ADDITIONAL REMARKS ON MIRACLES 41 



think the right to exercise a greater reserve in accepting 

 the miracle, and to demand stronger evidence in support 

 of it than that which would have satisfied an ancient 

 Israelite, will still be conceded to a man of science. 



There is a scientific as well as a historic imagination; 

 and when, by the exercise of the former, the stoppage of 

 the earth's rotation is clearly realized, the event assumes 

 proportions so vast, in comparison with the result to be 

 obtained by it, that belief reels under the reflection. The 

 energy here involved is equal to that of six trillions of 

 horses working for the whole of the time employed by 

 Joshua in the destruction of his foes. The amount of 

 power thus expended would be sufficient to supply every 

 individual of an army a thousand times the strength of 

 that of Joshua, with a thousand times the fighting power 

 of each of Joshua's soldiers, not for the few hours neces- 

 sary to the extinction of a handful of Amorites, but for 

 millions of years. All this wonder is silently passed over 

 by the sacred historian, manifestly because he knew noth- 

 ing about it. Whether, therefore, we consider the miracle 

 as purely evidential, or as a practical means of vengeance, 

 the same lavish squandering of energy stares us in the 

 face. If evidential, the energy was wasted, because the 

 Israelites knew nothing of its amount; if simply destruc- 

 tive, then the ratio of the quantity lost to the quantity 

 employed may be inferred from the foregoing figures. 



To other miracles similar remarks apply. Transferring 

 our thoughts from this little sand-grain of an earth to the 

 immeasurable heavens, where countless worlds with freights 

 of life probably revolve unseen, the very suns which warm 

 them being barely visible across abysmal space; reflecting 

 that beyond these sparks of solar fire* suns innumerable 



