But what three persons are those that come yonder walking this way Philologus If I be not fowlie deceiued it is maister Orthodoxus maister Physiologus and the Exorcist also himselfe who cast out the Diuell they are euen the same This falleth foorth pat for our purpose we haue now verie fitte oportunitie to conferre of these points to the full Lycanthropus Blessed be God for this speciall prouidence and fauour Orthodoxus God blesse you good brethren prosper your iourney Philologus God blesse you also good maister Orthodoxus and the rest of your companie What my old friend Philologus what make you in these quarters and whether wander you so fast with these good companions Philologus Good sir we are euen now I hope at the furthest For our comming into these quarters is vpon speciall occasion to conferre with your selfe and the rest of this companie about the maruelous woonders befallen at Mahgnitton of late concerning a yoong man possessed there Orthodoxus See see the strange nature of man we were coÌ„ferring euen now about the transforming of Diuels Howbeit all the world I feare me will shortly become transformed Athenians For euery man now doth giue himselfe wholie to the hearing or telling of newes Notwithstanding you are all hartely welcome and this I tell you heere by the way that we also our selues are nowe in debating those matters Lycanthropus Good sir then pardon vs we pray you for interrupting your talke and we will walke heere apart by our selues attending your leisure Physiologus Nay not so for neither is the matter it selfe so secret nor we so earnest vpon it but that if it so please maister Orthodoxus and this other companion you may all be iointly pertakers of our mutuall conference and so much the rather because you are come as it seemes for that selfesame purpose Exorcistes I am very well willing if maister Orthodoxus thinks good Orthodoxus With all my hart And seeing it hath pleased our good God to bring vs so fitly togither let vs for more ease to our selues shroude vs heere vnder the shade along this banke where we may haue the benefit of the running streame to recreate our eies and sences and in so solitarie a place verie fitly conferre of our matters without the discouerie of neighbours or any the interruption of trauellers Physiologus Well sir first place your selfe where you please and you shall see vs quickly come clustring about you Orthodoxus Come then let vs sit closely together Howbeit before we begin our conferrence to the ende the same may be euerie way comformable to the will of God and comfortable also vnto our selues Let vs all ioine together in hartie prayers and say O Lord our God the fountaine of life the welspring of grace and the onely infuser of all spirituall knowledge Behold vs here at this present we humbly beseech thee in that acceptable beautie of thy sonne our Sauiour wherein thou so highly delightest and for whose sake thou canst not but be well pleased with euerie of vs. Graunt deare father that as thou hast ordeined him to be the true light which lightneth euerie one that comes into the world so he may gratiously enlighten our harts who do naturally sit here in darkenes and in the shadow of death Remooue from our grosse and sencelesse soules al those palpable cloudes of ignorance errour and vnbeleefe which seeke to foreclose our sauing knowledge in Iesus Christ. Pluck we pray thee from our vncircumcized eies those thicke and foggie seales of naturall corruption which doe at this present so fearfully dimme and dazel our darke vnderstandings as we are vtterly vnable to discerne aright the hole some things of thy holy law And grant we beseech thee yet further that this our entended conferrence concerning the timely discouerie of these hidden mysteries of Satan sinne and iniquitie may directly tende to the glorie of thy great name the good of thy Church the vnfolding of errour the manifestation of truth the confusion of Satan the tryumph of our conquering Christ and the euerlasting saluation of all our soules through Iesus Christ our only Lord and Sauiour Altogether So be it Lord Iesu euen so Amen Orthodoxus Well now in Gods name declare briefly and plainly what you desire to know concerning the possessed man at Mahgnitton Philologus First sir or euer you enter vpon the perticular discourse of the possessed himselfe our desire is to heare whether there be any spirits or Diuels to possesse men at all the rather because there is one in our companie who verie confidently auoucheth that there are neither Angels nor Spirits Physiologus Who is he and what is his name Pneumatomachus I am the man if it please you and my name is Pneumatomachus Physiologus Your name was geuen I suppose to expresse your nature For Pneumatomachus is as much to say as a despiter of spirits or rather it signifieth one who flatly opposeth himselfe to the essentiall spirits and powers of God Howbeit by that time Maister Orthodoxus hath fully confuted your fowle and palpable errours I doubt not but you will both be ashamed of your grosse vnderstanding and desirous to exchange your odious name Pneumatomachus By your patience good sir it argueth in you a contentious nature to stand deskanting thus vpon names which are but bare notions of things when you haue saide what you can Physiologus And good sir by your License if so be your inward nature be the thing it selfe whereof your outward name doth giue vs the notion then out of doubt your verie name how bare a notion soeuer must needes argue in you an erronious minde Pneumatomachus Erre I confesse I may but dwell in an errour I will not If once I be brought to perceiue it Orthodoxus Gods name be blessed for this so good a beginning Goe to then seeing you make it a Question whether there be spirits and Diuels or no it shall not be amisse first to demonstrate plainely vnto you that there be Spirits and Diuels and then next to declare what we haue more especially to consider of them This I take it will be a very plaine course and such also as comprehendeth fully the limits and bounds of our conferrence Physiologus No doubt it comprehendeth fully whatsoeuer may fall foorth concerning our present purpose Exorcistes The order is such as no man dislikes Philologus I thinke euen the same What say you Pâ—eumatomachus Pneumatomachus I dislike not the order But sir howe prooue you there be Spirits and Diuels Orthodoxus I prooue it first from their essential creation and then next from their effectuall operation Pneumatomatichus How first from their essentiall creation Orthodoxus Because they were essentially created of God For the Lord God creating the whole host of heauen created Angels and Spirits among the rest of celestiall creatures to be of principall account in that heauenly hoste Now then Angels and Spirits they being such excellent creatures of God we neede not to doubt of their
DIALOGICALL Discourses of SPIRITS and DIVELS Declaring their proper essence natures dispositions and operations their possessions and dispossessions with other the appendantes peculiarly appertaining to those speciall points Verie conducent and pertinent to the timely procuring of some Christian conformitie in iudgement for the peaceable compounding of the late sprong controuersies concerning all such intricate and difficult doubts By IOHN DEACON IOHN WALKER Preachers If there shall arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreames giue thee a signe or woonder and the signe or woonder which he haue tolde thee come to passe saying Let vs go after other gods which thou knowest not and let vs serue them Thou shalt not hearken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God prooueth you to know whether ye loue the Lord your God with all your hart and with all your soule Deut. 13. 1. 2. 3. If any shall say vnto you Lo heere is Christ or there is Christ Beleeue them not therefore for there shall arise false Christes and false Prophets and shall shew great signes and woonders so that if it were possible they should deceiue the verie elect Matth. 24. 23. 24. Aug. De Trinitate Quisquis audit vel legit vbi pariter certus est pergat mecum vbi pariter haesitat quaerat mecum vbi errorem suum cognoscit redeat mecum vbi meum reuocet me Ita ingrediamur simul charitatis viam tendentes ad eum de quo scriptum est quaerite faciem eius semper That is Whosoeuer heareth or readeth where he is perswaded with me let him proceede with me where he is doubtfull let him inquire with me where he acknowledgeth his errour let him returne with me where he espieth mine let him recall me So shall we walke ioyntly togither in the way of charitie going foreward towards him of whom it is written Seeke yee his face euermore Propugnaculum vitae patientia LONDINI Impensis Geor. Bishop 1601. TO THE RIGHT Honorable and righteous Iudges Sir THOMAS EGERTON knight Lord Keeper of the great Seale of England Sir IOHN POPHAM knight Lord cheefe Iustice of England Sir EDMVND ANDERSON knight Lord cheefe Iustice of the common Pleas and Sir WILLIAM PERIAM knight Lord cheefe Baron of the Exchequer with other the most reuerend Iudges of the common Lawes of England I. D. and I. W. do hartily wish all sauing knowledge in Iesus Christ. RIGHT Honorable Lords you may not possiblie be ignorant of the late-bred broyles not long since brewed broached at Nottingham by meanes of Sommers his supposed possession and dispossession especially those selfesame broyles being eftsoones reuiued since and now also by what priuiledge we wotte not so publikely reported in Print as their flying rumours doe mightilie ouer-runne the whole Realme yea euen to the vttermost borders thereof We two did vndoubtedly assure our selues that the holie regard of Religion of loyall obedience to her Maiesties Princely prerogatiue of the publike peace of the Church of due reuerence to her Maiesties positiue Lawes of dutifull submission to the definitiue sentence of Iustice of common humanitie towards the persons of men yea and of a carefull continuance of their honest reputations woulde something haue restrained if not vtterly inhibited the parties especially conuicted from the vntimely attempting of any such vnorderly course as now by their newly published Pamphletes they haue most vndutifully blazed abroad And therefore the Christian care of that their hoped moderate cariage hath caused vs hitherto euen purposely to suppresse this folowing Treatise which almost three yeeres since we had euen carefully â—ompyled as a christian counter-checke to al such vnwoonted occurrents yea and this our former suppressing thereof proceeded we assure you from a felow-like feare of procuring vntimely disgrace and of adding affliction to the principall parties themselues Esteeming it much better to burie our precedent labours in the graue of forgetfulnes then by any their needlesse publishing to procure a present disturbance or to hatch a subsequent broyle in the Church by pestering the same with such impertinent obscure and needlesse paradoxes as in their books are broched abroad Howbeit perceiuing the principall parties with other their vnder-hand fauorites as it were in a setled pertinacie not onely to hold all those their former phantasticall toies with tooth and naile but which more is thus preposterously and perhaps also with the secret support of their vnder-hand Fauorites thus vndutifully to pursue the same with such publike disgrace of publike persons notwithstanding any the precedent countermaunds or definitiue determinations of publike authoritie we verily thought and our owne conscience did witnes against vs in the presence of God that we might iustly be deemed too too irreligious towards the Lord disloyall to her Maiesties Princely prerogatiue ouer-much carelesse of publike peace exceeding remisse concerning the positiue Lawes of our land most derogatorious to the definitiue sentence of iustice monstrous inhumane towards the persons of men yea altogither carelesse of our honest reputations if that light which the Lord in mercie we hope hath reuealed vnto vs should now any longer Lie buried vnder a bushell and not rather be set on a candlesticke for the better enlightning of all in the house concerning these intricate and hidden mysteries More especially now at this present when the fearefull infection of those their factious proceedings so vniuersally and so dangerously ouer spreadeth it selfe not vnlike to the fretting Gangrena or incurable Canker Experienced Antiquaries right honorable Lords doe verie well know to what dangerous heads such siâ—ly beginnings haue by carelesse negligence growen in continuance of time and therefore euen the verie primarie appearances of euerie such fearefull occurrent would be the more warelie and more wisely nipt in the head yea and the streaming courses thereof the more heedfully intercepted and stopped in time for feare of ouerflowing the yoong buds of our holy Religion For these speciall respects wee haue now proffered our labours to publike view and doe verie humblie importune your Honors patronage and fauourable protection for them so farre foorth especially as they fully accord with the infallible truth of the Scriptures We protest right Honorable Lords that we our selues in penning this Treatise did euen purposely resolue with our soules to banish all partiall and priuate respects from out of our brests as may by the matter and method thereof verie plainely appeere to any indifferent Reader Yea wee wholie deuoted our selues to penne onely such speciall points as other writers report and record in their seuerall workes and which in our owne consciences before the presence of God we are hitherto perswaded are vndoubtedly true desiring with all our harts to be better and more fully informed wherein we haply may erre by the holie endeuours of such as the Lord hath in mercie enlightened with a more syncere and sanctified knowledge concerning these points The speciall motiues for our thus
dedicating to your good Honors all ioyntly togither this published Treatise are these that folow in order 1 First your wisedomes hauing heretofore very orderlie enquired into and iudicially determined the vndoubted truth of those the aforesaid occurrents we verily perswaded our selues that as you are therefore the most able so would you be also the more willing to approoue or disprooue of our labors herein according to those your former proceedings and the holy directions of the eternall God 2 The aduerse parties themselues hauing partly by their published Pamphlets and partly also by their priuate solicitours verie often and earnestly laboured either all or the most of your Honors to some fauourable regard of their languishing cause wee in like manner esteeming your wisedomes the most competent Iudges heerein do therefore referre the due triall of our trauels much rather to your Honors then to any her Maiesties high Commissioners in Ecclesiasticall causes partly because they being themselues esteemed but parties herein and openly challenged of vnequall proceedings might haply be deemed by the aduerse part but incompetent Iudges and partly for that your good Honors especially being euerie way free from such exception may therefore become the more willing to heare and determine the truth of these matters 3 Moreouer considering eftsoones with our selues that those often and earnest solicitings of parties on both sides they arguing especially the controuerted causes with such flat oppositions might haply but breed in your Honorable breasts some scruple of conscience about the vndoubted truth of such intricate questions we did therefore account it our bounden dutie to yeeld your good Honors our holiest supplies for the better enlightning of your present iudgements in the hidden mysteries of those cloudie occurrents 4 Lastly your good Honors next vnder her supereminent highnes enioying a primarie subordinate power concerning the authenticall hearing and determining of such and so shamefull disorders as do daily discouer themselues in those disordered persons who seeke in such a malcontented humour to vphold and maintaine those quaint matters in question we were the rather induced to tender our trauels to your Honorable protections That so your good Honors by your approoued authoritie might the more authentically command the aduerse parties themselues foorthwith to desist from their former factious courses and humblie submit to the truth of the Treatise it being substantiallie sounde or otherwise in more dutifull sort to addresse their holiest endeuours to some sounder and honester maner of answering then hitherto they haue shewed to the world We looke euerie hower right Honorable Lords to be notoriously branded with the blacke coale of vnchristian reproches such and so scandalous are the cankred mouthes of some clamorous companions who not vnlike to the benumming Torpedo do purposely endeuour by their intoxicated and most slanderous reuilings to astonish the verie hands of so many as presume to put penne to the paper against any their irregular practises Seeing therefore it is vtterly impossible the Leopard should alter his spots we do assuredly expect when their Pulpits shall ring out and their night crowing Pamphlets proclaime to the world that such two are quite falne from the brethren and their cause they know not well what that they are become Apostates reuolters backsliders formalistes and such as fawne on the state and this onely for that we fauour not forsooth these their Cabalisticall conceits and phantasticall fooleries Well whatsoeuer they prate we will vndergo it with patience not passing one pinne to be iudged of them or of any mans iudgement else no we iudge not our owne selues For we know nothing by our owne selues and yet are we not thereby iustified but he that iudgeth vs both is the Lord. And as for that their odious name of Formalists wherewith especially they sport themselues most in branding their brethren we regard not therein their virulent reuilings one rush hauing in a more mature deliberation experimented long since the graue councell of Drusius to sound verie sutablie with the sacred Scriptures saying thus Esto potius cauda Leonum quam caput Vulpium Hoc est da operam vt potius sis postremus inter viros generosos quam primus inter callidos versipelles Be thou rather the verie taile of Lyons then the head of Foxes That is do thou giue thy endeuour to be rather the last or the lowest among noble and gentillike persons then the first or the highest among that base crew of craftie vndermining companions and heere we haue set downe our rest Hauing hitherto right Honorable Lords verie brieflie displaied our maine purpose concerning the first penning and publishing of this folowing Treatise we do now in all humble submission refer our selues and our sutes to your approoued considerations and your good Honors to the almightie his holie directions in this one and all other your iudiciall proceedings So be it Your good Honors verie humblie aâ— commaund in the Lord and the Lord his vnwoorthiest on earth IOHN DEACON IOHN WALKER To the godly affected Reader I. D. and I. W. doe hartily wish the howerly encrease of a true sauing knowledge by the reuelation of Iesus Christ. So be it GOod Christian Reader we doe in this following treatise present to thy publike consideration our priuat opinion concerning the vndoubted possession and dispossession of Diuels Assuring our selues to gaine foorthwith thy holy approbation heerein so farre foorth especially as thou perceiuest the same to fall foorth pat in euerie point with the infallible truth of the Lord. The originall occasion of this our lately attempted enterprise did primarily proceed from those late vnwoonted occurrents which accidentally fell foorth in our countrey about the supposed possession and dispossession of Sommers An accident we doe freely confesse no lesse notoriously knowen throughout the whole land then diuersly entertayned according to the variable diuers affections of men The maine argument of the treatise it selfe is a matter we assure thee not rashly resolued vpon but seriously held and maintayned by the one of vs especially for many yeeres past as fiue hundred yet liuing are able to witnes and the other of vs also in an experimented knowledge both can and doth testifie the same by these presents For the verie first newes of this newly supposed rare accident recalling vs both afresh to some serious consideration of our former set studies did so diuersly affect our mindes with a diuerse and contrarie iudgement the one verie constantly auouching the other no lesse confidently impugning that falsely pretended action as we both became resolute with tooth and nayle to trie forth the certaine truth or vntruth at the least of our sundrie conceits concerning the matter in question Yea and which more is we so deepely deuoted our selues to the timely support of those our seuerall opinions as no one labour how loathsome soeuer was yrkesome vnto vs which tended that way but in the least shew of appearance For what one Librarie was
essentiall being The rather because euery creature else how contemptible soeuer being once created it hath an essentiall substance and if the basest of all then much more the Angels they being indeed such excellent creatures Pneumatomachus Well goe to how next from their effectuall operations Orthodoxus Thus their operations haue beene and now are apparantly euident to all the world whether we respect the Lord or his church So that for any to doubt of their essentiall being is to call in question the sun-shine at mid-day and as wel may he denie their operations whatsoeuer Pneumatomachus Good sir is this your substantiall proouing of Angels and Spirits I denie that the Lord God euer created any Angels at all and then to what purpose doe you vrge their supposed operations Orthodoxus Sith you so confidently denie both Spirits and Diuels tell me what you imagine those to be which we generally hold for Spirits and Angels Pneumatomachus Sir I take those your supposed spirits for none other matters at all but the good or euill motions and affections arising in men as also those your imagined Angels I hold them to bee nothing else but the sensible signes or tokens of Gods vnspeakeable power Orthodoxus You do then conclude it should seeme that our faith concerning those matters is grounded altogither vpon bare supposals and idle imaginations of wandring braines I like well your plainnes in laying open your minde although I alowe not your pestiferous opinions iumping so pat with the Parepateticall and Sadusaicall sort Who flatly denying either Angel or Spirite do confidently auouch that there is nothing immortall in man which is a verie dangerous gulph of hell that deuoureth and swaloweth vp all sound diuinitie and sincere knowledge of God For first by opposing your selfe against all the essentiall spirits and powers of the Lord what doe you else in effect but implicatiuely reiect the essentiall being of the holy Ghost and then next you do also by consequence verie flatly deny that there is any God at all for what I pray you is God but a Spirite Pneumatomachus Nay sir howsoeuer I oppose my selfe to the catholike opinion of Spirits and Diuels I do confidently auouch and confesse that there is one true euerliuing God of an incomprehensible inuisible and spirituall essence distinguished into the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost And moreouer concerning men and my selfe I do with like confidence verie cleerely acknowledge that euerie of vs also are essentiallie endued with spirituall and immortall soules Orthodoxus You cannot faithfully finally hold these infallible truthes from your hart but you must and will presently banish those other palpable errours from out of your brest For euen as Aaron his rodde deuoured foorthwith the counterfeite rods of all the Egyptian Sorcerers so surely these your confessed truths concerning the essentiall spirits and powers of the Lord being faithfully held from the hart will in the end I doubt not be another Aaronicall rodde to confute and confound those other Sadusaical sorceries wherewith the Diuel hath so dangerously bewitched your soule Lycanthropus Verie true if he be not to opinionate therein Pneumatomachus Sir howsoeuer I haue beene hitherto opinionate in this speciall point I am notwithstanding very loth that reason should be ouerruled by will or that the holy truth of God should giue place vnto errour and therefore proceed I beseech you in the timely vnfolding of this hidden mysterie Orthodoxus With very good will wherein also for your speedier conceiuing of that which is spoken we will first lay open the originall fountaine from whence this errour floteth abroad and then next hauing fully answered your arguments we wil directly prooue vnto you both Spirits and Diuels Exorcistes A very excellent order For there by first you shall cleere our iudgements and then next you shall the more fully confirme vs in the infallible truth Lycanthropus That is certainly so But what thinkes Pneumatomachos Pneumatomachus I acknowledge no lesse and do promise withall to giue an attentiue eare to whatsoeuer is spoken Orthodoxus Well then to proceede therein accordingly this I dare boldly affirme that your Parepatetical opinion or rather that this your Sadusaicall sorcerie concerning the non being of Spirits and Diuels proceedeth directly from a two-folde false ground Namely first from the naturall corruption of your proper minde and secondly from a carelesse misconstruing of some certeine places of Scripture Both which saide false grounds albeit I could and might well relate them my selfe yet because the first is rather Philosophical then Diuine I do purposely put ouer the prosecuting thereof as of al other like points to this my good brother if it please him to trauell therin reseruing the latter to entreate of my selfe Physiologus Sith it is your good pleasure to haue it so I will gladly giue my endeuour to satisfie the man so it seemeth him good Pneumatomachus With all my hart if first you will tell me who you are and what is your name Physiologus I am I assure you a friend to the truth and my name is Physiologos Pneâ—matomachus In very good time be it spoken But may I be bold by the way to aske you a question without offence Physiologus Propound at your pleasure and aske what you please Pneumatomachus Was not your name also purposely giuen to purport vnto vs your proper nature For Physiologus you say is your name which vnlesse I be fowly deceaued is as much to say as a babler or pratler of naturall Philosophie or it signifieth rather some notable discourser of naturall causes I hope you are none of those cogging companions of whom the Apostle doth wish vs beware who goe purposely about to spoile men with Philosophie and vaine deceit Orthodoxus Nothing lesse For the man I assure you is both a sound Philosopher and a sincere Diuine Neither would I haue you once to imagine that Paul doth there purposely oppose himselfe to all true Philosophie whether naturall or morall no but reprooueth rather that false and counterfeit Philosophie which hauing onely an appearance of truth and not the substance of truth it selfe is cunningly foisted in by cogging companions to spoile and deceiue mens mindes of the truth indeed For otherwaies all true Philosophie is the speciall gift of God and a principall helpe to Diuinitie so far foorth especially as she is made a submissiue Moderatour in naturall causes and not a commaunding Mistres ouer Diuinitie Then I assure you shee comes in her naturall kinde and thrice happie is he that hath a true insight into her according to that old accustomed saying Foelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas The wight that could all causes skan Might count himselfe an happie man Now then such a Philosopher is this and therefore be bold vpon my warrant to harken freely vnto him concerning the first ground of your errour Pneumatomachus I credit your words let him therefore proceede in his purpose Physiologus
together that man may not truely be termed a liuing man And which more is the soule and body are so inseparably conioyned by the creation of God as no one creature in heauen or in earth may possibly disioyne them before the finall separation of life according to the determinate councell appointment of God Briefly be it supposed that the diuell could in deed assume to himselfe some liuing mans bodie and could also for the present extenuate the same and transforme the substance thereof into spirituall congellations as Tatianus affirmeth yet this is verie certaine and a generall rule that two substantiall formes cannot possibly be inherent together and at once in one and the selfe same subiect And therefore to bring the substantiall forme of a diuell without feeling into the substantiall body of a man without either killing or hurting and which more is to transforme the same into such a slender and impalpable substance as cannot of the possessed him selfe be sensibly perceiued or felt no not at the first entrance into him it may well be vnlikely but very certaine I am the same is vtterly impossible for all the diuels in hell to accomplish such hard hap they haue in assuming a liuing mans body Pneumatomachus For my part I rather suppose that the Diuel doth assume to himselfe some deads mans bodie Physiologus This your supposall is no lesse absurd then the orher before For first if that bodie which the Diuel doth assume be the body of a dead man departed long since then surely it is an hundred to one that that selfesame assumed bodie is either eaten with wormes and so vnfit for the seruice or is else so putrified with filthie corruption as the Diuel by entring into any therwith must needes poyson the possessed man vnto death Againe if that assumed bodie be the bodie of a dead man but lately departed this life the Diuel then by assuming such a newly departed bodie must be supposed to appeere in a white winding sheete as he was heretofore thought to appeere vnto Saul in Samuels supposed bodie with a mantel about him must so for the present forsake that his supposed forme which the Poets and Painters doe hold to be griesly and blacke Besides that in supposing the Diuel can assume to himselfe the bodie of a man you doe therein very grosly oppose your selfe to the blessed Apostle who saith most confidently that mens bodies are created for the Lord himselfe and not for infernall Spirits That they are the members of Christ not the mansions of Belial the temples of the holy Ghost not a dungeon for Diuels a stie for Satan not an habitation for Helhounds Briefly if the Diuel doth assume to himselfe some dead mans bodie whether long since or but lately departed we must by this your supposall imagine a resurrection of bodies before to the generall iudgement and therein also must attribute to the Diuel that absolute power of raising the dead which only is due and proper to God and so by consequence conclude that the Diuel can accomplish and worke true miracles Whereas the Lord only is able to take life from the dead and to restore them againe vnto life which is such a miraculous worke of the omnipotent God as by an infallible consequence approoueth the Deitie Seeing therefore that by this your supposal you doe in effect but Deifie the Diuel bee foorthwith ashamed to hold that Spirits haue power to assume to themselues the bodie of a man alreadie created whether dead or aliue Lycanthropus You grant then that the Diuels doe assume to themselues some vncreated bodie Physiologus I grant no such thing For how is it possible either Diuel or Angel should assume that which is not at all or that they should take to themselues a bodie not yet existing in nature Philologus Very true But after the creation of such an essentiall bodie you doe then confesse the Diuel may assume such a bodie Physiologus I confesse no such matter vnlesse you first shew me by whom those selfesame supposed bodies should be essentially created whether by God or the Diuel Exorcistes They are surely created by God or not at all for the Lord onely alone is the creator of all things Physiologus Though the Lord in deed be the Creator of all things yet doth it not necessarily folow and your selfe shal neuer be able to proue that he is also the Creator of these things And how dare you then so confidently auouch that these your supposed bodies for the seruice of diuels are essentially created by God Exorcistes God is of infinite power and therefore may doe it Physiologus Your may be concludeth nothing at all Neither doe we dispute what God either may or is able to doe but what in deed and in truth he doth certainly accomplish And albeit the Lord I confesse be of infinit power yet is his said power restrainde to his will for whatsoeuer the Lord willeth that doth he in heauen and in earth So then vnlesse you can shew the Lords word to witnesse his will concerning such extraordinarie creation of bodies for the seruice of Satan whatsoeuer your selfe shall haplie imagine that God may doe therein you must yet giue vs leaue to doubt of the doing there of in deed Lycanthropus But why may not the Lord for the execution of iustice create them such bodies Physiologus First because the Lord hath infinite meanes besides and those also of more excellent maiestie for the execution of iustice and therefore he stands in no maner of neede to haue such a patched supplie Secondly for that the Lord will neuer do that which may any waies witnes against himselfe But for him to create such essential bodies afresh at the pleasure of the diuell and so oft as he pleaseth doth derogate greatly from the certaintie of that sacred truth which sealeth vnto vs the certaine accomplishment of all his workes whatsoeuer in sixe daies space and the vndoubted ceasing from all his labors the folowing day Moreouer to hold for infallible truth that those your supposed bodies for the seruice of Satan must in any case be created of God what doe you else in effect but thereby conclude the Lord him selfe to be slauishly subiect vnto Satan his accursed commaund in creating him bodies afresh and so oft as seemeth him good Briefly sith the glory of God is the maine end of all his creation what one glory may possibly redounde to the Lord by creating such your supposed bodies as being altogether by Satan abused are prepared neither to destruction nor glorie And therefore it is grosse impietie or rather an horrible blasphemie for any to hold that the Lord alone must be the Creator of any such essentiall bodies as your selfe and some others suppose the diuell doth assume to his seruice Lycanthropus It is certaine then that those assumed bodies are created by Satan him selfe Physiologus It is euen as
it why should it be deemed impossible for an intellectuall power or diuell to apply to his purpose the toonge of his liuing instrument the serpent I meane in the tempting of Euah without any essentiall entring into her at all And therefore let vs heare other reasons of more waighty importance or otherwise put an end to this present discourse Lycanthropus The Angell he assumed essentially the body of Baalams Asse and did sensibly speake in that selfe same body therefore spirits and diuels they can also assume essentially such naturall bodies and worke in them the like naturall actions Orthodoxus How know you it was an Angell that spake in the Asse Exorcistes There needs no manner of doubt to be made thereof for Lyra Martyr Zanchius Casmannus and many other besides doe iointly affirme it Orthodoxus Because those learned men do iointly affirme it you therefore imagine their said affirmation to be such a threefold cord as cannot possibly be pulled a sunder We are not sworn vnto men but vnto the infallible truth of lesus Christ and therefore seeing no one warrant for that their affirmation I am greatly induced to doubt of the truth thereof The reasons why I differ from them are these First by the very text it is plaine that the Lord himselfe he opened the mouth of the asse Secondly Moses in that place putteth not downe the word Elohim which although it signifies God yet sometimes also it is vsed for Angels but he hath only the word Iehouah there which word throughout the scriptures is neuer attributed to any but the Lord himselfe And therefore sith the text doth auouch that only Iehouah himselfe did open the mouth of the Asse I see not how any man should dare to affirme that the same was done by the Angel Besides that the very coherence and course of the historie doth plainely conclude that the Angell spoken of there could not possible do it in such sort as your selfe doth imagine For that Angell standing thrise in the way with a sword drawne in his hand to encounter with Balaam who rode on the asse could not essentially speake in the Asse and essentially also stand in the way at one and the selfe-same instant vnlesse haplie you imagine that the Angels they haue a peculiar power to be in sundrie places at once And therefore whatsoeuer your selfe or those learned men may affirme to the contrarie I perceiue not as yet how it should be an Angell that spake in the Asse but rather the Lord himselfe by an immediate power by which power he opened also the eies of Balaam himselfe before the face of the Angel Exorcistes Though the Lord himselfe was the efficient cause of opening the Asses mouth yet might he effect that worke by the Angels meanes and so the Angell notwithstanding all this he might ministeriallie speake in the Asse Orthodoxus What the Lord might haue done therein we all do know what he certeinly did therein neither you your selfe nor any are able to say In like maner the Lord might also by the Angels meanes haue opened the eies of Balaam but he did not that as the text doth plainely declare therefore nether the other Besides this the Lord at that verie instant did otherwaies imploy the Angell three seuerall times in the way with a sword drawne in his hand to encounter with Balaam and therefore hee would not vse his ministerie this waies which your selfe doth imagine neither could the Angell at that instant time be essentially inherent in the Asses belly vnlesse haplie you do hold an vbiquity in Angels which onely is proper to God But be it granted that the Lord not immediately but by meanes of the Angell did speake in the Asse and then do tell me withall how and after what sort the Angell effected that speech Lycanthropus Euen by entring essentially first into the verie essence of the Asses body and then next by disposing and tempring her toong to that speciall purpose Orthodoxus If you confidently hold that the Angell did essentially enter into the verie essence of the Asses bodie then do you likewise conclude that the Angell also was essentially conuerted into the Asse and that Baalam withall did ride and gallop and spurre and strike and braule with the Angell all the while he was vpon the Asses backe which were absurd to imagine But tell me Lycanthropus are you still in this minde that the Angels cannot possiblie speake by the toong of a brute beast vnlesse they be before essentially inherent within their bellies Lycanthropus So do I verily thinke Neither may we imagine that the Asse herselfe could possiblie either frame or vnderstand such a sensible speech as was vttered there because a reasonable speech cannot possiblie be framed or vnderstood of any but of a minde hauing vnderstanding reason Whereupon it foloweth necessarily that the selfesame speech being so sensible and reasonable could not possiblie be framed by the Asse but by the Angell essentially inherent within the Asse Orthodoxus Well sith you will needes transferre this miraculous and immediate worke from the Lord himselfe to the meanes I meane to the ministerie of the Angell as your selfe doth suppose Let it be freely graunted that the Angell indeed did frame that sensible speech in the mouth of the senslesse Asse as by a fit instrument appointed of God for that speciall purpose and yet this I auouch withall that the Angell did not ministerially effect that sensible speech by any such essentiall insinuation as your selfe doth imagine but by an onely effectuall operation as I haue shewed before Briefly this sensible speech if you will needes attribute the same to the Angell might and was also effectiuely accomplished by some powerfull operation of the Angell without any such needlesse essentiall entrance into the Asse as by the simile of a minstrill or trumpeter we did illustrate before And heereunto also accordeth the iudgement of Lyra whom your selfe aleadged of late saying Those sensible words were framed neither by the Asse alone nor by the Angel himselfe essentially inherent within the Asse but by an effectuall operation or power of the Angell directing and disposing the toong of the Asse to deliuer such sensible speech for the further confusion of Baalam himselfe And therefore this reason you see is of little or no force at all to fortifie your fond opinion of the diuell his essentiall assuming of true naturall bodies Exorcistes Though this place doth not directly proue that the diuels may assume and essentially enter into a true naturall body because no such thing is apparant in this action of the Angel from whence the proofe it selfe should be brought yet doth it plainely conclude that the diuel by meanes of a true naturall body may deliuer a sensible speech because some such thing we find here effected by the good Angel of God Orthodoxus If I should tie you strictly to the words of the text you could find no such speech
apparant by all the premisses Why his owne courtiers perceiuing him plainly depriued of reason did not bind him foorthwith and keepe him vp close but permitted him to wander wildly abroade there was very great reason For first the courtiers they knew very well and all men may see by experience that the binding and keeping of a madman close is so far from appeasing as it rather doth aggrauate for the present his furious humour and therefore the courtiers forbore to bind him at all Besides that they were the more especially loth to be led to that course because by the reuelation of Daniel they plainely vnderstood before that the lord God had determined his wandring abroad with the beasts in the field and therefore they greatly feared to intercept the said purpose of God assuring themselues that after the determined time he should safely returne to his owne kingdome againe Exorcistes But sir if he was not essentially transformed at all how then is it possible he should so long lie foorth naked in the fields in frosts and deawes or liue any time with such vnnaturall diet or be preserued at least from the deuouring of beasts Physiologus If we but consider this matter by naturall reason wee may find by experience that many things in deed are impossible to a sound man which yet to a furious or mad man are not so impossible For fury is such and so headstrong an humour as it maketh a man to endure and doe many things which otherwaies he could not possibly endure As for example many madde-men we see are well able to continue in the cold dew a long time and to be sustained that while with crude and rawe meates seeming also vnto themselues that they are not men but brute beasts in deed and thereupon also they delight to conuerse with beasts and to grow into familiaritie with them although yet not essentially transformed into true naturall beasts indeed Pneumatomachus Surely this seemeth strange vnto me and I see not the reason thereof Physiologus The reason is this Furie hath so highly disordered their nature and made their minds so beastly affected as many things in that their disordered state are possible and delectable to them which yet in their sounder estate were nothing so Euen as also we see by experience that verie coales or earth to many women with child are a verie sweete and delectable diet which yet before then they did loth and abhorre and all this by reason of their disordered nature at that instant time And hereupon also it came to passe that Nebuchadnezzer did grow into such familiaritie with beasts namely euen by reason of that likenes of nature which to his owne seeming he had with brute beasts in that his disordered state Yea and this also is the verie naturall cause why at that present he was not torne and deuoured of beasts euen as also we see by experience that furious dogges they doe neuer hurt mad-men nor naturall fooles Howbeit Nebuchad-nezzer in his furious estate and melancholike passion he was more especially preserued from the outrage of beasts through a miraculous prouidence and speciall protection of God and therefore his said preseruation in that selfesame respect the lesse admirable and woonderfull to vs. Thus then the matter it selfe being manifestly apparant I will now answere your maine or principall argument which was this in effect Nebuchad-nezzer he was essentially transformed into an oxe therefore the diuell may easily change himselfe into any shape whatsoeuer This argument is many waies faultie and halteth downe right For first your antecedent is vtterly false and a meere begging of the matter in Question because Nebuchad-nezzer as you haue hitherto heard he was not essentially transformed into an oxe and therefore this prooueth nothing at all for the reall transformation of spirits and diuels Secondly if Nebuchad-nezzer had beene so transformed in deed as your selfe doth imagine yet the sequel of your argument is vtterly vnsound because it stands vpon diuers or rather contrarie efficients namely God and the diuell The one hauing of himselfe an absolute and indeterminate power and therefore able of himselfe to worke what he will where when and howsoeuer best pleaseth himselfe and so by consequence he might if it had so seemed good in his wisedome haue essentially transformed Nebuchad-nezzer into au oxe The other the diuell I meane he hath onely a finite and limited power and therefore vtterly vnable of himselfe to accomplish any one worke beyond the bounds of that power and so by consequence he cannot possibly transforme himselfe essentially into any creature whatsoeuer without a speciall power from God Lastly your consequent it standeth onely vpon may be and so concludeth no certaintie at all concerning the Question Exorcistes Well sir howsoeuer Nebuchad-nezzer was not essentiallie transformed into an oxe yet this you consesse that for seauen yeeres togither he did vtterly want all vse of reason and therefore I woonder how so renowmed a kingdome coulde continue all that time without a gouernour Physiologus This is but extrauagant and wandring speech though yet the kingdome no doubt it was all that time gouerned by the princes and nobles according to Daniels direction Who fully assuring them of the king his vndoubted returne to the kingdome after those seuen yeeres end the nobles either they durst not establish any other as king for feare of being tainted with treason at his returne or else honoring him in their harts for his former victories they resolued to expect his happie returne with patience Howsoeuer the Lord who determined the iudgement he also prepared away no doubt to the peaceable preseruation of Nebuchad-nezzer his kingly dominions And therefore muse no more of the matter but either speake to the purpose in hand or put an end to the conference Lycanthropus Sir howsoeuer I am vnable to replie vpon any thing spoken I will neuer beleeue but that spirits and diuels can essentially transforme themselues into what bodies they please Orthodoxus I haue hitherto endured your weakenes in answering to any thing vttered by maister Physiologus hoping that verie shame would haue made you ere now to giue ouer the field Howbeit perceiuing your setled pertinacie in this your opinion I cannot but speake woondring withall that you should be so resolute in that whereof you can yeeld no one reason at all but onely your will Lycanthropus Yes sir it is the generall opinion of all men that the diuell can transforme himselfe into any forme whatsoeuer Orthodoxus Howsoeuer men by tradition had receiued an errour hand ouer head for not looking throughly into it yet may you not folow a multitude to do euill neither agree in a controuersie to decline after many and ouerthrowe the truth And verie certeine I am that no one sound writer either old or new is of your mind but rather the contrarie As for my selfe I neuer could see any shew of reason tending that way For the Lord God as he hath endued
with the actuall possessions expressed at large in the scriptures but which more is the same is a perpetuall infirmity eftsoones falling foorth among men as was shewed before And therefore there is no question at all concerning the certeine truth thereof Orthodoxus I perceiue you haue hardned your forehead against the infallible truth of the Lord for Physiologus hauing before by naturall philosophy very sufficiently shewed the apparant disparison betweene your pretended actuall possession and the approued actuall possessions exprest in the scriptures and which more is my selfe also hauing eftsoones by the sacred canons and rules of the word very fully confuted your idle conceite concerning the falsly supposed perpetuity of actuall possessions you notwithstanding beeing vtterly vnable to make any sound reply vnto either of both euen by a pittifull begging of that which you cannot possibly prooue doe now afresh very impudently insist vpon the controuersed question it selfe without either probability of reason or shew of sense Exorcistes Yes sir the perpetuity of actuall possession is very apparant in the sacred scriptures Orthodoxus I doubt not then but that you would more fully haue made knowen that selfesame apparancy long ere now But go to be it so as you say The perpetuity thereof will then appeare vnto vs either by some canon or counsel at least conteined in the scriptures which I verely beleeue you will neuer be able to shew For first the Apostle Paul he tels the Ephesians with an appeale to their conscience that he hath shewed them the whole councel of God that is so much of Gods counsel as may any waies concerne the sauing or killing of soules But in all his authenticall epistles he giues neither canon nor counsell concerning the perpetuity of actuall possessions therefore the perpetuity of actuall possessions is no such part of Gods counsell as may any waies concerne the sauing or killing of soules If yea then was not the Apostle himselfe set free from their bloud in concealing it from them for in none of his canonicall Epistles hath he discouered the same If no then the perpetuitie of actuall possession is no part of Gods counsell concerning the sauing or killing of soules because the same cannot possibly be prooued from any of the Apostles authenticall writings For the Apostle no doubt if he had euer entended to put downe a Canon concerning the perpetuitie of actuall possession then had he verie fit occasion therefore in all or some one of his Epistles to Timothie and Titus where he purposely handles all ministeriall functions and precisely puts downe all ecclesiasticall constitutions and orders concerning Church discipline But in no one of those his authenticall Epistles is there any one Canon at all apparant which may tend in shew to any such purpose and therefore the perpetuitie of actuall possession is no such part of Gods counsell as may in any sort concerne the sauing or killing of soules And as no one Canon so neither hath the Apostle himselfe in any his Canonicall writings giuen any one counsell at all concerning such matters No not euen there where he purposely entreats of the full power of the diuell and had iust occasion if euer to haue giuen some aduise at the least concerning the same Especially there where he calleth The prince of the ayre that selfesame spirit which euen now effectually worketh in the children of disobedience Also euen there especially where he affirmeth all those the disobedient ones to be strongly ensnared and fearfully captiuated of the diuell at his pleasure In these two places you see he purposely entreateth of the power of the diuell whatsoeuer But in neither of those places the Apostle doth giue any one counsell at all concerning the perpetuitie of actuall possession therefore the same is no part of Gods counsell which may any way concerne the sauing or killing of soules Exorcistes Why sir euen in those places of Scripture which your selfe now reciteth the Apostle saith plainly that the diuell worketh effectually in the disobedient sort and that those disobedient ones are ensnared and captiuated of the diuell at his pleasure These wordes if they import not a counsell yet are they a watch-word at least concerning such matters For what imploy those words else I beseech you but an actuall possession Orthodoxus They imploy an actuall power in the diuell but no actuall possession at all For else either must all persons whatsoeuer be actually possessed of satan because before regeneration it is the naturall condition of all men yea euen of the Apostles themselues to be vnder his power or you must necessarily conclude at the least that onely the vnregenerate and reprobate people are actually possessed of satan for that the Apostle in those places entreateth onely of such And so by consequence the yoong-youth at Notrub he was not actually possessed at all because euerie man else and euen you your owne selues do generally repute him a religious a godly and a gracious youth Moreouer euen in that selfe same Epistle where the Apostle aduiseth the whole Church at Ephesus to be euerie way carefull in furnishing themselues with the compleate armour of God for the better enabling of them against all the assaults of the diuell and the speedier quenching of all his fierie darts he giues them notwithstanding no counsell at all for vsing of that their saide spirituall armour against any your supposed actuall possessions and therefore the perpetuitie of actuall possession was no part of Gods counsell that might any way concerne the sauing or killing of soules If yea then the Apostle himselfe he hath not so sufficiently and so fully instructed his Christian soldiours concerning an absolute vse of that their spirituall armour as in equitie and conscience he ought and thereupon he is not free from their bloud If no then without question a plaine nullitie of actuall possession now in these daies of the Gospel is by the Apostle his purposed silence therein very apparantly euident Besides that the Apostle Peter stirring vp in like â—ort the scattered Christians vnto a continuall and watchfull regard against all the dangerous vagaries the lion-like rampings and greedie deuourings of satan he maketh no mention at all of any their watchings and wardings against your supposed perpetuitie of actuall possessions As also our Sauiour Christ admonishing Peter and the other Apostles of satan his inexorable desire to winow and sift them like wheate he speaketh no one word of any the extraordinarie power of the diuell for actuall possessions Whereas Paul Peter and our Sauiour himselfe had euerie of them in those the forenamed places verie iust occasion to haue written thereof Yea and some of them also in some of those places at least woulde purposely haue handled your supposed actuall possession of diuels to the full if so be the supposed continuance thereof had beene vndoubtedly determined in the secret counsell of God But no one of them all in those
PHYSIOLOGVS ORTHODOXVS EXORCISTES Orthodoxus THe Lord hauing in great mercie enabled our bodies a fresh by his good blessings bestowed vpon vs it shal not be good to trifle the time but forthwith go an end in our conference Come on therefore Exorcistes repeate and prosecute your lately propounded argument Exorcistes This then it is I draue foorth a diuell from the yoongman at Mahgnitton therefore the yoongman he was actually possessed before Else how could I possiblie haue driuen foorth the diuell if he had in the yoongman no possession at all Orthodoxus I answere you thus as before The yoongman at Mahgnitton he was not actually possessed of satan therefore you could not possiblie driue a diuell from him For how is it possible you should actually dispossesse the diuel of that man in whom he was neuer actually possessea And thus still you may plainly perceiue your preposterous happe in disputing this point For notwithstanding any thing hitherto heard you are yet as farre from the probable dispatch of your pretēded actuall possession as you were at the first and wil be I warrant you so long as you insist as you do vpon the propounded question it selfe This is nothing else but to proue the same by the same the which in all ages hath bin accounted a reason without any reason at al. Howbeit because you are now fledde as it seemes to your vttermost refuge I meane to the succourlesse shelter of that your weather beaten action pretēded to be done at Mahgnitton I do verily perswade my selfe that if once you be daunted therein you will shortly giue ouer the skirmish Exorcistes Yea sir. When I see you haue prooued my action at Mahgniton no action at all concerning the actuall dispossessing of diuels I will then lay my hand on my mouth without any further replie to any thing spoken But this I suppose must not be performed in hast Orthodoxus Well then we will take so much more leisure in performing the same And therefore hauing hitherto very fully discouered that tyrannicall dominion of diuels which might anie way concerne their power of possession or their power of obsession we will now proceed next to an orderly examination of that superiour ineuitable working power whereby the aforesaid actuall possession of diuels is vndoubtedly conquered subdued squashed and euen vtterly annihilated in comparison of any the precedent poysons thereof Yea and so much the rather we entend verie carefully to follow this our entended course because in an only Imagination thereof there doth lie it should seeme the verie fortresse it selfe of all those fantasticall and idle conceits which concerne your supposed dispossessing of Satan And therefore hauing once by a conscionable discouery of the infallible truth made knowen to your conscience that your pretēded action which was wrought at Mahgnition cannot possibly chalenge the approoued priuiledge of any exordinarie power from the Lord for the actuall dispossessing of diuels I hope we may confidently conclude from the consideration thereof an apparant nullitie of all actuall possessions in these daies of the Gospel Lycanthropus That is vndoubtedly true and therefore I pray you proceede Orthodoxus With verie good will First therefore this said tyrannicall dominion of diuels respecting especially their temporarie power for actuall possession the same euer was and is effectually subdued by an onely extraordinarie a supernaturall and supereminent power of the omnipotent eternall God Which selfesame supernaturall power the Egyptian sorcerers were forcibly constrained to acknowledge for some etsbang-elohim that is some Diuine operation or vertue extraordinarily proceeding from the Almightie Iehouah himselfe And because the holy spirit of God is that onely essentiall vertue of the father and the sonne together therefore that selfesame speech of the sorcerers concerning this power it is by our Sauiour Christ euen purposely interpreted Pneuma kaidactylos theou that is the spirit and finger of God Because that selfesame holy spirit being an essentiall power equally proceeding from the Father and Sonne together doth as it were by a finger or hand verie powerfully distribute some certaine extraordinarie gifts and graces to some certaine peculiar persons peculiarly appointed of God for the actuall dispossessing of diuels And this said supereminent power of the Lord is twofold namely either immediate or mediate Exorcistes What meane you by the immediate power of God Orthodoxus I vnderstand thereby that selfesame diuine supernaturall and supereminent authority of Iesus Christ the stronger Who of him selfe alone and without any one instrument or meanes attending vpon him is that vndoubted el-gibbor that inuincible preuailing power which doth by the commaunding force of his spiritual scepter very valiantly vanquish ouercome and subdue the actuall power of satan the strong armed man notwithstanding he mainteined before a peaceable possession ouer the world Philologus And what meane you by the mediate power of God Orthodoxus I vnderstand thereby a secondary or subordinate power of the almighty Iehouah executed by some certeine speciall persons peculierly appointed by the Lord him selfe to that speciall purpose Who ministerially and in the onely name mediation and vertue of Iesus Christ doe valiantly conquere and actually ouercome the actuall power of satans possession For very certeine it is that the sonne of God he powerfully expelleth diuels by his owne immediate power whereas all other besides they do it ministerially in and by the vertue power of Christ his name Howbeit we haue yet to consider further that this same mediate power of the Lord is also twofold namely Apostolicall and Ecclesiasticall Exorcistes What meane you by the Apostolical mediate power Orthodoxus I vnderstand thereby that peculier prerogatiue or that extraordinary spirituall preheminence operation and vertue wherewith the onely wise God more especially inuested his chosen Apostles themselues concerning some extraordinary power for the powerfull expelling of diuels And all this for the more authenticall confirmation of the newly published Gospel throughout those newly established churchess wheresoeuer they came Lycanthropus And what meane you by the ecclesiasticall mediate power Orthodoxus I vnderstand thereby some extraordinary peculier priuiledge or speciall grace very extraordinarily bestowed vpon the newly established churches ouer spirits and diuels And this especially for a further more admirable approbation of the newly established Gospel so admirably planted among them before by the extraordinary preachers thereof Wherein we haue to consider further that this selfesame ecclesiasticall mediate power is here to be considered in a double respect Namely in respect either of the churches primitiue or of the churches successiue Philologus How first in consideration of the churches primitiue Orthodoxus The ecclesiasticall mediate power respecting more especially the churches primitiue was an extraordinary ability faculty vertue or force very apparantly euident in the 70. disciples and some other besides They hauing euery of them an extraordinary
diuels for thereby also you might haue borne vs in hand that herbes in times past haue beene workers of miracles Exorcistes Well sir howsoeuer you would scoffe out the matter doe answere Iosephus Physiologus I will Iosephus he hath heretofore so often beene tainted in matters of more waightie importance as we haue the lesse cause to credit his pen in these his senseles reports Besides that let this which he writes concerning these tryfling toyes be esteemed for certeine truthes I meane that some such dipossessions were effected in some outward appearance yet Wierus he flatly affirmes that Iosephus the Iewe Vespasian the Ethnicke and Eleazar also the Hebrew were euerie of them woonderfully bewitched with the iuggling sleights of the diuell Who for the present did purposely pretend the giuing of place to an imagined vertue in ringes in rootes in herbes and in stones that by meanes of such sundrie his illusions those persons themselues might the more easily be brought to repose greater confidence in those tryfling toies then in the almighty Iehouah the onely disposer and guider of all things And for the furthering of this his diuellish endeuour the better he brought it also to passe that all those his said Exorcismes they were very confidently fathered vpon Salomon himselfe in an especiall regard of his singular wisedome that by such legerdemaines he might winne the more credit to all those his sprituall illusions But seeing it is certeinly true that these created instruments could not effectiuely extend foorth themselues to the powerfull effecting of any such supernaturall effects what man will bee so wilfully madde as once to beleeue or once to esteeme those his tryfling tales for infallible truthes Againe sith Salomon the verie mirrour it selfe of heauenly wisedome being vsually accustomed as the Hebrewes report to dispute of trees and of herbes from the Cedar of Libanon to the verie Hysope it selfe and which more is of beastes of fowles of creeping things and of fishes in the knowledge of all which there lieth hid from the world much secret Philosophie for the admirable effecting of such admirable matters by meere naturall meanes If Salomon I say disputing these matters hath left no one monument at all of any such admirable skill throughout the whole scriptures recorded what wight is so sottishly minded as once to imagine that wise Salomon himselfe was the first inuentour of anie such palpable fooleries or that he was the author of any such Magicall enchantments and superstitious Exorcismes as are so iniuriouslie or rather so blasphemouslie fathered vpon him Exorcistes How basely soeuer you esteeme of these meanes which Iosephus reportes yet what say you to that which good Tobie declareth concerning the perfume made with the fishes liuer which expelled the diuell from out of Sarah the daughter of Raguel That perfume you know it was only a created and meere naturall meanes therefore an onely created and meere naturall meanes it hath and may haue in it an actuall power for the dispossessing of spirits and diuels Physiologus The booke of Tobiah it is not Canonicall and therefore not authenticall enough to conuince or confirme any matter in controuersie But be it supposed Canonicall yet thus then I answere the same Namely that the forenamed perfume so made of the liuer it might lessen in some sort the present affliction though not vtterly expell the diuell his possession For that perfume it might be some physicall meanes to drie vp or correct some bad disposition in Sarahs braine arising naturally from the variable disposition of the moone it selfe ouer moistning her braine and making it more apt for the present apprehending of satan his entended afflictions Which saide badde humour of hers being by that meanes something alaied the affliction withall it would something abate howbeit vtterly to expell the diuell his possession it could haue no possible power at all No that supernaturall action if any such were was supernaturally effected by a supernaturall power in the Angell Who taught not Tobiah by any force of that perfume to expell the diuell but tolde him rather before that so soone as the perfume was kindled the diuell should foorthwith be expelled Not that the perfume it selfe should effectiuely procure any such supernaturall action but be rather an apparant demonstration of the admirable effecting thereof For euen as it is not vndoubtedly necessarie that the washing of my handes shoulde be an efficient cause of the moones ecclipse though the moone it selfe at the verie time of my washing be vndoubtedly ecclipsed so neither was it necessarie that the forenamed perfume should effectiuely procure of it selfe that selfesame supposed dispossession of satan howsoeuer satan at the verie instant it selfe was truelie dispossessed So then the Angell he taught by that perfume what should then come to passe not rendring any one efficient cause why it so came to passe As also the verie text you alledge it telleth vs not that the perfume expelled the power of the diuell but that it was rather the Angell himselfe who cast the diuell foorth at the verie same time the perfume was kindled Now then what was it I pray you that expelled the diuel the perfume which rose vp from the liuer no but the Angell that bound him And how did he binde him by any effectuall meanes of that perfume No but at the verie same season the liuer perfumed the Angell he bound the diuell in the vtmost borders of Egypt Giuing Tobiah that selfesame perfume as an infallible signe but no effectuall cause at all of Sarah her happie deliuerance Thus then you plainely perceiue that no created or meere naturall meanes â—ath any efficient power of it selfe for the actuall dispossessing of spirits and diuels Exorcistes Wel sir howsoeuer you may iustly challenge the authority of Tobiah for not being authenticall I haue one example from the canonicall scriptures to confirme the infallible truth of that which I hold herein Namely that admirable action of Dauid who onely but plaied with his harp and the euil spirit of the Lord departed from Saul Howbeit that harpe and that playing of Dauid thereon were onely created and meer naturall meanes therefore some onely created or meere naturall meanes may haue in it naturally an effectuall power for the dispossessing of spirits and diuels Physiologus In deed if spirits and diuels had their peculier bodies naturally vnited vnto them as Apuleius affirmeth saying that diuels are liuing creatures constituted of airy bodies of passible minds and in time also eternall then there would be no inconuenience at all to hold that spirits and diuels by a melodious sound or some other such sensible meanes might be altered in their actions and expelled from men For the Platonists they flatly affirme that diuels are a certeine meane betweene the intellectuall spirits who are of a pure spirituall substance and between men hauing bodies constituted of the foure elements Howbeit because the sacred scriptures and
appointed praier and fasting an onely effectuall meanes for the powerfull expelling of diuels he notwithstanding all this doth make a speciall choice of persons of places and times for the more orderly effecting of euerie such admirable enterprise Orthodoxus Your answeres without doubt are suddenly fallen to such deadly debate among themselues as the one is readie to pull out the throate of the other by reason of some bad disposition or present defect in your memorie For praier fasting ere while was the only appointed meanes to expel the power of the diuel and now the efficacie thereof is restrained to places times It was not long since a publike ordinance appointed generallie for all men and now it is imposed vpon some speciall persons Not long since it might well be effected by the partie himselfe and his parents but now the powerfull dispatch thereof is peculiar onely to preachers and pastours Not long since it was an ordinarie power incident to any godly Minister or others but no Minister now how godlie soeuer hath the good hap to hit on that matter saue onely your selfe Thus then you see that as the disease so also the cure it doth ebbe and flowe with the Moone Howbeit these doubtfull vncerteinties doe sauour verie shrewdly of some legerdemaine at the least And howsoeuer your selfe auouching that God maketh speciall choise of persons of places and times woulde cunningly shelter your cause vnder Augustines credite verie certeine I am that the same is onely a Iesuiticall iuggling deuise and therefore it deserueth the selfesame answere with theirs For be it that the Lord as Augustine saith doth make a speciall choice of persons of places and times for the orderly effecting of euery such admirable action this prooueth not that the power of working myracles continueth still to this present Onely it sheweth that whensoeuer the Lord worketh any woonderfull worke he is free to make choise of persons of places and times as seemeth best to his wisedome And therefore admitting all this for a truth do tell me withall by what meanes you are certeine that the Lord made speciall choise of your selfe for such speciall busines Exorcistes Why sir the verie effect it selfe doth fully declare the truth of the matter for I cast foorth the diuell Orthodoxus Be it that some such effect as your selfe surmizeth did forthwith succeed your saide enterprize yet forsomuch as your selfe did no more in the matter then was ordinarily incident you say to any godly preacher or others how comes it to passe that those other performing the very selfesame things you performed your selfe no such admirable effect should follow their labors Was it for that the rest of the Ministers were all but vngodly wretches in comparison of you Or was it so rather for that those Ministers fearing the Lord aright the Lord would not suffer their innocent soules to be falsly seduced by any such sleights or for that you your selfe being at that time more destitude of grace had for the present some power to effect such a false deceiueable signe to your greater condemnation without speedie repentance Exorcistes Howsoeuer I may not impure a lesse measure of godlinesse to others neither yet arrogate any more to my selfe then to any of the rest verie certeine it is that onely my selfe had then the speciall power to expell the diuell Physiologus Master Orthodoxus let me argue this point Come on Exorcistes If your owne selfe as you say had then a more speciall power to expell the diuell by prayer and fasting then any of the rest that your said power it must needs be a vocall or personall power at the least My meaning is that such a speciall power it proceeded either from your prayer or your person but not from your prayer at all for the others also they prayed and fasted as deuoutly as you did your selfe albeit in vaine and therefore your prayer of it selfe it could haue no more power then theirs vnlesse hapily you haue some speciall prayer for that speciall purpose beyond the rest of your brethren Yea and when all comes to all it was not your prayer but your preaching it should seeme that expelled the diuell Againe if such a speciall power proceeded from your person alone then surely that selfe same personall power it was either some naturall or supernaturall power at the least Howbeit a meere naturall power it might not possibly be because no created or meere naturall power may possibly extend foorth it selfe to any such supernaturall action as hath been sufficiently shewed before Exorcistes That followeth not For the body of Christ it was vndoubtedly a created or true naturall body and yet notwithstanding there went vertue or power from out of the same for the admirable curing of people And therefore if it so seemed good to the Lord for the glory of his name why might not some power in like manner proceed from my person for the timely expelling of that spirit or diuel Physiologus Besides your shamelesse pride in matching your body with the body of Christ you do monstrously mistake the very point of your purpose For do you imagine that there went any power essentially from out of the body of Christ for the admirable curing of any Exorcistes I make no question thereof And the scripture it telleth vs plainly that the whole multitude thronged to touch him for there proceeded vertue out of him and healed them all Physiologus Though it be said in the text that vertue proceeded out of Christ to the curing of many yet that must not be vnderstood as though any vertue essentially existing in the naturall body of Christ did passe foorth essentially from him vnto others in that selfesame absolute number no but this proceeding of vertue from the bodie of Christ vnto others is so farre foorth to be accounted a going foorth as the effect may be said to proceed from the cause Or it is to be interpreted according to the maner of a cause producing an effect The which are said to go foorth the one from the other in as much as the verie cause it selfe doth apparantly shine foorth in that selfesame effect which it worketh And euen after such a manner we must vnderstand this matter in question Because the Diuine vertue it selfe essentially existing in the person of Christ did effectually procure present health to the parties oppressed Otherwaies how must that text be vnderstood which telleth vs that the wisedome of God being but one the same can do all things it selfe that it renueth all and entreth eueh into the holie soules making them the friends and prophets of God Now sir because it is said he entreth into the holie soules must we therefore imagine the holie spiriâ— of God to be any where now where it was not before not so for the same of necessitie at all times and seasons is euerie where present Howbeit because the holie spirit of God doth then
you one reason for this once in stead of a thousand thus The working of miracles is ceased long since and therefore also the miraculous faith Exorcistes Why sir to remooue the diuell by prayer and fasting is no miracle at all Physiologus Maister Orthodoxus doe rest you a little and let me argue this point Come on Exorcistes and answere directly Is the driuing out of diuels by prayer and fasting no miracle I pray you Exorcistes It is no miracle at all Physiologus Well then I perceiue we are of necessitie enforced to declare plainely vnto you first what a miracle is with the sundrie kinds of miracles and then next we will exactly consider of your action at Mahgnitton to see whether the same pretended to be done by your selfe as it was may truely be termed a miracle in any respect Lycanthropus I pray you proceed in your purposed course Physiologus With very good will Wherein first for the word miracle it selfe we haue to consider that that thing which we commonly account a miracle is named of the Hebrewes niphlah I meane a most admirable or a merueilous matter Or rather niphlath if you will that is a woonder quite hid from our eies And therefore all those obscure and admirable matters which do highly surmount the reach of our reason they are commonly called niphlaoth that is very strange and admirable actions Or rather miphleoth I meane such hidden and such secrete occurrents as cannot possibly be conceiued by the narrow compasse of our common and naturall sense They do fitly proceed from the radicall word palah or niplah which is as much to say as to be vailed obscured quite hidden difficult and very highly surmounting the shallow reach of our reason Because euery miraculous action is alwaies some such kind of matter as is ouer much vailed obscured hidden and difficult beyond our common capacity yea and such an vnwonted occurrent as seemeth most admirable and very hard in our present apprehension In like manner the Gretians they entitle it thauma that is a merueile or woonder And it commeth of the verbe thaumazo which signifieth to admire to merueile or woonder The latines they call it miraculum quasi occuli mirum the woonder of the eie for that it seemeth a merueile in euery mans eies and therefore they do oftentimes expound it a prodigious a monstrous or an admirable matter for that the Lord by such an vmvoonted meanes doth extraordinarily foreshew some admirable accident quite contrary to the accustomed order of nature her selfe So then by all the premisses it is verie apparant what a miracle is Namely it is by the extraordinary working power of the Lord some such vnaccustomed action as verie highly surmounteth the whole faculty of euerie created nature and is therefore thus admirablie effected to the end it might the rather affect the beholders with an admiration thereof might the more certeinly confirme their faith in the truth of the worde In this definition we may easily discerne all the essentiall causes of myracles For first the efficient cause of euerie such admirable action is an extraordinarie working power of the Lord. The materiall cause are all those admirable actions themselues The formall cause is the vnaccustomed maner of effecting those actions The finall cause is partly to affect the beholders with some serious admiration concerning the omnipotent power and wisedome of God and partly to confirme their faith in the truth of the worde By all which you may plainely perceiue what a miracle is Lycanthropus Verie true but what be the sundrie kindes of miracles Physiologus They are those variable and differing sorts of admirable actions which both may be and are diuersly discerned according to their diuers and sundrie conditions And these sundrie sorts of miracles are twofold namely either true or false miracles Philologus Which are the true miracles Physiologus They are al those admirable actions whatsoeuer which both for their matter and forme are rightly and truely effected and which also are wholie directed to their certeine determined endes namely the glorie of God and credit of his glorious Gospell And such are all those admirable actions how sielie soeuer in shew which were miraculously accomplished either immediately by the Lord alone or mediately at least by his extraordinarie ministers Pneumatomachus Which are the false miracles Physiologus They are all those admirable matters in shew which either are not in deed and in truth the selfesame thing they seeme to portend or which else are effected not by any supernaturall power surmounting the reach of our reason but by some such naturall facultie of nature herselfe as is hidden and secret from the present apprehension of those that behold the same Yea and which also are eftsoones directed to some such specialpurpose or sinister end as is directly opposite to the glorie of God and the truth of the Gospell These later sorts of miraculous actions how admirable soeuer in sensible appearance they may without any extraordinarie helpe of the Lord be easily effected by Angels by diuets and expert persons euen onely thorough some hidden facultie of nature her selfe three manner of waies 1. For first verie certaine it is that Angels diuels and men expert in naturall philosophie hauing a deepe insight into the hidden secrets of nature and being thoroughly experienced in the powers thereof they may and can easily apply those saide natural powers to some such perexisting matter as hath in it selfe a naturall disposition to euerie such action entended For from the naturall coniunction of some such perexisting matter with some proffered efficients there will euen naturally succeed some such vndoubted effects as the partie procuring such naturall coniunction propounded before Yea and those also vpon the sudden and beyond the expectation of all the beholders therof which doth eftsoones enforce them to admire at such rare and vnwoonted euents For the diuell himselfe as also those experienced persons in natures secrets they doe verie well know that frogs wormes yea and also some serpents are easily engendred of some putrified matter perexisting in nature especially if there be added to euerie such putrified matter and of heat by such certaine degrees as is correspondent thereto Now then this the foresaid conioyning of putrified matter an actiue heat together being not verie difficult for diuels and for cogging companions to effect if they please they therefore eftsoones doe attempt the timely effecting thereof and all to circumuent and deceiue the beholders themselues Euen as did Iannes and Iambres the Egyptian sorcerers if Augustines iudgement be adiudged Canonicall 2 Secondly the diuell himselfe and so many besides as haue any insight at all into the secrets of nature they doe very well know that some sodaine commotion of the naturall spirits of bloud and of humours do mightily disturbe and distemper the bodies of men Insomuch as the imaginations the
Physiologus This then I dare tel you for truth that your assumption is vtterly false For the powerfull expelling of spirits and diuels was neuer effected by any such meanes but by the onely supernaturall power of the Lord as hath been sufficiently prooued long since and therefore euery such action notwithstanding your often pretended meanes of praier and fasting must needs be a miracle Exorcistes Nay sir when satan is cast out by praier and fasting the whole church or any member thereof it worketh no miracle because she cannot in vsing the meanes be assured to preuaile For although the assurance is and may be great in this case yet we cannot be sure that the party shal be deliuered the meanes beeing vsed because God is at liberty to blesse the meanes he hath appointed to this ende or to withhold his blessing from it And in this latter case what will any meanes profit or preuaile Physiologus Your minde it shoud seeme is mightily amazed with the matter in question your speeches they are so fearefully distracted among themselues For the assurance you say is very great in this case and yet you cannot be assured of the parties deliuerance Because the whole successe of that busines doth wholie depend vpon the great blessing of God without which the meanes cannot possiblie preuaile or profit in any respect Oh heere are crowded vp closely togither an huge company of crazie conclusions the one of them proferring the canuizado or counterchecke directly vnto the other Insomuch as if they be not al bound the sooner vnto the good behauiour some bloudie massacre will vndoubtedly fall foorth among themselues But goe to what if your saide meanes should be blessed of God My meaning is this What if the Lord euen at your praier and fasting be entreated to driue foorth a diuell Were that worke thus effected as you fondlly imagine by meanes no miraculous action at all Exorcistes It is then mirandum non miraculum that is a woonderful worke but not a woonder Physiologus Oh then I perceiue the verie period of time is now plainely expired wherein that old verse must needes be fulfilled which saith Miranda canunt at non credenda Poetae The Poets many woonders sing Which are not woorth the crediting For tell me I pray you whether you account this your newe comed distinction of mirandum and miraculum as a sound and a currant distinction Exorcistes Yea why not It being the very same which the holy Ghost obserueth in sundry places of Scripture where he putteth downe these two distinct words namely signes and woonders By signes he vnderstandeth all those miraculous actions whatsoeuer which are called miracula and by woonders he meaneth all those admirable matters which in an onely regard of their great vnwoontednes are fitly termed miranda Physiologus This new-coyned Logicke or rather this coie-kinde of distinguishing causes you haue learned I perceiue from nyce mistres Merchant who with as great probability of reason hath tolde vs long since that Pepper is hot in operation and colde in working Making operation and working the diuident members of her pepper in sale as you make your woonderfull worke and your woonder the seuerall kindes of admirable matters and all this to manage if possiblie it might be your woonderles woonder wrought at Mahgnitton And thus you would cunningly cast a myste if you could before the eies of the simple to make them beleeue that a woonderfull worke were no woonder at all and that no woonder at all were a woonderfull worke And so it commeth eftsoones to passe especially among such as are desirous of nouelties that signes and woonders must be esteemed either as true woonders or no woonders at all whensoeuer and so oft as it pleaseth your selfe to make of a woonderlesse woonder a woonder of woonders Howbeit because this new phantasied distinction of signes woonders is be come at this present the fairest flower in your garden to furnish foorth your faint-harted cause it shall not be amisse first to put downe the verie true meaning of those two seuerall wordes and then next to lay open your palpable impudencie in so groslie abusing the same to serue your turne Lycanthropus I pray you proceed in your purpose Physiologus Content First therefore for signes and woonders the Hebrewes they haue vsually Oth and mopeth sauing that eftsoones for the word Oth they do vse the word Lanas which signifieth a signe or a banner set vp for a token as in sundrie places of Scripture it is verie apparant By the worde Oth they vnderstand such a signe as portendeth some rare matter to come or rather a woonder whose prediction is hard at hand It springeth from the radicall verbe Athath which is as much to say as to come speedily to make haste or to runne because euery miraculous action surmounting the ordinarie course of nature and comming to passe beyond the common expectation of people is eftsoones in place as it were on the sodaine and within the beholders view before they begin to imagine thereof as we may plainely perceiue by the verie vse of the word it selfe in sundrie places Againe by the word Mopeth they vnderstand some prodigious or seldome seene thing some vnwoonted or perswasorie matter yea or some such perswasible signe as verie easily procureth credit with all the beholders It comes of the worde iaphah and hath an affinitie with pathah which signifieth to perswade or entice because euerie such admirable matter how vnwoonted soeuer it hath in it selfe such a perswading or an entycing power as preuaileth with men And hereof it came to passe that the third sonne of Noah fitly was named Iapheth Gen. 9. 27. for that he and all his posteritie by the admirable promises put downe in the Gospell were so easilie perswaded or enticed to dwell in the tents of Shem vnto whom the Sauiour was promised The which dwelling with Shem may fitly be called Mopeth that is a woonderfull matter by reason of that woonderfull effect which it wrought vpon Iapheth and all his posteritie These two wordes Oth and Mopeth do differ the one from the other in this namely for that the word Oth is vsed in many places where the worde Mopeth may not be vsed because Mopeth it euermore respecteth the effect or the end which is to procure an admiration with men and therefore it is verie apparant that a woonder respecting especially the beholders themselues is no lesse admirable then a woondrous worke howsoeuer it pleaseth your selfe to distingush the one from the other Exorcistes Not I but the holie Ghost doth distinguish them so in sundrie places especially in Deuteronomie where he putteth downe signes and woonders distinctiuely Vnderstanding by signes such miraculous actions as are onely effected by the supernaturall or commanding power of the Lord and by woonders such strange operations as do for their strangenes make men to admire albeit