diate subject. But as it is pleasanter to take short stages than long ones, and to see the distance measured by miles rather than leagues,

Qui farò fine,—per tornar di novo

A donarvi piacer col canto novo.

ON THE MIRACLES OF THE PAPAL CHURCH.

upon

You maintain, Sir, that we are taught to expect an uninterrupted succession of miracles in the Church. To prove this you quote the prophecy of Joel,* "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:" and you ground your application of this text the declaration of St. Peter to the Jews, when, after citing these words, he said,† “the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." You add then the promise of our Saviour to his disciples: and because no limitation of time is expressed in his words, you conclude that they are unlimited, and therefore miracles must somewhere have been uninterruptedly wrought. Even in law, Sir, you would find it difficult to establish as a maxim, that words must mean any thing they

may mean still less will any such consequence hold good in logic and in theology. With regard to the former texts it may suffice to say that those prophecies had their primary accomplishment when the Mosaic dispensation was brought to its close, and that their secondary and final fulfilment is yet to come.

Were I treating this subject merely as matter for disputation, I might assert that the miracles of the Papal Church are indeed foretold in Scripture by the Apostle when he forewarned us of " that wicked One whose coming should be after the working of Satan with all power, and signs, and false wonders;" and by our Lord and Saviour,† when he said to his disciples that there should arise "false Christs and false prophets who should show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect." elect." If it were necessary to admit that the succession of the Romish miracles is proved, then upon bringing. "to the Law and to the Testimony" the doctrines and practices which they must have been performed to confirm and approve, this would

Matt. xxiv. 24. Mark xiii. 22.

*Thess. ii. 2. 8, 9. "We shall find them," says Middleton, "always the most numerous, and the most confidently attested, in proportion to the absurdity of the doctrine, or practice in whose favour they

be the true and sufficient explanation. This, however, is not a knot which cannot be unloosed without the Devil's interposition. There was no occasion why he should work real prodigies to extend a system of delusion, when false ones were represented every where with complete success, to the same end, even when not with the same direct intent.

If it be impossible to determine at what time those miracles ceased which were necessary for the first propagation of Christianity, it is certain that whenever they ceased, there were many persons who continued to expect them, and that there must have been others who pretended to possess a power which might so easily be rendered gainful. At the very beginning there were false brethren. We see in

are alleged: as in the case of Transubstantiation, Purgatory, the Worship of Images, Relics, Crucifixes, Indulgences, and all the tricks of monkery; as if miracles were of no other use but to subvert the reason and senses of mankind, and confound all the distinctions between right and wrong. But if there be any rule of judging of their reality, or any power in man to discern truth from falsehood, we must necessarily conclude from the nature and end of the Popish miracles, that whatever testimonies may be brought to support them, they were all, without exception, either wrought by wicked spirits, or forged by wicked men."-Prefatory Discourse to the Letter from Rome. Misc. Works, vol. v. p. 74. edit. 1755.

our own days continual examples that, however obscure and despised a sect may be, there are always people who find their interest in joining it. Such worldly motives were as little wanting then as now; nor was there any danger in this: for the professors who made a trade of their religion in safe seasons, could always in time of persecution secure themselves by renouncing it. Some of these unworthy men may have been in a state of half-belief, like Simon when he would have purchased the Apostolic power: and sometimes it must have happened that they became the dupes of their own success. The knave as well as the enthusiast is liable to this consequence; and this is one process whereby that compound of roguery and fanaticism is produced, of which so many instances may be called to mind.

It is not necessary to suppose any unusual proportion either of craft or credulity in the first centuries for understanding wherefore a very general delusion concerning this matter should have prevailed: men were prepared for it by all existing systems and opinions. The very fables which were held for facts in natural history were so marvellous that nothing could appear incredible to those who received them; and they were received even by the learned and the wise.