MIRACLES AND SPECIAL PROVIDENCES. 349 



Mozley 's volume. I found it clear and strong an intellec- 

 tual tonic, as bracing and pleasant to my mind as the keen 

 air of the mountains was to my body. From time to time 

 I jotted down thoughts regarding it, intending afterward 

 to work them up into a coherent whole. Other duties, how- 

 ever, interfered with the complete carrying out of this 

 intention, and what I wrote last summer I now publish, 

 not hoping to be able, within any reasonable time, to 

 render my defense of scientific method more complete. 



Mr. Mozley refers at the outset of his task to the move- 

 ment against miracles which of late years has taken place, 

 and which determined his choice of a subject. He acquits 

 modern science of having had any great share in the pro- 

 duction of this movement. The objection against miracles, 

 he says, does not arise from any minute knowledge of the 

 laws of nature, but simply because they are opposed to that 

 plain and obvious order of nature which everybody sees. 

 The present movement is, he thinks, to be ascribed to the 

 greater earnestness and penetration of the present age. 

 Formerly miracles were accepted without question, because 

 without reflection; but the exercise of the " historic imag- 

 ination" is a characteristic of our own time. Men are now 

 accustomed to place before themselves vivid images of 

 historic facts; and when a miracle rises to view, they halt 

 before the astounding occurrence, and, realizing it with 

 the same clearness as if it were now passing before their 

 eyes, they ask themselves, " Can this have taken place?" 

 In some instances the effort to answer this question has led 

 to a disbelief in miracles, in others to a strengthening of 

 belief. The aim of Mr. Mozley's lectures is to show that 

 the strengthening of belief is the logical result which ought 

 to follow from the examination of the facts. 



Attempts have been made by religious men to bring the 

 Scripture miracles within the scope of the order of nature, 

 but all such attempts are rejected by Mr. Mozley as utterly 

 futile and wide of the mark. Regarding miracles as a 

 necessary accompaniment of a revelation, their evidential 

 value in his eyes depends entirely upon their deviation 

 from the order of nature. Thus deviating, they suggest 

 and illustrate a power higher than nature, a "personal 

 will;" and they commend the person in whom this power 

 is vested as a messenger from on high. Without these 

 credentials such a messenger would have no right to demand 



