It follows therefore, whichever views we may take of the mode in which a miracle may be performed, that there is nothing in the idea of it which is contrary to our reason. Whenever it is affirmed to be so, the assertion originates in an ambiguity in the use of terms, or in partial views of nature, or of the mode of the divine working, or from confounding under a common name phenomena so different in character as those of mind and matter, or by making assumptions respecting the divine operations which contradict the laws of the universe, or respecting the divine character, which reason refuses to endorse. How far the known or unknown forces of nature may be employed in the performance of a miracle is an abstract question that we have no means of determining. The agency of some of the known forces of nature is unequivocally asserted in the Old Testament to have been the media employed in the performance of some of its miracles. No such affirmation is made in the New Testament. Still there is not one word to imply that any of the forces of material nature were for a single moment suspended in their action. The only assertion made is the presence and active energy of a force capable of producing them. That force is the Creator of the universe bearing witness to the divine mission of Jesus Christ. “The Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me.” “The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.” (John v. 36, 37.) CHAPTER VII. THE ALLEGATION THAT NO TESTIMONY CAN PROVE THE TRUTH OF A SUPERNATURAL EVENT. Hume’s position, which affirmed that it is impossible to prove the truth of a supernatural event by any amount of testimony however strong, is certainly one of the most plausible that have ever been assumed by unbelief. Stated briefly and in his own words, it is as follows: “A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle from the nature of the fact is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined.” Again: “No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle unless the testimony is of such a kind that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavours to establish.” The fallacy of these positions, notwithstanding the plausible arguments by which they are supported, has already been pointed out by a multitude of writers. Mr. Mill himself has practically abandoned Hume’s argument as either a harmless truism, or, in another point of view, one that requires to be modified to such an extent as to deprive it of any real cogency. Under ordinary circumstances, therefore, it might be passed over in silence.