Let 24. Lord BoLlNoBROKE. 4²¹⁷

ever advanced ſuch an hypotheſis as he here argueth againſt. By the doctrine of a particular providence they do not mean a conſtant particular interpoſition of divine providence for re- warding every good man and virtuous action, and puniſh- ing every bad man and every wicked action, in an immediate and viſible manner here on earth. On the contrary, they uni- verſally maintain that this preſent ſtate is a ſtate of trial and dil- cipline; and that it would be no way agreeable to the nature of ſuch a ſtate to have all good men and good actions immediately and remarkably rewarded, and all wicked men immediately pu- niſhed: that the temporary fufferings of good men, and the proſperity of the wicked, are permitted for very wiſe ends, and may be reaſonably and conſiſtently accounted for, on the ſup- poſition that this preſent life is a ſtate of trial; though they could not well be accounted for, if this were deſigned to be a ſtate of final retributions, or to be the only ſtate of exiſtence allotted us. 3 The greateſt part of what he offers againſt a particular pro-

vidence in the LXIId of his Fragments and Eſſays, relates to occaſional interpoſitions, which he pretends would be miracles if they were real. ‧%Such, he ſays, they would be ftrictly, *ꝗwhether they were contrary to the eſtabliſhed courſe of na- ¹cture or not; for the miracle conſiſts in the extraordinary in- **terpoſition, as much as in the nature of the thing brought to **paſs: that the miracle would be as real in the one caſe as in the other: and the reality might be made evident enough by ec the occaſions, by the circumſtances, by the repetition of it * on ſimilac occaſions, and in ſimilar circumſtances; and above ¹ all, by this circumſtance, that the aſſumed particular provi- **dence was a direct anſwer to particular prayers and acts of ¹*devotion offered up to proeure ite.“ Here he takes upon him to give a new and arbitrary definition of a miracle. T'ho' a thing hath nothing in it contrary to the eſtabliſhed courſe of nature, yet it is to be regarded as a miracle, if there be ſuppoſed to be any ſpecial agency of the divine providence in it, ſuited to particular occaſions and circumſtances; and above all, if it be ſuppoſed to come in anſwer to prayer. But if the occaſional interpoſitions he refers to be perfectly agreeable to the general laws of nature and of providence, and be only ſpecial applications of general laws to particular occaſions, I do not ſee how they

an be properly ſaid to be miraculous at all; or how their be- ing ſuppoſed to come in anſwer to prayer can make them ſo.

6

„ c Vol. v. P. 458, 459· E S 3 But

8