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GANON E. B. GlEDLESTONE, M.A., ON 



some subjects frequently referred to in the Bible which natural 

 science is not in a position to fathom. It must observe, 

 compare, tost and check results before it can draw conclusions 

 and formulate results ; and this does not seem possible in the 

 following cases : — 



(1) The ways of Providence. — Bj this I mean not so much 

 the provision made for man,-in his adaptation to earth, 

 and vice versa, but rather the fact that all nature and 

 all human action are subservient to divine purpose. 



(2) Praijcr.—hj this pouring out of the soul God is 



acknowledged and worshipped, and His divine inter- 

 vention is sought in the interests of individuals and 

 communities, according to Scripture. Prayer is 

 certainly recognised as a force ; but it has its 

 limitations and conditions. 



(3) Inspiration. — Special communications and influences 



from above may be brought under this head ; 

 inspiration properly includes all direct action of the 

 spirit of God on the spirit of man. 

 (•i) Prophecy. — The utterance of divine truth and the 

 laying down of the programme of divine purpose as 

 affecting the future of individuals, of communities, 

 and of the world at large. 



(5) Angelic visitations. — These imply the existence of 



superhuman beings in a sphere more ethereal or less 

 material than our own. 



(6) Miracles ; i.e., physical phenomena which are unac- 



countable by the known laws and processes of 

 nature. To these I must now confine myself, and I 

 give this as only a provisional detinition of tliem. 



§ 5. Biblical Miracles. 



No distinction is insisted on in the Bible between what is 

 natural and what is supernatund. The course of nature is 

 God's ordinary way of action, and the laws of nature are His 

 ordinary rules, but He is not absolutely restricted to them. 

 There may be agencies stored up both in the natural and in 

 the spiritual world of which we have no conception at ])]-esent. 

 The bounds of the possible, in nature as well as out of it, have 

 not yet been reached. 



Nor is any rigid line to be drawn between what is Brovi- 

 dential, that is to say, a special application of the ordinary 

 known forces of nature, and what is miraculous, i.e., something 



