Vii ORDER OF NATURE: MIRACLES 153 



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 strongest and most justifiable 

 of human convictions. And it must be admitted 

 to be a reasonable request, if we ask those who 

 would have us put faith in the actual occurrence 

 of interruptions of that order, to produce evidence 

 in favour of their view, not only equal, but su- 

 perior, in weight to that which leads us to adopt 

 ours. 



This is the essential argument of Hume's 

 famous disquisition upon miracles; and it may 

 safely be declared to be irrefragable. But it must 

 be admitted that Hume has surrounded the kernel 

 of his essay with a shell of very doubtful value. 



The first step in this, as in all other discussions, 

 is to come to a clear understanding as to the 

 meaning of the terms employed. Argumentation 

 whether miracles are possible, and, if possible, 

 credible, is mere beating the air until the arguers 

 have agreed what they mean by the word 

 "miracles." 



Hume, with less than his usual perspicuity, but 

 in accordance with a common practice of believers 

 in the miraculous, defines a miracle as a " violation 

 of the laws of nature," or as " a transgression of a 

 law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, 

 or by the interposition of some invisible agent." 



There must, he says, 



