Doctor Hills Reasons for Upholding of Papistry Unmasked, Dialogue 6

Doctor Hills Reasons for Upholding of Papistry Unmasked · Dialogue 6

p. 244THE SIXTE REASON. Miracles.

T. HILL.

TRUE Miracles were never wrought but by them, who were of true religion, for that they are done only by the power of God. Now it is so manifest that there hath bin almost an infinite number of miracles wrought by those who were of the Catholike▪ Romane Religion, and never any by them who were not of that Church-since Christes time, as he who shall deny it, may be proved no lesse impudent & shamelesse, thē he vvho shall deny, that ever there vvas any Masse saide in times past in England, or that ever there were any warres betweene Turkes and Christians, or that there be any such countries as the East and UUest Indies. which thing if a man should deny, would be not of all men bee deemed not onelyonly impudent, but madde, drunken or a foole? And surely the one is no lesse knowne, by all approved writers and eie-witnesses, than the other. For as in the Gospell and in the Actes, the holy Scriptures witnesse, that miracles were wrought by Christ and his Apostles, so doe most approved authours of everie age vntill this daye testifie, and record the continuaunce of the working thereof in the Catholike Romane Church, the which Authours for the most part were eie-witnesses of the saide miracles, as for example.

G. ABBOT.

1 WHen you first beganne this pety tract of yours, you vndertooke to doe a miracle, and that a strange one too; for it were a miracle of all miracles to proove the rotten ragges of Popery to bee sounde; and therfore we wonder not that in this your processe you speake of miracles. But according to your fashion, at your first setting out you stumble: for wee may well hold those to be true miracles, which are really and verily done, although it be to an evil purpose: And such as these are wrought p. 245by them who are farre of from true religion, as by the Devill, and by some of his instruments, indeed not without Gods permissiō, although speaking properly, it is not by his immediate power. The sorcerers of Pharaodid aaExod: 7 1…: 22: cap. 8. 7:three severall times shew wonders before their maister, by turning roddes into serpēts, & water into blould, & by producing frogges. A false bbDeut. 13: 1:Deut 13:1Prophet or dreamer of dreames may giuegive a signe or a wōder, & the signe or wonder may come to passe. S. Austen directly ccDe civit. Dei l: 10. 16.affirmeth that amōg the old Romans & their aūcestors there were miracles verily dōe by the power of the devil, as that the pe…ates or litle images brought frō Troy did off thēselues go frō place to place, & that Tarquine with a …asour did cut a whetstōe in sunder. ddLiv. lib: 1:Livy reporteth it to be done by Accius Mavius the Augur at the cōmandemēt of Tarquine. And when among so many probable & credible writers, strang things are related to have bin done amōg the Ethnickes, but most of al among the Romans, as the raining of stones, bloud, & the like, yea as eeTom: 2… lib. 4. c: 13:Freculphus saith, very wooll in Artho…se vnderunder Valentinian the Emperour, to whom is this to be attributed but to the grand enimy of mākind? which the same Freculphus doth not dissēble, whē in another ffTom. 1: l; 5. cap. 5:place he delivereth it, that by the naughtines of the devils it was brought about, that a river did flow with bloud, & the heavē did make a shew to be on fire and such like. And this is the opiniō of Bozius a special man of your side, ggLib: 2: contr: Machiavel.who telleth vsus that Livye reporteth, that it hath rained stones & bloud & flesh. Whervpon he saith we beleeue that these wōders in time past were so frequent, because devils did procure & cause thē: & whē such things did fall out, publike supplicatiōs were made, & general sacrifices, wherby the devils thēselues were worshipped. Then real miracles may be wrought by such, as be not of true religiō, vnles that Sathan may be this religious man, & no differēce is there for this matter before & since Christs time, as wil be seene anōe by example of Antichrist; And if it should be excepted, that diverse of these already specified, may bee saide not to be true, because they are done to an evil end, that is, to deceive & beguile, your late Popish miracles are liable to the same exception, being whē they are at their best, to winne mē not to Christ but to Antichrist.

2 The Seminaries lacke writers whē they set you vp to be one: p. 246but like lips, like lettice; like cause, like advocate. You powsh… through like blinde bayard, as if all were right, when heere bee a great many propositions which you should proove, & good mā you are not able to goe through with the least of them. We first require of you to make good, that such certaine and vndoubted miracles as were wrought by holy men in the Primitiue Church, were done by Persons of that Romane professiō which nowe you hold. We vtterly deny this, & affirme, that if those good Christians did now live, & saw the Chaos of your Popery, they would cry out that you are a degenerate & bastardly successiō; even as Abrahā would have said to those hhIohan. 8… 33:Iewes, who craked in the presēce of our Saviour Christ himselfe, that they were Abraliās seed. Secōdly you must proue, that since Christs time no miracle was wrought, by any which was not of the true Church. VVhere by the way I hartyly pray you to take that text with you, iiMat: 7. 22:Many will say to … in that day, Lord have … not by thy name prophecied, & by thy name cast ou… Devils, & …y thy name done many great workes, And then will professe to thē, answereth our Saviour, I never knew you, departe frō … yee that worke iniquity. Thirdly you must assure vsus, that these strāge things that you wil bring, for the cōfirmatiō of your Popery, are true narratiōs: for I doubt not but to make it plain to every intelligēt body, that a large cōpany of those whō you mētion, are but a rable of foolish fables. You may not take on you, to be of an estate as high as Antichrist your maister: you must come a little shorte of him: lying kk… Thes. … 91wonders are his parte, and wondrous lyes are yours. Fourthly you must tell vsus who gave you a licence to talke so wide of your miracles, as that all approved vvritters, and those eie-witnesses doe deliver so much for you, and that these testifiers (especially your late Legendary writers to whome anone you must hauehave recourse) are worthy to bee sorted with the witnes of the Gospell, the Actes & other the holy Scripture. A cō parison right worthy of you. I wishe you no hurte; but if you should be apprentice to a Tankard-bearer in London, till you had proved these pointes, there would nothing but death parte you and your maister. That Masse hath beene saide in England, it as certaine, as that the llMatth: …4: …:abhomination of desolation was in the holy place. That warres hauehave bin long, & yet in Hungary are cō tinued p. 247betweene Turkes and Christians, wee deny not, as also that there be East and West Indies: but that your assertions are as evident as these, there is none which will say, but your selfe: neither would you affirme it, but since the time that you have lefte blushing. Wit or learning, or shame, or honesty, if all vvere not asleepe, would keepe you more within compasse. But while you do thus, this is the benefit which you gaine, that with fooles you make some shewe, but wise folkes even among Papists will dispise you, and bee ashamed of you. Their cause is naught, and you still make it worse. Yet …, … …i …, …. You doe well to set a face vponupon a bad matter.

T. HILL.

IN the second age were wr…ght those wōderfull miracles by the Christian Te…t in lib: ad Scap: & in Apol. c. 5. Euseb lib: 5. hist. c 5. Oros. lib. 7. hist. c. 15.souldi…rs in the army of M. Antonius, which Tertullian, Eusebius, Orosius, & the Emperour himself hauehave recorded. In the third age were the miracles of Gregorius Thaumaturgus witnesses S. Basile lib de spiritu …ācto, c. 29. Gregory Nyssene in vita eius. Hierom. de viris illustrib. Ru…inus l. 7. hist. c. 25 In the 4. of S. Anthony, Hilarion, Martine, Nicolas & of others. In the 5. those which S. Austen setteth downe. l. 22. de civit. c. 8. In the 6. those which S. Gregory maketh mention of lib. 3. dial. c. 2. & 3. In the 7. those which were done in England in the cōversion therof, written by the same Greg. l. 9. …p. 58. And by venerable Bede l. 1. hist. c. 31. In the 8. the miracles of S. Cutbert, & S. Iohn … England, also Bede, l. b. 4. hist. & 5. In the 9. the miracles of Tharasius written by Ignat. Nicen. & of others. In the 10. the miracles of S. Romuald. recorded by S. Peter Da…: of S. Wenceslaus & of others which Surius writeth. In the 11. the miracles of S. Edward K. and vir, of S. Ans. and of others. In the 12. the miracles of S. Mal. S. Barn. and of others. In the 13. the miracles of S. Fran. S. Dom. S. Bonavent. S. Celest. and of others. In the 14. the miracles of S. Bernardine, S. Katherine of Sienna, and of others. In the 15. t…e the miracles of S. Vi…c. S. Ant. and of others. And last of all in this … 16. age are the miracles of the glorious S. Fran. de Paul…, of the holie Iesuite Zav… … the Indies and of many ….

p. 248G. ABBOT.

3 THe first miracle that you cite, was that vnderunder M. Aurelius, as mmLocis supra citatis.Tertullian and Eusebius call him. Orosius termeth him M. Antoninus Verus: he himselfe in his Epistle which is to be seene in some Copies of Iustinus Martyr, M. Aurelius Antoninus, but none of them hath M. Antonius. The matter vvas, that in Germany he with all his army was like to perish for want of water: and in an extremity, when all other meanes did fatle, a legion of the Christians, which afterward was ther-vponupon called Legio Fulmi… did ioine in instant praier to their God, and presently there fell aboundance of raine, to their exceeding comfort; and withall there were thundrings and lightnings, which fel among their enemies and desolated them. Gregorius Thaumaturgus, first was called. nnHier: devi. ris illustrio.Theodorus, but now vseth to be termed also Gregorius Ponticus, or Neocaesariensis: he was a scholler to Origen, and of him it is ooBasil de spir. Sanct. cap: 29:written, that he had power against Divels, yea as Socrates affirmeth, by sending ppLib: 4: 22.letters concerning that businesse he could cast them out: he cured the sicke, he turned the course of rivers: he dryed vp a marish, converted diverse to Christianity, and fore-told many things. Anthony the Monke was a meere ignorant man, devoide of all knowledge of letters: he could foretell somethings as qqLib 1: 13.Sozomen saith, and did divers wonders as rrLib: 1: 17:Socrates hath. Of Hilarion the Heremite, ssIn vita Hilarionis.Hierome reporteth, that by praier he procured a barren woman to hauehave a childe: healed diverse which were extreamely sicke, & dispossessed some of Divels. Of Martine I find in ssLib: 3: 13:Sozomen, that it is beleeved of him, that he raised vp a dead man, and did show other signes not inferiour to the wonders of the Apostles. The tales of ttzach Lip. pel. in vita Nicolas.Nicolas are, that when he was a sucking childe he knew what it was to fast, and therefore on Wednesdaies and Frydaies would not touch the brest till night. When he was a man he foresaw a tempest at sea, and when it came, with his praier he alayed it. He appeared in a vision to the Emperour by night, and caused him to pardon three innocent men, whom he intended to execute. Saint Austen uuDe civit. Dei li: 22: 8:mentioneth, that at Milaine neere the bodyes of Protasius p. 249and Gervasius, a blinde man was restored to his fighte. That at Carthage when hee himselfe was in the house, Innocentius a chiefe officer of that citty, was by prayer miraculously cured of a very fearefull sore. Also that Innocentia was healed of a canker in her brest, and a Physitian of his gowt by being baptised, with divers such other matters. For the sixth age, that whichis cited out of uuDialog: li: 3: ca: 2: & 3:Gregory is, that when Iohn the Pope had rode on the horse of a Noble-woman, the horse would not any more endure a vvoman on his backe, no not his olde mistresse: that the same Iohn had at Constantinople made a blinde man see: and that Agapitus another Pope, caused one who was dumbe and lame, both to speake and go. The wordes of xxLi: 9. Epi. 58:Gregory about the conversion of Englande, are onlye those in generall, that God by Augustine the Monke had there shewed great miracles, and that hee should not be prowde thereof. Bede yyHist: lib: 1: cap: 31:citeth the Epistle of Gregory vntounto Augustine, and addeth nothing of his owne. Of zzLib: 4: 28:Cuthbert he rehearseth, that whereas sprites did haunt a place, at his comming thither they gaue over: that by prayer he got a well to spring vp in dry grounde, that by his meanes barren lande did grow to plentifull fertilitie. Of aaLi: 5: 22 3: 4Iohn, that he caused a dumbe boy to speak and healed a Nunnes arme that was much indaungered by vnseasonable letting of blovd, and such like. bbLippeloo. in vitis Sā ctor. feb: 25Thatasius Archbishop of Constantinople vnderunder Constantine and …ene, vvas a great defendour of the erecting and vvorshipping of Images in Churches. The miracles related of him out of Ignatius the monke, are that after his death, at his tumbe vvas cured a woman vvhichwhich vvas troubled vvith an issue of bloude, a man that had a sore eie, an innumerable multitude of such as were infested vvith fovvle spirites, and oflame men, and of blinde folkes.

4 The ccNova legend. Ang. in vita Ruwoldi.legende hath of S. Romuald, that as soone as he vvas borne, hee did speake Divinity, and forthwith being baptized did preach high pointes of doctrine, lived in all but three daies, & at his tombe in Buckingham, many lame & blind were restored. Of ddLippeloo Septem. 28 è Surio.Wēceslaus it is said, that being but a very weak mā, and entring combat with Rad…s a most valiant Generall, by p. 250signing himselfe with the signe of the crosse, and by the helpe of Angels attending him, hee caused his enemy to fall prostrate downe vntounto him. Also that the Emperour saw Wenceslaus garded with a couple of Angels King eeIdem: in …anuar. 5.Edward, who marrying the Earle Godwines daughter, did togither with her by consent of them both, keep perpetual virginity, is recounted to hauehave cured a lame Irish man, by carying him on his back to the Church. Also to hauehave healed the very sore throate of a woman, to hauehave givē sight to divers blinde men, and to hauehave helped at his tombe many very ill affected. The tales of ffNova legend. Angl: … Anselm.Anselme be, that when once he laked meate for his company, he did bid one cast a net into the next river, and he caught a great troute, that being with a noble man, and neither of them seeing what was done or comming, he told him that one was bringing a sturgeon vntounto him. Another noble man being leprous was clensed by drinking the water, wherwith he had washed his hands at the Masse. At Winchester the towne being on fire, he made a crosse with his hād, & immediatly the flame ceased. He caused a well to spring vp suddainly on the top of a rock. At Lyōs divers eating of the remainder of his meat, were healed of sundry diseases. With his blessing he freed a womā possessed of the Devil. A souldiour that had the dropsie, by putting on the girdle of Anselm was recovered. ggBernard: vita. 5. Mal.Malachy was by birth an Irish man, & with the annointing of holy oile he healed a boy that was lunatike. He so restored hearing to a deafe mā, that when he put his fingers into his eares, there seemed to come out of either of thē, a pretty pig. He cured one Michael of a bloudy flixe, by sending him meat frō his table. Some who came to seeke his life were destroyed by lightning. One who spoke ill of him had his tongue eaten vppe with vvormes. Hee vtterlye expelled a Devill, vvhichwhich remooved out of one vvoman into another, and many other such matters hee did. Saint hhIn vita Bernard. l: 1: 10:Bernarde as it is reported of him, laide his hande on his vnckle Galdricke beeing sicke, and bad his fever departe and it did so. He freed of his trouble a man much molested with the Devill, by laying him neere the aultar, and putting the Eucharist vnderunder his head. At Milaine iiLib, 2: 4:he droue a Divell out of a woman. A boy kkLib. 4: 5:also that was a foole, and lame, deafe and dumbe, p. 251was made perfectly whole by him, and divers other matters of like nature. Saint Frauncis when his preaching was despised by the llMat. Paris in Hen. 3.Romanes, went into the fields, & there charged the crowes and kites and pies, to listen to his doctrine, which they did for halfe a day without any noise or chattering. And thus he did for three d…ies togither. Fifteene daies before he dyed, there appeared in his hands and feete, wounds dropping with bloud, as it was with our Saviour Christ hanging vponupon the crosse. And he had such a hole in his right side, that a man might see the in most secrets of his hart. But when he was dead, none of the wounds appeared vponupon him. Of S. Dominicke, mmIbidem.Matthew Paris, nnIn Greg 9.Platina, and ooChro. l 4.Genebrard do say, that he was canonized for a Saint, but they name not his speciall miracles. But the ppLippeloo in August. 4.abridger of the Legend of Surius, who never faileth at any iumpe, telleth of him that when the Albingenses did cast a booke of his into the fire, it would not burne. And when another hereticke did the same by a paper, wherein Dominicke had written some Divinity, it had the same effect. Moreover that he could fore-tell things, & that he raysed vp divers persons from the dead. As for qqIdem August. 14:Bonaventure, the same authour saith, that the miracles which vvere done in his life and at, or after his death, were very many, but in good truth he nameth never a one; which hee would not hauehave spared to do, if he might hauehave gessed what they were. rrIdē in vita. S: Petri de Motono: Maij: 19.Celestine before he came to bee Pope, had sometimes Angels of heaven ministring vntounto him, and setting before him dainty bankets. After that hee was chosen the Romane Bishop, a boy which vvas lame on both his feete, being set on the Asse whereon Celestine had rode, was presently recovered. After that he had resigned the Popedome, he cured another lame man, but by bestowing his blessing on him. ssIdē in vita Bernardin: Maij: …Bernardine is said to hauehave lift a lame man from the ground, and so to hauehave restored him to his limmes. After his death, when his body had beene washed to the buriall, deafe person by the vertue of that water recovered his hearing. The legend hath many narrations of ssIdē in vita Cathar. Senēs. Apr. 29Katherine of Sienna; that shee had as great and intue familiarity with Christ, as any one man hath with his deerest friend: that shee restored to life again her mother Lapa being dead: that of a little very badde meale, p. 252shee made a very great deale of passing good bread, for the reliefe of the poore: that wheras a Frier with weeping for her death broke one of his arteries, and so vomited a greate quantity of bloud, by touching her hands hee was perfectly restored. Shee had by Christ himselfe imprinted in her body, fiue wounds like those on him at his passion. For the space of eight yeares shee lived without receiving any food. Of ttIdē in vita Vincentij. …: Aprilis.Vincentius it is related, that with making the signe of the Crosse, he could heale such as were sicke. He did prophecy vntounto Calixtus the 3, fifty yeares be fore, that he should be Pope. A certaine madde women killed a childe of her owne, cut it in peeces, sodde some part thereof for her husbands dinner, yet he comming in, and setting the peeces togither againe, prayed over them and crossed them, & al stuck togither as before, and the child returned to life as if there had beene no such matter. If we did lacke a miracle in graine, heere were one for the purpose. We must imagine that if they had eate the childe, he would with a whiffe hauehave fetched him out of their belly againe, and as they should hauehave beene never the better for it, so the boy should hauehave beene never the worse. With fifteene loaues he fedde two thousand men: he turned sowre wine making it to be right good to drinke: he cured sixty at several times which were possessed with Devils. With holy water he alayed a most grievous tempest.

5 The first miracle which is set downe of uuId. in vita Ant. a. MaijAntoninus Archbishop of Florence, is that when a maide had broken her hearelace, or some fillet of her head attire, with making the signe of the Crosse, he made it whole. Hee by praier healed a man that was grievously sicke: made a barren woman fruitfull by blessing hericured a woman which for sixe yeares was ill of a dropsietrestored a bewitched childe, by his hand-kerchife put vponupon it: raised another dead childe to life. By denouncing the sentence of excōmunication vponupon a white loafe of bread, he made it as black as a cole, and freeing it afterward from the same corse, it returned to be as faire as it was before. Franciscus de uuIdē in elus vita. Apr. …:Paula could go vponupon fire bare-footed, and carry stones redde hot with fire, in his handes, and yet take no hurte. Hee coulde cast out Devilles, and restore those to health of whose recovery Phisitians did p. 253despaire; make the la…e goe, the d…afe heare, the dumbe speake, the blinde see, the lepers bee cleane, yea the deade or those vvho vvere esteemed deade, to returne to life. Concerning the Iesuite Franciscus Xavier, xxCommentar. Anno 1565.Surius saith that in the Indies hee would sende such boyes as were formerly converted to the faith by him, vntounto sicke folkes, where when they did but rehearse the Creede, and tell them that they must beleeue in Christ, the patients were healed. Also that his body 15, moneths after he was deade, remained perfectly whole and vncorrupted, yea gaue a most odoriferous smell. But Maffeus the Iesuite and fellow to Xavier wil not Propter bonum sociatatis let him goe so. He therefore yyHist: Indic. Lib. 15.reporteth, that when two men in a boate at ses, were by a storme driven away, hee presently made the boate to come againe, close to the ship wherein hee was. That at Goa immediately he made a sicke man whole. That twise in a horrible tempest at sea, dipping his boxe of relikes into the water, hee made all to bee calme. Many other such matters are currant of him among his companions, touching all which I may saye, that of likely-hood they bee not overmuch beleeved of the Pope or Papists themselues, since his Holinesse nor any of his Predecessours, hauehave bestowed the Sainting of this Xavier on him, neither hath any one of that Society beene Canonized to this day, as the Secular Priests doe rightly obiect against the Iesuites. And yet our age is not debarred from putting those who merit it, into the Calēder or Cataloge of Saints, since the Pope now raigning, evē this Clement the 8. hath bestowed this favour in zzIcones & vitae Paparum, in Clement. 82.Hiacynthus a Polouian, so that the Romanistes hauehave one Saint more to pray to, then their fore-fathers had. I trust if you had thought vppon him, you would hauehave done him the honour, to hauehave closed vp your miracle-workers with his name & company. Yet it should not hauehave beene for neede, if so you had done; for already you have insinuated vntounto vsus many straunge thinges, which I have touched more at large, as being desirous that your Reader shold know, what it is that you do point at. But now my opiniō is, that the examples before named, & produced for the confirmation of the authēticalnes of the Romane Religiō, are very wel worthy our farther examination, and advised consideration.

p. 2546 The story then of the Christian souldiours, for the generall consent of approoved writers therein, we doe beleeue, & know that God in mercy inclineth much to the aaIam. 5: 17.Jas 5:17praiers of his good servaunts. That Gregorius Thaumaturgus did something it is likely, but whither he by letters could cast out Devils wee doe not hastily credit. Great learned men recorded many things vponupon report of others; and conceiving that all straunge Narrations would breed admiration to the Christian faith, were well contented to accept of them, & deliver them to other without further disquisition. This more grosly appeared in Gregory and Bede: but it had his beginning before their age. Of this sort we esteeme that which is related, of Hilarion, Anthony, Martin, and Nicolas: reports of them, went for records, and small matters were made great. Hierome and the other olde writers coulde not yet fully discover to what head Sathan did bende; (whose meaning was to raise from the rumour of those miracles, innumerable occasions of idolatry, to be committed at or to the relikes of those persons, who were said to doe the wonders) and for that cause these good men were the more facile to apprehende such relations. But if these as also the other mencioned by Saint Austen, should without exception be granted to be true, vvhy doe you Papists challendge them to be yours? Or what doeth this more make for the Synagogue of Rome, then if the Gothes who broke into that citty, in the daies of bbSozo. 9 9.Honorius the Emperour should hauehave arrogated and assumed to themselues, all the Acts of the worthy Consuls, renoumed Dictators, & famous Em perors who in times past had resided there? If it be said that some of these were Monks & Heremits, it is true that they desired vponupon a wrong opinion of more holines therein, to liue seiunct from the world, as the ccIoseph. de bel. Iudaic. lib. 2. 7.Esseis among the Iewes had done, & all their vsage we can neither commende nor excuse: but they sayde no Masse, sunge no Dirges for the dead, neither did they leade a life any way concurring with these later Antichristian swarmes: distinguish the times, distinguish the persons, put a difference betweene the actions then and nowe, and our Papists may no more challendge to themselues their miracles, then the Senbes and Pharisees might hauehave strengthned their errours by the olde p. 255wonders of Moses. Those which Saint Austen nameth are not free from their exceptions; that some were reports: some grounded on the narration of one: that frequently those things are attributed to religion, which might be effected naturally, diseases having their periods, and medicines which are applied, somtimes working more then can bee imagined. But for reverent respect to that father, we insist not too far vponupon these. Only this we wold hauehave noted; that he citeth not those as necessary proofs to confirme the faith, (for what Saint Austens opinion is of miracles in that behalfe, yee shall see anone) but to yeeld to the importunity of some, who being vnbeleevers did call for straunge signes & wonders: for the stopping of whose mouthes, he sheweth that their age had some rare matters and events in it, though he cited them not as much making or marring, for the verity of religion. I pray you obserue his wordes in the beginning of the Chapter, ddDe civit. Dor li. 22. 8:Why say they, are not those miracles now done which you doe preach to hauehave beene done? I might say, that before the world did beleeue, they were necessarie to this ende that the world might beleeve. But whosoever doth inquire after wonders that he may beleeue, he himselfe is a great wonderment, who beleeveth not, now the worlde doath beleeue. And doth hee not more then once make a difference of the wonders by him mentioned, and the miracles declared in the holy Scripture, confessing that those of his time, were not so knowne, so certaine so, celebrious as the other. For that many of them were done in Citties where scant any one vnderstoode of them. But those in the Apostles age, frequently were performed in the presence of whole multitudes of people.

7 As for the Dialogues of Gregory, I acknowledge that eeHist l: 2: 1:Bede and ffTom: 2: li. 5 cap: 24:Freculphus do reckon them as the works of the first and great Gregory. But so are diverse things attributed to Saint Austen which are not his owne, as Adfratres in ereme, where the writer saith of himselfe I ggSer: 25: & 37:Austenbishop of H…n or to that purpose. Diverse learned men of our side take manifest exceptions to the whole tract of those Dialogues, as being absurdly forged and fathered on Gregory. hhM. Sutliv. de Purgat. lib. 1: 1.One saith thus, I being induced by most certain arguments d… indge, that the Dialogues of Gregory are counterseit, & unworthie this such a man. For if you looke on the argumente that… can nothing p. 256be thought more fabulous: if on the stile, nothing could be written more barbarouslie and …. And Master Foxe addeth, that the Dialogues which are reported to be Gregories the first, were written in In Hist: ….Greeke by Gregorie the 3. and were translated into Latin by Zacharias the Pope. But be they whose they may be, is there any credit to be given vntounto them at all, when besides that they consist almost wholy of childish or old wines tales, the Authour himselfe vnworthy of the gravity of such a one as Gregory, professeth in the beginning of his kkDialog. lu …worke, that hee woulde relate all things which hee had probably heard Who is there that hath lived but a few yeares, which hath not heard so many tales of fairies, & walking sprites and dreames, with other such meane and riffe-raffe stuffe, as might make a large volume, and yet the least part therof is true? Beda who followed Gregory in time, sawe this yee broke to his hand, and he would needs after, being as plentifull for fabulous narrations at the other. By this time, Popery began to grow more strong, and good men by credulity of vncertaine or vnexamined reports were over-taken. They imagined that such things made for Gods glory, & for the propagating of the Christian faith, when it was indeede cleane contrary; for fables doe disgrace the verity of religion, and the Lord needeth not a lye to set forth his honor. That which is here delivered after the daies of Bede, in such barbarous, such base, such baggage-rotten stuffe, such lying, such legendary, such paltry and shamefull geere, that were there in you but one graine of, salt one mustarde seed of iudgment, you would be ashamed once to name such dung-hill ragges. I doe many times from the bottome of my heart, giuegive thankes to my Almighty Saviour, as for his Redemption in generall, so that it hath pleased him to keepe me and my fathers house from the gangrene of Popery, that our soules are norted with such shales and huskes, and that our faith is not rested on such weake grounds as these be. For first, who and what manner of persons are these, whom you here mention for the exploiters of your miracles▪ I will except Saint Bernard, and K. Edward the Confessour, who swayed with the darknesse of their times, beleeved and reported things most doubtfull, and had the like for matters of fact reported of them. But besides these I can hardly p. 257name another of these late Saints, but that leaving the final iudgment of him to Gods secret counsell, we may cal to minde in his behalfe that speech reported to be Saint Austens, llGlarean. in pref Annot. in Suetonium.The bodies of many are adored heere on earth, whose souls are buryed in hell. For what was this Tharasius by you mencioned, but a notable idolater, mainetaining the erection of images in Churches, & the adoration of them? What was Anselme but an hypocrite aboue ten thousand hypocrits, if God gaue him not repentance in the end? He mmMalmis. de gest. Pontific. lib: 1:would seeme so to hate sinne, that he oftentimes vvoulde wish, that he rather might be in hell without sinne, then in heaven having offended and transgressed: vvhichwhich speech is of that quality, that it can hardly be decided, whither there bee more ignorance or hypocrisie in it. He once nnIbidem.reported, that after that he had entred a Monkish life, he was never so angry, that he gaue any one a reproachful word but once. That he never spake any speech but one, the memory wherof did trouble his consciēce. At supper once remēbring that he had eatē a raw herring, he smote himselfe on the brest deepely sighing for that crime, that cōtrary to the law he had eatē raw meat. But whē one sitting by him, answered that the salt had consumed the rawnes of the herring, Thou hast healed me saith he, that I need not be tormēted with the memory of this sinne. Of this hypocriticall quality vvas Francis the father of the Frāciscane Friers, & one of your Saints. His commendation was, that when the Pope ooMatt Par in Henr: 3:scorned him as a ragged and torne companion, & when he presumed to speake to him, badde him go tumble him with the hogges, hee went his waies & did so indeed: & comming againe al be…mired & filthy, made the Pope wōdring at his behavior, more to praise the obediēce of the foole, thē any thing els in him. What should I say of the rest, that they were a rable of the Popes deer vassals, & made Saints by him for rendring his service, & inlarging his kingdom; surely litle in grace with Christ because so estemed of Antichrist. VntoUnto these you shoulde hauehave done vvell if you had added for Countrey sake, achiefe Champion of his Holynesse, Thomas Becket as good a Saint as the best, and as great a man for ppNova legend. Angl. in Thom. Can….miracles, if vvee may beleeue your fellovves reporting his life; bus in trueth a Rebell to his Kinge, and very a Traytour to p. 258his countrey, dying in a damnable quarrell, which even in those daies, wise men saw, as may appeere by this, that forty qqDu Haillā Lib. 5.yeeres after his death it was disputed amonge the Doctors of Paris, whether he were saved or damned, & Roger the Normand did most stoutly maintaine it, that he was a Rebel to his King, and deserved to dye. But Pope Alexander found him a man for his purpose, and knew that it would be more profitable for the Papacy, if multitudes might bee gulled with the opinion of his sanctitie, and therefore he Canonized him by his Diabolical authoritye, & made him Saint Thomas of Canterbury. A many such Saints there bee, with whose soules a sober man would bee very vnwilling at all adventure to change his soule, least his reward should be eternall torment.

8 Secondly out of what Records are the miracles cited, which we do now debate? Forsooth out of the Legend, the Legēdary, the golden Legend, called the lives of the Saintes. In these the Friers and Popish Divines were ever more better reade, then in the holy Bible: but wise men & such as feared God did continually detest them. rrDe reformatione Eccl…siaetPetrus de Aliaco, as he spake against the Canonizing of so many Saints, so hee would not hauehave Apocriphall writings (wherein questionlesse Legends may be cōprehended) to be reade vponupon feast daies in the Church. It was one of the cō plaints ssCentum Gravamin. German: cap. 21.of the Germanes against the Popedome, that their vnlearned Preachers did tell them tales in the Pulpite out of Legends not received by the Church, and more like to the fables of the Gentiles then to the Gospell. Ludo vicus Vives could say that the golden Legend was writen by a man ssDe causis corruptar. ar… l. a.of an iron mouth or face & of a leaden hart. And do you after al this, rake that sincke, to tell vsus tales of miracles, without head, without taile, without all probability? Your Papistes have good stomakes that can digest such colde iron. You wil say perhaps I slaunder you: for your water came out of another well. The reverend Father Laurentius Surius the Carthusian hath supervised all the reportes vvhichwhich formerlye vvere of the Saintes, and nowe hee hath compiled them into a verie large storie, and thence you hauehave your citations, or from ttRes gest. illustomarryrum.Lippeloo, who hath revewed, digested, and abbreviated the huge volumes of Surius, and these sometimes p. 259do name the Authours in particular, frō whō they hauehave their relatiōs. Well, the matter thē is this: these two hauehave it out of the Legends, & you take in frō thē. But they hauehave left out many things which the Legendes reported. True: the lyes were so manye, that they filled too many bookes. They divided then everie thousand, and kepte fiue or sixe hundred of them which were most significant, and for their purpose. Or they abridged them: but as nowe they bee, there is none but a childe, a simple woman, a Papist, or a blockish brutish body, which will lende any credite to them. Drosse can be nought but drosse; and doe what you will, dregges will be no better then dreges. Their discretion in sifting truth from false-hood, as it appeereth many other waies, so in registring Saint Lungeis for a Saint, which they borrow from Metaphrastes, & make him to be a uuLippel. in vita Longini Martij. 15Iewe, and not a Romane, and yet his name is Longinus, and he was the Centurian that stood by the Crosse when Christ was crucified: but hee was afterward beheaded for the Christian religion, by the commaundement of Caesar and Pilate. Now although in the Actes of the Apostles (where for the advauncement of our Saviours glorie, such a matter would not have beene concealed) there be not one word of this, no nor yet in any other good writer, yet this man is dropped or slipped in to be a Saint, and he is to be praied to, and his holy-day is, to be kept of those that wil, on the fifteenth of March, and Surius with his abbreviatour…, know his name, his office, his deedes, his death, as well as if they had beene by him. I name this one for a tast, but he who pleaseth may finde a hundred such, if hee will take paines to reade the Lives of the Saints, as they are set downe by the foreinamed Authours. Such trimme men are your miracle-workers, and therefore your miracles must needes also be of an excellent sute.

p. 260T. HILL.

AND therefore I say vntounto you out of Saint Austen, I am bound and tyed in the Catholike Church by the band & chaine August devtil. cred c. … & l cōt: Ep…sund: cap. 4:of miracles. And I am bolde considering and most stedfastly beleeuing these insinite glorious miracles of all times & ages in the Catholike Romane Church to crye out to Almighty God with Richard de S. Victore lib. de trin. cap. 2. Lord if it be not true which we beleive, thou hast deceived vsus: for these have bin confirmed in vsus by such signes & wonders as could not be wrought but by thee. But on the contrarie parte, never any Protestant could worke any miracle at all, but ass…ying to make some shew thereof, to make their Doctrine the more probable to their followers, felte the iust revengement of God, who turned all to their shame & confusion, as he did by Simon Magus, by Cyrola the Patriarke of the Arrians as witnesseth Grego. Turon. Egesippus: lib. 3: de excid hiero…ol: cap. 2:lib. 2. hist. Fran. cap. 3. by the Donatists. Optatus lib. 2. contr. Parmen. … our dates by Luther, endevouring to dispossesse a wench, and by Calvin going about to delude his disciples, as you may read in Hierom. Bolsec. in vit. Calvin. cap. 13. And therfore they are most foolish, Vid: Staph: in abs: relp:and miserably inconsiderate, who beleeve these newe fellowes, not being able to quicken a flea, and leave the doctrine of the Catholike Church confirmed with innumerable miracles.

G. ABBOT.

9 IN the texte you cite one saying out of Saint Austen; but in the margent you quote two. The … former place doth only mention that the truth of Christian religion De vtilitat. credend: cap. 17.is cōfirmed by miracles. But you therin abuse your Reader notably. For he speaketh of miracles past, & that in Christs time, and not of any which were to come, or like to cōtinue in the church. The words to which hee alludeth are more plaine in the chapter next before going, where in a larger sort he hādleth that argumēt. Such xxCap: 16:things were dōe at that time, wherin God in a tr… mā did appeere as much as was sufficient for men. The sicke were healed, the lepers vvere cleansed, going was restored to the lame, sight to the blind, hearing to the p. 261deafe, And there is speech of no other matter. And to no other purpose is the second place, where the words are not which you cite. His saying is thus, that there; bee diverse thinges which doe keepe him in the bosome of the Church, yyContr. Ep. fundament: cap: 4:The consent of people and nations doth holde mee: there doth hold me an authority which was begon with miracles; nourished by hope, euer …ased by charity, confirmed by antiquity. Doth this make for you, as you thinke, or against you? The authority of the Church was begon with miracles. It is true, meaning of the time of Christ, and his Apostles: but he doth not saye it was continued, and must be continued vntounto the worldes end, much lesse doth he affirme that it must be as a necessary argumēt of truth. So you hauehave gained much by these two places, even as you hauehave done by the whole ranke of your wōders: wherof such as appertaine to you, that is the late Legēdary inventiōs, are many indeed, but not infinite, & are so far from being glorious, that they are plainely cōtemptible & ridiculous, fit for your vn-Catholike Romane strūpet, whose throne must be supported with lies, and variety of falshoods. In being therfore …old, you may be more bold thē you hauehave thanke for your labour▪ but do not saye that you most stedfastly beleeve, for you bestow too good a word vponupon your selfe. In such stuffe as this is, zzPalingen. in GeminisQuifacilis credit, facilis quoque fallitur, He who lightly beleeveth, is easily deceived. You are strongly conceited, & you hauehave a boisteous imagination, frō which the sooner you fly, the safer you wil stand. The aaDe Trin. lib. 1: cap. 2:words of Richard de S. Victore, are not spoken of your fabulous and instly questionable wonders, but of such signes as gaue evidence to the first preaching of the Gospell, & were wrought by Christ and his disciples; which were so true & so strange, as that they could be wrought by none but by the power of God, and therefore we may beleeve the doctrine both of the Trinity and other matters, which they confirmed; and not be deceived at all. Yet this addeth no credit to your forgeries & illusions, neither convinceth that now we are to depēd on miracles. That we do not take on vsus to be able to work any, we do most willingly acknowledg. We know that those daies are past: although God do not so restraine himselfe, but that (the praiers of his servants interceding) he sometimes suffereth strange things to be done. But we cānot p. 262presume vpō it; since we hauehave no warrant for it, out of the word of God. And who is there I pray you in the whole Hierarchy of your Papacy, who dare professedly assume that gifte vntounto him? Dareth your Pope the ministerial head of al your holines, dare your Cardinals, your Bishops, your Friers, your Priestes? Long agone the bbDecretal. lib. 5. tit. 35. cap. 3.Templars in Livonia did enforce the poore people to this; that if any of thē were accused of any crime, to purge themselues they shold go bare-footed, over certaine redde hot irons, & if they were burnt at all, then they were helde for guilty. But some newly cōverted to the faith, cōplained of this to the Pope Honorius the 3. & he inhibited that any more such triall should be made, calling it a thing forbidden, a greevance, & that wherin God was tempted. The like may be said of any, who presūptuously should professe to attēpt any strange & miraculous matter; it is but a tempting of God, even by the iudgmēt of ccIsa: 7: 12.Ahaz nowe long agone, who beeing but an evil man, yet was so faire tightly instructed. Yet that good hypocrite your S. Dominicke, going to dispute against the ddIoh. B…isseul. contr. Spond.Albingenses, & pretēding that he would proue thē heretikes, did bid thē write their reasons, & cast thē in the fire, & if saith he, they will not burne, then we wil beleeue you. As if the holy Bible were not truth, if beeing cast into the flame it would burne to ashes. You can tell vsus tales of your men doing else-where great wonders, but you should doe well to sende vsus some of your miracle-mongers hither, that we may iudge of their iugling. You mutter much of an holy annointed Priest, that he by exorcizing can cast out Devils: but we wonder that these Devils in Englād can no where truly be found, but in Papists. In India our … Iesuits would make vsus beleeve that they Maffeus in select Epist.be as thicke as hoppes: but if one of that holy Society fal on thē, he can with as much case fetch him out of a man or woman, as one woulde gette money out of his purse by turning it vpside downe. And in Italy and Spaine there bee some possessed vvith spirits, that the Exorcistes may have worke to shewe themselues vponupon. Such artificers can hauehave counterfeits of their owne choosing, and taught for the purpose. These keepe in ure the olde order of stage-playes, to have a Devill and a foole in them alwaies. But it is no marveile if our Priestes familiars, being put in p. 263by one sleight into their abused patients, can be plucked out by another. They lose nothing by these trickes. And if there should be a Devill indeede in any, and he should bee so sullen as that with all their crossing, reliques, and holy water hee woulde not out, yet they will saue their stake still, the Rhemistes being at hand with this salve, that ffIn Matth▪ 17. 19:Matt 17:19it is not in the povver of their Exercistes to cast our Devilles vvhen they vvill. They must misse of their purpose sometimes. And if any Protestant be neere, they will saie, It is the better also, that the Spirit for that time will not out: for if then hee should bee eiected out of the possessed, hee vvoulde presently get him into the heretike, and then they were never the neere. Better keepe him where he is, among his olde acquaintance.

10 That Simon Magus did attempte to worke a miracle, Saint ggIn Rom: 8:Ambrose telleth vsus: but there wee finde no otherwise, but that in deed he did flie vp into the ayre. And so much doth Egesippus acknowledge in the place hhLib. 3. ….which you doe quote: but hee addeth, that by the prayer of Saint Peter, in his flying hee vvas fetched dovvne, and falling brake his legge. Moreover that he attempted to raise to life a knise-man of the Emperours, who was deade; but missed of his purpose. iiGreg. Turon. histor. Fran. lib. 2. cap. 3:Cirola the Arrian Bishop seing Eusebius and some other Bishops which were Orthodoxe, to do strange things, whereby the people had them in admiration, & accepted of their doctrine, devised to procure to himselfe and his Arrianisme, credit by a counterfeit miracle. Hee therfore gaue one 50. peeces of gold, to pretend that he had bin blind, & to say that by his praier he was restored to his sight. But when Cirola was to passe by, & expected that this pageāt should be plaied, the counterfeit cranke who could see well before, was indeed striken with blindnes, and could by no meanes be cured of it by the Arrian; but by the Orthodoxe Bishops praying for him, he had his sight restored. Where-vponupon exclaming vponupon Cirola he confessed the whole intended fraude. Thus the Authour reporteth it: but we dare not be to nimble in beleeving his Narratiōs in this kinde, since he was too great a relater, & admirer of the miracles of holy mē, having writtē kkDe gloria marty… De gloris Consessor. De virtutib: & miracule S. Marti…bookes specially of that argumēt, & not only equalling but far surpassing the Diologues p. 264which go… vnderunder the name of Gregory the Great, for vndiscree… and vnbeleevable vanity. If you had stayed at these two examples, you had done well but when you ci…e a third, of miracles so attempted by the Donatists, and alleadge Optatus for it, you are out, for there is no such matter in that llOptat. li. … cont. …arm.whole booke: neither any speech of any wonder saving this, that the Donatists commaunded the Eucharist of the Catholikes to be throwne to the dogges. When, by the vengeaunce of God, the dogges being stricken with madnesse, fell vponupon them being their owne maisters, as if they had beene straungers, and tore them with their teeth. Also there is speech of a bottle of oyle throwne by the same Donatistes in disgrace out of a windowe, which falling on the stones did not breake. But if these be allowed, this is nothing to your matter: for these are rather wonders shewed by God against them, then any attempts of theirs to shew miracles, and receiving a disgrace by being frustrated in them. Now for Luther that he did as you say, we finde no such Record, neither do you cite vsus any authour worthy the least credit, for it. We are reasonable vvell acquainted vvith your inventions, and especially against these tvvo, vvhome heere you exagitate according to your custome. But if Luther had attempted and not prevailed, is it a greater argument of falshoode in doctrine against him, then it is against your exorcizng Priests, when they misse of their desires, as your Rhemusts doe insinuate? Indeed we hauehave some what mmIoh Foxe inh…. Eccl. in vita Luther.else written of Luther cleane contrary to your report: as, that vnderstanding of a younge man in VVittemberge, vvho by a vvriting written vvith his own bloud had boūd himselfe to the Divell, hee togither vvith a Congregation of many other, continued so longe in prayer, that the Divell cast in the vvriting at a vvindovve, and the younge man vvas freed from him. But vvhat that Apostata Staphilus saith of him, to whom he was a deadly and malicious enemy, we do not much regard. nnSee the defence of the Cēsure:Prateolus in hatred to him did giuegive out, that he was the son of an I…cubus, begotten by a Divell. And of as lewd a minde toward Calvin was that wicked Bolsec, who envying the famous reputation of Calvins person, but most of al the progresse & encrease of the Gospel by his meanes, thought by all vilanous slanders p. 265to vnderunder mine his estimation, and by improbable defamations to disgrace him. Now that by Romanists a thousand such tales should be begunne, encreased and continued, we wonder not: their whole doctrine is a masse of vntruthes, and so many wit… as hauehave the hammering of it, so many lyes. Stapleton in ooAntid. in Iohan. 8.whom we finde the slaunder mentioned in your last Chapter, hath ppAntid. in Matth. 16.Matt 16elsewhere a tale fit for your present purpose: that Calvin long devising to shew some miracle, so to get fame to himselfe, would need… at length cause one Matthew to counterfe… himselfe to be dead, that he might be said to raise him to life again… yet that when they came to make the experiment, the man was dead in earnest. Now this we may beleeue if we wil; & if wee wil not we may chuse. Such things as were never knowne at Geneva, to any that conversed with Calvin, are at Doway or at Rome as true as the Divels Gospel. Some one of you should giuegive our, that he attempted to fly, or some such other matter: and if one of you would once write it, and cast but a little colour vponupon it, your Seminary students woulde svveare it. Other men vvho know your tricket, will pitty you, or laugh at you, and so let you goe.

11 Your conclusiō is like your premisses: they are foolish who beleeue these new fellows who can doe nothing (indeede you might hauehave said who make profession to doe nothing of miraculous actions) & leaue Popery so bolstred vp with miracles. Your Maister Bristow from whose fifth and sixth Motiue, yet much shrunke and contracted, you borrowe your sixth Reason, to shewe the straungenesse of Miracles doeth playe the good fellovve vvith vsus, and giveth vsus an instaunce of one in our owne age; that a qqBristowe Motiv. 5.woman called Margaret Iesope was contracted to a Dutch man in London, and by him begotten with childe before they were marryed. His friendes hearing of the intended match, sende for him to Bruxelles, & there mary him to another wife. Margaret followeth him thither, is denyed by him, and being brought a bed there, falleth wōderfully lame, & so continueth three yeares and more. In the meane while shee sueth him in law both for the contract and for the maime. But the ende vvas that by the vertue of the miraculous Sacramente… ▪ p. 266or hostes in the Church of S. Gudila at Bruxelles shee was cured; having vsed before, much fasting, and going oft to Confession. In remembrance of this wonder, her staffe or Crouch was hanged vp, neere the place of the Blessed Sacrament of Miracle, and her healing was proclaimed every where in the pulpit. Can any man chuse but beleeue that Popery is truth, when hee heareth this tale, the grace whereof is so excellent, that he spendeth eight whole leaues in delivering it, making it vp so much, as will serue a Popish womā to read in an after…noone, allowing her a little liberty to thinke how shee may say it without booke, to tell it to her friends or sisters. And some oddes may bee laide that it will cost her a dry droppe or two, of some trickling teares also. It may be here noted, that the subiect of the miracle, this gentle Iesope was an honest woman, being with childe before that shee vvas marryed. Also that M. Bristow talking in his grosse ignorance, of her suing the Dutch man for a maime (which is a iesting phrase in England, but no action for that particular being liable in the Civill or Common Law) is a fit man to determine of Kings and Queenes, of the excommunication of Pius the 5. of the good cause of the Rebels in the North, Ann. 1569. where he proclaimeth them to be Martyrs. Thirdly it is no newes to heare that Motiv. 15:a harlot being put to her shifts, should be a counterfeit cranke, & to cover her other baggage like tricks, should be willing to bee talked of as one vponupon whom a miracle was shewed. In the time of the olde pilgrimages there were a thousande of these prankes played. And I could name where a woman lately dwelt, vvho (as her honest neighbours reported) by her vertuous life came to that state, that to say no worse of it, the French overcame the English. Shee laboured to conceale it, but being forced by infirmity to go with a paire of crowches, shee gaue out that she knew not how shee was taken in her limmes. Afterward vnderunder a colour of going to the Bathe, or some other such place, shee with-drew her selfe till by some surgeon like skil shee was reformed againe. Yet comming home she would not leaue her crowches, but professed that her weakenes grew on her more and more. At length when the time was come, which best fitted her purpose, on a Sū day or holy-day when the street had many people in it, who beheld p. 267her going along, shee goeth with her Crowches to a brook running on one side of the towne, and there for an howre and more, shee sitteth washing her feete, telling such of her acquaintance as passed by, that she felt her strength more and more increasing, according to a dreame vvhichwhich shee had dreamed the night before. But the issue was, shee left her crowches, and came home as well as shee desired. Being asked of it, shee hath not feared to sweare, that so strangly shee was cured as I hauehave reported, and some wise folkes beleeue it. You may be one of these if you will: and you may recorde this woman for her straunge vision. This may well fit Bristowes Narration concerning Margaret Iesope. Touching which relation, so reported, so magnified, so beleeved, to the great praise of the miracles done at Bruxelles, because I do desire that my much-abused country men should take notice, how they are bobbed by the fraude of their Priests, and what the iuggling of such good fellowes is, I thinke it not amisse to let them vnderstād, that within ssAnn 1581:fevē years after this fore-named wonder, the Senate of Bruxelles did discover the whole legerdemaine of the miracles, said and blazed abroad to be ordinary with them, and after due examination did put foorth to the view of the world an Edict or Proclamation therevpon. ssMeter. hist Belgi…. l. 10Wherin they declare, that the Sacrament of Miracle among them was nothing but a bare peece of bread, both lately & falsly reported to doe wonders, and that the covetous greedinesse of the Romane Clergy there, had also obtruded to the people, rotten peeces of wood to be worshipped, as if they had been partes of the Crosse whereon Christ was crucified; and in steed of the reliques of Saints they kept the bones of Apes and other beastes, pretending moreover that they had some part of the Sepulchre of our Lady, and the skull of S. Michaell, which things they permitted the people to adore. Yea they testifie, that in the faces of diverse of their images they found little holes, wherein oile was put, to make them seeme sometimes as if they sweated. And that there were devises, whereby other Images had some parts of them made to moue and sti…re by wires and other instruments. The Proclamation at large is worth the reading: wherein it may bee seene, that God in his good time discovereth the verletry of couseners p. 268and beguilers; and giveth leave to such as will not close their owne eies, to behould what is truth, and what is falshood. For some scores of yeeres togither, this place was famous for Popish miracles, and so many strange things were heere saide to be done, that of all the places in Europe, Bristow chose this to fetch his wonder from, for the confirmation of Popish doctrine, and now you see by a most authentical Record, what it prooveth to be. You Seminary Priests that can blush, blush at this, and at the ill fortune of Margaret Iesopes miracle.

12 HEere to turne vntounto the Christian Reader; if our Romanistes had not resolved to say any thing, which might make a shew & flourish without al substance, who would in our age bring this Reason of miracles, to decide or determine which is the true faith? It is certaine that whē our blessed Saviour came first into the world, for the ratifying of his dotrine which seemed strang, & for the testifying of his divine power, he wrought many wonders. And yet he sharpely ttMatth. 12. 39. Ioh. 4: 48: cap. …0. 29.Matt 12:39John 4:48reproved those who would not beleeue without miraculous signes, as intending that they should be but for a time, & then afterward little or no vse of them. But for the planting of his Church at first, he gaue also to the Apostles and some disciples that power, that they might worke wonders; adding concerning that time, that these uuMarc. 16. 17.Mark 16:17tokens shall follow them that beleeve, In my name they shall cast out Devils, and shall speake with newe tongues, and shall take away serpents, and if they shall drinke any deadly thing it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their handes on the sicke, and they shall recover. Yet that soone afterward, the ordinary exercise of these was extinguished, wee have verie ample testimonie. uuEccle. hist. lib. 5. 3. & 7.Eusebius sheweth that in the daies of Irenaeus, which was soone after the Apostles, there were yet done some miracles, implying by many things in his Narration, that very soone after, that gifte did cease. I noted before, the words of S. Austen, xxDe civit. Dei. l▪ 22. 8.Why are not those miracles (saie they) now done, which you report to hauehave beene done? Hee answereth that they were necessary till the world beleeved: but now faith being spred in the world, hee himselfe is no better then a vvonder or a monster, vvho vvill not beleeve vvithout seeing vvonders. And in another yyDe vera Religion: cap. 25.place thus, Since the Catholike Church is diffused through p. 269the whole world and grounded, neither are those miraculous thinges permitted to indure vntill our times, least the mind should alwaies seeke visible things, & by the custom of thē, mankind should waxe cold, at the newe appeerance whereof it was all on fire &c. Truth it is, that in his zzLib. 1: 10▪Retractations, he expoundeth himselfe what he meant by this passage, It is true in deede, for even vntill novve, when the hand is laide on them vvhichwhich are baptised, they doe not so receive the holy Ghost, that they speake vvith the tongues of all nations, neither novve are the sicke bealed by the shadovve of the preachers of CHRIST passing by, and if any other such thinges vvere then done, vvhichwhich it is manifest that aftervvardes they ceased. But that vvhichwhich I saide is not so to bee vnderstoode, that novve no miracles shoulde bee beleeved to bee done in the name of CHRIST. For hee saith that himselfe sawe a blinde man recover his sight, at the bodyes of the Martyrs at Milaine; and some other matters, hee saith, were done; alluding of likelyhood to those many wonders spoken of by him in the aaDe civit: Dei l: 22: 8.place formerly mentioned. And whereas hee had saide else-where, Why, bbDe vtilitat: credendi: cap. 16:wilt thou say, are not these things done now? Because they would not move, vnlesse they were wonderfull. But if they were common, they would not bee wonderfull, he expoundeth that also in the same booke of Retractations thus, ccLib: 1: 14:And this I saide, because not so great ones, nor all are done now, not because that none are done even now.

13 Saint Austen acknowledgeth both heere & else-where, that some strange things were done in his age, but not such great ones as formerly, not so often, not by an ordinary operation, but sometimes whē God was pleased to permit it; which is notwithstāding so to be taken, that the assured faith of no mā before hād could lead him vntounto it. And that such matters were done about that age, or a little before, we have more witnes. Iustine ddIn quaest. ad …thodox. 28.Martyr saith of the time wherin he lived, that the bodies of holy mē, & sepulchers of Martyrs, did remoove away the intrappings of Sathā, & heale desperate diseases. Basile somewhat neerer the dates of Austen … saith, that in battailes lately before fought, God …In Psal▪ 18▪Ps 18with haile & fire consumed the Northren Barbarians who overwhelmed them. And by the same meanes he hindred the Persians who would hauehave taken their cities, killing some and returning others home, to carry newes of the destruction of their p. 270fellowes. ffHaeres. 51:Epiphanius telleth of miracles, which we dare not be too bold to beleeue, as that there were divers places, whom also he nameth, where somtimes in the yeare, the water in their wels and rivers was wonderfully turned into wine, in remembraunce of that which Iesus had done at Cana in Galile. May wee not by this example feare, that diverse of the gravest fathers of the Church, goe a little too farre in their reportes as ggEccl. Hist. Lib. 7. 14.Eusebius did also in telling of the image of the woman cured of an issue of bloud by CHRIST, at the foote of which as he said, grew three hundred yeares afterward, an herbe, which when it came vp so high as to the garment of the woman', it vvas of force to cure any kinde of disease. Which narration is shrewdly censured by hhIn metho. Hist. cap. 4.Bodine, as detracting credite from Eusebius in other matters. But be it thus: that rarely there were done some strang things, for the space of some hundreds years after Christs ascension. Yet this was no set, certaine, or ordinary vocation of vvorking miracles, and therefore is very little to be accounted of, for the purpose here in hand. Heare Gregory on this point; iiMor. li. 27. 11.What marveile is it, if the faith being propagated, miracles be not oft done, since even the very Apostles in many which were already faithfull did not doe them? This place being vndoubtedly Gregories, may make the freer exception to be taken to the books surmised to be his Dialogues▪ for here he telleth vsus that miracles are not often done, & there if all should be true, nothing can be more common. Notwithstanding hence it is apparant, that in his age there was a discontinuance of the practise of miracles; no man was noted for a common doer of them; none assumed that power vntounto him, and therefore since now a thousand yeares are passed from his time, what vndoubted reckoning can at this time be made of them? Nay, what argument could be drawne from them, in the daies of Saint Austen? Might that which our adversaries vrge, that those who did miracles had the Catholike faith? How evidently, how copiously, how forcibly doth Saint Austen overthrow all that Reason? There were Donatists & other heretikes, who did vrge miracles of their side. Doth Saint Austen therefore yeeld therevpon that their doctrine was Orthodoxe? No: but thus he saith, kkDe vnitat… Ecclesie.Let him shew it, and not say, therefore it is true, because D…atus or p. 271Pontius, or any other did those and th…se miracles, or because men at the memories of our Martyrs do pray and are heard, &c. Away with these either fictions of lying men, or monstrosities of deceiving spirites. For either those thinges are not true which are saide, or if there bee done some miracles of heretikes, wee ought the more to take heed, because when the Lorde had saide that there shoulde bee some deceivers, who by doing many signes shoulde deceiue the very elect if it were possible, hee did adde cō mending it vehemently and saide, Beholde I hauehave foretolde it vntounto you. And not long afterward, But they are hearde either of seducing spirites, which yet doe nothing vnlesse they bee permitted, God on high and vnspeakeably iudging what is to be attributed to every one: or else of God himselfe, either for a paine of their wickednesse, or for the comfort of their miserie, or for a warning to seeke everlasting salvation. But no man commeth to salvation and everlasting life, but hee who hath Christ for the beade. And yet farther in the same treatise, Whatsoever thinges of this quality are done in the Catholike Church, therefore they are to bee approoved, because they are done in the Catholike Church, but the Catholike Church it selfe is not therefore manifested, because these thinges are done in it. So that now the true faith doth giuegive countenaunce to the miracle, and not the miracle credit the faith; which if our Papistes were not possessed with a spirit of giddinesse, they must needes confesse. And the same father in another place, beeing haunted as it should seeme with obiections of miracles, and as surfeted on them, and loathing them faith, llTract. 13. in Iohan.Against these miraclemongers as I may so call them, my God hath made me wary saying, In the last times there shall arise false Prophets doing signes and wonders. He calleth them mirab…os, miracle-mongers, and so hee woulde hauehave done those who now grounde so much on wonders, if he had lived in their times.

14 No reader can be so simple, but in pervsing these places he may perceiue, that the warrant and ground of Saint Augustines words, and the waight of his Reasons is drawne out of the holy Scriptures, which are plentifull in that point. For besides that of mmDeu: 13: 1:Deutronomy, and the other place of S. nnMat: 7: 22:Matthew before cited, how frequently are we put in minde that seducers and false Christs, and Antichrist and the beast shal come with great signes and wonders? ooCa. 24 24:There shall arise saith our Saviour false Christs and p. 272false Prophets, and shall shew great signes and wonders, so that if it were possible, they should deceiue the very elect. Behold I hauehave tolde you before. Here is a watch-word added, to the ende that we should not be negligēt in discerning this. In like sort Saint Paule remembreth vsus that the pp…: The: 2: 9comming of that sonne of perdition, is by the working of Sathan with all power and signes, and lying wonders, And in all deceiueablenesse of vnrighteousnesse amonge them that perish, because they received not the louelove of the truth, that they might be saved. So Saint Iohn saith of the second beast, qqApoc. 13: 13: 14:Rev 13:13Rev 13:14He did great wonders, so that hee made fire to come downe from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceived them that dwell on the earth by the signes, which were permitted to him to doe in the sight of the beast. Afterward we heare againe, that rrCa: 16: 13:three vncleane spirites like frogges come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false Prophet, for they are the spirits of Divels working miracles. And lastly we finde that ssCa▪ 19: 20:the beast was taken, and with him that false Prophet that wrought miracles before him, whereby he deceived them that received the beasts marke. From all which is it not much fitter and surer to conclude, that our Papists doe take on them to be able to doe miracles, therefore the beast is their maister, they are cousens to the false Prophet, they are brethren to the frogges, promoted by the spirits of Devils? If any grace were remaining, they would tremble at this connexion, and hast away from Babylon, least they perish there with the harlot. But to collect from their wonders, that they are the true Church of God, is most sencelesse and inconsequent. I hauehave shewed before out of Saint Austen, that the Divell worketh miracles. And profane stories are ful of such reports, how Sathan did abuse men, so to winne them to his service, or to continue them in it. The ssLiv. lib. 29:men of Loeri having war with the Crotonienses, were desirous to remooue into their citty, some store of mony which was laide vp in Proserpinas temple standing in their fields. In the night time there was heard a voice out of the Chappel, that they should let it alone there: the Goddesse would defend her owne temples; wher-vponupon not daring to stirre it, they yet thought good to compasse the Chappel with a wall. But when their building was brought to a pretty height, it fell all downe to the ground. Were it here a good conclusion p. 273to inferre, that the religion of Proserpina or the Locrenses was right, for these strange wonders sake? Yet this is the same which our Romanists do vrge, or else they do nothing. There is an approved ttTacit lib: 4: Hustor:authour who witnesseth of Vespasian, that when he was to take the Empire vponupon him, he did divers prodigious & miraculous matters, openly and in fight of all. Yea what can bee more wonderful, then that which uuPhilostrat li… 4: 6: & 16Apollonius acted, as Philostratus writing his life reported of him? For one of his deeds was, that he cast out a Devill, and another that he raised to life a maiden which was dead. And to cast out Devils, & to quicken the dead, are worthyly reputed amōgst the highest miracles. Where, who is so grosse as to inferre, that the doctrin of these persōs was true, for their wonders sake? Neither doth it serue the turne, to put this difference or disparity, that the miracles now in questiō must be done in the name of Christ, which was not in those of the Gentiles; for evē the same which are by Christ reiected, are there said to be done in uuMat: 7. 22his name; & who is ignorant that in Christiā coū treies, such rare effects as are brought about, by witches, negromancers, coniurers & the like, who somtimes do strang exploits, are operated by vsing the name of al the persōs of the holy Trinity, by sentences of Scripture, & other words in thēselues good but wickedly applyed?

15 These reasons as they do weaken & extenuate the maine strength of al miracles lately done, so the cōsideratiō of the qualities of Popish miracles do vtterly overthrow thē. For not the 40 or scant the 100. of thē was true: divers were wrought with legerdemain: very many were most ridiculous, & no better with wise folks thē things to make sport, albeit they were admired by the simple & superstitious. That worthy man Ludovicus Vives saw this wel inough, whē he spake so feelingly of this case. xx… Lib: …de verita: sideiThey saith he are the more execrable, yea like the Devil, who for gaine sake do faine miracles in the Churches of our Saints, for whē the vanity of theirs is laid open, they make mē doubt of true miracles. Therfore miracles must hauehave these marks, the truth of the thing it selfe, the quality of their beeing, the māner of the actiō, the cause efficient, the cause moving before hand, the ende. And afterwarde, The avarice of some persons, hath devised false loger-demaines of miracles, by the vvhichwhich beeing deprehended and made manifest, such as are most true, are made vncertaine, p. 274which is a pestilent matter in religion, and they are to bee execrated who doe devise them, and deserve more punishment, then such as counterfeit mony, or doe mingle poison amonge these thinges vvhichwhich are made for receites against poison. You may heere once againe call to mind the Proclamation of Bruxelles before spoken of. If the miracles so extolled in the Romish Church, were examined after the notes & marks heere proposed by Vives, how poore, how contēptible, how scornful would they be? Let vsus see some few examples, and those not tosled vp and downe with rumours, but beleeved and received, as commended vntounto vsus by authours of good note. yyHoveden part. 2.In or neere Sicilia, the fire did breake out of the mountaine Gibel, which is a matter long agone written cōcerning the hill Aetna. The people of the countrey being frighted at it, doe flye to the tombe of S. Agatha, & taking her veile frō thence, do with it so beate back the fire into the sea, that it dried vp the sea almost for the spice of a mile, & did halfe scorch or burne the fishes, so that yet such fishes do remaine halfe broiled, and are called S. Agathas fishes. You must thinke that it is some commodity to the countrey, in saving them fewel, who eate of the fishes, in as much as they are halfe broiled to their handes. You must not aske whether if all the water vvere so gone, that the fishe lying drye vvas burnte, the people came and tosled them forvvard into the sea, or else they laye there till the tyde came vp againe, that they lived so longe after. Nor whether there be yet any of the same fishe remaining: for were it not time, that they were spent? And yet as men say, fish is long lived. But howsoever you must not sift a miracle too far, as it is no good manners too much to examine a friēds tale. zzIbidem.The same Authour hath another Narration cōcerning Thomas Becket, that he never drāke any thing but water, & on a time being at boorde with Pope Alexander, the Pope would needs tast of his cup. There least the sanctity & abstemiousnes of the holy mā should be discovered, God so provided that Alexander could finde nothing but wine: but when Becket came to pledge him in the same cup, it was turned backe againe into water. You must beleeve that although the Pope found it to be wine, yet Thomas Becket drunke nothing but water. And because it shold be known that he was as miraculous p. 275in his meate, as he was in his drinke, aaQuod. lib. 8: 7.one of our Secular Priestes in great earnest telleth vsus, that on a S. Markes day in Rome, he had a Capon whereon he was eating turned into a Carpe. Some hauehave talked of men, that could or would hauehave gone invisible. Perhaps some body wil ignorantly say that it was Frier Bacon. No, it was S. Bartholomew, as bbPast 3: quaest: 54. a…t: 1.Thomas of Aquine telleth vsus, to whose body it was givē as a miracle, that if he himselfe would, he might be visible, if he would otherwise, he shold not be beheld: he might go invisible. You wil hope that S. Bartholomew was an honest man, or else nowe and then hee might hauehave done ill feates.

16 That S. Francis the Patriarke of the Franciscanes was a maister of miracles, we are not now to learne: but see whether hee brought not vp his scholers vntounto it also. If wee give credite to the booke of his Conformities, as I cannot see vvho can bee a good Catholike and not beleeve it, eeConformit. D. Frā cisc.Frier Frauncis one of the followers of the noble Saint Frauncis, celebrating Maste, founde a spider in the chalice, and did not take him out, but dranke him vp togither with the bloud. Afterward rubbing his shin-bone, and scratching where it itched, that spider came whole out of his legge, and did him no hurte. And because such wonders as these bee, must never cease in the Church of Rome, but our age must hauehave her part, our Iesuites who do as much honour the foūder of their Society Ignatius Loiola, as the Franciscanes do S. Francis, will informe you that Ignatius was not without his miracles, for whē ddPetr Maff. in vita Ignat. lib: 1: 7he was sometimes at his praiers late in the night, diverse peeping in vponupon him, hauehave seene his body hange in the aire two yards aboue the ground, the spirit lifting vp the waight of his body to heavē-ward: And moreover cōferring in speech with God (which also is writē of eeExod. 34. 35.Exod 34:35Moses) al his face would shine in marveilous māner like the beames of the Sun. But because the foūder of the Iesuits should not thus beare the bucklers away from all mē in our age, there is since his time stepped vp another old gallant, on Philippus Nerius a Florentine, vvho hath erected an order called Congregatio Oratorij. One Antonius Gallonius a Priest of his Cōpany hath lately put out his life, & so many miracles done on & by him, that a man had need of a stronge faith, which can p. 276beleevethē. Among other, to be quit with those of Loiola, ffVita B. Patr. Philip Nerij. lib. 1▪ Anno 1556.hee telleth that Philip was seene in praier time, for an houre and a halfes space to hāge in the aire five cubits & more, aboue groū …, which being two yardes & a halfe hath put downe Ignatius for halfe a yard & better. Also his face was seene to be wonderfully full of shining beames. And because wee shoulde thinke that miracles were no dainties with him, ggAn 1555.he could by his smel know a whore very e…sily: he could by hhAn. 1559.looking a māin the face tel what he thought, & knew familiarly the secret cogitatiōs of mēs harts. A man being absent from him & but dreaming of him, was iiAn 1595.cured of a vehement fever. All these strange matters, and many more he did, albeit he told kkDe beati Philip… virtutib l. 3:Caesar Baronius then a Priest of his order, and he who was his Confessour, that he very often had asked of God, that he would do no miracles by him. And that was because he wold not hauehave the people think too well of him. And in as much as mention is heere made of Caesar Baronius, I vvill adde one thing more, which the said llLib. 1. An. 1550:Cardinall delivered vponupon his othe, concerning the same Philip his founder; for the said Baronius was one of his company and society. In the yeere 1550, now more then fiftie yeeres agone, Philip who (in the darke of the night, vvhen all men are even buried in sleepe, so that the lefte hande coulde not knovve vvhat the the right hande did) did vse to visite needy persons, vvent in the nighte time to cary breade to a poore gentle-man. Heere by the Devils meanes, vvhile hee sought to avoide a carte comming hastily vppon him, hee fell into a verie deepe ditch, but Gods helpe beeing at hande, in his falling he vvas presently caught of an Angell, by the heare of the heade miraculouslye, and beeing nothing hurte, hee vvas returned out safe by the Angell. This did Baronius (who vvas not there, and coulde hauehave it but by the reporte of Nerius) svveare absolutely to bee true; vvhereby vvee may easilie gesse, that the same Cardinall in his vvritinges maketh no greate conscience, to saye thinges true or false, vvhen hee maketh no bones to svveare matters so vnlikely. Hee who list to see more of the venerable miracles in Popery, let him reade Henrie Stephanus in his French mmCap: 39:Apologie of Herodotus, and there hee shall finde diverse particulars sette dovvne. p. 277Are not our Country-men, and Country-women blessed, when after so long light of the Gospell, they chuse to feede themselues fat with legions of such wonders, and holde it a high part of their profession to beleeve such things as these are? We reade of some whom God doth so giuegive over to the spirit of delusion, that they doe nn2 Thes: … 11.beleeuelyes.

17 If any heere do aske mee, howe came it ever about, that such foolishe and ridiculous multitudes of miracles came to bee reported, and inserted into their bookes, I must first ascribe it to the permission of God, who had fore-tolde that so it shoulde bee. Secondlye to the pollicy of Sathan vvhose kingdome by this us by a speciall meanes was inlarged. Thirdly to the cunning of the Cleargy in those daies, vvho made themselues great by the keeping vp of such reportes, concerning the sanctitie of any of their confederacy, or of such whose reliques they pretended to hauehave, and gained infinitely by the offeringes done in places of these wonders. And fourthly to the credulity of the people, who would beleeve any thing once set abroach by some suborned for the purpose, or by idle companions. Gulielmus Neubringensis was a writer very learned, and iudicious for that time wherein hee lived. And in his storie hee did more then once relate, the abuse of that age for spreading abroade the fames of miracles. ooNeubringens. l 3: 7.Henry the eldest sonne of King Henry the second of England, vvho was in his fathers life time crowned King, but dyed before his father, was every where by the people reported to have wrought great miracles after his death: vvhereas in truth he was an vnadvised and rebellious younge Prince. This shevveth hovve apte the people were to intertaine a conceite of any mans doing miracles, yea so farre that if they might hauehave their willes, they shoulde soone have beene shrined for Saints. Aftervvard ppLib: 4▪ 9:there vvas a greate robber, vvho beeing slaine it vvas given out of many olde vvomen, that hee frequentlye did miracles, as if hee had beene some holye person, and this rumour grewe so stronge, and was so generally spredde, that the Bishop was enforced to come to Hampton, & there display the falshood of the whole narration, so that then the superstition was ended. Hee qqLib: 5: 19:mentioneth also a third matter of this kinde, p. 278that a traiterous fellow of London, called VVilliam with the longe bearde, vvas also reputed a Saint, and a maine do… of of miracles. Can vvee have any plainer certificate then this, that by the superstition and credulousnesse of the vulgar sort, many vvonders were saide to bee done, vvhen in truth there vvas no such matter? And if for their commodities sake any of the Cleargie would ioyne and giuegive countenance to the matter, the party so grovvne to be a Saint, and the fame of his vvonders shoulde never bee extinguished. The reader may by these fewe take a tast of the rest of their Saintes and miracles, for thousandes vvere done no othervvise then in this sorte, and everie man had not the vvitte to see the fraude, nor that courag… to reporte it as Neubringensis had. And vvhat levvdenesse may wee imagine vvas practised amonge simple people in those darke dayes of Popery, vvhen in so glorious a sunne-shine of the Gospell, any Seminarians shoulde dare in England to attempte such a practise, as Father VVeston the lesuite, and Decl…ration of Popish impostures pract…sed by Edm.no lesse then a vvhole douzen of Priestes conspiring vvith him, did of late for some yeeres togither put themselues into? They persvvaded some men and three maydens, that they vvere possessed vvith the Devill, and that they by their Priest-exorcizing faculties could fetch him in & out, vp and downe at their pleasure. They had a holy chaire to set their abused Disciples in, and a holy potion to administer to them; both matters pretended to be formidable to the foule spirits, but indeed trickes to cast their patients into straunge fits, that so they might seeme, as wel to themselues as others standing by, to be possessed in most hideous manner. And this was so artificially carried by the Iesuit and his fellowe Iuglers, that diverse hundreds of vnstable and vnadvised people, being cousened and cunny-catched by their impostures were contented to bee reconciled to the Church of Rome, being wonne there vntounto by their stupendious miracles. A booke also or two was penned, to be spread abroade beyond the seas, of the admirable dominering of these Priests over the possessing spirits, and of the wonders which they had done vppon them. Notwithstanding now by the confessions of three of the females, & one man, al which then were the pretended possessed p. 279persons, & of another thē a Priest & a personal actour in this exploit (all these five being sworne & speaking vponupon oth) it is manifestly and vndoubtedly discovered, to be most egregious, insignious, illustrious both varletry & vilainy, that among mē professing religion & devotiō was ever heard. A man may wel suppose, that the casting out of Devils, and doing of other wonders in India & farre countries, by the Iesuites and Priestes, is a true honest & holy matter, when such vnspeakeable, & vndescribable hypocrites, do dare before such multitudes of theselues conscious of their own fraud before such troupes of stāders by, some of thē being to be presupposed to be ordinarily intelligent, & in Englād where a ielousy is iustly had of their impostures, to play, acte, exploit, so lewde, fraudulent and wicked a Pageant, and thinke that they may not only go currant away with it heere, but that the fame of this busines bruted els-where, should serve thē beyond the Seas for Catholike purposes, and bee a meanes to holde vp the reputation of the Antichristian Papacy. If our seduced Romanistes vvoulde not close their eyes, they might see vppon what trashe their religion is builte, and that their leaders care not howe they bee abused and ledde by the nose, so that their owne proiectes and int…ndments be affected.

18 To draw then toward an end of this point, Popish wonders for the most part we precisely hould to be lies: others of thē if they be done, to be no better in respect of their end, but delusions and meanes to deceive men, by bringing them into errour. And cōcerning those that are really done, first we maintain, that they do not prove that the doers of thē are Gods servāts. For evē in Bede himselfe who was such a magnifier of miracles, I do find that one ssEccle. his… lib. 3. 25.Vilfridus could say thus, Cōcerning your father Colūba & his followers, whose sanctity you say you imitate, & follow his rule & precepts even confirmed by signes from heavē, I can answere that at the day of iudgment many saying to the Lord, that in his name they have prophecied, and cast out Devils, & done many wonders, the Lord shall aunswere I knovve you not, vvhichwhich aunswere of Vilfridus beeing grounded on the vvordes of CHRIST is of infallible verity. Secondlie we saye that miracles done doe not confirme, that the doctrine of those vvho doe them, is verity: since that for the convincing p. 280of the Devill, God hath suffered heretikes to do wonders: not to ratifie their errours, but to confirme other of his truth. VVhichWhich may aptly be applyed to the reports of miracles shewed by the Iesuits in the Indies, if so be that any of them be true. For ssCon. ca. 2Costerus one of their own companions most appositely informeth vsus thus, They doe saie that some of the Novatians in times past did miracles, but it vvas in testimonte of the Catholike faith amonge the Gentiles, not in vvitnesse of their errour, as hee vvho did cast out Divels in Christes name, in the ninth of Luke. Then the doctrine of wonder-doers may be false, as the persons of miracle-workers may be reprobates. To Prophecie saith Saint ttDe simpli. praelatorū.Cyprian, and to cast out Devils, and to doe greate wonders on the earth, is a high and admirable matter. Yet he doth not attaine the kingdome of heaven, vvhosoever is founde in all these, vnlesse hee doe goe in the observation of a tust and right vvay. Thirdely vve teach that it is no argument of falsehoode in faith, not to bee able to doe vvonders, since the time of them is ceased, and vvhen they were at the best, they had in them no enforcement to make men beleeue the trueth. For as … Chrysostome saith, Amonge the Iewes also, miracles were shewed … Inpsa. 45.neither by them vvas there any profite brought to their salvation. For as the beames of the Sunne are not sufficient, vnlesse the … also bee pure and sounde, so neither heere also doe onelie miracles suffice. And so Saint uu…e duplici martyrio.Cyprian, H…vve manie incureable diseases deathe Lorde heale with a word, to how many blinde men did hee giuegive sight, &c. And yet few beleevedon him, & hee heard, In Beelzebub hee casteth out Devils. Afterward it was so even with the same Iewes, they in the time of xxSoct. li. 3. 17.Iulian the Apostata going about to reedifie the temple at Hierusalem, and God shewing three straunge vvonders against it, but yet they woulde not come to Christianitye. Not long after that, yyLib: 7: 4:a Iew comming to be a Christian was miraculously healed of a disease, and yet the rest of his nation would not receiue Christ. Then the ende of them novve is to little purpose, the execution of them common to the wicked vvith the godlie, the practise permitted to Antichrist and his followers, no such perpetuall marke-set on those that bee Orthodoxe, and therefore wee striue not for them, but knovve that God hath lefte a surer vvaye to vvinne men from errour, p. 281and to try who are in the trueth, and that is his worde and the operation of his sacred spirite. But yet vvee are not so blinde but to see, nor so vnthankfull but to acknovvledge, that the Lorde hath for the advauncement of the Gospell vvhichwhich vve preache, done marveilous thinges. In vvhichwhich sorte vvee accounte the large spreading of the trueth by the meanes of Luther; his vvonderfull preservation all his dayes, notwithstanding his enemies, so many, so mighty, so malicious; his dying quietly zzSleid. l. 16in his bed, in such peace of body and minde, and in that honourable accompte, as that even then vvhen hee dyed, hee vvas chosen an arbitratour to decide controversies betweene the noble Countyes of Mansfeld. VVee thinke that it vvas marveilous, that vvhen such a … massacre was made of the Protestantes in Fraunce, in the yeere 1572, there shoulde remaine … Commēt: relig. & reiptn Gal. lib: 10.so many still, as hauehave propagated so renoumed a Church, as they hauehave at this day. That such plenty of bbLib: 12:fish should bee cast vp dayly by the sea, at the seege of Rochel, vvhereby as by Manna from heaven, the people vvere for so many months releeved, and the very day that the enemies campe brake vp, the comming of the fish ceased. VVhat may vvee think that so small and maligned a Citty as Geneva is, shoulde be so long helde against the invasions and infinite plots of the Duke of Savoy, and other vvho desire the ruine & desolation of it? What of the Netherlanders, that after so many thousande Spanyardes and Italians buryed in their coastes, so many millions of Indian gold & silver spent in their country, such frawd, such force, they should stand rich and glorious at land and at sea, in better case of themselues then ever they vvere? Lastlye vvhat may bee imagined of the life and raigne of our late blessed Soveraigne, who after so many daungers comming to the Crowne, and that in so many difficulties of subiectes at home, and forraine Princes abroade, yea and of the Divell every where, did professe to maintaine the truth of God, & to deface superstitiō? And in this beginning, she with vniformity cōtinued, yeelding her land as a Sanctuary to al in the world groning for liberty of true religion, florishing in wealth honor, estimation, every way admired by al the Monarkes whither the same of her did come, and leaving p. 282matter for such a story as no Prince hath lefte the like. This Queene after the defeating of the invincible Navy in the yeare 1588, and after many other renourned prosperities, notwithstā ding the frequent conspiracies of vngodly persons against her, by the favour of the Highest, vnderunder the shaddow of whose wings shee was ever safe-garded, dyed in peace, in a full and glorious age, so beloved, honoured and esteemed of her subiects as never any Prince more. And God to testifie his owne worke, left at her death no noted calamity or misery in the kingdome, no warres, but even Ireland then calmed, no famine, no apparāt pestilence, no inundation of waters, but plenty and a boundance, with inexpected tranquillity. Yea to the end that he might crowne her with blessings, he put vnity & agreement into the Nobles, Clergy and Commons of the land, that readily they submitted them selues to the lawfull & royal successour, vnderunder whom we doubt not but to enioy religion and all earthly happinesse. Let our Papists weigh whither these things be not wonderfull. We in the meane time say, They … are the Lordes doing, and they are marveilous … Ps. 118: 23:Ps 118:23…n our eies.