New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-07-22
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
\ DICTIONARY OF MIRACLES. With illustrations; ny
the Rev r. CoRHAM BREWER, liz d. PIP oo-' Ihi'"'

DICTIONARY OF MIRACLES With Illustrations BY
the Rev. L. CoBHAM BREWER, La d. PIP '0-' "'
delpha j. b. Lippincott x Co.
Tho ohioct of this book. as stated by the COM
miller is 4" 70 show by data alone mode Of Thought
which prevailed in Christendom Tor many
centuries and has not yet died out" The worn Is
based principally the Actd >dRctoTam' the fe"'S
BoInadistes and The L,res Of the Saints. pubhsheu
in the seventeenth century. 1t is divided lh'o
three parts namely: Miracles of Saints III lm'a-
ton of Scripture Miracles Realistic Miracles; anu
Miracles TO Prove Church Dogmas Dr' brewer
does not pretend TO supply any guidance TO 'he
reader. He gives the best authorities eXtant Tor
the marvellous narratives of which his WORK Is COM
posed, and he leaves the public 10 put their
own Interpretation upon them. The chiei
use of such a book must be to snow
the persistence and extent of the peIci
In the miraculous and the marvellous AS ,he
author remarks in his Introduction, TINS N'nu VI
belief is not less prevalent now than ]" INV P%S'
though the fashion of it has changed eIe@VH' ~
Brewer has had much experience IN slhhi"r YUMA
tions and he has succeeded IN bringing Sou0 az
pearance of order out of the confused H">' "
,,ondors with which he had to deal His system Oh
classification also serves TO indicate thaI """H -
the medieval miracles must have been suggested
by texts of Scripture. and that not lie" Oh 'A'I,,
NAV have been invented for the purpose Oh
an ,,,ortinp some inherently doubtful dogma In tIe
times when these stories generally accep'en'
however there was ~ comparatively niue sra"
upon the receptive faculties of the bcileVerS' mas
,nrcb "a the marvellous occupied far larger place
in life than it does at present, and because mere
FORE men were prepared to regard as credible a'l
manner of supernatural phenomena such as inc
nb,losophy of the eighteenth century reJectea' IL
is for this reason perhaps not surprising th'. e'o"
cultivated men in the middle ages received very
astonishing stories without TemOnStranco anu /"
fact generally without any apparent CONSCIOUSNESS
that they were inherently Incredible Dr. Brewer
thinks that the amount Of this kind of testimony
shows IT must have been correlated with some solo
basis of reality; that to attribute the legchus ol
the saints one and all to lying craft ana ocular
deception is simply absurd" He accordingly sug-
eests that there were real events which TRADITION
and popular imagination magnfed and distorted
This is of course not at all theory, but then
it is hardly possible to say anything more Oh INC
subject nor IS it possible to reach a harmonious
conclusion upon it. For to the Roman Cathoic'
who holds that the age of miracles has never ceased
those recorded in the Lives of the saints must DC
rs credible as those of the Bible while to the Prot
estaut all allegations of miracle since the apostohc
period will seem spurious. DIR. Brewer mas aP-
pended good index, and several papers on matters
of allied interest and altogether his volume Is a
creditabe specimen of book-naking