19 
power we possess of raising an arm, by wbich the law of 
gravity is not annihilated or violated, but is only counteracted 
by the higher law of the human will ; the preservation of 
animal substances from decay by means of salt, which does 
not destroy any chemical laws, but only restrains and holds 
them in suspense ; and so forth. These and similar occur- 
rences bear a strong analogy to miracles, from which they 
seem to be distinguished chiefly by the fact that we witness 
them every day. But my power to raise my arm by an exertion 
of will is as inexplicable in its way as is the power of God to 
cure a disease or to raise the dead. We do not call it a 
miracle, because it lies within human power, and so may be 
witnessed at any time ; and human power only extends to the 
moving of our own bodies, or of other matter through the 
intervention of our bodies, whereas the will of the Deity, as 
Christians believe, can affect all matter without any inter- 
mediate means, as is observed by Professor Jellett, now Provost 
of Trinity College, Dublin, in a passage which, in my former 
paper, I took occasion to quote from his Donnellan Lectures 
on the Efficacy of Prayer. But the power of our wills 
over our bodies, though a matter of every-day experience, 
is as untliinlmhle — to use a word much in fashion with un- 
believing philosophers — as is the power of the Deity to work 
a miracle. 
12. The difference between a miracle and an occurrence 
which, though equally inexplicable, is yet not considered 
miraculous, is thus further stated by Archbishop Trench. — 
All is wonder. To make a man is at least as great a miracle 
as to raise a man from the dead. The seed that multiplies in 
the furrow is as marvellous as the bread that multiplied in 
Christ'’s hands. The miracle is not a greater manifestation of 
God^s power than those ordinary and ever-repeated processes : 
but it is a different manifestation. ' By those other God is 
speaking at all times to all the world : they are a vast unbroken 
revelation of Him. . . . But in the miracle, wrought in 
the sight of some certain men, and claiming their special atten- 
tion, there is a speaking to them in particular. There is a 
voice in nature which addresses itself directly to them, a 
singling of them out from the multitude. It is plain that God 
has now a peculiar word which they are to give heed to, a 
message to which He is bidding them to listen {Preliminary 
Essay on Miracles, ch. ii., pp. 11, 12). 
13. There are also occurrences which, although they maybe 
accounted for by natural causes, are yet of a miraculous char- 
acter, from the fact of their having been predicted by one who 
has no natural means of knowing beforehand that they would 
c 2 
