[588] In the earlier part of the present Sermon many passages have been re-written. What follows stands exactly as it was preached in 1851.
SERMON VII.[589]
THE MARVELS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE,—MORAL AND PHYSICAL.—JAEL'S DEED DEFENDED.—MIRACLES VINDICATED.
St. Mark xii. 24.
Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God.
On a certain occasion, the Son of Man was asked what was thought a hard question by those who, in His day, professed "the negative Theology[590]." There was a moral and there was physical marvel to be solved. Both difficulties were met by a single sentence. The Sadducean judgment had gone astray from the Truth, (πλανᾶσθε our Saviour said,) from a twofold cause: (1) The men did not understand those very Scriptures to which they appealed so confidently: and, (2) They had an unworthy notion of God's power.—There are plenty of Sadducees at the present day among ourselves. They are as fond as ever of finding difficulties in the self-same Scriptures. They are to be met, I am persuaded, exactly as of old; by shewing that their error is still the fruit of their ignorance of Scripture; the consequence of their unworthy conceptions of God. I propose to illustrate this on the present occasion. My subject, (one certainly not unsuited to the day,) is the Marvels of Scripture,—whether Moral or Physical. I would fain have discussed them apart; but I shall not have another opportunity. I must handle the whole subject therefore within the limits of a single Sermon: and by consequence I must be extremely brief.