Collected Essays, Volume V: Science and Christian Tradition: EssaysHuxley, Thomas Henry
Religion
Collected Essays, Volume V: Science and Christian Tradition: Essays
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Agnosticism; Miracles; Religion and science
When she approached the tomb containing the sacred bodies,
the priest, according to custom, read the formula of
exorcism over her head. When he began to ask how and when
the demon had entered her, she answered, not in the tongue
of the barbarians, which alone the girl knew, but in the
Roman tongue. And when the priest was astonished and asked
how she came to know Latin, when her parents, who stood by,
were wholly ignorant of it, "Thou hast never seen my
parents," was the reply. To this the priest, "Whence art
thou, then, if these are not thy parents?" And the demon, by
the mouth of the girl, "I am a follower and disciple of
Satan, and for a long time I was gatekeeper (janitor) in
hell; but for some years, along with eleven companions, I
have ravaged the kingdom of the Franks." (Cap. v. 49.)
He then goes on to tell how they blasted the crops and scattered
pestilence among beasts and men, because of the prevalent wickedness
of the people.[39]
The enumeration of all these iniquities, in oratorical style, takes up
a whole octavo page; and at the end it is stated, "All these things
the demon spoke in Latin by the mouth of the girl."
And when the priest imperatively ordered him to come out, "I
shall go," said he, "not in obedience to you, but on account
of the power of the saints, who do not allow me to remain
any longer." And having said this, he threw the girl down on
the floor and there compelled her to lie prostrate for a
time, as though she slumbered. After a little while,
however, he going away, the girl, by the power of Christ and
the merits of the blessed martyrs, as it were awaking from
sleep, rose up quite well, to the astonishment of all
present; nor after the demon had gone out was she able to
speak Latin: so that it was plain enough that it was not she
who had spoken in that tongue, but the demon by her mouth.
(Cap. v. 51.)
If the "Historia Translationis" contained nothing more than has been
laid before the reader, up to this time, disbelief in the miracles of
which it gives so precise and full a record might well be regarded as
hyper-scepticism. It might fairly be said, Here you have a man, whose
high character, acute intelligence, and large instruction are
certified by eminent contemporaries; a man who stood high in the
confidence of one of the greatest rulers of any age, and whose other
works prove him to be an accurate and judicious narrator of ordinary
events. This man tells you, in language which bears the stamp of
sincerity, of things which happened within his own knowledge, or
within that of persons in whose veracity he has entire confidence,
while he appeals to his sovereign and the court as witnesses of
others; what possible ground can there be for disbelieving him?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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