with such personages did grauut him Indulgences very large and bountifull that one would haue thought the ports of hell was not able to preuaile against them and when the Dukes Medalls and Beads came to be blessed vpon the Popes Altar according to the forme there was no famous Whore in Rome who had not also numbers put in for her saying which I haue heard with mine eares The French Indulgences should procure them both English and Spanish money This kinde of Marchandise and publike sale of sinnes is vsed in so lewd and vile a manner that the most simple man in the world would count it to bee a scuruie ridiculous inuention of insatiable auarice During my being at Rome there hapned to dye there a rich Venetian Merchant who left in Legacy a good summe of money to that Church standing vpon the Monte di Trinita for celebration of his Funeralls and seruices for his soule the same day which was appointed for those Funerall Offices I did finde my selfe soone in the morning vpon that Mount because it is a fresh and delectable walke when a number of Fryers with great Torches comming to enter into the Church was demanded of a Gentleman of Rome who was beside me whither they did goe to whom one of them did answere Andiamo cauare del purgatorio Láâ—…ima di quel mercadante Venetiano chi morse láltro iorno which is to say translated sincerely we go to hale out of Purgatory the soule of that Venecian Merchant who died the last day The GentlemaÌ„ replied in bitter speech against the Pope calling him Cuillione Morbidotto which be ignominious conteÌ„ptible words because saith hee hee doth not keepe in Purgatory to the worlds end all those wretched soules of Uenice who doe so disturbe the Apostolike Seat for it was in the meane time of those late broyles betwixt the Pope and the Venetians Can any iest in the world be more worthy of derision then this or any thing more like the pittifull Idolatry of the Gentiles where the Priests made the sensles people to thinke there was no way to make their gods propitious but by their rich Offerings This sort of doing is so frequent there that we see no other businesse and if it be true which they hold Quel che fa sua santita è fatto that which the Popes Holinesse doth is done certaine all those of those Countries must bee in heauen before their feete be cold as wee say because the most wicked and godlesse among them neuer departeh this life but laden with Pardons And this farre I thinke is enough to prooue that the abuse is not onely authorised but as it were married with Religion seeing vpon the meanes thereof they doe found Cloystrall societies And this onely speaking de facto for to reason Quo iure these are practised it is Theologicall alwaies the most learned among them haue said to me touching the Popes power Ilnostro signore è dio sopta la terra Our Lord the Pope he is God vpon earth hee may dispence what hee will Yea say they if the question were to marry the King of Spaine to an hereticall Princesse the Pope will first dispense him to marry his owne Sister Is not this to go aboue the power of God who hath said of his holy Law that a jot thereof shall not perish not be changed Well to vrge Theologicall Arguments I will not but I remit your Lordship to search-the Scriptures to see who it is there that doth sit in the Church of God and exalt himselfe aboue all that is called God And now I appeale to the diuine light of your Lordships conscience whether you doe not thinke that the contemplation of so grosse things first such Ethnicke Idolatry that while Paul and Barnabas being aliue did teare their cloathes and runne vpon the people because they would haue adored them saying they were but men like vnto themselues Now so much adoration must bee done to the Statues of their dead bodies that one shall not enter within Saint Peters Church at Rome but we must kneele to salute him where hee sits in brasse we must lay our head vnder his feete and kisse euery one of his toes seuerally Then such impious and base auarice in this trade of Purgatory and Indulgences that in their Camera de Componendis there sitteth Simon Magus vnder the name of Simon Peter making sale of the Spirit of God for money of the mercies of God of remission of sinnes and the Kingdome of heauen and that with such insatiable hands that if euer I who came from a remote Countrey to honour the Apostolicall Seat would giue him largely for dispensation hee would willingly embrace it as who knowes what I did pretend to bee the more assured I appeale to your Lordships conscience whether you thinke those were not sufficient to breede doubts of Religion in any man in whom God hath left a sparke of his feare or one graine of right knowledge Assuredly they mooued me to great iealousie and they were to me as the first sight of the Angell was to the poore Asse of Balaam terror albeit I confesse sincerely the strong opinion which I had drunken so long before the plausible shew of things did for a while violently hold me into the same way as Balaam did force his Asse to goe on after the first sight of the Angell But when I begun to looke vpon the manners of the people and to consider what were the faults which were so ordinarily and easily pardoned which is the third thing in number of those which I most narrowly obserued what shall I say I know not how to speake the trueth and therewith to prouide that my penne be not slandered for contumelies and Philippicke passions alwayes I shall so limitate my selfe that I shall not blot so graue a purpose with an humour of rayling or shamelesnesse In the day of visitation and punishment I shall beginne at my sanctuary saith the Lord and wherefore is this because Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis as the Prelates be so are the people the example of the Rulers makes the manners of the multitude as the Spirit of God doth testifie by the Prophet Daniel Egressa est iniquitas à Senioribus ab ijs qui videbantur regere populum Iniquitie hath gon out from the Elders and those who seemed to gouerne the people For this cause in a iust censure of the manners of Rome it cannot be auoided first to looke vpon the Court wherein is to bee seene such fastuous and intollerable pompe and such a degree of glory as hath neuer beene vsurped by any earthly Monarch to behold the maiestie of the Papall carriage borne one mens shoulders auro fulgens smaragdis shining amidst gold and Iewels those who beare him treading vpon fine cloth wherewith the Church pauement is couered accompanied with a fearefull guard the thundering of Canons the sound of trumpets and all
as to say Ezekiel was rapt in his spirit from Babel to Ierusalem it might be in spirit or in body The Hebrew Doctours hold in their remote Theologie that the Angels make oblation to God of the soules of his Saints who become dead by way of this abstraction alleadging for it this passage of the 116. Psalme Speciosa in conspectu Dominimors sanctorum suorum Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints but to denie that transportation which is both in body and spirit were to denie the Scripture Eliah Enoch Abacucke were transported and in the Euangelists our Sauiour corporally transported by Satan to the pinacle of the Temple and after vpon a mountaine The best Theologes hold that Habacucke was indeed soule and bodie transported and so Saint Philip the Apostle whereupon Thomas Aquinas reasoneth thus If it bee possible in one it is also possible in moe and in like maner both he and Durand Herne S. Bonauenture do make this argument If Satan can abstract the spirit from the body much more can he transport both because the separation is more miraculous of the two and is next vnto the veritie of Gods word the strongest argument we haue for the immortality of the soule and an argument subiected to reason For saith Aristotle in his ninth booke De Animalibus if the soule can doe any thing without the body then it should be immortall alwayes this Aphairisis Exstasis or ablation of the soule is a thing most vndoubtable the Scripture approueth it in diuers places specially in the persons of Saint P. aul and Saint Iohn the greatest Philosophers haue acknowledged it Plato and Socrates did call the bodie Antrum animae the cauerne of the soule the chiefest Sorcerers who know it by experience haue acknowledged it Zoreaster did call the body the sepulchre of the spirit and the great Orpheus did call it the prison of the soule and to reason euen naturally we see that locall motion can be some times without touching of bodies but onely by vertue of the agent as the sea is mooued by the moone which is distant from it more then 50000. Leagues and the Iron is drawen to mooue by Magnes or the Loadstone without any touching which being so in things so insensible and Inanimal as Iron much more it may be in things not onely animal but who haue their greatest force and vigour in that locall abstraction as our soules be most Galliard when they be most remote from the body And for this point of Satans power to transport I say that while that Cherubin which moues the eight Spheare wherein there fixed stars doth role it Millions of miles in one houre what matter is there of admiration if Satan can transport a body some few miles vpon the earth Lastly there is the commerce or copulation of good and bad spirits with men and women and whether it be really locally or per exstaâ—…n experience doth commonly teach vs that sundry things which we may call spirituall because they are inuisible and intouchable doe take really possession of our bodies as the passion of loue which entering by the subtile spirits of the eyes doth wound the heart corrupt the blood weaken the vitall faculties and sometimes spoyle the life yea the vehemencie of loue towards God hath oftentimes hereby wrought as much in his best Saints Againe the plague of pestilence and such cotagious things doe enter in a mans body in a spirituall sort to possesse it The Scripture doth testifie this reall and locall copulation of good spirits with good men our bodies are said to be the Temples of the holy Ghost Our Sauiour hath said that the father and he would dwell in him who obey his will The Prophet Ezekiel speaking of his vocation by God to preach to the Iewes I fell downe said he vpon my face and the spirit which entered in me did raise me vp and set me on foote In like sort of euill spirits the euill spirit of the Lord is said to enter into Saul really and the spirit of Satan into Iudas and our Sauiour did eiect diuers reall and sensible deuils because their voyces were heard The oddes and distinction of these in my opinion is this the good spirits hath more celestiall and subtile bodies and so their possession of men and copulation with them being more spirituall then others It is also more perceiued by the actions of our spirit then by any change of our bodies whereas Demones as Saint August in his tenth Booke De ciuitate Det Thomas Aquinus in Summa 2. Questi 95. Origen in his booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe affirme that they be meere corporall so that Arist. Plato and diuers Philosophers who diuided them in aereall terrestriall and subterrestriall spirits they hold that the two inferiour species of them be in some sort grosse and elementarie more remoued from the celestiall intelligences of the supreme world and therefore giuen to a wicked commerse with men and women by all sorts of deceitfull and impious suggestions whose copulations are both bodily palpable and visible possessing the bodies specially of women as grosse filthy and contagious vapours breeding inflamation visible in the hearts and breasts mouing swelling and dumbenesse in the tongue depriuing the organicke faculties of hearing seeing and such like as daily experience doth teach Neither let any man imagine the carnall copulation of the euil spirits with women to be a thing extaticke or fantasticke that enemie spirit of whom the Prophet saith Ad conterendum erit cor eius ad internecionem gentium non paucarum whose heart shall bee bent for the ouerthrow and destruction of many nations and people hee delighteth to defile or extinguish the seed of man euen in the mothers wombe so farre that the profound naturallist Paracelsus affirmeth that those grosse and vncleane spirits of deuils doe mixe themselues with humane feed where it is lost by naturall weakenesse or nocturnall dreames that they doe cooperate with it to produce thereby those succumbent or incumbent spirits deuils which are found chiefly in the moystie and Northen Regions To which abomination it seemeth the lawe of God hath some relation where it is said that all these who should couple themselues with the deuill Peor should perish wickedly and who will marke these places in Exod. Leuit. Deut. Where sorcerie and brutall Paliardise or luxurie is forbidden will find vncouth and vnknown villanies couertly touched as there where it is said you shall not present to God the wages of a harlot nor the price of a dogge and againe where God doth say you shall no more sacrifice vnto those Buckes and Satyrs after whom you went a whoring which I doe not heere introduce impertinently nor curiously but that wee may learne to reuerence whatsoeuer meanes the Lord hath appointed for vs to withstand the malice of Satan which is so dangerous for two respects First because of his craft and skilfulnesse who
his portract the other his person the one the cloude which contained the light of Gods Church the other the fire which shined into the cloude or to speake it more familiarlie as it were to draw this new wine out of these old vessels this oyle out of that Oliue this honey cut of that combe this corne out of that chaffe this marrow out of that bone this manna out of that pitcher this law of grace out of those Tables of damnation This word which is intellectuall and not imaginarie necessarie and not superfluous diuine and not humane certaine and not doubtfull in points necessary plaine and not obscure that from the beginning of 〈◊〉 to the Reuelation there is no other difference but of the figure and the things figured That like vnto that golden propitiatory from the which God spake described by Moses to haue two Cherubins one of euery side looking directly each vpon other And in manner of these Seraphins seene by Isai which by alternatiue voices did continually sing holie holie Euen so do those Cherubines of the old and new Testament mutually breathe out the testimonie of our great propitiation of the which Dauid saith Quia apudte Domine propitiatio est And these two Seraphins in like manner doâ—… render alternatiue ecchoes in both these Testaments of that holie holie Sauiour In such manner that it doth breed incredible ioy to a Christian heart to remarke the vniformitie and correspondence of the Spirit of God throughout the word The Scripture for Example maketh frequent mention of the waters of life to vnderstand what is ment by the waters of life in the old Testament God himselfe said to to Moses and Aaron Loquimini ad Petram istam ipsa dabit vobis aquam in the new Testament Saint Paul doth expound the mistery bibebant Patres nostri de spirituali consequente illos Petra Petra autem erat Christus was there euer any more cleerenesse or correspondency Againe it is said in Ezechiel Effundam super vos aquam mundam mundabimini ab omnibus iniquitatibus vestris And in Esai Effundam aquam supersitientem fluentia super aridam And in Zacharie Erit font patens Domui Iacob in ablutionem peccatoris menstruatae Is not that as plaine as Christ himselfe did speake it to the Samaritane woman at the same well of Iacob thereafter I giue you water to drinke after the which you shall thirst no more was there euer prophecie or exhibition more correspondent then to heare Esay crying Omnes sitientes venite ad aquas and to heare Christ himselfe answering by St. Iohn Si quis fitiat veniat ad me The law of Moses was written in Tables of stone and deliuered with horror per â—…mpadas seniâ—… Buccinae montemque fumantem saith the Text to shew the austeritie thereof and our impossibilitie to fulfill it and doth not the Gospell accord most cleerely with the same Hoc iugum neque nos neque Patres nostri pertare potuiâ—…us The law Euangelicall and of Grace was written in the flesh of the incarnate deitie to declare the softnesse and facilitie thereof according to that which was prophesied as our Sauiour himselfe doth testifie Iugum meum suaâ—…e est â—…us meum leue All which things doe shew the correspondencie and plainnesse of the holy Scriptures Lastly it is that omnipotent word where of the Apostle saith It is inspired from God and is able to make the man of God perfect in euery good worke Then seeing it is such a powerfull and perfect word shall we turne backe to Iudaisme and blinde our selues in obduration against the splendor thereof boldly affirming that it is obscure imperfect and hath neede of humane helpe how shall we be confounded in that great day being confronted with that learned Iewish Rabbin Barachia who out of consideration of this harmonie and correspondence of Gods word was forced to say in his booke intituled Medras Cobel-eth Redemptor primus Moses Redemptor vltimus Messias sicut Redemptor primus fecit ascendere puteâ—…m ita Redemptor secundus fecit ascendere aquas ad salutem And with that other Rabbin Iosue who doth directly call them the waters of Baptisme which saith he succeedeth to circumcision Qui baptizatur non circumciditur ipse erit Gher id est Gentilis conuersus ad rectam fidem So that I say for your Loto hold that this word is not sufficient to instruct you and why because it is not panis fermentatus it is not corrupted with pharisaicall traditions nor flowes not from a Church whose Prelates and members pretend that they cannot erre O but it flowes from the three persons of the God-head and is inspired from aboue as the holy Spirit doth testifie This is a sorrow neuer to be repented to maintaine that any thing other then Gods infallible incorruptible word can be without error or fault Man not to erre seeing the Prophet Dauid hath said omnis homo mendax seeing God himselfe hath said It repents mee to haue made man all the cogitations of his heart are wicked there is nothing true but God and his word as the Apostle saith Deus autem verax est sermo eius veritas What shall wee speake of men no not his very Angels be cleere in his eyes Et reperit prauitatem in Angelis suis saith Iob vnto the great spirit of God is only giuen to be Custos Tabularum Verbi Dei Gardian of Gods truth it is too pretious a iewell to be trusted to flesh and bloud for if it had bin Gods will to tye his truth to men why not to his knowne Saints Adam whose body was formed by the finger of God whose soule was breathed in his nostrils from the mouth of God he had this spirit of truth once giuen him but it left him by the suggestions of Eua Noah the first Preacher of the second World he had this spirit but was neglected of him in his drunkennesse The excellent Moses of whom it is said dilectus Deo hominibus Moses cuius mememoria in benedictione est he had that great spirit in such measure that he ouercame nature by Sea and Land he commanded the Angels and in a manner wrested the will of God but he was neglected of this great spirit in his distrustfull percussion of the Rocke Aaron had this spirit but was forgotten of him in the erection of the calfe Miriam also was forgotten in hir grudging against Moses Dauid a man to Gods owne heart was fearefully neglected of this great spirit to follow adulterie and homicide Salomon whose breast the Lord filled with wisedome was likewise left of this great spirit when he fell in impious Idolatrie The Arch-Apostle Peter did not obey this spirit in the deniall of his master yea after the Ascention and comming of the holy Ghost there was contradictions among the Apostles It is more then madnesse to affirme that the wisedome of any man hath
sorts of musicall instruments at whose presence numbers of Princes stately Embassadours great parsonages and multitudes of people doe fall to the ground saluting him holy holy as if he would not onely be Christs Vicar vpon earth but also emulator of his diuine glory in the Heauens and be worshipped like that glorious Lambe before whom numbers doe fall downe to crie holy holy holy that vpon the sight thereof I was indeed amased as if it had beene a vision and demaunding a French Gentleman who had newly also arriued with me and was a zealous Papist how he did esteeme of that which he had seene he answered me in the termes of be God that he thought it farre different from the carriage of him who said Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo and who said to his Disciples Exemplum de di vobis vt quemadmodum ego feci ita vos faciatis which answer I haue many times since thought to be as pertinent as if the holy Spirit had inspired it into him For if the kingdome of the world be called the kingdome of sinne and of darkenes then it is likely that the kingdom of Satan is at Rome and not the kingdome of Christ but that the kingdome of the world is called the kingdom of sin the Scripture doth shew The Spirit of God in the Euangell compriseth the world vnder the name of sin hath diuided it in three Whatsoeuer saith Iohn is in this world it is either concupiscence of the eye concupiscence of the flesh or pride of life we may behold the wonderfull harmony and correspondence of the same spirit of God throughout the whole Scriptures in old and new Testament as I said before he hath made this diuision of the world and of sinne heere equall with that diuersitie of sinne which did enter into the world with Eua in the beginning of the booke of God The text of Moses saith and the woman saw that the Tree was pleasant to the eie there is concupiscence of the eye that it was good for meate concupiscence of the flesh and that it was to be desired for knowledge pride of life emulation with God so that the enioying of these three concupiscences is the enioying of the kingdome of the world as Iohn saith and that againe to bee contrarie to the kingdome of Christ no man can denie For Christ had the offer made vnto him of the kingdomes of the world from Satan as we know and did refuse it Haec omnia tibi dabo si cadens adoraneris me Now whither or not the Popes haue taken this dominion of Rome from Christ who said to their predecessor S. Peter Exemplum tibi dedi vt quemadmodum ego feci ita faciastu or from the diuell who is prince of the world it must bee tried from those concupiscences The Spirit of God bath said in the Scripture Haec fuit iniquit as Sodomae abundautia otium I will not rashly say that Rome is Sodom vnlesse I shew reason but I will aske if euer any towne state or people had more abundance and idlenesse then haue the Pope Cardinals and Consistory of Rome and all their togall Clergie who doe more truely proclaime Cedant arma Togae then euer did their predecessor Cicero For he was ouerthrowne by armes and the seate of Rome amidst neighbor combustions what doth she Circundata Marte quiescit For concupiscence of the eye I would know who they be in the world that may match with Rome of whose magnificent Palaces sumptuous vineyards with their royall fountaines volaries picsaries walkes vmbrages and all sort of most princely pleasures one may make such a description as Ouid did of Regia solis after he had made the materials to bee most rare and precious then he saith Materiam superabat opus Which is a sure argument that they haue store of that eye concupiscence which standeth in infinite Treasures of golde and siluer most easilie gotten by them for they lie in the center of the richest countries in the world of those a great part be vnder their subiection and then they sit aboue the neckes of their people as the sunne is aboue the inhabitants of the burnt clymate they doe exhaust their fogges and that with such dexteritie that they can mooue them to quite their very earerings for making of the golden Calse There is no trauaylour who doth not know that for beautie of buildings for gold and siluer either in money or in plate for store of Iewels they goe beyond the greatest Kings that are or euer haue beene As for concupiscence of the flesh speaking generally either of the Court or of the Cloyster of the Priests or of the people Eloquar an siliam But what is spoken to the glory of God ought not to be blamed of any man I doe thinke that as they haue more abundance and more idlenesse then euer was in Sodom so there be among them villanous lustes neuer knowen in Sodome as for that sinne which we call Sodomie God helpe vs it is indeede thought a veniall transgression yea a man shall heare it maintained in reasoning by persons carrying religious dignities that as they haue followed the Idolatrie of the Gentiles they haue also followed their pollution and filthinesse And to iustifie by speeches and admonitions against such thingâ—… it is thought an idle curiositie thère and such also as a stanger would find dangerous while as it is a familiarthing there to know that the Cardinals Illustrissima Signoria hath in the retyred place of his Vignia his Suirginata that is to say his gallant wench of braue fresh blood brought perhaps from the farthest part of Germanie to be defloured by him and hath his Ganimedes at home to shew that his monstrous Religion hath made a monster of himselfe one day to obey nature in the actions of his luste an other day to be contrary to heue And whither their Curâ—…isanes haue learned this Mâ—…ngiar in tondo as they call it it is well enough vnderstood of those who haue beene any while among them While those be the practises of the Court and of the Cloyster to aske what is among the popular it is not necessarie nor to defile oliaste and vertnouâ—… cares with vncleane speeches of Bordels and Bardasches which bee there as ordinarily frequented as the Church but for the manners of their multitude otherwise they are fearefull to a heart which feareth God to heare their more then blasphemous oathes that one cannot say whither they smell more of iâ—…pletie or of Atheisme their secret practises of mutuall deceipts their diuelish artes to execute their malice not forbearing clan destine murthers amongst neerest kinsfolkes and their filthie trade of Purgatory founded vpon Indulgences of these abhominable vilanies To come to the third concupiscence which is pride of life VVas there euer a pride like vnto this pride a company of pretended Priests to sit at Rome and presume to subiect to them
high Court of Parliament at Paris hath beene perturbed with the agitation thereof sithence This I thinke is the best seruice which I can yeeld to God my Soueraigne prince and to the common weale seeing it doth concerne euery good subiect both Theologically and ciuilly to vnderstand what hee doth owe to his King in his conscience for Religion and ciuilly it concernes him for the securitie of his state The Iesuits indeed haue most subtilly gon about to make an Antithesis or contradiction betwixt the Principautie and Priesthood holding this to be onely diuine and that onely humane and therefore that to be subiect vnto this vpon which Antithesis they build this vsurpation ouer Princes and states but if your Lo doe not stop your eares against the following discourse I hope your Lordship shall find that in my peregrination beyond seas I did furnish my selfe with as much concerning the substance of this question from the most learned both writers and speakers as is sufficient to ridde any man whatsoeuer of this dangerous doubt vnlesse it be those whose hearts and best spirits are already ouercome by the poyson of this deadly Absinthium And first I lay downe this generall Thesis that all such authoritie and power in the Church which doth disproue Christian orthodoxal Magistrates erecting violent vsurpations in their place is manifestly contrary to the voyce of Christ in the Euangell the practise of the primitiue Church approued by the great doctors thereof in all following ages yea and contrary the first ordinance of God in the typicall gouernment of Moses and consequently all such doctrine which doe mainetaine the same must bee hereticall and impious To cleare this generall Thesis in the fountaine let vs looke vpon the first plantation of Christs Church and the condition wherein it was setled which by the Spirit of God is compared to a vineyard Homo quidem paterfamilias plantauit vineam circundedit eam sepibus and so forth as we read in the Text A certaine husbandman planted a vineyard and hedged it about This is the vineyard of Christianitie watered and made fertile by the foure floods of the foure Euangelists as is mystically figured in Genesis A flood went out of Eden to water the garden and from thence it was diuided into foure heads Christ who is the planter of this vineyard hath fortified it in the Gospel with three seuerall walles as so many diches and rampards to compasse it The first fortification and wall is the word of God and holy Scripture against heresies and heretickes Vt potens sit exhortari in doctrinasana eos qui contradicūt arguere to be able to reach wholsome doctrin to improue them who speak against it The second Fortification is of spirituall Iurisdiction against those who be rebellious Qui Ecclesiam non audinerit sit tibi tanquam Ethnicus Publicanus who is to be excommunicate from the company of the Saints The third Fortification is of Temporall power against humane inuasions Duo gladij Vpon the first of which three Ramparts hee hath placed learned Doctors in the Church who are furnished with spirituall wisedome to conuict herefie Vpon the second Prelates with authoritie to excommunicate those who be disobedient to the voyce of Christ. Vpon the third Brachium seculare Ciuill power of Princes to guard his Church from the persecution and inuasion of rauening Wolues from without and from intestine disorders without any of which three this Vineyard of Christ is neuer sufficiently fortified The erronious dreames of Anabaptists too much imitated by some pure and foolish Puritanes would depriue the Church of the vse of one of those strengths to wit of the secular Arme But specially this Iesuiticall Clergie hath preuailed mightly to breede a disiunction of the Ramparts which God wee see hath conioyned to rend asunder the Church and ciuill authoritie the Prince and the Priest which although they were contrarie in themselues as they be seuerall yet the Lord hath knit them together As of contrary Elements hee hath formed the vnitie of mans bodie and hath vnited a mans owne constitution of things meerely contrary soule and body heauen and earth Caro aduersus spiritum spiritus autem aduersus carnem saith the Apostle for euen as the soule of man which receiueth that diuine inspiration of wisedome and knowledge to rule our life is in it selfe a thing contemplatiue and abstract neuer able to subiect the members of our body to this Rule if it were not that the power of our actiue spirit sitting in the chaire of our conscience doth frame and force our will and the faculties of our minde to make our body obedient otherwise it should neuer obey vnto the soule by reason of the corruption therof Our soule is as the Alte of this Musicke our flesh as the Counterbase our actiue spirit as the Tenor and midcuple that ioyneth them This difference of our soule and spirit is cleere once by Saint Paul Ut seruetur corpus anima spiritus integor in die Domini nostri Our great Philosopher Christ againe did vse to say Tristis est anima meavsque ad mortem Spiritus quidem promptus caro autem infirma And Daniel Laudate Spiritus Animae Iustorum Euen so in Gods Church the Priests and Pastors are the soule which receiue the inspiration of Gods will in his law as the Scripture saith of them In quorū pectora condūtur Oracula Dei ex ore illorum promanant Eloquia diuina to bee taught and communicate to the people who bee the body of this Church if it were not by the power which God giueth vnto the Prince who sitteth in the Throne of authoritie and actiue wisedome like armed Pallas this bodie of ours would oftner refuse obedience to the soule as daily experience doeth prooue That Christian Princes to whose charge is committed the gouernment of States the rule of the people in pietie and iustice the protection of the Widdow the Orphanes the Innocent the Stranger the punishment of Malefactors and aduancement of the vertuous to Gods glory that those be not most diuine Offices and that therefore Ethnicke Princes haue had graunted by God himselfe the title to be his seruants who may deny it the Lords Annointed independent of any but of him alone and holding of him imediately the Charter of their authoritie Into the Iewish policie whereof God was the founder himselfe for an example to all vertuous and godly States wee see in the person of Moses a coniunction of spirituall and temporall power not onely did God esteeme his Vocation diuine but he giueth him the stile of a God Ego te constituam Deum Pharaonis I shall make thee the God of Pharaoh Moses did thereafter indeede by the direction of God separate those functions but alwaies in these termes that they should remaine in one vnited concurrence in the gouernment of Gods people like vnto the fingers of a mans hand
the Prophet to the Israelites during their captiuitie My children as it came into your minde to goe astray from your God so endeauour your selfe ten times more to seeke him saith the Prophet We haue all here forgotten our exemplar for the Church of Rome on the one side contrary to Daniel and the Iewish reformation she cryeth that neither she nor her Prelates nor her Priests haue transgressed and that they cannot etre and therefore they haue no need of reformation Vpon the other side againe we who doe see her abominations wherewith shee hath defiled the Sanctuary and corrupted Christian Religion in place to say with Daniel Lord turne thy wrath from Ierusalem thy holy Mountaine haue pittie on thy holy Citie wherethy name was once truely called on Ierusalem is a reproach to all that are about her wee doe cry because the Church who was sometimes chaste vnto thee O Lord is now become Fornicatrix therefore destroy her because shee hath polluted the Catholike saith therefore diuorce vs from her O Lord thus lying ouer into implacable paroxisme and strife while one sayes he ought not to be reformed because hee cannot erre and his aduersaries exclaime that he is so contagious as he is not capable of reformation one cryeth for a sole and soueraigne Bishoppe to commaund both Church and State both Prelates and Princes an other cryeth that he will haue no Bishop at all ctc. There is a sort of enchaunted Papists whom the waters of the Iesuiticall absynthyum haue so venummed that they will not remit one dramme weight of the superstitious worshippe of their great Idoll if it were for the peace of the whole Sanctuarie There be againe a Sect of extrauagant and heteroclite Puritans of the late stampe I speake not of any iudicious good man who doth discharge his function in Gods feare and the obedience of his Prince to Christian education but of these Anabaptisticall Clerks Quiout labouche sans bride as the French saith who carry no bridle in their mouthes being in opinion of Gouernments whatsoeuer meerely Republicanes against the Architype and order of God not onely despising Princely authoritie with the Iesuite but vilipending all Prelates in the Church in fauours of a fantasticall Anarchie or a seditious popular tribunat forged in their owne braynes obstinately refusing to accept for doctrine for manners for policie whatsoeuer almost haue beene in the Church of Rome if it were neuer so good these be most wretched and pernicious humours of men carrying factious and vehement spirits blowne vp with the vapours of Pandoras boxe and abhorring the peace of Israel with both which I must expostulate in this place and say vnto them as the Prophet commanded to cry in the eares of the rebellious Iewes of his time Confregistis iugum rupistis vincula you haue disolued the bands of Catholike loue and vnitie you haue broken the yoke of Christian societie you are obstinate against desires of reformation you doe Iudaise but Moses did Christianize who for the sake of that Idolatrous people would haue beene rased out of the Booke of life Saint Paul did the same who would haue beene anathema for the loue of his Christian folke but all your meditations your writtes your sermons be like vnto these inuolued Rolles brought by the Angell vnto Ezechiel wherein was written nothing within nor without but lamentations mournings and woe you haue no sparke of Christian charite left without which it is impossible to please God know you not that in the Scripture this charitie is properly said to be a fire we read in Leuiticus Vt ignis in altari semper ardeat That the fire should neuer goe out vpon the Altar which is a true mysterie and type of that Christian loue which should be vnder the Euangell for now there is no Altar leftvs but the Altars of pure hearts before the Lord nor no Sacrifice bur of contrition faithfull prayers and loue The lawe Euangelicall as I said before is the perfection of the naturall and Mosaicall and loue againe as the Spirit of God doth testifie is the end of this law finis legis est charitas in which words the Apostle doth attribute as much to loue in Theologie as in Philosophie is giuen to Iustice speaking of Cardinall vertues Iustitia in se virtutes continet omnes That Iustice hath in it all vertues euen so saith the Apostle if wee haue as much faith to cause Mountaines remooue and want loue it is all nothing This loue is euer commanded de proximo of our neighbour Thou blinde Papist canst thou haue a neerer brother then the Protestant And you precise Puritans can you but esteeme them your pitifull brethren who liue in Papall ignorance Dilige pro quo mortuus est Christus saith Paul Will you follow the example of Christ did he not both pardon and pray to God for those who slew him whose ignorance was aboue all ignorance their vnbeleefe aboue all vnbeleefe and fault aboue all faults without vnitie and loue there can be no perfect Church because that is the whole scope of the Euangel as I haue saide and of all true Religion vnanimitie is the bond which maketh the Church strong Ecce circundedi te vinculis saith God in Eze. Behold I haue hedged you about with bands This loue is the knot which bindeth together the members of Christ in one body therfore is so diligently recommended by him to his Apostles that they should remaine fast and conioyned among themselues by so many types in the old Testament is figured vnto vs this Christian concord and vnitie by the vestiments of the high Priest whereof euery portion was ioyned to another the wholebeing one peece By the Tabernacle whereof euery thing was ioyned into another the whole standing in coniunction for are we not so called in the Apocalips Ecce Tabernaculum Dei cum hominibus habitat cum ijs The Tabernacle of God which dwelleth among men By the vessels whereof so many as were not closed together but were opened and in diuers pieces they were said by the spirit of God to be vncleane as we see in the Booke of Numbers we are the vessels who bee made by the hand of our heauenly potter of whom S. Paul saith Alia quidem in honorem alia vero vasa in contumeliam some be vessels of honour and some of reproach you haue your mouth open to spewe out contumelies and malignitie one against another and therefore take heed you shew not your selues vessels of dishonour you haue not this Christian fire of charitie whereof the spirit of God saith Quod operit multitudinem peccatorum That it couereth multitude of sinnes The Altars of your hearts are kindled with the prophane fires of Nadab and Abihu the fires of pride arrogancie and contradiction fires of mutuall rayling and Philippicke Inuectiues where Pastors in place to perswade Christian loue vnity and mutuall compassion after the example of our Sauiour they
little vpon these following speaches to dispute whether there may not also bee a secret antipathie and enmitie naturall betwixt Musicke and wicked Spirits The reason of which when we begin to consider wee finde it more sublime and remote from our sensible capacitie then to search the causes of these other things which euill spirits are also thought to abhorre and therefore it doth argue that Musicke is a thing supernaturall and heauenly We read that the Deuils do mightily hate the presence of fire of salt and of Musicke the fire because it is life and light and Satan is the Prince of darknes and delighteth in darknesse the salt because it hath a virtue to purge corruption it is the marke of eternitie and he seeketh by all meanes to corrupt defile and destroy which is the reason why God commanded in the old Law to put salt vpon the Table of his Sanctuarie and to haue Salt specially in the sacrifice forbidding by the contrarie to put honie or wine therein to signifie that wee must offer the sacrifice of our prayers to God with sobrietie and prudence not mixed with flatteries or bold speeches God saith in the Law I shall make with you a couenant of Salt that is of perpetuitie as many are of opinion that the changing of the wife of Lot into a pillar of Salt was as to say a perpetuall Statue but when wee come to seeke the cause why the Musicke is fled of the Diuell wee finde it more subtle if the opinion were true of the Academicks who say that the Diuells be not onely bodily but elementarie mid-creatures betwixt visible and invisible bodies animalia scilicet corpore aëria mente rationalia animo passiua tempore aeterna Then might wee be induced without running to other mysteries to acknowledge some reason why they cannot abide the melodie of Musicke nor no delectable suffumigations by that which is read of the exorcismes of Salomon and of the smoake of the fish of Tobia but the difficultie to know the demoniack nature substance maketh this contemplation remoter S. August saith in his last chap of the 3. de Trinit that the Diuells are corporall as Basil Gregor Epiph say as much whereon this sort of demonstration is founded There is but one infinite substance the supreme essence a substance cannot be finite but by extremities of superficies and that doth only belong to corporall things and therefore those spirits must bee corporall because they are finite Alwaies the more common opinion of Theologie is as of Damasc Greg. Nazianz Thomas Aquinas and of the Master of the Sentences that the Angels and the Diuels be formes both pure and simple and that both can forme themselues in visible bodies when they would effect any thing bodily which is testified of the Angells by their apparitions to Abraham to Iacob to Moses to Eliah to Abatuck Of the Diuells againe testified by experience inquestionable of the aquilonar Succubi and Incubi testified by the Cabalists who affirme that vncleane spirits do often take the shapes of Bucks ston'd Horses and such like creatures repleat with bestiall luxurie wherevpon say they proceedeth that in Leuiticus that you goe not to sacrifice to those Bucks and Satyres and that in Esay of the destruction of Babell Zijm shall lodge there and their streets shall bee full of O him Satyres shall dance there and â—…im shall cry into their Palaces Testified againe by many places of holy Scripture the Diuell spake bodily to Adam to Christ. Hee tooke the person of Samuel albeit that Iustin Martyr and many of the Hebrew Doctors reason that it was Samuel himselfe as well because of that Text of Ecclesiasticus where it is said that Samuel did prophesie after his death as because of the answer giuen to Saul which seemeth to bee full of pietie pronouncing the name of GOD sixe or seauen times holding that Saul was not condemned eternally as they thinke but in the estate of that incestuous man who was ordayned by S. Paul to bee excommunicate to the end his bodie being chastned his soule might be saued Yet S. Augustine and the best Diuines stand for it that it was Satan and not Samuel which no doubt is the onely sound opinion Scotus subtilis in the second booke of his Sentences saith that the Angells assumed bodies not to bee ioyned or vnited with them hypostatically but to moue them and vse them as instruments much more then saith he the Diuells can assume bodies because they are more elementarie as they doe change themselues in bodies so from this same ground it is affirmed that they can also change bodies For three things we obserue in Gods works Creation which is onely proper vnto himself to make of no thing by the power of his word Generation which hee hath allowed to his Creatures themselues by a naturall instinct and appetite of succession to haue a power of generation and lastly Transmutation whereof hee hath giuen power vnto Starres and to the Spirits as saith Them de Aquin Omnes Angeli boni mali habent ex virtute naturali potestateÌ„ transmutandi corpora nostra All the Angells good and bad haue by a naturall instinct power to change our bodies wee see how the Sorcerers of Pharaoh did counterset the miracles of Moses Iob saith there is no power on earth like vnto that of Satan which prooues that the actions of the euill Spirits are actions indeed but extraordinarily so that wee must not thinke them illusions or prestigitations of our eyes Augustine chap 9. of the third booke de Trinitate saith thus Mali Angelipro subtilitate sui sensus in occultioribus elementorum seminibus norunt vnde rana serpentes nascuntur hac per certas temperationum opportunitates occultis motibus adhibendo faciunt creari The wicked Angells by their subtle sense and knowledge of the secret seeds of nature know by what meanes the Frogs and Serpents are made and by vsing of certaine tymous temperations they can accelerate their Creation Againe they haue power of transportation whereupon some follow the ignorant Viretus who holdeth it a fortitude of imagination in melancholious women who apprehend they bee carried with the deuill albeit antiquity hath esteemed it for a true ground that seldome doth a woman die of melancholie or a man of excessiue ioy for melancholie proceedeth of to much heat and drinesse and breedeth wisedome as Galen saith in his Booke De atra Bile to neither of which two is a woman subiect being of nature humid cold and passiue and therefore not wise as Solomon among a thousand men one among women none Besides that the Septentrinall people with whom the vncleane spirits are said to be most familiar they haue as little melancholie as those haue of flegme who dwell in Africke which sheweth the leuitie and weakenesse of this opinion of Viret Alwayes there be two sorts of transportations one in bodie and spirit the other in abstraction onely of the spirit
can change himselfe into what creatures hee will change creatures in what forme he will can transport our spirits and bodies can enter to possesse them can counterfait creatures like to our selues by his wicked abusing of humane seed againe his malice is dangerous by reason of the multitude of seditious spirits who hee doth command so farre that some alleadge that euery man hath his good and euill Daemon which for my part I will not affirme it is enough that the Scripture maketh mention of diuerse diuels who haue practised diuerse wickednes Some are called by Esay Vasa furoris the vessell of fury Some by Ieremy the vessels of wrath some by Ezechiel vasa interfectionis the vessels of murther some by Moses the vessels of iniquity some of them haue aiery bodies and power in that Element as those foure which had the windes in their hands Quibus datum est nocere mari terrae to whom it was giuen to trouble the earth and the seas by gendring of pestilence and destroying thunders as that of Iob which suddenly threw downe his house which sort of aiery diuels is said to inuade the intellectuall spirits of men to seduce them to Heresie or ambitious faction in State and of this kinde he is esteemed the Prince who is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or exterminans others againe that bee more earthly doe trafficke with base sorceries as those who taught the enchanters of Pharaoh vnto all which the Lord hath opposed millions of good Angels to gouerne his workes and to presidiate and gard the Saints so many to rule the spheares Celestiall which we may perceiue by Ezechiel and in the sixtie eight Psalme where it is said the Chariots of the Lord are 20000. Angels and hee is among them as in the sanctuary of Sion whereupon the Chaldean interpreters say that there bee so many principall lights in heauen and as many Angels to gouerne them and Leo Hebreus hath written in his second Booke that the eight heauen or primum mobile which maketh his couse in twenty foure houres is moued by a Cherubin with such miracolous swiftnesse that euery moments motion ariseth to more then a million of miles And of the Angelike care of the Saints of God on earth the Scriptures are full of testimonies that which guarded the Israelites comming from Egypt that which wrastled with Iacob and blessed him that Ceraphin which purged the lips of Esay and made him eloquent that Raphael whose presence Asmodeus cannot abide those Angels who carried Lazarus into the bosome of Abraham that which deliuered S. Peter out of prison that which went with Azariah into the furnace and made him thinke the flames a soft deaw and so forth The Lord God doth not only furnish vs with spirituall armes against Satan as by the power of his Angels by the force of his word and by our faith in Christ but he hath taught vs some familiar things which they cannot indure in nature as is thought as the fire whose presence doth terrifie him by a mysterious antipathy as the presence of the Wolfe astonisheth a Sheepe because God who is his enemy is a fire a lampe a light of glory and power to the godly a fire of loue mercy and goodnesse and to the wicked a consuming fire of wrath and vengeance and as by a naturall strife the voyce of a tyrannous Schoolemaster doth affraye a wayward childe so doth the sound of musicall instruments accompanied with the praises of God afflict and terrifie the diuell by a naturall Antipathy wherewith God hath indued them Againe the harmony of musicke doth by a naturall simpathy collect and vnite the distracted powers of our weake mindes to greater strength and deuotion and is quasi vehiculum the conduct of deuotion We read of the Prophet Elisha who being for sent to prophesie the issue of the battell he would not doe it vntill hee first caused to sound vp an instrument of musicke and then he fell into his Prophesie wee read likewise that when Samuel had consecrated king Saul God said hee to him to the Mountaine and thou shalt finde a company of Prophets who sound instruments and prophesie thou shalt enter among them and the spirit of God shall come vpon thee there and thou shalt bee changed into another man the reason of this naturall antipathy betwixt Musicke and the Diuell is because it is a diuine thing which draweth the spirit to harmony concord loue and heauenly contemplation and the constitution of his nature is contrary to these to be seditious discordant and implacable This whole Fabricke of the world is nothing else but a musicall order of Gods workes they stand as the Scripture saith in numero pendere mensura by number weight and measure All the creatures are but a musicke euery one hauing in their kindes their Supreme or Alt their Counter Base and their Tenor to shew it in few examples Among the Planets the austerity of Saturne and the rigour of Mars are tempered and tied together with the serenity of Iupiter as among the Elements the repugnance of the fire and water are kept in concordance by the promiscuall qualities of the ayre and speaking of the inteligentiall world the Angels are a mediate creature betwixt the diuine Essence and man man is a mid couple betwixt good and euill spirits the Ape betwixt man and fourefooted beasts the Niriades Tritoues which be not things fabulous betwixt men and fishes The Hermophrodite betwixt man and woman the Mandrake betwixt man and plants betwixt the fruites of the earth and things which growe within her bowels there are fruits and cornes petrefied that is to say naturally shapen in stones betwixt the earth and the stone Argillum is amid couple betwixt earth and mettals the Marcazitae are neither of them but a mediate thing so that as that diuine Philosopher Iesus the sonne of Syrac hath obserued in his Booke of Ecclesiasticus there is first a common antithesis and contradiction in all the workes of God Omnes via Domini secundum dispositionem sapientiae suae Duo contra vnum vnum contra vnum contra malum bonum contra vitam mors contra virum iustum peccator sic intuere in omnia opera altissimi saith the Scripture in that place All the waies of God according to the disposition of his owne wisedome two against one one against one good against euill life against Death the iust man against the reprobate and so looke into all the workes of the most high saith hee which in effect is so true that there is nothing in the world which can fall into our imagination wanting this contrariety but God againe hath made a concordance in all by this diuine Musick not only in natural substances but in their qualities and accidents yea in time it selfe Summer and Winter be contrary but by the harmony of the spring time they are conioyned blacke and white contrary do meet in mediate colours heate and
my Palinodie The better and worse condition of things earthly standeth in comparison because there is no perfect condition here and the trueth of our pleasures and displeasures standeth in the fortitude or weakenesse of our apprehension therefore to know surely what a Prince and what a state wee haue wee are to remember our selues what may bee in Princes as they are Prnces and what also is commonly found in them and in their rule What may be in a Soueraigne King Looke to the holy Story of Sauls Creation Hee shall appoint your sonnes for his Chariots and for caring of his ground hee shall take your daughters and make them Cookes hee shall take your fields vineyards and best Oliue trees and giue them to his seruants saith the Lord. Out of this you shall truely obserue what a state it is you liue in next to vnderstand what oftentimes is in Princes I might in this argument send you to contemplate the cruell domination of Nero the exorbitant gouernement of Caligula the auaricious raigne of Galba the treacherous Empire of Tiberius c. But because it hath no kind of Decorum to bring those in ballance with a most vertuous most Christian Monarch I will wish you to call to memorie what was your condition during the Ciuill calamities of your neighbour Countries of France and of the Netherlands for a whole age when vnder the â—…adow of your Princes winges you was couered from those miseries while you stood securely on the shore and behelde the troubled Ocean of those tempests doe not you confesse that those countries haue felt more afflictions in one moneth then wee in all our time Or if his Maiestie by violent and vnlawfull ambition should bring such armies vpon our neckes whither would you then make any great reckoning of a light Subsidie or would you cry that his Maiesty should make a bridge of gold for your enemies to goe forth Is there any marke of a Prince approued of God and happie among men so infallible as to become a great Monarch by iust and peaceable meanes as to enioy long and introubled tranquilitie Is there any happinesse comparable with it Besides the priuate ioyes which peace doth yeeld vnto vs it is the nourse of good letters and good policies and of whatsoeuer is good As for riches it is true indeed that the accumulation of treasures is both lawfull and necessarie for Princes because they are the Gardians of people and states And Pecunia est neruus Belli but speaking of subiects remember when great Kings be most mechanicke there the people are most gouerned Sub virga ferrea whereof we haue seene examples enough not farre from our coastes How is it then we should so lightly esteeme two such rare benefits of a constant peace and of a glorious Monarchie reserued for many yeeres to be the most conspicuous blessing of this age certainly peace is so heauenly and extraordinary a good that the spirit of God hath allowed we know the Church to pray for Infidell and wicked Princes that they might haue peace vnder them seeing our peace then and prosperitie is matchlesse as no man can denie it is wicked ingratitude in vs that we should not thanke God and cry Quis poterit similiter gloriari nobis If it were not that our ignorance doth parly excuse our ingratitude for how can he valew the sweetnesse of hony who hath neuertasted of tartnesse and acerbitie the lightnesse of his yoake compared with the pride and insolence of many great dominators and the serenitie of his raigne to speake so hath bene without any intermission that how could you know what a thing is the waight and austerity of domination and if it should not be that our owne follies and euill gouernment should breede vnto vs more discontents and aggrauations then the misgouernment of the state doth we were apparantly the most fortunate subiects vnder the sunne And if any should grudge in the court I will speake thus farre vnto you with humble reuerence because you are the most excellent Creatures that of all the grudges which be within the kingdome that is most pernitious such a malignant and proud spirit made Lucifer to be put to the doore ' when the court of Heauen was first established hee is not worthy to liue at a Princes elbow who knowes not that as godly and Orthodoxall Kings beare the liuely image of God vpon earth so their Courts must resemble the seat of God in the heauens replenished with innocent Maiestie vertuous glory noble and actiue creatures subiect to perpetuall sympathie and loue tranquilitie obedience and order you haue the place of the Spheares which are neerest vnto God Imaque telluris ventos tractusque coruscos Nimborum accipiunt nubes exedit Olympus Pacem summatenent So should you be free of those clouds which are bred in the inferiour ayre of popular distemper and discontentments yea by your serenitie and secret influence you should purge them and make the multitude to admire the close harmonie of the Court euen as wee are astonished to behold the silent murmure and musicke of these celestiall orbes which are aboue the troublesome elements The Lord God hath not found it good to make all his Creatures equally capable of his graces the Angels are not of like degree yet all of them take sacrety of Gods countenance the inferiour Planets haue not bodies sufficient to containe the whole splendor of the Sunne yet they are all saciate of light to illuminate their owne spheares God did vouchsafe vnto Miriam a propheticall spirit but not in that measure as he did to Moses therefore she was strucken with leprosie for her grudging remember that if the sunne shine of his Maiesties bounty bee remoued from you for your murmuring you should bee plagued with a sort of Leprosies to desend againe into the inferiour world carrying in your faces the visible impressions of consuming and contemptible enuy shall the potsheard say to the Potter what dost thou make certainely no And you who may happen to be principall Planet of the Court or first moouer of the Courtly spheares if it should please you to learne the right lesson of your motion in the common schoole of Nature it should hardly fall forth to you to become an errant Planet wherfore hath the Lord God made the huge bosom of the great Ocean to be so spacious and receptible of waters not that shee should acquiesce in her selfe and bee delighted in the largenesse of her fountaines but that by secret channells shee should continually communicate the vse thereof to those riuers which bee appointed to water the earth and as a common seruant in the house of Nature render to the Sunne her ordinary moystures to furnish raine for the fruites of the earth wherefore hath God planted this glorious Lampe in the Sunne not that he should pride himselfe in his owne splendour for that was a Luciferian tricke but that hee should illustrate and beautifie inferiour Planets