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A71073 A second discourse in vindication of the Protestant grounds of faith, against the pretence of infallibility in the Roman Church in answer to The guide in controversies by R.H., Protestancy without principles, and Reason and religion, or, The certain rule of faith by E.W. : with a particular enquiry into the miracles of the Roman Church / by Edward Stillingfleet ... Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699. 1673 (1673) Wing S5634; ESTC R12158 205,095 420

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Revelation for the foundation of that faith by th● Churches Infallibility why will not the sam● reason hold for the last act which must hav● as good a Foundation as the other or els● how comes it to be a divine faith as well as ●he other But the subtilty of all this is ●ou have it seems by your office of Guide ●he opening of the Gate and you hold it ●pen so long as to let through all your Friends ●or Infallibility and Tradition must by any means be let through and when these are ●assed down falls the Gate in so rude a man●er as is enough to cripple any other that endeavours to get passage Can any man pos●ibly assign a reason why the operation of the Spirit should not have as great force before the Churches Infallibility be let in But this it is to be a Guide in Controversies ●o direct Infallibility Tradition and the Ho●y Ghost to know their distance and to keep ●heir due places and it is a great favour ●hat the Holy Spirit is allowed to bring up the rear and to make all sure but by no means to offer to go before Infallibility or Tradition For these are capable of doing better service afterwards than the Holy Ghost is ever like to do them the greatest use of it being to make good a Pass that nothing follow to disturb the march of Infallibility and Tradition But if I may be so bold once more to presume to ask this wonderful Guide when the dispute is about the sense of Scripture why he doth believe such a particular sense which doth not appear clearly to him in Scriptures to be the infallibl● sense of it or to be divine Revelation Hi● answer is because the Church which is revealed in Scriptures to be infallible hath delive●ed this to him as the sense of it Very well this is an Answer I understand though I se● no reason for it But I proceed why d● you believe this Infallibility to be the sens● of those places which speak of the Church since to me they are far from appearing t● be clearly delivered in those Scriptures Remember you believe this with divin● faith and this divine faith must have d●vine Revelation the Question then is u● on what divine Revelation do you believ● the Infallibility of the Church to be pr●mised in Scripture He Answers upon Ap●stolical Tradition Is this Apostolical Tradition the same with the Scriptures or different from it If the same what greate clearness can there be in this than in th● Scriptures If different what divine Revelation is your faith of the Infallibility o● that built upon He ingenuously consesse● none at all for then there must be a process in infinitum or a circle And yet hi● principle is that divine revelation is nece●sary to divine faith but there can be non● here by his own consession without process in insinitum or a circle which i● to acknowledge the absurdity of his own way as far as a man can desire Well but how comes this Apostolical Tradition to be known to him By the Church he saith but may the Church be deceived in delivering Apostolical Traditions No he saith she is infallible but do you believe her infallible with divine faith Yes he saith that must be done then at last there must be a divine Revelation again for this Infallibility and so the circle returns No he saith at last he believes the Churches Testimony infallible only with a humane and acquisite faith upon prudential motives but he believes the Apostolical Tradition related by the Church with a divine faith Was there ever such a perplexed Guide in Controversies The Infallibility of the Church is sometimes to be believed with a divine faith and sometimes not and yet when it is not to be believed with a divine faith it is the Foundation of the divine faith of Apostolical Tradition for he assigns no other ground or reason for it besides the Infallible Testimony of the Church But this infallibility he saith may be known two ways by promises of Scripture or prudential motives not to dispute now the possibility of proving the Churches Infallibility by prudential motives which I shall do at large afterwards the thing I now enquire after is since the Apostolical Tradition must be believed by divine faith and the belief of it comes by the Churches Infallibility whether any other Infallibility can secure such a faith besides the Infallibility by Promise for the Infallibility asserted being a security from error by divine Assistance and that assistance only supposed to be promised in Scripture there can be no other Infallibility here understood but that which Infallibility by his own assertion must be believed by divine faith which divine Faith must rest upon divine Revelation and so he believes the sense of Scripture because of the Churches Infallibility and the Churches Infallibility by Apostolical Tradition and Apostolical Tradition by the Churches Infallibility and the Churches Infallibility by the sense of Scripture See now what an admirable Guide in Controversies we have met with and with what skill and dexterity he hath escaped the circle And so I take my leave of this GUIDE finding nothing in him further material about Infallibility which I have not answered in the foregoing Discourse The Considerato● urging so much the very same things and frequently in the same words that I now think he either was the same person or made very bold with him CHAP. II. The Principles of E. W. about the certainty of Divine Faith laid down and considered § 1. HAving met with so little satisfaction from the Guide in Controversies I now betake my self to the Rule no Fancies Toys Trifles or Fallible Glosses I assure you for those E. W. cries out upon almost in every page of his worthy work but Reason and Religion or The Certain Rule of Faith What can any man desire more unless it be to see Mr. Stillingfleet joyned in the Title-page with Atheists Heathens Jews Turks and all Sectaries And that he might own a greater obligation to him than all that Rabble he dispatches them all after a fashion in 30. pages and spends above 600 upon him O what a pestilent Heretick is this Stillingfleet that deserves so many lashes beyond Atheists Heathens Jews or Turks If he had been any one of those he might have been gently used for never were they fairlier dealt with by any man that undertook them But he is not so much their Friend to thank him for this kind usage and E. W. thinks he will have enough to do to defend himself I confess I think so too if either of his Books against me were to be thrown at my head for they are very thick and as heavy as is possible And to my great comfort I never yet saw two such bulky books whose substance might be brought into a less compass for setting aside Tautologies and tedious repetitions frequent excursions and impertinent digressions the pith and marrow of
Foundatio● for it but the pretence of Infallibility do●● overthrow the evidence of sense and reason and put the whole tryal of the Truth of Christianity upon the pitiful proofs which the● bring for the Church of Romes Infallibility And when they have brought men to it they cannot assure them what that Church is which they attribute this Infallibility to who in that Church are the proper subjects of it what kind of Infallibility it is no● when the Church doth define Infallibly so many things are to be believed without reason both as the persons who are to define and the manner of their definitions 2. Supposing this way true the Circle still remains which I proved by three things ● From the nature of the faith they enquire for a resolution of which is not humane but Divine Faith For the Question was not whether by another kind of Assent they could not escape the circle but whether they could ●o it in the resolution of Divine Faith or not Either then the Churches Infallibility is not to be believed with a Divine Faith or there may be a Divine Faith without an Infallible Testimony or this Divine Faith of the Churches Infallibility must be built on the Scripture and so the Circle returns 2. From the persons whose faith is to be resolved the way of resolving faith being a different thing from proving a matter of Faith to an Adversary granting then that to those who deny the Churches Infallibility but allow the Scriptures they may prove the one by the other yet this signifies nothing to the Resolution of their own Faith which is the thing enquired after and yet even in proving to ●d●ersaries the Churches Infallibility from Scipture● they cannot avoid the Circle when the Question returns about the sense of those places for then they must run to the Church because the Church which is Infallible hath delivered this to be the sense of them 3. From the nature of that Infallibility which they attribute to the Church which being not by immediate divine Revelation but by a Supernatural Assistance promised in Scripture it is impossible to prove this Infallibility but by first proving the truth of tha● Scripture wherein these promises are contained and so the Circle still returns for the believe the Scriptures Infallible because o● the Churches Testimony and they belie●● the Church Infallible because of the Promises of her Assistance recorded in Scripture 3. It is false that there are the same motive of credibility as to the Churches Infallibility which there were for the Infallibility of Mos●● and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles which T. C. therefore very wisely declined t● prove and only said it was sufficient to she● how he had escaped the Circle § 2. This is a brief account of that pan of the Resolution of Faith which hath bee● since assaulted by two several Adversarie● but in different ways The first of them i● the Guide in Controversies who ingenuousl● confesseth the Question about the Resolutio● of Faith upon their Principles to be intricat● so any one might easily guess by the intricacy and obscurity of his answer to it I shall endeav●ur to bring it to as much clearness a● possibly I can that I may the better represent the force and consequences of it The substance of what he saith may be reduced to these propositions 1. That the Church may be considered two ways 1. As a Society already manifested by Divine Revelation whether written or unwritten to be infallibly assisted by the Holy Ghost 2. As a Society of men whose Testimony is to be received upon prudential motives 2. That the Church being considered in the former of the two acceptions the infallible authority and testimony thereof is not only an introductive into but one of the articles of divine faith and that so many as believe the Churches Infallibility in this sense may safely resolve their divine faith of other articles of their belief into its delivering them as such 3. That whatever this Infallible Authority of the Church be it is not necessary that every one for attaining a divine and saving faith be infallibly certain of this Infallible Authority or as he elsewhere expresseth it that it is not necessary for divine faith that it should always have an external rationally-infallible ground or motive thereto whether Church-authority or any other on his part that so believes or that he have some extrinsecal motive or proponent of which he is infallibly certain that it is infallible 4. There are two sorts of faith to be resolved divine and humane or infused and acquisite the one is always built upon divine Revelation the other needs no more than prudential motives or such as are sufficiently credible or morally infallible on which an acquired or humane faith securely rests 5. That there must be particular ultimate divine Revelation which may not be to all the same but to some one to some another viz. either Scripture or Churches Testimony or Apostolical Tradition or Miracles beyond which he can resolve his divine faith no further for proving or consirming which revelation he can produce no other divine revelution but there must end unless a process be made in infinitum or a running round 6. Divine Faith as to such altimate particular divine Revelation cannot be grounded meerly on Gods veracity but that God hath said this particular thing which we believe namely that the testimony of the Church or Apostles or Scriptures is true which must either be grounded that it may be the Foundation of a divine faith on some other divine Revelation and so in infinitum or else I must rest there with an immediate assent to it 7. The internal efficient of all Divine faith is the power or Grace of the Holy Ghost illuminating the understanding that the prime verity cannot lye in whatever thing it reveals and also that the particular articles of our faith are its Revelations and perswading and operating in the Will such a firm adherence unto these articles as many times far exceeds that of any humane science or demonstrations 8. The ultimate resolution of a Christians divine faith as to the extrinsecal prime motive ground reason or principle thereof that equals in certainty the faith built upon it can be no other than that particular divine Revelation which is first made known to him or from which in building his faith ●e proceeds to the rest as to the internal efficient it is into the Grace of the Holy Spirit 9. The motives of credibility or the rational evidence of the truth of Christianity do serve indeed antecedently for an introductive to or after it introduced for a confirmative of this divine faith i. e. to make it credible or acceptable to humane reason my own or others that this faith is true and no way liable to error that I am assured in it by the holy and no seducing Spirit but not to
constitute it in the notion of faith divine because the faith so stiled is supposed to rest always on an higher ground viz. Revelation Divine 10. That the infallibility of the Church grounded on Divine Revelation and believed by a divine faith is a main ground and pillar of a Catholicks faith for any other articles thereof that are established by the sam● Churches Definitions where the Scriptures or Tradition Apostolick are to him doubtful Of which ground and assurance of such points believed by Catholicks from the Churches infallible Authority the Protestant● faith is destitute § 3. These are the Principles upon which this Guide in Controversies undertakes to clear this intricate Question and to free their resolution of faith from the danger of a circle I have but two small things to object against this way 1. That it gives up the cause in dispute 2. That notwithstanding it doth not avoid the main difficulties 1. That it gives up the cause in Dispute● which was whether the Infallible Testimony of the Church be the necessary Foundation of Divine Faith for upon occasion of the supposed necessity of this Infallibility the Question was first started this Infallibility being asserted to be necessary by T. C. and was the thing I chiefly opposed in the discourse of the Resolution of Faith Now this the Guide in Controversies freely yields to me and consequently the main Foundation of Faith asserted by my Adversary is destroyed as plainly appears by the third Proposition wherein he affirms that an external infallible proponent is not necessary to divine Faith But this he doth not barely affirm but he saith it is copiously proved by many learned Catholicks and to this purpose he cites Cardinal Lugo speaking of Divine Faith who saith that the infallibility of the Church cannot be the first Ground of Divine Faith because this Infallible Authority of the church by Assistance of the Holy Ghost is it self an article of Divine Faith And experience tells us that all Children or adult persons first coming to the Faith do not apprebend much less infallibly believe this Infallible Authority in the Church before any other article of Faith And in the Law of Nature and under the Law of Moses the Churches proposition was not necessary in order to faith but the instruction of Parents was sufficient in one and the doctrine of Moses and the Prophets in the other before their Prophecies were received by the Church He cites Estius likewise speaking of this Divine and Salvifical faith that it is not material to faith what medium God makes use of to bestow this gift of Faith upon men many having believed that knew nothing of the Churches infallibility He cites Layman asserting that it often comes to pass that other articles of our faith are explicitly believed before that of the Churches Infallibility and withal this Infallibility of the Church depends upon the promise of the spirit therefore men must first believe that there is a spirit of God and consequently the holy Trinity Farther saith he it is plain that the primitive Christians did believe with divine Faith not for the Authority of the Church which either was not founded yet when St. Peter believed Christ to be the Son of the living God or had not defined any doctrines of Faith Again he denies the Churches Authority to be the formal principle or motive of Faith and that for this very good reason because this infallible Authority of the Church is one of the things to be believed Nay he cites Fa. Knot himself in his reply to Chillingworth affirming Christians may have a true Infallible Divine Faith of which faith they have only a fallible proponent nor are infallibly certain thereof i. e. as to the proponent I now appeal to the indifferent reader whether the main thing contended for by me viz. that the infallible Testimony of the Church is not necessary in order to Faith be not here fully granted to me 2. But yet the account of Faith here given is very far from clearing the chief difficulties of it as will appear by these two things 1. That this resolution of Divine Faith is very unsatisfactory in it self ● 2. That it is liable to the absurdities which he seeks to avoid by it 1. That the resolution of Divine Faith laid down by him is very unsatisfactory in it self the principles of which are these 1. That Divine Faith must rest upon Divine Revelation 2. This Divine Revelation upon which faith is built is that which is first made known to the person and from which he proceeds to other matters of faith 3. This Divine Revelation is not one and the same to all but to some the Authority of the Scriptures to some the Authority of the Church to some Apostolical Tradition 4. Divine Faith must rest upon this Revelation with an immediate assent to it without enquiring further for if there be any further process there must be so in infinitum or a circle 5. That the Holy Ghost doth illuminate the understanding of him that believes both as to the veracity of God and the truth of his Revelation and causes such a firm adherence of faith as many times far exceeds that of any humane Science or demonstrations But in this way I can neither be satisfied 1. What that particular divine Revelation is which this divine Faith doth rest upon Not 2. How this Faith can equally rest in several persons upon several ways Nor 3. How it can rest with an immediate assent upon any way Nor 4. Wherein this way differs from resolving Faith into the Testimony of the Spirit § 4. I cannot understand what that particular divine Revelation is into which as into it● prime extrinsecal motive Faith is here resolved The thing enquired after is the reason of believing the truth of what God hath publickly revealed to mankind as we say he hath done the Doctrines of Christianity the ultimate resolution of divine Faith as to this I am told is that particular divine Revelation which is first made known to a man i● this particular divine Revelation the sam● with Gods publick and general Revelation o● distinct from it If it be the same it can offer no reason for my Faith unless the same thing may be proved by it self if it be different then God makes use of particular divine Revelations to men different from his publick into which they are to resolve their Faith Suppose then the Question be thus put why do you believe that Christ shall come to judge the quick and the dead The general Answer is because God that cannot lie hath revealed it but then the Question returns on what ground do you believe this Revelation to have been from God with such a divine Faith as must rest upon divine Revelation For such you assert to be necessary To this the Guide in Controversies Answers that the ultimate resolution of a Christians divine Faith is into that particular divine
falling into another But since I see no reason to believe this Guide in Controversies to be infallible any more than the Pope himself I hope I may have leave to ask him some few Questions Doth he in earnest believe that our assurance of Gods veracity and the truth of his revelations do flow from the immediate illumination of the Spirit of God I would fain know then 1. Why he trouble● himself about any other resolution of faith For by this way he resolves faith in all the parts of it If you ask the first Question● why you believe that to be true which God reveals The Answer is ready the Holy Ghost illuminates my mind in the belief of this If you again ask why you believe these particular articles to be Gods revelations the answer is already given the same Holy Ghost illuminates my mind in that too What need Church-Infallibility Apostolical Tradition motives of credibility or any other way the work is compleatly and effectually done without the assistance of any of them 2. Is not this to tell unbelievers that we can give them no satisfaction as to the grounds of our divine faith It is true he grants something may be said for a dull kind of humane and acquisite faith which others are capable of understanding but for divine faith that depends upon such secret and private illuminations which no person can at all judge of but he that hath them nor he very well unless another revelation assures him that these are the illuminations of Gods Spirit and not the deceptions of his own Especially since it is a principle in the Roman Church that no man can attain any absolute certainty of Grace without a particular Revelation from God See then what a wilderness this Guide hath led us into We ●re to believe that what God hath revealed ●s true and that he hath revealed these things ●rom the illumination of the Holy Ghost ●ut we cannot certainly know that we have ●uch an illumination without another reve●ation to discover that and so we must run ●n without end or turn back again the same way we went to believe illumination by ●evelation and revelation by illumination 3. How he can possibly give himself any good account of his faith in this manner For since the fundamental principle of faith ●s the veracity of God and the belief of Gods veracity is here attributed to the illumination of the Holy Ghost we may see how excellent a Guide this is that thus stumbles in a plain way or must of necessity go forward and backward For I desire him to satisfie me according to this resolution of faith in this Question why he doth believe whatsoever God saith is true his Answer is because the Holy Ghost by his inward illumination assured me so But then I ask again why he is assured of the truth of what the Holy Ghost enlightens him his Answer must be if he speaks at all to the purpose because the Holy Ghost is God and cannot speak any thing but truth So that the veracity of God is proved by the Spirits Illumination and the Spirits Illumination by Go● veracity But there is yet another principl● which faith stands upon which is that Go● hath revealed the things we believe he● again I ask why he believes these articles a● Gods revelations his answer is the Hol● Ghost by enlightening my mind hath assured me of it But then I ask how he is su● with a divine faith which in this case is necessary that there is a Holy Ghost and tha● this is the illumination of the Holy Ghost● Here he must return again to divine Revelation wherein the promise of the Holy Ghos● is made Judge now Reader whether thi● be not an admirable Guide in Controversies and whether he hath not given a very satisfactory account of the Resolution of Faith § 8. Besides that this way is thus unsatisfactory in it self I have this further charge against it that other ways are liable only to the single absurdities of their own particula● opinions but this blind Guide hoping to clea● himself of one great absurdity hath not only run into it the very way he seeks to escape it but into many more besides If there be any thing absurd in the Calvinists Resolution of Faith he hath taken in that if there be any thing absurd in resolving faith by the Infallibility of the Church he is liable to ●hat too because though he doth not think ●t necessary he allows it to be good and last of all that which he looks upon as the advantage of their faith above ours plungeth him unavoidably in as bad a circle as may ●e And that is That the Infallibility of the Church being once believed by a divine Faith from the Revelation of it in Scripture it is a ground of faith to him in all controversies that arise concerning the sense of Scripture I am not now to examine the falseness of the pretence which hath been done already and may be more afterwards that which at present I am to shew is that it is impossible for him in his resolution of Faith concerning the sense of Scripture to avoid the circle Let us see how he attempts it Suppose I be asked saith he concerning some article of faith defined by the Church though the same article doth not appear to me clearly delivered in the Scriptures why with a divine faith I believe it to be divine Revelation I answer because the Church which is revealed by the Scriptures to be perpetually assisted by the Holy Ghost and to be infallible for ever in matters delivered by her hath delivered it to me as such If again why with a divine faith I believe these Scriptures in general or such a sense of those texts in particular which are pretended to reveal the Churches infallibility to be divine Revelation I answer as before because Apostolical Tradition hath delivered them to be so which Apostolical Tradition related or conveyed to me by the Churc● I believe with a divine faith by the interna● operation of the Holy Spirit without havi●● at all any further Divine Revelation fro● which I should believe this Revelation to b● divine This is the utmost progress of divine faith with him I know not how muc● faith there may be in this way I am su● there is not the least shadow of reason Fo● if a stop be made at last by the internal op●ration of the Holy Spirit what need so muc● ado to come thither Might not the sam● answer have served as well to the first an● second Question as to the third When yo● were asked why with a divine faith you b●lieve such a sense of Scripture to be divin● Revelation Might not you have hindred a● further proceeding by saying I believe i● with a divine faith by the internal operatio● of the Holy Spirit without having at all an● further divine Revelation But if you though it necessary to assign another divine
or undeniable authentick Testimonies For the whole World bears witness to it by the honors they give her and the presents they s●nd for the cures they have received For many have been strangely cured by her help who have been given over by Physitians and and many blind and lame have been healed by her Let E. W. produce more Authentick Testimonies than these are if he thinks so much credit to be given to these Tables or any Argument can be drawn from a Catholick reputation or great presents Neither was this only in Egypt but Tibullus mentions the same at Rome too speaking of Isis. Nunc Dea nunc succurre mihi nampossé mederi Picta docet templis multa tabella tuis The same may be seen in the Temples of Aesculapius especially that of Epidauru● of which Strabo speaks and saith It was full of the Tables of such as had recovered from diseases by his help as likewise were his Temples at Co and Tricca The like may be observed of the Temple of Aesculapius near Rome in the Isle of Tyber of which some of the Tables have been preserved in Rome by the Maphaei and are published by Mercurialis And Cicero speaking of an Image of Ceres at Enna in Sicily saith That many prodigies were done by her which shewed her power and Divinity that in many most difficult cases persons have found her help and not only the Sicilians but other Nations flock th ther And that the Statue of Hercules was in so great esteem there that his very Chin was worn with the salutations which were given him To the same purpose as Tursellinus somewhere speaks of the Image at Loreto So that the Arguments drawn from the Tables from general reputation and the concourse of people will equally hold for a Religion directly opposite to Christianity But we have not followed any cunningly devised Fables the proofs of our Religion do not depend upon the fraud of Priests or the superstition and credulity of the people nor upon any extraordinary accidents and rare occurrences but the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles were publick and frequent wrought by their own words while they were conversant among men not at Shrines or Altars or in dark andobscure places and only among persons prepossessed before hand with sufficient readiness to believe what ever shall be related as a Miracle These are the circumstances of the Miracles wrought in the Roman Church but as vastly different from those of Christ and his Apostles as light is from darkness or Truth from uncertain reports or a well grounded Faith from superstitious credulity And thus much for the Authentick Testimonies of Miracles in the sacred House of Loreto § 4. Having performed one Pilgrimage we must begin another to St. James of Compostella and there take notice of the Miracles done at his Relicks there But what if St. James have no Relicks at all there What if he never were in Spain how can his Relicks there ever then perform any Miracles But what ever we believe it is infidelity in Spain to question it it is fit therefore we should have the story as they relate it who think they should know it best and it is this That James the Son of Zebedee having passed through Judea and Samaria came into Spain to Preach the Gospel and having converted some there he returned to Hierusalem carrying his Disciples with him where he was slain by Agrippa and his Body afterwards was carried to Compostella where it is solemnly worshipped by Pilgrims flocking thither from all parts of the World This is the substance of what the present Roman Breviary allows and is truly more kind to the story than it hath been formerly for I am much mistaken if Clement the 8th did not insert into his Breviary That he came into Spain according to the Tradition of that ●rovince For we must know the Court of Rome hath been very jealous of such pretences as those are of receiving the Faith at first from any of the Apostles besides St. Peter or those sent by him lest under such a pretence they might one time or other plead for their exemption from the Popes Authority This made Cardinal Baronius so much to set himself against this tradition of St. James his Preaching in Spain and disproves it from the Testimony of Rodericus Ximenius Arch-bishop of Toledo who in the Lateran Council under Innocent the third denied that ever St. James came into Spain and that not unadvisedly but in a solemn debate between him and the Bishop of Compostella He consesses indeed that when he was a Boy he heard the story of it but it was only from some Religious women saith Baronius some Nuns and Religious Widows saith Rodericus himself but as Baronius observes he did not think it worth inserting into his History and the Bishop of Compostella could not produce one ancient Author for that tradition though he came provided to the Council for the managing this debate Besides he saith that the Church of Compostella could then boast but of the antiquity of one hundred and nine years one hundred wanting nine saith Baronius for then Pope Calistus translated the Bishoprick of Merida to Compostella before which there was only a small Oratory there To this testimony he adds two Popes Innocent the first and Gregory the seventh affirming that Spain first received the Faith from Rome But the present Breviary hath excellently accommodated this difference by making seven of St. James his Disciples to be ordained by St. Peter at Rome and thence sent into Spain This it is to serve a turn though it be without the least pretence from Antiquity But now is not this tradition of St. James his being in Spain confirmed by undeniable and Authentick Testimonies What shall we say then to the Miracles wrought by him For we are to consider although the story be so lean and bare in the present Brevia●y yet the learned and worthy Arch-bishop St. Antonin besides others have it much improved For he tells us how St. James after his return to Judea was much opposed by Hermogenes a Magician who sent his Disciple Philetus to confound him we must never ask from whence they had this story it is fully enough that the name of Hermogenes and Philetus are in the New Testament Well Philetus becomes a Disciple of St. James at which Hermogenes was so enraged that he enchanted him so that he could not move N●w we will see saith he if St. James can release you Philetus send● word to St. James who sent him his hand kerchief and by that was released Hermogenes commands the Devils to bring St. James and Philetus both bound to him when they came near him the Devils cryed out they were bound by Angels of Heaven and beg'd St. James to release them be did so and commanded them to bring Hermogenes bound which they immediately did with his hands tyed behind him and then St. James bid