quered, and presented with the sovereignty of Elba (surely, by-the-by, some more probable way might have been found of disposing of him, till again wanted, than to place him thus on the very verge of his ancient dominions); thence he returns to France, where he is received with open arms, and enabled to lose a fifth great army, at Waterloo; yet so eager were these people to be a sixth time led to destruction, that it was found necessary to confine him in an island some thousand miles off, and to quarter foreign troops upon them, lest they make an insurrection in his favor![1] Does any one believe all this, and yet refuse to believe a miracle? Or, rather, what is this but a miracle? Is it not a violation of the laws of nature? for surely there are moral laws of nature as well as physical, which, though more liable to exceptions in this or that particular case, are no less true as general rules than the laws of matter, and therefore cannot be violated and contradicted beyond a certain point, without a miracle.[2]
- ↑ Ἦ θαύματα πολλά.
Καὶ πού τι καὶ βροτῶν φρένας
ΎΠΕΠ ΤΟΝ ἈΛΗΘΗ ΛΟΓΟΝ
Δεδειδαλμένοι ψεύδεσι ποικίλοις
Ἑξαπατῶντι μῡθοι.—Pind. Olymp. 1. - ↑ This doctrine, though hardly needing confirmation from authority, is supported by that of Hume; his eighth Essay is, throughout, an argument for the doctrine of "philosophical necessity," drawn entirely from the general uniformity observable in the course of nature with respect to the principles of human conduct, as well as those of the material universe; from which uniformity, he observes, it is that we are enabled, in both cases, to form our judgments by means of experience; and if, says he, "we would explode any forgery in history, we cannot make use of a more convincing argument, than to prove that the actions ascribed to any person are directly contrary to the course of nature. . . . . The veracity of Quintus Curtius is as suspicious when he describes the supernatural courage of Alexander, by which he was hurried on singly to attack multitudes, as when he describes his supernatural force and activity, by which he was able to resist them. So readily and universally do we acknowledge a uniformity in human motives and actions as well as in the operations of body."—Eighth Essay, p. 181, 12mo.; p. 85, 8vo. 1817.
