But it is not the less real for being miraculous; nor the less miraculous because through simple repetition we cease to see it to be so. "Circumstances," it has been profoundly said,' said,1 "traced back to their first origins, may be the outcome of strictly miraculous intervention. But the miraculous intervention addresses us at this day in the guise of those circumstances. There is no law of their coincidence, though coincidences rise out of a combination of general laws. They have a character of their own, and seem left by Providence in His own hands, as the channel by which, inscrutable to us, He may make known to us His will." Nor Applicamust it be forgotten that we are dealing not only general with general laws which may be considered as un- dividuals. varying in their operation, but with their application to particular circumstances. These may be so arranged as to effect of themselves the greatest amount of good in each individual case. But among these we are entitled to include the decisions of the human will which may or may not co-operate with the arrangements of Eternal Wisdom. In this manner it is true that "all si Dieu en faisoit continuellement, ils ne laisseroient pas d'être des miracles, en prenant ce mot non pas populairement pour une chose rare et merveilleuse, mais philosophiquement pour ce qui passe les forces des créatures."

1 J. H. Newman, Gramm. of Assent, pp. 422, 424. Comp. Eurip. Hec., 1. 958:

φύρουσι δ' αὐτὰ θεοὶ πάλιν τε καὶ πρόσω,

ταραγμὸν ἐντιθέντες, ὡς ἀγνωσίᾳ

σέβωμεν αὐτούς.

tion of

laws to in

K

Science predictive

tendencies.

2

things work together for good to those that love God," who ponder the direction of His providence, and leave room for the suggestions of His grace.' § 7. On no other supposition does it seem posonly of sible to reconcile the apparent fortuity of human affairs with their admitted regularity, and with the observed uniformity of Nature. It is the boasted test of Science to be predictive; to foretell consequences with unerring exactness. Yet, of what is it really predictive? Of tendencies; not of positive results, nor of particular events; but rather that these will take place under given circumstances, i. e. under identical circumstances. Experience, that is, custom, leads us to expect a repetition of the circumstances. Yet, the variety of Nature is as wonderful as is her uniformity: and larity ob- it is a well-known principle in physics that no two Nature. individual products agree exactly in all respects. No compound of this earthly ball

Variety

and irregu

servable in

Is like another all in all.

Now, this evident irregularity in the case of

1 As to the bearings of a doctrine of Providence upon the practice of prayer Leibnitz shrewdly observes, "Dans le fond, les hommes se contenteront d'être exaucés, sans se mettre en peine si le cours de la Nature est changé en leur faveur ou non. Et s'ils sont aidés par le secours des bons Anges, il n'y aura point de changement dans l'ordre général des choses."--Remarques sur le livre de M. King (Works, p. 651).

2 See Isaac Taylor on Enthusiasm, p. 129: "But there is a higher government of men," &c. He is needlessly criticised by Mr. Greg, Creed of Christendom. See also Mr. Hutton, Essays, I. 42: "And this instinctive conviction," &c.

3 Comp. Whewell, Phil. Ind. Sc., I. xxxix., Nov. Org. Ren., II. v. 10; Comte, Phil. Pos., I. 62; II. 28, 401, 426; III. 10, 304, 407-13; and Mr. Fowler's remarks, Ind. Logic, p. 112.

ance of

character.

human affairs,' is attributed (not indeed very consistently) by thinkers of the Positive school, to special but undiscovered laws, or to the acknowledged intricacy of the antecedents masking the essential relations of the phenomena, to the plurality and composition of causes, to the intermixture. of effects, and the like; which is, in fact, no explanation at all. Yet there is surely point in Importthe sarcasm of Pascal,' that had the nose of Cleo- personal patra been shorter, the whole face likewise of the world's history might have been changed. Or, again, that a grain of gravel in the person of a Cromwell, sufficed to give peace to a Continent, restoration to a dynasty, and tranquillity to the alarms of Rome. "Accidents of personal character," writes Hallam,3 "have more to do with the revolutions of nations than either philosophical historians or democratic politicians like to admit." No cycle, indeed, in human affairs, no theory of "social

"

1 Mr. Buckle, Hist. Civ., III. 479, observes with some asperity, 'Science has not yet explained the phenomena of history. Consequently the theological spirit lays hold of them, and presses them into her own service."

2 Pensées, xix. 7: "Le nez de Cléopâtre, s'il eût été plus court, toute la face de la terre aurait changé." xx. 8:"Cromwell allait ravager toute la Chrétienté," &c.

3 Middle Ages, I. 132: "It is almost appalling," remarks Dean Church (Univ. Serm.)," to watch how some vast change in human affairs has hung upon the apparent accident of a stronger or weaker character."

4 Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo. Φασὶ κύκλον εἶναι τὰ ȧvОрάжινа прáуμara.-Arist., Phys., IV. xiv. See Mill's Logic, I. 420 (1st ed.). The theory of Vico is well known. Compare Augustin., Civ. D., XII. xi. xiii., and Origen, c. Cels., IV. lxvii.

rhythm,” “equilibration," or "recurring oscillation" will solve this mighty mystery; though history, like a circulating decimal of many figures, "should periodically repeat itself," and things revolve in an eternal round. The problem is one into which too many factors enter.' There is, indeed, an error Error of which has too often brought contempt on the acknowledgment of a special Providence; which lies of Provi- in the monopolizing and appropriation of it.2 In

assump

tion as to

the course

dence.

this way

Men may construe things after their fashion

Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.

To leave, however, the existence of a controlling Providence an open question subverts the conditions necessary to constitute a religion. But, if the entrance of a supernatural element into the course of human affairs be, indeed, requisite for any really philosophical explanation of them, the incompatibility of general Laws with the wants of the religious sentiment can no longer be urged. The

1 "History," it has been cleverly said, "like the dial of a clock, presents results, but conceals the machinery producing them."

2 "Historia Nemeseos sanè in calamos nonnullorum piorum virorum incidit: sed non sine partium studio."-Bacon, Augm. Sc, II. xi. "To him," says Montaigne, Ess., I. xxv., "who feels the hailstones patter about his ears, the whole hemisphere appears to be in a storm." There is a French saying, “La providence des chats n'est pas la même avec la providence des souris." On this subject Mr. Buckle, Hist. Civ., III. 195, has some caustic remarks. Elsewhere (I. 19, n.) he gratuitously confounds the doctrine of Providential interference with that of Predestination. See some just reflections of Mr. Lecky, Hist. E. M., I. 381, and some noble thoughts of Prof. Goldwin Smith (Study of Hist., Lect. I. 31).

"kingdoms of the world" may still "become the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ"; and this in virtue of an operation determined by no such laws of time as to compel the inference that it was not so fixed from eternity, or is not so arranged at any given moment by an immediate and ever-present disposition.'

clusion

from ex

§ 8. One of the acutest thinkers of our time, This conwho has passed away not many months since, justly drawn lamented, has contended for the special interposi- perience. tion of God by the side of general Laws, on the ground that both are alike conditions of human thought, seeing that we cannot think the general without the special. At present I would dwell rather on the objective side of experience. The importance of distinguishing between the causes and the occasions of events has often been observed.3

1 "Le présent," finely remarks Leibnitz (Works, p. 608), "est gros de l'avenir;" or as Schiller puts it, "Im Heute wandelt schon das Morgen." It is an error, however, to assume the determining causes of events to be necessary in any case where a counter result is conceivable. The will of God is not incompatible either with contingency in things or liberty in the creature. The main argument of this work, however, does not proceed on any forced or fanciful application of special acts of Providence. Christianity is the concurrent result of preceding events and precedent conditions. As such it is a fact in man's history, which goes for much, and implies further consequences in the undoubted pre-arrangement of God.

2 Dean Mansel, Bampton Lect., p. 193.

3 Polyb., III. vi. 6, ἀρχὴ τί διαφέρει καὶ πόσον διέστηκεν αἰτίας καὶ πроpáσews. Hence Aristotle's distinction of Poetry from History: τούτῳ διαφέρει, τῷ τὸν μὲν τὰ γενόμενα λέγειν, τὸν δε ̓ οἷα ἂν γένοιτο. Διὸ καὶ φιλοσοφώτερον καὶ σπουδαιότερον ποίησις ἱστορίας ἐστίν.— Poet., c. ix.; a thought expanded by Bacon in Augm. Sc., II. xiii. Hence