SERM. Virtues of the Clay and the Spittle em 1. ployed on that Occasion.

The Men who talk at this rate, (as, I fear, many Men now do, and that Openly, and not in a Corner) who can bring themselves thus to confound the plainest Marks of Truth and Falfhood, Reality and Imposture; and to impute the most Clear and Demonstrative Proofs that ever were given of a Divine Power, to Confederacy and a Juggle; fuch Men, Isay, are inexcusable upon all the Accounts of right Reason, and good Senfe; and incurable by all further Methods of Proof that can poffibly be addreffed to them: They are Infidels, not because they want fufficient Grounds of Conviction, but because they refolve not to be otherwise. To no purpose is it to dispute with them about thefe Foundations of our Faith; to no purpose is it to Exhort, Beseech, Perfuade, or Reprove them: Their Eyes are Shut, that they cannot fee; and their Ears Stopped, that they cannot hear; and their Hearts hard as the Nether Mill-ftone. Our Reasonings of this kind may indeed be

of

of fome Use, in respect of Those who SERM. are yet untainted with the Principles of I. Infidelity; and may ferve to keep Such free from the Infection: But, to fuppofe that any Good can be done by them upon Thofe, who pretend to have weighed the Evidence of the Gospel in a Balance, and to have found it Light; is a Suppofition, fit only for those to make, who have not tried it. A

3. Third thing, which we learn from the Doctrine of the Text, is, to fatisfy ourselves of the Vanity of those Pretences which are made to Miracles in the Romish Communion. The Members of it boast very much of mighty Signs and Wonders wrought by fome Canonized, and fome Uncanonized Saints; their Legends, their Sermons are full of them; even their great Advocate lays such a Stress upon the Number and Kinds of them, as to make the Glory of Miracles One of the fifteen Notes by which that Church may be difcerned to be the only true Church of Chrift. But now, as Confidently, and Publickly, as they make these

SERM. these Boafts of Miracles, we may ob I. ferve, that the Miracles themselves are said to have been done very Privately; in Religious Houses, and Places of Secrecy and Retirement; in Remote Regions of the World, whither no body will go to difprove them; in Superftitious Countries, where no Man hath a Mind, or Leave to examine them. And these are Circumftances, which smell ftrongly of Imposture and Contrivance; for why fhould Things defigned for Publick Use and Influence be thus transacted in the Dark, without Witneffes? A Miracle is in the Nature of it, fomewhat done for 1 Corin, the Converfion of Infidels; it is a Sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: And yet it fo happens, that Popish Miracles are generally done at Home, before Believers, where there is Little or No Need of them, or Doubts concerning them: Or if Abroad, yet they are placed at such a Convenient Diftance, as not to lie within Reach of Confutation. In China and Japan these Wonder-workers may pretend to have done

xiv. 22.

done as many Miracles as they please, SERM. without the Fear of a Discovery; in Spain I and Italy they may venture, now and then, to fet up for them, where there are so many always ready to favour their Pretences, and to run into any Pious Fraud that can be contrived for them. But in Heretical Countries (as they term Ours) they are very fhy, and fparing of their Talent this way; and ftill, the more Herefy there is in a Country, the fewer Miracles are heard of there. How can a Man choose but fufpe& these Odd Stories, told under fuch Sufpicious Circumftances? How can he be blamed, for not entertaining them? For, as our Saviour's Brethren once Reasoned with him, (and they Reasoned right, though they applied it wrong) fo may We with One of thefe Pretenders to Miracles: There is no Man doth any thing in Secret, John vii, and He himself feeketh to be known Openly ;' if Thou do thefe things, shew thyself to the World. And whoever totally declines this Trial, muft not expect to have any Credit given, either to the Miracles he C 2 pretends

4.

SERM. pretends to have done, or to the MefI. fage he brings.

But the moft abfurd Pretence of this kind, and the most Oppofite to the Doctrine delivered, is, that famous Miracle of the Corporal Prefence in the Eucharift; which is done fo much in the dark, that No body ever did or can fee it, either before, or after it was done, or even while it is doing; no, not the Doer himself, as loudly as he may boast of it. The Miracles of the Gospel are fo many Appeals to the Senfes of Men; but this is a strange New kind of Miracle, which is perfectly invifible. To say, that it must be received by Faith, that we must believe it to be a Miracle, is to destroy the very End and Defign of Miracles; which are Works done, in order to procure the Belief of fomewhat else; and are not therefore themselves to be believed, and taken for granted. In a word, it is a Miracle, the doing of which is fo utterly a Secret, that it wants another Miracle to prov. it to be one. And yet of all things in the World, it is

the