Harbinger, June 1, '67. The great lesson of patience under trials is to us a revelation of duty— patience in the family, in society, and in the philanthropies of life. To attain to this spirit, is to have the spirit of God, and to be made a partaker of his blessedness.-Chris. Mon. A. R. B. CHRISTIANITY A LIVING POWER.-No. IV. THE well-known Renan says "We do not say that a miracle is impossible, we do say that hitherto no miracle has been clearly proved. Suppose that to-morrow a worker of miracles should present himself with credentials sufficiently serious to admit of discussion; let him announce himself for instance as able to raise a dead man to life; what course would be pursued? A commission would be named, composed of physiologists, chemists, physicians, adepts in historical criticism. This commission would choose the corpse, assure itself that death was real, fix upon the place where the experiment should be made, and establish a whole system of necessary precautions, so that there should be no room for doubt. If under such conditions a resurrection were performed, a probability almost amounting to certainty would be obtained. Yet, as it must be possible always to repeat an experiment, and as in the region of the miraculous there can be no question of ease or of difficulty, the thaumaturgus would be invited to reproduce his marvellous achievement, under different circumstances, on other corpses and in another scene of action. Should the miracle always be successful two things would be proved-the first, that supernatural facts take place in the world-the second, that the power to produce them belongs or is delegated to certain persons. But who does not see that a miracle never was performed under these conditions." The The actual impossibility of miracle is the ground occupied by Strauss, Theodore Parker, J. W. Fox, Froude, and others. Though Renan belongs to the school he professes a little more modesty, and graciously suggests a committee or a body of learned commissioners. Could these learned gentlemen tell the difference between life and death any better than the vulgar? All classes manage to discover what death is, and bury their dead out of their sight. And the rude uncultured man could identify a form and face as well as the scientific scholar-if any dead man of his knowledge were returning to the living world. Indeed, frequently the unlearned have their observing power, their senses in much keener exercise and better discipline. Hence I doubt not but what the fishermen of Judea were better qualified to decide upon the identity of the risen Lord than any order of accomplished men that could have been selected. fancy of our romancing author quite amuses me. I see for instance the body of physiologists, chemists, physicians, and adept critics gathered in the court of Pharoah when God was about to deliver a great people from dire slavery and debasing idolatory. With what grand impartiality they would have watched the conflict between Moses and the magicians. What fine experiments they would have made in dissecting that serpent which swallowed up the rest, in analyzing the liquid from the rivers of blood, and in testing that fearful darkness so gross that it might be felt. I can see them running bare-headed after the tremendous hail which was mingled with fire and holding serious inquests in the houses of Egypt when all the first-born perished-to discover whether it were death, or mesmerism, or trance. At the dividing of the red sea they would have had the two hosts to stand still, not that any might see the salvation of Harbinger, June 1, '67. God but that they might determine whether the waters were separated by wind, by magic, or by the fiat of the majesty of God. Then that mysterious cloud which was fire and light to one host but darkness to the other would have been to them such a puzzle and ravelment that the presumption and the fear is that they would not have made their escape with Israel-but would have been left with Pharaoh, his chariots and horsemen at the bottom of the sea. Supposing them to have made their escape there would have been another fine field for critical labour. The garments and shoes which showed no marks of wear or time, would have been examined as closely as if they were tailors or shoemakers, they would have taken the fiery serpents by the tail to discover the poison, walked right up to the black throat of the open earth which swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and the presumption is that the grandeur at Mount Sinai would have been pronounced a magnificent thunderstorm! A body of commissioners following the Lord would have had a still richer field for profound investigation. At his baptism and sealing, they would have debated where the glory came from, seeing that the sky was not the old Homeric brazen vault which might be cleft or riven to let out splendour, and they would have found anthropomorphism in the voice which came from heaven. The man born blind would have been subjected to a keener cross-examination than he received from the enraged rulers, and though he might not have been thrust from the court of inquiry so soon that would have been his final destiny. They would have climbed Mount Tabor, not to sun themselves in the radiance or talk of building tabernacles but to find out from Moses where the Lord buried him and how he had returned again, and to ask Elias after the chariot of fire in which he ascended. As for the glory of the Lord burning out from essential Godhead in the excellency of power, or the hallowed theme of conversation among the great ones-the tragedy of Jerusalem-both matters would have been tabled among the mysteries of nature. They might have awakened our Lord when the storm was raging, through selfishness or fear, but not from faith in the majesty of his working, for philosophers, who only believe in law but not in the power of the living God, might as well pray to the plank as cry to a personal being. The correspondence between his voice of power and the hush of the tempest would have been written down as a strange coincidence to be afterwards explained by natural law. They would have followed the swine down into that steep place where they perished, to discover the point of contact betwixt demoniacal agency and brute nature, and if they could have kept their feet and their senses when the sublime angel terrified the Roman guards he would have been closely examined about his share in the abstraction of the body and required to render some account of the country from whence he came and his business in the fields of mortality. I presume our author knew he was talking or writing folly when he penned the paragraph. Miracles have never been spectacles to which the curious might be invited for entertainment or speculation, but the spontaneous workings of life in a living system. They have been such broad and bright revelations of power in open fields, that no subtlety was required in judgment or explication. The masses of the common people were as well able to judge and determine, as any body of physiologists and critics that could have been gathered from Germany or France. In the instantaneous healing of the cripple or the blind, in the calming of a great storm by the voice of authority, in the resurrection of a dead man, the masses could reason as wisely and conclude as fairly as any council or Harbinger, June 1, '67. sanhedrim of savants with modern cultivation. Indeed the men of true cultivation and profound insight would have shared in the judgment of the common people. Baron Cuvier, the anatomist, Ranke, the historian, and Faraday, the chemist, had they been present when the lame man was healed at the beautiful gate of the Temple, would have mingled with the wondering crowd, sharing in the common emotion; and after hearing from the instruments that the work was not done by their own power or holiness, but by the One throned at God's right hand, none would have bowed their heads with deeper reverence. It may occasion some surprise that our author did not proceed further in his confession. If such an exhibition as he supposes would have led him to confess, first, that there was supernatural power on earth; and, second, that it was delegated to certain persons, it is strange that he did not perceive how immense the second conclusion would be. The One who always works in perfect wisdom would never delegate such power unless the reasons were urgent, and something was to be accomplished for the moral universe of transcendent importance. If the Sublime Onethe Ancient of Days and the Father of Lights, who has all laws and forces under absolute control-has committed his signet-ring to finite servants, it will clearly follow that the documents which they have to stamp and seal must be of the deepest interest for time and for eternity. When we find amnesty from the Great King to a world in revolution— life, light, and immortality proclaimed to blinded, dying, and despairing people we need not be surprised by the nature of the credentials. There is the finest harmony betwixt the substance of the message and the character of the seal, both being supernatural. After this preliminary let us look into a book called the Acts of the Apostles. It is on record that the Son of God, after his resurrection, was seen by the Apostles for the space of forty days, giving them infallible proofs that he was no spectre or phantom, but that very substantial being whom they had followed, loved, and trusted even unto death. He spake to them on the matters relating to the kingdom of God, and commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem till they were endued with power from on high, by receiving the promise of the Father. This was explained to be a baptism with the Holy Spirit, which they should receive not many days after. As they had previously been promised that in the regeneration they should sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, it was natural that they should imagine the great regeneration was near. They inquired if the Lord at that time would restore again the kingdom to Israel. The Lord does not inform them that their ideas of such an empire were erroneous-which would have been a famous opportunity had there been any misconception-but simply that it was not for them to know the times or the seasons which God had reserved in his own power. Their immediate work as witnesses lay before them, and the necessary power would be given. While speaking these things He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. We can easily conceive what pangs of the heart and straining of the eyes there would be as they gazed up into heaven, and found the adorable one no longer visible. The messengers in white apparel gave comfort, by telling them that the same Jesus taken from them would so return in like manner. They continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, and were in that reverential attitude when the day of Pentecost was fully come. Suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared Harbinger, June 1, '67. unto them cloven tongues like fire in lambency, the glory resting upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The rushing wind was not the Spirit, neither were the radiant tongues; but in and through such vehicles or media the Spirit of power and life energized the waiting disciples. The fame of this being soon noised abroad, a multitude rapidly gathered; and on the whole it was composed of the best material, for the devout Jews were at that festival gathered from all the nations and provinces to the central city and the great Temple. Each class of Parthian Jews, or Median Jews, or any other district heard the glad tidings in their own idiom and vernacular, while the natives of the Holy City heard the same truth in that sacred tongue which was the common property of all. There was amazement among all, and a few would have made famous material for Strauss or Renan, for in the midst of all the glory they said, "These men are full of new wine." It was true in a sense which they intended not. The men were full of new wine; but the grapes which yielded it were not grown in Palestine or Judea. The wine flowed down from the Paradise of God, and the life and gladness inspired were not for the senses but for the heart and the spiritual nature. The Apostle Peter, as chief speaker, standing up with the eleven, repudiated the base imputation of drunkenness-made known the fact that the Being who had been crucified by wicked hands was raised from the dead, crowned as Prince of Life, and that He was the author of the visible glory and power. Moreover he showed that David had distinctly predicted the resurrection, and that Joel had foretold the wonders of that Pentecostal day. He concluded a memorable discourse, which lies not in our plan to examine, by calling the people to acknowledge the Lord and the Christ, that they might share in the same salvation and glorious power enjoyed by the speakers. We may note on the road a circumstance, or rather a train of them, which demand an adequate cause. The passion at Calvary broke the spirit and destroyed the hope of the disciples. They all forsook Him and fled; and for some time had the anguish of bereavement, mingled with the apathy of despair. Jews and Romans trumped up the miserable tale that they had stolen the body while the guards were sleeping. It would be useless to waste time in refuting that story. Be it sufficient to remark that the possession of a dead body would certainly not re-kindle any ashes into fire, or quicken the failing life, or inspire with hope and heroism. Something transpired which converted the trembling disciples into moral heroes armed with indomitable courage. The resurrection, combined with the mission of the Comforter, furnish the adequate causation; and in the absence of these realities nothing else is conceivable or relevant. Besides their bravery and fortitude, the men are evidently transformed in all other respects after the great day of Pentecost. They speak with more comprehensiveness and authority, with wider intelligence, and with more force and freedom. In action there is revealed sagacity in organizing power, prompt wisdom in the adaptation of means to any given end. And through all-of speech, action, or still life, or endurancethere is quiet assurance and the calm from the hills of God. But having noted this we hasten on. The result of the preaching and demonstration was the faith, repentance, and baptism of three thousand persons, who continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. "And all that believed were together and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every man had need." Harbinger, June 1, '67 Wonder and awe fell on the people outside the enclosure; inside there was deep and holy gladness; and the Church advanced in numbers and in spiritual life. A passing note on things common. The infidel socialists who are willing to have our help if they can get it without self-renunciation, have sought support from this document. It is sufficient to answer them with two remarks :-First, that we have here no communism in production, but only in consumption, so that by inevitable necessity, while the spirit of love might endure, the arrangement would wear to an end. Second, while it was in existence it was not from the force of any statute law, for no legislation can be found on the subject. The case of Ananias and Sapphira proves that their property was their own both before they sold it and after they had received the price. In their base treachery and falsehood they wanted the honor of self-sacrifice, the glory of having renounced all individualism, while they retained a portion of the money. For their lie against the Divine Spirit the wrath of God fell upon them. On the Christian side a singularly unreal statement has sometimes been made, viz., that the brethren in the first Church merely adopted this method of providing for all because the profession of Christianity rendered each man's position so very precarious. Now this might be in the mind of God, who presided over all; but assuredly it was not the moving power among the ransomed people. The truth must be spoken. The movement was neither from statute law nor provident calculation. It was simply one of the living streams from that river of life which made glad the City It was the triumphal and spontaneous outflow of large-hearted love from men who were born of God. The new life was deep and rich, and in its early freshness and force took that form of self-renunciation. Each noble spirit felt, if he did not say, "We were all shipwrecked in the same storm-v —we have all been rescued by one Redeemer—we are all of one family and lineage, marching on to the common everlasting inheritance. On the road I will have no glory or power which my brother cannot share in: all belongeth unto the Lord and His body, the Church of the first-born." This was the feeling which reigned; and though it behoved in ripe time to regulate it by prudential considerations, and seek that which could endure in consolidated order, yet the new thing is beautiful in its place and season, and the hearts of the worthies are stirred when they read the wonderful story. Onward to Samaria, where the Jewish element was large, but mingled with Gentile blood, Gentile philosophy, and, of course, Gentile superstition and misery. They had taken a sorcerer for the "great power of God," or, as the language means according to the philosophy of emanation which they had received from the strange woman, "the first created intelligence," the principal officer of God. Philip made known the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus, accompanied with large unfolding of power and benevolence. The dark and deformed powers of sin, disease, and hell fled away in terror. The truth slaughtered or scattered them. When they believed Philip's testimony they were all baptized, both men and women, and the city was filled with joy. Even the sorcerer himself was swept with the torrent, and made his confession among the rest. He beheld a working which put to shame all magical arts, and poured contempt on all the phantoms of sorcery. Onward to the pure Gentiles represented by Cornelius and his friends. The devout, benevolent man, who was aspiring after a higher life, found it; indeed, the aspiration of the soul never goes unrewarded if there be |