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
the nimbenesse onely bewtie of the body are respected Ther are other meanes far honester let vs vse them and as for these scarce honest and chast let vs leaue them Weigh we with our selues that although somtime honest mariages be gotten by dauncinge yet a great deale oftener adultrye and whoredome are wonnte to ensue of these sights We should followe the footings of our godly Fatherrs who now and then vsed dauncinge yet chaste and moderate the men by them selues and the women by theyr selues By these daunces testified they the myrthe of their mindes sangs they prayses to God gaue they thankes vnto him for some singular benefite receaued at his handes And as for the confused daunces of men and women togyther we reade them not in the holy scripture But our men wil saye who would daunce after this sorte These thinges while they vtter they bewray thēselues what they séeke for in this pastime Hyther flocke the effects of dauncinge recorded in Mathew how the daughter of Herodias skipped in the kinges feast the king toke pleasur in her whome without shame he could not opēly gaze vppon for it was a most euident token of the forbidē marriage whoredome for Herod had taken vnto him the wyfe of his brother and mother of this damsell of that daunce it followed that Iohn was bee headded Many are misgréeued with vs that wée cye out vppon daunces as vppon things euill of their nature and prohibited We again make aunswere that things ought not alwayes to be measured by their nature but by the disposition and abuse of our fleshe wine we cannot denye of it selfe is good yet is it not administred to the sick of the Feuer not in that it is euil but in that it agreeth not with the bodye so affected In Exodus when the people made to themselues a golden calfe which they might worshippe they sate downe they eate they drancke and they rose vp to play In which place to play séemeth to be nothing else then to daunce But that I may not séeme singular and alone man in these my sayinges and censure I wyll annexe certaine testimonies of the forefathers Augustine in the sixt Chapter of his booke against Petilian sayth Byshops were euermore wont to punish vaine and lascinious daunces but now a daies there be many Bishops not only present at the daunces but dauncers themselues with women so farre are they from correcting this vice The same Augustine whyle he expoundeth those words of the .32 Psalme Vppon an instrument of tenne stringes will I singe vnto thee those ten stringes he maketh the tenne commaundements and when he had sayde some what vppon euery one of them at the last he commeth to the Saboth of which it is written remember that thou kéepe holy the Saboth day I say not sayth he that thou shouldest be so drowned in delicacie as the Iewes are accustomed for better it is all day to dig then to daunce on the Saboth Chrisostome in .56 Homely vppon Genneses intreating of Iacobs Mariage Mariage quoth he haue ye hearde but no dauncing which there he calleth Diabolicall and many more matters hath hée in the same place which make for vs. And amonge all the rest be wryteth howe by dauncing the Bride and Bridegrume are corrupted and the whole family defiled Againe in his .48 Hom. Thou séest sayth he Mariages but daunces thou séest not For at that time they were nothing so wanton as they are in these dayes Diuerse other thinges hath he in the .14 of Matthew wher reciting Herodius dauncing to the people among the rest he saith now a daies Christians deliuer not halfe their kingdome nor another mans head but their own soule into distruction And he addeth where this lasciuious dauncing is set vp there daunceth the Deuill together with them In the counsell of Laodicia we finde written that it is not conuenient for Christian men to daunce at Mariages Let thē dine and suppe discréetly and moderatelye geuing God thankes for the benefit of Matrimony In the selfe same councell it is also written Let not Clarkes approche the Theatre or matiages to gape after Pageaunts they maye be at Mariages but after the singers and Harpers be come in who serue for daunces aryse they and depart least by theyr presence they maye seeme to allowe and approue that wantonnesse In the Councell of Illerden holden vnder Simmachus and Hormisda Popes and king Theodoricke the same is decréed that Christians should not daunce at weddinges In the Councell of Arrisidoren which was vnder Pope Deus dedit this séemeth to bée restrayned to Clarkes for there is there a Prouiso that no Clarkes myght in the feaste eyther singe or daunce as if to others it were after a forte lawefull Of the same opinion are the scholemen of the Diuins in the 3. Senten Distinct 37. Who referre these restraintes vnto the hollye dayes Rycharde of the middle Village accounteth it a moste grieuous sinne to daunce on the hollye dayes as though on other dayes it might be permitted But farre waightere is the iudgement of the Fathers and sounde Councelles then these mennes Whoe hurtfullye set at large those things which are to be kéept in seing they haue with them the hazard of soules and not the hazard onely but the slydings and falles most grieuously to be lamented And yet these men séeme to borrowe this theyr Sentence wherby they denye dauncinge on the hollie daies of the ciuill lawes in the Code forsoothe in the title of holly dayes and lawe holly dayes C. tit deferijs L. dies festos We let at liberty vacation on the holly daies but we will that men be restreined from inordinate delectations And therefore it shall not be lawfull on the hollye dayes to vse dauncinges whether they be sensuall or prepared for sensuallitye Aemilius Probus in the life of Epaminondas saieth that singing and dauncing amonge the Romans were smalie regarded when among the Gretians they were had in great estimation Salust in his Catilinaria weighteth that Sempronia a certeine lewde and lascinious woman was trymlier trained vp in singing and dauncing thē be séemed a honest Matron And in the same place he callteh these twoo instrumentes of excesse in carnall pleasure Cicere in the third booke of his offeces is of this minde that an honest vertuous man will not daunce in the comon concours of people though he might therby become the gretest heire in the world And in his oration which he made after his returne to the Senate hee termed in remoche Aulus Gabinus his aduersarye O tricksye dauncer It was layde in Lutius Murena his dishe as a faulte that he daunced in Asia with the same also was kinge Deiotarus hit in the téeth Cicero for Murena aunsweres that no sober person daunceth eyther in solitarines either in an honest and moderat banquet except he be out of his wittes The same Cicero in his Philip. among other vices vpbraided Antonius with dauncinge It appeareth furthermore that the men of the East and West were not of like disposition they being of a merye minde and nimble bodies so much the more delight in dauncing For to let others passe Dauid daunced in open sight And they which now trauell to vs out of Syria testifye the the Christians which inhabite those Regions vpon the daye of the Lordes resurrection and likewise vpon other famous Festiualles come to the Church with harpes and Harmonie singing psalmes and dauncing togyther For those spyrites of those people are quicke and quiuer where the sprrites of our Countrye men are heauy and lumpishe yet for al that they reporte that they daunce discretlye and modestly the men and women one from another ⸫ FJNIS
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