The miracles of Jesus - Classical Christian Literature by Athleo.net

IN THE GOSPEL HISTORY 5
mariners in the Acts managed to escape to land,
" some on boards, some on broken pieces of the ship,"
but this did not mean that the ship had not become a
total wreck. Nor does the frequent exhibition of a
vital faith in men who have lost all belief in
miracles prove that their attitude on this question is
the right one. All history goes to prove that the
miracles are an essential factor in Christianity, and
that in the long run it stands or falls with the acceptance
of the miraculous elements so intricately interwoven
with its historical origins. Is it hard to
believe in the miraculous It is much harder to construct
a credible Christianity without it. If once you
set it aside you are forced to the belief that the most
beneficent influence in history, which has been the
pioneer and safeguard of civilisation in every progressive
land, is the result of a bundle of myths.
To
hold that view is surely to manifest no little credulity.
Thus a right attitude towards the evangelic miracles
goes to the root of faith in Christianity.
Let us take this " beginning of miracles in Cana of
Galilee " as a test case.
The scene is of the simplest.
There is nothing in the
occasion to suggest any call for the exercise of miraculous
power ; nothing dramatic, nor even out of the
way in the circumstances. It is a village wedding,
to which Jesus and His disciples were invited, as the
incident shows, as accidental or supernumerary guests.
Who the young people were we do not know, nor the
name of the master of the feast, nor the relationships
of the parties present. But when we look carefully
into the situation, we find here a singularly happy
instance of the kind of miracle that Jesus loved to