of the surrounding Islands flocked to Honolulu by hundreds, and the crews of two frigates, opportunely let loose like so many demons to swell the heathenish uproar, gave the crowning flourish to the scene. It was a sort of Polynesian Saturnalia. Deeds too atrocious to be mentioned were done at noonday in the open street, and some of the Islanders caught in the very act of stealing from the foreigners, were, on being taken to the fort by the aggrieved party, suffered immediately to go at large and retain the stolen property-Kekuanoa (the governor) informing the white men, with a sardonic grin, that the laws were 'hampa'-(tied up.)

"The history of these ten days," he adds, "reveals in their true colors the character of the Sandwich Islanders, and furnishes an eloquent commentary on the results which have flowed from the labors of the missionaries. Freed, from the restraints of severe penal laws, the natives almost to a man had plunged voluntarily into every species of wickedness and excess, and, by their utter disregard of all decency, plainly showed that, although they had been schooled into a seeming submission to the new order of things, they were in reality as depraved and vicious as ever."*

Such being, from the testimony of an unexceptionable eye-witness, the wretched state of morals of the Sandwich Islanders, and such their brutal degradation in the scale of civilization, was I not right in saying, in the preceding Lecture, that they had not risen either in civilization or in morals under the teaching of the Protestant missionaries? Might I not even have said,-what these startling facts clearly prove, that the Sandwich Islands mission, so much be-praised by our Protestant religious press, has really turned out, not only the most complete failure, but also the greatest imposition that was ever practised on the pious credulity of a generous and confiding religious public? Had I said this, I would have been fully borne out by the facts of the case. The very name of the Sandwich Islands should make every sincere and candid Protestant Christian blush for his missionaries stationed there; and acknowledge at once the utter powerlessness of Protestantism to convert a single nation from heathenism to Christianity.

* P. 325.

LECTURE IV.

MIRACLES.

THE THIRD EVIDENCE OF CATHOLICITY.

Text explained-Miracles a sure criterion of truth-Various definitions of a miracle-Those of Hume and Locke exploded-That of Bishop Hay adopted-How to distinguish a true miracle-Four principles to guide us-The issue between Catholics and Protestants-Has the age of miracles ceased?-Objections and cavils met--Presumptive evidence for the continuation of miracles--Positive evidence-The testimony on the subject sifted-And found to possess all the characteristics of truth-The process for the canonization of saints analysed-Its slowness and extreme rigor-Incident-Miracles of St. Francis Xavier examined and vindicated-Objections against them answered-The argument resumed—Conclusion -Third evidence of Catholicity.

"And he said to them: go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe in my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover......... But they going forth preached every where the Lord co-operating with them, and confirming the word with signs that followed. " St. Mark xvi. 15, seqq.

SUCH, my beloved brethren, is the language employed by one of the inspired evangelists, in the account he furnishes us of the commission given by our blessed Lord to his apostles to preach the gospel, and to establish his holy Religion every where throughout the world. You see that the solemn promise of miraculous powers accompanies the commission itself; that, in the view of our Savior, miracles were to be to his first appointed heralds of the truth the seals of their apostleship, and

the irresistible evidence to the world that their mission was derived from God, and was sanctioned by God; and that, accordingly, their preaching was every where followed and confirmed by miraculous signs and wonders. It is evident, then, from the words of Christ, that miracles were to be the constant accompaniments of that preaching by which the heathen nations were to be brought to a knowledge of Christianity, as well as one of the principal and most effectual means of bringing about their conversion. If the language of Christ imply

not all this, it implies nothing.

It is agreed on all hands among Christians, that miracles are a certain criterion of truth, and that the system in favor of which they are wrought must be true and divine. Hence they are invariably put forward as among the most palpable, the most brilliant, and the most conclusive evidences of Christianity, by all Christian writers, of every shade of religious opinion, who have ever entered the lists with the infidel. Christ himself constantly and confidently appealed to this species of evidence as decisive and unanswerable, to establish his own divine mission.

sent me.

Thus, rebuking the Jews for their incredulity, he says: "But I have a greater testimony than that of John. For the works which the Father hath given me to perfect; the works themselves, which I do, give testimony of me that my Father hath Thus again: Jesus answered them: I speak to you and you believe not: the works that I do in the name of my Father, they give testimony of me." In another discourse, he declares the Jews wholly inexcusable for their unbelief, on the ground that they had witnessed his wonderful works: "If I had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they would not have sin: but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father."

As I am at present treating, not with infidels who deny Christianity, but with brother Christians who differ from me as to its nature or where it is to be found, it will not be necessary for the argument to dwell at any great length on the nature of

*St. John v. 36. St. John x. 25. See also. St. John xiv. 11, 12. + St. John xv. 24.

miracles, and on their conclusiveness as proofs to establish the truth of any particular system. Still a few preliminary remarks on this branch of the subject may be of service, for understanding and appreciating the line of argument upon which we are about to enter. This appears the more necessary, as in this age of boasted progress in science, and of animal magnetism and Mormonism, the minds of men are often sadly bewildered as to what really constitutes a miracle, properly so called, and what are the criteria by which the true may be distinguished from the false.

The infidel Hume flippantly defined a miracle, "a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of an invisible agent." He used that word transgression with the captious intent of implying that a miracle was inconsistent with the wisdom and immutability of purpose of the Deity, and therefore impossible.

Locke's definition is scarcely less objectionable. It is this: "a sensible operation, which exceeds the capacity of the spectator, and which he believes to be contrary to the course of nature, and judges to be divine." From this definition it would follow, that what would be a miracle to the ignorant might be a very natural phenomenon to the learned; and thus that all miraculous occurrences might be viewed with distrust and suspicion.

Christian theologians have also given somewhat different definitions of miracles. But most of them agree in the substance, and differ merely in the views they respectively take of the subject. Some limit the definition to those extraordinary occurrences which evidently transcend the powers of all created nature, whether corporal or spiritual, and which are therefore referable to a direct and immediate agency of the Deity. This seems to have been the view of that deep and penetrating Christian philosopher, St. Thomas Aquinas. * Others make the definition more comprehensive, so as to embrace what is above the powers of corporeal nature or of men, but not above

*Pars I. Quæst. cxiv. art. 4-Summa Theolog. He, however, in the same passage refers to a secondary order of miracles performed by spirits inferior to the Deity.

those of spiritual intelligences of a higher order. The advocates of this opinion, among whom appears the brilliant name of Benedict XIV., * draw a line of distinction between those wonderful events which manifestly can have God alone for their immediate Author, and those which do not clearly and obviously transcend the capabilities of angels. The former they denominate absolute miracles, or miracles in the strictest sense of the term; the latter, relative, or miracles in a larger sense and less properly so called.

Bishop Hay, in his learned and philosophical work on miracles, coincides with this view, and gives the following definition, which I shall adopt: "an extraordinary effect produced in the material creation, either contrary to the known laws of nature, or beyond the usual course of nature, above the abilities of natural agents, and performed by God, or by his holy angels." +

The principal difficulties in the way of distinguishing a true from a false miracle, lies in our ignorance of the precise innate powers possessed by the spiritual creation in relation to the things of this world. That angels and demons are gifted with a more acute perception, and a higher order of intelligence than man, is universally conceded; that they possess the power to do things above the capacity of man, appears equally unquestionable. But whatever may be the extent of their powers over the material creation, it is entirely certain, from the very first principles of natural theology, that they are completely subordinate to the Deity, and under his complete control in their actions; and that they can do nothing without his positive will or permission.

This principle solves a difficulty which would be otherwise

* De Servorum Dei Beatificatione, &c. Lib. iv. This is a splendid work, which exhausts the subject. We shall have occasion to refer to it in the sequel.

+ Hay on Miracles; p. 21, vol. 1. American edition. He fully develops this definition, and investigates the nature, instruments, authority and criteria of miracles, throughout the first ten chapters of his solid and well reasoned work. The work was undertaken as a supplement to the weak arguments of Dr. Middleton, who had entered the lists with the infidel Hume. It has been lately republished in this country.