but subsisted meerly by and in the other Person as a Ciens ingrafted doth in the Tree But best of all is this the Hypostatical Union of the two Natures in Christ adumbrated by the Union of the spiritual and corporeal parts in Man For as the reasonable Soul and Flesh is one Man so God and Man is one Christ as the Athanasian Creed hath it There be many resemblances of this it seems but not any kind of adumbration as yet found in nature how to shadow out the consubstantiation of two perfect compleat and subsistent individuals in one person And yet which is considerable too 2. God thought it needful to send an Angel even one of his mightiest most honourable most eloquent and most powerful even the Angel Gabriel to the blessed Virgin her self To perswade her into the belief of the possibility of that whereas they say That the Union of Devils unto Man is easily credible and generally believed without half that trouble Strange That the stranger thing should be more easily believed than the easier 3. But yet further There was great ado and much trouble about it To unite Man to God the omnipotency of the holy Ghost and the power of the Almighty God were imployed and all needful for the effecting of it Where the Devil as the Ichneumon into the Crocodile can slip into mens mouths with ease as they gape and possess them wholly as their own members And yet again 4. In the Judgment of God himself It was needful That much time even Thirty years and more should be spent I will not say for the subjugating of the Manhood to an obediential subjection towards the Godhead but for the clearer manifestation of the reality of that Union yea and Three or four years of continual Miracles to boot Where the Devil can incarnate himself possess or enter into a Person make him subservient to his will beck or nodd and manifest himself unquestionably to be the Dominus fac totum in the Person and all that with the turn of a hand in an instant 5. I might add God never did that Miracle but once the Devil doth such as are parallel every way and Super-paramount to it every week and day for many Thousand years together so that in truth the Devil seems to be the greater Miracler as out-doing out-going out-stretching the Omnipotent God in that very particular that he counts his Master-piece God manifested in the flesh is no such great Mystery the Devil can and doth do as great or greater every day Oh intolerable opinion that yields such blasphemous results Devilmongers will no doubt disclaim this charge but they shall never be able to evade the guilt CHAP. VII It undervalues Christs Miracles in that it allows Ejection of evil Spirits to Devils and Witches BUt Secondly as this Doctrine in the point of possession undervalues the Mystery of Christs Incarnation So doth it more abuse Christ in the crotchet of Dispossession A Devil nay a Witch say they by the Devils power can eject or cast out Devils out of any one possessed First out of a Person where there never was any Devil But Christ saith Satan casts not out Satan else his house should be divided and his Kingdom could not stand And yet hath and doth it stand ever since though at least as the doctrines of Devils assert Satan hath cast out Devils or Satan all the World over for these Sixteen hundred years Thus therefore this doctrine makes Christ a lyer And which is as bad it attributes more power to the Devil than ever Christ though he appeal to his stupend works for the justification of his Godhead ever exerted while here on earth Christ never so much as cast out one Devil I know men generally run away with this conceit because of these notions cast out Devils or cured a Demoniack or one possessed as we render it But if we consider That the Scripture speaketh but according to the mode and phrase of times then wherein according to the conceit of Platonizing Pharisees all great diseases afflictions or distempers wherein they thought as they did in all almost That there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some extraordinary and supernatural agency we may and will be easily satisfied That when Christ is said to cast out Devils they were but dangerous diseases uncommon maladies or extraordinary distempers or else sometimes sins that are meant CHAP. VIII Christ cast not out Devils What is meant by Devils where Christ is said to cast them out CHrist himself in his return to John's Message or Quaery Art thou he that should come or do we look for another speaks nothing but of curing Diseases and Preaching the Gospel Not a word of casting out Devils though in the same hour he had cast out one Luk. 7.19 Whatever is meant by it But could he have satisfied John better than by saying Devils also are cast out if he had cast out any Devil really And yet not a word of this in his Answer unto John Baptist nor which is as remarkable doth St. John though he set himself upon that point especially to prove the Godhead of Christ producing many yea very many very great and stupend Miracles done by Christ yet doth he not so much as hint at that of ejecting Devils A great oversight in such a Person in such a business to neglect such an Argument if any such thing had ever been This would have proved him to be God indeed and his Power paramount above all Principalities and Powers and Thrones and Dominions and so God without controversie or dispute But he urgeth it not and therefore we may well conclude if we will not think that he betrayed the Cause That there was no such thing Besides Demonium habere vel Demoniacum esse are most properly and most fitly rendered Madmen When some said In furorem versus est or he is mad others said he hath Beelzebub or a Devil as being in their conceit but one and the self-same thing Mark 3.30 21 He hath a Devil or is mad seem to be Synonimies and to interpret one the other John 10.20 So because of that mad wild frantick speech of his as they accounted it If any man keep my saying he shall never see death Now say they We know that thou hast a Devil and art mad For none thought they but a Madman would have vented such a wild word John 8.51 52. And therefore Maldonat a Jesuite and one that upheld the doctrine of Devils and possession as much as any Man for the maintenance of Purgatory Alii putant Alii in the Plural number 't was not one single Doctors Fathers Schoolmans opinion but a number of them Some think That this word Demonium habere or Demoniacum esse modum suisse loquend◠quo non significarent eum vere habere Demonium sed motae esse mentis delirare insanire To have a Devil was a kind of phrase or form of speech by which they did not
when we be come into the very last Times we never hear of any such thing in truth nor can possibly conceive how it can be but yet the doctrine of Demons hath been rife general and Catholick this thirteen or fourteen hundred years and almost every-where entertained 4. One part of the Spirits caution here thus should seem vain frivolous and needless though it be ushered in with most grave and in most solemn terms Now the spirit speaketh expresly And who after such a preparation or preamble would not expect some wonderful strange or unusual things to follow yea some things that were inconceivable or incredible without such a Divine Revelation And yet one part of this wonderful Revelation should be but this That Devils would speak lyes in hypocrisie and have their Consciences seared which is a thing no Man can doubt of if Devils speak they 'l speak lyes as being lyars and hypocrites from the beginning and that their Consciences are seared with an hot Iron who can doubt that considers what they are Devils 5. Forbidding to marry commanding to abstain from meats are things we know that came in not by the Pulpetting of Devils though possibly or rather but possibly by their suggestion but by or through mens superstition and covetousness 6. One special means and possibly the only means That the Apostle proposeth here for the prevention of this Doctrine of Devils is To Refuse prophane and old wives tales vers 7. Refuse reject and contemn those and such Fables as those the fictions of Poets the legends of Romances and wild Dreams of Dotards Without giving heed to such things Men had never been seduced into the credulity of this mad Doctrine but attending to and believing of such wild conceits it is almost impossible but that they must be seduced into such Heterodoxes We have a notable example of this in the second of Nice by some called the seventh general Council wherein there were by some most Grand and Reverend Men as they are counted such wild mad shameless and incredible lyes reported that a Man of any Witt Reason or but common sense would think the reporters most impudent Lyers that they Vyed who should invent the most shameless figments and that they were mad and senseless Ideots that would or could believe them And yet by these most monstrous fables confirmed they that Idolatry of Image-worship See how much prophane and old Wives tales the dreams lyes dotages of Men will prevail if hearkened unto And therefore was it a needful Caveat of the Apostle to prescribe Refusing prophane and old wives tales for the preventing of this wild Doctrine the Doctrine of Devils If it be well observed 't will be found undeniably true That the ground and rise of this opinion was altogether from such Tales as the Council of Ancyra plainly declares 7. The words Prophane and old wives tales seem to be set in opposition to these in the former verse words of faith and good doctrine As also the hearkner to such Tales to be opposed to a good Minister of Christ nourished up in the words of Faith and good Doctrine he must refuse prophane and old Wives fables and thus shall he be secure against this damnable Doctrine of Devils and Apostacy from the fundamentals of Christian Religion Prophane and old Wives tales being the chief if not only means of being seduced in this particular 8. All the particulars of this Prophesie are in our sense evidently fulfilled already E. G. Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats giving heed to seducing spirits and giving heed to the Doctrine of Devils or Daymons For what is there that is more generally entertained both in Papistry yea and in Protestantism too than doting and dangerous if not damnable Doctrines concerning Angels Genii Spirits Souls of men spreeting Fiends Devils which may be all called Daymons This Prophesie in our sense is fulfilled evidently enough in all the particulars but not one particular of it so much no not one in Sixteen hundred years fulfilled if by Doctrines of Devils Devils in the Pulpit Preaching Devils be understood For in all this time we do not yet read in any tolerable Author yea or Legendist of so much as one Devil that ever Preached so much as one Sermon or vented one Doctrine out of the Pulpit nor that forbad Marriage or commanded by his Doctrine to abstain from Meats I will not hence infer That those Doctrines that forbid marriage and command to abstain from meats are tolerable still hitherto because it cannot yet be proved that they were the Dictates or Doctrines of Devils Pulpetting it But this I will say That it is more honourable august and creditable to the spirit of Truth That such an interpretation should be embraced concerning his words as may make them consonant to Truth by the event at least within the compass of Sixteen hundred years in one particular at least Not such a one as that in all that long large and vast tract of Time there can be found not one particular instance for the proof so much as of one particular of these several predicated to be fulfilled likely to be fulfilled or countenanced by the success but this might very well have been passed over as a meer Need-not But that some men are mad in their opinions conceits and dreams and as That was so it is absurd to say That the suggesting or injecting of wicked Doctrines into mens hearts is that which is here meant Let it be at present supposed and no Demonologist I think will oppose the supposition That the Devil then did and now doth inject wicked thoughts heresies villanies into mens hearts yet then he being equally Devil and Men equally seduceable by him then as now That he should inject villanies more multitudinous for number or more abominable for nature now than then can hardly be supposed 2. It is the general opinion of Demonologers That by Obsession and Possession the Devil domineered more unrestrainedly over the World in the Primitive times than in these latter and if so Why not by injections too as much I see not 3. That Doctrines as wild were broached about the time the Apostles wrote as ever were in any time afterward except it be this Doctrine of Devils here spoken of is beyond controversy as is evident by the mad Doctrines of the Simoniani Pyletii Hyminaei Alexandrii Nicholaitani Pythagoraei Gaulonitae Nazaraei Judaeo-Pagani Mosco-Christiani Platonici Hermogonistae Pharisaei Sadducaei Essaei Herodiani Egyptii Gnostici 4. Again had the Apostle meant Doctrines suggested by Devils or Doctrines so wicked and abominable as none but Devils would or could be supposed the Authors of them he might have said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devilish Doctrines or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Endoctrinating or Teaching Devils as afore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deceiving spirits And yet 5. I add The Doctrines here by the Apostle mentioned are but poor small petty trivial and inconsiderable Heterodoxes in comparison
believe in Him and we may safely enough if His Works and Miracles deserve it not as being not Unparallelable dis-believe Him And sure Men do not will not cannot believe in Him what-ever they pretend and prate I say cannot believe in Him if they believe the Doctrine or Omnipotency of Devills the Beliefe of this takes off utterly the Beliefe of that If Men believe that the Devil can and doth as Great or Greater Works than Christ they cannot believe in Christ. No man can serve two Masters is the saying of a very wise Judicious and Critical Person as I esteem him and truly I believe that it is simply impossible for a Person to believe trust rely and to have full Considence Dependence and Recumbency upon any Power as Superexcellent and Unparallelable for Comfort Health Security and Salvation and yet at the same time to believe that there is another Numen equal if noâ— Super-paramount to the former for Power Subtilty and indefatigableness to do Mischief and Villany Me-seems indeed that besides the Blasphemy Sacrâ—iedge theism of the Demonomanists there is a Contradiction and Nonsense too in then Opinion 2. I would perswade Men to consider how by this Doctrine they are drawn not to sin singly but are fore't as it were to pile heap load up one sin upon another a new or another to a former Villany And should they be such Davids as to add sin unto sin thirst unto Drunkenness One Milâ—stone hang'd about the neck is heavy enough to drown any Man but two or three or more will sink him into the bottome of any unfathomable Abysse There are without doubt degrees of Sin here and will be of Torments in that insernal Tophet a greater Damnation and utter darkness Rewards double the dreggs of the Cup we read of according to the Dimensions and Aggravations of the Sins shall the Torments be aggrandized add not therefore Murther to Atheism and Idolatry though these two cry loud enough for vengeance yet hath Murther a Stentorean voice and will reach farther Blood-guiltiness the guilt of innocent blood hath a shril voice that will pass up unto and through the brazen gates of the highest Heaven Thy Brother's Blood cryeth unto Me from the Ground especially if acted by a Law under the pretence of Justice We have a Law and by our Law he ought to Dye when they would condemn the innocent cry'd the Jews but did this excuse wilt thou have any thing to do with the Stool Seat Chair or Tribunal of wickedness that imagineth mischief by a Law they gather themselves together against the Soul of the Righteous and condemn the innocent blood But the Lord shall bring upon them their own Iniquity and shall cut them off in their wickedness yea the Lord our God shall cut them off Psal 94.20 Bring upon them their Iniquity cut them off in their own wickedness yea the Lord our God God will take the matter into his own hands and shall cut them off It is a terrible Threat and deserves serious consideration It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God A Man that marrieth his Mother and so thinks to justifie his Incest is much more criminal than he had been meerly by his single Villany in lying with her say Casuists Because he pretends Divine approbation for his abominable Villany and doubtless Law Religion and Justice drawn in to countenance a Murther do but aggravate all these yea and God himself the Author of all these being thus brought in as Accessary yea and these being the publick acts of a Nation or Kingdom the whole Kingdom or Nation is involved in the guilt of the Villany and this seems unpreventible where this Doctrine is entertained they must needs think they do God good service when they Murther the Innocent 3. Follow not a multitude though in long Tract of time they have beaten out â—broad plain easie path before thee Kingdoms and People and Nations as well â—s single persons may be under great mistakes and grosse Errors for many years So was the Church in respect of Millenisme Arrianisme Pelagianisme Pope's Supremacy Communion under one kind Transubstantiation So also in this particular concerning this Doctrine of Devils It hath generally prevailed in most Churches in most places for many Hundred years amongst most Men yet is it a grosse Heterodoxy and Abominable Apostacy from the Doctrine of the primitive Church in the Apostle's time That it was counted an Abominable Error is plain by this Text and in after-times about the year 310. the Council of Ancyra concludes peremptorily at least against that part of it which attributeth so much power to Devils Quisquis ergo credit posse aliquam creaturam aut in meltus aut deterius Immutari aut Transformari in aliam speciem nisi ab ipso Creatore qui fecit omnia procul dubiò insidelis est Pagano deterior From this truth hath the Church deviated and fallen into the contrary Error for these Twelve or thirteen hundred years It is not ground enough to embrace a Tenent because of the many that embrace it or the long time it hath been embraced the several places where it hath obtained or the several Doctors that have maintained it Ad legem prophetas To the Law and to the Testimony If Mens Tenents Practices or Opinions agree not with these reject them Number or multitude is no justifiable excuse or sufficient precedent and yet I like not self-conceited singularity Prove all things hold fast that which is Good is an excellent Rule But I must add here Though a Church the whole Church to a very few may thus generally be erronious even in such a point yet may it not be straight un-churched or become presently an Abdicate Reprobate or Anathematized Church for an Error or two though grosse ones we had scarce else a visible Church in the World for many Hundred years God giveth more grace Every error mistake or heterodoxy though great enough doth not nullify a Church if it be not obstinately wilfully and wickedly persisted in If the whole Church sin through Ignorance there may be an Atonement Lev. 4.13 A Church a whole Church may be under the Guilt of some great Sin and yet be the Church of God still Gross and Hainous Sins may not be Grounds enough for Separation and therefore our Schismaticks have no Justisyable Warrant for their Schism from the pretended gross Sins of this Church and State Is there can there be can they wire-draw any of our National or Ecclesiastical Sins into greater Horridness than this Sin hath And yet had God his Church still nay and even they also were of His Church that Embrac'd that horrid Heterodoxy Nay they themselves are Guilty most of them of this most Horrid Heterodoxy and yet will they reckon themselves of God's Church How then or with what Face can they Anathematize or Unchristen another Society whom they cannot accuse of any Crime so horrid as this Doubtless