hat miracles prove the inspiration of the bible. But it is
impossible by the human senses to establish a violation of nature's
laws. When the Hebrews threw down sticks before Pharaoh, and they
became snakes, did he believe? No; because he was there. After the
Jews had been lead through the desert and had been fed with bread
rained from heaven, had been clothed in indestructible pantaloons, and
had quenched their thirst with water that followed them over mountains
and through sands; when they saw Jehovah wrapped in the smoke of Sinai
they still had more faith in a calf that they could make than anything
Jehovah could give them. It was so with the miracles of Christ. Not
twenty people were converted by one of them. In fact, human testimony
cannot substantiate a miracle. Take the miracle about the bears which
ate the children who laughed at the bald-headed old prophet. What do
you suppose Mr. Talmage would say that meant? Why, first, that
children ought to respect preachers, and second, that God is kind to
animals. Nearly every miracle in the old testament is wrought in the
interest of slavery, polygamy, creed or lust. I wish by denying them
to rescue the reputation of Jehovah from the assaults of the bible.

Who are the witnesses to the truth of the narratives of the Jews'
bible? Eusebius was one. He lived in the reign of Constantine, and
said that the tracks of Pharaoh's chariots could be seen--perfectly
preserved in the sands of the Red sea. He was the man who forged the
passage in Josephus which speaks about the coming of Christ. Good
witness, isn't he. Another one was Polycarp. We don't know much about
him. He suffered martyrdom in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, and when
the fire wouldn't burn and he looked like gold through it, a heathen
was so mad about it that he ran his sword through Polycarp. The blood
gushed out and quenched the fire, while the martyr's soul flew up to
heaven in the form of a dove. And that's all we know about Polycarp.
To know how much reliance should be placed upon the judgment of such
trustworthy witnesses, we should look at what some of their beliefs
were. They thought that the world was flat; that the phoenix story was
true; that the stars had souls and sinned; and one said there were four
gospels because there were four winds and four corners of the earth.
He might have added that it was also because a donkey has four legs.

So far as the argument drawn from the sufferings