432 Credibility of Extraordinary Stories. [CHAP. xvn. 



argument. The possibility of present conflict is banished in 

 such a case as absolutely as that of future concord. A large 

 amount of popular literature on the subject of miracles 

 seems to labour under this defect. Arguments are stated 

 and examined for and against the credibility of miraculous 

 stories without the disputants appearing to have any 

 adequate conception of the chasm which separates one side 

 from the other. 



25. The following illustration may serve in some 

 degree to show the sort of inconsistency of which we are 

 speaking. A sailor reports that in some remote coral island 

 of the Pacific, on which he had landed by himself, he had 

 found a number of stones on the beach disposed in the exact 

 form of a cross. Now if we conceive a debate to arise about 

 the truth of his story, in which it is attempted to decide the 

 matter simply by considerations about the validity of testi 

 mony, without introducing the question of the existence of 

 inhabitants, and the nature of their customs, we shall have 

 some notion of the unsatisfactory nature of many of the 

 current arguments about miracles. All illustrations of this 

 subject are imperfect, but a case like this, in which a sup 

 posed trace of human agency is detected interfering with the 

 orderly sequence of other and non-intelligent natural causes, 

 is as much to the point as any illustration can be. The 

 thing omitted here from the discussion is clearly the one im 

 portant thing. If we suppose that there is no inhabitant, we 

 shall probably disbelieve the story, or consider it to be 

 grossly exaggerated. If we suppose that there are inhabit 

 ants, the question is at once resolved into a different and 

 somewhat more intricate one. The credibility of the witness 

 is not the only element, but we should necessarily have to 

 take into consideration the character of the supposed inhab 

 itants, and the object of such an action on their part. 



