ht."

But what are these _clearest Miracles God ever wrought_? Why, the most
extravagant, whimsical, absurd, and ridiculous Legends and Stories
imaginable; such as that of _St. Dominick_[39], who when the Devil came to
him in the Shape of a _Monkey_, made him hold a Candle to him while he
wrote, and keep it so long between his Toes, till it burnt them; and his
keeping the Devil, who sometimes came to him in the Shape of a _Flea_, and
by skipping on the Leaves of his Book disturb'd his Reading, in that
Shape, and using him for a Mark to know where he left off reading: Such as
St. _Patrick_'s heating an Oven with Snow, and turning a Pound of Honey
into a Pound of Butter: Such as _Christ_'s marrying Nuns, and playing at
Cards with them; and Nuns living on the Milk of the blessed Virgin _Mary_;
and that of divers Orders, and especially the _Benedictine_, being so dear
to the blessed Virgin, that in Heaven she lodges them under her
Petticoats: Such as making broken Eggs whole; and of People, who had
their Heads cut off, walking with their Heads in their Hands, which were
sometimes set on again: Such as Failing for a hundred Years; and raising
Cows, Calves, and Birds from the Dead, after they had been chopt to Pieces
and eaten, and putting on their Heads after they had been pull'd or cut
off; and turning a Pound of Butter into a Bell; and making a Bull give
Milk; and raising a King's Daughter from the Dead, and turning her into a
Son; and the several Translations thro' the Air of the Virgin _Mary_'s
House from _Palestine_ to _Loretto_, and the Miracles wrote there; and
more of the like Kind.

Are these, or such as these the _clearest Miracles God ever wrought_? Do
such Miracles deserve a serious Regard? And shall the _Gravity_ with which
Mankind is thus banter'd out of their common Sense, excuse these Matters
from _Ridicule_?

It will be difficult to find any Writers who have exceeded the Doctors,
_South_ and [40] _Edwards_, in _Banter_, _Irony_, _Satire_ and _Sarcasms_:
The last of whom has written a Discourse in _Defence of sharp Reflections
on Authors and their Opinions_; wherein he enumerates, as Examples for his
Purpose, almost all the eminent Divines of the Church of _England_. And
Mr. [41] _Collier_, speaking of a Letter of the Venerable _Bede_ to
_Egbert_ Bishop of _York_, says, "The Satire and Declamation in this
_Epistle_ shews the _pious Zeal_ and _Integrity_ of the Author;" which
seems to imply, that _Satire_ an