declared to be
"Principium operationis cujusque rei," the Essence of a thing in
relation to its activity, or the Essence as manifested _agendo_. Hence
"Natura rerum," or "Universitas rerum" (which is the Latin for Nature in
the phrase "Laws of Nature") means the Essences of all things created
(finite) as manifested and related to each other by their proper
inherent activities, which of course are stable or fixed. But since it
is not a logical contradiction that these activities should be
suspended, arrested, or annihilated (granting an Infinite Creator), it
will not be contrary to _Reason_ should a miraculous intervention so
deal with them, though their suspension or annihilation may be
described, loosely and inaccurately, as against the Laws of Nature. By
_Reason_ is here meant the declarations of necessary Thought as to
possibility and impossibility, or the canons of contradiction, the only
proper significance of the word in discussions about miracles. Hence, to
say that miracles have their laws, is not to deny that they are by the
Free Will of God. For creation is by the Fiat of Divine Power and
Freedom, and yet proceeds upon law--that is to say, upon a settled plan
and inherent sequence of cause and effect. But it is common with Mr.
Mill and his school to think of law as _necessary inviolable_ sequence;
whereas it is but a fixed mode of action whether _necessarily or freely_
determined; and it is a part of law that some activities should be
liable to suspension or arrestment by others, and especially by the
First Cause.

[52] "Vie de Jesus," p. 247.

[53] When Mr. Mill says ("Three Essays on Religion," p. 224), "The
argument that a miracle may be the fulfilment of a law in the same sense
in which the ordinary events of Nature are fulfilments of laws, seems to
indicate an imperfect conception of what is meant by a law and what
constitutes a miracle," all he really means is that this argument
involves a conception of law and of miracle different from his own,
which is undoubtedly true. Upon this subject I remark as follows: There
is a necessary will (_spontaneum non liberum_) and a free will(_liberum
non spontaneum_); and these are in God on the scale of infinite
perfection, as they are in man finitely. With Mr. Mill, as I have
observed in a previous note, Law is taken to signify "invariable,
necessary sequence;" and its test is, that given the same circumstances,
the same thing will occur. But it is essential to F