Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/568

 cles in  the  Christian  dispensation:  that  they  take from faith  its  true  value  and  merit. I would  not  have you be  a  doubting  Thomas  refusing  to  believe  in  the risen Saviour,  unless  you  put  your  hand  into  His side and  your  fingers  into  the  place  of  the  nails;  but like blessed  Peter,  relying  not  on  the  testimony  of flesh  and  blood,  but  on  the  revelation  of  your heavenly Father,  I  would  have  you  blindly  and  unhesitatingly confess  Christ  to  be  the  Son  of  the  living God. And as,  for  that  grand  profession  of  faith, Christ made  Peter  the  rock  whereon  to  build  His Church, so  will  He  make  your  faith,  if  like  to  Peter's, the  base  for  a  superstructure  of  virtue  that  will  reach and carry  you  up  to  the  very  throne  of  God. For " blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen  and  have  believed."

Brethren, briefly  stated,  my  contention  is  this: Miracles as  stimulators  of  faith  are  a  lamentable  necessity rather  than  an  unmixed  blessing. They served their purpose  in  the  hands  of  Christ  confronting  a bigoted  and  a  pagan  world;  in  the  hands  of  the  infant Church struggling  for  existence;  in  the  hands  of  a Francis  Xavier  in  the  van  of  civilization  and  Christianity. They are  useful  in  a  Lourdes,  to  stem  the rising tide  of  infidelity,  and  in  a  Naples,  where  Nature is  so  beautifully  arrayed  that  the  people  would fain worship  her  as  a  God;  but  in  an  ideal  Christian community there  should  be  no  place,  no  necessity for them. For faith,  according  to  St.  Paul,  is  the substance of  things  to  be  hoped  for;  the  evidence  of things  that  appear  not. The evident  substantial