(Luke xiv. 1-6); c. The withered hand (Matt. xii. 9-13); d. The impotent man (John v. 1– 17); e. The spirit of infirmity (Luke xiii. 10– 17). (c) Death. a. In the death-chamber: a girl raised (Matt. ix. 18, etc.); b. Upon the bier: a young man raised (Luke vii. 11-18); c. From the tomb: a tried friend raised (John xi.).

III. Miracles Wrought on the Spirit-world.1. Miracles of Intercession. (a) Simple intercession: the dumb man possessed by a devil (Matt. ix. 32-34; xii. 22, etc.). (b) Intercession based on natural ties: a. The Syrophenician's daughter (Matt. xv. 21-28, etc.); b. The lunatic boy (Matt. xvii. 14, etc.). 2. Miracles of Antagonism. (a) In the synagogue: the unclean spirit cast out (Mark i. 21-28, etc.). (b) In the tombs: the legion cast out (Matt. viii. 28-34).

This is totally different from all false miracles. In its completeness and unity it discloses, just as we should expect, the presence of God supernaturally working in the Person of Christ at all points, wherever it came into contact with human life and human circumstances, with unity and significance, with goodness and power-breaking forth, as we should expect it, on all occasions, and in all directions, wherever an occasion demanded its ex

ercise, and giving us assurance in itself of its reality, and of the divine mission of Him whom it attended.

Thus, then, we assert the divinity of Christianity by the evidence of the miracles wrought by Christ. This, as to those miracles in general. There is one supereminent miracle, however, which is also the great corner-stone of Christian faith-the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Thus we will consider it in particular, not only as the "fundamental and crowning miracle of the gospel," and carrying with it the fact of its own existence as such the reality also of all the other miracles,* but also, in its single evidence, indisputably proving that Christ was sent of God.

*"In the resurrection," says Westcott, referring to his classification, given above, "all the forms of miraculous. working are included. The course of nature was controlled, for there was a great earthquake; the laws of material existence were overruled, for when the doors were shut Jesus came into the midst of his disciples, and when their eyes were 'opened' he vanished out of their sight; the reign of death was overthrown, for many of the saints came out of their graves, and went into the holy city; the powers of the spiritual world were called forth, for angels watched at the sepulcher, and ministered to believers. Thus harmonious is the whole strain of Scripture. 'All things are double over against another, and God hath made nothing imperfect.""

CHAPTER VII.

THE EVIDENCE OF MIRACLES-II. THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

THE resurrection of Christ is one of the strongest proofs that we could ask of the divinity of Christianity. As such it was constantly cited by the apostles in proof of their doctrine, on the first preaching of the gospel. Peter, at Jerusalem, upon the day of Pentecost, less than two months after the resurrection, occupied a large part of his discourse with showing that, in fulfillment of prophecy, "this Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses" (Acts ii. 32), and that from this, and by his subsequent ascension and exaltation, and shedding forth the Holy Ghost, "therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (verse 36); and so strong and convincing was this evidence, even to those who had crucified Christ, that "when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (verse 37). This will serve to show

us the evidential value of miracles in general, and that of the resurrection of Christ in particular; and this value was not a mere temporary one, and confined to the time and place in which the resurrection had occurred, nor to the people who were familiar with the circumstances of its occurrence, but we find that Paul also, some twenty years afterward, at Athens, among a people as yet entirely unacquainted with any fact of Christianity, "preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection." And he preached it too as the evidence of the truth and authority of Christianity in calling men to repentance, saying, "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead" (Acts xvii. 18, 30, 31). In another place (1 Cor. xv. 14) he elaborately sets it forth as a fact of the utmost importance to the assurance of our faith, declaring even, "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." Farther citation would be superfluous. In the Epistles of the New Testament alone (vide Angus's "Handbook," p. 360) there are more than fifty refer

ences to the resurrection of Christ, showing that it was considered as of special importance in the system of Christian doctrine. Its special importance as an Evidence fully appears in the above quotations, and accordingly we give it here a special prominence among the miracles as affording peculiar and irrefragable evidence of the divinity of the religion of Christ.

1. First we offer, over and above the general evidence already given for the truth of the facts contained in the Gospel narratives, the following special evidence in proof of the resurrection of Christ in particular:

(a) The disciples who gave their testimony could not have been deceivers in such a case, and have put forth an invented tale of his resurrection. 1st. No other explanation can be given of the disappearance of the body of Jesus. That he died by crucifixion is undoubted. The testimony of all the writers, even that of the heathen historian (vide ante, p. 94), is that he was so put to death. We have therefore the same proof of this as we have of any other fact recorded in Tacitus and those other writers. We take their statements as that of reliable historians who took pains to satisfy themselves, by competent evidence existing at the time they wrote, that the facts they re