420 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



sacred historian, confessedly because he knew nothing 

 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 the scientific man 

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

 the Israelites knew nothing of its amount ; if simply de- 

 structive, then the ratio of the quantity lost to that em- 

 ployed may be inferred from the foregoing figures. 



To other miracles similar remarks apply. Transferring 

 thought from our little sand-grain of an earth to the im- 

 measurable heavens, where countless worlds, with their 

 freights of life, probably revolve unseen, the very suns which 

 warm them being barely seen by us across abysmal space ; 

 reflecting that beyond these sparks of solar fire suns innu- 

 merable may lie, whose light can never stir the optic nerve 

 at all ; and, bringing this conception face to face with the 

 idea that the Builder and Sustainer of it all should contract 

 himself to a burning bush, or behave in other familiar ways 

 ascribed to him it is easy to understand how astounding 

 the incongruity must appear to the scientific man. Did 

 this credulous prattle of the ancients about miracles stand 

 alone ; were it not locally associated with w r ords of imper- 

 ishable wisdom, and with examples of moral grandeur un- 

 matched elsewhere in the history of the human race, both 

 the miracles and their " evidences " would have long since 

 ceased to be the transmitted inheritance of intelligent men. 

 Under the pressure of the awe which this universe inspires, 

 well may we exclaim in David's spirit, if not in David's 

 words: "When I consider the heavens the work of thy 

 fingers, the moon, and the stars, which thou hast ordained ; 

 what is man that thou shouldst be mindful of him, or the 

 son of man that thou shouldst so regard him ? " 



If you ask me who is to limit the outgoings of Al- 

 mighty power, my answer is, not I. If you should urge 

 that if the Builder and the Maker of this universe chose to 



