nvictions, the probability of _some_ kind of mistake or deception
somewhere, though we know not _where_, is greater than the probability
of the event really happening in _the way_ and from the _causes_
assigned."[180] The inductive philosophy, for which great respect must
be paid, is enlisted against miracles. If we once know all about those
alleged and held as such, we would find them resolved into natural
phenomena, just as "the angel at Milan was the aerial reflection of an
image on a church; the balls of fire at Plausac were electrical; the
sea-serpent was a basking shark on a stem of sea-weed. A committee of
the French Academy of Sciences, with Lavoisier at its head, after a
grave investigation, pronounced the alleged fall of aerolites to be a
superstitious fable."[181]

The two theories against the reality of miracles in their received
sense, are: _first_, that they are attributable to natural causes; and,
_second_, that they may involve more or less of the parabolic or mythic
character. These assumptions do away with any real admission of miracles
even on religious grounds. The animus of the whole essay may be
determined by the following treatment of testimony and reason:
"Testimony, after all, is but a second-hand assurance; it is but a blind
guide; testimony can avail nothing against reason. The essential
question of miracles stands quite apart from any consideration of
_testimony_; the question would remain the same, if we had the evidence
of our own senses to an alleged miracle; that is, to an extraordinary
or inexplicable fact. It is not the _mere fact_, but the _cause_ or
_explanation_ of it, which is the point at issue."[182] This means far
more than Spinoza, Hume, or any other opponent of miracles, except the
radical Rationalists of Germany, has claimed,--that we must not believe
a miracle though actually witnessed.

IV. SEANCES HISTORIQUES DE GENEVE--THE NATIONAL CHURCH. By Henry Bristow
Wilson, B. D. The Multitudinist principle, or Broad Christianity, is
advocated by the essayist with earnestness and an array of learning. The
difficulty concerning the non-attendance of a large portion of the
British population upon the ordinances of the Church is met by the
proposition to abrogate subscription to all creeds and articles of
faith, and thus convert the whole nation into a Broad Church. The youth
of the land are educated into a false and idolatrous view of the Bible.
But on the Census-Sunday of 1861, five