The positive evidences of Christianity...

Front matter

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

Shelf_<

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Part Second

The Weight of the Evidence — The Superhuman Facts.

CHAPTER L The Superhuman Advent of Christ, . . .111

CHAPTER II.

The Superhuman Character of Christ, . . . 128

CHAPTER III

The Superhuman Teaching of Christ — I. Its Reasonableness, 143

CHAPTER IV.

The Superhuman Teaching of Christ — II. The Analogy of Nature — III Its Superiority Both to Human Reason and Nature, . . 162

CHAPTER V.

The Evidence of Prophecy, 194

Contents. 7

Chapter I. Necessity Of Evidence — Plan Of The Work

The object of the following work is to prove the divinity of the Christian religion. To do this, the writer will endeavor to present simply the positive evidences that exist therefor, and to show by them that Christianity manifests a character that is plainly no less than divine. Confining the discussion strictly to this one particular, all examination into kindred questions, however interesting and closely related, should be omitted ; but in the determination of the subject itself, under consideration, no pains ought to be spared to examine it in all its parts, and to apply every possible test to ascertain the truth. Rather, it should be the grateful duty of a believer to strive to show how the Christian religion, in every possible 1* (9)

way — as well in the great facts upon which it is founded, its own essential nature, its attendant circumstances, as in its actual results upon the characters and lives of men — exhibits such supereminent characteristics as prove it to be divine.

In this effort, however, no attempt should be made to appeal to any other principles than those that usually determine the decisions of men. Christianity does not, and cannot, claim any exemption from the application of the ordinary tests that are used to ascertain the truth of things. In matters of religion, no more than in any other human affairs, is it to be allowed that questions shall be decided by partiality, prejudice, or passion ; but only upon a fair consideration, conducted according to the principles which are universally acknowledged to constitute the proper test of truth. Only by proving her claims can Religion have any authority over us, or be entitled to our reverence. To her evidences, then, must she first appeal ; and in so doing, it is manifest, she must submit to be tried by the ordinary principles of evidence. Now, those principles are most distinctly and familiarly asserted and applied in the determination of trials before our ordinary courts of law. As used there, they have long been known and acknowledged as the settled max-

Ch. l.] Competency and Credibility. 11

ims which the wisdom and experience of ages have agreed to be the just criterion of truth. To them, accordingly, we shall appeal; and, fearing nothing for Christianity in their application to her evidences, ask only that the reader will consent also to abide by their decision, and acquiesce in its result.

The following pages, therefore, will discuss the Christian Evidences in an order modeled upon that which is constantly followed in our legal tribunals. There the examination of the evidence presented consists of two main parts ; and the inquiry is made — first, whether the testimony offered is actual testimony in the case under consideration — that is, whether it has any material bearing upon the case, and whether it is true ; and, secondly, being material and true, what is its weight? Accordingly, such is the order followed here. The work is therefore divided into two Parts. The Second Part discusses — The Weight of the Evidence in favor of the Divinity of Christianity, and presents in its proof: (a) The Superhuman Facts upon which Christianity is founded, as displayed in — 1. The Advent of Christ ; 2. The Character of Christ ; 3. His Teachings ; 4. His Prophecies ; 5. His Miracles, (b) Its Superhuman Results, in the changes it has wrought in the characters and lives of men, and in its wonderful growth, (c) The Combined Weight of these several testimonies to the one fact of the Divinity of Christianity.

Previous to this, however, w T e must show that the evidence thus adduced is — first, such as is proper to be brought forward in support of such a position ; and, secondly, that, being in its nature proper to be adduced, it is also true. Part First, then, will be occupied with the discussion of the admissibility and genuineness of the evidence.

At the outset we are met with the objection that no testimony can be allowed to prove the supernatural, inasmuch as the occurrence in this world of any thing that is supernatural, or miraculous, is impossible in itself, and absurd. A farther objection is also made, that, even if it were possible, no testimony is competent to establish the miraculous, since our experience of nature is that it is always the same, while that of testimony is that it is sometimes false. We must, then, consider, first, the possibility of miracles ; then will fol- Ioav the discussion of the competency of evidence to prove them ; and next, the authenticity of the evidence actually adduced, and its sufficiency to command our belief in the actual occurrence of the facts asserted by it.

Chapter II. The Possibility Of Mieacles

At the outset we are called upon to show that miracles are possible. The objection is urged against the divinity of Christianity that all evidence whatsoever is incompetent to establish such a claim, inasmuch as it necessarily involves the occurrence of the miraculous, and the miraculous is impossible, because the laws of nature never vary, and cannot be broken. It is said that all things earthly are linked together in one chain of physical causes and effects, in which there are no "breaks," no "rents," but in which each successive being or event has been regularly produced by the preceding being or event, through the operation of natural laws, and natural laws only, and that thus there is no room left for miracles. It is farther claimed that there exist no energies or forces except physical energies and forces, and that "matter" and "force" are the only primary and essential agencies in the world, and the sources of all the forms of being. And it is moreover urged that a miracle would be an interference with, and disturbance of, the settled order of the world, and a suspension, breaking, or abrogation of the laws of nature ; and that thus, admitting even the existence of a God, who is the Author and Ruler of nature, he would be, by miracle, departing from his settled plan of procedure, in a singular and inexplicable way ; that thus he would be frustrating his own laws ; and finally, that thus he would show either that his original plans and laws were defective and insufficient for all his purposes, or, that being sufficient, they have been capriciously, and without adequate reason, violated by himself, and that in either case he is presented in an unworthy aspect.

1. In answering these objections against the possibility of miracles, let us first notice that we must expect, in any express and immediate revelation of God's will, something of the miraculous. Such a revelation in itself is, of necessity, miraculous ; for nowhere in nature does God speak immediately to man. The very term, revelation, indicates the declaration of something unknown by nature — something made known supernaturally, or miraculously. That Christianity, therefore, which claims to be a revelation from God, should have something of the miraculous is what we ought to expect ; and the fact is not therefore a priori,

CIi. 2.] Competency and Credibility. 15

and abstractly, an objection to the reasonableness of Christianity, but the contrary. We must demand of any system that professes to be by direct revelation from God, that it be miraculous. Christianity without it would be unreasonable, and entitled to no credit, as such a revelation.

Moreover, we must remember that these objections, if valid, destroy all hope of any revealed religion whatever. If there can be no miracle, then there can be no direct revelation from God ; and so man never has had, and never can have, any sure hope set before him. All are like the heathen — left merely to the dim light of nature and the doubtful deduction of reason ; and there never can be any sufficient light and satisfactory assurance, any clear hope. It is, then, not in the interests of Christianity only that it is necessary to establish the possibility of miracles, but also in those of all revealed religion whatsoever.

Against such objections stands the general belief of mankind, in all ages, that miracles are possible. That such is the common belief of men, appears undeniably from universal history. JSTo people in any age have been without faith in a supernatural Power, as well as in the ability of that Power to manifest himself supernaturally to men. To men general-

16 Positive Evidences. .[Tart I.

ly, it has seemed, as to Rothe, quoted by Van Oosterzee (Dogmatics, etc.), that since "God has subjected to man the powers of nature, he never could have subjected to them himself — his freedom, his almighty will — and so place in them a barrier to his own free working." To the common judgment of mankind, then, the idea has nothing absurd in it, but is thought to be agreeable with true reason. This is certainly a presumption in its favor. Any opinion in which we find the voices of the whole human race, of all ages, uniting, is surely entitled to great weight, if not to be justly regarded as the expression of the most certain conclusions attainable by human reason.

In reply, it may be urged that this opinion of the mass of mankind is denied by some men of great powers of mind and attainments, on the authority of science, and that therefore such a belief cannot be true. To this we reply: First, we should remember that scientific men, however deservedly respected, are not to be regarded as infallible. They have made many mistakes, and have changed, and changed again, many of their theories and deductions, within the memory of even one generation. The French Academy, one of the leading bodies of scientific men in the world, rejected, at various times, in the name of science (vide Christlieb's "Modern Doubts," etc.), (1) the use of quinine; (2) vaccination; (3) lightning-conductors ; (4) the existence of meteors; (5) the steam-engine. Scientific men are yet fallible in their deductions as to what is and what is not possible. They are, also, like other men — liable to be moved by prejudice and passion, and are certainly capable, through their very hostility to Christianity, whenever they have such a hostility, of arriving at wrong conclusions respecting matters affecting our religion. But, secondly, miracles are not thus denied by all scientific men, nor by many of the greatest, but, on the contrary — as we shall see from extracts subsequently quoted — are asserted by them to have occurred, as shown by the inevitable deductions of science itself. The settled conclusions of science, then, cannot be said to oppose this universal conviction of mankind ; nay, her teachings are claimed to be in harmony therewith. At most, her expounders are divided — at best, they are not infallible ; and therefore the presumption in favor of miracles, arising from the general consent of men, remains unimpaired, to acid its force to our argument.

2. But to reply more directly to those objections, it is denied that miracles are so out of harmony with the laws of nature. Nature is not a system consisting of the working of laws admitting of no exception and no interference, nor is it of an uninterrupted chain of physical causes and effects. On the contrary, there are exceptions and interferences, and there are "rents" and "breaks" where no preceding merely physical cause can be shown, or even conceived, and where therefore we must conclude that there has been a supernatural interference — where we can only say, " This is the finger of God." For,

(1) The laws of nature — understanding that phrase in the sense in which it is commonly employed — are not invariable and without exception. The fact that water becomes lighter when frozen, in contradiction to the general law that liquids become heavier when frozen, proves there may be exceptions to general laws, and such as are caused only, so far as we can see, by the supreme will of the Creator. We know from this that God has not chosen to govern the world by one uniform and invariable law only. And, if so, it is no more unreasonable to conclude that he would make exceptions to such laws for the spiritual and eternal welfare of men by miracles, than he would do so for their temporary and bodily welfare, by causing water to become lighter when frozen. And if he saw fit, and was able to make such an exception permanently for all time, in the case of some particular substance, as water, he could do so also in ordaining that such exceptions should likewise happen, as to all substances, at some particular time — as e. g., the giving of a revelation.

Moreover, it is not true that the laws of nature are not interfered with. On the contrary, the lower set of laws is continually interfered with by the higher — the mechanical by the chemical, and the chemical by the vital. Thus, the force of gravitation is daily overcome by* the force of the rising plant, the chemical dissolution of the body by the powers of life, etc. The heavy iron is lifted by the magnet — why may not all nature and man himself, in the presence of God, yield to the superior force of spiritual power when exerted upon them? Surely nature herself everywhere teaches the subordination, for beneficent ends, of the lower laws to the higher; and surely this, itself a higher law of nature, allows the possibility at least of the subordination of all nature in miracles, for the highest interests — the spiritual and eternal welfare — of men. At any rate, it is certain that we find that some laws of nature are continually interfered with and overcome. Miracles, then, bring no unheard -of disorder into nature. True, in miracles, the manner of their interference may be unknown, or be altogether different from that seen in nature ; but the mere manner in which a thing is done cannot afford a solid ground of objection against the possibility of the thing being done. The fact remains that the laws of nature may be interfered with and overcome even by human power — it is for the objector to show why they may not also be interfered with and overcome by power that is divine.*

(2) There does not exist an uninterrupted chain of physical causes and effects. There are " rents" and " breaks," and therefore there is reason to conclude that there has been supernatural interference in nature. From the " Unseen Universe," p. 247, a work by Profs. Stewart and Tait, of England, physicists of

* The absurd unreasonableness of the objection against miracles is well illustrated by an incident that came under the writer's notice. A young, new-fledged son of -zEsculapius, who had imbibed skeptical notions, and had read Tyndall's prayer-test arguments, was declaiming with evident great self-satisfaction against the absurdity of praying for rain, etc. "Science has demonstrated," said he, " that the falling of rain depends on atmospheric changes alone. How then can prayer bring rain ? Give me a few cannon, and J will bring it." God is of course feebler than a scientist!

the highest authority, we take the following extract: "Formidable breaks are brought before us by science. There is, to begin with, that formidable phenomenon, the production in time of the visible universe. Secondly, there is a break hardly less formidable, the original production of life ; and there is, thirdly, that break, recognized by Wallace and his school of natural history, which seems to have occurred at the first production of man. Greatly as we are indebted to Darwin, and Huxley, and those who have prominently advocated the possibility of the present system of things having been developed by forces and operations which we see before us, it must be regarded by us, and we think it is regarded by them, as a defect in their system, that these breaks remain unaccounted for." That the physical universe must have thus had its beginning in time, is shown also by such other scientific men of the highest authority as Sir William Thompson and Clerk Maxwell (vide Tait's Recent Advances in Physical Science) ; and the same is true also of the origin of physical life, and of the appearance of man on the earth. It thus appears that there has been no such uninterrupted "chain" of physical causes and effects as is alleged, and there is therefore no argument from this against miracles to be made in the name of science. Nay, in thus disclosing to us these " breaks," science itself teaches us that there have been miracles of the highest order ; and instead of furnishing a ground for rejecting the miraculous, it affirms its existence, and even its necessity, to account for the world and its phenomena.

(3) Nor is it true that reason forces us to conclude that there are only physical agencies at work in the world. What are the laws of nature? The very existence of law, instead of chaos, throughout the physical universe, proves on the most reasonable supposition the existence of an all-pervading and all-governing Intelligence. In the smaller affairs of our e very-day life — where Ave have personal experience — we regard the signs of order and rule-as the certain marks of a controlling mind. Must we, in those transcendent matters in which we have no experience, come to a directly opposite conclusion, when we see such signs in their utmost perfection? And what is force, or energy ? The scientists themselves tell us that it is distinct from matter. All that they pretend to say about it is, that it is the working, powerful agent present in all changes occurring in matter; but what it is in itself they can tell nothing, save that it is not matter. But if it is not matter, can it be any thing else than something that is immaterial and spiritual ? And may it not consist merely in the working of God's will on matter just as our will, in a like incomprehensible way to us, works upon the matter of our bodies ? Some of the best scientific men have concluded from the facts of science that there is an unseen and spiritual universe. The authors mentioned above in their remarkable book, " The Unseen Universe," elaborately argue its necessary existence from the consideration, among others, of the scientific "Principle of Continuity," " which, since this visible universe must come to an end, demands a continuance of the universe still ; and thus we are forced to believe that there is something beyond that which is visible" (p. 94).

And to the same conclusion they quote as follows : " The deservedly famous Dr. Thomas Young has the following passage in his lectures on natural philosophy : 'Besides this porosity, there is still room for the supposition that even the ultimate particles of matter may be permeable to the causes of attractions of various kinds, especially if those causes are immaterial ; nor is there any thing in the unprejudiced study of physical philosophy that can induce us to doubt the existence of immaterial substances — on the contrary, we see analogies that lead us almost directly to such an opinion. The electrical fluid is supposed to be essentially different from common matter ; the general medium of light and heat, according to some, or the principle of calorics, according to others, is equally distinct from it. We see forms of matter, differing in subtilty and mobility, under the name of solids, liquids, and gases ; above these are the semi-material existences, which produce the phenomena of electricity and magnetism, and either caloric or a universal ether. Higher still, perhaps, are the causes of gravitation and the immediate agents in attractions of all kinds, which exhibit some phenomena apparently still more remote from all that is compatible with material bodies. And of these different orders of beings the more refined and immaterial appear to pervade freely the grosser. It seems therefore natural to believe that the analogy may be continued still farther, until it rises into existences absolutely immaterial and spiritual.

We know not but that thousands of spiritual worlds may exist unseen forever by human eyes ; nor have we any reason to suppose that even the presence of matter, in a given spot, necessarily excludes these existences from it '" (p. 201). And again, from Prof. Stokes: "Admitting to the full as highly probable, though not completely demonstrated, the applicability to living beings of the laws which have been ascertained with reference to dead matter, I feel constrained at the same time to admit the existence of a mysterious something lying beyond, a something sui generis, which I regard, not as balancing and suspending the ordinary physical laws, but as working with them, and through them, to the attainment of a desired end. What this something, which we call life, may be, is a profound mystery. . . . When from the phenomena of life we pass on to those of mind, we enter a region still more mysterious. We can readily imagine that we may here be dealing with phenomena altogether transcending those of mere life, in some such way as those of life transcend, as I have endeavored to infer, those of chemistry and molecular attractions, or as the laws of chemical affinity in their turn transcend those of mere mechanics. Science can be expected to do but little to aid us here, since the instrument of research is itself the object of investigation. It can but enlighten us as to the depths of our ignorance, and lead us to look to a higher aid for that which most nearly concerns our well-being" (p. 235). And the authors themselves of " The Unseen Universe," after an independent and extended discussion of the matter, say, page 2

221: "Let us pause for a moment, and consider the position into which science has brought us. We are led by scientific logic to an unseen, and by scientific analogy to the spirituality of this unseen. In fine, our conclusion is that the visible universe has been developed by an intelligence resident in the unseen."

(4) Farther, these facts show that miracles are not in disharmony with the history and constitution of nature, nor destructive of its order. Adopting again the language of the authors quoted above (page 21), in reference to the existence of those "breaks" which undeniably appear in nature, we may say: "If this be true, the discussion regarding miracles must be removed altogether from the domain of science, and this for the very good reason that scientific logic admits the occurrence of events at least as astounding. The question is now rather one for the historian and the moral philosopher to decide." Nay, we may claim that miracles are in analogy with some of the ordinary workings of nature. For, first, science leads us to conclude that the ordinary laws of nature are the exertions of an unseen and spiritual power, and miracles are nothing more ; but, next, we cannot say that the laws of nature are broken, or abrogated, by miracles, but only that they have been superseded by the coming in at a certain point of a superior cause, working not hostilely but superior to them, just as the law of gravitation is superseded — not broken, or abrogated — by me, a higher cause, when I lift a stone from the ground. In fact, the law, in such cases, continues to operate all the time ; it is only overcome by the superior power present. Or else, if this be abrogation, then are the laws of nature being broken and abrogated every hour, and are not invariable ; and consequently there can be no objection to miracles on that ground.

(5) Miracles, therefore, cause no destruction of the forces and laws of nature. Rather, intended, as they were in Christianity, for restoration, healing, and the bringing in again of real order and harmony, both physical and moral, to a world already disturbed by sin, they work toward the reestablishment of the laws and forces of the real, original nature, and tend to secure her primal symmetry and strength.

(6) Finally, they do not necessarily suppose any defect in the original plans of God, to supply which defect they were afterward wrought. For we have no ground to assume that they did not form a part of his original plan, and were not intended from the first to be wrought

28 Positice Evidences. [Part I.

as occasion demanded. Rather the contrary. They were necessary in his original creations, in the beginning of the world, of physical life, and of man; they are equally necessary, as we have seen, whenever a revelation is to be given ; and it is not unreasonable to infer that while their very character as miraculous precludes them from ever being common occurrences, they may be, nevertheless, if indeed they must not be, God's regular and ordinary method of working in the world on such extraordinary occasions.

We claim, then, that there appears in nature no physical or moral reason from which to conclude the impossibility of miracles ; and since there is also no violence done by them to the divine attributes of truth, wisdom, and love, but, as we shall hereafter see, they are indeed most strongly prompted by all those infinite characteristics of his, we conclude that miracles are possible with God, and that therefore a revelation may be given of his will.

Chapter III

THE COMPETENCY OF THE EVIDENCE — I. THE COMPETENCY OF EVIDENCE IN GENEEAL TO PROVE MIEACLES.

Allowing, then, the possibility of miracles, our next inquiry, in the consideration of the Admissibility of the Evidence, must be whether the diameter of the evidence presented is in itself such as that it may be admitted to prove them. This will constitute our examination into the Competency of the Evidence, and will divide itself into two branches — viz. : I. The Competency of Evidence in General to Prove Miracles. II. The Sufficiency of Probable Evidence to Prove them. In the present chapter Ave will consider the first of these two subjects.

Christianity, indeed, alone of all religious systems, offers a recognized body of proof in support of its claims. None other, whether of the ancient mythologies or the Mohammedanism, Buddhism, etc., of the modern heathen, has ever even pretended to any evidence of its claims to be a supernatural communication of divine truth. No such body of proof as the Buddhist

30 Positice Evidences. [Parti.

Evidences, the Mohammedan Evidences, has ever been known to literature. But Christianity has always possessed and offered such an array of proof ; so that the phrase, " The Christian Evidences," has become a term understood and familiar to all. Indeed, Christianity has been able to make all her advances only through those evidences. Renouncing alike the power of the sword and all appeals to passion or to prejudice ; teaching, on the contrary, as one of her cardinal principles, the utmost self-sacrifice and renunciation of the world, she has constantly appealed, from the beginning, to her evidences, and sought to convince the reason of men. It was thus that she won her way — first, among the Jews ; then gained, through three hundred years of persecution, gradual acceptance by the cultivated pagans of Greece and Rome; and with her evidences she next met and conquered the rude and savage barbarians, the conquerors of Rome. By them she has hitherto come off victorious from all the assaults of skepticism at home ; by them she has destroyed, or is destroying, every opposing system, however gigantic, and is daily making fresh advances against the ancient and mighty systems of India and China. The history of the continual exhibition of those evidences is the record of her continual triumphs.

Subjected during a period of nearly nineteen hundred years, in the most enlightened nations and ages of the world, to the most varied and searching criticism, they still remain, not only undiminished, but immensely enlarged and strengthened, as each successive age has added, by its investigations of her proofs, and by its own test of her merits, fresh witness to her truth.

This singular exception and superiority of Christianity to all other religious systems seems of itself worthy, at once, to separate it from all others, and raise it above them all in the estimation of a candid and reflecting mind. Nay, it is not too much to claim that of itself it raises a presumption in favor of the divinity of Christianity; for were it in the power of human capacity to forge any such well-connected and elaborate evidences, it is reasonable to believe that at least one of the many founders of false systems, intellectual as they undoubtedly were, would have done so. That not one of them has, or that, having done so, the forged evidences have all been so weak as to have sunk into total oblivion, is a presumption, at least, that human capacity is not equal to the forgery of so elaborate, so complete, and so valid, a body of evidences as that which Christianity possesses. But if they have not been forged, they are genuine, and Christianity is true and divine.