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some out of many which have been attempted, and done accordingly without any previous confidence in their power to effect them. Moses and Elijah could predict the result; but the miracles in question were scarcely more than experiments and trials, even though success had been granted them many times before P. Under these circumstances, how could the individuals who wrought them appeal to them themselves? It was not till afterwards, when their friends and disciples could calmly look back upon their life, and review the various actions and providences which occurred in the course of it, that they would be able to put together the scattered tokens of Divine favour, none or few of which might in themselves be a certain evidence of a miraculous power. As well might we expect men in their lifetime to be called Saints, as workers of miracles. But this is not all; the objection serves to suggest a very observable distinction which holds between the conduct of those whose miracles are designed to be evidence of the truth of religion, and of others though similarly gifted. The Apostles, for instance, did their miracles openly, because they were intended to be instruments of conversion; but when the supernatural Power took up its abode in the Church, and manifested itself as it would, and not for definite objects which it signified at the time of its manifestation, it could not but seem to imply some personal privilege, when seen in an individual, who would in consequence be as little inclined to proclaim it aloud as to make a boast of his graces.

The same peculiarity in the gift will also account for that deficiency in the evidence, and other unsatisfactory circum

The present Bishop of London argues from Origen's expression, oùs & Beds BouλETAι, (vid. p. ciii. note q), "that the attempts, which no doubt "were made to effect miraculous cures "were not always successful;" vid. Athan. v. Ant. 56, where this very thing is confessed: then he continues:

"and if so, we may safely infer that "where they did succeed, they were to "be ascribed to the ordinary means of "healing under the Divine blessing." Bishop Blomfield's Sermons, p. 434. I cannot follow his Lordship in calling this inference a safe one.

stances of a like nature which have already been spoken of. Since the Divine manifestation was arbitrary, the testimony would necessarily be casual. What else could be expected in the cases of occurrences of which there was no notice beforehand, and in many cases no trace after, and where we are obliged to be contented with such witnesses as happened to be present, or, if they cannot be found, with the mere report which has circulated from them? and when perhaps, as was noticed in the last paragraph, the principal parties felt it to be wrong to court publicity, after our Lord's pattern, and perhaps shrank from examination? "There is no man," said His brethren to Him, "that doeth any thing in secret, and " he himself seeketh to be known openly; if Thou do these "things, shew Thyself to the world." In our Lord's own case there was a time for concealment, and a time for display; and as it was a time for evidence when miracles were wrought by the Apostles, so afterwards there was a time for other objects and other uses, when miracles were wrought through the Church; and as our Lord's miracles were true, though the Jews complained that He "made them so long to doubt," so it is no disproof of the miracles of the Church, that those who do not wish them true have room to criticise the character or the matter of the testimony which at this day is offered in their behalf.

One more remark is in point. Middleton in the extract above quoted finds fault with the Fathers for "declaring only "in general" that miracles continued, that they had seen them themselves, and that any one else might see them who would, while they made no attempt to specify the names, conditions, and characters, of the persons working them. Yet surely this is but natural, if such miracles were as frequent as Ecclesiastical history represents. Instead of its being an objection to them, it is just the state of things which must necessarily follow, supposing they were such and so wrought as

is described. When we are speaking of what is obvious, and allowed on all hands, we do not go about to prove it. We only argue when there is doubt; we only consult documents, and weigh evidence, and draw out proofs, when we are not eye-witnesses. If the Fathers had seen miracles of healing or exorcisms not unfrequently, and were writing to others who had seen the like, they would use the confident yet vague language which we actually find in their accounts. The state of the testimony is but in keeping with the alleged facts.

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For instance St. Justin speaks of the Incarnation as having taken place "for the sake of believers, and for the overthrow "of evil spirits;" "and you may know this now," he continues, "from what passes before your eyes; for many de"moniacs all over the world, and in your own metropolis, "whom none other exorcists, conjurers, or sorcerers have "cured, these have many of our Christians cured, adjuring by the Name of Christ, and still do cure." Again: "With "us even hitherto are prophetical gifts, from which you Jews ought to gather that what formerly belonged to your race is "transferred to us ;" and soon after, quoting the passage from the prophet Joel, he adds, " and with us may be seen females "and males with gifts from the Spirit of God." And St. Irenæus; "In His Name His true disciples, receiving the grace from Himself, work for the benefit of other men, as "each has received the gift from Him. For some cast out "devils certainly and truly, so that oftentimes the cleansed persons themselves become believers and join the Church. "Others have foreknowledge of things future, visions, and

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prophetical announcements. Others by imposition of hands "heal the sick and restore them to health. Moreover, as I "have said, before now even the dead have been restored to life, and have continued with us for many years. Indeed, "it is not possible to tell the number of gifts which the Church

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"throughout the world has received from God in the Name "of Christ Jesus, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and "exercises day by day for the benefit of the nations, neither seducing nor taking money of any." Shortly before he observes, that the heretics could not raise the dead, "as our "Lord did, and the Apostles by prayer; and in the brother"hood frequently for some necessary object, (the whole "Church in the place asking it with much fasting and sup

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plication,) the spirit of the dead has returned, and the man "has been granted to the prayers of the Saints." And again, he speaks of his "hearing many brothers in the Church "who had prophetical gifts, and spoke by the Spirit in all tongues, and brought to light the hidden things of men for a profitable purpose, and related the mysteries of God." And in like manner Tertullian: "Place some possessed person "before your tribunals; any Christian shall command that spirit to speak, who shall as surely confess himself to be a "devil with truth, as elsewhere he will call himself a god "( falsely... What work can be clearer? . . . there will be no "room for suspicion; you would say that it is magic, or some "other deceit, if your eyes and ears allowed you, for what is "there to urge against that which is proved by its naked

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sincerity?" Again, Origen speaks of persons healing, "with no invocation over those who need a cure, but that "of the God of all and the Name of Jesus, with some nar"rative concerning Him." "By these," he adds, “we, too, "have seen many set free from severe complaints, and loss of "mind, and madness, and numberless other such evils, which "neither men nor devils had cured 9."

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This is the very language which we are accustomed to use, when facts are so notorious that the onus dubitandi may fairly be thrown upon those who question them. All that can be said is, that the facts are not notorious to us; certainly not, but the Fathers wrote for contemporaries, not for the eighteenth or nineteenth century, not for modern notions and theories, for distant countries, for a degenerate people and a disunited Church. They did not foresee that evidence would become a science, that doubt would be thought a merit, and disbelief a privilege; that it would be in favour and condescension to them if they were credited, and in charity that they were accounted honest. They did not feel that man was so self-sufficient, and so happy in his prospects for the future, that he might reasonably sit at home closing his ears to all reports of Divine interpositions till they were actually brought before his eyes, and faith was superseded by sense; they did not so disparage the Spouse of Christ as to imagine

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"gift of understanding, of counsel, of "strength, of healing," &c. ibid. 39. "(Dæmonia) de vobis sine præmio, "sine mercede depellimus." Tertul. Apol. 37; vid. also 43. Speaking of the sting of the scorpion, he says, in re"mediis naturalia plurima; aliquid et "magia circumligat; medicina cum "ferro et poculo occurrit. Nobis fides "præsidium, si non et ipsa percutitur "diffidentia signandi statim et ad"jurandi et urgendi bestiæ calcem : "hoc denique modo etiam ethnicis

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sæpe subvenimus, donati à Deo eâ "potestate, quam Apostolus dedicavit 66 quum morsum viparæ sprevit." Scorp. 1. Enimvero cum dæmonia "affirmamus esse, sane quasi non et "probemus, qui ea soli de corporibus "exigimus." Test. Anim. 3. "Quanti

"honesti viri (de vulgaribus enim non "dicimus) aut è dæmoniis aut valetu"dinibus remediati sunt!" ad Scap. 4. And Minucius Felix, "Hæc omnia "sciunt plerique pars vestrum, ipsos "dæmonas de semetipsis confiteri, "quoties à nobis tormentis verborum "et orationis incendiis de corporibus

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"et Jupiter, et quicquid dæmonum
colitis, victi dolore quod sunt elo-
quuntur," &c. 27. And Theophilus,
“ ἐκ τούτου δε σαφῶς δείκνυται, εἰ καὶ οἱ
“ δαιμονῶντες ἐνίοτε μέχρι τοῦ δεύρο
τι ἐξορκίζονται κατὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ
“ ὄντος θεοῦ, καὶ ὁμολογεῖ αὐτὰ τὰ
σε πλάνα πνεύματα εἶναι δαίμονες.” ad
Autol. ii. 8. Origen says that the name
of Jesus, “ ἐκστάσεις ἀφίστησι καὶ δαι-
σε μόνας, ἤδη δὲ καὶ νόσους.” Contr. Cels.
1. 67; “ γενναῖον δ ̓ ἔργον τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τὸ
“ μέχρι σήμερον θεραπεύεσθαι τῷ ὀνόματι
“ αὐτοῦ, οὓς ὁ θεὸς βούλεται,” ibid. ii. 33.
εἰ μὴ θεόθεν, οὐκ ἂν καὶ δαίμονες τῷ
“ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ ἀπαγγελλομένῳ μόνον
“ εἴκοντες ἀνεχώρουν ἀπὸ τῶν ὑπ ̓ αὐτῶν
· πολεμουμένων." ibid. iii. 36. “Καὶ ἔτι
ἐξαγουσι δαίμονας καὶ

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et potestate divinâ flagelletur diabo"lum et uratur et torqueatur, &c.'' Ep. 76. ad Magn. circ. fin. Other passages from the same author are quoted above, p. xxxvi.

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