1637-47.] SELF-DEVOTION. 109 



of a vast and gorgeous palace ; and a miraculous 

 voice assured him that such was to be the reward 

 of those who dwelt in savage hovels for the cause 

 of God. Angels appeared to him; and, more than 

 once, St. Joseph and the Vhgin were visibly pres- 

 ent before his sight. Once, when he was among 

 the Neutral Nation, in the mnter of 1640, he be- 

 held the ommous aj^parition of a great cross slowly- 

 approaching from the quarter where lay the coun- 

 try of the Iroquois. He told the vision to his com- 

 rades. "What was it like] How large was itT' 

 they eagerly demanded. " Large enough," replied 

 the priest, "to crucify us all."^ To explain such 

 phenomena is the province of psychology, and not 

 of history. Theu* occuiTence is no matter of sui*- 

 prise, and it would be superfluous to doubt that 

 they were recounted in good faith, and with a full 

 belief in then- reality. 



In these enthusiasts we shall find striking ex- 

 amples of one of the morbid forces of human 

 nature ; yet in candor let us do honor to what 

 was genuine in them, — that principle of self-ab- 

 negation which is the life of true religion, and 

 which is vital no less to the highest forms of 

 heroism. 



1 Quelques Remarques sur la Vie du Pere Jean de Brebeuf, MS. On the 

 margin of this paper, opposite several of the statements repeated above, 

 are the words, signed by Ragueneau, " Ex ipsius autographo," indicating 

 that the statements were made in writing by Brebeuf himself 



Still other visions are recorded by Chaumonot as occurring to Bre- 

 beuf, when they were together in the Neutral country. See also the long 

 notice of Brebeuf, written by his colleague, Ragueneau, in the Relation of 

 1649 ; and Tanner, Societas Jesa Militans, 533. 



10 



