80 



CANON E. B. GTRDLESTONE^ M.A.^ ON 



intensified in each case by the very probable circumstance that each 

 event came in a year which followed a Sabbath one, when there was 

 no sowing and practically no harvest ; but want of space prevents 

 our giving the historical data to support this assumption,"^ 



Eev. W. F. KiMM, M.A. — It has been objected against miracles 

 that they are violations of law, and therefore inconceivable in a 

 universe planned with perfect Avisclom and foreknowledge. 



The paper has shown that this is not the Scriptural idea of 

 miracles. 



Moreover all men know that there are laws and laws, and that 

 some " laws of nature " are sometimes contravened or controlled or 

 superseded by others. 



The skylark soars upwards, beating the air with its wings, and 

 the air presses back with a pressure due to the weight of the air, 

 which is due to gravitation, and so the bird is pressed up and 

 up, until suddenly it folds its wings and then it falls under the 

 action of gravitation. The same law which serves to bring the 

 bird to the gi'ound, serves to raise it to the clouds when the nervous 

 and muscular energy and the will of the bird are brought into 

 play. 



The " laws of nature " are matters of human discovery, and men 

 are still discovering, and it is highly probable there are many laws 

 yet to be discovered ; so that the objection to miracles on the ground 

 of the unchangeableness of law must stand aside until we know all 

 laws and all their interactions. 



But when we seek to discover the scriptural idea of miracles we 

 find mention of laws of another kind, which are from the scriptural 

 point of view laws indeed, being the express declaration of the 

 mind of the Lawgiver and not mere inferences deduced from an 

 imperfect observation of His works. 



These are referred to in the paper more or less directly among the 

 cases " which natural science is not in a position to fathom." 



The " laws of nature " which are merely customary modes of 

 procedure in nature may be compared to common law which is 

 merely custom and often difficult to determine for lack of evidence. 



The subjects briefly alhuled to here will be found fully ooiisidered in 

 a book shortly to be ])ublislied entitled, The Magi ; lum thcij recognised 

 Chi'ist's Star. 



