earlier writers, we find similar assertions of the presence of a miraculous agency in the Church, and its manifestations have the same general character. Exorcism, cures, visions, are the chief miracles of the fourth century; and they are equally so of the second and third; so that the former have a natural claim to be considered the continuation of the latter. But there are these very important differences between the two; that the accounts in the fourth century are much more in detail than those of the second and third, which are commonly vague and general; and next, that in the second and third those kinds of alleged miraculous operation which are the most decisive proofs of a supernatural presence are but sparingly or scarcely mentioned.

Middleton's enumeration of these primitive miracles, which on the whole may be considered to be correct, is as follows,"the power of raising the dead, of healing the sick, of cast"ing out devils, of prophesying, of seeing visions, of discovering the secrets of men, of expounding the Scriptures, " of speaking with tongues m." Of these the only two which are in their nature distinctly miraculous are the first and last; and for both of these we depend mainly on the testimony of St. Irenæus, who lived immediately after the Apostolical Fathers, that is, close upon the period when even modern writers are disposed to allow that miracles were wrought in the Church. Douglas observes, "If we except the testimonies of Papias and Irenæus, who speak of raising the dead. . . I can find no instances of miracles mentioned by the Fathers "before the fourth century, as what were performed by "Christians in their times, but the cures of diseases, par"ticularly the cures of demoniacs, by exorcising them; which "last indeed seems to be their favourite standing miracle, "and the only one which I find (after having turned over "their writings carefully and with a view to this point) they

challenged their adversaries to come and see them per"form ""

It must be observed, however, that though certain occurrences are in their character more miraculous than others, yet that a miracle of degree may, in the particular case, be quite as clearly beyond the ordinary course of nature. Imagination can cure the sick in certain cases, in certain cases it cannot; and we shall have a very imperfect view of the alleged miracles, of the second and third centuries, if instead of patiently contemplating the instances recorded, in their circumstances and details, we content ourselves with their abstract character, and suffer a definition to stand in place of examination. Thus if we take St. Cyprian's description of the demoniacs, in which he is far from solitary°o, we shall find that while it is quite open to accuse him and others of misstatement, we cannot accept his description as it stands, without acknowledging that the conflict between the powers of heaven and the evil spirit was then visibly proceeding as in the time of Christ and His Apostles. "O would you listen to "them," he says to the heathen Demetrian, "and see them, "when they are adjured and tormented by us with spiritual "lashes, hurled with words of torture out of bodies they have "possessed, when shrieking and groaning at a human voice, " and beneath a power divine laid under lash and stripe, they "confess the judgment to come. You will find that we are "entreated of them whom you entreat, feared by them whom

you fear, and whom you adore. Surely thus, at least, "will you be brought to confusion in these your errors, "when you behold and hear your gods at once upon our "questioning betraying what they are, and unable, even in your presence, to conceal their tricks and deceptions P."

" Page 232.

• For ancient testimonies to the power of exorcism, vid. Middlet. pp. 80-90. Douglas's Criterion, p. 232. note 1.

Farmer on Miracles, pp. 241, 242.
Whitby's Preface to Epp. § 10.

P Treat. viii. 8. Oxford tr.

Again, "You may see them by our voice, and through the

66

operation of the unseen Majesty, lashed with stripes, and "scorched with fire; stretched out under the increase of "their multiplying penalty, shrieking, groaning, intreating, confessing from whence they came, and when they de"part, even in the hearing of their own worshippers; and "either leaping out suddenly, or gradually vanishing, as "faith in the sufferer aids, or grace in the curer conspires 9." Passages equally strong might be cited from writers of the same period.

And there are other occurrences of a distinctly miraculous character in the earlier centuries, which come under none of Middleton's or Douglas's classes, but which ought not to be overlooked. For instance, a fragrance issued from St. Polycarp when burning at the stake, and on his being pierced with a sword a dove flew out. Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem about the end of the second century, when oil failed for the lamps on the vigil of Easter, sent persons to draw water instead; which, on his praying over it, was changed into oil. Eusebius, who relates this miracle, says that small quantities of the oil were preserved even to his time. St. Cyprian speaks of a person who had lapsed in persecution, attempting to communicate; when on opening the arca, or receptacle in which the consecrated bread was reserved, fire burst out from it and prevented her. Another on attending at church with the same purpose, found that he had received from the Priest a cinder instead of bread.

Before quitting this review of Ecclesiastical miracles in the ancient Church, it will be right to mention certain isolated ones which have an historical character and are accordingly more celebrated than the rest. Such is the miracle of the thundering Legion, that is, the rain accorded to the prayers of Christian soldiers in the army of Marcus Antoninus when they were

a Treat. ii. 4. Oxford tr.

perishing by thirst; the appearance of the cross in the sky to Constantine's army, with the inscription "In hoc signo vinces;" the sudden death of Arius close upon his proposed re-admission into the Church, at the prayers of Alexander of Constantinople; the discovery of the true cross, its multiplication, and the miracles wrought by it; the fire bursting forth from the foundations of the Jewish temple, which hindered its rebuilding; the restoration of the blind man on the discovery of the relics of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius; and the power of speech granted to the African confessors who had lost their tongues in the Vandal persecution 1.

Imperfect as is this survey of the miracles ascribed to the ages later than the Apostles, it is quite sufficient for the purpose for which it has been made; viz. to shew that those miracles are on the whole very different in their character and attendant circumstances from the Gospel miracles, which are very far from preparing us for them, or rather at first sight indispose us for their receptions.

And in the next place this important circumstance must be considered, which is as clear as it is decisive, that the Fathers speak of miracles as having in one sense ceased with the Apostolic period;—that is, (considering they elsewhere speak of miracles as existing in their own times,) they say that Apostolic miracles, or miracles like the Apostles', whether in their object, cogency, impressiveness, or character, were no longer of occurrence in the Church; an interpretation which they themselves in some passages give to their own words. "Argue not," says St. Chrysostom, "because mira

For other ancient testimonies to the Ecclesiastical miracles, vid. Dodwell. Dissert. in Irenæum. ii. 41--60. Middleton's Inquiry, pp. 2-19. Brook's Defens. Miracl. Eccl. pp. 16-22. Mr. Isaac Taylor's Anc. Christ. part 7.

s On the difference between the miracles of Scripture and of Ecclesiastical history, vid. Douglas's Crit. pp. 221

237. Paley's Evidences, part i. prop. 2. Middlet. pp. 21-26.91-96, &c. Bishop Blomfield's Sermons, note on p. 82. Dodwell attempts to draw a line between the Ante-Nicene and the later miracles, in favour of the former, Dissert. in Iren. ii. 62-66, as regards testimony, nature, instrument, and object,

"cles do not happen now, that they did not happen then "In those times they were profitable, and now they are not." He proceeds to say that in spite of this difference, the mode of conviction was substantially the same. "We persuade "not by philosophical reasonings, but from Divine Scripture, " and we recommend what we say by the miracles then done. "And then they persuaded not by miracles only, but by dis"cussion." And presently he adds, "The more evident and "constraining are the things which happen, the less room there "is for faith." Again in another part of his works, "Why are "there not those now who raise the dead and perform cures? "I will not say why not; rather, why are there not those now who despise the present life? why serve we God for "hire? When however nature was weak, when faith had to "be planted, then there were many such; but now He wills, "not that we should hang on these miracles, but be ready "for death"."

In like manner St. Augustine introduces his catalogue of contemporary miracles, which has been partly given above, by stating and allowing the objection that miracles were not then as they had been. "Why, say they, do not these "miracles take place now, which, as you preach to us, took

place once? I might answer that they were necessary "before the world believed, that it might believe *." He then goes on to say that miracles were wrought in his time, only they were not so public and well-attested as the miracles of the Gospel.

St. Ambrose, on the discovery of the bodies of the two Martyrs, uses language of surprise which is quite in accordance with the feelings which the miracles of Antony and Hilarion seem to have roused, in Alexandria and in Sicily. "You know, you yourselves saw that many were cleansed

t Hom. in 1 Cor. vi. 2 and 3. u Hom. 8. in Col. § 5.

x

De Civ. Dei xxii. 8. § 1.