MIRACLES AND SPECIAL PROVIDENCES. 369 



assigns to natural phenomena, science has augmented the 

 distance between them and man, and increased the popular 

 belief in their orderly progression. 



As a natural consequence the demand for evidence is 

 more exacting than it used to be, whenever it is affirmed 

 that the order of nature has been disturbed. Let us take 

 as an illustration the miracle by which the victory of Joshua 

 over the Amorites was rendered complete. In this case the 

 sun is reported to have stood still for " about a whole day " 

 upon Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon. An 

 Englishman of average education at the present day would 

 naturally demand a greater amount of evidence to prove 

 that this occurrence took place, than would have satisfied 

 an Israelite in the age succeeding that of Joshua. For to 

 the one, the miracle probably consisted in the stoppage of 

 a fiery ball less than a yard in diameter, while to the other 

 it would be the stoppage of an orb fourteen hundred thou- 

 sand times the earth in size. And even accepting the 

 interpretation that Joshua dealt with what was apparent 

 merely, but that what really occurred was the suspension 

 of the earth's rotation, I think the right to exercise a 

 greater reserve in accepting the miracle, and to demand 

 stronger evidence in support of it than that which would 

 have satisfied an ancient Israelite, will still be conceded to 

 a man of science. 



There is a scientific as well as an historic imagination; 

 and when, by the exercise of the former, the stoppage of 

 the earth's rotation is clearly realized, the event assumes 

 proportions so vast, in comparison with the result to be 

 obtained by it, that belief reels under the reflection. The 

 energy here involved is equal to that of six trillions of 

 horses working for the whole of the time employed by 

 Joshua in the destruction of his foes. The amount of 

 power thus expended would be sufficient to supply every 

 individual of an arrny a thousand times the strength of 

 that of Joshua, with a thousand times the fighting power 

 of each of Joshua's soldiers, not for the few hours necessary 

 to the extinction of a handful of Amorites, but for mill- 

 ions of years. All this wonder is silently passed over by 

 the sacred historian, manifestly 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 us in the face. If 



