tells me that he saw a dead man restored to life, I immediately
consider with myself whether it be more _probable_ that this person
should either deceive or be deceived, or that the fact which he relates
should really have happened. I weigh the one _miracle_ against the
other."—_Hume's Essay on Miracles_, pp. 176, 177, 12mo; p. 182, 8vo,
1767; p. 115, 8vo, 1817.

See also a passage above quoted from the same essay, where he speaks
of "the _miraculous_ accounts of travellers;" evidently using the word
in this sense.

Perhaps it was superfluous to cite authority for applying the term
"miracle" to whatever is "highly improbable;" but it is important to
the students of Hume, to be fully aware that he uses those two
expressions as synonymous; since otherwise they would mistake the
meaning of that passage which he justly calls "a general maxim worthy
of your attention."

[15] "Events may be so extraordinary that they can hardly be
established by testimony. We would not give credit to a man who would
affirm that he saw a hundred dice thrown in the air, and that they all
fell on the same faces."—_Edin. Review_, Sept. 1814, p. 327.

Let it be observed, that the instance here given is _miraculous_ in no
other sense but that of being highly _improbable_.

[16] "If the spirit of religion join itself to the love of wonder,
there is an end of common sense; and human testimony in these
circumstances loses all pretensions to authority."—_Hume's Essay on
Miracles_, p. 179, 12mo; p. 185, 8vo, 1767; p. 117, 8vo, 1817.