Here, let us turn from shadow to sunshine, from that which is evil to that which is good; from the "lying wonders" of designing evil spirits, to the glorious manifestations of God Almighty's power in the Christian Church--for the one kind are but reasonable correlatives of the other.
And, for myself, I am free to confess that the evidence in favour of certain of the recent miracles said to have been wrought in the Roman Catholic portion of the One Family of God is not only convincing, but conclusive. Having long given up attributing any value to the slanders and misstatements of Protestant and infidel writers, I have attempted for myself to investigate the principle of action, in the reception of evidence and the decision of authority, which is taken at Rome, with regard to such events and occurrences; and briefly give it as follows:--
The Congregation of Rites, which enquires into all miracles which demand sanction, is presided over by the cardinal-vicar. It consists of twenty-one cardinals of various nations, nine official prelates, nine consulting prelates of various nations, all the fourteen Papal Masters of Ceremonies, fourteen ordinary members, one secretary, one deputy-secretary, and one notary and keeper of the archives--in all seventy people. Four miracles are required to be distinctly proved for Beatification; and two more for Canonization. All these must be proved by eye, and not by ear-witnesses. In miracles where diseases have been cured, it is required, 1st, That the disease must have been of an aggravated nature, and difficult or impossible to be cured; 2ndly, that it was not on the turn; 3rdly, that no medicine had been used, or if it had that it had done no good; 4thly, the cure must be sudden; 5thly, it must be complete and perfect; and 6thly, there must have been no crisis. In the process of examination and enquiry, no step is taken, no doubt propounded, no fact allowed, without many of the members of the Congregation being present: and a printed Report is sent to all who may have been absent. Besides the ordinary cross-examinations, which are always of a most scrutinizing character, it is the sole duty of one of the leading members of the Congregation, the _Promotor Fidei_, as he is termed, to raise objections, and if possible to disprove every reported miracle. The members of this Congregation are as keen, penetrating and business-like, and have as complete a knowledge of the unconscious delusions of the human heart, as any body of English jurymen. As ecclesiastical scholars they may be truly said to be equal to the same number of English barristers; and the head of the Congregation, for shrewdness, acuteness of intellect, and judicial ability, is equal to any judge in England, who by his interpretation of the law, and his particular sentence in a special case, wills away the life or property of any Englishman. The subject has been treated at length in the great work of Pope Benedict XIV. (A.D. 1740-1758) "On Beatification," &c., as well as in the Decrees of Pope Urban VIII. and Pope Clement XI.; and so sifting and careful has always been the investigation, that Alban Butler asserts, on the authority of Daubenton, that an English gentleman (not a Roman Catholic) being present and seeing the process of several miracles, maintained them to have been completely proved and perfectly incontestable, but was astonished beyond measure at the scrupulosity of the scrutiny when authoritatively informed that _not one of those which he had heard discussed_ had been allowed by the Congregation to have been sufficiently proved.