140 GEOLOGY AND HISTORY 



the question : Is the Deluge represented as a miracu- 

 lous or a merely natural phenomenon ? Yet, from 

 a scientific point of view, this question has not the 

 significance usually attributed to it. True miracles 

 are not, and cannot be, contraventions or violations of 

 God's natural laws. They are merely unusual opera- 

 tions of natural powers under their proper laws, but 

 employed by the Almighty for effecting spiritual 

 ends. Thus, naturally, they are under the laws of 

 the material world, but, spiritually, they belong to a 

 higher sphere. In the present case, according to the 

 narrative in Genesis, the Flood was physically as much 

 a natural phenomenon as the earthquakes at Ischia, 

 or the eruption of Krakatoa. It was a miraculous or 

 spiritual intervention only in so far as it was related 

 to the destruction of an ungodly race, and as it was 

 announced beforehand by a prophet. Had the ap- 

 proaching eruption of Krakatoa been intended as a 

 judgment on the wicked, and had it been revealed to 

 anyone who had taken pains to warn his countrymen 

 and then to provide for his own safety, this would 

 have given to that eruption as much of a miraculous 

 character as the Bible attaches to the Deluge. In the 

 New Testament, where we have more definite infor- 

 mation as to miracles, they are usually called ' powers ' 

 and ' signs,' less prominence being given to the mere 

 wonder which is implied in the term ' miracle.' 

 Under the aspect of powers, they imply that the 

 Creator can do many things beyond our power and 

 comprehension, just as in a lesser way a civilised 



