318 ORGANIC EVOLUTION CONSIDERED 



pedient to stop short of affirming this attribute. It 

 may be that the attribute exists, although she fails to 

 affirm its existence. Keligion may demand attributes 

 in the Creator over and above those that answer the 

 purposes of science, and still both may be right. 



Science is generally satisfied with secondary causes, 

 while religion always seeks the primary Cause. If 

 religion believes in supernatural acts — such as mira- 

 cles and revelations — we do not know that they are in 

 conflict with the facts of science. 



The possibility of miracles is simply a question of 

 fact. If the evidence shows that miracles have been 

 performed, it is not for science to deny the possibility 

 of miracles on any ground whatever. 



We do not know that miracles are opposed to the 

 processes of nature, or that they are a break in the 

 continuity of the processes of the universe. They 

 may be a part of the plan of the Creator. 



The question as to whether miracles have been per- 

 formed or not depends for its solution on the value 

 of human testimony, and not on a priori affirmation 

 as to the continuity of natural processes. The scien- 

 tific method of determining whether miracles have 

 been performed or not, is not to declare, without 

 investigation, that miracles are impossible, but to 

 examine the evidence, pro and con, in each particular 

 case, and to decide accordingly. Our knowledge of 

 the universe is not so complete as to enable us to de- 

 clare that miracles are impossible. Even if we believe 

 in the Unknown and Unknowable Power, I do not 

 know on what ground we might affirm that it is 

 impossible for that Power to perform a miracle, or to 

 reveal truth to the human mind. Science becomes 

 dogmatic when she affirms the impossibility of a mira- 

 cle or of a revelation. 



It may be possible to believe in the continuity of 



