The saints, existing in this way, may, with their extravagances of human tenderness, be prophetic. Nay, innumerable times they have proved themselves prophetic. Treating those whom they met, in spite of the past, in spite of all appearances, as worthy, they have stimulated them to be worthy, miraculously transformed them by their radiant example and by the challenge of their expectation.

William James (1842-1910) American psychologist and philosopher

The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, 14 and 15 (1902)