excuse for their Insidelity that his works did bear witness of him And his Evangelist declares that this was the end for which these miracles are recorded that men might believe that Jesus was the son of God Afterwards when he was risen from the dead and he sent abroad his Disciples to preach the Gospel he told them that God would bear them witness by divers signs and miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost of which we have a full account in the Books of the new Testament As to all which miracles we have not the least ground of suspicion of any fraud or imposture being publickly done in the presence of enemies and written in a time when the Testimony of Writers might be easily contradicted and when all imaginable way 's were used to make the first Witnesses of these things to recant their Testimonies by the greatest severities and persecutions in stead of which they persisted with great resolution and laid down their lives rather than weaken the Testimony which they had given Thus we see such great and extraordinary effects of Divine Power which we ought to call miracles were wrought by Christ and his Apostles on purpose to confirm their own Authority that they were Persons sent from God and therefore could not deceive the World in the doctrine delivered by them 2. The Authority and Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles being thus confirmed by the miracles wrought by them there cannot be any such necessity in succeeding Ages to confirm the same doctrine by miracles For if it were once fully proved by those miracles then wrought there can want nothing further to establish the faith of succeeding Ages than a certain conveyance of those miracles to them Those miracles being wrought for the benefit of succeeding Ages as well as of that present Age And if those miracles would not serve for the Ages following as well as that present time it might with as much reason be said that then they did serve only for those who saw them For on the same ground that Persons then in regard of distance of Place were bound to believe although they did not see them wrought so likewise are others in regard of distance of time only supposing the certainty of conveyance to be equal But it is with much advantage to us by the concurrent Testimony of so many Ages and the effects of the doctrine confirmed by those miracles upon so many nations of the World not with standing all the Power and subtility which were used against it 3. The less the necessity and the greater the pretence to miracles so much more reason there is to suspect them Because God we are certain doth not imploy his Power in going beyond the common effects of nature to little or no purpose When we see that in all the writings of Scripture miracles were very sparingly wrought unless it were for the confirmation of a new Religion as that of Moses and Christ if asterwards we find such abundance of miracles pretended to that no Age or Country of one sort of men but give out that multitudes of these are done among them what must we think that God hath changed the Method of his Providence and not rather that God is true but such men are liars or through ignorance and credulity take those for miracles which are not so 4. Those cannot be true miracles which are pretended to be wrought to confirm a doctrine contrary to what is already confirmed by miracles For God will never imploy his power to contradict himself he may in the establishing of one Religion foretel the comming of another afterwards in its room by his own appointment as in the Gospel succeeding the Law but the latter miracles in this case do not contradict but rather confirm the doctrine of the former but when he hath declared that no other Religion shall come into the world after that which is confirmed by miracles as it is with the Christian Religion then to suppose miracles wrought to confirm any doctrine contrary to that is to suppose that God by miracles should contradict himself Therefore although in the beginning of a Religion the doctrine is to be proved by miracles yet that being once supposed miracles afterwards are to be tryed by the doctrine And then though an Angel from heaven should preach or offer to confirm any other doctrine by miracles than that which was first confirmed by Christ and his Apostles we are bound to reject that doctrine and to suspect those miracles not to be from God 5. Where false and lying miracles are foretold by a doctrine confirmed by true miracles there can be no reason to believe upon such miracles till they are evidently distinguished from such as are deceitful Now this is plainly the case in the Christian Religion Christ himself hath foretold that men shall arise doing such great wonders in imitation of him as should deceive if it were possible the very elect and his Apostles that his greatest enemies should appear with all power and signs and lying wonders Can any thing be now more reasonable than after such forewarnings for us to examine all pretences of miracles by trying whether they can be evidently distinguished from all deceitfull appearances of miracles which may be wrought by a power less than divine For in this case the evidence must be such as the persons concerned are to judge by to tell them any distinctions which they cannot proceed by in the judgement of miracles is to speak impertinently where rules of Judgement are required 6. If the continuance of the power of miracles be asserted to prove the Churches infallibility in every Age there must not only evident proof be given that such miracles are wrought but that they are wrought for this very end For if God may work miracles for another end either to shew his Providence in general or particular Regard to some men then the meer proving miracles cannot be sufficient but it must be shewed that these miracles could be wrought for no other end but to prove the Church infallible These things being premised I now come to shew 1. That in the Roman Church they cannot give any evident distinction between the miracles they pretend to and such which we are bid to beware of 2. That they can never prove that the miracles wrought in their Church could be wrought for no other end than to prove the infallibility of their Church 1. That in the Roman Church they cannot give any evident distinction between their miracles and such as we are bid to beware of For which we are to consider that scarce any Religion or superstition hath obtained in the world but it hath pretended to be confirmed by some kind of miracâ—es which in it self is no more a prejudice to true miracles than sophistical arguments are to true reasoning But those who pretend to miracles in a Church which is founded on a doctrine confirmed by undoubted miracles must give such
to the death of Christ and my Question will not only hold of the Apostles but of any common Jews among them who might not believe Christ infallible any more than the Sanhedrin I ask whether such might not have seen sufficient ground to believe that the Prophesies came not in old time by the will of man but by the Will of God if such persons had reason sufficient for their faith without any infallible Testimony the same I say may all Christians have of the Divine Authority of the New Testament For if the concurrent Testimony of the dispersed Jews firmly believing the divine Authority of the Old Testament were a sufficient ground for a person then to believe the Divinity of those Books why may not the concurrent Testimony of all Christians afford as sufficient a ground to believe the Authority of the Books of the New though no Ecclesiastical Senate among Christians be supposed any more infallible than the Jewish Sanhedrin was at the death of Christ and by this I hope E. W. may a little better perceive what this objection aims at But saith he hence it follows not that then there was no Jewish Church which believed the divine verities of the old Scripture O the monstrous subtilty of Jesuits who is able to stand before their terrible wits What have we to do with a Churches believing the divine verities of the Old Scripture we only enquire for the Testimony of a Church as necessary in order to others believing it If they firmly believed and yet had no infallible Testimony of a Church at that time what can be more to our advantage than this seeing it hence follows that there may be a firm faith without any Churches infallible Testimony Well but he verily thinks I mistook one objection for another perhaps I would have said that the Apostles lost faith of our Saviours Resurrection at the time of his Passion but this difficulty is solved over and over And then falls unmercifully to work with this man of clouts he throws him first down and tramples upon him then sets him up again to make him capable of more valour being shown upon him then he kicks him afresh beats him of one side and then of the other and so terribly triumphs over him that the poor man of clouts blesseth himself that he is not made of flesh and bones for if he had it might have cost him some aches and wounds But I assure him I meant no such thing yet if I had I do not see but after all his batteries the argument such as it is would have stood firm enough for supposing the Infallible Testimony of the Church to rest in the Apostles after our Saviours death it must have prejudiced the faith of others who were to believe that article upon their Authority if they lost the faith of Christs Resurrection 2. I instanced in those who believed in Christ and yet were not personally present at the miracles which our Saviour wrought but had them conveyed to them by such reports as the womans of Samaria was to the Samaritans Of these I ask what infallible Testimony their faith was built upon And if those persons might have a Divine Faith meerly upon rational evidence may not we much more who have evidence of the same nature but much more extensive universal and convincing than that was To this he answers by distinguishing between the Motive or the natural Proposition of faith which comes by hearing and the infallible Oracle whereupon it relies and he thinks it strange I did not see the distinction It is far easier to see the distinction than the pertinency of it to his purpose for our Question is not about the necessity of an Infallible Oracle in order to Faith but of an infallible Proposition we still yield that which our faith relies upon to be an infallible Oracle of God but if a natural Proposition of that be sufficient for faith we have all we contend for But to what purpose the Legend of S. Photina and the dispute whether she were the Samaritan woman is here inserted is very hard to understand unless he thought it the best way by any means to escape from the business in hand Next he tells us what he might answer iâ— these instances by saying with good Divinâ— that all immediate Propounders or Conveyerâ— of Divine Revelation in such particular caseâ— need not to be infallible I am glad to hear of such good Divines among them only I would know why in these particular cases an infallible proposition was unnecessary to faith if in the general case of all Christians it be now become necessary But he saith although infallibility be not necessary for young beginners seldom molested with difficulties against saith yet it is not only convenient but absolutely necessary for others more learned who often struggle to captivate their understanding when the high mysteries of Christianity are proposed Never was there certainly a more senseless answer for who are molested with difficulties against faith if those who are to be converted to Christianity are not who have none of the advantages of education to recommend the doctrines of Christianity to their minds and are filled and prepossessed with contrary prejudices Never were there such happy Converters of Infidels as the Jesuits are if they meet with such Converts who are never molested with difficulties against faith only as they grow up they begin to grow Infidels again and then it is necessary to choke them with an Infallible Church I do not at all wonder that the more learned in the Church of Rome seeing the weakness of the grounds of Faith among them do struggle with themselves about believing the mysteries of their faith but I very much wonder if so unreasonable a pretence as that of Infallibility can ever satisfie them I desire to know of these more learned believers whether they believed the Churches Infallibility before those strugglings or not if they did not how came they to be believers since there can be no divine faith without an infallible testimony if they did how came they to question whether they were to believe the particular mysteries of faith if they did believe the Church Infallible which proposed them But I suppose these learned believers were such as questioned the Infallibility of the Church and Christ and his Apostles too of which sort I doubt not there are many in Rome it self But yet he hath two other ways to solve these difficulties 1. By Gods special illumination and that I hope may serve all as well as these and then let him shew the necessity of an infallible Proponent 2. That every particular proponent as a member conjoyned with Christs infallible Oracle may be said to teach infallibly A most admirable speculation and so may every one we meet with in the streets be infallible not as considered in himself but as a member conjoyned with truth or every Sectary as a member conjoyned with
places in France What doubt can be made of the several Locks of her Hair For although they believe her Body assumed up into Heaven yet no doubt saith Ferrandus by frequent combing enough would fall off to furnish the several Churches in Rome in Spain in France and other places with it What if so many places pretend to have the true Seamless Coat of Christ is it possible they should be any of them mistaken although there could be but one true one For it is a very weak defence of Ferrandus to say that there were many made after the likeness of the true one for all places contend that they have the true It were endless to give an account of multitudes of other Relicks which Ferrandus confesses to be equally challenged by many places and which he pitifully defends by such shifts as these are But it is not enough to shew in general that there can be no sufficient credibility in the Testimony given to the Relicks of the Roman Church but I shall now shew it more particularly concerning this Vial of St. Mary Magdalen This Vial is supposed to be of her own bringing into France and it is worth the while to know how she came thither Thus the story is related in the Roman Breviary After Christs Ascension to Heaven Martha with her Sister Mary whom they suppose to be Mary Magdalen and with her Brother Lazarus and their servant Marcella and Maximinus one of the seventy Disciples of our Lord with many other Christians were put into a Ship by the Jews without any Sail or Oars that they might perish by Shipwrack but by the Providence of God the Ship came safe to Marseilles by which Miracle and Preaching the inhabitants of Marseilles and of Aix and the neighbour people were converted and Lazarus was made Bishop of Marseilles and Maximinus of Aix But Mary Magdalen having accustomed her self to prayer and a contemplative life retired into a hollow Cave of a very high Mountain where she continued thirty years separated from all conversation with men and every day was carried up by Angels to hear the Choire of Angels Sing This is contained in the fourth and fifth Lessons on July 29. in the present Roman Breviary but we are to consider that this story was not always in the Roman Breviary for those who reformed it under Pius the fifth had left it out but since it hath been thought fit to be restored again it being much for the edification of the people to hear such Legends For there is not the least pretence in Antiquity for any part of it as a Learned Doctor of the Sorbon hath at large proved shewing in a set Discourse that for a thousand years after Christ it was the constant tradition of the Greek and Latin Church that Lazarus Martha and Magdalen all dyed in the Eastern parts and not a word said of Maximinus that the whole story is taken out of a very fabulous Book pretended to be Written by Marcella the servant to Martha in the Hebrew Tongue and Translated by one Synthex into Latin and preserved by Vincentius in his History It may not be amiss to set down some of the Miracles contained in this story one is of the Persons who accompanied them and the places assigned to them as Trophimus was sent to Arles Paulus to Narbon Eutropius to Aurange Austregesilus to Eourges Irenaeus to Lyons Ferrutius to Bezanâ—on and Dionysius is placed over all France Was there eveâ— better company put together when Irenaeus dyed A. D. 205. Eutropius A. D. 464. Austrâ—gistlus A. D. 629. and Trophimus Paulus Martialis Saturninus and Dionysius are by the most Learned Writers of France cast back as far as the time of Decius and Ferrutius was a Disciple of Irenaeus It would be too tedious to relate Mary Magdalens Preaching at Marseilles notwithstanding St. Pauls prohibition which the Author saith she had not heard of but assoon as she did she retired into her Cave the manner of the conversion of the Governour of Marseilles and his Lady their going towards Hierusalem her death upon the birth of her Child in the passage St. Peters conducting him to Hierusalem seeing the badge of the Cross on his shoulders the miraculous education of the Child by sucking the breasts of his dead Mother who was found by his Father on the shore after two years playing with stones and running upon all four the Resurrection of the Mother their return to Marseilles where they found Mary Magdalen Preaching to a multitude of people the monstrous Dragon tamed by Martha with a little holy water and the sign of the Cross which was thicker than an Oxe longer than a Horse had the head of a Lyon and the strength of twelve Lyons and was supposed to be of the race of the Leviathan mentioned in Job and came by Sea from Galatia being bâ—gotten of the Leviathan on a strange beast of that Country which kills by its scent the length of an acre and what ever it touches it burns like fire these and several other such pleasant Miracles I purposely omit which Launoy calls more than old wives Tales by which Christian Religion is dishonoured and men are abused which make the enemies of Christianity despise it and fill its friends with indignation to hear so holy a Religion so horribly corrupted by the impudent lies of idle men But after all these things thus laid together can we do otherwise than believe that the Blood of Christ is kept in the Vial of St. Mary Magdalen in the Church of St. Maximin and that it boyls up every year on the day of our Saviours Passion § 6. The next thing we are to consider is the Miracles recorded in the lives of those two admirable Saints B. St. Dominick and Seraphical St. Francis The first Miracle we read of concerning St. Dominick was the miraculous prediction concerning him in the two pictures in St. Marks Church in Venice reported by no meaner a person than St. Antonin E. W's pious and learned Arch-bishop of Florence One in the likeness of St. Paul with those words over it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and under these Per istum itur ad Christum over the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and under Facilius itur per istum it seems St. Paul was but a very ordinary Preacher if compared wtth the Founder of the order of Preaching Fryers But this prediction did not so plainly set him forth as the Vision his Mother had near her time of travel with him viz. that she bore a Whelp which carried a fire-brand in his mouth which set the whole World on Fire which had its full accomplishment by his being the first Author of the blessed Inquisition for he was a true fire brand having not near so much light as heat in him Jansenius tells us that he had no kind of mercy upon Hereticks that he was rather a Lyon than a
done by Christ or his Apostles No I confess they understood nothing of the miraculous virtue of the Rosary that was reserved for a new discovery to help these latter Ages of the World We read only of their casting out Devils by Fasting and such Prayer as Christ instructed them in but they were to seek in the way of tying Beads about their necks or exorcising with one hundred and fifty Ave Marys But all the vertue of this admirable Rosary doth not lie only in tormenting Devils for very extraordinary things are reported of it in another way Bzovius saith That a Lady in Spain being carried prisoner into Africa and there put to lie in among the Cattel falls to the Rosary of the blessed Virgin and presently the blessed Virgin appeared and performed the office of a Midwife to her and Christ in the habit of a Priest came and baptized the Child not long after an Angel came and invited her to the Churching and led her to an unknown Church with St. Anne and St. Magdalen the blessed Virgin being present and Christ again in person performed the office Are not these fit things to be inserted in Ecclesiastical Annals But something must be allowed to Bzovius for the honour of St. Dominick and the Rosary invented by him He that can believe all these Miracles already reported of St. Dominick need not stick at any of the rest as his Books being preserved dry in the midst of the water his walking dry in the midst of storms his raising forty Englishmen out of the water at Tholouse his blessing a Cup of Wine so that it served one hundred and four persons and not a drop of it missing his turning the Worm that came out of the Womans breast at Rome into a rich Jewel his raising the Cardinals Nephew from the dead his being lifted up from the ground at his devotion he that sees sufficient reason to believe the reporters of these things upon their bare words must rest satisfied that St. Dominick wrought Miracles § 7. But the Seraphical St. Francis did not come much behind him in this pretended gift of working Miracles I do not find that he had such a power over Devils as St. Dominick had but however he did wonderful things in his way It seems St. Francis himself was not so terrible to Devils as Br. Juniper was for St. Francis used to threaten the Devils that if they would not go out of persons he would bring Br. Juniper to them at whose name they presently flew away saith Wadding For they had so great a consternation upon them at the approach of Juniper that a possessed person perceiving at a quarter of a miles distance his coming towards him ran away for seven miles together crying and howling as the same grave and late Author relates Yet one time the Devil who owed him a spight was like to have been too hard for him when he was condemned to be hanged for a Spy and was upon the Rack and there confessed himself a Traytor but by good fortune the F. Guardian espying him and knowing his simplicity for Wadding confesses he was commonly accounted a Fool procured his release But the Devil if the Franciscans Annalist may be credited was not so much asraid of coming near St. Francis for finding him once in the Cave of Monte d' Alverno he was like to have tumbled him down headlong from thence had not the Rock miraculously yielded to his hands so that he left the impression of his fingers in the place he laid hold on which saith Wadding were to be seen many years after but were at last cut away for fear any person should go thither to confute him But although St. Francis had not that power over him that goes about like a roaring Lyon yet he had an extraordinary power over a devouring Wolf as appears by the story of his miraculous conversion by him Wadding relates the story very briefly having a mind to be at the end of it but he agrees in substance with the rest and refers us particularly to the Speculum vitae Sti Francisci wherein it is related at large in short it is this there was a terrible Wolf not far from Eugubium that spared neither man nor beast which kept the people in so much fear that they durst not stir out of the gates of the City St. Francis moved with a pious zeal not to kill but to convert this Wolf out he goes at the gates of the City with no other Armour than what he could presently make with his fingers viz. the sign of the Cross the people were got upon the tops of their Houses to see the issue of this encounter the Wolf comes with open mouth towards him St. Francis presently shuts his mouth with the sign of the Cross see here saith Spoelberch the wonderful vertue of the sign of the Cross After this St. Francis comes to parly with the Wolf in a familiar manner and says to him Brother Wolf I command thee in the name of Christ that thou hurt neither me nor any one else Upon which he immediately falls on the ground in the posture of a penitent St. Francis takes him to confession laying open before him the horrid cruelties he had committed but at last offers terms of agreement between him and the City the Wolf by the moving of his tail and ears plainly shewed that he understood and accepted his offer St. Francis then tells him he knew he did all this to satisfie his hunger therefore he would take care he should be provided for if he would promise he would never hurt any body again The Wolf bows his head in token of consent and when St. Francis held out his hand to make the bargain sure the Wolf put his right foot into his hand very well understanding the way of contracts Upon this the Wolf quietly walks along with him towards the City the people seeing that flocked in great abundance about him St. Francis makes an excellent Sermon on the occasion and at last assures them of the conversion of Brother Wolf and acquaints them with the promise he had made for his maintenance the Wolf renews his promise before them all as formerly The People were filled with great joy and the Wolf lived very innocently and neighbourly among them all the rest of his days and the people much lamented his death This story I confess I did not expect to have met with any where else than in the Golden Legend or the ingenious Book of Conformities but not only finding it in other more creditable Authors among them but inserted into their Books of Annals by Wadding and defended by Hen. Sedulius who writ an Apology for the Book of Conformities I thought I had reason to produce it not knowing but that E. W. might reckon this among the miracles of St. Francis which might be parallel'd with those of Christ and his Apostles Cardinal Bonaventure doth
Meliapor were mixed with Lime and Sand which no doubt were designed to preserve them from corruption And Paulus Zacchias a learned Roman Physician hath declared that the incorruption of bodies by Salt Nitre or Lime is so far from being a miracle that it hath nothing of wonder in it And yet this must be cryed up as a strange miracle in Xaverius his Body which would have passed for a common accident in any one else it being so well known to be an ordinary effect of nature to preserve bodies a long time from corruption by the use of things which are of so drying a nature as those are But as to all these miracles whose relation we have from the Jesuits in the East Indies we are to consider what credit their testimony deserves with us for if they are men who think it lawful to lye for a good cause as no doubt the honour of their Society is such with them how can we with any tolerable discretion relye upon their words And what will those men stick at who have had the impudence to insert fabulous miracles and stories into the very history of the Gospel For which we are to understand that Acabar Emperour of the Mogols having given liberty to the Jesuits to live in the City of Agra desired of Hierome Xavier the chief of them a kinsman of the former Francis Xavier and a man of such an Apostolical Spirit faith Alegambe an account of the life and miracles of Christ. The subtle Jesuit very well understanding their own doctrine about the obscurity and insufficiency of Scripture durst not put into his hands the four Evangelists but framed an excellent Gospel of his own A. D. 1602. which he declares at the end of it to have taken out of the Holy Gospel and the Books of the Prophets and we may judge of his sincerity by these passages In the beginning of it he relates the story of the Virgin Mary not as it is in the Evangelists but as he had taken it out of a a silly Book de Nativitate S. Mariae attributed to St. Hierom but rejected not only by Erasmus but by Baronius Canus Sixtus Senensis and others and the true Author is supposed by some to be Seleucus the Manichee whether it were he or no Baronius saith he was so ignorant as not to avoid manifest lyes however this new Evangelist thought him a fit Author for him to make a new Gospeâ— out of the better to please the Great Mogol He tells him out of that Book that Joachim and Anna the Parents of the Blessed Virgin being very Rich and Childless â—ad made a vow to God if they had a Son to devote him to his service one time Joachim went up to the Temple to offer up his Sacrifice there and Issachar the High Priest rejected him a notorious lye saith Baronius for no such man as Issachar could be High Priest then upon which he and his Wife went â—way discontented at last God sent an Angel to comfort Joachim and told him he should have a daughter and should call her name Mary who should be filled with the Holy Ghost from her conception and charged them to perform their vow about her education in the Temple he is so punctual as to set down the very day of her conception and birth and relates the occasion of keeping the Feast of her Nativity among Christians viz. a revelation made to an Eremite that she was born the eighth of September when the Eremite heard strange Melody in the Heavens upon that day upon which Innocent the fourth appointed the Feast to be kept What Gospel and Prophets had this Jesuit met with to take these excellent stories from But it must be from one of the Prophets indeed since Innocent the fourth lived 1250. years since the birth of Christ. The Blessed Virgin as Xavier's Gospel goes on at three years old upon Friday the twenty first of November was carryed up to the Temple and there shut up in a Holy place to be educated most of the modeâ—â— Commentators on this new Gospel tell us it was the Holy of Holies which it seems was then turned into a Nunnery and for elevâ—â— years together they say she never went oâ—â— of that place if any one should boldly ask what conveniencies she could have there they readily answer that she needed nonâ— being fed by Angels all that time with spiritual food So Canisius Poza and others in Theophilus Raynaudus and Benedictus Gonâ—nus adds that Zachary Father to St. John Baptist saw the Angel that carried her meat to her for which he quotes Pantaleon in Metaphrastes no doubt an excellent Author but Xavier saith that for the most part she had her food from Heaven I omit her vow of Virginity the manner of her Espousals with Joseph and the reason of them viz. to cheaâ— the Devil the blossoming of Josephs Rod the particular description of the Virgin Maries countenance with great blewish eyes and golden locks c. all which he sets off with as many circumstances as if they had made a considerable part in our Gospels but one of the greatest miracles of her beauty was that a wicked man by looking upon her was converted It was great pity then she went no oftner abroad that she might have reformed the world by her Countenance Afterwards he describes the manner of the Angels Salutation of the Blessed Virgin so exactly that it plainly appears he despised the rudeness of the Evangelists in their manner of expressing it The Blessed Virgin saith he was then sitting in her Parlour musing upon that saying of Esaias A Virgin shall conceive c. and she mightily desired to see that Virgin and wished she might be her hand-maid while she was in these thoughts an Angel comes in like a beautiful young man with great splendour and falls upon his knees â—nd fixed his eyes on the ground and with great devotion said Ave Maria c. She was not surprized saith he at the sight of the Angel for she had often conversed with Angels before but at his humble posture and the honour he gave to her Who can now doubt the lawfulness of praying to the Blessed Virgin when the Angel Gabriel said the Ave Maria upon his bended knees to her After the Angel had delivered his message â—he made him wait saith Xavier till Midnight before she gave any answer then saith he in the very point of Midnight she fell upon her knees and with her head downward and eyes full of tears and her arms a cross she said Ecce ancilla Domini c. Much in the same way he describes the manner of her delivery only that her eyes were then lifted up towards Heaven I pass bâ— the fabulous miracles he relates concerning the birth of our Saviour of which there iâ— not one word in Scripture or any good Historian The story of the wise men with
their names Melchior Caspar and Balthasar of theâ—â— Kingdoms and how their Bodies came to be carried to Cologn which was much for the Great Mogols edification to know the mâ—racle of the letter Vau blotted out by old Simeon which he found in the word afterwards the check the Angel gave him and how thereby he came to owne the Messias the care Anna had over the young Virgins in the Temple and the manner of observing her Feast with Wax Candles the miracles wrought in Aegypt at Christs being there the miracle of the Pool of Bethesda being caused by the wood of the Cross being hid there by King Solomon which floated in our Saviouâ—â— time and when they took it out for the crucifying Christ then the Pool lost its vertue and abundance of other interpolations and corruptions of the story of the Gospel but by these few we may guess what sincerity we are to expect from such men in the relating the miracles of their own order who cannot keep their hands off from forgery and imposture in relating the story of the Gospel And after the same manner Xavier hath published the History of St. Peter But lest any should imagine that these Books were framed and set forth by some enemies to the Jesuits to the disgrace of their Order Alegambe confesses they were both written in the Persian Language by Hierome Xavier and faithfully translated into Latin by Lud. de Dieu some very few faults he takes notice of but they are so slight that they confirm his Authority in all the rest Let now any impattial man judge whether such Persons deserve any faith in relating other miracles that dare so horribly to adulterate and corrupt the very story of the Bible but they little thought these abominable frauds would ever have come to light in these parts to make us truly understand what kind of Gospel it is which they propagated in the Indies and how unlikely it is that God should give the attestation of miracles to such lewd forgeries And thus much may suffice for comparing the credibility of the Testimony on which miracles are received in the Roman Church with that upon which we believe the miracles of Christ and his Apostles Enough one would think not only to stop the mouth of E. W. for the future but even of Impudence it self § 11. 3. I now come to shew the notorious frauds and impostures which have beeâ— discovered in the Roman Church in this point of miracles It was an easie matter in an Age oâ— Credulity and Ignorance to set up for a power of miracles for few men were inquisitive into the nature and circumstances of things and those who understood generally the best iâ— those times were either Contrivers or Friends yet it so fell out that some notorious impostures have been discovered which have differed in nothing from those which have passed for true miracles among them but only in the fortune of being discovered Glabâ—â— Rodulphus in his History tells a story of his own knowledge of a certain Person that went up and down pretending to do great wonders after the great feats he had done in France he goes into the Alps and there pretends to have found the Relicks of St. Justus the Martyr the Countrey people flocked in to him and they who came whole and sound were sorry they had no Disease or Lameness to be cured But certain it is saith the Historian strange Cures were wrought there the Bishops in whose Diocesses these things were done instead of making strict enquiries demanded money to give licence to deceive the People At last one Maâ—sred a Great man in those parts caused the Body which wrought these miracles to be taken away and placed in a Monastery of his own erecting and this Relick-Finder grew into great request with him promising to discover more precious Relicks than these and he told him the names of the Martyrs and manners of suffering very exactly Some persons among whom the Historian himself was one asked him how he knew these things he told them that an Angel appeared to him in the night and told him all the things he desired to know and lifted him out of his bed and after many discourses they parted very lovingly Although some of them suspected the imposture yet the Bishops who consecrated the Church with great Pomp and applause of the People who were innumerable solemnised the translation of these Relicks And although afterwards the wiser sort found out the cheat and that the Body was taken at a venture in the night out of a Grave yet the work of miracles went on as well as if the Martyr had been there and the People still continued in the belief of it This the Historian saith he purposely inserted to discover the imposture of those pretended miracles Gulielmus Neubrigensâ—s gives an account of a seditious person in London in the time of Richard the first called William Longbeard who stiled himself the Saviour of the Poor and had gotten so great an interest among the People that he had two and fifty thousand men at his command at last he was seized on and executed bâ—â— after his death the people cryed him up for â— Martyr and a Priest got one of his Chains and gave out that he cured one sick of â— Fever by it the people being encourageâ— by this took away the very Gallows where he hung in the night and all the earth about it where any of his blood was supposed to be spilt and they digged so far as to make â— Pitt with carrying away the earth for the Cure of Diseases By these instances we see what a disposition the people were in to be deluded under a pretence of Relicks and Miracles But it may be said that such impostors may be in any Religion and this reflects no moâ—â— dishonour on the Roman Church than Simon Magus did upon the Apostles I proceed therefore to shew that Persons who have been countenanced and encouraged in that Church have been found guilty of imposture At the latter end of the twelfth Century appeared one Fulco a man very famous for the great miracles wrought by him and his extraordinary way of preaching He was saith Jacobus de Vitriaco a plain Countrey Priest very simple and illiterate who had been a â—oose and dissolute man but being now reâ—ormed to the University of Paris he goes â—o get some Authorities and Moral Docuâ—ents in his Note-books which saith he he â—â—â—nished himself with as so many smooth â—â—ones to destroy Goliah Being thus far armed â—e pretends a Commission from Heaven to go â—broad to preach in all places and gave out â—hat the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and â—ad fitted him for that work and bad him go â—â—each repentance in all places and that she â—ad bestowed the Gift of Healing upon him â—s Otto de Sancto Blasio tells us Upon this â—e preaches at Paris to the great admiration â—f
discovery by these persons whom they disposed of in several places and fed with money and promises and kept from their Friends and sometimes threatning them that if they confessed any thing the Devil would possess them worse than before and withal told them that without an Oath they might say any thing to excuse themselves but Harrington a Priest that had taken to himself one of the Wenches afterwards under pretence of marrying her told Friswood Williams which was her right name that if she were examined upon Oath the Church did dispence with her so as she might answer what she thought good notwithstanding because an Oath did not bind her to confess any thing that might tend to the dishonour of their Priesthood or of the Catholick Church Before this imposture was discovered it did the Priests very great service for Anthony Tyrrell one of the Priests in his examination confessed that in the compass of half a year they had gained five hundred persons to their Church and some said three or four thousand And the Priests had written several Books concerning the miracles wrought by them full of most notorious forgeries as appeared by the particular examination of the Persons pretended to be dispossessed by them Tyrell said that Weston the Provincial of the Jesuits had written a Quire of Paper of the Visions of Mainey one of the persons out of whom he said he had cast out Devils and another Book to prove the continuance of this power in their Church and to shew the vertue of holy Relicks especially of their late Tyburn Saints Campian Sherâ—in Brian and Coltam This business making so much noise put the Persons in Authority upon enquiring more strictly into it and having at last seized upon some of the Persons concerned in it in their several examinations upon oath they confessed the whole cheat as I have delivered it from them Their examinations were entred upon Record in the Court of High-commission and afterwards published A. D. 1604. with a particular declaration of the whole imposture In which any person may satisfie himself of the Truth of what I have reported and abundance of circumstances which I have omitted Tyrell the Priest upon his oath June 15. 1602. declared in his consession written with his own hand that having perused the examinations of Sara Williams and Friswood her sister of Anne Smith and of Richard Mainey he was fully perswaded that they have deposed the truth in such points whereof they were examined belonging to their pretended possession or dispossession The effect whereof saith he is that they were drawn by our cunning carriage of matters to seem as though they had been possessed when as in truth they were not neither were any of the Priests ignorant in my Conscience of their dissimulatino nor the parties themselves as now it appeareth of our dissembled proceeding with them And afterwards adds a very material thing viz. For although both my self and so I think of the rest did know that all was but counterfeit yet for as much as we perceived that thereby great credit did grow to the Catholick cause and great discredit to the Protestants we held it lawful to do as we did For the general conceit saith he among all the Priests of that Order is that they may deny any thing which being confessed doth turn to the dishonour of the Catholick Church of Rome and concludes his confession with saying that they do not account it evil as I verily think to câ—lumniate the Protestants by any device whatsoever that may carry any probability with it nor make any Conscience at all to tell and publish any untruths which they think being believed may advance and promote such points and matters as they take upon them to defend for the honour of the Church of Rome and dignity of their Priesthood Judge now Reader whether such persons do not deserve the highest credit in all their stories of Miracles who think it lawful both to cheat and lie for the sake of their Church Not twenty years after the discovery of this imposture â—e find them at the same work again when they writ the faithful narration of the proceedings of the Catholick Gentlemen with the Boy of Bilson with this sentence at the beginning and end of it Non nobis Domine non nobis sed Nomini tuo da Gloriam Whereas the history of this imposture is so particularly laid open by the confession of the Boy himself that it would make any others but such as have the impudence to compare their frauds and impostures with the miracles of Christ and his Apostles be ashamed ever to mention or own it Such another imposture Thuanus at large relates concerning Martha Brossier A. D. 1599. which gave great disturbance in France happening so soon after the edict of â—ants One James Brossier being weary of his poor imployment at home wanders from place to place with his three Daughters and this Martha pretended to be possessed with an evil Spirit and although the cheat was discovered in other places yet at Paris they hoped to meet with some who would be ready to make use of such a counterfeit possession for their own ends accordingly there the Capuchins presently lay hold upon her and perswade the people she was really possessed the Arch-Bishop of Paris disliking the Capuchins proceedings appointed some of the ablest Physicians in Paris to watch and examine her who presently suspected the imposture but desired further time and advice In the mean while Fr. Seraphin very solemnly falls to his Exorcisms and she acted her part so artificially with writhing her body rolling her eyes and trembling of all her joynts as caused great astonishment in the Spectators but at these words Homo factus est she moved her whole body in so strange a manner from the Altar to the doors of the Chappel that Fr. seraphin cried out if there be any Infidel yet among you let him come and try his strength with this Spirit At which Marescot the Physitian said he would do it then the cunning Gypsie cried that the Spirit had left her wherein she was seconded by the Exorcist While the Physitians were by she lay very still but she no sooner thought them gone but she was at her old tricks Then these Physitians were shut out and others brought in who would be more favourable to the design and by these a certificate was drawn up attested by themselves that she was really possessed and an Abbot affirmed that when she was held by six men she got above their heads four foot into the air and there stood When this account of her was published Marescot confuted it answering all their arguments and giving an account of all the strange Symptoms which were sâ—en in her But so much were the people moved by this that there was great danger of a tumult the King therefore gave order to the Parliament to prevent riotous meetings and to commit the pretended possessed person to