salt by God by the God ✚ that liveth by the true ✚ God by the holy ✚ God which by Elizaeus the prophet commanded that thou shouldest be throwne into the water that it thereby might be made whole sound that thou salt here let the preist looke upon the salt maist be conjured for the health of all beleevers and that thou be to all that take thee health both of body and soule and let all phantasies and wickednesse or diabolicall craft or deceipt depart from the place whereon it is sprinkled as also every uncleane spirit being conjured by him that judgeth both the quick and the dead by fire Resp. Amen Then followeth a prayer to be said without Dominus vobiscum bet yet with Oremus as followeth ¶ Oremus Almighty and everlasting God we humbly desire thy clemency here let the pâ—eist looke upon the salt that thou wouldest vouchsafe through thy piety to bl ✚ esse and sanc ✚ tifie this creature of salt which thou hast given for the use of mankind that it may be to all that receive it health of mind and body so as whatsoever shall be touched thereby or sprinkled therewith may be void of all uncleannesse and all resistance of spirituall iniquity through our Lord Amen What can be made but a conjuration of these words also which are written in the canon or rather in the saccaring of masse This holy commixtion of the body and bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ let it be made to me and to all the receivers thereof health of mind and body and a wholesome preparative for the deserving receiving of everlasting life through our Lord Iesus Amen CHAP. XXVIII That popish priests leave nothing unconjured a fomre of exorcisme for incense ALthough the papists have many conjurations so as neither water nor fire nor bread nor wine nor wax nor tallow nor church nor churchyard nor altar nor altar cloth nor ashes nor coales nor bells nor bell ropes nor copes nor vestmenâ—s nor oile nor salt nor candle nor candlesticke nor beds nor bedstaves are without their forme of conjuration yet I will for brevity let all passe and end here with incense which they do conjure in this sort ✚ I conjure thee most filthy and horible spirit and every vision of our enemie c that thou go and depart from out of this creature of frankincense with all thy deceipt and wickednesse tâ—at this creature may be sanctified and in the name of our Lord ✚ Jesus ✚ Christ ✚ that all they that taste touch or smell the same may receive the virtue and assistance of the Holy ghost so as wheresoever this incense or frankincense shall remaine that there thou in no wise be so bold as to approach or once presume or attempt to hurt but what uncleane spirit so ever thou be that thou with all thy crast and subtilty avoid and depart being conjured by the name of God the father almighty c. And that wheresoever the sume or smoke thereof shall come every kind and sort of divels may be driven away and expelled â—â— they were at the increase of the liver of fish which the archangell Raphael made c. CHAP. XXIX The rules and lawes of popish Exorcists and other conjurors all one with a confutation of their whole power how S. Martine conjured the divell THe papists you see have their certaine generall rules and lawes as to abstaine from sinne and to fast as also otherwise to be cleane from all pollutions c and even so likewise have the other conjurors Some will say that papists use divine service and prayers even so do common conjurors as you see even in the same papisticall forme no whit swarving from theirs in faith and doctrine nor yet in ungodly and unreasonable kinds of petitions Me thinks it may be a sufficient argument to overthrow the calling up and miraculous workes of spirits that it is written God only knoweth and sâ—aâ—cheth the hearts and only worketh great wonders The which argument being prosecuted to the end can never be answered in so much as that divine power is required in that action And if it be said that in this conjuration we speake to the spirits and they heare us and therefore need not know our thoughts and imaginations I first aske them whether king Baell or Amoimon which are spirits raigning in the furthest regions of the east as they say may heare a conjurors voyce which calleth for them being in the extreamest parts of the west there being such noises interposed where perhaps also they may be busie and set to worke on the like affaires Secondly whether those spirits be of the same power that God is who is every where filling all places and able to heare all men at one instant c. Thirdly whence commeth the force of such words as raise the dead and command divels If sounds do it then may it be done by a taber and a pipe or any other instrument that hath no life If the voyce do it then may it be done by any beasts or birds If words then a parret may do it If in mans words only where is the force in the the first second or third syllable If in syllables then not in words If in imaginations then the divell knoweth our thoughts But all this stuffe is vaine and fabulous It is written All the generations of the earth were healthfull and there is no poyson of destruction in them Why then do they conjure holsome creatures as salt water c where no divels are God looked upon all his works and saw they were all good What effect I pray you had the 7. sonnes of Sceva which is the great objection of witchmongers They would needs take upon them to conjure divels out of the possessed But what brought they to passe Yet that was in the time whilest God suffered miracles commonly to be wrought By that you may see what conjurors can do Where is such a promise to conjurors or witches as is made in the Gospell to the faithfull where it is written In my name they shall cast out divels speake with new tongues if they shall drinke any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall take away serpents they shall lay hands on the sicke and they shall recover According to the promise this grant of miraculous working was performed in the primitive church for the confirmation of Christs doctrine and the establishing of the Gospell But as in another place I have proved the gift thereof was but for a time and is now ceased neither was it ever made to papist witch or conjuror They take upon them to call up and cast out divels and to undoe with one divell that which another divell hath done If one divell could cast out another it were a kingdome divided and could not stand Which argument Christ himselfe maketh and therefore I may the mâ—re boldly say even with Christ that they have no such
the weather is faire and cleer Cardanus derideth these and such like fables and setteth downe his judgement therein accordingly in the sixteenth booke De rerum ver These conjurors and coseners forsooth will shew you in a glasse the theefe that hath stolne any thing from you and this is their order They take a glasse-viall full of holy water and set it upon a linnen cloth which hath been purified not onely by washing but by sacrifice c. On the mouth of the viall or urinall two olive-leaves must be laid acrosse with a little conjuration said over it by a child to wit thus Angele bone angele candide per tuam sanctitatem meamque virginiteâ—em ostende mihi furem with â—hree Pater nosteâ—s three Aves and betwixt either of them a crosse made with the naile of the thombe upon the mouth of the viall and then shall be seen angels ascending and descending as it were motes in the sunne-beames The theefe all this while shall suffer great torments and his face shall be seen plainly even as plainly I beleeve as the man in the moone For in truth there are toies artificially conveyed into glasse which will make the water bubble and devises to make images appeare in the bubbles as also there be artificial glasses which will shew unto you that shall looke thereinto many images of divers formes and some so small and curious as they shall in favour resemble whomsoever you think upon Looke in John Bap. Neap for the confection of such glasses The subtilties hereof are so deâ—ected and the mysteries of the glasses so common now and their cosenage so well knowne c. that I need not stand upon the particular confutation hereof Cardanus in the place before cited reporteth how he tried with children these and divers circumstances the whole illusion and found it to be plaine knavery and cosenage Another way to find out a theefe that ahht stolne any thing from you GO to the sea-side and gather as many pebles as you suspect persons for that matter carry them home throw them into the fire bury them under the threshold where the parties are like to come over There let them lie three dayes and then before sun rising take them away Then set a porrenger full of water in a circle wherein must be made crosses every way as many as can stand in it upon the which must be written Christ overcometh Christ reigneth Christ commandeth The porrenger also must be signed with a crosse and a form of conjuration must be pronounced Then each stone must be thrown into the water in the name of the suspected And when you put in the stone of him that is guilty the stone will make the water boile as though glowing iron were put thereinto Which is a meere knack of legierdemaine and to be accomplished divers waies To put out the theeves eye Reade the seven psalmes with the Letany and then must be said a horrible prayer to Christ and God the father with a curse against the theefe Then in the middest of the step of your foote on the ground where you stand make a circle like an eye and write thereabout certain barbarous names and drive with a coopers hammer or addes into the middest thereof a brazen naile consecrated saying Iustus es Domine et justa judicia tua Then the thiefe shall be bewraied by his crying out Another way to find out a thiefe STick a paire of sheeres in the rind of a sive and let two persons set the top of each of their forefingers upon the upper part of the sheeres holding it with the sive up from the ground steddily and aske Peter and Paul whether A. B. or C. hath stolne the thing lost and at the nomination of the guilty person the sive will turne round This is a great practise in all countries and indeed a very bable For with the beating of the pulse some cause of that motion ariseth some other cause by slight of the fingers some other by the wind gathered in the â—ive to be staid c. at the pleasure of the holders Some cause may be the imagination which upon conceit at the naming of the party altereth the common course of the pulse As may well be conceived by a ring held steddily by a thred betwixt the finger and the thombe over or rather in a goblet or glasse which within short space will strike against the side thereof so many strokes as the holder thinketh it a clocke and then will stay the which who so proveth shall find true A Charme to find out or spoile a theefe OF thâ—s matter concerning the apprehension of theeves by wâ—â—ds I will ciâ—e one charme called S. Adelberts curse being both for length of words sufficient to wery the reader and for substantiall stuffe comprehending all that appertaineth unto blasphemous speech or cursing allowed in the church of Rome as an excommunication and inchantment Saint Adelberts curse or charme against theeves BY the authority of the omnipotent Father the Sonne and the holy ghost and by the holy virgine Mary mother of our Lord Jesu Christ and the holy angels and archangels and S. Michael and S. John Baptist and in the behalfe of S. Peter the apostle and the risidue of the apostles and of S. Stephen and of all the martyrs of S. Sylvester and of S. Adelbert and all the confessors and S. Alegand and all the holy virgins and of all the saints in heaven and earth unto whom there is given power to bind and loose we do excommunicate damne curse and bind with the knots and bands of excommunication and we do segregate from the bounds and lists of our holy mother the church all those theeves sacrilegious persons ravenous catchers doers counsellers coadjutors male or female that have committed this theft or mischiefe or have usurped any part thereof to their owne use Let their share be with Dathan and Abiran whom the earth swallowed up for their such and pride and let them have part with Iudas that betrayed Christ Amen and with Pontius Pilat and with them that said to the Lord Depart from us we will not understand thy wayes let their children be made orphanes Cursed be they in the field in the grove in the woods in their houses barnes chambers and beds and cursed be they in the court in the way in the towne in the castle in the water in the church in the churchyard in the tribunall place in battell in their abode in the market place in their talke in silence in eating in watching in sleeping in drinking in feeling in sitting in kneeling in standing in lying in idlenesse in all their worke in their body and soule in their five wits and in every place Cursed be the fruit of their wombâ— and cursed be the fruit of their lands and cursed be all that they haâ—e Cursed be their heads their mouthes their nostrels their noses their lips their jawes their teeth their eyes
to the saying of the prophet to those gods and idols which took on them the power of God Do either good or ill if you can c. So as the prophet knew and taught thereby that none but God could worke miracles Infinite places for this purpose might be brought out of the scripture which for brevity I omit and oveâ—slip S. Augustine among other reasons whereby he proveth the ceasing of miracles saith Now blinde flesh doth not open the eyes of the blinde â—y the miracle of God but the eyes of our heart are opened by the word â—f God Now is not our dead carcase raised any more up by miracle but our dead bodies be still in the gâ—ave and our soules are raised to life by â—hrist Now the eares of the deafe are not opened by miracle but they â—hich had their ears shut before have them now opened to their salvation The miraculous healing of the sick by anointing spoken of by S. Iames is â—bjected by many specially by the papists for the maintenance of their â—â—crament of extreame unction which is apishly and vainly used in the â—â—omish church as though that miraculous gift had continuance till this â—ay herein you shall see what Calvine speaketh in his institutions â—he grace of healing saith he spoken of by Saint Iames is â—â—nished away as also the other miracles which the Lord would have â—â—ewed onely for a time that he might make the new preaching of the â—ospel mervellous for ever Why saith he do not these meaning miraâ—â—e-mongers appoint some Siloah to swim in whereinto at certaine orâ—â—nary recourses of times sicke folke may plunge themselves Why do â—â—ey nor lie along upon the dead because Paul raised up a dead child 〈◊〉 that meanes Verily saith he James in the miracle to anoint spake â—â—r that time whiles the church still enjoyed such blessings of God Item 〈◊〉 saith that the Lord is present with his in all ages and so often as need 〈◊〉 he helpeth their sicknesses no lesse than in old time But he doth 〈◊〉 so utter his manifest powers nor distributeth miracles as by the hands 〈◊〉 the Apostles because the gift was but for a time Calvine even their â—ncludeth thus They say such vertues or miracles remaine but experâ—â—â—ce saies nay And see how they agree among themselves Danaeus saith at neither witch nor devil can worke miracles Giles Alley saith directly that witches worke miracles Calvine saith they are all ceased All witchmongers say they continue But some affirme that popish miracles are vanished and gone away howbeit witches miracles remaine in full force So as S. Loy is out of credit for a horseleach Master T. and mother Bâ—â—gy remaine in estimation for prophets nay Hobgoblin and Robin 〈◊〉 fellow are contemned among young children and mother Alice and another Bungy are feaâ—ed among old fooles The estimation of these continue because the matter hath not been called in question the credit 〈◊〉 the other decayeth because the matter hath been looked into Where I say no more but that S. Anthonies blisse will helpe your pig where ever mother Bungy doth hurt it with her curse And therefore we 〈◊〉 warned by the word of God in any wise not to feare their curses â—e let all the witchmongers and specially the miracle-mongers in the 〈◊〉 answer me to this supposition Put case that a woman of credit 〈◊〉 a woman-witch should say unto them that she is a true prophet of 〈◊〉 Lord and that he revealeth those secret mysteries unto her whereby â—â— detecteth the lewd acts and imaginations of the wicked and thâ—◠〈◊〉 him she worketh miracles and prophesieth c. I think they must 〈◊〉 yeeld or confesse that miracles are ceased But such thing saith Câ—â—dane as seeme miraculous are chiefly done by deceipt legierdemaâ— or confederacy or else they may be done and yet seeme unpossible else things are said to be done and never were nor can be done CHAP. II. The gift of prophesie is ceased THat witches nor the woman of Endor nor yet her familiar or devil can tell what is to come may plainly appear by the words of 〈◊〉 prophet who saith Shew what things are to come and we will say 〈◊〉 are gods indeed According to that which Solomon saith who 〈◊〉 a man what shall happen him under the sun Marry that can I saith witch of Endor to Saul But I will rather beleeve Paul and Peters 〈◊〉 say that prophesie is the gift of God and no worldly thing Thâ— cousening queane that taketh upon her to do all things and can do thing but beguile men up steppeth also mother Bungy and she 〈◊〉 you where your horse or your asse is bestowed or any-thing that you 〈◊〉 lost is become as Samuel could and what you have done in all 〈◊〉 age past as Christ did to the woman of Sichar at Iacobs well yea 〈◊〉 what your errand is before you speak as Elizeus did Peter Martyr saith that onely God and man knoweth the heart of 〈◊〉 and therefore that the devil must be secluded alledging these place Solus Deus est scrutator cordium Onely God is the searcher of hearts 〈◊〉 Nemo scit quae sunt hominis nisi spiritus hominis qui est in eo None â—oâ—â—eth the thigs of man but the spirit of man which is within him Soâ—â—mon saith Tu solus nosti cogitationes hominum Thou onely knowest 〈◊〉 thoughts of men And Jeremy saith in the person of God Ego 〈◊〉 scrutans corda renes I am God searching hearts and reines Also 〈◊〉 thew faith of Christ Iesus autem videus cogitationes eorum And 〈◊〉 seeing their thoughts who in Scripture is called the searcher and 〈◊〉 of the thoughts in the heart as appeareth in Acts 1. 15. Rom. 8. Matth. 9.12 22. Marke 2. Luke 6. 7. 11. John 1.2.6 13. Apoc. 2. 3. and in other places infinite The same Peter Martyr also saith that the devil may suspect but not know our thoughts for if he should know our thoughts he should understand our faith which if he did he would never assault us with one temptation Indeed we reade that Samuel could tell where things lost were straied c. but we see that gift also ceased by the coming of Christ according to the saying of Paul at sundry times and in diverse manners God spâ—ke in the old times by our fathers the prophets in these last dayes he hath spoken unto us by his sonne c. And therefore I say that gift of prophesie wherewith God in times past endued his people is also ceased and counterfeits and coufeners are come in their places according to this saying of Peter There were false prophets among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you c. And think not that so notable a gift should be taken from the beloved and the elect people of God and committed to mother Bungy and such like of her
into the said dike and there killed him You must think that this was a devil in a serpents likenesse which for the love he bare to the poore snakes killed the sorcerer to reach all other witches to beware of the like wicked practise And surely if this be not true there be a great number of lies contained in M. Mal. and I. Bodin And if this be well weighed and conceived it beateth downe to the ground all those witchmongers arguments that contend to wring witching miracles out of this place For they disagree notably some denying and some affirming that serpents may be bewitched Neverthelesse because in every point you shall see how popery agreeth with paganisme I will recite certaine charmes against vipers allowed for the most part in and by the church of Rome as followeth I conjure thee O serpent in this house by the five holy wounds of our Lord that thou remove not out of this place but here stay as certainly as God was borne of a pure virgine Otherwise I conjure thee serpent In nomine patris filii spiritus sancti I command thee serpent by our lady S. Mary that thou obey me as wax obeyeth the fire and as fire obeyeth water that thou neither hurt me nor any other christian as certainly as God was borne of an immaculate virgine in which respect I take thee up In nomine patris filii spiritus sancti Ely lash eiter ely lash eiter ely lash eiter Otherwise O vermine thou must come as God came unto the Iewes Otherwise L. Vairus saith that Serpens quernis frondibus contacta that a serpent touched with oake-leaves dieth and stayeth even in the beginning of his going if a feather of the bird Ibis be cast or thrown upon him and that a viper smitten or hot with a reed is astonied and touched with a beechen branch is presently numme and stiffe Here is to be remembered that many use to boast that they are of S. Pauls race and kindred shewing upon their bodies the prints of serpentâ— which as the papists affirme was incident to all them of S. Pauls stock Marry they say herewithall that all his kinsfolks can handle serpents or any poison without danger Others likewise have as they brag a Katharine-wheele upon their bodies and they say they are kinne to S. Katharine and that they can carry burning coales in their bare hands and dip their said hands in hot skalding liquor and also go into hot ovens Whereof though the last be but a bare jest and to be done by any that will prove as a bad fellow in London had used to do making no tarriancâ—e at all therein yet there is a shew made of the other as though it were certaine and undoubted by anointing the hands with the juice of mallowes mercury urine c. which for a little time are defensatives against these scalding liquors and scorching fires But they that take upon them to worke these mysteries and miracles do indeed after rehearsall of these and such like words and charmes take up even in their bare hands those snakes and vipers and sometimes pâ—â— them about their necks without receiving any hurt thereby to the terror and astonishment of the beholders which naturally both feare and abhorre all serpents But these charmers upon my word dare not trust to their charmes but use such an inchantment as every man may lawfully use and in the lawfull use thereof may bring to passe that they shall be in security and take no harme how much soever they handle them marry with a woollen rag they pull out their teeth before hand as some men say but as truth is they weary them and that is of certainty And surely this is a kind of witchcraft which I terme private confederacy Bodin saith that all the snakes in one countrey were by charmes and verses driven into another region perhaps he meaneth Ireland where S. Patrik is said to have done it with his holynesse c. James Sprenger and Henry Institor affirme that serpents and snakes and their skins exceed all other creatures for witchcraft insomuch as witches do use to bury them under mens thresholds either of the house or stalles whereby barrennesse is procured both to woman and beast yea and that the very earth and ashes of them continue to have force of fascination In respect whereof they wish all men now and then to dig away the earth under their thresholds and to sprinkle holy water in the place and also to hang boughes hallowed on midsummer day at the stall doore where the cattel stand and produce examples thereupon of witches lies or else their owne which I omit because I see my book groweth to be greater than I meant it should be CHAP. XVI Charmes to carry water in a sive to know what is spoken of us behind our backs for bleere eyes to make seeds to grow well of images made of wax to be rid of a witch to hang her up notable authorities against waxen images a story bewraying the knavery of waxen images LEonardus Vairus saith that there was a prayer extant whereby might be carried in a sive water or other liquor I think it was clam clay which a crow taught a maid that was promised a cake of so great quantity as might be kneaded of so much floure as she could wet with the water that she brought in a sive and by that meanes she clamd it with clay and brought in so much water as whereby she had a great cake and so beguiled her sisters c. And this tale I heard among my grandams maides whereby I can decipher this witchcraft Item by the tingling of the eare men heretofore could tell what was spoken of them If any see a scorpion and say this word Bud he shall not be stung or bitten therewith These two Greek letters Î and A written in a paper and hung about ones neck preserve the party from bleereyednesse Cummin or hempseed sowen with cursing and opprobrious words grow the faster and the better Berosus Anianus maketh witchcraft of great antiquity for he saith that C ham touching his fathers naked member uttered a charme whereby his father became emasculated or deprived of the powers generative A charme teaching how to hurt whom you list with images of wax c. MAke an image in his name whom you would hurt or kill of new virgine wax under the right arme-poke whereof place a swallows heart and the liver under the left then hang about the neck thereof a new thred in a new needle pricked into the member which you would have hurt with the rehearsall of certain words which for the avoiding of foolish superstition and credulity in this behalf is to be omitted And if they were inserted I dare undertake they would do no harme were it not to make fooles and catch gudgins Otherwise Sometimes these images are made of brasse and then the hand is placed where the
quiet Also they never appear to the whole multitude seldome to a few and most commonly to one alone for so one may tell a lie without controlment Also they are oftenest seen by them that are ready to dye as Trasilla saw pope Foelix Vrsine Peter and Paul Galta Romana S. Peter and as Musa the maid saw our Lady which are the most certain appearances credited and allowed in the church of Rome also they may be seen of some and of some other in that presence not seen at all as Vrsine saw Peter and Paul and yet many at that instant being present could not see any such sight but thought it a lie as I doe Michael Andraeas confesseth that papists see more visions than protestants he saith also that a good soul can take none other shape than of a man marry a damned soul may and doth take the shape of a black moor or of a beast or of a serpent or specially of an heretick The christian signs that drive away these evill souls are the crosse the name of Jesus and the relickâ— of saints in the number whereof are holiwater holy bread Agnus Dei c. For Andrew saith that notwithstanding Iulian was an Apostate and a betrayer of a christian religion yet at an extremity with the only sign of the crosse he drave away from him many such evill spirits whereby also he saith the greatest diseases and sicknesses are cured and the forest dangers avoided CHAP. XXIX A confutation of assuming of bodies and of the serpent that seduced Eve THey that contend so earnestly for the divels assuming of bodies and visible shapes do think they have a great advantage by the words uttered in the third of Genesis where they say the divell entered into a serpent or snake and that by the curse it appeareth that the whole displeasure of God lighted upon the poor snake only How those words are to be considered may appear in that it is of purpose so spoken as our weak capacities may thereby best conceive the substance tenor and true meaning of the word which is there set downe in the manner of a tragedie in such humane and sensible forme as wonderfully informeth our understanding though it seem contrary to the spirituall course of spirits and divels and also to the nature and divinity of God himself who is infinite and whom no man ever saw with corporall eyes and lived And doubtlesse if the serpent there had not been taken absolutely nor metaphorically for the divell the Holy-ghost would have informed us thereof in some part of that story But to affirme it sometimes to be a divell and sometimes a snake whereas there is no such distinction to be found or seen in the text is an invention and a fetch me thinks beyond the compasse of all divinity Certainly the serpent was he that seduced Eve now whether it were the divell or a snake let any wise man or rather let the word of God judge Doubtlesse the scripture in many places expoundeth it to be the divell And I have I am sure one wiseman on my side for the interpretation hereof namely Solomon who saith Through envie of the divell came death into the world referring that to the divell which Moses in the letter did to the serpent But a better expositor hereof needeth not than the text it self even in the same place where it is written I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed he shall break thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel What christian knoweth not that in these words the mystery of our redemption is comprised and promised Wherein is not meant as many suppose that the common seed of women shall tread upon a sâ—akes head and so break it in pieces c. but that speciall seed which is Christ should be borne of a woman to the utter overthrow of satan and in the redemption of mankinde whose heel or flesh in his members the divell should bruise and assault with continuall attempts and carnall provocations c. CHAP. XXX The objection concerning the divels assuming of the serpents body answered THis word serpent in holy scripture is taken for the divell The serpent was more subtill than all the beasts of the field It likewise signifieth such as be evill speakers such as have slandering tongues also hereticks c. They have sharpned their tongues like serpents It doth likewise betoken the death and sacrifice of Christ as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wildernesse so must the son of man be lifted up upon the crosse Moreover it is taken for wicked men O ye serpents and generation of vipers Thereby also is signified as well a wise as a subtill man and in that sense did Christ himself use it saying Be ye wise as serpents c. So that by this brief collection you see that the word serpent as it is equivocall so likewise it is sometimes taken in the good and sometimes in the evill part But where it is said that the serpent was father of lies author of death and the worker of deceipt me thinks it is a ridiculous opinion to hold that thereby a snake is meant which must be if the letter be preferred before the allegory Truly Calvines opinion is to be liked and reverenced and his example to be embraced and followed in that he offereth to subscribe to them that hold that the Holy-ghost in that place did of purpose use obscure figures that the clear light thereof might be deferred till Christs comming He saith also with like commendation speaking hereof and writing upon this place that Moses doth accommodate and fitten for the understanding of the common people in a rude and grosse stile those things which be there delivereth forbearing once to rehearse the name of satan And further he saith that this order may not be thought of Moses his owne device but to be taught him by the spirit of God for such was saith he in those dayes the childish age of the church which was unable to receive higher or profounder doctrine Finally he saith even hereupon that the Lord hath supplyed with the secret light of his spirit whatsoever wanted in plainnesse and clearnesse of eternall words If it be said according to experience that certain other beasts are farre more subtill than the serpent they answer that it is not absurd to confesse that the same gift was taken away from him by God because he brought destruction to mankind Which is more me thinks than need be granted in that behalfe For Christ saith not Be ye wise as serpents were before their transgression but Be wise as serpents are I would learn what impiety absurdity or offense it is to hold that Moses under the person of poysoning serpent or snake describeth the divell that poysoned Eve with his deceiptfull words and venomous assault Whence cometh it else that the divell is called