In the first place, it does not increase, and in some respects rather decreases, the difficulty of believing them to be true, for thirty miracles or prophecies, provided they occur on suitable occasions, are scarcely more difficult to believe than three. And the number recorded in the Old Testament shows that, instead of being mere isolated marvels, they form a complete series. Their object was to instruct the Jews, and through them the rest of the world, in the great truths of Natural Religion, such as the existence of One Supreme God, Who was shown to be _All-Powerful_ by the miracles, _All-Wise_ by the prophecies, and _All-Good_ by His rewarding and punishing men and nations alike for their deeds. And when we thus regard them as confirming a Revelation, which was for the benefit of the whole human race, they lose a good deal of their improbability. Indeed many who now believe Natural Religion alone, and reject all revelation, would probably never have believed even this, but for the Bible. On the other hand, the number and variety of these alleged events greatly increases the difficulty of any _other_ explanation; for thirty miracles or prophecies are far more difficult to _disbelieve_ than three. A successful fraud might take place once, but not often. An imitation miracle might be practised once, but not often. Spurious prophecies might be mistaken for genuine once, but not often. Yet, if none of these events are true, such frauds and such deceptions must have been practised, and practised successfully, over and over again. In fact, the Old Testament must be a collection of the most dishonest books ever written, for it is full of miracles and prophecies from beginning to end; and it is hard to exaggerate the immense _moral_ difficulty which this involves. Many of the Jewish prophets, as before said, teach the highest moral virtues; and the Jewish religion, especially in its later days, is admittedly of high moral character. It seems, then, to be almost incredible that its sacred writings should be merely a collection of spurious prophecies uttered after the event, and false miracles which never occurred. We therefore decide in this chapter that the _history_ of the Jewish religion _was confirmed by prophecies_. CHAPTER XII. THAT THE JEWISH RELIGION IS PROBABLY TRUE. Only two subjects remain to be discussed. (_A._) THE EXISTENCE OF ANGELS. No difficulty here, nor as to their influence. (_B._) THE CHARACTER OF GOD. The Jewish idea of God often thought to be defective.