82 PROF. H. LANGHORNE ORCHARD, M.A., B.SC., ON 
These definitions seem to justify the following :—Stcience ds the 
investigation and study of things and phenomena in nature, with 
a view to their explanation and correlation in the great order of 
the universe. In doing this, she seeks to arrange and classify 
them, for the two-fold purpose of retaining knowledge gained 
and of employing it as a progressive means to further 
knowledge. 
What is a Miracle? Thomas Aquinas* answers :—‘“ Things 
that are done occasionally by Divine power outside of the usual 
established order of events are commonly called Miracles. We 
wonder when we see an effect and do not know the cause. The 
absolutely wonderful is that which has a cause absolutely 
hidden. Now the cause absolutely hidden to every man is 
God.” Hume says, “ Nothing is esteemed a miracle if it ever 
happen in the common course of nature”; and, in his affirma- 
tion that miracles are “violations” of the laws of nature, has 
the intellectual sympathy of Spinoza. 
A better definition is that given by Lockef—<A miracle 
I take to be a sensible operation, which, being above the 
comprehension of the spectator, and in his opinion contrary 
to the established course of nature, is taken by men to be Divine.” 
According to the Encyclopedic Dictionary, a miracle is 
etymologically “anything which excites wonder, surprise, or 
astonishment,’ and it 1s “a supernatural event or act.” 
Butlert considers that “A Miracle in its very notion, is 
relative to a course of nature, and implies something different 
from it, considered as being so.” Isaac Taylor calls a miracle 
“a fragmentary instance of the eternal order of an upper 
world.” Smythe Palmer would define a miracle “as a new 
effect introduced by a new cause, and that cause the will of 
God.” Other interesting definitions are the following :—“ The 
best idea which we can form of a miracle is that of an event 
or phenomenon which is fitted to suggest to us the action of a 
personal spiritual power ” (Westcott). Miracles may be defined, 
“ provisionally,” as “ Physical phenomena which are unaccount- 
able by the known laws and processes of nature ” (Girdlestone).§ 
A miracle is “An exception to the observed order of nature 
brought about by God in order to reveal His will or purpose” 
* Summa contra Gentiles. t+ Discourse of Miracles. 
t Analogy, Part ii. 
§ “The Scriptural Idea of Miracles.” Transactions of the Victoria 
Institute, vol. xxxix. 
