256 
ORDINARY MEETING, December 3, I860. 
The Rev. Walter Mitchell, Vice-President, in the Chaie. 
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed, after which 
the following Papers were read by the Honorary Secretary in the absence of 
the Authors : — 
ON MIRACLES; THEIR COMPATIBILITY WITH PHI- 
LOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES. By the Rev. W. W. 
English, M.A., Mem. Viet. Inst. 
A GREEMENT as to fundamental principles underlying 
miraculous interpositions of the Almighty is very de- 
sirable. We want a philosophy of miracles — a foundation 
wide enough to admit even the sceptic. Not that I would 
advocate the abandonment of a single point that is tenable ; 
but, instead of arguing, for example, with a Theistic writer, 
that “ all things are possible with God,” and, upon this 
foundation, proceed to defend the miracles of the Bible, 
I would seek rather for some basis that accords with ac- 
knowledged principles of philosophy, and take my stand upon 
that. 
In dealing with opponents of revelation it would also tend 
to the simplification of points at issue, were the various 
objections urged against miracles classified under appropriate 
heads. For example, the cloudy array of direct and implied 
assaults in Mr. Baden Powell's Essay in Essays and Reviews , 
would appear much smaller if arranged, as they might be, 
under the three heads of objections drawn from moral , meta- 
physical , and physical considerations. The question of the 
historical fact of miracles, and their evidential value, would 
fall under the first head ; the bearing of the nature and 
attributes of God upon miraculous interposition would fall 
under the second ; and the question of the compatibility of 
the facts and discoveries in physical science with a belief 
in miracles, would fall under the third. These questions 
would, doubtless, be found to interlace in minute discussion ; 
but such a classification would have two advantages, — it 
would be convenient, and also tend to keep before the mind 
