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Show Growing Unbelief in Miracles. The New York Independent which Is usually recognized as an authoratlvo exponent of "Advanced religious" thought has an editorial In a recent number on "The Recession of miracle" from which wc extract the following: "The great and central problem of modern theology Is the place of miracle mira-cle in religion belief. A hundred years ago there was no particular difficulty diffi-culty on the subject, for It was easy enough to believe In miracles the common mind dldnot Hurt It hard to believe In reversals of natural law, for very little was known of natural law. In those days a mlraclo was not seen to be such a contradiction of the laws of nature as It now appears to be. Hut things arc very dllTercnt now, we sec law everj where. The wind no longer bloweth where it llsteth, but Is subject to laws which wc formulate under the science of meteorology. If the rain docs not come in its season wc no longer attribute it to the anger of God, but to some peculiar action of sun-spots or some other physical cause. History tlnds no place for Noah's ark. Jonah's whale and the fiery-furnace of Shadrach, Mcshach and Abednego, recede Into religious romance. IT IS PLAIN TO KVKHYOKK that the process and the argument which have undermined tho Old Testament, miracles are being applied and will be still more applied, to the miracles of the New Testment. Their unlikelihood under the rule of law Is the primary presumption against them. To this undermining process, pro-cess, faith of the older sort begins to yield. That this recession of faith In miracles Is already consldcrale, even In the churches which repeat the Apostles' Creed, there can bo no doubt. We sec It In the apologetic attitude towards miracles, and In the feeling that they arc at the present time a real difficulty, rather than an aid to faith, we hold to the miracle, but we are looking for our lines of retreat." .-. - JJEUKriN.jnHAQi.p i is a purely intellectual act. It has value, great value, If It is true, in the evidence it brings of God. Yet we have sufficient evidence of God without with-out miracle." There is no doubt that tho trend of modern thought Is away from tho Bible Idea of religion. Evolution and development has practically annulled the Bible story of creation. Tho Moslac miracle?, the assencion of Elijah and the miracles of Christ are fast drifting into the realms of romance and legend, because they are supposed to be In opposition to fixed and unalterable laws as we understand under-stand them. Rut is there positive evidence that miracles are opposed to natural laws? It Is a well known fact that many things that we do to-day would a century or two ago have been considered mirations-, and It Is Just as probable that many things, as the licry-furnacc of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, that appear to us as miracles mira-cles may be well understood by our decendents In another generation. We don't believe God operates contrary con-trary to law, but all his acts whether understood by us, or whether they seem mlraclous are brought about by some law, and are done by some one knowing how to do them. No man would be so egotistical as to assert that there Is no natural law of which ho Is Ignorant, or that there might not be some one who does understand It. Our whole Idea of God is that he is possessed of Infinite wisdom and knowledge know-ledge and that he uses that Intelligence Intelli-gence to accomplish his purposes work ing always by means. Some of those means wo sec, others we do not, probably pro-bably cannot understand In the narrow nar-row sphere In which wc live. Hut our failure, to sec Is no evidence that they do not exist. TI1HM0HM0N IDi:A of miracles Is In strict conformity to that of the New Testament. Wc have seen many things that weic contrary con-trary to natural lawsas we understand them, but from tho very fact that they have taken place seems to us an evidence that they happened according accord-ing t some law the operations of which wo aic at piesent Ignorant, but which we feel assured when fully undeistood will be found to have been brought about by simple means and subject to natural laws. |
