2U6 REV. H. C. M. WATSON 



part of tlic course of nature^ just as the fall of an aerolite is a 

 part of the course of nature. 



Theoretically the argument is sufficient ; but^ regarded as 

 an explanation of the fact of miracles, it is highly objection- 

 able. If our Lord^s miracles, either of word or act, find an 

 illustration in Mr. Babbage's calculating-machine, then the 

 miracles were not His, butnature\s. He merely took advantage 

 of the law originally impressed upon nature ; that at a given 

 period, after the lapse of thousands of years, nature would 

 produce, under certain conditions, certain phenomena. 



The supposition exalts His knowledge at the expense of His 

 power, and casts some reflection, however slight, upon His 

 moral character. His knowledge of the hidden processes of 

 nature would certainly be evidential of His mission, for no 

 man could know either the thoughts of man or the secrets of 

 nature unless God were with him ; yet, though evidential of 

 His mission, the miracles were not His, but nature^s, achieved 

 in accordance with a law originally impressed upon her by the 

 Divine Hand. 



To the particular form of the objection that a miracle is a 

 contrivance, I should reply : — To object to contrivance is to 

 object to the existence of animated creation ; it is to demand 

 that all intelligent creatures shall themselves be equal with 

 God, — the Self-existent and Self-contained. 



(b) Contrivance a necessary Condition of dependent Life. 



The conditions of life are contrivances, nor could 

 dependent life, so far as we know, exist without 

 contrivances. The taking of food is the contrivance by 

 which we maintain our bodily life and strength; speech 

 and writing are contrivances by which we communicate 

 our thoughts. The facts of life ai'e contrivances by which we 

 gain experience and education. Suppose, now, that we were 

 maintained in life without eating, that we held communion 

 with each other without speaking or performing some kindred 

 act ; that we obtained our experience of life instinctively ; that 

 what we call our habits were impressed upon us without the 

 necessity of our feeling an ache or a pain, or enduring a 

 pang of disappointment and sorrow. Suppose this method to 

 be extended throughout the whole range of our human life ; 

 that the clumsy method of '' means to an end," or continvance, 



