2. This explanation was, I believe, unknown to Warburton, Basnage, Lardner, or Gibbon. It appears to have been first suggested in a German magazine,[266] by the celebrated Michaelis, in the latter half of the eighteenth century. But, on inquiry, it appears more ingenious than probable. Who knows that the caverns under the Temple had been hermetically sealed for a long time previously to Julian’s attempt? They were constantly opened at other times (as the story told by Benjamin of Tudela evidences), and no such result followed. The present was but one out of many occasions when foundations had been dug and buildings erected in the same spot; but without any explosion or fiery outburst. How was it that Solomon’s workmen, and Zorobabel’s, and Adrian’s, and I know not how many more—how was it that they escaped the fatal injuries that befell those of Julian?
Again, the phenomena related by Marcellinus and others do not accord with the idea of an explosion of mephitic gases. These ignite instantaneously, and burn till exhausted. They could not be described by any writer as ‘balls of fire’ breaking forth with continual outbursts, as often as the labourers attempted to resume the work. It is also evident that the fire did not break forth the moment the ground was opened, but only when the whole foundation had been laid and the masons had begun to build; for Chrysostom says that some of the stones already laid were thrown down.
3. In dealing with this objection, we enter on new and more difficult ground. It may be true, and I incline to believe it is so, that the truth of Holy Writ was not, so to speak, imperilled by this enterprise. If it had succeeded, I do not see that any saying of Inspiration would have been thereby contravened.[267] But such an occurrence would surely have been at variance with the Divine purpose in setting up the Christian Church. Type and shadow were to vanish when the reality and the substance came. The rebuilding of the Jewish Temple would have been an unmeaning renewal of them. Further, such strange anomalies as the reconstruction of the Holy of Holies, with its veil unrent, and the renewal of the Temple sacrifices, foreshadowing an event long past, would have disturbed the faith of large numbers of professing members of the Church, as well as deterred equally large numbers from entering its pale. It is a difficult—it may be thought a presumptuous—thing to attempt determining what would be a sufficient reason for expecting a miracle. But if there ever has been an instance in the history of the Christian Church when a miracle was, so to speak, demanded, it was the one we have under consideration. Almighty God had been directly challenged by the supreme human ruler of the earth, and in the sight of all Christendom, to show the right. Do we wonder that, as at Mount Carmel, He answered by fire?
4. These considerations make it easy to deal with the last of the four objections. It may freely be granted that the age of Julian was signalized by the endless recurrence of reported miracles—most of which must be regarded with grave suspicion, while many others are wholly unworthy of credit. Thus Gregory relates of Julian, that one day when he was sacrificing, the entrails of the victim were found to be impressed with the emblem of a cross within a circle.[268] On another occasion, when he attempted to build a heathen temple over the spot where a Christian had been buried, it fell down again as soon as it was put up.[269] These are two instances, out of many, of the idle tales current in that day. If the occurrence we have now under consideration is to be classed with these, no one could wonder at the unwillingness of men to lend it credit. But it stands entirely apart from them. It was not worked at the command or through the entreaty of any man. It was not manifested to prove the truth of any disputed dogma, or the sanctity of any theological leader, or the orthodoxy of any party in the Church. It was wrought by the finger of God directly and visibly; and, unless we are prepared to affirm that since the Apostolic age He has never openly interfered in the affairs of men, we may reasonably believe that He interfered here.
FOOTNOTES:
[261] Lardner, V. iii. p. 603 ff.
[262] Cassel, I. § 53. Other Jewish writers, as Jost, admit the occurrence, but deny the miracle.
[263] Lardner also insists much on the silence of Jerome, Prudentius, and Orosius. If facts of history are to be doubted because some historians of the time do not mention them how many would remain which could be regarded as certain?
[264] Thus, Gregory says that the doors of a church were miraculously closed against the fugitives, and a fiery flame issuing from it destroyed them; that a circle and cross of fire were visible in the heavens, and crosses of fire seen on the garments of the spectators. Chrysostom states that the workmen had dug out the foundation, and begun to build, when the flames burst forth. Socrates, that the building tools and implements were consumed by fire, and were a whole day burning, He adds, what is important, that the earthquake occurred during the night, and the fires broke out on the following day. Theodoret says that the earthquake threw down some of the stones of the newly laid foundations, and shook some of the excavated earth back into the hole out of which it had been dug. Chrysostom confirms him in this.
[265] Ammian. Marcellin. XXIII. 1. It has been suggested that he took his account without inquiry from Christian writers. So Gibbon, ch. XXXIII. But that a heathen historian and devoted friend of Julian should in this manner have recorded what was at once unfavourable to his creed and painful to his feelings as a friend, is too improbable to need refutation.