Iviii. PROLEGOMENA. 



of the laws of their changes, but in proportion 

 as God has ])hiced them in relation to our iuQ- 

 perfect senses, so in things infinitely above the 

 reach of human knowlege, we must look to 

 authority, coming originally from heaven, as the 

 succedaneum for the defects of our own imperfect 

 sensations ; and I trust that there are many, 

 even in this age of pride and arrogance, who will 

 have humility enough to submit their own 

 opinions to that authority in articles of faith, 

 since such great philosophers as St. Augustine, 

 St. Athanasius, and indeed all the great and 

 good of better ages than our own, have reposed 

 in it without doubting. 



I have only introduced these arguments 

 to ])repare the reader for the extraordinary 

 miracles which he must find related in the course 

 of the Saints' lives, a circumstance which, like 

 every thing else, is a part of the consistency of 

 our religion. Since it might naturally be ex- 

 pected that miraculous circumstances would at- 

 tend the lives of those prodigies of sanctity and 

 perfection, which it has pleased God, in every 

 age and country, to raise up for the edification of 

 his church, and the advancement of his glory. 

 I shall now go on with the history of the 

 Religious Orders, for they are all completing 

 the work of Christ, who came into the world by 

 the miraculous conception of the Blessed Virgin, 



