i8 7 o] CHRISTIANITY AND SUPERNATURAL 119 



theology justly includes under regeneration the illumina 

 tion and strengthening of the reason ; so that the 

 Christian advances more and more in rational compre 

 hension of saving truth. And so while the truths of the 

 Bible are, in the language of Dogmatic, supra rationem 

 empiricam, we cannot think them as also supra rationem 

 absolutam. And thus the significance of the supernatural 

 is only relative and temporary. A supernatural com 

 munication of truth from God to man a supernatural 

 inspiration to secure an infallible record of this truth 

 these are necessary only while man s redemption is 

 imperfect, and must fall away when all that is partial and 

 transitory is abolished. 



It is this way of looking at things, making as it 

 does the supernatural a merely accidental feature in 

 Christianity, which has rendered us so jealous of specula 

 tive theology. Every attempt at a rational demon 

 stration of Christian doctrines is viewed as an attempt 

 to diminish the value of the Bible for the Bible is held 

 valuable only as communicating to us supernaturally 

 what natural reason cannot attain to. A complete 

 speculative theology, we imagine, would supersede the 

 Bible just as many have supposed that a body of doctrine 

 drawn from Scripture say the Shorter Catechism 

 might supply the place of the Bible. 



The supernatural features in Christianity, however, 

 cannot be all brought under the heads of prophecy and 

 inspiration. What is the significance which on the 

 current theory attaches to miracles ? This is the point 

 wherein the most obvious deficiencies appear. Clearly 

 the importance of miracles must be secondary only. 

 Miracles must somehow be subsidiary to the revelation 

 of truth. The accidental character which attached to 

 the supernatural communication of truth still more 

 clearly belongs to miracles as the supernatural attestation 

 of divine truth. The miracles of the Old and New 

 Testament have no value in themselves, but serve to 



