21 Jany 1814

Jug. True

Ch.4. I. Supernatural. Miracles

2

1. The second MS orig. ‘first’. objection that presents itself is this. The sort of evidence to which the name of miracles is so uniformly and so imposedly given—it consists not of miracles themselves: what it consists of is neither more nor less than a set of reports of miracles. Say for argument sake that these reports are every one of them correct still the difference between the report and the miracle itself—the difference between the intention of him who was a percipient witness of one or more of these miracles and the situation of him who does but read a report given of these same miracles, is next to infinite. In the case of the inhabitant of those times, the perceptions given to him of these miracles are not more than sufficient (indeed on the contrary as above observed and shewn it was not so much as sufficient:) the mere reports of these same miracles, being all the evidence that under this same name of miracles falls to the share of the inhabitant of these latter times can not therefore but be still more palpably deficient and inadequate.