MIRACLES AND SPECIAL PROVIDENCES. 55 



ticular also the strain put upon miracles by Mr. Mozley is, 

 I think, more than they can bear. In consistency with his 

 principles, it is difficult to see how he is to draw from the 

 miracles of Christ any certain conclusion as to His Divine 

 nature. He dwells very forcibly on what he calls " the argu- 

 ment from experience," in the demolition of which he takes 

 evident delight. He destroys the argument, and repeats it 

 for the mere pleasure 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's 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 

 altogether superhuman energy, Mr. Mozley places himself 

 precisely under this condemnation. For what is his logical 

 ground for concluding that the miracles of the New Testa- 

 ment illustrate Divine power ? May they not be the result 

 of expanded human power ? A miracle he defines as some- 

 thing impossible to man. But how does he know that the 

 miracles of the New Testament are impossible to man ? 

 Seek as he may, he has absolutely no reason to adduce save 

 this — that man has never hitherto accomplished such things. 

 But does the fact that man has never raised the dead prove 

 that he can never raise the dead ? " Assuredly not," must 

 be Mr. Mozley's reply ; " for this would be pushing experi- 

 ence beyond the limit it has now reached — which I pro- 

 nounce unlawful." Then a period may come when man 

 will be able to raise the dead. If this be conceded — and I 

 do not see how Mr. Mozley can avoid the concession — it 

 destroys the necessity of inferring Christ's divinity from his 

 miracles. He, it may be contended, antedated the humanity 

 of the future ; as a mighty tidal-wave leaves high upon the 

 beach a mark which by-and-by becomes the general level 

 of the ocean. Turn the matter as you will, no other warrant 

 will be found for the all-important conclusion that Christ's 



