156 HUME vn 



that fire consumes wood and is extinguished by water; 

 unless it be that these events are found agreeable to the 

 laws of nature, and there is acquired a violation of those 

 laws, or in other words a miracle, to prevent them 1 " 

 (IV. p. 133.) 



But the reply is obvious; not one of these 

 events is " more than probable "; though the 

 probability may reach such a very high degree 

 that, in ordinary language, we are justified in say- 

 ing that the opposite events are impossible. Call- 

 ing our often verified experience a " law of nature " 

 adds nothing to its value, nor in the slightest de- 

 gree increases any probability that it will be veri- 

 fied again, which may arise out of the fact of its 

 frequent verification. 



If a piece of lead were to remain suspended of 

 itself, in the air, the occurrence would be a 

 " miracle," in the sense of a wonderful event, 

 indeed; but - no one trained 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 under which so 

 highly unexpected an occurrence took place; and 

 thereby enlarge his experience and modify his, 

 hitherto, unduly narrow conception of the laws of 

 nature. 



The alternative definition, that a miracle is " a 

 transgression of a law of nature by a particular 

 volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of 

 some invisible agent," (IV. p. 134, note) is still less 



