for Fasting our Blessed Saviour Fasted (c) Mat. 4.2 forty days and forty nights He foretells his Disciples (d) Mar. 2 20. fasting when the Bridegroom should be taken from them that is after his Ascension He directs us how to Fast and promises a Reward (e) Mat. 6.17 to our Fastings when duly performed He teaches that Fasting (f) Mat. 17.20 Mar. 9.29 gives us a power over the Devils When any Work of great moment was to be done Fasting was used (g) Acts 13.2 As the Disciples or Apostles ministred to the Lord and Fasted the Holy Ghost said With Fasting (h) Acts 14.23 and Prayer S. Paul and S. Barnabas were Consecrated A postles These with Fasting and Prayers (i) 2 Cor. 6.5 ordained Bishops in every Church And S. Paul several times speaks of his Fastings (k) 2 Cor. 11.27 In watchings in fastings Again In hunger and thirst in fastings often What was the Practice of the Christians of the Second Age Tertllian will teach us Apolog. pag. 40. cap. 71 where having reproached the Pagans with their Feastings in Times of Public Calamities he represents the contrary Life of Christians Nos verò jejuniis aridi omni continentiâ expressi ab omni vitae fruge delati in sacco cinere volutantes invidiâ coelum tundimus Deum tangimus cùm misericordiam extorserimus Jupiter honoratur You Feast says he but we dried up with Fasting living in perfect Continency abstaining from all Contents of this Life prostrate in Sackcloth and Ashes charge Heaven with the Odium of afflicting Persons so much afflicted and when we have by these Penitential Works forced God to take pity of the World Jupiter is honored by you For the third Age see what Moses Maximus and other Confessors required of Penitents Jejunio extenuari that they should grow lean with Fasting All the subsequent Ages give as many Testimonies to the Duty and Advantages of Fasting as there are are of any Work of Piety This the Fathers teach in their Sermons the Bishops commanded in their Canons the faithful Practise in their Lives and all recommend by their Example Nay Protestants themselves own this Truth The Author of the Duty of Man Sunday 5. n. 34. To this Duty of Repentance says he Fasting is very proper to be annexed the Scripture usually joyns them together If you desire to know the Fruits of Fasting S. Thom. 2.2 q. 147. a. 1. names three 1. To mortifie and curb our Bodies 2. To raise our Mind to Heavenly things 3. To punish in our selves the ill use of some Creatures by depriving our selves of the use of others A fourth Reason is to increase Merit Grace and Glory Virtutem largiris praemia says the Church in Praef. Quad. SECTION II. Prayer PRayer being a raising of our Souls to God it exposes our Understanding to the Divine Light and places our Will in the warmth of Divine Love Wherefore nothing can be more efficacious to clear our Mind from its Ignorance and Darkness nor to purge our Will from its depraved Affections and Passions It is a Key which opens the Treasure of God's Mercy and opens our Heart to receive its Effects It is a River of Benediction whose Waters cleanse our Soul from its Imperfections moisten our Heart make our good Purposes bud forth and flourish and fill our Will with the Fruits of Vertue It is often recommended in Scripture See (a) Mar. 13.33 watch and pray Pray (b) Mat. 26.41 that you enter not into tentation (c) Luc. 16.8 You must always pray and never faint All Places and all Times are fit for Prayer God limits neither but promises to hear us always Ask and you shall receive Whatsoever you shall ask my Father in my name he will grant it you Particularly Remission of Sins is annexed to it Hear S. Austin Enchir. c. 71. De quotidianis brevibus levibusque peccatis sine quibus haec vita non ducitur quotidiana oratio fidelium satisfacit Eorum est enim dicere Pater noster qui es in coelis qui jam Patri tali regenerati sunt ex aquâ Spiritu sancto Delet omninò haec Oratio minima quotidiana peccata Delet illa à quibus vita fidelium sceleratè etiam gesta sed poenitentiâ in melius mutatâ discedit si quemadmodum veraciter dicitur Dimitte nobis debita nostra Ita veraciter dicatur sicut nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris Id est si fiat quod dicitur The daily Prayers of the Faithful satisfie for those daily light and small sins which are incident to all in this Life these we call Venial Sins for it belongs properly to those to say Our Father which art in Heaven who are regenerated by Water and the Holy Ghost to such a Father This Prayer blots out little sins It hath a vertue also to carry away the guilt of greater sins in those who are repentant of them provided they as truly forgive as they ask to be forgiven that is they do what they say Sir how different was S. Austin's Judgment from yours He thought those Prayers efficacious to blot out venial and even mortal sins and you think the prescribing them Ridiculous Saying the Penitential Psalms is an Object of Laughter to you Were there any Church Discipline among you or had your Prelates any true Zeal for any part of Devotion you would be forced to change your note the saying the Psalms being the only part of Devotion which you retain But it seems Writing against Popery hath a Vertue to sanctifie all Impiety as acting against it did excuse all Sacrilege I never heard any Man moved to Laughter with reading the Psalms and I have known many moved by them to Compunction to a new Life and to the Love of God. Let S. Austin who experienced it himself speak lib. 9. Confess cap. 4. Dulce mihi sit ô Domine confiteri tibi quibus internis me stimulis perdomueris quemadmodum me complanaveris humiliatis montibus collibus cogitationum mearum tortuosa mea direxeris aspera lenieris quas tibi Deus meus voces dedi cùm legerem Psalmos David cantica fidelia sonos pietatis excludentes turgidum spiritum Quas tibi voces dabam in Psalmis illis quomodo in te inflammabar ex eis accendebar eos recitare si possem toto orbe terrarum adversus typhum generis humani I take a delight O my Lord to confess to thee with what inward Goads thou didst subdue me and by what Means thou didst bring me down levelling the greater and lesser Mountains of my Thoughts How thou didst streighten my crookedness and smooth my roughness Into what Exclamations did I break out O my God when I read the Psalms of David those faithful Canticles those pious Sounds which banish all proud Spirits How I cried out in reading them How I was inflamed in the love of thee how I
but his heavy Body keeps him on the Ground and his dull Spirits serve only for a slow Motion there For let a Man read your Book observe your disesteem of others and your insulting over them and he shall think you Eagle-like to be towring above the Clouds whence you with disdain look down on us poor Ignoramus's Yet your heighth is discernible without the help of a Telescope For after all your striving and straining Endeavors we still find you on the Ground equal nay inferior to many whom you insult over without any thing extraordinary but your boldness to Print in so Learned an Age as this is of things you understand not If what I have written already and what I shall write doth not make this clear I will give you leave to apply that Comparison to me I have already spoken Chap. 3. 4. of the Designs of God in delivering Christian Religion that it was to teach Men to serve God in this Life and enjoy him in the next That this Service consisted chiefly in Faith Hope and Charity yet so as Charity gives a value to the other In fine that the End of the Gospel was to unite us to God by Charity in this World and by Glory which is the last perfection of Charity in the other Love is the root of all our Actions As Weight (a) Aug. l. 13. Confes c. 9. Amor meus pondus meum eò feror quocumque feror Aug. l. 11. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Sicut corpus pondere ita animus amore fertur quocumque fertur in Bodies gives them their Motion towards their Center so Love in Men but with this difference that Weight is restrained to local Motion an Action of one species but Love as partaking of the nature of the Soul whose it is reaches to several and those of an opposit nature for all we do proceeds from some Love. All our Passions are only Love in a several disguise (b) Aug. l. 14. de Civ Dei cap. 7. Is the thing we love absent the love of it is called Desire is it in danger to be lost it is Fear are we in a probability of attaining it it is Hope is it looked on as irrevocable it is Despair are we stirred up to overcome the Difficulties opposing us it is Anger do we possess it it is Joy do we lose it Love is changed into Grief or Sadness c. The same Love putting on several Dresses and transforming it self Proteus like conformable to the nature and condition of its Object So that it would be impossible to reckon all its Species which are reduced to some Heads both by Philosophers and Divines Philosophers draw it to three Species according to three sorts of Good Honor Profit and Pleasure But much more to our purpose is the Distinction of Love used by Divines which in order to a Mortal Life in this World and Eternal Life in the next divides all Mankind viz. The love of God and the love of our selves commonly called Self-love We received the love of our selves from Adam the love of God from Christ that is an effect of corrupt Nature this of repairing Grace from that spring out the works of the Flesh from this grow those of the Spirit that ends in Death this is the Seed of Life By these two Loves two Cities are built (a) Aug. l. 14. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Fecerunt Civitates duas amores duo terrenam scilicet amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei coelestem verò amor Dei usque adcontemptum sui Jerusalem and Babylon Heaven and Hell. In the next World these Loves are pure for in Heaven reigns the Love of God without any Self-love in Hell Self-love rages without any curb from the Love of God. In this Life they are commonly mingled neither so absolutely possessing the Heart of Man as to suppress all motion of its Corrival For even the greatest Sinners feel some motions to Good and the greatest Saints must say Dimitte nobis Forgive us our Sins as we forgive And as betwixt the two Brothers in Rebecca's Womb so betwixt these two Loves there is a combat within our Breast For the spirit covets (a) Gal. 1.17 against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit and these are contrary to one another And this is that perpetual combat which we undergo by reason of which this Life is termed (b) Job 7.1 Militia est vita hominis super terram a warfare And (c) Aug. l. 11. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Bonum est homini ut illo proficiente quo benè vivimus ille deficiat quo malè vivimus donec ad perfectum sanetur in bonum commutetur omne quod vivimus we are conquered when Self-love prevails over the Love of God but we conquer wuen the Love of God gets the better Wherein then doth consist the perfection of a Christian In a Heart pure from bad Love not yielding consent to the Motions of Self-love but resisting them and a Heart filled with the Love of God following in all things the motions of Divine Grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit And (d) Aug. in Psal 64. Interroget si quisque quid amet inveniet undè sit civis could we certainly discover which of the two Loves rules in our Heart we should certainly know the state of our Soul. Supposing these Principles let us attend to Mr. G. B. G. B. pag. 76. Religion elevates the Souls of Men to a participation of Divine Nature whereby they being inwardly purified and the outward Conversations regulated the World may be restored to its primitive Innocence and Men admitted to an inward intimate fellowship with their Maker Answ What you say of participation of Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 is out of Scripture likewise our souls being inwardly purified and our inward fellowship with God. All which is true althô you neither tell what they mean nor understand it your self But that by Christianity the outward Conversation should be regulated or primitive Innocence restored is alien or untrue That by Christianity outward Conversation is regulated is alien orderly Conversation being a meer external Quality many times as excellent in Infidels as Christians Certainly the perfection of Christianity may be found in Anchorets and preserved in a Desert Whence a good Conversation appears not to be a very material Ingredient of Perfection And that Christianity should aim at restoring the World to its primitive Innocence is absolutely false for that Innocence cannot be attained unto neither in this Life nor the next not in this in which the greatest Saints have their (a) Rom. 7. Combats from which Man in the State of primitive Innocence was free not in the next the State of Glory being above that of Innocency So neither of these is the End of Christianity G. B. pag. 76. What Devices are found out to enervate Repentance Sins must be divided into mortal and venial
and immoveable in good (a) 1 Cor. 15.58 abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that our labor is not in vain CHAP. XVI Of Purgatory G.B. pag. 55. begins to treat of Purgatory and doth it so lightly as if he feared to burn his Fingers Yet if he shews less Reading he shews more Cunning than his Brethren E. S. or W. L. who give great advantages to an Adversary by fixing a time for the kindling of that purging Fire which was lighted long before any determinate time they can fix upon Mr. Stillingfl pag. 654. Not one of the Fathers affirmed your Doctrin of Purgatory before Gregory the First Yet W. L. allows it a much greater Antiquity pag. 353. We can find says he a beginning of this Doctrin and a Beginner too namely Origen Thus they differ among themselves and as little agree each with himself for pag. 348. W. L. had said Scarce any Father within the first Three hundred years ever thought of it Which Assertion is contradictory to what he says of Origen's being the Beginner of it and it is moreover very rash for doth he think that all the Fathers of the first three Ages writ down all their thoughts or that all they writ is preserved till our days or that he hath seen all that is so preserved or remembers all that he hath ever seen But let us leave these Men to reconcile together their own thoughts which will be no small nor short labor and examin the thing it self And to come to it I pass over several slips of our Adversaries v.g. W. Laud pag. 348. says that The first Definition of Purgatory to be believed as a Divine Truth was made by the Council of Florence In which he is mistaken for Benedict XII long before that had Defined the same I prove that the Primitive Church believed a Purgatory in the most pure Times out of the Testimony of three Fathers S. Hilary S. Gregory Nyssen and S. Austin S. Hilary (a) Hil. in Ps 118.20 Ille indefessus ignis obeundus est subeunda sunt illa expiandâ à peccatis animae supplicia That restress Fire is to be endured and those Punishments to be born which may purge our Souls from Sins S. Gregory Nyssen (b) Greg. orat de mortuis as cited by W. L. pag. 351. Men must be purged either by Prayers or by the Furnace of Purgatory Fire after this Life Again A Man cannot be partaker of the Divine Nature unless the Purging Fire doth take away the Stains that are in his Soul. Again After this Life a Purgatory Fire takes away the Blots and Propensity to Evil. W. L. considering these words ingenuously confesseth they seem plain Yet he holds out one Buckler against these two Arrows drawn out of the Quivers of those Fathers That they speak of a Purgation of sins and in the Roman Church we are taught to believe only a Purgation of the pain due to sins already forgiven Now this avails little 1. Because the Debt of pain may be and often is taken for sin on which it is grounded metonimicè 2. He seems not to understand our Doctrin for there is no Definition of our Church obliging us to believe that there remain no venial sins in Purgatory Hence Dr. Kellison (c) Kellis in 3 p. tom 2. p. 611. late President of the English Colledge of Doway proves Purgatory to be prepared First for those who die with only venial sins Secondly for those who die without any sin but only without having fully satisfied for the pains due to sins forgiven The same reasons are alledged by Dr. Sylvius (d) Sylvius in 3. p. Suppl q. 100. p. 356. where he treats the same Question And before these Benedictus XII in his Decree Benedictus Deus hath these words Decernimus animas decedentes cum veniali aliquo peccato purgari post mortem post purgationem ante resumptionem suorum corporum judicium generale post Ascensionem Christi Domini fuisse esse futur as esse in coelo We do declare that Souls dying in venial Sin being purged after their Death before the general Resurrection are translated to Heaven Which Decree you may find in Magno Bullario and in Alphons de Castro verbo Beatitudo You see Sir that there is nothing in the Purgatory described by those Saints incosistent with what we are taught to believe of ours So W. L. or his Squire E. S. must study for another Evasion W. L. cites indeed the Council of Florence to confirm his Answer But that place helps only to convince the World how perfunctoriously he read and inconsiderately framed his Judgment upon reading for in the place cited by him the Council speaks of Souls dying in the state of Grace or Charity Si in Charitate decesserint But of their not having any venial sins not one word unless he thinks that all Souls in Grace are free from venial sins which will be another proof of his Abilities in Divinity My next Proof is taken from St. Angustin in Enchir. cap. 110. Neque negandum est defunctorum â—â—imas pietate suorum viventium relevari cùm pro illis sacrificium mediatoris offertur vel Eleemosynae in Ecclesiâ fiunt sed iis haec prosunt qui cùm viverent ut haec sibi postea prodesse possent meruerunt Est enim quidam vivendi modus nec tam bonus ut non requirat ista post mortem nec tam malus ut ei non prosint ista post mortem Est verò talis in bono ut ista non requirat est rursus talis in malo ut nec his valeat cùm ex hac vitâ transierit adjuvari Similia habentur l. 21. de Civ Dei c. 24. It ought not to be denied that Souls departed are cased by the Piety of their surviving Friends when the Sacrifice of our Mediator is offered for them or Alms given in the Church But those are relieved by these helps who lived so as to deserve the benefit of them after their death for there is a kind of Life neither so good as not to need them nor so bad as not to receive ease by them There is another so good as not to want them and a third so bad as to be incapable of help even from them Thus S. Austin Where you see he distinguishes three Places for the Souls departed as clearly as Bellarmin or the Council of Trent One of those so good as not to need help by the Suffrages of the Church such are the Blessed Souls in Heaven Another so bad as to be incapable or unworthy of relief by the Suffrages such are the wretched Souls in Hell. A third needing them and capable of ease from them such are Souls in Purgatory You see Secondly clear mention of the Sacrifice of our Mediator offered by the Church in his days What is this but our Mass which you may find again Lib. 10. de Civitat Dei. cap. 20. You
in the Protestant no Fear and consequently no Hope which is accompanied always by Fear but in lieu of Hope that Vice which is called Presumption which is a sin against the H. Ghost Timor fundamentum salutis est says Tertul. lib. de cultu foeminarum c. 2. p. 265. Sperando enim timebimus timendo cavebimus cavendo salvi erimus contra si praesumamus neque timendo neque cavendo difficile salvi erimus Fear is the ground-work and foundation of our Salvation Our Hope is mingled with Fear this makes us take heed whence proceeds our security of Salvation On the contrary when we presume we grow careless and run great hazard of being lost for ever SECTION III. Of Charity or Love. CHarity or the Love of God above all things is much more esteemed and honored amongst us than amongst you You rank it contrary to the Apostle even with Faith or seat it on a lower Bench whereas we with the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.13 believe it to be the Commandment of Christ Joh. 15.12 The fulness of the Law Rom. 13.10 The bond of perfection Col. 3.14 which divides betwixt the Children of the Kingdom and those of Perdition S. Aug. The nuptial Garment with which we must enter into the Wedding Mat. 22.11 12. That is the form of Vertues Concil Trid. That without it all other Vertues gift of tongues power of working miracles knowledge of mysteries nay even Faith and Hope are nothing avail nothing are no more to be regarded than sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal c. 1 Cor. 13. In fine althô with Divines we are persuaded that these two great Vertues may be separated yet we hold their separation to be their ruin that as Charity is but superficial and not real without the light of Faith so Faith is cold without the warmth of Charity He who knows God without loving him is impious and he who loves him without knowing him aright is blind A Believer without Love is ungrateful a Lover without Knowledge is fensless so these two Vertues must assist one another We must aim to have a living Faith which works by Love Gal. 5.6 and Love is the proper work of Faith. Opus fidei dilectio Aug. tr 10. in Epist Jo. Love both gives to and receives strength from Faith. Charitas robur Fidei Fides fortitudo Charitatis S. I eo Serm. 7. in Quadrag In Heaven there is Love without Faith 1 Cor. 13.8.10 In Hell Faith without Love Jac. 2.19 Christians in this Life must have both for Love without Faith is the Love of Pagans and Faith without Love is the Faith of Devils but Faith with Charity is the Faith of the Children of God in this Life Fides quae per dilectionem operatur ipsa est Fides quae fideles Dei separat ab immundis daemonibus Aug. de gratiâ lib. Artib cap. 7. Thus we joyn together those two great Vertues this we believe this we teach of Charity whilst you out of an ill-grounded opinion of your Fac-totum-Faith relying on it for Remission of Sins Justification Perseverance and Salvation exhaust your Rhetorick so much in commendation of that your Darling that you have no room to commend Charity or Good-works Our Practice as much surpasses yours as to nourishing Charity as our Doctrin doth For seeing the Love of God and Love of our selves are opposit and the one withers as the other thrives their practice must be most proper to nourish Charity which aims most at mortifying Self-love and on the contrary those who foster Self-love must annihilate Charity Now what Practice can you shew for the mortification of the Body the quelling our Passions the renouncing of our Will What Documents do you give for these What Examples can you shew since your reformation of them You have never been able to find in the three Kingdoms a dozen Persons of either Sex who for so many years would sequester themselves from the Enjoyments of the World to serve God in voluntary Poverty Chastity and Obedience Whence comes this but from Self-love which abounds in them and the lack of the Love of God which might cement their Hearts together Whence comes that insupportable Pride which makes your Proselytes so refractory to God and his Vicars their Spiritual and Temporal Superiors That they are so tenacious of their extravagant Fancies so stubborn in their uncouth Resolutions so intractable in their Manners so humorsom in all their Actions and Conversations but a latent Pride the proper Offspring of Self-love and the Bane of Charity Look into 1 Cor. 13. you shall there find a description of Charity and its Qualities Charity suffereth long and is kind Charity envieth not Charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things Should I now examin the Life of generally all who deliver themselves to your Direction upon these Heads and shew how little of this appears in your Manners and how much there is quite contrary to it the Picture if sincere would fright you or confound you how great soever your Confidence be In fine the words of our Saviour to the Angel of Laodicea Apoc. 3.17 may be very well applied to you Thou sayest I am rich and encreased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked God open the eyes of your Heart to see this that so you may be moved to seek for Gold tried Spiritual Riches where it is to be found in the true Church SECTION IV. An Answer to what G. B. objects G. B. p. 78. ARE Papists not taught to confide more in the Virgin or their Tutelar Saints than in the Holiest of all Answ No we are taught no such thing G. B. ibid. Doth not the fear of Purgatory damp the hopes of future Blessedness Answ It doth not G. B. pag. 79. What impious Doctrin hath been Printed in that Church of the Degree of Love we owe to God Answ I know of no such Doctrin of the Degrees of Love due to God. I know that all Catholics applaud the Saying of S. Bernard Modus amandi Deum est amare sine modo I know that Divines require as well as S. Thomas a mediocrity in all Vertues except Charity That all Vertues are betwixt two Vices whereof one offends by exceeding the other by not reaching its due measure And this they assure even of Hope which is betwixt Presumption and Despair and of Faith which is betwixt a lightness of Heart believing all things and a hardness to believe any thing Love cannot be too great and so hath only one Vice contrary to it by defect loving too little Is this Doctrin Impious Hence what you say Some mincing it so as if they were afraid of his being too much beloved This
of Revelations there was given 1 Cor. 12.7 He had then REVELATIONS nay abundance of Revelations See how carelesly you read how ill you understand and how negligently you write out of Scriptures for you are certainly convinced that when S. Paul spoke of that one he did it not because he had been favored with no other but because that was a singular favor and as such esteemed But I dispute seriously against a Man who regards not what he writes G. B. pag. 124. Are they not credible Stories of Christ's appearing to some of their She Saints and kissing them being married to them c. Answ I doubt not but you and your Brethren think this Folly. S. Paul says as much of such as you 1 Cor. 2.14 Animalis homo non percipit ea quae sunt spiritus Dei stultitia est enim illi non potest intelligere quia spiritualiter examinatur The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Of such as the English Ministers S. Paul speaks who are by him declared incapable to judge yet will be still judging of the secret workings of the Holy Ghost in those Souls which he makes his Temples in whom he lives and they in him which things seem folly to you because you have no experience of them and probably never made an hour of Mental Prayer in all your Life nor know how to make it Hence you speak evil of things you know not Jude v. 10. It would be more to your Credit to omit those things than by speaking of them discover so shameful an Ignorance The best Advice I can give you is that of Job to his Friends To be silent that you may seem wise Job 13.5 But Christ kissed them and married them This scandalizes your chast Brethren who cannot hear of Marriage and Mr. Brevint surmised God knows what unclean Spirits I cannot appeal to the Conscience and Experience of any of the whole Ministry for the reality of what you deride for I think there never was granted to any of you such Favors Yet to free you from fear of Illusions in those Visits from bad Spirits know and I wonder any one who reads the Scripture can be ignorant of it that there is a Spiritual Contract betwixt Christ and the Church Item betwixt him and every pious Soul That this Contract is called a Marriage That on this score the Sins of such Souls against their Spouse are called Adulteries and themselves Adulteresses If you have any Remembrance these Hints will bring to mind a number of Texts of Scripture which deliver what you scoff at The whole Book of Canticles or Solomons Song celebrates that adorable Nuptial Solemnity The very first words of it are Osculetur me osculo oris sui Cant. 1.1 Let him or may he kiss me with a kiss of his mouth The Church and every pious Soul demanding as a singular Favor of her Spouse that Blessing which when granted to some scandalizes you modest Man so different are your Sentiments in Spiritual things from those of the Holy Ghost who says Cant. 1.3 that the Soul should receive that favor she at first demanded and yet not be despised You despise them all as Forgeries Dreams Effects of Melancholy or Hysterical Distempers What is Blasphemy if this be not Our Lord for give you for you know not what you say G. B pag. 124. The Inspirations of Holy Writers on whom we found our Faith was proved by Miracles Ans We build not our Faith on any of these Revelations you speak of so this Hint is nothing to the purpose If we did Miracles are not here wanting viz. The change of Mens Lives either from good to better or at least from bad to good which sufficiently proves the goodness of the Spirit appearing above all your frivolous Exceptions And if other Miracles are necessary those are many times granted too G. B. pag. 126. Was it not a worthy piece of the Angelical Ministration for Angels to go trotting over Sea and Land with a Load of Timber and Stone of the Virginal House to Loretto Answ Whether they trotted or ambled I doubt not but that piece of Ministration was more pleasing to those Blessed Spirits than to attend the protection of Men who spend their Strength of Body and Mind in offending God by impugning known Truth Sin I know they abhor other things are indifferent to them and all are welcom when commanded G. B. pag. 128. The Miracles of Rome are not heard of till some Ages at least Years be past Answ This is not true They are all very strictly immediately examined by Authority from the Ordinary and then published See that done at Gant upon D. Mary Minshall approved by the Bishop shortly after it past G. B. ibid. It is the Interest of Rome to have them all believed without once questioning them Answ Rome has no Interest but that Truth find place and God be glorified If you consider how strictly those of the Portuguese Nun were examined and how sincerely the Cheat was published you will acknowledge that our Church doth not countenance any Deceit in this nor think it her Interest that all should be believed G. B. ibid. How comes it that in Heretical Countries where there is more need of those Miracles and where they might be more irrefragably proved if true none of those mighty Works do shew themselves forth Answ How comes it that when the Scribes and Pharisees demanded a Sign from Heaven our Saviour refused it An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it Mat. 12.39 It is presumptuous for you or any other to prescribe Rules to God Almighty's Providence which is never wanting in what is necessary and we ought not to expect things unnecessary to pleasure our Curiosity either in Nature or Grace which he grants when he pleases but not always Now Miracles are very efficacious Means but not the only Motives to bring us to Faith and by consequence not absolutely necessary The Apostle had a Power to work Miracles and had a great proportion of Learning yet he used neither for Conversion of the World when worldly Men demanded it Judaei signa petunt Graeci sapientiam quaerunt Nos autem praedicamus Christum Crucifixum Judaeis quidem scandalum Gentibus autem stultitiam 1 Cor. 1.22 The Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom And did he work Miracles to satisfie the one or use Human Wisdom to work on the other No But we preach Christ crucified a scandal to the Jews and folly to the Greeks Both tempted God as the Scribes did and you do and neither obtained what they demanded Indeed those that will shut their Eyes to all other Motives would easily baffle the conviction of Miracles either saying they are natural Works or attributing them to Magick You see how the Cure