18 FKAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



culous proof of the goodness of Christ. The words 

 addressed to Matthew at the receipt of custom required 

 no miracle to produce obedience. It was by no stroke 

 of the supernatural that Jesus caused those sent to seize 

 Him to go backward and fall to the ground. It was the 

 sublime and holy effluence from within, which needed 

 no prodigy to commend it to the reverence even of his 

 foes. 



As regards the function of miracles in the founding 

 of a religion, Mr. Mozley institutes a comparison be- 

 tween the religion of Christ and that of Mahomet ; and 

 he derides the latter as ' irrational ' because it does not 

 profess to adduce miracles in proof of its supernatural 

 origin. But the religion of Mahomet, notwithstanding 

 this drawback, has thriven in the world, and at one time 

 it held sway over larger populations than Christianity 

 itself. The spread and influence of Christianity are, 

 however, brought forward by Mr. Mozley as 'a per- 

 manent, enormous, and incalculable practical result ' of 

 Christian miracles ; and he makes use of this result to 

 strengthen his plea for the miraculous. His logical 

 warrant for this proceeding is not clear. It is the 

 method of science, when a phenomenon presents itself, 

 towards the production of which several elements may 

 contribute, to exclude them one by one, so as to arrive 

 at length at the truly effective cause. Heat, for exam- 

 ple, is associated with a phenomenon ; we exclude heat, 

 but the phenomenon remains: hence, heat is not its cause. 

 Magnetism is associated with a phenomenon ; we exclude 

 magnetism, but the phenomenon remains : hence, magnet- 

 ism is not its cause. Thus, also, when we seek the cause 

 of a diffusion of a religion whether it be due to miracles, 

 or to the spiritual force of its founders we exclude the 

 miracles, and, finding the result unchanged, we infer that 

 miracles are not the effective cause. This important ex- 



