Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord

by Richard Chenevix Trench

This is a copy of the original book. In this series, we are bringing old books back into print using our own state-of-the-art techniques. Generally, these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way that the author intended. However, as we are working with old material, so occasionally there may be certain imperfections within the text. We are so pleased to ensure these classics are available again for generations to come.

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1847

About the author

Richard Chenevix Trench (9 September 1807 – 28 March 1886) was an Anglican archbishop and poet.

Known as Richard Trench until 1873 .

He was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Richard Trench (1774–1860) and the Dublin writer Melesina Chenevix (1768–1827). His elder brother was Francis Chenevix Trench. He went to school at Harrow, and graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1829. In 1830 he visited Spain. While incumbent of Curdridge Chapel near Bishop's Waltham in Hampshire, he published (1835) The Story of Justin Martyr and Other Poems, which was favourably received, and was followed in 1838 by Sabbation, Honor Neale, and other Poems, and in 1842 by Poems from Eastern Sources. These volumes revealed the author as the most gifted of the immediate disciples of Wordsworth, with a warmer colouring and more pronounced ecclesiastical sympathies than the master, and strong affinities to Alfred Lord Tennyson, John Keble and Richard Monckton Milnes.

Reviews

[Adam Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trench provides a walkthrough of all Jesus' miracles as they appear in the gospel accounts. It is a nice book to have for that reason since it provides some nice comments on the significance or allusions being made by these miracles. One issue I can see with the scholarship is the proposed timeline considering there needs to be a harmonization of the four gospel accounts which do not present with absolute certainty when some miracles took place.

The true importance of this book is the initial fifth of it talking on the subject of miracles. Personally, I found the most useful (and accurate) comment to be, “A miracle does not prove the truth of a doctrine, or the divine mission of him that brings it to pass. That which alone it claims for him at the first is a right to be listened to: it puts him in the alternative of being from heaven or from hell. The doctrine must first commend itself to the conscience as being good, and only then can the miracle seal it as divine." Essentially, the miraculous points to a truth but that truth must be determined not just from the phenomenon in question but from the study of it (much like science does not just observe the creation but investigates the rules by which it operates). The miracles of Christ are to provide legitimacy for his words and only then can his words have meaning for you. Many rejected the words, although they accepted the miracles, and thus they eventually rejected the miracles so they could onto their previously held beliefs.

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

The copy I read had The Parables too; score! This guy knew what he was talking about, and it was absolutely great to read this.