THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF MIRACLES DISPLAYED. THE I. CHAPTER I. NATURE OF MIRACLES, ACCORDING TO THE CHRISTIAN IDEA, AND THEIR DIFFERENT KINDS. F the word miracle we find a great variety of O a 66 effects pro looking only to the results, tell us that as duced by the regular operation of the laws of nature are called natural, so effects contrary to this settled constitution and course of things are miraculous.” Others include the producing cause, without which they think we cannot have a proper idea of what a miracle is. "A true miracle," says Le Moine, "is a sensible, unusual operation or effect above the natural ability or inherent power of natural agents-that is, of all, created beingsand therefore performable by God alone." VOL. I. A Some confine their notion of the producing cause to God only, as in Le Moine's definition; others admit as true miracles what may be performed by created beings of a nature superior to man. Thus Mr Chub, defining what he understands by miracles, expresses himself as follows: "This term, I think, is used to express a sensible effect, which is above the natural ability or inherent power of man to cause or produce; which is likewise above, or besides, the ordinary course of nature; and which also is produced by the agency or co-operation of an invisible being." Dr Chandler, in his discourse on the nature and use of miracles, gives a very singular definition of them, and says that only is a miracle "where the action exceeds the utmost capacity of the agent." We find another cause of this difference among these writers regarding the nature of a miracle arising from their different ideas of what is natural and what is supernatural. According to Le Moine, the words nature and natural are the same as creation and created; and consequently, in his opinion, nothing is supernatural but what immediately belongs to or is done by God alone. Others confine the words nature and natural to the material creation, and consequently give the term supernatural to the operations of spiritual created beings, as well as to those of the Creator, as we have seen in the definition of a miracle given by Mr Chub. Others, again, use these terms without explaining whether they take them in the one sense or the other. Thus the Bishop of St David's, in his vindication of the miracles of our Saviour, says: "A true miracle is properly a supernatural operation, disagreeing with and repugnant to the usual course of things and the known laws of nature, either as to the subject-matter or the manner of its performance." Many of our latest writers on this subject give a still 66 more vague definition of miracles, calling them "effects unusual above human power, and manifesting the interposition of superior power." According to Mr Locke, no more is requisite to constitute a miracle than that it should appear such to the spectator; for he calls it a sensible operation, which exceeds the capacity of the spectator, and which he believes to be contrary to the course of nature, and judges to be divine." Mr Hume, with his vaunted precision, says: "A miracle may be accurately defined a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent."-Ess. on Mir., p. 182. And in another place he calls it a violation of the usual course of nature. Finally, to cite one more, "Every sensible deviation from, or contradiction to, the known laws of nature, must be an evident and incontestable miracle," says Mr Farmer, p. 21. II. Whoever attentively considers these several definitions will easily perceive the very different ideas which they convey. It is not my intention to examine their respective merits or demerits. Some of the above-named gentlemen have already endeavoured to expose the defects of those given by others, while their own have not escaped the censure of their opponents. This great difference, however, among writers, is one plain cause of the many different systems that have been formed regarding miracles; and it seems surprising that so many great men should disagree so widely on a subject which has now for ages been discussed among the learned. For this, however, various reasons may be assigned. Some seem to have been prejudiced in favour of a preconceived hypothesis, and to have adopted only such ideas of miracles, as could be reconciled with it. Some have considered the subject only in a partial manner, and hence their explanations are defective. Others have not sufficiently cleared their own ideas, nor assigned a precise meaning to their terms, and hence they use he same words in various senses, thereby causing confusion and obscurity. In order, therefore, to avoid as much as possible these defects, I propose first to take a view of the things themselves which are the subject-matter of miracles, and also of the agents by whom miracles are performed; and, in doing this, to give a precise explanation of the terms proper to the subject, from which the definition of a miracle, according to the Christian sense of the word, will naturally flow. III. (1.) The works of God, which fall more or less under our observation and experience, are comprised in the visible and material creation. Of these, some are more immediately subject to the examination of our senses, as the earth on which we dwell and the things upon it; others, as the heavenly bodies, being at a distance, we know only by observation, and argue about chiefly by calculation and analogy. To this material visible creation we give the name of nature. (2.) To all those parts of nature which fall under our immediate observation we find that the Creator has given certain powers or forces, which, when applied in their proper circumstances, produce certain uniform results. Thus the power of gravitation causes bodies near the earth to tend towards its centre; the rays of the sun falling upon the earth produce light and heat; seeds sown in a proper soil produce plants and trees; food taken into animal bodies nourishes and strengthens them; the annual motion of the earth round the sun produces the different seasons of the year, and its diurnal motion round its own axis causes day and night. Now, as all these powers of created nature are found |