little colour vpon it your Seminary students woulde svveare it Other men vvho know your tricket will pitty you or laugh at you and so let you goe 11 Your conclusiō is like your premisses they are foolish who beleeue these new fellows who can doe nothing indeede you might haue said who make profession to doe nothing of miraculous actions leaue Popery so bolstred vp with miracles Your Maister Bristow from whose fifth and sixth Motiue yet much shrunke and contracted you borrowe your sixth Reason to shewe the straungenesse of Miracles doeth playe the good fellovve vvith vs and giveth vs an instaunce of one in our owne age that a q Bristowe Motiv 5. woman called Margaret Iesope was contracted to a Dutch man in London and by him begotten with childe before they were marryed His friendes hearing of the intended match sende for him to Bruxelles there mary him to another wife Margaret followeth him thither is denyed by him and being brought a bed there falleth wōderfully lame so continueth three yeares and more In the meane while shee sueth him in law both for the contract and for the maime But the ende vvas that by the vertue of the miraculous Sacramente◅ or hostes in the Church of S. Gudila at Bruxelles shee was cured having vsed before much fasting and going oft to Confession In remembrance of this wonder her staffe or Crouch was hanged vp neere the place of the Blessed Sacrament of Miracle and her healing was proclaimed every where in the pulpit Can any man chuse but beleeue that Popery is truth when hee heareth this tale the grace whereof is so excellent that he spendeth eight whole leaues in delivering it making it vp so much as will serue a Popish womā to read in an after◅noone allowing her a little liberty to thinke how shee may say it without booke to tell it to her friends or sisters And some oddes may bee laide that it will cost her a dry droppe or two of some trickling teares also It may be here noted that the subiect of the miracle this gentle Iesope was an honest woman being with childe before that shee vvas marryed Also that M. Bristow talking in his grosse ignorance of her suing the Dutch man for a maime which is a iesting phrase in England but no action for that particular being liable in the Civill or Common Law is a fit man to determine of Kings and Queenes of the excommunication of Pius the 5. of the good cause of the Rebels in the North Ann. 1569. where he proclaimeth them to be Martyrs Thirdly it is no newes to heare that Motiv 15 a harlot being put to her shifts should be a counterfeit cranke to cover her other baggage like tricks should be willing to bee talked of as one vpon whom a miracle was shewed In the time of the olde pilgrimages there were a thousande of these prankes played And I could name where a woman lately dwelt vvho as her honest neighbours reported by her vertuous life came to that state that to say no worse of it the French overcame the English Shee laboured to conceale it but being forced by infirmity to go with a paire of crowches shee gaue out that she knew not how shee was taken in her limmes Afterward vnder a colour of going to the Bathe or some other such place shee with-drew her selfe till by some surgeon like skil shee was reformed againe Yet comming home she would not leaue her crowches but professed that her weakenes grew on her more and more At length when the time was come which best fitted her purpose on a Sūday or holy-day when the street had many people in it who beheld her going along shee goeth with her Crowches to a brook running on one side of the towne and there for an howre and more shee sitteth washing her feete telling such of her acquaintance as passed by that she felt her strength more and more increasing according to a dreame vvhich shee had dreamed the night before But the issue was shee left her crowches and came home as well as shee desired Being asked of it shee hath not feared to sweare that so strangly shee was cured as I haue reported and some wise folkes beleeue it You may be one of these if you will and you may recorde this woman for her straunge vision This may well fit Bristowes Narration concerning Margaret Iesope Touching which relation so reported so magnified so beleeved to the great praise of the miracles done at Bruxelles because I do desire that my much-abused country men should take notice how they are bobbed by the fraude of their Priests and what the iuggling of such good fellowes is I thinke it not amisse to let them vnderstād that within s Ann 1581 fevē years after this fore-named wonder the Senate of Bruxelles did discover the whole legerdemaine of the miracles said and blazed abroad to be ordinary with them and after due examination did put foorth to the view of the world an Edict or Proclamation therevpon s Meter hist Belgi◅ l. 10 Wherin they declare that the Sacrament of Miracle among them was nothing but a bare peece of bread both lately falsly reported to doe wonders and that the covetous greedinesse of the Romane Clergy there had also obtruded to the people rotten peeces of wood to be worshipped as if they had been partes of the Crosse whereon Christ was crucified and in steed of the reliques of Saints they kept the bones of Apes and other beastes pretending moreover that they had some part of the Sepulchre of our Lady and the skull of S. Michaell which things they permitted the people to adore Yea they testifie that in the faces of diverse of their images they found little holes wherein oile was put to make them seeme sometimes as if they sweated And that there were devises whereby other Images had some parts of them made to moue and sti◅re by wires and other instruments The Proclamation at large is worth the reading wherein it may bee seene that God in his good time discovereth the verletry of couseners and beguilers and giveth leave to such as will not close their owne eies to behould what is truth and what is falshood For some scores of yeeres togither this place was famous for Popish miracles and so many strange things were heere saide to be done that of all the places in Europe Bristow chose this to fetch his wonder from for the confirmation of Popish doctrine and now you see by a most authentical Record what it prooveth to be You Seminary Priests that can blush blush at this and at the ill fortune of Margaret Iesopes miracle 12 HEere to turne vnto the Christian Reader if our Romanistes had not resolved to say any thing which might make a shew flourish without al substance who would in our age bring this Reason of miracles to decide or determine which is the true faith It is certaine that whē our
Priest of his order and he who was his Confessour that he very often had asked of God that he would do no miracles by him And that was because he wold not haue the people think too well of him And in as much as mention is heere made of Caesar Baronius I vvill adde one thing more which the said l Lib. 1. An. 1550 Cardinall delivered vpon his othe concerning the same Philip his founder for the said Baronius was one of his company and society In the yeere 1550 now more then fiftie yeeres agone Philip who in the darke of the night vvhen all men are even buried in sleepe so that the lefte hande coulde not knovve vvhat the the right hande did did vse to visite needy persons vvent in the nighte time to cary breade to a poore gentle-man Heere by the Devils meanes vvhile hee sought to avoide a carte comming hastily vppon him hee fell into a verie deepe ditch but Gods helpe beeing at hande in his falling he vvas presently caught of an Angell by the heare of the heade miraculouslye and beeing nothing hurte hee vvas returned out safe by the Angell This did Baronius who vvas not there and coulde haue it but by the reporte of Nerius svveare absolutely to bee true vvhereby vvee may easilie gesse that the same Cardinall in his vvritinges maketh no greate conscience to saye thinges true or false vvhen hee maketh no bones to svveare matters so vnlikely Hee who list to see more of the venerable miracles in Popery let him reade Henrie Stephanus in his French m Cap 39 Apologie of Herodotus and there hee shall finde diverse particulars sette dovvne Are not our Country-men and Country-women blessed when after so long light of the Gospell they chuse to feede themselues fat with legions of such wonders and holde it a high part of their profession to beleeve such things as these are We reade of some whom God doth so giue over to the spirit of delusion that they doe n 2 Thes 〈◊〉 11. beleeuelyes 17 If any heere do aske mee howe came it ever about that such foolishe and ridiculous multitudes of miracles came to bee reported and inserted into their bookes I must first ascribe it to the permission of God who had fore-tolde that so it shoulde bee Secondlye to the pollicy of Sathan vvhose kingdome by this us by a speciall meanes was inlarged Thirdly to the cunning of the Cleargy in those daies vvho made themselues great by the keeping vp of such reportes concerning the sanctitie of any of their confederacy or of such whose reliques they pretended to haue and gained infinitely by the offeringes done in places of these wonders And fourthly to the credulity of the people who would beleeve any thing once set abroach by some suborned for the purpose or by idle companions Gulielmus Neubringensis was a writer very learned and iudicious for that time wherein hee lived And in his storie hee did more then once relate the abuse of that age for spreading abroade the fames of miracles o Neubringens l 3 7. Henry the eldest sonne of King Henry the second of England vvho was in his fathers life time crowned King but dyed before his father was every where by the people reported to have wrought great miracles after his death vvhereas in truth he was an vnadvised and rebellious younge Prince This shevveth hovve apte the people were to intertaine a conceite of any mans doing miracles yea so farre that if they might haue their willes they shoulde soone have beene shrined for Saints Aftervvard p Lib 4 9 there vvas a greate robber vvho beeing slaine it vvas given out of many olde vvomen that hee frequentlye did miracles as if hee had beene some holye person and this rumour grewe so stronge and was so generally spredde that the Bishop was enforced to come to Hampton there display the falshood of the whole narration so that then the superstition was ended Hee q Lib 5 19 mentioneth also a third matter of this kinde that a traiterous fellow of London called VVilliam with the longe bearde vvas also reputed a Saint and a maine doâ—… of of miracles Can vvee have any plainer certificate then this that by the superstition and credulousnesse of the vulgar sort many vvonders were saide to bee done vvhen in truth there vvas no such matter And if for their commodities sake any of the Cleargie would ioyne and giue countenance to the matter the party so grovvne to be a Saint and the fame of his vvonders shoulde never bee extinguished The reader may by these fewe take a tast of the rest of their Saintes and miracles for thousandes vvere done no othervvise then in this sorte and everie man had not the vvitte to see the fraude nor that couragâ—… to reporte it as Neubringensis had And vvhat levvdenesse may wee imagine vvas practised amonge simple people in those darke dayes of Popery vvhen in so glorious a sunne-shine of the Gospell any Seminarians shoulde dare in England to attempte such a practise as Father VVeston the lesuite and Declâ—…ration of Popish impostures practâ—…sed by Edm. no lesse then a vvhole douzen of Priestes conspiring vvith him did of late for some yeeres togither put themselues into They persvvaded some men and three maydens that they vvere possessed vvith the Devill and that they by their Priest-exorcizing faculties could fetch him in out vp and downe at their pleasure They had a holy chaire to set their abused Disciples in and a holy potion to administer to them both matters pretended to be formidable to the foule spirits but indeed trickes to cast their patients into straunge fits that so they might seeme as wel to themselues as others standing by to be possessed in most hideous manner And this was so artificially carried by the Iesuit and his fellowe Iuglers that diverse hundreds of vnstable and vnadvised people being cousened and cunny-catched by their impostures were contented to bee reconciled to the Church of Rome being wonne there vnto by their stupendious miracles A booke also or two was penned to be spread abroade beyond the seas of the admirable dominering of these Priests over the possessing spirits and of the wonders which they had done vppon them Notwithstanding now by the confessions of three of the females one man al which then were the pretended possessed persons of another theÌ„ a Priest a personal actour in this exploit all these five being sworne speaking vpon oth it is manifestly and vndoubtedly discovered to be most egregious insignious illustrious both varletry vilainy that among meÌ„ professing religion devotioÌ„ was ever heard A man may wel suppose that the casting out of Devils and doing of other wonders in India farre countries by the Iesuites and Priestes is a true honest holy matter when such vnspeakeable vndescribable hypocrites do dare before such multitudes of theselues conscious of their own fraud before such troupes of staÌ„ders by
Bohem ca. 35. He who first raised vp the opinions of the Hussites had them from Oxford carying thence into Bohemia Wiclefs bookes De Realibus Vniversalibus Cochleus who by his good will would bee taken for a vehement defender of Popery giveth yet a larger testimony For he saith n Histor. de Hussitis li. 1. that as a Bohemian brought first into Bohemia Wiclef booke De Realibus Vniversalibus so there was afterward one Pâ—ter Paine a scholer of Wiclefs who after the death of his Maister came also into Bohemia and brought with him Wiclefs bookes which were in quantitie as great at Saint Austens workes o Ibidem Many of these bookes did Hus afterward translate into their mother tongue In plaine tearmes after this the Authour delivereth it that p Lib. 2. the Hussites and Thaborites were branches of Wiclef And in the same booke Hus did commit spirituall fornication with many strangers with the Wiclefists the Dulcinists c. And in the next he avoucheth that q Lib. 3. Hus and Hierome tooke their heresies from Wiclef And once againe he tearmeth the Protestant Germanes r Lib. 6. new Wiclefists What an opinion of this man Iohn Hus had may be fully seene by that wish of his wherin hee praied s Lib. 2. that hee might there bee where the soule of Wiclef was Now what VViclef did teach may be easily gathered if by nothing else yet by the deadly hatred which the Romanists did cary toward him The s Session 8. Councell of Constance did define him to be an Heretike long after his death and commaunded that his bones should be taken vp and burnt Also t Cochl li. 1. Pope Iohn the 23. in a Generall Councel at Rome did before that time condemne him for an heretike which the Hussites did but laugh at But no man had a harder conceipt of him then Cochleus who sticketh not to affirme that u Lib. 2. he thinketh the torments of Wiclef are greater in hell then those of Iudas or Nero. If God Almighty had no better opinion of him the man were in an ill case But the best is this cholerike Criticke is not the Iudge of all the world He was angry beâ—â—ke in behalfe of Transubstantiation concerning which he citeth this Article of Wiclef There was never a greater heresie then that which putteth the Accident without a Subiect in the Eucharist But he might haue named more pointes wherein that holy man did differ from the Church of Rome The u Session 8. Councell of Constance picketh out fiue and forty Articles of his Positions which the learned Reader may finde there Yet doubtlesse many of them are fasly reported which is a matter common with enimies of the truth to perverâ—… and mis-construe that so they may more freely defame There was one x Respo ad â—…8 artic Wiclef In â—…ase rer ex petend 〈◊〉 Wideford who tooke on him to answere eighteene Articles said to be Wiclefs whence a maÌ„ may gather some of his doctrine But that al things there laid against him were not true may wel be obserued out of the same Answere declaring that he had many things coÌ„cerning Wiclef but only by y In fine Articul 10. fame report And z Virgil. Aeneid 4. that is not the most certaine Relater What positioÌ„s indeed he held may be seene in M r. Foxe reporting his life actions as also in the a Lib. 18. Catalogus Testium veritatis And those who be not learned may esteeme of them by the doctrine of Iohn Hus before rehearsed who by the testimony of the Papists themselues as I haue shewed maintained the opinions of Wiclef 25 Now that this worthy champioÌ„ preacher of the Gospell of Iesus Christ went not alone but had many English men and women who in his life time after his death beleeved as he beleeved professed as hee professed is in the next place to bee shewed Among the chiefe of his fautours were Iohn of Gaunt as b Apolog. Hieâ—…arch ca 1. Parsons the Iesuit confesseth and Lord Henry Percy the one of them Duke of Lancaster the other Marshall of Englande Master Foxe citeth out of a c Ex Regist G. Courtney Register of the Arch-bishoppe of Canterbury a Mandate mentioning that the Conclusions of Wiclef were preached in diverse and sundrie places of the Arch-bishoppes Province generally commonly and publikely The same also is manifested by a letter of that Arch-bishoppe to the Bishop of London and in a Monition directed to d Ad Cancellar Ox. Oxford where it is said that certaine Conclusions hereticall and erroneous were generallie commonly preached and published in diverse places of the Province of Canterbury There be extant also e Ad 〈◊〉 Cant. Cancel Oxon. letters of King Richarde the seconde directly signifying so much But there is nothing vvhich maye more amply testifie the spreading of his doctrine then an Acte of Parliamente in the beginning almost of that younge Kinges dayes vvhere it is related that there vvere f Anno 5. Rich 2. ca. 5 diverse preaching dayelie not onelye in Churches and Church-yardes but also in markets fâ—…res and other open places where a great congregation of people is â—…verse sermons containing Heresies and â—…etorious errours This putteth mee in minde of a written booke which once g In manu M r. Guâ—…el Wirley I sawe being a Chronicle compiled by a Monke of Leicester Abbay who writing of the time of the saide K. reporteth at large that the people in faires markets riding by the way almost every where would talke of the Scripture and reprove the customes of that time as also the Priests to the exceeding greate trouble and offence of the Clergy This they might the rather doe out of the word of God because the Scriptures were then translated into English as may bee seene by diverse copies vvritten and remayning to this day supposed to bee so turned by UUiclf And it is very probable that in Leicestershire there were many of those of vvhome the Monâ—…e Leicestrensis spake since at Luâ—…erworth a towne in thâ—…t Counâ—…e Iohn UUiclâ—…f vvas beneficed But the greatest parte of this learned mans abode was at the first in the Vniversitie of Oxford vvhere hee was both a Doctor and Reader of Divinity and therefore is to bee conceived to have many learned men partaking with him in his opinions h In fine R. Edward 3. Maister Foxe saith out of the Chronicle of Saint Albaneâ—… that hee had a benefice in Oxford of vvhich he was deprived by Simon 〈◊〉 Arch-bishop of Canterbury It may be this was nothing else but the Maister-ship or Chiefe Governours place in Baâ—…oll College vvhich I am perswaded that he had since there are yet two auncient writings in the Treasurie of that i In Archivis Colleg. Baâ—…ol College vvhich I have seene who vvere made in the name of Iohn Vviclif Maister of that house