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cause_n body_n natural_a soul_n 2,290 5 5.4218 4 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A29845 A letter in answer to a book entitled, Christianity not mysterious as also, to all those who set up for reason and evidence in opposition to revelation & mysteries / by Peter Browne ... Browne, Peter, ca. 1666-1735. 1697 (1697) Wing B5134; ESTC R19095 82,171 238

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and what it is for a small quantity of Bread to be encreas'd to a mighty bulk but as to the manner how this was perform'd we are wholly ignorant of it thô we know well how Corn is encreas'd in the ordinary way of nature But he will object here as he did concerning the Doctrines viz. That at this rate All the Phenomena of Nature are miraculous for we know not the true manner of any one of them And this is the main drift of this Chapter to give us a wrong notion of a Miracle viz. That it is nothing more than the dextrous management of second causes and not any immediate effect of Almighty God and therefore in the close he tells us That Miracles are wrought according to the laws of Nature thô above it's ordinary operations which are therefore supernaturally assisted And this is the reason of that bold and arrogant expression of his That could he tell how a Miracle was wrought he believes he might do as much himself For there is nothing more in it than in a Chymical Operation and if he were Philosopher enough he would work any Miracle of them all But the true notion of a Miracle is that it is An operation wrought by the immediate power of God not by Assisting only but Over-ruling the laws of Nature not only by hastning and accelerating it's Operations but sometimes by an instantaneous production of what was never to be effected by the united force of all natural causes As to instance in the Raising a Body from the Dead all the united force of nature with the most dextrous management wou'd not be able to effect this all the E●tracting Mollifying Mixing Infusing Consolidating c. And the ministry not only of Thousands but of Millions at once wou'd not be able to unite a Soul and Body again when once they are seperated nothing less than the Almighty immediate act of God is able to effect this and that without the concurrence of any natural cause Again there are some Miraculous Operations which are so far from being according to the laws of nature that they are contrary to them As that of the Sun 's going back or standing still all the laws of nature are dispos'd for it's motion or at least for the motion of our Earth which makes it seem to us to move Again The making Iron to swim Were this effect produc'd by Mollifying Consolidating c. or any Operation which shou'd convert the substance of Iron into that of Wood then we could not say that Iron swam but something else or if the water were condensed to support it then it wou'd be Ice and not water and if any thing of this nature were don of a sodain●t wou'd however be miraculous but not contrary to nature But for a solid piece of Iron while it remains such to swim in Water no way condens'd this is not only above but contrary to the laws of nature And so likewise for Fire not to burn is contrary to nature Indeed if there were nothing more in it than what this man supposes that it is don by repelling the heat and keeping off the flames then it might be according to the laws of nature and there are many things which by an instantaneous application might extinguish the Fire But to hinder fire from burning while it remains such and combustible matter actually in it this is contrary to the laws of nature But all those Miracles which are not so directly contrary to nature can't however be said to be according to the laws of nature And I take these two expressions to be directly opposite Which he makes the same Miracles are according to the laws of nature And they are above the operations of it For to instance in the first Miracle our Saviour wrought that of Turning Water into Wine The production of Wine according to the laws of nature must have been by accelerating the growth of the Vine and ripening the Grape sodainly by application of all those things in nature which could forward it but to turn Water immediatly into Wine without any of these methods was to produce it afer a manner wholly different from all the laws of nature Upon his Principles we have no way from the nature of the thing of distinguishing between the Delusions of the Divel those celebrated Feats of Goblins and Witches and Conjurers which he speaks of and those which are wrought by the Finger of God For without doubt the Divel is a great Philosopher and can manag● second Causes so as to produce Effects according to the laws of nature which shall appear very strange to us But we are sure nothing less than that power which is the Author of Nature can work any real effect contrary to it or above it The Divel indeed may delude mens senses so as to make them think that Real which is only an Appearance as it is likely he did to mimick that miracle of turning Aarons Rod into a Serpent for that of the Magicines was not a real Conversion but effected by their Enchantments or as 't is in the original by their Wiles and Jugling For we find when they endeavour'd to imitate Moses in the instantaneous production of any real thing with Life there the Divel fail'd them and they were forc'd to own it was the Finger of God And thus we see plainly how this Man strikes at the foundation of all Reveal'd Religion by undermining one of the main Pillars on which the Faith and Credit of it is founded You see his drift all along in every thing he says is to take away all Operations above the Laws of Nature and all Doctrines above the reach of Reason and then all the Religion of Men is consequently resolv'd into Infidelity an Heathenism So that any one who wishes Christianity to be true must hope at least that this Mans Principles are false since they are so utterly inconsistent 2. But 2dly As miracles being in a great degree Mysterious is an unanswerable objection against him so they are altogether useless and impertinent upon his Principles He owns that God does not work them at random but for some end and this end he owns is for the confirmation of some Divine Doctrine But why for the confirmation of a Doctrine for he hath told us over and over that it is only the Evidence or immediate knowledg of the Doctrine it self can perswade us That Faith is nothing more than the knowing what is beleiv'd c. And therefore all Miracles for the confirmation of any Doctrine are needless and superfluous If they are so evident to our Senses or our Reason that we know them to be true what necessity is there of farther conviction if a thing be so evident to m● Senses or Reason that I know it to be true nothing can make me surer of it So that we see the reason of Miracles is that they may be a proof of something that we cannot