VERY WELL AUTHENTICATED.


A very common failing amongst men is to adopt one extreme in the
endeavor to avoid another, and sometimes not to perceive that the
extreme into which they fall is greater than that which they had sought
to flee from. To insure themselves against weak incredulity, some have
imbibed such prejudice against the miracles in the Lives of the Saints,
that they cannot endure to hear of them; the very ideas of miracles,
revelations, ecstasies, visions, apparitions, are hateful and disgusting
to them; all that is said on these subjects they look upon as fabulous
and incredible; they call in question the most undeniable evidence,
or attribute these wonders to natural and unknown causes. The wonders
which are recorded in the Life of St, Francis, afford an opportunity
of grappling with these prejudices.

In the first place, no man using his right reason will reject the
wonders recorded in the Lives of the Saints, because of their
impossibility. Miracles are extraordinary events, which break through
the laws of nature, and exceed the force of all natural causes; it is
only necessary to make use of our reason to be aware that God, whose
power is infinite, having freely established these laws, may, whenever
He thinks fit, break through them Himself by the ministry of His
creatures, whom He makes use of as He pleases; that these suspensions
may enter into the external designs of His wisdom and providence, and
that they occur by successive acts, without there having been any
change in Him, because it is an act of His will which causes them, as
it does every other thing. Now this proves that miracles are possible,
and that there is no impossibility in the wonders recorded in the Lives
of the Saints.