proclaim the glory of God. We hastened, therefore, to the spot, to investigate the circumstances of this astonishing cure. We found the late Invalid seated in the parlour, surrounded by her friends; she rose, she knelt, she resumed her seat, she detailed the history of her sufferings and her cure, as they have been just related, and as they will be found in her sworn attestation which we subjoin, No. 6. Her companions and attendants, who had assisted her in her infirmity, and watched so long over her bed of languish. ing, confirmed this account in all its details, with a degree of candour and simplicity, which could not fail, even then, to produce on our mind the clearest conviction, that the restoration of the said Mary Stuart to the state of health in which we saw her, was beyond the reach of human power.

Still, aware of the great responsibility which we should incur, by pledging ourselves to you, beloved Brethren, and to the world, for the existence of a fact so truly wonderful, we paused before we should give public utter ance to our private conviction on so important a subject.

We re

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turned to the Convent, after an interval of several days; we subjected all the circumstances of this extraordinary case to a new and rigid inquiry; we collected information on the spot, from every source within our reach; we weighed it in the presence of the God of Truth; we called in to our aid the wisdom and intelligence of our Reverend Brethren, the Roman Catholic Clergy of this City, and we have the consolation of knowing that our judg ment is supported by their unanimous opinion, when we declare,

The body of evidence which we subjoin, is, we trust, abundantly sufficient to carry the saine conviction to every mind which is not obstinately closed against the truth.

We do not, however, expect, that this new and splendid wonder of the Divine goodness, clothed as it is with such a mass of evidence, will awe into silence the cavils of the sceptic. The miracles of our blessed Redeemer himself were contradicted, and "the servant is not greater than his Lord." Incredulity may seek to cast the veil of doubt over the glory, which redounds to God and his Church from the exercise of miraculous powers; but the true believer will find therein a copious subject of consolation; a new link to bind him, if possible, more closely to his divinely attested religion, a new proof of the ever watchful care of God over us, a new motive to walk with reverence in the awful presence of Him who works such wonders in the midst of us, a new incentive to address this gracious Being in every want with unbounded confidence, and to pour out before him the warmest homage of his gratitude and love.

Our Divine Saviour has vouchsafed to say, "He that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do, and greater than

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these shall be do: because I go to the Father; and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." (John xiv. 12, &c.)

This promise was not confined to any age or to any country. It displayed its effects in a more eminent degree when he wished to stamp conspicuously on his infant Church the attestation of its divine origin. The sick, who were placed in the shadow of St. Peter, were cured as the Apostle passed along, (Acts v. 15.)—the handkerchiefs which had touched the body of St. Paul, were applied to the sick, and "the diseases departed from them, and the wicked spirits went out of them." (Acts xix. 12.)—And it was then a matter quite of ordinary occurrence, that even the new converts should prophesy and work miracles. (1 Cor. xii. 7.)-When the little grain of mustard seed struck its roots deeply into the soil, and grew up into a tree which spread its branches over the earth, it no longer stood in constant need of the same eternal and extraordinary means for its preservation, Accordingly the exercise of miraculous powers became less frequent in the Church; but, that it was not uncommon even in the beginning of the third century, we learn from the well known challenge which Tertullian, in his Apologetic, then gave the Heathens; whereby he pledged himself to them, that, if they would bring a demoniac into open court, any Christian who should be called upon, would force the unclean spirit to proclaim aloud its own wickedness. At a later period these miraculous powers became more rare, but they never

wholly ceased. The great Saint Ambrose is an unquestionable voucher for the miracles which were wrought in Milan, in 386, on the finding of the relics of SS. Gervasius and Protasius. To several of those miracles the whole city could bear witness, particularly to the cure of the blind man Serverus, who was restored to sight by the application of a handkerchief to his eyes, af ter it had touched the bier wherein the relics were bore in proces sion.

Saint Augustin, in like manner, relates several others of which he was witness in Hippo, in the year 425. He informs us (in the 22d book, 8th.ch. of the City of God) that on the Easter Sunday of that year, a youth named Paul, praying to God, before the shrine of St. Stephen, was miraculously cured. The Church echoed with the exclamations of the people,

Thanks be to God, praised he the Lord." St. Augustin, pointing the attention of his crowded audience to this living evidence of God's miraculous interposition, exclaimed, "We have been used to read the relations of miracles, which God has performed by the blessed Martyr St. Stephen; but now, the presence of this young man supplies the place of a book, -nor have we occasion for any other writing than his face, which you all know." On the following Tuesday, while the holy Bishop was preaching on a subject connected with this cure, his discourse was interrupted by renewed exclamations of "Thanks be to God." In fact, a new miracle had filled the audience with wonder and gratitude; for the sister of Paul, by name Palladia, whom they had seen but a moment

before in a state of the most deplorable infirmity, had prostrated herself in prayer before the shrine of St. Stephen, and had arisen in the presence of the astonished multitude in the vigour of health. Facts of this nature, bearing on them the unequivocal marks of truth, are found in every age ofthe Church, down to the days of that favoured servant of God, the Prince of Hohenlohe.

Let no one in the face of those facts, and in contradiction to the clear word of God, oppose to us the idle objection, that man cannot suspend or alter thus the laws established by the Creator. It is not man that by his own power works these prodigies; it is the great Creator himself, who can suspend at pleasure, for his own gracious purposes, the operation of those laws which he established. It is not man that wrests the perishing victim, from the very arms of death, and infuses life and vigour into his decayed and paralysed frame; it is the great Lord of Life himself, who is moved through Christ, by the supplications of his servants, to put forth his mighty arm, and glorify himself by the manifestation of his mercy, his goodness, and his power. "Ye men of Israel," said St. Peter, after the miraculous cure of the lame man, at the gate of the Temple, "Why wonder you at this? or why look you upon us, as if by our strength or power, we had made this man to walk; the God of our fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus; and his Name, through the faith of his Name, hath made this man strong, whom you have seen and known; and the faith which is by him, hath given this perfect

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soundness in sight of you all.” (Acts iii. 12, &c.) Yes, it is the mighty Lord of Heaven and Earth "Who alone doth wonderful things;" (Ps. lxxi. 18.) and whatever share any human power may seem to have in the performance of his wonders, the lowly instrument of his goodness should be ever ready to exclaim, "O Lord, not to us, but to thy name give glory." (Ps. cxiii. 1.)

What may be the views of God in the recent prodigies, which are now the admiration of Europe, and one of which has just occurred under our own eyes, it is not for us to determine. We may, however, safely conjecture, that this gracious God, has some object beyond the mere addition of a few miserable years to the life of a favoured individual. When our blessed Redeemer, raised up his friend Lazarus from the grave, he did so to publish "the glory

of God." (John xi. 40.) He did so to confirm the faith of his disciples. "Lazarus," saith he, " is dead, and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, that you may believe." (John i. 13, &c.) Since, then, the same blessed Redeemer now makes the unbloody sacrifice of his Body and Blood, the visible means of calling back to life and health the victim that was ready to descend into the grave, is it unreasonable to suppose, that he does so, in his mercy, for some general and exalted purpose? To awake, for instance, our slumbering piety, and animate the faithful throughout his Church, to fly with more confidence, more reverence, more love to those holy altars, on which the living victim of salvation is working such wonders.