Hume / (English Men of Letters Series)

hat every belief of expectation implies the belief that the future will have a certain resemblance to the past. From the first hour of exp

becomes the commonplace of a century; when repeated and minute examination never reveals a break in the chain of causes and effects; and the whole edifice of practical life is built upon our faith in its continuity; the belief that that chain has never been broken and will never be broken, becomes one of the stronges

d it may safely be declared to be irrefragable. But it must be admitted that H

meaning of the terms employed. Argumentation whether miracles are possible, and, if possible, cre

the miraculous, defines a miracle as a "violation of the laws of nature," or as "a transgression of a

ust, he

xperience amounts to a proof, there is here a direct and full proof, from the nature of the fact, against the existence of any mira

cta appears to be ope

ts primitive and legitimate sense,

antium," as we do to the prodigies of priests. And the source of the wonder which a miracle excites is

fied. For "nature" means neither more nor less than that which is; the sum of phenomena presented to our experience; the totality of events past, present, and

e a

ire consumes wood and is extinguished by water; unless it be that these events are found agreeable to the laws of n

nguage, we are justified in saying that the opposite events are impossible. Calling our often verified experience a "law of nature" adds nothing to its

ained in the methods of science would imagine that any law of nature was really violated thereby. He would simply set to work to investigate the conditions unde

he interposition of some invisible agent," (IV. p. 134, note) is still less defensible. For a vast number of miracles have profe

that a given event is the effect of a particular volition of the Deity, or of the interposition of some invisible (that is unperceivable) agent? It may be so, but how is the assertion, that it is so, to be tested? If it be said that the event exceeds the power of natural causes

es no contradiction, and can never be proved false by any demons

lete change in the customary order of nature, is intelligible, can be distinctly conceived, implies no contrad

contradiction to his own prin

me to life: because that has never been ob

has happened never can happen, without a violation of the laws of nature. In truth, if a dead man did come to life, the fact would be evidence, not that any law of nature had been violated, but that thos

is derived from our observation of the course of events of which the so-called miracle is a part. On the other hand, no event is too extraordinary to be impossib

is upon this principle that every one carries on the business of common life. If a man tells me he saw a piebald horse in Piccadilly, I believe him without hesitation. The thing itself is likely enough, and there is no imaginable motive for his deceiving me. But if the same person tells me he observed a zebra there, I might hesitate a little about accepting his testimony, unless I were well satisfied, not only as to his previous acquaintance with zebras, but as to his powers and opportunities of observation in the pr

ty. But I could have got no further than a suspension of judgment. For, on the whole, it would have been more probable that even he had fallen into some error of interpretation of the facts which came under his observation, than that such an animal as a centaur really existed. And nothing short of a careful monograph, by a highly competent investigator, accompanied

laws of nature. Indubitably, the organisation of a centaur presents a variety of practical difficulties to an anatomist and physiologist; and a good many of those generalisations of our present experience, which we are pleased to call laws of nature, would be upset by the appearance of such an animal, so that we should have to frame new laws to cover our extended exper

ever have been made to appear to stand still in the valley of Ajalon; or that the walls of a city should have fallen down at a trumpet blast; or that water was turned into wine; because such events are contrary to uniform experience and violate laws of nature. For aught he can prove to the contrary, such events may appear in the order of nature to-morrow. But common sense and

or which fulfils the plain and simple requirements a

smallest hesitation, and with all the

s to place them beyond all suspicion of any design to deceive others; of such credit and reputation in the eyes of mankind, as to have a great deal to lose in case of their being detected in any falsehood; and at the same time attest

se who have made it their business to weigh evidence and to give their decisi

ong affection, or had otherwise an interest in his being alive, declared that they saw him die. Furthermore, let A.B. be seen after his recovery by all his friends and neighbours, and let his and their depositions, that he is now alive, be taken down before a magistrate of known integrity and acuteness: would all this constitute even presumptive evidence that C.D. had worked a miracle? Unquestionably not. For the most important link in the whole chain of evidence is wanting, and that is the proof that A.B. was really dead. The evidence of or

e wonderful than the miracle itself. Nevertheless h

overwhelming force of Afghans, had spent three months in incessantly labouring to improve the fortifications of the town. Akba

lanked it. Three other bastions were also nearly destroyed, whilst several large breaches were made in the curtains, and the Peshawur side, eighty feet long

had lent his aid? As it chanced, however, Mahometan faith in the miraculous took another turn; for the energetic defenders of the post had repaired the damage by the

acter is needed, at the present time, for the establishment of the occurrence of such a wonder as that supposed, it has always been n

TNO

dfoot, garrison engineer, q