DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6359#0252
234
EGYPT AND ITS MONUMENTS.
preceding the exodus, that they find a foundation in the
natural phenomena of Egypt, and stand in close connection
with ordinary occurrences; and this has been urged as an
argument against the truth of the story. To give force to
this objection, it is necessary to establish the fact, that the
performance of no act, which, under any circumstances might
have occurred of itself, in the natural course of events, can
possibly be miraculous. But this proposition is very far from
being true. Take, for instance, hail and locusts; it will not
follow that, because both these exist in nature, they therefore
never can appear under circumstances which will prove them
to be miraculous. Grant them to be common manifestations
in nature, still, when they, with many other events that might
happen in nature occur in rapid succession and with great
intensity, out of their usual order of occurrence; when they
do so in a particularly specified region of country, and at a
particular time, on the bidding of some individual; Avhen at
the same bidding they cease, and in some instances cease at
a precise time previously designated by the person who is
affected by them, and earnestly requests their withdrawal; it
is idle under such circumstances to view them as mere
natural phenomena, presenting themselves in their ordinary
occurrence. There is something preternatural here; and the
distinction must be taken between the occurrence itself, and
the very unnatural and extraordinary combination of cir-
cumstances under which it occurs. Hail may be very natural)
and yet the attendant circumstances of its appearance may
prove its presence at a particular time and place, its duration
and cessation, all to be supernatural. There is, therefore, no
difficulty in understanding how a natural phenomenon may be
converted into miraculous proof.
EGYPT AND ITS MONUMENTS.
preceding the exodus, that they find a foundation in the
natural phenomena of Egypt, and stand in close connection
with ordinary occurrences; and this has been urged as an
argument against the truth of the story. To give force to
this objection, it is necessary to establish the fact, that the
performance of no act, which, under any circumstances might
have occurred of itself, in the natural course of events, can
possibly be miraculous. But this proposition is very far from
being true. Take, for instance, hail and locusts; it will not
follow that, because both these exist in nature, they therefore
never can appear under circumstances which will prove them
to be miraculous. Grant them to be common manifestations
in nature, still, when they, with many other events that might
happen in nature occur in rapid succession and with great
intensity, out of their usual order of occurrence; when they
do so in a particularly specified region of country, and at a
particular time, on the bidding of some individual; Avhen at
the same bidding they cease, and in some instances cease at
a precise time previously designated by the person who is
affected by them, and earnestly requests their withdrawal; it
is idle under such circumstances to view them as mere
natural phenomena, presenting themselves in their ordinary
occurrence. There is something preternatural here; and the
distinction must be taken between the occurrence itself, and
the very unnatural and extraordinary combination of cir-
cumstances under which it occurs. Hail may be very natural)
and yet the attendant circumstances of its appearance may
prove its presence at a particular time and place, its duration
and cessation, all to be supernatural. There is, therefore, no
difficulty in understanding how a natural phenomenon may be
converted into miraculous proof.