neither Monks nor Clergy men did abstain from this base way of bringing gain to their Churches viz. by abominably cheating and abusing the People I hardly think any of the frauds of the Heathen Priests in their Temples and Oracles at Delphi Dodona and other places could exceed these Afterwards he saith that the Acts of several of their Saints were taken out of old Womens Tales and Songs and some things were written of them which were not fit for Plowmen to hear And when they make their Saints to be of great Antiquity yet they desire new Lives to be written of them Which he confesses was a request often made to himself but saith he I am apt to be deceived in the things I see what truth then could I write of the things which no man ever saw If I should yield to such a request both I that write or preach such things and they who desire them ought to be branded with publick infamy But supposing the Saints to be true yet they make lies about their Relicks so John Baptist 's head is said to be in two several places and what can be more ridiculous than to make the Baptist have two Heads one or other must cheat and deceive the people His own predecessor St. Godfridus had a mind to make a translation of the body of St. Firmin as the people were to believe after all the search they could make they found not one syllable of any intimation of such a Body 〈◊〉 St. Firmins lying there But the Bishop of the City caused an inscription to be made upon the leaden coffin Firminus Martyr Ambianorum Episcopus This he said he had from the mouth of the said Bishop and another Were not these men fit to be made Saints of who could so cunningly turn the body of any though it may be the most wicked person into the Relicks of a Saint or a Martyr and so into an object of sacred veneration among the People But to make the story of this Translation yet more pleasant Guibert tells us that about the same time the Monks of St. Denys made a solemn Translation of the same Body of St. Firmin and D'achery takes great pains to prove that the Monks had the true Body and yet the Author of the Life of St. Godefrid saith that the people were invited by that Saint to prepare themselves for the translation at Amiens and to bring their gifts and such a concourse of People came to it that one would have thought all Europe had been there Then the Bishop with the Priests went to the place where the Sacred Treasure lay and exposed the holy Relicks with great trembling to the Veneration of the People Are not these rare doings for Saints and holy Bishops thus horribly against their own Consciences to abuse the people After these Guibert relates how Odo Bishop of Bayeux brother to William the first bought the body of a Countryman called Exuperius of a Sexton for 100. pound and made a solemn Translation of it for St. Exuperius But he saith the instances of this kind are so numerous that he had neither strength nor time to relate the things which were done in this manner by those who made gain their godliness It was a common thing in those days to steal and sell Relicks of which Capgrave gives several examples and to fight for them as we find in Colganus and there was a sort of wandring Monks called Circelliones who made a trade of this Greg. Turonensis tells us of one Desiderius in the City of Tours that pretended to work strange miracles and that there were messengers passed between St. Peter and St. Paul and him to whom abundance of people flocked carrying the Blind and Lame to him to be healed and that he deceived the people by his art Another who was afterwards found to have been a Bishops servant went about cloathed in white carrying a Cross at which hung two vessels in which he said holy oyl was contained this man pâ—etended to have come out of Spain and to have brought some Relicks of Vincentius and Felix he went to Paris and drew the people after him but the Ecclesiastical Officers causing him to be searched instead of his Relicks found the teeth of Moles the bones of mice the claws of bears and the roots of herbs with which they supposed he made enchantments for the people and of such persons Gregory saith our Saviours words are to be understood that many false Prophets shall arise doing signs and wonders But of these Impostors more afterwards Afterwards Guibert vehemently disputes against those who pretended to the Tooth of our Saviour and the milk of the Blessed Virgin and makes them guilty of lying and forgery and derides the miracles that were wrought by the Monks as vain foolish and uncertain and concludes his Discourse with saying that to make gain with carrying about or shewing the pretended Relicks of Saints is a profane thing Thus we see from the Authentick Testimony of so considerable an Author in his time how little credit was to be given to the lives of the Saints or their pretended Relicks and Miracles Yet still this way of abusing the people hath been upheld and practised and their most solemn offices of Religion corrupted with shameful lies for the story of the seven sleepers and the 11000. Virgins of St. Christopher and others the most ridiculous Fables were preserved in their Breviaries and Lessons of them read upon their days as may be yet seen in the Salisbury Breviary which was most in request in England And which deserves to be taken notice of while they would by no means suffer the sacred Bible to be in the hands of the People they were well enough contented that sensless Book of the Golden Legend should be published in English to be devoutly read by them So much more did they think it their interest to feed the people with lies and fables than with the holy word of God so much more advantageous was it for them to deceive than to save their souls But it may be now they will pretend that things aâ—â— otherwise with them that the Golden Legenâ— is out of request that the Breviaries are Reformed the Martyrologies corrected the Aâ—â—â— of the Saints set forth pure and free from Fâ—bles This last I have already shewed to be very far from being true and we need no more to shew how little credit they deseâ—â—â— than what the collections of Surius Ribadineira Bollandus Colganus and such like will afford us Their Breviaries and Mâ—tyrologies I grant are in some things reformed but there are many Fables still remaining 〈◊〉 them and some of the late Correctors oâ— them instead of amending them have inserâ—â—d Tales that were never in before as Lauâ—â—â— hath at large proved in several discourses One pleasant passage often mentioned by him it may not be amiss here to insert to sheâ— the skill of the Roman
both his Books lies in this one word Infallibility But it is time to fall to my business for fear of more Advertisements and Infallibility being the main design of his Books that shall be the subject of my present debate with him And because this E. W. is a great pretender to Principles the method I shall proceed in shall be first to consider his Principles and then to defend my own For which I shall chiefly make use of his last Book it being in effect but another edition of his former the other as I suppose being disposed of to better purposes than to be read for I never heard of one person in England that read it over However what there is material in it different from the last as to the present controversie I shall upon occasion take notice of The two main Principles he builds upon are these 1. That without an Infallible Church there can be no certainty of Faith 2. That the Roman-Catholick Church is this Infallible Church If he can prove these two he shall not need any more to establish their Religion or to overthrow ours And I will say that for his praise that he hath brought the controversie into a narrow compass for he confesses it is endless to dispute out of Scripture and Fathers since witty men by their fallâ—ble Glosses can turn and winde them which way they please but there is nothing so stiff and inflexible as a standing infallible Oracle in the Church which being once believed all Controversie is at an end But we may as soon hope to see all other controversies ended by dry blows as this Principle proved to the satisfaction of any reasonable man The main proofs for the necessity of the Churches Infallibility which he insists upon are these 1. That there can be no Divine Faith without it 2. There can be no certainty as to the Canon or edition or sense of Scripture 3. There can be as little certainty as to the sense of the Fathers or the Primitive Church 1. That there can be no divine Faith without it This he frequently insists upon in both his Books and with so much vehemency as to make the deniers of Infallibility to overthrow all Faith and Religion Which being a charge of the highest nature ought to be made good by the clearest evidence Whether that which E. W. produces be so I shall leave any one to judge when I have given an Account of his Principles as to this matter In his first Book called Protestancy without Principles he begins with this subject and lays down these assertions upon which all his Discourse is built 1. That Gods infallible Revelation requires an infallible Assent of Faith or an infallible verity revealed to us forcibly requires an answerable and correspondent infallible assent of Faith in us the contrary he calls wild Doctrine this subjective infallibility as he calls it he offers very wisely to prove from those places of Scripture which speak of the assurance which Christians had of the truth of their Religion 2. This infallible assent of Faith doth require infallible Teachers for infallible believers and infallible Teachers are correlatives And in the second Chapter he goes about to prove it because if Christs infallible Doctrine be only fallibly taught no man hath certainty what it is and seeing what is fallible may be false Christs Doctrine may not be taught at all which is infallible and cannot be false and he that should abjure this fallible Doctrine doth not deny therein Christs Doctrine and cannot be upon that account an Heretick But to make Faith Infallible he asserts That every Preacher sent by the infallible Church as a member conjoyned with it is infallible in his Teaching and on the contrary whosoever renounces an Infallible society cannot teach with certainty Christs infallible Doctrine From whence he saith follows an utter ruine of Christian Religion In his third Chapter he further proves That if the Church were fallible in her Teaching God would oblige us to believe a falsity because God commands men to hear the Church and if the Church may erre then men are obliged to believe a false Doctrine taught by her And all other means short of this Infallibility would be insufficient for preserving Christian Religion in the world In the fourth Chapter he comes to a particular consideration of divine Faith and from thence proves the necessity of infallibility Faith saith he requires two things essentially an object which is Gods Revelation and a Proposition of this object by Vertue of which the elicit act of Faith follows in a believer and intellectually lays as it were hold both oâ— Gods Revelation and the thing revealed Now to prove the necessity of such an infallible Proposition in order to divine Faith hoâ— lays down some abstruse Propositions 1. That Gods infallible Revelation availâ— nothing in order to Faith unless Christianâ— by their Faith lay hold on the certainly thereof or owne it as infallible and the assured ground of their Assent 2. That the measure and degrees of certitude in the assent are according to those which the Proponent gives to the Revelation If he teaches doubtfully the assent is doubtful if probably the assent is probable is infallibly the assent is infallible the reason which he gives of this is because an object revealed receives its light from the proposal as an object of sight doth from the light of the air As long therefore saith he as the infallibility of a Revelation stands remote from me for want of an undoubted application made by an infallible proponent it can no more transfuse certainty into Faith than Fire at a great distance warm that is no more than if it were not certain in it self or not at all in Being 3. From hence he saith it follows that Protestants can only doubtfully guess at what they are to believe and consequently never yet had nor can have Divine certain and infallible Faith Because they cannot â—ropose Faith infallibly Hence he proceeds Chapter fifth and sixth to disprove Moral Cerâ—ainty as insufficient in order to Faith and destroying as he saith The very being and â—ssence of Divine and supernatural Faith because the sole and adequate object of divine and supernatural Faith is Gods infinite veracity actually speaking to us but this infinite veracity when it is duly proposed transsuseth more certainty into the elicit act of Faith than any Moral Certainty derived â—rom inferiour motives can have For all Moral Certainty is at least capable of falsity and may deceive us Gods infallible veracity cannot be false nor deceive if Faith rest upon that Motive and if it rest not there it is no Faith at all Nay he asserts that supernatural Faith is more certain and infallible than all the Metaphysical Sciences which nature can give us For which he gives this plain reason Because the infinite veracity of God which only supporteth Faith with greater force energy and necessity transfuseth into it a supereminent
he never attempts either not understanding what was fit to be proved or knowing it impossible to be done But if the infallible certainty of Faith doth depend upon inward illumination and divine concurrence the Infallibility of Faith may be had without an external Infallible Proponent And so all his first principles signify nothing to his purpose for supposing an Infallible assent of Faith necessary to an Infallible Revelation yet that doth not prove the necessity of Infallible teachers unless it can be had no other way But here he tells us That Infallible certainty is derived from supernatural principles concurring to the act of Faith which he elsewhere calls The interior illustration of Grace imparted to a Soul which he saith is wholly necessary to make faith certain and after saith we come to an absolute certainty of Faith upon tbis interiour sacred Language of God or his internal illumination the necessity of which he proves from Scripture and Fathers But when he hath done all he hath most effectually confuted himself For if this inward illumination can as he saith supply the inefficacy of external motives How comes the Infallibility of an external proponent to be necessary in order to that certainty of Faith which may be obtained by divinâ— Grace making up what is wanting in the outward motives Did ever any man shew more kindness to his Adversary in helping him with weapons to destroy himself than this E. W. doth When after a most tedious endeavour to prove the necessity of an externaâ— Infallible Proponent in order to the certainty of Faith he sets down these words Now what we assert in this particular is that the Infallible certainty of faith comes from thâ— interior illumination as it more lively setâ— forth the formal object assented to or helpâ— to a clearer proposal of the divine mysteries Doth the Infallible certainty of Faith indeed come from this interior illumination What then becomes of the necessity of an Infallible Church We often hear of the great Assistance the Jesuits have in writing their Books I should rather have thought some enemy of E. W's had put in these things to overthrow all he had spent so many impertinent words about before But lest such expressions should be thought to have dropt from him unawares observe with what care he sums up the whole progress of Faith in this State First A natural Proposition of the mysteries precedes this begets a natural apprehension of their credibility after some consideration there may arise an imperfect judgement of credibility but should the will offer as yet to incline the mind to assent only upon what appears hitherto it could not move to a Faith which is an assent super omnia or most certain Therefore the illustration or powerful invitation of Grace by which as I said the object appears another way and more clearly is infused whereof the soul is recipient The Will now after other Preparatives thus strengthned a new commands boldly the understanding to Assert upon the safest Principles imaginable viz. upon Gods infallible Revelation accompanied with his own Divine Light which makes faith to grow higher in certainty than all the reason or knowledge in this life can arise to For as S. Thomas observes humane knowledge derives its certitude from mans natural Reason which may err but faith hath its infallibility ex lumine divinae scientiae from the light of divine wisdom which cannot deceive and therefore is most certain Who upon reading these words would not have thought this E. W. more conversant in Calvins Institutions than Aquinas his Sums For in all this Resolution of Faith how can a man edge in the necessity of an infallible Church in order to the certainty of Faith I will not say E. W. was wholly inapprehensive of this snare he had brought himself into but he takes the worst way imaginable to get out of it For to shew the difference between this way and that of Hereticks he makes the exterior humane proposition of Divine Revelation necessarily preceding the true light of Faith which cannoâ— be made but by one that makes the Proposition good by a Miracle or some supernatural wonder but no Protestant is able to do thus much And is any Papist think we I would withal my heart see some of the miracles wrought by their Preachers to convince me I profess the greatest readiness of mind to be perswaded by them in case they do but work such miracles as Christ and his Apostles did But of this subject at large afterwards At present it may suffice to take notice 1. That no proposition of Faith is supposed sufficient by E. W. but where the Proponent doth work Miracles and therefore we may safely question the Churches Proposition till we see such Miracles wrought by her as were by Christ and his Apostles For thus saith he Christ our Lord Sent by his Eternal Father thus the Apostles sent by Christ and the Church ever since all shewing wonders above the force of Nature proved their mission and withal evinced that God only impowred them to teach as they did And because the poor Protestant doth not pretend to miracles therefore the light he pretends to is a meer ignis fatuus vain and void of all reality I must say that of my Adversary that he puts the controversie upon the fairest issue that can be desired For if their Church work such miracles as Christ and his Apostles did to attest their divine commission the evidence from thence to believe her infallibility ought to over rule the opinions of such who say she hath erred in case the doctrine attested by Christ and his Apostles and that of the Roman Church do not directly contradict each other 2. Although this exterior Proponent prove himself so commissioned yet by the Progress of Faith laid down by E. W. this is not enough to beget an infallible certainty of Faith For he saith after the exteriour proposition only a natural apprehension of their credibility succeeds then a judgement of credibility then the inclination of the Will but yet no infallible certainty till the illustration of Divine Grace comes So that it evidently follows according to E. W. that an infallible Proponent cannot beget an infallible Assent of Faith but that doth arise from the inward illumination of the mind by the Holy Ghost Which I have already shewed doth lay men open to all the absurditieâ— the highest Calvinists were charged with in resolving Faith and is withal impertinent to our dispute which relates to the necessity of an external infallible Proponent in order to the Certainty of Faith But surely the Jesuiâ— are not so berest of all their subtilty to comply with their greatest Adversaries without some advantage to be gained by it Yes E. W. will shake hands with some old enemies the better to assault some later Protestants who seem to attribute he saith no other certainty to the very act of Faith than what is
told the formal story of his being delivered at Nazareth out of prison by calling upon his Countrywoman the Lady of Loreto who thereupon appeared to him with her woman called Lucia waiting upon her whom she bid to knock off his chains and opened the prison doors and led him to the Sea side and shewed him a ship ready for his passage and bid him make hast to Loreto and be there baptized And we may think he obeyed her will for he told Riera that he came to Ancona in two days Yet this man was received with great joy and the Miracle highly magnified and which was more for all that we can find verily believed And no doubt the Venetian Courtesan was a person of great credit who having spent many years in that Trade came to Loreto full of a very strange Miracle viz. That she was set upon in her way thither by her companion who desperately wounded her in many places and cut her throat and she just in the very nick of expiring called upon the Lady of Loreto for help who presently appeared to her and took her in her lap and stroked her wounds and immediately cured her body and filled her soul with heavenly Joy Was not the blessed Virgin very kind to a Courtesan But all this was presently believed at Loreto and as an impregnable evidence of the Truth of it she shewed a shining list about her neck upon the skin which was a demonstration she was healed by a divine hand For St. Winifred and others had just such a one when their heads were joyned to their bodies again And are not these Authentick Testimonies and undeniable Monuments Is the Testimony of the whole Christian Church to be compared to that of a Jew and a Courtesan But supposing the persons who delivered these things to them were such as had a great credit and so they had need to be when the reputation of a Miracle depends upon their single Testimony yet is it not possible to suppose that the Priests for the reputation of their House may help out a lame Miracle with an advantagious circumstance or two it being for so good a Cause as the honour of their Church Especially when such infinite riches come by it as may be seen by Tursellinus his History of the Lady of Loreto whose Book is made up of Miracles and Riches and in truth the greatest Miracle there is the riches of that Chappel since it gained reputation in the World They had need of a very untainted credit to have their Testimony taken on their bare words when there is such a reward for Lying Men need not ask Cassius his Question cui bono For any one may easily discern that that compares the Tables of Miracles and the vast riches accruing by them together The honest Heathens thought a persons Testimony was then to be relyed upon when there was no reward for falsehood Cum sunt praemia falsâ— Nullae ratam debet testis habere fidem Tacitus thought it was a good argument of mens fidelity if they affirmed a thing postquam nullum mendacio pretium when there was no advantage to be got by it But I am sure this can never hold in these Authentick Testimonies of the Miracles of the Roman Church Rich Jewels Silver shrines presents of all sorts and vast endowments may tempt men to strain a little in such trifles as a few circumstances which can easily change an ordinary accident into a Miracle Nay persons of great honour and reputation beyond ten thousand such Priests whose interest is so deeply concerned in the belief of these things have affirmed that they have seen Tables hanging up in one of the Churches mentioned by E. W. of a miraculous cure wrought upon a lame person whom themselves have seen immediately aster so lame as to use crutches Therefore I hope such Testimonies as these for meer shame will never more be compared with the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles who had no Diana's to attend upon nor expected any silver shrines Not that I compare the blesfed Virgin to a Heathen Goddefs but I may safely enough the nature and reward of the attendance on both and the means to draw riches to their Temples Can any one imagine if all the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles had been done in this manner and the Testimony of them only taken from Tables hanging upon Walls that ever Christianity would have prevailed upon the ingenuous part of mankind No it was because these Miracles were wrought publickly by Christ and his Apostles in the view of enemies and they who attested them did not fit to receive presents and tell tales but ventured their lives as well as fortunes to give testimony to the truth of these things and offered as much satisfaction as sense and reason could require in these matters But if they had nothing to shew but Tables hanging upon the Walls of their Temples the Heathens would have told them they had as good evidence for Miracles among them For 3. Such Authentick Testimonies as these have been among the greatest enemies to Christianity And I hope E. W. will not say that Christianity hath no better proofs than Paganism If we search but a little into the practices of this nature among the Heathens we shall find that Polydore Virgil had reason of his side when he said this custom of hanging up Tables was taken from them among whom nothing was more usual than upon any extraordinary deliverance to set up their votivae tabulae in the Temples of those Gods they were most addicted to some to Isis some to Neptune some to Aesculapius especially in the case of escape from Shipwrack to Isis and Neptune and in case of recovery from dangerous diseases to Isis or Aesculapius Lambin saith the very same custom continues still only instead of the Heathen Gods they do it to the Virgin Mary or some Saint This custom is mentioned not only by Horace but by Virgil Ovid Tibullus Juvenal Persius and others And all know the saying of Dionysius upon seeing these Tables of those who had made vows and escaped but what is become saith he of those who made vows and were drowned And the very same Question may be asked of these modern vows as well as theirs I shall only mention the Tables of those who had as they thought miraculous deliverances from sicknesses of which kind there are so many in the Tables of Loreto and elsewhere It is a remarkable testimony to this purpose which Diodorus Siculus gives of Isis in Egypt where he saith of her That being now advanced to immortality she takes great delight in the cure of men and that to any who deâ—ire her help she manifests her presence to them in sleep as it is in very many of those of Loreto and her great readiness to help them For the proof of which they do not bring Fables as the Greeks do but the evidence of matters of fact
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
Street the Wall of the Garden opened that she might worship the Host that for many dayes she lived only upon the Blessed Sacrament Her reputation by means of these Miracles was so great that the great Ladies of Spain being at the point of Child-â—irth sent to her their Child-bed-linnen to be blessed by her Nay the Empress her self â—ent hers from Valladolid to Corduba and the Emperour undertook no great expedition without consulting her and desiring her prayers and yet after all these things the Dominican Inquisitors being jealous of the growing reputation by her means of the â—ranciscan Order found a pretence to seize upon her and upon examination condemned her for a notorious impostor Such another was Maria de la Visitacion Prioress de la Annuntiada in Lisbon of whom I have spoken elsewhere on another occasion but she was of the Dominican Order for these two Orders of Mendicants still did strive to out-match each other in these pretended Saints and Miracles and by their mutual jealousies and animosities these impostures came to be discovered without which they had passed among the people as current as those of the Founders of the two Orders About her a Book was published in French by Stephen de Lustgnan a Dominican Frier printed at Paris by John Bessanâ— A. D. 1586. with this Title The great miracles and most holy wounds which this present year 1586. have happened to the right reverend Mother now Prioress of the Monâ—stery de la Annuntiada in Lisbon of the Order of Preaching Friers approved by the reverend Father Frier Lewis of Granada and other persons worthy of credit in his dedication to the Queen of France he saith that he had published the greatest miracles that ever Almighty God in our times hath wrought in the person of a most noble most vertuous and most religious Virgin most devoted to the Holy Sacrament and St. Thomas of Aquine by whose merits and intercessions she hath deserved to have visibly for her Husband Jesus Christ crucified his five most holy Wounds by means whereof the Divine Majesty doth continually divers miracles In the Letter of the Provincial F. Antonio de lâ— Cerda sent to Rome to be shewed to the Pope and afterwards printed by order are these passages concerning her Mother Mary de la Visitacion at eleven years of Age entred into the Monastery de la Annuntiada and at sixteen years made prosession In which time our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to this Religious to recompence her merits and took her to his Spouse saying to her the words of the Prophet Jeremy I have loved thee with an evâ—rlasting love c. And from that time forward he still appeared to her granting her many particular favours speaking and conversing familiarly with her as one Friend doth with another as God talked and discoursed with Moses and oft times he appeared to her accompanied with Saints of both Sexes as with Mary Magdalene St. Dominâ—ck St. Thomas of Aquine St. Katharine of Siena and sometimes alone and was very familiar with her helping her to say the Canonical Hours and at the end of every Psalm she would say Gloria Patri tibi Spiritui Sancto he tells strange stories of her Raptures and Extasies of her miraculous Cures of Diseases and how the Host came of its own accord to her mouth out of the place where it was kept of her miraculous wounds in imitation of St. Francis made by Christ himself with beams of fire issuing from him in her side hands and feet which opened on Frydayes and how she was often seen with a glory about her lifted up into the Air. To these Lewis of Granada adds that for seven years every Thursday at the Ave Mary hour she felt in heâ— head all the pains of the Crown of Thorns and she had some marks of those thorns in 〈◊〉 head and the pains endured till Friday â—he same hour Many more particular miracles the Provincial relates of her as the curing of a Cancer by applying one of the Clouts to it which was taken from the wound in her side and that instruments were made of the truth of this by a publick Notary and of other Diseases by pieces of the Câ—oss given by her from which Lusignan among other conclusions draws this that miracles have ever continued in the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church Such kind of miracles I grant have but I think not much to the credit of it Sixtus 5. was over-joyed at the News of these glorious miracles as he expressed in his Letter to that purpose to Cardinal Albâ—rtus of Austria dated at Rome Sepâ—emb 10. 1584. subscribed Antonio Prucha Badulini And so great was her reputation in Spain that she was chosen to bless the Standard Royal in the Spanish Armada 1588. which was performed with a mighty solemnity After all which in the beginning of 1589. she was condemned for an Impostor and a Book published shewing the manâ—er how she deceived the people in this pretence of miracles Ribadineira mentions such another impostor viz. a Nunn at Bononia which imitated the pains of our Saviour on the Cross and saith that she had the wounds in her hands and side and the pains of the Crown of Thorns on her head which dropt blood from them but she had at last a very bad end the observation of which impostures made saith he Ignatius Loyola in his old Age vehemently to suspect those frequent Extasies Visions and Revelations which himself had pretended to as much as any in his younger dayes And afterwards he excuseth Ignatius Loyola for not having his sanctity so attested with miracles as some expected and saith that miracles are not necessary in our times This he writ A. D. 1572. but although he knew Ignatius as well then as ever he did afterwards yet when the design of Canonizing Ignatius began to be managed by the Society then Ribâ—dineira changed his story â—d in the lesser account of his life published afterwards pretends to abundance of miracles that were wrought by him By which we may easily guess of what credit those miracles are which so intimate a Friend of Ignatius knew nothing of till it was thought to be much for the honour of their Society that he should be Canonized And it is observable that the miracles mentioned by Ribadineira were such only which are most lyable to fraud and imposture viz. casting out of Devils in their way of which there are so many notorious instances in the Roman Church Hasenmullerus who had been himself a Jesuit relates that his Brethren at Rome told him that a Woman possessed with a Devil followed Ignatius and cryed Thou only art able to deliver me then Ignatius turning about repeated this Verse of Virgil Speluncam Dido Dux Trojanus eandem At which for there is an unknown quality in these words for casting out Devils the Devil threw the Woman down and going out of her cryed O thou Son of Loyola like a Lyon thou
Revelation for the foundation of that faith by thâ— Churches Infallibility why will not the samâ— reason hold for the last act which must havâ— as good a Foundation as the other or elsâ— how comes it to be a divine faith as well as â—he other But the subtilty of all this is â—ou have it seems by your office of Guide â—he opening of the Gate and you hold it â—pen so long as to let through all your Friends â—or Infallibility and Tradition must by any means be let through and when these are â—assed down falls the Gate in so rude a manâ—er as is enough to cripple any other that endeavours to get passage Can any man posâ—ibly assign a reason why the operation of the Spirit should not have as great force before the Churches Infallibility be let in But this it is to be a Guide in Controversies â—o direct Infallibility Tradition and the Hoâ—y Ghost to know their distance and to keep â—heir due places and it is a great favour â—hat the Holy Spirit is allowed to bring up the rear and to make all sure but by no means to offer to go before Infallibility or Tradition For these are capable of doing better service afterwards than the Holy Ghost is ever like to do them the greatest use of it being to make good a Pass that nothing follow to disturb the march of Infallibility and Tradition But if I may be so bold once more to presume to ask this wonderful Guide when the dispute is about the sense of Scripture why he doth believe such a particular sense which doth not appear clearly to him in Scriptures to be the infalliblâ— sense of it or to be divine Revelation Hiâ— answer is because the Church which is revealed in Scriptures to be infallible hath deliveâ—ed this to him as the sense of it Very well this is an Answer I understand though I seâ— no reason for it But I proceed why dâ— you believe this Infallibility to be the sensâ— of those places which speak of the Church since to me they are far from appearing tâ— be clearly delivered in those Scriptures Remember you believe this with divinâ— faith and this divine faith must have dâ—vine Revelation the Question then is uâ— on what divine Revelation do you believâ— the Infallibility of the Church to be prâ—mised in Scripture He Answers upon Apâ—stolical Tradition Is this Apostolical Tradition the same with the Scriptures or different from it If the same what greate clearness can there be in this than in thâ— Scriptures If different what divine Revelation is your faith of the Infallibility oâ— that built upon He ingenuously consesseâ— none at all for then there must be a process in infinitum or a circle And yet hiâ— principle is that divine revelation is neceâ—sary to divine faith but there can be nonâ— here by his own consession without process in insinitum or a circle which iâ— to acknowledge the absurdity of his own way as far as a man can desire Well but how comes this Apostolical Tradition to be known to him By the Church he saith but may the Church be deceived in delivering Apostolical Traditions No he saith she is infallible but do you believe her infallible with divine faith Yes he saith that must be done then at last there must be a divine Revelation again for this Infallibility and so the circle returns No he saith at last he believes the Churches Testimony infallible only with a humane and acquisite faith upon prudential motives but he believes the Apostolical Tradition related by the Church with a divine faith Was there ever such a perplexed Guide in Controversies The Infallibility of the Church is sometimes to be believed with a divine faith and sometimes not and yet when it is not to be believed with a divine faith it is the Foundation of the divine faith of Apostolical Tradition for he assigns no other ground or reason for it besides the Infallible Testimony of the Church But this infallibility he saith may be known two ways by promises of Scripture or prudential motives not to dispute now the possibility of proving the Churches Infallibility by prudential motives which I shall do at large afterwards the thing I now enquire after is since the Apostolical Tradition must be believed by divine faith and the belief of it comes by the Churches Infallibility whether any other Infallibility can secure such a faith besides the Infallibility by Promise for the Infallibility asserted being a security from error by divine Assistance and that assistance only supposed to be promised in Scripture there can be no other Infallibility here understood but that which Infallibility by his own assertion must be believed by divine faith which divine Faith must rest upon divine Revelation and so he believes the sense of Scripture because of the Churches Infallibility and the Churches Infallibility by Apostolical Tradition and Apostolical Tradition by the Churches Infallibility and the Churches Infallibility by the sense of Scripture See now what an admirable Guide in Controversies we have met with and with what skill and dexterity he hath escaped the circle And so I take my leave of this GUIDE finding nothing in him further material about Infallibility which I have not answered in the foregoing Discourse The Consideratoâ— urging so much the very same things and frequently in the same words that I now think he either was the same person or made very bold with him CHAP. II. The Principles of E. W. about the certainty of Divine Faith laid down and considered § 1. HAving met with so little satisfaction from the Guide in Controversies I now betake my self to the Rule no Fancies Toys Trifles or Fallible Glosses I assure you for those E. W. cries out upon almost in every page of his worthy work but Reason and Religion or The Certain Rule of Faith What can any man desire more unless it be to see Mr. Stillingfleet joyned in the Title-page with Atheists Heathens Jews Turks and all Sectaries And that he might own a greater obligation to him than all that Rabble he dispatches them all after a fashion in 30. pages and spends above 600 upon him O what a pestilent Heretick is this Stillingfleet that deserves so many lashes beyond Atheists Heathens Jews or Turks If he had been any one of those he might have been gently used for never were they fairlier dealt with by any man that undertook them But he is not so much their Friend to thank him for this kind usage and E. W. thinks he will have enough to do to defend himself I confess I think so too if either of his Books against me were to be thrown at my head for they are very thick and as heavy as is possible And to my great comfort I never yet saw two such bulky books whose substance might be brought into a less compass for setting aside Tautologies and tedious repetitions frequent excursions and impertinent digressions the pith and marrow of