In this sense every supernatural occurrence may be said to be likewise evidential, when we have ascertained for certain that it is due to supernatural causes, and that it cannot have been brought about by the action of unintelligent forces, or by those which are capable of being modified by the agency of man. But in that case it would only prove the presence and intervention of a being who is capable of controlling the unintelligent forces of nature. The real difficulty, as I have observed, is to prove the supernatural nature of the occurrence. But although, if it was certainly supernatural, it would prove the intervention of a supernatural agent, it would say nothing as to the purpose for which such an intervention took place. It follows therefore, that to constitute a supernatural occurrence in the strict sense of the term a miracle, it must take place after an announcement that it is going to happen, and take place at the bidding of the agent who performs it. It is highly important, in considering the miracles of the Gospels, that the distinction between a merely supernatural event and an evidential miracle should be kept steadily in view. All creative acts would be supernatural events, but they would not necessarily be evidential miracles. The incarnation, and other occurrences mentioned in the New Testament, are supernatural ones; but to mix them up with evidential miracles is simply to invite confusion of thought. Another class of supernatural occurrences mentioned in the New Testament seem to have been wrought, not for purposes directly evidential, but to awaken attention; and another class of supernatural endowments were vouchsafed, to render it possible to lay deep in human society the foundations of the Church as a visible and permanent institution. Such occurrences are not directly but indirectly evidential, and it will be necessary carefully to distinguish between them and occurrences brought about for directly evidential purposes. To keep this distinction clear, I shall designate the last by the term “miracle.” A miracle is supernatural in two ways: namely, in the agency which produced the objective fact, and in the announcement of its occurrence.