ADDITIONAL REMARKS ON MIRACLES. 



AMONG the scraps of manuscript written at the time 

 when Mr. Mozley's work occupied my attention I find the 

 following reflections : 



With regard to the influence of modern science which 

 Mr. Mozley rates so low, one effect of it is certainly to en- 

 hance the magnitude of many of the recorded miracles, and 

 to increase proportionably the difficulties of belief. The 

 ancients knew but little of the vastness of the universe. 

 The Rev. Mr. Kirkman, for example, has shown what inad- 

 equate notions the Jews entertained regarding the " firma- 

 ment of heaven ; " and Professor Airy refers to the case of 

 a Greek philosopher who was persecuted for hazarding the 

 assertion, then deemed monstrous, that the sun might be as 

 large as the whole country of Greece. The concerns of a 

 universe, regarded from this point of view, were vastly 

 more commensurate with man and his concerns than those 

 of the universe which science now reveals to us ; and hence 

 that to suit man's purposes, or in compliance with his 

 prayers, changes should occur in the order of the universe, 

 was more easy of belief in the ancient world than it can 

 be now. In the very magnitude which it assigns to natural 

 phenomena, science has augmented the distance between 

 them and man, and increased the popular belief in their or- 

 derly progression. As a natural consequence, the demand 



