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142 whole process of death and resuscitation, that he might be enabled to speak of it with certainty, the heavenly spirits came to assist at his new birth, and "at the same time an aromatic odour, like that of a body embalmed, diffused itself around; for, on the presence of the celestial angels, that which would otherwise be a cadaverous smell, is changed into such a fragrancy. This, (the translator adds in a note), may serve to explain what many readers have met with, as related by authors of good credit, concerning certain persons of eminent piety, who are said to have died in the odour of sanctity, from the fragrancy that issued from their bodies after death. A truth easily admissible by all who believe an intercourse as subsisting between the spiritual and natural world."

The odour of sanctity, from being a figurative expression, soon became an