184 WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS v 



the shrine of his favourite saints could be increased 

 by such a procedure. There is no impeachment 

 of his honour in the supposition. The logic of the 

 matter is quite simple, if somewhat sophistical. 

 The holiness of the church of the martyrs guaran- 

 tees the reality of the appearance of the Archangel 

 Gabriel there ; and what the archangel says must 

 be true. Therefore, if anything seem to be wrong, 

 that must be the mistake of the transmitter ; and, 

 in justice to the archangel, it must be suppressed 

 or set right. This sort of " reconciliation " is not 

 unknown in quite modern times, and among people 

 who would be very much shocked to be compared 

 with a " benighted papist " .of the ninth century. 



The readers of this essay are, I imagine, very 

 largely composed of people who would be shocked 

 to be regarded as anything but enlightened 

 Protestants. It is not unlikely that those of 

 them who have accompanied me thus far may be 

 disposed to say, " Well, this is all very amusing as 

 a story, but what is the practical interest of it ? 

 We are not likely to believe in the miracles worked 

 by the spolia of SS. Marcellinus and Petrus, or by 

 those of any other saints in the Roman Calendar." 



The practical interest is this : if you donotbelieve 

 in these miracles recounted by a witness whose 

 character and competency are firmly established, 

 whose sincerity cannot be doubted, and who 

 appeals to his sovereign and other contemporaries 

 as witnesses of the truth of what he says, in a 



