430 Credibility of Extraordinary Stories. [CHAP, xv n. 



prevalence of law and order in nature, by defining a miracle 

 from a different point of view. A miracle may be called, for 

 instance, an immediate exertion of creative power, a sign 

 of a revelation, or, still more vaguely, an extraordinary 

 event. But nothing would be gained by adopting any such 

 definitions as these. However they might satisfy the theo 

 logian, the student of physical science would not rest content 

 with them for a moment. He would at once assert his own 

 belief, and that of other scientific men, in the existence of 

 universal law, and enquire what was the connection of the 

 definition with this doctrine. An answer would imperatively 

 be demanded to the question, Does the miracle, as you have 

 described it, imply an infraction of one of these laws, or does 

 it not ? And an answer must be given, unless indeed we 

 reject his assumption by denying our belief in the existence 

 of this universal law, in which case of course we put our 

 selves out of the pale of argument with him. The necessity 

 of having to recognize this fact is growing upon men day by 

 day, with the increased study of physical science. And since 

 this aspect of the question has to be met some time or other, 

 it is as well to place it in the front. The difficulty, in its 

 scientific form, is of course a modern one, for the doctrine out 

 of which it arises is modern. But it is only one instance, out 

 of many that might be mentioned, in which the growth of 

 some philosophical conception has gradually affected the 

 nature of the dispute, and at last shifted the position of the 

 battle-ground, in some discussion with which it might not at 

 first have appeared to have any connection whatever. 



23. So far our path is plain. Up to this point disciples 

 of very different schools may advance together; for in laying 

 down the above doctrine we have carefully abstained from 

 implying or admitting that it contains the whole truth. But 

 from this point two paths branch out before us, paths as 



