—Testifies to a miracle, should be credited as much for what he says of the miracle as for the rest of the—
Be quiet Sir.
—As for the rest of the tale.... You cannot escape me brother—
Will you be quiet Sir?
No.
—The Bible is crowded with proof, continued the Doctor. Sooth-sayers and sorcerers, interpreters of dreams, false-prophets, and a witch with power to make the grave and the sea give up their dead; men whose little rods became live serpents while they strove with Aaron the High-priest, multitudes who were clothed with a mischievous power ... all these are spoken of in the Bible.
It has been said here that credulity is a sign of ignorance. It may be so, my dear friends—but you must know as well as I do, that incredulity is everywhere found among the ignorant. Able men believe much, because they are able men. The weak disbelieve much because they are weak. Who are they that laugh when they hear that our earth is a globe, and that once in every twenty-four hours, it turns completely round underneath our feet—
Much whispering here, and a look of surprise on every side of the speaker, encouraged him to a more emphatic delivery.
Who are they that refuse to believe much that the learned and the wise, fortified in their wisdom by the beauty of holiness, and the gravity of age, are steadfastly assured of? The truth is that extraordinary minds have a courage that ordinary minds have not—for they dare to believe what may expose them to ridicule. The longer we live and the more we know, the more assured we are that impossible things are possible—
To be sure Doctor, said a judge.