o ask any number
of them to join in a prayer asking anything they desire for the
purpose of testing the efficiency of what is known as supplication.
They answer me by calling my attention to the miracles recorded in
the New Testament. I insist, however, on a new miracle, and,
personally, I would like to see one now. Certainly, the Infinite
has not lost his power, and certainly the Infinite knows that
thousands and hundreds of thousands, if the Bible is true, are now
pouring over the precipice of unbelief into the gulf of hell. One
little miracle would save thousands. One little miracle in Pittsburg,
well authenticated, would do more good than all the preaching ever
heard in this sooty town. The Rev. Dr. Tyng clearly sees this,
and he has been driven to the conclusion, first, that God can do
miracles; second, that he ought to, third, that he has. In this
he is perfectly logical. After a man believes the Bible, after he
believes in the flood and in the story of Jonah, certainly he ought
not to hesitate at a miracle of to-day. When I say I want a miracle,
I mean by that, I want a good one. All the miracles recorded in
the New Testament could have been simulated. A fellow could have
pretended to be dead, or blind, or dumb, or deaf. I want to see
a good miracle. I want to see a man with one leg, and then I want
to see the other leg grow out.
I would like to see a miracle like that performed in North Carolina.
Two men were disputing about the relative merits of the salve they
had for sale. One of the men, in order to demonstrate that his
salve was better than any other, cut off a dog's tail and applied
a little of the salve to the stump, and, in the presence of the
spectators, a new tail grew out. But the other man, who also had
salve for sale, took up the piece of tail that had been cast away,
put a little salve at the end of that, and a new dog grew out, and
the last heard of those parties they were quarrelling as to who
owned the second dog. Something like that is what I call a miracle.
_Question_. What do you believe about the immortality of the soul?
Do you believe that the spirit lives as an individual after the
body is dead?
_Answer_. I have said a great many times that it is no more
wonderful that we should live again than that we do live. Sometimes
I have thought it not quite so wonderful for the reason that we
have a start. But upon that subject I have not the slightest
information. Wheth
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