ABSTRACT
Since Almighty God performs many miracles amongst the faithful in order to strengthen faith and promote the growth of the Christian religion, it must be feared that those who ignore them, by concealing beneath the secrecy of silence those things that deserve and demand to be preached publicly to the glory of the Creator and benefit of the faithful, will be accused of ingratitude and negligence. For the psalmist confesses that he has not hidden God's righteousness within his heart, he has not hidden his loving-kindness and truth from the great congregation. 1 From which it is clearly understood that divine loving-kindness should not be concealed, nor should silence be maintained about the works of divine compassion, but they should be zealously made public to the glory and honour of his name. Since, therefore, God glorifies himself by frequent demonstrations of miracles, and does not cease to glorify his holy confessor John, it is pleasing to reveal some of them in public and, having written them down, to convey them for the remembrance of future generations. I admit that the inexperience of my speech is completely inadequate to describe all the things that have been performed by divine influence within the space of five years. I hope very much that those who will interpret the public account, and apply their diligent intellect to the miracles which they will learn have been performed through him, will be inspired to divine worship and to increase their veneration of the holy confessor. However, they should not expect an elaborate account in the present narrative, nor the pompous trappings of words by which the agreeable simplicity of naked truth refuses to be obscured. Indeed there should be no desire for eloquence of this kind, nor vanity of glory, nor temporal advantage, just as it is written in Leviticus, 'He who gives his seed to the idol 204Moloch, will be put to death, and all the people of the land shall stone him.' 2 But enough of this.
