ON MIRACLES. 209 



therefore, is no I'eflection upon tlio wisdom and power of tbo 

 Divine Being. 



The existence of a Being adequate to the performance of 

 a miracle being assumed, a miracle is in relation to Him 

 what an act of volition, followed by an effect, is in relation 

 to man. Man is, however, a part of nature. He is, there- 

 fore, included in our conception and definition of nature. 



If he were not included in our conception of nature his 

 action upon nature would be miraculous, — supernatural. Every 

 time he stopped a cricket-ball, every time he lifted a body 

 from the earth, his action would be supernatural. A little 

 child, on such a supposition, could produce results which 

 could not be brought about by the laws of nature (thus 

 limited) without endangering the stability of the world. 

 Suppose, a German philosopher says, that a pebble, instead 

 of lying in its native bed, — the seashore, — lay some few yards, 

 say a quarter of a mile, inland. What tremendous force in the 

 hurricane that carried it thus far ! What atmospheric dis- 

 turbance to occasion such a storm ! What terrible conse- 

 quences involved in this disturbance, — the levelling of forests, 

 — the destruction of cities, — the engulphing of ships ! And 

 all this because of the removal of a small pebble from the 

 seashore, in accordance with the laws of nature (on the sup- 

 position that man's action is not included in them). 



Behold how simple an explanation is given so soon as man 

 is included in our conception of nature. A little child, 

 playing upon the sands, picks up the pebble, carries it 

 thoughtlessly in his hand, and casts it carelessly away ! 

 Immediately the mighty hurricane ceases, and all the mis- 

 chievous consequences following in its train come to an abrupt 

 termination. 



Canon Heurtley, in Replies to 'Essays and Revieivs' 

 (p. 149), writes : — 



" The human will is the element, the action of whose dis- 

 turbing force upon the material system around us comes most 

 frequently or most strikingly under our notice. Man, in 

 the exercise of his ordinaiy faculties, is perpetually interfering 

 with, or moulding or controlling the operation of these ordi- 

 nary laws of matter, which are in exercise around him. He 

 does so if he does but disturb one pebble in its state of rest, 

 or stay the fall of another before it reaches the ground. He 

 does so to a vastly greater extent when, by means of the 

 appliances with which art, instructed by science, has furnished 

 him, he projects a ball to the distance of four or five miles, 

 or constrains steam, or light, or electricity to do his bidding." 



So soon as we include man in our conception of nature his 



VOL. XX. Q 



