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Miracles as Proof
David Hume
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

The author claims that prophecies are a subset of miracles and concludes that the Christian religion requires a miraculous subversion of reason for one to believe it.

...; and that people the countrymen of the author: Of their deliverance from bondage by prodigies the most astonishing imaginable: I desire any one to lay his hand upon his heart, and after a serious consideration declare, whether he thinks that the falsehood of such a book, supported by such a testimony, would be more extraordinary and miraculous than all the miracles it relates; which is, however, necessary to make it be received, according to the measures of probability above established. 101.
What we have said of miracles may be applied, without any variation, to prophecies; and indeed, all prophecies are real miracles, and as such only, can be admitted as proofs of any revelation. If it did not exceed the capacity of human nature to foretell future events, it would be absurd to employ any prophecy as an argument for a divine mission or authority from heaven. So that, upon the whole, we may conclude, that the Christian Religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one.
Mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity: And whoever is moved by Faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and experience. SECTION XI. OF A PARTICULAR PROVIDENCE AND OF A FUTURE STATE. 102. I was lately engaged in conversation with a friend who loves sceptical paradoxes; where, though he advanced many prin...
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David Hume

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Faith's Miraculous Override

This excerpt extends Hume's claim by arguing that faith itself constitutes a 'continued miracle' in the believer, subverting ordinary understanding. It reinforces the idea that belief in Christianity requires a miraculous intervention, aligning with the parent's assertion that such belief cannot be reasonable without one.

...o prophecies; and indeed, all prophecies are real miracles, and as such only, can be admitted as proofs of any revelation. If it did not exceed the capacity of human nature to foretell future events, it would be absurd to employ any prophecy as an argument for a divine mission or authority from heaven. So that, upon the whole, we may conclude, that the Christian Religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one.
Mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity: And whoever is moved by Faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and experience.
SECTION XI. OF A PARTICULAR PROVIDENCE AND OF A FUTURE STATE. 102. I was lately engaged in conversation with a friend who loves sceptical paradoxes; where, though he advanced many principles, of which I can by no means approve, yet as they seem to be curious, and to bear some relation to the chain of reasoning carried on throughout this enquiry, I shall here copy them from my memory as accurately as I can, in order to submit them to the judgement of the reader. Our conversation began wit...

Blaise Pascal

Pensees

Prophecy's Global Proof

Pascal directly counters Hume's skepticism by asserting that prophecies are the strongest proof of Jesus Christ. Where Hume argues that prophecies can only serve as proof if they are miraculous (and thus suspect), Pascal presents them as compelling evidence in themselves, challenging the parent's dismissal.

...there were no more prophets. 702 While the prophets were for maintaining the law, the people were indifferent. But since there have been no more prophets, zeal has succeeded them. 703 The devil troubled the zeal of the Jews before Jesus Christ, because he would have been their salvation, but not since. The Jewish people scorned by the Gentiles; the Christian people persecuted. 704 Proof.--Prophecies with their fulfilment; what has preceded and what has followed Jesus Christ. 705
The prophecies are the strongest proof of Jesus Christ. It is for them also that God has made most provision; for the event which has fulfilled them is a miracle existing since the birth of the Church to the end. So God has raised up prophets during sixteen hundred years, and, during four hundred years afterwards, He has scattered all these prophecies among all the Jews, who carried them into all parts of the world. Such was the preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ, and, as His Gospel was to be believed by all the world, it was not only necessary that there should be prophecies to make it...
706 But it was not enough that the prophecies should exist. It was necessary that they should be distributed throughout all places, and preserved throughout all times. And in order that this agreement might not be taken for an effect of chance, it was necessary that this should be foretold. It is far more glorious for the Messiah that the Jews should be the spectators, and even the instruments of His glory, besides that God had reserved them. 707 Prophecies.--The time foretold by the s...

David Hume

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Wonder's Persuasive Power

Hume here explains the psychological driver behind the acceptance of miracles: the agreeable emotion of surprise and wonder, which inclines people to believe extraordinary events. This provides a causal account for why miracles are often credited as proofs, addressing the 'why' behind the phenomenon described in the parent text.

...; of such undoubted integrity, as to place them beyond all suspicion of any design to deceive others; of such credit and reputation in the eyes of mankind, as to have a great deal to lose in case of their being detected in any falsehood; and at the same time, attesting facts performed in such a public manner and in so celebrated a part of the world, as to render the detection unavoidable: All which circumstances are requisite to give us a full assurance in the testimony of men. 93. Secondly.
We may observe in human nature a principle which, if strictly examined, will be found to diminish extremely the assurance, which we might, from human testimony, have, in any kind of prodigy. The maxim, by which we commonly conduct ourselves in our reasonings, is, that the objects, of which we have no experience, resembles those, of which we have; that what we have found to be most usual is always most probable; and that where there is an opposition of arguments, we ought to give the preference to such as are founded on the greatest number of past observations. But though, in proceeding by this...
And this goes so far, that even those who cannot enjoy this pleasure immediately, nor can believe those miraculous events, of which they are informed, yet love to partake of the satisfaction at second-hand or by rebound, and place a pride and delight in exciting the admiration of others. With what greediness are the miraculous accounts of travellers received, their descriptions of sea and land monsters, their relations of wonderful adventures, strange men, and uncouth manners? But if the spiri...

Blaise Pascal

Pensees

Faith's Reasonable Unreason

Pascal shifts the lens from seeking absolute rational proof to recognizing a balance of evidence and obscurity. He argues that the issue is not settled by reason alone but by the condition of the heart (grace or lust). This reframes the debate about miracles and prophecies from empirical credibility to a test of human disposition.

...h says it, is divine." But we say that it must be believed for such and such a reason, which are feeble arguments, as reason may be bent to everything. 561 There is nothing on earth that does not show either the wretchedness of man, or the mercy of God; either the weakness of man without God, or the strength of man with God. 562 It will be one of the confusions of the damned to see that they are condemned by their own reason, by which they claimed to condemn the Christian religion. 563
The prophecies, the very miracles and proofs of our religion, are not of such a nature that they can be said to be absolutely convincing. But they are also of such a kind that it cannot be said that it is unreasonable to believe them. Thus there is both evidence and obscurity to enlighten some and confuse others. But the evidence is such that it surpasses, or at least equals, the evidence to the contrary; so that it is not reason which can determine men not to follow it, and thus it can only be lust or malice of heart. And by this means there is sufficient evidence to condemn, and insufficient...
Vere discipuli, vere Israëlita, vere liberi, vere cibus.[207] 564 Recognise, then, the truth of religion in the very obscurity of religion, in the little light we have of it, and in the indifference which we have to knowing it. 565 We understand nothing of the works of God, if we do not take as a principle that He has willed to blind some, and enlighten others. 566 The two contrary reasons. We must begin with that; without that we understand nothing, and all is heretical; and we mus...