MIRACLES AND SPECIAL PROVIDENCES 23 



cause. Heat, for example, is associated with, a phe- 

 nomenon; we exclude heat, but the phenomenon re- 

 mains: hence, heat is not its cause. Magnetism is 

 associated with a phenomenon; we exclude magnetism, 

 but the phenomenon remains: hence, magnetism is not 

 its cause. Thus, also, when we seek the cause of a 

 diffusion of a religion — whether it be due to miracles, 

 or to the spiritual force of its founders — we exclude the 

 miracles, and, finding the result unchanged, we infer 

 that miracles are not the effective cause. This impor- 

 tant experiment Mohammedanism has made for us. It 

 has lived and spread without miracles; and to assert, in 

 the face of this, that Christianity has spread because 

 of miracles, is, I submit, opposed both to the spirit of 

 science and the common-sense of mankind. 



The incongruity of inferring moral goodness from 

 miraculous power has been dwelt upon above; in an- 

 other particular also the strain put by Mr. Mozley upon 

 miracles is, I think, more than they can bear. In con- 

 sistency with his principles, it is difficult to see how he 

 is to draw from the miracles of Christ any certain conclu- 

 sion as to His Divine nature. He dwells very forcibly 

 on what he calls "the argument from experience," in 

 the demolition of which he takes obvious delight. He 

 destroys the argument, and repeats it, for the mere pleas- 

 ure of again and again knocking the breath out of it. 

 Experience, he urges, can only deal with the past; and 

 the moment we attempt to project experience a hair- 

 breadth beyond the point it has at any moment reached, 

 we are condemned by reason. It appears to me that 

 when he infers from Christ's miracles a Divine and alto- 

 gether superhuman energy, Mr. Mozley places himself 



