or of His chosen servants, and those that have shed their blood for His sake. And here, again, we find Holy Scripture supporting the doctrine of the Church. It is related in the fourth Book of Kings, that a dead man was restored to life by touching the bones of the prophet Eliseus, who had been buried in the same sepulchre. We have an instance recorded of a woman being healed of her sickness by touching the hem of our Lord's garment (St. Matt. ix. 20). And in the Acts (chap. xix.) it is related that from the body of St. Paul were brought "handkerchiefs and aprons, and the diseases departed from those who touched them, and the evil spirits went out of them." There may, indeed, be false relics, but this does not destroy the value of those that are true, any more than counterfeit money destroys the value of that which is good. The Church can only provide with all possible care against their being venerated, as soon as it is discovered that they are false.

CHAP. XLIX. Of Divination.

BESIDES idolatry, there are several other kinds of sins by way of excess against the virtue of religion. But they may be reduced to the two heads of divination and vain observation. By divination is meant an inquiring into hidden things by the assistance of evil spirits, and by vain observation, which is more commonly called superstition, in the strict sense of the word, is meant a dependence upon frivolous and foolish things, which have no natural or supernatural tendency to effect the objects which are aimed at by their means. It is not indeed always easy or even possible to decide under which class particular sins may come, because we cannot determine whether or not there has been any express or tacit appeal to the power of the devil. Yet there still remains a plain distinction in character and guilt between what is done, or aimed at being done, through the agency of the devil, and what is done without such agency.

Divination is an inquiring into or events by the assistance of the devil.

regulating future It is a sin against

the first commandment, not because the devil is directly put in the place of God and worshiped, as this would come under the sin of idolatry treated of in the last division; but indirectly, because by it one of the Divine prerogatives is in a degree attributed to the devil, and homage is paid to his power and knowledge. For God alone is omniscient; He alone can know what depends on His own will, or even what is contingent on the will of man. The devil, therefore, cannot really determine or regulate what is going to be; and to consult him as if he could, is to put him so far in the place of God. Some things, indeed, the devil and his angels can do that are past our knowledge and comprehension. For they still possess those great natural powers which God gave them at their creation. As pure spirits they are not tied to the same laws as we, who are encompassed and confined in mortal bodies. They can, therefore, see and know and do many things far beyond our power, and they are assisted by an experience of thousands of years, during which they have had an opportunity of observing the ways of men and the laws of nature, and hence they can easily foresee things that are quite hidden from our weaker powers. Yet it is not allowable to consult them even about these things, because they are the enemies of God, and use their power only to oppose His Divine will. Doing so knowingly cannot be otherwise than a great sin. It may be committed either by express agreement with the devil, or tacitly, when we do such things as can only be done by his coöperation.

Under the head of divination are includea the following sins: sorcery or witchcraft, charms and spells, fortune-telling, necromancy and magic. Witchcraft is dealing expressly with the devil, either ourselves directly, or through the means of another person who has entered into a compact with him. Charms, spells, and incantations are certain things said or done to effect particular objects which they have no natural tendency to effect. Hence, they are either acts of cheating or dishonesty done to obtain money, or if they are any thing more, it is through diabolical agency. The same may be said of fortune-telling, which when done in earnest cannot be excused from great sin,

because nothing short of a revelation from God can make known to us what will befall us. Necromancy is inquiring of the dead; and magic is an art by which men profess to do things contrary to the laws of nature, without the intervention of God. Under this last description come mesmerism and animal magnetism, about which much controversy has arisen as to whether it is allowable to use them or permit their being used. The facts of the case not being yet made sufficiently clear, the Church has not laid down any absolute rule. Practically, however, it is sufficient to remember, that whenever we have reason to believe that these arts produce effects beyond what they can possibly do by natural means, or that, in fact, they do not produce them by natural means, but by diabolical, it becomes wrong for us to have any thing to do with them. The Scripture is very strong against this sin. "Neither let there be any wizard, nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune-tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead. For the Lord abhorreth all these things, and for these abominations He will destroy them at thy coming" (Deut. xviii., and also Lev. xx. 27). It has been thought that Saul filled up the measure of his guilt by committing this sin when the Lord departed from him (1 Kings xxviii.).

CHAP. L. Of Vain Observation or Superstition.

UNDER the third head of sins against religion by way of excess comes vain observation, more commonly called superstition. This does not suppose any intention of consulting evil spirits, but consists in paying attention to things of chance or accident, and attributing to words or actions a virtue God has not given them. The virtue of religion consists in worshiping God as we ought, that is to say, in the way He has commanded. The sin of superstition offends against this either by paying attention to things that are not entitled to any, or by paying to things that are entitled to some attention, more than they deserve. Of the first kind is astrology, which is attributing to

the stars a power over human affairs, and so endeavouring to foretell or regulate things by them. A belief in omens is another sin of this kind, which consists in observing any natural or accidental circumstances, and attributing to them a power of foreshadowing coming events. Believing in dreams, and acting upon our belief, is a sin of the same sort, or attributing a particular power to certain numbers or days as being lucky or unlucky. For these things have not any power of this sort naturally that we know of, and God has not given them any supernatural power. He might have done so if He pleased, just as we see He has appointed very simple words and actions as the matter and form of the Sacraments, and given them a supernatural power; but where He has not given this power it is superstition for men to take up any thing natural or accidental, and attribute a supernatural efficacy to it.

Yet while it is a sin to believe in observations of omens, dreams, or the stars, yet it must not be forgotten that God has been pleased at different times to lead men by these very things. We have a great number of instances in Scripture. With regard to some of these, we may suppose that God vouchsafed to turn the ignorant belief of men to good without in any way authorising that belief; but with regard to dreams, it is plain that many of them came direct from God. The history of Joseph is chiefly made up of what happened in fulfilment of dreams. Daniel prophesied from dreams, besides being endowed with the gift of interpreting them. In the New Testament we have the magi and St. Joseph guided in their conduct by dreams. And further, we have the Prophet Joel prophesying of the times when God should pour out His spirit upon all flesh: "and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions" (Joel ii.); and St. Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost expressly applies this to the coming of the Holy Ghost (Acts ii.). Hence it is plain that when the Church teaches us that it is superstitious to pay attention to dreams, it does not mean that it is so in itself, or that we are not bound to attend to them, if we have reason to believe that they come from God; but that we are not to give

credence to our ordinary dreams, or too easily to believe that they come from God, since it is reasonable to suppose that God would guide us by the ordinary means that He has amply provided in His Church, rather than send us any special revelation in a dream. And even in the old law to observe dreams" was forbidden (Deut. xviii. 10).

The other way in which we may be guilty of superstition, is by putting a greater confidence in legitimate objects of faith or devotion than we are authorised to do. For men may be superstitious about things that are really sacred, or may have a superstitious dread of what they may justly fear. Thus to trust one's salvation to particular practices of devotion,-say wearing the scapular, or a blessed medal, or belonging to a certain confraternity, would be instances of a superstitious confidence in these things. To avoid sin, we must place just that trust and value in things which God has authorised. They possess efficacy only because, and so far as, He has given it to them, and beyond that they are worthless.

CHAP. LI. Of Irreligion.

LASTLY, we come to sins against the virtue of religion by way of defect, or of what is called irreligiousness or irreligion, and which means a want of reverence for God and what pertains to Him. These sins may be enumerated under four heads,-tempting God, sacrilege, blasphemy, and perjury. Of these, however, the two last form the special subject of the second commandment; so that it remains to speak of the two first. Tempting God. To tempt means to try; and so tempting God means trying the perfections or attributes of God, calling upon Him or expecting Him to show His wisdom, power, or mercy at our pleasure, and in ways that He has not promised. If a man, for instance, were, without a special inspiration, to abstain from all food for forty days, trusting to God to work a miracle to preserve his life, this would be a sin of tempting God. The devil tempted our Lord to this sin,