Two Essays on Miracles

BOTH these Essays were written when the author was Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.

The former of them, on the Miracles of Scripture, was written in 1825-26 for the “Encyclopædia Metropolitana,” being the sequel to a Life of Apollonius Tyanæus.

The latter, on the Miracles of the first age of Christianity, was written in 1842-43, as a Preface to a Translation of a portion of Fleury’s Ecclesiastical History.

In the first of the two, the Miracles of Scripture are regarded as mainly addressed to religious inquirers, of an evidential nature, the instruments of conversion, and the subjects of an inspired record. In the second, the Ecclesiastical Miracles are regarded as addressed to Christians, the rewards of faith, and the matter of devotion, varying in their character from simple providences to distinct innovations upon physical order, and coming to us by tradition or in legend, trustworthy or not, as it may happen in the particular case.

These distinct views of miraculous agency, thus contrasted, involve no inconsistency with each other; but it must be owned that, in the Essay upon the Scripture Miracles, the Author goes beyond both the needs and the claims of his argument, when, in order to show their special dignity and beauty, he depreciates the purpose and value of the Miracles of Church History. To meet this undue disparagement, in his first Essay, of facts which have their definite place in the Divine Dispensation, he points out, in his second, the essential resemblance which exists between many of the Miracles of Scripture and those of later times.

This classic is organized as follows:

Essay I. The Miracles of Scripture Compared With Those Reported Elsewhere, as Regards Their Nature, Credibility, and Evidence
Introduction. On the Miracles of Scripture
Section 1. On the Idea and Scope of a Miracle
Section 2. On the Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle, Considered as a Divine Interposition
Section 3. On the Criterion of a Miracle, considered as a Divine Interposition
Section 4. On the Direct Evidence for the Christian Miracles

Essay II. The Miracles of Early Ecclesiastical History, Compared With Those of Scripture, as Regards Their Nature, Credibility, and Evidence
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. On the Antecedent Probability of the Ecclesiastical Miracles
Chapter 3. On the Internal Character of the Ecclesiastical Miracles
Chapter 4. On the State of the Argument in Behalf of the Ecclesiastical Miracles
Chapter 5. On the Evidence for Particular Alleged Miracles
Section 1. The Thundering Legion
Section 2. The Change of Water into Oil at the Prayer of St. Narcissus of Jerusalem
Section 3. The Miracle Wrought on the Course of the River Lycus by St. Gregory Thaumaturgus
Section 4. Appearance of the Cross in the Sky to Constantine
Section 5. The Discovery of the Holy Cross
Section 6. The Death of Arius
Section 7. The Fiery Eruption on Julian’s Attempt to rebuild the Jewish Temple
Section 8. Recovery of the Blind Man by the Relics of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius at Milan
Section 9. The Power of Speech Continued to the African Confessors Deprived of their Tongues
Conclusion