The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-06-03
A MAN OF SCIENCE ON
MIRACLES.

At meeting of religious body
at Portsmouth, in England, Sir
Oliver Lodge recently delivered
lay sermon which has attracted a
good deal Of attention on both
sides Of the Ocean. Every pro-
nouncement Of this eminent Eng
fish scientist awakens keen in
terest, and his lectures on the re-
lations of Religion and Science
especially command profound at
tention even among those who
deem his creed too scanty. In his
Portsmouth address Sir Oliver
dealt with Christian Revelation
from the scientific point Of view.
This is subject that inevitably
brings up a discussion CT miracles,
not only because miracles form the
storm center of a war that never
ceases between two conflicting
views of the universe, but also
because a belief in miracles is
bound up with a belief in Chris
tianity-as we'll might we try to
conceive Of the solar system with
out the sun as Of the Christian re-
ligion without the wonderful
works Of God.
Speaking, then, of miracles, Sir
Oliver Lodge made it clear that
their occurrence is quite credible.
Miracles he said plainly, are
no more impossible than the inter
ference Of human being would
seem to a colony of ants or bees
Not many years ago these words
would have evoked a tempest of
protest in advanced schools of
thought-in the days when the
words of a famous English infdel,
"A miracle is a violation Of the
laws Of Nature" had become an
axiom, and when the words of
another English infdel hardly less
famous, Miracles do not hap
pen," had grown familiar, to the
man in the street. Those were
days when Science seemed deter
mined to leave room in the world
for nothing but the play of forces
always acting in exactly the same
way, under the behest of an iron
law Of causation. To what ridicu-
lous extremes opponents Of this
view pushed their theory will
hardly be believed. One Of them
maintained that were an oppor-
tunity given to a perfect mathe-
matician to scrutinize the original
elements Of which the world is
made up he would have been able
to calculate the entire subsequent
history Of the world. The latest
vindication Of miracles by one Of
England s foremost scholars is full
Of significance. It is a decisive
proof, if proof were longer needed,
of a complete reversal Of opinion
on a question of supreme impor-
lance to religion-th that the last
vestige of opposition to the posi-
bility Of miracles is removed. In
future we shall hear no more that
there is no place for miracles in
the realms of nature. The more
men study nature the more clearly
do they see that we are all "mov-
ing about in worlds not realized"
- that the universe is much too
complex to be summed up in any
such formula as the uniformity
Of nature or to be squeezed into
any other formula that the brain
Of a scientist can devise. The
address of Sir Oliver Lodge sug-
gests another reflection, namely,
the persistency with which men Of
science, more remarkable for their
audacity than for their saneness
of thought, are compelled to re-
wise and reverse their hasty con-
illusions. Ages ago, in words
which would almost seem to have
been spoken for our times, St.
Augustine declared that GA mir
acle is not contrary to nature, but
only to what we know of nature. :"
On these words the latest pro-
nouncement of science is signif-
cant commentary. Thus it is:
theories which in various depart
ments of thought seem at the mo-
ment to come into conflict with the
Christian view of the world are,
one after another, in the course
of time, either revised and re-
versed, or proved to be only in
nocuous weapons in the hands of
unbelief.
THE CHURCH AND CREMA-