282 THE VERT REV. H. WACE, V.TJ., ON SOME OF 



comment upon the Essay as a whole, for it covers so varied a 

 ground, and my own department in science is, as you know, a very 

 restricted one. But I noted one or two sentences, in reading the 

 paper, which seemed to me w^orthy of very special attention. I was 

 struck by the suggestive little sentence, "All the phenomena of 

 Nature, like the leaves of a tree, are more or less irregular." That 

 is exceedingly well put. It is a fact which we are always realizing 

 in physical science, that the phenomena of Nature are always more 

 or less irregular ; yet it is from that very fact that we are able to 

 learn concerning what are termed " Laws of Nature." We have 

 irregular phenomena presented to us ; yet when we examine into 

 them, we find that an underlying unity of principle is exemplified. 

 Consequently for the last hundred years very great importance has 

 been attached in physical science to what is called " the theory of 

 probability." A great number of observations are accumulated, 

 showing many apparent irregularities, and the question arises as to 

 how to analyse those irregularities so as to trace each to its proper 

 cause or combination of causes. And we find that the phenomena 

 of Nature do yield to such an analj^sis, and that the underlying 

 assumption upon which our analysis must rest is that of the 

 essential Unity of the Power behind Nature. 



Another sentence which attracted me very much, referred to 

 the miracles of the New Testament. " The argument must always 

 therefore rest, in the last resort, upon the response of the individupJ 

 conscience to the moral and spiritual claim of our Lord and His 

 Apostles. From that issue the controversy is never likely to be sub- 

 stantially shifted." Miracles, at first sight, seem a violation of that 

 liaw of Causality which is the very fundamental principle of all 

 physical science. But their explanation lies in the fact that the 

 nature of man is not confined to the merely physical plane. There 

 is in man, not merely physical substance, but individuality, person- 

 ality ; and God Who created man in His own Image, can manifest His 

 own Personality, and appeal to the personality which He has created. 

 That appeal, in the supreme case, is made in the revelation of our 

 Lord Jesus Christ. If the moral and spiritual claim of Christ appeals 

 to the conscience of the individual man, then there will be no 

 difficulty about the miracles which the Holy Scripture record as being 

 wrought by His Hand. The miracles are in harmony with their 

 Author. 



