ON MIRACLES.- 221 



The ouly valid a priori objection that can bo urged against 

 the case of a miracle is that it is out of the ordinary course of 

 nature; and that there is sufficient ground for presuming that 

 nature will always and everywhere preserve the uniformity of 

 her operations. This would be to assume the impossibility of 

 miraculous action. 



The principle which I have laid down as best expressing 

 the case of mii-acles in relation to testimony, — diverse, but not 

 contradictoxy testimony, — may be shortly illustrated thus : — 



We have good and reliable testimony that in 999 cases A 

 was followed by a. We have competent testimony that in one 

 case A was followed not by a, but by h. The testimony is 

 diverse, but not contradictory ; for we have no other testimony 

 dealing with the latter case. The testimony alleged in proof 

 of it is, therefore, to be considered on its merits, remembering 

 that it is weighted by the ajmon objection i-eferred to above, 

 which suggests that it is antecedently improbable that a 

 miracle has occurred, — that A has been followed by h. This 

 improbability compels us to demand that the evidence advanced 

 in proof of the miraculous occurrence shall be clear, complete, 

 decisive. In other words, that it shall j^roue the alleged event. 

 Miracles, therefore, are not incredible ; but testimony to prove 

 them must be convinciug and conclusive. 



B. Our own Personal Experience of the Uniformity of 

 Nature indisposes us to believe in Miracles. 



Our unwillingness to accept the testimony tendered in 

 proof of a miraculous occurrence arises from our own experi- 

 ence of the invariable character of the operations of nature. 

 We have seen the sun rise in the east and set in the west ; 

 the water of the ocean ebb and flow ; the moon wax and 

 wane ; death followed by decay. We have never known any 

 variation from nature's uniformity. Antecedent and sequence 

 have become welded together in our thoughts, and only the 

 most violent effort can dissever or dissolve them. Testimony 

 assures us that they have preserved the same indissoluble 

 character in the past. We cannot without great effort eman- 

 cipate ourselves from the conviction that they have always, in 

 every case, obeyed the same law. 



Our imaginations invest the operations of nature with the 

 character of invariability. '' All things continue as they were 

 from the beginning.'' 



