We affirm it on a first principle, they
deny it on a first principle; and on either side the first principle
is made to be decisive of the question ... Both they and we start
with the miracles of the Apostles; and then their first principle or
presumption against our miracles is this, 'What God did once, He is
_not_ likely to do again;' while our first principle or presumption
for our miracles is this; 'What God did once, He _is_ likely to do
again.' They say, It cannot be supposed He will work _many_ miracles;
we, It cannot be supposed He will work _few_.

"The Protestant, I say, laughs at the very idea of miracles or
supernatural powers as occurring at this day; his first principle is
rooted in him; he repels from him the idea of miracles; he laughs at
the notion of evidence; one is just as likely as another; they are
all false. Why? because of his first principle, There are no miracles
since the Apostles. Here, indeed, is a short and easy way of getting
rid of the whole subject, not by reason, but by a first principle
which he calls reason. Yes, it _is_ reason, granting his first
principle is true; it is not reason, supposing his first principle is
false.

"There is in the Church a vast tradition and testimony about
miracles; how is it to be accounted for? If miracles _can_ take
place, then the _fact_ of the miracle will be a natural explanation
of the _report_, just as the fact of a man dying accounts
satisfactorily for the news that he is dead; but the Protestant
cannot so explain it, because he thinks miracles cannot take place;
so he is necessarily driven, by way of accounting for the report of
them, to impute that report to fraud. He cannot help himself. I
repeat it; the whole mass of accusations which Protestants bring
against us under this head, Catholic credulity, imposture, pious
frauds, hypocrisy, priestcraft, this vast and varied superstructure
of imputation, you see, all rests on an assumption, on an opinion of
theirs, for which they offer no kind of proof. What then, in fact, do
they say more than this, _If_ Protestantism be true, you Catholics
are a most awful set of knaves? Here, at least, is a most sensible
and undeniable position.

"Now, on the other hand, let me take our own side of the question,
and consider how we ourselves stand relatively to the charge made
against us. Catholics, then, hold the mystery of the Incarnation;
and the Incarnation is the most stupendous event which ever can take