:

cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess. ii. 7-12). This relates to the last and still future days of the present dispensation, of which again it is said, "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matt. xxiv. 24).

P. I see that these wonder-workers are to assume the appearance of instruments of godliness. They are to come as if being Christ himself, and are to act in a way to deceive, if they can, the very elect of God.

ness

S. Yes. That sort of misrepresentation appears to have been current from the earliest times of the Christian era. There were then "false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel," it is added, "for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteous(2 Cor. xi. 13-15). And these deceivers so ape the position and work of the true emissaries of God, that they think even to impose themselves on Christ himself as persons who have been labouring in his cause. "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt. vii. 22, 23).

P. I presume the lying wonders are of a very different stamp from the true ones, and may be seen, by a discerning person, not to be of superhuman origin.

S. On the contrary, they are declared to be superhuman, being enacted with all the power of Satan, who is described as a superhuman being.

P. Can you point out samples of this sort of wonder working?

S. Yes. In the time of Moses God is said to have empowered Aaron to work wonders, in order to convince the

Combina

tion of miracles

and doctrine.

king of Egypt that he was an emissary from God. Aaron began by changing his rod into a serpent, turning the waters of the country into blood, and creating myriads of frogs, which covered the land; and the king's magicians, by means of their enchantments, did the like. Each man threw down his rod and it became a serpent-a real one, for Aaron's serpent eat these up; the water was converted into real blood, for there is nothing to show that there was mere discoloration produced; and the frogs called into being were of course true frogs, and not imitations merely, which could have deceived no one. Then the wonder-workers whom Christ is to disown appear to be able to cast out devils just as well as he did himself; and in the last days, when Satan and his emissaries are to come out in full power, there will be one of them who will be able to "make fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men," and will have "power to give life unto the image" of another being, who is described as a "beast," and to make it "speak" and issue orders (Rev. xiii. 13-15). Now Christ is said to have turned water into wine, which is analogous to the magician's conversion of water into blood, but he never did anything so calculated to give public demonstration of being armed with divine power as to call down fire from heaven, nor so strikingly beyond the bounds of man's common capabilities as to turn a dead stick into a live animal, to call into being a multitude of other living creatures created apparently out of nothing, or to put life into an inanimate image, so as to impart to it volition and speech. The nearest approaches he is said to have made to the last two wonders are the multiplication of food, and the restoring life to the dead, but these are certainly short of the creation of life where previously there had been no life.

P. You astonish me. If the lying wonders transcend the divine miracles in magnitude of effect and power, for what purpose can the real miracles have been put forth at all?

S. That I am unable to explain.

P. From what you said before, the real test of a miracle, as to its originating with God, or with deceivers, is the test of the accompanying doctrine, whether that be true or false. After what method did Jesus combine his doctrine with his miracles?

S. He said that he came from God, and that his miracles were an evidence thereof. On one occasion a palsied man was brought to him, and Jesus comforted him by telling him that his sins were forgiven him, and when his power to exercise the divine privilege of forgiving sins was questioned, he said, "Whether is it easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy) arise, take up thy bed, and go into thine house," which the sick man accordingly did (Matt. ix. 1-8). On another occasion, a message was sent to him that a friend of his, named Lazarus, was dying. Jesus purposely delayed his coming until the man was dead, and then said, "I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent you may believe." After this, he "lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me." Then he calls upon the dead man with a loud voice to come forth, and he does so (John xi. 15, 41-44).

P. I can see no more in this than that the miracles were to prove the doctrine, which doctrine might in itself be either true or otherwise. In what respect does such a method differ from that of the false Christs who are to appeal to miracles in proof of their mission?

S. I cannot tell you.

P. Who did Christ say of himself that he was?

S. He professes to have been divinely begotten without a human father, and thus to be the Son of God.

P. Do you mean to say that he set himself up as on a par with God in point of constitution of being and nature, as a human son is with a human father.

S. Yes. He is described as the Logos, or word, who "in the beginning," that is, before the creation (Gen. i. 1), was "with God," and "was God" (John i. 1). He said, "I and my Father are one" (John x. 30); that whosoever had seen him had seen the Father (John xiv. 9); that as men believed in God, so also were they to believe in him (John xiv. 1); and were to honour him just as they honoured the Father (John v. 23). "Being," as it is declared, " in the form of

God," he "thought it not robbery to be equal with God" (Phil. ii. 6), and when addressed by one of his followers as his Lord and his God, he accepted the homage, and said that they were specially objects of blessing, who should so believe of him without having had the privilege of actually seeing him (John xx. 28, 29).

P. But was he not personally a man in all respects such as one of ourselves?

S. Assuredly he was so. He was born of a woman, became developed from infancy, through childhood, to manhood; that is, he "increased in wisdom and stature" (Luke ii, 52) as we do; he was subjected to all the "infirmities" of our nature, being "in all points tempted as we are" (Heb. iv. 15); and he suffered death as any other mortal man.

P. Then his doctrine was that there were two Gods, himself and his Father.

S. They are called, in some sense I cannot explain to you, one, but are nevertheless exhibited to us as two. For example, in the passages I have cited, Jesus is said to have been "with God," and himself to "be God." He could not be said to be with God, unless also distinct from God. God being with himself is not a circumstance that it would have been necessary to announce to us. He said that while they believed in God, they were to believe "also" in him, the distinctness of object being again apparent. And in the same sense of distinctive being he felt it was no robbery to look on himself as "equal" with God. Then we have him in the narratives given of him praying to the Father, feeling forsaken by him, and being offered up to him as a propitiatory sacrifice, each position presenting us with a distinctive being. In fact, there are three such spoken of, and not merely two. The third is

the Holy Ghost, or the comforter, whom he promised to send to his people. "It is expedient for you," he told them, "that 1 go away, for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart I will send him unto you" (John xvi. 7). P. This resembles the Hindoo Trimurti, or three gods in Had the Jews any more Gods than one?

one.

one.

S. They were distinctly told that for them there was but "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut.

vi. 4).

"Know, therefore, this day, and consider it in thine

heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, there is none else" (Deut. iv. 39).

P. I thought it was the test of a false miracle if the wonderworker should say, "let us go after other gods," there being, it seems, but one God for the Jews; and here you have Jesus enacting miracles to prove that there are more Gods than one, and that he himself is one of three!

S. I am unable to answer you.

P. Would you be good enough to give me an idea what the marvels are which are recounted in the Old as well as the New Testament?

S. I have collected the whole together in a paper from which I will read to you. It is rather a lengthy statement.

Account miracles

of the

and mar

vels.

with

There is an account of a serpent which held a conversation Miracles with the first woman Eve. Moses changed his rod into a animals. serpent, and then turned the serpent back into the rod; Aaron turned his rod into a serpent, and the magicians of Pharaoh I did the like with their rods. Moses set up a brazen serpent, the mere looking at which cured people who were bitten by real serpents. Frogs, lice, and swarms of flies were created miraculously. An ass spoke to the prophet Balaam, reasoning with him, and rebuking him. A man of God is betrayed into an act of disobedience by a false prophet. The false prophet is then inspired by God to sentence him to a violent end. On this a lion meets with and kills him, but does not tear his carcase or molest his ass. The lion and the ass are found, in fact, standing by the carcase. The prophet Daniel is thrown into a lion's den, but by God's interposition the lions do not touch him. The prophet Elijah, when in a desert place, is fed by ravens, who provisioned him by the "command of God." The prophet Elisha is taunted by some children with being bald. He curses them in the name of the Lord, and thereupon two bears came and killed forty-two of them. A whale is made to swallow the prophet Jonah, and to throw him up alive on shore after he had been in him three days. Jesus provides himself with tribute-money from a fish who had it in readiness, holding it for him in his mouth.

the form of a dove.

The Holy Ghost descends upon Jesus in And a herd of swine, numbering about two thousand, became possessed with devils cast out of a man, and