. But common sense and common
honesty alike oblige him to demand from those who would have him believe
in the actual occurrence of such events, evidence of a cogency
proportionate to their departure from probability; evidence at least as
strong as that, which the man who says he has seen a centaur is bound to
produce, unless he is content to be thought either more than credulous
or less than honest.

But are there any miracles on record, the evidence for which fulfils the
plain and simple requirements alike of elementary logic and of
elementary morality?

Hume answers this question without the smallest hesitation, and with all
the authority of a historical specialist:--

"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 of the testimony of men."--(IV. p. 135.)

These are grave assertions, but they are least likely to be challenged
by those who have made it their business to weigh evidence and to give
their decision under a due sense of the moral responsibility which they
incur in so doing.

It is probable that few persons who proclaim their belief in miracles
have considered what would be necessary to justify that belief in the
case of a professed modern miracle-worker. Suppose, for example, it is
affirmed that A.B. died and that C.D. brought him to life again. Let it
be granted that A.B. and C.D. are persons of unimpeachable honour and
veracity; that C.D. is the next heir to A.B.'s estate, and therefore had
a strong motive for not bringing him to life again; and that all A.B.'s
relations, respectable persons who bore him a strong affection, or had
otherwise an interest in his being alive, declared that they saw him
die. Furthermore, let A.B. be seen after his recovery by all his friends
and neighbours, and let his and their depositions, that he is now alive,
be