44. Weare thus led round again to the conclusion that the true miracle, which shall enable us to see the finger of God in the matter, must be more than a wonder. The word τέρας is never used in the NT of a miracle, save in connexion with another word, viz. σημεῖον. Ὁ The miracles of Christ are not only wonders; that would not guarantee their quality : they are signs (see SIGN). They must not be separated from their context and viewed as the prodigies of a thaumaturgist ; for they are capable of being interpreted as the manifestations of supreme spiritual force, only when the attendant circumstances are considered. Mozley puts the case thus :
*To say that the material fact which takes place in 8 miracle admits of being referred to an unknown natural cause, is not to say that the miracle itself does. A miracle is the material fact as coinciding with an express announcement, or with express supernatural pretensions in the agent. It is this correspondence of two fucts which constitutes a miracle. If a person says toa blind man, ‘see,’ and he sees, it is not the sudden return of sight alone that we have to account for, but its return at that particular moment. For it is morally im- possible that this exact agreement of an event with a command or notification could have been by a mere chance, or, as we should say, been an extraordinary coincidence, especially if it is repeated in other cases.’
Thus, then, in the case of an alleged event which would seem to satisfy the definition of a miracle given above by Mill, we have two possible explanations. One is that it is the result of un- known natural law; the other is that it is due to the intervention of supreme spiritual power. And the latter explanation is the one which we feel compelled to adopt, when the extraordinary event presents distinct evidence of purpose. A miracle, then, may be described as an event manifesting purpose, occurring in the physical world, which cannot be accounted for by any of its known forces, and which, therefore, we ascribe to a spiritual cause. It is an interference with the ordinary action of the forces of nature on the part of the Author of Nature—an event brought about, not by any observed combination of physical forces, but by a direct Divine volition. It is thus at once a τέρας and a σημεῖον.
15. These two characteristics enable us to dis- tinguish miracles, so called, from other phenomena which resemble them in certain respects. For instance, as has been already said, an interference with the physical order on the part of the spiritual takes place every time we exert our free will. On every occasion of such exertion we demonstrate the possibility of material phenomena being in- fluenced by a personal, conscious, free agent. The resulting action is a σημεῖον of the Intelligent Will which started the series of physical moyements with a view to the fulfilment of foreseen purpose. We do not, however, call this a τέρας, a wonder, although it is truly a very wonderful thing. But there is no sensible interruption of the physical sequence ; the continuity seems to be unbroken ; and, so far as the powers of observation reach, it is unbroken. Once the initial impulse has been given, the power of the muscles is subject to physical laws, like any other physical force. An
act of free will is not, strictly, comparable to a
miracle, but to the action of Divine Providence in
relation to mankind. All ‘ special providences,’ or * Ac 21%, an apparent exception, is a quotation from J] 230,
—to use a better phrase—all answers to prayer, are strictly due to the intervention of the spiritual in the physical order, We do not call these miracles, because there is no apparent interruption of the ordinary course of nature; but yet at some point in the physical series there has been the intervention of the Divine will. Our conception of God (see NATURE) is not that He stands aloof from the world save on those rare occasions where we speak of miraculous interposition, but that He perpetually directs and controls the forces of nature in accordance with His purposes. But these forces are not His masters ; they are His servants. And we have no ground for assuming that He can- not, for a special purpose, combine, counteract, paralyze their energy as He wills. Here we have reached the point beyond which the analogy of man’s free will does not carry us. For man’s free will is subject to strict limitations in its exercise. One obvious limitation is that man’s influence over foreign bodies is possible only through the instrumentality of his own body. Despite some recorded phenomena, it seems to be true that man’s will can enter the physical series only through the medium of the grey matter of his own brain. We have no warrant whatever for extend- ing any such limiting law to the action of the Divine will, nor indeed would it be consistent with the conception of a Supreme Agent who is immanent in nature, while transcending it. This is a fundamental difference, indicating, as it does, that the Divine volition is related to the forces of nature in a fashion very diverse from that in which the human volition is related to those forces. The result of the exercise of human will is a σημεῖον; it is not a τέρας.