Chapter LXIII: Dissertation by an Anonymous Writer (4)

M. du Frenoy finds that the proof of the immortality of the soul which I infer from the apparition of the spirit after death, is not sufficiently solid; but it is certainly one of the most palpable and most easy of comprehension to the generality of mankind; it would make more impression upon them than arguments drawn from philosophy and metaphysics. I do not intend for that reason to attack any other proofs of the same truth, or to weaken a dogma so essential to religion.

He endeavors to prove, at great length,[711] that the salvation of the Emperor Trajan is not a thing which the Christian religion can confirm. I agree with him; and it was useless to take any trouble to demonstrate it.[712]

He speaks of the young man of Delme,[713] who having fallen into a swoon remained in it some days; they brought him back to life, and a languor remained upon him which at last led to his death at the end of the year. It is thus he arranges that story.

M. du Frenoy disguises the affair a little; and although I do not believe that the devil could restore the youth to life, nevertheless the original and cotemporaneous authors whom I have quoted maintain that the demon had much to do with this event.[714]

What has principally prevented me from giving rules and prescribing a method for discerning true and false apparitions is, that I am quite persuaded that the way in which they occur is absolutely unknown to us; that it contains insurmountable difficulties; and that consulting only the rules of philosophy, I should be more disposed to believe them impossible than to affirm their truth and possibility. But I am restrained by respect for the Holy Scriptures, by the testimony of all antiquity and by the tradition of the Church.

"I am, sir,
Your very humble
and very obedient servant,
D. A. CALMET, Abbot of Sénones."

Footnotes:

[703] Dom. Calmet has a very bad opinion of the public, to believe that it values so little what is, perhaps, the best and most sensible part of the book. Wise people think quite differently from himself.

[704] Neither Gregory of Tours, nor Sulpicius Severus, nor Peter the Venerable, nor Pierre Damien, have ever been placed in a parallel line with the fathers of the Church. In regard to the latter, it has always been allowable, without failing in the respect which is due to them, to remark certain weaknesses in their works, sometimes even errors, as the Church has done in condemning the Millenaries, &c.

[705] An excellent maxim for fomenting credulity and nourishing superstition.

[706] What a parallel! how could any one make it without renouncing common sense?

[707] Jeremiah xxi. 21.

[708] Jerem. xxxvi.

[709] Jerem. xvii. 15.

[710] Isai. xxviii. 10.

[711] Tom. ii. p. 92 _et seq._

[712] It is true that what Dom. Calmet had said of this in his first edition, the only one M. Lenglet has seen, has been corrected in the following ones.

[713] P. 155.

[714] A bad foundation; credulous or interested authors.

THE END.

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics indicated by underscore _italics_.

The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these
letters have been replaced with transliterations set off by [Greek: ]
tags.

The original text includes several blank spaces. These are represented by
_______________ in this text version.

Footnote punctuation has been standardized for consistency.

Misprints corrected:
"Corpernican" corrected to "Copernican" (page vii)
"destitue" corrected to "destitute" (page xvii)
"superstit on" corrected to "superstition" (page xx)
"Apocalapse" corrected to "Apocalypse" (page 40)
"for" corrected to "fro" (page 55)
"thousands" corrected to "thousand" (page 57)
"predjudices" corrected to "prejudices" (page 61)
"repentence" corrected to "repentance" (page 87)
"sorcerors" corrected to "sorcerers" (page 100)
"subtil" corrected to "subtile" (page 112)
"Loudon" corrected to "Loudun" (page 128)
"Gassendy" corrected to "Gassendi" (page 146)
"statue" corrected to "stature" (page 161)
"testiomony" corrected to "testimony" (page 179)
"Ratzival" corrected to "Ratzivil" (page 204)
"embarrasment" corrected to "embarrassment" (page 220)
"Mohometans" corrected to "Mahometans" (page 222)
"ancesters" corrected to "ancestors" (page 231)
"cf" corrected to "of" (page 238)
"Other" corrected to "Others" (page 248)
"treaties" corrected to "treatise" (page 254)
"Spiridon" corrected to "Spiridion" (page 258)
"not not" corrected to "not" (page 262)
"drangement" corrected to "derangement" (page 278)
"neigborhood" corrected to "neighborhood" (page 282)
"d'Englebert" corrected to "d'Engelbert" (page 286)
"obervations" corrected to "observations" (page 305)
"of" corrected to "off" (page 326)
"corpuscules" corrected to "corpuscles" (page 329)
"or" corrected to "for" (page 342)
"our" corrected to "out" (page 349)
"childen" corrected to "children" (page 360)
"her her" corrected to "her" (page 372)
"abe" corrected to "able" (page 386)
"or" corrected to "on" (page 390)
Missing text "III." added (page 411)
"permittted" corrected to "permitted" (page 412)
"One" corrected to "On" (page 434)

Some quotes are opened with marks but are not closed. Obvious errors
have been silently closed, while those requiring interpretation have
been left open.

Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate
both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as
presented in the original text.

All other spelling and punctuation is presented as in the original.