REVELATION (removal of a covering, or discovery) signifies, in theololov, a preternatural or extraordinary communication made by the Deity to men. The evidence of a revelation may be considered with reference to the party to whom it is first and immediately made ; to those who have their knowledge of it immediately from him ; and to those who pommel only a recorded account of it. It should seem that in the cue of the first recipient, the only evidence fully aatiafactory must be something external to himself, or unequivocally presenting itself to the judgment of his semot. If it is asked why preternatural intervention is claimed in behalf of those to whom the revelation is delirered by the first receiver of it, and dispensed with in the case of those to whom only the record of it has descended, the answer is, that a miraculous fact is a subject for historical testimony ; and if con beaterl by that, conveys to future generations the same kind of security which it was intended to afford to those who witnessed it.
In raying that a miracle is the proper test of a revelation, wo do not mean to exclude every other kind of proof. We mean only that a miracle is that one "pecks; of proof which cannot be spared. tinny cireurnatancee may be sappxaed to have place in a revelation, which would contribute greatly to coofirm its reality, and which might with some minds have snore influence in inducing acceptance than even the proof of miraculous agency.
We have spoken of a miracle as the teat of a revelation, without attempting a definition, believing the common notion of it to be "efficiently accurate for our purpose. For the distinctive character of a miracle, and the possibility of proving it by evidence, the reader may consult the article llinecte in this work, and the authors referred to at the end of IL It is presumed that the purpose of the mniraeulona test le erislenL A certain person is converted to the belief of certain truth, by an appearance, undoubtedly miraculous, in the sky. The miracle IA to him a proof that his conversion hi from God. lie teaches to others the truth, which he has been made to believe : and in doing this performs miracle*. These are a proof to them that he is commissioned
by God to teach what he delivers; recorded and duly Waited, they wire the name to these who have not witnessed them. All the potties, in accepting the test, would reason in the mme manner, namely, that the laws of nature could be changed only by God, the author of them, or by hi. pertniesion ; and that lie would not change them or permit theta to be changed for the purpose of establishing a feloeheod.
To the question, "has a revelation been actually made I" the Chris. Ilan believes that lie has an answer in the possession of the Holy Scripture., or the boeke of the Old and New Testament. An account of the contents of these honks and an examination of the evidences of the Christian revelation form, of course, no part of the subject of this article : they are noticed under their respective headings. The proofs which we have insisted on as requisite to establish the reality of a revelation generally, must, if rightly assigned, be applicable to this 'articular one.
We insisted on the primary evidence of miraculous agency in the communication, with corroboration from the matter communicated, the miraculous agency to be so exhibited to the witnesses as to be capable of proof from testimony to others. Particular revelation. may be supposed according to the circumstances under which they were given, and the nature of their contents, to admit various topics of evidence ; almost all of which however will probably be found to resolve themselves into one or other of these two, though all inquirers may not agree in the classification. We should place for Instance limier the haul of proof from preternatural manifestations, the fulfil ment of prophecy in mem euppneed to be beyond the reach of human foreknowledge or conjecture ; the attested existence of persons ex• hibiting qualities, moral or intellectual, in kind or degree, not exem plified or to be expected in others of the human race; conduct of men, natural under the supposition that they were conselone and had proof of a divine commission, but otherwise unaccountable according to any known motives of human action.