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    we are here least of all qualified to pronounce on the impossibility of the operation of concealed causes . The operations of the mental faculties rnighj not necessarily be suspended or annihilated in cases of miraculous illumination ; bur , without violating the uniformity , of causation , and probably by means of it , these faculties might present phenomena as stupendous as unprecedented . If it be again objected that this mode of argument deprives us of the only foundation on which we can build expectation of the future ,

    since the unseen causes supposed may again modify the influence of known agents , —we reply , that the succession of causes and effects is so uniform as to generate a conviction strong enough for all purposes * Some persons believe and others disbelieve that on one occasion the son stood still , ( to use < tbe popular language ) ; but all agree -in expecting the luminary to run . his course to-morrow and every day of their lives : and though the general beljef is that its Jg ht will one day be quenched , all men act on the assumption tb ^ t days , months , and years , will yet roll on as jn former times * As

    unprecedented results have arisen from unknown causes , the same thing may happen again , and is expected to happen by all who believe that the present constitution of external nature will be dissolved ; but as such results are extremely rare , while the familiar operation of ascertained causes is perpetual and uniform , we are obliged by the law of association to ground our expectations on our experience of the latter , and are justified by right reason in doing so . If it be yet objected that the unseen causes supposed might operate on the human mind so as to produce false testimony , it is replied ,

    that such a supposition is not only inconsistent with all the conceptions . we can form of the moral attributes of the Deity * but most improbable iijijtselt It may easily be admitted that a case of false individual testimony might occqr which should be wholly unaccountable to us ; but when a number af men ( say five or tern ) qualified to bear testimony , and acting under an ascertained system , of motives , ( as the apostles in the promulgation of Christianity , ) agree in asserting facts which we should have previously , supposed impossible , the probability is that unknown physical causes operated in one

    instance , rather than unknown moral causes in five or ten . This being allowed , the testimony of the same persons may be admitted in favour of any ournber of miracles . If the testimony of five persons can establish the credibility of one miracle , it is sufficient to establish the credibility ! p £ a hundred , their qualifications for bearing testimony remaining $ \ e saure * y In the first place , then , we do not agree with our author that be has

    established has important rule , that no testimony can prove a breach of < the uniformity of causation in physical events ; and , in the second , plape , we beJi ^ ye 0 at the exhibition of miracles does not necessarily ijix ^ jrsucfy a breach , feno instance naore strikingly than in the case before us , are , men

    apt to be raided by terps adopted by themselves to # id theirresesLi $ h $ T ^ ie ; terms preq , ch 9 sifispenswn , and violation of a Jaw , appear ^ p ^ $ r hjghiy objec | ipna 1 > ie jf invariably applied to the operations of the JJisppaer of events . These terms , hayipg l ^ een used fjjsjuratiyely and $% *? $£ 9 $ arco ^ mc ^ ation , to ejcj ) riB 3 S ;( pur inuperfect conceptions of ifye moa ^] l af ^ ffifiikg agency , are afterwardsjused as the basis ( of arguments to which they . a ^ brd no W solid foundation . It is impossible to enlarge on ^ is ^ su ^ ectj hj ^ ; 1 ^ ut 0 will just observe , that the oelief of the Deity being restricted ^ by ( l ^ tws arises from a yery narrow and imperfect conception of Ji ^ h ; and , t , ha . t though the term is perhaps the best we can employ to e ^ tpmss qur con . vktipn . oT the iniinutabttjity of his purposes , and the impartiality of his dispensations , it ought never to f ^ e r ^ ade the ocqaeion of limiting our faith in nis uifinite power . The

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    638 Ewy 8 xtft the fhtrspit of Truth .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1829, page 638, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2576/page/38/