to be undeserving of positive hearty belief. They confound the laws of
physical nature with the laws of universal nature. They speak of the
nature of this material earth, as if it was identical with the _nature
of things_. And this confusion of thought it is to which I would
especially call attention. Miracles are contrary to the ordinary laws of
physical nature, and therefore are so far improbable, but they are in
the strictest conformity with the nature of things, and therefore _in
themselves_ are probable. If the laws of nature rule God as they control
man, a miracle is almost an impossibility; but if God rules the laws of
nature, then it is wonderful that something miraculous does not befall us
every day of our lives.

Again, it is in a high degree probable that miraculous events will
generally, so to say, take their colour from the special character of
that relation which may exist between God and man at the time when they
come to pass. If, in the inscrutable counsels of the Almighty, man is
placed, during different eras in his history, in different circumstances
towards his Creator and Preserver, it would seem only natural that
the variations in those circumstances should be impressed upon the
extraordinary intercourse between God and His people. Or, to use the
common Christian term, each _dispensation_ will have its peculiar
supernatural aspect, as well as its peculiar spiritual and invisible
relationship. If man was originally in a higher and more perfect state
of being than he is now, it is probable that his communion with God was
singularly, if not totally, unlike what it has been since he fell from
primeval blessedness. If after his fall, two temporary states have been
appointed to him by his God, then the miracles of each epoch will bear
their own special corresponding characteristics. And lastly, if by a
new exercise of regenerating and restoring power it has pleased the
Invisible One to rescue His creatures from the consequences of their