did bear rule by their means and which is observable the People did Love to have it so Jer. 5. 31. And to the like purpose St. Paul speaks of those Rom. 1. who held the Truth in unrighteousness because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful they became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened so that professing themselves to be wise they became fools and were given over to a Reprobate mind and to be without understanding Now this consideration that God doth many times in Judgement upon wicked people send them strong Delusions that they should believe a Lye serveth to these two good purposes that I may not mention any more 1. It discovers unto us the Reason why it is such an hard and very difficult matter to reclaim people that have once wilfully revolted from the Truth Every Age hath found it true by sad experience that it is much more easie to convert that person from the Error of his way who hath been bred up in Ignorance from his Youth than to reduce that man who hath turned aside either to Atheism or to Idolatry and Superstition albeit he may have been instructed out of the Scriptures from his Childhood Such a one sinneth against greater light of Conscience and so is infinitely more Criminal in shutting his own eyes than he who never had his eyes open nor had a Torch held out unto him to find out the True way Questionless a man may sin away Gods Grace by degrees and of all sorts of Sinners the Apostate seemeth to take the Largest step towards it and therefore the Apostle speaking of Renegado's from the Truth tells us Heb 6. 4 5 6. That it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the Heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the World to come if they shall fall away to renew them again unto Repentance For if any man quencheth the Spirit it is he If any man treadeth under foot the Son of God it is he If any man counteth the Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing it is he If any man doth despite unto the Spirit of Grace it is he And after so many sins so much obstinacy and so much standing out against the clamours and snubbings of Natural and Enlightned Conscience to recover that man out of his Apostacy by the gravest Counsels by the most pathetical Exhortations or by the strongest and most convincing Arguments though it be not absolutely impossible yet it is next door unto it and the Reason of it is here in my Text because he loved not the Truth therefore hath God sent him strong Delusions that he should believe a Lye Let him therefore that standeth as he valueth the favour of God the comforts and fellowship of the Spirit and the Eternal interest and felicity of his own Soul let him take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10. 12. 2. This Consideration of Gods sending some men strong Delusions serveth to clear up that which in our Age seemeth to be a Miracle of wonders how it cometh to pass that many famous and learned Divines in the Church of Rome have both believed those things themselves and obtruded them upon others also as so many sound and Catholick Truths which even unskilful Men and Ideots in our Communion can discover to be meer delusions or falshoods as it were of yesterday I remember Tertullian said Sapientis est nihil admirari That a Wiseman will wonder at nothing and I think we need not wonder at this thing if it be so but rather we may make it a Question whether it be so indeed Whether they have believed those points themselves which they have offered unto us as Articles of Faith St. Augustine tells of Varro that learned Pagan that he affirmed Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 4. c. 31. That many things in Religion were true which it was not fit that the Vulgar sort should know and on the other hand that tho some things were false yet it was not convenient for the common People to believe otherwise And so he tells us of Scaevola the Roman High-Priest in those times of Heathenisme that Expedire existimavit falli in Religione Civitates He thought it very expedient for De Civ Dei lib. 4. c. 27. Cities to be deceived in their Religion And some others too especially among the old Greeks have spoken to the same purpose And it is not impossible but some Christian Romanes Vid. Joseph cont Appion lib. 2. may have thought as Varro and Scaevola did of old that for certain Reasons the Vulgar ought to be made believe many things tho they be not true I would strain my Charity to think well of the worst but yet I cannot for all my Charity but fear at least that some Popish Divines have acted quite against their own Consciences and used indirect Arts to gull the rest of the World teaching such Doctrines for True which they themselves could not but know to be false and I shall give you two instances to confirm my opinion that it may not seem to be an uncharitable conjecture only When they procured a Commission from King Philip of Spain to search for all sorts of Catholick Books and to purge out of them those passages which made for the Protestants and to note those passages in a Book by it self called the Expurgatory Index there were notable Cautions inserted in the Commission that the Book so compiled should not in any wise be made publick Vide Diploma praefix Ind. Exp. Edit Belg. but commited to the trust of some certain faithful Prelates and that those Prelates should not communicate the matter to any but such as they should judge to be trusty and by them to be kept very close and not so much as the sight of one Copy to be imparted unto others tho they were Catholicks Now was not this acting against Conscience For if they intended to deal fairly and upon the Square why was this contrivance to be kept under the Seal of Secrecy Again When the Censors of Doway were upon promoting of this design of purging Books and did light upon several ancient Writers and perticularly upon Bertram who lived within nine hundred years after Christ and wrote things destructive of Transubstantiation they resolved together not to burn those Books but either to bear with their Errors or to extemiate them or to excuse them and to give them as kind a sense as could be and if the shoo pinched too much than their last refuge was roundly and manfully to deny the matter in their disputations with their Adversaries this is the English of their own words in their Censure of Pag. 13. Ind. Exp. Edit Belg. Bertram's Book And if this be not in plain English down right dishonesty we are yet to seek what the Nature of Cheating is
From these two Instances it doth appear that there is reason enough for us to suspect at least that they have acted craftily and against the light of their own Consciences and so it is very probable that they do still and that they may know themselves the falshood of those things which they would fain have us to believe and perhaps for Varro's and Scaevola's reason because it is fit sometimes the People should be deceived in their Religion for peace and quietness sake But yet What if the Rulers of these People be of the same Faith with their Vassals it is no argument of the truth of their Creed because great and learned Men have believed it for great and learned Men may be and have been deceived That great Philosopher Zeno did question whether there was any such thing as Motion in the world but what authority is this for me to disbeleive my own eyes And Scipio Tettus was such a Fool that he denied the being of God and set up a School of Atheism and died a Martyr for Atheism and clapt his hands too in the very flames Now all that we can collect from these and the like instances is that Man is a most senseless Creature when God gives him up to his own conduct and management especially if he be blinded too by him that ruleth in darkness Magnus Deus est error as Luther said Error is a God which the most admired Sophies are ready to adore when the God of Truth Righteousness and Peace shall leave them to themselves and commit them to their own hands And that this is usual the Instances are too many to be insisted on and the thing is too common to be wondered at And so the first thing I propounded is made good that many people are led away by strong delusions to believe that which is a manifest and notorious lie and how this cometh to pass Partly by the power of Mens Education partly by the efficacy of their Lusts but chiefly by the Justice of God thereby punishing them for their darling wickednesses for this cause God doth send them strong Delusions that they should believe a Lie ANCIENT and MODERN DELUSIONS Discoursed of in three SERMONS Upon 2 THES 2. 11. SERM. II. 2. THES 2. 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong Delusions that they should believe a Lye THE second consideration now followes that notwithstanding those great Evidences which have been given on the behalf of Truth yet multitudes of silly people are very fond of delusions and lyes still nay even such as are of the same or of the like Nature with those Delusions which St. Paul speaketh of here which he sayeth were to be sent upon that Generation as a curse and Judgement upon them because they loved not the Truth that they might be saved In the handling of this matter I must of necessity observe this Method to shew you what those Pretences were which prevailed in the very first ages of Christianity Then that many pretences which are in vogue now do resemble and come very near to those which were broached in the beginning by damned Seducers and lastly that these are meer Delusions and Lyes how specious soever they may appear unto the vulgar 1. Then it is observable and very certain that in the most Primitive Times of the Church many Impostors did pretend to an Infallible Spirit This is clear to any man that hath but enquired into the History and condition of that Age wherein the Apostles of Christ lived For Simon the Sorcerer of whom we read Act. 8. and whom the Ancients called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eldest Son of the Devil pretended that he was that Divine Being which framed both the Angelical and Visible world He perswaded many to believe that he was the great power of God or as it may be rendred that he was that Power Numen or Divine Majestie which is called Great He pretended to be more than Gods Vicar upon Earth for he gave out that he was the very God that appeared Epiph. Haeres 21. Iren. l. 1 c. 20. Cyril Catech 5. Iustin Dial. in Tryph. Euseb Hist Eccl. lib. 2. c. 13. upon Mount Sinai as the Father that he was the Christ that afterwards conversed with the Jews as the Son and that he was the Holy Ghost that at last descended as the Paraclete or promised Comforter Eusebius tells us that he had a Demon alwayes attending on him which was called the Virtus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby he Quod de Marco Annot Iren. lib. 1. c. 9. wrought such seeming Miracles that he was worshipped as the Supream and Sovereign Deity and it appears by the joynt testimonies of Tertullian Justin Martyr and other the most Tertul. Apol. c. 13 Iustin Apol. 2. Iren. l. 1. c. 20. Cyril Catech. 5. ancient Writers of the Church that Claudius the Emperor erected a great Statue in honour of him with this Inscription upon it Simoni Deo sancto to the Holy God Simon Some learned Divines do conceive that this was that Man of Sin of whom Saint Paul saith in this 2 Thes 2. 4. That he opposed and exalted himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped c. This is certain that his Followers pretended to the most perfect and certain knowledge of Gods Will insomuch that they despised the Apostles themselves as much inferiour to them in understanding the Divine Mysteries And Epiphanius relates that when the Church appealed to Epiph. lib 1. Haeres 14. 34. Iren. lib. 3. c 2. the Writings of the Apostles they urged the authority of a more infallible Tradition and affirmed themselves to be wiser than the Apostles and to be Preachers of greater Truths than ever the Apostles were acquainted with These were those false Prophets which our Saviour foretold would come Matth. 7. 15. He called them false Prophets not because they pretended to foretel future events but because they falsly pretended to Divine Inspiration and to an Infallible Spirit These are they which Saint Paul saith were puffed up with a profession of Science falsly so called 1 Tim. 6. These were they whom he called false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ 2 Cor. 11. 13. And these are they against whom he cautioneth the Thessalonians in this Chapter that they should not be shaken in mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 2. by any pretences of the Spirit by a shew of Inspiration Immediate Revelation and Infallible Knowledge Now by what hath been spoken you may easily observe that the Fundamental and Grand Pretence upon which those monstrous Hereticks went in the Apostles Times was This that their Master was the Divine Oracle the great Teacher of all Truth and that they themselves by being his Disciples had this Priviledge above other men to be divinely and immediately inspired so that they neither did nor could be mistaken in their Religion Like unto this is the
modern pretence touching the Infallibility of the Bishop and Church of Rome What the old Gnosticks did claim by and under Simon Magus that do the new Romanists claim by and under Simon Peter that their Teachers and Guides cannot Err. Tho for above fourteen hundred years together the Popes judgement was not counted infallible yet now it is an undoubted Article and the Fundamental Tenet among them especially among the Jesuites that their Great Pontifex hath this Prerogative above all Councils that in his quae ad fidem pertinent nullo casu errare possit as Cardinal Bellarmine affirms in things pertaining to the Bellarm. de Rom. Pontif. lib. 4. c. 3. Faith he cannot erre in any case Now that this is a meer Delusion and a notorious lie Our Writers have used several effectual wayes to prove But because I do not intend to wade up to the neck in such a senseless Controversie I shall take this as a ready and satisfactory course by shewing you briefly how Contradictory the sense of one Pope hath been to the judgement of another and so by setting them together against themselves it will soon appear what a vain and silly pretence that of their Infallibility is To begin Saint Peter as they reckon was the first Bishop of Rome and he has left that behind him which doth blast the Infallibility of his pretended Successors for he declared the King to have no Superior Though he himself was so great an Apostle and all Kings then were Pagans and Infidels yet he taught us to submit our selves to every ordinance and to the King as Supreme 1 Pet. 2. 13. But Pius the 4th claimed that at the Council of Trent which Engenius the 4th had lately defined at the Council of Florence that the Bishop of Rome holdeth the Primacy over the whole World Kings and Emperors not excepted And this they are so fond of still that whosoever among us shall ex animo take the Oath of Supremacy must lie under a Curse as an Heretick and an Apostate from the Catholick See Again the Title of Universal Pastorship over all the Bishops in the World all the Popes have claimed since the days of Boniface the Third and yet Gregory the Great while he was Bishop of Rome declaimed horribly against it and in divers of his Epistles calls it a Title full of Novelty Vanity Blasphemy Pride Madness and Wickedness and said that it was a Preparative to the Times of Anti-christ Again this business of Infallibility which is now one of the choicest feathers in the Old mans Cap was formerly accounted by themselves as a New-nothing For about 250 years since no longer ago Adrian the Bellarm. de Rom. Pontif. lib. 4. c. 2. sixth did ingeniously and honestly declare that the Pope might not only Err but might be an Heretick too and might teach Heresie and that some Popes have de facto done so And to make good what this Pope Adrian said it is further observable that Liberius subscribed the Arian Heresie and the thing is so certain that Cardinal Bellarmine himself doth confess it and produceth many Authorities to Hierom. in Catalog Ballarm de Rom. Pont. lib. 4 c. 9. prove it Moreover Honorius the first held that there was but one Will in Christ and Vigilius denied that Christ had two natures and Anastasius the second was a Photinian and Marcellinus was more than an Heretick for Melch. Canus lib. 6. Gratian dist 19. c. 9. Council Sinues Tert. adv Prax. he Apostatiz'd to Heathenism and sacrificed to Heathen Idols and Zepherinus embraced the Prophesies of Montanus and Rhenanus himself in his Annotations upon Tertullian notes it on the Margin as a thing to be observed Episcopus Romanus Montanizat the Bishop of Rome is turned Montanist And yet Montanism and Arianism and Photinianism and the other Sects I have named were justly reckoned by succeeding Popes as so many Heretical Professions and Factions which yet these their Predecessors did embrance notwithstanding And since this is Pope against Pope one contradicting and condemning the other and that in things pertaining to the Faith How is it likely and possible that every one of them could be in the Right Further yet two things are observed of Pope Galasius the first that Magdeb. Cent 5. c. 4. de Caene Dom. cap. 10. in vita Gelasii he flatly affirmed the Elements in the Sacrament to remain in their own Nature Bread and Wine and that he called it a piece of Sacriledge to administer the Bread without the Wine But how irreconcileable his Doctrine is with that of latter Popes who teach Transubstantion and half Communion any man may see with half an Eye Again Caelestine the Third taught Alphons de Castro lib. 1. c. 4. that Marriage was void and null if either the Wife or the Husband became an Heretick and yet the quite contrary was taught by his immediate Successor Innocent the Third and so it has continued to be taught by the rest of the Popes since Further yet The Papists are pleas'd to call Mr. Calvin an Heretick for affirming that the souls of Saints departed shall not enjoy the perfect vision of God until the Resurrection Yet this Doctrine was taught by Pope John the 22th but to see the Infallibility of these Men some say that John himself recanted this before his death however it is certain that the contrary was defined by Benedict the Twelfth Johns next Successor and so the Popes teach still that such Souls are perfectly happy upon their departure and this is the fundamental Principle upon which their Invocations of Saints standeth and were it not for that I believe John's opinion would have been received as a certain Truth But what shall we say of John the 23th who denyed the Articles of Eternal Life and the Resurrection of the Body And for his Heresie was accused and condemned by their own Council of Constance Either he or other Popes were grossly mistaken and which of the two is most likely we leave to themselves to dispute it out To these I might add many instances more as that John the 12th ordained a Deacon in a stable Magdeb. Cent. 10. c. 9. drank healths to the Devils and called upon Devils for help when he was at Dice that there was an Age as Platina tells us when Plat. in vit Steph. 6. 't was usual with Popes to make void all that their Predecessors had done that when Formosus was dead Stephen the 6th made his body to be taken out of the Grave caused some Ballarm of his fingers to be cut off and his Carcase to be thrown into the River that then Pope Romanus was set up who condemned the Acts of Stephen and then came Sergius the 3 d. who ratified what Stephen had done and nulled again the Acts of Formosus I might instance also in another of their pretended Infallible Oracles I mean that Female Pope who turned St. Peters into a groaning Chair
and was delivered of a Popeling and so cozened the whole Church and her self too notwithstanding her Infallibility but as to this it will be said that it was not Error in Capite a judicial Error but a personal slip only an hurt in the Elbow or the Shin or else they will deny that there was ever such a Pope and with them it is a Rule that Fortiter mentiri to Lye strenuously and to swear to it for the sake of the Catholick cause is not only pardonable but meritorous too I shall only add what is very well known that Sixtus the 5th set forth a Latine Translation of the Bible and cursed all that would not use that and after him came Clement the 8th and set forth another and different Translation and cursed all that would not use that so that let the Romanists turn themselves which way they please they are all accursed and damned if it be so that their Popes be indeed Infallible But 't is a wonder that any Learned person should be of that opinion of men who have been so vicious so ridiculous and so inconsistent with themselves that the Italians themselves have made them the Subjects of the bitterest Pasquils and Satyrs only I do remember what a Learned Writer hath observed of Aeneas Bishop Taylor lib. of Proph. Sect. 7. Silvius that before he came to be preferred to the Popedome he laughed at the conceit of the Popes Infallibility and the reason why some did set him above Councils was this as he ingeniously confest because the Pope had the disposal of all Spiritual Preferments which Councils had not and so the thing fairly ends that 't is not the Love of Truth but the Love of Interest which has made men to sweat to defend this pretence of Infallibility A pretence which I have been the longer upon because it is the grand Delusion on which many others are built and though many who dare not believe their own Senses are so senseless and sottish as to believe this fancy yet I consider that thousands have been justly given up to believe a Lye That great impostor Montanus pretended that he was the Paraclete or Comforter that was promised and that Delusion prevailed so that the Acute and Learned Tertullian himself was at last perswaded of the Truth of it Though it be a dangerous yet 't is no New thing for the worst of men to say they are Infallible Those false Prophets and false Teachers who seduced the World in the Apostles days pretended the same thing and it was the grand Delusion which the Righteous God delivered them and their followers up to believe because they loved not the Truth 2. Another thing observable of those first Hereticks is that they taught the worship of Images S. John cautioned his little Children to keep themselves from Idols 1 Joh. 5. 21. And S. Paul spake of some Idolaters that were in the World in his days 1 Cor. 5. 10. Now by these are to be understood not only those who worshipped the Pagan Deities but those also who worshipped Pictures whether of God or of Christ or of Men. And that such there were in those first times is very clear out of the Writings of many Ancient Doctors in the Church and though they called themselves Christians as the sincere Professors of the Gospel were called yet were they condemned and prescribed by the Church as vile and abominable Hereticks Such were the Cerinthians who boasted of their immediate Revelations and yet honoured the Picture of Judas himself because he was the occasion of Christs death Simon Magus of whom I spake Epiph. Haeres 21. Iren. l. 1 c. 20. Augustinus Eusebius before delivered an Effigies of himself to his Followers in the shape of Jupiter and another of his Strumpet Helena in the shape of Minerva and his Disciples by his directions worshipped these with prostrations with incense with meat and drink-Offerings In like manner the Carpocratians had the Pictures of Christ and of Iren. l. 1. c. 24. Paul and of others to which they gave religious worship and by so doing did conceive that they greatly honoured Christ himself and his Apostles Now all these poysonous Branches of Idolatry proceeded from one bitter Root that wicked Sorcerer who was the Author of all * Cyril Cat. 5. Vide Ouzel in Min. Faelic p. 54. Heresies And the learned Dr. Hammond is of opinion that Saint Paul pointeth to these Impostors Rom. 1. 23. where he saith that they changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like unto a corruptible man for they supposed that God himself was adored and worshipped in and by these Images and Representations Like unto this old abominable and heretical Practice is the modern Practice of the Church of Rome in worshipping the Pictures of the Persons in the Holy Trinity of the Holy Virgin and of the Apostles and other Saints And tho they would come off with a nice and foolish distinction between Latria and Dulia which yet their Writers do not throughly agree in yet suppose they do not pretend to give Divine worship to the Images themselves but to the Prototypes that is to God and to Christ who are thus Represented this is a very gross delusion and a Lie in the Scripture sense of the Word that is down right Idolatry For they who worshipped the golden Calf in the Wilderness are called by the Apostle Idolaters 1 Cor. 10. 7. and yet they were not so sottish as to think that the Image which they had just formed with their hands was the very True God but looked upon it as the Symbol of Gods presence and worshipt it as Gods Representative and their Worship was ultimately directed not to the Calf but to God himself by the Image and under that Similitude and so they were guilty of Idolatry in the Manner tho not in the Object of their worship for they worshipped the True God after a False way And indeed this was the Idolatry of the very Pagans For tho many of the vulgar sort among them terminated their worship in the Images themselves yet the wiser sort did conceive and prefer that they worshipped the Great God by their Images and not the Images themselves So Celsus declared in his Disputations with Origen that he was no better than a perfect Fool that looked upon those things things of Wood and Stone of Brass and Gold to be Gods and not rather as Origen cont Cels l. 7. Images of the Gods And the Pagans in Arnobius profest that they worshipp'd Statues only Arnob. l. 6. because through them honor is given to the Gods whereas the Images themselves were worshipt only for their Dedication and Relation sake unto the Deity This was the Plea of the Heathens and this is the Plea of the Papists so that either they are guilty of Idolatry or else neither Jews nor Heathens were ever guilty of it And whatever evasions they make use of to excuse
the World fraughted with variety of Legends and thousands of Stories touching Miracles done at the Shrines and by the Reliques of Saints it would be the greatest Prodigy to me that in these dayes Men should have the confidence to talk of Miracles since the Truth of Religion hath been so abundantly confirmed Yet such is the Folly and Impudence of the Church of Rome that they are not asham'd to fill our ears with such Comical Stories many of them fabulous many ridiculous and all of them impertinent that were it fit to make this House a Theatre I would desire no better Subject whereby to expose their Religion But my business is briefly to shew that these are strong Delusions however some credulous and silly people do believe them as firmly as the very Creed In order to our proceeding two things must be premised 1. That there are two sorts of Miracles Some are properly so called real and true Miracles such as cannot be wrought by any second Causes but by the immediate hand of God alone Others again are improperly so called rather Prodigies than true Miracles such as are not effected by any natural and ordinary causes here among us but by some invisible created Spirits who by Gods permission produce such supernatural effects as do strike the vulgar sort into astonishment and serve to bring the Instruments thereof into admiration Of this sort was those wrought of old by the Egyptian Sorcerers in Exod. 7. 2. Miracles are not to be heeded without Consideration had of those Doctrines which they are intended to confirm For if they serve to promote Idolatry or to rob God of any of his Honor things plainly condemned by the Holy Ghost in Scripture they are to be rejected without further examination it being not to be supposed that God will contradict himself or set his Seal to a Lie but rather to be Believed that he doth only permit Angels or Devils to shew such wonders for the probation and tryal of Mens Faith or in vengeance for their Sins This is clear from Deut. 13. 1 2 3. If there arise among you a Prophet and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying let us go after other Gods and serve them thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet c. These things being taken for granted we affirm 1. That the signs and wonders which the Church of Rome boasteth of are not in any wise true Miracles done by the power of God wherewith Christ and his Apostles were indued but that they are either so many Lies and Forgeries or so many Diabolical operations at the best For what do they pretend to do but in a corner and among themselves Whereas true Miracles were acted before the Sun and before the eyes of those who were Enemies to truth because a true Miracle is alwayes for conviction and so must be publick And if these men are armed with omnipotence why do they not shew Vs the finger of God who are ready to resist their Doctrines and Practices even unto Blood and besides it is to be considered that how great soever their pretended Miracles are we will shew them as great which have been done by unbelievers not only by the Aegyptians but also by Apollonius Tyaneus by Vespasian and other Roman Emperors and by Accius Navius a Pagan of whom Apuleius tells us that Miraculum cotis Apul. he divided a Stone with a Razor 2. If these Miracles were more for number and greater for the nature of them than they are yet are they to be exploded and hissed at by all Lovers of the Truth because they tend not to the confirmation of the Christian Faith but to different ends clearly It is observable that when the Roman Doctors would prove the verity of the Articles of our Common Creed they talk not of Miracles but have recourse unto the Scriptures But seeing they can find nothing there which countenanceth the worshipping of Relicks and Images and the like they appeal always to strange and mighty works pretended to have been done by such and such a Saint to give warrant to their Superstitions and Idolatry Now these things are repugnant to the Word of God and to the Doctrine of God our Saviour and therefore it is presumable that they are Impostures and Cheats put upon men by the Father of Lies thereby to advance the Interest of his Kingdome For all these Miracles so highly cryed up serve to no good purposes but to some pitiful or sinful ends either to bring their Monasteries and Orders into veneration or to encourage the Invocations of Saints or to bring honour to the Mass or to promote the adoration of the Host or the Cross or the like monstrous Innovations So they tell us that St. Antony was heard at two miles distance while he was preaching That St. Denis took up his own head after 't was cut off and carried it in his arms That St. Dominick was wont to plague the Devil pulling off his Feathers when he appeared to him in the shape of a Sparrow and burning his toes when he troubled him in the form of a Monkey That St. Francis was transformed into the form of our Saviour with his five Wounds imprinted upon him That St. Ignatius's picture quenched a fire in a Barn that was all on a flame and cured a Spaniard of Mendoza of the black Ague That St. Xavier having dropt his Crucifix into the Sea to allay a Tempest recovered it again by the ministery of a Crab-Fish that carried it many leagues and brought it a shore with a great deal of reverence That Saint Patrick while he was yet in his Mothers belly heard the Irish Infants crying to him to come and set them free That Saint Nicholas fasted every wednesday and friday whilst he was a sucking Child That Bartolomy of Durham confounded an Evil Angel by throwing at him a pot of Holy Water That Saint Moedoc rode over a Lake in a Chariot and left upon the waters the print of the wheels That a Mule was made to leave his Provender to adore the Sacrament That a Sheep was so devout as to attend the Mass and to bleat before the Altar of the blessed Virgin and did humble obeisance at the elevation of the Host That by the sign of the Cross a Birds head was set on that had been pulled off by the Boys and great flakes of Ice were turned into billets and a sucking Child was made to speak and thousands have been healed of all manner of Diseases That Devils have been brought to confession by the virtue of the Ladies Psalter and the Rosary and that Evil Spirits have sneaked out of persons possessed by the Repetition of a few Ave Maryes and that at Saint Gervais his Monastry in Paris a hive of Bees were so Religious as to build a Chappel of Wax in honor of the holy Wafer that was put in among them