in his face, of which he afterwards bore the marks, when, by the
merit of the holy mass and the intercession of the saints, the spell
was taken off? How could St. Maur appear to him in his Benedictine
habit, having the wizard on his left hand? If the circumstance is
certain, as it appears, who shall explain the manner in which all
passed or took place?

Footnotes:

[402] Ezek. viii. 1, 2, &c.

[403] Matt. xvii. 3.

[404] Acts ix. 10.

[405] Acts ix. 2.

[406] Ammian. Marcell. lib. xix. Sozomen. lib. vi. c. 35.

[407] Aug. lib. viii. de Civit. c. 18.

[408] Aug. Serm. cxxiii. pp. 1277, 1278.

[409] Aug. de cura gerenda pro Mortuis, c. 11, 12.

[410] Aug. de cura gerend. pro Mort. c. xxvii. p. 529.

[411] Vita Daniel Stylit. xi. Decemb.

[412] Gregor. lib. ii. Dialog. c. xxii.

[413] Vita Sancti Euthym. pp. 86, 87.

[414] Le Brun, Traite des Superstit. tom. i. pp. 281, 282, et seq.

CHAPTER XLVI.

ARGUMENTS CONCERNING APPARITIONS.

After having spoken at some length upon apparitions, and after having
established the truth of them, as far as it has been possible for us
to do so, from the authority of the Scripture, from examples, and by
arguments, we must now exercise our judgment on the causes, means, and
reasons for these apparitions, and reply to the objections which may
be made to destroy the reality of them, or at least to raise doubts on
the subject.

We have supposed that apparitions were the work of angels, demons, or
souls of the defunct; we do not talk of the appearance of God himself;
his will, his operations, his power, are above our reach; we
acknowledge that he can do all that he wills to do, that his will is
all-powerful, and that he places himself, when he chooses, above the
laws which he has made. As to the apparitions of the living to others
also living, they are of a different nature from what we propose to
examine in this place; we shall not fail to speak of them hereafter.

Whatever system we may follow on the nature of angels, or demons, or
souls separated from the body; whether we consider them as purely
spiritual substances, as the Christian church at this day holds;
whether we give them an aerial body, subtile, and invisible, as many
have taught; it appears almost as difficult to render palpable,
perceptible, and thick a subtile and aerial body, as it is to condense
the air, and make it seem like a solid and perceptible body; as, when
the angels appeared to Abra