The Greville Memoirs, Part 1 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 3): A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IVGreville, Charles
History
The Greville Memoirs, Part 1 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 3): A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV
Greville, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- George IV, 1820-1830; Great Britain -- History -- William IV, 1830-1837
I suppose there is some spiritual advantage derivable from the
action, but I don't know what. Why, however, I should be
surprised I can't tell, after all I have seen here. Madame de
Dalberg came to my recollection, and San Gennaro; she had owned
to me that she believed in the miracle, and we had a long dispute
about it, though I have since thought that I am wrong to regard
her credulity with such pity and contempt. The case admits of an
argument, though not that which she made use of. Many people are
right in what they do, but without knowing why; some wrong, with
very fair reasons. She, however, is wrong both ways, but she had
been brought up in principles of strong religious belief, and she
belongs to a church which teaches that miracles have never ceased
from the days of the Apostles till now. Those who believe that a
miracle ever was performed cannot doubt that another _may_ be
performed now; the only question is as to the fact. _We_ believe
that miracles ceased with the Apostles, and we pronounce all that
are alleged to have happened since to be fictitious. Believing as
she does that miracles have continually occurred, it is more
reasonable to believe in the reality of one she sees herself than
in those which are reported by others. She sees this done; it is,
then, a miracle or it is an imposture; but it is declared to be a
miracle by a whole body of men, who must know whether it be so or
not, and to whom she has been accustomed to look up with respect
and confidence, and who have always been deemed worthy of belief.
What is it, then, she believes? The evidence of her own senses,
and the testimony of a number of men, and a succession of them,
who are competent witnesses, and whose characters are for the
most part unblemished, in her opinion certainly. The objection
that it is improbable, and that no sufficient reason is assigned
for its performance, is quite inadmissible, as all considerations
of reason are in matters of revelation.
And when the event only is revealed, it is not for men to
dogmatise about the mode or means of its accomplishment,
for God's ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as
our thoughts, and His purposes may be wrought out in a
manner that we wot not.--KEITH.
There is nothing of which we are so continually reminded as that
we must not pretend to judge of the reasonableness and fitness of
the Divine dispensations, and there may therefore be good cause
for the San Gennaro affair, though we cannot fathom it. Still, as
the generality of people of education have given it up, one
wonders at the orthodox few whose belief lingers on. There are
other bloods that liquefy in various places besides San
Gennaro's.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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