vii ORDER OF NATURE: MIRACLES 155 



"Why is it more than probable that all men must die : that 

 lead cannot of itself remain suspended in the air : that fire con- 

 sumes wood and is extinguished by water ; unless it be that 

 these events are found agreeable to the laws of nature, and there 

 is required a violation of those laws, or in other words a miracle, 

 to prevent them ? "(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 saying that 

 the opposite events are impossible. Calling our 

 often verified experience a " law of nature " adds 

 nothing to its value, nor in the slightest degree 

 increases any probability that it will be verified 

 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 



