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I shall endeavour to shew that this view of miracles is not unphilosophical , unscriptural , nor dangerous in its consequences , but likely to prove advantageous to the Christian cause . When Lazarus was raised from the
dead , his resurrection , commonly , though not strictly and philosophically speaking , may be considered as a deviation from a general law ; for there exists not in nature a law more general than the law of fermentation or putrefaction . It takes place in animal ,
vegetable , and even mineral bodies . It is the great law by which nature continually destroys her own works , and thence proceeds to a new creation . Now this law was prevented from taking effect in the body of Lazarus by a miracle . But it is well known this
process may be prevented , stopped or accelerated by the skill of man , at different times and with different views . When suspended animation is restored to persons apparently drowned or
suffocated by some such means as are recommended by the Humane Society , this law is prevented from taking effect in their bodies ; but the members of this benevolent institution do not
consider themselves as departing from any general law . The difference between the resurrection of Lazarus and the restoration of suspended animation , is only this—the former was the effect of
a miracle , that is , a competent power in nature exerted by the will of God ; the latter , the consequence of the same cause made active by a skilful and persevering use of means sanctioned by experience and recommended by success .
1 he phrases , " a violation of the laws of nature , " and " deviations or departures from a general law / ' convey no definite ideas to the mind . A law cannot be said to be violated unless it be known , nor a rule departed from unless it be understood . The causes
which produce those effects of which we have an unalterable experience , have hitherto eluded the tests of experimental philosophy , and baffled the reasonings of human wisdom , " Wherever it is imagined that the laws of
nature are contradicted , the true state of the case is entirely mistaken ; for the laws of nature continue always the same ; and where there is any change in the effect which we observe , the change is made in the things them *
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selves , that is , in their essences or properties / ' * But perhaps I may |> e referred to a passage in the Book of Joshua which appears , at fii * st view , a violation of the laws of nature . It is recorded in Josh . x . 12 , 13 : " ¦ Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the A mom ^ « * m _ m m % » rf * TT 1 _
rites before the children of Israel ; and he said in the sight of Israel , Sun ! stand thou still upon Gibeon , and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon ; and the sun stood Still , and the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies . " It is well known that the diurnal motion of the sun and moon is not real , but apparent , arising from the
revolution of the earth round its axis . The laws by which the solar system is governed are so well understood , that the eclipses of the siin and moon , and their duration , may be calculated for ages back and for ages to come . To produce the phenomenon of the sun ' s
standing still , the diurnal rotation of the earth must have been stopped , which would have been followed with consequences as destructive as those of the general deluge . But Joshua was unacquainted with the principles of astronomy . He supposed the diurnal motion of the heavenly bodies to
1 1 a ., _¦__ —~_ . 1 X . m % «¦* be real , and not merely ap parent . On this supposition there is a peculiar energy and beauty in his speech : " Sun , stand thou still upon Gibeon , and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon . " This was the word of Joshua , 1 UI 1 . X HIS WclS LUC VVU 1 C 1 Ui t / uo *« i * i * ,
and the signal of battle . The armies engage , and confidence , courage and Providence on one side , with consternation and dismay on the other , procured for the Hebrew Qeneral a speedy and decisive victory . And when the
people had avenged themselves upon their enemies , the sun appeared to be upon Gibeon , and the moon upon the valley of Ajalon . By the figurative expressions , " and hasted not to go down about a whole day , and there was no day like that , before or after it , that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man /* the writer testifies his admiration of the splendid event which he relates . The victory was complete before night separated the
* Ben Mordecai ' a Letters , Lett . VH . p- 11-
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464 On Miracles .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1821, page 464, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2503/page/24/
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