Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1854-03-26
Hnnss Arguments Against .sIiraeless : ],

r "A'wsns learned argunnt against Hams.s
ihode' Objection to miracles is froa, The se,, os
Il. Young. Professor Of Massspa,;ss .,....s...
College ireland:
"The position which Hume laLars to .sstab,;;sSs
Il in substance this: That no amaant s.f hamass
testimony in favor Of the performance OF miracle.
can ever render its occurrence So highly probable.
as the uniform experience OF Isankipl asainst
violation of the laws OF nature rsnse,s il iss-
possible And the ohFct Of preceding writer's hss
always been TO show, in co5trayenti.n ef this dec
trine. that comparative limited nnmber ef Wit
nesses Of ordinary veracity aud without COLLISION,
bearing concurrent testimony to the event. are spt-
heient to render the probability in Iavor Of its
eorrenee, far greater than Pr'oyi PROBABILITY :
against IT. as inferred from the uniform experiense
Q. all mankind 1t is the principal object Of these
0"Ssr sa'ons. by presenting the matter in light
somewhat different from that in which il has hitler
70 oeen viewed, to show that the above mentioned
condition as to the reraeity of the wiineses Say
oe altogether dispense, with. And that il the.
witnesses without colusion came forward to airm -
the occurrence Of amraele. and all testify 10 In,
same miracle, the simple fact Of this concurreucs in
their testimony-if they be at all numeTous--wa
give probability to the truth of their st,temept
which is altogether irresistible however abandoned
the character of the witnesses may be-
1T seems to be the more desirable - do his
since the final impression intended to be made by
the so-called argument of Hume is, that the viii
nesses for the Gospel miracles were either nlpss-
tors or deluded enthusiasts and an essential ele-
ment in the opposing hypothesis hitherto adopted
IS. that they were at least in some degree honest
and trust worthy Let us then coueede that the VII
nesses were altogether unworthy OF the slightest
confidence, that one forward bent upon dece,
lion. and afrms that he is eye witness to the per-
iormance of miracle, the raising Of dead ,aaa
to life, for instance and let ten other persons with
The same disposition to deceive, b,t without coz
usion, testifying the same thing Now lot Us a..
ume that these ten persons were limited within
he narrow range of ten fabrications suitable 10
heir purposes Of fraud, the probability that they
would fix npon the particular miracle mentioned is
he tenth power Of one-tenth which Is Gne divided
y l00O00O00O0. II. instead Of n other per-
ons, there were twe;ve. the probability would he
ne divided By 100000 100000, that is the odls
gainst the supposed uniformity of testimony Is
'ithin unit of millions to one. Now supposiug
ccordng to Mr. Babbage and Laplacc that ihe
uman race was about 6,O0O years Of age and that
0 years is the average duration Of generation,
90 generations must have passed away, and az
wing that the average population Of the earth
as been thousand millions, find that tAsse
ave been born and have died since the creation
oO'o00OOOO00 of individuals. The experieucsf
all these, in favor Of the occurrence Of a Mira
lie, is therefore two hundred millions 70 ore We
ave seen above that il only th;rteen individuals
ear Independent testimony to the fact-even sup
osing that they have only nine other events II
hoose from, the probability that the fact is not
abrication is million millions 10 ohe.'' -
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