moral and spiritual magnitude which he is, not on
the evidence of some unparalleled things physical which it is alleged he
did. Quite the contrary, it is the immediate impression of the moral and
spiritual wonder which Jesus is, that prepares what credence we can
gather for the wonders which it is declared he did. This is a transfer
of emphasis, a redistribution of weight in the structure of our thought,
the relief of which many appreciate who have not reasoned the matter
through for themselves.

Schleiermacher had said, and Herrmann and others repeat the thought,
that, as the Christian faith finds in Christ the highest revelation,
miracles may reasonably be expected of him. Nevertheless, he adds, these
deeds can be called miracles or esteemed extraordinary, only as
containing something which was beyond contemporary knowledge of the
regular and orderly connexion between physical and spiritual life.
Therewith, it must be evident, that the notion of the miraculous is
fundamentally changed. So it comes to pass that we have a book like
Mackintosh's _Natural History of the Christian Religion_, 1894, whose
avowed purpose is to do away with the miraculous altogether. Of course,
the author means the traditional notion of the miraculous, according to
which it is the essence of arbitrariness and the negation of law. It is
not that he has less sense for the divine life of the world, or for the
quality of Christianity as revelation. On the other hand, we have a book
like Percy Gardner's _Exploratio Evangelica_, 1899. With the most
searching criticism of the narratives of some miracles, there is
reverent confession, on the author's part, that he is baffled by the
reports of others. There is recognition of unknown possibilities in the
case of a character like that of Jesus. It is not that Gardner has a
less stringent sense of fact and of the inexorableness of law than has
Mackintosh or an ardent physicist. The problem is reduced to that of the
choice of expression. We are not able to withhold a justification of the
scholar who declares: We must not say that we believe in the miraculous.
This language is sure to be appropriated by those who still take their
departure from the old dualism, now hopelessly obsolete, for which a
breach of the law of nature was the crowning evidence of the love of
God. On the other hand, the assertion that we do not believe in the
miraculous will easily be taken by some to mean the denial of the whole
sen