un-interrupted Succession of lawful Pastors and true Doctrine Scripture is very copious I shall name a few A City seated on a Hill cannot be hid The Mat. 5. 14. Is 2. 2. Psal 18. mountain of the house of our Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains In sole posuit tabernaculum suum Isa 59. 21. My Spirit which is thee and my words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seed for ever All Dan. 7. 13 14. Nations Tribes and Tongues shall serve him his power is an eternal power that shall not be taken away and his kingdom shall not be corrupted Thou art Peter and upon this Mat. 16. Rock will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Christ gave some Apostles some Eph. 4. 11 c. Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors some Doctors for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edification of the Body of Christ c. 'Till we all meet in the unity of Faith and be not as Children toss'd about with the wind of every Doctrine See more in Esa 62 Ezek. 37. Matt. 5. 15. c. From which and such like places this Major Proposition is evident As also from Antiquity We must seek for Truth among whom the Succession L. 4. de hae c. 45. of the Church from the Apostles and the Purity of Doctrine is maintain'd in its Integrity So St. Iraeneus What I believe says Tertullian I received L. de praesc c. 37. from the present Church the present Church from the Primitive that from the Apostles the Apostles from Christ. And St. Austin tells us That the succession of Priests from the Contr. Ep. Fund c. 4. very seat of Peter to the present Bishop held him in the Church Which if it shall not continue here on earth to the end of the World to whom did our Lord say Behold I am with you alwayes to the Worlds end It is easier L. 3. de Bapt. cont Donat. saith St. Chrysost that the Sun should be extingush'd then the Church should be obscured Concerning which St. De utilit cred c. 7. Austin assures us The Prophets have spoken more plainly and manifestly then of Christ himself And therefore 't is no wonder the same Saint affirms That the Church hath this most certain mark that it cannot be hid Cont. Petil. c. 104. And certainly it is not hid except to those that are lost the Children of perdition who seeing will not see and hearing will not understand Who shut their eyes against a light set upon a Candlestick and are so blind as not to see so great a mountani as the Catholick Church As the same Father complains of the Hereticks of his days From which premisses thus prov'd it invincibly follows that the Protestant L. 3. cont Parm. and all other Heretical and Schismatical Churches being wholly destitute of these inseparable badges or marks of the true Church viz. Universality perpetual visibility by an uninterrupted Succession of Pastors and People from Christ and his Apostles to this time cannot possibly be the true Church Whose builder and preserver is God All which manifestly belonging to the Church of Rome and those in Communion with her by most undoubted Records of all Ages it likewise as inevitably follows that this Church of Rome only is the true Catholick Church and all other Communions but false Worshippers Thus briefly of these indubitable marks of the true Church from Sacred Scripture so much made use of by the Ancient Fathers to reduce the Hereticks and Schismaticks of their times to the Catholick unity that I may not too long detain you from beholding Miracles wrought by God in his Holy Church for the confirmation of our Faith SECT II. That Miracles were vouchsafed always to the True Church SUch is the Sublimity and Purity of Christian Doctrine so sublime in respect of knowledge so pure in respect of practice that if there was nothing else to witness that it came from Heaven they of themselves are sufficient evidences that the Author of it can be no less then of incomprehensible Wisdom and infinite Holiness Notwithstanding as God was pleas'd by wonderful Signs and frequent Miracles to set his Seaâ— to attest the truth of it that it might find entertainment from contradictors so in after Ages in opposition not only to all false Religions who deny Christ and maintain their Worship to be right but also to many seduced Christians who pretend to have among them the Purity of this Doctrine the same infinite Goodness hath more or less continued Miracles in his Church that we may see with our eyes what we ought to believe with our hearts and not be deceived by false Teachers This Heavenly Testimony God vouchsafed to the Jewish Worship whilst it was in force and therefore cannot in reason be denyed to the Christian Church being in every respect a Ministration much more Divine and Glorious and no less standing in need of such a Priviledge Moses brought forth the Children of Exod. Israel from the house of bondage in signs and wonders and mighty deeds The Sun stood still at the Prayer of Jos 10. Joshua and went back 15 degrees Isa 38. at the earnest request of Hezekiah The bones of Elizeus the Prophet rais'd a dead man to life The constant cure Joh. 5. 3 c. of Lame and Diseased persons in the Pool of Bethesda immediately after the motion of the water by an Angel was a standing Miracle c. All which with many more were evident Testimonies of the Divine presence among them that the Creator and Governour of Heaven and Earth was their God in a special manner and they his peculiar Church and People To which might be added their many Prophets of extraordinary Power and Sanctity not only miraculous in their predictions but sometimes mighty in signs and deeds Though 't is observable that St. John the Baptist though more then a Prophet then whom none greater was born of women yet did no Miracle to attest his Mission Doubtless not without some singular cause perhaps because the Jewish Synagogue was then expiring and giving place to the Christian Church as a Handmaid to her Mistress or glimmering twi-light to the Sun arising in beams of Glory The most remarkable Miracles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are left unto his Church by the Evangelists in the History of his Life and Death That we might believe and believing have Life Eternal by him After the Holy Apostles had received Power from above by descent of the Holy Ghost upon them to fit them for the great work of converting all Nations to Christianity what wonders and signs were frequently wrought by them in the first planting of the Gospel are made famous and wellknown to us Acts. in their Acts related by St. Luke
and powerful being fallen unhappily among Gospellers who besides other evidences of Truth will not believe except they see signs and wonders to attest our Faith And which is far worse as the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 12. 38. demanded of our Blessed Saviour A sign from Heaven to witness he was sent from God when a Miracle just now wrought before their eyes was yet warm So this evil generation while they are surrounded with the Heavenly light of Miracles wrought in the Church yet seeing will not see and ask of us a sign from Heaven to confirm our Doctrine Which that we are not destitute of I hope what follows will give them satisfaction I begin with the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar which our Adversaries call our Idol being it self the greatest of Miracles or rather a concourse of many in a most wonderful and mysterious manner and therefore hath been attested oftentimes by others to confirm our Faith in a point so far transcending the comprehension of our intellectual powers And were so operative Circa an 1050. among other Arguments one Berengarius the first that ever denyed the real presence of Christ in the blessed Eucharist that he recanted and abjured his Heresie to believe as formerly he had done the undoubted Doctrine of all Ages St. Bernard saying Mass in the In vita Ber. c. 2. ca. 3. Cathedrall at Millain in a great Assembly they presented to him a Woman who had been a long time vexed with a Devil earnestly requesting his help with a strong belief that God would free her by his Intercession Being overcome with their intreaties and the miserable Object proceeding in the Sacrifice as oft as the Sacred Host was to be signed he turning towards the woman made also as often the sign of the Holy Cross upon her Which how ill the unclean Spirit could endure he quickly discover'd by more lamentably tormenting the poor wretch The Holy man having now finish'd the Lords Prayer iâ— the Canon makes a fiercer on-se upon the Enemy for putting the most Sacred Body of our Lord and Saviour upon the Paten and holding it over the womans head said Vnclean Spirit thy judge is present a Power above thee is present resist now if thou canst he 's present who being ready to suffer for our Salvation said now shall the Prince of this World be cast forth This is that Sacred Body which was assumed of the Blessed Virgn that Body which was nail'd unto the Cross which was laid in the Grave which rose from Death which in the sight of his Disciples ascended into Heaven Wherefore in the dreadful Name of this Majesty I command thee thou Malicious Spirit to depart out of this hand-maid of God and presume not hereafter to touch her Whereupon the unclean Spirit playing the Devil indeed by exceedingly tormenting her because his time was short in rage and fury left his habitation as soon as the Pax was given after the Saints return unto the Altar And she being so miraculously recover'd gave thanks to the Almighty goodness and beholding the happy Instrument of her deliverance cast her self humbly at his feet Thus our most merciful and powerful God was pleased to reward the Faith of his People to magnify his Servant in their sight and manifest his invisible Deity under the visible species by this wonderful effect And truly methinks those very words spoken by so great a Saint and confirm'd by so evident a Miracle if well consider'd and laid to heart could not but as well dispossess the Sacramentarian Hereticks of their Devil of Unbelief concerning this dreadful mystery of our Holy Faith as they did that Woman of the unclean Spirit wherewith she had been so long vexed A Miracle no less famous then evident for it follows in the Author Fugato diabolo ingens per Ecclesiam tollitur murmur c. The Vita S. Ber woman being dispossess'd the Church ecchoed with sounds of joy old and young bless God sor't and what was done at Millian is noised abroad through all Italy At Brussels in Flanders some Jews Ann. Ch. 1442. having stollen the Consecrated Hosts out of the Tabernacle of St. Catharine's Chappel on Good-Friday following with intention in despite of our Blessed Saviour to put to death again as much as lay in their Power the Lord of Life stabbed the Sacred Hosts with Pen-knives and Bodkins from which wounds miraculously issued out drops of Blood to their great astonishment and confusion At which being horribly amazed and terrifyed with the apprehension of some present judgment to fall upon them not daring to touch the Sacred Hosts they sent for one Catharine formerly a Jew now a Christian and confessing to her what they had done and what had hapned desired her to take away the Consecrated Hosts and keep the whole business secret from the Christians She promised but troubled in Conscience at the horror of the Fact carrying with her the Blessed Hosts revealed it to the Clergy of the City Whereupon after a full tryal and examination the said Jews were condemned to be Burnt for this most execrable Impiety and Executed accordingly Part of which miraculous Hosts being kept in the aforesaid Chappel and part in the great Church of St. Gudile in the said City God was pleased to work many Miracles upon such persons who resorted thither out of special Devotion to the said wonderful Hosts the blind recovering their sight the sick their health the lame their Limbs leaving their Crutches behind them as monuments of Gods extraordinary mercy by Gods means vouchsafed unto them Of all which there 's no reason to doubt being attested by Witnesses beyond all exception and thereupon approv'd by authoriz'd persons were committed to the publick Records of those places for the confirmation of the Churches belief in the mysteries of that most wonderful Sacrament so much Blasphemed by Jews and Hereticks Pontianus relates That one Paul L. 5 de Mirahil Form having stollen two Consecrated Hosts sold one of them to the Jews who out of malice and contempt stabbed it saying If thou be the God of the Christians manifest thy self Whereupon to their confusion and confirmation of our holy Faith Blood miraculously issued out of the dreadful Host. Which being discover'd thirty eight of them were Burnt at Knoblock in Brandenburg and all the rest banish'd out of that Marquesate L. de locis Com. p. 87. Epist 116. for this horrible Fact As 't is recorded also by John Mandevil a Protestant and Osiander a Lutheran I cannot but relate what Thomas Waldensis our Country man relates he was an eye-witness of in St. Paul's Tom. 2. de Sacr. ca. 63. Church in London Where one of Wickliff ' s Disciples who renewed the Heresie of Berengarius in these parts being commanded by the Archbishop of Canterbury to acknowledge the real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and adore him he refusing said A Spider deserv'd more veneration than the Eucharist
And forthwith from the roof descended a monstruous Spider to his Blaspemous Lips which the standers by could hardly keep from running into his mouth which had spit worse Venom against our Saviour Who desire further satisfaction in this particular let them consult Paschasius de corp Sang. Christi Algerus de Sacramentis Among the more Ancient St. Cyprian de lapsis Prosper de praedict part 4. cap. 6. S. Greg. l. 2. Dialog Petrus Diaconus in vita S. Gregorii As for the Catholick practice in having recourse to the intercession of Saints glorified and veneration of their Sacred Reliques Antiquity and all Ages abound with unquestionable Miracles as so many Seals set upon them by the hand of God for their approbation St. Austin relates De Civit. dei l. 22. c. 8. Epist 103. Ser. 31 32 33. many the certain knowledge of some of them being conveyed to his Soul through the windows of his own eyes the rest famous and of undoubted verity See also Greg. Turon l. 1. de gloria Martyr Barotom 5. an 416. Niceph. l. 4. Hist Eccl. ca. 9. Theod. Ser. de donis collatis intercessione Martyrum One or two will not tire the Reader There was one Martial a chief man his rank Aged and much abominating S. Aug. l. 22. de Civ c. 8. the Christian Faith Who being dangerously sick and much importun'd with the Prayers and Tears of his Daughter and Son in Law who were Christians to be Baptiz'd refus'd and in sullen indignation thrust them from him His Son in Law thought good to go to St. Stephen ' s Memory or Shrine and Pray there earnestly for his Conversion Which performing with great devotion in sighs and tears and so departing from the Altar took some Flowers and at night laid them at his Fathers Head He took his rest and behold before morning cryes out to send for the Bishop who then by chance was with me at Hippo and understanding he was absent desired his Priests to come to him They came he confesses his Faith in Christ and was Baptiz'd among the wonders and joy of them all And afterwards as long as he liv'd for he liv'd not long after he still had in his mouth Christ receive my Spirit which were the last words of Blessed Stephen when Martyr'd by the Jews God was pleased to reveal by a Vision to St. Ambrose where the Bodies of the Holy Martyrs Gervasius and Protasius lay buried and 'till then uncorrupted in a place not well befitting those Sacred Reliques Their Graves are open'd their Bodies taken up and while they are carried in solemn Procession to be honourably Inter'd in the Cathedral of that City many possess'd with unclean Spirits were perfectly cured and a certain Citizen well known to all the Inhabitants who had been blind many years hearing the noise ask'd the cause of their present Jubilee Being told it he leap'd for joy and desired to be led to the Bodies whither being come he begg'd to be admitted to touch with his Handkerchief the Bier made Holy with those Sacred Reliques He did so and applyed it to his Eyes and forthwith recover'd his sight to his exceeding great joy and admiration of them all giving glory to God for vouchsafing such Honour to his Saints St. Austin mentions this also in his 9th Book of Confess chap. 7. and de Vnit Eccl. c. 10. St. Ambr. Epist. 85. ad Sororem Ser. 91. Whole Volumes might be writ of undoubted Relations of this nature and yet Protestants will not believe but follow prophane Vigilantius says St. Austin and the Catholick Church what they can to the contrary For the confirmation of Purgatory I shall insert one or two Miraculous Relations out of Venerable Bede whom I have made choice of because our Countryman and as of great Learning so of singular Integrity which other circumstances concurring in him render his History most unquestinable I give you not all nor always his words but am Faithful to his sense and meaning A noble young man by name Imma L. 4. Hist ca. 22. in a battel between Ecgfrid King of North-humber and Edilred King of Mercia being left for dead among the slà in at last reviv'd and seeking help was taken by the Enemy and carried to their Governour before whom counterfeiting himself a Countrey Fellow that brought Provision to the Army care was taken for him and beginning to gather strength command was given to fetter him with Chains that he might not escape by night but by no means could he be bound seeing no sooner were they gone who bound him but the Chains loosed of themselves For he had a Brother by Name Tunna a Priest and Abbot who hearing he was slain in the battel came to seek his Body and finding one very like it carryed that away for the Body of his Brother to his Monastery where he honourably interr'd it and took care that many Masses should be said for the Absolution of his Soul By reason whereof none could bind him but forthwith he was loosed The noble man whose Prisoner he was began to wonder and suspecting Magick demanded of him the cause thereof Who answered I have a Brother who is a Priest and I know he supposing me to be dead says Mass often for me as if I was in another life where my Soul might be loosed from pains by his intercessions This pass'd on and being perfectly recover'd he sold him to another but what kind of bonds soever were put upon him they were all loosed but most commonly after the third hour when Masses are usually celebrated All which he relating to his Brother after his Redemption his conjectures were found to be real Truths And many hearing these things from the foresaid man were inflamed with Faith and Devotion to Pray to give Alms or offer to our Lord Sacrifices of the Oblation for the deliverauce of their deceased Friends For they understood that the saving Sacrifice was prevalent for the everlasting redemption of Soul and Body This History I had from some who heard it from the person himself on whom this Miracle was wrought and therefore have inserted it for an undoubted Truth The other is in the 13th chap. of his 5th Book of the foresaid History whereof I shall only take so much as I conceive opposite to our present purpose In these days a notable Miracle to be equall'd to those of old happ'ned For to stir up the living from a Spiritual death a certain man by name Drithelm dead for some time was raised again to his Natural life and related many things which he had seen worthy to be remembred An Housholder he was in the County of North-humber living Religiously with his Family Whom sickness seising on and encreasing dayly at last agonizing died in the beginning of the night But reviving about break of day and sitting up suddenly the weeping Watchers fled away for fear his Wife only whom love had fixed though trembling and quaking stay'd behind Whom
he comforting said Fear not for I am truly risen from Death and permitted to live again among Mortals But from henceforth in a far other manner then I have been accustomed And presently rising went to the Chapel of the Village and continuing in Prayer 'till day then divided his Estate into three Portions one for his Wife another for his Children and the third which he reserved for himself he without delay distributed to the Poor that he might have Treasure in Heaven And not long after being now freed from the cares of the World he came to the Monastery of Mailros which is almost surrounded with the River Tweed And taking the Tonsure liv'd in a private Cell which the Abbot had provided and there continued to the day of his death in such Contrition and Austerity that though his Tongue were silent his Life did speak what wonders he had seen above others Now the Vision was this My guide said he had a shining countenance and bright apparel we walk'd in silence and as I thought towards the Solstitial rising of the Sun At last we came into a Valley of vast breadth and deepness but of infinite length which being scituate on our left hand did present unto us one side very terrible with enraged flames the other not less intolerable with storms of Snow and Hail overturning all things Both were filled with Souls of men which seem'd now and again to be toss'd hither and thither as with the horrible violence of an impetuous tempest For not being able to endure the fury of the excessive heat poor Souls they threw themselves into the midst of the insufferable cold And when they could find no rest neither in those Winter quarters again betook themselves to the torrid Zone c. Knowest thou said my Guide all these things which thou hast seen I answered no he replyed that Valley which you behold so terrible with intolerable heat and cold is that place wherein the Souls of those are to be pacified and chastis'd who deferring to confess and amend their wickednesses fly at last to repentance on their death-beds and so leave their Bodies who yet because they confessed and repented though but before their departure shall at the day of Judgment be all received into Heaven But the Prayers of the Living and Alms and Fasts and especially the saying Masses do help many that they may be freed before the day of judgment c. And this I had says S. Bede from one Genegils a Monk and Priest of a very holy and rigid life who often convers'd about these things with this miraculous Liver so famous for his wonderful Austerities and Visions that both by word and deed he wrought powerfully on many to repent and spend their time well on which depends everlasting bliss or eternal misery And yet Protestants are never the better refusing to believe that there is never a Purgatory for penitent Souls thoroughly purg'd at their departure from their Bodies though this man and others have been sent from the dead to testify to the World the truth thereof Which I confess I cease to wonder at when I consider that they are deaf to the living voice of the Catholick Church If I should proceed in relating what wonderful Miracles God hath been pleased to work for the Approbation of a Monastical Life from Heavenly by men famous in that Angelical Profession both in former and later Ages as St. Benedict St. Bernard St. Dominick St. Francis St. Teresia St. Ignatius I should utterly destroy my intended brevity and therefore refer you to their Lives faithfully transmitted to Posterity But especially to the wonderful Life of that great Saint and Patriarch of Monastical Profession in the West S. Benedict which the Church owes to that famous Light and Doctor St. Gregory deservedcalled Englands Apostle For he was embarqued and on his way to bring the glad tydings of the Gospel to our Nation though recall'd to Rome against his will and inclination And afterwards when advanc'd to the Popedom he sent St. Austin and his fellow Monks to perform what he intended Who Ann. Ch. 596. succeeding in the Holy attempt and converting Edilbert King of Kent with his People and from thence diffusing the Christian Faith by degrees into other parts did Preach and establish all those doctrines rites and Ceremonies practis'd at this day by the Church of Rome as Protestants confess being fore'd to it by the evidence of unquestionable Records And yet now esteem'd by them but as Superstitious Innovations though God has been pleased to own them for his and confirm the word and practice of the said Teachers with following Miracles which were wrought so frequently by the Holy Monk St. Austin that B. Gregory exhorts him him to Humility in these words I know most dear L. 1. Hist S. Bedae c. 31. Brother that Omnipotent God hath shown great Miracles by you to the Nation whom he would have elect Wherefore 't is necessary that concerning this Heavenly gift you rejoyce with trembling and tremble with joy You may rejoyce in that the English Nation is brought to inward Grace by these outward Miracles But fear least by reason thereof the infirm mind should exalt it self in presumption and while 't is extoll'd with honour abroad be depressed at home with the levity of vain Glory c. And why these Miracles wrought by the said Saint in his Apostleship should not be evidences as well of his Mission and Doctrine as those accompanying the first Promulgators of the Gospel to the World no reason sufficient can be given This I am sure of as they converted Infidels so they stop'd the mouths also of the Britains who long before had received the Christian Faith and in some few external Observance differ'd from him About which the British Bishops and the said Apostle meeting to make up a persect unity between them when neither Arguments nor advice nor entreaty nor reproof could prevail to perswade them to the Catholick customs in the observation of Easter Tonsure and some other Ceremonial Rites in Baptism A blind man was brought in and they upon tryal not obtaining of God a Miracle for the confirmation of their practice Tandem Augustinus just a necessitate compulsus c. they are St. Bedes words At length Austin Hist l. 2. ca. 2. forced with just necessity bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ beseeching him that he would restore to the blind man his lost sight and by the corporal illumination of one Spiritual Grace might enlighten many Faithful hearts Hereupon immediately the blind man receives his sight and Austin is extolled by all for a true Preacher of the Supreme Light Then the Britains confess indeed that they perceived it was the true way of righteousness which Austin Preached This I had not specifyed but that I know some English Protestants against all History and common sense derive their Religion from the Ancient Britains Who differ'd only from