his chains and then in the presence of a great multitude hâ— unlocked the said chains perceiving saith Mr. Cressy that such was the divine will and mercy or rather the cunning of one of his servants who might very easily convey the key from England to Rome to gain reputation to his Master by so glorious a miracle as it seems this made him esteemed a Saiâ—â— at Rome If it were in his return between France and England as Malmsbury saith the miracle is just as great as it was only I observe that they sometimes differ in the circumstances of their Relations We read indeed that one of the Apostles was taken up into the third Heaven and hearâ— unutterable things there but I dare say none of them ever dreamt of seeing the Angels ring Bells in Heaven to the praise of the Blessed Trinity as St. Walstan did Pythagoras his Musick of the Spheres was nothing to the Peal of Angels which he heard which so ravished him that he gave over his work and called to his Companion to come to him and devoutly to set his own foot upon his and believe stoutly and he should see the Heavens â—pened the Angels ringing Bells to the praise of the ever Blessed Trinity Methinks the Monastery of Barking had been a good place to have â—een this ringing of the Angels for over that Capgrave saith the Heavens are seen open after a peculiar manner It was a thing which frequently happened to hear Angels singing at the death of their Saints so St. Munis heard them singing all night about a tree where St. Patricks Leper lay dead saith Jocelin in the life of St. Patrick St. Aengussius saw as many about another body as reached up to Heaven who were all singing over the body â—ut they accompanied the body of St. Abbaâ—â—s to his burial with rays of light instead of Torches as bright as the beams of the Sun But this was not all for the Angels were extraordinarily serviceable to them upon all occasions above any thing we read concerning Christ or his Apostles I shall not mention their bare appearances for it was as common for Eremites and such Saints to see Angels as for us to converse one with another but the Angels brought wood for St. Moedoc for the buiâ—ding of a Church till one of his Disciples against his command was resolved to see them and he espied a multitude of beautiful young men with golden locks to their shoulders but from that time a voice was heard forbidding them to bring any more otherwise the whole Church would have been built by Angels Then was St. Moâ—doc hard put to it not being able to procure an exquisite workman he takes an unskilful fellow and blesseth his hands upon which he was enabled to finish the work which the Angels began They helped St. Finnian to to bring Timber from the Wood both more and quicker than others of his Brethren and Cathmoelus heard the noise of Angels about him An Angel helped St. Senanâ— to grind in a Mill for a whole night together Several of them ground at the Mill for Eugenius and Tigernachus while they were reading An Angel carried a letter from St. Fiâ—nian to St. Columba who upon receiving it went ten days journey in one day Another brought a Candle to St. Abban in a dark night to conduct him in his way and when he had done took it of him again Many other such offices we read they performed to these Saints of which we read nothing in the lives of Christ or his Apostles I Suppose it was an Angel that tolled St. Goodric's Bell for him to prayers for they tell us it was miraculous and when others took notice of this miracle he prayed that he alone might hear it which happened accordingly But it is no wonder the Angels should toll the Bell when the Blessed Virgin taught him to sing For she appearing one night to him at her own altar came and laid her hands upon him and afterwards begun a Tune before him as Masters use to do to Scholars The very Song is extant in Capgrave which contained only an invocation of her self which no doubt she extreamly desires In my judgement it was a great kindness the Angels did to St. Finan when thy gave him three round stones which served him instead of Candles in the night to read and write and pray by all his days But the Author of his life in the late Jesuits Collection tells us that the fingers of St. Finians left hand served him instead of candles which a poor country fellow espying lost one eye for his curiosity But St. Patricks fingers did mightily outshine his for in a very dark night his Coachman not being able to find his Horses St. Patrick out of great compassion towards him lifts up the fingers of his right hand and behold saith Jocelin a very wonderful thing his five fingers did shine like the beams of the Sun and turned darkness into light and night into day This I confess was very extraordinary but in another kind St. Elsleda's fingers did well when we are told she arose one night to prayers and her Candle going out the fingers of her right hand did give such a light as not only served her self but all about her to read by And can any of these be paralleld by any miracles done by Christ or his Apostles These are a sort of New Lights beyâ—nd what any of our Fanaticks have pretended to Now if we consider the miracles done either by Christ or his Apostles we shall find that these Legendary Saints did very much exceed them in the same kind of miracles Our Saviour we read only fasted forty days and forty nights we have met with one aâ—ready that fasted a hundred years but if that seem too Romantick we shall find some of them fasting the same time of forty days but with the addition of a very pretty circumstance that they grew fatter and taller by it So we read in Colganus of St. Moedoc but St. Aidanus in Capgrave out pitched him for he fasted fifty days and fifty nights and grew fatter also St. Bartholmew of Durham for seven years and a half before his death drank nothing if he had not eaten in that time neither it had been a perfect miracle When our Blessed Savlour Preached he did not make a mountain on purpose but went up into the next at hand but when St. Rentegern was to Preach in Wales though there was no want of mountains there a mountain rose up under his feet which abideth to this day saith Capgrave Bollandus in the notes on his life tells us the same is said of St. David but with more particular circumstances thus related by Mr. Cressy when all the Fathers assembled assigned St. David to Preach he commanded a Child which attended him and had lately been restored to life by him to
others should But the Foundation of all this Nonsense is a strange apprehension of the nature of faith which the School-doctrine hath so rivited into him that it seems to be of the nature of a first principle with him which must be supposed as the Basis of all his discourse which is that faith is an obscure and inevident assent or that it essentially tends obscurely to its object and therefore no motives or arguments how clear or strong soever can have any influence upon faith For he imagines as great an opposition between arguments and faith as between light and darkness he first conceives faith to be a kind of deep Dungeon of the soul full of darkness and obscurity and then bids men have a care of bringing any light into it for if they do it ceaseth to be what he described it A light may serve a man very well to shew him the way to this Dungeon nay it may direct him to the very door but then farewel to all light noâ— the least crevise must be left to let in any to the mind that is once entred it but the excellency of it is that the soul fixes more certainly on its object in this state of darkness than it could do being environed with the clearest light Just as if a man should say there is a particular way of seeing with ones eys shut which is far more admirable and excellent than all the common ways of beholding things being far more certain and piercing than seeing by the help of eyes and light is for the light and sight may both fail in the representation of an object but this seeing without eyes is an infallible way to prevent all the fallacies of sense Much in this way doth E. W. talk for all arguments are fallible and therefore by no means must faith proceed upon them O but this believing without or above or it may be against arguments is the most infallible thing in the world for that man need never fear being deceived with reason that disowns the use of it Upon these grounds a skilful Painter may make a shift to bungle and to draw some rude uneven strokes by the help of his Pencil and a good light but if he would be sure not to miss making an excellent Piece he ought to shut his eyes or darken his Room for then to be sure that fallible thing called light can never deceive him An indifferent person that only consulted the nature and reason of things could never have fallen into these dotages but it hath been the interest of some men to cry down light that have had false wares to put off But of all things I wonder if this be the whole nature of Christian faith to believe no man knows why nor wherefore for if he doth his faith ceases to be faith being built upon reason why all this ado is kept about an infallible Church and motives of credibility cannot a man believe without reason at first as well at last cannot faith fix upon Gods Revelation for it self without troubling those motives of credibility to no purpose If a man hath a mind to leap blindfold from a Precipice why cannot he do it without so much ceremony must he have all his attendance about him and his Gentleman-usher to conduct him to the very brink of the Rock and there bid him Goodnight If all these motives of credibility contribute nothing to the act of believing what use are they of in such a Religion where Faith is look'd on as the great Principle of practice and the means of salvation If the judgement of credibility would save men they might still be useful but this will be by no means allowed for nothing in their opinion but this blind Guide which they call faith can conduct men to Heaven § 8. But what is it that hath made meâ— so in love with nonsense and contradictions Hath the Scripture given any countenance to this notion of faith Yes doubtless they are such lovers of Scripture that they daâ—e not take up any opinion in these matters without plain Scripture Then I hope Scripture may be plain in clear things if it be so in the description of so obscure a thing as they make faith to be But doth not the Scripture say that Faith is the Substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen and is not this all one as if it had been said that faith essentially tends obscurely to its object and that it is an inevident assent and therefore cannot make use of arguments This I know is all the pretence they have for this notion of faith but is it not very pretty because faith is called an evidence therefore iâ— must be inevident or to follow the vulgaâ— Latine because it is called an argument therefore it can use none No man is so senseless to deny that we believe things we do not see and things which cannot be seen we believe some things which might have been seen and were seen by some whose credit we rely upon as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we believe other things which are uncapable of being seen by our senses as the Joys of Heaven and the Torments of Hell and as to such things faith supplies the want of the Evidence of sense to us and by it our minds are assured of the truth of them though we do not or cannot see them Which is all that is intended by this description of faith but how doth it hence follow that our faith must be an immediate inevident obscure assent on which all the arguments that perswade men to believe can have no influence May not I believe that Christ died and rose again and will come to judge the quick and the dead because I see all the reason in the world to perswade me to believe it from the testimony of those who saw him and have delivered his doctrine to us and have given the greatest evidence of their fidelity Doth the strength of the argument hinder me at all from believing what I did not see I had rather thought the more obscure the object had been for it is little better than nonsense to call an act of faith obscure the greater necessity there had been of strong evidence to perswade a man to believe not such evidence as doth arise from the nature of the thing for that is contrary to the obscurity of the object but such as gives the greatest reason to believe from the Authority of those on whose Testimony I rely So that the greatest clearness and evidence as to the Testimony is not repugnant to the nature of Faith this only shews that in Christian Religion we do noâ— proceed by meer evidence of sense or rigorous demonstrations in the things we assent to but that the great things we believe are remote from sense and received upon the Authority of the Revealer yet so as that we assert we have as great evidence that these things were
to the death of Christ and my Question will not only hold of the Apostles but of any common Jews among them who might not believe Christ infallible any more than the Sanhedrin I ask whether such might not have seen sufficient ground to believe that the Prophesies came not in old time by the will of man but by the Will of God if such persons had reason sufficient for their faith without any infallible Testimony the same I say may all Christians have of the Divine Authority of the New Testament For if the concurrent Testimony of the dispersed Jews firmly believing the divine Authority of the Old Testament were a sufficient ground for a person then to believe the Divinity of those Books why may not the concurrent Testimony of all Christians afford as sufficient a ground to believe the Authority of the Books of the New though no Ecclesiastical Senate among Christians be supposed any more infallible than the Jewish Sanhedrin was at the death of Christ and by this I hope E. W. may a little better perceive what this objection aims at But saith he hence it follows not that then there was no Jewish Church which believed the divine verities of the old Scripture O the monstrous subtilty of Jesuits who is able to stand before their terrible wits What have we to do with a Churches believing the divine verities of the Old Scripture we only enquire for the Testimony of a Church as necessary in order to others believing it If they firmly believed and yet had no infallible Testimony of a Church at that time what can be more to our advantage than this seeing it hence follows that there may be a firm faith without any Churches infallible Testimony Well but he verily thinks I mistook one objection for another perhaps I would have said that the Apostles lost faith of our Saviours Resurrection at the time of his Passion but this difficulty is solved over and over And then falls unmercifully to work with this man of clouts he throws him first down and tramples upon him then sets him up again to make him capable of more valour being shown upon him then he kicks him afresh beats him of one side and then of the other and so terribly triumphs over him that the poor man of clouts blesseth himself that he is not made of flesh and bones for if he had it might have cost him some aches and wounds But I assure him I meant no such thing yet if I had I do not see but after all his batteries the argument such as it is would have stood firm enough for supposing the Infallible Testimony of the Church to rest in the Apostles after our Saviours death it must have prejudiced the faith of others who were to believe that article upon their Authority if they lost the faith of Christs Resurrection 2. I instanced in those who believed in Christ and yet were not personally present at the miracles which our Saviour wrought but had them conveyed to them by such reports as the womans of Samaria was to the Samaritans Of these I ask what infallible Testimony their faith was built upon And if those persons might have a Divine Faith meerly upon rational evidence may not we much more who have evidence of the same nature but much more extensive universal and convincing than that was To this he answers by distinguishing between the Motive or the natural Proposition of faith which comes by hearing and the infallible Oracle whereupon it relies and he thinks it strange I did not see the distinction It is far easier to see the distinction than the pertinency of it to his purpose for our Question is not about the necessity of an Infallible Oracle in order to Faith but of an infallible Proposition we still yield that which our faith relies upon to be an infallible Oracle of God but if a natural Proposition of that be sufficient for faith we have all we contend for But to what purpose the Legend of S. Photina and the dispute whether she were the Samaritan woman is here inserted is very hard to understand unless he thought it the best way by any means to escape from the business in hand Next he tells us what he might answer iâ— these instances by saying with good Divinâ— that all immediate Propounders or Conveyerâ— of Divine Revelation in such particular caseâ— need not to be infallible I am glad to hear of such good Divines among them only I would know why in these particular cases an infallible proposition was unnecessary to faith if in the general case of all Christians it be now become necessary But he saith although infallibility be not necessary for young beginners seldom molested with difficulties against saith yet it is not only convenient but absolutely necessary for others more learned who often struggle to captivate their understanding when the high mysteries of Christianity are proposed Never was there certainly a more senseless answer for who are molested with difficulties against faith if those who are to be converted to Christianity are not who have none of the advantages of education to recommend the doctrines of Christianity to their minds and are filled and prepossessed with contrary prejudices Never were there such happy Converters of Infidels as the Jesuits are if they meet with such Converts who are never molested with difficulties against faith only as they grow up they begin to grow Infidels again and then it is necessary to choke them with an Infallible Church I do not at all wonder that the more learned in the Church of Rome seeing the weakness of the grounds of Faith among them do struggle with themselves about believing the mysteries of their faith but I very much wonder if so unreasonable a pretence as that of Infallibility can ever satisfie them I desire to know of these more learned believers whether they believed the Churches Infallibility before those strugglings or not if they did not how came they to be believers since there can be no divine faith without an infallible testimony if they did how came they to question whether they were to believe the particular mysteries of faith if they did believe the Church Infallible which proposed them But I suppose these learned believers were such as questioned the Infallibility of the Church and Christ and his Apostles too of which sort I doubt not there are many in Rome it self But yet he hath two other ways to solve these difficulties 1. By Gods special illumination and that I hope may serve all as well as these and then let him shew the necessity of an infallible Proponent 2. That every particular proponent as a member conjoyned with Christs infallible Oracle may be said to teach infallibly A most admirable speculation and so may every one we meet with in the streets be infallible not as considered in himself but as a member conjoyned with truth or every Sectary as a member conjoyned with
places in France What doubt can be made of the several Locks of her Hair For although they believe her Body assumed up into Heaven yet no doubt saith Ferrandus by frequent combing enough would fall off to furnish the several Churches in Rome in Spain in France and other places with it What if so many places pretend to have the true Seamless Coat of Christ is it possible they should be any of them mistaken although there could be but one true one For it is a very weak defence of Ferrandus to say that there were many made after the likeness of the true one for all places contend that they have the true It were endless to give an account of multitudes of other Relicks which Ferrandus confesses to be equally challenged by many places and which he pitifully defends by such shifts as these are But it is not enough to shew in general that there can be no sufficient credibility in the Testimony given to the Relicks of the Roman Church but I shall now shew it more particularly concerning this Vial of St. Mary Magdalen This Vial is supposed to be of her own bringing into France and it is worth the while to know how she came thither Thus the story is related in the Roman Breviary After Christs Ascension to Heaven Martha with her Sister Mary whom they suppose to be Mary Magdalen and with her Brother Lazarus and their servant Marcella and Maximinus one of the seventy Disciples of our Lord with many other Christians were put into a Ship by the Jews without any Sail or Oars that they might perish by Shipwrack but by the Providence of God the Ship came safe to Marseilles by which Miracle and Preaching the inhabitants of Marseilles and of Aix and the neighbour people were converted and Lazarus was made Bishop of Marseilles and Maximinus of Aix But Mary Magdalen having accustomed her self to prayer and a contemplative life retired into a hollow Cave of a very high Mountain where she continued thirty years separated from all conversation with men and every day was carried up by Angels to hear the Choire of Angels Sing This is contained in the fourth and fifth Lessons on July 29. in the present Roman Breviary but we are to consider that this story was not always in the Roman Breviary for those who reformed it under Pius the fifth had left it out but since it hath been thought fit to be restored again it being much for the edification of the people to hear such Legends For there is not the least pretence in Antiquity for any part of it as a Learned Doctor of the Sorbon hath at large proved shewing in a set Discourse that for a thousand years after Christ it was the constant tradition of the Greek and Latin Church that Lazarus Martha and Magdalen all dyed in the Eastern parts and not a word said of Maximinus that the whole story is taken out of a very fabulous Book pretended to be Written by Marcella the servant to Martha in the Hebrew Tongue and Translated by one Synthex into Latin and preserved by Vincentius in his History It may not be amiss to set down some of the Miracles contained in this story one is of the Persons who accompanied them and the places assigned to them as Trophimus was sent to Arles Paulus to Narbon Eutropius to Aurange Austregesilus to Eourges Irenaeus to Lyons Ferrutius to Bezanâ—on and Dionysius is placed over all France Was there eveâ— better company put together when Irenaeus dyed A. D. 205. Eutropius A. D. 464. Austrâ—gistlus A. D. 629. and Trophimus Paulus Martialis Saturninus and Dionysius are by the most Learned Writers of France cast back as far as the time of Decius and Ferrutius was a Disciple of Irenaeus It would be too tedious to relate Mary Magdalens Preaching at Marseilles notwithstanding St. Pauls prohibition which the Author saith she had not heard of but assoon as she did she retired into her Cave the manner of the conversion of the Governour of Marseilles and his Lady their going towards Hierusalem her death upon the birth of her Child in the passage St. Peters conducting him to Hierusalem seeing the badge of the Cross on his shoulders the miraculous education of the Child by sucking the breasts of his dead Mother who was found by his Father on the shore after two years playing with stones and running upon all four the Resurrection of the Mother their return to Marseilles where they found Mary Magdalen Preaching to a multitude of people the monstrous Dragon tamed by Martha with a little holy water and the sign of the Cross which was thicker than an Oxe longer than a Horse had the head of a Lyon and the strength of twelve Lyons and was supposed to be of the race of the Leviathan mentioned in Job and came by Sea from Galatia being bâ—gotten of the Leviathan on a strange beast of that Country which kills by its scent the length of an acre and what ever it touches it burns like fire these and several other such pleasant Miracles I purposely omit which Launoy calls more than old wives Tales by which Christian Religion is dishonoured and men are abused which make the enemies of Christianity despise it and fill its friends with indignation to hear so holy a Religion so horribly corrupted by the impudent lies of idle men But after all these things thus laid together can we do otherwise than believe that the Blood of Christ is kept in the Vial of St. Mary Magdalen in the Church of St. Maximin and that it boyls up every year on the day of our Saviours Passion § 6. The next thing we are to consider is the Miracles recorded in the lives of those two admirable Saints B. St. Dominick and Seraphical St. Francis The first Miracle we read of concerning St. Dominick was the miraculous prediction concerning him in the two pictures in St. Marks Church in Venice reported by no meaner a person than St. Antonin E. W's pious and learned Arch-bishop of Florence One in the likeness of St. Paul with those words over it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and under these Per istum itur ad Christum over the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and under Facilius itur per istum it seems St. Paul was but a very ordinary Preacher if compared wtth the Founder of the order of Preaching Fryers But this prediction did not so plainly set him forth as the Vision his Mother had near her time of travel with him viz. that she bore a Whelp which carried a fire-brand in his mouth which set the whole World on Fire which had its full accomplishment by his being the first Author of the blessed Inquisition for he was a true fire brand having not near so much light as heat in him Jansenius tells us that he had no kind of mercy upon Hereticks that he was rather a Lyon than a
abundance of lies while the Writer indulges his own passion and sets down not what the Saints did but what he would have had him done so that in their lives we see the mind of the Writer and not the truth For there have been those who thought it a piecâ— of pieâ—y to tell lies for Religion which is a very dangerous thing lest by that means the true be rejected for the sake of the false This saying of Vives Melchior Canus a man highly esteemed in the Church of Rome recites and approves with a great deal more to the same purpose wherein he saith that the lives of the Philosophers are more severely written by Laertius than the Lives of the Saints by Christians and that Suetonius hath with more honesty and integrity delivered the acts of the Caesars than the Catholicks have done the Acts of Martyrs Virgins and Confessors And afterwards he charges them with wilful falsefying either only to deceive or to gain by it of which the one is sordid and the other pernicious and he produces some instances of such miracles which he saith are without number Neither doth he only understand this of such men as the Author of the Golden Legend or of the speculum exemplorum but he plainly confesses that their most grave Writers in reporting the miracles of Saints have followed uncertain reports and conveyed them to Posterity In which they either gave great liberty to themselves or yeilded too much to the desires of the People whom they found not only ready to believe these miracles but to be fond and greedy of them Therefore saith he they have reported some signs and miracles not that they did willingly believe them themselves but because they would not be wanting to the pious desire of the people which was it seems that they should tell lies to please them And if they had not their desires fully answered in this they were very insatiable After this he particularly instances in Bede and Gregory the one of which in his History the other in his Dialogues he charges with relating miracles upon common reports which the Criticks of thâ—â— Age will judge to be uncertain And we may be sure Canus who tells us what an excellent wit his Master Victoria said he had was one of them But is now the credibility of the miracles in the Roman Church to be compared with that of Christ and his Apostles Did they who writ the miracles recorded of them indulge their own affections and make Tales to please the people as we see Canus saith their gravest Writers of Miracles did Or did they take up things upon common rumors and from thence divulge them to posterity as we see Canus charges even St. Gregory and St. Bede with doing What would become of our Christianity if we had no better grounds to believe the miracles of Christ and his Apostles If any should say so of the reporters of their miracles they would be justly charged with betraying the Doctrine of Christianity and making it suspectd to be a fourb an Imposture a fabulous story as E. W. speaks in the case of the miracles related by St. Antonin And yet Mâ—lchior Canus expresly saith of him that he did not make it his business to wriâ—â— what wâ—â— true and certain but to let nothing pass that he could meet with And that he and Vincentius Belovacensis were so far from weighing what they writ in an exact ballance that they did not so much as make use of a common judgement Whereas our Critical E. W. saith And who dares say that so great a Doctor and most modest Prelate as St. Antonin was so frontless as to write that we read without assurance and certainty We see Melchior Canus dares say it and that not only of St. Antonin whom he looks on as far inferior to the other but of his venerable Bede too whom E. W. calls a great Scholar and a man highly esteemed the whole Christian world over I shall not go about to diminish his reputation in other things but he had need of a good easie faith that can swallow the miracles related by him whether those of St. Cuthbert which E. W. mentions or others What must we think of the Angels appearing to S. Cuthbert a horseback when he was a boy and prescribing him a Poultess to cure his sore knee and of his seeing the Gates of Heaven opened and the soul of St. Aidan conveyed through them by a troop of Angels Of his receiving three hot loaves from an Angel that were whiter than lillies smelt beyond roses and tasted sweeter than hony Of his frighting the crows from stealing the thatch off from the Covent and the penance they submitted to for the injury they had done and the satisfaction they made by bringing him a good piece of Lard with which he used afterwards to grease his Boots Of the vertue of his shoo 's in curing a man of a Palsie after St. Cuâ—â—bert's death being put on upon his feet Of these I shall only ask E. W's Question An any such sâ—en now a days wrought among Protestant Bishops No God knows their faith is a stranger to such kind of miracles But what shall we say to Canus who takes away the Authority of St. Gregory too as well as Bede in this matter of miracles I know Baronius falls very soul upon Canus for speaking so freely of St. Gregory in this particular especially because he doth not mention those miracles which he looks on as undeserving credit but I think he ought to have thanked him for his modesty and silence herein in not exposing Gregories credulity to contempt by insisting upon them But in truth St. Gregory in those Books of Dialogues for I see no reason to deny them to be his own was the Father of Legends and most of the others afterwards were made in imitation of his as might be particularly made appear by many Instances And Bede followed the Copy which Gregory had set him and from hence such a swarm of Legends arose that in the succeeding Ages it is hard to say whether there were more Ignorance or Wonders To give only a tast of some of the miracles reported by Gregory the first is of Honoratus the Abbot that stopt a great stone in the middle of its falling from a great mountain by making the sign of the cross towards it and there it is seen hanging as it were in the air But in my opinion St. Dunstan out-did him who not only saith Capgrave stopt a piece of Timber so falling but with the sign of the cross made it return back to the place from whence it sell. This was the greater miracle although the other had more to shew for it if the stone had hung quite in the air which I confess I do a little question Libertinus raised one from the dead by Honoratus his shoe being laid upon his breast saith Gregory as St. Cuthberts shoo 's in Bede
not particularly relate the story but he mentions his taming of Wolves among his extraordinary acts and tells us of St. Francis his great kindness to all sorts of creatures calling them Brothers and Sisters And although Christ and his Apostles thought it enough to preach only to men and women St. Francis his charity was so much beyond theirs that he preached to Birds and Beasts as St. Anthony of Padua his Disciple did to Fishes and I assure you with no small success For Wadding tells us that St. Fancis was in dispute with himself whether it were fitter for him to spend his time in praying or preaching being in a great perplexity about it he sends to Brother Sylvesâ—er the same who saw the Golden Gross come out of St. Francis his mouth and Sister Clara that they should seek God for resolution they both agree that he was to Preach being thus satisfied in his Call the next morning early he goes towards Bevagna and seeing a place where multitudes of several kinds of Birds were gathered together he makes hast thither and salutes the Birds as if they had been reasonable creatures The Birds being big with expectation turned themselves and bowed their heads towards him then he admonished them all to hear the word of God and then said to them My Brethren ye ought to praise your Creator that hath given you Feathers and Wings and good air and that provides for you without your care At which excellent instructions the devout Birds stretched out their Necks and clapt their Wings opened their Bills and looked earnestly upon him Then he walked in the midst of them and not one of them stirred till he gave them the blessing and made the sign of the Cross over them and then they all flew away together Thus Cardinal Bonaventure and Wadding both gravely relate the story of his first Preaching after it was revealed that he ought to preach but that was not all but they tell us that being returned to his Disciples he blamed himself for so long neglecting the duty of Preaching to the Birds From hence he went forward in his work and the Swallows not being I suppose at his former Sermon were very troublesom in making a noise to the disturbance of the Auditory to whom he thus spake Sisters Swallows it is now time that I speak for you have tatled enough already Hear the word of God and hold your peace till that be done which they presently did and all the people were astonished at the miracle as well they might A Scholar of Paris having heard the fame of this miracle say the same Authors and being very much troubled at the chattering of a Swallow commanded him in the name of St. Franciâ— to come to him and hold his peace which the Swallow immediately did Another time as St. Francis was passing through the Marshes of Venice he heard a great number of Birds singing pleasantly together he told his companion he would go and sing prayers among them which he did but because the noise was so great they could not hear prayers he bid them leave off singing till he had done Which they did as readily as if they had made the vow of obedience But this spirit of devotion did not fall upon the Birds alone for he instructed a Sheep to attend prayers which she constantly did kneeling and bleating before the Altar of the Blessed Virgin which was her way of saluting her O but at the elevation of the Host she fell down upon her knees in token of her profound reverence We need not now wonder at the devout Dog of Lisbon whose story is told with so much circumstance by Eusebius Nierembergius that belonged to a Cook of Lisbon and constantly followed the Sacrament whereever it went and could by no means be drawn off from his attendance and not only so but would let no persons be quiet if they did not pay their devotion to the Sacrament I think it would be a hard case to determine whether St. Francis his Sheep or the Lisbon Dog or St. Anthony's Mule had the greatest devotion to the Host it is certain they were all very extraordinary in their severy kinds But it was not only such mild creatures as Sheep that were thus obedient to St. Francis but being once to preach at Trevi in the market place the young Fole of an Ass ran up and down and very much disturbed him at last St. Francis with a pleasing Countenance said to him Brother Ass I desire thee to stand still and not interrupt the word of God which I am now Preaching to this thirsty people Upon which the Ass moved belike to see the humility of this good man in owning his poor kindred fell upon his knees and heard the Sermon quite out Was any miracle like these ever done by Christ or his Apostles But did St. Francis work no other kind of miracles Yes we are told of many more and of another nature but they are all delivered by the same persons and upon the same credit so that if we believe some upon their words we ought to take all if we reject some and take others we believe not upon their testimony but our own judgement One thing more is so remarkable that we ought not to omit it viz. that St. Antonin applying that place of the Psalms to him he sus upon the Cherubim and rides upon the wings of the wind makes it plain from thence that St. Francis being above the Cherubim was of the order of â—eraphim for which reason or for none E. W. calls him the Seraphical St. Francis and to make this out they tell us that he appeared in a Chariot of Fire among his Disciples but what was moâ—e miraculous he and his Brother Massaeus going to Preach he was so set on fire with zeal and devotion that he seemed to cast flames out of his mouth and called his Br. Massaeus to him crying A. a. a. with the force of which breath Frier Massaeus was carried up into the air many cubits saith Wadding Nay it was no extraordinary thing with St. Francis himself to be so raised up for Frier Leo who was permitted to be with him in his retirement to Monte d' Alverno found him sometimes so high in the air in a rapture that he could just kiss his feet sometimes up to the middle of the trees and sometimes so high that he could hardly discern him especially in a dark night But the most glorious miracle of St. Francis was that of the bleeding wounds of Christ in his side and hands and feet as to which it is observable that they were so wonderfully concealed that no man could ever fully discern them in his life time only Frier Ruffin once thought he spied the wound in his side And although many ways were used to convince men of the truth of these wounds after his death yet to me there was none like
that of the Image of St. Francis for to convince a certain Frier from the mark of the wound in his side fresh blood was seen to run from which time he most firmly believed them And can we think that St. â—homas his putting his hands into the wounds of our Saviours side was half so strong an evidence of the truth of Christs resurrection as the bleeding of an Image was of the wounds of St. Francis No no although a Body may deceive a Picture cannot Are not these now doughty miracles and attested with such uncontrolable evidence that they ought to be compared with those of Christ and his Apostles § 8. Before I dispatch this first head in shewing upon what uncertain reports miracles are received and believed in the Roman Church I shall give an account of some of them nearer home by which we may judge how far the Miracles boasted of by E. W. ought in point of credibility to be compared with those of Christ and his Apostles I hope none will deny that there are some bounds to be set to our belief of reports concerning miracles for although Gods omnipotency hath no bounds yet we are not to think that God doth equally imploy his power in all things nor at all times nor as often as men shall please to say he doth it In many cases it is very hard to determine the farthest extent of the power of nature and punctually to shew what is a miracle and what not for the power of meer natural causes may lie secret and hidden from us yet from a continual observation of the course of nature a certain sphere may be fixed within which the effects of nature are contained As that a body being once truly dead cannot of it self come to life again that there are some diseases at such a height as to be incurable by natural means in these cases the raising of such a body to life the curing of such diseases being done frequently publickly and in an instant are great arguments of a miraculous and divine power And this we say was the case of the miracles of Christ and his Apostles but from hence men ought not to abuse mankind and because the power of God is unlimited therefore to say that the most extravagant foolish and idle imaginations of men because they have passed without proof for miracles among credulous people must still be received for such For is it reasonable that because we believe that nothing is impossible with God therefore we must not question that so many Saints walked with their heads off or did such extravagant things as the makers of the lives of the Saints tell us For it was not only St. Denis of France of whom that is reported but our own Ecclesiastical stories will acquaint us with many other Instances of a like nature So Mr. Cressy tells us of St. Justinian the martyr that when his head was cut off his body presently rose and taking the head between the two arms went down to the Sea shore and walking thence on the Sea passed over to the port called by his name and being arrived in the place where a Church is now built to his memory he fell down and was there buried by St. David with admirable hymns and canticles So the same grave historian relates of St. Ositha that as soon as her head was cut off her body presently rose and taking up the head in the hands by the conduct of Angels walked firmly the straight way to the Churches of St. Peter and St. Paul about a quarter of a mile distant from the place of her suffering and when it was come there it knocked at the door with the bloody hands as desiring that it might be opened and thereon left marks of blood Having done this it fell there down to the ground To the same purpose he tells of St. Clarus whose head being cut off presently after arose and with his hands taking up his head by the assistance of Angels carried it to a fountain not far distans into which he cast it and then carried the same back to the Oratory of his Cell and going on a little further towards a Village seated near the River Epta he there consummated his course and transmited his blessed soul to Heaven And of St. Decumanus he writes that when his head was cut off from his Body the trunk raising it self up took the head which it carried from the place where he was slain to a spring not far of which flowed with a most Christalline water in which with the hands it washed the blood away So St. Juthwara with her own hands took up her head being cut off and to the astonishment of all as we may easily imagine carried it back steadily into the Church These are pretty good instances for one that takes it so ill that his History should be called the great Legend What can be imagined more absurd and be supposed to be done to less purpose than such foppish miracles as these But I extreamly wonder at his niceness in omitting some others of a like nature delivered by a late infallible Author called Oral Tradition As St. Maxentia's being beheaded and carrying her head in her hands for which Capgrave quotes nothing less than infallible Oral Tradition for saith he faithful people have received this from their Fathers by certain tradition And have their late men better any argument than this for transubstantiation invocation of Saints c. Why forsooth can it be imagined that Fathers should go about to deceive their Children did not they who saw it know the truth of what they saw would not they speak truth to their Children how could then any errour or mistake come into the belief of the faithful None certainly Why then it is a demonstration that St. Maxentia did after her â—ead was cut off from her body carry it in her bâ—nds Can any thing be more demonstrative than this And by the same arguments we are assured that the Head of St. Melorus being cut off out of great pity to Cerialtanus his murtherer being in a great thirst bad â—im thrust his staff into the ground and he should immediately see a spring to arise thence with which he might plentifully quench his thirst Was not the head of this Saint very charitable and kind to his murtherer Now this which was a principal part of the story Mr. Cressy seems in a very sullen humour to leave out although he takes the rest from Capgrave of which I can only give this account for I have no reason to question Mr. Cressy's faith or good will that Alford from whom he translates his history only refers to Capgrave and doth not relate enough for Mr. Cressy to make up the Legend The like omission he is guilty of about another miracle concerning him viz. that when by the command of his Uncle his right hand and left foot were cut off and he had a