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numerous miracles which are free from it; and even those to which it is applicable, are little affected by it in their credit, because there are few, who, admitting the rest, will reject them. If there be miracles of the New Testament, which come within any of the other heads into which we have distributed the objections, the same remark must be repeated. And this is one way, in which the unexampled number and variety of the miracles ascribed to Christ, strengthens the credibility of Christianity. For it precludes any solution, or conjecture about a solution, which imagination, or even which experience might suggest concerning some particular miracles, if considered independently of others. The miracles of Christ were of various kinds,* and performed in great varieties of situation, form and manner; at Jerusalem, the metropolis of the Jewish nation and religion, in different parts of Judea and Galilee; in cities, in villages; in synagogues, in private houses; in the streets, in highways; with preparation, as in the case of Lazarus, by accident, as in the case of the widow's son at Nain; when attended by multitudes, and when alone with the patient; in the midst of his disciples, and in the presence of his enemies; with the common people around him, and before scribes, and Pharisees, and rulers of the synagogues.

I apprehend that, when we remove from the comparison the cases which are fairly disposed of by the observations that have been stated, many cases will not remain. To those which do remain, we apply this final distinction; "that there is not satisfactory evidence, that persons pretending to be original witnesses of the miracles, passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undertaken and undergone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and properly in consequence of their belief of the truth of those accounts."

CHAP. II.

BUT they, with whom we argue, have undoubtedly a right to elect their own examples. The instances, with

*Not only healing every species of disease, but turning water into wine; (John ii.) feeding multitudes with a few loaves and fishes; (Mat. xiv. 14. Mark vi. 35. Luke ix. 12. John iv. 5.) walking on the sea; (Mat. xiv. 23.) calming a storm; (Mat. viii. 26. Luke viii. 23) a celestial voice at his baptism, and miraculous appearance; (Mat. iii. 17. afterwards John xii. 28.) his transfiguration; (Mat. xvii. 1-8. Mark ix. 2. Luke ix. 28. Ep. Peter i. 16. 17.) raising the dead in three distinct instances; (Mat. ix. 18. Mark v. 22. Luke vii. 41. Luke vii. 14. John xi.)

which Mr. Hume hath chosen to confront the miracles of the New Testament, and which, therefore, we are entitled to regard, as the strongest which the history of the world could supply to the inquiries of a very acute and learned adversary, are the three following:

1. The cure of the blind and of a lame man at Alexandria, by the emperor Vespasian, as related by Tacitus.

2. The restoration of a limb to an attendant in a Spanish church, as told by Cardinal de Retz; and,

3. The cures said to be performed at the tomb of the Abbé Paris, in the early part of the present century.

1. The narrative of Tacitus is delivered in these terms: "One of the common people of Alexandria, known to be diseased in his eyes, by the admonition of the god Serapis, whom that superstitious nation worship above all other gods, prostrated himself before the emperor, earnestly imploring from him a remedy for his blindness, and entreating that he would deign to anoint with his spittle his cheeks and the balls of his eyes. Another, diseased in his hand, requested, by the admonition of the same god that he might be touched by the foot of the emperor. Vespasian at first derided and despised their application; afterwards, when they continued to urge their petitions, he sometimes, appeared to dread the imputation of vanity; at other times, by the earnest supplication of the patients, and the persuasion of his flatterers, to be induced to hope for success. At length he commanded an inquiry to be made by physicians, whether such blindness and debility were vincible by human aid. The report of the physicians contained various points; that in the one, the power of vision was not destroyed but would return, if the obstacles were removed; that in the other, the diseased joints might be restored, if a healing power were applied; that it was, perhaps, agreeable to the gods to do this; that the emperor was elected by divine assistance; lastly, that the credit of the success would be the emperor's, the ridicule of the disappointment would fall up. on the patients. Vespasian, believing that every thing was in the power of his fortune, and that nothing was any longer incredible, whilst the multitude which stood by, eagerly expected the event, with a countenance expressive of joy executed what he was desired to do. Immediately the hand was restored to its use, and light returned to the blind They who were present, relate both these cures, even at this time, when there is nothing to be gained by lying."*

man.

Tac. Aut. p. 89.

gested the contrivance of an artificial limb was then new, it would not occur to the cardinal himself to suspect it; especially under the carelessness of mind with which he heard the tale, and the little inclination he felt to scrutinize or expose its fallacy.

3. The miracles related to have been wrought at the tomb of the Abbé Paris admit in general of this solution. The patients who frequented the tomb, were so affected by their devotion, their expectation, the place, the solemnity, and, above all, by the sympathy of the surrounding multitude, that many of them were thrown into violent convulsions, which convulsions, in certain instances, produced a removal of disorders depending upon obstruction. We shall, at this day, have the less difficulty in admitting the above account, because it is the very same thing, as hath lately been experienced in the operations of animal magnetism; and the report of the French physicians upon that mysterious remedy, is very applicable to the present consideration, viz. that the pretenders to the art by working upon the imaginations of their patients, were frequently able to produce convulsions; that convulsions so produced are amongst the most powerful, but at the same time, most uncertain and unmanageable applications to the human frame, which can be employed.

Circumstances, which indicate this explication in the case of the Parisian miracles are the following:

1. They were tentative. Out of many thousand sick, infirm, and diseased persons, who resorted to the tomb, the professed history of the miracles contains only nine cures. 2. The convulsions at the tomb are admitted.

3. The diseases were, for the most part, of that sort, which depends upon inaction and obstruction as dropsies, palsies, and some tumours.

4. The cures were gradual; some patients attending many days, some several weeks, and some several months. 5. The cures were many of them incomplete. 6. Others were temporary.'

*

So that all the wonder we are called upon to account for is, that, out of an almost innumerable multitude which resorted to the tomb for the cure of their complaints, and many of whom were there agitated by strong convulsions, a very small proportion experienced a beneficial change in their constitution, especially in the action of the nerves and glands.

The reader will find these particulars verified in the detail, by the accurate inqui The present bishop of Sarum in his criterion of miracles, p. 181 et seq.

num.

Some of the cases alleged do not require that we should have recourse to this solution. The first case in the catalogue is scarcely distinguishable from the progress of a natural recovery. It was that of a young man, who laboured under an inflammation of one eye, and had lost the sight of the other. The inflamed eye was relieved, but the blindness of the other remained. The inflammation had before been abated by medicine; and the young man at the time of his attendance at the tomb, was using a lotion of laudaAnd, what is still a more material part of the case, the inflammation after some interval returned. Another case was that of a young man who had lost his sight by the puncture of an awl, and the discharge of aqueous humour through the wound. The sight which had been gradually returning was much improved during his visit at the tomb, that is, probably in the same degree in which the discharged humour was replaced by fresh secretions. And it is observable that these two are the only cases, which, from their nature, should seem unlikely to be affected by convulsions.

In one material respect I allow, that the Parisian miracles were different from those related by Tacitus, and from the Spanish miracle of the Cardinal de Retz. They had not, like them, all the power and all the prejudice of the country on their side to begin with. They were alleged by one party against another, by the Jansenists against the Jesuits. These were of course opposed and examined by their adversaries. The consequence of which examination was, that many falsehoods were detected, that with something really extraordinary, much fraud appeared to be mixed. And if some of the cases, upon which designed misrepresentation could not be charged, were not at the time satisfactorily accounted for, it was because the efficacy of strong spasmodic affections were not then sufficiently known. Finally, the cause of Jansenism did not rise by the miracles, but sank, although the miracles had the anterior persuasion of all the numerous adherents of that cause to set out with.

These, let us remember, are the strongest examples which the history of ages supplies. In none of them was the miracle unequivocal; by none of them were established prejudices and persuasions overthrown; of none of them did the credit make its way, in opposition to authority and power; by none of them were many induced to commit themselves, and that in contradiction to prior opinions, to a

life of mortification, danger, and sufferings: none were called upon to attest them, at the expense of their fortunes and safety.*

* It may be thought that the hustrian of the Parisian miracles, M. Montgeron, forms an exception to the last assertion. He presented his book with a suspicion, as it should

seen, of the danger of what he was cut out Had the miracles &

mined to prison, from which he never

and had M. Momgerun ben originally convinced by them, I should have allowed this exception. It would have stood, I think alone in the argument of our adversaries. But, besale what has been unserved of the dubious nature of the miracles, the account, which M. Momperon has himself left of his conversion shows both the state of his mind, and That the besuasion to na init spat externo miseries. Scarcely had he entered the church-yard when he was struck." he tells with awe and reverence, having never before heard prayers pronounced with so much ardour and transport, as he observed amongst the supplicams at the tomb Upon this, throwing himself on his kiets, resing his elbows on the tombstone, and covering his face with his hands, he spake the following prayer: Othou, by whose intercession so many miracles are said to be performed of a be true that & part of the sureth the grave, and that thou hast influence with the Almighty, hove bay on the darkness of my understanding, and through in merry shain the reman of t. Having prayed thus, many thoughts, as he sayeth, began to open themselves to his mind; and so profound was his attention, that he conanned on his knees four hours, not in the least disturbed by the vast crowd of surrounding suppleams. During this time all the arguments which he ever heard or read in favour of Christianity, occurred to him with so much force, and seemed so strong and ervising, that he went home fully satisfied of the truth of religion in general, and of the halations and power of that person, who" as he supposed, had engaged the divine goodnem to enlighten his understanding so suddenly." Douglas, Crit. of Mir. p. 214.

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