The.x. chapiter

Thauthor prouyth yt many thīgꝭ dayly don by nature or craft wherof we nothynge merueyle at all / be more meruelous and more wōderfull in dede than be the myracles yt we mooste marueyle of and repute most incredyble.

NAy quod he suerly though it hath doone me good to here what ye wold say / yet I nether dout nor I suppose no good man ellys / but that god hath besyde the comen course of nature wrought many myracles. But yet of those that men tell of / as done in our tyme / by whych ye wold it shuld seme that it were well prouyd that the prayng to sayntys / goyng on pylgrymagys / & worshyppyng of ymagys were well and suffycyently prouyd / all though there were none other profe theruppō / of these myracles dyd I mene / in the report of whych me thynkyth I neede not beleue a comen fame of […]hys myracle and that begon by such sily womā sekīg saynt Sythe whē […]he syghyth for myscastyng other […]ays. Of these myracles I speke / & all such as men say now adays be done at dyuers pylgrymagꝭ by dyuers sayntꝭ or dyuers ymagys / in whych the thynkyth yt such as be told to be don which nature and reson sayth be impossyble / I may well mystrust ye tellers. Or ells how many of thē shall make me a suffycyent profe of an impossyble mater? One or two or thre eyther semyth me to few to trust theyr credence in a thīg so incredible. And if I shall not beleue theym tyll I fynde many recordys / I wene I were fayne to wander ye world about or I ꝓuyd many myracles suffyciently / of such I say as ye ꝓue your pylgrymages by. youre few wordys q I haue wrappyd in them many thingys that seme somwhat as they be couchyd to geder. which when we se them vnfoldyd and consyder ech part a sonder / than may we better examyn th[…]m & better se wherof they serue. Furste ye speke of sekīg to sayntys for sleyght causys. as for ye losse or mysse of kyttis ka[…]s. Than ye wolde wyt how many ye must here say they saw a myracle or ye shuld of reason beleue yt. Thyrdly ye thynk ye were lyke to go long or ye shuld fynde any prouyd trew. Fynally whan ye say that ye meane onely those myracles that men tell of / as doone at pylgr[…]magys / ye seme to put styll a differēs betwene those myracles wroght in pylgrymag[…] & such as are wrought by god otherwyse / The cause wherof I must ferther aske you after. For I perceyue not well what ye meane by yt / But fyrst where as ye speke styll as though ye myght mistrust thē were they neuer so many: because they tell you a thyng that reasō & nature sayeth is impossyble / me thynketh yt ye shuld now chaunge that worde. For I haue all redy / ꝓuyd that reasō & nature say not that a myracle ys īpossible / but only that it is impossyble to nature. And they cōfesse both that myracles be possyble to god and they that report them do report them for such. And therfore they do report you none īpossible tale. For the clerer cōsyderacion wherof / let vs resort to ye miracles which we were agreed shuld stand for examples / And fyrst yf men shuld tell you yt they sawe before an ymage / of the crucifix a dede man raysid to lyfe / ye wold much merua[…]le therof / and so myght ye well. yet could I tell you sum what that I haue seen my selfe that me thynketh as gret a meruayle / but I haue no lyst to tell you because that ye be so circumspect and ware in beleue of any myracles / yt ye wold not beleue yt for me but mystrust me for it. Nay sir quod he ī good fayth / yf a thīg semed me neuer so farr vnlykly / yet yf ye wolde ernystly say yt your selfe haue seen yt / I neyther wold nor could mystrust yt, well quod I thā ye make me the bolder to tel you. And yet wyll I tell you nothing / but that I wold yf nede were find you good witnes to proue it. It shall not nede syr q he / but I besech you let me here it. For soth quod I because we speke of a mā raysyd from deth to lyfe. There was ī the parish of saynt steuenes ī walbrok in lōdō where I dwellid before I came to chelsyth / a mā and a woman which at yet quyk and quethynge and yonge were they both. The eldyst I am sure passyd not.xxiiii. It happed them as doth among yong folke / ye tone to cast a mynd to the tother. And after many lettis / for y• maydēs mother was mich agaynst yt / at last they came to gether and were maryed in saynt Stephens chirch which is not gretly famouse for any myracles / but yet yerely on saynt steuyn day it is sōwhat sought vnto / & vysyted with folkis deuociō. But now short tale to make / thys yong woman as the maner is in brydis ye wote well was at nyght brought to bed with honest womē. And than after that went the bryde grome to bed. And euery body wēt theyr wayes & left them twayn there alone. And that same nyght / yet abide let me not lye. now ī faith to say the trouth I am not very sure of the time / but suerly as it aperid afterward yt was of lyklyhod y• same nyght or sū other tyme sone after except yt happened a lytle afore. No force for the tyme quod he. Troth quod I / and as for the matter all the paryshe wyll testefye for trewth the woman was knowen for so honest. But for the conclusion the seed of them twayn / turned in the womans body / fyrst into bloode / and after into shape of man chylde. And than waxed quyk and she gret therwyth. And was within y• yere delyuered of a fayr boy / and forsoth yt was not than (for I saw yt myselfe) passing the lenght of a fote. And I am sure he is growen nowe an ynch lenger than I. How long ys yt agoo quod he. By my fayth q I / about xxi. yeres. Tush quod he this is a worthy myracle. In good faith quod I neuer wyst I that any mā could tell that he had any other begynnyng. And me thynkyth that thys ys as gret a myracle as the reysyng of a dede man. If yt seme so q he to you / than haue you a maruelouse semynge / for I wene yt semyth so to no man els. No quod I cā ye tell what is ye cause? None other surely but that the acquayntaūce and dayly beholdyng takyth a way the wō deryng / as we nothyng wonder at the ebbyng and flowyng of the see / or the thamys bycause we dayly se it. But he that had neuer seene it nor hard therof wolde at the fyrste syght wonder sore the[…]at to se that great water cum walowyng vp agaynst the wynde keping a cōmen course to and fro / no cause ꝑseyued yt dryueth hym. If a mā borne blynde had sodēly hys syght what woū der wold he make to see the sonne the mone / and the starres / where as one yt hathe sene them syxtene yere to gether marueylyth not so moche of thē all / as he wolde wonder at the fyrst syght of a pecokkys tayle. And veryly cause can I se none / why we shulde of reasō mo[…]e maruayle of ye reuyuyng of a dede mā than of the bredyng / bryngyng forthe and growyng of a chyl[…]e vnto ye state of a man. No more meruelouse ys a koko thā a cokk / though ye tone be sene but in somer and the […]other all ye yere. And I am sure yf ye sawe dede mē as cōmenly called a gayne by myracle / as ye se men brought forth by nature / ye wolde rekē yt lesse maruayle to bryng the soule agayne into the body / kepīg yet styll hys shappe and hys organys not moch pereshyd / thā of a lytle seede to make all that gere new / and make a newe soule therto. Now yf ye neuer had sene any gonne in youre days nor herd of any before / yf.ii. men shuld tell you the tone that he had wyst a mā in a pater noster while conueyd & caryed a mile of from one place to a nother by myracle / & ye tother shulde tell you yt he had sene a stone more than a mannys weyght caryed more than a myle in as lyttyll space by craft / whych of these wolde you by your faythe take for the more incredyble? Surely q he both twayne were very strange. But yet I could not chese but thynke yt were rather trewe y• god dyd ye tone / than that any crafte of mā coulde do the tother. well quod I let vs than to oure thryde ensample. If it were shewed you that saynt Etkenwalde or hys s[…]ster drewe out a pece of tīber yt was cut to shorte for the rofe ī makyng barkyng abbey / shulde thys be so incredyble to you to beleue that they drewe in lenght a pece of wood by ye power and helpe of goddys hād / whā we se dayly a grete pece of syluer brasse / laten or iren drawen a lenght īto smale wyer / as wōderfully by mannys hand