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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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iWtaei ^ tfn ri ^ f to tiefttedvtihti ! l we shall k&Wf&prnrtirtdHhiifc ritf sifperlttt * agefit £ * as * £ v orMhat fte * £ destitute of trrfc reqdisite povyfer ; tin 'that in eVgry st ^ ie bf thfe Vnorui Vvorlcl a miracle is totally useless j 6 r that ttie intrinsic nature of a Tniracfe renders -it qnwcmhy of a Deity
to , perform onq , ' * But , 23 we apprehend , the tfung to be |> rove 4 was , not that a miracle is possible , for a genuine sceptical philosopher could have no
optuiou on . such a subject ; but that it is riot ftouathe nature of the fact incapal > le of being proved as other facts arc . proved , by unquestionable testimony : the following reply therefore seems to meet the objection more fairly :
** It ( experience ) never has been , nor can be , applied to our belief in the truth © £ ' a narrative . Experience is confined to our owfj personal knowledge of facts derived from the sense of seeing , bearing , feeling , fcp , "—Pp . 320 ,, 321 .
** Whep ! ail individual / wxs experienced a fact , he is fully convinced of its truth . Another person , or multitudes of others , nt > f havi&g ^ experienced the same , is no erideh ' jbe against the fact alleged . Their ne ^
# a £ ives cannot destroy bis positive . They dy not maintain that they have experienced the contrary ; they , confess that they have had no , experience of a similar nature . Will th $ * inhabitants of a salubrious climate
claim a right to deity the possible existence of an epidemic disease , because they have had uninterrupted health ? It is , there * fore , as ridiculous to talk , of a preponderancy of experience , In . such cases , as it is seriously to expect that the ernpti * ess and levity of oj ) £ scale , should counterbalance aj [ J- ike ,, ' tv $ ights of another . " —pp , 321 ,
Agam : 4 < I'must suspect tfeaf the Strong mind of \ Mt . 4 Huriw ; knew , that , in the manner of bid stat 4 fciuei > t ,, i *^ was * gravely asserting an absurdity . You might as well place coutracy demonstrations in opposition to « a . ch ^ other , in a . geometrical problem , as * i % tire proofs- against entire proofs in moral wea 6 onilf > gV ' -r-rVi 3 « Ji ,
Mfenr , ^ yho presume , to qqestion what tj > e ^ multitude of t |> 49 unl ^ a . rne 4 , and learnyed ijtejfcve , Of prpf ^ ss to believe , v ^ knqver tvapt et ^ tp iqs % J * & enemies * a . pfrspiiat , 4 ? t& ^ arxy . their ftit ^ ck bwr tndtjieraufctho . r to t } ie man . Prehit
jumqev > pj : m « ,. ittpe . fe& ^ , sjij > er ? t ; itlpn and # oty £ s * pruifci ^ U - tj ^ vv 0 bp a | trm agsUws ' t th ^ irv . Fierf tWe r ^ b p uie | msitiaw qp& ^\ i } kp ^ 6 % 0 ^ fk ^ ugfet to
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regard * it as & datf wtti <* H tbfey owe to truth ^ nd- 'hiMndilftyv if t'hey cannot nririgate the enamour ; at least not to increase it by their voice . At thesanie time it is not necessary to app ^ a ml because bigotry condemns , or to give to Mr . Hume more than his due because
others may have given less . We are persuaded that no man is less likely to join in popular invective than our author , and that he exercises his own unbiassed judgment when he refuses / to Mr . Hume the praise of : honest intention : and it must indeed he
confessed that for an enquirer after truth , gifted too pre-eminently for thai enouiry , Mr . Hume was singularly unfortunate in the issue of it . The fact seems to be , that it was become tbe habit of his mi ml to detect and magnify whatever subtilty could object , without contemplating steadily the arguments of * truth . Our author ' s censure goes a little farther than this :
i € No man ( he says ) admires the talents of Mr . Hume more than the writer of thes ^ remarks ; arid no man more sincexely la ^ ments bis abuse of them . His conduct and his motives appear to be inexplicable . His capacity to reason justly is indubitable ; his disposition to perplex is equally indubitable . It is highly probable that he
began in jest , simply with an intention , to perplex that class of dogmatists , who were perpetually boasti ng of their demonstrations , upon subjects where , they did not always enjoy a prepiondeirancy of . evidence , T $ p part of his other writings indicate such vain boastings , opeu contradictions , and
contrarieties ^ as are manifest in every , jpajt of this celebrated Essay ; at a detection of which he would probably have tmiled ; and he must have Felt a sarprfse equal to hii triumph , when his artifices remained undiscovered . " Mr . Hume was tort wise a
man' not to know that , under his system , no philosopher can breathe a moment . "— - Pp . 830 , 831 . " Our great admiration of . Mr . Hume ' s intellectual powers , induces us to lanrepfr * that they were so iU . employed ; U * a $ hia
ambition to acquire literary fame , s \ iou l ^ be foundeij on the subversion of the best principles that caq actuate mankind , ^ , oir ought the insidious and treaeherou * mannjer in which this attepqpt hft * been m M ^ JWftyMf made , to escape the severest reprene ^ iM ^ Q
l ^ i the . la ^ l Enquiry , whicb . respqets IVJioraJoObli getlan ,. the author ij a * £ nm 4 its so « rc « s-ia principles whiclv sire inseparable from our nature ,, u # iver ? kjw
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IktiktoO ^ 6 gin& Ethical -Qxestiohs . 4 $ &
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1817, page 235, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2463/page/43/
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