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qui dicitur, Vicus Longobardorum. In eo vico Paræcia eſt, & ædes paræcialis, in qua fuit Presbyter, bomo ſummæ fidei, et notæ Pietatis, . . . . . An. 1563. quo anno, ſi unquam aliàs, peſtis graſſata eſt per hanc Urbem Londinum. Narravit igitur hic Parochus et palsum aliis, et ipſi quoque Dom. Epiſcopo ſibi hoc accidiſſe. Erat illi amicus in ſuâ Paræciâ inſignis, vir, ut omnes exiſtimabant, probus et pius. Hic peſte correptus advocavit Presbyterum illum ſuum amicum, qui et ægrotanti affuit, et vidit morientem nec deſernet niſi mortuum ita Demum repetiit domum ſuam. Poſt horas ſatis multas à morte hujus, cùm ipſe pro mortuo eſſet relictus in cubiculo uxor illius idem cubiculum eſt ingreſſa, ut ex arcâ promeret Lodicem, ſine linteamen ad ipſum εντολετον, ut eſt moris. Ingreſſa audit hanc vocem, operi intenta. Quis hic eſt? terreri illa, et velle egredi, ſed auditur iterum vox illa: Quis hic eſt? Ac tandem comperto eſſe mariti vocem, accedit ad illum: Quid, ait, marite; tu igitur mortuus non es? et nos te pro mortuo compoſitum deſerveramus. Ego verò, reſpondit ille, verè mortuus fui: ſed uta Deo viſum, ut anima mea rediret ad corpus. Sed tu uxor, ait, Si quid babes cibi parati, da mihi eſurio enim. Dixit illa veruecinam habere ſe, pullum gallinaceum, et neſcio quid aliud: ſed omnia incocta, quæ brevi eſſet paratura. Ego, ait ille, Moram non fero; panem habes, ait, et caſeum? quum annuiſſet, atque petiſſet afferri, comedit ſpectante uxore: deinde advocato Presbytero, et juſsis exire è cubiculo omnibus qui aderant; narrat illi hoc. Ego, ait, verè mortuus fui; ſed juſſa eſt anima redire ad ſuum corpus, ut ſcelus apperiram ore meo, manibus meis admiſſum de quo nulla unquam cuiquam nota eſt ſuſpicio. Priorem namque uxorem meam ipſe occidi manibus meis, tantâ vafritie, ut omnes res lateret: deinde modum perpetrati ſceleris expoſuit; necita multò poſt expiravit, ac verè tum mortuus eſt.
There is no neceſſity that any body ſhould make of either of theſe relations an Article of his Faith; yet I thought them very probable, becauſe believed by ſuch a man, and therefore have given them a place here. So much of Miracles.
Of Exorciſmes we muſt ſay as of Miracles. One notable example of a counterfeit Poſſeſſion, and of great ſtirs likely to have inſued upon it in France, we have out of Thuanus, in our late Treatiſe of Enthuſiaſme. The Hiſtory of the Boy of Bilſon is extant, who by the Wiſdom and Sagacity of the R R F. in God Thomas, Lord Biſhop of Lichfield and Coventry, was diſcovered to be an Impoſſtor on purpoſe ſet up and ſuborned to promote the Romiſh cauſe, An. Dom. 1620. Such examples and ſtories moſt Countries have afforded good ſtore, which are extant in divers Languages. Neither muſt it be concealed (by them that ſeek truth without partiality) that ſome, once called Diſciplinarians, now more known by another name, have attempted to deal in thoſe things, hoping thereby to gain great advantage to their cauſe. It was a famous Story in Q. Elizabeth's Reign, though now perchance out of the knowledg of many, and beyond the remembrance of any living, how one Mr. D. a very zealous man of that Sect, did take upon him by long prayers to caſt out Divels ſo maintained and aſſerted with great vehemency by him and ſome others that favoured that cauſe, though upon legal examination they proved otherwiſe, which occaſioned many books on both ſides in thoſe dayes, but two, melioris notæ, as we ſay, written by Dr. H. concerning Exorciſmes; the one againſt Papiſts, the other againſt P. I have them both ſomewhere yet, I hope, but can not come atthem