marvel,
ponder and inquire; mere surprize or amazement may be produced by
deception and artful trickery. Any miraculous manifestation of divine
power would be futile as a means of spiritual effect were it
unimpressive. Moreover, every miracle is a sign of God's power; and
signs in this sense have been demanded of prophets who professed to
speak by divine authority, though such signs have not been given in all
cases. The Baptist was credited with no miracle, though he was
pronounced by the Christ as more than a prophet;[339] and the chronicles
of some earlier prophets[340] are devoid of all mention of miracles. On
the other hand, Moses, when commissioned to deliver Israel from Egypt,
was made, to understand that the Egyptians would look for the testimony
of miracles, and he was abundantly empowered therefore.[341]

Miracles cannot be in contravention of natural law, but are wrought
through the operation of laws not universally or commonly recognized.
Gravitation is everywhere operative, but the local and special
application of other agencies may appear to nullify it--as by muscular
effort or mechanical impulse a stone is lifted from the ground, poised
aloft, or sent hurtling through space. At every stage of the process,
however, gravity is in full play, though its effect is modified by that
of other and locally superior energy. The human sense of the miraculous
wanes as comprehension of the operative process increases. Achievements
made possible by modern invention of telegraph and telephone with or
without wires, the transmutation of mechanical power into electricity
with its manifold present applications and yet future possibilities, the
development of the gasoline motor, the present accomplishments in aerial
navigation--these are no longer miracles in man's estimation, because
they are all in some degree understood, are controlled by human agency,
and, moreover, are continuous in their operation and not phenomenal. We
arbitrarily classify as miracles only such phenomena as are unusual,
special, transitory, and wrought by an agency beyond the power of man's
control.

In a broader sense, all nature is miracle. Man has learned that by
planting the seed of the grape in suitable soil, and by due cultivation,
he may conduce to the growth of what shall be a mature and fruitful
vine; but is there no miracle, even in the sense of inscrutable
processes, in that development? Is there less of real miracle in the
so-called natur