Both the Old and New Testament of the Word abound
in stories involving miracles, that is to say, events where what we regard as
the normal course of events is disturbed, either directly by God, or by some
prophet or disciple holding special powers from God. In the state of childhood
innocence such stories are a source of great delight, and serve not only to
instill affectional remains but to insinuate the idea of the omnipotence of the
Lord, who can do what would be manifestly impossible for men. With some,
indeed, such a childlike faith may persist into maturer years, but it is common
experience that miracles are frequently a focus of intellectual doubt in
adolescent or adult states. Those who seek to discredit the Word and to
undermine religion seem to find in miracles an easy point of attack; yet one
suspects that the very vehemence of their ridicule conceals an element of
self-reassurance to bolster their professed belief in "sense alone."
A passage in Apocalypse Explained
(AE 706) defines a
miracle quite simply as "that which excites amazement." From this as
a starting point it is my intention to review some of the teachings concerning
miracles, and I have chosen to break down the subject under the familiar
headings of End, Cause and Effect.
The End or Object of Miracles
So many passages in the Writings speak about
miracles in a derogatory tone that it seems necessary to enumerate their proper
and legitimate objects.
1) The first end of Divine miracles, then, is to
secure external obedience, either as an orderly basis upon which instruction
can follow, or, failing a more genuine basis of reception, for the
representation of spiritual order by natural order. Such was the function of
the Israelitish Church—to represent heavenly order at a time when all vestige
of spiritual life with men on earth had been destroyed. By such means a
connection between heaven and earth was maintained; but the Jewish people could
be held in the required order only by miracles, and repeated miracles at that.
2) Secondly, miracles are of
service in the establishment of a new church. The example of the Israelitish Church
may again be cited; but one may go back further, for the very first use of the
word, miraculous, in the Writings is in an Arcana passage dealing with the
miraculous separation of the intellectual from the voluntary, that is, at the
commencement of the Ancient Church. More familiarly,
however, we may consider the establishment of the Christian Church. Thus, not
only did the Lord perform many miracles Himself while on earth, and
miraculously appear to the disciples following His resurrection, but His
disciples also received miraculous powers of speech and of healing, in order
that the Gospel might be rapidly spread abroad. Then, too, there was the
miraculous conversion of Paul—a prime agent in the early spread of the church.
Recall the many instances cited in the Gospels of
the disciples' lack of faith, their backslidings and outright denial, even
while their Master was still with them. Then consider these same disciples,
faced with an indifferent or hostile world, and ask yourselves how far they
would have got before falling victims to discouragement, were it not for their
ability to work signs and wonders?
3) Thirdly, and most importantly, Divine miracles
have been performed for the sake of the Word, that the record of them might
serve to initiate new generations into their first historical faith, and that a
later age still might discern something of their true inner significance. Thus
it is open to us to draw out the spiritual sense, albeit with varying degrees
of clarity, in the plagues of Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the pillars
of cloud and fire which accompanied the sons of Israel in the wilderness, the
manna supplied daily there; also the many miracles performed by Elijah and Elisha. While of the Lord's miracles we read:
The Lord's miracles are but
lightly esteemed if we think merely that some blind persons received their
sight, some deaf their hearing, and so on; for they all signify and involve
Divine things, namely, the heavenly state of His kingdom and church." (De Miraculis
3)
The Cause or Mechanism of Miracles
As to the cause of miracles, perhaps the most
important point to make is that miracles share the same cause as events which
we do not call miracles, events which, from repeated observation, we regard as
routine.
If it be once acknowledged that there is a spiritual world
and a natural world, and that the former acts on the latter, and this not just
occasionally but constantly, not merely in general but in particulars, then the
greatest obstacle to an acceptance of miracles is removed. Mind you, this
single acknowledgment is not lightly made, least of all by the learned. The
number just quoted describes how miracles are wrought by the Lord, descending
from Him through heaven, and that spirits bring them into effect, yet without
conscious co-operation on their part. These, of course, are Divine miracles,
involving true correspondences and designed to teach something concerning the
Lord and His kingdom.
There are also what are referred
to as magical miracles, performed deliberately by spirits, using perverted
correspondences, for the sake of dominion over others, whom they seek to
persuade that their miracles are of Divine origin. Or sometimes it is said
that they are performed "for no other end, except that of depraved cupidity."
(SE 656) Instances from
the Old Testament that come to mind are the story of Saul's consulting the
witch at Endor, and that of Balaam's pronouncing his blessings upon Israel.
In both these cases, diabolical intentions were turned to good by the Lord; but
in general, the wizards and witches of these stories—those
with familiar spirits—performed
their miracles by a misapplication of correspondences: correspondences passed
down, albeit in perverted form, from the Ancient Church.
Observe that magical miracles may appear similar
to Divine miracles in outward form. Indeed we may recall how, when Moses
performed signs before Pharaoh, the magicians of Egypt were allowed to perform similar miracles. Likewise
with the earlier plagues; and the Writings tell us that this was permitted in
order to preserve freedom. Note also that good spirits have no desire to
perform miracles from themselves, or to associate themselves with magical
practices.
The Effect or Result of Miracles
The effect of miracles on men varies according to
the state of the beholder and, of course, his attitude to them. The internal
man—he whose interior mind is open to the influx of life from the Lord—does not
look for miracles, but those which he sees or reads about in the Word serve him
for confirmations of the Lord's presence and power. Even so, he does not place
undue emphasis on them, for such a man sees confirmations of the Lord's
providence in even less spectacular events.
It is the external man who reacts with the
greater amazement. But I feel that a distinction is necessary between what I
shall call the "chronically external" and the "acutely
external."
By the chronically external I mean the member of a vastated church, a debased
community in which interior light has been extinguished, perhaps for
generations. For such a man, miracles provide the first steps toward a
historical faith. If combined with further instruction and infilled with
corresponding life, such a faith may become genuine. But miracles can supply
only the external of faith; they can do nothing to save, for salvation involves
the free choice of man, and miracles compel.
By the "acutely external" I mean the
man in a community such as our own, one who has free access to the Word, and to
all manner of religious teaching and influence, but yet chooses to reject them. He it is who looks for miracles as a pre-condition of faith. Denying at heart
the existence of any higher plane of life, he says: "Show me a miracle,
and I will believe." But if he does see a miracle, the first astonishment and
awe are short-lived. Before long he is searching for reasons to deny what he has
seen; and the miracle is shrugged off as a conjuring trick, or an odd
coincidence, or a phenomenon of nature. "Show me a miracle," he says;
but it is said in a spirit of defiance, and as such it will lead assuredly to
denial and then to profanation.
This danger of profanation is a compelling reason
why Divine miracles are not performed at this day. There is no question of our
being in the chronic state of complete vastation, where only a miracle can set
us on an upward path. Nor, since the Last Judgment, can we excuse ourselves on
the grounds of overpowering influence from the hells. We have Moses and the
prophets, and he who chooses to deny God, or what amounts to much the same, to
deny the existence of a real world of causes through which God can act, does so
in freedom. Belief or unbelief is primarily a matter of man's will. Mere
intellectual difficulty does not stand in the way of his acknowledgment as much
as human arrogance. He does not so much fail to comprehend the idea of God but
resent it. In this state, no miracle will persuade him without destroying his
freedom, and this the Divine Providence guards jealously above all else.
So much for this brief review of miracles, their
ends, causes and effects. The New Church will be established without miracles,
for it is to be an internal church and miracles affect only man's external. It
has, however, been granted a new revelation, of which both the manner of giving
and the content are truly wonderful. But not miraculous, for the special quality
of the new revelation is that it does not compel. Hence we read: "The
manifestation of the Lord in person, and introduction by the Lord into the
spiritual world, both as to sight and as to hearing and speech, surpasses all miracles." (Inv. 43.)
