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

OF ONE BLIND AT BETHSAIDA 323
easier for our forefathers to believe in the working
of God in nature than it is for us, because almost
everything in nature was unknown to them. The
world was full of mysteries which they could not
explain ; and therefore it was natural for them to
attribute all that they could not explain to a supernatural
power. But our age has investigated the
secrets of nature. Almost every part of the natural
system has been explored. The light of physical
science has dispelled the darkness that surrounded
the forms and forces of the world. We have by
our microscopes gone down to the hidden sources
of things ; and by our telescopes and spectroscopes
we have searched the heavens, and examined the
materials of the remotest stars. And science having
thus exhausted, so far, the mystery of the universe,
our very familiarity with its agencies, and the ease with
which we can trace and explain the links that unite
all parts of nature, seem to exclude God and to
make Him unnecessary. If we saw the universe
springing into existence by an Almighty word,
then we would not doubt the existence and power
of God
;
but when we see the universe upheld day
by day by an unseen Providence working by natural
means which we ourselves can search and find out,
then God seems to recede into the unknown, and
to be as if He were not, and all things appear to
manage themselves by their own inherent power.
But the ultimate design of such a miracle as that
which we are considering is to remove that false
impression. It shows to us the Son of God, who
made all things, working by means which we can in
some measure understand, but as surely bringing