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A MIRACLE IS A MIRACLE,

made, and it succeeds, it is usually after much time has been consumed, and much medicine has been taken by the sufferer. But Christ says to the Leper: "I will be thou clean"-and immediately the leper is cleansed. That is not in accordance

with the conditions of Science, or with the usual Order of Nature.

Such a

Two hundred years ago-in the reign of our Charles the Second-Dr. Sydenham, one of the most illustrious medical names which England can boast, cured a man who was born blind. cure astonished everybody: the surgical operation was a very delicate one to perform; and the patient gained sight only by slow degrees. But Christ puts clay on the eyes of a man who was born blind, and says "Go to the pool of Siloam and wash" -and the man obeys, and sees instantly. And the man undergoes a good deal of critical and sceptical handling and brow-beating, but they cannot persuade him out of the reality. "I know that I was blind, and that now I see," he still replies. These instances of Miracle are not in accordance with the conditions of Science: they are not in agreement with the usual Order of Nature. It is

BECAUSE IT IS NOT NATURAL.

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not an ordinary fact of Science that a spoken word cures leprosy or blindness, and that instantaneously. And they who tell us that such instantaneous cures must have been wrought by a higher and unknown natural law only theorize: they do not prove to us that such instantaneous cures are in accordance with the conditions of Science and with the usual order of Nature.

Again: what are commonly called the Natural Laws often act contrary the one to the other. I lift my arm, or I employ a magnet to lift a piece of iron from the floor-contrary to the force of gravitation which would draw my arm downwards, and keep the iron on the floor. You salt meat, and that preserves it for food; but that is contrary to what a scientific man would call the law of putrefaction which would only have rendered the meat fit for the dunghill. There is nothing in these instances contrary to the facts of Science: the raising up of the iron by a magnet and the preservation of meat from putrefaction by the application of salt, are both in accordance with the usual Order of Nature and the conditions of Science.

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:

A MIRACLE IS A MIRACLE,

Again Christ changes water into wine-He calms the storm by a word-He walks on the sea

-He feeds five thousand at one time, and four thousand at another time, with a few loaves and fishes; and the food which is left when all have eaten is more than it was when they began to eat— He heals the leper, the paralytic, the lame, the blind, by a word-He raises Lazarus from the dead. None of these are facts in accordance with the usual order of Nature: none of these are facts that fulfil the conditions of Science. To assert that deeds like these were wrought merely by the operation of a higher and unknown natural law is only to theorize, we say again. No proof is offered to It is only mystification; and we do not accept it. We will have no mistake about the real nature of our enquiry: we will be perfectly clear in our minds, at the very beginning, as to what it is we are enquiring about. When we are asked "What do you mean by a Miracle? What is a Miracle ?" We reply, plainly-A deed which is an exception to the usual Order of Nature: a deed which suspends or transcends what are called the Natural Laws, or the Laws of Nature.

us.

BECAUSE IT IS NOT NATURAL.

Having stated, definitely, what we mean by a Miracle, let us listen, at once, to the Doubterwho may imagine that he is not treated respectfully, unless we listen to him, at once.

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THE SECOND QUESTION

THA

II.

IS A MIRACLE POSSIBLE?

Is it possible in the

HAT is the question which a modest doubter will put to us, at once. nature of things? he means.

"Can a Miracle,"

he will ask-" a Miracle such as you have defined a miracle to be-a deed which is an exception to the usual Order of Nature-a deed suspending or transcending the Natural Laws-ever have been witnessed? We never see any departure from the Order of Nature, now."

And what of that? Let us think a bit.

I take it for granted that we all believe in the Order of Nature. We expect that the sun will rise and set to-morrow, and the next day, and the next. We expect that the moon will shine, and the stars glitter, for years to come. We expect the return of the seasons, as we have seen it all our lives. The farmer sows his grain, and says "The harvest