Miracles be wrought. Sunday in Lent. Serm.S. 85 but kno,vefl not how . Foure thoufand yeares andvpwards hadft thouexercifed thy old trade,and yet thou nowfeemeft to know leffeeuery day thanother. Is it poffible,that thou ihouldit bee fuchanAffe , as to offer Dones to one thatwas now growneweake and readie tofaint through too much fatting r.' Saint Jerome harpt vponthisfring : Either hee was God, (fayth bee) or hewas not God. If hewereGod,it was raflmeffe inhim to tempt hint ; ifhe werenot God,he could not makebread of (tones. But herein the Deuill (hewedmore malice thanwit; queftionleffehe did vponthisoccafìon, asmuch as either hecould,or knew. For others (as Saint Buflenbath noted it ) bee tempteth according to the meafureof their ftrength becaufe God will not let out the rope to giue him any larger fcope ; but towards our Sauiour Chrift , hee fhewed thevtmoft ofhis power and malice. And though hee didnot greatlycare whether bee did eateor not eate,but had onlya purpofetoperplexand trouble ourSauiour, and to put him outof his holy Meditations, he did offeronly that vnto him,whichwas precife- lyneceflary forthe preferuationof mans life ; andwhich a wifeman ought to accept of; if heewere not maddeor foolifh. Howmuchmore fhouldaman that is hunger-ftaru'd,attempt any thing rather than fami(h for lacke offood. Judas will rathermake money ofChrift than flame. The motherfell her daughter,the fatherkill his children, the wife forfake, if not difhonour the bed ofher huf- band. And therefore the Deuill was not herein fo veniea foole as force would makehim. Scriptum efi, non infolopane rviuit homo. T'is written, man liuethnotby breadalone. Our Sauiour Chrift would not doe this miracleat the Deuils intreatie ; For his miracula,were benecia, Hamiracles were benefits, theydid alwayes tend to good, butthis did not . For thoughhe should haue turnedall theftones inthe Wilderneffe into Bread,the Deuil would haue beeneas verya Deuill as heewas before . Saint vluflen fayth, That our SauiourmadeWineof Water,but notBread of Stones ; becaufe from the for- mer miracle followed the Faithofhis Difciples, Et credideruntin eum,Difcipuli tiles : But nogood could comeof this. Hee reftored to (Adak-has, the care whichSaint Peter hadcut off; but before Herod, would not fomuch as openhis mouth. Saint Paul cured the father ofPubliaas ofa hot burning Feauer,andmany other that wereficke;but tohis beloued Difciple Timothie,beingvery ill,hefitid vntohim,vteremedicovino propterflomachii 6J'freyuetestwo infirmitatoe,i.Y[a lit- tlewinefor thy flomackesfake, andfor thy other infirmities. C. Gregorio dwelling on thisplacefayth, O bleffed Apofile,thou healeft anInfidel! with miracles, as a Saint, but curef thydifciple with receipts, as a Phyfitian. But hee anfwereth this, thus, That Timothyhad no neede of miracles for the good of his foule. When I confiderwithmy felfe, that God dothnot nowdo fo many miracles in his Church as hee was woont,it makethme much to reioyce. For miracles be- ing ordained for the confirmationofour Faith,fince God dothno longer worke by them, it feemeth that our Faith hath now taken toodeepe rooting to bee re- mooued. And though finne doemuch abound, and men aremuch fubieft vnto vice, yet ought it to bee a great comfortto the faithfulI, that God dothnot vfe miracles any more for the ftrengthening of the Gofpell. Man huethnot by Bread alone . Ireneus hathnoted, that the Deuill in Dead of fifting into our Sauiour to know truely what hee was remained more blind, andmore aftonifhed thaRbefore. For hee,.demaundingofour SaùiourChrift, whether hewere God,orno OurSauiour.acknowledged himfelfe tobe a man, H laying in, malice of., tentnahimis esout- ru wit. Miracles why ordainedand ore now in
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