et all three acts
absolutely Natural. It is, perhaps, as much the virtue of a Spirit to be
inconstant as of a poison to be sure, and therefore always impossible to
weigh the elements of moral force in the balance of an apothecary.

275. It is true that, in any abstract reflection on these things, one is
instantly brought to pause by questions of the reasonableness, the
necessity, or the expedient degree of miracle. Christ walks on the
water, overcoming gravity to that extent. Why not have flown, and
overcome it altogether? He feeds the multitude by breaking existent
loaves; why not have commanded the stones into bread? Or, instead of
miraculously feeding either an assembly or a nation, why not enable
them, like Himself, miraculously to fast, for the needful time? And in
generally admitting the theories of pastoral miracle the instant
question submits itself,--Supposing a nation wisely obedient to divinely
appointed ministers of a sensible Theocracy, how much would its
government be miraculously assisted, and how many of its affairs brought
to miraculous prosperity of issue? Would its enemies be destroyed by
angels, and its food poured down upon it from the skies, or would the
supernatural aid be limited to diminishing the numbers of its slain in
battle,[177] or to conducting its merchant ships safely, or
instantaneously, to the land whither they would go?

But no progress can be made, and much may be prevented, in the
examination of any really difficult human problem, by thus approaching
it on the hypothetical side. Such approach is easy to the foolish,
pleasant to the proud, and convenient to the malicious, but absolutely
fruitless of practical result. Our modesty and wisdom consist alike in
the simple registry of the facts cognizable by us, and our duty, in
making active use of them for the present, without concerning ourselves
as to the possibilities of the future. And the two main facts we have to
deal with are that the historical record of miracle is always of
inconstant power, and that our own actual energies are inconstant almost
in exact proportion to their worthiness.

276. First, I say, the history of miracle is of inconstant power. St.
Paul raises Eutychus from death, and his garments effect miraculous
cure; yet he leaves Trophimus sick at Miletum, recognizes only the mercy
of God in the recovery of Epaphroditus, and, like any uninspired
physician, recommends Timothy wine for his infirmities. And in the
se