Miracles : parthenogenesis and resurrection : (some side-lights on theological subjects) / by J. Foster Palmer.

  • Palmer, J. Foster (James Foster)
Date:
[1914]
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Miracles : parthenogenesis and resurrection : (some side-lights on theological subjects) / by J. Foster Palmer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    What is a miracle ? In the theological sense, of course, the idea of a miracle includes an ulterior purpose, a “sign” of something higher and greater. Though fully recognising it as an essential factor, I must leave this important aspect out of sight, and only speak of miracles on the lower plane, in their relation to natural laws and sequences. In the old Greek writers seems to mean simply unwonted strength to accomplish difficult things. In S. Matthew’s Gospel it is rendered “ mighty works,” without defining them. They may be mental, moral or physical. Each man has his own conception of a miracle, and, generally speaking, it practically amounts to this:— Some occurrence outside his own experience, and of which he is unable to trace the cause. I would express it as follows :—“ Some- thing transcending our personal experience and our personal mental perception.” It has been defined by an extreme High Churchman* as “ the orderly operation of a higher law of God, of whose working we know nothing, within the sphere normally occupied by a lower law of God, with the working of which we are familiar by virtue of our powers of observation and reasoning.” I have no fault to find with this definition. It is, indeed, one of the best I have seen. Pro- vided, of course, that there are higher and lower laws. And, as there are higher and lower moral laws, the higher superseding the lower, as in the case of the law of mercy and the law of the Sabbath, we may judge from analogy that there are also higher and lower laws in the realm of nature. Indeed, the definition appears to correspond pretty closely with my own, which thus turns out to be far more orthodox than I had any. idea of:—Something transcending our personal experience and our personal mental perception.” Is it anything more than this ? Can we say that we know the whole realm of nature, and understand all her laws and sequences ? If not, a miracle may be due to an unknown or misunderstood law. And if we did, it would still seem ultra vires to den}’- the possibility of exceptional Divine interposition, or, as Wirgman more accurately puts it, “ the operation of a higher law of God.” After all, in whatever sense we use the word, was not the beginning of organic life a miracle ? We assume that it must have had a beginning, and, whenever it began, have been contrary to all previous experience. Take the Creation of Man. We know, of course, that man was evolved from Pithecanthropus Erectus, Pithe- canthropus from the Trilobites, the Trilobites, by long stages, from some unicellular zoophyte. But however far back we place the beginning of life, the miracle, i.e., the initiation of something new and unpre- cedented, is as great • as ever. Then, the law of organic life once set * Archdeacon Wirgman, of Grahamstown.
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