The.vii. chapiter

The Author sheweth that nether nature nor reson do deny the myracles to be trew / nor do not gayn say but yt they may be well & easly done.

SIr sayth he yet hytte we not the poynt / for albe it yt many thīgꝭ be well done / & by nature / whych neyther my wytte nor happely no mannys ellys can attayn so nere to natures coū sell that we can therī ꝑceyue her crafte / But like as sū rude people / muse vppō a clokke / yt hath ye spryng whych is the cause of hys mouyng secretly cōueyed and closed in the barrell / so marueyle we & wonder on her worke / yet allway all those thyngys dyffer and be vnlyke to myracles. In that your self wyll agre with me yt whan I beleue yt reason and nature techeth me surely that miracles be thyngys that can not be done / I am not ī this deceyuyd thogh I may be ī such other thīgꝭ deceyued as seme impossyble and yet may be done. And therfor as cōcernyng myracles ī which your self wyll agre that I am not by any mystakyng of reasō and nature deceyued / ye may not your self me thynketh say nay / but yt I may well with reason beleue theym twayne agaynst all theym that wyll tell me they haue sene such thyngys don as your self doth agre / that they twayne that ys to wytte nature and reason dothe verely and trewly shew me can not be don. what maner of thingys be those q I. Mary myracles quod he such as your self[…] wyll agre to be don agaynst nature. Geue vs therof quod I sum ēsample. As yf mē quod he wold now cum tell me yt at oure lady of rouncyuale / there were a dede chylde restored agayne to lyffe / lett that quod I be oone / and lett a nother be yt a bysshop in the byldyng of hys chyrch fyndyng one beame cutt a greate dele to shorte for hys worke / drewe it forth betwene a nother man & hym foure fote (& ye wyll) lenger than it was and so made it serue / Be yt by my trouth q he. wyll we quod I take for the thyrde / yt a mā was by myracle in a pater noster whyle / cōueyd a myle of from oone place to a nother. be hit so quod he. Nowe they that shuld tell me quod he that they had seene these thre myracles were I bound to beleue thē? whether ye were boūdē quod I or no / we shall see ferther after / But now whye shuld ye not of reasō trust them yf the men be credyble / and ernestly reporte yt / and peraduenture on there othes depose it / hauīg no cause to fayne it nor lykely to lye and be forswornen for nought. I wyll quod he not beleue them bycause that nature and reasone are twoo recordys more to be byleued thā all they that bere wytnesse agaynst them. why quod I what doth reason & nature tell you. They twayne tell me quod he yt those.iii. thyngys cā not be done / whych those men sey they sawe done. wote you quod I that reasō and nature tell you so. ye mary quod he yt I wote well they do / & I thynke youre self wyll agre that they tell me so. Nay by saynt Mary syt quod I that wyll I not[…] for I thynke that neyther reson nor nature telleth you so / but rather both twoo tell you clene the contrary / that ys to wyte that they both bere witnesse that those thre thyngys and such other lyke be thingys that may be well […]nd easly done / ye quod he: mary thys ys a nother way. Thē haue we walked wrong a whyle yf ye proue that. Me thynketh quod I no thyng more easy to proue than that / For I pray you tell me quod I do reasō and nature shewe you that there ys a god or not? Fayth sheweth me yt surely quod he / but whyther nature and resō shew[…] me or no that I doute / syth grete reasoned men and phylosophers haue dowted therof And some of them playnly perswaded and in beleue that there was none at all / and the hole people of the world in effecte fallen from knowlege or beleue of god in to Idolatry & worshype of mammottys. Nay quod I there ys lytle dowte I trowe[…]but that nature & reason geueth vs good knowlege that there is a god. for albe it the gentylys worshypped among them a thousand false goddis / yet all that proueth yt ther was and ys in all mennes heddys a secrete consent of nature that god there is or ellys they wold haue worshypped nōe at all. Now as for ye philosophers though a very fewe dowted / and one or twayne thought ther was none / yet as oone swalow maketh not somer so ye foly of so fewe maketh no chaunge of the matter agaynst all the hole noumber of the olde philosophers. whych as saynt Poule confessyth found owt by nature and reasō that ther was a god eyther maker or gouernour or both of all thys hole ēgyne of the world. The maruelouse bewtye & constant course whereof / sheweth well that it neyther was made nor gouerned by chaunce. But whan they had by these vysyble thyngys knowlege of hys inuysyble magestye / thā dyd they / as we do / fell from the worshyp of hym to ye worship of Idoles as now do chrysten mē / not as herytyques lay to ye charge of good people in doyng reuerence to sayntys […] /he wrought it not to the vttermo[…]s of hys power / but with sych degrees of goodnes as his hye plesure lyked to lymyt. For els were hys work of as infynyte ꝑfeccy[…]n as hym self. And of such infynyte eg[…]ll ꝑ[…]eccyō was ther by god brought forth nothyng but only ye two ꝑsons of the trynyte / yt is to wyt ye sōne & the holy goste. of which two the sonne was furste by the father begotten / & after the holye goste by the father and the sonne / after I say ī order of beginning but not in tyme producyd and brought forth. And in thys hye generacyon and produccyon dyd the doers work bothe wyllyngly & naturally / & after the vtterest parfeccyon of them self / which they dyd only therin […] in none other thyng. And therefore god myght breke vp the hole worlde yf he wolde & make a beter by & by. and not onely chaūge in the n[…] turall cours of thys world sum thyngꝭ to the beter. How be it god in workyng of myracles doth nothyng agaynst nature / but some specyall benefyte aboue nature. And he doth not agaynste you that doth a nother a good torne whych ye be not able to do. And therfore syth god may do what he wyll beīg almyghty / and in doynge of myracles he dothe for the beter / neyther reson nor nature shewyth you that they whych saye they saw such myracles / do tell you a thyng yt can not be done / syth ye haue no reason to proue that god either can not do yt or wyll not do yt. For syth he cā do it and yt may be that he wyll do yt / why shuld we mystruste good & h[…]nest men that say they saw hym do yt.