EASY LESSONS ON CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. V. MIRACLES. PART I. THE people who lived in the times of the Apostles, though they had not seen so much as we have of the fulfilment of the ancient prophecies, yet had seen them so far fulfilled in Jesus, as to afford good reasons for receiving Him. But you may, perhaps, be inclined to wonder how they should need to search the Old Testament Scriptures for a confirmation of what the Apostles taught, if those Apostles performed such miracles as we read of. It may seem strange to you, that men who healed the sick with a touch, and displayed so many other signs, far beyond human power, should not have been at once believed, when they called themselves God's messengers. But you must remember how much the people of those days were accustomed to believe in magic. Indeed, in much later times, long after Christianity prevailed, it was a very common notion that there were magicians who were able, through the help of evil demons, to work various miracles. And in the days of the Apostles this belief in the power of magic was very general, both among the Jews and the Heathen. Those Jews among whom Jesus lived, and who rejected him, maintained that he was a magician, who did mighty works through the prince of demons. This is not only related by the Christian writers in the New Testament, but is a common tradition among the unbelieving Jews at this very day; who have among them an ancient book, giving this account of the origin of Christianity. And there can be no doubt that this must have been (as our sacred writers tell us it was) what the adversaries of Jesus maintained from the first. For if those who lived on the spot in his time, had denied or doubted the facts of the miracles, and had declared that the accounts of them were false tales, and that no miracles had ever really been wrought, we may be sure that the same would have been said ever after by their descendants. It is very unlikely that another generation of Jews should have betaken themselves to the pretence of magic, to account for miracles which had never been acknowledged at the time, but had been reckoned impostures by the very people among whom they were said to have been performed. The pagan adversaries of Christianity also seem to have had the same persuasion on this subject as the Jews, and to have attributed the Christian miracles to magical art. We learn this from all the remains that have come down to us of the ancient writings against Christianity, and of the answers to them written by Christians. Now suppose that in the present day any one should appear professing to be sent from God, and to work miracles as a sign of his being so sent, you would naturally think that the only question would be as to the reality of the miracles; and that all men would at once believe him, as soon as ever they were satisfied that he had performed something clearly beyond human power. But men certainly did not judge so in ancient times. It was not, then, only one question, but two that had to be settled; first, whether any sign had really been displayed which showed a power beyond that of man; and secondly, whether this supernatural power came from God or from an evil demon. Now, after the former of these questions was decided, that is, after the fact of the miracles was admitted, the Jews were inclined still to doubt or disbelieve the religion which Jesus taught, because it was so different from what they had been used to expect; and hence it was, that the greater part of them attributed his miracles to magic. But others were of a more candid mind, (" more noble," as it is in our translations,) such as the people of Beræa. These, by carefully searching the Scriptures, satisfied themselves that the ancient prophecies respecting the Christ, did really agree with all that Jesus had done and suffered. And this it was that convinced them that his miracles were wrought not by evil spirits, but by the divine power; and thus they were brought to the conclusion that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. How great If, then, any one should say to you, an advantage the people who lived in those days, and saw miracles performed before their eyes, must hav’ over us, who only read of them in ancient books; and how can men in these days be expected to believ as firmly as they did?"—you may answer that different men's trials and advantages are pretty nearly balanced. The people who lived in those times were not (any more than ourselves) forced into belief whether they would or no; but were left to exercise candour in judging fairly from the evidence before them. Those of them who were resolved to yield to their prejudices against Jesus, and to reject Him, found a ready excuse (an excuse which would not be listened to now), by attributing his miracles to the magical arts which in those days were commonly believed in. And again, though they saw many miracles which we only read of, they did not see that great miracle (as it may be called) which is before our eyes, in the fulfilment of prophecy since their time. They could see, indeed, many prophecies fulfilled in Jesus; but we have an advantage over them in witnessing the more complete fulfilment of the prophecies respecting the wonderful spread of his religion. PART II. BUT can we of these days really find sufficient proof? some one may say, and such proof as is within the reach of ordinary Christians, for believing that miracles really were performed, which we never saw, but which are recorded in books, as having happened nearly 1800 years ago? Is it not expecting a great deal of us, to require us to believe that there were persons who used to cure blindness, and other diseases, by a touch or a word, and raise the dead, and still the raging of the sea, and feed a multitude with a few loaves? Certainly these things are in themselves hard to be believed; and if we were to find in some ancient book accounts of some great wonders which led to no effects that exist at this day, and had nothing to do with the present state of things among us, we might well be excused for doubting or disbelieving such accounts; or, at least, none but learned men who had the ability and the opportunity to make full inquiry into the evidence for such a book, could fairly be expected to trouble themselves about the question. But the case of the Christian miracles is not one of this kind. They are closely connected with something which we see before us at this day; namely, with the existence of the Christian religion in so great a part of the world. A man cannot, indeed, be fairly required to believe anything very strange and unlikely, except when there is something still more strange and unlikely on the opposite side. Now, that is just the case with respect to the Christian miracles; for, wonderful as the whole Gospel History is, the most wonderful thing of all is, that a Jewish peasant should have succeeded in changing the religion of the world. That He should have succeeded in doing | be sure must have been done in the case of other this without displaying any miracles, would have miracles also; and if the enemies of Jesus could been more wonderful than all the miracles that are have succeeded in detecting and exposing any falserecorded; and that He should have accomplished all hood or trick, they would have been eager to do so, this by means of pretended miracles, when none were because they would be thus sure to overthrow his really performed, would be the most incredible of all. pretensions at once. So that those who are unwilling to believe anything that is strange, cannot escape doing so by disbelieving the Gospel, but will have to believe something still more strange, if they reject the Gospel. And it is the same in many other cases, as well as in what relates to religion. We are often obliged to believe, at any rate, in something that is very wonderful, in order to avoid believing something else that is still more wonderful. For instance, it is well known that in these islands, and in several other parts of the world, there are great beds of sea-shells found near the tops of hills, sometimes several thousand feet above the sea. Now it is certainly very hard to believe that the sea should ever have covered those places which now lie so far above it. And yet we are compelled to believe this, because we cannot think of any other way that is not far more incredible, by which those shells have been deposited there. And so it is with the Gospel history. We are sure that the Christian religon does now exist, and has overspread most of the civilized world; and we know that it was not first introduced and propagated (like that of Mohammed) by force, of arms. To believe that it was received, and made its way, without miracles, would be to believe something more miraculous (if one may so speak) than all the miracles that our books record. But some people may say that the ancient Jews and Pagans, who so readily believed in magical arts, and the power of demons, must have been very weak and credulous men; and that therefore they may have given credit to tales of miracles without making any careful inquiry. Now there is, indeed, no doubt that they were weak and credulous; but this weakness and credulity would never have led them to believe what was against their carly prejudices, and expectations, and wishes: quite the contrary. The more weak and credulous any man is, the harder it is to convince him of anything that is opposite to his habits of thought and inclinations. He will readily receive without proof anything that falls in with his prejudices; and will be disposed to hold out against any evidence that goes against them. Now all the prejudices of the Jews and Pagans were against the religion that Jesus and his Apostles taught; and, accordingly, we might have expected that the most credulous of them should have done just what our histories tell us they did; that is, resolve to reject the religion at any rate, and readily satisfy themselves with some weak and absurd way of accounting for the miracles. But, credulous as they were about magic, the enemies of Jesus would never have resorted to that pretence, if they could have denied the facts. They would certainly have been more ready to maintain, if possible, that no miracles had taken place, than to explain them as performed by magic; because this pretence only went to make out that Jesus, notwithstanding his miracles, might possibly not come from God; whereas, if they could have shown that He or his Apostles had attempted to deceive people by pretended miracles, this would at once have held them up to scorn as impostors. We read in the Gospel of St. John (chap. ix.), that the Jewish rulers narrowly examined into the reality of a miracle performed by Jesus, on a man that was born blind. This is exactly what we may It is plain, therefore, that the weakness and credu lity of the people of those days would be very far from disposing them readily to give credit to miracles, in favour of a religion that was opposed to their prejudices; and that, on the contrary, such persons would be likely, some of them obstinately to reject the religion, and others, only gradually and slowly to receive it, after having carefully searched the ancient prophecies, and found that these went to confirm it. Now this is just the account that our histories give. It appears certain, then, that the unbelieving Jews and Pagans of those days did find it impossible to throw any doubt on the fact of the miracles having really been performed; because that would have enabled them easily to expose Jesus to contempt as an impostor. Their acknowledging the miracles, and attributing them to magic, as the unbelieving Jews do to this day, shows that the evidence for them, after the strictest scrutiny by the most bitter enemies, was perfectly undeniable, at the time and place when they were said to be performed. QUEEN VICTORIA. OH Sovereign Lady of our land, and lady of our love, But e'en the brazen trumpet's voice in thy people's shout is Those tears will bring forth blessed fruit, they are not shed in bands, LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARYS, PRICE SIXPENCE. Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the_Kingdom, MUCRUSS ABBEY. Deep empty tombs, And dells, and mouldering shrines, with old decay, Rustic, and green, and wide embowering shades Shot from the crooked clefts of nodding towers. IN our former sketch of the general situation of the three Lakes of Killarney, we stated that two of them are placed at the foot of the mountain-range, upon which, at a considerable elevation, the third lies. This third, or Upper" Lake communicates with each of the two Lower Lakes, (Turk Lake and Lower Lake, as they were called,) by means of a river whose two branches enter them separately. These two Lower Lakes, however, are themselves but partially separated; the only barrier between them is a long peninsula, or tongue of land, which stretches about half way across their breadth,-and two or three small islands, which seem as if originally they had been merely a continuation of the tongue of land, but afterwards had been cut off from it, and from one another, by the action of the water forcing a passage at different points. This tongue of land is called Mucruss Peninsula; and it forms a part of the very VOL. XI. celebrated "Mucruss demesne," which is one of the great attractions of Killarney. It is not our intention now to describe the beauties of this favoured spot: our present notice will be confined to an account of the ruined old abbey, which constitutes one of its most interesting features. The old abbey of Irrelagh, or Mucruss Abbey, to use its modern appellation, is situated at the commencement of the peninsula, or the root of the tongue of land: it stands on an eminence in the richest part of the demesne, at a short distance from the road leading to the mansion-house, or Turk Lodge. A ruined church (says Mr. Weld) is a common object, which, independent of the picturesque beauty it may possess, excites little interest; but the sight of a monastery carries us back to distant ages, and gives rise to a train of reflection, which every mind of sensibility feels a pleasure in indulging. We remember that these places were the asylums of men who, voluntarily renouncing the seducing pleasures of the world, devoted themselves to the services of charity and of religion..... Hither, during the ages of violence and rapine, those who by inclination were disposed to retirement and to ease, could withdraw in safety from the dangers of contending factions, and devote themselves to the calm and tranquil pursuits of literature. These were the sacred retreats of learning, where the germs of know 336 ledge were preserved, till a more genial season bade them | observed flitting through the vaulted arches at noonspring forth and flourish in open day. At the same time we cannot behold these ancient fabrics, their dismal aisles, their dark and narrow cells, without drawing a comparison favourable to ourselves, between the gloomy and bigoted notions of monkery, and the more enlightened opinions of modern days. Far from regretting their decline, the philosophic mind triumphs at the dissolution of institutions which were disgraced by vices of the grossest nature; where superstition was fostered, and the In this streams of knowledge polluted at their source. very abbey, a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary was preserved, by whose movements, directed at will, the friars imposed on the credulity of many an unsuspecting votary. The remains to be seen at the present day, consist of the ruins of a church, and some other buildings, appropriated to the service of the religious community which was formerly seated here. The whole length of the church is about one hundred feet, and its breadth twenty-four. The steeple, built upon four lofty pointed arches, under which there is a free communication, stands between the nave and the chancel. The principal entrance is at the west end, under a large pointed arch of blueish marble, decorated by several mouldings, plain but well wrought, and in good preservation. From this entrance, the visiter has a very pleasing view of the great eastern window, which is seen through the arches of the steeple; and also of the large portal of the transept on the south side of the nave. The steeple is of rather trifling dimensions. Dr. Smith informs us, in his History of Kerry, that in his days the bell of the monastery was discovered in the lake, at a short distance from the shore of Mucruss,-a circumstance from which it has been inferred, that the building at some period suffered from violence. Mr. Weld suggests that probably the soldiers of the parliamentary army, during Cromwell's time, were instrumental to its destruction; as the country about Killarney was a distinguished scene of their outrages. The cloister is spoken of as the most perfect portion of the remains, and as seeming to have been originally the best-executed part of the whole fabric. It consists of a quadrangle, forty-six feet square, around which runs an arcade, or vaulted walk, six feet wide, whose pillars and arches are formed of blueish and pale-red marble. The pillars, destitute of ornaments, unless a few horizontal grooves at equal distances can be considered in that light, are all finished exactly alike; but the arches on different sides vary both in number and in form. On two of the contiguous sides, there are ten of them, and in the pointed, or Gothic style; on the other pair of contiguous sides, there are twelve arches of the semicircular, or Saxon style. How this capricious variety, (says Mr. Weld,) so frequently to be observed in the religious buildings of those infant days of art and taste, was first introduced, we can now only conjecture: beauty and utility alike disown it as their offspring. Probably it originated in the dissensions which arose among the brotherhood before the style of their future residence was determined; and of the obstinacy with which they contended, and the folly with which they compromised this important subject, the Abbey of Mucruss to this day remains a striking and a melancholy monument. In the centre of the cloister stands a remarkably large yew-tree. "We have some fine churchyard specimens in England," says Mr. Barrow, "but I do not remember many superior to that of Mucruss Abbey." It rises in a straight smooth stem, to the height of about fourteen feet, when it throws out several large arms, which fill the whole court of the cloisters, and mounting above the highest walls, almost entirely overshadows the building. Such is the gloominess diffused over the cloister by this canopy of thick and dusky foliage, that the bat is frequently day; and some visiters have found their nerves not sufficiently strong to endure a lengthened stay. This tree, it may be supposed, was long a favourite with the monks; but much as they might have rejoiced in its flourishing state, had they continued to occupy the monastery until the present day, they must have consented, however reluctantly, either to strip it of its honours, or to relinquish the studies of their darkened cells. Travellers, down to a very recent period, tell us that the guide generally recommends them to beware of injuring this sacred tree, and that a story is very gravely narrated of a soldier who, having the impious audacity to strip off a small piece of the bark with his penknife, quickly expired on the spot. A writer of the last century says, My Cicerone, pointing to a wound in the bark of it, told me with a very grave face that the wretch who had the hardiness to inflict it paid the full price of his sacrilege; for that a numbness instantly seized the guilty arm, spread gradually over his whole frame, and in a few minutes despatched him. Beneath the shade of this tree are four tombs without any inscriptions; they are not very ancient, and are supposed to have belonged to persons of the religious order to which the abbey belonged. This yew-tree, however, is not the only vegetable wonder of the place, Outside the walls (says Mr. Barrow), there is a stem of ivy almost as thick as an ordinary man's body, curiously twisted and distorted, owing apparently to its having been forced to protrude its way through a heap of human bones that were piled up in the corner where it was growing, but which are now removed; the Duke of Northumberland having, as I was told by the guide, directed this to be done, on visiting the place when lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Among the luxuriant ferns, and the mosses, and the lichens, which grow on the gray rocks here, and in many other parts along the margins of the lakes, there was one species of moss of most extraordinary luxuriance growing in whole beds of considerable extent, and bearing the colour of a clear, shining, emerald green: it is the Hypnum alopecurum, the fox-tailed hypnum, At two of the opposite corners of the cloister, there are stairs leading to the cells over the arcade, and to the chief apartments of the Abbey. The latter are in a very dilapidated state, but several of the cells remain entire; and under the little gratings by which they were lighted, "one may still see the broad flat stones upon which the monks offered up their orisons, worn and polished by the pressure of many a weary knee." Around the summit of the building there is a safe walk, defended by an embattled parapet. The lake from hence is barely visible through the trees; but were a very few of the intervening branches removed, the view would be delightful. It is impossible, indeed, not to extol the taste which the monks displayed in choosing a situation for their Abbey. The ruins of other apartments may be discovered in other quarters. In one place is a long, narrow room, on the ground-floor, called the cellar: it is very imperfectly lighted, and the stone ceiling is an object of curiosity, as illustrating the mode in which arches were turned in the days when this Abbey was built. Over the cellar is the kitchen of the monks : it has the floor perfect, but is destitute of a roof. A refectory and a dormitory may also be seen in a tolerable state of completeness. The vaults and winding passages of the Abbey, (says Mr. Weld,) are still more gloomy than the cloister:There through thick walls, oblique the broken light, From narrow loop-holes quivers to the sight. This obscurity adds much to the effect of the ruin; and, combined with the stillness and solitude of deep retirement, the fragments of monumental grandeur, and the frightful spectacles of mouldering mortality, forms an association highly calculated to inspire the imagination with visionary fears. As you wander on, the mind, yielding to the impression of such gloomy images, becomes abstracted from this world. The shade of every waving branch is converted to a spectre, and the echoes of the footsteps to the whispering of the ideal inhabitants. The startled senses distrust their own perception, and the delusion can scarcely be dispelled by returning to the cheerful regions of light and life. are not, however, the only tenants of this cemetry; persons of property and station in the district, are often equally deirous of having their last restingplace within the venerated precincts of this ancient abbey. Mucruss Abbey is of great antiquity, but the exact period of its foundation is a matter of doubt. The attachment of the Irish peasantry to their According to some statements, it was as early as family burial-place is boundless. Mucruss Abbey is 1230; according to others, it was not till 1449. very favourite place of sepulture; and it is said that Archdall, in his Monasticon Hibernicum, fixes the founbodies are not unfrequently conveyed from a distance dation in 1440, and ascribes it to Donald, son of of twenty miles across the mountains, to be interred Thady M'Carthy. The founder improved and rewithin its precincts. The cemetery is on the south paired it a few months before his death. In conside of the abbey; it is very small, and the depth formity with his design, it belonged to the Convenof the soil inconsiderable. The consequence is, that tual Franciscans, whose rules, though so much relaxed coffins, with their mouldering contents, are not unfrom the original institutions of their patron, St. frequently removed, to make room for others, "long Francis, as to have occasioned a schism in the order, before decency can warrant such a measure;" and yet still did not allow them to hold extensive though the place from time to time is carefully territorial possessions; "but in the superior concleared, yet the bones, skulls, and coffin-boards, that struction of the convents, and the convenience of are prematurely dug up, quickly accumulate again. their accommodations, the brotherhood endeavoured The boards are deposited in the vaults; the bones to make themselves ample amends for the mortificaand skulls are heaped up in the angle formed by the tion to which they were otherwise subjected." The transept, and the nave of the church at the outside Abbey came into the possession of the crown at the of the building, where many thousands of them may Reformation. The lands, amounting to four acres, be seen bleached to an extraordinary degree of white-two orchards, and one garden, estimated at sixteen ness by their exposure to the weather. shillings per annum, were granted by Queen Elizabeth to Captain Robert Collam; but it would seem, that the monks continued to inhabit the Abbey for some time afterwards, from the following inscription on a stone, in the north wall of the chancel of the church :-- The floor of the cellar, which we mentioned in our description of the ruins, is spoken of by Mr. Wright, as exhibiting" a spectacle shocking to humanity;' lids of coffins with their commemorating inscriptions, skulls and bones which have not lost the odour of putrefaction, lie strewn upon the ground. In a small closet near the cellar, these coffin-boards are stowed so thickly, that all entrance is prevented. When Sir John Carr visited Killarney, in 1805, the sight of these mouldering relics of humanity, produced such an effect upon him, that he fancied the very atmosphere to be fatally pestilent; and when he published his Tour, he emphatically assured all future visiters, that if they passed within the walls of the building, death would probably be their doom. So loaded with contagion, (he says,) is the air in this spot, that every principle of humanity imperiously calls upon the indulgent owner to exercise his right of closing it up as a place of sepulture in future; I warn every one who visits Killarney, as he values life, not to enter this abbey. Contrast renders doubly horrible the ghastly contemplation of human dissolution, tainting the surrounding air in a spot which nature has enriched with a profusion of romantic beauty. This statement is, however, overcharged; as for the suggestion of closing the cemetery,—a little reflection would have convinced the writer that it was altogether impracticable. The man The intelligent guide who conducted me over the ruins, (says Mr. Barrow,) informed me, that ten-pence only was the sum demanded for the interment of each person, but permission must first be obtained, and proof be brought that some of the applicant's ancestors had held graves, (or, rather, that graves had held the ancestors.) pointed out to me a vault, which he had selected for himself, whenever it might come to his turn to be laid therein, though the first of his family that had been laid in that particular spot, observing at the same time,-" And sure, its a mighty pleasant thing to be dacently put in the earth along wid your own people." I could not but admire the cool manner in which he spoke on the subject; but this is a national trait: they not only very frequently provide their coffins, and keep them, as the Chinese do, conspicuously in the house, but make a point of laying by, out of their savings, a sum of money to enable their survivors to give, at their death, a glorious wake, and also a handsome funeral, besides something to the priest, to pray for their souls while in purgatory! Pray for the happy state of brother Thadeus Holenus, who superintended the rebuilding or repairing of this sacred convent, A.D. 1626. Of the history of the Abbey subsequently to this period, or of the manner in which it fell into desolation, we have no account whatsoever. Its destruction is not at all surprising; the wonder would have been its preservation, in a country devastated by wars, such as have afflicted Ireland. Abbey, is celebrated here in the month of July; upon The festival of St. Francis, the patron saint of the this occasion, the peasantry assemble in great numbers, and it is to be presumed, that the scenes which usually grace a patron-day in Ireland, are not omitted. Arthur Young speaks of Mucruss Abbey as one of the most interesting scenes he ever saw; and he describes it very happily. It is, (he says,) the ruin of a considerable abbey of Henry the Sixtli's time, and so entire, that if it were more so, though the building would be more perfect, the ruin would be less pleasing; it is half obscured in the shade of some venerable ash-trees; ivy has given the picturesque circumstance which that plant alone can confer, while the broken walls, and ruined turrets, throw over it The last mournful graces of decay. Heaps of sculls and bones, scattered about, with nettles, briers, and weeds, sprouting in tufts from the loose stones, all unite to raise those melancholy impressions which are the merit of such scenes, and which can scarcely anywhere be felt more completely. The cloisters form a dismal area, in the centre of which grows the most prodigious yew-tree I ever beheld, in one great stem, two feet diameter, and fourteen feet high, from whence a vast head of branches spreads on every side, so as to form a perfect canopy to the whole space; I looked for its fit inbabitant-it is a spot, where The moping owl doth to the moon complain. should appear; there is not an intruding circumstance, This ruin is in the true style in which all such buildings the hand of dress has not touched it,-melancholy is the impression which such scenes should kindle, and it is here raised most powerfully. BECOME not proud in thy prosperity, nor desperate in thine The peasantry of the country around Killarney, adversity.-SIR THOMAS SMITH. |
