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natural, not in the thing done, but only in the manner of doing it.

(9.) It is not necessary that every supernatural operation or effect should consist in or imply a suspension of any of the laws of nature. A suspension of any of these laws necessarily supposes the existence of some positive law, and of some real force or power, whose effects are superseded by such suspension. Now, many effects may be produced in nature by supernatural agents which do not suspend the effects of any positive law, but only require a power superior to that of a natural agent to perform them. Even man can perform many things in creatures, and produce many effects in them, without violating or suspending any positive law of nature: much more may we suppose supernatural beings capable of doing so.

In the case above mentioned of an angel communicating almost instantaneously the knowledge of events occurring in the most distant parts of the world, there is no positive law of nature suspended, but an effect produced which, as to its manner, no natural agent is capable of performing. In like manner, should Almighty God in a moment give to any man an infused knowledge of the sciences, or the power of speaking all languages, these effects would not be contrary to any positive law of ǹature, nor would they imply a suspension of any power in nature; but it is plain that they would be the effects of a power superior to that of any natural agent, as no power in nature can communicate the instantaneous knowledge of these things to man. Of the same nature also is the raising a person from the dead, in which there is no positive law of nature violated, no effect of any natural power suspended; but, as in the former cases, a new effect is produced out of the ordinary course of nature, and exceeding the power of all natural agents. Many other

just in certain pretended friends of Christianity to allege that the teaching of the holy fathers and primitive Christians concerning the agency of spiritual beings in the material creation, was solely owing to their attachment to the heathen mythology, and was the remains of their belief in demons before their conversion; for we find not only that their teaching concerning spirits is strictly conformable to the Holy Scriptures, but that these very Scriptures are brought by them to prove this doctrine, and are the sources from which they profess to draw it. But still more unjustifiable is it in Christians themselves, who receive the sacred Scripture as divine truths, to call in question what they clearly express concerning spiritual beings and their agency in nature, and to pervert the plain and obvious meaning of the text on this subject, rather than surrender some favourite preconceived opinion on pretence of being superior to what they call the prejudices of vulgar minds. A plain view of what is contained in the Word of God, will at once show the folly of such conduct.

II. The belief in the agency of spiritual beings in the material world has passed through various phases within the last two centuries. At the period of the Reformation, when Catholics urged the invincible weight of miracles in their communion as a proof of the truth of what they taught, and consequently as the strongest refutation of the new tenets, the first reformers had not yet discovered Dr Middleton's ready answer to all pleas of this kind. They could not deny the reality of the facts, and therefore did not hesitate to attribute them to the agency of Satan, willingly allowing an unbounded power of this kind even to wicked spirits during what they called the "reign of Papacy."

Afterwards, when Deism and Freethinking became

by the power of a superior known law acting against itfor instance, when a stone is thrown upwards by a man's hand, or when we see any effect produced for which we know an adequate natural cause—we are not surprised. But were we to see any of the known laws of nature suspended without perceiving any cause capable of doing so were we to see a stone rising from the earth and flying upwards—or, if never having seen nor heard of an eclipse, we should hear an astronomer foretell that at such an hour the sun would become dark, and if this prediction should be literally fulfilled at the time appointed,we would be filled with wonder and astonishment. Now, as the word miracle, according to its etymology, signifies a wonderful thing, or a thing that causes wonder, in its most general sense it may be used to signify all cases of this kind, whether natural or supernatural; and in this more loose and general signification it is not unfrequently applied in common conversation; for, in relating or hearing anything extraordinary or unusual, we say, It is a miracle! it is miraculous! without considering whether it may arise from natural causes or not. But this is not the sense in which it is used when we speak with precision; and if we examine the idea which we have when we mean a miracle properly such, and which accords with the general sentiments of the Christian world, we shall find the following observations holding

true :

1. That it implies an operation, or an effect produced, in this material creation, consequently capable of being known to one or other of our senses; so that the material sensible creation, to which we give the name of nature, is the subject-matter in which miracles are performed.

2. That this effect must be extraordinary—that is,

either directly contrary to the known laws of nature, and to the natural powers of creatures, which are regulated and determined by those laws; or, that it be besides the usual course of nature, either as to the effect produced or the manner of producing it. For the moment we conceive that any event, however uncommon, may arise from natural causes, or is conformable to the usual course of nature, we immediately lose the idea of its being at miracle.

3. That this operation or effect be not only performed by a supernatural agent, but also that we be persuaded there is no natural agent capable of performing it, at least in the manner; for here also we find that our idea of the miraculous in any event immediately ceases the moment we suspect that it may be produced by natural agents.

4. That this supernatural agent be either God Himself, or His holy angels commissioned by Him. In Christian theology, there is no doubt but that the devil and his wicked spirits can, by the strength and abilities which are natural to them, perform many extraordinary things in the material creation; yet certain it is, as the same theology assures us, and as we shall afterwards see in its proper place,* that Almighty God will never permit them so to exercise this power as that their operations cannot be distinguished from those of God Himself, or of His good angels. One idea which the Christian world has constantly attached to miracles is, that they are the seal and language of God, by which He speaks to the heart of man; and it has always been convinced that God never will permit Satan so to usurp this seal, or so to speak in this language, as to be mistaken for God Himself; but

* See Chapter X. on the Criterion.

that all the extraordinary operations which he is ever permitted to perform in the material world, are either in the things done, the end proposed, in the manner of performing them, attended with such circumstances as evidently manifest the source from which they flow.

This firm persuasion is grounded upon the prediction of our Saviour, of the extraordinary signs and wonders that will be performed towards the end of the world by false Christs and false prophets, through the agency of Satan, whose ministers these are; and which signs, He tells us, will be so many and so great at that time, " as to lead (if it were possible) even the elect into error," Matt. xxiv.; which expression evidently shows that though those signs and wonders will be great, yet their delusion will not be undiscoverable, but that the elect will discover it, and escape being deceived by it. So strongly impressed are Christians with the idea that miracles are the work of God, or of His good angels only, that as soon as they suspect any extraordinary event to be the work of Satan, they immediately lose all thought of it being miraculous. They call it a prestige, an illusion, a prodigy, an enchantment, and the like; or, as such operations are emphatically termed in Holy Writ, lying signs and wonders: but their idea of a miracle is exclusively confined to such extraordinary effects as they believe to be the work of God, or of good angels commissioned by Him.

V. These observations being premised, the definition of a miracle, according to the Christian idea of the word, naturally follows-namely, that it is "an extraordinary effect produced in the material creation, either contrary to the known laws of nature, or besides the usual course of nature, above the abilities of natural agents, and performed either by God Himself, or by His holy angels."

VI. Words indeed are but arbitrary signs, and every

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