and the religious multitude gathered together out of many Nations to serue the Lorde kept at that feaste of Whitsontide We reioyce we saye and we gather our selues together out of many townes but in what order reioyce we and to what ende flocke we so fast togither in no such order to no such ende the Lord knoweth as those Apostles and Apostles Disciples bid The Apostls when the day of Penticost was come Actes 2. were all with one accorde in one place and were filled with the holy Ghost the people wondered at the wonderfull working of the spirit the Apostle Peter painefully preched the word of God the people heard him and constantly continued in the Disciples doctrine The Apostles ministred the supper of the Lord so much signifieth to vs the breaking of bread the people accompanied them in that godly felowship And to be briefe both Apostles and people perseuered together in prayer in gladnes and in singlenes of heart Marke this manner of gladnes and tell mee whether ours in respect hereof be not méere madnesse We are together but full farre from one accord as our dayly debates declare we are filled not with the holye Ghost but with strong ale we come together from diuerse places to serue the Lorde no to serue our voluptuous pleasures We preach but what preach we the Gospel of Christ or the sinnes abhominatione of the people Mich. 2.11 as Peter thē did nothing lesse but we prophecy preach of plesure of strong drinke of wine and then are we Prophets for this people then are we accounted honest men We communicate and what doo we cumunicat the supper of the Lord nay that were to sadde a matter for so mery a time and yt woulde let much good sport But we communicate many idle words many vnseamely iests I wyll say no more for sparing you So that this vnchristian behauiour of ours sheweth vs to celebrate the feast rather of Bacchus then of the holy Ghost Secondarily for the maintaynance of the Church there are other and better meanes then this as you your selues right wel knowe Oh but you must consider wyll they say that they would not giue at all were it not to this ende Nowe truely better well spared then so euill spent and as for the reperations of the Church 2 Kin. 12.4 King Ioas sheweth a seeme lyer order though this lawe bee abolished yet haue our owne lawes prouided the lyke vse that a Gods name and as for this vnlawful wicked way let it serue the sinagogue of Satan for the Temple of the Lorde was at no time by the godly by these vngodly wayes vpholden Thirdelye for banishing idle thoughts out of your childrens seruants minds who worketh this way drowneth a fish in the water putteth out alamp with oyle as playnely appeareth both by that which goeth before and that which commeth after These are one sorte of the Weapons the other as I sayd are slaunders wherewith they intreat them which reprehend these abuses much after the manner the Lybertines intreated Stephen When Stephen repleate with the holy Ghost disputed against certaine Libertines Cirenians Acts. 6. Alexandrians and Cilicians they not able to resist the wisdome and the spirit by whiche be spake suborned false witnes who testified they hard him says that Iesus of Nazareth shoulde destroye that place and chaunge the ordinances which Moyses gaue them and thus moued they the Scribes the elders and the people against him In like sort these loose Libertines reason with those arguments and auctthorities before mentioned and when they bée not able to withstand the word of God and spirit that speaketh in his true ministers then seke they out and set vp false wytnesse who slaunderously report that we goo about to destroye all to chaunge the auncient ordinances Moyses gaue them to alter al olde customes their forefathers leaft them to put down al honest and laudable pastime to ende all friendly and neyghbourlye méetinges and mery makinges to cut of good occasions of loue among men and charity towards the poore and thus stirre they the Scribes the Elders and the people againste vs well for them I saye no more but remember the commandement of almighty God thou shalt not beare false wytnesse against thy neighbour For you ye Magistrats Ministers and people I exhort in the Lord that ye be not ouer credulose in these matters leaste in quitting Barrabas you condemne Christ and in letting goo these slaunderous witnesse ye punishe innocent Stephen Suffer mée a whyle to pleade our owne cause in your presence and you shal plainely perceaue howe these vniust accusations they laye to our charge may iustly be turned vpon them For first they by their abhominations endeuour to destroy all to breake the ordinaunces of Moises and olde customes of the primatiue Church and purest tymes There are manye thinges committed in this lewde and licentious exercise flat against Moises mind as his dede declared against his ordinaunces as his lawes who list to conferre them with Ezechiels for shewed sight make manifest By their voluptuous sport they put downe all honest lawefull and lawdable pastime namely shuting and especially at that season when for the number and length of the holy dayes they are at most leasure and for the freshnesse of the ayer and swéetnesse of the fieldes they may take most delight The Prince comands it the wise commends it the warre compels it and yet rude royat shall preuayle against them all By their vnciuell and vnmannerly vsage friendly and neighbourly company and communication is quite dissolued and broken of The caters cheife care must it not be for the youth howsoeuer the age for the seruaunt howsoeuer the master for the sonne howsoeuer the father fareth The best and highest roomes be they not kept for the young men and maidens wheresoeuer the auncient substantial and honest of the Parrish sit nay if they be sate be their meetinges neuer so neighbourly their communication neuer so friendly their matters neuer so weighty must they not away my Lorde commeth But this is but once a yeare and in iest manye wyll aunswere no more is this oportunitie of this neighbourly méeting but once a yeare and therefore to be preferred this once and this iest turneth commonly to such earnest all the yeare after that Gods commaundement is broken Honour thy Father and Mother Ephe. 6.5 the Apostles precept neglected Seruants obey your masters By their brawles and sometyme blowes betwéene company and company the linkes of loue are often seuered a sunder By their ouermuch eating and drinking charity to the poore waxeth colde For doo they not ride from towne to towne goe from village to village gulling in strong drinke and glutting in good meate nature being before sufficed that might be better bestowed vpon the necessity of the saynctes I wyll say nothing here of the gluttony and drunkennes comitted neyther of the practise and sport that I haue séene to
lookes are a prouocation therevnto beléeue the Wyse man and followe his good counsell Vse not the company of a woman that is a singer and a dauncer neyther heare her Eccle. 9.4 least thou be taken in her craftinesse Gaze not on a Mayde that thou fall not by that that is precious in her The sonnes of God gazed on the daughters of men Gene. 6. and seeing them fayre tooke them wiues of all that they lyked Therefore the Lorde sayde my spirite shall not alwayes striue with man because hee is but fleshe his dayes shall be an hundered and twentye yeares Nowe of those gazinges what became Vnlawfull copulations Of these copulations what myghty men and of great renowne who vsurped aucthoritie ouer others and degenerated from the simplicitie of theyr forefathers Of these men what they were myserably drowned in the great deluge Beholde of this small sparkle what raging fyre of concupiscence flameth sée of this lytle droppe what a wonderfull huge water falleth frō out the windowes of Heauen and issueth from the bowels of the earth to quenche this furious fyre and that about the beginning of Maie when all things florish You O ye sonnes of men kéepe company with dauncing Damsels you gaze vpon them in the moneth of Maie beware you heare out of Gods owne mouth what euyll endes ensue A wyse man wyll not enter the brimmes of daungerous depths least he soddainly slippe ouer headde and eares These be the brimmes come not nighe them my beloued you are not I feare mée all Iosephs come not nigh them For though the Rainebow be a certaine signe that neyther of the Heauen aboue nor of the earth beneath the water wyll destroy you yet wyll there fyre descend from the throane of the almighty Iehouah with brimstone ascende out of the fiery lake Reuel 21.8 to bée a portion for them that procéede to the ende of these beginninges But yet turne thée thou shalt sée greater abhominations then these Idlenesse and Pride two notable vices spring also herehence as the masters of many for the one who see it by experience in theyr businesse And for the other theyr gaye geare aboue their degrée habilitie their prowde behauiour and wordes towards their betters their rude maners towards their elders well wytnesse and declare The chyldren of Israelles dauncing was done to the golden Calfe and therefore Idolatry oures though to tearme it Idolatry would séeme to some not so straūge as vntrue yet in diuerse qualities dot hit agrée therewith The Apostle calleth a couetous person an Idolater Ephe. 5.5 not because he causeth an Idoll to be made and set vp that bée might adore and worship the same but because he serueth Mammon and who so serueth Mammon cannot serue God and who so serueth his ryches whē they should serue him is an Idolater In lyke sorte who so leaueth the seruice of God to serue his dauncing who so taketh more delyght in the strength of his legges agilitie and nimblenesse of his ioyntes then in the Gospel of Christ let the Apostles sentēce-iudge what he is and for my parte I say nothing but that such abuse hath béene amongst vs. Notwithstanding if a Christian once creke against these workes of the flesh and with as gentle wordes mylde meanes as possible he may deuise séeke to suppresse them Whē as the very Heathens reprehend it with sharpe tearmes accoumpting the vsers therof wāton vnhonest vnchaste vnsober madde worthy great reproche And when the faithful fathers going somwhat rounder to work call it deuyllish with other lyke phrases as appeareth in the Tracte following with chese colours when these men blase these abuses if nowe a dayes I saye one doo but cypher he is sure strayght wayes to be assayed with the Pharisées weapōs eyther with ouer curious reasons of mās deuyce impertinent and wrested places of Scriptures friuolous and fruitlesse questions or if these preuayle not then with iniurious and vniust sclanders first for the first sorte to touch onely those eyther vnremēbred or as it is more lykely not at all vttered in mine Aucthors daies or at least those which he not vpon want of knowledge but vpō hope he had wrote inough as in déede inough for any reasonable man wyttinglye as it séemeth omytted To touch these I say their chiefest argumentes they would faine fetche from the examples of the godly men and vertuous women How say ye say they by Iepthes déere Daughter Iudg. 11.34 Iud. 15.12 Luk. 15.25 mett not shée her Father with Tymbrelles daunces by the noble Iudith ledde not she the daunce her selfe by the pittyfull father had not be melodie and daunceing in his house for ioye his dead sonne was reuiued these you cannot deny were vertuous people and these theyr doings vertuous But good it is yea our bounden duety it is to follow the footings of our Forefathers in theyr vertuous actions and therefore doo we well in this thing to imitate their examples which are written for our instruction They are as the rest of the Scripture to this ende lefte in wryting but beware least as the sworde taken by the handle helpeth and by the poynte hurteth so this which ryghtlye receaued serueth for instruction wrongfully receaued taken by the wrong end serue not to destruction In the right imitation of our Auncients thrée things are chiefly to be considered fyrst that we play not the deceaueable Coyner who layeth golde vpon copper or brasse or some such base mettall to the intent the one might go currant by the meanes of the other so that we gylde not and florishe ouer the déedes of the wicked with the doings of the righteous and then take them both as currāt take Iudas in with the eleuen Apostles Sathan with the sonnes of God accept none as our fathers sauing those as be the sonnes of God And secondarily in these men we must not imitate al thinges but onelye the good And thirdly of the good not all too nor in all respects but we must haue herewith these thrée noates in consideration vpō what spirit in what order to what end they dyd thē For otherwise those that made their doings cōmendable in the sight of the Lorde if they or any of thē want in vs wyl make ours abhominable For the two first of the generall diuision you haue thē good fathers godly Matrones the last you lacke with the thrée braunches which turneth the other two into bytter wormewood as by cōparing thē together wyll euidently appéere Abrahams offering vp his déere sonne only Isaack Gene. 22. was to him an high praise by the mouth of the Angell saying I knowe that thou fearest God The Ammonites 1. Kin. 11.7 offering vp their sonnes and daughters to Moloche is accounted an abhomination because the one was of the spirit of God the other of the deuyls the one by fayth the other by infidelytye the one to Gods glory the other to
the idolatrous seruice of Moloche 2. King 1. The Prophet Elias prayer and inuocation was so wel lyked of the Lord that twyse at his request came fyre from Heauen and consumed the two captains with their fifties Luke 9.54 James and Iohn asking Christ their Master whether they should commaunde that fyre come downe from heauen to deuowre the Samaritans were so much mislyked that they were sharply reprehended Beholde héere how the facte being all one the circumstaunces make the one good the other starke naught The Prophet moued by the spyrite of God desired this plague to fall vpon them the Apostles moued by an vndiscreet zeale and ignoraunt of what spyrite they were requyred the lyke Ahaziah the wicked Apostatate vnder the pretence of holynes sent to slea the Prophete the Samaritanes denied but lodging to Christ as he passed bye The Prophete had to deale with thē that hauing the worde of God forsooke it the Apostles with them that neuer knew the same The Prophete at the pleasure of almighty God called downe fire from aboue to shewe forth his glorye the Apostles by humane affection were pricked to reuenge the iniury The Prophet was sent to punish the infidelity of the Israelits as it may lykewise appéere by his kylling the fowre hundreth fiftie Prophetes of Baall 1. Kin. 18. of the groues fowre hundreth the Apostles were sent to preach the Gospell and not to punish the contemners thereof except extraordinarily neyther was their Masters kingdom of this world that his seruauntes should defende or reuenge his quarrell by any such meanes Now as we haue labored in laying these togeather and muche the more because lyke the Captaine we would bestowe the greatest part of our paines in batteryng this your principallest bulwarke for this once wonne that ye haue no hold of scripture as trueth you haue not many of your souldiours wyll soone I doubt not yéelde so set we theirs and yours the one by the others The Daughter of Iudge Iepthes Iudith the good Father delyghted in daunceing and daunced some them selues you in this poynt doo the lyke But go further with thē in this wide wildernesse of the worlde vntyll you come as Herculus dyd to the two wayes the one vertuous the other voluptuous and they enter the waye of vertue you of voluptuousnesse as apparauntlye declare your vsuall wanton wordes lasciuious iestures and vnchast behauiour If you can say that good men and godly women haue vsed this exercise you haue sayd you suppose something But alas this some thing is nothing by that time you cōferre it with those three thinges that make or marre all For though the external actiōs be in a manner all one as were those of Abraham and the Ammonits Elias and the two disciples Iames and Iohn yet the cause the maner the end make as great differēce in these as they did in those The cause of the chaste Virgin worthy womās dauncing was in token of a ioyfull hart that the Lord had geuen them or theyr friendes victory ouer their and the Lords enemies your cause to satisfye your voluptuous pleasure Theyr manner was modest moderate to refresh their minds recreate theyr bodies yours immodest if immodestye it selfe be immodest and immoderate if dauncing all daye long parte of the night bée immoderate if to toyle sweate thereat as if a man were at mowing nay they that sweat so much hereat neuer so much and seldome at all sweate at worke The cause againe of the dauncing and melodye made in the Fathers house was for ioye his Prodigall chylde was returned and the sinner repented and I pray you which of you euer daunceth for ioye the wastfull youth becommeth thryftye or wicked forsaketh his naughtie wayes dayly experience teacheth vs the contrary that many yong men somewhat thriftye after they geue them selues to daunceing fall to prodigallity and somwhat vertuous become altogeather vicious or being before but vp to the shoe latchets nowe are they sunke vp to the chinne and without great héede ouer head and eares The end of theyrs tended to the glory and honour of almightye God they sang the prayses myghty works of the almighty in their sober daunces and at what tyme I beseech you at these méetinges sing you the prayses and wonderous workes of God Naye at what tyme is not hée or shée laughed to scorne that shoulde so behaue them selues so farre are you from theyr godly pastimes Wherefore for shame cease to cyte this that makes so much against you and as pure whyte setteth forth your fowle and steyned blacke and if you haue any other better bring them forth Better we haue not neyther can we for where so good maye be found as in holy Scripture but other we haue whereby we wyll no more contende that this lasciuious leaping of oures is sufferable at all tymes but onely at VVhytsontide and that for thrée causes that we may vse reioysing in remembraunce the holy Ghoste descended to illuminate the hartes mindes of men that the Church might be the better by this meanes maintayned and that the youth might eschew ydle thoughtes which by sytting styll and doing nothing would soone possesse theyr heads and thereout would quickly flame euyll deedes The Kings of Iuda that walked in the wayes of their father Dauid pulled down all Monuments of Idolatry sauing that the high places stoode styll God forbyd my beloued Brethren that you shoulde roote out other oportunities of daunceing and disallowe all other tymes and places and yet suffer this high place to continew If it be euil or euilly vsed then playe the parte of good King Josias 1. King 23 downe with al yea euen with this high place too wherein and in which tyme this abhomination is at the highest If it be good yet let vs not doo this good that the euylles already rehearsed maye followe Roma 3.8 But these general examples and exhortations because they poynt not as they thinke dyrectly at them I wyll God wylling therefore enter into particular examination and answer them seuerally by them selues Fyrst for reioysing at the feast of Pentecost that the comforter came downe in the visible forme of fierie clouen tongues what other ioye is better méeter then the comforter him selfe requireth and what is that ioy be sheweth by the mouth of his seruaunt Iaemes saying Iam. 2.13 is any among you afflycted let him praye is any mery let him singe And what he should singe he declareth by the penne of his redy writer the Apostel Paul saying Eph. 5.19 Speak vnto your selues in Himmes and Psalmes and spirituall songes singing and making melodie to the Lord in your hartes More ouer if we wyll reioyce for the comming of the holy spirit what other reioysing is so good and méete for a Christian as that Primatiue and first reioysing at his visible discension what decenter order what goodlier and godlier exercise then the Apostles
make a man ouercome with nappie ale but what if I to spare you saye nothing neuerthelesse the Apostle sayth That drounkardes shall not inherit the kingdome of heauen 1. Cor. 6.10 Aba 2.15 And the Prophet cryeth VVoe vnto him that geueth his neyghbour drinke to make him drunken Farre better were it beloued brethren that this Dauncing the cause of this great and gréeuous sinne for take away Dauncing and down fales al should be vtterly abolished then that on soule should perish or one of these woes should light vpon vs. It is a sore and terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Lord. Tushe wyl sume say he that so delighteth in drinking dauncing if he haue it not here wil haue in it a nother place wil do it though this were not therfore it is better to let them haue thē at home thē they should raung about As though other places bée not or ought not to be in this good order or as though thou shouldest norish naughtinesse because others do so or as though thy fatherly fear and masterly aucthority were not sufficient to suppresse this sinne wickednesse In excusing this one fault thou makest thrée First thou apeachest other places of like lewdnes next that thou maist follow their examples and last of all that thy selfe wantest wisdom discretion to rule thine vnruly familie If other Towns were so vntoward as thou makest thē doth it follow that thou shouldest associate them If other youth be so euyll bent must thine néedes accōpany them God forbyd Abraham that good father godly master whē all other Nations round about him were wholy geuē to all maner of abhominatiō kept his household in such feare of God so well instructed them in his word that they wyllingly receaued Circumcision at his handes Gen. 17.23 If Abraham had sayd as you saye I were best to suffer my familie to run royat at home for otherwise they wil in other places round about mée would they thinke you without resistance haue suffered the impression of this couenaunt being so grieuous a sore that the Seheehemites sicke therewith Gen. 34.25 were a great number ouercome by two persons Simeon and Leui Neyther the multitud of many coūtries could moue Abraham to let lose the reynes to his tender youth nor the grieuous sore againe of Circumcision coulde cause his householde to withstand his doing You haue not God be praysed so many though too many against you Act. 16.10 neyther would I wish you nor is it my minde to lay this or the lyke yoake on your necks which neyther our fathers nor wée were able to bear as some complain saying we would haue thē liue like Saints as who woulde saye that were euill which is to strayght for them but we desire to lay on your shoulders the yoke of Christ and his light burthen And if it fall out that all towneships round about you or if al the towne which you inhabite maintain this misdemeanure yet would I counsell a Christian to say with Captaine Iosua Chose you whether you vvyl serue God Iosu 24.15 as your vain plesure I mine house vvil serue the Lord. This accompt if euery man would make as he ought this disorder would be quickly redressed Thus haue you heard howe they are fallen into the pyttes they digged for others and now a word or two howe Stephen is not onely cleare of these slaunderous accusations but also earnestly desireth that whereof they accuse him They accuse him to saye that Iesus of Nazareth it can be none other so long as hee preacheth none but Iesus woulde chaunge the ordinaunces Moyses gaue them the auncient customes their forefathers leaft them where he teacheth that Christ came not to destroye the lawes of Moyses but to fulfill them They from this generall and false position discend to as false particulars bringing certayne late and newe orders of merye makings and friendly méetings of neighbours and of reléeuing the néedye thinking them olde orders if they can cal them so or if they be out of their remembrance or if they haue bene vsed an age or two before them whereas hée endeuoureth to abolish the straunge innouations newe fangles and to call them backe to the old custumes and auncient orders in déede In the primatiue Church the faithfull made feasts amonge them selues Iude ver 12 partly to protest their brotherly loue and partly to reléeue the poore people The auncient Father Chrisostome saith Chriso vpon Gen. ho. 10. Let one of you take the holye booke and let hym call hys neyghbours aboute him and by the heauenlye wordes let him water and refreshe boeth their mindes and also his owne that by this meanes we maye bee able to escape the Deceiptes of the Deuyll You that sticke so fast to olde customs and haue alwayes in your mouthes let vs kéepe olde customes leaue those your newe and naught and kepe these oulde and good coustomes or at the leaste chaunge youre common song and sing another whyle Ours be of late since iniquity hath got the vpperhād yours of olde in the primitiue Church time of the auncient Fathers But for asmuch as neyther the good counsell of this auncient Father nor the shyning mirror of this primitiue Church so much moue many as the cōmandement of the Prince and her Magistrates I wyll therefore thereof speake somewhat that I may win some The Quéenes Maiestie in the twentie article of her Iniunctions Commaundeth that her faythfull and louing subiects celebrate keepe their holy daies according to Gods holy wyll pleasure that is in hearing the word of God read taught in priuate publique prayers in acknowledging their offences to God and amendment of the same in reconcilyng themselues charitably to their neighbors where displeasure hath bene in often receauing the Communion in visiting the poore and sicke in vsing al sobernesse and godly conuersation Hitherto the wordes of the Iniunction Wherein albeit dauncing be not named namely forbydden yet is it as straightly denied as if it were expressed For in cōmaunding godlines to be vsed wickednes is denied whosoeuer accomplisheth her Maiesties most godlye minde in these pointes shal haue I warrant him litle leasure and lesse pleasure to daunce and dallye and wheresoeuer these godlye exercises be put in practise dauncinge Dagon will downe before the arke the seuerest Saul that seeketh to persecute suche as speake against these abuses will him selfe fall to prophecyeing The sturdiest soldier that cōmeth to take Christ will stagger and fall flatte to the ground as many happy places and blessed persons in these daies well wittnesse and declare where among whom the arke the bible cōteining the testimonies not of Arons rodde the potte of Manna alone but manye more myracles togyther with the two tables is so set vp that the idoll of dauncing breakes his necke The spirite of God so mightely worketh that diuerse of persecutours
are become defendors of Gods people the wordes of Christ so effectually pronounced that such as will not yeilde they strike downe to the earth This is the Lords doeyng and it is marueilous in our eyes Notwithstandinge some much like Thomas Didimus will not beléeue that this article of the Princes toucheth this disorder because they here not dauncing expressly named These men I referre to Maister Godwinnes 47. article vnder the title of Church wardens sworne men who are sworne to sée the same abbollished God geue them his grace to discharge theyr othe Whiche that they might the rather doe this besides diuerse other was one cause I tooke this taske in hande Others were to moue the Magistrates by the example of Moses Exo. 32.19 to stoppe this outragious pastimes to stirre my bretheren whome the Lord hath appointed watchmen ouer his flockes to admonishe them of theyr wicked wayes Ezech. 3.18 33.6 least theyr bloude be not one day required at theyr hands and for parte of discharge of this my charge amonge the rest to declare vnto the people these abhominations that the mouthes of the malitious maye be musled readinge and iudginge by this meanes at theyr leasure the doctrine I haue taughte them to be no olde wiues tale nor corrupt custome nor vayne inuention of man as theires is but the worde of the Lorde rebukinge theyr sinnes whereof I and suche as I am vppon payne you hearde euen nowe of euerlasting death are straightlye charged to admonishe you and that the hartes of the honest whoe more for wante the watchman warneth them not these offences 2. Cro. 29.36 30.14.15 31.1 Ezra 8.15 then for obstinate and wilfull frowardnesse for truelye to reporte as I fynd the people are often readier to doe theyr duetie to the Lord then the Priestes and Leuites and willinger to obey his wil then the sonnes of Leuie that these mens hartes I saye seinge now how they haue heretofore of ignoraunce in the word of God and not thinking it to be so euill as they here in mine Authors tracte sée it is done amysse may be so inwardly touched that they may saye Men and bretheren what shall we doe Act. 2.27 And because no Prophet is estéemed in his owne countrie I haue thought it good to take a worthye Prophet of another countrye that thou mightest not disdaine to bee taughte at his handes whoe once taught the learned Diuines in Oxforde and that thou mighteste not refuse to be tolde thy faulte whether it be of malyce or ignoraunce for if of ignoraunce Leuit. 4. yet a faulte as shewethe the oblations offered therefore by suche a one as rebuked euen Kings for Christes sake and Princes by the waighty words of his wrytinges Finallye that thou mightest in litle tyme reade in thy mother tongue and for a litle monye buye not so much a litle booke according to the quantitye as a whole librarye of bookes according to the quallitye For by the wonderfull paines of this sedulous Bée hast thou here the honnie of moste artes concerning this matter Art thou a diuine and of the diuines a fauourer of the truth Here hast thou examples of the scripture generall councelles and auncient Fathers or a fauourer of the Pope here hast thou popes popish scholemen Art thou a lawier and of the lawiers a ciuilian here is ciuill lawe or a Cannonist here are Cannons distinctions and decrées Studiest thou Philosophy here Philosophers speake theyr mindes Delightest thou in Oratorye here Orators vtter their eloquent sentences or in Historiography here Histories ar declared dwellest thou in the country and desirest to haue theyr obiections answered here are they answered Briefly he is of a very straunge decrée and condition of lyfe that may not in this smale tract of Maister Martyres in his owne professyon be brought familyarly from this vice to the better knowledge of Christ as were the Astronomers by a star and Peter the fisherman by a myraculous draughte of fishe which God to the glory of his name graunt So be it ⧠A briefe Tracte con cerning Dauncing collected out of Maister Doctour Peter Martyr by Maister Massonius DAuncing as Plato saieth is sayde to be of reioycing for that it is a certain testimonie of ioy and gladnesse And Seruius interpreting that verse of Virgill Omnis quā chorus et socij cōmitantur ouātes Whom all the companye of dauncers and fellowes followed reioycinge saieth the same to be a singinge and leapinge of them that are of one age But from whence this shoulde take it beginninge there are diuerse opinions Some suppose that men beholdinge the motions of the fixed and wanderinge Starres inuented this therby to represent that variety of the motion Others thinke that it rather sprange fyrste of Religion because amonge the auncient Ethnickes no sacred thinges were wel nie donne without dauncinge For they leade theyr daunces from the leafte to the right side of the Aulter to shewe the turninge of Heauen from the Easte to the Weast then returned they from the right side to the leafte to signify the course of the moueable and vnmoueable starres which thinge peraduenture Virgill meant when be sayde Instaurantque choros mixtique altaria circū They begine to daunce afresh one with another round about the aulters salij vvere priestes of Mars in Rome vvhich daunced about the citie vvith targatts called Ancilia Also Salij the priestes of Mars among the Romaines were had in great estimation And there be that referre the originall hereof to Hiero Siculus the tyraunt who as they reporte to establish his tyranny forbad the people mutuall communication By meanes wherof it came to passe that the men of Sicilia beganne to exprsse theyr mindes and thoughtes by beckes gestures of the bodie which afterwards grew to an vse and custom But whether this be so or noe daunces in the olde time were not enstraunged from religion albeit afterwardes they were applyed to publique and common reioysing Besides these there was another kinde exercised by younge men in Martiall affayres For asmuch as they were commaunded to leappe and make muche gesture and signes of mirth in theyr Harnes to th end they might be readier and apter for battell when the cause of the common welath so required Pyrricha a certain form of dauncing vsed of soldiors and iuented by Pyrehus This manner of daunsinge was called Pyrrhicha and because it was vsed in armour armed hereof mentiō is made in the ciuill lawes that is to saye in the digest of punishmentes F. de poenis L. ad damnum And sometyme younge men whē they trespassed were not foorthwith adiudged to dye but either to hunte in the theater or to daunce in theyr armour and they were called Pyrrhicharij Another kinde also there was which was appointed for pleasure onely and lasciuiousnes called of the Gretians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rude rusticall and