MIRACLES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4500, 23 August 1875, Page 2

MIRACLES.

TO TJIE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sin, —I was greatly charmed with the following passage in the letter of “ A Christian,” in this day's paper, in reply to “ Age of Reason " on the subject of miracles “In regard to monuments, permit me to lead ‘ Ago of Reason ' to Jerusalem ; from thence to the spot whore stood Bethany. The town of Bethany was destroyed twenty years after the resurrection of Lazarus; but on its ruins has been built n village called in Arabic D'll-Azarlch—town of Lazarus. There the Turks, the Christians, and Jews will show to ' Ago of Reason ’ the cave in which Lazarus was buried, with the same form as described by the sacred historian.” It is a groat pity this is not in metro, for it is an exact counterpart of the passage in Lord Macaulay’s “ Lay of Ilorntius,” where the minstrel, after telling the assembled listeners “ how well Horatius kept the bridge, &c.,” goes on thus—- “ And they made a molten image And set it up on high; And there it stands unto this day. To witness if I lie.” No doubt both tho cavo and the imago are triumphant witnesses to the truth of tho story connected with them. Again I say it is a groat pity the story of the cave is not in metro, for truly it is poetical.—l am, &0.. Another Christian. August 19. [Further correspondence on tills subject must bo paid for as advertisements.]

TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —Your correspondent who signs himself “Ago of Reason” is a disbeliever in miracles on account of the laws of nature, which he says are immutable and unchangeable. Now, let us admit, for argument's sake, that this same nature is God. The sun, tlie moon, the stars are tho work of nature, and our earth likewise tho same, and they all move by Immutable laws, and hang upon nothing. AU these works of nature require infinite wisdom and infinite power to make their laws immutable and unchangeable. Now. tills same nature Is the God of the Scriptures, which always describe him as infinite in all his attributes and unchangeable in all his purposes ; if so, he must bo a living being, and what lie once did ho is able to do again—to alter or suspend all these qualities, and to act contrary to them if ho thinks fit. All these attributes prove that those things which wo and the Scriptures call miracles are possible with God. Wo Christians don’t pretend to know how they

were done, but that they are possible with God, and the Word that describes them we believe to be the Word of God ; therefore, we believe in the possibility of miracles. Now, when this man that signs himself “Age of Reason” can understand himself, and make known to us what his life is, and if he has any soul as well as body, then we may believe him ; until then, we shall consider him and his wisdom folly, notwithstanding his boast of his reason.—l am, &c., Right Reason. Wellington, August 19. TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sin, —“Age of Reason” is not exact m his statements. Mahomet never professed to work miracles. When asked for a sign of his mission he always pointed to the Koran ; Christ often appealed to His miracles as sign of His. The assertion that the history of Christ is a copy of the history of Christina (properly Krishna) was first made by Volney. The life of Krishna is written in the Bhagavat Parana. A common saying in India concerning Krishna is, that he must have been a god, for only a god could have sinned as he did. The word Krishna means bluish-black: the word Christos is the Greek form of the word Messiah, and means anointed. Many Sanscrit scholars affirm that the lihagavat was not written until the sixth century after Christ. Whether this were so or not, it still remains that Krishna was not as Christ—that the two histories are widely different in their essential point —Krishna was eminently sinful, Christ was eminently sinless.—l am, &c., A. Stock. TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —X think that the materialistic doctrines that have lately been foisted upon the public cannot be acceptable to the majority of your readers. There may possibly be a few who are deceived by the ad captandutn arguments (?) of these puny scribblers, these petits philosophy as they are rightly called, but men who are really guided by reason cannot be influenced by the hallucinations of those determined opposers of that which is far above their humble reasoning faculties to comprehend. So-called arguments can have no weight with those who follow the example of the best men in all ages, who are contented to “walk by faith,” and who rightly hold that the Almighty Creator and Lawgiver of the universe can suspend His laws at will, whenever it seems good to Him so to do. To attempt to argue with these wilful infidels is time thrown away. They have been answered again and again by some of the most gigantic intellects of past generations ; and instead of acknowledging that they are defeated, as they well know they are, they persist in raking up the embers of former extinct fires, and think that by trying to blow them into a flame they can arouse that dim and feeble flicker, which, like the Ignis Fatuus, has betrayed and destroyed those who followed its delusive guidance, and if re-ignited can only do the same again. To prate about “the eternal order of things,” and

“ laws of nature," is senseless ribaldry, unless at the same time an Eternal Orderer of all things is admitted and acknowledged. To the believer in a God, and he is a “fool" who denies one, miracles are only common things, and cannot be explained or upset by irrational attempts at argumentation. Pray indulge your readers with the interesting news of the day with which you are accustomed to favor them, and do not let them be nauseated with the dreamy lucubrations of those who neither “ understand what they say, nor whereof they affirm.” The simple allegations of those who pretend to base them upon reason, can only excite the smile of ridicule, and can have no weight with those who think.

The grand weapon of the fanatical infidel is sarcasm, and his blasphemies can only be answered by solemn remonstrance, and a recommendation not to try to be “ wise above what is written." By his scornful declamations he may win over a few unstable and unthinking souls, but all his mockery and false logic can never overturn eternal truth.—l am, &c.. Age of Common Sense.

[lt will be seen from a note elsewhere that after the present issue we have closed our columns to the discussion of this question.—Bd. N.Z. Times.]