THEORY OF DIRECT CREATION. 29 



sequent decline of belief in the supernatural in 

 Modern Europe, stand to each other in the 

 direct relation of cause and effect. 



Jesus asserted that " prayer and fasting " were 

 necessary to the performance of certain miracles, 

 and cures are still effected by Eastern devotees, 

 and at times by European Catholics by such 

 means. Protestants do not fast ; does this par- 

 tially explain the absence of such cures among 

 them ? It has also been asserted that magic has 

 been secretly practised down to the present 

 day in many parts of Europe. All this, if 

 true, merely illustrates our present argument, 

 viz. that the " supernatural " is as much the 

 outcome of natural law, as the " natural." 



