that I have adopted a different method in speaking of miracles to
that which I employed in treating of prophecy. Of prophecy I have
asserted nothing which could not be inferred from premises revealed in
Scripture, whereas in this chapter I have deduced my conclusions solely
from the principles ascertained by the natural light of reason. I have
proceeded in this way advisedly, for prophecy, in that it surpasses
human knowledge, is a purely theological question; therefore, I knew
that I could not make any assertions about it, nor learn wherein it
consists, except through deductions from premises that have been
revealed; therefore I was compelled to collate the history of prophecy,
and to draw therefrom certain conclusions which would teach me, in so
far as such teaching is possible, the nature and properties of the
gift. But in the case of miracles, as our inquiry is a question purely
philosophical (namely, whether anything can happen which contravenes, or
does not follow from the laws of Nature), I was not under any such
necessity: I therefore thought it wiser to unravel the difficulty
through premises ascertained and thoroughly known by the natural light
of reason. I say I thought it wiser, for I could also easily have solved
the problem merely from the doctrines and fundamental principles of
Scripture: in order that every one may acknowledge this, I will briefly
show how it could be done.

Scripture makes the general assertion in several passages that nature's
course is fixed and unchangeable. (In Ps. cxlviii. 6, for instance, and
Jer. xxxi. 35.) The wise man also (in Eccles. i. 10) distinctly teaches
that "there is nothing new under the sun," and (in verses 11, 12),
illustrating the same idea, he adds that although something occasionally
happens which seems new, it is not really new, but "hath been already of
old time, which was before us, whereof there is no remembrance, neither
shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those
that come after." Again (in chap. iii. 11), he says, "God hath made
everything beautiful in his time," and immediately afterwards adds, "I
know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be put
to it, nor anything taken from it."

Now all these texts teach most distinctly that Nature preserves a fixed
and unchangeable order and that God in all ages known and unknown has
been the same; further, that the laws of Nature are so perfect that
nothing can be add