391).
[90] Compare Tract 85, p. 110; "I am persuaded that were men
but consistent who oppose the Church doctrines as being
unscriptural, they would vindicate the Jews for
rejecting the Gospel."
[91] According to Dr. Newman, "This prayer [that of Bishop
Alexander, who begged God to 'take Arius away'] is said
to have been offered about 3 P.M. on the Saturday; that
same evening Arius was in the great square of
Constantine, when he was suddenly seized with
indisposition" (p. clxx). The "infidel" Gibbon seems to
have dared to suggest that "an option between poison
and miracle" is presented by this case; and it must be
admitted, that, if the Bishop had been within the reach
of a modern police magistrate, things might have gone
hardly with him. Modern "Infidels," possessed of a
slight knowledge of chemistry, are not unlikely, with
no less audacity, to suggest an "option between
fire-damp and miracle" in seeking for the cause of the
fiery outburst at Jerusalem.
[92] A writer in a spiritualist journal takes me roundly
to task for venturing to doubt the historical and
literal truth of the Gadarene story. The following
passage in his letter is worth quotation: "Now to the
materialistic and scientific mind, to the uninitiated
in spiritual verities, certainly this story of the
Gadarene or Gergesene swine presents insurmountable
difficulties; it seems grotesque and nonsensical.
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