ii. 42) concludes, that the second
century was still more fertile in miracles than the first. * Note: It is
difficult to answer Middleton's objection to this statement of Irenae
us: "It is very strange, that from the time of the apostles there is not
a single instance of this miracle to be found in the three first
centuries; except a single case, slightly intimated in Eusebius, from
the Works of Papias; which he seems to rank among the other fabulous
stories delivered by that weak man." Middleton, Works, vol. i. p. 59.
Bp. Douglas (Criterion, p 389) would consider Irenaeus to speak of what
had "been performed formerly." not in his own time.--M.]

[Footnote 78: Theophilus ad Autolycum, l. i. p. 345. Edit. Benedictin.
Paris, 1742. * Note: A candid sceptic might discern some impropriety in
the Bishop being called upon to perform a miracle on demand.--M.]

The miracles of the primitive church, after obtaining the sanction of
ages, have been lately attacked in a very free and ingenious inquiry,
[79] which, though it has met with the most favorable reception from the
public, appears to have excited a general scandal among the divines of
our own as well as of the other Protestant churches of Europe. [80] Our
different sentiments on this subject will be much less influenced by any
particular arguments, than by our habits of study and reflection; and,
above all, by the degree of evidence which we have accustomed ourselves
to require for the proof of a miraculous event. The duty of an historian
does not call upon him to interpose his private judgment in this nice
and important controversy; but he ought not to dissemble the difficulty
of adopting such a theory as may reconcile the interest of religion with
that of reason, of making a proper application of that theory, and of
defining with precision the limits of that happy period, exempt from
error and from deceit, to which we might be disposed to extend the gift
of supernatural powers. From the first of the fathers to the last of the
popes, a succession of bishops, of saints, of martyrs, and of miracles,
is continued without interruption; and the progress of superstition
was so gradual, and almost imperceptible, that we know not in what
particular link we should break the chain of tradition. Every age bears
testimony to the wonderful events by which it was distinguished, and
its testimony appears no less weighty and respectable than that of the
preceding generation, till we are