Henry Martyn's three tracts carry us back to the discussions of that devoted
apologist during his residence in Persia. Lee gives us first the treatise of
Mirza Ibrahim arising out of Martyn's visit to Shiraz, and his public
disputations with the Moslem doctors there. It is evidently the work of an able
and learned writer, and is remarkable for its freedom from anything harsh and
virulent. His argument chiefly concerns miracles, of which he holds the Coran to
be the chiefest. A miracle is an act exceeding human experience, accompanied by
a prophetic claim and the challenge to produce the like. It may belong to any
art, but must be witnessed by those best skilled in such art to be beyond human
experience and power. As such the miracle must belong to the age in which the
art in question is in the highest stage of perfection. Thus the miracles of
Moses and Jesus belong to the arts of magic and physic, which had each reached
perfection in their Prophet's day. The evidence of the magicians is accordingly
deemed sufficient proof for the miracles of Moses, and that of the physicians
for those of Jesus. But had these miracles occurred in any other age than that
in which the respective arts flourished, such evidence would have been
imperfect, and the miracles not binding. This strange text, — which Martyn in his
reply shows to be founded on an inadequate knowledge of history, — the Mirza
applies to the Coran, and proves, entirely to his own satisfaction, that it
fulfils all the required conditions. For the miracle here belongs to the art of
eloquence, and in it the Arabs of the day were the highest adepts of all ages.
The Coran was accompanied by a challenge to produce the like, and when the Arabs
confessed inability, then evidence, like that of the magicians and physicians in
the case of Moses and Jesus, became equally binding. The Mirza further dilates
on the superior and lasting character of the miracle, as an exhibition of
supernatural
