If there be anything set forth in this volume, in ignorance or misconception, contradictory to the general teaching of the Universal Church, the Editor puts on record here his regret for having penned it, and his desire altogether to withdraw such error. F. G. L. All Saints’ Vicarage, York Road, Lambeth. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.--Materialism of the present age 1 CHAPTER II. The Miraculous in Church History 21 CHAPTER III. Spiritual Powers and Properties of the Church.-- Sacraments.--Sacramentals.--Exorcism 51 CHAPTER IV. Witchcraft and Necromancy 149 CHAPTER V. Dreams, Omens, Warnings, Presentiments, and Second Sight 207 MATERIALISM OF THE PRESENT AGE. “In some sense of the Supernatural, in some faith in the Unseen, in some feeling that man is not of this World, in some grasp on the Eternal God, and on an eternal supernatural and supersensuous life, lies the basis of all pity and mercy, all help, and comfort, and patience, and sympathy among men. Set these aside, commit us only to the Natural, to what our eyes see and our hands handle, and, while we may organize Society scientifically, and live according to ‘the laws of Nature,’ and be very philosophical and very liberal, we are standing on the ground on which every savage tribe stands, or indeed on which every pack of wolves gallops.” GLIMPSES OF THE SUPERNATURAL. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.--MATERIALISM OF THE PRESENT AGE. To any sincere and hearty believer in Historical Christianity the advance of Materialism and the consequent denial of the Supernatural must be the cause both of alarm and sadness. The few lead, the many follow; and it is frequently the case that conclusions contrarient to the idea of the Supernatural are arrived at, after a course of reasoning, which conclusions appear to many wholly unjustified, either by the premisses adopted, or from the argument that has ensued. It has been stated, in a serial of some ability,[1] that the final issue of the present conflict between so that things are necessarily different to what they would have been if he had not thus acted, and no disturbance nor dislocation of the system around him ensues as a consequence of such action, surely He Who contrived the system in question can subsequently interpose both in the natural and spiritual order of the world. For to deny this possibility is obviously to place God on a lower level than man; in other words, to make the Creator of all things weaker and less free than His own creatures.