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pitched our own camp on that ground. It was commonly said amongst us 
that thousands of the enemy had been killed ; and in discussing the matter 
with my brother-officers I mentioned my disbelief in such an enormous 
slaughter ; for I had passed over the field, and was altogether incredulous. 
I agreed to go out next morning with a brother-officer, to count the bodies 
of the killed, in order to ascertain the strict truth. Accordingly, we set 
out, and rode over the whole field, as far as we could tell ; over all those 
places where the hardest fighting had taken'place and the greatest slaughter. 
We carefully counted every dead body belonging to the enemy, and there 
were not more than 250 of them. After that I was much impressed with 
the necessity of receiving with the utmost caution the statements of history 
as to the number of men killed in battle. I have only one other remark to 
make, and that is with reference to historical criticism as applied to the 
Holy Scriptures. I may not, perhaps, echo the views of any of those here 
present, but I will state my own belief. With regard to miracles and the 
question of extraordinary phenomena, I adopt most heartily the remarks of 
Mr. Titcomb, which appear to me to bear out the line of argument contained 
in that excellent book of Mr. Warington’s. But I do not believe that any 
historical criticism whatever will convince a human being of the truth 
of the Scriptures. I believe that spiritual things are only to be spiritually 
discerned, and that they are not to be discerned by means of historical cri- 
ticism. You may bring all your knowledge of science, and of language, to 
illustrate the meaning of Scripture, but it will not convince a man of the 
truth of Scripture if he be not otherwise convinced. The only thing that will 
convince a man of that truth is the operation of the Spirit of God, which is 
only to be gained by prayer. (Cheers.) 
Mr. J. Allen. —I should like to ask this question : If the Scriptures 
reveal to us an .evil spirit, who has wrought miracles, and shown signs and 
wonders, to deceive if possible even the elect, and if the Scriptures also show 
us cases of witchcraft, should we reject as miraculous all seemingly miracu- 
lous events which we know cannot proceed from God ? 
Mr. H. Cabman J ones. — To my mind it is hardly putting the matter on 
a perfectly satisfactory ground, to say that a miracle is to be believed in only 
when it is worked to attest a Divine commission. The question is purely a 
question of evidence — is there evidence enough on which to believe it ? No 
doubt a person who believes in a God, and who believes that it is consistent 
with His character that He should send a revelation, will have little diffi- 
culty in believing that He should send a miracle in order to authenticate 
His message to man, that being the only conceivable means by which the 
Divine message can be authenticated ; for although the internal evidence of 
a divine mission is the strongest of all, to those who feel it, and those who 
have once received revelation, and who have seen how worthy it is of God, 
have but little need of external evidence ; still you can give no answer 
to those who ask for a reason for their belief, unless you can appeal to some 
external evidence. Less evidence, therefore, would be required in such a 
case, as to an alleged miracle of such a nature that it could not be regarded 
