The Supernatural in the New Testament, Possible, Credible, and Historical / Or, An Examination of the Validity of Some Recent Objections Against Christianity as a Divine Revelation

by C. A. Row

I reply that any apparent force which this objection [pg 131] may possess is due to an ambiguous use of the word “law.” It is here used to denote the order of the various occurrences in nature, and not its antecedents and invariable consequents. If there are forces in nature beyond those with which we are acquainted, how can their action be a violation of nature's order? If God is always present energizing in nature's forces, how can any fresh putting forth of his energy be a violation of nature's laws? In a certain sense of the words the order of nature may be said to be violated whenever one of its forces is modified by the action of another, that is to say, an order of events results from the modified action different from that which would have resulted from the unmodified one. In this sense man is daily violating the order of nature. But this has no bearing whatever on the question at issue.

It will perhaps be urged that the resurrection of a dead man, or the cure of a man born blind by a word is a violation of the laws of nature. Whether this be so can only be determined when we are acquainted with the means by which such an event may be brought about. The assertion itself is a mere general statement that, as far as human observation has gone, dead men have never returned to life; and that blindness has never been cured at any person's command.

But with respect to a resurrection it may be objected that it is an observed fact amounting to a complete induction, that all men die and that after death has taken place it is a fact no less universal that with the exception of a few alleged instances to the contrary no resurrection has ever taken place. It may therefore be said to be a law of nature that all men die, and that death is followed by no resurrection. This, however, if put into other language amounts to the following proposition. That it is a law of nature that these results [pg 132] must follow, as long as the present forces which we observe and no others are in energy. But it would cease to be so as soon as any others capable of producing such a result were brought into activity. The truth is that death is a phenomenon which is caused by the joint action of a multitude of natural forces. But if these were overborne by any force of nature, or by the Author of nature calling any unknown force into activity, or even by the energy of his own creative will, it would be absurd to call such an event either a violation of the laws or of the order of nature, and therefore to affirm that it was incredible. Death is the result of the action of the natural forces which we observe around us. No natural force with which we are acquainted can effect a resurrection. If it be affirmed that in this sense a resurrection is contrary to the laws and order of nature, the expression is ambiguous and misleading, for it is intended to be inferred that such a violation would be contrary to reason and therefore incredible.

But the affirmation that a miracle is contrary to the order of nature requires further consideration. What do we intend to affirm when we speak of an order of nature or of an event being contrary to it?

In a scientific sense the order of nature can only mean the results of forces energizing in conformity with invariable law. Every event which occurs is the result of a combination of such forces and the product of their joint action. These results necessarily follow an orderly arrangement; i.e. the orderly result always occurs when precisely the same antecedents and no other are present, and is invariably altered whenever the antecedents are modified to the precise extent of the modification. As far then as the results in nature are the effect of known forces unmodified in their [pg 133] action by other forces, they follow a definite order. Thus all the motions of the heavenly bodies present themselves to the scientific mind as the perfection of order, because they are the results of the action of known forces acting in conformity with invariable law. Whenever a fact is observed which deviates from the order which these known forces would produce, the action of another force which has hitherto been unknown is inferred. The order of nature therefore means that the same forces always produce the same results. There is nothing inconsistent with this in the correct conception of a miracle. Viewed as a physical event only, it would be due to the action of a force which has hitherto been outside the sphere of our observation.

It is clear therefore that whenever a fresh combination of forces takes place, their combined action will modify the result, and a very different order of events will take place from that which would have resulted from their unmodified action. Such modification therefore must produce a different order of nature from that which would have otherwise resulted. But such modifications frequently take place through the agency of man. It therefore follows that man has the power of effecting modifications in the order of nature, without causing any violation of nature's laws.

But various other influences, and among them those usually designated as chances, exert a powerful influence in changing the order of nature. It is necessary that its forces should not only be combined, but combined at the right time and place, or the effect which is due to their combination will not take place; i.e. a different order of natural events would have happened. An illustration will make this clear. Let us take the case of a disintegrating rock; according as the different [pg 134] forces, which act on it, meet at the suitable time and place, the progress of disintegration is greatly lengthened or shortened. Such concurrences of events are what we view as pure contingencies. E.g. water penetrates into one of its fissures; this takes place in summer, and no appreciable result follows. But if in winter a frost happens immediately afterwards, it will produce an order of events widely different from that which would have happened if either no rain had fallen or frost occurred. By their joint agency the fissure is widened, or the rock split asunder. It follows therefore that the concurrence of these two forces is necessary at a particular time and place to produce the particular result. Such concurrences, though due to natural causes, are what we call fortuitous. Yet their occurrence or non-occurrence occasions a different order of natural events.

Further, let us suppose that a bird with a seed in its mouth, in the course of its flight casually drops it into a fissure in the rock, which has been opened by the frost; and also that another concurrence of forces has supplied the conditions suitable for its taking root and growth. This produces a new series of events, which occasions a more rapid disintegration, and modifies the whole of the results which follow. If the casual act of the bird had taken place at any other time or place, the whole series would have been different, varying with the causes which produced the seed, and the contingencies which brought the bird to the spot, and induced it to drop it. Let us now suppose that man with his rational agency intervenes. He deliberately watches for the prospect of a frosty night, pours water into the fissures, and plants seeds in fissures where he knows that suitable material has been prepared for their growth. Here a new order of events has been introduced, [pg 135] which, originating in human agency, entirely modify the order of the results.

It is important to observe that all theories which attempt to account for the production of living organisms by the principle of development are compelled at almost every step of the process to postulate the concurrence of forces of this description at the suitable time and place to render their production possible. These must have taken place in past time in numbers passing all comprehension. In the case of many vegetable structures the result has been entirely modified by the contingency of some insect choosing to enter one flower and not to enter another; and according as this takes place a wholly different order of events follows. Whether we choose to designate such concurrences of events at the suitable time and place fortuitous or not, the law which regulates them is wholly unknown, even if they are regulated by law. So far it is impossible to affirm that these results follow a known and definite order in nature. The concurrence of two or more such causes introduces a new series, and occasions a break in the previously existing order of nature.

Still more completely has this happened when man with his reason and powers of volition is introduced on the scene. It will doubtless be objected by our materialistic philosophers, that the forces which energize in mind act with the same uniformity as those that energize in matter, and that volition exerts no appreciable influence on the results of our actions. These theories, however, contradict the experience of an overwhelming majority of mankind. Such as do so require that the strongest proof should be given before their truth can be considered as established. Such proof certainly yet remains to be given. Its advocates, however, tell us that it will be forthcoming at some [pg 136] future time. In the meanwhile the fact is sufficient for our purpose that man is capable of acting on nature and of producing most important changes in the results of the action of its forces. This being so, it is certain that an order of events takes place through the interference of man, quite different from that which would have taken place apart from his interference. But these interferences take place in conformity with no known law, and their results occasion a break in the previously existing series of events, by the introduction of a new one. Man, therefore, is capable of interfering with and effecting changes in the order of nature. It will be objected that all the agencies by which such results are brought about are forces energizing in nature in conformity with invariable law, and consequently that the order of nature is preserved intact. It is unquestionably true that the actual forces at work are forces in nature. But there is another principle at work which interferes with the regular course of their action, and brings out a series of results quite different to that which would have been produced if they had not been interfered with. This is man's reason and intelligent volition. It is impossible to reduce the action of this to any known law of invariable sequence. It follows therefore that man is a power either in or out of nature, which is capable of interfering with the order of the results of its material forces, or, in the language of those with whom I am reasoning, of violating the order of nature.