In fact, he cannot complain that I feel bound to
explain all alleged miraculous occurrences precisely in the way of which
he has set me so good an example, and that, whilst feeling nothing but
very sympathetic appreciation of the emotion which stimulated the
imagination and devout reverence of early Christians to such mistakes,
I resolutely refuse to believe their pious aberrations.
VIII.
CONCLUSIONS.
We have seen that Divine Revelation could only be necessary or
conceivable for the purpose of communicating to us something which we
could not otherwise discover, and that the truth of communications which
are essentially beyond and undiscoverable by reason cannot be attested
in any other way than by miraculous signs distinguishing them as Divine.
It is admitted that no other testimony could justify our believing the
specific Revelation which we are considering, the very substance of
which is supernatural and beyond the criticism of reason, and that its
doctrines, if not proved to be miraculous truths, must inevitably be
pronounced "the wildest delusions." "By no rational being could a just
and benevolent life be accepted as proof of such astonishing
announcements."
On examining the alleged miraculous evidence for Christianity as Divine
Revelation, however, we find that, even if the actual occurrence of the
supposed miracles could be substantiated, their value as evidence would
be destroyed by the necessary admission that miracles are not limited to
one source and are not exclusively associated with truth, but are
performed by various spiritual Beings, Satanic as well as Divine, and
are not always evidential, but are sometimes to be regarded as delusive
and for the trial of faith.
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