"There may be, and undoubtedly are principles in nature which are not yet understood by any; and many more which are understood only by a few. The operations of these principles would undoubtedly, even at the present day, appear miraculous to thousands; and must appear very extraordinary to every one until they are understood. But this I conclude is not what is meant by miracles. Respecting miracles, I have only to ask myself this question, viz.--Which is the most likely to be true; either that men should have been honestly deceived, in the first instance, or otherwise facts should have been so misrepresented, that fabrication should have been honestly believed for truth; or else, that things so contrary to every principle of which I know in nature, should have taken place? Let reason only dictate the answer. "Another source of evidence in support of divine revelation is prophecy. And here, notwithstanding I think it very probable that much importance has been attached to many writings, under the idea of their being prophetic, which are nothing more than the poetic effusions of a fruitful imagination; yet I have long been of opinion that there have been, and perhaps still are men in the world who are endowed, by nature, with gifts and faculties differing from men in general; and particularly, say if you please, with a _spirit of prophecy_, which, however, I must consider nothing less nor more than a _second_ or _mental sight_. By this sense, or faculty of seeing, they are enabled to bring events which are yet future, as well as those otherwise out of sight, present to their minds; and thus they can behold them with their mental eye, as clearly as we behold objects at a distance. "This, you may say, is visionary indeed. And you may wonder how I can doubt of the truth of miracles, if I can believe in such a chimerical idea as this! "But stop, my dear sir, you believe in such a power some where or other; for without it there could be no such thing as prophecy, and if such a power exist, even in the universe, why may it not exist in man? For myself, I cannot account for the spirit of prophecy in man, (and it must be in man, or else men could not be prophets) in a more rational way. I should not be disposed, however, to consider such a power, sense, faculty, or by what other name it might be called, any more supernatural than the organs of sight and hearing. If the natural eye is so formed that objects may be painted on it, simply by the action of vision, to the immense distance of the fixed stars, so that we are enabled to behold them, why may not the mental eye be so constituted as to bring future events present to the mind with equal certainty? "If such a power, however, were once known to exist, it would be likely to be counterfeited; and hence we may suppose, arose that horde of impostors, by the name of soothsayers, sorcerers, necromancers, magicians, &c.