him signing their Mission with these following words Healthe Sick raise the Dead cleanse the Leprous cast out Devils And that we might not believe these singular Graces to attend only the first Apostles he assures us without any limitation of Time or Place That those who believe in him John 14. shall do the same Works which He did and greater than those that such Signs and Wonders shall follow those who believe From this clear Method and plain Doctrin of Christ and his Apostles and from this following unquestionable Truth grounded on God's Goodness and Justice to wit That as men are bound to receive the Doctrin which God sends his Servants to preach to them so he cannot induce them into an Error by permitting it to be proposed in his Name and upheld by Prodigies which may prudently be believed to be wrought by his hand it follows First That Miracles are clear proofs by which may be resolved all doubts about questioned Revelations and consequently that there be undoubted Marks to know them by otherwise they would be useless Secondly That God in his Mercy cannot permit that a man slily covering his false Doctrin pretending to be sent by him and to teach only what is conformable to what he hath hitherto revealed in holy Scripture should work Miracles to uphold Falshood and that no one of those who oppose him should work greater in defence of Truth These Principles being thus cleared and settled I form this Argument for Christianity against a Jew or Pagan to which I crave your attention that you may observe if it faulters in any part or whether it concludes not rather in favour of Us Christians an impossibility of being mistaken in adoring Christ and an evident Obligation to it If there were such Persons as Christ and his Apostles and if they wrought such clear Miracles in Proof of the Doctrin which they taught as are related in the Testament it is certain that all men sufficiently informed of those Miracles are bound to receive their Doctrin as a Truth revealed by God. But there were such Men and such Miracles wrought by them and we are all sufficiently informed of them therefore we are all bound to believe and profess the Doctrin taught by Christ and his Apostles that is to be Christians Is this Argument plain and convincing or no May not the Major Proposition if deny'd be easily proved beyond the possibility of a Reply out of the two Principles before laid open As for the Minor no one can refuse his assent to it who considers how those Miracles were wrought in the sight of great Multitudes of which most were declared Enemies to Christ and his Disclples how the Records we find them in were handed to us from Eye-witnesses without any probable Objection ever being opposed to their Truth how they were owned by the very Enemies of Christ for true Records how the miraculous Effects of those Prodigies remain in the wonderful Conversion of the World to Christianity how they have equally been sealed with the Blood of Martyrs the Virtues and Heavenly Gifts of Confessors how these Persons and their miraculous Works were prophesied before and such Prophecies preserved in the hands of their Enemies did point out all the Circumstances that attended their Persons and Miracles how to conclude no other Religion or Belief was ever thus evidently attested by the Omnipotency of God ever thus visibly subscribed unto with his Hand and marked with his Seal Say Christians are these Proofs clear and convincing Yea or No Do you believe your selves strictly bound under pain of Eternal Damnation to believe God speaking to you as plainly as these Miraculous Proofs convince you that 't is He who spoke by Christ and his Apostles Yes or No Yes we may then well conclude our selves all bound to be Christians and we may convince Jews and Gentiles such as are not wilfully obstinate of their obligation to become Proselyâ—es to our Religion But now we are at variance amongst our selves These Arguments I have offered convince indeed each of us that what Christ and his Apostles did teach was the Truth that all who can come to the Knowledge of that Faith which they preach'd that Religion which they setl'd that Church which they form'd are bound under pain of Eternal Damnation to embrace that Faith to profess that Religion and to be Members of that Church but we differ as to the other main Point to wit what Faith they did preach what Religion they settled what Church they formed To reduce then all dissenting Christians to one Faith one Religion one Church what can be a more infallible and unquestionable Motive than to use the same Argument which moves us all to be Christians Which I thus offer altering only such words in it which fit it to our Case without taking away any thing from its force If there was such a man as Xaverius and if he wrought such clear Miracles in proof of the Doctrin which he taught as are related in all the Histories of the Indies and of Japan and in his Life written in all Countries and Languages it is certain that all men sufficiently inform'd of those Miracles are bound to receive his Doctrin as a Truth revealed by God. But there was such a Man and such Miracles wrought by him and we are all or may be when we please sufficiently informed of them therefore we are all bound to believe and profess the Doctrin taught by him that is to be Roman Catholics Is this Argument clear and convincing If so why are we not Catholics If not how are we Christians induced to it by the former which is the very same with this All that needs then to be attempted is only to evince the parity which I shall do first by exposing in short to your view those admirable Miracles of Xaverius which will appear to be the same with those that were wrought by the Prophets by Christ by his Apostles next by shewing that no Objection can be made against them which may not be of equal force in a Pagan's or a Jew's mouth in opposition to the Miracles and Prodigies wrought by the Prophets by Christ by his Apostles If I make good these two Points this Conclusion will unavoidable follow Whoever is a Christian on the true grounds of Christianity must also be a Catholic or if no Catholic no Christian The Prodigies which God wrought by St. Xaverius were such that I dare say of them in general they are the best Instance the Church of God hath had from the first Apostles time of the truth of two Promises of Christ the first * Ecce ego vobiscum sum usque ad consummationem saeculi Mat. 28. Behold I shall be with you to the consummation of Ages the second †John 14. The Works which I do they shall do and greater than these they shall do What greater Miracles can be an evident proof of a Prophet's or an Apostle's Mission than to command
A SERMON Preach'd in the Chappel of HIS EXCELLENCY THE SPANISH EMBASSADOR On the Second Sunday of ADVENT December 4. 1687. On which was Solemniz'd the Feast of St. Francis Xaverius of the Society of JESVS Apostle of the INDIES and Kingdom of JAPAN By the R. F. LEWIS SABRAâ— of the same Society PERMISSU SVPERIORVM LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel And are sold at his Printing-house on the Ditch-side in Black-Fryers 1687. A SERMON Preach'd in the Chappel of his Excellency The SPANISH Embassador On the Second Sunday of Advent December 4. 1687. Caeci vident claudi ambulant leprosi mudantur surdi audiunt mortui resurgunt pauperes Evangelizantur beatus qui non fuerit scandalizatus in me Matt. 11. 5 6. The blind see the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf hear the dead rise to life the poor have the Gospel preached to them and happy is he who is not scandalized in me IT is a weighty Doubt which in this Sundays Gospel St. John moves by his Disciples his Chains not allowing him the liberty to offer it himself to our Blessed Lord to be resolved a Tu es qui venturus es Matt. 11. Are you he who is to come Are you that Saviour whom for so many Ages the sighing Prophets have asked gracious Heaven hath promised the longing Earth expected An Important Quaere For what can be of a nearer concern than not to mistake our God b Haec est vita aeterna ut cognoscant te solum Deum verum quem misisti Jesum Christum Joan. 17. 'T is that Life everlasting which we hope for to know by the light of Glory our sole true God and him he hath sent Jesus Christ And 't is the only way leading to that Life to know Both here by the light of Faith. But doth the Voice then question the Word that formed and sent it Is that Head-Mystery concealed from St. John than whom a greater Prophet is not born of a Woman No certainly The Eternal Father lately bore in his presence witness to Christ at the Bank of the River Jordan Even when yet inclos'd in his Mothers Womb he owned his Lord and Prophesied of him before he could speak Lately he proclaimed him to be the Lamb of God which takes away the Sins of the World T is at the very proposal of this Doubt that he receives that high Character of c Major inter natos mulierum propheta Joanne Baptista nemo est Luc. 7. Joan. 1. More than a Prophet becoming by this his Embassy also an Apostle for d Ut sibi quaerens illis disceret Hier ad Aglas as St. Jerom observes St. John proposes the Doubt of his mistaken Disciples that they may be instructed by Jesus his Answer 'T is their Ignorance e Non suae sed discipulorum ignorantiae Joannes consulit Hil. sup Matt. says S. Hilary that he designs to remove not his own Knowledge that he would improve Christians of England if I may call by one Name People of so different a Belief of such opposit Persuasions the Church of God asks in her Gospel the same Question this Day Tu es Are you the Lord And well she may when she finds her Subjects so divided about him * Matt. 24. Here is Christ says one with my Band only No There is Christ in that other different Party says a Second He is within says a Third this Private Spirit of mine singles him from amongst the false ones He was in the Wilderness another pretends there he had been hidden for many Ages till we lately discover'd him Thus each Sect each Party each Division challenges him He is not in all these so different so opposite Beliefs for he is not f Non enim est dissentionis Deus sed pacis 1 Cor. 14. the God of Dissention but of Peace and Unity To correct these various Errors to redress so dangerous Mistakes the true Church in imitation of St. John asks him this Day the same Question Tu es Are you the Lord you that are Adored by my Children Worshipped on my Altars I know each Sect will answer Here he is this is his true Worship which I pay But we are never the nearer some unquestionable and potent Proof must be offered Hence our Blessed Lord answered not the Disciples of St. John by a bare Assertion I am he All Deceivers and Antichristian Cheats could give in that Answer for themselves each false Prophet was ever the readiest to cry out The Word of the Lord the pure Word of the Lord. Jesus brought Facts in lieu of Words and elsewhere assures us that if he had g Si ego testimonium perhibeo de meipso testimonium meum non est verum Joan. 5. 31. with bare words born witness to himself and challenged thereupon to be believed it ought to have been held as a false one and not to have been regarded This was his Answer The blind see the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf hear the dead rise to life Behold the First Proof and Mark Miracles unquestionable by reason of their greatness number evidence The poor are preached unto behold the Second to wit those unusual Means humanly of no force used to convert and subdue the World by poor silly ignorant Men and again their refusal of all human Helps towards so vast an Enterprise And happy is he who is not scandalized in me behold the Third to wit those eminent supernatural Gifts and Blessings bestowed on those who embraced his Poverty and Abjection so unknown unto or despised by the World which were undeniable Proofs of his Apostles Holiness We agree all about the Messias convinced by those undoubted Marks now observed but many are the more miserable and guilty whilst they debate about his Doctrin and Law and so neither receive the one nor obey the other How shall a well-meaning Man clear these Doubts and find out his true Doctrin Church Worship whom he owns to be his God and Redeemer Could any of this Churches Witnesses give the same Evidence and Proofs which Christ gave for himself our Differences would be at an end our Doubts cleared our Faith setled Christian Auditors God most mercifully offers us many one I will produce this Day the great Apostle of the Indies and the Kingdoms of Japan Xaverius All things concur to move me to speak of him First my Text for I intend to prove that his Life and Actions give the same Answer the same Proofs for the truth of the Catholic Church which Christ gave to evince himself to be the true Messias So that if we proceed on those Motives which Christ himself judged the clearest and safest we must all be Catholics or no Christians Next the general Devotion of the pious World towards this great Apostle of our Days during this Octave of his Feast exacts it of me Again the
Prayers said over it Arm'd with it alone he Encountred those Tygers who in numerous Troups came out of their Forest in the Island Sancian and ever devoured those Portugueses who ventured out of their Trenches Casting it at them he so put them to flight that they have not since been seen in that Island Do we believe God is Honor'd by our Vows but most singularly by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass It was by vowing a certain number of Masses that this Saint in a moment conquered the stubborn Heart of a Great Man at Malaca recalling him from an impious Despair the whole City was equally scandalized and afflicted at and disposing him to a due Contrition a firm Confidence in the Sacred Merits and precious Blood of Christ a happy Death Are Pilgrimages to Places of particular Devotion in use amongst us as approved by the pious Practice of all Ages and Christian Nations This Saint undertook one of Fifty Miles to the Sepulchre of St. Thomas and God approved his Devotion by a Revelation of his Divine Will touching what he asked to be directed in The Gift of Prophecy he often made use of to call upon the Prayers of the Faithful for the Dead at the moment they departed this Life at a vast distance of Place as in particular for John Galvan and at another time for John d'Araos two Portugueze Merchants If we Honor the glorious Trophy of our Redeemer's Cross he planted it in almost all the Towns and High-ways of the East-Indies and of several Kingdoms of Japan Such Miracles were wrought in favor of those who resorted to them that in their presence they might adore their Crucified Lord as raised a tender Devotion in all those pious Neophites towards that glorious Standard the Pledge of Jesus's Victories over Sin and Death So that the Christians of Amboyno Besieged in their Castle by the Javares a Heathenish and Barbarous Nation unconcerned for themselves only sought to withdraw from the Savage Fury of their Enemies that Cross which Xaverius had arbor'd there well knowing that Jesus could equally be Honored or Insulted over in his Cross They covered it with Cloth of Gold and hid it under Ground then opened their Gates to their Enemies who having sought in vain the Cross could not prevail with any one even of the weaker Sex or tenderest Age to discover where it lay tho' most of them were maimed many killed for that Refusal I conclude with an Observation of St. Augustin on Miracles which he says are wrought either per publicam Justitiam or per Lib. octog trium Q Q. signa publicae Justitiae that is by a Virtue which God publishes to the World or by the Signs Sacraments Practices of Piety and Virtue That is whenever a Miracle is wrought 't is certain either that the Person or that which he uses or would persuade to is very Holy and that God declares it so Take whether you please Do these Miracles wrought by Xaverius prove him a Saint a Servant of God who had intimate Communications with his Lord was highly favored by him If so can any one be persuaded that so holy a Man used not his sincerest Endeavors to attain the Knowledge of the true Faith and Religion or that God who so extraordinarily favored him refused to reveal unto him so important a Truth Can we conceive a Man of a Sanctity so approved by Almighty God to have been an Idolater a Man of an unsound Faith Superstitious Ignorant Deluded If you had rather conclude the Means he used in the working of these Prodigies were holy and that God declared them such it follows That all Catholic Devotions and Practices and those Points of Belief from which they naturally flow in which all Sectaries dissent from us are very holy and confirm'd by the Divine Authority of Miracles I must confess I cannot conceive what a Thinking Man can yet object to these Miracles wrought by Xaverius whereby he may lessen the Obligation laid on him to betake himself to the Bosom of that Catholic Church to the Sincerity of whose Doctrin only to the Piety of whose Practices God gives so miraculous an Approbation as all these Prodigies make up Can it be objected by any particular Man that he himself hath seen no one of like Miracles This would be as plausible a Plea for an Atheist against the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles Herod himself if this be received is not guilty for mocking Erat cupiens signum Videre our Blessed Lord he never saw him work a Miracle tho' he much desired and sought it from Christ himself 'T is the same Impiety to require a fresh Miracle for the truth of Catholic Belief after these so publickly wrought by Xaverius as to exact the like in proof of Christ's Divinity after those which he and his Apostles wrought And considering the Conversions in the greatest part of the new World effected by Xaverius's Miracles I cannot but say to such an one in St. Augustin's words * Accepimus Majores nostros visibilia miracula sequutos esse per quos id actum est ut necessaria non essent posteris Nec jam nobis esse dubium debet iis esse credendum qui cum ea praedicarent quae pauci assequuntur se tamen sequendos populis persuadere potuerunt Aug. de ver Relig. cap. 25. Quisquis etiam num quaerit prodigium magnum est ipse prodigium qui mundo credente non credit De Civit. Dei l. 22. c. 8. We are taught that our Ancestors followed visible Miracles after which none others are necessary to guide us We cannot doubt but that we ought to believe those Apostles who Preaching such things as few can conceive or reach yet persuaded whole Nations to follow them For what Doctrin it was Xaverius confirmed by his Miracles is a known thing and out of debate Whoever after such requires yet a Miracle is to me himself a great Prodigy who refuses to believe what a World doth not doubt of I know some will object That should an Angel come from Heaven to teach them otherwise than the Gospel doth we ought even not to return him any other Answer than Anathema That Miracles are then only to be considered and valued when the Doctrin in favor whereof they are wrought is known to be true and sound This had been an excellent Plea for the Scribes and Pharisees against Christ The Jews had a positive Command to believe no Worker of Miracles Deut. 13. that should teach them a Doctrin contrary to what they had received from Moses they were bid in Doubts of that nature to have their recourse to the High-Priest and they forfeited their Life who refused to obey him The Scribes Pharisees Priests judging of the Miracles of Christ by his Doctrin condemned both as when he Cured upon the Sabbath-day and reproached him as a Magician for casting out Devils in the Power of Beelzebub Did Christ alter his Method Did he
weigh'd the Authority of these Miracles of St. Xaverius as here discuss'd will yet refuse to receive the Word of God from this his Apostle whose Mission is by them so unquestionably proved and will still reject the Catholic Faith which he offers because he pretends obscurity and difficulty in some of her Mysteries With whom can I rank such but with those Jews who seigned to seek with Zeal and Concern the true Faith saying to Christ How long will you afflict our Soul with suspence by these obscure uncertainties If you are the Christ Quousque animam nostram tollis si tu es Christus dic nobis palam Loquor vobis non creditis Opera quae ego facio in nomine Patris mei haec testimonia perhibent de me Joan. 20. say so plainly to us What answered our blessed Lord to these Hypocrits I speak clearly and distinctly enough yet you believe not But where O Lord where do you in plain and express words tell them you are their expected Messias and the Son of God The Miracles I work in the Name of my Father by my Servants are a sufficient witness to me to the Truth which I teach by them 'T is in vain to seek for a clearer we have none for the general Articles of Christianity I conclude then that all who act reasonably in the choice of their Religion and own those grounds to be the surest which our blessed Lord proposed as such and will not bottom their Salvation on any other must declare themselves necessarily Catholics or no Christians Pauperes Evangelizantur the Poor have the Gospel preached to them St. Hierom observes That Poverty in Effect and in Spirit is the two-fold Character of a true Apostle and the most unquestionable proof of Divine Wisdom and Power in him who thus qualifies those he singles out to preach his Doctrin and blesses their endeavors with a success which could not possibly attend their condition so seemingly despicable if a Divine Power supply'd not their want of all those Materials which Human Wisdom would judge absolutely necessary for so great a Work. It follows that the most surprizing of those Miracles which accompanied the Apostles Preaching was the Conversion of so great a part of the World from Errors and Vices From Errors suck'd in with the first Milk establish'd by Laws confirm'd by Custom strengthen'd by Superstition proportion'd to the short sight of Human Sense and Misapprehensions fitted to the universal Corruption of Manners sympathizing with the most general and violent Inclinations fostering the most pleasing Sins From Vices authoriz'd by Example heighten'd by Evil Habits follow'd with Passion chang'd into a second Nature And this by Men who were to teach a Doctrin that soars above the reach of Reason that contradicts our Senses that requires a contempt of what vitious Nature most covets a free choice of what she most dreads or repines at and offers on all hands a severe Check to that loose Liberty all men are naturally so fond of By Men who promis'd not in this Life any of those so-valu'd Advantages of Fortune but rather threatned with Crosses Afflictions Losses Miseries Separation from Kindred Relations Friends Contempt Persecution Banishments Chains and those other severe Trials which the Gospel proposes as a necessary Test of the sincerity of those who undertake to serve God By Men in fine not countenanc'd by Great Ones to whose Ends they served not not supported by the Interest of Friends not considerable by their private Fortunes not upheld by any siding Faction but Poor Abject unknown to all Single Proclaimers of harsh Truths and appearing at first under the odious Character of Unknown Strangers superciliously condemning the ancient Laws Customs Devotion Faith Religion of the Land. This O this is the great Miracle not exposed to the least Jealousie of Forgery to any suspicion of Deceit All these Circumstances attended Xaverius's Mission He was sent to convert a newly-discover'd World the which savage Cruelty blind Superstition and all the odious Vices which Human Souls and Bodies are capable of held enslav'd With reason did Paul the Third sending St. Xaverius to the Indies mind him that God whenever he employs any one in a Work that surpasses Human Forces supplies him with a strength capable to effect whatever is impossible to Nature with reason he warned him that he was sent to tread on the footsteps of the first Apostle of the Indies St. Thomas What Preparatives think you are made for so vast a Conquest He hath one Evenings warning allow'd him to put himself in readiness and his whole Equipage is his Breviary Truly O Lord these strange Methods of yours Abscondisti haec à sapientibus prudentibus revelasti ea parvulis Mat. 11. Contemptibilia primo elegit Deus ut confunderet eos qui apud homines magni habentur 1 Cor. 7. are hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed to little ones thus still you choose those first who are contemptible to confound those whom the world esteems great This Man whose Employ is to destroy Idolatry in one half of the World to root out Vices to alter the Laws and Customs of Nations to oppose himself to all the Corruptions of Nature and bad Habits to change the Belief and Practices of Courts and People observe him well in his first or last Missions and promise if you can any success to his Undertakings After that for some time he bestow'd his Labors on the Reformation of the Christians at Goa his first Mission is to Comorino 600 miles distant thence he passes to the great Kingdom of Travancor Piscaria is his next station whence he brings the Light of the Gospel to the Molucan Islands and thence to those of Moro. Some of these Nations were so barbarous that they either furiously shot with Arrows or treacherously poyson'd such Strangers as unhappily entred their Country and fed on the Bodies of their nearest Relations Others parch'd by a scalding Sun so barren as scarce to yield a small part of the Necessaries for Life All wholly Idolatrous or acquainted with the sole Name of Christianity abandoned to the foulest Vices barbarously Savage or most stupidly Dull These Xaverius attempts to conquer alone without the help often of an Interpreter or any knowledge of their Language able only without a Miracle to yield some mute Services to their Sick without any Provision to relieve him in most pressing wants without any Human Help or Comfort wandring thro' Desarts crossing Valleys swell'd with floods breaking his way thro' thick Woods without any other Guide besides God's Providence in Hunger and Thirst in Sweat and Labors in Dangers from savage Beasts and fiercer Men. If he projects the Conversion of Japan what Difficulties doth not offer a Voyage of many thousand miles by Seas beset with Pirates expos'd to merciless Whirlwinds full of unknown Quicksands and Rocks no Christian Power even known or heard of there to support him or protect those whom
possessing and guiding our Hearts said therefore by Christ to be c Regnum Dei intra nos est within us d Regnum Dei vim patitur violenti rapiunt illud suffers violence and those only attain to it who use such force that who loves his Soul will lose it and who hates his Soul seemingly by a severe and hard usage will preserve it to Eternal Life and esteemed those happy with S. Augustin e Si male amantris tunc odisti si bene oderis tunc amasti felices qui custodiunt odiendo perdant amanda Aug. Tract 51. in Joan. who support by that holy hatred what by an indulging love they had destroyed he knew that such Mortifications serve to stop those violent Inclinations which bear away our Souls from all attention to our Spiritual and Eternal Concerns riveting them as it were in Temporal and Sensual ones that such Affections being by those exterior checks driven back into our Hearts increase mightily the strength of a Soul moving with united Forces towards God. Therefore in imitation of Gods holy Servants with a S. Paul f Perimat amittar usum ejus scilicet perversum quo inclinatur temporalibus ut aeterna non quaerat De Doct. Chr. l. 3. c. 16. he chastized his Body with frequent bloody Disciplines with St. Benedict he tore his Flesh with Brambles and Thorny Rods g Per cutis vulnera eduxit à corpore vulnus mentis quia voluptatem traxit in dolorem G. G. l. Dial. c. 2. by those wounds of his Body applying a Salve to those of his Mind and driving away dangerous Pleasures by Pains With holy Judith and vertuous Anna he covered himself with a rude Hair Shirt and passed his Life in long continued Watching and Praying with Gregory Nazianzen he lay on the bare Ground or Cables or when most at ease on a Matt. 'T was by the same Principle he acted when aplying his Mouth to the purulent Ulcers of the Sick he attended he sucked the filthy Matter out of them Led away by the same he refused passing near the Castle of Xavier to see his loving Mother before he begun his Mission to a new World. And our Blessed Lord confirmed by a continued Miracle how acceptable the Sufferings and Toils of Xaverius were for a large Crucifix to be yet seen in the said Castle the Side Arms and Feet remaining yet covered with a Crust of Blood did from those Wounds yield abundance of it whenever Xaverius was in imminent Dangers or extraordinary Toils in the Indies That Year the Saint died it issued every Friday to that which fell on the Second of December An. 1552. the Forty sixth of his the last Day of his Life on Earth and the first of his Happiness in Heaven But if Xaverius during the Course of his Missions to the end of that of his Life was ever attended by those singular Graces from Heaven which authorised so many different Nations to give him the Title of Apostle God by a singular Providence equally glorifying himself in this Saint after his Death hath added such an unquestionable Proof of his Mission that no false Prophet nor Impostor was ever followed beyond Life by any shadow of it Both Worlds know the frequent Miracles wrought the innumerable Blessings obtained through his Intercession from Heaven His Body left on Earth entire after it had been buried near three Months in quick Lime and after at Malaca above five more in dampish Earth bleeding afresh several Years after when hurt in the Foot ever yielding a sweet Perfume is a sufficient Instance how glorious in the sight of God his Soul is in Heaven If Elizaeus's his Bones were said in holy Writ to Prophetize after Death by reason of the Miracle wrought at their touching a dead Corps to which Life was restored may I not say that in Boubours To. 2. V. X. Xaverius's dead Body still dwells an Apostle so great Prodigies having ever waited on it A raging Plague ceased suddenly at Malaca when it was received there Rocks split and divided themselves to make way for the Ship it was conveyed in All the Sick who saw it when brought to Goa received their Health at that instant And ever since this Apostle hath favored with miraculous Graces obtained by his Intercession all Nations in the old and his new World which have brought even Mahometans Jews and Infidels to his Sepulchre to view that miraculous Body of a more miraculous Soul which must force all that shall stand to that most impartial Trial which our most Blessed Lord recommends to us By their Fruits you shall know them to own Ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos Xaverius an Apostle most highly favored by Almighty God with most unquestionable Miracles and equally prodigious Virtues You are then still great Saint you are to this Age to our Kingdom an Apostle the Miracles you wrought when on Earth and obtained since still Preach the truth of that Catholic Religion which you Planted in so many Kingdoms We are all forced to use those words to you which Nicodemus spoke to our Blessed Lord when he owned him as yet but a Prophet Scimus Rabbi scimus quia à Deo venisti Magister Joan. 3. We know God sent you to Preach and Teach for no one can do those Wonders which you work if God be not with him Obtain great Saint obtain for this Nation a due Acknowledgment of this Truth a pious Assent to it This Kingdom hath a particular Title to your Protection since the Alms which your holy Father St. Ignatius gathered here enabled him to win himself into your Acquaintance and Favor and so to work under God your total Conversion to a pious Life One Favor more then a Neighboring Kingdom that obtained the like through your Intercession minds me to crave through your Merits by the joynt Prayers of this pious Assembly Marguerit of Austria after twenty years Barrenness obtained from Heaven a Son who sits now on the Throne of France and she ever owned that you were the Saint by whose Intercession she sought chiefly that great Blessing for her and her Kingdom These three Kingdoms expect a like Happiness from our Most Gracious and Pious Queen Permit not great Saint that your devout Clients be disappointed in their Expectation of a Prince May we owe to your Intercession so great a Blessing a Prince who may equal in Learning the great Alfred in Piety St. Edward in Prowess the Third and First of that Name in Victories Henry the Fifth the Seventh in Wisdom that is in a word who may inherit soon his Royal Father's Virtues and late his Throne Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam FINIS