The miracles of Jesus—the relief of need, the removal of suffering, the recovery of health and strength—reveal in outward events the essential features of His divine mission. The divine wisdom and goodness are revealed in the course of nature, but also obscured by it. The existence of physical evil, and still more of moral evil, forbids the assumption without qualification that the real is the rational. God in nature as well as in history is fulfiliing a redemptive as well as perfective purpose, of which these miracles are appropriate signs. It is an unwarranted idealism and optimism which finds the course of nature so wise and so good that any change in it must be regarded as incredible. On the problem of evil and sin it is impossible here to enter; but this must be insisted on, that the miracles of Jesus at least express divine benevolence under those conditions in which the course of nature obscures it ; and are therefore, proper elements in a rev elation of grace, of which nature cannot give any evidence.
Having discussed the possibility and necessity of miracles for the divine revelation, we must now consider whether there is suffi cient historical evidence for their occurrence. Hume maintains that no evidence, such as is available, can make a miracle credible, Mill states the position with due care. "The question can be stated fairly as depending on a balance of evidence, a certain amount of positive evidence in favour of miracles, and a nega tive presumption from the general course of human experience against them" (Essays on Religion, p. 221). The existence of "a certain amount of positive evidence in favour of miracles" forbids the sweeping statement that miracles are "contrary to experience." The phrase itself is, as Paley pointed out, ambiguous. If it means all experience it assumes the point to be proved; if it means only common experience then it simply asserts that the miracle is un usual—a truism. The probability of miracles depends on the con ception we have of the free relation of God to nature, and of nature as the adequate organ for the fulfilment of God's pur poses. If we believe in a divine revelation and redemption tran scending the course of nature, the miracle as signs of that divine purpose will not seem improbable.
For the Christian Church it is the miracles of Jesus which are of primary importance. The Gospels assumed their present form
between A.D. 6o and 90. Their representation of the moral char acter, the religious consciousness, the teaching of Jesus, inspires confidence. The narratives of miracles are woven into the very texture of this representation. In these acts Jesus reveals Himself as Saviour. In His sinless perfection and filial relation to God He is unique, and His works are congruous with His Person. Of the supreme miracle of His resurrection there is earlier evidence than of any of the others (I Cor. xv. 3-7, before A.D. 58). His conquest of death is most frequently appealed to in the apostolic teaching. The Christian Church would never have come into existence with out faith in the Risen Lord. Yet it must be remembered that the fact of the resurrection does not stand or fall with the mode in which it was conceived ; and that the mode of a belief is neces sarily dependent upon the pre-suppositions, scientific and religious, of the age in which it is held. The accounts in the Old Testament of miraculous events are obviously conditioned by the presupposi tions of the age and would in most cases be recorded differently to-day. The supernatural element that is prominent in the Old Testament is regarded by the authors of its various books as God's providential guidance and guardianship of His people, and His teaching and training of them by His prophets.
In Roman Catholicism, in mediaeval as in modern times, the working of miracles has been ascribed to its saints; but the char acter of most of these miracles is such as to lack probability. Further, these records are imitative. As Christ and the apostles worked miracles, it is assumed that those who in the Church were distinguished for their sanctity would also work miracles; and there can be little doubt that the wish was often father to the thought.