The Otherworld

iLilVlPSES

oftheSuPERNATURA

^

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

AUGUSTA,

COUNTESS OF STRADBROKE, OF

HENHAM

HALL, IN THE COUNTY OF SUFFOLK,

THESE VOLUMES ARE,

BY HER ladyship's KIND PERMISSION,

VERY RESPECTFULLY

" It

is

racles?

often asked

Yes and

general, yes

number '

;

doubtless

of those

on rejecting as

that

God

— Do you believe in Prophecies and Mimay answer; that depends. In we believe in them, and are not of the

no, one

who

works.'

pique themselves,' as Fenelon said,

'

without examination,

fables,

But

if

you come

all

the wonders

to the particular,

and

— Do you believe in such a revelation, such an apparition, such a cure — here that behoves us not to forget the say

it

?

is

it

warnings of Holy Writ, nor the teaching of Theologians and Saints, nor, finally, the rules of Christian prudence, nor the

Has

decrees of Councils, and the motives of those decrees.

has spoken, let us bow with all the respect due to grave and mature ecclesiastical judgments, even where they are not clothed with infallible the proper Authority spoken

authority

;

if it

If

?

has not spoken,

it

let

us not be of those

and want

who

impose this unbelief upon everybody nor of those who admit everything lightly, and want alike to impose their belief let us be careful in discussing a particular fact, not to reject the very reject everything in

a partizan

spirit,

to

;

;

principle of the Supernatural, but neither let us shut our eyes to the evidence of testimony

let

;

us be prudent, even to the

—the subject-matter requires Scriptures recommend —but us not be sceptics

most

careful scrutiny

let

it

it, ;

the

let

us

be sincere, but not fanatical that is the true mean. And let us not forget that most often the safest way in these matters is not to hurry one's judgment, not to decide sharply and affirm absolutely in a word, not to anticipate, in one sense or the other, the judgment of those whose place and mission it is to examine herein but to await, in the simplicity of faith and of Christian wisdom, a decision which marks out a wise rule, although not always with absolute certainty." Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans, " On Contem:

—

;

—

porary Prophecies."

PREFACE. HESE

volumes have

been

compiled

from the standing-point of a hearty and reverent believer tianity.

No

Historical

in

one can

Chris-

be more fully

aware of their imperfections and incompleteness than the Editor tion

;

for the subjects

occupy such a broad

field,

under considera-

that their treatment

would have largely increased the volumes, bulk of the and indefinitely postponed at greater length

their publication.

The

facts

and records

Editor has dealt with

set forth (and throughout, the

facts,

rather than with theories)

have been gathered from time to time during the past twenty years, as well from ordinary historical narrations

as

several friends

from

the

personal

information

and acquaintances interested

subject-matter of the book.

brought together from so

many

The

of

in the

materials thus

quarters have been

PREFACE.

viii

carefully sifted,

would best volume, and

and those only made use of as the arranged method of the

assist in

suffice for its suitable illustration.

The Editor regrets that, in many recent examples of the fifty),

the publication of so

Supernatural (about

set forth for the first time in the following

names of the persons to whom those in some cases those likewise who supplied him with them, are withheld. pages, the

examples occurred, and

The

truth

publicity

is,

there

publicity, that very

However,

ordeal.

is

and of rude

it

such a sensitive dislike of

upon

criticism consequent

many persons shrink from the may be sufficient to state that

the Editor holds himself personally responsible for

those here recorded, which are not either details

all

by names and addresses of those who have supplied him with them. of received History, or formally authenticated the

Many examples

of the Supernatural in modern

times and in the present day are here published for the

time, in an authoritative

and complete

the kind courtesy of Lord

Lyttelton, the

first

form.

By

family records of a remarkable apparition, which said to

placed at the Editor's disposal, and,

by

ship's permission, are in the following first set

is

have been seen by his noble ancestor, were

forth in detail

The Editor

is

also

and

his

Lord-

pages

now

at length.

indebted to the following,

either for obliging replies to his inquiries, or for

PRE FA CE.

ix

information which has been embodied in the suc-

ceeding pages Rev.

W.

:

—The late Lady Brougham, the late

Hastings-Kelke, of Drayton Beauchamp

A. L. M. P. de

Lisle, Esq.,

Very Rev. A. Weld,

S.J.

of Garendon Park the Right Rev.

;

Edmund's

signor Patterson, D. D., of S.

Ware;

the Rev.

Ripon

;

Mon-

College,

M.A., of North Stain-

Jefferson,

J.

ley Vicarage, near

Very Rev. E.

the

J.

brick, S.J., of Stonyhurst College; the Rev.

Richardson, B.A., of Wanvick feild,

Esq., M.A., of

the Rev. Theodore

;

Rev. H. N. Oxenham, M.A.

;

Dominick

Browne,

Lowrie, of York

and many If there

;

;

Pur-

John

Henry Cope Caul-

Clone House, S. Leonard's; Morris

J.

;

the

;

Esq.

Mr. C.

J.

Mrs. George Lee

;

the

Miss S. F. Caulfeild

(Dytchley);

;

Captain

Sneath, of Birmingham

;

others.

be anything

set forth in this

volume,

in

ignorance or misconception, contradictory to the general

teaching

of

the

Universal

Church, the

Editor puts on record here his regret for having

penned such

it,

and

his desire

altogether to withdraw

error.

F. All Saints' Vicarage,

York Road, Lambeth.

D. ALBEi^xT

HILIEk. M.

1011 BUttor TElEPiiqNE,

9'm.

9an

D.

St.,

F-r^ ooteco.

G. L.

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2010 with funding from Indiana University

http://www.archive.org/details/glimpsesofsupern01leef

CONTENTS OF VOL. Chapter

I.

I.

Page

NTRODUCTORY.— Materialism

of

the

present age

i

m

lap

i

Chapter The Miraculous

in

II.

Church History.

Chapter Spiritual

III.

Powers and Properties of the Church.

ments.

— Sacramentals. — Exorcism Chapter

Witchcraft and Necromancy

21

.

— Sacra.

-51

IV. 149

.

Chapter

V.

Dreams, Omens, Warnings, Presentiments, and Second Sight

•

.

207

MATERIALISM OF THE PRESENT AGE.

" In

some sense of the Supernatural, in some faith in the in some feehng that man is not of this World, in some grasp on the Eternal God, and on an eternal supernatural and supersensuous life, lies the basis of all pity and mercy, all help, and comfort, and patience, and sympathy among men. Set these aside, commit us only to the Natural, to what our eyes see and our hands handle, and, while we may organize Society scientifically, and live according to the laws of Nature,' and be very philosophical and very liberal, Unseen,

'

we

are standing on the ground on which every savage tribe

stands, or indeed on which every pack of wolves gallops."

GLIMPSES OF THE SUPERNATURAL CHxVPTER

I.

INTRODUCTORY.— MATERIALISM OF THE

PRESENT AGE.

O

any

and hearty believer

sincere

in

Historical Christianity the advance of

Materialism and the consequent denial of the Supernatural

both of alarm and sadness.

many

follow

;

and

is

it

must be the cause

The few

frequently the

lead,

the

case that

conclusions contrarient to the idea of the Supernatural are arrived

at,

after a course of reasoning,

which conclusions appear to many wholly unjustified, either

by the premisses adopted,

or from the

argument that has ensued. It

has been stated,

in a serial of

some

ability,'

that the final issue of the present conflict between

'

"Westminster Review,"

B

July, 1872.

—

—

GLIMPSES OF

2

Christianity

and Unbelief must turn on the admisBut such a

sion or denial of the Supernatural.

denial

is

and

in truth

fact

be,

nothing more nor

He Who must

than a denial of God.

less

necessarily

from the very conception we form of Him, above

must

nature,

to the thing

nature,

it

also as Creator be

He

has created

follows that

The

nature likewise.

must work

;

above and superior

and

if

He

be above

His actions must be above Supernatural, consequently,

in a supernatural

manner,

the great

if

Creator takes any active part, or indeed any part at

all,

in

the permanent government of the order

He has been pleased to call into being. One may conceive that God Almighty should

which

have framed and formed the orderly system of

which our globe forms a '

part,'

and sent

" Is that a rational view of things held by

it

along

many

its

of the

—

modern thought, e.g. Strauss, that the world is a great machine, and men no more than the chaff which is being crushed between its revolving cogs ? Does this satisfy leaders of

the cravings of the

human

Of course they deny the

heart, the longings of the soul

existence of soul or

spirit,

?

and

matter, developed into a self-revolving Granted that the universe is a machine, let us at least have the notion of a machine clear and unmisIf a machine is anything, takeable. and I am not arguing with those who say it is nothing, it is the contrivance of an -intelligent being for some definite purpose it has a maker and it has a manager or if it works itself, it works so long and not longer than its maker intended. Those, therefore, who believe in mechanism, and deny the existence of God, condemn themselves for in the nature of the thing, where there is a contrivance, there must be an intelligence." Edwin

maintain that

machine.

all

Good

is

!

—

—

;

;

;

THE SUPERNATURAL. way once

appointed

for

with an impulse as

all,

and eternal as Himself,

infinite

—an impulse

once given, should need neither fresh

renewed powers. ceivable,

is

But such an

inconsistent with

phenomena we

3

idea,

many

which

gifts

nor

though con-

of the physical

see around us,^ as also with

the

and ceaseless variations which experience If man, teaches us to be so characteristic of them. in the exercise of his own personality, acts, and acts pliability

DE Lisle.

Preface to a " Comparison between the History of

the Church and the Prophecies of the Apocalypse."

don '

:

Lon-

1874.

Surely, whatever apparent intellectual

difficulties

rnay

God, His non-existence would Take create still greater, and tax our powers to the utmost. God away from the one orderly and harmonious system of exist as to the existence of

existence, in

whom

as

its

Creator the manifold threads of

the vast and complex whole meet, and the bond of "cohesion is dismemand Author Let God be absent, and of Creation, and all is harmonious. the spectacle of a world all in motion from end to end, through every unit of the immense aggregate, and yet with no fixed point anywhere, is enough to make the head giddy and the Such a world as ours without a God is the most heart sick. is lost,

bered.

the unity ceases, that which

On

the other hand,

let

is

complete

God be

the centre

If there be an effect without all impossibilities. a cause, a design without a designer, an act without an agent, then an orderly and beautiful world may be supposed capable of existing, without a centre of order or a spring of beauty. But so long as the law of causation retains its hold over the human mind as one of its most fundamental intuitions, the

impossible of

which admits a creation but rejects a creator, must be esteemed to be the most helpless of all superstitions, the most credulous of all credulities. unbelief,

GLIMPSES OF

4'

so that thing's are necessarily different to what they

would have been

he had not thus acted, and no

if

disturbance nor dislocation of the system around

him ensues

He Who

as a consequence of such action, surely

contrived the system in question can sub-

sequently interpose both in the natural and

For to deny

tual order of the world. is

God on

obviously to place

man

in other

;

this possibility

a lower level than

words, to make' the Creator of

own human

things weaker and less free than His

Now, find out

tion

to

go a step

further, all

God have been ideas gleaned

of

spiri-

all

creatures. efforts to

the result of the combina-

human

from

experience.

These ideas have often enough been grotesque, fanciful,

and distorted

— a judgment

admitted to be accurate by

all

which

will

be

Christian people

;

whether the gross conceptions of Pagan mythology

modern "thinkers" brought under consideration. That man, the

or the nebulous speculations of are

God made cannot compass

created, cannot understand

the Creator

—that

Maker — is not only perfectly certain, but necessary. The being nor of God cannot be grasped by a finite intellect can such an intellect conceive the mode of an

the thing

the

;

existence

absolutely and

derful

and excellent

But though

it

utterly

removed

Such knowledge

created conditions. :

may '

we cannot be,

Acts

and

is,

xvii. 27.

is

from

too won-

attain unto

it.^

utterly impossible

THE SUPERNATURAL.

5

anything but im-

to conceive

Almighty God,

possible to

conceive the fact and reality of His

it

is

For, as is well known, the general thought being. and conscience of mankind have believed in a God, semper et ubiqiie, everywhere and at all times. Thus

a thing

may exist, and

its

existence

patent to the understanding existence

may

be worthy

;

may be perfectly

and furthermore

of implicit belief

;

its

while,

same time, the thing itself may be found to transcend and overpass the limited powers of man's at the

Take,

intellect.

for

example, the ideas conveyed

by the terms " eternal "^ and " infinite." Who can comprehend them } Who can explain them } Ordinary popular conceptions make them mere indefinite extensions of duration and space; yet these conceptions need not and do not appear absurd,

on the contrary, enable

but,

distinct,

ideas, at

once

definite,

and recognizable, to be conveyed from man

man.

to

Thus, by a simple process of thought, see for ourselves the place lation,

we may

and propriety of a Reve-

and appreciate the truth of the Supernatural.

Here, in the province of a Revelation, not man's conception of God, but

Not

so unlike ourselves

with

will, actions,

'

The

God Himself is set forth. is He that we find Him,

and purposes,

unintelligible

;

but,

idea of the eternal enters largely into the stock argufor it is through the asserted "eternity

ments of unbelief;

of matter" that the unbeliever shifts tion

and a

creator.

away the

ideas of crea-

GLIMPSES OF

6

using analogies gathered and systematized by ex-

we

petience,

Creator

is

the same time,

learn, at

that our

beyond the range both of thought and to be fully known, until, with

—never

language

divinely-illuminated faculties in a higher state,

Him face to face. And when we have

we

see

attained to this point in our

course of thought, the revelation meets us. living

first

Here

leading fact of God's

it is

:

"There

is

but one

and true God, everlasting, without body, of infinite power, wisdom, and

parts, or passions

;

goodness the Maker and Preserver of all things, both ;

visible

and

invisible.

And

in unity of this

Godhead

there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy eternity :

Ghost."

Now

1

in this revelation,

given in

its

fullness

by the

Eternal Word, and bequeathed to the Christian

Church, to be preserved and handed down for future generations, all

is

Supernatural.

That body

doctrine which Christians believe, divinely guarded by the Church, was announced beforehand, centuries ere it was actually delivered, by a

of

—

wisdom above nature the divine light of prophecy. When it was set forth by the Eternal Word, its truth was attested in the face of a hostile people by a power above nature, whose word Creation obeyed, as in regularity, so in marked and palpable change. '

Articles of Religion,

No.

i,

Book

of

Common

Prayer.

THE SUPERNATURAL.

7

This body of doctrine or gospel put forth a supernatural power in the strange rapidity and manifest success

with which

Ancient

Rome owned

subdued hearts to

it

the Crucified as a

conquering and to conquer.

itself.

Monarch

His Revelation, of the

truth of which there shall be witnesses unto the

end,

above nature,

is

in that

it

alone provides ade-

quate remedies for the manifold infirmities of the

human

The

race.

life

natural, as are also the

created,

and the

it

produces here

means by which

by which

efficient gifts

constantly renewed.

of the Holy Ghost, wrought out by

and human instrumentality illuminating

;

;

life is

is

being

is

the work

human

agents

changing, sanctifying,

shadowing forth by

union of earth with heaven, of to be completed

that it

Supernatural, too,

super-

is

its

man

action the re-

with God, only

and made perfect

in the life

to

come.

Now

the purport of this volume

is

examples of supernatural intervention

many

of which

to

show by

— examples

have been gathered from quite

— that

time, in various

Almighty God, from time to ways and by different human in-

struments,

condescendingly reveals to

recent periods

still

man

glimpses of the world unseen, and shows the exist-

ence of that sceptic

life

beyond the grave,

and materialist of the present

would have us

disbelieve,

in

which the

restless

age

and which they themselves

scornfully reject.

From

the sure and solid standing-point of His-

GLIMPSES OF

8

torical Christianity, believing

Word

the

divinely-formed

the

Holy

Scripture to be

of God, and the Christian Church to be

corporation

for

instructing,

guiding, and illuminating mankind, remarkable ex-

amples of the Supernatural, miracles, spectral appearances of departed

by dreams and

spirits,

providential warnings

otherwise, the intervention

and

ministry of good angels, the assaults of bad, the certain

power and

efficacy of the

gifts of

Holy

Church, the sanctity of consecrated places, and the persevering malignity of the devil and his legions, are gathered together, and set forth in the pages to

For it may reasonably be believed that, as Almighty God has graciously vouchsafed to intervene in the affairs of mankind in ages long past, so follow.

there has never been a period in which such merciful

intervention has not from time to time taken

place.

Granted that

in the

days of Moses and

Aaron, and of Elijah and Elisha,

man owned by the

culous powers, and wrought wonders

God

;

of the

miragift of

granted that in dreams and visions the will

Most High was sometimes made known

to

favoured individuals of the Jewish Dispensation

;

remembering the miracles of our Lord's apostles and disciples, and bearing in mind the divine and supernatural powers which were first entrusted to, and have been ever since exercised by, the Catholic Church, it is at once unreasonable and unphilosophical to

deny the existence

supernatural and miraculous.

in the

As

world of the

will

be abun-

;

THE SUPERNATURAL.

g

dantly set forth, their presence and energy are in perfect accord

and harmony with the universal ex-

perience of mankind. object, materiahsts

Sceptics

may

scoff;

may contemn and

but numerous facts

as well as a very general sentiment are against their

conclusions and convictions.

Floating straws show the direction and force of a

As an example

current.

adoption

some

of the materialistic principle will lead

persons,

phers,"

of the lengths to which an

who

regard themselves as " philoso-

and as a specimen of the dangers which

threaten

us, it

may

be well to refer briefly to the

proposal which has recently been formally and publicly

made,

viz.,

that in certain cases of hopeless

disease or imbecile old age, physicians should be legally authorized to put an

end

to such patients

by

poison.

Thus, when the head of a family becomes old or borders on childishness, the son, by going through the proposed legal formality,

may

stand by and

witness the poisoning of his father, and so enter on

When

the possession of his property.

becomes

old, the

daughter

may

a mother

assist in a similar

manner at her mother's death. A crippled child, a weak-minded relation, an infirm member of the family,

according to

the

have a poisonous drug

"philosophers,"

should

administered

efficiently

that so the weak, crippled, or imbecile might be

murdered and put out of the way. philosopher-fanatics assure us that

"

Thus these

the natural law

GLIMPSES OF

lo

of the preservation of the

fittest,"

propounded by

them, will come into active and unchecked opera-

Having warned us that the penalty we endure "law" is a population largely composed of weak, unhealthy, poor and suffering people, they now earnestly recommend a "scientific method," by which the lame, the blind, the weak, and the imbecile should be cleared off from the tion.

for ignoring this

stage of

life.^

"Natural selection," would, unchecked

and never opposed, have preserved alive only the best and noblest types and as, they tell us in their in;

wisdom,

fallible

us

so far

law has developed

from the mollusk to the man,

had

this time, plied,

this principle or

it

been carefully and

have developed

us, if

it

might by

faithfully ap-

not into angels, at least

into nineteenth-century savages of great muscular

This

power.

is

the

odious message to mankind

which naturalistic Materialism announces.

we

confine ourselves to

" science " '

—that

Christianity, as

Ccire of

is,

what

is

And

if

sometimes called

exclusive knowledge of things

we know, exhorted men and women

the aged, the suffering,

and the

infirm.

to the

Our Blessed

Saviour's promise, regarding the gift of a cup of cold water

and and

its

reward, was not forgotten.

cast out

Pagan

selfishness.

Christian love resisted

Hospitals were built where

the diseases of the poor might be cured ; where the sore distress of hopeless pain and slow wasting-away might be

soothed

;

and asylums were provided where the weak and

imbecile might be tended. Now if the Pagan theories of " scientific people " are applied, the chief duty of physicians

be to poison their patients. Such a concepwould be ludicrous were it not so utterly revolting.

in the future will

tion

THE SUPERNATURAL. material

— such a conclusion as that arrived

at,

and

degrading principles as those propounded

such

for acceptance

unreasonable.^

A writer

1

n

in

an

and

practice,

may

not be altogether

In this kind of " science

influential

"

there

is

organ of opinion connected with

the American Church puts forth the following vigorous protest

:—

" It

is

quite as well that

we should be accustomed

to

some of our philosophies. The tradition of Christianity is so strong upon the most 'advanced' of our wise men that it holds them back from the carryingout of their principles. But here and there is one, and we should all be thankful to him who is so intellectually constituted that he must carry a law to its issue, and by the issue the logical consequences of

'

let

'

The

us see the nature of the law.

hint of

what may be

is

given in the revival of the advocacy of suicide for the wretched,

and the putting to death of the helpless. Naturalism carried out comes to that conclusion. Mr. Herbert Spencer had been patiently laying down principles which scores who think they think are accepting, without the slightest idea, on his part apparently or on theirs, that they are simple savagery

and pure Paganism, and that the man who dines off his aged mother has been acting on them, though Mr. Spencer's name had never been heard in his native speech. " In some sense of the supernatural, in some faith in the unseen, in some feeling that man is not of this world, in some grasp on the Eternal God, and on an eternal, supernatural, and supersensuous life, lies the basis of all pity and mercy, all help and comfort and patience and sympathy among men. Set these aside, commit us only to the natural, to what our eyes see and our hands handle and while we may organize society scientifically, and live according to 'the laws of nature,' and be very philosophical and very liberal, we are standing on the ground on which every pack of wolves ;

gallops.

"

One may

safely say,

'

If

you

will

show me, on any

prin-

"

GLIMPSES OF

12

little else

but coldness, cruelty, and savagery. Only

the strong have a right to

born to have their

life

The weak were

live.

trampled out, and, according

to this newly-revived theory, the sooner

The murder

the better.

done

it is

of the lame, the halt,

the blind, therefore, becomes thoroughly

and follows as a matter of

course.

and

scientific,

Its practice is

based upon laws which the materialists have been for

some time proclaiming

to be "supreme."

there be no supernatural basis of natural have no real existence,

earth earthy,

the super-

life, if

if

If

man be

of the

he be only an outgrowth of the dumb

if

forces of matter (the first article of the creed of

these " philosophers

he be governed solely and and completely by an inexorable material law (the highest and the only law, as "), if

altogether, absolutely

ciple of naturalism, or

days

call

'

any rule of what you shallowly

philosophy,' on any law of nature,

not strangle

my

deaf and

dumb

child,

why

smother

my

I

in these

should

paralytic

drown

my

hopelessly insane wife, then

materialist also.'

We

are far from believing that these gentle-

father, or

men know how

I

will turn

they have been undermining the foundations

of civilized and social

life.

A

lurid glare cast across these

speculations, like this English discussion of Euthanasia, startle

some whom Mr. Tyndall's discussion of the

may

scientific

absurdity of prayer might not startle, though both are locked

But however it be, we are on supernatural ground, that the Family and the Nation are divine, and that in one,

and stand

sure that

'

man

or

fall

together.

will find that society stands

Naturalism,' modified or disguised as

isolated savagery to the wall.'

—

f

every

man

it

for himself,

may

be,

is

only

and the weakest

THE SUPERNATURAL.

13

they would have us beHeve), then, of course, their conclusion inevitably follows ful

— that

and wise to put a man out of

becomes a burden both There

no place

is

it is

and

to himself

in the lofty

of Naturalism for a being

both merci-

misery when he

his

his friends.

and elevating system

who cannot

take care of

himself.

Again

while Scepticism

:

rampant, and some

is

are endeavouring to bring back the

Pagan notions

new

of ancient nations, to galvanize into corrupt imbecilities of the past,

making if

assertions

we know

of science are

One such recently main-

the following proposition

tained

the

and assumptions of the boldest,

not of the wildest nature.

earth,

men

life

:

—

"

Taking our

that millions of years have passed

Now, the maintainer of this assertion notoriously holds some peculiar theories about the means by which the solar system (and consequently other systems) was made, or rather grew. These theories, in some of their details, are or may be founded upon certain more or But when he uses the less well-ascertained facts. since she

began to be peopled."

term "know," we are bold to point out that such an assertion

'

A writer

rests

in the "

on mere assumption.^

Church Journal

case well and fairly as follows

:

"

of

—" The

We

New York

scientific

need

puts the

people have

taken up the lost weapons of bigoted theological polemics, and assail with the rough sides of their tongues and pens any

man who

calls for further

assumptions to the

test of

c

.idence, or

presumes to bring their But having no more

examination.

GLIMPSES OF

14

facts,

—facts which could

stand the careful investi-

gation of persons skilled in taking and measuring

evidence

and secondly, we require

;

to

be reasonably

convinced that no other possible explanation of a difficulty

be forthcoming, except that on which his

assumption

is

founded and his inevitable conclu-

sion (as he regards

with for

scientific

"This

present

;

deduced.

But how often

"

We know" stands

people the phrase

our theory," or rather "This

is

\}i\Q.oxy

frequently

it)

\'^

for scientific theories

is

our

change very

and points which have been most dog-

down at one period have been with equal dogmatism condemned and repudiated at another, by those who apparently strain every matically laid

nerve and exercise every

gift

bestowed upon them,-

to deny and cast out the Supernatural from amongst

mankind.

From est

the introduction to a volume of great inter-

("The Maxims and Examples of the Saints"),

reverence for the unsustained dicta of Sir Charles Lyell,

Mr. Proctor, or Professor Tyndall, than for the same sort Age monk, we shall go on calling for proof. Our credulity is incapable of saying we know' about a thing of which, when we examine, nobody knows anyoi dicta from a Middle

'

'

'

thing, except that some scientific man asserts it in his book. " are not * enemies to science ;' we only want science,

We

and not guesses. And the thoroughly unscientific, uncritical, and credulous way in which men like Mr. Proctor are

we know about things of which they know noone of the greatest obstacles with which science has

declaring thing,

is

'

to contend."

'

— THE SUPERNATURAL. the following extract

inherent

and

truth,

15

taken, both because of

is

also

because

the

instinct in defence of the Supernatural

words stand thus

Lisle's

men

line.

Mr.

:

In these days of shallowness and

"

so pro-

is

minently and forcibly expressed in every

de

its

Christian

scepticism,

pride themselves on calling everything into

question, as

they proved their claim to wisdom

if

according to the measure of their unbelief those

who

dive a

little

But

deeper into things will not

be so ready to admit the claims of modern insolent writers.

They

will

find

that

our ancestors had

heads as sound, judgments as cool and unpreju-

any of these moderns and the more they examine, the more reasons will they find diced, at least, as

for attaching

;

weight to their testimony.

intercourse abroad religious

convince

monks,

me

I

that

In

my

with divers holy priests and

have seen and heard enough to

many

things take place in this

world of a supernatural order.

Nor do

I

believe

there ever has been a period in the history of the

Church, when our Lord has not borne testimony to her divine truth,

of

many

and to the admirable sanctity

of her children, by evident and glorious

This

miracles.

is

the faith of the Church

;

and who

shall gainsay the teaching of that society that carries

with

it

the experience of eighteen centuries, the

immutable promises of God, the attestations of innumerable martyrs, and the consent of nations .-'

To him who

believes the words of the holy Gospel,

GLIMPSES OF

i6

'

The works

than

that

I

do

shall

these,' &c. (speak

not

they do

now

the conclusion will be clear, and

bow

with submission.

Keeping

view, the Christian will not find lieve

humble this it

'

faith will

promise

in the lives

at all events, his spirit will not

;

in

difficult to be-

even the most wonderful histories

of the Saints

and greater

also,

to the unbeliever),

that which loves to question everything,

still

be less

that which treats the testimony of devout writers

To

with levity or scorn. the ways of

the humble observer of

Divine Providence, enough occurs

every day to prepare him for any manifestation of the Power of

times, place.

God

:

not to say that there

Christendom

state in

many

in which,

even

in

is

not a

our

own

wonderful miracles have not taken

Witness the glorious appearance of a vast

cross of fire in the heavens at Migne, near Poictiers in France, in the ber,

year 1826, in the month of Decem-

an event which was attested on oath before

the bishop

of the

eye-witnesses.^

appeared

in

Jerusalem

:

diocese

by

several

thousand

Josephus relates the prodigies that

the heavens before the downfall of

and who

shall

say that this sublime ap-

parition in France did not portend the approaching

calamities that have since fallen

upon that kingdom

and upon Europe } In the years 1830 and 1831, blood miraculously flowed from the arms of S. Nicholas,

" La Croix de Mignd vengee de I'incredulite du Published at Paris, in 1829. '

siecle."

THE SUPERNATURAL. at Tolentino in Italy,

17

and the circumstance was

solemnly attested by the bishop, the clergy, and the magistrates of that

History records similar

city.

prodigies to have taken place at Tolentino when-

ever any calamities were about to befall Christen-

dom,

S.

Nicholas has been dead above 500 years.

myself had the consolation to

I

and

I

visit his

shrine

heard from several individuals, with tears

their eyes, the affecting recital of the miracle.

does not

call to

;

in

Who

mind the wonderful manifestations Rome and at Ancona during the

of God's power at

period of the French Revolution, in the year 1792

.^

Innumerable images of our Blessed Redeemer, and

move their eyes, Nor were these events they were beheld and attested by

of his Virgin Mother, were seen to

and some even

to weep.

seen only by a few,

The

thousands.^

miracles that

God

has performed

by means of the holy Prince Hohenlohe are known to all, and some of them have been wrought even in England. These are facts so notorious, that no one can call them in question nor is it in the ;

power of profane

At

ridicule to

throw doubt over their

same time, it will always be true that the Catholic Church does not oblige her children to believe any miracles but those recorded authenticity.

the

in the sacred Scriptures

'

"Account

1792 and

she leaves

of the Miraculous Events at

1793."

Brown, Duke

;

Pubhshed

Street,

in

Rome

to the dis-

in the years

London, by Keating and

Grosvenor Square.

C

it

— GLIMPSES OF

i8

cretion of each individual to

ground

his conviction

on the evidence which has come before him it

would not be an act of

for

anyone

piety, or

;

though

worthy of praise

to speak lightly of such miracles as

have been honoured by the approbation of the

Holy

See."

As a mark of rapid theological decline, it may here be put on record, that a recent writer, the author of " Supernatural Religion an Inquiry into the Reality of Divine Revelation " (Longman: 1874), sets forth his "views" (not his "opinion," :

least of all his faith, but his " views

"

")

as follows

The importance which has been attached

the Christian Church, almost from subversive of Christian morality. culotis element

its

In

:

to theology

by

foundation, has been

sicrreiidering its mira-

and its claims to supernatural origin, therefore,

the religion of Jesus does not lose its virtue, or the qualities

which have made it a blessing to hu7nanity. It sacrifices none of that elevated character which has distinguished and raised it above all human systems it merely relinquishes a claim which it has shared with all antecedent religions, and :

severs

its

divine in butes.

cormection with ignorant superstition.

It is

morality to require the aid of miraculous

its

No supernatural halo

can heighten

its spiritual

too

attri-

beauty,

and no mysticism deepen its holiness. In its perffect simplicity it is subhme, and in its profound wisdom it is eternal. " We gaifi infinitely more than we lose in abatidoning belief in the reality of Divitie revelation.

Whilst we retain pure

and unimpaired the treasure of Christian morality, we relinquish nothing but the debasing elements added to it by human superstition. We are no longer bound to believe a theology which outrages reason and 7noral sense. We are freed from base anthropomorphic views of God and His government of the universe and from Jewish theology we rise to higher con;

—

THE SUPERNATURAL. ceptions of an infinitely wise

from our

minds,

finite

and beneficent Being, hidden

true, in the

it is

19

impenetrable glory of

whose laws of wondrous comprehensiveness and We arc perfection we ever perceive in operation around us. Divinity, but

tto

longer disturbed by visions of fitful interference with

tJie

order of Nature, but we recognize that the Being who regulates the universe is without variableness or shadow of turning.

how

singular

It is

tion of alleged

little

there

is

in the

supposed revela-

information, however incredible, regarding

beyond the limits of human thought but that which reason declares to be the wildest delusion.' Let no man, whose belief in the reality of Divine Revelation may be destroyed by such inquiry, complain that he has lost a precious possession, and that nothing that which

is

;

of a character

little is

'

TJie revelation not being a reality, that but a blank. which he has lost was but an illusion, and that which is left is left

is

the truth."

In another volume recently written by Mr. Congreve, the

author maintains in the plainest possible lan-

Positivist, the

guage, what

is

the immediate

and

practical object of the

small sect to which he has allied himself :—"

Humanity must lead

servants of

God; and

that this

is

The

professed

in the struggle to eliminate

the essential element in the whole

upon all." Again, man's and avowedly to take service in one or the other of the opposing camps to bring face to face the two beliefs the belief in the Past, the belief in God, and the belief in the Future, the belief in Humanity and to existing perplexity

duty

is

is

forcing itself

said to be " openly

;

;

;

choose deliberately between them." Furthermore, he avers "We contemplate the Trinity of our religion. Humanity, the :

World, and Space." ing terse

"The Essays

man The

is

A

Christian critic has

made

the follow-

comments on Mr. Congreve's book: chief feeling which possesses us in reading these

one of sorrow for the writer.

It is really

sad that a

of education should lend himself to such a delusion. *

Religion

as a theory.

'

itself is ridiculous

;

indeed

Not even on paper can

for the simple reason that

it

its

it

has not so

much

doctrines be stated,

has no doctrines whatever.

But

20

GLIMPSES OF THE SUPERNATURAL.

it is always melancholy to watch a naturally good intellect under the sway of a fantastic idea, or to. see an educated gentleman writing 500 pages on the Worship of what does not exist. The sensation of the reader, as he turns page after page, is expressed in such an inquiry as this Since the writer himself believes in nothing whatever, how can he invite my '

'

:

conversion ?"

THE MIRACULOUS

IN

HISTORY. vs:^^^::^:^

CHURCH

—

"

And He

said unto them,

Go

ye into

He

preach the Gospel to every creature. is

baptized shall be saved

;

all

the World, and

that believeth

and

but he that believeth not shall be

damned. " And these signs shall follow them that believe In My Name shall they cast out devils they shall speak with new :

;

tongues

;

they shall take up serpents

deadly thing, the sick

it

shall not hurt

and they

them

shall recover."

;

S.

;

and

if

they drink any

they shall lay hands on

Mark

xvi. 15-18.

CHAPTER THE MIRACULOUS

IN

II.

CHURCH HISTORY.

HE important subject of the in

m

Church

known

to students of

tions

:

Miraculous

sufficiently it,

well

involves the ex-

istence of a religious principle of uni-

This

versal application. course,

History

will

be apparent,

in

due

from the following preliminary considera-

— "A miracle," writes Hume,

the laws of Nature

;

"is a violation of

and, as a firm and unalterable

experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle

is

as entire as

any argument from

experience can possibly be imagined."

he declares testimony

is

Hume's

"

Ibid. vol.

On

these staten:cnts, definite

Essays and Treatises on Various London, 1784. vol. ii. p. 122.

second edition, '

Further on,

by any human more properly a subject of derision

than of argument."'

'

^

that a miracle supported

"

ii.

p. 133.

Subjects,"'

GLIMPSES OF

24

and precise definite,

it

as they appear,

may

and yet not

be remarked

no human experience

is

unalterable

certain person or certain persons have

But this is

unaltered.

yond our experience with which

we

sufficiently

in the first place that it

:

may

to a

been hitherto

Are there then no facts be-

all.

— no natural positions or states

are unacquainted

.-*

When

a

man

writes of " unalterable experience," he obviously

means so much of that experience, as either mediately or immediately has come to his knowledge in other words his own past experience.^ And this ;

Take for example the subject of meteoric stones. Marked changes with regard to a belief in these, have existed in the The scholar can testify that antiquity is undoubtedly past. in favour of their existence. Plutarch, for example, in his " Life of Lysander," describes a celebrated aerolite which fell in Thrace, and History testifies unmistakably to similar events '

— more

particularly to the preservation of such in ancient

temples. stones

Yet

fell

it

was not

at L'Aigle in

when meteoric Academy of

until the year 1803,

Normandy,

that the

Sciences in Paris appointed a committee to investigate the

Mr. W. G. London, comprises the above in the following testimony to facts which appeared "With reference to a in the " Standard," of Feb. 25, 1873. paragraph headed An Exercise of Credulity in your paper of the 24th instant, allow me to offer a few observations, as the circumstance narrated therein of the fall of an aerolite on board the Seven Stones light-vessel, as narrated by the crew, is of extreme interest. The men in the light-vessel case,

and

their report determined the question.

Nevill, F.G. S., of

Gresham

Street, City,

'

'

by the elder brethren of the House and trained to make observations on the weather and record them in books at the time, which books service are carefully selected

Trinity

are received as evidence in the

Admiralty Court.

Their

THE SUPERNATURAL. Hume

declares sufficient to enable

him

25

to determine

what are the unvarying laws of Nature, and, consequence, what are miracles. is

something akin to arrogance.

by-

But surely here

For what modest

person would venture to maintain his

own

experi-

ence to be altogether and absolutely firm and unalterable

Who

.''

testified, for

would declare of a witness, who

example, what was contrary to that

experience, that such a disbelief

and derision

.''

man was worthy And yet many,

only of in

the

present day, adopt and put into practice this unstable

and imperfect theory of Hume.

What

has been set forth above

that theory

more pointedly expressed

is still

following remarkable passage "

The

in opposition to

natural philosopher

physical impossibility which

in the

:

when he imagines a is

not an inconceive-

account agrees in the main with the details given in other My father, Mr. W. Nevill, of Godalming, has a collec-

cases.

These

tion of specimens of 226 distinct falls of such bodies.

take place in

all

parts of the world.

I

believe only one

instance has before been recorded in England. at

Wold

That occurred

Cottage, Thwing, Yorkshire, on Dec. 13, 1795.

of the earliest recorded

during a battle, Nov.

neighbouring church.

falls

7, 1492,

A

One

took place at Guisheim, in Alsace,

and was preserved,

in the

large shower of stones took place at

L'Aigle, in north of France, on April 26, 1803 (not very far

from the Seven Stones).

These stones are of a grey ashy

colour and invariably coated with black enamel rites

are

composed of

large size, as the one at Bitburg in

weighed several tons."

;

other meteo-

and are sometimes of Rhenish Prussia, which

solid native iron,

GLIMPSES OF

26 ability,

merely states that

against

all

his

phenomenon is known of the

that has been hitherto

course of

Before he can compass

Nature.

impossibility, he has a

hu^e postulate

an

to ask of his

reader or hearer, a postulate which Nature never

taught

is

always to agree with

How, do you know

that this sequence of

that the Future

it is

:

the Past.

phenomena always must

Answer, Because

?

But how do you know that

be.

Answer, Because

it

even granting that

know

be

will

it

must be always has been. But then, always has been, how do you

see

I

my mind

And how do you know infallible,

answer

Of

.''

that the leanings of

Because

?

the answer ought to be

never given."

is

}

compelled to that conclu-

your mind are always towards truth

am

it

that what always has been always will be

Answer, sion.

it

I

but this

;

^

course no Christian will deny the following

elementary propositions here briefly stated, before die general subject

man consists

of

is

body and

important part being the mortal, and is

a Spirit

man

which

and, in this particular,

;

for a while, tion,

soul, the nobler

soul,

man

im-

all things,

is

made

in

Destined to dwell on the earth

during an appointed period of proba-

passes

by

death, which

separation of soul and body, to the

'

and more

is spiritual,

God, the Creator of

eternal.

the image of God.

First that

further discussed.

"Athenaeum,"

for

March

is

a temporary

life

beyond the

12, 1859, p. 350.

THE SUPERNATURAL.

27

fit and him better and teach

Man's duty here, therefore, ought to

grave.

prepare him for a future state,

the value of his soul and the reality of the Supernatural.

Now here,

the Almighty, in calling

giving him, in

into being earth,"

dominion over the beasts of the

fact,

the fowls of the

field,

has established

sea,

man

and making him "lord of the whole

air,

and the

fishes of

the

connection with him a two-

in

fold order, the natural,

which

relates to the visible

world, and the Supernatural or miraculous, which

concerns the spiritual and

invisible.

The

natural

order comprises the law of nature, by which the

World created by God

man

in his

is

governed, and concerns

dealings with nature.

But the Super-

him in his relations with God and Both orders are alike from God, and each has its appointed sphere. The Author of both is the controller of each. And, as if to indinatural concerns the world of

cate to

spirits.

man from time to time that God has someown creation, and will not be

thing to say in His totally

excluded from

Supernatural

is

it

by man's

forgetfulness, the

wisely and mercifully interwoven

with the natural, to remind man, by the Glimpses occasionally vouchsafed of the former, that, though

the

World has been made

many

things in

it

for his use

existence in the future, though fashion

and advantage,

speak eloquently of a continued

now the same World's How prone man

most surely passeth away.

becomes, by constantly contemplating the natural,

GLIMPSES OF

28

to thrust the Supernatural aside,

And

many.

being

this

the experience of

is

how

so,

merciful

is

God

to

remind us of the next world, not only by the ordinary modes and channels appointed for so doing, by change, by revelation, by death but occasionally by suddenly, strangely, and abruptly breaking in ;

upon the usual order of course of nature, to

and hear with our

let

events,

and the ordinary

us see with our natural eyes,

ears, that

He

is.

Thus the Super-

natural indicates the tracing of the Finger of God. Freely, and for a lofty purpose, to set forth Hisglory, power,

nature

;

He

and mercy,

freely,

and

created the laws of

for a like lofty purpose,

sometimes suspends them.

He

Such intervention on

a miracle, which may be defined as " a record and evidence of the Super-

His

part, such a suspension,

is

natural manifesting itself in the midst of the natural

order

;

" or, as S.

ably defined

Thomas Aquinas

of old, "

it

A miracle

so clearly is

and

an act per-

formed by God out of the ordinary course of nature."

that laws,

God

In accepting alone

is

this,

we do but maintain

the Author and Controller of

whether natural or supernatural.

Christianity calls

upon us

those recorded in

Historical

to believe, firstly, the great

principle that miracles are possible tliat

all

Holy

;

and, secondly,

Scripture, ranging from

the time of Moses to that of S. John the Divine, are true. tions rest

Other miracles or miraculous interven-

upon the

value, purport,

and character of

the evidence and testimony forthcoming for their

THE SUP ERNA T UR A L. They

authenticity.

cause

not

all

all

are

are acts of the

all

29

equally possible, be-

Almighty

but they are

;

equally credible, because the evidence of

their authenticity

may

be of a

less precise,

defi-

and well-authenticated character.

nite,

To

assert, as

some

do, that a miraculous inter-

vention implies change or contradiction in God, inaccurate

;

His works surely

for in

cise that liberty Avhich is

Were man's range

He may

one of His perfections.

of vision wider than

working of a miracle might be found to

it

and primary purpose.

is,

the

be, after all,

only the realization and carrying out original design

is

exer-

of

God's

Again, from

the point of view of another objection, to maintain that

we cannot

knoAv what a miracle

is,

or whether

any miracle has been ever wrought, without being acquainted inaccurate

Avith all ;

for

the laws of nature,

we know enough, both

is

likewise

of the natural

and supernatural, to be perfectly certain that

it is

out of the ordinary course of nature for a dead

man

to

come

to

life

again.

While, then, such a

miracle teaches us to acknowledge the power of

same time, serve to let the Materialist realize his own possible ignorance of the laws of nature. For after all there may be some hidden law, as yet unknown, which may contradict a known law, and so modify it a probability which God,

it

may,

at the

—

is

at least deserving of the consideration of those

who

altogether

As

deny the Supernatural.

regards miracles,

let

the well-known

argument

GLIMPSES OF

30

of the great S. Augustine of " Christianity,"

he

miracles, or

was

exist.

If

it

it

was

writes, " not.

Hippo be considered either founded by :

\'«^as

If

not, then this

was, then miracles

it

is

the greatest of

all

miracles, viz. that a religion so radically contrarient

human prejudices, and so much resisted by all human influence,, should, without the aid of miracles, have made its place and assured its progress to all

in the world."

If,

person will admit rience, that

like S.

see

is

that of his

own personal expe-

he must himself witness a miracle

Thomas, he

....

again, the only evidence that a

I will

mind enough

will maintain,

"Except

;

that,

I shall

not believe," has he not power of

to appreciate the fact that he

every way unreasonable, by demanding

is

in

for himself

that which he altogether refuses to admit in others

.-•

But, in truth, the miracles of our Blessed Lord,

and more particularly the miracle of His Resurrection, were so striking and convincing, being testified to,

both as regards their act and consequences, by

so many, that they produced both conviction and

triumph.

number

Not

universally, but with

a sufficient

of persons to ensure the steady increase of

the infant Church

— though the very miracles which

wrought such a vast moral and

religious change,

were rejected by the unbelievers of the day. In the Church of the primitive, as well as in ages, the Supernatural fested.

The

later,

was being constantly mani-

apostles proved the divinity of their

mission by the power of their works.

The

miracles

THE SUPERNATURAL.

31

recorded in the " Acts of the Apostles

"

were

fol-

lowed by others equally marvellous and remarkable succeeding periods

in

—a

feature that might have

been most reasonably looked Christianity,

for

the very

Church are supernatural.^ has risen again.

slie

from

for in the history of

and

life

spirit

After being cast down, driven

made

still

For the

first

this place in one century, she has

greater progress elsewhere in another.

hundred years of her existence, and

tJiree

of the

Persecuted in every age,

in the

Rome, every Holy See died a witness Christianity. The ordinary super-

very heart of the world's

civilization,

patriarchal primate of that to the truths of

natural powers of our Lord's

first

followers were

duly inherited by those formally set apart to their place tliey

and

office.

Men

had seen and heard.

need

it,

freely testified to

As

fill

what

occasion seemed to

the divine power was duly manifested in

outward, notable, and noted reality of

acts,

—to the truth and

which even Profane History has abun-

dantly witnessed.

'

Testimonies to the Supernatural amongst Christian writers

The following may be instanced as a few concerning such events, both in the second and third centuJustin JMartyr, Ap. ii. cap. vi. ; Dial, cum Tryph. ries

are abundant.

:

—

Irenaeus, ii. 31 and v. 6 cap. xxxix. and Ixxxii. TertuUian " Apolog." cap. 23, 27, 32, 37 ; " Origen against Celsus," ;

book

i.

sius of

and book vii. pp. 334-335, Ed. Spencer ; DionyAlexandria, in " Eccl. Hist." of Eusebius, vi. 40

p. 7

Minucius Felix Octav. "

De

;

Idol. Vanit." p. 14.

;

p.

361, Ed. Paris, 1605

;

S.

Cyprian,

GLIMPSES OF

32

While there

an almost constant tradition of miraculous

is

The

facts.

of the Christian Church

in the records

They were

tale of every century

to

have been

is rife

anticipated,-

with them.

He

because

had spoken Whose Word shall never fail, and His promise seems to have been always remembered :

" Verily, verily I

say unto you.

on Me, the works that

I

do he

He

My

many

Father."

^

do

shall

greater works than these shall he do

unto

that believeth

Consequently

it

also

;

because

;

is

and I

go

found that

of the later miracles, those termed " eccle-

siastical," in distinction to scriptural, are

even more

remarkable than those wrought by our Blessed Lord

Himself

—a fact which, instead of deserving ridicule

and contempt,

merits,

from persons of a Christian

habit of mind, patient consideration, and a careful, if

For

not a ready, acceptance.

will

in

such the faithful

only perceive a perfect realization of their

Master's divine pledge.

To

\

take a notable example of the miraculous

occurring towards the close of the second century (a.d.

174), testified

miracle

Pagan

is

concerned,

writers,

inus, .^lius

to, as

by

far as

the fact of the

at least four independent

Dionysius Cassius, Julius Capitol-

Lampridius, and Claudian.

Eusebius, in his " Ecclesiastical History,"

^

puts

on record the following account of a most remark-

'

^

S.

John

xiv. 12.

" Hist. Eccles." cap.

v.

Chronicon.

p. 82.

— THE SUPERNATURAL. able event

:^

—

" It is said that

33

when Marcus Aurelius

Caesar was forming his troops in order of battle against the Germans and Sarmatians, he was reduced to extremities by a failure of water. Mean-

while the soldiers in the so-called

which

for its faith

upon the ground, prayer,

And

*

Melitene legion,'

remains to this day, knelt down as

and betook

we

are accustomed to do, in

themselves

to

supplication.

this sight was strange to the enemy, more strange happened immediately thunderbolts which caused the enemy's flight and overthrow and upon the army to which the men were attached, who had called upon God, a rain,

whereas

another

still

;

which restored

it

entirely

when

was

it

all

but

The

following version by Dio. Cassius, translated from "Annals" of Baronius, affords no slender testimony to the account by Eusebius given in the text " When the barbarians would not give them battle, in hopes of their perishing by heat and thirst, since they had so surrounded them that they had no possible means of getting water and when they were in the utmost distress from sickness, wounds, sun, and thirst, and could neither fight nor retreat, but remained in order of battle and at their posts in this parched condition, suddenly clouds gathered, and a copious rainfall, not without the mercy of God. And when it first began to fall, the Romans, raising their mouths towards heaven, received it upon them next, turning up their shields and helmets, they drank largely out of them, and gave to their horses. And '

the

:

—

;

;

when fought,

the barbarians charged them, they drank as they

and numbers of them were wounded.

.

.

.

And

while they were thus incurring heavy loss from the assault of the enemy, because most of them were engaged in drinking, a violent hailstorm and much lightning were discharged upon

D

;

GLIMPSES OF

34-

by

perishing

This fact had

thirst."

viously put on

record

about

addressed

Emperor Marcus. later,

affirms

by Claudius Apollinaris/ Apology for Chris-

in his "

Bishop of Hierapolis, tianity,"

been pre-

the

year- 176

the

to

Tertullian, about fifteen years

the truth of the same

when

fact

Each of these writers gives point to the narrative, the first by recording that henceforth the term "Thundering addressing the Proconsul of Africa.

Legion

"

was applied

to that in

soldiers

had prayed

that the

Emperor had,

an edict

:

which the Christian

by

the second in

his

statement

consequence, promulgated

in favour of the

Christians.

clear

It is

from Eusebius, likewise, that the Pagans acknowledged the miracle, as they could not

wrought as

it

was

in the

the prayers of the

to

tolinus attributed

it

was

it

to do,

many

presence of so

of course, they denied that

fail

;

but,

to be attributed

Christians.

Capi-

Julius

to the prayers of the

Emperor

^ ;

Dionysius Cassius to the operations of Arnuphis, an

And thus water and same place faUing from heaven, refreshment and others be burnt

the enemy.

fire

might be seen in the some might drink

that to

death."

— Dion.

Cass.

" Hist." Ixxi. p. 805.

The

'

treatise of Apolhnaris,

and there seems ticular

to

it

be some ground

should be added,

is

lost

for believing that a par-

Legion bore the name " Thundering" as far back as This latter assertion, however, even

the days of Augustus. if

proved, cannot set aside the leading facts recorded in the

text. ^

" Life of

Marcus Antonius," chap.

xxiv.

THE SUPERNATURAL.

A

Egyptian magician.^ fact,

however,

Rome

at

we

record of the unquestioned

sculptured on the Antonine column

is

a medal, struck the very year of the

;

occurrence, likewise then,

find

nary people

commemorates the event. Here,

on record an occurrence which

will call a miracle

to the prayers of certain

of the

servants

here

we

ordi-

obtain a

In answer

and

soldiers, sons

palpable benefits are

marvellous deliverances effected.

destroyed, and they are rescued.

And

by Pagans worthy of by Christians, and is put on record

credit

foe

is

this fact

is

as well as

Roman

Crucified,

vouchsafed, and

The

;

example of the Supernatural.

distinct

35

testified to

modes already

in

the

set forth.

Another example, the appearance of a luminous Cross to Constantine (a.D. 312), must here be given, because of

the testimony to

very general

is

;

its

its

inherent importance

;

because

having occurred before so

many

and because the moral and

gious changes consequent upon

it,

results that

reli-

both

immediately and eventually followed, have been at once great and notorious

The

its

in the early

Roman

pages of Christian history.

Newman,

" Historia

Romana,"

"

"

the

Constan-

has been a pattern for

all

Ixi. 8.

Mosheim's " Ecclesiastical History London, 1863. pp. 99-101. *

empire, in

head, was the most remarkable event

submission of his power to the Church,"

writes Dr. '

—

conversion of the

person of

tine's

:

" (Ed. Stubbsj, vol.

i.

GLIMPSES OF

36

Christian monarchs since, and the

commencement

of our state establishment to this day

;

and, on the

Roman Empire

other hand, the fortunes of the

prophecy apparently connected with her

in

very intimate manner, which

we

are

in

a

are not yet able

any event might be said to call for a miracle it was this whether to signaThus it was that the lize it, or to bring it about. fate of Babylon was written on the wall of the banfully to

comprehend.

If

;

queting-hall

;

portents in the sky preceded

also

the final destruction of Jerusalem, and are predicted in Scripture as forerunners of the last great

day.

Moreover, our Lord's prophecy of the Sign '

of the Son

of

Man

Heaven' was anciently

in

And

understood of the Cross.

further, the sign

of the Cross was at the time, and had been from the beginning, a received symbol and instrument of Christian devotion, and cannot be ascribed to a

then rising superstition.

an ordinary

rite

events of the day

what

is still

more

Tertullian speaks of

for sanctifying ;

it

was used

to the point,

in

all

exorcisms

it is

it

as

the ordinary ;

and,

regarded by S.

and Minucius as impressed with meaning upon natural forms and providential a

Justin, Tertullian,

human

works, as well

as

introduced

by

divine

authority into the types of the Old Testament."^

The '

supernatural manner in which the Emperor's

"Two

tical,"

by

don, 1870.

Essays on Scripture Miracles and on EcclesiasH. Newman, pp. 273-4, Second Edition. Lon-

J.

THE SUPERNATURAL. conversion was accomplished

may be

37

thus recorded.

Marching from the border of the Rhine, through

Rome, against the tyrant Maxentius, who had declared war against him, and was already near Rome with a largely superior force, Constantine solemnly and earnestly invoked the One True God, the God of the ChrisGaul and part of Italy by Verona

tians,

for assistance

and

to

At

victory.

that period

he was not a Christian himself, though he had no doubt accurately enough measured the true character of

Roman

A

paganism.

short time after mid-

day, upon his march, there appeared in the heavens^

a large luminous Cross in sight of himself and the

whole of

his

" In this

army, with the inscription surrounding

On

conquer."

the following night

it

is

recorded that our Blessed Lord appeared to him

in

it,

a dream,

him

or,

as

some

say, a vision,

to have a representation of the sign

to use

it

nounced friends,

rising early the

this vision

and

at

and message

to his confidential

This being done,

Socrates, Philostorgius, Gelasius,

that the Cross

next morning, an-

once gave orders for the making of

the imperial standard.-

rity of

made, and

henceforth as his chief standard in battle.

The Emperor,

'

and commanded

was

in the sky.

fifty

men

and Nicephorus declare too, on the authostatement. So likewise

Sozomen,

Eusebius, makes a similar

does Rufinus.

This standard was known by the name of the " Lathe etymology of which is very uncertain. It was a pole plated with gold, upon which was laid horizontally a cross-bar, so as to form the figure of a cross. The -

barum " — a word

GLIMPSES OF

38

of the

and most

stoutest

were chosen to these,

peror himself. faith

religious of his guards

And, surrounded by was borne immediately before the Em-

it

and hope.

carry

it.

The Christian soldiers were full of They saw the Finger of God, and

looked for victory.

On

the other, hand the

army

of Maxentius, con-

sisting of three divisions of veteran soldiers,

esteemed

the most efficient in the empire, engaged Constantine in the Ouintian fields near the bridge Milvius.

The attack was

and furious. But the aggressors met with vigour and bravery, and soon succumbed and were in retreat. Constantine, with far fewer numbers than those opposed to him, was completely victorious; the legions of Maxentius were scattered or slain, and on the same day, with were at

all

the sacred

fast

points

Labarum

(as the imperial

standard in

question was termed) borne before him, he entered

Rome

in

His conversion to Christianity

triumph.

soon followed upon his victory.

dropped the old customs of

He

his

In his triumph he

Pagan predecessors.

mounted the Capitol, nor offered sacriRome, but by suitable inscriprecorded his belief in the power of Christ's

neither

fices to

tions

the deities of

top of the perpendicular shaft was adorned with a golden In the middle of crown was a monogram representing the name of Christ by the two Greek initial letters x and p. A purple veil of a square figure hung from the cross-bar, which was likewise

crown, ornamented with precious stones. this

spangled with jewels.

Gretser, "

De

Cruce," Lib.

i.

cap.

iv.

THE SUPERNATURAL. saving Cross.

39

In his palace at Constantinople, as

well as in the chief square of that city, the sacred sign

was

once set up

at

;

and medals were

struck,

with representations of the symbol in question upon

them, to commemorate both the victory and his own

This occurred about A.D. 312.

religious change.

Here then we supernatural

find the record of a distinctively

No known

intervention.

physical

cause could have formed a sentence of Greek or

Latin in the

Nor could

air.

mistaken a Cross, with priate

natural

its

army have

a whole

corresponding and appro-

inscription, for a halo of light, or a

phenomenon.

mere

Moreover: three years

after

the event, Constantine erected his triumphal arch

Rome, with an

at

testifying that he divinitatis,

inscription,

mentis magnitudine."

wise, in his treatise " it

which

De

main

Lactantius, like-

to Caecilius),

it

"

heavenly sign of God;" and

this in a treatise certainly written within

occurrence.

orator, in

" (if

facts of the case as regards the

dream, describing the

its

remains,

" instinctu

mortibus Persecutorum

be his book, though some attribute

asserts the

still

had gained the victory

Seven years

later,

two years of

Nazarius, a Pagan

a panegyric on the Emperor, also puts

upon record

his solerrin conviction that celestial aid

was miraculously rendered defeat of Maxentius.

Thus

to Constantine in his far those

who were

not

Christians testify to the fact under consideration.

On

the other hand, Euscbius,

who

received

account from Constantine himself (who

is

the

known

to

GLIMPSES OF

40

have confirmed

it

with an oath), gives that record

of the occurrence which has been already set forth

— and he was notoriously an historian who had small leaning towards over-belief. conclusion, therefore, writers

made

is

While the reasonable

that so

and records of the

many independent

fact could not

have been

to conspire in disseminating a falsehood

;

the

Emperor which followed the event was perfect harmony with that which might have been

action of the in

looked for under the circumstances narrated

—the

supernatural appearanceof a luminous Cross, herald-

ing a change, even the triumph of the Religion of Christ over the effete systems of a decaying and

decayed idolatry.

The principle which was manifested is,

in these cases

through the study of history, likewise seen to have

existed and energized in every part of the Church.

Everywhere, from time to time, the proximity of the unseen world and the existence of the Supernatural

were made manifest while, here and :

there,

examples

of special miraculous interventions evidently stood forth to show that neither the Arm of the Most High was shortened nor the faith of the followers of our Blessed Lord stunted in its growth. In fact miracles of the most remarkable character have been per-

formed from the age of the apostles to the present time

:

while Glimpses of the Supernatural have been

granted to

many

for

as partially unfolding the mysteries

Unseen World to those who longed and prayed the same by which glimpses or visions their

of the

;

THE SUPERNATURAL. faith

41

has been deepened and their conviction of

the truths of Christianity most surely strengthened. Just as our Blessed Saviour, following Moses, constantly appealed to the prodigies attestation of His divine mission

His doctrine

came

after

So

much.

;

so was"

Him.

For to them

He had

in

support of

who

promised as

from confining the power

of working miracles to His

He

and

wrought

in

with His followers

it

far therefore

He

own person and

time,

expressly pledged himself and promised that

His servants and ambassadors should receive power to

work

still

greater works.^

Just as under the laws

of Nature and the written law given

Almighty

by Moses, the

was pleased to illustrate the society of His

chosen servants with frequent miracles, so led to expect that the

One Family

of

God

we

are

should

by occasional miracles and through her, as a standing proof of her divine origin and as a guide to the wanderers

be

for ever distinguished

wrought

in

beyond the confines of her fold. And thus it comes and Teachers of the Church,

to pass that the Fathers

amongst other proofs of her appealed to the miracles

favour,

by which she

as a proof of her heavenly mission,

her

off,

at the

same

have constantly is

illustrated

and as marking

time, from the various hereticks

and schismaticks who, going out from her, were not For example S. Irenaeus, a disciple of S. of her. Polycarp, himself a disciple of S. John the Evan-

'

S.

John

V. 20.

42

GLIMPSES OF

.

gelist,

reproaches the Hereticks against

whom

he

writes in his well-known treatise/ that they could

neither give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf,

dead to

cast out devils, nor raise the

life

again, as he

maintains was frequently done in the Church.

contemporary of

tullian, a

ticks, asks, " I

Pacian, in the fourth century,

S.

Novatus,

scornfully inquires, "

of prophecy

.?

and considering

Has he

Has he

in

in

claims,

life

the dead

" .?

numerous passages of

his works, refers to the miracles

through and

his

the gift of tongues, or

restored to

Augustine of Hippo,

S.

Ter-

writing of the here-

wish to see the miracles which they

have worked." opposing

his,

wrought by and

the Church as most important

if

not

conclusive evidence of her heavenly character and veracity.

Again

:

In the middle of the fourth century oc-

most wonderful miracle, when the Emperor Julian deliberately attempted to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem, with the express intencurred

that

tion of disproving the prophet Daniel's

concerning

it.

Then

-

utterance

tempests, whirlwinds, earth-

quakes, and fiery eruptions convulsed the scene of

maiming and alarming the persistent workmen, throwing down buildings in the neighbourhood, as Rufinus testifies, and rendering the carrying on of the work a .sheer physical impossibility. A luminous Cross surrounded by a circle, indi-

the undertaking,

'

Liber cont. Haer.

c. xxxi.

*

Daniel

ix.

20-27,

THE SUPERNATURAL.

43

all

power

in

heaven and earth, and showing that the

Word

of

eating that to the Crucified was given ,

God

could never

nor be brought to nought by

fail,

the vain determinations of men, appeared in the sky,

— a portent witnessed by thousands, and

testified to

both by Pagan and Arian, as well as by Christian writers.^

Furthermore, in the following century, another miracle took place at Typassus or

Typasa in

Africa,

where a large congregation of Christians, being assembled

in divine worship, in

decree of the Arian tyrant collected in the

Forum,

in

opposition to the

Hunneric, they were

the presence of the whole

chopped

province, their right hands were their tongues cut out to the roots yet, nevertheless

and perfectly

off,

and

by his command

;

they continued to speak as plainly

had done before the barbarous

as they

mutilation in question.

This

is

vouched

for

the following words

:

by

—

"

Victor, Bishop of Vite, in

The king

in

wrath sent a

certain count with directions to hold a meeting in

the Forum, of the whole province, and there to cut

out their tongues by the root, and to cut off their These miraculous interventions are testified to by S. Gregory Nazianzen, S. Chr)-sostom, and S. Ambrose, as well They are as by Rufinus, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret. also recorded by Philostorgius the Arian, and by Ammianus the Pagan. Bishop Warburton published a volume entitled '

" Julian " in proof of their miraculous character,

and they are

acknowledged as such by Bishop Halifax on

p.

" Discourses."

23 of his

GLIMPSES OF

44 right hands.

When

and speak, by the

gift of

used to speak before. incredulous, let

this

If,

was done, they so spoke the

Holy Ghost,

as they

however, anyone will be

him now go

to Constantinople,

and

there he will find one of them, Reparatus a sub-

deacon, speaking like an educated

impediment whatsoever.

On

man

without any

which account he

regarded with exceeding great veneration court of the

Emperor Zeno, and

specially

is

in the

by the

Empress."^

Now, this miracle is remarkable for various reaThe witnesses to its authenticity are varied,

sons.

both as to their persons and the details of their testimony, which testimony at one

on

all

over, the evidence '

Those who

is

both consistent and

important and material points.

on behalf of the miracle

testify to the truth of this

Moreis

very

miracle are

firstly

a Christian prelate, Victor Vitenus, " Hist. Pers." sec. Vandal, iii. p. 613, whose words are translated above; the Emperor Justinian (who declares that he had seen some of the sufferers, " Codex Justin." Lib. I. Tit. xxx. Ed. 1553); the Greek historian, Procopius of Cassarea, who asserts that their tongues were cut off as low down as their throat, and that he had conversed with them, Lib. I. " De Bell. Vand." cap. viij. and x. i. ^neas of Gaza, a Platonic philosopher, who, having examined their mouths, remarked that he was not so much surprised at their being able to talk, as at their being able to live.

He

saw them at Constantinople. Mosheim, amongst Protestants, and Dodwell, the nonjuror, amongst English writers, frankly admit the miracle. The most lucid and exhaustive account, however, may be found in Section ix. of Dr. J. H, Newman's " Essays on Miracles," pp. 369-387 (Second edition, London, 1870), where the ancient evidence is set forth at length.

THE SUPERNATURAL. complete

:

the

45

number of persons upon whom

was wrought was more than considerable

;

it

thus, at

the same time, increasing the occasion of valid tes-

timony tion of

and preventing the

interposi-

what some persons term "chance."

Further-

in its favour,

more, the miracle is entire for, as Dr. Newman remarks, " it carried its whole case with it to every ;

beholder

:

" it is

to indicate

its

also permanent, that

is, it

effects before thousands,

continued

whose

in-

and conclusions must

quiries, public investigations,

have exercised considerable weight with those who were prepared to accept

it.^

In this brief survey of the miraculous, sible

impos-

even to touch on the more remarkable

dences of the Supernatural as set forth tory of the Christian Church. are

it is

recorded by

Basil,

S.

S.

in the

evi-

His-

Numerous miracles Gregory Thauma-

turgus, S. Athanasius, S. Jerome, S. Chrysostom,

Ambrose, and

S.

On

S.

Augustine, as well as by other

volume has recently been published, Essential to Speech with Illustrations of the Power of Speech in the African Confessors." By the Hon. Edward Twistleton. London: 1873, This book has been carefully and exhaustively criticized in "The Month," It will be sufficient here to remark that for September, 1873. '

this subject a

entitled "

the

The Tongue not

modern

:

scientific objections to this miracle, that,

because

of an operator, a tongue

was so removed with marked dexterity in recent times, therefore the power of speech retained by the African Confessors was an ordinary event, are objections at once inconsequential and in

a certain case, by the

invalid.

skill

GLIMPSES OF

46

adorned the

fourth,

who

Historians

and sixth centuries of

fifth,

One, however, related by both

the Christian era.

by

the last-named,

Church

and

Fathers

illustrious

Ambrose and

S.

S.

Augustine,

deserves notice, because both those holy bishops

were eye-witnesses of relics

A

it.

cloth in which

wrapped was applied

who thereupon likewise gives

wrought

Protasius

received his sight.^

S.

Augustine

an account of numerous miracles

own

his

in

to

the

had been the eyes of a blind man,

of SS. Gervasius and

diocese

of

Hippo,

—some

through the instrumentality of the sacred remains of S. Stephen, others in answer to earnest prayer

while three of the miracles so recorded are the raising of three dead bodies to

The S.

Athanasius,

S.

Chrysostom,

and

Jerome,

S.

Ambrose, and

S.

in this particular,

clearly

by him

life.

miracles recorded to have been wrought

Basil,

S.

he who runs

sufficiently to the

:

S.

by

John

Augustine (and,

may

read) testify

Divine power which

existed in the Church Universal in the times of

those holy saints, and the rich fruits of which were

One

of the

verification of the

Wood

both seen and tested by the

most remarkable was the of the

faithful.

by

S.

Helena,

A.D. 326, through the convincing miracle

wrought

Cross,

after

its

discovery

upon a dead man, who, on being touched by was immediately restored to life.

'

"

De

Civitate Dei," Lib. xxii. p.

8.

it,

THE SUPERNATURAL. And

47

was brought by our great Apostle and Archbishop S.

so soon as the Religion of Christ

to Britain

Augustine, "greater works than these" followed, as a matter of course,

when

the banner of the cross

was unfurled upon the coasts of Kent. That this was so, that many miracles were wrought, we learn from a Letter written by S.

S.

Gregory the Great to

Augustine, embodied in the well-known

"

His-

tory" of the Venerable Bede, and preserved amongst S.

Gregory's

"

Works,"

in

which the Archbishop

is

duly and lovingly cautioned against becoming too

much

elated with vain glory, because of these

marked

manifestations of Divine power and favour; and

is

re-

minded that God Almighty had, no doubt, bestowed the gift of working them, not on the Archbishop's

own

account, or for his

own

merit, but for the con-

version of the English nation.^ So, through every succeeding age, were Glimpses

afforded

of the

Supernatural.

Bernard, perhaps the most twelfth

century,

in

the

"

For example,

S.

illustrious saint of the

Life

Malachi of

of S.

Armagh," records the miraculous cure of the withered hand of a youth, by the dead hand of his holy friend S. Malachi. But nothing can exceed the splendour and publicity of the miracles of S. Bernard himself,

— to the

reality of

which the

faithful of

France and Switzerland, as well as those of Germany and Italy, bore abundant testimony. Princes

'

" Epist. Sti. Greg.;" "Hist. Bed." Lib.

i.

c.

xxxj.

GLIMPSES OF

48

and

prelates, kings

supernatural power

and ;

priests

were witnesses of

for, like his

his

Lord and Master,

he wrought instantaneous cures on the lame, the

and

blind, in the presence of multitudes,

and the

halt,

to the great spread

and triumph of the Faith.

those worked at Cologne, Philip, Archdeacon

Of

who was

of Liege,

formally commissioned to inquire

and report upon them by Lampeon, Archbishop of Rheims, declared as follows that " they were :

not performed

in

•witness to them. curious, he

is

a corner, but the whole city was

he adds, "doubts or

If anyone,"

may easily

satisfy himself on the spot,

more especially as some of the miracles were wrought upon persons of no inconsiderable rank and reputation."

Moreover, S. Bernard himself distinctly

^

refers to tises,

them

"De

in

one of his most celebrated trea-

Consideratione,"

addressed

to

Pope

Eugenius IIL, and maintains that the evidence of God's special graces and exceptional blessings thus resting

upon him, enabled him to feel sufficient conand benediction to enter

fidence of the Divine aid

upon the grave and laborious task of preaching the Second Crusade. And if we proceed onward to the sixteenth century, where in some places, and especially amongst the northern nations of Europe, Faith began to

wax

cold,

and Charity was

not,

we

find,

from His-

tory, that the miracles of Francis Xavier, the saintly

'

Vide "

Sti.

Bernardi Vita,"

m loco, published by Mabillon.

THE SUPERNATURAL. apostle of India,

may

49

almost vie with those of the

great S. Bernard, for they were as numerous and as inherently remarkable to their truth, reality,

acknowledged by the

;

while the testimony as

and influence^ was generally faithful, as well as

by Protes-

tants.

In truth, wherever the Catholic religion has been

taught and accepted, wherever the

Name

of Jesus

has been loved and venerated, wherever faith

Unseen has been of

active

God has sometimes been

manifested.

And

this,

Our Blessed

of course, was to have been expected. Saviour's glorious

in the

and daring, there the Finger

and unfailing promise, that His

whom He

pledged Himself to remain unto the end of the world, should do even "greater works" than He Himself had wrought, disciples,

with

was

from time to time, as man's

thus,

God Almighty's

faith merited

intervention, literally

and

strictly

fulfilled.

They were examined on the spot, by virtue of a Commission from John III. King of Portugal, and were generally acknowledged, not only by Europeans, but also by native Mahometans and Pagans. The important and conclusive testi•

mony

of three Protestant writers— Hackluyt, Baldens,

Tavernier

—

is

set forth in

and

Bouhours' " Life of Francis Xavier,"

which our own poet, John Dryden, translated and published.

^^=^

SPIRITUAL POWERS AND PROPERTIES

OF THE CHURCH. -^'^^

"

When

a

man

holds up to

my

conscious eye the page of

mandate of a mortal, I clearly perceive Nature to listen and to suspend her laws, I rationally conclude that such a man is indeed employed by God. These miraculous and prophetical tests, produced by the ancient seer to the Israelites, appealed to by Christ in His own sacred cause, and made over by Him to His ministers for ever in the work of conversion, have been a means to futurity

;

or when, at the

guide the enquiring soul to that Authority divinely-commis-

This power to deliver the dictates continued apostles, or in other words, the Holy Catholic Church in every age, has proved by the evidence of actual miracles her possession of sioned to teach the World. of the

Holy

this gift

Spirit, this society of

presented to her by her Divine Founder."

CHAPTER

III.

SPIRITUAL POWERS AND PROPERTIES OF

THE CHURCH. Ml!J<

^ commands thee.

Apostles Peter and Paul, and of

all

the other Saints

>JJ< commands thee. The devout intercession of all the Saints ^ commands thee. The virtue of the Mysteries of the Christian Faith >J4 commands thee. Go out, therefore, all

deceit

thou transgressor.

and

wile,

Go

out,

thou seducer,

Give place, thou most dire one

innocence.

thou most impious one

:

thee.

Who

led thee captive

goods

:

for thee

Who

:

of

give place,

give place to Christ in

thou hast found nothing of thy works

come

full

thou enemy of virtue, thou persecutor of

:

Who

hath destroyed thy kingdom,

and bound

thee,

Whom

hath over-

Who

hath

and hath spoiled thy

hath cast thee into outer darkness, where

and thy servants everlasting destruction

is

pre-

THE SUPERNATURAL. pared.

O

But why,

145

one, dost thou \vithstand?

fierce

why, rashly bold, dost thou refuse

thou

?

accused

art the

Thou

of Almighty God, whose laws thou hast broken. art the

accused of Jesus Christ our Lord,

dared to tempt, and presumed to

human

accused of the

race, to

Who

Thou

crucify.

art the

Therefore, I adjure thee,

Name

in the

thou hast

whom by thy persuasion thou

hast given to drink thy poison.

most wicked dragon,

whom

of the immaculate

^

upon the lion and adder. Who tramples under foot the young lion and the dragon, that thou depart from this man {let the sign be made upon his forehead), that thou depart from the Church of God {let the sign be made over those who are standing by) tremble, and flee away at the calling upon the Name of

Lamb,

treads

^

^

;

that Lord, of

Whom

hell

is

afraid

;

Whom

to

the Virtues,

Dominions of the heavens are subject; Cherubim and Seraphim with unwearied voices saying Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.

the Powers, and the

Whom praise,

:

^ made

The AVord reth

Flesh

commands

commands

He Who was

thee.

^ of the Virgin commands thee.

bom

Jesus

Who, although thou

thee;

^ of

Naza-

didst despise

bade thee go bruised and overthrown out of in his presence, having separated thee from him, thou didst not presume to enter into the herd of His

disciples,

the

man and

swine.

:

Therefore, thus

part from the man,

now adjured

whom He

thee to wish to resist

in

His

has formed. It is