The Supernatural in the New Testament

hat God has made a supernatural revelation of himself to mankind, and those who deny it, centres in those portions of the New Testament which affirm the presence of the supernatural. The

Testament becomes a mere waste of labour. If, on the other hand, Christians can prove that the narratives of the four Gospels, or even of any one of them, are a true representation of historical facts, then it is certain that God has made a revelati

ntain is one of an ideal or an historical person. That question I have already considered in "The Jesus of the Evangelists." But as the various forms of modern unbelief are making the most strenuous efforts to prove that the supernatural elements of the New Testament are hopelessly i

ore general term I include the miracles of the New Testament), the three follow

rnatural occurrenc

hey are incredible; that is, th

void of any adequate historical attestation, and owe their ori

he present work, to traverse each of

re not impossible; and that the arguments by which this ha

e, nor contrary to reason; but are e

which, if an actual historical occurrence, is sufficient to carry with it all the othe

s my p

he author of "Supernatural Religion," has in the opening passage of his work c

tion, but in its very essence, in its principal dogmas it is either superhuman or untenable. There is no question here of mere accessories, which are comparatively unimportant, and do not necessarily affect the essential matter, but we have to do with a scheme of religion claiming to be miraculous in all points, in form, in essence, and in evidence. This religion cannot be accepted without an emphatic belief in supernatural interposition, and it is absurd to imagine that its [pg 004] do

e between those who affirm and those who deny that Christianity is a divine revelation. A few minor points requ

this course is only to attack the outworks of Christianity, and to leave the key of the entire position unassailed. In doing so he has pursued a far nobler course than that which has been adopted by many of the opponents of the Christian faith. He has directed his attack against the very centre of the Christian position, the historical [pg 005] credibility of the supernatural actions attributed to Jesus Christ in the Gospels, being well aware that a successful assault on this position wi

culous works, but in his entire character. To remove the divine lineaments of Jesus Christ out of the Gospels is simply to destroy them. Besides this, we have a large number of miraculous actions attributed to him. These are inextricably interwoven with the entire narrative, which, when they are taken away, loses all cohesion. Lives of Jesus which have been set forth, deprived of their supernatural and superhuman elements, are in fact nothing better than a new Gospel composed out of the subjective consciousness of the [pg 006] writers. Various attempts have been made to pare down the supernatural and superhuman elements in the Gospels to the smallest possible dime

if they are not true, his pretensions conflict with the entire conception of his holiness and elevation of mind. The use which a wide spread school of modern criticism so freely makes of the critical dissecting knife, for the purpose of amputating the supernatural from the Gospels, can only be attended by the

s it unfolds. But if one thing is plainer than another on the face of the New Testament, it is that the great purpose sought to be effected by Christianity is to impart a new moral and spiritual power to mankind. It professes to be, not a body of moral rules, but a mighty moral force, which is concentrated in the person of its Founder. The acceptance of it had generated a new power or energy, a moral and spiritual life, which raised those who had embraced it above their fo

st institution which has ever affected the destinies of our race, and which has for eighteen centuries exerted a most commanding influence on human happiness and civilization. [pg 008] This is professedly based on a miraculous fact, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. If, theref

eligion" as a correct statement of the case, that Christianity involves the presence of the Supernatural, or it i

ting the entire question. The expression is ambiguous. If by it is meant any other form of thought, than that which is contained in the pages of the New Testament; if, in fact, by it is intended a systematic arrangement of doctrinal truth, which has been elaborated at a subsequent period, I emphatically assert that those who are called upon

called forth by the special circumstances of the writer. The plain fact is that four of the writings which comprise the New Testament are religions memoirs. One is an historical account of the foundation of the Church. Twenty-one are letters, written to different Churches and individuals, and all called forth by special emergencies. These all partake of the historical character. The only one which does not participate in this character is the Apocalypse, which, being a visio

ourth is the work of an independent writer. The epistles may be received as a set of incidental commentaries on the person and work of Jesus Christ, called forth by the specia

ely wide. The New Testament contains a divine revelation. Ecclesiastical Christianity is a body of religious teaching in which Ch

s of divine revelation. As such it is subject to all the errors and imperfections to which our rational powers are obnoxious. It can claim no infallibility more than any other rational action of the human mind. Theology is a science, and is subject to the imperfections to which all other sciences are liable. It stands to the facts of Christianity in the same relation as ph

ogy which has been evolved by human reason, although it may have attained a wide acceptance, may be as inadequate an explanation of the facts of revelation, as the Ptolemaic system of astronomy was of the facts of the material universe. Objections wh

m this source have sprung all the various systems of theology which have from time to time predominated in the Church. It has been a plant of gradual growth, and as such may bear a fair comparison with the slow growth of philosophy or physical science. Such an action of r

system of theology which is accepted by this Church, and that this was intended to [pg 012] be an authoritative statement of the facts of the Christian revelation. It is also part of the same theory that the Church as a collective body has in all ages possessed an inspiratio

such dogmatic creeds can be successfully assailed as contrary to reason, as for instance the formulated doctrine of transubstantiation, it would imperil the position of Christianity itself. Those, however, who have taken such positions, must be left to take th

nts of the New Testament. With its affirmations therefore I have nothing to do in the [pg 013] present discussion. It will not be my duty to examine into its positions, with a view of ascertaining whether they are developments of Christian teaching which can be logically deduced from its pages; still less to accept and to defend them as authoritative statements of its meaning. In defending the New Testament as containing a divine revelation, I have only to do with the contents and asserti

rt. Christianity does not profess to be divine on all points. On the contrary, it contains a divine and a human element so intimately united, that it is impossible to separate the one from the other. It is also far from clear to me how

claims of Christianity to be a divine revelation, and [pg 014] accept his challenge to defend the supernatural elements in the New Testament, or to abandon it as worthles

eeding to examine into the grounds of this, it will be necessary to lay down definitely

is no evidence that there is one. It follows that if there is no evidence that there is a God, there can be no evidence that a miracle ever has been performed, for the very idea of a miracle implies the idea of a God to work one. If therefore atheism is true, all controversy about miracles is useless. They are simply impossible, and to inquire whether an impossible event has happened is absurd. To such a person the historical enquiry, as far as a miracle is concerned, must be a foregone conclusion. It might have a little

ions of God, who is in fact an infinite impersonal Proteus, ever changing in his outward form. From him, or to speak more correctly, from it (for he is no person), all things have issued as mere phenomenal babbles of the passing moment, and by it will be again swallowed up in never-ending succession. Such a God must be devoid of everything which we understand by personality, intelligence, wisdom, volition or a moral nature. It is evid

vidences of theism, and to endeavour to prove the existence of a God possessed [pg 016] of personality, intelligence, volition, and adequa

those with whom we are reasoning that the finite causes in the universe must have a first cause from whence they have originated; if that from the orderly arrangements in the universe fails to prove that there must be an intelligent being who produced them; if its innumerable adaptations fail to establish the presence of a presiding mind; and if the moral nature of man fails to prove that must be a mo

ng may be constructed, if the pantheist or the [pg 017] atheist agrees to assume that a God exists for the purpose of supplying a basis for the argument. We may then reason with him precisely in the same way as we would with a theist. But the contest will be with one who has clad himself in armour which no weapon at our di

theistic or pantheistic grounds. It is perfectly fair to reason against Christianity on these grounds; it is equally so for a person who holds these opinions, to attempt to prove that the historical evidence adduced in proof of the miracles recorded in the New Testament is worthless as an additional reason why men should cease to believe in them. But it is not conduci

able body of miracles or their evidential value, but specially the supernatural occurrences recorded in the New Testament. I must therefore endeavour to as

the writers of the New Testament what is the precise evidential value of the supernatural occurrences which they have narrated. This is far preferable to falling back on any assertions of modern writers, however eminent, on this subject. They may have over-e

h is the source of all the forces which exist, and of which the various phenomena of the universe are manifestations, and designates this cause by the name of God. But while it concedes his existence, it proclaims him to be Unknown

proving that the occurrence of any supernatural event is contrary to our reason. If this be true, it is a fatal objection against the entire mass of

at Christian apologists endeavour to prove the truth of doctrines which utterly transcend reason by miraculous evidence, and then endeavour to prove the truth of the miracles by t

prove the reality of a miracle unless the falsehood of the evidence is more miraculous than the alleged miracl

demons, and that their superstition and credulity on this point was of so extreme a character as to deprive their historical testimony, [pg 020] on the subject of the supernatural of all value. As this objection is not only one which is widely

assailants of Christianity. All difficulties which beset their arguments are met by attributing the most unbounded credulity, superstition and enthusiasm to the followers of Jesus. It has also been urged that the belief in supernatural occurrences has been so general, that it renders the attestation of miracles to a revelation invalid. I

as utterly incredible, without inquiry into the testimony on which they rest. It will be necessary to inquire into t

y are affirmed to be late compositions, and that we are utterly devoid of all contemporaneous attestation for the facts recorded in them, and that the true account of the origin of Christianity is buried beneath a mass of fiction. If this be true, there cannot be a doubt that it is a most serious allegation, which affects the entire Christian position. It is further urged that while the defenders of Christianity publish works in wh

to consider the nature of the historical evidence which unbelief, after it has exh

s, and have studied them almost exclusively [pg 022] on account of the doctrinal and moral teaching which they contain, and each sect has viewed them as a kind of armoury from which to draw weapons for the establishing its own particular opinions. In doing this they have

, can be rendered valuable for the purposes of history. Of the remaining writings the genuineness is disputed; but whether genuine or not, it is impossible to deny their antiquity, and that they are faithful representations of the ideas of those who wrote them. In fact the names of their authors are of no great importance in the present controver

uded in the Canon of the New Testament, it has been for the most part the practice to view [pg 023] them as standing in need of

the Christian Church which these writings contain, the whole subject would require to be unfolded in a distinct and separate treatise exclusively devoted to the subject. Still, however, this work would be very incompl

e highest form of historical documents, and present us with what is to all intents and purposes a large mass of contemporaneous evidence as to the primitive beliefs

unt of the actions and teachings of Jesus Christ substantially the same as that which is now embodied in the Gospels; and that this oral Gospel was habitually used for the purposes of instruction. Further, that this [pg 024] oral Gospel was a substantial embodiment of the

st as a fact, and viewed it not only as the groundwork on which Christianity rested, but as the one sole and only reason for the existence of the Christian Church. I shall be able also to prove on the same evidence that a considerable number of the followers of Jesus were persuad

hese beliefs of the Church could have owed their origin to any possible form of delusion; but that the resurrection

eed to restore the Gospels to their place as history, and to show that even on the principles of the opponents of Christianity, they have every claim to be accepted as true accounts of the action and teaching of Jesus Christ as it was transmitted by the different Churches, partly in an oral, and partly in a written form. I shall also show that even if they were composed at the late dates which are assigned to them by opponents, they were yet written within t

has really occurred, places the remainder of them in point of credibility in the same position as the facts of

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