OF THE SPIRIT. 



335 



thought which seek for knowledge, truth, and insight 

 through the patient accumulation of detailed research by 

 the combined analytic and synthetic methods have, in 

 one form or other, rejected this idea of the miraculous, 

 seeing in it a break in the continuity and uniformity 

 of existence and development which forms the openly or 

 tacitly assumed postulate of all their reasoning. 



The question of the supernatural or miraculous has 

 been discussed from many points of view since David 

 Hume wrote his celebrated ' Essay on Miracles.' l But 

 the argument has considerably changed in the course 

 of the nineteenth century : as much through the in- 

 fluence of philosophic as through that of scientific 

 thought. In Hume's time there did not exist any 

 clear and definite doctrine which set forth the nature 

 and limits of scientific or exact reasoning. The con- 

 ception also of laws of nature was not clearly fixed. At 

 that time even the laws of motion and of gravitation 

 were still subjects of discussion not only among philo- 

 sophers but also among scientific authorities. Accord- 

 ingly the point which Hume mainly discusses is that 



1 Forming the 10th section of 

 'An Enquiry concerning the Human 

 Understanding,' first published 

 (1748) anonymously with the title 

 ' Philosophical Essays concerning 

 Human Understanding.' This pub- 

 lication which the author desired 

 should ' ' alone be regarded as 

 containing his philosophical prin- 

 ciples and sentiments," remained, 

 as he himself complained, obscure 

 while the subject leapt into promi- 

 nence through the " ferment on 

 account of Dr Middleton's 'free 

 enquiry into the miraculous powers 



which are supposed to have sub- 

 sisted in the Christian Church 

 from the earliest ages through 

 several successive centuries'" (1748- 

 1749). Hume's biographer, John 

 Hill Burton, tells us ('Life, &c., 

 of David Hume,' vol. i., 1846, p. 

 272) that though neglected in this 

 country, " it will be found correctly 

 set forth in a German biographical 

 work, infinitely superior to any we 

 possess in this country : Adelung's 

 Supplement to ' Jochers Allge- 

 meines Gelehrten-Lexicon.' " 



