THE SUPERNATURAL. 17 



M 'Cosh's view of a miracle, are that they are 

 wrought by a Divine power for a Divine purpose, ' 

 and are of a nature such as could not be wrought 

 by merely human contrivance. In this sense a 

 miracle means a superhuman work. This defini- 

 tion of a miracle does not exclude the idea of God 

 working by the use of means, provided they are 

 such means as are out of human reach. Indeed, 

 in an important note, (p. 149,) Dr M'Cosh seems 

 to admit that miracles are not to be considered 

 " as against Nature " in any other sense than that 

 in which " one natural agent may be against 

 another — as water may counteract fire." Mr 

 Mansel, in his " Essay on Miracles," adopts the 

 word "superhuman" as the most accurate ex- 

 pression of his meaning. He says, " A super- 

 human authority needs to be substantiated by 

 superhuman evidence ; and what is superhuman is 

 miraculous."* It is important to observe that this 



* Aids to Faith, p. 35. In another passage, (p. 21,) Mr 

 Mansel says that in respect to the great majority of the miracles 

 recorded in Scripture, "the supernatural element appears . . . 

 in the exercise of a personal power transcending the limits 

 of man's will. They are not so much supermaterial as super- 

 human." 



B 



