and perfection of the Divine nature.
Hence, any event happening in nature which contravened Nature's
universal laws, would necessarily also contravene the Divine decree,
nature, and understanding; or if any one asserted that God acts in
contravention to the laws of Nature, he, _ipso facto_, would be
compelled to assert that God acted against His own nature--an evident
absurdity. One might easily show from the same premises that the power
and efficiency of Nature are in themselves the Divine power and
efficiency, and that the Divine power is the very essence of God, but
this I gladly pass over for the present.

Nothing, then, comes to pass in Nature[11] in contravention to her
universal laws, nay, everything agrees with them and follows from them,
for whatsoever comes to pass, comes to pass by the will and eternal
decree of God; that is, as we have just pointed out, whatever comes to
pass, comes to pass according to laws and rules which involve eternal
necessity and truth; Nature, therefore, always observes laws and rules
which involve eternal necessity and truth, although they may not all be
known to us, and therefore she keeps a fixed and immutable order. Nor is
there any sound reason for limiting the power and efficacy of Nature,
and asserting that her laws are fit for certain purposes, but not for
all; for as the efficacy and power of Nature are the very efficacy and
power of God, and as the laws and rules of Nature are the decrees of
God, it is in every way to be believed that the power of Nature is
infinite, and that her laws are broad enough to embrace everything
conceived by the Divine intellect. The only alternative is to assert
that God has created Nature so weak, and has ordained for her laws so
barren, that He is repeatedly compelled to come afresh to her aid if He
wishes that she should be preserved, and that things should happen as He
desires: a conclusion, in my opinion, very far removed from reason.
Further, as nothing happens in Nature which does not follow from her
laws, and as her laws embrace everything conceived by the Divine
intellect, and, lastly, as Nature preserves a fixed and immutable order,
it most clearly follows that miracles are only intelligible as in
relation to human opinions, and merely mean events of which the natural
cause cannot be explained by a reference to any ordinary occurrence,
either by us, or at any rate by the writer and narrator of the miracle.

We may, in fact, say that a