Wesley Corpus

Section I. 1. And, first, as to 'raising the dead.' Irenaeus affirms: 'This was frequently performed on necessary occasions; when, by great fastings and the joint supplication of the Church, the spirit of the dead person returned into him, and the man was given back to the prayers of the saints' (ibid.). 2. But you object: 'There is not an instance of this to be found in the first three centuries' (ibid.). I presume you mean no heathen historian has mentioned it; for Christian historians were not. I answer: (1) It is not probable an heathen historian would have related such a fact had he known it. (2) It is equally improbable he should know it: seeing the Christians knew with whom they had to do; and that, had such an instance been made public, they would not long have enjoyed him who had been given back to their prayers. They could not but remember what had been before, when the Jews sought Lazarus also to kill him: a very obvious reason why a miracle of this particular kind ought not to have been published abroad;--especially considering (3) that it was not designed for the conversion of the heathens; but 'on occasions necessary' for the good of the Church, of the Christian community. (4) It was a miracle proper, above all others, to support and confirm the Christians, who were daily tortured and slain, but sustained by the hope of obtaining a better resurrection. 3. You object, secondly: 'The heathens constantly affirmed the thing itself to be impossible' (page 73). They did so. But is it 'a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead'