you mention their swelling arising from the Mother their foming from the Epilepsie their extraordinarie strength from mania c. and so had a compounded disease percase of as manie seueral diseases as they had seueral effects Tel vs also whether you haue seene one partie afflicted at the same time with Melancholy Lunacie Phrensy Epilepsy Mother Convulsion and the Crampe Besides whether you haue known such an one diseased with all these grieuous maladies restored againe naturally to his health in one day When you haue resolued these doubts we wil hold our selues satisfied for this argument In the meane season it remaines for all your answere in as ful force as euer it did And here we may obserue how all that they prattle both here and else where of diseases whereby they woulde perswade that the passions of the Demoniaks were not supernatutural but might wel proceed from some natural disease themselues do ouerthrow in affirming they are Counterseits Againe I shewing that The toyes and fooleries and blasphemous speeches vttered by the parties in their supernaturall passions could not come immediately from God and good Angels and therefore no doubt from the diuell You answer first They were not supernaturall effects but this is your Cuckow song oft auouched neuer proued with anie reason that might so much as beseeme William Sommers one too renowmed in his time Secondly that this supposed impossibilitie pag. 15. for either God or good Angels to effect any such fantasticall vaine and filthy effects is too grosse and absurd Indeed you are the Maisters of absurdities you may bestow one where you wil as this is a notable one and not to be named that one should imagine the most Holy Lord and his holy Angels should immediately by themselues worke filthy effects The blasphemies which arise from hence are not to bee remembred There is neuer any filthinesse committed but either by the filthinesse of our corrupt flesh or by the working of vncleane spirits farre be it from vs we should once let it enter into our thoughts that it did first issue either from the fountaine or froÌ„ the streames of puritie The Lord his iudgements are tied to a seemely maner of effecting rightly vnderstood which you denie that is that all his iudgements should bee effected by meanes best beseeming their nature as iudgements of committing sinne are wrought by sinfull meanes the Diuel and wicked men and such like and not immediately by holy meanes for this was to confound light and darkenesse holinesse and sinne together It is lamentable that anie carrying the name of Ministers amongst vs should be so impiously blind and yet more lamentable that they which will sit at the helme wil suffer such impieties to be offered with their authoritie to the world Thirdly you answere That these vncleane effectes do no more argue an vncleane spirit then those holy effects as Confessing of Cor. 11. 4. Christ and Expounding the Creed argue an holy spirit As if you had cleane forgotten The diuell can transforme himselfe into an Angell of light If you had remembred this and your old crosse-row That there is no reasoning from contraries in common attributes you would neuer haue bewrayed such intolerable babishnesse Lastly say you All this inferres noreall inherency because the diuel can worke greater matters then these remaining without concerning which wee Pag. 15. 16. wil see God willing in that which followeth Againe wheras is vrged the Diuels entring in going out of the partie possessed you answere All these speeches and whatsoeuer text can possibly be alleaged throughout the whole Scriptures concerning either Angels or Spirits or Diuels are to be taken metaphorically and for â—ob 1. 7. Matt. 12. 43 Pâ—t 5. 8. this purpose you bring the diuels compassing the earth his walking through drie places and his roaring like a Lyon As if because in these places there is some Metaphor therefore all other must bee metaphorical too Nay then let vs conclude because these texts of Scripture be metaphorical therefore all the Scripture is metaphoricall and not onely those mentioning Angels and Diuels And so we shal reuiue the wickednesse of the Libertines of the Family of loue and of the Suenckefeldians acknowledging no literal sence of the Scripture but a figuratiue meaning inspired into themselues which only with them is the word of God VVhen you disputed of the Serpent in Euahs tentation you contended indeed The Serpent was onely meant figuratiuely yet seemed after to reiect this opinion and I liked well of it But I crie you mercie now I vnderstand you more fully Wel then the Angel Gabriel came to Marie and brought tidings of her Luc. 1. 30. Luc. 1. 12. c. Luc. 21. 43. conceiuing the Sonne of God was this done Metaphorically Was there also no such thing literally done as is reported the same Angel spake to Zachary concerning Iohn the Baptist whom hee should beget Was that in figure too that the Angels comforted our Sauiour Mar. 9. 22. before his passion Belike when the Diuel cast the child some time into the fire sometimes into the water there was no such matter Mar. 5. 7. indeed but onely by way of Metapher And when the Diuel cried VVhat haue I to do with thee O Iesus the Sonne of the most high God this voice was Metaphoricall Howsoeuer these and many like Scriptures are canonized by you to bee Metaphoricall yet your selues Metaphor are most properly a couple of the absurdest Dunses that euer put pen to paper You goe on and labour to ouerthrow the literall entring of the Diuel because in Marke it is said There was a pag. 17. 1 19. Mar. 1. 23. man in the Synagogue in an vncleane spirit If the words say you bee taken literally then the man was essentially inherent within the diuell I answere Neither are these wordes taken literally neither for this cause is the entring of Satan mentioned else where to be vnderstood figuratiuely The same thing may bee and is vttered sometimes by figure and sometimes by proper speech One while our Sauiour Christ cals himselfe The way and a Doore In another place he saith That they which beleeue in him shall not perish expounding in plaine tearmes that which is spoken by similitude else where As for this Scripture To be in an vnclean spirit is not as a thing coÌ„tained in a thing containing as water in a vessell and such like but to be in the power of an vncleane spirit as our vulgar tongue expresseth fitly when we say Such an one is in a Feuer M. Beza in opening the meaning of this speech vseth this selfe same example and you your selues call it A very apt resemblance Seing therefore it fitteth so wel let me demaund of you when we say A man is in a Feuer whether you thinke the feuer is within or without him You had thought to haue played you with this feuer but it shaketh you a little better then you were aware
What Because it is sometimes without these signes therefore where these signes are shall it not be It is sometime day light without the cleare sunshine therefore when the Sunne shines cleare shall it not be day Sometimes the murderer slayes a man and is not taken with the manner therefore if he be taken with the manner shall he not necessarily bee concluded a murtherer These are good rules to make a man impudent in sinne for by them the bold offender shall speede better then hee that doth it minchingly You haue spoken then pretily against these signes but without any signe of truth or wit From Scripture signes I descend to some experimented by my selfe in dealing with Demoniakes which haue reported certaine visible shapes in which the diuels seemed to depart from them But here I am taken vp for halting in that I call it My experience which was proued in the persons of other I confesse I spake rudely as all other men do which call a physition a man of good experience though he hath not proued all the diseases he hath dealt with in his owne body pag. 84. As for visible shapes you vtterly deny that Spirits could procure theÌ„ yet they did before Pharaoh and infinite others since as wee haue shewed by better arguments in my suruey of your fourth and fift Dialogues then you euer haue or can for the contrarie Some also I shew did vomit or straine to vomit when the diuel departed With pag. 85. this you make good sport perhaps ticled with remembrance that you haue returned to your owne vomit Further I concluding a dispossession from the present effect of our prayers wherof the like is not in naturall diseases You charge me with proper tearmes as with certaine charming words to coniure the Lord with for so it pleaseth your prophane mouthes to speake And yet I do not vse the word proper Onely I say And God heard our prayer vitâ—red in such tearmes that is made to that effect as before I haue shewed in briefe I neuer dreamed that such Argooses would come after mee with so manie eyes to finde an hole in my coate for these words more theÌ„ in all other mens But to let words passe you would disproue the effect of our prayers for that we could not pag. 86. make the parties the Temples of the holy Ghost as we had prayed Wee challenge no such power but we might well hope of the mercy of the Lord to sanctifie them which did plainly behold his great good nesse in deliuering them from Satans great rage Howsoeuer mee thinks you should not be offended with vs for putting vp this request to God And what if the Lord doth not alwayes yeelde present successe to the prayers of his seruants Could we not therfore be assured he had now heard vs when we saw the thing performed before our eyes It is true the Diuel sometime seemeth to depart when he doth not but when it is at the requests of Gods people when it is after such grieuous vexation as was in the Demoniakes in the Gospell when it is with the health of the parties and present freedome from all former vexations dy Satan wee need not doubt of it in any sort For the visible departure of Satan I answered you euen very now â—ag 87. 88 â—9 Matt. 12. 43 Besides I alleage for Dispossession Satans desire of repossession which is neuer but after he is throwne out You returne a double answere first that these wordes I will returne to the house from whence I came c. be metaphoricall Wee remember indeede your monstrous absurditie in making all things whatsouer spoken of Angels and diuels in the scripture to be Meaphoricall But as I haue shewed you manie are not Metaphoricall so neither is this repecting the sentence of Matt. 12. 45 it The words be part of a similitude as is plaine by the reddition So shall it be to this wicked generation The whole standeth thus As when an vncleane spirit goeth forth of a man passeth through drie places seeking rest and findeth none then faith I will returne to my house c. entring againe in the last estate of that man is worse theÌ„ the first so shal it be to this wicked generatioÌ„ Now to find what past of this sentence is Metaphoricall we are to know that a similitude is twofold One which is contracted shut vp in one word properly called a Metaphor the other displaid spread open consisting of all the parts at large and is tearmed by the name of the generall a Similitude For the figuratiue part in either the reason is one in both Therfore as in a contracted similitude the Metaphor lyeth in the word that is borrowed and not in that from whence it is borrowed so in the larger similitude the metaphoricall part of it resteth in the Reddition not in the Proposition For example Honour nourisheth Artes the word Nourisheth being borrowed froÌ„ meats nourishing the bodie is a Metaphor as it is applyed to Honour and Artes but attributed to his proper termes it is no Metaphor as to say thus Meat nourisheth the body In like manner to make a full Similitude of it in this sort As meat nourisheth the body so Honour nourisheth Artes the Metaphoricall part of the whole lyeth in the latter member not in the first So likewise when our Sauiour saith As a man deliuered from the possession of Satan and receiuing him in againe is in worse case after then before So the nation of the Iewes once deliuered from the kingdome of Satan so long as the church of God was amongst them and comming into his subiection againe by refusing Christ should bee in more miserable condition then in any former time the Metaphoricall sentence of this Similitude is in the last branch of it not in the first Not because there be no Metaphoricall words in the first as Drie places house emptie swept garnished c. but for that wee now speake of Metaphoricall sentences not of words I frame my argument from the Proposition of the Similitude the sentence whereof is literall and historicall not from the Reddition whose sense is allegoricall Now then iâ— a man should reason thus The Reddition of the Similitude is Metaphoricall therefore the whole is metaphocall it is all one as if one should say The blacke Moore bath white teeth therefore he is all white Which kinde of argument euerie chimney-sweeper would deride and yet thus you reason from this place and make it one of your chiefest props to vpholde your absurd conclusions with But vnto this place I added another where our Sauiour saith to the vncleane spirit Come out of him and enter Mat. 9. 25. no more into him Was our Sauiours prohibition here in vaine was this caution altogether needlesse and supersâ—uo us How chaunce you pass ouer this place withoutansweriÌ„g one word vnto it It was too plaine and you two could not agree where the Metaphor should lie
cannot be ignorant hereof that the wordes detracted by you I vsed spcially those so oft iterated and that in those pages from whence yee haue the sa de contradictorie proposition considering also that to make another contradiction you aleag the very same words you omit here that froÌ„ the same page as witnesseth the contradiction here following Neither can you be ignorant of this that these wordes being vsed and added by me I am not contrary to my selfe yea hence it is that you did omit them It must needes therfore be that you knowing here was no contradiction haue against that knowledge of yours by this deuise of detracting these words made yet a faire shew to the world of a contradiction Here is no contrarietie except these be propositions contradictory The Disciples could cast out a diuell of any kind if their faith fayled not The Disciples their faith failing could not cast the diuell out contrad 31 In his Doctrine 47. he saith the Apostles faith failed not But pag. 48 he saith it failed at this time when Christ spake to them and in this very worke Ans These wordes the Apostles saith failed not you could omit when such omission serueth for your purpose as appeares by the former contradiction But now when they must stand you in some steade they are not to seeke He wanteth the vse of one of his sences that smelleth not here your stinking breath My wordes be these They were able to cast out al diuels if their faith fayled not which imply not that the Apostles faith neuer failed them as you would haue it for otherwise here is no contradiction but rather the contrary that their faith did at some times faile them Again though these words The Apostles faith failed not with the former are mine yet thus rent and separated from their fellowes I may trulye say they are not mine In your Discourses you say if the skies fall we shall haue larks By your wise rule you there affirme that the skies do falle in the saÌ„e booke pag. 24. where you haue these words If Angels be vncreated then are they eternall you affirme that Angels be vncreated yet pag. 28. you say Angels be created These propositions be contradictorie and the former of them absurd and so here is a contradiction forsooth and an absurditie when indeed there is neither Here is paltrie and childish stuffe If I would walke but in this one crooked step of yours how easily could I make a booke of your contradictions and another of your absurdities But suppose I had said no more then you produce vz. The Apostles faith sailed not froÌ„ thence ye could not inferre a contradiction except I had spoken of the same time meÌ„tioned in the latter contradictorie proposition Their faith might not falle them at one time and yet saile them at another time contrad 15 In Doctrine 52 Abrahams prayer is made a sole meanes of conception and procreation of chidren But pag. 60 another meanes is found appoiÌ„ted of God for that purpose or els it would proue a miracle Ans As before by detracting so here by adding you abuse both mee and the Reader The words I vse be these Who will deny but that as the sinne of Abimilech in taking Sarah Abrahams wife vnto him had shut vp euery wombe of the house of Abimelech so the prayâ—r of Abraham was the meane whereby they were opened that iudgement taken away Do I here make Abrahams prayer a sole meanes of procreation That I meane affirme is that by Abrahams prayer as a meanes Abimelech his wyfe women seruants were made able to conceiue which before they could not not excluding but including the knowlege and seede of man which no man in his right minde would hence gather this couple excepted â—urad 46 In his Doctrine pag. 2. he saith it is absurd to affirme that the diuel being without a man can dispose of the whole or any parte of mans bodie but Detection page 11. he saith that thediuel in all probability did vse Sommers his tongue notwithstanding he was essentiallie and sensiblic playing boe peepe vnder the couerleed Ans The former proposition is not mine I say euery part you save any part And so by altering a word you haue made a contradiction where none is except there be no other part of Sommers his body besides his tongue And thus to thee Reader but for breuitie I would make it euident that of the discoursers fiftie contradictions being examined one by one there is not so much as one to be found The greater is their siune and shame who charged me with so many And here we are to obseruefirst that of these contradictions there are aboue 20. wherin there is no contradiction at all taking them at the hucksters hand euen as themselues haue quoted them And namely these contradiction 4. 6. 7. 8. 13. 14. 17. 18. 19. 21. 23. 24. 26. 28. 31. 35. 38. 36. 37. 41 45 Secondly to marke the seueral deuises or sleights whereby they make semblance of contradictions when there are indeed none if you take the words as they be set downe in my treatises I his semblance they make 1 By forging that I neuer affirmed but often the contrary as in contradiction 1. 9. 17. 19. 20 23 25 26 27 35 46. 2 By omitting or detracting some worde or words material as in contradiction 3 11 12 25 27 30 31 33 36 39 40 3 By adding and thus haue they done in contradiction 15. 43. 47. 4 By altering as apeareth by contradiction 6 17 27 29 49 5 To this said end also when both their contradictory propositions are in the same page and somtimes in the very same sentence they runne notwithstanding for the one of them to a page far off or happelie to another booke Hereby I meane by alleaging two distinct pages of mine somwhat also asunder pretending that what I say n one place forgetting forsooth my self I gaynsay in another As appeareth by contradiction 1. 3 5. 22 26. 36. 42. 47. Thus haue these men so accustomed and taught themselues to falsife my writings in whole or in part by forging detracting adding altering as they haue alleaged very litle of mine truly no marce because truly alleaged they would not make for their purpose Yet notwithstanding they haue by these cursed meanes compassed their contradictions I doubt not but that they please themselues greatly and glory in them specially in the great number of them and doe thinke therein they haue shewed not a litle wit But I will tel you a very foole that will giue libertie to himself to adde detract and alter but here there a letter may easily make a thousand contradictions where none are much more he that wil do thus by wordes somtimes by sentences as you haue done Ans Epist to the Reader fol 4 VVhether now you haue pretermited any thing material and by such omitting and taking what parte of