But it will doubtless be objected that there is another series of supernatural occurrences which rational men, with a few exceptions, greet with an equally summary rejection, viz. the long series of ecclesiastical miracles which extends in an almost unbroken succession from the second century of our era nearly to the present day. These, it has been urged, are alleged to have been wrought in attestation of Christianity, and bear some remarkable analogy, as facts wrought in external nature, to the miracles recorded in the Gospels. It is argued that if we reject the one, we are for the same reason bound to reject the others. The following points may be considered as admitted. First; That every century from the second downwards has been characterized by a considerable amount of pretension to the possession of supernatural power; and during this period one section of the Christian Church claims to have actually wrought miracles. Secondly; Several of these miracles, viewed merely as phenomena in outward nature, are precisely similar to those recorded in the New Testament. Thirdly; When a miracle is alleged to have been performed at the present day, as has recently been the case in a neighbouring country, not only all unbelievers in the possibility of supernatural occurrences, but also all rational Christians concur in its summary rejection, not merely on the ground that the evidence is insufficient, but that the event is in itself incredible. Fourthly; That rational men reject in a similar manner and for similar reasons the great mass of ecclesiastical miracles as unworthy of serious inquiry into their attestation.