credulity.
They have only a subjective, not an objective value. They are
psychological, not physical facts.

The attitude of Maimonides and Albo toward Biblical miracles is especially
significant. The former declares in his great Code:(485) "Israel's belief
in Moses and his law did not rest on miracles, for miracles rather create
doubt in the mind of the believer. Faith must rest on its intrinsic truth,
and this can never be subverted by miracles, which may be of a deceitful
nature." Albo devotes a lengthy chapter to developing this idea still
further, undoubtedly referring to the Church; he speaks of miracles
wrought by both Biblical and Talmudic heroes, such as Onias the
rain-maker, Nicodemus ben Gorion, Hanina ben Dosa, and Phinehas ben Jair,
the popular saints.(486) In modern times Mendelssohn, when challenged by
the Lutheran pastor Lavater either to accept the Christian faith or refute
it, attacked especially the basic Christian faith in miracles. He stated
boldly that "miracles prove nothing, since every religion bases its claims
on them and consequently the truth of one would disprove the convincing
proof of the other."(487)

6. Our entire modern mode of thinking demands the complete recognition of
the empire of law throughout the universe, manifesting the all-permeating
will of God. The whole cosmic order is _one_ miracle. No room is left for
single or exceptional miracles. Only a primitive age could think of God as
altering the order of nature which He had fixed, so as to let iron float
on water like wood to please one person here,(488) or to stop sun, star,
or sea in their courses in order to help or harm mankind there.(489) It is
more important for us to inquire into the law of the mind by which the
fact itself may differ from the peculiar form given it by a narrator. With
our historical methods unknown to former ages, we cannot accept any story
of a miracle without seeking its intrinsic historical accuracy. After all,
the miracle as narrated is but a human conception of what, under God's
guidance, really happened.

Accordingly, we must leave the final interpretation of the Biblical
narratives to the individual, to consider them as historical facts or as
figurative presentations of religious ideas. Even now some people will
prefer to believe that the Ten Commandments emanated from God Himself in
audible tones, as medieval thinkers maintained.(490) Some will adopt the
old semi-rationalistic explanation that