PILGRIMAGKS, 465 "We must moreover remember that the rejection of the Niceiie miracles by no means justifies the inference of inten- tional deception in every case, nor destroys the claim of the great church teachers to our respect. On the contrary, be- tween the proper miracle and fraud there lie many interme- diate steps of self deception, clairvoyance, magnetic phenom- ena and cures, and unusual states of the human soul, which is full of deep mysteries, and stands nearer the invisible spirit- world than the everyday mind of tke multitude suspects. Constantine's vision of the cross, for example, may be traced to a i^rophetic dream ; * and the frustration of the building of the Jewish temple under Julian, to a special providence, or a historical judgment of God.^ The mytho-poetic faculty, too, which freely and unconsciously produces miracles among chil- dren, may have been at work among credulous monks in the dreary deserts and magnified an ordinary event into a miracle. In judging of this obscure portion of the history of the church we must, in general, guard ourselves as well against shallow naturalism and skepticism, as against superstitious mysticism, remembering that " There are more things in heaven and on earth, Than are dreamed of in our philosophy."' § 89. Processions and Pilgrimages. Early Latin dissertations on pilgrimages hy J. Geetsee, Mamachi, Lazaei, J. H. Heideggee, etc. J. Maex (R. C.) : Das "Wallfahren in der kathoHschen Kirche, historisch-kritisch dargestellt. Trier, 1842. Comp. the relevant sections in the church archgeologies of Bingham, AtJGUSTI, BrSTEEIM, &c. Solemn religious processions on high festivals and special those of Scripture were no longer done, vet he immediately goes on to reckon up a number of miracles which had lately taken place, apparently without exciting much sensation, and among them seventy formally attested ones, wrought at Hippo alone, within two years, by the relies of St. Stephen (De Civit. Dei, xxii. 8. 1, 20). On the whole, while I would not deny that miracles may have been wrought after the times of the apostles and their associates, I can find rery Uttle satisfaction in the particu- lar instances which are given." On Augustine's theory of miracles, comp. above, § 87 (p. 459 f.), and the treatise of Nitzsch jun. there quoted. ' Comp. above, § 2 (p. 25). * Comp. above, § 4 (p. 55). TOL. II. — 30 4:6Q THIRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590. occasions Lad been already customaiy among tlie Jews/ and even among the heathen. They arise from the love of human nature for show and display, which manifests itself in all coun- tries in military parades, large funerals, and national festivities. The oppressed condition of the church until the time of Constautme made such public demonstrations impossible or unadvisable. In the fourth century, however, we find them in the East and in the West, ameug orthodox and heretics,"^ on days of I'listing and prayer, on festivals of thanksgiving, at the burial of the dead, the induction of bishops, the removal