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    MISCEIirLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS,

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    education , for the habits of virtue upon which , you now justly value yourself . You might easily display your excellent talents of reasoning upon a . less hazardous subject , and thereby pbtain a rank with our most

    aisti ^ pguished . authors . For among ¦ us ^ it is not necessary as among the Jdfpttentots , that a youth to be raised into the company of men should prove kis manhood by beating his mother . I would advise you therefore not to attempt unchaining the tiger , but

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    An Examination of Mr . Hume ' s - Objection to 31 trades . MR . HUME , in his celebrated Essay , Npte K , defines a miracle ** A transgression of a law of of

    i ^ ature , hy a ^ particular volition the X ) e ^ y * Qr % the interposition of an Invisible Agent . " This Essay , to use his own . wards ., is designed to show •* : ^ ha ^ t nq testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle , unless the testimony

    he o £ such a kind , that its falsehood Would be more miraculous , than the fact which it endeavours to establish : and even , in . that case , there is a mutual destruction of arguments , and the superior only gives us an assurance suitable to that degree of force which

    remains after deducting the inferior . " In the above quotation , Mr . Hume assumes the utter incapacity of testimony to prqve a miracle . That the assumption , is spacious , will not be denied :

    ajaq unhappily , considerable numbers Jiaye heen imposed upon by it . In Eejtlity , however , a more gratuitous one * jba , th iKjver been , made , as will be fully . exemplified by an , investigation of the jjrpunds upon Which he has attempted e tp aefena it . T ^ ie corner-stone of his ^ uildi ^ ng is another assumption of a still . Wore extraordinary nature , but which ,

    if correct , would undoubtedly silence # dl oppugn ers , namely , that a greater miracle must be wrought to prove the existence of a lesser one , * or in other words , that a miracle is the only crite-¦ ~ < r t \ . i m'K " ~~ bood his

    , * *< . Jj [ , tjie f ^ i ^ of testimony HT ^ uLdl bp T&or ? miraculo us than the event ^ uch he rdiates , t t hen , and not till then , / ffii " ^ JP ^ W ^ command my belief or

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    to burn this piece before it is seen by any other person , whereby you will save yourself a gjreat cl ^ al of mox tifrcation from the enemies it may raise against you , and perhaps a good deal of regret and repentance . If men are so wicked with religion , what would they be if without it ? I intend this ? letter itself as a proof ^ f my friendship ,, and therefore add no professions to it ; but subscribe simply your ' s , JB . FRANKLIN . ^

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    rion by which to prove or judge of the existence of rr \ iracles . The credit due to them , it is admitted , rests entirely upon testimony $ but the specious objection to it , from the supposed incofti * potency of human testimony , is invalid , and at most a mere begging of the question . Nevertheless , it must be remembered , that the failure of £ h

    ingenious sophister to prove a negative by no means establishes the converse , an affirmative . On the present occasion , therefore , it will not be irrelevant , and , perhaps , the onl y satisfactory repty to an objection of this sort , not merely to silence the negation * but also td ' aftempt upon adequate evidence to stft > - stantiate the affirmative . ( The minor

    support attempted to be derived frbrn the subsequent sophisms contained in the Essay , such as tbe notion of an hypothetical array of conflicting testimonies , the want of an uniform experience , &c . &c will in due time be adverted to , but not much enlarged upon , volumes having already been ably

    written , amply refuting them . ) My first and principal endeavour , then , will be to ascertain arid prove the competency of human testimony , to establish and record the existence of any fact , whether of an ordinary or extraordinary kind , even although it ts

    were A transgression of a law of nature , by a particular volition of the Deity , or by the interposition of an Invisible Agent , " which is Mr . Hume ' s definition of a miracle . " The evidence , that the course of

    nature has been departed from , is the very same by which we judge when it is not departed from , ana must be equally competent in both cases . ' For

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    An Examination of' Jlfr . Hume ' s Objection to Miracles * 17

    Misceiirlaneous Communications,

    MISCEIirLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS ,

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    Vqi . rSft ' i . d

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1817, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2460/page/17/