THE ATTITUDE OF SCIENCE TOWARDS MIRACLES. 99 
have been alleged which have turned out to be no miracles at 
all. Examination has shown them—so far as “ miraculous ”— 
to be the progeny of ignorance, or superstition, or fraud. Svience 
has discovered that in some cases the “miracle” is a natural 
marvel explicable by natural causes, that in others the extra- 
ordinary effect is referable to psychic forces stimulated by 
credulity, and in others the explanation lurks ina network of 
lies. This has been insisted on as a proof that all miracles are 
shams, or at all events the occurrence of a genuine miracle is a 
matter of great improbability. The conclusion is however more 
than the premises will bear. Indeed, it may be said that the 
wide-spread belief in the miraculous is itself an argument that 
the miraculous exists or has existed. 
It may also be said that it were not very convincing to 
contend that, because science discovers that there are untrust- 
worthy banknotes and bad shillings, therefore all banknotes and 
shillings are of this character. 
The existence of the counterfeit does not disprove, but proves, 
that of the thing counterfeited—there would be no counterfeits. 
were there no realities. The objection thus retorts upon itself. 
Thus, each one of the various arguments which have been 
held to show that miracles are a priori improbable is seen to 
fail, and we are warranted in affirming that science does not say 
that miracles are a priori improbable.* 
Does science say that they are probable? In pronouncing 
upon the probability or the occurrence of any phenomenon, 
miraculous or non-miraculous, science takes account of (1) the 
nature of the phenomenon; (2) the conditions under which it is 
alleged to have occurred; (3) the character of the testimony to 
its occurrence. 
(1) In the case of a miracle, the nature of the phenomenon 
involves the marvellous and the supernatural. (2) The con- 
ditions include the character of the worker and the characters 
of the persons for whom the miracle is worked, and the 
relations mutually subsisting between worker and witnesses. 
(3) The character of the testimony is dependent upon the 
trustworthiness—moral and intellectual—of the witnesses. A 
scientific investigation will examine and report upon each and 
all of these matters, and it is obvious that any particular 
* Mill remarks that “the only antecedent improbability which can be 
ascribed to a miracle is the improbability of the existence of a New 
Cause,” namely, ‘a direct interposition of an act of will of some Being 
who has power over nature.” (Logic, 8th Edition, vol. ii, 167-8.) 
