The Jesus of the Evangelists: His Historical Character Vindicated; or, an Examination of the Internal Evidence for our Lord's Divine Mission, with reference to Modern Controversy. By the Rev. C. A. Row, M. A. [pp. 586-612]

9S?&~)W'5 jj8?(.S (~~ 1/~c T~c~~~j~~kist~. [Ocron~~,
y~oves tlie 1)hysicai motive is thit ~vi~ic1 iu~i~e}s the spirit nat
ii~frinc~ii~o~ tiie
~~orld. Thcy hnve nevcr once dcs~~i'ibcd ilini as
1a~~s of tlie spiritual ~vorI4 I~y all exertion of po~vcr~ hut Ii;~ve
invariab}y depicted him as o1~serving t1~e'n.` To state the
a~e ~~roadly. ~~hile our Lord is always represented iii ti~e
({~~~spe}s as curing diseases by a power wl~ich overrnles tlie
ordiiiai~ (O~~5~ of nature lie is ncver {)uce depicted as iu~' )kiiig tlic aid of a snperuat~lral power to cure tlie diseascs of tiie
sjnl~', nor are we ever led to s~ppose that tbe I~vangclists iiitended to represelit hiiii as iu~pl~~iitii~g faith ill tlie soul hy an
exercise of power. They n~ust sojneho~' ii ave learned tl~e
truth that tlie whole apparatus of power contradicts the very
idea of a in oral agent.
Now for tl~is assertion as to tl~e intention of the Lvanoe
lists our aufl~or has no warrant. Not only would tl~e iinpar~ing of faith and spiritnal life appear to have often accompaiiied
our L~~rd's miracles of liealiiig, hut tlie dcscriptions of some
iuiraculous cures are such as to suggest il~e idea that the same
which healed tbe body implai~ted faith in the 5()1il.
Our hebef is that ~esus often did when he was on earth, as
l~e constantly does now, act by Iiis si~pernatural power directly
()~L the soul, new-creaflug it, " curilig its diseases," " creath~g
faith" where it did not exist. ~~e adniit, however, H~at liis
i,ivariable action, in the spiritua~ world, was in conforn~ity
with law, and that lie is never represented as failing to
observe the laws of the spiritual wodd. Our author's error
consists in bis supposing that to cure tlie soul's diseases,to
iu~plant a faith in it which previously it did not possess, invol~~es the setting aside the laws by which the huii~an spirit
is governed, so as to do violence to its nature. And he
nines that if the soul is in any case the subject of the
~ivine power actilig immediately upon it, it is coerced and its
free agency is destroyed. ~Vhereas, ilie truth in relation t() tlie
abject is, that aliliough there is both an efficacious and an
immediate operation on the soul when it is made spiritually
alive, yet the divine act is perfectly congruous to its nature.
Indeed, not only is no restrailit laid upon ilie spontaiieous
niovenient of tlie faculties, but the more powerful this direct