Confutation of Unwritten Verities, Chapter 6
¶Neyther are miracles able to proue our fayth
¶The .vi. Chapter.
EXodus .7. 8. The wise men / and inchaunters of Pharao / turned their roddes into serpentes / and the waters of Egipt into bloode: and made all the whole lande to swarme with frogges / through their sorceries.
DEuteronum .13. If there aryse among you / a Prophete / or a dreamer of dreames / and geue thee a signe or a wōder / and that signe or wonder / which he hath sayed / come to passe / and then saye: let vsus got after straunge goddes / which thou hast not knowen / and let vsus serue them: Harken not vntounto the wordes of that Prophet / or dreamer of dreames. For the lord thy god tempteth thee / to wete whether ye louelove the lorde your God / wyth all youre hartes / and all youre soules.
IEremye .23. Beholde here am I▪ sayeth the LORDE / agaynste those Prophetes that dare prophesye lyes / and deceyue my people wyth their vanities and miracles▪ whom I neuer sent / nor cō maunded.
MAth .7. Many shal saye to me in those dayes / LORDE / hauehave we not prophesyed in thy name? hauehave we not caste oute deuils in thy name? and then it shall bee answered them: I neuer knewe you / departe from me you children of iniquite.
MAth .12. An euyll and froward generacyon saketh a sygne / and there shall no sygne bee geuen to them / but the signe of Ionas the Prophete.
MAthewe .24. There shall a / rise false CHRISTES / and false Prophetes / and shal shewe greate miracles / and wonders / in so muche that / if it were possyble / euen the verye electe shoulde bee disceaued:Mar. 13. but take you hede / beeholde / I hauehave shewed you al thynges before.
THessa .2. The commyng of that wicked one (meanīg Antichrist) shalbe after the working of S… than / with all lyenge power / signes and wonders / and wyth al disceit of vnrighteousnesse of them / that shall peryshe: beecause they receaued not the louelove of the trueth / that they myght be saued. And therefore God shal sende them stronge delusyōs / that they myght beleue lyes: that all they myght be damned / which beleued not the truth / but had pleasure in vnrighteousnes.
ACtes .8. Simon Magus / an in chaunter / by his wonders bewitched the Samaritans.
ACtes .13. Elimas the sorcerer had of long tyme deceyued the Antiochians. Read the stories.
IRene lib .1. Telleth of a certen Iugler / called Marke / whiche in the sacrament of thankes geuing wonderfully deceaued the simple people. For he so chaunged the coloure of wyne / that it appeared vtterly to be bludde: and a litel wine so increased through his Iugling / that the chalyce was fylled / and ranne ouer.By this example ye maye iudge of the popishe miracles. By this Iugling it is playne inough / that those myracles / that be alledged of many men for the real presence in the sacrament of the alter / doe not confyrme their error / but be very delusions of the deuyl or of his iuglyng ministers.
CHrysostome in his .4. 9. Homilie vpō the .24. of Math.True Christiās work miracls profitable to the seers: but the wicked without profit at all Afore time it was knowē which wer true Christen men and which false by miracles. but how were the false knowen? Because they could not worke. such or lyke miracles / as true Christē men did: but they wroughte vaine thinges / making men to wonder / but bringing no profit at al. But the Christians did miracles / which not onelye brought wonders / but also profyte: & by these they were knowen / whyche were true Christians / and whyche false. But now workyng of miracles is vtterly taken awaye. Yea coūterfet miracles are rather founde amonge them / that be false Chrystians: as Peter declareth in Clement. Antichriste shal hauehave full power geuen him / to worke great miracles.
THe same in his first oracyon agaynste the Iewes / vpō thys place of Deutero .13. If there a rise among you a Prophete or a dreamer of dreames &c. That / that he saith (sayeth Chrysostome) is thys: if any Prophete saye / I can rayse a dead mā and geue syghte to a blinde man / obey me / let vsus worship deuils / let vsus do sacrifice to Idols:God sufferth wicked men to worke miracles for the tryall of the faythfull moreouer if a man speake thus / that he can geue the blīd his syghte / rayse the dead… yea though he doe these thynges: beleue him not. for the Lord trieng thee suffereth him to doe them / not that he knewe not thy mynd / but to geue thee occasyon of tryall whether thou louelove God in dede.
THe same in Iohn Cap. 2.The faithfull nede no miracles. for signes are gyven to the vnbelevers .1. Corin .14. In the ende of the .22. Homilie. Ther be some doubtles now a daies / that aske why men worke no miracles now. If thou be faithful / as thou oughtest to be / if thou louelove Christ / as he shoulde be loued / thou nedest no miracles: for signes are geuen to vnbeleuers and not to the faythfull.
AVgustyne agaynst faustus the Manachee. lib. 15. Cap. 5. The Scriptures / that be stablyshed and sette forth by so greate authorite / ye despice: miracles you work none: which though you did / yet we woulde beware of you / by the Lorde instructing and teachinge vsus / saying: there shal aryse false Chrystes &c.
THe same of the citie of god li. 20. Cap. 19. The presence of Antichrist shalbe after the workynge of Sathan / with all lyinge powers / as a fore. For then shall Sathā be let lose / and by him Antichrist / with all his power / shal worke meruelously but lyingly: of the which miracles it was wonte to be doubted / whether they be called lyinge signes and wonders for thys cause / that he shall deceaue mans senses with visions / so that he semeth to do the thyng that he doeth not in dede / or els beecause thesame / although they be true miracles and not counterfet / yet they draw mē to beleue that thei can not be done / but by the power of god: whereas me…ne knowe not the power of the deuyll: chefely seing that how greate soeuer power he hath / he hath receued it. For when fier fel down from heauen / and with one dashe destroyed s… greate afamilie wyth so many heardes of cattayll of holy Iob / & a sodayne whirle winde / ouerthrowing his house / slew his children: these were no disceauable visions / but for eueryevery one of these it is sayed: they shall be beegiled with signes and wonders / that shall deserue to be begiled / for so much as thei hauehave not receyued the louelove of the trueth / that thei might be saued. Neither did the Apostle / feare to saye and adde: god shal sende them strong delusyons / that they should beleue lies. For god doth sende these thynges / because he suffereth the deuyll to dooe them: he in dede bi his iust iudgemēt / although the deuill doeth it of a wycked and malicious purpose.
THe same of the vnite of the churche. Cap. 16. Let thē shewe their church / if they can / not in the sayinges and in the fame of the Affricanes / not in the determinaciōs of their bishoppes / not in any mans reasonynges / not in false sygnes and wonders (for agaynst all thys we bee warned and armed by gods word) but in the thynges appoynted in the law / spoken afore by the Prophetes / in the songes of the Psalmes / in the voyce of the shepeharde himselfe / and the prea thynges and paynefulnes of the Euā gelys…s / that is in the authorite of the bokes Canenical:Al doctrine ought to be tryed by the canonicall in plaine sense: and not by wordes, that be darke, doubtful or figuratyue. but not so that thei may gather and rehearse those thīgs / that be spoken da…kely and doubtfully and figuratiuely, whych eueryevery man may vnderstande as he lyst after hys own mynd. For suche thynges cannot be vnderstanded and expounded rightly / except those thynges / that be verye playnlye spoken / bee perceaued before wyth a constante fayth. Let him not saye thys is true / beecause I saye it / or because my companyon saith thus / or these my companions / or these our Byshoppes / Clarkes / or laye menne:Miracles shewed at the tombes of saintes proue no doctrine. or els / it is true / because such miracles did Donatus / Pontius / or what soeuer other: or els because men praye at the tombes of our dead menne / and be heard: or because these and these thīgs chaunced there: or that thys brother of ours / or thys syster of ours sawe suche a vision: ether wakyng / or slepynge in hys dreame / sawe suche a vysyon or syght:Visions seen eyther in dreame… or being awake cā not make any doctryne away with these. Either they be faynyngs of lying men / or the wonders of deceytfull deuyls. For eyther they are not true / that are spoken: or if any miracles bee done amonge Heretykes / we ought the more to take hede of them / beecause that when the Lorde had sayed there shold come some / that by workyng diuerse myracles shoulde deceyue / if it were possyble / the verye electe: he added / and earnestlye settynge foorth the thyng sayed: behold / I hauehave tolde you before.
Whereof the Apostle / admonishing them / speaketh playnlye: that in the latter tymes menne shoulde departe from the faythe / geuynge hede to spirites of errour / and doctrynes of deuyls. Further more if any man bee heard praying at the tōbes of hereti… he receueth / whether it be good or euil not for the merite of the place / but for the merite of his desyer.Men be heard at the tombes of heretikes and yet is not their doctrine true. For the sprite of the lord / as it is wrytten / filleth the whole world / and the earnest eare heareth all thynges / and many be heard of god when he is angry / of whō the Apostle sayth: he had geuen them vp to their hartes desier. And god to many / whom he fauoureth / geueth not what they woulde / that he maye geue them that whiche is profytable: wherfore saith the same Apostle of the stīge of his flesh / the messenger of Sathan (which he said was geuen hym to buffet him lest he should be exalted aboue measure by the greatnes of reuelacions) for the whiche I prayed the lorde thrise / that he would take it away frō me / and he sayed vntounto me: my grace is sufficient for thee / for my strength is made perfect through weaknes. Doe we not reade that many mē wer hard of god himselfe in the hyghe places of Iurye? which highe places neuertheles so displeased god / that kings which destroyed them not were blamed / and kynges that destroyed them wer praysed. But thys ought to be vnderstāde / that the desyer of him / that praieth / is more worthy or of more strength / thē the place of prayer:The deuill worketh miracles in the temples and Idols of the gētils although their religion be false an detestable. but of false vysiōs let them reade what is written / both that Sathan doth chaunge himselfe into an Angell of light / and that their dreames hauehave deceyued many mē: let them also heare what the heathen tel of their temples and godes / wonderfully eyther done or sene / and yet neuertheles the gods of the heathen be deuils / but the Lorde made the heauēs. Therfore many mē be heard and after many diuerse sorts / not only catholyke Christians but also panimes / and Iewes and heretikes geuen to diuerse errours & supersticions: doubtles they ar heard eyther of deceitfull spirits / which neuertheles do nothing except they be permitted of god hyghly and vnspeakeably / iudging what is mete to be geuen to eueryevery man / or els of god hīself either for the punishmēt of malice / or the cōfort of miseri / or for the admonishmēt of eternal saluaciō.Menne ought to prou… thēselfes to be the true churche by none other me… nes, but by the scripturs only. Neyther miracles nor agrement of Bishops in doctryne proue any thing in religion. But to that eternall saluaciō cōmeth no mā / but he that hath the head christ Yea & no mā cā hauehave the head Christ / which is not in his body the churche. which church / lyke as the head it self / we must know in the canonical scripturs / & not to seke it in diuers rumors & …p…niōs of mē / not in factes, sayīges & sights &c. Let al this sort of them be chaffe / & not geue sētēce afore hande agaīst the wheate / if thei be the church▪ but whether thei be the church / let thē shew none other wais but bi the cāonical bokes of the holi scripturs. For neither doe we saye that men oughte to beleue vsus / because we are in the catholyke church of Christ / or because Optaiꝰ bishop of Miliuet / or Ambrose bishop of Miliane / or that innumerable other bishops of our cōgregaciō doe a lowe this doctrine that we kepe / or be cause in churches of our cōpaniōs it is preached or els because that throughe the whole world in those holy places / wher our cōgregaciōs resorte / so many wōders ether of hearings / or of healynges be done: so that bodyes of martirs / being hid so many years / (whyche if they wil aske / thei may learne of many) were shewed to Ambroser or that at those bodyes a certaine mā / beeing many yeres blynd / wel knowen to the whole citie of Miliane / receiued hys eyes & his sight: or because he beyng in a dreame dyd …ee / or he beeyng rapt in spirite did heare / eyther that he …old not goe to the part of the Donatistes / or that he should depart from theyr opinion. What so euer suche thynges be done in the catholike churche / the church is not therfore proued catholik because these be dōe in it. The lord Iesꝰ himself / whē he was risē frō death / & offred his own body to be see with the eies / & hādled with the hāds of his Apostles / lest thei shold thē thīke thēselfes to be deceiued / he rather iudged that thei ought to be stablyshed by the witnesses of the law / prophets & psalmes shewīng those thinges to be fulfilled in him / that wer spokē so lōg before: so he set forth his churche / biddinge repentaunce and forgeuenes of synnes to be preached in his name / through al nacions / beginnīg at Ierusalē. That these thynges bee wrytten in the lawe and Prophetes / himselfe witnesseth: thys is set out by worde of mouth. These are the doctrines / these are the stayes of our cause. we reade wrytten in the Actes of the Apostles of sōe faithfull men / that they searched the scripturs whether they were so. What Scryptures I pray you / but the Canonicall of the lawe & the Prophetes? to these are ioined the gospels / the Apostles Epistles / the Actes of the Apostles / and the Apocalypsis of Sayncte Iohn. Searche all these / bryng foorth some plaine thing / wherbi you may declare that the churche hath remayned only in Affricke: or that thys (whyche the Lorde sayeth shall come to passe: This gospell shalbe preached to al the world for a testimonye to all nacyons) shalbe verified of Affricke. But brynge out some what / that nedeth none interpreter: you may not be conuinced that the thynges / which is spoken of another matter / you goe about to wreste to your purpose.
CHrysostome of the contricion of the hart.Not miracle workers but the commaundemente kepers, ar called blessed of Chryste. Christ promised not that he woulde rewarde at the latter day them / that worke sygnes & wonders / but them that kepe his cō maundementes / saieng: come you blessed childrē of my father / receaue that kingdome / whyche was prepared for you from the beginning of the world He said not because you did miracles / but because I was hongrye &c. he shal also cal them blessed / not that wroght miracles, but the humble and meke in hart.
LIril in Iohn lib. 7. Cap. 13.To work miracles maketh no man holy: nor to worke no miracles hindereth his holynes, To worke miracles maketh not a man one whit more holy / s…īge that it is also common to euyll men & abiectes / as the Lorde hymselfe also witnesseth: mani shal sai to me in that day &c. And contrary wyse workyng of no miracles hindereth not a mans holynes. For Iohn wrought neyther signe nor miracle: and yet was thys no derogacion to his holines. For among the children of wemen ther was none greater then he.
SAbellic vponupon the lyfe of Celestine.Thys would be put amōg the appariciōs of the dead. Sathan counterfetteth Moses. Almost fiue hundreth yeares after Chryst the deuil / taking vponupon him the person of Moyses / shewed himself visibly in the sight of the Iewes / that dwelt at Candie: promisinge that he woulde brynge them agayne into the land of promyse / where Ierusalem stā deth / dry foted / the waters standyng on eyther syde in maner of a wall / as when the children of Israell were brought out of the land of Egipt. Many of the Iewes rashli geuing credite to these Iuglīgs / and enterynge into the sea / were ouerwhelmed with the waues thereof: excepte a fewe / the whyche at laste / beeynge warned of their vanite / became Christians.