186 WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS T 



able men to believe in the miracles he relates, a 

 fortiori the evidence afforded by the Gospels and 

 the Acts must be so. 1 



But it may be said that no serious critic denies 

 the genuineness of the four great Pauline Epistles 

 -.- Galatians, First and Second Corinthians, and 

 Romans and that in three out of these four Paul 

 lays claim to the power of working miracles. 2 

 Must we suppose, therefore, that the Apostle to 

 the Gentiles has stated that which is false ? But 

 to how much does this so-called claim, amount ? It 

 .may mean much or little. Paul nowhere tells us 

 what he did in this direction ; and in his sore 

 need to justify his assumption of apostleship 

 against the sneers of his enemies, it is hardly likely 

 that, if he had any very striking cases to bring 

 forward, he would have neglected evidence so well 

 calculated to put them to shame. And, without 

 the slightest impeachment of Paul's veracity, we 

 must further remember that his strongly- marked 

 mental characteristics, displayed in unmistakable 

 fashion in these Epistles, are anything but those 

 which would justify us in regarding him as a 

 critical witness respecting matters of fact, or as a 



1 Of course there is nothing new in this argument ; but it 

 does not grow weaker by age. And the case of Eginhard is ~far 

 more instructive than that of Augustine, because the- former 

 has so very frankly, though incidentally, revealed to us not 

 only his own mental and moral habits, but those of the people 

 about him. 



2 See 1 Cor. xii. 10-28 ; 2 Cor. vi. 12 ; Rom. xv. 19. 



