and legitimate sense,
simply means something wonderful.

Cicero applies it as readily to the fancies of philosophers, "Portenta
et miracula philosophorum somniantium," as we do to the prodigies of
priests. And the source of the wonder which a miracle excites is the
belief, on the part of those who witness it, that it transcends or
contradicts ordinary experience.

The definition of a miracle as a "violation of the laws of nature" is,
in reality, an employment of language which, on the face of the matter,
cannot be justified. For "nature" means neither more nor less than that
which is; the sum of phenomena presented to our experience; the totality
of events past, present, and to come. Every event must be taken to be a
part of nature, until proof to the contrary is supplied. And such proof
is, from the nature of the case, impossible.

Hume asks:--

"Why is it more than probable that all men must die: that lead
cannot of itself remain suspended in the air: that fire consumes
wood and is extinguished by water; unless it be that these events
are found agreeable to the laws of nature, and there is required a
violation of those laws, or in other words, a miracle, to prevent
them?"--(IV. p. 133.)

But the reply is obvious; not one of these events is "more than
probable"; though the probability may reach such a very high degree
that, in ordinary language, we are justified in saying that the opposite
events are impossible. Calling our often verified experience a "law of
nature" adds nothing to its value, nor in the slightest degree increases
any probability that it will be verified again, which may arise out of
the fact of its frequent verification.

If a piece of lead were to remain suspended of itself, in the air, the
occurrence would be a "miracle," in the sense of a wonderful event,
indeed; but no one trained in the methods of science would imagine that
any law of nature was really violated thereby. He would simply set to
work to investigate the conditions under which so highly unexpected an
occurrence took place, and thereby enlarge his experience and modify his
hitherto unduly narrow conception of the laws of nature.

The alternative definition, that a miracle is "a transgression of a law
of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition
of some invisible agent," (IV. p. 134, _note_) is still less defensible.
For a vast number of miracles have professedly been wo