Let it be observed therefore, that at the introduction of Christianity, two distinct purposes had to be effected: first, to attest the truth of the revelation; secondly, to establish the Church.
I will briefly draw attention to this latter portion of the subject, as far as it affects certain portions of the supernatural action affirmed in the New Testament. I allude to a certain class of miracles, such as the cure of the cripple at Lystra, those wrought by the passing of Peter's shadow, and by garments brought from Paul's person, and some others; also to the entire class of the supernatural gifts mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, and so frequently referred to in the Epistles.
One of the greatest difficulties which beset the missionary is to obtain a hearing in the midst of the hostile elements by which he is surrounded. Yet to obtain this is the necessary condition of carrying on his work. In this respect, the modern missionary possesses great advantages compared with the primitive missionary of Christianity. He belongs to a superior civilization, and is therefore able to bring to bear the whole force of a higher on a lower one. This was exactly reversed in the case of the primitive missionaries. Instead of being able to bring to bear the prestige of a high civilization on those among whom they laboured, they belonged to a despised race; or if the missionary himself was a member of the race whom he addressed, he [pg 360] belonged to the lower sections of society. How was this enormous deficiency to be supplied? How was a man thus despised to obtain a hearing for the message with which he was charged? The New Testament affirms that the deficiency was supplied by imparting to the early Church a certain number of supernatural endowments, which, when once communicated, acted like our ordinary faculties; also that a supernatural gift of curing certain diseases was imparted to particular individuals, a gift which was exactly suited to obtain an attentive hearing for their message.
Among the supernatural gifts which St. Paul affirms to have been communicated to the Church, there were two of which he asserts that the operation was distinct, but which are merged in the modern idea of miracles. These he designated by the expressions ἐνεργήματα δυναμέων, or the inworking of powers; and χαρίσματα ἰαμάτων, endowments of healing powers. The distinction in function between these powers is affirmed by him no less than three times; what it consisted in, we are only able to judge from the terms themselves, and the nature of the case. There is every probability that the distinction points to a higher and a lower exercise of supernatural power; the one being the evidential miracle properly so called, and the other a supernatural knowledge of how to effect cures—a gift which would be exactly suited to enable the missionary to obtain that attentive hearing of his message which he so urgently required. The Epistle of St. James furnishes us with a general idea of the nature of the gift, when he directs, that in case a person was sick, the elders of the Church were to be sent for, who were to pray over the sick man, and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord; “And the prayer of faith,” says he, “shall save the sick; and the Lord shall raise [pg 361] him up.” (James v. 15.) The whole description points to a cure which, although in a measure supernatural, was not instantaneous; the latter point being one which would be required to make a miracle in the proper sense of the word evidential. A power of effecting cures, however, whether by a knowledge of natural means supernaturally acquired, or by supernatural agency, would be one which would obtain for the despised Jewish missionary a hearing in Gentile cities, which otherwise he would be unable to obtain.
To such a class of supernatural operations would belong such cures as those effected by the conveyance of handkerchiefs and aprons from St. Paul's body to the sick. These are only asserted to have taken place on one occasion, at Ephesus, a city greatly addicted to the arts of magic. They were adapted to the circumstances of the place, where the Apostle had to encounter a particular form of supernaturalism; and they would have been exactly suited to meet the difficulty in question. The historian tells us that the success was great, for many of those who had used magical arts came forward and confessed their deeds, collected together their magical books, which were worth a considerable sum of money, and publicly burned them. The same observations apply to Peter's shadow. Although the historian does not tell us that cures were wrought by it, yet the narrative presupposes that a large outburst of supernatural power took place in connection with Peter's person. Although the cure of the cripple at Lystra belongs to a class of miracles which is strictly evidential, yet the immediate occasion of its performance seems to have been with the view of arousing the attention of an ignorant heathen population.
But not only had a revelation to be communicated [pg 362] and attested, not only had converts to be made and instructed, but it was also necessary that the foundations of the Church, the visible kingdom of Christ, should be firmly laid, and that it should be established among the visible institutions of the earth. Sufficient attention has not been paid to this portion of the subject in considering the question of supernatural intervention. The establishment of the Church as a visible institution, which was intended gradually to leaven mankind with the great principles of His revelation, is again and again affirmed by Jesus Christ to have been one of the great purposes of His coming. A description of its character and functions forms the subject of no inconsiderable number of His parables, and it is the great end and purpose for which He gave the great final Apostolic commission to go and gather it together out of all the nations of the earth.
The Church of Christ had therefore to be formed into a community out of the most heterogeneous elements. It was destined not for a momentary existence, but for a continuous growth, so as to leaven human nature with its influences. The creation of such a society was a conception so bold that it had never previously entered the head of either poet or philosopher. Those with whom I am reasoning will not deny that the attempt was a very arduous, and to all appearance a most chimerical one.
Yet it is the most certain of facts that the Church of Christ is now in the nineteenth century of its existence. The boldness of the undertaking will be more fully estimated when we reflect that the Church was intended to be a society which, while existing in the world, should differ in its essential character from all the other societies on the earth. Its action was to be entirely spiritual and moral. Its founder intended [pg 363] it to be invested with no coercive powers. The appeal was to be, not to force, but to conscience.
Those who offered to enroll themselves as the subjects of Christ's spiritual kingdom had to be formed into a social organization. Unless this could be effected, one of the great objects for which the revelation was given must have proved a failure. The elements of which it had to be composed were of the most unpromising description. The first converts consisted of no small number of Jews and proselytes, who were extensively leavened with the narrowest prejudices of Judaism. When the Gentiles began to join the new community, its members were chiefly derived from the lower ranks of society, including a considerable number of slaves. The infant Church embraced a great diversity of opinions and characters. When converts were made, the time for their instruction was short. Yet such an institution had to contend with mighty civilization, the habits and prejudices of existing society, the self-interest of a corrupt religion, and the opposition of a powerful government.
Such were some of the difficulties which had to be surmounted before this new institution could be firmly planted among the existing societies of the world, and expand itself with the life which was peculiarly its own. If the primitive followers of Jesus were animated by the credulous superstition which unbelievers delight in attributing to them, none should be better qualified than they to form a judgment of the difficulties which must have beset their path. Yet these have been surmounted. To this fact the vigorous life of the Church during eighteen centuries testifies. It has not only held its ground, but it has succeeded in leavening all existing civilizations with its influences. How has this been accomplished? The Apostolic Epistles return [pg 364] an answer. They affirm that the early converts were endowed with a number of supernatural gifts, exactly fitted to qualify them for the various functions which they were called upon to discharge. I subjoin a list of them, as they are directly affirmed by St. Paul to be then existing in the Corinthian Church. They were nine in number, each of which is asserted by him to have had a distinct and separate function and subject-matter: the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, faith, working of miracles, endowments of healing powers, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and interpretation. It does not appear whether this last is meant to be exhaustive of the supernatural mental endowments which the members of the early churches supposed themselves to possess, or whether they were varied for the purpose of meeting particular exigences. Nor do I ask those with whom I am reasoning to accept this statement as a true account of an objective fact; but only that they were supposed to be so by the Apostle and those to whom he wrote. It is plain, however, that these supernatural endowments, if real, were precisely such as the Church was in urgent need of, as the instrumentality for welding together the discordant elements of which it was composed, and enabling it firmly to plant itself in the soil of human nature.