that very end, that the unclean
spirit may come upon him ? Much more would the
Holy Spirit come upon him that fasts for that very
end that the Holy Spirit might come upon him." But
more precisely still to the point is the statement of
Lightfoot that "the seven spirits" was an ancient
phrase with the Jews for the Holy Ghost ; and that
that is the meaning of the words in the Book of Reve-
lation. "Grace be unto you, and peace, from him
which is, and which was, and which is to come ; and
from the seven Spirits which are before the throne;
and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of
the kings of the earth." Of the manifestation of the

THE SPIRIT. 407

Spirit, prophecy was one form. But by St. John
it is distinctly implied that spirits from the spiritual
world might be the manifestation of the Spirit of God.
" Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits
whether they are of God : because many false proph-
ets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye
the Spirit of God : every spirit that confesseth that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God ; and every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is not of God." Also, that the Spirit may
manifest itself through individual spirits, and through
the manner in which those disembodied, invisible
spirits may actuate human beings, appears by the
words of St. Paul, addressed to the church at Corinth,
as to how people were to behave during an actual
manifestation of the Spirit. " Let the prophets speak
two or three, and let the other judge. If anything be
revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold
his peace. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that
all may learn, and all may be comforted. And the
spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets."
Hence, it would seem as though sometimes and for
some purposes spirits might be the channels between
men and God for the Holy Ghost, and be indeed
themselves as spirits, the manifestation of the Spirit.
Among the gifts of the Spirit to the early Church, one
was " discerning of spirits," or an instinct as to in-
spiration, ■ — ability for knowing the quality of the
influence from which a prophet might speak.

The spirits by whom the prophets were made to
prophesy in the early days of the church at Corinth,
may perhaps have been some of them of another

408 THE SPIRIT.

nationality than the Jewish, or of some age earlier
than that of the captivity. And thence perhaps may
have resulted the phenomenon of persons speaking in
unknown tongues. It does not seem necessary to sup-
pose that always these tongues were absolutely new, or
even certainly foreign to this earth. Commonly they
may simply have been unknown languages to such
persons as were present to hear them. And indeed
just as the spirits who were attendant on the prophets
were to be restrained as to utterance at times, so also
were these unknown tongues to " keep silence in the
church," unless there wTere interpreters present. This
speaking in unknown tongues would seem to have
been somewhat of an incidental manifestation of the
Spirit. Says St. Paul to the Corinthians, " I thank
my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all ; yet
in the church, I had rather speak five words with my
understanding " — what a positive saying ! — " than ten
thousand words in an unknown tongue." And as to
the nature or manner of these tongues, as they were
spoken with, perhaps there may be some suggestion
latent in those words, which Paul could imagine might
be true as to himself, when he said, " Though I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels."

And analogous with what precedes is the remark
by Maimonides, on the subject of prophecy, that " on
a man intelligent, wise, holy, removed from all worldly
associations, and absorbed by heavenly contemplations,
the Holy Spirit will rest : that he intermingles with that
grade of angels called ' ishim,' and becomes quite a dif-
ferent being from what he was before." That the Holy
Spirit might come on a holy man, from his being in af-

THE SPIRIT. 409

finity with holy angels, was the doctrine of a Jewish
Rabbi of the twelfth century. He is still accounted
the greatest Eabbi that has ever been : and he prob-
ably read his Bible by light as purely Jewish almost,
as though it had been from the seven-branched candle-
stick.

Said John the Baptist as to Jesus, " God giveth not the
Spirit by measure unto him." And Jesus said of him-
self what apparently was the same thing in other words,
" Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels
of God ascending and descending upon the Son of
man." It is noticeable that the words of Jesus, as to
the angels, are the same words, which are used in Gen-
esis, in the history of that vision which Jacob had, as
to the nearness of God. " Behold a ladder set up on
the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven : and
behold the angels of God ascending and descending on
it." Carrying prayers heavenwards, and bringing back
answers and help, " the angels of God ascending and
descending " would seem to be at times the same as
the Holy Spirit. And indeed are not angels under
God, like "the seven spirits which are before his
throne " ; and " are they not all ministering spirits,
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation ? "

The Spirit must have laws and ways of which mere
mortals can never possibly know. Results from it
they may experience personally, while yet the man-
ner thereof may transcend all conjecture. Till within
the last two or three hundred years, universally men
had lived and died in ignorance that blood is reddened
and vitalized by the process of breathing. And so it
18

410 THE SPIRIT.

may well be supposed that the philosophy of human
nature, spiritually, will never be known perfectly by
anybody in the flesh. With an unperverted man,
prayer is as truly an instinct as breathing is. But as
to how prayer is power, and as to how God feels it, as
man breathes it, mortal man may never know ; nor is it
necessary that he should. Indeed, it cannot be other-
wise, religiously, than that we ought to be confident as
to some things which we cannot see. We may be
ever so prosperous in this world, and great, but yet as
human beings, we are at our best and truest only when
"Ave walk by faith, not by sight." And to persons
who live more sublimely than they can possibly know,
and as " kings and priests unto God and the Father,"
there must occur things higher as to origin than what
they can possibly trace ; because spirits living by the
Spirit have infinite, and infinitely various connec-
tions.

It has already been quoted, in another connection,
what was the last prophecy of the last of the prophets.
" Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the
coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."
Four hundred years after this prophecy was on parch-
ment, Jesus said as to John the Baptist, " What went
ye out for to see ? A prophet ? Yea, I say unto you,
and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it
is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy
face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." And
then Jesus added, " If ye will receive it, this is Elias,
which was for to come."

Elijah back again on the earth, after more than eight
hundred years ! So indeed it would seem that men

THE SPIRIT. 411

. might have thought. And if there be any connection
between this world below and the world above, as to
intercommunicating agencies, it may well have been,
that Elijah of the age of Ahab and Jezebel, who had
vanished from earth, on a highway of the Spirit, and in
a chariot like fire, might have been expected to " first
come and restore all things " against the coming of the
Messiah and the kingdom of heaven. And of his near-
ness to the earth and his connection certainly with
Jesus, the narrative of the Transfiguration is evidence,
wherein it is written, " Behold there talked with him
two men, which were Moses and Elias : who appeared
in glory, and spake of his decease which he should
accomplish at Jerusalem."

Moses and Elias then had known of Jesus in their
world, and had conversed together about him, many a
time probably, before they were seen talking with him
on the Mount. And, no doubt, their discourse as to
his decease was from their angelic foreknowledge, and
from their sensitiveness as to that Spirit, through which
an acorn is an oak-tree in a shell, and Christianity is
the development of Judaism, and the world of to-day
is the germ of some distant millennium.

But Moses and Elias knowing of Jesus, so as to
meet him on the Mount ! Certainly, there are persons
to be startled by that wording of the fact, who, all their
lives, have been reading of it in the Bible, very de-
voutly indeed, but yet very thoughtlessly. Moses and
Elias in glory not know of Jesus of Nazareth ! They
must have known of him, and of the purpose as to
which one day he would say, " For this cause came I
unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name." And Moses

412 THE SPIRIT.

and Elias may well have been not only knowing of
Jesus, but concerned also with his way and work in
the world. For, indeed, — another thing so often read
and so seldom believed, — actually "there is joy in
the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that
repenteth." That grace which had reached the earth
in the person of Jesus Christ, — it may well be that
Moses and Elias had been accessory to it, and that
they had even, during the captivity in Babylon, been
inquiring among the spirits of the prophets Ezekiel,
Malachi, and Isaiah, " searching what or what manner
of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ, and the glory that should follow."

It should be observed, what is rarely and almost
never noticed, that on the Mount at the time of the
Transfiguration, what happened was seen by Peter,
James, and John in a vision, and while they were in a
trance-like state. " And as they came down from the
mountain, Jesus charged them saying, Tell the vision
to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from
the dead." They had seen in a vision, and after an
unearthly manner, just as afterwards " Cornelius saw
in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day
an angel of God coming in to him " ; and just also as,
by a corresponding vision, Peter was prepared for hear-
ing of what had happened to Cornelius the devout
centurion ; because having gone up upon the housetop
to pray, " he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened."
And similarly, Daniel says as to the commencement
of a revelation which was made to him from an angel,
that his strength failed him, " And when I heard the

THE SPIRIT. 413

voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my
face." That sleep was of the body, merely, and not
of the soul. It was the same state as that in which
Abraham was, when a covenant was made with him
by the Lord ; and when " as the sun was going down a
deep sleep fell upon Abram."

That sleep or fitness for visions is something like
the same thing, apparently, as being " in the Spirit."
It is a condition in which the ear is closed against
thunder, and in which the eye is as though it were
dead, and in which the skin is insensible even to fire.
It is a state in which the soul is purely itself, and
hears through its spiritual ears, and sees through its
spiritual eyes, and is conscious of another atmosphere
than this of earth.

Also then being " in the Spirit " means often, being
in a state in which the body is nothing, and through
which, also, the soul is among spirits and may see
angels. At the time of the conversion of St. Paul,
Ananias told him, "The God of our fathers hath
chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and
see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his
mouth." And now how were these words made good ;

CD '

and how was Jesus Christ seen by Paul ? This is
what Paul himself says : " And it came to pass, that,
when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I
prayed in the temple, I was in a trance ; and I saw
him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly
out of Jerusalem ; for they will not receive thy testi-
mony concerning me." And that the trance which he
wrote of is as though his body had been abolished for
a time, or as though the soul's connection had been sus-

414 THE SPIRIT.

pended with it, is plain by what St. -Paul says as to his
having been in Paradise, when he heard things, which,
though he might have felt, he was unable to utter for
want of words. The Principia of Newton never have
been and never can be translated into Erse. Nor
possibly, therefore, could the sublimities which Paul
heard in Paradise have been reducible into Greek,
by any human skill. And as to that abnormal state
which he experienced, his words about it are for sim-
plicity almost as wonderful as what he narrates. And
indeed they are the words of a man familiar with mir-
acles. These are the words : " I knew a man in Christ
above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I can-
not tell ; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell :
God knoweth), such an one caught up to the third
heaven."

During the trance which Paul had in the temple, at
Jerusalem, it is possible that his spirit may have
parted from his body, and by some spiritual law may
have reached either Paradise or the third heaven, like
a ray of light. But also it is conceivable that while
Paul was entranced in the temple, his soul may simply
have been wearing the body like insensate clothes, and
been receiving some influence from above, by which
it became more and more intensely spiritual, and by
which also it found itself successively in affinity with
one heaven, and another, and even a third. And of
that preternatural experience, as to the manner, either
understanding well corresponds with such texts as
these, in the Book of Eevelation, " Immediately I was
in the spirit," and " He carried me away in the spirit."

This being " in the Spirit " would seem to be con-

THE SPIRIT. 415

currently with nature. Man by his nature is capable
of intromission as to spirit, and of being caught up
into Paradise, and of hearing what the Spirit says, and
what also angels may have to say or show. And in
regard to revelation, the deep sleep of the body which
was experienced by prophets and apostles may have
been but a consequence of their souls having been
intensely quickened in some way, at some point.
For often persons, with great excitement, mentally,
have found that there had been thunder without their
notice, and that even they had been severely wounded,
without knowing that they had been struck. And in-
deed many times, martyrs and confessors have tes-
tified, as to their having had no sense of pain, while
the torturers were at work upon them.

But how are men approached or reached or affected
by the Spirit ? In many ways perhaps, and contin-
gently on many conditions, as to person, time and
place ; as indeed may well be supposed, when it is re-
membered how persons differ from one another, men-
tally, and by education and by nationality, — and also
how men of the same descent must necessarily be dif-
ferenced by the varying tone of the successive cen-
turies into which they are born.

In one age, a man may live by the Holy Ghost, and
be strong and joyful in it, without a wish for a miracle
or a thought of one. While in another age, a man
cannot think but that he grows from birth to death
simply from out of his earthly self, like a plant rooted
in the earth ; and for him, therefore, some gift of the
spirit, or some miracle or sign, might be of infinite im-
portance, as a thing for thought ; because of its mani-

41 G THE SPIRIT.

festing a connection for him with a world invisible of
spirit.

A royal miscreant like Ahab was not approachable
by the Spirit, as though he had been some " bruised
reed." Isaac, the patriarch and shepherd, may have
been capable of having the Lord appear to him in a
vision, in the night, while yet he may have been
utterly incapable of having the Spirit of the Lord
breathe through him, for the wording and soul of a
psalm. Just before his death, Jacob was more fully
prophetic than in all his life before. "And Jacob
called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves to-
gether, that I may tell you that which shall befall you
in the last day." And why, and how was this ? It
was because almost his spirit was inside of the spir-
itual world, and was within hearing perhaps of the
angel of the covenant ; and it was because he would
within a few minutes have " gathered up his feet into
the bed, and yielded up the ghost."

Before the prophet Samuel was called, there had
been a time, for the Jews, when " there was no open
vision." And that time would seem to have been so
long as that even there had occurred with it a change
in the use of words. For, in connection with Samuel,
it is to be read, that in Israel " he that is now called a
prophet was beforetime called a seer." And indeed it
was not because of a long time having elapsed, or be-
cause of mere worldly craving, that ever the word of
the Lord was vouchsafed. Nor ever was the Spirit
receivable by everybody alike. While the Jews were
yet on their journey from Egypt to the promised land,
the Lord had said, by way of magnifying Moses, over

THE SPIRIT. 417

his successors, " If there be a prophet among you, I the
Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision,
and will speak unto him in a dream." Before there
can he a revelation from the highest, there must be a
receptive state in some person on the earth. And it is
but a development of this truth, according to the phi-
losophy of revelation, to say that certain persons of a
prophetic temperament, must have been faithful to
their nature and have been welcomed among their
fellow-creatures, before God can draw nigh to men
through the Spirit, rather than by convulsion, pes-
tilence, and the terrors of the Lord, or by that penal
blindness, which is none the less fearful because it
does not know of itself.

As to the preceding statement, worldly objection of
any kind is nothing. What is all the state of Bceotia
to-day, in comparison with Homer ? Poetry is a
mighty influence ; for it glorifies the earth and man's
life in it ; and it can prepare in the mind the way of
the Lord. And yet not every man, but only one man
in the seventeenth century, was born with a soul
which could so live on earth as to leave behind, on its
departure, the works and the glory of John Milton.

Thoughts from on high as to God, or high thoughts
concerning God, can reach mankind only through such
minds as may, at any time, be open and willing to
receive them. This gentle manner of approach is not
however of necessity. Though certainly the way of the
Spirit, in this world, at present, would be confusion
worse than what happened at the tower of Babel, and
would even be suffering worse than what the Israelites
were punished with, in the desert, but that it is tem-
18* AA

418 THE SPIRIT.

pered for us and administered, by what in a Christian
way, may be called the fatherhood of God. And in-
deed the condescension of God, toward this world, as
he wraps it about and fills it with his Spirit, is not by
acts dating from eras, but it is continuous, and like a
stream, for " ho, every one that thirsteth."

Man must think of God, before he can feel that God
remembers him. " Draw nigh to God, and he will
draw nigh to you." A lonely disciple is not without
Christ, and yet also these words are not a mere truism,
however they may be interpreted, " where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them." And in these words, there is some-
thing spiritual meant, and beyond what Novalis may
have intended intellectually when he said, " Certainly
my belief gains infinitely as to strength, as soon as it is
shared by another person."

" The assembling of yourselves together " is a form
of waiting for the Spirit, whether or not it be so under-
stood by mere church-goers. Men are approachable by
the Spirit, not only as individuals, but as societies.
Any day, by the mysterious alchemy of the universe,
seekers after God may suddenly have their earnestness
open out into the Spirit, and have the Spirit come in
upon i^3m. And with taking " sweet counsel together,"
and walking " unto the house of God in company," and
with looking steadfastly towards heaven, Christians are
in a way to see it open, and to have their hearts fill
with a strange, unearthly joy in the Holy Ghost. " He
that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
And so also is it as to the Spirit. It was on believers

THE SPIRIT. 419

in an expectant attitude, and on those who did " wait
for the promise of the Father/' that the Spirit was
poured forth, after the ascension of Jesus Christ. They
were drawn together by their faith ; and the thoughts
of all of them were conjointly a longing expectation.
" And when the day of Pentecost was come, they were
all with one accord in one place."

According to the Scriptures then the Spirit was that
of which there can be an outpouring in one age and
a dearth in another. It is what can be imparted to a
man, and what can be withdrawn from him, and it is
what also he can quench as to himself. Occasionally,
also, it is what can be imparted by one man to another,
not however as arbitrary grace, but only like some an-
gelic whisper, for the inmost being of the recipient.
In the evening after his resurrection, the disciples be-
ing assembled together in a room, of which the doors
were closed for fear of the Jews, Jesus became present
among them and breathed on them, and said, " Eeceive
ye the Holy Ghost." The Holy Spirit was also com-
municable, occasionally, by the apostles, through their
hands, while placed on right-minded persons. Arguing
with the high priest and the council, at a very early
day in the Church, Peter said of the Holy Ghost that
it was what " God hath given to them that obey him."
And at a later period than this, when Peter wTas preach-
ing to hearers who were not all of them Jews by blood,
to the astonishment of them of the circumcision, " the
Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word."
Spiritual affinity had met the Spirit, through the agency
of Peter, at Csesarea, and then and there and thereby
began to be fulfilled that promise which was made to

420 THE SPIRIT.

Abraham by the Lord, almost twenty centuries before,
" I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless
thee, and make thy name great ; and thou shalt be a
blessing ; and I will bless them that bless thee, and
curse him that curseth thee ; and in thee shall all fam-
ilies of the earth be blessed." Also apart from all hu-
man agency, and at all times and everywhere, on the
assurance of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is what can
certainly and even perhaps suddenly be obtained by
everybody, by prayer. " If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much
more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
to them that ask him ? "

The Spirit of God may be poured out on men, in
multitudes ; or it may spread from heart to heart like
a flame ; or by possessing itself of the body of some
man, it may even speak expressly. It may reach one
man, like some " word of the Lord " suddenly revealed
in the mind ; and to another man it may be imparted
by angelic agency. It may strike a man with convic-
tion, while he is in a crowd : and conceivably it may
get lodged with him, during deep sleep, when some-
times God " openeth the ears of men and sealeth their
instruction, that he may withdraw man from his pur-
pose, and hide pride from man."

The Spirit is always the selfsame, but in operation
it may be of infinite diversity. And for this reason,
it is variously described. The Spirit is the Holy
Ghost ; but the Holy Ghost is a phrase, which cannot
always be used for the Spirit of God. Chaos became
order and was made to blossom with beauty, and the
heavens around were garnished by the Spirit of God,

THE SPIRIT. 421

but not by the Holy Spirit; because fire and water,
trees and animals, are all alike incapable of holiness ;
and so too are all the stars, however they may differ
from one another in glory. Prophetically what came
upon Balaam was the Spirit of God ; and it was by the
same Spirit that prophets and apostles were inspired :
but if in them it was the Holy Spirit and differed
from what Balaam felt, it was because of their having
been better men than he, and sensitive to holiness ;
and because it was, as it is written, " holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

In the Gospel of John, the following words were
spoken, with a view to the distress which the disciples
were soon to feel, and what also would be their need
of instruction. And in these passages the Spirit is the
Holy Ghost, and it is the Comforter, and also it is the
Spirit of truth. " I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another Comforter, that he may abide with
you forever ; even the Spirit of truth." And then
soon afterwards Jesus says, " The Comforter, which is
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things, and shall bring all
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you."

In the New Testament, what is " the Spirit of your
Father," as mentioned by Matthew, is " the Holy
Ghost " as recorded by Luke.

Men are reached by the Spirit, on one plane and
another. As walking, thinking, working creatures on
the earth, " the inspiration of the Almighty giveth
them understanding." But for men " in the image of
God created," the Spirit can be the Holy Spirit: And

422 THE SPIRIT.

by still other persons, the Spirit of God can be felt
like the spirit of the Son of God, for tenderness and
encouragement, and sweet loving assurance. And to
men who feel as Jesus felt, and who feel also that cer-
tainly it cannot be otherwise than that " the Father
loveth the Son," Paul would say, as though it were the
way of the universe, " and because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father."

God, that made all things, is " all things to all men "
to a greater extent than ever Paul was made. From
north to south, from the earth to the sun, and from one
sun to another, it is by the Spirit of God, that the uni-
verse is coherent. And it is by the same Spirit, that
men are made to differ, and the stars also from one
another in glory, and one era on tins earth from an-
other, as time wears on. When the beasts of the field
were made, it was by the Spirit, but not by as much
of the Spirit of God as what created man in his own
image. And man, as he lives, is more and more recep-
tive of that Spirit.

There are persons who believe in the Spirit as a
pious word, but cannot conceive of it as an actuality
which concerns them. And there are some who say
scornfully, "What sign is there of the Spirit, any
more than there is of spirit, at all ? A mere Hebra-
ism ! Who but the Jews ever thought of it ? And
what way is there by which it could ever get at us ?
There is no possibility of it between us and the sun ;
and under the earth, there is certainly nothing of the
kind." But now the argument from ignorance is good
only as it is used by persons who know a great deal,
;ch those scornful ones never do.

THE SPIRIT. 423

The susceptibilities of human nature as to spiritual
action, are many, as may perhaps have already ap-
peared. And additionally this is conceivable. As the
body is the case of the soul, so may animal magnet-
ism serve for the corporeity of the Spirit, sometimes,
and for one or two purposes. Just as it is written as
to Peter and John among the Samaritans, " Then laid
they their hands on them, and they received the Holy
Ghost."

But indeed myself already I am spiritually in-
sphered, and so I have been ever since I was born as
a living soul. It is true, as I look up, that there is
nothing between me and the sun, for such eyes as I
can open as yet. Nor is it likely that ever my spirit-
ual sight will be opened, till I shall have got through
the valley of the shadow of death. But still if I
could look to-day, with those eyes, through which it is
possible that hereafter I may even see Uriel in the
sun, I should discern between this earth and the al-
tered look of that luminary, at various distances, signs
probably of principalities and powers, and ways of com-
munication with the New Jerusalem ; and I should be
sensible of the magic properties of another atmosphere
than this of earth ; and I might thereby also perhaps
become conscious of strange affinities drawing me like
old friendships, towards Paul or Dante ; and toward
some angel, who may at some time have encamped
about me in a time of trouble, without my knowledge ;
or toward some remote ancestor, whose name I may
never have heard of; or toward some spirit, whose
course in his earthly life was marked by like lines with
my own ; or toward some fellow-Christian, who may

424 THE SPIRIT.

have thrilled, in church, without my knowledge, to
the same movement of the Spirit as what quickened
me.

Is it said that there is no avenue for the Spirit, as
to human nature ? It might as well be said that there
is no channel in the air, whereby words can pass from
man to man !

The universe is alive with the Spirit and with spirit-
ual occupants, and has always been thought to be so,
except by a few people now and then, and here and
there, — persons of a nature somewhat elephantine as
to outlook, and unfortunate as to education. Accord-
ing to an old word for a prejudice on the subject,
there are those who cannot believe in the existence of
spirit. There have been persons, especially in France,
who have been even bigoted against a belief in human
immortality or in spirit. During the first half of this
century, magnetism was ardently studied in France,
but when it began to give signs of being spiritually
connected, some of its greatest adepts were shocked
and scandalized as being men of " the world that now
is." The Baron Dupotet was so affected ; but yet he
could not but say, " There is an agent in space, whence
we ourselves, our inspiration and our intelligence pro-
ceed ; and that agent is the spiritual world which sur-
rounds us." Those are the words of a French adept
and scholar as to magnetism, and which were true to
his own knowledge, as he thought. And these words
following are by Confucius, the contemporary, indeed,
of the prophets Zechariah and Haggai, but yet who was
also a Chinese, " An ocean of invisible intelligences
surrounds us." Plotinus has been quoted in opposi-

THE SPIRIT. 425

tion to Christ and the apostles by anti-supernaturalists,
who apparently were quite unaware of his claims to
be an ecstatic. But Plotinus said, what, no doubt, was
of his own experience, as he believed, " All things are
full of demons," or in plain English, "Everywhere
there are spirits."

This spirituality of the universe is the testimony of
almost all tribes and nations, in every age. It was the
persuasion of Greece, and Egypt, and Chaldea. Under
the light, conjointly of history and criticism, what the
Scriptures were especially given to teach is not the re-
ality of the spiritual world, as many people think, but
rather the certainty and nature and operation of the
Spirit of God, or*the Holy Ghost.

It is of the nature of the godhead, that it should be
always revealing itself, in one way and another ; in
the make of a diamond, in the beauty of a fern ; in
the cry of a young raven and the manner in which it
gets answered ; in the appearance of the first man on
earth ; and in that glimmer of Providence, which is
perceptible on the stream of time historically, and wdiich
to some eyes is as dubious as phosphorescence, and yet
still as certain.

Geology is science as to the Spirit of God, while it
was shaping the earth. And the Bible is the history
of the Spirit, in its relations with man. The tent of
Abraham, the sojourn in Egypt, the captivity in Baby-
lon, Moriah, and the lake of Galilee are but accessories
to the history. The Old Testament and the New are
a revelation of every man to himself, through the
Spirit, and a revelation also of the eternal Spirit as it
acts in time.

426 THE SPIRIT.

And now perhaps we are in a way, wherein can be
resumed more intelligently what was being discussed
about Elijah as the forerunner of Jesus Christ. And
it should be remembered, that what is now being con-
sidered is in connection with the reign of the Spirit,
made visible. During the transfiguration, the disciples
saw Elias in the spiritual world, and so when Jesus
referred to his death, as being perhaps not far off, " his
disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the Scribes
that Elias must first come ? And Jesus answered and
said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore
all things. But I say unto you, that Elias is come al-
ready, and they knew him not, and have done unto
him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the
Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples under-
stood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist."
John the Baptist was a man like any other Jew, and
yet also he was Elias. The philosophy of this matter
is the same as that which was entertained by the sons
of the prophets, after Elijah had vanished in heaven,
when they said, " The spirit of Elijah doth rest on
Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed them-
selves to the ground before him." And so according
to this account, John the Baptist, in the flesh, may in
some way possibly have been influenced by Elijah,
while dwelling in a state altogether foreign to flesh
and blood, and sun, moon and stars. For the spirit
indeed, time and space are nothing, or nearly so ; while
sameness of mind or spiritual affinity may, under
God, be almost everything.

But why should John the Baptist have been inspired
by Elias, or in any way have been Elias ? It was, no

THE SPIRIT. 427

doubt, because of the spiritual constitution of the uni-
verse. And thereby it was not an exceptional event,
but was in conformity with other things, which concern
us, and of which some perhaps affect us frequently.
In Patmos, John received a revelation from an angel,
which revelation the angel had received from Jesus
Christ. And it was in a similar manner, probably, that
Elijah was concerned with Christ, as making the Bap-
tist " go before him in the spirit and power of Elias."
And indeed the whole ministration of the world, in-
tellectually, morally, and spiritually, is largely by me-
diation. For when influences from above reach men,
commonly it is through a certain few, who are like
mediators for the rest. And according to St. Paul, not
only was the law " ordained by angels," but also it was
" in the hand of a mediator."

It was by the foreknowledge of God, and through
the operation of spiritual laws no doubt, and of his
own free-will also, that Elijah was the spirit and power
of John the son of Zacharias the priest. But now
Elias had left the earth nine hundred years, when he
intervened through the Baptist. And yet also, nine-
teen hundred years before Jesus was born, there had
been " preached before the gospel unto Abraham."

Often on earth, that which is a mystery of the king-
dom of heaven had its beginning with the Spirit, and
is outside of the reach of mere reason, and is what
only the Spirit can ever show, or even hint about.

According to the Book of Pievelation, " Behold the
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with
them, and they shall be his people." In a state of
more or less intelligence Archbishop Fenelon, Jacob

428 THE SPIRIT.

Bohme, George Fox, and William Law, and Sweden-
borg, and Charles Wesley and his brother John, and
multitudes, more or less like them, have entered into
the court itself of that temple, during the last two or
three hundred years. But nevertheless, one generation
after another, for, now, a long time, while Christians
have been going up to the temple for worship, com-
monly they have had but a poor belief, and often none
whatever, as to the holy of holies, and the positive,
kind, familiar, human nearness of the Spirit.

The holy of holies ! Now under Christ Jesus, the
actual place of it is in the soul itself, if only men had
faith in it, and could believe in the Spirit.

And indeed it is in the Spirit, and from the Spirit,
that man is to live to all eternity, and even just as he
does already. For, truly the human body is the high-
est formation of the Spirit which there is in connec-
tion with this earth. And indeed, optically, diamonds
of the purest water are but ancient experiments in the
workshop of nature, with a view to the human eye.

The recent discoveries, through which the powers of
nature lend themselves to human use, and under the
application of which the fields grow more fertile, and
the depths of the earth yield up their treasures, are
often spoken of, as nature unveiling herself. Nature
unveiling herself, — what is that ? 0 thou poor idol-
ater of second causes, what is nature ? Nature is but
one of the lower titles of God. And " nature unveiling
herself," if it means anything, means the Spirit of
God, revealing itself of its own good-will on a plane
which is level with human intellect.

But, at its best, what is all that eases our bodily

THE SPIRIT. 429

life, or even that glorifies existence for us, as mere
denizens of this earth, in comparison with that reve-
lation of the Spirit, of which man spiritually is sus-
ceptible ? Fearfully and wonderfully made as man is
as to his body, he is yet more wonderful still as to his
soul. And of all the creatures that have ever been on
this earth, man only is what can answer, in any way,
to the fatherhood of God. And we human creatures,
at this late time, ought to be able to understand read-
ily the meaning of St. Paul, when he asks, " Know ye
not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you ? "

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT.

THIS essay is simply what it purports to be, and is
not a treatise on Christology.

During Ins stay in the wilderness, Jesus was quali-
fied for his work, by having his spirit tried to the utter-
most by what he was to preach against. His trial was
probably like the trial of Abraham as to his faith, and
was while his soul was in a state wherein it was exer-
cised independently of his bodily senses, and irrespec-
tively of geographical limitations. And if that condition
should be called a state of vision, it should be remem-
bered that a vision differs from a dream much more
widely and profoundly than even waking does. From
out of his inmost being Jesus withstood that concen-
tration of all temptation, for which as to subtlety the
word is Satan. " And he was there in the wilderness
forty days, tempted of Satan ; and with the wild
beasts : and the angels ministered unto him."

On his reappearance, after his seclusion in the des-
ert, he received a message from John the Baptist. The
day of the Lord is light only for the children of light.
And by some persons it is never known of while it is
passing. John the Baptist was to be famous forever,
in connection with the gospel, and yet for discern-
ment, spiritually, of the time in which he was living,
" he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT. 431

than lie." John was the forerunner of Jesus, and also
he had borne " record, saying, I saw the Spirit descend-
ing from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him " ;
and yet "when John had heard in the prison the
works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said
unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look
for another ? " It was a " day of visitation." It was
the time of the Spirit, and by the Spirit, judgment
was to be formed. John, as well as Jesus, was
withinside of its sphere. John was in mortal danger
of his life ; and Jesus probably felt that he was
himself on the way to Calvary ; and so, as though
death were nothing, because of the surrounding light
from heaven, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Go
and show John again those things which ye do hear
and see ; the blind receive their sight, and the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel
preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall
not be offended in me."

This answer to John was exactly like the claim
which he had made on his return from the wilderness.
He had taught in various . synagogues acceptably.
" And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought
up : and as his custom was, he went into the syna-
gogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the
prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he
found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to
heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the

432 JESUS AND THE SPIRIT.

captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the accepta-
ble year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he
gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the
eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fas-
tened on him. And he began to say unto them, This
day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all
bare him witness and wondered at the gracious words
which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is
not this Joseph's son ? " Those gracious words are not
to be known of now ; but it would seem, that in some
way, they were provocative, as they were thought
about. And then miracles, like what had been heard
of, from Capernaum, would seem to have been ex-
pected. And thereupon by Jesus, it was stated that a
miracle was not a thing for everybody, nor forthcoming
always at demand. Very instructive is the narrative
of this matter by Luke. More and more devilish
always does the spirit of the world become with argu-
ing against the Spirit of G-od. And so it was, that in
his own city, on a Sabbath day, and after having been
admired for his gracious utterance, that Jesus was in
danger from all who heard him, for " they led him unto
the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that
they might cast him down headlong."

In the synagogue on that Sabbath day, as Jesus read
and spoke, it was because of his having " returned in
the power of the Spirit into Galilee." The power of
the Spirit ! what was that ? It was the same thing as
what is implied in this text, "And Jesus being full
of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was
led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT. 433

tempted of the devil." " It was that controlling, inspir-
ing power, by which, on account of his nature, it is
conceivable that practically he may have been like
almightiness in a robe of clay, and like omniscience,
as far as the scanty words of a poor dialect could af-
ford it utterance. Said Jesus of himself, " He whom
God hath sent speaketh the words of God : for God
giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The
Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into
his hand." And as further illustrating this union of
Jesus with the Father, by the Spirit, for the manifesta-
tion of the Father on earth, Jesus said, " The Father
loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that him-
self doeth : and he will show him greater works than
these, that ye may marvel."

As used by Jesus, the phrase, "the Father that
dwelleth in me," would seem to be of the same import
as " the Spirit of the Lord is upon me." And like
this variety of phrase is what follows. In the Gospel
of Mark, Jesus tells his disciples, " Whatsoever shall
be given you in that hour, that speak ye : for it is not
ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost." But according to
Matthew it was worded thus, " For it is not ye that
speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in
you."

After his temptation, Jesus " returned in the power
of the Spirit into Galilee." It may help to elucidate
the phrase, to remember that Simeon was a just man
and devout, and one of whom it is written that " the
Holy Ghost was upon him," and that at the presenta-
tion of Jesus, " he came by the Spirit into the tem-
ple."

19 bb

434 JESUS AND THE SPIRIT.

To the modern mind it is something strange, and a
thing to he challenged, that Jesus should have arrived
in Galilee " in the power of the Spirit." Whereas the
phrase was easily and naturally intelligible till within
less than the last two hundred years ; and indeed had
been so in every age of that spiritual descent, by
which we Christians derive from Abraham.

As to familiarity of belief, connecting heaven with
earth, first an angel disappeared, and then a spirit be-
came improbable, and then by degrees the Holy Ghost
became less and less intelligible, and more and more
limited as to what it might seem to mean. And this
has been as a murky effect of those various philoso-
phies of a materialistic origin, which have obtained
during the last two hundred years. It is at this point
that the records of revelation are liable to be obscured
to minds thus accidentally darkened. But the relia-
bility of the Scriptures, as to meaning, is not therefore
invalidated. For a dictionary may be lost ; but if it
should be found again, and answer its purpose as an
interpreter, it is not therefore the less trustworthy.
And indeed the mere records of Christianity, with
their multitudinous corroborations, historical and psy-
chological, are in the high court of reason, and by
comparison, far superior, as to credibility, to all the ev-
idences, on the strength of which geology prides itself.
But apart from this all and above it, is what is the main
evidence as to Christianity, as soon as ever a man be-
gins really to hear the gospel ; because " the Spirit it-
self beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God," and because further " it is the Spirit
that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth."

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT. 435

For a moment, on that Sabbath day in Nazareth,
while prejudice was asleep, and Avhile he was being
listened to in the synagogue, with all eyes fastened
upon him, Jesus was probably for everybody a man of
prophecy, and for some, perhaps, even the Messiah.
But with being offended in him, his hearers had him
change in their sight, to what apparently was worthy
not only of excommunication, but even of death, ac-
cording to the law of the synagogue.

Said Mcodemus to Jesus, "Kabbi, we know that
thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can
do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with
him." But notwithstanding these miracles, soon after-
wards this happened. Said Jesus, " He that is of God
heareth God's words : ye therefore hear them not, be-
cause ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews,
and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a
Samaritan, and hast a devil ? " On the same facts
such different judgments, because of such different
judges !

And in a similar manner, and to a great extent,
Christ Jesus was even to his believers, what they were
ready or qualified for calling him. And thence per-
haps he may have been apprehended variously by
persons of different schools, rabbinically, and other-
wise, and according also as they may have had right of
entrance into the temple, as converts, or as Hebrews
of the Hebrews, or as priests. And indeed before the
birth of Jesus, some of the various descriptions as to
his office, were certainly phrases which were in use
among the Jews, and were not improbably employed
as synonymes, though of diverse origins scholastically.

436 JESUS AND THE SPIRIT.

And so in the first age of the Church, Jesus " was a
prophet mighty in deed and word before all the
people " ; and also he was the angel of the covenant :
he was the Son of man and the Son of God : he was
the light of the world, and he was the Word made
flesh : and he was the Saviour of the world, and also
its Judge. He was " the Lamb slain from the founda-
tion of the world," and he was the " great high priest
that is passed into the heavens," and also as Christ,
he " through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God." And further it is as to Christ Jesus, that
it is written in the epistle to the Hebrews, " After the
similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
who is made, not after the law of a carnal command-
ment, but after the power of an endless life." A grand
statement this ! But yet at the time when it was
made it must certainly have been much more readily
intelligible by " a Hebrew of the Hebrews," or by one
brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, than by " devout
Greeks."

The sun is a thousand things for operation, as it
rises, and so also was the sun of righteousness. Said
Jesus as to John, " A prophet ! yea, I say unto you,
and much more than a prophet. This is he of whom
it is written, Behold I send my messenger before thy
face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." And
that, by which Jesus Christ was the fulfilment of the
various conceptions, which his contemporaries had of
him, was that by which he could say of himself, " God
giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him."

The Spirit of God is equivalent to all miracles in
one, just as it is the essential spirit of all the de-

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT. 437

velopments or creations which have been since the
time, when what was " without form and void " began
to grow into the forms and powers of that nature,
which surrounds and supports us. It is " the spirit of
life," from insect to man, and more divinely still it is
" the spirit of life in Christ Jesus," through a sense of
which any man may become " a new creature." It is
the spirit of the universe waiting on man, as far as
what is universal and eternal can possibly express it-
self through what is merely temporary and local, or as
far as human nature is possibly susceptible of it.

But here it may be said, " What then ? and how is
it ? Human nature, at its best — dust of the earth,
however divine the soul may be that wears it — hu-
man nature, how is it approachable by that Spirit ?
For indeed credibility is something and indeed it is a
great matter." And so it is : and every seed is a pre-
sumption, of there being somewhere a soil fitted for it ;
and " every word of God " implies that properly some-
where there are " ears to hear." And whatever gift in
any age has come " down from above," must certainly
have reached man, through some channel of which his
own nature was the receptiveness. A kind word can
soothe a man mentally : and why then should not a
man full of " the spirit of life," be able to attune fel-
low-creatures, bodily, and heal them with a touch ?
Some people have a wonderful sense as to character,
and a singular instinct as to the spirit of their times,
and the significance and connections of events : and is
it not conceivable that such persons, if quickened from
above, would readily grow prophetic ? Certain people
have remarkable experiences as to dreaming ; and it

•ir.s

nsrs a\i> THE SPI1UT

would seem thai by nature they may be like those
persona who were susceptible of visions in Pentecostal
times. This is certain and very striking, psychologi-
cally, At a time of great excitement, as to some high
matter, social or religious, a thousand persons will sud-
denly feel themselves affected towards one another like
brethren, and as though pervaded and possessed by a
common spirit And by the transforming and elevat-
ing elleets of this spirit, everj man in the crowd will
feel as though he had become a new man. And si.

indeed ho may be, lor the moment, because of the
affinity which be experiences as to all the souls about
him ; and through which be thrills to whatever is
Btrongesl spiritually, in the living crowd of which he
is a member. And what is tins, hut a manifestation
of some of those susceptibilities, on which as a prep-
aration, when the heavens are willing, the spirit is
poured out . The body of man may be clay, hut it is
alive with spiritual possibilities, because of the in-
dwelling soul.

But Jesus was not accessible to the Spirit, simply as
the prophets were. He was never convulsed, nor after

his return from the desert, with his nature explored by

lus resistance of Satan, was he ever entranced. Nor

for mood was he dependent on external assistance of

any kind, as sometimes the prophets were. But

through him. as a serene atmosphere, the Father that
dwelt within him. did the works which were won-
dered at. and spoke the w ords.

Jesus Christ was, on this earth, the Spirit, of the

Highest, in art ion among men, as condescendingly as

when with that Spirit chaos was first agitated, and those

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT.

ways wore started through which by development and
concurrence, and by "word uponwoTd" injected into

nature, unci with, at last, the breath of God for inspira-
tion, there was produced a living soul in the image
itself of God

And the Father, who was in Jesus, was the Spirit

But also that presence was the Spirit, as it never was
or could have been in any other person on this earth,
because there never was another, who could have been
called Son of God, as he was. And under the high
qs, it was because of the sonship of Jesus, that
the Spirit in him was the Divine fatherhood.

When Jesus visited his own country, it is written
because of unbelief about him, though he healed " a
rick folk." yet that "he could there do no mighty
work." And therefore the Father in him. was not the
almightiness of the universe bearing down upon men
for its own way as mere power, but was a spirit more
tender than that even of the prophecy by Isaiah,
wherein it is written. "Come now, and let us reason
her, saith the Lord."

Jesus slept, and no doubt it was that he might wake
the better. And sometimes his soul was joyous, and
sometimes sorrowful And therefore the eternal Spirit
was expressive through him humanly. And it is net
therefore necessary to suppose that every word of his
in the cottages of Nazareth., or in Decapolis, or on the
Lake of Galilee, or in Jerusalem, were his words as
the Messiah: for. between his baptism by the Spirit
and his crucifixion, he must necessarily have uttered a
thousand times more words than what his Messiahship
could have been concerned with, and especially as the

440 JESUS AND THE SPIRIT.

Son of man "came eating and drinking," and as
though in the fair fulness of human nature.

The cry from the cross, " My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me ? " argued probably in Jewish
ears, not despair, but simply wonder, humanly, that he
was not more distinctly conscious of the Spirit. And
not improbably, by the state in which he was upon the
cross, that cry was uttered from something like that
same level in his nature, as that from which at the
river Jordan, he said to John, as to his being baptized,
" Suffer it to be so now : for thus it becometh us to
fulfil all righteousness."

Such a consideration as the foregoing is to be enter-
tained by us human beings reverently and humbly,
separated as we are from the first century of our era
by so many days and nights, and so many varieties of
thought and speculation.

According to John Smith, an eminent theologian of
the seventeenth century, it was in conformity with
what had been the practice of the old prophets, when
Jesus associated with him the apostles as eyewitnesses
and hearers. And, no doubt, the gospels are records,
like what were kept among the Jews, in all ages, of
the utterances of persons, who were believed to have
the Spirit. Of the ancient prophets, according to
Jewish history, the utterances of some which were
once in books are now lost. And of the life of Jesus,
of course, there was much of what was wonderful,
which was never recorded, — " many other things which
Jesus did." But as to the Spirit, for those who read
by the Spirit, ten pages are almost as good as a thou-
sand. And if not " spiritually discerned," the world

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT. 441

itself full of books as to Christ, would not mean more
than what the pages of the Four Gospels do.

Said Jesus to the apostles, " Ye also shall bear wit-
ness, because ye have been with me from the begin-
ning." And as what they might rely upon for assist-
ance, after his death, Jesus told them of " the Com-
forter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you." The prophets spoke from the Spirit,
in the respective dialects of their various times and
circumstances. And it was in some similar way that
Matthew and John are such different biographers. In
writing the life of Jesus, Matthew evinces the faculty of
the publican, and the man of business and facts. And
perhaps by no inspiration that was possible could some
of the discourses of Jesus have ever been brought to his
remembrance, as they were to the mind of John : because
he could never, in hearing, have apprehended them, even
momentarily, as John did. And of all the apostles,
the " disciple whom Jesus loved " was evidently the
one in whose mind, with the quickening of the Holy
Ghost, the words and image of Jesus would most
readily revive.

The Gospel of John has latterly been regarded by
some critics as less certainly authentic than its three
companions. It is manifestly more spiritual than they
are ; and it was therefore, no doubt, less popular than
they were in the earlier ages of the Church; and
therefore, also, it was not quoted by writers, as the
other Gospels were. That the Gospel of John differs
in tone from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
19*

442 JESUS AND THE SPIRIT.

and also in amplitude of remembrance is actually evi-
dence as to its authenticity, when it is remembered
who John the evangelist was ; for because of what he
had been to Christ he was probably beyond all the other
apostles, receptive of the Spirit, which, as Jesus said to
them, was to " bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you."

But there are persons who demur to this, and who say,
" The Spirit ! That is a possibility. But how possibly
could any man ever have been affected by it, and how
did it operate upon him ? " But now how is the spirit
immortal of a man connected with his mortal body : or
how even does the will of a lion strike with his paw ?
Indeed, the universe may resound ever so loudly with
that stream, which is the spirit of life, and there will
be some, at times, who will say, " I do not hear, be-
cause I do not know how I ought to." And there is
many a philosopher, at the present day, who does not
consider that perhaps he may be partially insensate as
to spirit, by wrong education ; and who is like some
blind man under the Falls of Niagara, who should say,
" It might be by the sound. And intelligent men, for
a long while, have fancied it so. But as I do not my-
self see that it is so, I will not believe in the roar, as
being an effect of these incredible Falls. And what
for the multitude is the apparent sense, must be ex-
plicable, philosophically, in some other way." But
there are people who are in a still worse condition,
mentally, than that blind man under the Falls. For
they hold seriously that they ought not really to believe
in anything at all, because they have never been ad-
mitted behind their own eyes, where they could watch

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT. 443

that mechanism of nature with its spiritual connections,
through which external objects become thoughts in the
mind. A man who is not to be contented in any other
way, than by being not only himself, but also a wit-
ness with his own eyes, apart from himself, is neces-
sarily in some way beside himself. But enough as to
this scepticism of the day ! For it is twenty-five hun-
dred years out of date as a novelty ; as is evident by
these words in the prophecies of Isaiah, "Woe unto
him that saith unto his father, What besrettest thou ?
or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth ? "

And like the absurdity denounced through the
prophet Isaiah, is the folly which demurs to the Spirit
of God, simply as not being concurrent with such laws
of nature, as have been ascertained at the present day,
and as not apparently being willing to be classed and
manipulated, like the laws of chemistry.

The Old Testament and the New, and the Apocry-
pha also, in its degree, together with ecclesiastical
memoirs of all ages, and along with them many a pas-
sage also in pagan literature, — these are the history
of man, as the subject of the Spirit of God, the Holy
Ghost. And Christians differ from one another doc-
trinally, not altogether because of more or less learn-
ing, or because of more or less intellect, but because
also as to the Spirit, some persons are more susceptible
than others are, and some less. And this may be just
simply as one man differs from another man, as to
poetic sensitiveness. Nor in this statement is there
anything of presumptuousness implied. For the ac-
tion of the Spirit is but one among many influences,
by which character is formed, as is evident from the

444 JESUS AND THE SPIRIT.

fact that J udas was one of the twelve. The Scriptures
are like a labyrinth, which may be forced and broken
through by self-will ; but the clew to them, and that
by which alone there is any intelligence as to the ways
involved, is the Spirit, as a subject of belief. And in-
deed the Spirit of God may well be credited as what
made the rod of Aaron to bud and blossom, and as be-
ing also what, at its will, might make a child of God
display himself like an archangel, and hold all sur-
rounding nature like a servant.

The Spirit is everything as to power and adaptation
and knowledge. By it coral insects build their cells,
and through it new worlds are being evolved. And
the " Spirit of life in Christ Jesus " is that same Spirit
which seraphs glory in, and which also so clothes " the
grass of the field." And so now what is there in the
Gospels, for which the Spirit cannot be credited, as it
was embodied in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and
spake in his words, and acted in his deeds ? " 0,
but," it is said, " no evidence as to the Spirit can be
strong enough to upset belief as to the invariableness
of nature." And this is said in easy forgetfulness of
the fact, that there must have been ten or twenty
different systems of nature known to men, as they
have fancied. But such indeed is the unspiritual state
of the Christian Church in some places, that Doctors
of Divinity might be taught things of primary impor-
tance by the paganism of Greece and even of Mada-
gascar.

As to the miracles of Jesus, the age in which they
occurred is an important witness for their credibility,
though it is seldom remembered. Jesus appeared in

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT. 445

the world, announced and also welcomed by prophetic
voices ; and his appearance was " when the fulness of
the time was come." His era was "the day of the
Lord." And while it was passing, spiritual agencies
were unusually active in Palestine, at least ; and even
the common air seemed to be a vague inspiration, as it
was breathed.

The age of Jesus Christ was what Micah had prophe-
sied for his people, and those in authority over them ;
" The day of thy watchmen and thy visitation com-
eth ; now shall be their perplexity." It was the time
which had been foretold by Malachi, four hundred years
before, and which the people of Israel thought they
would know by the token, which he gave. " Behold,
I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." How
that token as to Elijah was given has already been
stated. But of the manner in which it was regard-
ed by the Jewish mind, this is evidence that the dis-
ciples said to Jesus, " Some say that thou art John
the Baptist ; some, Elias ; and others Jeremiah, or one
of the prophets." And this incident is also of the
same nature, that during the crucifixion, when Jesus
uttered a cry which was not properly heard by some per-
sons, they said, " This man calleth for Elias." And all
the while it had been as Jesus had said himself, as to
John the Baptist, and after his execution, " Elias is come
already, and they knew him not, but have done unto
him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the
SonjDf man suffer of them." O, words so simple and
so wonderful, and out through which spoke the Spirit
of the Most High, and as to which, by comparison, the

446 JESUS AND THE SPIRIT.

prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel themselves are hut
those of minor prophets !

Elias not recognized at his spiritual coming, — Jesus
on his way to be crucified, — and Jerusalem with that
fate becoming certain for it which Jesus Christ had pre-
dicted, — and all the while the Scribes and Pharisees tri-
umphant, — this all was because of the Spirit of God ;
which, when it is active, attracts some and repudiates
others, inspires a Messiah and his witnesses, and also
makes still more distinct the temper and ways of them
that would kill the prophets, and stone them that are
divinely sent.

That special spirit-power, under which the Jews had
been living ever since the call of Abraham, was drawing
in the first century of our era all the tendencies among
them, open and latent, towards one point. And that
point was Jesus of Nazareth, as connected with the
Spirit. The question was asked, in one way and an-
other, of Jesus, " Art thou he that should come ? "
And answer was made not only by Jesus personally,
but also by the Spirit to which he appealed, and even
also by "the signs of the times." Said Simeon, pro-
phetically, at the presentation of Jesus in the tem-
ple, " Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising
again of many in Israel ; and for a sign, which shall
be spoken against." And Jesus as the Christ, was the
trial of his people ; and his day was that of their vis-
itation. Faithfulness to the Spirit, in the past, would
have recognized him at once as the Christ. But the
penal blindness of the people was such, that at the
sight of Jerusalem, Jesus could but weep and say, " P
thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day,

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT. 447

the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they
are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon
thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee,
and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every
side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy
children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee
one stone upon another ; because thou knewest not the
time of thy visitation."

It was a " day of the Lord," and an age of prophecy.
During the ministry of Christ, Vespasian was but an
obscure youth in Italy ; but also he was fitting himself
unconsciously, as an instrument for the hand of the
Lord, — he under whom, as the emperor of Eome, Jeru-
salem was to be captured, and the temple destroyed.
The eagles of the legions were scattered over the vast
empire, but in Jerusalem, there was a spirit working
like destiny, which inevitably would draw the armies
of Eome round the city, like eagles about a carcass.

Peter, James, and John in vision saw Moses and
Elias talking with Jesus, as they believed. And as a
simple matter of history, it is certain that at that time
all the ancient warnings in the law, as to disobedi-
ence in regard to the Spirit, were immediately about
to be made good, by the dispersion of the Israelites
among all nations ; and in a manner, as to the thorough-
ness of which, the last eighteen hundred years are sol-
emn witnesses. 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! there was
coming on thee, as Christ said to thee at the time, and
as to thy people, " all the righteous blood shed upon
the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the
blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew be-
tween the temple and the altar." And the next words

448 JESUS AND THE SPIRIT.

after these are of prophecy, and are very wonderful.
They are the Spirit in judgment on its subjects. " Verily
I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this
generation." And those things, as prophecies of trou-
ble, are to be found recorded in the Gospel of Matthew ;
and as the actualities of history, they are to be read
of in the Wars of the Jews, by Josephus.

In a full view of history, it is hardly possible to think
otherwise, than that nations are subject to waves of
rise and fall spiritually. But the age of Jesus was the
outcome of nearly two thousand years of administra-
tion by the Spirit among the Jews, and in a way more
special than any other people ever experienced.

Those years, which were the last of the Jewish peo-
ple in Palestine, and which also were the first of our
Christian era, — they were truly, as Malachi had fore-
told, " the great and dreadful day of the Lord " ; and
yet also, at the very beginning, they were what Zacha-
rias could sing of, on the prompting of the Holy
Ghost, saying, " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel ; for
he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath
raised up a horn of salvation for us, in the house of
his servant David ; as he spake by the mouth of his
holy prophets, which have been since the world began."
That wonderful season ! As the like of it, there is
nothing else to be conceived of, than the movement of
the Spirit of God, for a new world, and the quickening
of the elements, once, out of what was without form
and void.

It was a period in which " unclean spirits " were un-
usually numerous ; and during which it felt almost as
though "the rulers of the darkness of this world"

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT. 449

might even loom upon the sight. It was an era in
which often " the word of God " gleamed like " the
sword of the Spirit." It was a time singularly charged
with spirit. And when the marvellousness itself of
that age is considered, miracles, as " signs of the times,"
would seem to have been almost as natural as fireflies
are to the umhrageousness of a tropical climate.

It is not in the scope of this essay, to argue the
credibility of the miracles recorded in the Gospels,
one by one, nor yet to join in the controversy as to
the reasonableness of the miracle concerned with the
withering of the fig-tree. Everything, which is to be
learned about these miracles, circumstantially and his-
torically, is easily accessible. The miracles of Christ,
however, were not universally believed, in his own day ;
nor were his miraculous words always understood.
Said Jesus even as to great multitudes, "In them
is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By
hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand ; and
seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive." The mira-
cles of Jesus, not believed in his own time, as certainly
they were not by the Sanhedrim ! How, then, can it
be expected that they should be credible to-day ?
Simply, because it is possible, that even to-day, there
may be a better judgment as to those miracles, than
even what the members of the Great Council could
have formed. For, at this day, we are living long
after the events, and can see and estimate, and allow
for the prejudices, by which the Pharisees and Sad-
ducees were blinded. It may be said, that to-day, men
may be prejudiced as to retrospect. And of course,
that is true. But yet candor, at this present time is

450 JESUS AND THE SPIRIT.

not liable to a tenth part of the offuscation, to which a
member of the Sanhedrim was subject by the mere act
of entering the chamber of the Council.

In favor of the Messiahship of Jesus, that Council
itself is evidence now, by the manner in which it
came to an end. And at the siege of Jerusalem by
Titus, every soldier round the city, in his place, was
an unconscious witness for Jesus as a prophet. And
at the destruction of the temple, because of what
Christ had said, every stone, as it was thrown down,
cried out as to " the name of the Lord."

The miracles of Jesus were " signs of the times."
And the times, as they seemed to be signified, were
abundantly fulfilled.

That " day of the Lord," that great era of the
Spirit, how can it possibly be understood, without even
a belief in the Spirit ? And it cannot be but that the
commentary of many a famous divine, upon its oc-
currences, trying to reconcile them to one another and
to reason as he thinks, must be what the angels con-
cerned therewith would utterly disown.

And especially, it is only as a man stands within the
light of the Spirit, or as he apprehends what may be
called the science of the Spirit, that the evidence as
to the resurrection of Jesus becomes fairly intelligible.
Why did one man see, and another man not ; and why
on one or two occasions, with seeing, was there not
instant recognition ? Simply because it was seeing by
the Spirit, and with eyes which were opened by it, in
some persons more than in others. It was seeing
Jesus by eyes adapted to a body which had become of
that nature, that it could appear in a room, " when the

JESUS AND THE SPIRIT. 451

doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for
fear of the Jews."

The Scriptures are not fully and fairly intelligible,
when read according to the Analysis of the Human
Mind by James Mill, or any other such philosophy.
For they presuppose a pneumatology, by which man
is soul as well as body ; and by which while he is
chained to the earth, he is yet also a nursling of the
skies.

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

AS the Mosaic dispensation was drawing towards its
close, more and more express became the minis-
tration of the Spirit through it. Moses had been a law-
giver, and David and Isaiah had been prophets ; and
Gideon had been like the sword of the Lord, and Solo-
mon like a miracle of wisdom. But patriarchs and
prophets, and all the angels who had ever been con-
cerned with them, religiously, were but like servants,
when compared with him to whom "God giveth not
the Spirit by measure." Eor " when he bringeth in the
first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the
angels of God worship him."

To the foregoing does any one say, " Ancient Hebrew
idiom ! " disdainfully ? And so perhaps it is. But
what then ? Was there ever a philosophy which did
not have its peculiar terms and phraseology ? Or is
science, in the least degree discredited, because its
nomenclature is foreign to the mind of a Kaffir ? And
is craniology, or is the science of even dead bones, so
simple, as that a person can read a treatise on oste-
ology with the same intelligence and words which
suffice him perfectly as a merchant ? And history and
science, in combination, as to the connection of man
with God by the Spirit, ever since there was first a
manifestation of the divine image on the earth, — is it

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 453

anything strange as to this, that it may perhaps need
interpretation, in some degree, even as geology does, or
astronomy ? How many men there are who grow
spiritually blind through self-sufficiency ! and with
their flippant speeches, how many more persons there
are who are perverted from the simplicity of truth !

No past age can ever be known as it was, except by
a lamp like what the light of that time was. And
mere self-assertion on a subject like that of " the ful-
ness of the time" would be of the nature of blas-
phemy, except as desecration about a temple was never
possible from mere chirping sparrows, because of their
being ignorant.

Does a man deny the resurrection of Jesus, as hav-
ing any pertinency for him, because of its involving
considerations for which he has not the requisite learn-
ing, or for which he thinks that he has not time ? or
becaaise it claims to be something so very unlike to the
tenor of his daily newspaper. Or does he demur to the
New Testament as being of any special concern for
him, because of its antiquity ? Then let him remem-
ber, that from this present hour to the first day of the
first year of our Lord is a shorter space of time, than
it was from the birth of Jesus Christ to the promise
which was made to Abraham at his call, " In thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed."

By every drop of blood in his veins ; by every modi-
fication of every thought which he has ; and by every
stripe of suffering, ever endured in the world, and
through which, in any manner, bodily or spiritually,
he is healed, man is a child of the past, throughout
all its generations. Men are historically born, and are

454 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

bound historically. And the more of a man that any-
individual may be, so much the more solemnly is he
responsible as to the ages behind him, for what they
may have to testify. Disown the past simply as being
ancient ! a man might as well disown God as not being
his own little self !

Length of time, merely, does not separate human
beings. After three thousand years, the Book of Euth
is like a tale of yesterday. And yet at this very hour
hate cannot possibly understand love, and is separated
from it by what, as to space, may be called infinity.
As to historical events, time is almost nothing in
comparison with distance by philosophy, or spiritual
state.

The state of mind being changed in which docu-
ments are read, it is as though the documents them-
selves had been written afresh ; and then what had
seemed to be discrepancies according to a materialistic
understanding, when read according to a spiritual
philosophy may become parts which even corroborate
one another.

How strangely and often figures of speech have be-
come disfigurements of facts ! And how often, also,
an earnest man has been reduced to mere rationalism
in theology, because of the manner in which "the
things of the Spirit " have been argued, as though they
were material monuments, and properly the subjects
of arithmetic, geometry, and mere logic !

The age of Jesus Christ, — that day of the Lord was
not exactly like yesterday, though yet to-day there
are means by which, critically and historically, it is
to be known of as it was. The resurrection of Jesus

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 455

is not a mere incident in history, because it is in-
finitely connected. "For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive." That " new
sepulchre wherein was never man yet laid " was about
to be the birthplace, as to manifestation, of " the Lord
from heaven." And that same place, when left vacant
by the resurrection of Jesus, was about to become the
cenotaph of mere Judaism.

When Jesus was transfigured on the mount, it was
because of the Spirit ; and through the Spirit it was
that the apostles saw him, and Moses and Elias with
him. And it was because of the Spirit, that there was
" heaven open and the angels of God ascending and
descending upon the Son of man."

A voice from heaven had just borne him witness ;
when Jesus said to his hearers, " And I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This
he said, signifying what death he should die." 0
wonderful age and day of the Lord ! A day which in
vision Abraham had desired to see, and also had seen !
And yet, too, it was a day as to which, fourteen hun-
dred years later than Abraham, it was doubtful, pro-
phetically, how people would be able to endure it on
its coming ! And what a time, indeed, that time was !
And indeed otherwise than wonderful how could that
age have been, wherein he was living through whose
death the human race was to be born again !

" Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done
by him : and he was perplexed, because that it was
said of some, that John was risen from the dead ; and
of some, that Elias had appeared ; and of others, that
one of the old prophets was risen again. And Herod

456 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

said, John have I beheaded ; but who is this, of whom
I hear such things ? " Herod was a Sadducee, prob-
ably, and yet with his ears a little open for hearing.

Astonishing times they were ! as, indeed, well they
might have been, while destiny as to Jerusalem was
making itself sure ; and while the prophets seemed to
be calling out aloud and afresh their old predictions,
and while those events were- occurring, of which the
four gospels were to be the long-enduring records.
The promise to Abraham was about being fulfilled;
and what anciently was but a germ of destiny, was
about to become full-orbed, and to rise upon the na-
tions, spiritually, as the sun of righteousness with
healing in its wings. A wonderful age it was ; for it
was the greatest age, as to crisis in history, which has
ever been. It was an age as to the full manifestation
of which imperial Eome was but a servant for making
ready highways for its great news ; or, at best, but an
unquestionable, though unconscious, witness as to the
keeping of the sepulchre, in and from out of which
Jesus rose again. Plato and iEschylus, and also Aris-
totle, — what has their worth been, in comparison with
the language which they used, and through which
Greece was but like an intelligent secretary, for help-
ing apostles and others to publish their histories,
epistles, and visions, in the best manner possible,
for the best intellects of the age !

It was under heaven, and on the earth, " the fulness
of the time," more completely than Paul himself, per-
haps, ever thought, and in ways of which it is con-
ceivable, that hereafter science will have much to say
as to the conditions which concurred, telluric, mag-

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 457

netic, and celestial, and also as to something psycho-
logically, by which human nature may itself have been
ripened for fresh conditions of growth. Let the wisdom
of Egypt have been all which can possibly be claimed
for it ; and let the wise men of the East have been in-
formed ever so mysteriously ; yet, as a fact, historically,
twas not there once familiarly named in the cottages
of Galilee, and current in the streets of Jerusalem, a
name which has proved itself, up to this time, to have
been above every other name ? And therefore that
age may well be credited for having been what Paul
claimed for it as " the dispensation of the fulness of
time," and thereby also, under Heaven, as the con-
centration of all those forces, by which human beings
live and move and are lifted up.

When Jesus cried out, " 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem !
thou that killest the prophets ! " he was at a point,
both as to time and place, where the general effect of
Jewish history was becoming manifest, as to the law
which was given by Moses ; and as to the long rebel-
liousness, which was punished by the captivity in
Babylon ; as to what Samuel and Saul had been in
regard to one another; and as to what David had
sung, and what so very differently he had sometimes
done ; also as to Solomon so wise and so foolish ; and
as to the time in which Ahab and Elijah knew of one
another ; and as to the ages respectively of the proph-
ets from Isaiah to Malachi.

The world was at the beginning of a new era, which
was to date from Jesus of Nazareth, as he was popu-
larly called, but yet " the world knew him not." For
indeed, at that time, it was a crisis of that nature, and
20

458 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

so great, as that what is light to one is darkness to a
thousand. And, indeed, otherwise than from that rea-
son how could there have been " killed the Prince of
life " ? And, indeed, that Prince himself said as to the
people of his time, " If therefore the light that is in
thee be darkness, how graat is that darkness ! "

When heaven draws nigh to earth, it is with a light,
which is blinding darkness for some persons, while yet
for others it is like what angels might emerge from.
Heaven draws nigh to earth for quickening. And
with quickening they are the latent faculties of men
which specially are made remarkable. And it is with
remembering that the spiritual atmosphere at the be-

mnnin^ of our era would seem to have been inten-
ts o

sified, that many of its incidents become intelligible,
such as the revival of prophecy, and the incursion of
unclean spirits. A day of the Lord is a time in which
men spiritually are under pressure, for the better if
they are good, and for the worse if they are bad. And
such a time was that wherein were included the life,
crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension of our
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

And even as it was as to Jesus Christ, that on
being " put to death in the flesh " he was " quickened
by the Spirit," so also there were those as witnesses
who were raised as to their latent spiritual faculties,
and which were those by which they saw and heard
him ; and so, also, there were others more numerous
still than they, who felt, spiritually, as to Jesus and
death that "it was not possible that he should be
holden of it."

The resurrection of Jesus was the manifestation of a

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 459

crisis as to mankind, under heaven ; and it is not to be
understood, at all, apart from time and place and a be-
lief in the Spirit.

In regard to the resurrection of Jesus, many of the
objections as to belief in it originate in such a state
of mind as what would say this, "Anatomists and
chemists standing round, let a dead body, on a table,
get up and talk, and then perhaps men will believe."
And the brothers of the people who talk thus would
say, " Seeing is believing ; and as we did not see, we
do not believe." But what is Supreme in the Universe
would seem to be careless of human pettiness, even
at its grandest ; and sometimes even it would seem to
have " chosen the foolish things of the world to con-
found the wise."

The resurrection of Jesus was ' the greatest fact of a
great age, and it was the culmination of the greatest
earthly crisis under heaven, and as to the significance
of which, not Jerusalem only, but Egypt and Assyria,
and Greece and Eome, and all time, also, by the way
of prophecy, were concurrent.

In the Gospel of Matthew, it is written, as to Pilate,
while Jesus was on his trial before him, that " when he
was set down on the judgment-seat', his wife sent unto
him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just
man : for I have suffered many things this day in a
dream because of him." A sign of the times this was,
and as to what the atmosphere was, spiritually. Pi-
late's wife had this experience. And so strange it is,
that it has been so little noticed. The prediction of
his Lord as to Peter, that he would deny him thrice in
one short night, is accounted as having been wonder-

4G0 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

ful because of the manner of its fulfilment ; and surely
so it was. But this dream of Pilate's wife is evidence
as to what the state was of what may be called the
atmosphere, spiritually, in Jerusalem, at that time.
And of like proof is the opinion of Caiaphas as to the
expediency of killing Jesus, which " spake he not of
himself ; but, being high priest that year, he prophesied
that Jesus should die for that nation."

As to the picture of the crucifixion which the gos-
pels give, how many wonderful lines there are, which
could never have been drawn except from life ! And
also they are lines which are self-sufficient, as to evi-
dence, for a critical understanding ! For a man with
" ears to hear " that incident is as true as truth itself,
as to what the thieves said to one another as they hung
on their separate crosses, and as to what Jesus replied
to one of them. Such words, at such a time, and from
such lips ! " And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say
unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
This paradise was certainly not heaven, because even
after his resurrection Jesus said to Mary, " Touch me
not ; for I am not yet ascended to my Father." The
state into which Jesus passed after his death as a
mortal was that apparently wherein, on his entrance,
he " preached unto the spirits in prison." That place
or state, therefore, of paradise was probably one of hope-
fulness. And on this understanding, these words of
Jesus to the penitent thief are intelligible and also in-
finitely tender.

As to the time during which Jesus was dying on
the cross, it is written, " Now from the sixth hour there
was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour."

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 461

And "By another evangelist, it is said that " the sun was
darkened." According to the use of language, it is
not necessary to suppose that there was an eclipse of
the sun, either natural or supernatural. Nor yet fairly
ought the historian to be considered as being held by
his words to mean anything more than a preter-
natural darkness in perhaps the region round Jerusa-
lem. As to whether that darkness was noticed in
Eome, or experienced by Caractacus in Britain, is
simply a superfluous question.

It has been sometimes supposed that this darkness
was an effect in nature occasioned by her conscious
sympathy with the sight of the crucifixion. But that,
of course, is mere sentimentalism. There are some
illustrations which might be adduced on this subject,
which would be abundantly credible to some persons,
but which yet cannot be pleaded here without an ar-
gument, which would be a book in itself.

That darkness was probably not a special but an
accompanying miracle. It was simply an incident in
connection with the death of Jesus ; and what was
miraculous in it was because of that miracle of or-
ganization which Jesus Christ himself was. And prob-
ably that strange darkness round Golgotha was because
of the greatness of that soul, which mortally was con-
nected with nature, and which by that connection was
in agony. With every breath which any man draws,
the air about him is changed and impoverished. Nor
is man connected with the air, merely as concerns oxy-
gen and nitrogen, but by electricity and magnetism,
and also, probably, by other ways which are unknown.
And so it is readily conceivable, that in some manner

462 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

the forces of nature may have been unbalanced and
darkened, whilst the soul of Jesus Christ was being
loosened from connection with them. And as to this
supposition, there are some things analogous, histor-
ically and psychologically, of which some great minds
have been well persuaded.

The thought of there being any possible connection
between a tempest and an earthquake was once ac-
counted superstitious, but at present it is scientific.
That by pestilence, there could be an obscuration of
the atmosphere, was once supposed to be merely a fancy,
but now it is an ascertained fact. And like what im-
mediately precedes, let also what follows be mentioned
for what it may be worth. Several times in history,
as to men who had been like the right arm of direc-
tion for their times, it is recorded that on dying, the
atmosphere about them seemed to signify itself by
darkness or by tempest. And now let it be remem-
bered that by a spiritual philosophy, which is not
likely to become extinct, Christ Jesus was the " one
mediator between God and men." And then the
darkening, which there was round about, at the time
of his crucifixion, will not seem so strange as neces-
sarily to be incredible ; nor yet so anomalous but that
even science may be expected some time to demonstrate
the manner of it.

"Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud
voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold the veil of
the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bot-
tom." In the temple there were two veils ; but the
one which was specially " the veil " must have been
the second veil, behind which was "the tabernacle

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 463

which- is called the Holiest of all ; which had the
golden censer, and the %ark of the covenant overlaid
round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot
that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the
tables of the covenant ; and over it the cherubims of
glory shadowing the mercy-seat." These things were
memorials of the past, as to the Spirit. And they
were also signs of what the Jewish people had been
to God, as " a peculiar people." And the tearing of
the veil before them was emblematic that thenceforth
" the things of the Spirit " were open to all persons,
who should anywhere ever be quickened by the Spirit,
And it was the work, perhaps, of " the angel of the
covenant." And it was done, probably, as a prepara-
tion of the minds of men against the day of Pentecost,
and what ensued upon it.

By the same evangelist who has just been quoted,
it is said, in continuation, that " the earth did quake
and the rocks rent." This probably happened in the
same way as at the resurrection. "And the graves
were opened ; and many bodies of the saints which
slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resur-
rection, and went into the holy city, and appeared
unto many." Not graves, but monumental tombs,
are what the evangelist himself mentions. And the
bodies which appeared unto many certainly were not
resuscitated flesh and bones. That could never have
been, concurrently, at least, with the doctrine of St.
Paul. " But some man will say, How are the dead
raised up ? and with what body do they come ? Thou
fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except
it die." And then, in continuation of his argument,

464 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

the apostle explains that "there is a natural body,
and there is a spiritual body/' The world of nature
on that morning, at Jerusalem, was powerfully inter-
penetrated by spirit, and so was very pliant, perhaps,
to angelic agency. And it may be that angels opened
the tombs of some well-known saints, in celebration of
Christ's victory over death ; and it may be, also, that
the saints themselves were present at the time, because
of there having been a door opened from Hades, by
which for Christ to return into his natural body, in
this world of nature, on his way to " the right hand of
the Majesty on high." And these bodies of the saints,
or these saints as spiritual bodies, were visible to
many, but not to everybody. They were seen by
those persons whose spiritual " eyes were opened,"
through that power of the Spirit which was abroad,
and by which the time was characterized.

When the chief priests and Pharisees applied to
Pilate, as the Eoman governor, to have a guard set
over the sepulchre, they said it was because " Sir, we
remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet
alive, After three days I will rise again." That proph-
ecy was from the Spirit, just as afterwards the resur-
rection itself was. Peter argued that the resurrection
of Jesus had been foretold by David in a psalm, which
is called prophetic ; and Peter, probably, had a much
better knowledge of the Spirit, and its manner of utter-
ing itself, than is possible at this dark, materialistic
day. And, no doubt, that Spirit which was the res-
urrection of Jesus did flash with forethought of it, in
the minds of some of the prophets. Eectified as to
translation, these are the words which were cited by

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 465

Peter from David : " For thou wilt not leave my soul in
Hades : neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to
see corruption." The soul of Jesus was not to be left
in the common world of spirits, the intermediate world,
or waiting-place of spirits, though it was indeed to
enter it, as certainly it did, when Jesus proceeded to
preach to " the spirits in prison." Nor was the body
of Jesus to see corruption. And it would seem like
some security for the exact fulfilment of the prophecy,
that for those hours during which the body was in
the tomb it was partially embalmed. "Then took
they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes
with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a
garden ; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein
was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus."

Moses and Elias had talked with Jesus, as to " his
decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem";
and not improbably they may have been present at the
entombment of his mangled body, though invisibly ;
and it may be, too, that in Hades, somewhere, they
may have heard Christ's announcement of himself to
spirits in prison.

It was dark in the tomb, with its door shut and
sealed ; but suddenly and soon there was going to be
" light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun,"
like the splendor, with which Paul, at his conversion,
saw the risen Jesus invested.

At the resurrection of Jesus, " behold, there was a

great earthquake ; for the angel of the Lord descended

from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from

the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like

20* dp

4G6 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

lightning, and his raiment white as snow : and for fear
of him, the keepers did shake, and became as dead
men." It is not necessary to suppose that that earth-
quake was what might have been felt on the heights
of Capernaum ; for, no doubt, it was of the same local
character, and from the same spiritual cause as when
a little later " suddenly there came a sound from heav-
en as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the
house where they were sitting." It was an earthquake
from spiritual power present, like what there was when
" at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises
unto God ; and the prisoners heard them. And sud-
denly there was a great earthquake, so that the foun-
dations of the prison were shaken ; and immediately
all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were
loosed." Earth hangs on heaven by chains which grow
so fine that they are what seraphs can handle, as they
stand about the throne of God. And when angels ap-
proach material objects, it is with a touch more subtle
and mighty than that of electricity. An angel with a
countenance like lightning might well shake the earth
by the sole of his foot. And because of such an one,
at the door of the sepulchre, " the keepers did shake
and became as dead men." And they were affected
just as the companions of Paul were, at the time of
his conversion ; and they again were affected as those
men were who were with Daniel when there was
about him that power which disclosed itself in a vis-
ion, and on whom "a great quaking fell."

Behind the letter of the Scriptures, on these points,
lies a broad field of what once was knowledge, but
which now is a fog of materialism, for almost every

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 467

reader. Peter the Apostle, had looked into the empty
sepulchre on the morning of the resurrection, and af-
terwards had seen Jesus again and again, and talked
with him ; and what he wrote as to Jesus, about
twenty-five years later than his last sight of his Mas-
ter, is that he was " put to deatli in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit."

But was that crucified body quickened ? No ; not
altogether perhaps. Though there may probably have
been a quickening, by which the mortal remains of
Jesus may have been affected, on his recall from
Hades. But was the heart that had been pierced
healed again miraculously ? Probably it wTas not.

The body of Jesus, as it lay in the tomb, was not
the body of an ordinary man. Says St. Paul, " All
flesh is not the same flesh," and that temple of the
Holy Ghost which wras the body of Jesus had proba-
bly been sublimed in such a manner as that on his
return from the wrorld of spirits into this realm of na-
ture, his body, on its assumption, became but like that
thin robe which justly availed for keeping him awhile
within the sight of his disciples.

In the Book of Ecclesiasticus, it is said of Elisha,
that " after his death his body prophesied," or was an
outlet for spiritual power. A few months after the
burial of Elisha there wras war with the Moabites, " and
it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, be-
hold, they spied a band of men ; and they cast the
man into the sepulchre of Elisha : and when the man
was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he re-
vived and stood upon his feet." Perhaps the body of
Elisha, at the time of his death, was half ready for

468 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

being translated, and it may be that after the body was
dead there lingered in it something of that vitalized
magnetism which, by its strength, may have been one
of the conditions of that spiritual receptiveness, through
which, at the will of the Lord, he was a prophet.

It is certain that there is a chemistry as to the con-
nection between the soul and the body ; and it is
attested by a thousand wonderful facts, although so
little is known, as yet, as to its laws.

Early in the Book of Genesis it is to be read, " And
Enoch walked with God : and he was not ; for God
took him." According to the Epistle to the Hebrews,
the translation of Enoch was connected with his faith.
It is conceivable with his long life and walk with God,
that the body of Enoch may have become so ethereal-
ized, as that his soul, on its passage from earth to
heaven, may simply have parted from what dropped,
in a moment, into a handful of common dust. And in
some manner like this, probably, did the soul of Elijah
clear itself of nature. Eor, certainly, it could not have
been with an ordinary body that Elijah entered a
chariot of fire, and went up to heaven in a whirl-
wind. And, no doubt, by some such path as that by
which he vanished, Elijah was present at the trans-
figuration of Christ. But along with Elias, also,
Moses " appeared in glory." And it is noticeable that,
as to the mortal end of Moses, or what went with his
body, there was a mystery. " So Moses the servant
of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according
to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a
valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor ;
but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 469

On the morning of the resurrection, probably, the
soul of Jesus entered his dead body, and then shook
from itself the sublimated dust. And so Jesus re-
tained about him only as much earthiness as would
hold his wounds, and enable him to satisfy people as
to his personal actuality and his identity.

At the door of the sepulchre, while angels in white
were inside of it, suddenly Jesus was recognized by
Mary, as he stood near her. " Jesus saith unto her,
Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to my
Father." And yet only eight days later " saith he to
Thomas, Eeach hither thy finger, and behold my
hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it
into my side : and be not faithless, but believing."
These two incidents are worthy of notice, as being
likely, some time, to suggest something as to the chem-
istry of the spiritual body.

The body which Thomas touched was that of Jesus
while he was standing withinside of our earthly sphere ;
and perhaps it may have been capable of being hard-
ened at will. But also it was the same body in winch
afterwards Jesus " ascended up far above all heavens."
By his resurrection, Jesus was not merely an appari-
tion, or a spirit ; for he was thereby clothed with
another nature than what a phantom wears. Said
Jesus to the disciples, when they were frightened at
his appearance among them, on the first evening after
his resurrection : " Behold my hands and my feet, that
it is I myself : handle me and see ; for a spirit hath
not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." And yet
with that body he could appear suddenly in a room,
the doors being shut.

470 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

On the morning of the resurrection, Jesus was not
to be touched, as not having yet ascended to his
Father ; but within a few hours afterwards he was
even to be handled. And thus, certainly, he had ex-
perienced some change further than that in the sepul-
chre, by the marvel of which he stood alive, and within
the sight and hearing of Mary Magdalene. And some
further change still than that would seem to have been
experienced by him, when, after his last interview
with his apostles, and his last words to them, on
Olivet, " he was taken up and a cloud received him
out of their sight." For, after this event, he was seen
by Paul twice, at least ; but not under the same con-
ditions as before. For to Paul he was visible only
through the Spirit, and in vision. And so, also, it
was that he was visible to Stephen. When Stephen
was put on his trial, " all that sat in the council, look-
ing steadfastly on him, saw his face, as it had been
the face of an angel." And, after his argument as to
Christ, when his judges gnashed on him with their
teeth, " he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up
steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God,
and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." O
wondrous fact, about which the more there is which
is learned, the more certain and wonderful will it be-
come ! 0, those triumphant words of Paul to Timo-
thy, as to " the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought
life and immortality to light through the good news " !

What, then, was the resurrection ? It was the pas-
sage of Jesus from the world of spirits into heaven,
through the realm of nature, and especially by the

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 471

way of Ins mortal body. " O death, where is thy
sting ? O Hades, where is thy victory ? "

But now there are persons who will say, " Why then
did Jesus not walk into the judgment-hall, and speak
to Caiaphas ; and why did he not show himself in the
market-place ; and why did he not mount the steps
of the altar, to the utter confusion of every enemy ? "
But why then does God not confute his blasphemers
with thunder and lightning, every day ? and why, un-
der high heaven, are not the highest truths as to morals
and philosophy borne in irresistibly upon all minds
alike ? And perhaps also Jesus would not have been
able, and could not even have wished, to show himself
to Caiaphas. Also affairs which involve the higher laws
of the Spirit are not to be summoned for examination
into the market-place. It is a precept which has wide
and deep reasons behind it, spiritually, " Give not that
which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your
pearls before swine." And the reasons even why Peter
saw Jesus Christ, and those for which Caiaphas and
Pilate did not see him, would be found, when spiritu-
ally considered, to corroborate one another. It is a
general truth, " Draw nigh to God and he will draw
nigh to you." And perhaps something psychologically
being allowed for, only those who recognized Jesus as
the Christ, or seeing him in his humiliation, were
capable of being quickened, so as to see him, on his
way through the earth to his glory.

As to the universe, Jesus, after his resurrection, was
in a region intermediate between this world and the
next, or rather he was in a state by which he was free
of both worlds. He appeared among his friends sud-

472 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

denly, by some unearthly way, and then as suddenly
he was gone. As affecting his visibility, there were
two conditions, of which one was what may be called
the fine earthiness, which he still held about him like
a veil ; and the other was the Spirit, and through the
Spirit some persons were quickened as to their eyes
and ears spiritually, so as that they not only saw and
heard Jesus, but even also angels attendant on him.

The body of Jesus after the resurrection was the
same body as before in the eye of an angel, perhaps,
although it had ceased to be recognized by the law of
gravitation, and perhaps might have stood before Pilate,
and never have been seen. Essentially and germinally,
the body which was taken up into heaven was the
same body which was crucified on the cross, and the
same body which the child Jesus had when he " in-
creased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God
and man." In a grain of wheat, not as a possibility
merely, but as an organized fact, there is latent " first
the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the
ear," not visibly to a human eye, but very curiously so,
perhaps, to an angel by what may be called the spirit
of science. From the cross to the sepulchre, there was
carried the crucified body of Jesus ; and a seal was set
on the door against it, and a Eoman guard. And that
body as it was laid down in the grave-clothes was
never seen again.

Jesus as he was seen outside of the sepulchre, talk-
ing with one and another and walking, and visible also
to all the apostles together, and to five hundred per-
sons at once, and to Paul also once and again, in vision,
— Jesus crucified, dead, buried, and risen, is the original

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 473

of that apostle's doctrine as to the resurrection, " It is
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body."

And why ? Why at all should it be thought a thing
incredible that God should raise the dead, and do so
at that time especially ? 0 fulness of the time ! 0 ex-
tremity of human want, when the whole creation was
groaning and travailing in pain together ! O the ear-
nestness of that expectation which everywhere was
waiting in the truest souls, for the manifestation of the
sons of God ! And age after age, how many had
prayed these words, in the faith of something great,
" Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of
him ? or the son of man, that thou makest account of
him ? Man is like to vanity : his days are as a shadow
that passeth away. Bow thy heavens, 0 Lord, and
come down : touch the mountains, and they shall
smoke."

And towards that new tomb which was hewn out
of the rock, truly the heavens were bowed down, in
wdiat was "the fulness of the time." And at that
sepulchre, when radiant angels emerged withinside of
it, it was because the way had been opened for them,
from above, by the Spirit. The strength by which
" was rolled back the stone from the door," the earth-
quake, and the quaking of the keepers simply were
signs of there being present " power from on high."

Humanly speaking, the Father Everlasting was
about to raise his Son from the dead, and to show him
openly. But as under high heaven, the prophecies of
the Spirit as to Jesus were then about to be made
good, by the Spirit itself. The wrath of a nation had
hurried on to a point, whence the highest praise as to

474 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

God was to begin. And the words of Peter are exact
when he writes of Christ as having been "put to
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit."

But when Christ " ascended np on high," where did
he go ? For the firmament, scientifically, now is
nowhere. Where then was it, that Christ Jesus went ?
" He was received up into heaven," just as it is writ-
ten. But heaven has nothing to do with any firma-
ment, whether phenomenal or real. And it is to be
looked for, only in such a direction as that by which
Christ with ascending " took captivity captive." Jesus
said to Mcodemus, " If I have told you earthly things,
and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you
of heavenly things ? And no man hath ascended up
to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even
the Son of man, which is in heaven." Now, what does
this mean, but that Jesus, as to his spirit and spiritual
connections, was in heaven, while yet with his bodily
tongue he was talking with Mcodemus in Jerusalem ?

And there is nobody open to the Spirit but can feel
how this may be. Because with myself, it is certain
that my highest mood, spiritually, differs from my
badness far more than any change which could happen
for me, by the widest locomotion, or even by the death
of my body. But it is said, " O, but heaven and earth
are so different ! For, as to our earthly lives, there are
fixed points, by which to think ; but as to heaven, who
knows about it, any way, except by faith ? " Now, that
faith which is not an increment, spiritually of knowl-
edge, is as worthless as ignorance itself. And this is
true even as to the resurrection of Jesus. Faith is
spiritual believing. It is the persuasion of a man as

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 475

to things beyond his reach intellectually, because of
what he is himself, or of what he knows, or otherwise
feels. And this statement agrees with faith, as being
possible, even as a gift of the Spirit. For the Spirit
reaches persons only as they are open to it. The
wicked Ahab could never have become St. Paul. But
Saul the persecutor was in a ripe state of knowl-
edge, theologically, when he was converted in a mo-
ment by a voice from heaven. And, no doubt, " the
pricks " against which Paul was finding it hard to
kick were the misgivings which he was having, as to
its being possible, for many reasons, that Jesus of Naz-
areth might really be the Messiah, and the fulfilment
of prophecy, and " the desire of all nations." And so,
in a moment almost, he became another man than he
had been, with hearing a voice from out of a blinding-
glory say, " I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou per-
secutest." And thenceforth with him, every age in the
past, up to Abraham, was a witness for Christ, as also
was the temple, and the veil of the temple too, and
the order as to sacrifices, and the law as to clean and
unclean, and the angel of the covenant, and every other
angel that ever stooped on this earth for a visit. And
on hearing the Master speaking from above, and from
out of glory, at once Paul began to experience that
change, a Hebrew of the Hebrews though he was,
through which it seemed to him, with all the nations
of the earth in full view, that "the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might
be justified by faith."

Definite departments, those of nature and spirit as to
man ! For some purposes, at least, it is certain that

476 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.

the flowering of nature is what spirit begins from.
And it is true, no doubt, as to the resurrection of
Jesus, that even natural science, as an unbeliever,
has got to yield its testimony, when the time shall
have come. And that time will be when some per-
son shall be wise with the wisdom of this present age,
and childlike as towards the Spirit of the Universe,
and God over all.

Notoriously, this earth hangs upon the sun ; and
should it then be an improbable thing, that there
may be a " sun of righteousness " in the light of which,
and dependent on which, for their best, our souls may
have their being? Those planets, which are of the
sisterhood of our earth, as to the sun, affect one
another in their orbits ; and is it then a thing too
foreign for thought that, spiritually, we human be-
ings may be rightly influenced as to our lives, by
what, as to origin, is " far above all principality and
power " ? Every atom in this earth of ours, and in
every human body, is sensitive as to the course of a
comet; and should it then really be inconceivable
that, with the Father of lights, there may be thoughts
as to man, which may have their earthly expression
at such times as those wherein, historically, and so-
cially, and spiritually, mankind is as though it were
reaching up towards heaven, in blind entreaty, at a
great crisis ? And is it, then, anything incredible ?
is it even a thing improbable ? and is it not actually,
as to heaven and earth, and as to all history, and as to
science also, at its surest, a probability, which is al-
most like certainty itself, that the condescension of
the Highest, as to human need at its uttermost, should
have eventuated in Jesus and the resurrection ?

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION. 477

Soul and body is what we human beings are. And
bodily, there is nothing wonderful, which can be dis-
covered for us, as to our connection with the sun or
the moon or the stars, or with those laws of nature
which concern this earth especially ; but tenfold more
than that, and a hundred-fold, we ought to be ready to
believe as to our poor souls, struggling upwards out of
sin and spiritual darkness. And, indeed, as countless
almost as the rays of the sun which are called light,
must be the connections which there are between
heaven and earth, spiritually, because of God, " of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is
named."

And now as to this earth, and all earthiness,
" Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ."

THE CHURCH AM) THE SPIRIT.

THE resurrection of Jesus, or his quickening as to
the body, was not a disconnected fact. It had
been ordained from before Abraham ; and spiritually,
it had been intimated during many ages ; and expressly
it had been foretold in the utterances of Jesus himself.
And it was the consummation of Judaism, as to its
purpose, that, in connection with it, Christ should have
been "put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the
Spirit." On that evening of the first day, when Jesus
suddenly appeared among the eleven, after his resur-
rection, he must have said much as to the Scriptures,
which is quite outside of our ability even to conjec-
ture about, for want of spiritual understanding. But
to those eleven astonished apostles Jesus said, " These
are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet
with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were
written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and
in the Psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their
understanding that they might understand the Scrip-
tures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus
it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead
the third day. And that repentance and remission of
sins should be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of
these things." And afterwards Jesus said, " Behold. I

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 479

send the promise of my Father upon you : but tarry
ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with
power from on high."

That promise of the Father, which was revealed to
the world through the consciousness of Jesus Christ ;
that prophesying of the Spirit, as to its course, and
which indeed is characteristic of it, was what was
verified, at the clay of Pentecost. But not to Jesus
only had that wonderful event been foreshown, for
also as to its certainty there had been indications from
the Spirit, through the prophets, from long ages before.
And so it was that Peter said to an assemblage of the
Jews on the day of Pentecost, " Therefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made
that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord
and Christ." And his particular citation as to proph-
ecy is, " that which wras spoken by the prophet Joel ;
and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God,
I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh : and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young
men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream
dreams ; and on my servants and on my handmaidens
I will pour out in those days of my Spirit ; and they
shall prophesy." And of this prophecy thus cited by
St. Peter, the grandest instances are the Apostle to the
Gentiles, and Ananias by whom he was cured of his
blindness, and Peter himself along with Cornelius, that
centurion of the Italian band. And indeed, it was
through these four men, and what they experienced in
vision, or during entrancement by the Spirit, that the
Gospel got itself extended as an offer to the Gentiles, and
to people everywhere, who wTere neither Pharisees nor

480 THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT.

Sadducees, nor even Galileans. Religiously, and still
more ecclesiastically, this is what has never perhaps been
sufficiently considered. And for persons of competent
understanding, it would seem to imply what might be
the death of theological dogmatism.

Paid was journeying to Damascus, with letters from
the high-priest, for persecuting the disciples of Jesus,
when " suddenly there shined round about him a light
from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a
voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me ? And he said, Who art thou, Lord ? And the Lord
said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest : it is hard
for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling
and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to
do ? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into
the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do."
And at Damascus there was a man called Ananias,
and in a vision, just as Paul had heard the Lord, he
also heard him directing him as to Paul, and where
he was to be found, and saying, " Go thy way : for he
is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the
Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I
will show him how great things he must suffer for my
name's sake. And Ananias went his way, and entered
into the house ; and putting his hands on him, said,
Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto
thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that
thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the
Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his
eyes as it had been scales ; and he received sight forth-
with, and arose, and was baptized."

Simultaneously with the events just narrated, would

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 481

seem to have been the experiences of Paul and Cor-
nelius. In Csesarea, Cornelius was an officer in a
Roman legion ; but yet he was a Gentile believer in
the God of Abraham ; and he had a vision, in which
an angel directed him to send to Peter, and told him
also of the town and the house where the Apostle
was to be found. And on this angelic impulse, three
persons were sent with a message from a quarter,
which, for a Jew, was unclean. How, then, was it
possibly to be received by Peter ? But to Peter also,
against the arrival of the messengers, there was a
vision vouchsafed, wherein he saw what was curiously
significant; and wherein also thrice it was said, "What
God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." 0
wonderful history of that time when, through the
Spirit, heaven was so close to this earth ! For when
Peter and Cornelius met, the Jews in the company
were astonished, "because that on the Gentiles also
was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they
heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God."

What is time on this earth, except as man is con-
cerned with it ? And so it was well because of the
coming of Christ, that time as to men should have be-
gun to count the years afresh. " Power from on high,"
was the promise of Christ as to this earth, as he left it,
by rising. And when it arrived it was power, adapted
as to man, by the fatherhood of God. For, indeed, it
was power of the same origin as that, with the move-
ment of which, a world without form and void began
to take shape, and grow, and bring forth, and become
this surrounding nature. But it is said, " 0, angels
and visions are so different from stages of develop-
21 EE

482 THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT.

merit, or from the path of nature, as she feels her way
upwards ! " Is man then properly to be catalogued
along with the whale or the elephant ? Also if ever
we men are to be spirits, why should we not be spirit-
ually met to-day ? And not the Gospel only, nor yet
along with it, the philosophy also of history, but even
material science itself, by the way of analogy, would
demand of men, a state of expectancy as to the Highest,
and as to " power from on high."

And as mediator between God and mankind, and as
foretold by prophets, and as trusted in to-day, what is
Jesus Christ, but an advance in the human race, a later
Adam, who was made " a quickening spirit " ?

In spiritual darkness, what bewilderment there has
been as to the day of Pentecost ! And as to that day,
very strangely, some time, on reading, will many things
seem, which have been written by persons zealous as
to the letter of the Scripture, and by others, also, who
have thought as to human nature, that the limitation
as to experience, of any man, anywhere and in any age,
should be accounted as the exact measure of human
susceptibility, as to the Sun of righteousness, during
all time. For that outpouring of the Spirit was sim-
ply the quickening of men as to their immortal facul-
ties and connections, and as to some ways, which are
latent mostly, by which human beings are " members
one of another," whether in the flesh, or out of it. And
that " manifestation of the Spirit " was " power from on
high " reaching earth, through the " one Mediator be-
tween God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

But say some persons, " How was that, and how
possibly could it have been ? 0 that we could heart-

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 483

ily think it ! " And is this present a day for such a
difficulty as that ? In a few years, it will he possible
for any common man to send his word round the earth
in a moment almost, and even almost to converse
simultaneously with all the chief cities of the world.
Surely, for a person of ordinary intelligence, a tele-
graph-office ought to he a humble hut sufficient hint
as to the manner in which, through the Spirit, all souls,
everywhere, lie open to God and his angels.

Under high heaven, everywhere, there is the Spirit
of God ; but rocks and graven images are not as sus-
ceptible of it as human beings ; nor yet is a cannibal
open to it, in the same degree, as an ascetic. And what
Christianity means is that a man living in the spirit
of Jesus Christ, on this earth may hope and be sure,
that in some wTay his soul will be reached by " the
Comforter which is the Holy Ghost." And the book
of Acts, as the history of the Spirit, in its connection
with the first age of the Christian Church, is what any
man may trust to, as manifesting the condescension
and love with which he himself is regarded as he goes
to church as a Christian, or collects himself for medi-
tation in his closet.

At the conversion of the Apostle to the Gentiles, I
myself was contemplated in the foreknowledge of God,
as much as Saul, " a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a
citizen of no mean city." And it was by the same
way as that by which the promise looked wdien it
said, as to Abraham, " In thee shall all families of the
earth be blessed." And the vision, which Peter had
on the seaside, at Joppa, was vouchsafed for me, just
as certainly as it was in favor of a Eoman centurion,

484 THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT.

at Caesarea. And at Athens, on the hill of Mars, when
Paul addressed the philosophers, Epicureans, and
Stoics, as to God and the resurrection, I myself was
preached unto, by the Spirit. Indeed, every miracle
which is recorded in the book of Acts is connected
with that Gospel, which is the life of my life, and
which has been like a light shining in darkness, these
many hundreds of years. And just as being of faith,
I am " blessed with faithful Abraham," so also was it
a matter of as great concern for me as it was for any
Eoman, when Paul, at Eome, " dwelt two whole years
in his own hired house, and received all that came in
unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teach-
ing those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ."
Jew and Gentile became one in Christ. " For through
him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Fa-
ther. Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and for-
eigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the
household of God ; and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself be-
ing the chief corner-stone ; in whom all the building
fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in
the Lord : in whom ye also are builded together for a
habitation of God through the Spirit."

The preceding statement concerns the origin of
Christianity ; for the Church did not grow, as a sect
grows to-day. It was not a human undertaking, and
its leadership was unearthly and strange, for it chose
as its instruments " the foolish things of the world."
What an outburst of soul those words of Paul are !
A Jew of Tarsus, and a few men in Judaea, fishermen
mostly, and calling themselves apostles, were opposed

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 485

to Jerusalem and the temple and the priesthood,
and to the Koman Empire, and to Paganism, every-
where with its thousands of temples. " And base
things of the world, and things which are despised,
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to
bring to naught things that are ; that no flesh should
glory in his presence." It would seem, tone and style
being considered, and time and place, that never possi-
bly could those words have been written by Paul un-
less by inspiration from that Spirit, which is from
everlasting to everlasting, and which can choose an
earthen vessel, wherewith to demolish a kingdom.
The early Church was quickened in the world by the
Spirit : and visions, angels, and prophets were agencies
through which it was acted upon. The Holy Ghost
was advice, and courage, and inspiration ; and it was
waited for implicitly.

Just before Jesus was taken up, he commanded the
Apostles not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait, and said,
" Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth." And while
they were all waiting together in one place, " suddenly
there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sit-
ting. Aiid there were seen tongues flashing about,
like as of fire, and it rested upon every one of them,
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and be-
gan to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance." And so the Apostles and others became
" lively oracles " and instruments of the Spirit. Be-

486 THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT.

cause of a miracle at the gate of the temple, which
was called Beautiful, Peter and James were placed as
criminals before the high-priest. And then what Christ
had said came true, " But when they shall lead you,
and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what
ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate : but whatso-
ever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye :
for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost." " And
when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By
what power or by what name have ye done this ? " and,
just as had been foretold, the answer which came was
from " Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost." On being
discharged, Peter and John joined their friends imme-
diately. " And when they had prayed, the place was
shaken where they were assembled together ; and they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the
word of God with boldness." Ten years after this last
incident, Peter lay in prison, between two keepers ; and
unceasing prayer was made for him by the Church.
"And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him,
and a light shined in the prison : and he smote Peter
on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise, go
quickly, and his chains fell off from his hands."

What happened to Philip was a curious instance of
the manner in which men were actuated by the Spirit.
He was at the city of Samaria. " And the angel of the
Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward
the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusa-
lem unto Gaza." And as he went, he met a man who
had been at Jerusalem to worship ; and who proved to
be " of great authority under Candace, queen of the
Ethiopians." He "was returning, and, sitting in his

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 487

chariot, read Esaias the prophet. Then trie Spirit said
unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot."
At the end of the conference, the Ethiopian " answered
and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And he commanded the chariot to stand still : and they
went down both into the water, both Philip and the
eunuch ; and he baptized him. And when they were
come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught
away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more : and
he Avent on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found
at Azotus." This was an interposition by the Holy
Ghost, with which, probably, a kingdom was concerned.
And it was an amazing discovery made, as to Ethio-
pia, in these latter times, by adventurous travellers,
that it was a country which was Christian, and which,
also, had churches.

But we modern Christians, ecclesiastically derive
from St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, and it was
with a view to us all that Paul was such a manifes-
tation of the Spirit as he was, and that he was also
himself such a wonderful interpreter, as to the Spirit.
Peter, James, and Jude, and almost even John, with
the rest of the apostles, are like nothing, in comparison
with Paul, as to the philosophy of revelation, although
he called himself, as perhaps he may have been, in
some ways, "the least of the Apostles."

As to Christianity, Paul wrote to the Galatians,
" It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in
me." And his start as an Apostle was thus. At Anti-
och, in the church, there were prophets ; and " as they
ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost

488 THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT,

said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work
whereunto I have called them." It should be noticed,
that it was by the speech of these prophets, in the
church, that the Holy Ghost had its utterance. And
so it was, that Paul was started as an Apostle to the
Gentiles. And always afterwards, there was an open-
ing over him, from heaven. He went through Phry-
gia and about Galatia, but was " forbidden of the Holy
Ghost to preach the word in Asia " ; and when he
wished to go into Bithynia, it was not what " the Spirit
suffered." Soon afterwards " a vision appeared to Paul
in the night; there stood a man of Macedonia, and
prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and
help us. And after he had seen the vision, immedi-
ately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the
gospel unto them." A year after this, Paul was at
Athens, and by a few words of his on the hill of Mars,
Plato and Epicurus were surpassed. From Athens lie
went to Corinth, where he was rejected by most of the
Jews. And in that city, he lodged with a man whose
house was close to the synagogue. " Then spake the
Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid,
but speak, and hold not thy peace ; for I am with thee,
and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee : for I have
much people in this city." In connection with this
vision, it is well to remember how famous the name
of Corinth has been ever since, because of the " mani-
festation of the Spirit " in the church there, and as to
which Paul wrote. After some five or six years, Paul
was at Miletus, whence he sent for the elders of the
church at Ephesus ; because he was feeling himself

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 489

hedged in upon a road, from which he could not hold
back, and because of which " they should see his face
no more." He reviewed his life amongst them ; and he
exhorted them ; and he prayed with them. And a very
affecting time it was. " And now, behold, I go bound
in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things
that shall befall me there : save that the Holy Ghost
witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflic-
tions abide me." At Jerusalem, the high-priest Anani-
as was awaiting him ; and also the Lord, in a vision ; and
at Malta, a shipwreck was about to be his experience.

Paul had advanced to Csesarea, when there hap-
pened a curious incident, as to the manner in which
the Holy Ghost would sometimes express itself. " And
as we tarried there many days, there came down from
Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. And when
he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound
his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy
Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man
that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the
hands of the Gentiles." On the stairs of the castle, at
Jerusalem, Paul though in custody, had leave to speak,
which he did in Hebrew. And he told of the manner
of his conversion at Damascus, and of his hearing
Jesus speak, and also of his return afterwards to Je-
rusalem, where he both saw Christ and heard him.
"And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to
Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was
in a trance ; and saw him saying unto me, Make haste,
and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem : for they will
not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said,
Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every
21 *

490 THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT.

synagogue them that believed on thee : and when the
blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was
standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept
the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto
me, Depart ; for I will send thee far hence unto the
Gentiles." By these words, then and on the next day,
the Jews were greatly enraged. "And when there
arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest
Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, com-
manded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by
force from among them, and to bring him into the
castle. And the night following the Lord stood by
him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul ; for as thou
hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear
witness also at Eome." On the voyage to Italy, the
vessel in which he was embarked, was in great danger
for a long time. But said Paul, " There stood by me
this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I
serve, saying, Fear not, Paul ; thou must be brought
before Caesar : and, lo, God hath given thee all them
that sail with thee."

The preceding two or three pages, not one person in
ten will read intelligently, without being much sur-
prised. Such talk as there has been, and such folly also
as to the Fathers of the Church, and the Founders !
Not Augustine, great, good man as he was, nor any-
body between him and St. Clement, nor yet St. Clem-
ent himself, ought ever to have been accounted as a
Father. And were James and John and Peter and
Paul truly founders of the Church, though so often
they have been so called ? No founders at all were
they ; for they were but " earthen vessels," as Paul

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 491

himself would have said. Precisely, they were mere
earthen vessels, through which the Spirit could speak
among men, and act.

The true Church is the Church of the Spirit. And
it is not anything, either as to place or state of in-
telligence, wherein one believer can say, " I am of
Paul; and another, I am of Apollos." 0 the grand-
eur, spiritually, of those words of Paul himself !
They are the words of an Apostle, who was so great,
as to the Spirit, because, partly, of his ability for self-
humiliation. And these are the words, " Who then
is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye
believed, even as the Lord gave to every man ? I have
planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
So, then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither
he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase."

But there is something more yet to be learned from
the history of Paul. He was converted in a mo-
ment. And what happened to Saul the persecutor,
is what is possible, in some degree, for everybody, at
this present day. For though Jesus does not now ap-
pear in vision, yet " because ye are sons, God hath
sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts."

It was, as they were taught by the Comforter, and
as they had things brought to their remembrance by
the Holy Ghost, that the Apostles came at last to un-
derstand what their Master had been and was become.
It was by the Spirit that they were endowed and sent
and guided as Apostles.

The discipleship of Paul began very differently from
that of the other Apostles. Perhaps, personally, he
had never " known Christ after the flesh " and it is

492 THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT.

certain that he assisted at the martyrdom of Stephen.
Paul was the convert of Christ in glory. And in
Paul, Judaism itself was converted, and became lu-
minous with the Spirit, and a witness for Christ. It
was in spirit that Paul saw and heard Jesus ; and even
the gospel, which he preached, he had by the Spirit.
He speaks of there being to be a judgment of " the
secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."
He tells of a meeting at Jerusalem, with which even
Peter was concerned, and says, " But of these who
seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it
maketh no matter to me : God accepteth no man's per-
son :) for they who seemed to be somewhat in confer-
ence added nothing to me." And what even he told
the Corinthians, as to the Lord's Supper, was what
Jesus Christ had told him. " For I have received of
the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That
the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was be-
trayed took bread : and when he had given thanks, he
brake it, and said, Take, eat : this is my body, which
is broken for you : this do in remembrance of me."

That last evening of the earthly life of Jesus was the
subject of a revelation to Paul. Does that seem to be
a strange, inconceivable thing ? Yet it is incredible,
altogether, only because of in consideration. In com-
mon life, there are things which might hint psycho-
logically, as to its possibility. And an electric tele-
gram is no mean argument as to its probability.

"When " suddenly there shone from heaven a great
light round about " ; and when a voice was heard say-
ing, " I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest,"
it may well have been that electrically, magnetically,

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 493

spiritually, Jesus was revealed in the mind of Paul,
with all the suddenness of a flash, and the fulness of
a gospel. For that voice which was heard was the
voice of Jesus himself, and therefore of all that ever
Jesus had been, or thought, or done, or endured.

Twenty-four years- after his conversion, Paul wrote
his Epistle to the Galatians, in which he tells of what
his zeal and knowledge had been as a Jew ; and of its
having pleased God to reveal his Son in him ; and of
the little intercourse which he had ever had with the
other Apostles. " P>ut I certify you, brethren, that the
gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught
it, but by the revelation of Jesus^ Christ."

Perhaps it was because of his state theologically as
well as fervently, that Paul was approachable, for con-
version, in the way through which he was, by Christ
in glory. And in the history of Christianity, and as
concerning its development, it is certainly a very sig-
nificant fact, that the Spirit should have obtained its
broadest, deepest, and highest interpretation, through
a man who was not even one of the twelve.

It would seem to be of the essence of Christianity,
that " Christ is the head of the Church," and that " the
head of Christ is God." Times and seasons may not
always be the same for the Church, any more than they
are for the world, which changes from day to day, with
the course of time and the discoveries of science. And
Jesus, at " the head of all principality and power," and
with many millions of souls calling themselves by his
name, in regard to interest and administration, may be
as certainly " the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls "

494 THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT.

as when lie came within sight of Stephen, when he
was about to be martyred, or as when he showed him-
self on a plane, so near to this earth, as that Paul
could hear him speak. Miracles are not for every age
perhaps, and certainly not for every day and hour, or
else they would soon cease to be-" signs and wonders."

Says St. Paul, " No man can say that Jesus is the
Lord but by the Holy Ghost." No doubt this senti-
ment is in accordance with the manner of his own
conversion. But yet what person is there to-day,
who has that knowledge as to the Spirit, for which,
reasonably, Paul ought to be credited ? And it is
plain, that we live by our affinities spiritually, as surely
as our bodies last on, by those affinities, which they
have for air and food, through the lungs and the stomach.
An earnest aspiration is the opening of a channel be-
tween man and God : and an act in the spirit of Christ
is affinity with him, wherever he may be. And there
are ways which psychology knows of, and as to which
even the science of nature has its corroborations, by
which it would seem that the recognition of Jesus as
" the head over all things to the church," might be as
simple as the way by which the eye finds the place
of the sun at noonday. It is true, that every day is
not clear at noon ; and it is true, also, that many a
man is living by the Holy Ghost, who cannot think
himself that he is living so, because of his humility,
or because of his " philosophy falsely so called."

There must be spiritual affinity in some way, how-
ever humble, before a person can be reached by the
Holy Ghost; for a statue of stone has never yet
been quickened. And Jerusalem, which is from above,

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 495

has many ways which reach down towards this earth,
but they do not open in every age, and over all places,
alike.

The philosophy of the whole material universe is
involved in my body, and in its various organs and
faculties, — in my eyes, ears, lungs, heart, and ability
for action. In the atmosphere of the sun, there can be
no great disturbance, but it reports itself in me. And
myself, I could not go to New York, probably, but
the planet Uranus would have some sense of my jour-
ney. And now is it not strange that my body, my
old coat of clay, should be so wonderful; and yet
that it should be so hard for me to believe in my
spiritual relations, and even in the mere possibility of
there being either help for me, or detriment in the in-
visible ? And yet there is nothing more simple and
natural, if only I could think so, than that with be-
lieving in the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, I should have the Spirit of His Son come in
upon my soul.

Before a man can see, he must open his eyes and
look. As to God, it is written that " without faith it
is impossible to please him," — faith enough, that is to
say, for making a man open his eyes and consider.
" For he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him." Widely different as to spiritual results are even
these two states, — that of denial as to spiritual influ-
ences, and that of expectant dependence on heaven,
even when doubtful as to whether it has itself ever been
met. But, indeed, probably there is not a thought
which I have of any weight, but is the weightier be-

496 THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT.

cause of some personage or law of the spiritual world.
It was a glorious utterance of Christ, which concerned
me, personally, when arguing from parental love as
to its readiness with children, he exclaimed, " How
much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy
Spirit to them that ask him ? " As a Christian, I
am cautioned against incidentally incurring a condi-
tion, wherein Satan might tempt me. On my repent-
ance of evil, I am told that there is joy among the
angels of God. And I know that in my true prayers,
" the Spirit itself maketh intercession " for me. All
round my spiritual sphere, I am open; and it is at
my own choice, whether or not I will be divinely
connected. And just as I was " blest with faithful
Abraham," so also was I involved spiritually in the his-
tory of the Jewish Church. And every miracle which
is recorded in the New Testament happened on my
behalf. The messengers who went to Peter, at Joppa,
were a deputation on my behalf, because of a vision,
which a centurion had. And when Paul was con-
verted, it was partly because I was one of the Gentiles,
for whom he was to be started as an Apostle. And
those miracles, and all the other miracles of the Scrip-
tures are signs, or sign-posts, by which it was intended
that we Christians should be aided in placing ourselves
aright as to mental attitude before Heaven, and con-
formably also with those forces, invisible and occult,
which sweep round the world, and which sometimes
aid in shaping the souls of men, and sometimes also in
confounding them.

"What then ! are we to be expecting the age of the
Apostles over again, and those manifestations of the

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 497

Spirit, by which it was accompanied ? No ! for never
does time go backward : and also the administration,
which is from above always is providential and on-
going. And truly, many of the gifts, by which the
Spirit manifested itself in the earliest days of the
Church, ought to-day to be accounted but like food for
" babes in Christ." But yet not improbably, they may
[all reappear, in the Church, for a time, when people
shall begin to be doubtful about the rationalism and
ritualism, and the mere way of tradition, by which,
i respectively, to a great degree, they have been living
" in a vain show " of Christianity. And indeed it is
possible, that the Spirit may be more ready with its
minor manifestations than many Christians can easily
suppose.

The gifts of the Spirit are not all of them of the
same significance : just as the faculties, by which man
is better than dogs, are not of uniform excellence.
The mere working of miracles does not argue as much
power mentally, as the discerning of spirits. The
faculty of speaking in divers kinds of tongues might
be worthless almost, unless a person were present with
a gift for the interpretation of tongues. And even the
two gifts conjointly, would apparently, by St. Paul,
have been accounted inferior to " the word of wisdom."
Also a man might have the Spirit manifest itself
through him, without his being, himself, in the least
degree, the better for it ; for by " the word of wisdom "
a man might be the mouthpiece of power from above,
and yet himself remain unenlightened, though a wonder
all the while, and a spectacle to angels and men.
The Spirit can do better than quicken the nature of

498 THE CHUKCH AND THE SPIRIT.

man superficially, even though thereby, for the time, it
may be made to flash with wonders.

The Spirit, as to manifestation, finds and takes us
human beings, as its instruments, according to its own
wisdom. And, therefore, among the twelve, there was
a Judas, in order that the other eleven might plainly
seem to be " earthen vessels." The manifestation of
the Spirit, through individuals, by signs and wonders,
is but an indication, on the surface, of those powers
by which men are all influenced, as being the offspring
of God. And Paul, and Peter, and Ananias of Damas-
cus, and Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian band, are
instances of the manner in which men are divinely
dealt with, as individuals and as nations both.

And at this present time, the Spirit may be trusted
for some other manifestations than what were made
through Jews and Gentiles eighteen centuries ago.
Age after age, more and more susceptible of the
fashioning power of the Spirit, did this earth be-
come as it slowly grew into shape, and supported
the creatures that swarmed and raced about it. Pro-
gress is recognized as being a law as to human
beings, even though the way of it may be through
darkness often, and with convulsions for its footsteps.
And in the Christian Church it cannot be otherwise,
than that with ripening under heaven, one generation
after another, souls on earth should generally have
become susceptible through the Spirit to some diviner
issues than could well have been manifested while
Nero was emperor of the world, or than even at the
time when Constantine became a Christian, and the
first Christian emperor of Eome. And if only a little

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 499

something more were developed as to its state, or sup-
plied, never would the world have been as open to the
Spirit as it is at this time, by predispositions accruing
from politics, and from science, and from good-will
among men towards one another.

In that region, whence we mortals are acted upon
spiritually, it is written " that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day." Probably it is far off as yet, still, as St. Paul
would say, it is nearer than when we Christians first
believed, — that New Jerusalem, which St. John saw
in vision, and as to which he said, " I John saw the
holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out
of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her hus-
band." And latterly men prophetic, in one way and
another, have had sight of that New Jerusalem as an
ideal, without well knowing what it was, and have
thereby become reformers as to the ways of this world.
And poets, in the quiet of meditation, have felt their
souls strangely attuned, without suspecting, perhaps,
that it was by the music which is made by heaven as
it draws nearer to earth.

The agonizing doubts which many Christians are
having, are but the throes of souls in bondage to
creeds, who are struggling, unconsciously, for "the
glorious liberty of the children of God." At this
time every sect almost, and even the Papal, is more
sharply divided against itself than it is against, its
neighbors. And this is because of that quickening of
the Spirit, which mere traditionary belief cannot en-
dure, and always resists. What was said to the dis-
ciples, by Jesus Christ, as to the end of the world,

500 THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT.

involves the philosophy of the universe, intellectually,
as to its grander periods. And wars and rumors of wars,
of which there have latterly been so many, and earth-
quakes and pestilences in different places, and the rise
of false prophets are signs of the times, and of the
pressure downwards of power from on high. Jesus
said to the disciples, " I came not to send peace but a
sword," and this was because even of his being the
Prince of Peace ; for there is nothing which so exas-
perates evil as the presence of goodness. Also, of the
nature of the times, wherein we are living, Spiritualism
is evidence, for it finds that the veil is grown thin,
which separates between us denizens of nature and
some of the dwellers in the sphere of spirit ; and
it shows also that civilized people are, psychically,
more sensitive, at the present moment, than probably
they ever have been before. The heavens are being-
bowed towards the earth ; and there are signs of the
nearer coming of the Son of Man, even though from a
quarter where indeed a thousand years are as one
day. It may be a long while, before the kingdoms
of this world will become the suburbs of the New
Jerusalem ; but yet of that city of God as archetypal
there is more thought in the minds of men to-day,
than ever there has been before ; and slowly but
surely the ways of this world, politically, are being
drawn out, in a manner, by which they can be met,
by those streets which reach down, spiritually, from
above.

Already there is about us the atmosphere of " that
great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of
heaven." And happy are they who have any sense

THE CHURCH AND THE SPIRIT. 501

of it ! For thereby they have become kings and priests
unto God and the Father, and are clear of this earth
as to priestcraft and darkness.

Let those who are " taught of the Lord " teach what
they learn. Let those who have "joy in the Holy
Ghost " not fear to show it. Let those who are quick-
ened from within as to righteousness, they know not
how, trust that perhaps they are prophets of the Spirit.
And let every one who catches a strain, like the song
which John heard in the Spirit, repeat it as best he
can for his fellow-creatures.

"Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God
Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou King of
saints."

INDEXES

INDEX TO TEXTS QUOTED.

Page

Page

2.

Luke xvi. 31.

123.

Acts vii. 53.

3.

2 Kings vi. 6.

"

Hebrews ii. 2.

10.

Matthew xv. 33.

"

1 Timothy vi. 15.

14.

Ezekiel xxx. iii. 32.

C(

Revelation i. 1.

21.

James v. 15.

125.

Numbers xii. 6.

24.

Mark vi. 5.

126.

Luke xxiv. 45.

33.

1 Corinthians ii. 10.

127.

2 Kings vi. 17.

Romans viii. 26.

130.

Luke v. 12.

47.

1 Corinthians xv. 44.

tt

1 Samuel ix. 9.

2 Kings vi. 17.
2 Samuel xxiii. 2.

131.

Jeremiah xiv. 14.

48.

132.

Zechariah xiii. 2.

75.

Acts iii. 4.

«

Jeremiah xxvi. 9.

76.

Daniel ii. 28.

"

Jeremiah ii. 8.

tt

Deuteronomy iii. 3.

«

Numbers xxiv. 4.

77.

Exodus viii. 19.

Judges vi. 34.

Mark ix. 39.

133.

1 Corinthians xii. 4, 7

78.

John vi. 30.

"

1 Corinthians vi. 17.

79.

1 Corinthians xii. 28.

134.

Judges xiv. 5.

John xx. 29.

a

2 Corinthians xii. 10.

tt

Matthew xxiv. 24.

"

Judges vi. 12.

"

Ephesians vi. 12.

2 Thessalonians ii. 9.

"

Judges vii. 18.

80.

t<

2 Samuel xxiii. 2.

1 John iv. 1.

135.

Luke ii. 26.

It

Revelation xix. 20.

tt

Acts vi. 10, 15.

81.

1 Corinthians xii. 10.

"

Revelation i. 11.

Matthew vii. 16.

136.

1 Kings xiii. 26.

83.

Romans viii. 9.

a

1 Samuel x. 10.

84.

1 Corinthians ii. 11.

"

1 Samuel xi. 6.

85.

1 Corinthians xv. 45.

u

1 Samuel xvi. 14.

91.

1 Timothv iv. 14.

"

1 Samuel xix. 23.

92.

Luke xix. 37.

137.

1 Kings iii. 18.

Luke xix. 40.

138.

Numbers xii. 2.

95.

Isaiah vi. 5.

"

Exodus xxi. 18.

u

Psalms cxliv. 5.

139.

2 Samuel xii. 7.

106.

John iv. 23.

"

John xi. 51.

John xx. 29.

u

Galatians ii. 8, 11.

110.

John v. 8.

140.

Acts xix. 11.

113.

Exodus vii. 11.

"

2 Corinthians xii. 2.

u

1 Samuel xxviii. 13.

"

1 Corinthians xiv. 18

a

Matthew xxii. 31.

141.

1 Corinthians ix. 27.

114.

2 Timothy i. 10.

"

Galatians i. 15.

116.

2 Corinthians iii. 15.

149.

Ephesians vi. 12.

119.

Genesis xlix. 29.

u

Isaiah xxix. 11.

122.

Acts x. 10.

167.

Revelation i. 10.

«

Acts xi. 15.

"

Revelation ii. 7.

123.

John x. 35.

170.

1 John iii. 2.

i06

INDEX TO TEXTS QUOTED.

171.

Romans viii. 26, 23.

274.

1 Corinthians ii. 9.

"

1 Corinthians xv. 44.

278.

Matthew x. 28.

174.

Romans viii. 16.

279.

1 Corinthians xvi. 17.

182.

Joel ii. 28.

280.

Genesis xxviii. 2.

"

Revelation i. 6.

281.

John xiv. 12.

190.

Isaiah viii. 19.

282.

1 Corinthians xv. 28.

"

John iii. 8.

284.

Romans viii. 16.

198.

Acts xvi. 16.

286.

Matthew xxviii. 2.

202.

Psalms xxxix. 3.

288.

2 Corinthians v. 1.

204.

Luke ix. 49.

299.

Numbers xi. 26.

206.

2 Corinthians xi. 14.

300.

Matthew xi. 25.

209.

1 Timothy iv. 1.

301.

Isaiah xlix. 15.

217.

Romans viii. 17.

302.

Job xii. 7.

221.

1 Corinthians xiii. 12.

309.

Tobit xii. 15.

223.

Job xxxii. 7.

310.

Daniel x. 10.

229.

John xiv. 11.

314.

Hebrews v. 12.

u

Matthew xxiv. 24.

316.

1 Corinthians ii. 13.

230.

2 Thessalonians ii. 9.

318.

Numbers xxii. 5.

"

Revelation v. 13.

320.

1 Corinthians xii. 8.

"

Revelation xiii. 13.

326.

2 Kings v. 11.

«

Mark xvi. 17.

329.

Romans i. 3.

231.

Mark xiii. 22.

332.

Job xxxiii. 14.

"

Matthew vii. 22.

333.

Numbers xii. 6.

232.

1 John iv. 1.

"

Joel ii. 27.

"

1 Corinthians xiv. 32.

334.

Acts xviii. 9.

233.

Job xxxiii. 14.

342.

John i. 14.

234.

Matthew xvii. 1.

343.

Numbers ix. 10.

"

Mark vi. 4.

"

1 Samuel xvi. 12.

it

John vii. 31.

344.

Jeremiah i. 5.

235.

Matthew xii. 22.

"

Amos vii. 14.

<(

Luke xii. 56.

"

Judges iv. 4.

u

Matthew x. 24.

345.

1 Kings iii. 5.

237.

Matthew xii. 39.

"

1 Kings x. 3.

238.

John ix. 13.

(C

1 Kings xvii. 10.

u

John xi. 48.

«

2 Kings iv. 8.

239.

John xiv. 11.

346.

1 Kings xxii. 14.

"

Mark vi. 2.

347.

Hosea vi. 4.

a

Mark v. 28.

348.

Amos vii. 12.

u

Matthew viii. 10.

349.

Luke vii. 25.

241.

Luke x. 17.

ii

Ezekiel xxxiii. 30.

242.

Acts xiv. 9.

350.

Leviticus xvii. 7.

243.

Acts i. 7.

M

Deuteronomy xxxii. 17

"

Acts iii. 19.

351.

Judges ii. 12.

«

Matthew xvii. 20.

"

Jeremiah ii. 8.

249.

1 Corinthians i. 21.

"

2 Chronicles xi. 15.

250.

John vi. 26.

352.

2 Kings i. 2.

251.

Exodus iv. 8.

«

1 Kings xx. 22.

252.

Mark viii. 17.

353.

Jeremiah vii. 18, 23.

253.

1 Kings xiii. 18.

356.

1 Samuel ix. 5.

254.

Acts viii. 18.

357.

2 Kings v. 3.

259.

1 Corinthians iii. 1.

"

2 Kings vi. 12.

261.

1 Corinthians x. 11.

"

Exodus xxxi. 2.

263.

Revelation xxii. 1.

0

1 Chronicles xxviii. 11.

266.

1 Corinthians xii. 13.

358.

2 Samuel xxiii. 1.

268.

Ecclesiastes xi. 5.

"

Deuteronomy xx. 4.

270.

John iii. 11.

«

1 Kings xx. 13.

273.

Habakkuk i. 16.

359.

2 Kings vii. 1.

INDEX TO TEXTS QUOTED.

507

359.

Exodus xviii. 15.

418.

James iv. 8.

360.

Numbers xxvii. 21.

(i

Matthew xviii. 20.

"

Deuteronomy xvii. 9.

"

Hebrews xi. 6.

"

1 Samuel x. 19.

419.

Acts i. 4.

361.

1 Kings xix. 15.

K

Acts ii. 1.

"

2 Kings ix. 1.

(1

John xx. 22.

"

2 Kings iii. 11.

((

Acts v. 32.

362.

Zechariah iv. 1.

((

Acts x. 44.

364.

Isaiah xxviii. 13.

420.

Genesis xii. 2.

372.

Deuteronomy iv. 7.

"

Matthew vii. 11.

376.

Daniel vii. 9.

u

Job xxxiii. 16.

"

Ezekiel i. 19.

421.

2 Peter i. 21.

389.

Haggai ii. 7.

"

John xiv. 16.

391.

Galatians iii. 8.

"

Matthew x. 20.

393.

Isaiah ii. 2.

«

Luke xii. 12.

»

Malachi iii. 1.

(<

Job xxxii. 8.

394.

Matthew xxiii. 37.

422.

Galatians iv. 6.

"

Malachi iv. 5.

423.

Acts viii. 17.

»

John i. 32.

426.

Matthew xvii. 10.

395.

Galatians iv. 5.

"

2 Kings ii. 15.

397.

Mark i. 12.

427.

Luke i. 17.

»

Ezekiel iii. 14.

"

Galatians iii. 19.

U

Daniel viii. 27.

(c

Galatians iii. 8.

398.

Luke xxii. 42.

"

Revelation xxi. 3.

402.

Hebrews x. 7.

429.

1 Corinthians iii. 16

403.

Genesis xxxi. 13.

430.

Mark i. 13.

u

Exodus iii. 2.

"

Matthew xi. 11.

404.

Exodus xiii. 21.

431.

John i. 32.

"

Numbers xiv. 14.

«

Matthew xi. 2.

"

Exodus xxiii. 20.

u

Matthew xi. 4.

405.

Isaiah lxiii. 8.

u

Luke iv. 16.

"

Malachi iii. 1.

432.

Luke iv. 29.

406.

Revelation i. 4.

433.

John iii. 34.

407.

1 John iv. 1.

"

John v. 20.

"

1 Corinthians xiv. 29.

u

Mark xiii. 11.

u

1 Corinthians xii. 10.

a

Matthew x. 20.

408.

1 Corinthians xiv. 18.

u

Luke ii. 25.

"

1 Corinthians xiii. 1.

434.

Romans viii. 16.

409.

John iii. 34.

"

1 John v. 6.

"

John i. 51.

435.

John iii. 2.

u

Genesis xxviii. 12.

it

John viii. 48.

410.

Malachi iv. 5.

436.

Hebrews vii. 15.

"

Matthew xi. 9.

441.

John xv. 27.

411.

Luke ix. 28.

"

John xiv. 26.

«

John xii. 28.

443.

Isaiah xiv. 10.

412.

1 Peter i. 11.

445.

Micah vii. 4.

"

Matthew xvii. 9.

«

Malachi iv. 5.

K

Acts x. 3.

«

Matthew xvi. 14.

M

Acts x. 10.

«

Matthew xvii. 12.

((

Daniel x. 9.

446.

Luke ii. 34.

413.

Genesis xv. 12.

"

Luke xix. 42.

u

Acts xxii. 14.

447.

Matthew xxiii. 35.

it

Acts xxii. 17.

448.

Luke i. 88.

414.

2 Corinthians xii. 2.

449.

Matthew xiii. 14.

416.

Genesis xlix. 1.

450.

John xx. 26.

«

1 Samuel iii. 1.

452.

Hebrews i. 6.

417.

Numbers xii. 6.

455.

John xii. 32.

503

INDEX TO TEXTS QUOTED.

455.

Luke ix. 7.

478.

Luke xxiv. 44.

457.

Ephesians i. 10.

u

Luke xxiv. 49.

458.

Matthew vi. 22.

479.

Acts ii. 36.

459.

Matthew xxvii. 19.

480.

Acts ix. 3.

460.

John xi. 51.

"

Acts ix. 15.

«

Luke xxiii. 43.

481.

Acts x. 15.

u

John xx. 17.

"

Acts x. 45.

ft

1 Peter iii. 19.

484.

Acts xxviii. 30.

it

Matthew xxvii. 45.

"

Ephesians ii. 18.

461.

Luke xxiii. 45.

485.

1 Corinthians i. 28.

462.

Matthew xxvii. 50.

t<

Acts i. 8.

"

Hebrews ix. 3.

"

Acts ii. 4.

463.

1 Corinthians xv. 35.

486.

Mark xiii. 11.

464.

Hebrews i. 3.

"

Acts iv. 7.

it

Matthew xxvii 63.

it

Acts iv. 31.

465.

Psalms xvi. 10.

u

Acts xii. 7.

"

John xix. 40.

"

Acts viii. 26.

it

Matthew xxviii. 2.

487.

Galatians i. 15.

466.

Acts ii. 2.

"

Acts xiii. 2.

"

Acts xvi. 25.

488.

Acts xvi. 6.

"

Daniel x. 7.

H

Acts xvi. 7.

467.

1 Peter iii. 18.

((

Acts xvi. 9.

"

Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 13.

"

Acts xviii. 9.

«

2 Kings xiii. 21.

489.

Acts xx. 22.

468.

Genesis v. 24.

it

Acts xxi. 20.

u

Deuteronomy xxxiv. 6.

"

Actsxxii. 17.

469.

John xx. 17.

490.

Acts xxiii. 10.

t<

John xx. 27.

"

Acts xxvii. 23.

«

Ephesians iv. 10.

491.

1 Corinthians iii. 5.

a

Lixke xxiv. 39.

492.

Eomans ii. 16.

470.

Acts i. 9.

"

Galatians ii. 6.

"

Acts vi. 15.

"

1 Corinthians xi. 23.

«

Acts vii. 55.

493.

Galatians i. 11.

u

2 Timothy i. 10.

tt

1 Corinthians xi. 3.

471.

1 Corinthians xv. 55.

494.

1 Corinthians xii. 3.

"

Matthew vii. 6.

495.

Hebrews xi. 6.

472.

Luke ii. 52.

496.

Luke xi. 13.

473.

1 Corinthians xv. 44.

499.

Revelation xxi. 2.

tt

Psalms cxliv. 3.

"

Eomans viii. 21.

474.

Mark xvi. 19.

500.

Matthew x. 34.

"

John iii. 12.

"

Revelation xxi. 10.

475.

Galatians iii. 24.

501.

Revelation xv. 3.

477.

1 Corinthians xv. 57.

INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

Amos and the priest, 348.
Angel of the covenant, 463.

" " presence, 405.
Angels, in the Scriptures, 120.

" and the Jewish law, 373.

" and God, 403.
Anthropomorphism. 370.
Anti-supernaturalism, 3, 24, 91, 168,
293, 296, 332, 364, 385, 390,
402, 422, 434, 437, 442. 459,
471, 479, 483.
Aquinas, St. Thomas, 177.
Arago, D. F. J., 51.
Atheism, a word as to, 307.
Augustine, St., 212.

Baker, Rachel, 99.

Barclay, Robert, 16.

Baxter, Richard, 23, 82, 120.

Belief, intelligent, 365.

Bible, the, and mistranslations, 118.

Blind leaders of the blind, 40, 301,

305, 312, 336.
Blindness, spiritual, 149.

" " from scholar-

ship, 104.

" " from science, 40.

Bbhme, Jacob, 13.
Bonaventura, St., 192.
Bridget, St., 99.
Buchner, Dr., 63, 297.

Cassaixbon, Isaac, 159.

Catholic and Protestant, 98, 116, 119,

201, 225, 297, 313.
Charity as a means to knowledge,

221.
China praised, 214.
Christianity, the beginning of, 391.
" the essence of, 493.

" the meaning of, 483.

Chrysostom, St. John, 87.
Church, the, and the Spirit, 28, 478.

" the true. 491.
Church-goins, 338, 418.
Cicero, 144, 331.

Clairvoyance, 174, 271, 297.
Clement, the Recognitions of, 186.
Commonwealth of England, 247.
Confucius, 424.

Cudworth, Ralph, 168, 186, 245.
Cupertino, St. Joseph of, 100.

Demoniacs, 116.

" modern, 91.

Dream, that of Pilate's wife, 459.
Dreaming, the natural oracle, 325,

331, 337.
Dreams and the Scriptures, 332.

" two, 179.
Dupotet, the Baron, 424.

Ecstatics, 152.

" and witchcraft, 159.
Endor, the woman of, 113.

Faith, 243, 474, 495.
Farmer Hugh, 48, 73, 192.
Ficinus Marsilius, 61.
Forum, the Roman, 148.
Fox, George, 13, 202, 219.
Franklin, Benjamin, 129.
Froude, J. A., 57.
Fulness of the time, 456.

Gibbon, E., 147.

God, as the Creator, 43.

" and his angels, 120.

" and man, 278, 281, 341, 418,

" and nature, 49, 302, 373.

" and the peculiar people, 377.

" and the soul, 301.

" the Church of, 484.
Gods, false, 112.
Goethe, 307.
Greatrex, 99, 297.

Hades, 115.

Heathenism and Christianity, 147,

316.
Herbert, Lord of Cherbury, 40.
Hitchcock, E. A., 54.

510

INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

Homer, 331.

Honesty the best policy, 24, 72.

Immortality and Judaism, 114.

" " Paganism, 113.

Inspiration, the nature of, 319.

" universality of, 76, 317,

327.
Jesus, 329.

" variously apprehended, 435.
" and the "Spirit, 397, 430.
" and the crucifixion, 460.
" and the resurrection, 452, 478.
" and the Jews, 446.
Jews, the, as a peculiar people, 377.
" at the coming of Christ, 382.
" and Plato, 369.
John, the Gospel of, 441.
Josephus, 387.
Judaism and mankind, 392.

Knowledge and ignorance, 70.

Lachish, Simeon Ben.. 83.
Lateau, Louise, 152.
Levi,.Rabbi Ben, 116.
Lightfoot, John, 78, 256, 406.
Limborch, Philip a, 122.
Logic and religion, 267.
Loyola Ignatius, 192.
Lupton Arthur, 150.
Luther Martin, 7, 227.

Magnetism, 323, 424.
Maimonides, Moses, 120, 236, 408.
Man and God, 495.
" and history, 483.
" historically bound, 107, 453.
Man as a spirit, 37, 130, 170, 220, 262,
268, 278, 282, 314, 324, 336,
340, 401, 476.
" and the Spirit, 400, 428, 482.
" open to the Spirit, 437, 442.
" born of the universe, 314, 396,

495.
" spiritually insphered, 423.
Martyr, Justin, 122*.
Marvels of the present day, 162.
Men and monkeys, 108.
Mesmerism, 156, 297, 324, 326.
Mill, James, 69, 451.
Miracle, as a Scriptural word, 227.
Miracles, 1, 8, 22, 38.

" ignorance as to, 2, 81, 93.
" various definitions of, 224.
" defined, 248.

" and science, 74, 120, 264.

Miracles, and human nature, 285.
" and pneumatology, 309.
" and the creative spirit, 264.
" and the Spirit, 283.
" as signs, 245, 248, 280, 283.

" and speculative science,

308.
" and nature, 42.
" and the material universe,

290.
" and the spiritual universe,

290.
" and doctrine, 71, 75, 235.
" and character, 139, 231.
" and the Scriptures, 229,

237.
" and their significance, 75,

238, 251, 279, 449.
" the light of, 260.
" religiously important, 292.
" and the believing spirit, 90.
" wavs of believing in, 104.
" and Christian belief, 36.
" and belief. 22, 106, 239, 278.
" not unnatural, 282, 286,

324, 331.
" why not more common,

93, 295, 494.
" conditional, 240.

" and all time, 496.
" and the present dav, 162,

260, 449.
" not for everybody, 164.
" modern, 162, 298^ 324. 331.

" as witnessed by seraphs,

46.
" and a spiritual world, 95.
" like prophecies, 280.
More, Henry, 168, 201.
Mori, Maria. 153.

Moses hearing the Lord command,
343.

Nature, the laws of, 46, 73, 306.

" " a figure of speech,

49, 74.
Neander, Augustus, 20, 197, 399.
Neri, St. Philip, 298.
Newman, 161.
Newton, Sir Isaac, 44, 54, 247.

Oracles, ancient, 334.
Origen, 319.
Owen, John, 82.

Palestine at the birth of Jesus, 382.
Paul, St., 140, 413, 4S7.

INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

511

Pausanias, 145.
Pentecost, 482.
Philip the Apostle, 486.
Pius the Seventh, 193.
Plato, 164, 316, 319, 332, 387.
Plotimis, 13, 26, 158, 212, 425.
Pneumatology and the Scriptures,
110.
" illustrated, 16, 89, 95,

127, 173, 206, 233, 243, 265,
269, 276, 2S8, 309, 321, 324,
367, 377, 385, 396, 423, 438,
454, 455, 468, 493.
Powell, Baden, 56.
Progress, law of, 366.
Prophecy, 383, 389, 408.

" and human nature, 316.

Prophets, who were, 94, 131, 343.
" how commissioned, 343.

" social position of, 346.

" and priests, 347.

" false, 112, 232, 351.

Prospects, spiritual, 243, 270, 333,497.
Pusey, E. B., 155.

Receptiveness, spiritual, 329.
Renan, J. E., 4, 85, 94.
Resurrection of Jesus, 286, 252.
Revelation, and primitive germ as
to, 333.
" made through angels,

120.
" and new truths, 316.
" a primal truth as to, 376.
'; the philosophv of, 44, 123,
201, 218, 272, 290, 343,
373, 403, 417, 425, 430,
458.
Revivals, religious, 202, 220.
Rome, ancient, 147.

Saul and Samuel, 136.
Schiller, J. C. F., 171.
Science and Miracles, 38, 120, 271,
306, 402.

" and its limitations, 200, 291,
301.

" and human nature, 282.

" and spirit, 2ly, 268, 283, 475.

" and religion, 283, 301, 337,
428.

" obsolete forms of, 177.

" and electricity, 62.
Scott, Dr. Walter, 194.
Sheol or Hades, 115.
Shrewsbury the Earl of, 153, 159.
Smith, John, 440.

Souls differ, 320.
Spirit, the, 30, 400.

" " variously described, 420.
" " and the" Old Testament,

340.
" " and the Scriptures, 450.
" " as a theocracy, 360, 392.
" " and the prophets thereof,

131.
" " and its course, 479.
" " and its effects, 356.
" " in action, 27.
" " and its instruments, 347,

498.
" " various manifestations

of, 320, 420, 489.
" " gifts of, 320, 496.
" " experiences of, 321, 330.
" " and its teaching, 319.
" " as inspiration, 356, 379.
" " and receptiveness, 320.
" " and conviction, 474.
" " as between man and

God, 494.
" " and the soul, 322, 392.
" " and all men, 379.
" " men differenced by, 443.
" " and human individual-
it}-, 354. 376.
" " grieving, 330.
" " living by, 182, 415.
" " being in, 413.
" " and miracles, 283.
" " and logic, 319.
" " the original of the

church, 484.
" " and the Future, 498.
Spirit, 12, 18, 30, 40.
" and matter, 166.
" and science, 183.
" descent by, 380.
" as a word degraded, 103, 315.
Spirits and inspiration, 407.
" familiar, 113.
" unclean, 117, 175, 198, 293,
296, 406, 446.
Spiritual states, 166.

" world about us, 182.
Spiritualism, 63, 184, 203, 299, 369,
425, 500.
" and the Old Testament,

369.
" and the Scriptures, 209.

" the phenomena of, 160.

206, 211.
" an estimate of, 208, 216,

" significance of, 212, 218.

512

INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

Spirit-rappings, 190, 203, 217.

" and science, 61.

" and Baden Powell,

63.
Stanley, Arthur P., 76.
Stigmata, on the, 158.
Stilling, Heinrich, 88.
Strauss, D. T., 10, 53.
Suetonius, 3S7.
Swedenborg, Emmanuel, 89.

Tacitus, 387.

Telegraph, electric, 271, 483.

TertulHan, 214.

Testament, the Old, 340, 368.

" " as a history of

the Spirit, 3G3.
" " its own evi-

dence, 368.
" " and the New,

311, 375, 382.
Theocracy, the Jewish, 342, 352,

392, 446.
Theology, modern, 22, 43, 92, 96,
"'112, 124, 175, 191, 193, 197,
200, 208, 231, 255, 293, 300,
305, 315, 339, 369, 444.
Theology, modern, state of, 198.
" " externality of,

315.

Theology, modern, weakness of, 96,
191.
" " and superstition,

162, 208.
" " confounded by

Spiritualism, 190.
Time, fulness of the, 388, 395, 456.

" spirit of the, 265.
Tongues, the gift of, 408.
Trance, the state of, 413.
Transfiguration, the, 411, 455.

" " was in vision,

412.

Unbelief, modern, 2, 16, 19, 23, 36.
Universe, the, not a machine, 55.

" " and man, 264.

" " as to men and spirits,

294.

" " as to miracles, 280.

Vespasian, 447.
Virgil, 389.

Vision, the state of, 122, 810, 413.
" instances of, 479.

Warning from a bird, 182.
Wesley, John, 184.
Word of the Lord, 124, 312, 342, 367,
378, 400.

THE END.

Cambridge : Electrotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co.

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