loose and unsettled in Religion and would render others so 3. Because they made the people tempt God to do that by an extraordinary way of Miracles which he had appointed to bee done in the ordinary way of means and Physick 4. Because they had seduced people to the neglect of the ordinary means of their preservation to the danger of many peoples lives 5. Because they brought the Curse of God upon poor people many having confessed that they perished under the just hand of God for having any thing to do with these Salutators 6. Because they were abetted by desperate men of dangerous principles and practises 7. Because they took the Name of God in vain and abused his Word to superstitious purposes 8. Because they performed no real or lasting cures 9. Because they distracted the peoples thoughts and prepared them for Diabolical illusion and Ma gick 10. Because many of them could do nothing till they had well drunk a pottle of Sack being required to a Miracle when they pretended that they were Inspired and had with them a madde Dogge 11. Because they gave occasion to strange discourses about the Miracles of Christ and his followers and so overthrew the great ground of Faith 12. Because they perswaded people to do themselves mischief that they might do cures 13. Because there were several instances brought in of their confederacies impostures and juggles In fine because they did a world of mischief and but little good Because some of them were convicted of familiarity with Satan Because the pretence and cheat by reason of the curiosity of some and necessity of others was spreading because these Miracle-mongers proved at last Athiests Apostates or Hereticks because it took people off their callings spending their time in vanities Because some of them were Enthusiastical because they set many others upon unlawful distracting and intollerable courses to attain that gift Because they were mostly men of bad looks Because they took men off their art industry and skill pretending to that in Physick that gifted men do in Divinity both with a design to overthrow the standing Ordinance and order of God All these the Articles against them in the Bishop of Ypres Court and in other Ecclesiastical and civil Courts to be considered by all sober Christians But what need you will say all this when Mr. Stubbs himself in a Book written in the mans behalf hath sufficiently laid open his pretence for indeea upon perusing that Book I finde 1 That the ground of this strange attempt is but an Impulse and some chat thereupon between him his Wife and a poor Woman of the Village 2 That the man observing how his stroking was ineffectual upon some Diseases betook himself without any Voice or Impulse to Incision 3 That Dean Rust being solemnly employed by my Lord Conway to bring him from Ireland to the Lady Conway he came and could do her no good 4 That some say his body smells strongly but Mr. Stubbs found it not so which if it did there is nothing extraordinary in the Case 5 That notwithstanding the pretended vertue of his body together with the pinching rubbing and cutting of peoples Sores and the peoples imagination fermenting the masse of blood spirits and humours wherein lye all the diseases as Mr. Stubbes saith he pretends to cure for he medleth not with any in whom nature is decayed all that he can do is to ease people a little by Pinching and Rubbing an humour from one place to another which Mr. Stubbes takes some paines to prove Natural Ordinary and not at all Miraculous by many instances Pag. 18 24. 25. yea and Pag. 14 he concludes that the removing of a distemper from place to place is the effect of Nature invigorated and not of his touch 6. That there are none perfectly healed by him one Gentleman failing because he laid aside his Cap too soon another because the humour settled again into an Aposthume The Maid that was struck dumb by a Poyson being able onely to cry Ma for mother for all his stroaking the Gentlewoman that he went to dispossesse of a Devil when she was onely troubled with the winde being still troubled with the Collick and the rest of the simple people mentioned in that book finding no other benefit of his rubbing pinching and cutting than a little alteration as they poor people imagine for the present 7. And therefore Mr. Stubbes saith that as he added Lancing and Pinching without any extraordinary Commission to his stroaking when he saw it would not do so hee added Physick to his Launcing for hee saw him apply Eye Salve to one persons Eye and he had leave of him to apply Physick to others after his stroking so dividing the honour of the Gift that Mr. Greatrates touched and Mr. Stubbes Cured And to say no more I finde that all that Mr. Stubbes can say for this pretender is that for ought he can guesse by a few hours converse with him he may be a Primitive Christian and a conformist though no rigid one that there were formerly Gifts of Healing in the Primitive times which he proves out of I Cor. 12. 4 5. That the cheating Souldiers called Salutators in Spain that Pyrrhus Vespatian Simon Magus Apollonius and other Heathens that some Turks by a Gift left them by Mahomet do feats of the same nature about whom Mr. Stubbes refers us to Delrio who indeed hath written six Books of Magick not to approve as a man would think by Mr. Stubbes his quotation but to discover these Legerdemains And that he findes nothing in what he calls Miracles but what he undertakes to Salve by Natural causes Pag. 18 19 20 21. the effects whereof by reason of the ignorance of some sort of people may seem Miraculous which to others more knowing are ordinary the Sympathetick Cure and others of the same nature may bee thought Conjuring by the Vulgar when they are known Physick to Phylosophers and therefore when I have intreated you to pardon the mistakes of a Letter that I have not time to Read over I conclude that though you and other Reverend Persons may think charitably the man means no hurt all men confess as well as our Society that hee can do no good March the 13 th 1665. FINIS a 2 Thes. 2. 11. b Grotius Cont. Riv. c Matth. 24. 24. d 1 John 4. 1. a Clem. Rom. l. 1. Recog Iren. 1. 21 24. Euseb. l. 1. c 10. Epiph. haer 27. Sulpit. Sever. Sac. Hist l. 2. Just. Martyr Apol. 2. Zonar tom 3. Paul Diac. 18. Hist. Septem-Castrensis lib. Vid. Bellarm. de Eccles. Ger. de Eccles. b De prescript contr a haret c. 34. Et de Anim. c. 57. * De distinctione verarum salsarum visionum Mr. Greatrates temper * Agrippa de Occulta Philosophia l. 1. c. 6. 64 65. Wierus de Lamiis c. 8 9 10. Zanchius de potentiâ Daem l. 4 tom 3. c.
upon the imagination as well as Princes and finding it feasible by one or two experiments hee with other cunning peoples suggestions might set up an Healing power as well as the King levelling his Gift as well as they would his Office with a design that when it appeared he could do no more than other men he should be no more than other men yea and when parity of reason led them to attempt in other Diseases what with some success they had begun in the Kings Evil they might not only out-do his Majesty but be in a fair way to give Laws to the world 5 For mark the ground of this mans attempts and he tells you in his Letter to the L. Bishop of Chester that he had a voyce from Heaven assuring him first that he had a power to cure the Kings Evil and afterwards that he might cure all Diseases that he could not be quiet untill be had undertaken it And that a Woman unknown to him had a Vision to come to him and that hereupon notwithstanding he was dissuaded by his Friends from the practice and jeared out of the imagination he had a constant impulse to force him upon the several experiments that he had made till the whole Country thronged to him This is sum of what the man saith for himself 1 How dangerous it is to admit of Impulses Vifions and how common it was with men of Mr. Greatrates former way to obtrude need no further proof than Olivers Impulses James Naylor and other Quakers Visions and light within which would have superseded if allowed all Religion Law Duty Right and wrong and common honesty there being hardly any villany Imaginable against any of these that hath not been and may be perpetrated upon the account of this Impulse and Inspiration and if people will but allow any thing to be true upon these Enthusiastick grounds they must allow all things that a deceivers fancy or interest shall suggest to them And more particularly 1 Hee voucheth a voice from Heaven for his extraordinary Performances when yet hee should vouch extraordinary performances to make good that voice from Heaven the voice of God gives not evidence to Miracles because the Devil in the Air or the Fancy in the Brain may counterfeit such a voice but Miracles give evidence to his voice How shall the people be assured saith Moses Exod. 4. 1 2 3 4 5. that thou O God hast appeared to me take the Rod and it shall turn to a Serpent that they may beleeve that the Lord God of their Fathers hath appeared to thee saith the Lord. It s impossible for us to be satisfied of any appearance of God to this man bidding him work Miracles unless we had other Miracles to satisfie us about the appearance of God 2 Gods revealing himself to men by Bath Col or the daughter of a Voice which was indeed the last way that he was pleased to communicate his minde to his people seems to be now superseded by that of the Apostle 2 Pet. 1. 18 19. And this voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount 19. We have also a more sure word of Prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts and we are obliged by the voice of God confirmed by uncontrolled Miracles not to give heed to any voice pretended to give credit to new unnecessary and doubtful ones 3 The Voice of God concerning any extraordinary Person under the Old and New Testament was not spoken only to the Person himself as it is in this case in private but to several others in publick as you may see Exod. 4. Mat. 3. Act. 1. 2 Pet. 1. and the History of the Transfiguration These things as the Apostles argue were not done in a Corner 4 The Voice of God was agreeable alwaies to the dispensations that were then a foot so that when they heard the Voice they had Prophesies Precepts and Rules directing them to the beleif and use of the voice a particular defective in this Case where the dispensations of God amongst us are so far from concurring with this pretended Voice that the established Religion is inconsistent with it we having a compleat platform of the will of God conveighed to us by Voices and Signs from Heaven that rendereth it needless to have any more extraordinary revelations til the great day of the Revelation of all things unless we ad mit menstruam diurnam fidem a new Faith every month and day for what is this Voice for is it to confirm our faith that is already done or we have been Infidels all this while and indeed know not when we shall be compleat Christians because we know not when these pretenders will have done Is it to reform the corruption that hath overgrown Religion in the theory and practice of it Indeed the Prophets under the old Testament had extraordinary Voices to this purpose but it was provided by the Law of Moses in the time of the Theocratia that it should be so and the Paedagogy of the Jews might look for it but it s not so under the Gospel whereby we are Conjured not to be soon shaken in minde either by Spirit or by Word or by Letter or by Voice is it to beget Faith Signs saith the Apostle who had Signs to confirm what he said are for unbelievers is it to supply any defect in natural causes This pretends not to it the ordinary way of Physicians being together with Phylosophy the ground of it at the heighth in these times and however God never wrought a Miracle for no other design than to alter the course of nature Is it to do good to some particular persons God never miraculously did good to any particular but with reference to the common good of mankinde shall we make providence so cheap as to put it upon such mean Offices as helping the Patient to another stool more than his Physick could work to cure a poor body of a swelling to save 20 s. charge It s true when God hath a great and suitable design to be carried on by Miracles he condescendeth to shew those Miracles in such charitable and good Offices as these but not barely for them Christ confirmed Christian Religion by Healing here and there a poor person but neither he or any other extraordinary person came to the world with so low a design as only to perform those Cures Is it to set out this person for an eminent instance of Heroick virtue and holiness besides that the man pretends not to such heroick attainments his carriage being loose and like a good Fellow his Religion Latitudinary his discourse unsavory sometimes breaking out to Oaths as I have been Informed by a very discerning and honest person at the Charter-House who heard him in much passion say that though the poor
Philosophy and Religion illusions and appearances in Opinions and Practises wilde and distracted notions and Enthusiasms unmortified and unbounded Lusts Atheism and Prophaneness canting toning and wording Religion into noise forms and gestures breaking the Community of Church and State into Parties and Factions the ignorance and noise of common Teachers that understand not the grounds of the Religion they Preach and may be imposed on in the Scripture whose Original they understand not that wrest Scripture to what it never meant and make quid libet ex quo libet that set up a parcel of formal words as Faith Spirit Gifts Edification Out-goings In dwellings c. instead of real and solid Religion The Implicite Faith got up among Protestants as well as Papists to follow some Men through thick and thin having their Faith wholly with respect of persons the looseness of Professors so inconsistent with Christian purity the peoples attending Prophesies and expecting strange Events rather than learning and practising their plain duty their uncontentedness with their present condition I say what is this practise but an Essay made to try how far we are prepared by these foresaid particulars for the universal Apostacy so much feared in the latter daies To say no more if because the Man is but only bold enough to pretend Strange Cures hee is so much followed by the undiscerning multitude what if he could really perform them as the Devil now we are so willing is ready and able enough if God should permit him and lengthen his Chain to work any of these Cures perfectly by this mans stroaking what if he could cure every body he toucheth as he might if Satan finding him so willing would assist him how would all the Nations run Wondering after him Sir Since hee performeth not as you see the Cures hee pretends to and if he did it might be so many waies as I have hinted to you privately used though the Stroaking be all that is seen that we need not put God upon making his Miracles so cheap as to perform the part of a Chirurgion and Quack without any further design fix we with all sober people upon this resolution 1 That true Miracles or the altering of the course of nature by God who alone can do it are the greatest Testimonies that God useth to evidence his presence otherwise invisible with any Doctrine or person sent by him to the world 2 That if God should assist a man to work Miracles that hath no Divine truth to confirm nor any suitable Design to carry on by them as this man hath not but possibly may be in an error as this man may be men could not be sure when Miracles confirm truth and when they do not for by this it should seem they might go along with truth in one man and with error in another and so men should see the greatest assurances they have of Gods being with any Doctrine attending the looser and the stricter Opinions of men the indifferency of the Latitude-man and the heat of the Zealot and so men that had a certain way of intercourse with God and discerning of his voice by the Miracle that so solemnly attended his voice will loose it if Miracles be wrought by all sorts of men upon every petty and trivial occasion 3 God doth not work such a Miracle as this is that is produce an effect without any second causes but for some very considerable design for otherwise as a learned man observeth when God works Miracles they would not bee taken notice of nor thought to bee an alteration of the course of nature but only some rare contingencies that lye hid in the order of causes but only break out at some times 4 That if a Simon Magus and Apollonius a Barchochebas David el David or any other pretender should hereafter presume to work Miracles among us upon the Impunity of this undertaker we may judge of him by these rules and criterions whereby true Miracles may be discerned from false 1 Though Jugglers may do much to work upon mens mindes in appearances and Magicians more when permitted by the Divine providedce in reality yet there is such an evidence attending Divine Miracles as after much jealousie and suspition may convince men that they are of God Moses his Miracles after much contest with the Magicians of AEgypt being owned as the effects of the finger of God and Christs as things that evidence him the son of God whereas there is nothing above the art of man and the power of Nature in any Miracle since those of Christ and his Primitive followers 2 Divine Miracles are done without means forms Rites Ceremonies Cuttings Lancings Plaisters c. Sine ullâ vi carminum sine herbarum aut graminum succis sine ullâ aliquâ observatione sollicitâ Sacrorum Libaminum temporum Sine ullis adminiculis rerum sine ullius ritus observatione vel lege non Inquiro non exigo saith Arnobiis whose rule this is Quis Deus aut quo tempore cui fuerit auxiliatus aut quem fractum restituerit sanitati illud solum audire desidero an sine ullius adjunctione materiae i. e. Medicaminis alicujus ad tactum morbos jusserit ab hominibus evolare which words amount in brief to this that Cure is Divine that is done without observations prescriptions and applications otherwise Cures performed by means saith hee are beneficia rerum non curantium potestates to heal men by Prescriptions Applications and ordinary Operations arguing no extraordinary power at all in the Prescriber or Operator but an ordinary vertue in the Prescription or Operation And it 's observed as an Argument of Christs divine power that he practised not on sleight Sores but on the most acute chronical and malignant diseases Some learned Physicians affirming those Diseases our Saviour cured incurable by the ordinary way of Physick and Chyrurgery and all this with a word a touch of himself or garment a thought or such means mystically chosen as naturally would rather as the Clay and Spittle to open blind mens eyes improve the Disease than heal it 3. * Divine Miracles are done in an instant nothing being able to oppose and consequently to delay the workings of a God Those that wrought Miracles formerly did some of them indeed in time and by degrees to comply with the weakness of men I mean such as looked upon them that they might discern the manner of working as well as the work it self but they did most instantly to evidence the power of God 4. * True Miracles were most commonly done under the open Ayre in Fields and publick places before both those that favoured the person that wrought the Miracles and those that opposed him in such a manner as there should be no suspicion of any private dealing or compact usually the people that most suspected the person bringing him patients and those patients afterwards so far from following the Healer as his