, warn,
chastise, or instruct the person or persons to whom they appear? This
is, in fact, the most rational thing that can be said concerning these
apparitions; the exorcisms of the church fall directly on the agent
and cause of these apparitions, and not on the phantom which appears,
nor on the first author, which is God, who orders and permits it.

Another objection, both very common and very striking, is that which
is drawn from the multitude of false stories and ridiculous reports
which are spread amongst the people, of the apparitions of spirits,
demons, and elves, of possessions and obsessions.

It must be owned that, out of a hundred of these pretended
appearances, hardly two will be found to be true. The ancients are not
more to be credited on that point than the moderns, since they were,
at least, equally as credulous as people are in our own age, or rather
they were more credulous than we are at this day.

I grant that the foolish credulity of the people, and the love of
everything that seems marvelous and extraordinary, have produced an
infinite number of false histories on the subject we are now treating
of. There are here two dangers to avoid: a too great credulity, and an
excessive difficulty in believing what is above the ordinary course of
nature; as likewise, we must not conclude what is general from what is
particular, or make a general case of a particular one, nor say that
all is false because some stories are so; also, we must not assert
that such a particular history is a mere invention, because there are
many stories of this latter kind. It is allowable to examine, prove,
and select; we must never form our judgment but with knowledge of the
case; a story may be false in many of its circumstances (as related),
but true in its foundation.

The history of the deluge, and that of the passage across the Red Sea,
are certain in themselves, and in the simple and natural recital given
of them by Moses. The profane historians, and some Hebrew writers, and
even Christians, have added some embellishment which must militate
against the story in itself. Josephus the historian has much
embellished the history of Moses; Christian authors have added much to
that of Josephus; the Mahometans have altered several points of the
sacred history of the Old and New Testament. Must we, on this account,
consider these histories as problematical? The life of St. Gregory
Thaumaturgus is full of miracles, as are also tho