nullus alius miraculorum esset usus, nisi ut absolutam illam divinaa voluntatis libertatem demonstrent, humanamque arrogantiam, im- modicse legis naturalis admirationi junctam, compescant, miracula baud temere essent edita." ^
(3.) The authority of Scripture is for Christians decisive on this point. The Bible everywhere not only asserts the absolute inde- pendence of God of all his works, and his absolute control over them, but is also filled with examples of the actual exercise of tliis control. Every miracle recorded in the Scriptures is such an example. When Christ called Lazarus from the grave, the chem- ical forces which were working the dissolution of his body ceased to operate. When He said to the winds. Be still, the physical causes which produced the storm were arrested in their operation ; when He walked on the sea the law of gravitation was counter- acted by a stronger force — even the divine will. In 2 Kings vi. 5, 6, we are told that an " axe head fell into the water," and that the man of God cut a stick and cast it into the water, " and the iron did swim." Here an effect was produced which all known physical laws would tend to prevent. The Scriptures, therefore, by word and deed, teach that God can act, not only with physical causes, but without and against them.
(4.) After all, the suspension or violation of the laws of nature involved in miracles is nothing more than is constantly taking place around us. One force counteracts another ; vital force keeps the chemical laws of matter in abeyance ; and muscular force can con- trol the action of physical force. When a man raises a weight from the ground, the law of gravity is neither suspended nor vio- lated, but counteracted by a stronger force. The same is true as to the walking of Christ on the water, and the swimming of the iron at the command of the prophet. The simple and grand' truth that the universe is not under the exclusive control of physical forces, but that everywhere and always there is above, separate from, and superior to all else, an infinite personal will, not super- seding, but directing and controlling all physical causes, acting with or without them. The truth on this subject was beautifully expressed by Sir Isaac Newton, when he said, " Deura esse ens summe perfectum concedunt omnes. Entis autem summe perfect! Idea est ut sit substantia una, simplex, indivisibilis, viva et vivifica, ubique semper necessai'io existens, summe intelligens omnia, libera volens bona, voluntate efficiens possibilia, effectibus nobilioribus similitudinem propriam quantum fieri potest, communicans, om-
1 De Miracul. J. C. Nat. et Necess. Marburg, 1839, par. i. pp. 41, 42.
622 PART I. — THEOLOGY. [Ch. XH. - Miracles.
nia in se continens, tanquam eorum principium et locus, omnia per prsesentiam substantialem cernens et regens, et cum rebus omni- bus, secundum leges accuratas ut naturae totiua fundamentum et causa constanter cooperans, nisi ubi aliter agere bonum est." ^ God is the author of nature : He has ordained its laws : He is everywhere present in his works : He governs all things by cooperating and using the laws which He has ordained, nisi ubi AI.ITER AGERE BONUM EST. He has left Himself free.
Higher Laws.
A second objection to the usual definition of miracles, is that they should be referred to some higher, occult law of nature and not to the immediate agency of God. This objection is urged by two very different classes of writers. First, those who adopt the mechanical theory of the universe assume that God has given it up to the government of natural laws, and no more interferes with its natural operations than a ship-builder with the navigation of the ships he has constructed. This is the view presented by Babbage in his " Ninth Bridge water Treatise." He supposes a man placed before his calculating machine, which for millions and millions of times produces square numbers ; then for once produces a cube number ; and then only squares until the machine wears out. There are two ways of accounting for the extraordinary cube number. The one is that the maker of the machine directly interfered for its production. The other is that he provided for its appearance in the original construction of the machine. The latter explanation gives a far higher idea of the skill and wisdom of the mechanist ; and so, Mr. Babbage argues, it is " more con- sistent with the attributes of the Deity to look upon miracles not as deviations from the laws assigned by the Almighty for tlie gov- ernment of matter and of mind ; but as the exact fulfilment of much more extensive laws than those we suppose to exist." ^ In like manner Professor Baden Powell, contends that every physical effect must have a physical cause, and therefore that miracles, con- sidered as physical events, must be " referred to physical causes, possibly to knoivn causes ; but, at all events, to some higher cause or law, if at present unknown." ^
Secondly, this same ground is taken by many who do not thus banish God from his works. They admit that He is everywhere
1 Sir David Brewster's Life of Newton, vol. ii. p. 154, edit. Edinburgh, 1855.
S The Ninth Bridgewnter Treatise. By Charles Babbage, Esq. London, 1838, p. 92.
« Essays and Reviews ; or Recent Inquiries in Theology, p. 160. Boston, 1860.