capable of proof. It contends that the miracles recorded in the gospels are credible, and that they are sufficiently attested to take rank as proper historic facts. It proceeds on the fundamental assumption that Jesus Christ was a supernatural Being; that He entered into the line of transmitted humanity in a miraculous way; that His teachings were dictated by the Holy Ghost dwelling in Him without measure; that the mighty works ascribed to Him were actually wrought; that, having suffered death on the cross, He actually rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. All these are accepted and set forth in the following chapters, as essential facts in the history of Christ.

In proceeding to show, as the ground of this assumption, that there is no such scientific incompatibility between nature and the supernatural in the life of Christ, as rationalists assert, we ask, first, why do they deny the credibility of miracles? Because, in their opinion, a miracle involves a violation or suspension of the laws of nature, and all experience goes to show, that those laws are absolutely inviolable. Such, in their view, is the connection between natural phenomena, and so firm and unalterable is the order of nature, that a single physical result, produced by a supernatural cause, would derange the whole system. They regard the supremacy, the universality, the inviolability of natural laws, as established by the inductive sciences; and, moulded by those sciences as their entire habits of thought have been, they can not easily accept the idea of supernatural causation or miraculous occurrences in the system of nature.

The first noticeable fact in the reasonings of this class of writers, is the exceeding vagueness and ambiguity of the terms employed, and the absence of any thorough attempt to correct this evil by exact definition. What is meant by the terms, miracle, laws of nature, nature itself? The word "nature" is, perhaps, the most ambiguous in

use. It is applied to all possible objects of thought,-to the elements; to plants and animals; to beings material and spiritual; to men, angels, and even to God himself.

Very clearly, however, the argument against miracles employs the term in a restricted sense. As thus employed, it must include only the material world;-the world of physical causes and effects, or, in other words, of sensible phenomena. If there is a world of spiritual beings or agencies, it is not included; it does not come within the realm of the natural; it is altogether out of and above nature; it is supernatural. The term nature, as used by the rationalistic objector to miracles, has then no proper application to spiritual beings,-to personal intelligences; but touches and includes only the world of material or sensible things. Hence it must be borne in mind, that, in this discussion, it will be employed only in this restricted sense.

Now, it is not the intention here to advance any particular theory as to the constitution of nature. "If the new doctrine of the persistency of force,-the correlation of forces, as Mr. Grote calls it,—should be established; if all phenomena of matter should be found to be due to varieties of motion, to be varied manifestations of one essence, our present discussion would not be sensibly af fected. We proceed upon the position that matter is an entity manifesting forces, though requiring the direct sustenance and co-working of the power of God."

What, now, is meant by the "laws of nature?" As thus applied, the word law is obviously figurative. Our primary notion of law comes from the consciousness of duty, from the feeling of obligation to act according to some authoritative rule. Hence, the term law properly signifies a rule of action. When we survey the natural

*Fisher's Essays, page 476.

world, the world of sense, let it be remembered,-we are struck with the appearance everywhere of forces in constant operation. A closer observation convinces us, that those forces do not operate hap-hazard, but with welldetermined regularity; that is to say, they appear to act in systematic accordance with certain laws. Phenomena are so linked together in nature, that they present to our view striking uniformities, which, seized upon by the intellect, and reduced to their simplest expressions, are called laws of nature. Having discovered many such uniformities, and finding them embraced in a homogeneous scheme, we term the classified aggregate of their statements, science. Many other of these uniformities of action, or laws of nature, doubtless remain as yet entirely unknown, or are only dimly shadowed forth in phenomena still waiting to be interpreted, and to be incorporated into science.

Now, with regard to these laws of nature, it can not be denied, that, as hitherto ascertained, they seem to be fixed and invariable. Causes and effects are linked together in a uniform order of succession. The presumption naturally is, that this uniform or invariable succession is only a relation and action, accordant with uniform or invariable laws. It is, hence, so probable that the laws of nature are invariable, that, while those who deny their ever having been suspended or violated by the Creator, may be over-bold, the tendency of true science is to palliate their denial,-perhaps, even to justify it. It is indeed quite possible that, at no distant day, this absolute inviolability of the laws of nature may be so satisfactorily established, as to command the assent of every thoughtful theologian.

The question now arises, whether a miracle really involves a violation of natural laws. It is, of course, admitted, or rather insisted upon, that no miracle can be

properly ascribed to a physical cause; but it is as strenuously insisted upon, that no law of nature is violated by a true miracle. The Scriptures, it must be remembered, make no mention whatever of "laws of nature;” much less do they intimate, that any such laws were violated by the "signs and wonders" which they record. They ascribe those signs and wonders to a divine or, at least, a supernatural agency; but, they are far from giving any sanction to the doctrine that, in working miracles, God has suspended or violated those laws which he ordained at the beginning, for the government of the world.

But is it a law of nature that spiritual forces shall in no case, operate upon or among physical causes, so as to bring to pass material phenomena which otherwise would not have taken place? On the contrary, it is here affirmed, that there are intelligent, supernatural agents, who can and do produce phenomena in nature without violating or suspending its laws. It is maintained that the natural world is so constituted, so adjusted and configured to the supernatural sphere, as to admit the presence, and come under the operation of spiritual forces, without any derangement of its own order.

As a means of gradually approaching the desired conclusion, let us resort to á familiar illustration of the general principle, that a spiritual force may cause physical phenomena, without disturbing natural laws. The wellknown anecdote of Sir Isaac Newton and the apple, while probably apocryphal, is still in point, as such an illustration. Walking in his orchard, and observing an apple fall from a tree, he was led by this fact, into a track of investigation which resulted in the grandest scientific discovery of the age,—the law of gravitation. But what was the process of thought by which he reached the grand result? We may presume it to have been something like the following. What he saw was simply the apple mov

ing through the space between the bough on which it grew, and the ground beneath. This would naturally suggest the fact that other bodies, under like circumstances, fall in like manner. The question then arose in his mind; why do they thus fall? The answer was, very naturally, because there is a certain power of attraction in the earth, which, when they are unsupported, draws them to it. Knowing that such facts are of general, if not universal occurrence, the philosopher was led to the conclusion,—all bodies draw each other; in other words, the power of attraction belongs to matter universally. Further observation reveals the fact, that the power of attraction varies according to the size of the bodies, and their distance from each other; and a proper investigation of these differences in attraction, and the circumstances under which they occur, at last leads to the discovery of the fixed law for this variation; namely, bodies attract each other directly as their masses, and inversely as the square of their distances;—a proposition, pronounced by high authority, "the most important and the most general truth hitherto discovered by the industry and sagacity of man.” In all this we have, of course, supposed the labor of years, to be crowded into the space of the few moments immediately connected with the observed phenomenon.

Suppose now, that, before the philosopher leaves the spot, a boy approaches, seizes the fallen apple, and tosses it into the air. As it falls, he catches it, and again tosses it upward. The apple is thus made to move back and forth between the ground and the tree. The force which brings it toward the ground is the physical force, just discovered by the philosopher: in other words, the apple is made to fall by the force of gravitation. But is it gravitation which causes it to ascend? Certainly not. By what force, then, is it impelled in its ascent? By the muscular force of the boy's arm? Doubtless; but what