848 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
MIRACLES AND SPECIAL PROVIDENCES.* 1867. 
Mr. Mozley's book belongs to that class of writing of which Butler 
may be taken as the type. It is strong, genuine argument about 
difficult matters, fairly tracing what is difficult, fairly trying to 
grapple, not with what appears the gist and strong point of a ques- 
tion, but with what really at bottom is the knot of it. It is a book 
the reasoning of which may not satisfy every one. . . . But we think 
it is a book for people who wish to see a great subject handled on a 
scale which befits it, and with a perception of its real elements. It is 
a book which will have attractions for those who like to see a power- 
ful mind applying itself, without shrinking or holding back, without 
trick or reserve or show of any kind, as a wrestler closes body to 
body with his antagonist, to the strength of an adverse and powerful 
argument. TIMES, Tuesday, June 5, 1866. 
We should add, that the faults of the work are wholly on the sur- 
face and in the arrangement; that the matter is as solid and as logical 
as that of any book within recent memory, and that it abounds in 
striking passages, of which we have scarcely been able even to give a 
sample. No future arguer against miracles can afford to pass it over. 
SATURDAY REVIEW, September 15, 1866. 
IT is my privilege to enjoy the friendship of a select 
number of religious men, with whom I converse frankly 
upon theological subjects, expressing without disguise 
the notions and opinions I entertain regarding their 
tenets, and hearing in return these notions and opinions 
subjected to criticism. I have thus far found them liberal 
and loving men, patient in hearing, tolerant in reply, 
who know how to reconcile the duties of courtesy with the 
earnestness of debate. From one of these, nearly a year 
ago, I received a note, recommending strongly to my 
attention the volume of " Bampton Lectures " for 1865, in 
which the question of miracles is treated by Mr. Mozley. 
Previous to receiving this note, I had in part made the 
acquaintance of the work through an able and elaborate 
review of it in the Times. The combined effect of the 
letter and the review was to make the book the companion 
of my summer tour in the Alps. There, during the wet 
and snowy days which were only too prevalent in 1866, and 
during the days of rest interpolated between days of toil. I 
made myself more thoroughly conversant with Mr. 
* Fortnightly Review, New Series, vol. i., p. 645. 
