Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	duke_n	earl_n	lord_n	24,417	5	4.9161	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20001	A summarie ansvvere to al the material points in any of Master Darel his bookes More especiallie to that one booke of his, intituled, the Doctrine of the possession and dispossession of demoniaks out of the word of God. By Iohn Deacon. Iohn Walker. Preachers.	Deacon, John, 17th cent.; Walker, John, preacher. aut	1601 (1601)	STC 6440; ESTC S109440	212,590	277

themselues they are distinguished also by sundrie sorts or degrees namely by Dukes Earles Lords Iudges Iustices Knights Gentlemen Y●omen and so forth So surely howsoeuer when we distinguish the whole kingdome of darkenesse by the diuell and his Angels we therein make but one a Prince and the other his subiectes yet who sees not with all that the diuell his Angels they are also distinguished themselues by sundry sorts or degrees And so much not onely the former places of Matthew and Marke doe plainely import but our Sauiour else where he makes it apparant by telling vs that the vncleane spirit being gone out of a man is said to returne with seuen other spirits farre worse then him selfe By which it is very apparant that among vncleane spirits some goe beyond others in malice and cruelty towards men in subtiltie and iniquitie and these are called by our Sauiour Christ the worst kinde of spirits as distinguished from others which are lesse cruell and wicked Physiologus Now surely M. Orthodoxus this fellow hee hath a verie deepe reach or rather an odde kind of conceit concerning the hidden meaning of this mysticall trade of diuillitie out of al doubt he surpasseth old doting Dionysius by many degrees For howsoeuer that good Seraphicall Doctor hath to too prouidently penned the celestiall hierarchie of Angels he did not so much as once dreame of anie infernall hierarchie of diuels all the dayes of his life no surelie that mysticall matter surmounted by manie degrees the shallow reach of his stinted conceit Seeing therefore that good old father hath left the same in suspence and that no one writer euer since durst hitherto vndertake so vnwealdie a worke it shall not be amisse for your selfe Exorcistes being especiallie a man as it seemes of such singular profunditie concerning such points to giue the timelie aduenture vpon some admirable supplie of Dionysius his want and to set forth to the world the infernall hierarchie of spirits and diuels For by such meanes the simplest on earth may be brought in continuance of time to an exquisite skill in that your new-found facultie and be made to vnderstand with a trice the seuerall sorts of infernall spirits which vndoubtedlie would be a labour exceeding profitable for people on earth and very pernitious to the diuels in hell In the meane time propound vnto vs I pray you some one or two of your soundest arguments to proue directlie vnto vs some further distinction of infernall spirits then only that of the diuell his Angels This one distinction howsoeuer we acknowledge for currant as hauing it warrant from the reuealed word yet surelie wee haue hitherto esteemed all further inquisitions into those the supposed seueral orders of diuels to be meerely but friuolous Howbeit your selfe it may be haue latelie receiued these latelie reuealed oracles from old Middlecubs mouth and therefore I pray you discouer your reasons to mannage this matter Exorcistes Why sir there are seuerall degrees or sundry sorts of orders among mē on earth therfore also among the infernal diuels of hel Orthodoxus That followeth not For this difference of order among men heere on earth ariseth in an especiall regard eyther of mens ages or callings which maketh our sinne eyther more or lesse according to the qualitie of the persons themselues against whom we offend in those respects For first concerning their age whereas all men naturallie descend from Adam and being by reason of that their descent eyther elder or younger then others according to the course of times or seasons are therefore to be reuerenced themselues and to yeeld reuerence also to others in an onlie regard of their age or condition accordinglie as the Lord hath appointed the case is not so with spirits and diuels For neyther issued they all out of one as all men by propagation were procreated first from Adam but they were all ioyntlie and forthwith created together not hauing among them an infant a young or an old one but they are all of equall antiquitie and so no difference among them in any regard of their nature or age Neyther yet doe they come to perfection by little and little or grow vp by nutriment and ordinarie exercise but doe continuallie retaine in themselues that selfe-same estate of subsistence which they euer enioyed from their first creation without any such naturall supplies or seruiceable additaments by nature or naturall meanes as might make them any waies in dutie beholding one to another and therefore no difference among diuels at all in any regard of their nature or age Againe that there is no difference among them at all in consideration of any their different degrees of calling it is verie apparant to so manie as are not purposelie blind For howsoeuer among men there are superiours and inferiours magistrates and ministers some to rule and some to be ruled and all this especiallie respecting their naturall infirmities for auoyding disorder and confusion among themselues in this their warfayring state there are no such seuerall orders among spirits and diuels in hell Both because they being by their fall depriued from all manner of dignitie are now destinated and tumbled headlong into such a confused state as hath in it no order at all and for that also confusion it selfe is much more befitting their accursed condition and kingdome of darkenes then any such seemely order of gouernment as the Lord in mercie hath establisht among men here on earth Besides that the seuerall degrees and orders among men vpon earth they are an vndoubted ordinance of the eternall God decreed from all eternitie for this speciall purpose Namely that therein the liuely image of Gods sacred iustice and mercie being shadowed forth vnto men vpon earth that his said ordinance it might more inuiolablie be executed and obeyed of all in this warfayring world according to his owne vnchaungeable purpose and speciall appointment For this all men are made to acknowledge by the very instinct and light of nature namelie that wheresoeuer is found a maioritie therein is also implied a commaunding authoritie and where there is only but a bare minoritie there is onlie an obeying necessitie Howbeit the Lord he hath instituted no such ordinances at all among spirits or diuels in hell Because then as here vpon earth so likewise in hel there must be Iudges and Iustices Parliaments Termes Assises sessions and Courts for the orderlie conuenting and conuicting of grosse malefactors among them and for the fearefull tormenting of daylie disordered diuels which were to too absurde to imagine Both because the Lord himselfe hauing alreadie endighted arraigned and adiudged the diuell and his Angels to endlesse damnation reserues them in chaynes vnder darkenes to the great and notable day and for that also he hath now no further vse of the seruice of diuels in any such his iudiciall courses with men then an earthlie iudge hath vse of the hang-mans help to execute the

his said absolute authoritie either the onely efficient or an instrument at least in euery such powerfull expelling of spirits and Diuels If you make Christ his absolute authoritie the onely efficient cause for the powerfull expelling of Diuels in these dayes of the Gospell then surely howsoeuer you may vrge your pretended ordinarie meanes of prayer and fasting for the intreatie of Christ the authoritie or power that expels the Diuell is either but one and the same and so by consequence the casting out of Diuels euen now in these latter daies of the Gospell it must needes be as miraculous as euer before On the other side if the driuing out of Diuels be now wrought by the absolute authoritie of Christ but instrumentallie at the becke and appointment of your prayer and fasting then your said speech it implieth thus much at the least Namely that either the bare exercise of your prayer and fasting is able efficiently to accomplish that worke ex opere operato by the onely bare worke being barely done or that in the very words of your prayer at least there is couertly contained some certaine magicall force for the timely effecting thereof Thus then as your reason is very ridiculous so surely your fond allusion from the Queene and Lord Chancellor is to too absurd For first you propound a case which neuer shall be and therefore the same can neuer illustrate your purpose in hand Besides that you do by the Lord Chancellors death too highly derogate from her Maiesties absolute authoritie in making those matters whatsoeuer which her highnes being thereunto entreated by some of her subiectes shall by her absolute authoritie effect in her owne proper person to be lesse admirable by many degrees then those which were wrought before by the Lord Chancellor his committed power Howbeit to the end we may liuely illustrate the matter it selfe let vs admitte the case to be thus The Queenes Maiestie next and immediatly vnder God doth gouerne this kingdome by her absolute authoritie This absolute authoritie she hath in part dispensed to some certaine persons subordinate vnder her for the orderly execution of iustice and mercie among the rest of her subiectes ratifying and approuing whatsoeuer those persons shall correspondently conclude according to the tenour of her Maiesties pleasure expressed at large in her Lawes Yea and approouing the same to be as authenticall as if she by her absolute authoritie had effected the same in her owne proper person And which more is vpon the primarie establishment of her said absolute authoritie she appointeth as a temporarie officer the L. Keeper of her great seale to confirme and establish from time to time as occasion requireth all those the former constitutions of mercie or iustice by annexing the broade seale of England vnto them ratifying and approuing as before whatsoeuer he accomplisheth accordingly This Lord Keeper being as you heard but a temporarie officer he dieth whereupon her Maiestie intendeth that his said temporarie office shall fullie determine for euer and reseruing that extraordinarie power to her selfe she neuer purposeth to set to her said seale as before but will now haue her said subiects very dutifully to accept of her future graunts and decrees in no lesse assurance of her former experimented faithfulnes then if they were extraordinarily sealed vp as in former times with tenne thousand authenticall seales The case being thus the question is this Whether her subiects seeing her Maiesties pleasure to the contrarie may warrantablie supplicate now for her Highnesse said temporarie seale to any her future graunts or decrees or if any shall rashly attempt such a course whether the same doth not argue in him an vndutifull presumption or hopelesse distrust at the least and so by consequence doth highly offend her Maiestie There is no man of common sense that may iustly denie the same Now then the application is this Christ Iesus hauing absolute authoritie from God the Father to gouerne his Church committeth part of his said authoritie to Apostles Prophets Euangelists pastors and teachers commaunding them by his Word and Sacraments to witnes his good will towards his Church to the end of the world Giuing to some peculiar persons among the rest a temporarie grace or power to seale vp for a season his said Word and Sacraments with extraordinarie and miraculous actions These extraordinarie actions he doth after determine for euer and will now haue all men to receiue his said Word and Sacraments as the authenticall truths of his former experimented faithfulnes towards his said Church without any farther superfluous seales to the end of the world and reseruing that extraordinarie power to himselfe neuer purposeth to set to his said extraordinarie seale as in former times but will now haue his said Church very faithfully to entertaine the timely reuelation of his future promises in as full an assurance of that his former experimented faithfulnes towards her and euery member as if this said faithfulnes were extraordinarily sealed vp with ten thousand such temporarie seales Now then the case being so as you see the question is this Whether the purpose of Christ standing so as wee say it be not an intolerable presumption or filthie distrust at the least for any whomsoeuer to supplicate Christ for that extraordinarie fauour afresh which he hath finally and fully determined and so by consequence whether it bee not now a presumptuous sinne for any how holie soeuer in shew to vndertake or attempt such a rash and vnwarranted course I verely beleeue it is sinne and that your selfe dare neuer denie the same Notwithstanding admit by the way that any presumptuous person so supplicating our Sauiour in such doubtfull vncertainties should for the bewitching of himselfe and the triall of others obtaine in some secret iudgement his hearts desire the question is whether that extraordinarie seale so set to in iudgement by Christ his absolute authoritie bee not as glorious yea much more glorious and more admirable now then that which was put to before by some such special persons as were thereunto enabled by Christ for a time and whether that power which effecteth such worke either then or now bee not euermore one and the same of equall authoritie and like admiration I hope you haue not the face to withstand the infallible truth thereof And therefore in auouching so confidently that this your new-found ordinance for the powerfull expelling of Diuels by prayer and fasting is now establisht and continued for euer euen by the apparant proclamation of our Sauiour himselfe when no such proclamation is any where recorded throughout the Canonicall Scriptures you doe therein verie blasphemously belie our Sauiour Christ and make it apparantly euident that your idle head it was fraught too full of phantasticall and idle proclamations forsooth when you thus proclaimed in print all these your idle and phantasticall conceits to the world Exorcistes Not so sir for howsoeuer the same be not apparantly exprest in the Word our

the spirit Orthodoxus Then was it needles for them to haue prayed for the timely increase and confirmation thereof which they vndoubtedly did as we haue proued and your selfe confessed before And whereas you would strengthen your cause from the Apostles fulnes of faith if you rightlie consider the matter that doth rather confound then confirme the same For by arguing that the Apostles faith could not possiblie faile from the time they were filled with the spirit you do implicatiuelie conclude that it might and did also faile before which is the very point you denie And thus hauing lost your selfe in a thicket of thornes the faster you runne the further you raunge and the fouler you bescratch your face with the briers Briefely whereas you seeme to inferre that fasting and prayer it had beene but a needles ordinance for the Apostles of Christ especiallie after they were filled with the spirit and that therefore it is very vnlikely that our sauiour for that short time only wherein the Apostles faith was subiect to failing would haue instituted the same as an ordinance only for them to obserue Our answere is that you do ouerproudly or peruersely controll the wisedome of Christ and it may please you to consider withall that the time betweene Christ his transfiguration and Pentecost was not so short as you haplie by your inconsiderate accompt of bare fortie dayes would beare vs in hand for if you runne ouer your reckonings afresh you shall finde the interim I meane the distance betweene them to be full tenne weekes at the least In all which time the Apostles of Christ though at seuerall times they had fasted and prayed a whole day together they might notwithstanding haue kept a combersome coyle in casting out Diuels especiallie if they had happened vpon many such tractable patients as was Katherine Wright who hauing seuen or eight diuels you say within her at once had them all driuen forth in lesse space then an hower And therefore for any thing hitherto heard I cannot perceiue but that those words of Christ namely this kind goeth not forth but by fasting and praier they may and are to be peculiarly appropriated vnto the Disciples themselues Exorcistes Nay sir that interpretation is so farre opposite to the words of Christ as we dare by no meanes admitte of the same For Christ in the dispossession hee speaketh of heere requireth a meanes for the expelling of Diuels as without which meanes the same could not possiblie be brought to passe and then telleth vs what that meanes is namely fasting and prayer Whereas this your obiected interpretation implieth that this kind of spirit it might be cast forth without this said meanes of fasting and prayer if so be the Apostles faith had beene strong enough Orthodoxus Very true as you say and what one inconuenience I pray you in holding so We for our owne partes perceyue no such opposition betweene our sayd interpretation and the words of Christ as you falsely would beare vs in hand Nay rather you your owne selfe do shrewdlie ouerthwart not only our sauiour but also euen your greatest acquaintance M. Darel I meane For first you make prayer and fasting an ordinarie established meanes for the perpetuall expelling of Diuels whereas our sauiour sayth plainely that the Apostles miraculous faith was the onely powerfull meanes which should haue effected the same Againe you do heere very flatly auouch that this was such a daungerous kind of Diuel as could not possiblie haue beene cast forth at all by the Apostles faith had the same beene neuer so strong without fasting and prayer annexed thereto Whereas your good friend M. Darel doth firmely hold that the Apostles faith was so strong as if he were a Diuel of what kind soeuer they could and were able to haue cast him out Exorcistes Very true if he had beene any diuell of the one sort of diuels For you must note that Christ in saying this kinde goeth not out obserueth therein a distinct sort degree or order of diuels some way differing and distinguished from others with one of which number he implyeth that the childe was possessed whereby partly it came that they had not cast the diuell forth Orthodoxus How know you that Christ noteth therein such a distinct order of diuels differing from others Exorcistes First the same doth fitly accord with the very letter of the text which telleth vs directly that this kinde of diuels goeth not forth but by fasting and prayer Orthodoxus You doe falsely belie the text it selfe For the words of the text they are not thus this kinde of diuels but this kinde and no more Wherein Christ onely distinguisheth diuels from all other creatures but seuereth not spirits by any distinct or seuerall orders among themselues As if some man intending to set forth a shrewe to the full should say in this sort the best of this kind is shrewish enough Who seeth not plainely that the man by this speech doth onely distinguish women from men by their sexe or kinde but seuereth not shrewes by seuerall degrees among themselues So surely our Sauiour Christ in saying this kinde goeth not forth intendeth to set downe no seuerall orders of diuels among themselues but speaketh onely of diuels in generall as if he should say thus this kind that is these diuels they goe not out but by prayer and fasting Notwithstanding if you will haue vs approue of this your new-coyned distinction doe tell vs I pray you from whence you first learned the same I meane where find you these your distinguished diuels into such their seuerall orders among themselues For tell me I beseech you are not all the holy Angels how glorious soeuer of one and the selfe same kinde Againe are not all men how different soeuer in the doing of mischiefe of one and the selfe same kind I beleeue you dare neuer deny it And onely are spirits or diuels distinguished into their seuerall kinds Hitherto I haue been I assure you of this opinion that all diuels whatsoeuer they are onely spirites by nature and Angels by office and that the distinction of Angels is onely of good and euill Angels As for those your supposed sundry kindes of diuels distinct into some seuerall orders among themselues that mysticall point of Diuillitie I neuer heard of I assure you before this present neither yet of any further distinction of diuels then only that of the diuell and his Angels Exorcistes Sir I distinguish not diuels in an especiall respect of any their essentiall being for therein they are all of one and the selfe same nature or kinde but my meaning is that there is a distinct sort or order of diuels seuered by sundrie degrees among themselues For howsoeuer when we distinguish the whole state of this kingdome of England by the Queene and her subiects we do make therein but one only superiour and all the other inferiours yet who seeth not withall but that the inferiours