the Scriptures, as Bruce's travels in Abyssinia formerly confirmed the truth of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. One after another the ghosts of the dead cities and nations arise to confound the theories of sceptics. In the Book of Jonah we find the Ninevites repenting at the announcement of the prophet, and we conclude that the threatened doom of the city is reversed. But in Tobit we find that this doom was only deferred. Jonah had proclaimed this destruction in forty days, and was very angry that the event did not then occur. But the Jews understood the prophecy better. Tobit, before he died, called his son and his grandson to his bedside, and bade them, after his death, depart from Nineveh, and go into Media, and dwell there; for, said he, I surely believe those things which Jonah the prophet spake of Nineveh, that it shall be overthrown.' The forty days (Jonah iii. 4) were understood to mean forty years, and Tobias accordingly quitted Nineveh for Ecbatana, and, we are told, lived to see Nineveh destroyed, according to the prediction of Jonah. In short, we have an angel coming down in human form to bring about the restoration to sight of the pious and generous Tobit, and the fortune and happiness of his son. We have a case of demoniac possession, and the devil expelled by the mediumship of the angel. We have prayers heard simultaneously, by parties whose lives are to be connected, on the same day in Nineveh and Ecbatana. The touches of genuine nature in Tobit, the mention of the dog going the journey with Tobias and the angel, and the sharp taking up of old Tobit by his wife Anna, have always made this book a favourite. The spiritualism is as remarkable as its nature. In the second book of Maccabees we have the wonderful apparition to Heliodorus in the temple of Jerusalem. Seleucus, the King of Asia, hearing of much money laid up in the temple, sends Heliodorus to fetch it. Onias the high priest, informs him that it is the money of widows and orphans, and, therefore, doubly sacred; but he insists on taking it. On appearing in the temple with a strong military MIRACLES RECORDED IN THE APOCRYPHA. 6 171 guard, to force the treasury, there appeared unto them an horse with a terrible rider upon him, and adorned with a very fair covering, and he ran furiously and smote at Heliodorus with his fore feet, and it seemed that he that sat upon the horse had complete harness of gold. Moreover, two other young men appeared before him, notable in strength, excellent in beauty, and comely in apparel, who stood by him on either side, and scourged him continually, and gave him many sore stripes. And Heliodorus fell suddenly down unto the ground, and was encompassed with great darkness; but they that were with him took him up and put him into a litter' (iii. 25-27). The high priest prayed for his recovery, which was granted, and we are told that on the return of Heliodorus to Seleucus, the king wished him to go again, and make a second attempt; but Heliodorus told him that, if he had an enemy or a traitor who deserved punishment, the embassy was a proper one for such, but for no one else. Some people argue that the apparition to Heliodorus is not authentic, because it is not also mentioned by Josephus, not being aware that this very book of Maccabees, the second, is attributed to Josephus himself, being believed to be his book, 'De Maccabæis.' In the second book (i. 19), we are told that the priests took the sacred fire from the altar and hid it in a pit, when they were carried captive into Persia, and on their return Nehemiah sought for it, but found only water, which, however, being thrown on the sacrifices on the altar, burst into flame. In the fifth chapter of the same book, on the approach of Antiochus Epiphanes, the terrible persecutor of the Jews, 'for the space of forty days, there were seen horsemen running in the air, in cloth of gold, and armed with lances, like a band of soldiers. And troops of horsemen in array, encountering and running one against another, with shaking of shields and multitude of pikes, and drawing of swords, and glittering of golden ornaments, and harness of all sorts.' In the eleventh chapter appears the apparition of a single horseman in white clothing and armour of gold, for the rescue of the people from Lysias, the captain of Antiochus Eupator. Some of these miracles are confirmed by Josephus and PhiloJudæus. In Bell and the Dragon, we have a most startling case of the carrying of human bodies through the air. Habakkuk is said to be carried by the hair of his head to Babylon to bear food to Daniel in the lions' den. Such is the spiritualism of the Apocrypha. To whatever extent its miracles may be credited, it is clear that the same faith in miracles remained firm in the Jews, even in these their dark days, when a famine of prophets was come upon them, and according to the words of Eadras, ii. v. The way of truth was hidden, and the land barren of faith.' If this degree was barrenness, what is the barrenness of our time? In the worst, the most corrupted, the most forsaken condition of the Jews, they had still an amount of faith in their history, their God and their destiny, which puts to shame modern so-called enlightenment. 173 CHAPTER VIII. THE SUPERNATURAL OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. Σωκράτης. Αναγκαῖον οὖν ἔστὶ περιμένειν ἕως ἂν τις μάθῃ ὡς δεῖ ... SOCRATES.-It is necessary to wait till some one teach us how to conduct ourselves towards gods and men. ALCIBIADES. But when shall this time arrive, O Socrates? and who shall teach us this? for it seems to me that it would be sweet to see this man, whoever he may be. SOCRATES. This is he who takes care of thee. . . . and, indeed, admirable appears to be his regard for thee. Dialogues of Plato, the Second Alcibiades. Select Cambridge edition, p. 255, 256. The strange things which that strange man says, and which some others repeat after him, will not fail, sooner or later, to be believed, and finally become the universal opinion. And why? Because truth is truth because it corresponds to everything, satisfies everything: because, both in general and in detail, it is better adapted to us than error; because, bound up by the most intimate relations with all the crder in the universe, it has in our interests and wants a thousand involuntary advocates; because, everything demands it, everything cries after it; because falsehood, which at first appeared to benefit all, has ended by injuring all. Combinations of which it is impossible to give an account, and of which God only has the secret, secure that victory. It is thus that truths the most combated, and at first sustained by organs the most despised, end by becoming in their turn popular convictions. VINET's Vital Christianity, p. 68. HE eloquent Swiss theologian whom I have just quoted, THE says also, A little more than 1800 years ago, a man appeared in an obscure corner of the world . . . He preached a religion; it is not natural religion;-the doctrines of the existence of a God, and the immortality of the soul are everywhere taken for granted in his words, but never proved. They do not consist of ideas deduced from the primitive concessions of reason. What he teaches, what forms the foundations and essence of his system, are things which confound reason; things to which reason can find no access. It proclaims a God upon earth, a God-man, a God poor, a God crucified. It proclaims vengeance overwhelming the innocent, pardon raising the guilty from the deepest condemnation; God himself the victim of man, and man forming one and the same person with God. It proclaims the sovereignty of the grace of God, and the entire pardon of man. 'I do not soften its teachings. I present them in their naked force. I seek not to justify them. No, you can, if you will, be astonished and alarmed at these strange dogmas; do not spare yourself in this particular. But when you have wondered sufficiently at their strangeness, I shall present another thing to your astonishment. These strange doctrines have conquered the world. Scarcely made known in poor Judea, they took possession of learned Athens, gorgeous Corinth, and proud Rome. They found confessors in shops, in prisons, and in schools; on tribunals and on thrones. Vanquishers of civilisation, they triumphed over barbarism. They caused to pass under the same yoke the degraded Roman and the savage Scandinavian: The forms of social life have changed, society has been dissolved and renewed -these have endured. Nay, more, the church which fessed them, has endeavoured to diminish their power by beginning to corrupt their purity. Mistress of traditions, and depository of knowledge, she has used her advantages against the doctrines she ought to have defended; but they have endured. Everywhere, and at all times, in cottages and in palaces, they have found souls to whom a Redeemer was precious and regeneration necessary. Moreover, no other system, philosophical or religious, has endured; but this never grows old. Those who embrace it never find themselves behind their age; they understand it, they are |