is the product, not of transcendental devices of
the mind, but of faith in God, itself springing from love, and that
consequently, it is not originated by the intellect, but infused by a
Divine grace. Thus we see every day, in our own experience, that the
loftiest thoughts of virtue and heroism are not suggested to us by a
long and laborious chain of syllogisms, but break upon us unexpectedly
as inspirations of the heart; truly--considering the divine spirit
dwelling within us, and which we have but to harbour carefully--they
break upon us like inspirations of heaven.

Having, as we hope, satisfactorily disposed of the objection usually put
forward by the so-called rationalists, we shall now proceed to relate
the modes by which Divine revelation historically came into actuality.

CHAPTER VII.

L. THE benefits which the Eternal Wisdom had determined to confer upon
mankind through revelation, depended, however, on a condition without
which, they could never have been realized. It was necessary that men,
on their part, should be inclined to receive the bidding addressed to
them, that they should direct their attention to the truths to be
gradually promulgated to them for their own advantage; in short, that
they should feel disposed to correspond to the Divine intentions. It was
no part of the plan of the Divine wisdom that men should be in any way
constrained, for that would have been depriving them of the precious
gift of free will, and destroying their essence. But this very liberty,
of action granted to man, rendered the realization of the Divine thought
doubtful; and it might have happened that a generation, sinking itself
into complete corruption, would have lost every trace of the truths
already revealed; and thence a necessity would have arisen for one or
more repetitions of the communication, with equal uncertainty of
permanent success.

LI. To avoid such a danger, it pleased the Divine Mercy to found upon
earth a permanent institution of an exceptional, wonderful, almost
preternatural character, through which the preservation of the principal
doctrines, that form the substance of revealed religion, could be
insured to mankind. As seeds of rare and precious plants are preserved
with care, that the species may not perish, so the Ruler of Providence
designed to establish among us a repository wherein to keep the germs of
all that which concerns man's spiritual life; and He so ordained that
they should b