lchre, now sallied forth out of it. When the
whole multitude had their candles lighted, the bishops were caught by the
crowd, lifted upon their shoulders, and carried to their chapels, amidst
loud and triumphant acclamations. They soon, however, reappeared at the
head of a similar procession to the one before, as a pretended
thank-offering to the Almighty for the miraculous fire vouchsafed."--(P.
121, _et seq._)

It appears, by comparing these two narratives of one and the same thing,
though separated by a distance of a hundred and fifty years, that the only
difference which will be found between them is, that in the time of
Maundrell, 1697, the miraculous fire was produced in about one minute's
time, whilst the performance of the same trick required twenty when it was
observed by Mr Calman. And, indeed, it has been justly observed by both
these writers, that the exhibitors of the miraculous fire, having
continued so long to practise this imposture, cannot leave it off without
ruining their authority and influence over those whom they have thus been
cheating for many centuries. This circumstance has been most pointedly
expressed by the author of the work from which I have extracted Mr
Calman's description of this pious, or rather impious, fraud, and who
says:--

"Had it been an occasional miracle, as time had rolled on, and truth had
more and more illuminated the human mind, the practice might have been
gradually discontinued. As the priests had grown more honest, and the
people more enlightened, they might have mutually consigned these pious
frauds to the oblivion of the darker ages; and if the blush of shame had
risen up at the memories of the past, the world would have respected them
the more for their honesty of purpose.

"But an _annual miracle_, always of the same specific kind, exhibited on
the same spot, and at the same hour,--an _annual miracle_,--at what point of
time should this be discontinued? and, if discontinued, would it not be
manifest either that heaven had forsaken its favourites, or that all the
past had been delusion and imposture?"--(Pp. 127, 128.)

And it is the authority of a church supported by such impious and shameful
impostures as this miraculous fire that a number of Anglicans, including
several dignitaries of the church, are anxious of preserving against
Protestant encroachments, and protest against the existence of the
Protestant bishopric of Jerusalem, for fear that it might injure the