angel of God, who had been contending with the powers of evil, to wrest
it from eternal loss, bore up the glad news to heaven, that the hoary
sinner repented at the eleventh hour; and there was great joy among the
angels of His presence, before Him.




CHAPTER XIII.

THE NEW WILL.

Father Fabian came. Miracles such as this never amazed _him_. He knew
too well that the Spirit of the Eternal God, which abides with His
Church for ever, was as powerful then as it had been in ages past, and
that He still condescended to add miracles to the testimony of
revelation, to glorify the faith He planted. With the angels, he only
"rejoiced, and was exceeding glad," giving thanks to God for this new
manifestation of His clement love. Long, and earnest, and touching,
was the interview between the priest of God and the dying penitent. He
saw the depths of an old and embittered heart broken up; he heard its
plaintive cry, as it floated out towards the dark ocean of death, of,
"Save, Lord, or I perish!" and its imploring prayer for the waters of
regeneration, and the sacraments of the Church. All earth had failed
him in this his hour of need; and from the deep abyss of his misery he
expected no deliverance but through them. But at last, Peace was
whispered, and into his soul was breathed the holy sentence of
absolution; and on his hoary head was poured the baptismal stream; his
eyes and ears had been opened by divine power; and, like Siloa's wave,
it washed him clean. What was the leprosy of those men of old, to the