A philosopher was once asked what he should say if he saw the sun stand still, that is, if the motions of the earth round that star were to cease; if all the dead were to rise again; and if the mountains were to go and throw themselves together into the sea, all in order to prove some important truth, like that, for ins stance, of versatile grace? What should I say? answered the philosopher I should become a Manichean I should say that one principle counteracted the performance of another. A atomalo borb) adi bayout br.jogata cu no boinsg SECTION Hnos eat

Miracu

Define your terms, you will permit me again to say, or we shall never understand one another, lum, res miranda, prodigium, portentum, monstrum.? Miracle, something admirable; prodigy, implying something astonishing; portentous, bearing witheat novelty monster, something to show (à montrer) on account of its variety. *:olda Jamb s

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On Such are the first ideas that men formed of miracles.
As everything is refined and improved upon, such
also would be the case with this definition. A miracle
is said to be that which is impossible to nature. But
it was not considered that this was in fact saying all
miracle is absolutely impossible. For what is nature ?
You understand by it the eternal order of things. A
miracle would therefore be impossible in such an
order. In this sense God could not work a miracle.lo
If you mean by miracle an effect of which
you can>
not perceive the cause, in that sense all is miracle;
The attraction and direction of the magnet are cons
tinual miracles. A snail whose head is renewed is a
miracle. The birth of every animal, the production of
every vegetable, are miracles of every day ti ted) olo
to But we are so accustomed to these prodigies, that
they have lost their name of admirable of miraculoust
The Indians are no longer astonished by cannon.dogh
10 We have therefore formed for ourselves another idea
of a miracle. It is, according to the common opinion,
what never has happened and never will happen. Such
is the idea formed of Samson's jawbone of an ass; of

the conversation between the ass and Balaam, and that between a serpent and Eve; of the chariot with four horses that conveyed away Elijah; of the fish that kept Jonah in its belly seventy-two hours; of the ten plagues of Egypt, of the walls of Jericho, and of the sun and moon standing still at mid-day, &c. &c. &c.

In order to believe a miracle, it is not enough merely to have seen it; for a man may be deceived. A fool is often called a dealer in wonders; and not merely do many excellent persons think that they have seen what they have not seen, and heard what was never said to them, not only do they thus become witnesses of miracles, but they become also subjects of miracles. They have been sometimes diseased, and sometimes cured by supernatural power; they have been changed into wolves; they have travelled through the air on broomsticks; they have become both incubi and succubi.

It is necessary that the miracle should have been seen by a great number of very sensible people, in sound health, and perfectly disinterested in the affair. It is above all necessary, that it should have been solemnly attested by them; for if solemn forms of authentication are deemed necessary with respect to transactions of a very simple character, such as the purchase of a house, a marriage contract, or a will, what particular and minute cautionary formalities must not be deemed requisite in order to verify things naturally impossible, on which the destiny of the world is to depend?

Even when an authentic miracle is performed, it in fact proves nothing; for scripture tells you, in a great variety of places, that impostors may perform miracles, and that if any man, after having performed them, should proclaim another God than that of the Jews, he ought to be stoned to death.

It is requisite therefore, that the doctrine should be confirmed by the miracles, and the miracles by the doctrine.

Even this however is not sufficient. As impostors may preach a very correct and pure morality, the better to deceive, and it is admitted that impostors, like the

magicians of Pharaoh, may perform miracles; it is int addition necessary, that these miracles should have been announced by prophecies. s berovios do zorrod

In order to be convinced of the truth of these pro phecies, it is necessary that they should have been heard clearly announced, and seen really accomplished. It is necessary to possess perfectly the language in which they are preserved.m a vol eti maa 97d of o It is not sufficient even, that you are a witness of their miraculous fulfilment; for you may be deceived by false appearances. It is necessary that the miracle and prophecy should be verified on oath by the heads of the nation; and even after all this there will be some doubters. For it is possible for a nation to be interested in the forgery of a prophecy or a miracle and when interest mixes with the transaction, you may consider the whole affair as worth nothing. If a pre dicted miracle be not as public and as well verified as an eclipse that is announced in the almanac be assured that it is nothing better than a juggler's trick or an old woman's tale.dt vormkon uit lle svedo zi si ;ardt vd bobsite "insołoż dragon dev SECTION III...mob sun meitoitrouJ

only upon miracles The great sovereign These are his minis

A theocracy can be founded Everything in it must be divine. speaks to men only in prodigies. ters and letters patent. His orders are intimated by ocean covering the earth to drown the nations, or opening a way through its depths, that they may pass upon dry land. How is as

MATTI HEMs now wi

all is miracle; from the omson of Adish history

Accordingly you perceive, that in the Jewish history 10 and the formation of Eve, who was made of one of the tibs of Adam, to the time of the insignificant kingling Saul.

Even in the time of this same Saul theocracy parti54ower cipates in power with royalty. There are still, consequently, miracles performed from time to time; but there is no longer that splendid train of prodigies which continually astonishes and interrupts nature. The 203100 SALE YUNBILAN QING BAG J991100 Vis▼ ♪ donery vant cda salil 270120quisée the Krudie Prophet bus prisob of

See

PROPHECY.

ten plagues of Egypt are not renewed; the stin and moon do not stand still at mid-day, in order to give a captain commander time to exterminare a few runa ways, already nearly destroyed by a shower of stones from the clouds. No Samson again extirpates a thousand Philistines by the jaw-bone of an ass. Asses no longer talk rationally with men; walls no longer fall prostrate at the mere sound of trumpets; cities are not swallowed up in a lake by the fire of heaven; the race of man is not a second time destroyed by a deluge. But the finger of God is still manifested; the shade of Saul is permitted to appear at the invocation of the sorceress, and God himself promises David that he will defeat the Philistines at Baal-perazim...

God gathers together, his celestial army in the reign of Ahab, and asks the spirits, Who will go and deceive Ahab, and persuade him to go up to war against Ramoth Gilead? And there come forth a lying spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade him." But the prophet Micaiah alone heard this conversation, and he received a blow on the cheek from another prophet, called Zedekiah, for having announced the ill-omened prodigy. -Of miracles performed in the sight of the whole nation, and changing the laws of all nature, we see no more until the time of Elijah, for whom the Lord dispatched a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which conveyed him rapidly from the banks of the Jordan to heaven, although no one knew where heaven was.

From the commencement of historical times, that is, from the time of the conquests of Alexander, we see no more miracles among the Jews. quod ad 33

When Pompey comes to make himself master of Jerusalem when Crassus plunders the temple when Pompey puts to death the king of the Jews by the hands of the executioner when Anthony confers the kingdom of Judea on the Arabian Herod-when Titus takes Jerusalem by assault, and when it is rased to the bananera ground by Adrian-not a single miracle is ever performed. beatcol & luojalooW_esmodi amabom odt oran▲

em of amoqqs sgbindang Rings, stigvinu oils to rodməm

Thus it is with every nation upon earth. They begin with theocracy; they end in a manner simply and naturally human. The farther the progress made in society and knowledge, the fewer there are of prodigies.

We well know that the theocracy of the Jews was the only true one, and that those of other nations were false; but in all other respects, the case was precisely the same with them as with the Jews.

In Egypt, in the time of Vulcan, and in that of Isis and Osiris, everything was out of the laws of nature; under the Ptolemies everything resumed its natural

course.

In the remote periods of Phos, Chrysos, and Ephestes, gods and mortals conversed in Chaldea with the most interesting familiarity. A god warned king Xissuter, that there would be a deluge in Armenia, and that it was necessary he should, as soon as possible, build a vessel five stadii in length and two in width. Such things do not happen to the Dariuses and the Alexanders.

The fish Oannes, in former times, came every day out of the Euphrates to preach upon its banks: but there is no preaching fish now. It is true that St. Anthony of Padua went and preached to the fishes; however, such things happen so very rarely, that they are scarcely to be taken any account of.

Numa held long conversations with the nymph Egeria; but we never read that Cæsar had any with Venus, although he was descended from her in the direct line. The world, we see, is constantly advancing a little, and refining gradually.

But after being extricated out of one slough for a time, mankind are soon plunged into another. To ages of civilisation succeed ages of barbarism; that barbarism is again expelled, and again re-appears: it is the regular alternation of day and night.

Of those who have been so impiously rash as to deny the Miracles of Jesus Christ.

Among the moderns, Thomas Woolston, a learned member of the university of Cambridge, appears to me