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Objection 1: It would seem that the wicked cannot work miracles.
For miracles are wrought through prayer, as stated above (Article
1, ad 1). Now the prayer of a sinner is not granted, according to
Jn. 9:31, "We know that God doth not hear sinners," and
Prov. 28:9, "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the
law, his prayer shall be an abomination." Therefore it would seem
that the wicked cannot work miracles.
Objection 2: Further, miracles are ascribed to faith, according to
Mt. 17:19, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you
shall say to this mountain: Remove from hence hither, and it shall
remove." Now "faith without works is dead," according to James
2:20, so that, seemingly, it is devoid of its proper operation.
Therefore it would seem that the wicked, since they do not good
works, cannot work miracles.
Objection 3: Further, miracles are divine attestations, according
to Heb. 2:4, "God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders
and divers miracles": wherefore in the Church the canonization of
certain persons is based on the attestation of miracles. Now God
cannot bear witness to a falsehood. Therefore it would seem that
wicked men cannot work miracles.
Objection 4: Further, the good are more closely united to God than
the wicked. But the good do not all work miracles. Much less
therefore do the wicked.
On the contrary, The Apostle says (1 Cor. 13:2): "If I
should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not
charity, I am nothing." Now whosoever has not charity is wicked,
because "this gift alone of the Holy Ghost distinguishes the children
of the kingdom from the children of perdition," as Augustine says
(De Trin. xv, 18). Therefore it would seem that even the
wicked can work miracles.
I answer that, Some miracles are not true but imaginary deeds,
because they delude man by the appearance of that which is not; while
others are true deeds, yet they have not the character of a true
miracle, because they are done by the power of some natural cause.
Both of these can be done by the demons, as stated above (Article
1, ad 2).
True miracles cannot be wrought save by the power of God, because
God works them for man's benefit, and this in two ways: in one way
for the confirmation of truth declared, in another way in proof of a
person's holiness, which God desires to propose as an example of
virtue. In the first way miracles can be wrought by any one who
preaches the true faith and calls upon Christ's name, as even the
wicked do sometimes. In this way even the wicked can work miracles.
Hence Jerome commenting on Mt. 7:22, "Have not we prophesied
in Thy name?" says: "Sometimes prophesying, the working of
miracles, and the casting out of demons are accorded not to the merit
of those who do these things, but to the invoking of Christ's name,
that men may honor God, by invoking Whom such great miracles are
wrought."
In the second way miracles are not wrought except by the saints, since
it is in proof of their holiness that miracles are wrought during their
lifetime or after death, either by themselves or by others. For we
read (Acts 19:11,12) that "God wrought by the hand of Paul
. . . miracles" and "even there were brought from his body to the
sick, handkerchiefs . . . and the diseases departed from them."
In this way indeed there is nothing to prevent a sinner from working
miracles by invoking a saint; but the miracle is ascribed not to him,
but to the one in proof of whose holiness such things are done.
Reply to Objection 1: As stated above (Question 83, Article
16) when we were treating of prayer, the prayer of impetration
relies not on merit but on God's mercy, which extends even to the
wicked, wherefore the prayers even of sinners are sometimes granted by
God. Hence Augustine says (Tract. xliv in Joan.) that "the
blind man spoke these words before he was anointed," that is, before
he was perfectly enlightened; "since God does hear sinners." When
it is said that the prayer of one who hears not the law is an
abomination, this must be understood so far as the sinner's merit is
concerned; yet it is sometimes granted, either for the spiritual
welfare of the one who prays---as the publican was heard (Lk.
18:14)---or for the good of others and for God's glory.
Reply to Objection 2: Faith without works is said to be dead, as
regards the believer, who lives not, by faith, with the life of
grace. But nothing hinders a living thing from working through a dead
instrument, as a man through a stick. It is thus that God works
while employing instrumentally the faith of a sinner.
Reply to Objection 3: Miracles are always true witnesses to the
purpose for which they are wrought. Hence wicked men who teach a false
doctrine never work true miracles in confirmation of their teaching,
although sometimes they may do so in praise of Christ's name which
they invoke, and by the power of the sacraments which they administer.
If they teach a true doctrine, sometimes they work true miracles as
confirming their teaching, but not as an attestation of holiness.
Hence Augustine says (Questions. lxxxiii, qu. 79):
"Magicians work miracles in one way, good Christians in another,
wicked Christians in another. Magicians by private compact with the
demons, good Christians by their manifest righteousness, evil
Christians by the outward signs of righteousness."
Reply to Objection 4: As Augustine says (Questions. lxxxiii,
qu. 79), "the reason why these are not granted to all holy men is
lest by a most baneful error the weak be deceived into thinking such
deeds to imply greater gifts than the deeds of righteousness whereby
eternal life is obtained."
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