C. Lewis - Miracles

A Preliminary Study

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com

First published in Great Britain by Geoffrey Bles 1947

Copyright © C. S. Lewis Pte Ltd 1947

Cover design and illustration by Kimberly Glyder

The right of C. S. Lewis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007461257

Ebook Edition © September 2011 ISBN: 9780007332298

Version: 2015-11-24

To

Cecil and Daphne Harwood

Epigraph Epigraph 1 The Scope of this Book 2 The Naturalist and the Supernaturalist 3 The Cardinal Difficulty of Naturalism 4 Nature and Supernature 5 A Further Difficulty in Naturalism 6 Answers to Misgivings 7 A Chapter of Red Herrings 8 Miracles and the Laws of Nature 9 A Chapter not Strictly Necessary 10 ‘Horrid Red Things’ 11 Christianity and ‘Religion’ 12 The Propriety of Miracles 13 On Probability 14 The Grand Miracle 15 Miracles of the Old Creation 16 Miracles of the New Creation 17 Epilogue Appendix A: On the Words ‘spirit’ and ‘spiritual’ Appendix B: On ‘special Providences’ About the Author Other Books by C. S. Lewis About the Publisher

Among the hills a meteorite

Lies huge; and moss has overgrown,

And wind and rain with touches light

Made soft, the contours of the stone.

Thus easily can Earth digest

A cinder of sidereal fire,

And make her translunary guest

The native of an English shire.

Nor is it strange these wanderers

Find in her lap their fitting place,

For every particle that’s hers

Came at the first from outer space.

All that is Earth has once been sky;

Down from the sun of old she came,

Or from some star that travelled by

Too close to his entangling flame.

Hence, if belated drops yet fall

From heaven, on these her plastic power

Still works as once it worked on all

The glad rush of the golden shower.

C.S.L.

Reprinted by permission of Time and Tide

Contents

Cover

Title Page C. S. Lewis Miracles A Preliminary Study

Copyright Copyright Copyright Dedication Epigraph 1 The Scope of this Book 2 The Naturalist and the Supernaturalist 3 The Cardinal Difficulty of Naturalism 4 Nature and Supernature 5 A Further Difficulty in Naturalism 6 Answers to Misgivings 7 A Chapter of Red Herrings 8 Miracles and the Laws of Nature 9 A Chapter not Strictly Necessary 10 ‘Horrid Red Things’ 11 Christianity and ‘Religion’ 12 The Propriety of Miracles 13 On Probability 14 The Grand Miracle 15 Miracles of the Old Creation 16 Miracles of the New Creation 17 Epilogue Appendix A: On the Words ‘spirit’ and ‘spiritual’ Appendix B: On ‘special Providences’ About the Author Other Books by C. S. Lewis About the Publisher William Collins An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com First published in Great Britain by Geoffrey Bles 1947 Copyright © C. S. Lewis Pte Ltd 1947 Cover design and illustration by Kimberly Glyder The right of C. S. Lewis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780007461257 Ebook Edition © September 2011 ISBN: 9780007332298 Version: 2015-11-24

Dedication Dedication Dedication Epigraph 1 The Scope of this Book 2 The Naturalist and the Supernaturalist 3 The Cardinal Difficulty of Naturalism 4 Nature and Supernature 5 A Further Difficulty in Naturalism 6 Answers to Misgivings 7 A Chapter of Red Herrings 8 Miracles and the Laws of Nature 9 A Chapter not Strictly Necessary 10 ‘Horrid Red Things’ 11 Christianity and ‘Religion’ 12 The Propriety of Miracles 13 On Probability 14 The Grand Miracle 15 Miracles of the Old Creation 16 Miracles of the New Creation 17 Epilogue Appendix A: On the Words ‘spirit’ and ‘spiritual’ Appendix B: On ‘special Providences’ About the Author Other Books by C. S. Lewis About the Publisher To Cecil and Daphne Harwood

Epigraph Epigraph Epigraph 1 The Scope of this Book 2 The Naturalist and the Supernaturalist 3 The Cardinal Difficulty of Naturalism 4 Nature and Supernature 5 A Further Difficulty in Naturalism 6 Answers to Misgivings 7 A Chapter of Red Herrings 8 Miracles and the Laws of Nature 9 A Chapter not Strictly Necessary 10 ‘Horrid Red Things’ 11 Christianity and ‘Religion’ 12 The Propriety of Miracles 13 On Probability 14 The Grand Miracle 15 Miracles of the Old Creation 16 Miracles of the New Creation 17 Epilogue Appendix A: On the Words ‘spirit’ and ‘spiritual’ Appendix B: On ‘special Providences’ About the Author Other Books by C. S. Lewis About the Publisher Among the hills a meteorite Lies huge; and moss has overgrown, And wind and rain with touches light Made soft, the contours of the stone. Thus easily can Earth digest A cinder of sidereal fire, And make her translunary guest The native of an English shire. Nor is it strange these wanderers Find in her lap their fitting place, For every particle that’s hers Came at the first from outer space. All that is Earth has once been sky; Down from the sun of old she came, Or from some star that travelled by Too close to his entangling flame. Hence, if belated drops yet fall From heaven, on these her plastic power Still works as once it worked on all The glad rush of the golden shower. C.S.L. Reprinted by permission of Time and Tide