as to say Ezekiel was rapt in his spirit from Babel to Ierusalem it might be in spirit or in body The Hebrew Doctours hold in their remote Theologie that the Angels make oblation to God of the soules of his Saints who become dead by way of this abstraction alleadging for it this passage of the 116. Psalme Speciosa in conspectu Dominimors sanctorum suorum Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints but to denie that transportation which is both in body and spirit were to denie the Scripture Eliah Enoch Abacucke were transported and in the Euangelists our Sauiour corporally transported by Satan to the pinacle of the Temple and after vpon a mountaine The best Theologes hold that Habacucke was indeed soule and bodie transported and so Saint Philip the Apostle whereupon Thomas Aquinas reasoneth thus If it bee possible in one it is also possible in moe and in like maner both he and Durand Herne S. Bonauenture do make this argument If Satan can abstract the spirit from the body much more can he transport both because the separation is more miraculous of the two and is next vnto the veritie of Gods word the strongest argument we haue for the immortality of the soule and an argument subiected to reason For saith Aristotle in his ninth booke De Animalibus if the soule can doe any thing without the body then it should be immortall alwayes this Aphairisis Exstasis or ablation of the soule is a thing most vndoubtable the Scripture approueth it in diuers places specially in the persons of Saint P. aul and Saint Iohn the greatest Philosophers haue acknowledged it Plato and Socrates did call the bodie Antrum animae the cauerne of the soule the chiefest Sorcerers who know it by experience haue acknowledged it Zoreaster did call the body the sepulchre of the spirit and the great Orpheus did call it the prison of the soule and to reason euen naturally we see that locall motion can be some times without touching of bodies but onely by vertue of the agent as the sea is mooued by the moone which is distant from it more then 50000. Leagues and the Iron is drawen to mooue by Magnes or the Loadstone without any touching which being so in things so insensible and Inanimal as Iron much more it may be in things not onely animal but who haue their greatest force and vigour in that locall abstraction as our soules be most Galliard when they be most remote from the body And for this point of Satans power to transport I say that while that Cherubin which moues the eight Spheare wherein there fixed stars doth role it Millions of miles in one houre what matter is there of admiration if Satan can transport a body some few miles vpon the earth Lastly there is the commerce or copulation of good and bad spirits with men and women and whether it be really locally or per exstaâ—…n experience doth commonly teach vs that sundry things which we may call spirituall because they are inuisible and intouchable doe take really possession of our bodies as the passion of loue which entering by the subtile spirits of the eyes doth wound the heart corrupt the blood weaken the vitall faculties and sometimes spoyle the life yea the vehemencie of loue towards God hath oftentimes hereby wrought as much in his best Saints Againe the plague of pestilence and such cotagious things doe enter in a mans body in a spirituall sort to possesse it The Scripture doth testifie this reall and locall copulation of good spirits with good men our bodies are said to be the Temples of the holy Ghost Our Sauiour hath said that the father and he would dwell in him who obey his will The Prophet Ezekiel speaking of his vocation by God to preach to the Iewes I fell downe said he vpon my face and the spirit which entered in me did raise me vp and set me on foote In like sort of euill spirits the euill spirit of the Lord is said to enter into Saul really and the spirit of Satan into Iudas and our Sauiour did eiect diuers reall and sensible deuils because their voyces were heard The oddes and distinction of these in my opinion is this the good spirits hath more celestiall and subtile bodies and so their possession of men and copulation with them being more spirituall then others It is also more perceiued by the actions of our spirit then by any change of our bodies whereas Demones as Saint August in his tenth Booke De ciuitate Det Thomas Aquinus in Summa 2. Questi 95. Origen in his booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe affirme that they be meere corporall so that Arist. Plato and diuers Philosophers who diuided them in aereall terrestriall and subterrestriall spirits they hold that the two inferiour species of them be in some sort grosse and elementarie more remoued from the celestiall intelligences of the supreme world and therefore giuen to a wicked commerse with men and women by all sorts of deceitfull and impious suggestions whose copulations are both bodily palpable and visible possessing the bodies specially of women as grosse filthy and contagious vapours breeding inflamation visible in the hearts and breasts mouing swelling and dumbenesse in the tongue depriuing the organicke faculties of hearing seeing and such like as daily experience doth teach Neither let any man imagine the carnall copulation of the euil spirits with women to be a thing extaticke or fantasticke that enemie spirit of whom the Prophet saith Ad conterendum erit cor eius ad internecionem gentium non paucarum whose heart shall bee bent for the ouerthrow and destruction of many nations and people hee delighteth to defile or extinguish the seed of man euen in the mothers wombe so farre that the profound naturallist Paracelsus affirmeth that those grosse and vncleane spirits of deuils doe mixe themselues with humane feed where it is lost by naturall weakenesse or nocturnall dreames that they doe cooperate with it to produce thereby those succumbent or incumbent spirits deuils which are found chiefly in the moystie and Northen Regions To which abomination it seemeth the lawe of God hath some relation where it is said that all these who should couple themselues with the deuill Peor should perish wickedly and who will marke these places in Exod. Leuit. Deut. Where sorcerie and brutall Paliardise or luxurie is forbidden will find vncouth and vnknown villanies couertly touched as there where it is said you shall not present to God the wages of a harlot nor the price of a dogge and againe where God doth say you shall no more sacrifice vnto those Buckes and Satyrs after whom you went a whoring which I doe not heere introduce impertinently nor curiously but that wee may learne to reuerence whatsoeuer meanes the Lord hath appointed for vs to withstand the malice of Satan which is so dangerous for two respects First because of his craft and skilfulnesse who
high Court of Parliament at Paris hath beene perturbed with the agitation thereof sithence This I thinke is the best seruice which I can yeeld to God my Soueraigne prince and to the common weale seeing it doth concerne euery good subiect both Theologically and ciuilly to vnderstand what hee doth owe to his King in his conscience for Religion and ciuilly it concernes him for the securitie of his state The Iesuits indeed haue most subtilly gon about to make an Antithesis or contradiction betwixt the Principautie and Priesthood holding this to be onely diuine and that onely humane and therefore that to be subiect vnto this vpon which Antithesis they build this vsurpation ouer Princes and states but if your Lo doe not stop your eares against the following discourse I hope your Lordship shall find that in my peregrination beyond seas I did furnish my selfe with as much concerning the substance of this question from the most learned both writers and speakers as is sufficient to ridde any man whatsoeuer of this dangerous doubt vnlesse it be those whose hearts and best spirits are already ouercome by the poyson of this deadly Absinthium And first I lay downe this generall Thesis that all such authoritie and power in the Church which doth disproue Christian orthodoxal Magistrates erecting violent vsurpations in their place is manifestly contrary to the voyce of Christ in the Euangell the practise of the primitiue Church approued by the great doctors thereof in all following ages yea and contrary the first ordinance of God in the typicall gouernment of Moses and consequently all such doctrine which doe mainetaine the same must bee hereticall and impious To cleare this generall Thesis in the fountaine let vs looke vpon the first plantation of Christs Church and the condition wherein it was setled which by the Spirit of God is compared to a vineyard Homo quidem paterfamilias plantauit vineam circundedit eam sepibus and so forth as we read in the Text A certaine husbandman planted a vineyard and hedged it about This is the vineyard of Christianitie watered and made fertile by the foure floods of the foure Euangelists as is mystically figured in Genesis A flood went out of Eden to water the garden and from thence it was diuided into foure heads Christ who is the planter of this vineyard hath fortified it in the Gospel with three seuerall walles as so many diches and rampards to compasse it The first fortification and wall is the word of God and holy Scripture against heresies and heretickes Vt potens sit exhortari in doctrinasana eos qui contradicūt arguere to be able to reach wholsome doctrin to improue them who speak against it The second Fortification is of spirituall Iurisdiction against those who be rebellious Qui Ecclesiam non audinerit sit tibi tanquam Ethnicus Publicanus who is to be excommunicate from the company of the Saints The third Fortification is of Temporall power against humane inuasions Duo gladij Vpon the first of which three Ramparts hee hath placed learned Doctors in the Church who are furnished with spirituall wisedome to conuict herefie Vpon the second Prelates with authoritie to excommunicate those who be disobedient to the voyce of Christ. Vpon the third Brachium seculare Ciuill power of Princes to guard his Church from the persecution and inuasion of rauening Wolues from without and from intestine disorders without any of which three this Vineyard of Christ is neuer sufficiently fortified The erronious dreames of Anabaptists too much imitated by some pure and foolish Puritanes would depriue the Church of the vse of one of those strengths to wit of the secular Arme But specially this Iesuiticall Clergie hath preuailed mightly to breede a disiunction of the Ramparts which God wee see hath conioyned to rend asunder the Church and ciuill authoritie the Prince and the Priest which although they were contrarie in themselues as they be seuerall yet the Lord hath knit them together As of contrary Elements hee hath formed the vnitie of mans bodie and hath vnited a mans owne constitution of things meerely contrary soule and body heauen and earth Caro aduersus spiritum spiritus autem aduersus carnem saith the Apostle for euen as the soule of man which receiueth that diuine inspiration of wisedome and knowledge to rule our life is in it selfe a thing contemplatiue and abstract neuer able to subiect the members of our body to this Rule if it were not that the power of our actiue spirit sitting in the chaire of our conscience doth frame and force our will and the faculties of our minde to make our body obedient otherwise it should neuer obey vnto the soule by reason of the corruption therof Our soule is as the Alte of this Musicke our flesh as the Counterbase our actiue spirit as the Tenor and midcuple that ioyneth them This difference of our soule and spirit is cleere once by Saint Paul Ut seruetur corpus anima spiritus integor in die Domini nostri Our great Philosopher Christ againe did vse to say Tristis est anima meavsque ad mortem Spiritus quidem promptus caro autem infirma And Daniel Laudate Spiritus Animae Iustorum Euen so in Gods Church the Priests and Pastors are the soule which receiue the inspiration of Gods will in his law as the Scripture saith of them In quorū pectora condūtur Oracula Dei ex ore illorum promanant Eloquia diuina to bee taught and communicate to the people who bee the body of this Church if it were not by the power which God giueth vnto the Prince who sitteth in the Throne of authoritie and actiue wisedome like armed Pallas this bodie of ours would oftner refuse obedience to the soule as daily experience doeth prooue That Christian Princes to whose charge is committed the gouernment of States the rule of the people in pietie and iustice the protection of the Widdow the Orphanes the Innocent the Stranger the punishment of Malefactors and aduancement of the vertuous to Gods glory that those be not most diuine Offices and that therefore Ethnicke Princes haue had graunted by God himselfe the title to be his seruants who may deny it the Lords Annointed independent of any but of him alone and holding of him imediately the Charter of their authoritie Into the Iewish policie whereof God was the founder himselfe for an example to all vertuous and godly States wee see in the person of Moses a coniunction of spirituall and temporall power not onely did God esteeme his Vocation diuine but he giueth him the stile of a God Ego te constituam Deum Pharaonis I shall make thee the God of Pharaoh Moses did thereafter indeede by the direction of God separate those functions but alwaies in these termes that they should remaine in one vnited concurrence in the gouernment of Gods people like vnto the fingers of a mans hand
be feared lest in time if the oppositions were wanting which are made by your Maiesty the iudgements of men should become Pyrrhonicall and Problematicall as if there were no truth in things but all were indifferent as if it should be as easie for them hauing once subiugat the temporall power to the spirituall to refine S. Peter and by a new Alembication to make him Monarchall Priest and Monarchall Prince ouer the whole vniuerse And seeing this discourse containeth a discouerie of those abominable maximes which Hell it selfe hath vomited to prepare the spirits of men to shake off the diuine yoke chiefly of your Maiesty Maximes alas for pity whereof when we consider the deplorable euents that partly haue come to passe and partly haue been shot at what Clements what Chastels what Rauilliacks what pouder Traitors they can neuer be sufficiently charactered but with teares of blood These I hope will suffice without any Dedicatory intercession to make your Maiesties eyes propitious and fauourable ouer my faithfull sacrifice of peace and vnity that none of these Rauenous foules shall haue any power to spoile it or to trouble my oblation And lastly since by your Maiesties Gracious permission I am to publish these for a triall of what true Christianity and true wisedome is in the hearts of your Maiesties Subiects I haue not neither sent them abroad but presidiat with the fauours of that worthy and vertuous Prelate whom your Maiestie hath worthily preferred to be the chiefest Speculator and Pilate in the shippe of the Church God grant in his mercy that they may teach your Maiesties people to draw their light from no other Sunne but from your Maiestie and that they haue nothing before their eyes but Gods true worship the glory of this great and fortunate I le the conseruation of your Maiesties person and crowne and the stability of your most Royall succession Your Maiesties most humble most faithfull and most affectionate Subiect and Seruant PETER HAY. TO THE RIGHT Reuerend Father in God and honourable Lord GEORGE ABBOTS Lord Archbishop of Canterburie his Grace Primate and Metropolitane of all England and one of his MAIESTIES most Honorable Priuy COâ—…NSEL MY very Reuerend Father and Honourable Lord when on the one side I doe looke vpon the splendor of this golden Age wherein our glorious Kingdom of Great Brittaine doth shine amidst the powers of the world like to that fire which was placed in the cloud that conducted Israel and when on the other side I doe consider how many be within our owne bowels who cannot discerne this great Cittie vpon the mountaine nor see the bright Lanterne which God hath planted in it to explore the workes of darknesse as if they were burnt with the fire of Promotheus that too much light had made them blinde while as one sort pretending to maintaine the Catholike antiquitie of the Church doth spoyle all primitiue simplicitie to establish that most absurd and impious tyrannie of the Pope tending to the extinction of this diuine Lampe which burneth so clearely among vs and to the ouerthrow of our most Sacred Prince and Countrey An other sort vnder colour of phantasticke and Ideal puritie striueth to supplant the auncient and approued policie of the Church to the destruction and danger of the whole State I thinke that euen as the contagious vapours of corrupted bloud ascending ordinarilie into the braine doe breed at length a mortall epilepsie of the bodie euen so the mistie exhalations of fearefull Ignorance and presumption mounting continually into the seate of the vnderstanding they doe obscure the light of temperate wisdome and peece and peece beget a spirituall epilepsie of the soule The contemplation of which pittifull astonishment of mens witts as if they were stolne away by the enhantment of some new Circe it hath opened my mouth who professe to be a simple Asse to speake of the causes of their disease and of the meanes as well of the peace of Christs Church in generall as of the intestine harmonie which ought to be in euery thing amongst vs who are the members of this nationall Church in particular and for their helpe to character in some chiefe circumstances the happinesse and serenitie of our time within this great and fortunate ISLE while as all the Kingdomes which doe inviron it be so atteynted with pernicious errors lesse or more that for vpright knowledge like vnto that strong illusion of Ixion pro Iunone nubem amplectuntur in place to enioy the Queene of Heauen which is the sinceritie of religion and true gouernment they doe but imbraâ—…e a cloud of deceitfull abuses so hath the insidious Clergie namely of the Iesuite betrayed the Christian liberties of both This I doe not performe by dogmaticall grounds of Theologie but by a briefe Empiricall discourse of such practises as I did obserue in the Church of Rome and in other Churches during my Peregrination through diuers principall parts of Christendome while as like to that miserable Asse of Apuleius I did sustaine many changes and disfigurations of minde in matter of my faith till in the end the Lord in his mercie brought me to act that last transmigration of Apuleius which made him to be called the Golden Asse that as he was said to recouer his humane shape by snatching his mouth full of Roses that were caried by the Priest of Ceres so I smelling really the sweet odour of that deepe dyed Rose of the Canticles the Lord IESVS CHRIST our great Priest called the sauour of life to life by meanes thereof I was restored to my liuely image the golden historie whereof and of the notable things which I did remarke vnder those spirituall Metamorphoses is here set downe for the information of such darkned mindes as be yet captiued with Circe and cloathed in vncouth shapes And sithence my Lord this Treatise hath already found an easie accesse vnto your GRACE and so benigne acceptation that your Grace haue not onely set ouer it a censorious and skilfull Surueyor but haue been content to heare diuers points of the same agited before your selfe notwithstanding of the most weightie and assiduous businesse wherewith I did see you to bee pressed For this respect amongst many others I doe not see where it can finde a surer passe to goe abroad then in the trust of your protection nor where it can more iustly demaund the same then from your Grace whose pastorall vigilance doth well approoue that Royall wisdome which did preferre you to bee the principall Watchman of this Church and to carrie the touchstone for tryall of all such peeces as should bee offered to the Lords Sanctuarie whose extraordinarie Exaltation in the house of God to be from no Prelate Primat of England ante annum vertentem aut circiter doth testifie that the great Spirit which alwaies ruleth his Maiestie our most Gracious Soueraigne hath breathed vpon your Election that you should bee tanquam Sol refulgens in Templo altissimi a bright starre
his portract the other his person the one the cloude which contained the light of Gods Church the other the fire which shined into the cloude or to speake it more familiarlie as it were to draw this new wine out of these old vessels this oyle out of that Oliue this honey cut of that combe this corne out of that chaffe this marrow out of that bone this manna out of that pitcher this law of grace out of those Tables of damnation This word which is intellectuall and not imaginarie necessarie and not superfluous diuine and not humane certaine and not doubtfull in points necessary plaine and not obscure that from the beginning of 〈◊〉 to the Reuelation there is no other difference but of the figure and the things figured That like vnto that golden propitiatory from the which God spake described by Moses to haue two Cherubins one of euery side looking directly each vpon other And in manner of these Seraphins seene by Isai which by alternatiue voices did continually sing holie holie Euen so do those Cherubines of the old and new Testament mutually breathe out the testimonie of our great propitiation of the which Dauid saith Quia apudte Domine propitiatio est And these two Seraphins in like manner doâ—… render alternatiue ecchoes in both these Testaments of that holie holie Sauiour In such manner that it doth breed incredible ioy to a Christian heart to remarke the vniformitie and correspondence of the Spirit of God throughout the word The Scripture for Example maketh frequent mention of the waters of life to vnderstand what is ment by the waters of life in the old Testament God himselfe said to to Moses and Aaron Loquimini ad Petram istam ipsa dabit vobis aquam in the new Testament Saint Paul doth expound the mistery bibebant Patres nostri de spirituali consequente illos Petra Petra autem erat Christus was there euer any more cleerenesse or correspondency Againe it is said in Ezechiel Effundam super vos aquam mundam mundabimini ab omnibus iniquitatibus vestris And in Esai Effundam aquam supersitientem fluentia super aridam And in Zacharie Erit font patens Domui Iacob in ablutionem peccatoris menstruatae Is not that as plaine as Christ himselfe did speake it to the Samaritane woman at the same well of Iacob thereafter I giue you water to drinke after the which you shall thirst no more was there euer prophecie or exhibition more correspondent then to heare Esay crying Omnes sitientes venite ad aquas and to heare Christ himselfe answering by St. Iohn Si quis fitiat veniat ad me The law of Moses was written in Tables of stone and deliuered with horror per â—…mpadas seniâ—… Buccinae montemque fumantem saith the Text to shew the austeritie thereof and our impossibilitie to fulfill it and doth not the Gospell accord most cleerely with the same Hoc iugum neque nos neque Patres nostri pertare potuiâ—…us The law Euangelicall and of Grace was written in the flesh of the incarnate deitie to declare the softnesse and facilitie thereof according to that which was prophesied as our Sauiour himselfe doth testifie Iugum meum suaâ—…e est â—…us meum leue All which things doe shew the correspondencie and plainnesse of the holy Scriptures Lastly it is that omnipotent word where of the Apostle saith It is inspired from God and is able to make the man of God perfect in euery good worke Then seeing it is such a powerfull and perfect word shall we turne backe to Iudaisme and blinde our selues in obduration against the splendor thereof boldly affirming that it is obscure imperfect and hath neede of humane helpe how shall we be confounded in that great day being confronted with that learned Iewish Rabbin Barachia who out of consideration of this harmonie and correspondence of Gods word was forced to say in his booke intituled Medras Cobel-eth Redemptor primus Moses Redemptor vltimus Messias sicut Redemptor primus fecit ascendere puteâ—…m ita Redemptor secundus fecit ascendere aquas ad salutem And with that other Rabbin Iosue who doth directly call them the waters of Baptisme which saith he succeedeth to circumcision Qui baptizatur non circumciditur ipse erit Gher id est Gentilis conuersus ad rectam fidem So that I say for your Loto hold that this word is not sufficient to instruct you and why because it is not panis fermentatus it is not corrupted with pharisaicall traditions nor flowes not from a Church whose Prelates and members pretend that they cannot erre O but it flowes from the three persons of the God-head and is inspired from aboue as the holy Spirit doth testifie This is a sorrow neuer to be repented to maintaine that any thing other then Gods infallible incorruptible word can be without error or fault Man not to erre seeing the Prophet Dauid hath said omnis homo mendax seeing God himselfe hath said It repents mee to haue made man all the cogitations of his heart are wicked there is nothing true but God and his word as the Apostle saith Deus autem verax est sermo eius veritas What shall wee speake of men no not his very Angels be cleere in his eyes Et reperit prauitatem in Angelis suis saith Iob vnto the great spirit of God is only giuen to be Custos Tabularum Verbi Dei Gardian of Gods truth it is too pretious a iewell to be trusted to flesh and bloud for if it had bin Gods will to tye his truth to men why not to his knowne Saints Adam whose body was formed by the finger of God whose soule was breathed in his nostrils from the mouth of God he had this spirit of truth once giuen him but it left him by the suggestions of Eua Noah the first Preacher of the second World he had this spirit but was neglected of him in his drunkennesse The excellent Moses of whom it is said dilectus Deo hominibus Moses cuius mememoria in benedictione est he had that great spirit in such measure that he ouercame nature by Sea and Land he commanded the Angels and in a manner wrested the will of God but he was neglected of this great spirit in his distrustfull percussion of the Rocke Aaron had this spirit but was forgotten of him in the erection of the calfe Miriam also was forgotten in hir grudging against Moses Dauid a man to Gods owne heart was fearefully neglected of this great spirit to follow adulterie and homicide Salomon whose breast the Lord filled with wisedome was likewise left of this great spirit when he fell in impious Idolatrie The Arch-Apostle Peter did not obey this spirit in the deniall of his master yea after the Ascention and comming of the holy Ghost there was contradictions among the Apostles It is more then madnesse to affirme that the wisedome of any man hath
manifestly published to the world in Mount Caluerie as if that great and matchlesse Citie were not long agoe abandoned of God ruined accursed and prostrate to the prophane yoke of godlesse Turcisme As if Rome it selfe were not become like to the Cities of the Plaine smoaking in the abhominable pollutions of Sodom as if Scotland had not beene Christian perhaps as soone as Rome as Tertullian writeth in his seuenth booke contra Iudâ—…os Britannorum loca Romanis inaccessa Christo subdit fuere which diuers others learned Authors haue affirmed and as if the Northern parts were not now become the seat of the Candlesticke purged from their fornications while as Rome it selfe lyeth try fling in Types and Pharisaicall Ceremonies in place of true Religion defiled with her owne blood refusing to be clensed abhorring the voice of reformation crying with the blinded Iewes Templum Domini Templum Domini And that I did so long lie in this ignorance what shall I say Spiritus spirat vbi vult quando vult yet this farre must I say for my selfe it was not neither strange in me who since my youth had beene possessed with false opinions for certainely there bee so many specious vailes which couer from a mans eies the truth of things to wit the grauity of their subtill Prelates the exterior zeale and deuotion of the people the splendor and the richnes of their Temples the maiesty and reuerence of their Seruices the glorie of the precessions their exorbitant workes of superstitious Charitie multitudes of Hospitals and conuentuall houses rented by voluntarie Contributions the stoicall and stupid austeritie of the Proselites the voluntary miserie of the Capuchins the profound Preachers of the Dominicall and Iacobin Orders the admirable policy of the Iesuitical trade withal their proud perillous vaunting of Antiquity Succession and Vniuersality these are sufficient at the first to surprise a iudicious minde and to astonish a man as if hee looked on Medusas head who drinketh of Mandragora hee is in danger of a long sleepe but who tasteth the cup of Superstition he is in danger of deadly sleepe That old Circe knoweth all the secrets of inchantment and albeit she hath amazed Kithing mountaines of dead mens bones yet of those who arriue in her Island and come within the hearing of her voice they be few who escape her incantations fewe who with Vlisses can tye themselues vnto the maine Mastes to the ende they bee not rauished with her Syrens songes which can keepe fast the sacred Anker of the pure word of God Many through ignorance and naturall inclination to superstition many againe through auarice and ambition are contented to be tranformed into beasts by the charmes of Circe This euill of superstition among spiriruall dangers it is the great rocke of our common shipwrack it is dangerous first and especially because of the feareful iudgement which God doth inflict against it For what is superstition but a false worship of God Of all the plagues and punishments vnder heauen most fearefull is that which followeth superstition the Prophet hath pronounced it against the obstinate follies of the Iewes Audite audientes nolite intelligere videte visioneÌ„ nolite cogitare nec cognoscere occoeca cor populi huius oculos 〈◊〉 claude aggraua aures eius ne fortevideat oculis auribus audiat corde intellgat coÌ„uertatur saneÌ„ euÌ„ which is to be giuen ouer by God absolutly to follow lies falshood in place of veritie at the Apostle saith vt credant mâ—…ndacio qui non crediderunt vâ—…ritati great is the honour which is bestowed on vs while we stand in Gods true worship A certaine great Deuine hath made this the difference betwixt God and good men Deus homo coelestis homo autem Deus terrestris but when we be spoiled with wicked idolatrie it maketh the Lord to say of vs homo cum in honore esset non intellexit comparatus est inmentis insipientibus factus est similis illis and was not indeed that mightie Nabuchodonozor for his wrong opinion of God changed into a beast our other sinnes for the greatest part proceed of humane weakenesse but this of wicked presumption and therefore it is commonly punished with desperate obâ—…uration Secondly idolatry is dangerous because it is ordinary and quotidian in the world as euery body hath his owne shadow so there was neuer Religion which had not his owne superstition And as the shadow is longer then the body except when the Sunne approcheth neere the Zenith and sendeth his beames downe either perpendiculer or toward a direct aspect vpon the earth as we say Euen so when the light of the Euangell makes not a direct reflexion vpon our soules and mindes to certifie our knowledge but comes vpon vs by obliquity not in puritie but mixed with humane traditions then growes superstition to be long An extraordinarie and impious excesse of Religion dissoluing the true order of Gods worship into numbers of forbidden and pharifaicall ceremonies it is the companion of true Religion for truth and falsehood are twins borne almost both in one day God spake to day in Paradise the Serpent spake next morrow Simon Peter in the Euangell spake to day and Simon Magus spake to morrow There was neuer Church free from corruption to the end chiefly from idolatrous worship Adam who was the first man created by God himself in whose person was the whole Church of God he fell away to beleeue the Deuill Aaron who was the first Priest ordained by God himselfe by a legal warrant he fell away to idolatrie Solomon who was the first king and first man commanded by God to build him a Temple for his seruice he also fell away to idolatry These no doubt be great arguments of the force of superstition Thirdly idolatry is dangerous because it is a popular disease and so is the more contagious The Israelites were once become so vniuersally Baalists that the Prophet cryed there was not one who had not bowed his knee to Baal The Ecclesiasticall histories doe record that the Catholike Church was so once generally infected with Arianisme that there was not a sincere Pastor who durst minister the sacraments of Baptisme in a publike Temple Such is the disposition of our corrupt natures to heresie and preuarication in Gods worship Nature is moued and led by the sense and in idolatrie there be so many gratious and pleasant shewes of piety as doe bewitch the senses Lastly superstition is dangerous because the multitude who are chiefely giuen vnto it can hardly discouer it they be but pecora campi as the wiseman saith in the Scripture I lookt out vpon the earth and I saw many beasts but few men Superstition while it is masked it is a most plausible thing Satan hath giuen to it a faire face and oftentimes fairer then that of true Religion after the sort of impudent whores who be more curiously deckt then the chast Ladies
their faithfull obedience vnto all the Ostrogotti who did raigne in Italie among the which Theodoricke was so respected of the Sea of Rome chiefly of Pope S. Hormisda that they had almost canonized him as is written There was no seruice whereinto they did not obey those princes if they had any occasion to send any Embassadours they did vndergoe it as Pope Innocent the first tooke a legation from Alarico to the Emperour Honorius to negotiat his peace and to obtaine a dignitie to that Arrian King And further to declare how sacred they did hold their obedience to whatsoeuer King God did place ouer them they did vndertake Embassages from Arrian Princes in fauour of Artian Churches for conseruation of Arrians and in case of excommunication as Iean the second and Pope Agapet were imployed by Theodoric and Theodotus Now to him who will answere to this that these Princes were not excommunicate therefore the Church did serue them I replie that there was greater cause to excommunicate them then nor nowadayes is taken against Christian Princes and which is more we find the letters of Hormisda and others to Anastase as full of honor and respect as if he had beene free from the sentence of excommunication and of Gregorie the second to the Emperour Leon Iconomachus albeit he was excommunicate by that same Pope himselfe which things we must not imagine to haue bin done at randome or pro tempore but from good warrant appearantly since the iurisdiction spirituall is onely ouer the soules of men Church gouâ—…rnours ought not to transcend their ordinary bounds to meddle with the bodies or temporall states of Kings but their Fulmen Ecclesiasticum the thunder of excommunication should bee onely spirituall and like vnto the naturall thunder which can strike a man to the death without the meanest offence done vnto the apparell of his body For I would aske the Iesuite albeit the Church haue power ouer the Kings soule if it be so that they might rashly excommunicate him what right haue they for this ouer his kingdome and people If they haue why did Saint Paul in his time cry Querimus vos non vestra And why hath Saint Ambrose and Optatus Mileuitanus in his third booke Aduersus Parmenianum said That Emperours and Kings be within the Church but that the Empire is without it yea say they the Church is within the Empire in token that Antiquitie did exempt things temporall from the dint of excommunication when Pope Marcelline did sacrifice to Idols and Pope Honorio became a Monothelet Hereticke they were excommunicate but did not loose their Bishopprickes Pope Formose Bishop of Port was chosen successor to the same Pope who had excommunicate him And in the Counsell holden at Lions vnder Pope Gregorie the tenth it was concluded that Cardinals albeit excommunicate might assist the Pope his election by their vote and presence So modest were the Fathers in the point of Princely authoritie that Paulus Samosetanus against whom the Councell of Carthage was conuocate being deposed from Episcopall charge hee did yet possesse a certaine territory belonging to the Church but these Bishops demanded iustice thereof of the Emperour Aurelian albeit an Ethnicke because all that was ciuill and worldly did belong vnto the Empire The Church saith Augustine vpon Saint Iohn doth possesse no patrimonie nor goods but Iure humano Iure diuino she hath nothing This Iure humano is the Right Imperiall of Princes which being vsurped of any other it hath no more Title nor right vpon earth saith he So was it the constant meaning and doing of the ancient Fathers to thinke that they had nothing which they might refuse vnto the Emperours but the onely house of God Nor yet that saith Ambrose if I were assured that the Emperour speaking of Valens would not plant Arrians into it in which case onely I would presse to retaine it O what difference betwixt that and this blind ambitious and impudent age wherein Church rulers make open doctrine and profession to Master Princes lawfull and orthodoxall and to â—…reade vpon their neckes holie antiquitie would not aduenture to take from an excommunicate Bishop an house belonging to the Church but by the authoritie of the Emperour nor would not resiste the Emperoer by violence for the Temple of God to ane hereticke king although it were to giue it to heriticall pastoures whereas the plaine guyse of this time is to be Piscatores piscium non hominum and to abuse excommunication and the papall Thunder to spoyle a king of his cloathes to dethrone him of his kingdomes and to make him naked of his subiects Thirdlie we doe obserue of the primitiue Church that whensoeuer she did enioy good and godly Emperours they did not onelie not repute them as priuate members of the Church iudicable by the power Ecclesiasticall but contrarie they hold them chiefe members of their generall counsels vnder their misticall head Iesus Christ yeelding to them the authoritie of conuocation and whole exteriour Iurisdiction giuing them the tittle of common and externall Bishopes For we reade in Eusebius that Constantine the great was called so of the Church and said to bee brother vnto the fathers in which qualitie of a common Bishop he did exercise his power ouer the Church exteriorlie and ouer Bishops In like maner we find that in the Calcedonian councel the Emperour was called vniuersall Bishops yea Antiquitie did esteme no counsell supreame wherein an Emperour did not sit and praesidiat In all the appellationes of the primitiue Church which forme of Iudicatore is fittest to try where the maine sway of authoritie doth lie because it was absolute soueraigne and without declinatour hauing power against the Tyrannous gouernment of Popes against discords of other Prelats against vniust decrees of counsels themselues In all these appellations I say we finde that none was esteemed supreame but that wherein the Emperour did ouer rule as the only power vpon earth which is in dependant The first appellation we reade of in the Church was by Cyrillus Bishoppe of Ierusalem from the condemnatorie of one Counsel to another more general assisted sayth he with Seculare brachium with seculare power which he called a prouocation vnto a greater Iudgemement And so his cause was examined in the counsell of Seleucia As for the cause of Athanasius which did preceed that it was rather a remission of the processe to the counsell of Sardiâ—… then an appeale and went alwaies by the direction will of the Emperour Constantine to whom Saint Anthony write diuers letters directlie praying him for the restitution of Athanasius Saint Iohn Chrisost. in a second appellation did prouoke in the same tearmes with Cyrill to a higher iudge a more generall counsell assisted with imperiall authoritie as it cleare by a third appellation of Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria the time of the counsell of Calcedon in which appeale he doth expresselie protest that the coniunction of the imperiall
one naturall as we are men endewed with outward sences the vestiments to defend vs from the cold the Musique to mooue our sences to ioyfulnesse or to sadnesse and contemplation the second is a ciuill operation as we are distinct members of a politicall and well ordered society as wee see the vestiments doe shew the distinction of mens callings or degrees and the Musique is a delight and ornament vsed by vs in feasts and publique triumphes The third is a sacred and sequestred proper application in the setting foorth and beautifying within due and decent limits the seruice of Almighty God The first doth worke vpon us as men the second as wee are ciuill men the third as wee are Christian men Of Musique I will speake in the first place presuming that not onely when it is heard acting its owne part to the eare in harmonicall sounds but euen when the vertues and commendation thereof are made the subiect matter of prosaicall discourse presenting the vigour and force thereof though but to the eye of the Reader yet it will haue its wonted operation in sweetly charming the affection of those who haue drunke in some preiudice against it and distaste of the vse of it in sacris so that my Readers mind being set in symbalis bene sonantibus in good tune by the impressions of Musique though by mee an vnskilfull artsman rudely fingered they will I hope the more calmely and temperately accept the other following treatise of uestiments especially while it is so briefe If those who haue stopped their eares against not onely the vocall sound but also the vocall defense of Church-Musique thinke me too arrogant in hoping that any Enthusiasme can proceed from my Musicall discourse to surprize their preiudicat opinions let them but looke into the very nature and instinct proper to an intellectuall substance and they shall find that argument and strength of reason hath no lesse unresistable force to attract and purchase the assent of the reasonable soule then the actuall sound of Musique hath to mooue and mollifie the hardest and most stony hearts as it is written of Amphi◅ that he did Saxa mouere sono testudinis pre◅e bla◅da ducere quo vellet then should not the true reasons of Musical uertue which are to the vnderstanding more strong than harmonie to the sence mollifie and guide the most obdurate harts of such as professe a kind of deadly feade against the vse thereof If the Musique were a thing onely indifferent that is to say the instrumentall Musique i◅ the Church were neither commanded not commended by Gods word it is enough for our reception againe of it by the argument of Zanch◅ for Vnitie as is sayd But certainely the Church Musique or that which is graue affectioned and holy it is a true phisicke of the Spirit which doth restore it from distemperature and confusion whither it doe proceede from naturall melancholy it recalleth the dispersed faculties of the mind to one center it doth reconfort the astonished powers therof and by little and little lead them backe againe to the sense of reason by getting their consent to conspire together and to attend the melodious harmony so that in that case it is a seruant and souldier of the soule which helpeth her and giueth her the meane◅ to pacifie a turbulent and disordered spirit as ancient philosophers speaking metaphisically of this poynt haue sayd that the Musique doth cure the bodie by way of the soule euen as physicke doth cure the minde oftentimes by ◅ay of the bodie What shall I speake of Church Musique when prophane histories do record that among the Greeks the Laconickes y◅a King Alexander himselfe did employ the Musique to medicin their extraordinarie passions And who doth not vnderstand that there is a kinde of furious madnesse of the minde in Almaine called Sa◅uitus which is not cured but by the sound of Musicall Instruments and an other in Italie called Tarantula which is not cured but in the like sort or whither it be that the distemperature of the Spirit doth flow from externall causes as from demoniacall Inuasion the Musique doth helpe it much as we see by that practise of Dauid who by the sweetnesse of his harp did terrifie and banish for the time that vncleane and disordered spirit which vexed King Saul Alwaies to proceede the most apt and open reasons for the profitable vse of Musique in the publibue seruice of God may be drawen out of these two fountaines the one of nature the other of Scripture the one will induce credit as we are men the other as we are Christians The voyce of nature next to our owne experience we may best receiue from the iudgement of those whom we either approue for Philosophers or reuerence for discerners of that which in nature now corrupted yet remaineth sincere vsefull and lawfull And in vaine should I vndergoe needlesse trouble if I would search what the ancients haue found out and recorded heereof Plato shall be to me v◅us instar omnium seconded also by Tully in his second booke de legibus Assentior Platoni nihil tam facile in animos teneros ac ◅lles influere quam varios canendi sonos quorū dici non potest quanta sit vis in vtramque partem Namque incitat languentes languefacit excitatos tum remittit animos tum contrahit Musique hath an incredible power either to stir vp the affections when they are dull heauy or to allay compose them when they are incensed and troubled Martin Bucer giueth a plaine naturall reason heereof which I had rather sticke to then to search of what harmonicall proportion the soule of man is composed Aminales spiritus quibus affectus animae constant aerae sunt materia atque ideo ab infracto extrinsecus temporato que commodum aere per aures delat◅ mirum in modum citantur proque illius temperatura immutantur The animall spirits of our bodyes the next instruments of the soule being made of an aery substance are wonderfully affected with the externall aire when it is tempered with certaine proportionable motions and melodious sounds From hence are the diuerse effects of diuerse kindes of Musique the Phrygian Lydian Doricke and Ionicke S. Augustine citeth out of Tully a remarkable instance Cū vinolenti adolescentes c. When certain younkers well tippled whetted with light wanton musique attempted violently to breake open the doores of a chaste matrons house Pythagoras called to the Musician vt spondeum caneret to play a slow graue and stately tune vpon hearing whereof by the grauitie of that straine their luxurious humour was presently allayed Whereby as also by euery mans daily experience it is euident what force there is in Musique for inciting composing and moderating the passions of the minde But here euen out of this example may be obiected the abuse and corruption of manners by some kinde of light harmonie applyed to lighter Ditties
I demand what it is that shall make that lawfull and conuenient for Gods seruice Is it the signification of the words or the melodie of the tune and symphonie If the first then singing is not recommended as it is singing but rather as saying and then it were better such psalmes or hymnes were barely pronounced or read for so their sence and signification is best vnderstood If the second then instrumentall musique must likewise be admitted wherein the same sounds for tune and concord of parts are by the same rules of art practised and expressed But it may be oueradded that the musique of the voice is passable as hauing both these together and performing them with one breath Most true and therein is the chiefe excellency of that guift of God that in one and the same sound it edifieth both the vnderstanding and the affections Yet the other which cannot act but one of his properties is not therefore to bee condemned or contemned In physique some ingredients worke attrahende by their searching and vigorous quality of attraction others only adiuuando by diffusing the stronger simples and so helping the operation of them and without these the other would be lesse actiue and profitable Euen so in sacred musique the chiefe vigour of our praiers and adoration commeth from the ditty which worketh immediately vpon our vnderstanding but that is much helped and quickened by adding thereto a proportionable temper of artificiall harmony which shall make it penetrate the deeper into our affections As the Church militant in the three forenamd estates and seuerall times so and much more the Church triumphant in eternity doth out of the Scriptures supplie vs with proofe of the conueniency of setting foorth the praise of God with mellodious harmony For when in reading the Scriptures I view that little yet sufficient for our knowlepge which God hath reuealed concerning the state of the blessed Angels Saints in heauen mee thinkes it must needes bee great rashnesse to condemne that as superstitious or superfluous if imitated heere on earth which the spirit of God testifieth to bee the endlesse imployment of those that see God face to face in heauen Is not the Ierusalem which is aboue the mother of vs all into whose bosome we hope to be gathered Is it not that which wee hope and grone for in the vale of this flesh to become once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like to the Angells Is it not that which we daily pray for that Gods will may be done on earth as it is in heauen why then may wee not why ought we not euen now to imitate the worke of the Angells in their adoring the most High and as farre as we can performe that in our Churches the type of the euerlasting Temple which we shall when we are hereafter cloathed with immortalitie intend in heauen perpetually If we will open the booke of God the very window of heauen wee shall there see heare the blessed Seraphins thus blessing and adoring him that sitteth on an high throne crying to one another saying Holy holy holy Lord of hosts The whole world is full of his glory If we looke in further we may see the foure Euangelists figured out by the foure beasts full of eyes encompassing the throne without ceasing day and night singing the like Antiphone Holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and which is and which is to come If wee will yet view to the vtmost end we may behold Gods champions after their conquest ouer the beast holding in their hand as banners of that victory displaied more audibly then visibly the harpes of God The melody of which instruments they doe animate by singing the song of Moses the seruant of God and the song of the Lambe saying Great and maruellous are thy workes Lord God Almighty c. Apo. 19. 6. The voyce of a great multitude as the voyce of manie waters and as the voice of strong thundrings saying Halleluiah verse 3. And againe they sayd Halleluiah Loe here we haue plainly represented vnto vs not only singing and that by repetition againe againe but interchangeable chaunting in the Seraphins in that they are sayd to cry one to another holy holy holy which three sacred words the embleme of the euer-blessed Trinitie when I heare in the Te Deum in the vulgar tongue with a point of maiesticall correspondence grauely and reuerently sung in the Cathedrall Churches of England how others are affected I know not but for my selfe me thinks the very Celestiall Temple of God is brought downe among vs or we in these bodies rapt vp among the Seraphims and bearing parts in the Quyre of heauenly souldiers More ouer vnto such vocall singing here is distinctly added the other helpe of adoring and adorning the heauenly Maiestie by instrumentall harmonie the harpes and they honoured with an attribute euen the Harpes of God so styled either in regard of the subiect to whose praise they are vsed or of the Author by whose gift that and the like blessings are afforded to the best of the creatures both wayes designing one and the same fountaine GOD. I will not heere lest I should lose my selfe intrude into the search of hidden secrets treasured vp in heauen how and in what sense Angels and blessed Saints in heauen are to be vnderstood to sing before the throne of the Almightie whether this be in the Scripture described in a sensible forme onely for our capacity but to bee interpreted in a spirituall and allegoricall allusion surely if the substance of Angels and soules of men be not meerely incorporall it is not absurd to maintaine that they may immediately ex iunatis principijs similitudine substantiae in the most pure body or space of the heauen of heauens the seat of the blessed both raise such reall and corporeall voyces also be affected with the sweet harmonie and proportions of such sounds And when after the resurrection the soules of the faithfull shall bee clothed againe with their bodies it is not amisse to thinke that the bodie shall partake with the soule as of fullnesse of ioy so of the act and exercise of perpetuall adoration And as our naturall eyes shall then really and corporally behold the most beautifull obiect of our Sauiours glorified humanitie oculis meis videbo Redemptorē meū saith Iob so it is not against the analogie of faith to thinke that our tongues and mouthes may then employ them selues in endlesse vocall hymnes and songs of thanksgiuing of glory and worship to him that sitteth vpon the throne and to the Lambe who by his bloud hath redeemed vs out of euery kindred and tongue people and nation and hath made vs Kings and Priests vnto God his Father And sithence I haue been comforted from probable sweet and reuerend contemplations of the more learned to thinke that some sympathie may be betwixt the musicall Harmonie and the Angelicall nature it maketh me to presume a
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
then earthly as wee see Euen so Prelates and Priests ought not to be so earthly as other men are drowned in mortal passions spotted with ambition pride and auarice defiled with lust or other fleshly concupiscences wherevnto the greatest part of men are obnoxious but they should all consist of spirituall formes and of the puritie of exemplarie sinceritie like vnto Angelicall and diuine creatures Fifthly as the gemmes haue simpathising qualities with the spirit of man in a sort as if they were animal creatures that they will not onely change their proprieties and colours at any great chance which hapneth vnto men but they presege and forewarne our capitall dangers they redeeme vs from them as it were by giuing themselues for our ransome they cannot endure that by brutish luxurie wee should bee turned into beasts things which neither Theologie nor Philosophie make doubt of as being approued by daily experience The Corall being carried by diseased persons changeth the colour to better or worse according to the change of their disease The Turquine in great perill of mans life bursteth in peeces The Diamond hath a virtue to encourage the heart against feare or doubts The Saphir to stirre vp the mind to deuotion wherefore it is vsually carried by Prelates and religious men as wee see the Smerald to banish the spirit of lust to temper that affection in men wherunto it is opposed by a secret antipathie that Albertus writes how a king of Hungarie who delighted greatly in a rare stone of this kind one night after he had committed some acte of abominable lust he found it broken in three pieces and of Nero who tooke such pleasure in the Smerald that it was called the Iewell of Nero carrying vpon his thumbe one of huge quantitie formed in table wherein he did from his Pallace see the Amphitheatrall sports as if he had bin there and with which he did solace and helpe his sore eyes a thing proper also to that stone another night in like sort after some beastly pollution of his body hee found his Iewell rent in pieces Euen so Prelates and Priests who haue the charge of mens soules they are not only to simpathise with them by feeling of their miseries changing from ioy to sorrow for their iniquities and from sorrow againe to ioyfulnesse for their conuersion like vnto Corall they are not onely to supplie the place of the Diamond to inspire into their hearts a courage and constancie in faith the place of the Saphir to indue them with piety and deuotion the place of the Smerald to clense them from the filthinesse but if need be they must take the place of the Turquine to giue their liues for their flocke like vnto Moses who for that peoples sake wished to be raised out of the booke of life like vnto Saint Paul who wished to be made Anathema for his flocke and like vnto the glorious Martyrs in the Primitiue Church and as S. Augustine saith vpon the 86. Psalme By these twelue Gems in the Apocalips is meant the Church of Christ founded vpon the twelue Apostles and by that royall infrangible Diamond which is in the midst the eternall stabilitie of the Throne of Christ which so oft as it hath bene seene by the transported spirits of the Prophets and Apostles it appeared in their eyes as these fiery and celestiall Iewels So that seeing the chiefe doctours of the Church haue so interpreted the brestplate of Aaron we must not thinke that all the ceremonies of his Priestly habite did necessarily expire in the comming of Christ. Now if wee will say that the Brasen serpent must bee broken powder the white Surplis is daily abused to Idolatrie in the Papall Church and therefore it ought to be abolished certaine if the case were alike the argument is good but it is much different First the brasen Serpent was the proper and onely obiect of the Idolatrie committed by the Iewes putting a kind of Dietie in that Serpent but in the Popes Masse howsoeuer polluted with diuers superstitions and idolatries the idolatrous actions therein are not terminated vpon or intended to the garment which the Priest weareth the Surplis being only one of the accidentary adiuncts which as it were vpon the by doe for externall ornament and for the proper and significant representation accompany that action euen as there were tyed to the end of Aarons roabe Pomegranates bels as I haue showen before And as it was neuer hard that any spectator of the Masse did adore the Surplis worne by the Priest so I thinke none of the most superstitions worshippers of those incarnate wafers did euer dreame the supposed transubstantiation to bee wrought by the vertue of any operatiue holines inherent in that vestiment Secondly if whatsoeuer kind of attyre of distinction was then worne by the Priest in Massing must bee vtterly abandoned as polluted with idolatrie what warrant hath any Minister of the Gospell in Diuine Seruice to weare a blacke gowne while as Priests doe weare such vnder their Surplices not wholly couered but appearing commonly beneath the skirts thereof and perhaps such Priests haue thought their Masse as vnperfite without a gowne as without a Surplice Thirdly if we would onely repine at such particular and indiuiduall Surplâ—…ces as haue beene blotted with superstitious seruice the reason were more sutable and probable as for example it were euill done to vse for the Sacrament in reformed Churches that very parcell of bread which hath beene consecrated to be the Hostie of the Masse yet to take for our vse of that same lumpe or of that same loafe before the Papall Consecration therof it were no wrong nor iust scandall so to take exception against the white vestiment of the Church of England because of the Idolatrous Surplice of the Papall Church it is sophisticate Ab indiuiduo ad speciem neuer a man in the Church of England will hold that the Surplice is operatiue or doth conferre holinesse but because it is a comely habite receiued from antiquitie and found by them in their Churches most decent and most significant of any therefore doe they carrie it as also to shew their meeke and ready obedience to the authoritie of their Church and lawes of their state nor neuer a man of true Christian wisedome who doth abhorre it Eo ipso because it is in the Church of Rome Among the Babilonians there were some sacred vessels of the holy Temple as is said but alas for pittie many of vs doe build the wall of our separation from Rome to such disproportionable height that if it stand wee shall neuer returne to play the true Christians in weeping for the holy Sanctuarie Such was the simplicitie and sweet simpathy of the greatest doctours of antiquitie that they would not condemne any thing receiued from their forefathers in the Church except it was repugnant to Gods word yea they would rather turne away their eyes then looke curiously vpon that which might breed vnto