neuer failed in doctrine or iudgement so neyther in the working of miracles This seemeth an irrefragable reason no doubt and such a one I beleeue as may not possiblie be shaken Well bee it supposed that after the Apostles receiued the holie Ghost their faith fayled sometimes in Doctrine or iudgement then it is very probable their said faith it might also fayle at sometime in the working of miracles That the Apostles at sometimes fayled in the first it is verie apparant For Peter hee went not rightly to the truth of the Gospell Iohn would haue worshipped the angell once or twice The Apostles and brethren who were at Iudaea they thought that the word of God was not to be preached vnto the Gentiles All these were errors in doctrine and iudgement And therefore the Apostles faith fayling directlie in these it might fayle much more in the working of miracles Howbeit because you seeme so confident in this one assertion doe shew vs the reason why the Apostles faith so soone as they were filled with the holy Ghost could not possiblie fayle in doctrine or iudgement Exorcistes My reason is this The holy Ghost is called the spirit of truth This spirit being promised to them was afterwards in miraculous maner bestowed vpon them they therefore receyuing the fulnes of this spirit their faith from thenceforth could not possiblie faile in Doctrine or iudgement and therefore much lesse in the working of miracles Orthodoxus I answere The holie Ghost is iustly called the spirit of truth This spirit of truth was faithfullie promised vnto the Apostles and at the feast of Pentecost very miraculouslie bestowed vpon them Hitherto we accord you see in euery point Howbeit your inference inforced from hence is not proued but pitifullie begged for we denie that either all or any one of the Apostles receyued the fulnes of this spirit Exorcistes Then you denie the truth of the sacred Scriptures For doth not the Euangelist Luke verie flatlie affirme that they were all filled with the holie Ghost and spake with new toongs as the spirit gaue them vtterance Orthodoxus He denyes not the truth of the sacred scriptures who onlie denyes but your erronious collections vntrulie gathered from the sacred scriptures For it is one thing to be filled with and another thing to receyue the fulnes of the spirit It is an axiome not onely warrantable by learned Philosophers and commonlie knowen to the simplest on earth but approued of all by common experience that whatsoeuer thing is receyued of another the same thing is receyued only according to the capacitie of that which receyueth the same We do willinglie acknowledge that the holie Ghost hath replenished only our sauiour Christ with the vnmeasurable aboundance of his graces and that Christ only hath receyued the fulnes of the spirit because that vnto him the father giueth not the spirit by measure Notwithstanding the Apostles and all other the elect they do only apprehend the graces of the spirit in their proper measure according to which measure they haue receyued not the fulnes it selfe but of the fulnes of Christ his spirit euen grace for grace By all which it is very apparant that euen the blessed Apostles and other the elect in Christ they receyue the graces of the spirit only according to the simple capacitie of humane frailtie and not according to the maiestie and fulnes of the spirit it selfe so as their faith could not faile in any respect For howsoeuer they were trulie renued and enlightned with the holy Ghost yet were they not in this present life so absolutely enligtned renued or clensed from all peruersnes of hart or blindnes of mind as that they could neyther swarue in doing their dutie nor be deceiued at all in their iudgement Not that the measure of the spirit which they receyued was of it selfe insufficient to preserue them absolutely from either of both but for that it pleased the father in such sort to dispence his spiritual graces to men in this life as the verie best might perceiue their owne imperfections and therewithall be driuen to acknowledge that the fulnes of perfection consisteth only in Christ. For who will denye there is water enough in the mayne Ocean sea to quench the raging flames whatsoeuer which wast a whole towne howbeit this we must needes acknowledge withall that a simple earthen vessell cannot possiblie contayne enough of that water to asswage the fier alone that burneth one house The blessed Apostles they acknowledge themselues to be men yea men who being naturallie begotten in the image and likenes of Adam their father must naturallie flame and burne as the Prophet reporteth And therefore albeit they were certainely borne anew of water and the spirit yet the water of the spirit it doth not so thoroughlie extinguish in them all sparks and ouersights whatsoeuer as that their faith could not faile in any respect For then what needed their corruptible bodies to put incorruption vpon them or themselues desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ Howbeit this we certainely know that during this life there remayneth euen in the best of all a dayly strife betweene the spirit and the flesh yea and that the remnants of flesh do sticke very fast not only in their harts but also in their minds And for these selfe-same respects the very Apostles themselues do freely acknowledge that now namely while they liue in this life they knowe only but in part that the power of God is perfited in weakenes and that therefore they do all cry out with the Prophet and say heale thou vs O Lord and we shall be healed yea and euen Paule he acknowledgeth of himselfe that he is not yet perfit although he be laboring earnestly towards the marke And Iames sayth generally concerning the faithfull that in many things they all offend Briefly our sauiour affirmeth flatly that he which is washed the whitest of all hath neede notwithstanding to wash his feete By all which its very apparant that the Apostles themselues they were not so absolutely filled with the graces of the spirit but that their faith notwithstanding it might and did faile at one time or other in some point of doctrine or iudgement and therefore much more in the working of miracles Exorcistes If it be certainely true that their faith at any time fayled in doctrine or iudgement how then is the promise of Christ to be credited concerning the holie Ghost for he told his Disciples that the same should leade them into all truth Orthodoxus That the Apostles faith in some things and at sometime might faile it is vndoubtedly true and the promise also of Christ cōcerning the holie Ghost his direction is as vndoubted a truth For the holie Ghost no doubt did leade them into all truth yea I say further into all holines of soule and bodie howbeit he led them into all truth in such sort as
whatsoeuer Know you not who it is that the father in these last dayes hath finallie appointed to reueale and to speake all truthes to his Church What man will you then forsake the fountaine of liuing waters for the reuelation of truthes and runne to such filthie puddles of your owne deuising as are able to hold no water at all Will you leaue the law and the testimonies and trot after a blind and a trothlesse lad for the reuelation of these hidden truthes will you withdraw your selfe from that holy oyntment whose onelie office it is to lead into all truth whatsoeuer and hunt after a supposed wicked spirit in a graceles and sensles boy Will you returne from the author of truth to the author of lyes from the holy ministrie of God to an extraordinarie ministerie of the diuel and his diuellish instrument In the name of God doe presentlie humble your soule at the fearefull remembrance of this your horrible and fearefull condition Pray earnestlie to God that if it be possible this blasphemous thought of your heart may be forgiuen you when the time of refreshing commeth What great blasphemie is this against our Lord Iesus the Churches sole Prophet For the onlie testimonie of Iesus is that spirit of Prophecie whereupon wee must soundly relie for the reuelation of all truthes whatsoeuer What intollerable iniurie is this to the office of his holy spirit who alone must bring to our remembrance whatsoeuer the Lord Iesus hath spoken before What a fearefull checke giueth this blasphemous speech of yours to the ordinarie ministerie of Christ so singularly graced and so notablie qualified with sundrie giftes from aboue for the manifestation of all truthes whatsoeuer to the end of the world Yea besides these your sundrie and intolerable blasphemies what a deadlie blow haue you giuen your owne selfe and your fellow-laborers as though that might be made knowen to the world by the ministerie of diuels which could not nor cannot possiblie be found forth by the Lord Iesus his ordinance A very dangerous conceit and flat opposite I assure you to our Sauiour himselfe who saith they haue Moses the Prophets let them heare them That wee should therefore expect reueâ—ations of truthes from any other meanes els was neuer taught from heauen but from hell yea euen out of the lying mouth of that damned rich glutton who reiecting the reuelations of the word did say vnto Abraham that if one should arise from the dead they would vndoubtedly beleeue and be saued Behold here the infernall author of that your vile and fearefull conceit and be forthwith ashamed of such a tutor The Lord open your eyes and instruct you better that so you may be enabled hereafter to deuide the word more truelie and to shew your selfe a more sound and substantiall teacher of truth For consider I beseech you how harshlie this blasphemous speech of yours would sound in the verie eares of your prophanest hearers namelie if you should say thus vnto them Good people be not troubled I pray you with any your owne ignorance concerning these hidden truthes which wee intimate to you and which are now in question among vs. For be you well assured that this truth which hitherto hath bin hidden from manie it shall now notwithstanding very shortly be manifested vnto you by such a corrupt boy or rather if you will by some diuell in the boy at the least Were not this pockie good stuffe think you to pester your Pulpit withall And yet this in effect is euen the very same which you affoord vnto vs froÌ„ that your former most filthie conceit Hauing thus in some sort discharged my conscience by giuing you admonition in time doe you now produce better arguments to proue your supposed essentiall possessions of spirits and diuels or els doe forthwith giue ouer the field for shame Exorcistes Why sir I dispossest them all by prayer and fasting therefore they were all essentiallie possessed Physiologus What man are you quite spent vp concerning the pretended essentiall possessions of those your eight Demoniakes that you are now like a steale-counter thus couertly creeping vnto their supposed dispossessions by prayer and fasting Surely sir if while we be but in dealing spare blowes the one with the other you begin like a cowardlie crauen so soone to set vp the heckle it is to be feared you will neuer hold out when once we come to the deadly fight Exorcistes Yes yes I warrant you feare it not For neither is my cause so crasie that I neede to feare your encounter nor my courage so cowardly as that I will euer fight crauen be the bickering neuer so sharpe Phyfiologus Well said Exorcistes when the cause it selfe becomes desperate then well fare a valourous heart howbeit it were much better in my simple conceite to yeeld vp the field by a faire and a friendly perswasion then in a foole-hardie or humorous course to continue a desperate fight till you receiue a deadly foyle Lycanthropus Surely Exorcistes howsoeuer you braue it in words it were better the controuersie were brought to an issue because the faster you runne the further you range and the more fiercelie you fight the more feeble you growe yea all men may plainely perceiue that howsoeuer you prate you will neuer preuaile Exorcistes Tush man feare you not that Philologus Nay feare that feare will we feare not at all Exorcistes Neither yet I I assure you Orthodoxus Well then Exorcistes hauing said what possiblie you can concerning your first distribution I meane the supposed essentiall possessions of those your eight pretended Demoniakes let vs now for one houre or two goe take the fresh aire and then reuiue our skirmish afresh concerning your second distribution I meane your dispossessing of those eight by your prayer and fasting Exorcistes I doe willingly yeeld to your motion The end of the first Dialogue The second Dialogue THE ARGVMENT Whether this fresh encounter containing an hotch-potch of matters confusedly shuffled together hath found a better successe concerning the pretended Dispossession of Diuels by prayer and fasting then any the precedent particulars propounded at large in those our former Discourses The speakers names PHILOLOGVS LYCANTHROPVS PNEVMATOMACHVS PHYSIOLOGVS ORTHODOXVS EXORCISTES Orthodoxus THis pleasant fresh ayre I assure you hath well refreshed our feeble spirits and therefore that we protract no further time doe tell vs directly Exorcistes what you say now to your falslie pretended Dispossession of Diuels by Prayer and Fasting Exorcistes Sir hauing sufficiently proued that the eight persons we speake of were euery of them essentiallie possest by the Diuell yea and this also with such vnanswerable and inuincible arguments as may fully perswade an indifferent Reader there needes no further labour herein Nnotwithstanding because that which makes for the proofe of their Dispossession tendeth directlie to the further confirmation of that their said essentiall possession I am therefore
Paule protesteth vnto the Ephesians that he shewed them all the counsell of God Now he shewed them all the counsell of God not absolutely and simplie but so much thereof and so farforth also as was profitable for them otherwayes if he had absolutely shewed them the whole counsell of God whatsoeuer he must necessarily then haue shewed them also the secret things of God which only belong to the Lord alone and concerned neither them nor their children And therefore whereas our sauiour promised such a comforter vnto his disciples as should leade them into all truth the meaning is that he should leade them into nothing else but the truth of God and into all that truth whatsoeuer which concerned their owne and his Churches saluation For more then this our Sauiour neuer promised to them and more then this they were not to expect at their maisters hands So then howsoeuer the particle al may seeme to haue reference vnto whatsoeuer the Apostles should speake or do yet Christ he restraines the holie Ghost his directions to those only truths which he by his owne mouth had taught them before as appeareth by the very tenâ—ur of that promise it selfe which sayth But the Comfortor which is the holie Ghost whom the father will send in my name hee shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance which I haue told or taught you before Giuing them thereby to vnderstand that whensoeuer they spake or did that which was not according to the reuealed truth he had taught them that saying or doing of theirs was more then he had told them before and more then they were led vnto by the spirit of truth By all the premisses then it is very apparant that the holie Ghost in those daies enlightened the Apostles mindes and now also at this present doth sanctifie the hearts of all the elect so farre foorth as is expedient for their owne and the Churches saluation But it was then and is now expedient for them and for vs to erre in some things that wee may giue all glorie to God alone that so seeing our owne frailtie and weakenes we might not be high minded but feare that thereby wee may be taught very willingly to beare one anothers burthen that we might learne to worke forth our owne saluation with feare and trembling that we may be made to vnderstand with Paul that the grace of God is sufficient for vs that we may sharpen our trust in him stirre vp our loue towards him pray more feruently vnto him to increase our faith and to forgiue vs our sinnes briefly that wee may runne forth the whole race of our life with greater stedfastnes and constancie Now then the case being thus wee may boldly conclude that the Apostles themselues and all the elect in Christ they are led in all truth and holines by the certain direction of the holy Ghost howbeit this wee haue to consider withall that they are so led vnto this saluation as they are not absolutely free from euery sparke and wrinkle either of manners or doctrine but that at some time and in some speciall points they might and did erre as hath been declared Exorcistes How then could the efficacie of Christ his intercession concerning their soundnes of faith be certaine vnto them who hauing related the insatiable desire of Satan to sift them as men winnow wheate told them forthwith that he had prayed their faith should not faile By which we may learne that if the intercession of Christ be any thing gratious with God his father the Apostles faith could not possibly faile in doctrine or iudgement Orthodoxus Nay rather by this we may learne that you grossie abuse both the prouidence of God and that promise of Christ and all to support your idle fansies For Christ did not promise that Peters iudgement should neuer faile but that in the following temptation which was forthwith to fall vpon Peter his faith should not finally perish I haue prayed for thee saith Christ that thy faith shall not faile that is saith Chrysostome that thou finally perish not For Christ did not say I haue prayed that thou mightest not denie me but that thy faith should not wholie faile for by the fauour and care of Christ it came to passe that Peters faith was not vtterly extinguished Hereunto accordeth Beda saying Our Sauiour prayed for Peter not that hee should not be tempted but that his faith should not faile that is that after Peter was fallen by denying his master he might rise againe by repentance to his former state Now then if you rightly frame your argument from the premisses you may plainly behold the absurditie of your owne illation thus I haue prayed for thee saith Christ that thy faith should not vtterly vanish away though thou shalt thrice denie me and most shamefully forsake and forsweare me therefore neither Peter himselfe nor the rest of the Apostles could possibly erre in matters of doctrine or iudgement This you see is your argument and now I aske you not what boy but what Bedlem would thus dispute Exorcistes Peter denied not the faith but the person of Christ. Orthodoxus And hee that denieth the person of Christ denieth not a part but the whole faith of Christ. It is a sorer and more dangerous fall to denie the Lord himselfe then to bee deceiued only in an opinion of faith and this also according to the verie confession of Peter himselfe For thus he placeth them both in his second Epistle There shall bee false teachers amongst you which shall priuilie bring in damnable sects yea denying the Lord that hath bought them And our Sauiour in his admonition to the seauen Churches of Asia sheweth the Church of Pergamos that he which denieth his name denieth his faith Thou holdest fast my name saith he and hast not denied my faith wherefore not to hold fast the name of Christ is flatly to denie the faith of Christ. And how can you doubt of the trueth of this since the missing of any point of faith is onely but heresie whereas the denying of Christs name which fearefull offence Peter fell into is flat Apostasie farre worse then the former by much See then I beseech you how lewdly you peruert the words of our Sauiour For where Peter is only forewarned of his fall you would make Christs words a warrant vnto him that he shall neuer fall And where the Lord promised Peter repentance you turne the text as if he were finally freed from all future offences Exorcistes Not so I confesse Peter offended but not in the faith Orthodoxus Could Peter denie his master Christ and not denie his faith and hope in Christ or can there be greater infidelitie then flatly to denie the sonne of God And yet Peter not onely denied him thrice but with an oath and a curse hee ratified his former deniall Exorcistes Peter only denied that he knew
orders of angels in heauen you doe therein directly oppose your selfe not only vnto that definition which the Apostle maketh of Angels in the Epistle to the Hebrewes but which more is euen vnto his maine purpose in that selfesame place For first he defineth all Angels howsoeuer called in scripture to be none other but ministring spirits that is to be all of one and the selfesame condition in nature and office Secondly his maine purpose in so speaking of Angels there is to aduance Christ Iesus farre aboue all principalities or powers whatsoeuer therefore if any Archangell Throne Domination power or any other name els that is named were any greater then an angel surely all that disputation of the Apostle were nothing worth For how could it conclude the excellency of Christ aboue all creatures because he is greater then Angels if Cherubim Seruphim or any Archangell were also greater in dignitie then Angels And therefore that the Apostles reason may as it is be strong and vnanswerable we must confesse all blessed spirits whatsoeuer they be to be all but this namely ministring spirits for all the Elect. Moreouer by auouching for certaine some seuerall orders also among spirits or diuels in hell you doe therein bewray your intolerable pride to all the world For if Moses knowing by inspiration the originall of the world how it was had it not yet reuealed vnto him what to write of angels or diuels if Stephen who saw the heauens open yet saw not these supposed seuerall orders of angels or diuels if Paul who was taken vp into the third heauen saw notwithstanding so little concerning such seuerall orders of angels or diuels that whosoeuer will auouch so curiouslie thereof he saith they be puft vp with a fleshlie minde to speake of thinges which they neuer saw brieflie if Iohn in all his reuelations had no such knowledge reuealed concerning the seuerall orders of spirits or diuels who then is Exorcistes or what is his parentage that hee dare so proudlie determine such certeintie of things vncertaine or that we should once beleeue him in that wherein I am certaine he beleeues not himselfe For this we hold an infallible truth that the seuerall names which are giuen to angels or spirits they were purposelie giuen them for our better vnderstanding of the vnspeakeable power of God in their seuerall ministeries and not to haue vs so precisely determine of anie their seuerall orders And this is most cleere in Paule himselfe who when hee had reckoned vp principalities thrones dominions and powers hee addeth and euery name that is named in this world or in the world to come A cleare sentence of his own modestie in confessing an holy ignorance concerning the seuerall orders of angels or diuels and such as should moue vs in all holie sobrietie to say with Augustine The difference of these seuerall degrees I confesse I know not if any man will say that hee knoweth it let him speake but let him proue what he speaketh Seeing therefore Exorcistes you doe vaunt it so brauely of your certaine knowledge concerning the seuerall orders of spirits and diuels doe proue directlie vnto vs that of infernall spirits some are greater or lesse then other in princely preheminence or els doe now plainely confesse that Christ by these words this kinde doth but generallie vnderstand all Diuels whatsoeuer Exorcistes Oh then I perceiue you haue hitherto wholie mistaken my meaning For Christ in saying this kinde doth not preciselie distinguish spirits or diuels into seuerall officers making some higher and some lower in princely preheminence among themselues but teacheth vs rather that among the sundrie sorts of vncleane spirits some goe beyond others in malice and crueltie towards men in subtiltie and iniquitie And that therefore these are called by our Sauiour Christ the worst kind of spirits whereby they are distinguished and doe differ from others which are lesse cruell and wicked Physiologus Oh then I also perceiue that howsoeuer your knowledge may be infinitely profound in comparison of others your hap in disputing these parabables is to too ouerthwart at this present For the further you wade in the bottomles gulph of this new-found diuillitie the deeper you diue your selfe ouer head and eares in all grosse and senseles absurdities Before you did only distinguish diuels into their seuerall sorts or orders but finding no fast footehold in those wandring vagaries you would now difference them only in regard of their naturall qualities Making of infernall spirits some cruell some kind some good some bad some meeke and some very malitious in comparison of others Thereby insinuating closely vnto vs that some Diuels are but yet in declining and not come to the full period of their fearefull Apostacie or falling from God I euer did thinke till now that all Diuels whatsoeuer they had been equallie malitious equallie enuious equallie cruell equallie ramping and roaring like Lions equallie compassing the world to worke our destruction and that therefore they are all purposely and all iointly sayde to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is spirituall wickednesses aboue in the aire Marke I beseech you the Apostle he calleth them spirituall wickednesses in the plurall number to signifie vnto vs that euery Diuell seuerally hath complete in that his spirituall nature the fulnes of spiritual wickednes Howbeit your mind it should seeme was musing vpon the gentle departure of Midlecub and his courteous companions and that was some cause why you put downe at vnwares such palpable grosse and ridiculous fooleries For surely had you only but thought vpon Sommers his knauish diuell for so it pleaseth your selfe to accompt him you would neuer haue dreamed of any such kinde or courteous Diuels as you tell vs of here Notwithstanding sith you are now anatomizing the nature of Diuels do shew vs I pray you among whether of those your two contrary â—anckes of infernall spirits we may boldly raunge Diuell Ascalon the Iester of Hell It may be you will haue him to make vp a full consort among those your musicall Lancashire spirits who were giuen for the most part to singing and dauncing to gibing and iesting and so keepe a seemely decorum in those your seuerall orders of Diuels As for Roofye your old acquaintance we see not as yet how we may possiblie make of him either flesh or fish for he hath only you say the appellatiue name of all Diuels whatsoeuer and by reason thereof he may boldly partake with the Diuels of euery kinde whether cruell or courteous But fie fie Exorcistes are you not euen groslie ashamed thus triflingly to delude your poore ignorant Readers in making them beleeue the Crowe is white I meane in bearing them thus boldlie in hand that all Diuels whatsoeuer are euen such as your selfe do deuise them to be Yea and this also without due regard of God of Religion of reason of common sense and all honest
the day long about a new nothing to hang on their sleeues Or they may well be compared to an intricate Labyrinth or maskaring maze from whence when a man is once entred into them he wots not which waies to winde himselfe forth as may plainely appeare vnto such as carefullie consider the same and this in effect for the Pamphlets themselues The spirit which may be supposed to indite those pamphlets should make wise men beware how they doe rashlie entertaine them for truths before they haue soundly tried the same with the touchstone of truth This sacred triall being dulie obserued herein it may greatly be feared that the spirit inditing those pamphlets will hardly be found to sauour of that wisedome which is from aboue which is pure peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of mercie and good fruites without grudging without hypocrisie but rather to tast of that wisedome which descendeth not from aboue but is earthlie sensuall and diuellish And howsoeuer no man knoweth the secrets of man saue only the spirit of man which is in him and therefore may iudge nothing too rashly of man before the time yet when the Lord himselfe is come and hath lightned things which were hid in darknes and made manifest the counsels of the hart to all mens eyes then I see no reason at all but that by the out-goings of the spirit a man may as easily discerne the nature of the spirit it selfe as iudge of a tree by the fruites And therefore when we behold men caried headlong with selfe conceits vaunting very prowdlie with the Anabaptists and saying Quod volumus sanctum est quod nolumus id iniquum iniustum Whatsoeuer we will or affect that same is holie whatsoeuer we nil or affect not that same is vniust vnholie Briefly when we do heare M. Darel and his vnderhand fauorits in sundrie places of their published pamphlets to cry out and confesse that all the learned men in the land are of a contrarie iudgement to them and yet notwithstanding do prowdlie oppose themselues to all the learned men in the land as though the word of truth came out only from them or came only vnto themselues what should set them agog in such a glorious vaunt but only a prowd and insolent spirit Againe when we heare how these vnrulie spirits doe nothing else in effect but rayle vpon men reuile their persons yea and euen vtterlie disable the iudgements of such and so reuerend personages as they themselues in comparison of true learning in deede of sound knowledge and of all good gifts and graces of the spirit are vtterlie vnworthie to be named the seauenth day after the meanest of those whom they so deepely disable what may we imagine should hale them headlong an end in such a disgracing course but only some phrentike some furious or some carnall spirit sith the holie spirit of truth hath told vs for truth that where there is nothing but enuying but strife and diuisions there the men themselues are yet carnall and walke but as men Againe when as their published pamphlets are pestered full of apparant contradictions the one very cruellie giuing a countercheck and cutting the throate of the other as hereafter appeareth how may we iustlie imagine that any other then an erronious and a lying spirit should be the primarie inditor thereof seeing the holie spirit of God is the spirit of truth euermore but one and the same and leadeth men alwayes into all soundnes of truth and Religion Againe when as they do nothing in effect but accuse and sclaunder throughout their seuerall pamphlets they care not whome what drawes them thereto but a diuellish satanicall spirit sith the Diuell you know hath euermore beene the accuser of our brethren If they haplie imagine that those whom they accuse or slaunder are but beasts and no brethren at all we answere that is much more then they are able to know and we hold them no competent Iudges concerning such cases especially as the Lord hath purposely reserued to his proper Consistorie and appropriated wholly to his owne iudgement seate Neither shall it suffice to say that howsoeuer they be thought to accuse or to slaunder they speake but the truth of euery of them because if that were so indeede yet they do it vntrulie in as much as they do it only to reproch and to slaunder the persons of men and not to reforme their supposed disorders For neither do they proceede therein by a iudiciall course neither yet are they iudiciallie called to testifie against them and so not only they breake the ninth commaundement but which more is they do very daungerouslie scandalize the minds of so many in the land as being but ignorant before of those their falslie supposed crimes are now by their clamorous accusations vncharitablie drawne into an hard conceit against their persons Whether this be not a diuellish Satanicall spirit let M. Darel himselfe determine who doth very confidently affirme that so many as are giuen to cursing and lying to speake euill of persons which are in authoritie to rayling reuiling sclaundering hatred and such like they are vndoubtedlie the childrē of the Diuel who himselfe was a liar and a murderer from the beginning Briefly when we behold them throughout their whole pamphlets not only to impugne her Maiesties high Commission concerning ecclesiasticall persons and causes but which more is by toong by penne by practize and such other apparant shewes of vndutifull subiects to resist her highnesse authoritie and which is worst of all euen then to accomplish euerie of these when they were by God forbidden by her highnesse restrayned by due order of lawe conuented conuicted apprehended imprisoned by the sentence of Iustice definitiuely condemned for grosse malefactors adiudged to prison and so consequentlie by God himselfe by her excellent Maiestie by course of lawe by all good conscience and by the approued practise of all holie Martyrs enioined eftsoones to a dutifull silence whence come these vnrulie proceedings I pray you but from such a rebellious spirit as neither for feare nor for conscience can be made to subiect it selfe to Gods sacred ordinance but prowdlie resisteth the same and so procureth the sword of Iustice to be vnsheathed against themselues and to take vengeance on them as vnrulie and turbulent spirits Thus then the truth of the premisses is verie apparant you see as well by the seuerall pamphlets as by the spirit it selfe which may well be supposed to be the indighter thereof And therefore we would to God good christian Readers you could suffer vs a little in our foolishnes and in very deede you do suffer vs. For we are iealous ouer you with a godlie iealousie because we labour to prepare you for one husband and to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. Howbeit we feare least as the Serpent beguiled Euah through his subtiltie
Exorcistes Nay sir the Euangelist doth not barely report them as meere matters of fact but puts them downe also as rules of doctrine and directions for the Church to discerne truelie of essentiall possessions now Orthodoxus How are you certaine hereof Exorcistes Why sir I conceiue it so therefore no doubt it is so Orthodoxus Oh irrefragable argument autos epha ipse dixit M. Exorcistes himselfe hath spoken it therefore all the wisedome in the world will neuer be able to impugne the impregnable truth thereof Howbeit sir I for my owne part conceiue it not so therfore the same is not so How now Exorcistes here is Pythagoras against Pythagoras who I beseech you shall be vmpier betweene them Exorcistes Surely the very words of the text Wherein our Sauiour sayth not how long hath thy sonne beene possessed but rather how long hath thy sonne been thus handled Making you may plainelie perceiue such his manner of handling an infallible signe to discerne sonndlie of all future essentiall possessions Orthodoxus You labour to proue your idle conceit from a plaine text of Scripture but accursed be that glosse which corrupteth the text For the question which Christ propoundeth there to the father of the child respecteth onlie the first time of that accident and not the manner or forme of his handling as very plainely appeareth in the wordes of the text saying thus how long time is it ous touto gegonen auto that is since this thing befell thy sonne or since this thing happened to him or since this came to passe or since this vexation first seased vpon him Thus you see the verie words of the text and the purest translators doe simplie referre that demaund of Christ to the verie time it selfe not to the manner of that accident and therefore were it not that you would gladlie draw in your essentiall possession as it were by the eares all wise men would wōder you should so corruptly abuse the plaine text Howbeit this is not all for besides this your purposed corrupting of Scripture you doe also verie presumptuouslie adde to the text the wicked inuention of your own idle braine by foysting these words in him or a diuell in him into the very text it selfe and so you enforce the holy Scriptures to speake what you please saying thus How long is it since thy sonne hath had essentiallie a diuell within him And this no doubt of a very set purpose to vnderproppe your senceles opinion of essentiall possessions there being no words in the text importing such matter or tending that way For Matthew reporting that storie saith onely thus He is lunatike or sore vexed Luke saith a spirit taketh him Marke saith He hath a dombe spirite Loe this is all that the Euangelists write of that matter How therfore are you able from al or any one of these places to conclude a Diuell essentiallie inherent in the bodie of the Child Nay rather why should we not boldlie conclude the quite contrarie Namely that the Diuell did onely but actuallie vexe and torment him and therefore from hence you see there ariseth no rule of Doctrine or direction to discerne truly of essentiall possessions Exorcistes Why sir there is a medicine left for the curing of essentiall possessions therefore there is a meanes giuen to discerne soundly of such a possession Otherwaies what vse of a medicine where there is no meanes at all to discerne of the maladie Orthodoxus Perceiuing the plaine text of Scripture to be directlie against you now you compasse your matter about with a quite contrarie course Labouring with tooth and nayle to proue ignotum per ignotius a matter vncertaine by a thing more vncertaine and so in seeking to lay out your matter apparantly you make it more obscure then it was at the first For if there be no medicine left for the cure then to vse your owne reason there is no meanes to discerne the disease Whether there be now such a medicine as your selfe doe imagine will hereafter appeare when we come to entreate of that point In the meane time leauing Thyreus and your selfe to dispute the infallible signes of possession we expect better reasons at your hands for the proofe of your supposed essentiall possessions or require at the least your present submission Exorcistes Why sir those eight Demoniakes we speake of they were vndoubtedly dispossessed by prayer and fasting therefore essentiallie possessed of Sathan Orthodoxus They were not essentiallie possessed of Satan therefore not dispossessed at all by prayer and fasting Howbeit least you should thinke I doe now but put edge vnto edge goe to be it supposed they were so dispossest as you say that onely proueth they were possessed not that they were essentiallie possessed of Satan For possessed they might be though the Diuell not essentiallie inherent in any one of their bodies which is the poynt we dispute of Exorcistes Their speedie deliuerance doth argue an essentiall possession for had they been onely but outwardlie afflicted of Satan they had not been so presently deliuered as they vndoubtedlie were Orthodoxus Nay rather if they had in deed been essentiallie possest as you say the Diuell would haue been the longer in driuing out for possession we commonly say is fully as good as eleuen points in Lawe Perceiue you not therefore how absurdlie you reason when you affirme it more easie to deliuer a man essentiallie possessed of Satan than to deliuer a man not possessed at all For very certaine it is that if one and the selfesame working power for the dispossessing of Diuels doth with equall expedition both outwardly and inwardly concur in that speciall busines it will bring forth euen one and the selfesame effect and therefore why should not that worke whatsoeuer whether outward or inward be then forthwith accomplished with like speedie deliuerance Exorcistes Because prayer and fasting being vsed herein this disease it hath a more particular a more absolute and a more certaine promise of speedie deliuerance then any other torment of bodie or minde inflicted by Satan Orthodoxus You doe either most stranglie forget your selfe or very rashly auouch you care not what For hath not euery speciall torment else inflicted by Satan as particular as absolute and as certaine a promise as this your pretended possession that particular promise especially being implicatiuely considered in that selfe same generall promise which the Lord hath vndoubtedly giuen to ech faithfull resistance of Satan Now then if generally all then more specially euery particular torment inflicted by Satan the same being faithfully resisted shall vndoubtedly receiue grace from aboue for a like speedie deliuerance so farre foorth especially as seemeth good to the Lord. Notwithstanding it may be and very likely it is you will answere vs thus All the externall torments inflicted by Satan they haue onely a promise conditionally namely if the same seemeth good to the Lord howbeit the essentiall possession
the Boy is in deed and in truth essentially possessed of Satan Exorcistes Why sir I my selfe haue beene there sith he was so possessed to take a circumspect view of his fearefull fits and doe plainely perceiue by his supernaturall actions and passions that he is in verie deed essentiallie possessed of some spirit or diuell at the least Orthodoxus So were you with him also as some doe crediblie auouch immediatlie before he fel into these his supposed fittes and might therfore for any thing known to the cōtrary be confederate with himselfe or some others concerning those his cosoning courses But be it supposed you neuer saw him before and then tell vs how you dare so confidently conclude from those his supposed actions an essentiall possession of some spirit or diuell sith diuels you know are such spirituall and inuisible substances as may not possiblie be discerned by any corporall sense Exorcistes Why sir his supernaturall actions do plainely demonstrate the same to all the world Orthodoxus Rehearse some few of those his supposed supernaturall actions I pray you Exorcistes I will First he continuallie waggeth his head without anie intermission at all Orthodoxus So doth the palsie sicke patient as we may see by daylie experience and which more is whereas the palsie-sicke hath no intermission at all that your pretended Demoniake hee onelie waggeth the head in the day time and when people are present howbeit in the night time he sleepes very quietlie as his owne mother reporteth And therefore if an only bare wagging of the head doth necessarilie argue an essentiall possession then euery palsie sicke patient that waggeth the head hee also is essentiallie possessed of Satan Howbeit sir we also our selues haue seene this your supposed Demoniake as well as your selfe but could not perceiue in him any such supernaturall actions or passions as you boldlie report vpon your bare credit Besides that if the onlie bare wagging of the head must necessarilie conclude a supernaturall action then euery little childe that playeth wag-wanton it also effecteth some supernaturall action Moreouer this one and the rest of those your pretended Demoniakes they were and are commonlie ouertaken with those their supposed supernaturall fits when they are layd on their bedde and closelie vnder a couerlid by which meanes they may the more easilie wagge their heads or worke any their pretended actions and so likewise the sooner deceiue the sillie beholders Who being wholie taken vp before with a deepe impression of some supposed essentiall possession were thereby so fearefullie forestalled in iudgement as they could not prouidently behold nor aduisedlie consider the manner of the Demoniakes working And therefore this wagging of the head it is no such supernaturall action as may vndoubtedlie conclude an essentiall possession Exorcistes But sir besides this extraordinary wagging of the head he is also of a supernaturall strength Orthodoxus No such supernaturall strength was apparant to vs being present with him I assure you in the very extremitie or middest of those his pretended fits For the one of vs did easily hold his head his shoulders and all the other parts of his bodie from mouing at all yea and this also euen in despight of the boy himselfe or of any supposed Diuell inherent within him and therefore this supernaturall strength is rather supposed and suggested by your selfe and your fauourites then any waies soundly prooued or but probablie demonstrated to vs. Exorcistes Besides all this hee was vndoubtedly of a supernaturall knowledge for if two or three had suddenly come into the parlour where he lay with seuerall bookes of sundrie matters hid close in their hats hee could tell which of them had the holie Bible of God in his hat and at him he would catch and snatch letting all the prophane bookes passe quietly by him without any such stirre at all Orthodoxus So could Bankes his blacke horse very sensiblie demonstrate what money some had in his purse with sundrie other trickes more admirable then this by much and yet not possessed at all with a Diuell So a blind man but casting his staffe at all aduenture may happely at some time to kill a Crow and yet neither indued with supernaturall knowledge nor possest with a Diuell in the doing thereof So likewise a blindfolded lubber playing at blindman buzz may happely by skuffling vp and downe in the house to light vpon one and the selfe same person for two or three times together and yet not assisted therein at all with any supernaturall knowledge or led thereunto by any the extraordinarie directions of either Spirit or Diuell Briefly so likewise a little yong child playing at handie dandie may happely for three or foure times together to make choise of that hand wherein the pin or the point is placed and all this I hope without any supernaturall knowledge at all And therefore it is very absurd that your selfe from any such action as stands only vpon hap and hap hazard should so confidently conclude a supernaturall knowledge and so by consequence an essentiall possession of either Spirit or Diuell Besides that how confidently soeuer you report this point of chusing the Bible before any other booke else there bee some of good credit and such also as fauour your cause so farre forth especially as they perceiue not as yet the contrarie truth who doe confidently report that in deede and in truth this your supposed Demoniake did so much as you say for once or twice but that at some other times againe hee had failed grosly therein and therefore this tricke of hap-hazard is no such certaine signe as may vndoubtedly conclude an essentiall possession in that your pretended poore patient I told you a little before if you haue not forgotten that whensoeuer you hapned afresh vpon some other such new-found Demoniake we then should haue some other new signes of this your supposed essentiall possession to make your game hit and now I perceiue it is growing very fast towards such a pretended period For behold wee haue here now in this your newly pretended Demoniake two other essentiall signes forsooth of an essentiall possession namely the wagging of the head and the playing at handie dandie Alas Exorcistes though your conscience trembleth not yet me thinkes your very face should blush for shame in reporting these trifling toyes for true and infallible tokens of an essentiall possession of some one Diuell or other inherently couching within the very bodie of this your new-found Demoniake Exorcistes But sir besides all this the boy I assure you he is for the whole time of his fearefull fits so senselesse in euery part as he neither seeth nor heareth nor speaketh nor feeleth and therefore essentially possest with a Diuell Orthodoxus How know you for certaine that hee is in deede and in truth so senselesse as you beare vs in hand You are able I confesse to know when your selfe neither seeth nor heareth nor speaketh nor feeleth but that you should in like manner
readie with the like inuincible reasons to deale in that poynt if you please Orthodoxus It pleaseth vs passing well and the sounder you deale the better we like it and the sooner we shall make an ende As for your sufficient prouing of that which you falslie pretend let the indifferent Reader determine In the meane time because you brag beyond measure of your vnanswerable and inuincible arguments to mannage your matters withall we will therefore the more exactly examine them seuerally to make present triall of that their pretended force And whereas you seeke to shelter all those your falslie pretended Patients vnder an holie couerture of the parties dispossessed in Scripture and by such a deuice would seeme to soare aloft in the clowdes before you be feathered fleg to flie at so loftie a pitch this therefore wee must tell you or euer we enter the combat that the holie Scriptures themselues wil not yeeld their holie protection to so paltrie a cause And therefore that which we haue hitherto spoken against your falslie pretended essentiall possessions may fullie suffice to answere the whole because where there was no true possession there can be no dispossession in truth yet because the finall ouerthrow of these your pretended dispossessions doth more fully destroy your falslie supposed essentiall possessions we are also here readie to encounter your vttermost force Pretermitting therefore all those your falslie pretended signes of dispossession from sacred Scripture as also your intolerable prophanation thereof by your fond applications doe presentlie proceede in propounding vnto vs your arguments Exorcistes I will First there were in euery of our Demoniakes those selfesame signes or notes of dispossession precedent and subsequent which wee reade of in the Scripture Demoniakes and therefore there was in euery of them the selfesame dispossession no doubt Orthodoxus If there were no doubt in the matter at al it were vndoubtedly a meere madnes for any to impugne the same Howbeit thus we answer your argument There were not in those your pretended Demoniakes the selfesame signes or notes precedent and subsequent therefore not the selfesame vndoubted dispossessions That there were not the selfesame signes or notes I proue it thus First those signes or notes in the Scripture Demoniakes they were vndoubted effects of their dispossessions the signes or notes in those your pretended Demoniakes they were in truth but counterfeit cousonages as themselues haue freely confessed vpon their oathes Furthermore those signes or effects which wee finde in the Scripture Demoniakes they were sensibly performed to the view of the beholders eye the other in those your pretended Demoniakes they were not so by your owne confession Againe howsoeuer those signes or notes in Scripture Demoniakes were the vndoubted effects of dispossessions then and so to be taken because they are recorded for such by the blessed Euangelist who could not erre in so recording the same those your falsely pretended signes they are but the vnruly reports of your lying pen directed therein by a deceitfull heart yea they bee such signes Master Darell affirmeth as men may be deeply deceiued in discerning thereof Besides that those selfesame effects in the Scripture Demoniakes then they cannot so concludently proue dispossessions now because the like effects doe eftsoones also arise from meere naturall causes and corporall diseases as our seauenth Dialogue declareth at large And therefore if those selfesame effects then must necessarily bee made the vndoubted true signes of dispossessions now then wheresoeuer is the like rending and tearing crying aloude and leauing for dead there is also the like essential dispossession of Diuels which were to too absurd to imagine Briefly your good friend Master Darell he doth confidently conclude a dispossession of Diuels where no such signes are apparant and therefore those your pretended signes precedent and subsequent they doe not necessarily conclude an essentiall dispossession of Diuels Exorcistes Oh yes sir for besides those Scripture signes I haue in my proper experience eftsoones obserued in the dispossession of some certaine Demoniakes a very sensible seeing or feeling of some thing going out of their bodies like to a Mouse an Vrchin a Toade a Bull a foule blacke man a Dog and such like and therefore there is vndoubtedly an essentiall dispossession of Diuels Orthodoxus What man are you wearie alreadie of those your Canonicall notes of dispossessions that you are fled so soone to those your owne experimented apocryphall signes or effects Surely it should seeme your force is but weake Notwithstanding howsoeuer you say you haue eftsoones obserued such things in your owne experience very certaine it is that not your owne selfe but those your counterfeite Patients rather if any at all they alone experimented some such supposed sensible seeings and feelings of some thing going out of their bodies and therefore it is very vntrue to say that you your owne selfe obserued the same in your proper experience Besides that Master Darell your good friend doth flatlie affirme that the Spirits themselues they neither were nor continued with those his pretended Demoniakes in any such sensible bodies as you say here you haue eftsoones obserued in sundrie of them and therefore impossible there should be any such sensible seeing or feeling of substances proceeding foorth from them as you beare vs in hand For howsoeuer you seeme to qualifie your former speech from the Spirit his supposed operation in the present procuring of some such sensible matters in shew at the very instant of their seuerall dispossessions that is ouer childish a conceit to perswade any reasonable man hauing especially his eyes in his head For the Spirits they could not by any their supposed operations whatsoeuer procure such sensible things as might be sensiblie seene or palpablie felt of any whosoeuer as in our second third fourth and fift Dialogues is shewed at large Exorcistes Yea but besides all this I haue by my proper experience obserued eftsoones in sundrie Demoniakes a vomiting immediatly before the egresse of the Spirit prognosticating plainlie vnto vs his imminent essentiall dispossession and therefore there is vndoubtedly an essentiall dispossession of Diuels Orthodoxus If this your new-coyned Prognostication had indeede been printed with priuiledge wee might by the warrant thereof not onely bee perswaded of the very trueth of that which you prate but withall we might by vertue thereof very boldly auouch that euery Gormandizing belli-god and surfetting Swil-boule so oft as they happen to spue are essentially dispossest of one Diuell at the least Yea and so much more likely than the other you speake of by how much those your pretended Demoniakes spitting vp but a little quantity of choler or phlegme as your selfe do report and that also with very great labour these drunken Epicures they doe spue forth the Spirits by whole pottles at once and that with a trice Besides that if vomiting forsooth be an vndoubted true signe of essentiall dispossessions it is
same in sundrie Patients may by experience be knowne to be a medicine secretly ordeined of God to such an end though no such particular medicine be thereunto expreslie mentioned in sacred Scripture so surely prayer and fasting being rightly vsed and preuailing with many from time to time in the powerfull expelling of diuels who seeth not now but that the said exercise of prayer and fasting is a certaine secret meanes ordeined of God to that selfe same end though there were in the Canonicall Scriptures no one mention at all of any such ordinance Orthodoxus You flee I perceiue from one starting hole to another as a man almost spent or in much feare at the least of being ferretted forth For here now as before in possessions you are driuen to your popish distinction of written and vnwritten ordinances And thus by laboring very egerly to shunne the sands of suspition concerning a supposed confederacie with Sommers his cousoning courses you run your selfe desperatly vpon the dangerous rocks of discredit cōcerning your iumping with Papists in their popish opinions For by this your blind distinction of ordinances vnwritten and written you do very plainely demonstrate your selfe to be a chicken of father Bellarmines hatching who elsewhere no lesse fondly then your selfe here very foolishly distinguisheth the word of God into verbum scriptum and verbum non scriptum into the word written the word vnwritten By which your cunning sleights of legerdemaine you do very cunningly endeuour to foist in vnderhand whatsoeuer grosse fooleries or fond conceits your owne priuate phantasies shall fondly affect And therefore it shall not be greatly amisse if you ioyntly together receiue your answeres first from the written word it selfe and then next from your holie fathers decrees vnder whose trayterous ensigne you ioyntly skirmish in this so speciall a combate First therefore from the written word it selfe we will finally squash your fond distinction thus If the Prophet Isaiah reduceth the aduersaries of truth whatsoeuer to the lawe and the testimonie telling them farther that if they speake not according to this word it is because there is in them no sacred truth then surely father Bellarmine and your selfe labouring thus lewdlie to foyst in such your vnwritten fooleries as are not according to the law and the testimonie reuealed at large in the written word you do plainely declare that you are now necessarily driuen to these indirect dealings because there is in you no truth at all Againe if Christ commaundeth his aduersaries to search the scriptures because in them they thinke to haue eternall life telling them withall that they are those which testifie truly of him then no doubt he doth purposely restraine them all from enquiring after any vnwritten verities because such do neither testifie of him nor may possiblie affoord any sound euidence at all to eternall life Againe if the holie scriptures the word written I meane are of themselues sufficiently able not only to make men wise to saluation but which more is were purposely giuen of God as the only profitable directions and rules for teaching improuing correcting and instructing in righteousnes to make the man of God very absolute to euery good worke If the written word I say be fully sufficient to worke these effects then surely those your supposed vnwritten ordinances are meerely superfluous For what may more be required from the written word concerning the Churches good in this present life then to make the good Minister an absolute man of God and the christian hearer a saued creature But both these effects sayth the blessed Apostle are sufficiently attayned vnto by the written word and therefore that vnwritten word which father Bellarmine and you so fondly dreame after is meerely superfluous and doth nothing else in effect but defile the flesh and deceiue your owne soules Now next we will likewise lay open your dottages concerning this your supposed vnwritten word from your holie father his authenticall Canons thus Si solus Christus audiendus est non debemus attendere quid aliquis ante nos faciendum putauerit sed quid qui ante omnes est Christus prior fecerit That is If Christ only be to be heard we are not to respect what any one else hath or shall thinke meete to be done but what Christ who was before all hath first done himselfe Now then if Christ alone must be heard whose voyce is onely knowen in the scriptures I meane in the written word then surely your vnwritten word and whatsoeuer ordinance else is not apparantly extant in scripture nor may by necessary consequence be soundly collected from thence the same is meerely superfluous So then this your exorbitant distinction of written and vnwritten ordinances it may not possiblie be made to support the importable burden of that your supposed established ordinance of prayer and fasting for the perpetuall expelling of Spirits and Diuels but it falles flat you see to the ground Besides that we haue euer denyed and your selfe shall neuer be able to proue that sole prayer and fasting is either a written or vnwritten ordinance forthe powerfull expelling of Spirits and Diuels And which more is this your owne argument of comparison it cutteth asunder the very throate of this your phantasticall opinion as may plainely appeare by conferring each part of your comparison more fully together For seeing you insist so much vpon naturall infirmities and by proportion thereof would proue vnto vs the supernaturall possession of Spirits and Diuels this you know in experience that euery naturall cure is either ordinarie or extraordinarie An ordinarie cure is that which in an ordinarie course and by ordinarie meanes procureth an ordinarie effect in the partie diseased Now in an ordinarie cure there must necessarily concurre these following matters Namely first an ordinarie naturall medicine to effect the intended cure as for example eie-bright to cleere the dimnes of sight Secondly a secret operation of nature must necessarily concurre with the medicine it selfe to make it naturallie forcible for effecting the cure otherwayes the medicine it selfe is vtterly vnfruitfull Thirdly there must be a ministeriall hand for the orderlie apprehending and applying of that the aforesaid medicine Fourthly there is also required in the Phisition himselfe the theorie or knowledge of natures operation to direct him aright in that selfesame busines Fiftly there must be also an ordinarie meanes to imprint such a theorie or knowledge in the Phisitions brest Lastly the habite of this theorie or skill is that only which imboldeneth and warranteth the Phisition himselfe in such an orderly practise Thus then you see that the Phisition his only knowledge concerning the secret operation of nature is that which imboldneth and guideth the hand it selfe in an orderlie apprehending and applying of that selfesame medicine to such an effected cure And the cure in such sort effected it is without doubt an ordinarie cure as hauing all things ordinarily concurring together in an ordinarie
miraculous manner of working by him Thus then you see their said deliuerance being determined with God before all times it was accordingly promised and performed in time And as before the Law written from the very first creation the Lord obserued this method order in the orderly manifestation of any his vnchangeable ordinances so surely both at and after the giuing of the Law there was in him no shadow of chaunge concerning that selfesame vnchaungeable course For First hauing determined with himselfe before all beginnings of time to establish the Morall Law as a perpetuall rule of perfect obedience not onely he did in very fitte time make promise thereof to his people but which more is after the full expiration of foure hundred and thirtie yeeres I meane at the very appointed season it selfe he did correspondently accomplish the same Neither hath the Lord obserued such an orderly methode of working onely before and at the giuing of the Law but euer since then he hath beene altogether one and the same in the orderly accomplishment of al his actions as may plainly appeare in his orderly establishing and subuerting of the seuerall Monarkes how mightie soeuer in the seauentie yeeres captiuitie of Israell his people in the birth and death of his onely Sonne in the vniuersall establishment of his glorious Gospell in Ierusalems finall destruction in reiecting his owne people the Iewes and in bringing the Gentiles into their roomes And as in all these the precedent operations and actions so likewise in the powerfull dispossessing of Satan and in the finall determination of that his tyrannicall power of actuall possession the Lord hath carefully obserued not onely in purposing but also in promising and performing the selfesame order accordingly For as the Lord before all beginnings of time did purposely determine such a temporary iudgement as a peculiar demonstration of the Deitie of his onely Sonne and promised withall the admirable conquering of the selfesame iudgement in that promised seede which was actually to bruse the Serpents head so hath his said Sonne correspondently accomplisht the same by his death and resurrection destroying through death him that had power ouer death that is to say the Diuell Yea he hath spoyled Principalities and Powers made such a shew of them openly and so triumphed ouer them all in his Crosse as we may boldly assure our selues of the finall accomplishment of that which our Sauiour affirmeth saying Now is the iudgement of this world now is the Prince of this world cast out that is his power of actuall possession is fully and finally determined According to that his authenticall message else wherâ— vnto Herode saying Behold I cast out Diuels to day and tomorrow and the third day I shall be perfected or the third day I will make an end of that businesse The premâ—sses therefore considered there is no more reason to doubt of the finall determination of this one then of any other the eternall Decrees of God whatsoeuer For seeing the Lord not onely purposed the finall determination of Satan his power of actuall possession from before all beginnings of time but also very solemnely promised and most powerfully effected the same in that promised seede which was actually to bruise the Serpents heade who seeth not euen one and the selfesame methode and order herein obserued as in all other the forenamed purposes and determinations of our eternall God And therefore there is no more reason to denye the finall determination of this one then of any other the like purposed operations of God vnlesse we doe purposely entend to bring present confusion vpon the orderly actions of that only wise agent who accomplisheth and ordereth all things in measure in number and waight Physiologus Very true as you say And therefore let those men beware who so constantly auouch the continuance of actuall possession now in these later dayes of the world But proceede in the rest Orthodoxus Againe this doctrine of ours deciphering so plainely vnto vs all those the deceiuable notions whatsoeuer which more peculiarlie appertaine to this new-found trade of Diuillitie with the seuerall points thereof it ministreth vnto vs a notable meditation or rather a watchfull consideration concerning the very proper foundation of all those the common receiued opinions fantasies dreames or idle conceites which runne all the world ouer about the Diuels their essential assuming and transforming of bodies their pretended apparitions in this or that essentiall forme their absolute power for creating of substances their essentiall possessions their supernaturall operations with sundrie other such idle conceites These their strange imaginations concerning Spirits and Diuels if we rightlie consider the same they arise not from any the infallible truths of the Lord reuealed vnto vs in the sacred scriptures for then we might and ought boldly to imbrace them for truths how absurd soeuer in humane reason but they do rather proceede from the only imagination of mans idle braine Who hauing their cogitations darkened through the ignorance that is naturallie in them cannot possiblie be made to discerne aright of any such intricate matters Yea and they spring partly also from the corrupt customes of the world For men receiuing such vntruthes from hand to hand as it were an inueterate lie by an auncient tradition do careleslie transferre the same from themselues to their owne posteritie and the ages to come And thus forsooth an old doating custome hauing careleslie begotten many grosse and erroneous opinions concerning Spirits and Diuels the world at this present is so vniuersally besotted bewitched and possessed with these palpable fooleries as they had rather to hold a manifest lye in their very right hand then be brought from their former most fond conceites and corrupt customes to an vndoubted knowledge of the truth it selfe For howsoeuer they may haplie pretend herein the holie Religion and feare of the Lord they feare him not in deede and in truth but do serue him only after the manner of former nations yea euen vnto this day they deale in these points according to the old accustomed manner and not after the ordinances customes lawes and commaundements which the Lord commaunded the children of Iacob They runne not for a true vnderstanding of these mysticall matters to the lawe and the testimonie neither speake they at all according to this truth but euery man speaketh herein according to the blind imagination of his owne â—oolish heart and after the corrupt customes of the world itselfe because there is in them no light of truth concerning these matters And thus much in effect for those speciall vses which haue a more speciall relation to any the seuerall points propounded Lycanthropus Very well Proceede now I pray you vnto those other vses which more specially concerne the parties themselues perusing those seuerall points Orthodoxus With very good will Wherin especially we haue to consider that seeing the matters we
of the world hath made it apparantly euident Lycanthropus This vse I assure you it serueth for singular purposes but proceede in the rest I beseech you Orthodoxus Moreouer it being by these our precedent discourses apparantly made knowen to all the world that the very Authours themselues of any such vnderhand practises haue in euery age been fearefully disgraced by the all seeing God sharply censured by godly Superiours greatly disliked of all the Religious perpetually impugned by the most iudiciall sort miserably scorned among the secure and godlesse Atheists yea and euen generally condemned of one and other this should sufficiently enforme the late spronge plotters and dayly deuisers of euery such new found senselesse Diuillitie concerning the vndoubted vanitie of euery such vaine inuention yea and it should make them withall to be mightily amazed and to tremble exceedingly at the vnsearchable iudgements of God concerning such subtill Impostors as seeke to seduce the world by any their vnder-hand shifts Who notwithstanding they be neuer so outwardly holy in those their plotted pretences yet when they shall once but dare to enterprise the vnorderly mannaging of any such slie and cunning conueyances without an authenticall warrant from the word of the Lord they doe thereby not onely procure the mightie Iehouah to bring their Legerdemaines to light but which more is they doe also to any one of sounde iudgement so euidently bewray their palpable follie and so apparantly lay open their owne weakenesse concerning the necessary support of their languishing cause as euen the very best affected towards their proceedings being especiallie iudiciall persons such also as are not too much ouercome and too preposterouslie carried with partiall conceites may easily be ledde to thinke that the very Authors themselues doe but struggle against their enlightened iudgements not vnlike vnto those who making shipwracke of conscience haue fearefully forsaken their former synceritie and soundnesse of faith And this in effect for those seuerall vses which more particularly respect the Authours themselues Pneumatomachus Very well But proceede now I pray you to those other vses which more specially concerne their vnderhand fauourits Orthodoxus With all my hart Wherein we haue first to consider that seeing howsoeuer the cunning Impostors of euery age haue like Iannes and Iambres euen openly encountered with the sound ministerie of Moses their deceiueable signes and lying wonders could neuer possiblie stand against the ineuitable force of the word but like to the AEgyptian sorcerers roddes haue been euermore deuoured by Aaron his rodde this therefore may fitly serue to admonish to the full our vnderhand fauourits of euery such newfound Diuillitie that now at length they beware how they doe hereafter receiue the holy word of the Lord in an onely respect of persons which is the ordinarie vsage of carnall professors Least as Simon Magus along time Samâ—riaâ—ith â—ith his seducing sorceries so their mindes alas should by some serpentine subtiltie be drawen at vnwares from that holy simplicitie which is in Christ. Yea and this should admonish them further that in these and all other like intricate causes they receiue not hand ouer head whatsoeuer is disorderly printed or vnderhand broached by those whom they partially fauour with a personall respect but that they would rather haue speedie recourse to the Law and the testimonies and search there with the good men of Berrea whether they doe proportionably speake or write according to the infallible truth thereof which they will vndoubtedly doe if there be in them any true light at all Because being otherwise either too partiall towards those whom they fondly affect or too preiudicate at least towards such as soundly impugne their proceedings they should shew themselues to haue no loue of the truth for the only truths sake and therefore no maruell though they be purposelie subiected to strong illusions and euen desperately giuen ouer to entertaine vntruthes falshoods and lies to their further peruerting and the fearefull hazarding of their hoped saluation Philologus The Lord graunt that this vse may become no lesse profitable then we see it expedient for euery condition of people but proceede in the rest Orthodoxus Moreouer sith the fearefull inconueniences ensuing such Legerdemaines are diuersly dangerous concerning the glorie of God and the good estate of his Church here on earth this therefore should throughly aduise the vnderhand fauourits of any such newfound Diuillitie to beware how either by company conference continuance or any their vnderhand maintenance they doe couertly vphold such cunning Impostors in any their counterfeite courses more especially concerning those idle conceites which haue so vndutifully and so disordredly been broached abroad by their Bookes Least they be otherwise very iustly adiudged to iustle against the glory of God to vndermine the supereminent dignitie of Iesus Christ to enlarge that temporarie power of the Diuell which Christ hath long since restrained for euer to weaken the certaintie of faith respecting especially those particular promises which the Almightie hath made concerning our full deliuerance in Iesus Christ yea and which more is to countenance a confused disorder against her Maiesties established Lawes and orders And this in effect for those seuerall vses which onely concerne the inconsiderate affectors of this newfound Diuillitie Lycanthropus Proceed now I beseech you to some such seuerall vses as may more especiallie respect the mislikers thereof Orthodoxus With very good will Wherein also wee haue to consider that al those the following vses they are here to be put downe in a double respect Namelie in an especiall respect of publike or priuate persons Lycanthropus A very plaine order and therefore I pray you proceede first to the timelie vnfolding of those sundrie vses which more especiallie concerne the publike persons Orthodoxus Content Wherein especiallie you haue to consider that the seuerall vses respecting publike persons they are such as haue a more speciall relation to their publike places and callings And these publike persons are also twofold namely eyther the ciuill magistrates or the ecclesiasticall ministers Philologus Vnfold those vses first I beseech you which more especiallie concerne the ciuill magistrates Orthodoxus With very good will Wherein we haue first to consider that seeing so many and such daungerous mischiefes doe daylie proceed from the vnderhand practises and legerdemaines of cunning impostors as in our seuerall discourses hath beene handled at large this therefore may fitlie serue for the further enlightning of all in authoritie concerning especiallie their orderlie esteemings and iudgings about any the like occurrents which may haplie hereafter be brought into their open consistories or before any their iudiciall thrones And this moreouer may giue them accordingly some further inckling how to proceed against the persons of any how holie soeuer in shew that shall once but dare to maintaine such idle conceits to the high dishonour of God and the daylie incumbrance of Christes Church Yea and which more is we doubt
aside from the way they shall not onlie saue a soule and couer the multitude of sinnes but which more is they may in hauing this learning and in knowing the deepnes of Satan concerning these mysticall matters very assuredly expect with patience their happie coronation with Christ in the celestiall throne And thus much in effect for the holie vses of this doctrine whether they concerne the Lord himselfe or his creatures Lycanthropus These vses they are euery way so pertinent and so consonant to the substance of the doctrine it selfe as none but the headie and obstinate who hauing with a setled pertinacie euen secretly and finally deuoted themselues to their selfe-conceit will any waies mislike or impugne the same But what saith Exorcistes vnto them Exorcistes I neither could nor would willingly be opposite to them especially if the Doctrine it selfe from whence they are drawne were so currantly sound as Master Orthodoxus and the rest would beare me in hand Howbeit notwithstanding any thing hitherto heard I am and must still be in the selfe same opinion I was in at the first For if none in these daies be essentially possessed of Satan do tel me I pray you how we are to esteeme of such extraordinarie actions or passions as do eftsoones befall to sundrie distressed persons Orthodoxus I will simplie tell you what my owne selfe suppose them to be and how also I would haue your selfe and all others accompt of such accidents First such extraordinarie and vnwonted occurrents may eftsoones appeare and be practised by meere cousoning collusions and craftie conueiances of legerdemaine Yea and these counterfeite actions or passions may also bee broached either by the only pretended Demoniake himselfe as did the dissembling caitife who cousoned that reuerend father Master Fox without the assistance of any other besides or else such extraordinarie actions they may be effected by the ioynt assistance helpe and direction of some craftie confederate conioyned with that the aforesaid pretended Demoniake in the couert dispatch of those his counterfeit prankes Of this kinde of Demoniakes the world hath been successiuely pestered in euery age since the Primitiue Church and therefore no wonder at all though now in these daies some certaine persons should likewise depart from the faith giuing heede to spirits of error and to doctrines of Diuels Sometimes againe the pretended Demoniake may in deed and in truth be easily drawen to beleeue that he is without doubt essentially possessed of Satan when there is no such matter at all he hauing onely at vnwares to himselfe and by some paltrie Priest or cunning Impostor beene before verie grosly abused partly by Patheticall and circumuenting perswasions and partly also by some intoxicated perfume some filthie confection or potion The which bewitching sorceries doe so strangely disorder the poore Patients body his minde it selfe with all the powers and faculties concerning them both as for the present the very beholders themselues are easily perswaded with the people of Samaria to beleeue that the partie in deed is essentially possessed Yea and which more is the very Exorcist himselfe who pretendeth and vndertaketh the supposed dispossession of this newly supposed Demoniake he may also very easily beare the beholders in hand that he is vndoubtedly some mightie Magnifico in this new-found trade of Diuillitie and make them thus to crie out frō the least to the most Doubtlesse this man is the great power of God Of this kind of Demoniakes as also of that the intoxicated potion it selfe the Iesuiticall Exorcists in their Exorcising pamphlets they affoord vs sundry examples Thirdly these extraordinarie and vnwonted occurrents they may and doe also eftsoones arise from meere naturall causes namely from Mania from Melancholy from Lunacy from Furie from the Phrensie from the Epilepsie from the Mother from Conuulsions obstructions and sundry such other vnnaturall accidents as we haue eftsoones declared in our former discourses By the vnwontednes and efficacie of which vnnaturall infirmities the minde it selfe being mightily disordered before by meanes of the Phantasie doth easily resolue that some extraordinarie operations of Satan doe mightilie distemper his natural constitution and strangely afflict the same in euery part Of this kind of extraordinarie actions or passions very many but lately departed this life and many yet liuing haue oftentimes had an experience yea and the best vse you may possibly make of all those your eight supposed Demoniakes more especially of your newly pretended Patients sprong vp in Cheshire of late is only this Namely that the excesse of melancholy or some other disordered humour did for the present disorder their bodies according to the approued iudgement of learned Physitions concerning especially the boye at Northwitch Lastly the Diuell being alwaies desirous to worke among the deare children of God the greatest disturbance that may be and finding withall some such lewd disposed person as is naturally enclined to all manner of knaueries he taketh the oportunitie of so fit a subiect and worketh so cunningly vpon the corruption of that lewd persons nature as the partie himselfe is easily brought to beleeue and to beare others also in hand that he is in deede and in truth essentially possessed of Satan Yea and which more is the said vngratious body partly for gaine partly for glory and partly also in an affected desire to be deemed terrible to others about him he doth from thence forth very willingly endeuour himselfe to speake and to act some such strange and vnwonted acts as the like were neuer espied in him before By which his villanous practises the silly beholders surprised before with an inueterate opinion of Demoniacall possessions are easily brought to intertaine for infallible truth that the partie is in deed essentiallie possessed with some Spirit or Diuell Of this kinde of Demoniakes we haue often experience in euery age and the cousoning of good Master Foxe doth plainely confirme By the premisses then you may plainely perceiue that the supposed strange actions or passions in any such falslie pretended Demoniakes they may and are also eftsoones effected without any supernaturall power of a Diuell and therefore you neede not so easilie be ledde to conceiue of those matters in such sort as you doe but ought rather to examine the causes themselues with the sundrie occasions and seuerall circumstances of persons of times and of places with other occurrents that thereby you may more soundly be able to determine thereof Lycanthropus Surely sir these Cautions and considerations being duely obserued there could not possibly be such contrarietie of opinions concerning these matters as now are rashly broached abroad to the intolerable disturbance of the Peace of the Church But what saith Exorcistes to all these matters Exorcistes I say and hold as before that there are essentiall possessions of Spirits and Diuels in these daies of the Gospell and that sole prayer and fasting is a perpetuall ordinance established by Christ for the powerfull expelling of Spirits