Page 14 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

O. R. VASSALL-PHILLIPS

with mysticism. Yet it was foretold that it should be a special
characteristic of the New Dispensation that “your sons and daughters
shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young
men shall see visions. Moreover, upon My servants and handmaids in
3
those days I will pour forth My Spirit.”
It was on the Day of Pentecost that this prediction was perfectly
accomplished. The Holy Ghost came down upon the Church to
dwell with her and abide with her for ever. Jesus Christ then
communicated to His chosen ones some portion of the Divine virtue
which had ever resided in Himself. He had walked upon the waters as
on dry land; He had calmed the tempest by a word, and hushed the
angry sea by the mere exercise of His Will. He had multiplied food,
feeding five thousand men with five barley loaves and two small
fishes. At the Marriage Feast He had changed water into wine. He
had escaped from the midst of His enemies by rendering Himself
invisible to their eyes. Again and again He had cured the sick, and
shown His power over the grave by restoring to health and strength

probity, learning, and dignity in the Romish (sic) Church to this very day.” —
Preface, p. 15.

He writes again:

“It must be confessed, however, in the first place, that this claim of a
miraculous power, which is now peculiar to the Church of Rome, was
universally asserted and believed in all Christian countries and in all ages of the
Church till the time of the Reformation. For Ecclesiastical History makes no
difference between one age and another, but carries on the succession of
miracles, as of all other common events, through all of them indifferently, to
that memorable period.” — “Introductory Discourse,” p. 44.

And yet again:

“By granting them (Catholics) but a single age of miracles, after the times of the
Apostles, we shall be entangled in a series of difficulties, whence we can never
fairly extricate ourselves till we allow the same powers also to the present
age.” — Ibid., p. 96.

3 Joel ii. 28, 29.

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