for the morrow, because no man can be sure he will be
alive an hour hence. Such are the conditions imposed upon us by
nature, and we have to make the best of them. And I think that the
greatest mistake those of us who are interested in the progress of
free thought can make is to overlook these limitations, and to deck
ourselves with the dogmatic feathers which are the traditional
adornment of our opponents. Let us be content with rational certainty,
leaving irrational certainties to those who like to muddle their minds
with them. I cannot see my way to say that demons are impossibilities;
but I am not more certain about anything, than I am that the evidence
tendered in favour of the demonology, of which the Gadarene story is a
typical example, is utterly valueless. I cannot see my way to say that
it is "impossible" that the hunger of thousands of men should be
satisfied out of the food supplied by half-a-dozen loaves and a fish
or two; but it seems to me monstrous that I should be asked to believe
it on the faith of the five stories which testify to such an
occurrence. It is true that the position that miracles are
"impossible" cannot be sustained. But I know of nothing which calls
upon me to qualify the grave verdict of Hume: "There is not to be
found, in all history, any miracle attested by a sufficient number of
men, of such unquestioned goodness, education, and learning as to
secure us against all delusion in themselves; of such undoubted
integrity as to place them beyond all suspicion of any design to
deceive others; of such credit and reputation in the eyes of mankind
as to have a great deal to lose in case of their being detected in any
falsehood; and at the same time attesting facts performed in such a
public manner, and in so celebrated a part of the world, as to render
the detection unavoidable: _all which circumstances are requisite to
give us a full assurance in the testimony of men_."[50]

The preceding paper called forth the following criticism
signed "Agnosco," to which I append my reply:--

While agreeing generally with Professor Huxley's remarks
respecting miracles, in "The Agnostic Annual for 1892," it
has seemed to me that one of his arguments at least requires
qualification. The Professor, in maintaining that so-called
miraculous events are possible, although the evidence
adduced is not sufficient to render them probable, refers to
the possibility of ch