Extracts from Lectures in Divinity on Important Subjects Which Are Now Engrossing the Public Attention (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1861. Excerpt: ... mis to flesh and blood, they persevered in their conspiracy to cheat the world into piety, honesty, and benevolence. They who can swallow such suppositions have no title to object to miracles. They should remember that there is a moral as well as a physical order; that there are certain general principles by which human actions are regulated, and upon which we are accustomed to proceed in our judgments of the conduct of men; and that it is much more difficult to conceive that, in opposition to those principles which analogy and experience have established, such a testimony as the apostles uttered should be false, than that the laws of nature in some particular instances should have been suspended. Of the suspension of the laws of nature we can give a rational account: the purpose for which it is said to have been made renders it not incredible. But the falsehood of testimony in such circumstances would bo a phenomenon in the history of the human mind so strange and inexplicable, that we need not be afraid to apply to this case the words of Mr Hume, although he certainly did not mean them to be so applied: "No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavours to establish." The falsehood of the testimony of the apostles would be more miraculous--i. e., it is more improbable than any fact which they attest. INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. In order to establish your minds in the belief that the Scriptures are given by inspiration of God, it is necessary to begin with observing that inspiration is not impossible. The Father of spirits may act upon the minds of his creatures, and this action may extend to any degree which the purposes of divine ...