done to the seedes of Hypericon or St. Johns wort Adde to this the horrible fumigation to this purpose as it followes I conjure thee O thou Creature of Galbanum Sulphur Assa foetida Aristolochium Hypericon and Rue by the †living God by the †true God c. by Jesus Christ c. that thou be for our defence and that thou be made a perpetuall fumigation exorcised †blessed and consecrated to the safety of us and of all faithfull Christians and that thou be a perpetuall punishment to all malignant spirits and a most vehement and infinite fire unto them more than the fire and brimstone of hell is to the infernall spirits there c. But what doe I trouble you with these dreadfull incantations whereof the allowed bookes of Conjuration are full To these I may adde their application of holy water wherein they place not a little confidence which saith Lessius receives the force from the prayers of the Church by the meanes whereof it comes to passe that it is assisted with divine power which as it were rests upon it and joynes with it to the averting of all the infestations of the Devill But faine would I learne where the Church hath any warrant from God to make any such suit where any overture of promise to have it granted what is their prayer with out faith and what is their faith without a word But I leave these men together with their Crosses and Ceremonies and holy reliques wherein they put great trust in these cases to their better informed thoughts God open their eyes that they may see their errors For us what our demeanour should be in case of the appearance or molestation of evill spirits we cannot desire a better patterne than S. Paul his example is our all-sufficient instruction 2 Cor. 12. 7 8. who when the messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him fell presently to his prayers and instantly besought God thrice that it might depart from him Lo he that could command evill spirits out of the bodily possession of others when it comes to his own turne to be buffeted by them betakes himselfe to his prayers to that God whose grace was sufficient for him Verse 9. To them must we still have our recourse if wee thus resist the Devil he shall flee from us Iam. 4. 7. In the Primitive times those that could command needed not to sue therefore fasting and prayers was an higher as a more laborious work to this purpose in the Disciples than their imperative course of ejection but for us we that have no power to bid must pray Pray not to those ill guests that they would depart not to the blessed Virgin or our Angel-Keeper that they would gard us from them but to the great God of heaven who commands them to their chains This is a sure and everlasting remedy this is the onely certaine way to their foile and our deliverance and victory CASE II. How farre a secret pact with evill spirits doth extend and what actions and events must be referred thereunto IT is a question of exceeding great use and necessity for certainly many thousands of honest and well-minded Christians are in this kinde drawne into the snares of Satan unwarily and unwittingly For the determining of it these two grounds must be laid First that there is a double compact with Satan One direct and open wherein Magicians and Witches upon wofull conditions and direfull ceremonies enter into a mutuall covenant with evill spirits The other secret and indirect where in nothing is seen or heard or known to be agreed upon onely by a close implication that is suggested and yeilded to be done which is invisibly seconded by diabolicall operation The second ground is that whatsoever hath not a cause in nature according to Gods ordinary way must be wrought either by good or evill spirits That it cannot bee supposed that good Angels should bee at the command of ignorant or vicious persons of either sexe to concurre with them in superstitious acts done by meanes altogether in themselves ineffectable and unwarrantable and therefore that the Devill hath an unseene hand in these effects which hee marvailously brings about for the winning of credit with the world and for the obliging and engaging of his owne Clients of this kinde there is too lamentably much variety in common experience Take an handfull if you please out of a full sack let the first be that authentick charme of the Gospell of St. John allowed in the parts of the Romish correspondence wherein the first verses of that Divine Gospell are singled out printed in a small roundell and sold to the credulous ignorants with this fond warrant that whosoever carries it about him shall be free from the dangers of the dayes mis-happes The booke and the key the sive and the sheeres for the discovery of the Thiefe The notching of a stick with the number of the warts which wee would have removed the rubbing of them with raw flesh to be buried in a dunghill that they may rot away insensibly therewith or washing the part in moon-shine for that purpose words and characters of no signification or ordinary forme for the curing of diseases in man or beast more than too many whereof we find in Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus Formes of words and figures for the stanching of blood for the pulling out of thornes for easing paine for remedying the biting of a mad dog Amulets made up of Reliques with certaine letters and crosses to make him that weares them invulnerable Whistling for a winde wherewith to winnow as it is done in some ignorant parts of the west The use of an holed flint hanged up on the rack or beds head for the prevention of the night-mare in man or beast The judging by the letters of the names of men or women of their fortunes as they call them according to the serious fopperies of Arcandam The seventh Sonne 's laying on of hands for the healing of diseases The putting of a verse out of the Psalmes into the vessell to keep the wine from sowring The repeating of a verse out of Virgil to preserve a man from drunkennesse all that day following Images astronomically framed under certaine constellations 1 to preserve from severall inconveniences as under the signe of the Lion the figure of a Lion made in gold against melancholick fancies dropsie plague fevers which Lessius might well marvell how Cajetan could offer to defend when all the world knowes how little proportion and correspondence there is betwixt those imaginary signes in Heaven and these reall creatures on Earth Judiciary Astrology as it is commonly practised whether for the casting of nativities prediction of voluntary or civill events or the discovery of things stolne or lost for as the naturall Astrology when it keeps it selfe within its due bounds is lawfull and commendable although not without much uncertainty of issue so that other Calculatory or figure casting Astrology
the hearts of too many Christians as if the contributions to their ministers were a matter of meer almes which as they need not to give so they are apt upon easy displeasures to upbraid But these men must be put in minde of the just word of our Saviour The laborer is worthy of his wages The ministery signifies a service a publique service at Gods Altar whereto the wages is no lesse due then the meat is to the mouth of him that payes it No man may more freely speak of tithes then my selfe who receive none nor ever shall do Know then ye proud ignorants that call your Ministers your almes-men and your selves their Benefactors that the same right you have to the whole they have to a part God and the same lawes that have feoffed you in your estates have allotted them their due shares in them which without wrong ye cannot detract It is not your charity but your justice which they presse for their owne Neither think to check them with the scornfull title of your servants servants they are indeede to Gods Church not to you and if they doe stoop to particular services for the good of your souls this is no more disparagement to them then it is to the blessed Angels of God to be ministring spirits Heb. 1. 14. sent forth to minister for them who shall be heires of salvation Shortly it is the Apostles charge ratified in heaven that they which labour in the word and doctrine should be remunerated with double honour that is not formall of words and complements but real of maintenance which he laies weight upon his Timothy to enioyn 1. Tim. 5. 17. 10. And surely how necessary it is that we should bee at som certainty in this case and not left to the meere arbitrary will of the givers it too well apears in common experience which tell us how ordinary it is where ministers depend upon voluntary benevolences if they doe but upon som just reproofe gall the conscience of a guilty hearer or preach som truth which dis-relishes the palat of a prepossessed auditor how he straight flies out and not only withholds his own pay but also withdrawes the contributions of others so as the free-tongued teacher must either live by ayre or be forced to change his pasture It were easy to instance but charity bids mee forbeare Hereupon it is that these sportulary preachers are faine to sooth up their many masters and are so gaged with the feare of a starving displeasure that they dare not be free in the reprehension of the daring sins of their uncertain benefactors as being charmed to speak either placentia or nothing And if there were no such danger in a faithfull and just freedom yet how easy is it to apprehend that if even when the laws enforce men to pay their dues to their ministers they yet continue so backward in their discharge of them how much lesse hope can there be that being left to their free choyce they would prove eyther liberall or just in their voluntary contributions Howsoever therfore in that innocent infancy of the Church wherein zealous Christians out of a liberall ingenuity were ready to lay downe all their substance at the Apostles feet in the primitive times immediately subsequent the willing forwardness of devout people tooke away all need of raysing set maintenances for Gods ministers yet now in these depraved and hard hearted times of the Church it is more then requisite that fixed competencies of allowance should by good lawes be established upon them which being done by way of tithes in those countries wherein they obtaine there is just cause of thankfulnesse to God for so meet a provision none for a just oppugnation CASE VIII Whether it bee lawfull for Christians where they find a countrey possessed by savage Pagans and Infidels to drive out the native inhabitants and to seize and enjoy their lands upon any pretence and upon what grounds it may be lawfull so to doe WHat unjust and cruel measure hath been heretofore offered by the Spaniard to miserable Indians in this kind I had rather you should receive from the relation of their own Bishop Bartholomaeus Casa then from my Pen. He can tell you a sad story of millions of those poor savages made away to make room for those their imperious successors the discovery of whose unjust usurpation procured but little thanks to their learned professors of Complutum and Salamanca Your question relates to our owne case since many thousands of our nation have transplanted themselves into those regions which were prepossessed by barbarous owners As for those countries which were not inhabited by any reasonable creatures as the Bermudas or Summer-Islands which were only peopled wih Hogs and Deer and such like bruite cattle there can be no reason why they should not fall to the first occupant but where the land hath a known master the case must vary For the decision whereof some grounds are fit to be laid No nation under heaven but hath som Religion or other and worships a God such as it is although a creature much inferiour in very nature to themselves although the worst of creatures evil spirits and that religion wherein they were bred through an invincible ignorance of better they esteem good at least Dominion and propriety is not founded in Religion but in a naturall and civill right It is true that the saints have in Christ the Lord of all things a spiritual right in all creatures all things are yours saith the Apostle and you are Christs and Christ is Gods but the spirituall right gives a man no title at all to any naturall or civill possession here on earth yea Christ himselfe though both as God and as Mediator the whole world were his yet hee tells Pilate My kingdom is not of this World neither did he though the Lord Paramount of this whol earth by virtu of that transcendent soveraignty put any man out of the possession of one foot of ground which fell to him either by birth or purchase Neither doth the want of that spirituall interest debar any man from a rightfull claim and fruition of these earthly inheritances The barbarous people were lords of their owne and have their Sagamores and orders and formes of government under which they peaceably live without the intermedling with other nations Infidelity cannot forfeit their inheritance to others no more then enmity professed by Jewes to Christian Religion can escheat their goods to the Crownes under which they live yea much lesse for those Jewes living amongst Christian people have or might have had meanes sufficient to reclaime them from their stubborn unbeleefe but these savages have never had the least overture of any saving helps to wards their conversion they therefore being as true owners of their native inheritances as Christians are of theirs they can no more be forced from their possessions by Christians then Christians may be so forced by them certainly in the same
not wont to be without grievous inconveniences whether in respect of our dreadfulnesse or their dangerous insinuations It is the great mercy of the God of Spirits that hee hath bound up the evill Angels in the chaines of darkenesse restraining them from those frequent and horrible appearances which they would otherwise make to the terrour and consternation of his weak creatures Whensoever it pleaseth the Almighty for his owne holy purposes so farre to loosen or lengthen the chaines of wicked spirits as to suffer them to exhibit themselves in some assumed shapes unto men it cannot but mainly import us to know what our deportment should be concerning them Doubtlesse to hold any faire termes of commerce or peace much more of amity and familiarity with them were no better than to professe our selves enemies to God for such an irreconcileable hostility there is betwixt the holy God and these malignant spirits that there can bee no place for a neutrality in our relation to them so as hee is an absolute enemie to the one that bids not open defiance to the other As therefore wee are wont by our silence to signifie our heart-burning against any person in that we abide not to speake unto those whom wee hate so must wee carry our selves towards evill spirits And if they beginne with us as that Devill did in in the Serpent with Eve how unsafe and deadly it may bee to hold that with them appeares in that first example of their onset the issue whereof brought misery and mortality upon all mankinde yet then were our first parents in their innocency and all earthly perfection wee now so tainted with sinne that Satan hath a kinde of party in us even before his actuall temptations As therefore wee are wont to say that the fort that yeilds to parley is halfe won so may it prove with us if we shall give way to hold discourse with wicked spirits who are farre too crafty for us to deale withall having so evident an advantage of us both in nature we being flesh and blood they spirituall wickednesse and in duration and experience we being but of yesterday they coetaneous with the world and time it selfe If you tell mee that our Saviour himselfe interchanged some speeches with the spirits whom he ejected it is easily answered that this act of his was never intended for our imitation sith his omnipotence was no way obnoxious to their malice our weakness is I cannot therefore but marvell at the boldnesse of those men who professing no small degree of holinesse have dared to hold familiar talk with evill spirits and could be content to make use of them for intelligence as the famous Jesuite in our time Pere Cotton who having provided 50. questions to be propounded to a Demoniack some concerning matters of learning some other matters of State concerning the then French King and the King of England and having them written down under his owne hand to that purpose being questioned concerningit answered that hee had licence from Rome to tender those demands as I received it upon certaine relation from the learned Dr. Tilenus with many pregnant and undeniable circumstances which I need not here expresse Although this need not seeme strange to me when I finde that Navarre determines plainly that when evill spirits are present not by our invocation as in possessed bodies it is lawfull to move questions to them so it be without our paayers to them or pact with them for the profit of others yea thus to confer with them even out of vanity or curiosity is but venial at the most Thus he with whom Lessius goes so far as to say Licitum est petere verbo à Diabolo ut nocere desinat c. It is lawfull to move the Devill in words to cease from hurting so that it be not done by way of deprecation or in a friendly compliance but by way of indignation A distinction which I confesse past the capacity of my apprehension who have not the wit to conceive how a man can move without implying a kinde of suite and how any suite can consist with an indignation It savours yet of a more heroicall spirit which the Church of Rome professeth to teach and practice the ejection of evill spirits by an imperious way of command having committed to her Exorcists a power of Adjuration to which the worst of Devils must be subject a power more easily arrogated than really exercised Indeed this over-ruling authority was eminently conspicuous not onely in the selected twelve and the seventy Disciples of Christ who returned from their Embassie with joy Luk. 10. 17. that the Devils were subject to them through his name but even in their holy Successors of the Primitive Church whiles the miraculous gifts of the holy Ghost were sensibly poured out upon men but if they will be still challenging the same power why doe they not as well lay claime to the speaking of strange tongues Mar. 16. 17. 18 to the super-naturall cure of all diseases to the treading on serpents and scorpions to the drinking of poysons without an Antidote and if they must needs acknowledge these faculties above their reach why doe they presume to divide the Spirit from it selfe arrogating to themselves the power of the greatest workes whiles they are professedly defective in the least wherein surely as they are the true successors of the sonnes of Sceva Act. 19. r3 14 15 16. who would be adjuring of Devils by the name of Jesus whom S. Paul preached so they can looke for no other intertainment than they found from those Demoniacks which was to be baffled and beaten and wounded Especially if we consider the foule superstition and grosse magick which they make use of in their Conjurations by their owne vainely-devised Exorcismes feoffing a supernaturall vertue upon drugges and herbes for the dispelling and staving off all evill spirits Because the bookes are not perhaps obvious take but a taste in one or two In the treasure of Exorcismes there is this following Benediction of Rue to be put into an hallowed paper and to be carried about you and smelled at for the repelling of the Invasion of Devils I conjure thee ô thou creature of Rue by the holy Lord the Father the Almighty and Eternall God which bringeth forth grasse in the mountaines and herbes for the use of man And which by the Apostle of thy Sonne our Lord Jesus Christ hast taught That the weake should eat Herbes I conjure thee that thou bee blessed and sanctifyed to retaine thâ—s invisible power and vertue that whosoever shall carry thee about him or shall smell to thee may be free from all the uncleannesse of Diabolicall infatuation and that all Devills and all Witchcrafts may speedily fall from him as herbes or grasse of the earth through the same our Lord Jesus Christ which shall come to judge the quick and the dead and the world by fire The like is prescribed to be