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the intervention of the material substance of my body. It is conceivable, 
therefore, that the Creator, of His own will, exerts pressure by the interven- 
tion of a material substance, atomically constituted, but of much finer com- 
position than the gross bodies we see and handle, and that such pressure, 
acting uuder different external conditions and circumstances, takes the various 
forms usually called physical forces. Accordingly, the origin of pressure and 
of forces in nature is the will and power of the Creator immediately operative 
in the ethereal medium. 
With respect to Prebendary Row’s strictures on the view I take of the cha- 
racter of miracles, I begin with admitting that I certainly regard that exertion 
of power of God which we designate creation as distinct in mode of operation 
from the power which is exerted in the providential government of the uni- 
verse, and that I consider a miracle to be wrought by the former kind of power. 
I ain accustomed to make the distinction in my own 'mind by means of the 
following analogy : We know that a planet moves iu an elliptic orbit about the 
sun, not alone because the sun’s gravitation attracts it, but also because it is 
endowed with the quality of inertia. So long as we only take account of 
gravitation and the vis inertia, we cannot see how the motion ever had a be- 
ginning, or how it will ever have an ending. But, supposing that the body 
received an impulse at a certain moment of time, causing it to begin to move 
with a certain velocity in a certain direction, the motion in all subsequent time 
can be submitted to calculation, and be proved to be regular and conformable 
to law. The original impulse would be due to power momentarily exerted, 
whereas the subsequent motion would be due to power exerted to maintain the 
attraction of gravity and the vis inertia of the planet. Thus the actual motion 
s the result of two quite different kinds of action, the one sudden, arbitrary, 
and having no relation to antecedent circumstances; the other producing mo- 
tion which is continuous, governed by law as to amount and direction, and 
dependent at each instant on antecedent conditions. The former corresponds 
to a creative or miraculous act; the other to the continual direction of events 
in the ordinary course of Providence. It is, however, to be observed that 
there are instances in which a miraculous act occupies time ; but in that case 
it consists of a sustaining, during an arbitrary interval, of the impulsive power 
above characterized. 
After this preliminary, I go on to state that I can assent to Prebendary 
Row’s assertion respecting miracles, that “of the mode of the Divine action 
we are profoundly ignorant”; only I should not adopt these terms, but 
rather say of a miracle that it is something so entirely sui generis that it does 
not admit of logical inquiry, and, therefore, we cannot predicate of its essence 
either ignorance or knowledge. And here I cannot forbear remarking that 
by saying that the expression “creative power,” which I have adopted, 
involves a statement of the modus operandi of a miracle, Prebendary Row 
charges me with a fault which he has himself committed. Por, where he says. 
