MIRACLE. 
556 
a trne miracle, that the circumftances under which it is 
produced be known, and that the common courfe of na¬ 
ture be in fome degree underftood 5 for in all thofe cafes 
in which we are totally ignorant of nature, it is impoflible 
to determine what is, or what is not, a deviation from its 
courfe. Miracles, therefore, are fiot, as fome have repre- 
fented them, appeals to our ignorance. They fuppofe 
fome antecedent knowledge of the courfe of nature, 
without which no proper judgment can be formed con¬ 
cerning them ; though with it their reality may be fo ap¬ 
parent as to prevent all pollibility of a difpute. 
Thus, were a phyfician to cure a blind man of a cata¬ 
ract, by anointing his eyes with a chemical preparation 
which we had never before leen, and to the nature and 
effects of which we are abfolute ftrangers, the cure would 
undoubtedly be wonderful; but we could not pronounce 
it miraculous, becaule, for any thing known to us, it 
might be the natural effedt of the operation of the un¬ 
guent on the eye. But, were he to recover his patient 
merely by commanding him to fee, or by anointing his 
eyes with fpittle, we Ihould with the utmoft confidence 
pronounce the cure to be a miracle; becaufe we know 
perfectly that neither the human voice nor human fpittle 
have, by the eftablilhed conftitution of things, any fuch 
power over the difeafes of the eye. No one is now igno¬ 
rant, that perfons apparently dead are often reftored to 
their families and friends, by being treated in the manner 
recommended by the Humane Society. To the vulgar, 
and fometimes even to men of fcience, thefe effedts ap¬ 
pear very wonderful; but, as they are known to be pro¬ 
duced by phyfical agency, they can never be confidered 
as miraculous deviations from the laws of nature. On 
the other hand, no one could doubt of his having wit- 
nefied a real miracle who had feen a perfon that had been 
four days dead come alive out of his grave at the call of 
another, or who had even beheld a perfon exhibiting all 
the fymptoms of death inftantly refufcitated merely by 
being dejircd to live. 
Thus eafy is it, in all cafes in which the courfe of na¬ 
ture is underftood, to determine whether any particular 
event be really a miracle; whilft, in circumftances where 
we know nothing of nature and its courfe, even a true 
miracle, were it performed, could not be admitted as fuch, 
or carry any convidlion to the mind of a philofopher. 
If miracles be effedts contrary to the eftablilhed confti¬ 
tution of things, we are certain that they will never be 
performed on trivial occafions. The conftitution of things 
was eftablilhed by the Creator and Governor of the uni- 
verfe, and is undoubtedly the offspring of infinite wil'dom 
purluing a- plan for the bell of purpofes. From this plan 
no deviation can be made but by God himfelf, or by fome 
powerful being adling with his permilJion. The plans de- 
vifed by wifdom are fteady in proportion to their perfec¬ 
tion, and the plans of infinite wifdom mull be abfolutely 
perfedt. From this confideration, fome men have ven¬ 
tured to conclude, that no miracle was ever wrought, or 
can rationally be expedted; but maturer refledlion mull 
loon fatisfy us that all fuch conclulions are halty. 
Man is unqueltionably the principal creature in this 
world, and apparently the ®nly one in it who is capable 
of being made acquainted with the relation in which he 
Hands to his Creator. We cannot, therefore, doubt, but 
that fuch of the laws of nature as extend not their ope¬ 
ration beyond the limits of this earth were eftablilhed 
chiefly, if not folely, for the good of mankind; and if, 
in any particular circumftances, that good can be more 
elfedtually promoted by an occafional deviation from 
thofe laws, fuch a deviation may be reafonably expedled. 
Were man, in the exercife of his mental and corporeal 
powers, fubjedled to the laws of phyfical neceflity, the 
circumftances fuppol'ed would indeed never occur, and 
of courfe no miracle could be admitted. But fuch is not 
the nature of man. 
Without repeating what has been faid elfewhere (fee 
the article Metaphysics, p. 230.) of neceflity and liberty. 
we ffiall here take it for granted, that the relation between 
motives and adlions is different from that between caul'e 
aad eftedl in phyfics; and that mankind have fuch com¬ 
mand over themfelves, as that, by their voluntary con- 
dudl, they can make themfelves in a great degree either 
happy or miferable. We know likewife from hillory, that, 
by fome means or other, almoll all mankind were once 
funk into the grofleft ignorance of the moll important 
truths; that they knew not the Being by whom they 
were created and fupported; that they paid divine ado¬ 
ration to Hocks, Hones, and the vileft reptiles; and that 
they were Haves to the moll impious, cruel, and degrad¬ 
ing, fuperllitions. 
From this depraved Hate it was furely not unworthy of 
the common “Father of all” to refcue his belplels crea¬ 
tures, to enlighten their underftandings that they might 
perceive what is right, and to prelent to them motives of 
l'ufficient force to engage them in the practice of it. But 
the underftandings of ignorant barbarians cannot be en¬ 
lightened by arguments; becaufe of the force of fuch ar¬ 
guments as regard moral fcience they are not qualified to 
judge. The philofophers of Athens and Rome incul¬ 
cated, indeed, many excellent moral precepts, and they 
fometimes ventured to expofe the abfurdities of the reign¬ 
ing fuperllition: but their lectures had no influence upon 
the multitude; and they had themfelves imbibed fuch er¬ 
roneous notions refpedting the attributes of the Supreme 
Being, and the nature of the human foul, and converted 
thofe notions into firft principles, in which they would 
not permit an examination, that even among them a 
thorough reformation was not to be expedled from the 
powers of reafoning. It is likewife to be obferved, that 
there are many truths of the utmoft importance to man¬ 
kind, which unaflifted reafon could never have difcovered. 
Amongft thefe we may confidently reckon the immorta¬ 
lity of the foul, the terms upon which God will be recon¬ 
ciled to linners, and the mariner in which that all-perfedt 
Being may be acceptably worlhipped ; about all of which 
philofophers were in fuch uncertainty, that, according to 
Plato, “ Whatever is fet right, and as it fhould be, in the 
prefent evil ftate of the world, can be fo only by the par¬ 
ticular interpofition of God.”. 
An immediate revelation from heaven, therefore, was 
the only method by which infinite wifdom and perfedl 
goodnefs could reform a bewildered and vicious race. 
But this revelation, at whatever time we fuppofe it given, 
mull have been made diredtly either to fome chofen indi¬ 
viduals commiflioned to inllrudt others, or to every mail 
and woman for wliofe benefit it was ultimately intended. 
Were every perfon inltrudted in the knowledge of his 
duty by immediate infpiration, and were the motives to 
pradlife it brought home to his mind by God himfelf, 
human nature would be wholly changed : men would not 
be mailers of their own adlions ; they would not be moral 
agents, nor by conl'equence be capable either of reward 
or of punifliment. It remains therefore, that, if God has 
been gracioufly pleafed to enlighten and reform mankind 
without deltroying that moral nature which is eflential 
to virtue, he can have done it only by revealing his truth 
to certain chofen inftruments, who were the immediate 
inllrudlors of their contemporaries, and through them 
have been the inllrudlors of fucceeding ages. 
Let us fuppofe this to have been actually the cafe, and 
then let us confider how thofe infpired teachers could 
communicate to others every truth which had been re¬ 
vealed to themfelves. They might eafily, if it was part 
of their duty, deliver a lublime fyftem of natural and 
moral fcience, and eftablilh it upon the common bafis of 
experiment and demonllration; but what foundation 
could they lay for thole truths which unaflifted reafon 
cannot dilcover, and which, when they are revealed, ap¬ 
pear to have no necefiary relation to any thing previoufly 
knowm ? To a bare affirmation that they had been imme¬ 
diately received from God, no rational being could be 
expelled to alfent. The teachers might be men of known 
veracity. 
