and his tyranny againe intercepted by Henry the seuenth These were the infinite effusions of natiue bloud during that tempest of Naufrage wherein their Writers doe collect haue beene sixteene or 17 seuerall pitched battells the slaughter of nine Kings or Kings sonnes forty Dukes Marquesses and Earles 200000. of the popular And what extraordinary punishment haue wee in our time seene inflicted vpon the persons houses and states of diuerse disloyall subiects who haue attempted to abuse the sacred authority of our most gracious Soueraigne certaine it is a ground in reason a tryall in experience a conclusion of all politickes and warranted by Gods word in holy Scripture strengthened with the opinion of graue Doctors of the Church That Rebellon doeth euer moue greater mischiefe then Tyranny CHAP. X. A defence of Episcopall gouernment by diuerse most cleere and ingenuous reasons NOw wee come to conside◅ what affinitie the Church gouernment hath with those others whereof we haue spoken before the written Law of Moses God did elect so many Patriarckes to rule his first Church Enoc Noah Abraham Isaac Iacob and others And our Sauiour before the written Law of the Euangel or of grace hee did elect so many Apostles to rule the second whereof the former was the type when the numbers of the beleeuers did increase euen vnto Moses were adioyned seuenty to assist him in his charge so did Christ next his twelue Apostles elect seuenty Disciples In Israel there were many particular Princes and Elders of the people who did rule euery man his own Centuries and Chiliads but these seuenty were created to beare vniuersal rule as we collect frō the words of Moses Ego solus ferre omnem populum istum non possum I only cannot beare the charge of this people answere Congregatibi gather vnto you which is to be his Collegues and yet they were subordinate for while Moses went to the mountaine he left a deputation ouer the people Ecce Aaron Hur. If any man haue controuersie let him come to Aaron and Hur euen so these seuenty Disciples howsoeuer they were adioyned to the Apostles yet they were subordinate and inferiour the Apostles being still chosen to be conuersant with Christ constant witnesses of all his actions and onely intire with him like vnto Moses who onely went vp to talke with God We read in the twelfth of the Acts how the Apostles found Iustus and Matthias onely sufficient of all the rest to succeed in the place of Iudas argument enough of the Apostolicall superiority ouer them Luke againe and Marke were of good authorities among the Apostles because they were the Euangelical Historians yet were they not of the seuenty Euangelists being elected by men and not our Sauiour as Tertullian writeth of Luke Non Apostolus sed Apostolicus non Magister sed Discipulus vtique Magistro minor Not an Apostle but Apostolicall no Master but Disciple and alwaies inferiour to the Master That diuerse had the holy spirit as the Apostles who were not yet their equals it is euident after their dispersion Philip did Euangelize at Samaria but Peter Iohn were sent to constitute the churches The holy spirit without the ministery of S. Paul did come vpon Cornelius and his company for besides these two orders of Apostles and Disciples there was a third among the number of an hundred who were present at the choosing of Matthias besides the twelue Apostles and seuenty Disciples there were thirty eight who beene in neither ordination were Prophets as all the learned do affirme who treat of this point of which number was Annamas and Agabus endued with propheticall spirits to impart to the Church diuers reuelations which they had Touching these againe who were thereafter called Episcopi Presbiteri we see that in the Apostles daies the Church was a while without them the first mention of of that order we finde it in the Church of Ierusalem in the twelfth of the Acts for so long as the Apostles and Euangelists did remaine there was neither Episcopus nor Presbyter but after they were disseuered Iames being beheaded and Peter fled then did they enter from that forth Luke doth coniunctly report of them with the Apostles Saint Paul so like vnto himselfe in all his Epistles we cannot thinke that without a reason in his Epistle to the Philipians hee hath giuen salutation to the Episcopi and Diaconi and hath not done so in the rest of his Epistles In that Epistle to the Romanes hee salutes diuers whom he calles his co-operarij or fellow labourers as Andronicus and Vrbanus famous among the Apostles And of the Domestick Church which was some while at Ephesus and somewhile at Corinth to these hee giues them their owne praises yet doth he not call them Episcopi nor Presbyteri as hee doth Epaphroditus in that to the Philipians And Archippus in that to the Colossians when hee came to Rome we read how hee was receiued but by no Presbiteri which had not beene omitted if that ordination had beene then among them more then it is omitted in the 15. and 21. of the Acts where he is said to be receiued of Presbyters all this time there was no Presbiteri yet planted other then Timothy Titus Apollo Luke Stephen Fortun. Achai and a few others whom the Apostles did send vpon occasions nor these Churches had then no other Bishop but S. Paul In the meane time the Apostles and the Euangelists did at their commodities visit them as Epiphan and Ambrosiu◅ beare witnesse Epiphanius thus while the preaching of the Gospell was but resent the holy Apostle write according to the time and to things that were where there were Episcopi hee write to them and vnto Diaconi where they were for the Apostles did not ordinate saith hee al things vpon the sudden there was great neede of Presbiteri and Diaconi vnder the Apostles because by these Ecclesiasticall function is perfect Where none was found worthy of Episcopall charge that place did remaine without a Bishop for they being no great multitude of beleeuers saith he they were no great numbers found capable of the Presbyterat therefore the Church at that time did rest vnder the Apostolike Bishopricke till with time things grew to greater perfection in which words we doe obserue this that in the beginning while the Apostolicall mission was limited to Iudea Christ did onely chuse 12. Apostles and 70. Disciples but after the Legation was generall both to Iew and Gentile they tooke vnto them co-operarij Euangelists Prophets and others and when the Gospell beganne to spred they did institute Episcopi and Presbyteri So that Christs Church was planted by the like beginnings and had the like growth of policie as that of Ierusalem both hauing their originall in the persons of Moses the figure and Christ the man figured and both with time diuoluing by little and little into a diuersity of subordinate rulers of whom the Apostle setteth downe the cleere distinction and imparity giuing
be as he is which none doe denie creatour of all men master and monarke of all the World the World then must be one familie one City one kingdome of God no earthly Prince will willingly haue diuers Lawes in one kingdome then shall we thinke that God who is wiser then men and wisedome it selfe would giue seuerall lawes for the word no sure enough all those three be but one Law the light whereof doth shine into the conscience of the Iew and Gentile Turke and Pagan Philosopher and of the stupide multitude signatum est super omnes lumen vultus Domini whereupon it must follow that this light is inextinguishable it is that which we call our neuer dying conscience when a man doth apprehend the knowledge of any thing by the vertue of his intellectuall minde it is science and he is said Scire to haue knowledge the conscience againe is the right application and imployment of this knowledge it is a medium a midst betwixt God and man and the rule whereby we know if any thing be in the counsels of our mind or actions of our will contrary to this naturall light and diuine instinct of reason which God hath placed in our hearts like a cleere lampe to illuminate our intellectuall spirit that it might see and discerne right from wrong and truth from falsehood which is a thing so manifest that the Ethnicke Philosophers and the word of God doe iump vpon it The naturallitie of Cicero and the Theologie of Saint Paul concurre to proue it almost in the same termes Cicero in the third Tusculan Question writing to Brutus sunt enim ingenijs nostris semina innata virtutum quae si adolescere liceret neque illa celeriter malis moribus opinionibusque deprauatis extingueremus ipsa nos natura ad beatam vitam perduceret And the Apostle Paul writing also to the Romanes Quū Gentes quae legem non habent naturaliter ca quae legis sunt faciunt eiusmodi legem non habentes ipsi sibi sunt Lex qui ostendunt opus legis scriptum in cordibus suis It is so plaine for the light of nature excepting alwaies the last clause of Cicero concerning beatitude as if Paul Cicero had conferred vpon it which ground for the first being set down in truth as your Lo sees I craue that you will be content to examine all the points of this Treatise by the touchstone of the diuine light instinct of your conscience where your Lo finde those which as is said are inspirations from heauen contradictory to your opinions that in that case you will suffer your conscience to be directed by this light which God hath giuē you to guide it by that your Lo wil forbeare your pretence of deuote ignorance implicita fides things that do meerely extinguish this light of nature if it please you to do so not to smother vnder a bushel this cleere candle which God hath illuminate in your heart there is no doubt but as Cicero saith that same Natura Dux the very light of Nature which hath a Diuine stampe in your conscience shall shew you an outgate from the childish Labyrinths of superstition that doe inuolue your Lo for if any should say to me seeing there is such power in the instinct of naturall reason flowing from this diuine light how is it that so many millions of those who be indued with the same are induced to idolatrie I can giue no other answere then the wise man hath giuen stultorum infinitus numerus est the number of fooles and those who are mistaken in their owne light is infinite Now I will take my first aduantage of this ground to appeale to the diuine light of your Lo conscience how you do iudge of that which already from so many Texts of Scripture I haue spoken touching the plainenesse and perfection of Gods word since on the one part the spirit of God doth testifie that it is eternall incorruptible and inspired from Heauen able to make the man of God perfect and on the other part this intellectual light of nature seruing as eyes to receiue in our conscience the brightnesse of this word it is so powerfull that very Gentiles haue cleerely knowne it and seeing it is sufficient to conuict the conscience of Turkes and Pagans of contempt and ignorance of this word I aske your Lo how shall it be with vs who beside the hauing of this light haue beene brought vp in Christian Religion haue beene taught Gods word can reade it in seuerall languages and vnderstand it when we shall refuse to beleeue for our faith this word preached in puritie when we shall hold it insufficient for our Saluation embracing in place thereof what an implicita fides an implicite faith the colliers beliefe and what is that I beleeue with the Church and how beleeues shee she doth beleeue with the collier is not this ambulare in circuitu impij as the Scripture saith to walke in the about-gates of the wicked well let vs remember how it shall be worse in that day with Corazim and Bethsaida then with Sodom because they had greater light and did despice it They say ignorance is the mother of Deuotion And the Apostle saith Qui ignorat ignorabitur if ignorance cannot excuse a Turke because of that light of Gods face which is stamped in his heart let any man tell me what it can auaile a Christian to bragge of his deuout ignorance affected ignorance is neuer a whit better then knowledge without beliefe or well doing Let vs heere the Prophet Isay my people is carried captiue because they had no knowledge neither is now a daies any other reason of idolatrous captiuitie then this pretended holy ignorance so that for a Christian man to glorie in it it is to become sicut equus mulus quibus non est intellectus Therefore let your Lo remember you are sealed with this Lumen vultus Dei and that he hath blessed you with knowledge to vnderstand that the holy Scriptures are a perfect and neuer perishing word The second ground I would haue your Lo to condescend vpon with me for preparation of your more indifferent iudgement is a certaine definition of idolatrie which may content your Lo and me both to the end we may the better reason of idolatrous worship For as concerning abuse in religion and impietie in manners they be triuiall points that there can be no mysterie in a suruey of the same Idolon is a Greeke word which literally signifieth as much as a litle Forme or Figure formed or figured but taken as it is spoken in Christian Shooles and according to the best Doctors it is a representation of a false God and a false Deitie or a Creature taken and honoured for God As to say the Statue of Moloch of Iupiter the Sunne or Moone the Hebrew word Elil as I read haue very right this same signification of Idol and is vsed in holy
but when the mask is pulled off there is nothing more vglie and despisefull for euen as it is a monstrous deformitie that an Ape being a beast should resemble a mans face so superstition well considered the more it is like to true Religion the more it is deformed and because the summe of this discourse shall stand into a consideration of such superstitious abuses and impietie as by experience I did remarke in the Church of Rome Therefore that your Lo minde may be the better prepared to ponder iustly my relation and to discerne what is superstitious and what is not so I would first lay down two grounds which if you finde reason to admit they may possibly helpe greatly to cleere your Lo iudgement The first whereof shall be this As the World was neuer in any time without a God to gouerne it so neuer was it in any age without some diuine law felt by the conscience of man to render him inexcusable as a great Deuine saith cum sit Deus ab humana intelligentia procul absconditus tamen suae Maiestatis not as adeo claras illustres singulis suis operibus impressit vt sublata sit quamlibet coecis stupidis omnis ignorantiae excusatio for if man had beene confirmed in that grace wherein he was created he needed no law iusto non est lex posita saith the Apostle But because as God himselfe doth testifie proni sunt sensus hominum ad malum ab adolescentia therefore hath God bridled vs by a law and first by the law of nature which he hath so surely stamped in our soules that it is enough to conuict vs before God whereof Saint Iohu saith in his Gospell haec est lux vera illuminans omnem hominem venientem in mundum The Apostle doth stand for this light saying the inuisible things of him that is his eternall power and godhead are seene by the creation of the world being considered in his worker to the intent they should be without excuse saith he Of this Light the Prophet Dauid hath said multi dicunt quis ostendet nobis bona signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui Dominâ—… which ground being conferd with that other of ignorance maintained in the Popes Church to be the mother of pietie and of implicita fides sufficient for a mans saluation I know not what harmonie they make And Bellarmine in his booke of controuersies speaking of iustification and free will doth reason farthest of any man for this force and light of our conscience neither hath any wise Ethnicke euer refused it Cicero in his booke De natura Deorum nulla est etiam tam barbara natio nulla geâ—…tam efferata cui non inâ—…idate haec persuasio Deum Esse But to the purpose because of the fall of Adam the Deuill did weaken the power of this light and law naturall that the olde world by euill custome and by the streame of iniquitie became blinde esteeming things good and lawfull in nature which were notso therefore God in his mercie made it more cleere the second time by giuing vnto Moses the written Law that our knowledge might be again made more inexcuseable as Saint Paul saith peccatum non cognouinisipor legem peccatum sine lege mortuum erat delitescebat And to the end that the world might know what a fearefull thing it was to transgresse this law it was pronounced in a terrible sort as I haue said till the astonished people were forced to cry Ne loquatur Dominus ne forte moriâ—… which was done to breede vnto your hearts a horror of sinne and faith in Gods promises of the Messias as Moses testifies vt terror esset in vobis non peccetis The yoak of this law was so heauy on the one part the corruption of our rebellious nature so violent on the other part that euen as great inundations by their impetuous force carry away the ramparts bulwarkes which men haue digged to restrain them and ouer flowes their ordinarie bankes euen so those obstinate Iewes by the vehement course of their wicked nature did transgresse and dooborde ouer all the limits of this law that it had no vse among them but for their conuiction which hath made the Apostle to say Lex propter transgressionem posita est till God out of his pitie did prouide a third law and doctrine which was the help againe of this and the finall fulfilling of all Lawes the law Euangelicall and of Grace The Lord Iesus Christ beside whom no mortall man hath beene or shal be able to fulsill a law or to please God So that we see these three lawes euery one of them written and as it were indented one in the other the naturall first written in the heart of Adam but written ouer againe by fairer letters in the Mosaicall Tables And that againe more cleerely written in the Euangell by exhibition of him who was the perfection of all Lawes The second doth expound the first and the third doth both expounde and accomplish the other two like vnto these wheeles seene by Ezechiell in a vision hauing the one incorporate in the other euery sinne committed against the law of Nature is also against the Mosaicall law because the Mosaicall is included in the Naturall what is against the Mosaical is also against the law of the Euangel which is the perfection of both the former It is this way and reciprocally there is no excuse the Iew saith he will follow the Mosaicall and not be a Christian the Turke saith he will doe neither but obey the law of nature They are deceiued for they differ only in this that the first two serues to shew vs our sinnes and make vs inexcusable the last saues vs from our sinnes and makes vs righteous before God they be all but one law proceeding from lesse perfect to more and most perfect heere it is said Crede viues there it was said fac viues The seed sowen in the ground it groweth first into the blade next it shootes vp into the stalke and thirdly it comes vp into the graine of corne the seede of God which is his word it was sowen in the heart of Adam where it grew to the blade and then being in danger to wither the Lord did refresh it by the Mosaicall law where it brought out the stalke and againe into the Gospell it produced the perfect corne and fruit of life so that he who is not a good Christian he is neither a perfect Iew nor a perfect Philosopher and by the contrarie he who is a right Iew he must become a right Christian they are necessarily complicat The Iew was bound to fulfill the Law but he could not we performe it in and by Christ so that he can neuer performe a Iewish obligation vnlesse he be a follower of Christ omnia possum in Christo saith the Apostle This is no paradox if God
little vpon these following speaches to dispute whether there may not also bee a secret antipathie and enmitie naturall betwixt Musicke and wicked Spirits The reason of which when we begin to consider wee finde it more sublime and remote from our sensible capacitie then to search the causes of these other things which euill spirits are also thought to abhorre and therefore it doth argue that Musicke is a thing supernaturall and heauenly We read that the Deuils do mightily hate the presence of fire of salt and of Musicke the fire because it is life and light and Satan is the Prince of darknes and delighteth in darknesse the salt because it hath a virtue to purge corruption it is the marke of eternitie and he seeketh by all meanes to corrupt defile and destroy which is the reason why God commanded in the old Law to put salt vpon the Table of his Sanctuarie and to haue Salt specially in the sacrifice forbidding by the contrarie to put honie or wine therein to signifie that wee must offer the sacrifice of our prayers to God with sobrietie and prudence not mixed with flatteries or bold speeches God saith in the Law I shall make with you a couenant of Salt that is of perpetuitie as many are of opinion that the changing of the wife of Lot into a pillar of Salt was as to say a perpetuall Statue but when wee come to seeke the cause why the Musicke is fled of the Diuell wee finde it more subtle if the opinion were true of the Academicks who say that the Diuells be not onely bodily but elementarie mid-creatures betwixt visible and invisible bodies animalia scilicet corpore aëria mente rationalia animo passiua tempore aeterna Then might wee be induced without running to other mysteries to acknowledge some reason why they cannot abide the melodie of Musicke nor no delectable suffumigations by that which is read of the exorcismes of Salomon and of the smoake of the fish of Tobia but the difficultie to know the demoniack nature substance maketh this contemplation remoter S. August saith in his last chap of the 3. de Trinit that the Diuells are corporall as Basil Gregor Epiph say as much whereon this sort of demonstration is founded There is but one infinite substance the supreme essence a substance cannot be finite but by extremities of superficies and that doth only belong to corporall things and therefore those spirits must bee corporall because they are finite Alwaies the more common opinion of Theologie is as of Damasc Greg. Nazianz Thomas Aquinas and of the Master of the Sentences that the Angels and the Diuels be formes both pure and simple and that both can forme themselues in visible bodies when they would effect any thing bodily which is testified of the Angells by their apparitions to Abraham to Iacob to Moses to Eliah to Abatuck Of the Diuells againe testified by experience inquestionable of the aquilonar Succubi and Incubi testified by the Cabalists who affirme that vncleane spirits do often take the shapes of Bucks ston'd Horses and such like creatures repleat with bestiall luxurie wherevpon say they proceedeth that in Leuiticus that you goe not to sacrifice to those Bucks and Satyres and that in Esay of the destruction of Babell Zijm shall lodge there and their streets shall bee full of O him Satyres shall dance there and â—…im shall cry into their Palaces Testified againe by many places of holy Scripture the Diuell spake bodily to Adam to Christ. Hee tooke the person of Samuel albeit that Iustin Martyr and many of the Hebrew Doctors reason that it was Samuel himselfe as well because of that Text of Ecclesiasticus where it is said that Samuel did prophesie after his death as because of the answer giuen to Saul which seemeth to bee full of pietie pronouncing the name of GOD sixe or seauen times holding that Saul was not condemned eternally as they thinke but in the estate of that incestuous man who was ordayned by S. Paul to bee excommunicate to the end his bodie being chastned his soule might be saued Yet S. Augustine and the best Diuines stand for it that it was Satan and not Samuel which no doubt is the onely sound opinion Scotus subtilis in the second booke of his Sentences saith that the Angells assumed bodies not to bee ioyned or vnited with them hypostatically but to moue them and vse them as instruments much more then saith he the Diuells can assume bodies because they are more elementarie as they doe change themselues in bodies so from this same ground it is affirmed that they can also change bodies For three things we obserue in Gods works Creation which is onely proper vnto himself to make of no thing by the power of his word Generation which hee hath allowed to his Creatures themselues by a naturall instinct and appetite of succession to haue a power of generation and lastly Transmutation whereof hee hath giuen power vnto Starres and to the Spirits as saith Them de Aquin Omnes Angeli boni mali habent ex virtute naturali potestateÌ„ transmutandi corpora nostra All the Angells good and bad haue by a naturall instinct power to change our bodies wee see how the Sorcerers of Pharaoh did counterset the miracles of Moses Iob saith there is no power on earth like vnto that of Satan which prooues that the actions of the euill Spirits are actions indeed but extraordinarily so that wee must not thinke them illusions or prestigitations of our eyes Augustine chap 9. of the third booke de Trinitate saith thus Mali Angelipro subtilitate sui sensus in occultioribus elementorum seminibus norunt vnde rana serpentes nascuntur hac per certas temperationum opportunitates occultis motibus adhibendo faciunt creari The wicked Angells by their subtle sense and knowledge of the secret seeds of nature know by what meanes the Frogs and Serpents are made and by vsing of certaine tymous temperations they can accelerate their Creation Againe they haue power of transportation whereupon some follow the ignorant Viretus who holdeth it a fortitude of imagination in melancholious women who apprehend they bee carried with the deuill albeit antiquity hath esteemed it for a true ground that seldome doth a woman die of melancholie or a man of excessiue ioy for melancholie proceedeth of to much heat and drinesse and breedeth wisedome as Galen saith in his Booke De atra Bile to neither of which two is a woman subiect being of nature humid cold and passiue and therefore not wise as Solomon among a thousand men one among women none Besides that the Septentrinall people with whom the vncleane spirits are said to be most familiar they haue as little melancholie as those haue of flegme who dwell in Africke which sheweth the leuitie and weakenesse of this opinion of Viret Alwayes there be two sorts of transportations one in bodie and spirit the other in abstraction onely of the spirit