A SVMMARIE ANSWERE TO AL THE MATERIAL POINTS IN ANY OF Master DAREL his bookes MORE ESPECIALLIE TO THAT ONE BOOKE OF HIS INTITVLED the Doctrine of the Possession and Dispossession of Demoniaks out of the word of God By IOHN DEACON IOHN WALKER Preachers And the Sorcerers or Charmers of Aegypt they did in like manner with their inchauntments For they cast downe euery man his rod and they were turned into Serpents but Aarons rod deuoured their rods and so Pharaohs heart was hardened Exdo. 7.11.12.13 Si de veritate scandalum sumitur vtilius permittitur nasci scandalum quà m veritas relinquatur Aug. de libro arbitrio Talis est conditio falsitatis vel erroris vt etiam nullo sibi adsistente consenescat talis autem è diuerso veritatis status vt etiam multis impugnantibus suscitetur crescat Chrys. de laudibus Pauli lib. 3. Eugubinus de perenni Philosoph lib. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heu Tripodes lugete perit praesagus Apollo Aye me alas Tripodes perisheth presager Apollo Propugnaculum vitae patientia LONDINI Impensis Geor. Bishop 1601. TO THE REVEREND FATHERS THE LEARNED PREACHERS AND GODLIE BREthren in this our English Church I. D. and I. W. doe hartily wish the abundance of Reuelation in Iesus Christ with an holy discerning spirit that they may be the better inabled thereby to discerne aright of the things that differ and to hold fast for euer the infallible truth for the glorie of God the Churches good and their owne euerlasting comfort in Iesus Christ. So be it REuerend Fathers and Brethren beloued and longed for in the Lord The blessed Apostle putting downe some certaine precepts or Canons concerning the sacred Schooles of prophesie obserueth in effect this following order First hee permitteth the Prophets to speake by two or by three appointing the other Prophets to determine vprightlie of that which they speake and then next hee decreeth that if any thing be reuealed to another which sitteth by the former should be silent a time and the other man speake because all being thereunto called may prophesie one by one that all may learne and all may haue comfort Howbeit least any the Prophets should happily presume vpon this his permission to speake at their pleasure the Apostle forthwith for auoyding disordered confusion subiecteth the spirits of the Prophets to which more is if wee found them able to mannage their matters to giue them the hand of fellowship concerning their doubtfull cause Or if happily vpon better deliberation they yeelded the question to vs wee protested further to conceale their secret being vntill some good course might forthwith be taken for informing authoritie as well of their present conformitie as also for procuring their speedie deliuerance from the Ecclesiasticall censures so farre foorth as possiblie might be effected Sixtly beholding the holie Religion of Christ verie shrewdly scandalized by reason of such falsely pretended miracles we knew in our conscience we might doe nothing at all against the truth but for the truth and therefore not possiblie conceale those truthes which the Lord hath discouered vnto vs. Seuenthly our holy established Religion being verie scornefully derided with Papists and Atheists as a Religion that needeth now at length to be presentlie supported by superfluous miracles we verely perswaded our selues that no good Christian heart could possiblie forbeare his best endeuour to stay their intemperate courses Eightly Master Darel and his fellowes very confidently persisting in the vnhappie support of those their newly broached opinions hath mightily moued our hearts to haue at the least a compassion of some by putting a difference and othersome again to saue with feare by pulling them violently forth of the fire Ninthly their deceitful and coloured kind of proceeding in that they not onely pretend an holie cause but which more is doe varnish the same with holy pretences with faire words and flattering speeches to intangle if possiblie they may the very hearts of the simple hath made vs the more carefully to discouer vnto all the world what lurking poyson lieth shrowded vnder those glorious pretences Lastlie who would not both speake and write whatsoeuer they conscionablie knowe concerning these causes if hee but respect as in conscience hee ought that shamefull reproch which Master Darell and his fauourits like disordered persons doe verie iniuriouslie impose vpon the whole land vpon Magitracie Ministery and people in these following words Wee doubt not say they but that other nations and kingdomes about vs will both giue credit to this matter of fact so soone as they shall heare thereof and see how the same hath been witnessed vpon the oathes of many and will also receiue the Doctrine of possession and dispossession which we so much haue gaine-saide Blush then oh England and be thou ashamed of this thy incredulitie which is such as the like thereof hath not bin read nor heard of before for others haue yet acknowledged the worke which hath been done in them but thou hast not gone so farre but rather denied the same Loe these in effect be the maine occasions themselues which moued vs especially to labour these matters Now next the principall ends which we propound to our selues in publishing our labours are these that follow Namely we haue first done it to testifie our hearts desire for the timely accomplishment of Ierusalems peace Secondly to make knowne to the world our prouident care for the speedie preuenting of euery such future disordered courses as happily might preiudice the whole or any part of Gods truth as heretofore the Brownists and Hackets haue too inconsideratlie effected by their vnruly and headie conceits Thirdly to insinuate vnto al the world our arnest endeuours to know the truth and to be better informed if happily we erre in these matters Fourthly to lay open our Christian care for the timely informing of such as are contrarie minded Fiftly to discouer our vndoubted detestation of all false waies in any how deare soeuer vnto vs. Sixtly to vnfold the preposterous giddines of such humorous spirits as dare in this our doting age so dangerouslie pester the Church with strange and vnwonted opinions very fitly consorting with their fauourits natures Lastly wee haue more especially published our labours to stand in steede of some prouident watch-word for yong students in Diuinitie and newly conuerted Christians that in any wise they beware how they doe either broach abroad or receiue any such phantasticall conceits of priuate persons as are not primarily examined according to the infallible rules of the word neither yet authentically approued by publike authoritie Loe these in effect were the maine occasions and ends for the now publishing of our labours in print The premisses therefore considered and the arguments on both sides rightly respected we beseech you reuerend Fathers and Brethren to consider diligentlie whether of vs both haue caused diuisions and offences contrarie to the
whatsoeuer Know you not who it is that the father in these last dayes hath finallie appointed to reueale and to speake all truthes to his Church What man will you then forsake the fountaine of liuing waters for the reuelation of truthes and runne to such filthie puddles of your owne deuising as are able to hold no water at all Will you leaue the law and the testimonies and trot after a blind and a trothlesse lad for the reuelation of these hidden truthes will you withdraw your selfe from that holy oyntment whose onelie office it is to lead into all truth whatsoeuer and hunt after a supposed wicked spirit in a graceles and sensles boy Will you returne from the author of truth to the author of lyes from the holy ministrie of God to an extraordinarie ministerie of the diuel and his diuellish instrument In the name of God doe presentlie humble your soule at the fearefull remembrance of this your horrible and fearefull condition Pray earnestlie to God that if it be possible this blasphemous thought of your heart may be forgiuen you when the time of refreshing commeth What great blasphemie is this against our Lord Iesus the Churches sole Prophet For the onlie testimonie of Iesus is that spirit of Prophecie whereupon wee must soundly relie for the reuelation of all truthes whatsoeuer What intollerable iniurie is this to the office of his holy spirit who alone must bring to our remembrance whatsoeuer the Lord Iesus hath spoken before What a fearefull checke giueth this blasphemous speech of yours to the ordinarie ministerie of Christ so singularly graced and so notablie qualified with sundrie giftes from aboue for the manifestation of all truthes whatsoeuer to the end of the world Yea besides these your sundrie and intolerable blasphemies what a deadlie blow haue you giuen your owne selfe and your fellow-laborers as though that might be made knowen to the world by the ministerie of diuels which could not nor cannot possiblie be found forth by the Lord Iesus his ordinance A very dangerous conceit and flat opposite I assure you to our Sauiour himselfe who saith they haue Moses the Prophets let them heare them That wee should therefore expect reueâ—ations of truthes from any other meanes els was neuer taught from heauen but from hell yea euen out of the lying mouth of that damned rich glutton who reiecting the reuelations of the word did say vnto Abraham that if one should arise from the dead they would vndoubtedly beleeue and be saued Behold here the infernall author of that your vile and fearefull conceit and be forthwith ashamed of such a tutor The Lord open your eyes and instruct you better that so you may be enabled hereafter to deuide the word more truelie and to shew your selfe a more sound and substantiall teacher of truth For consider I beseech you how harshlie this blasphemous speech of yours would sound in the verie eares of your prophanest hearers namelie if you should say thus vnto them Good people be not troubled I pray you with any your owne ignorance concerning these hidden truthes which wee intimate to you and which are now in question among vs. For be you well assured that this truth which hitherto hath bin hidden from manie it shall now notwithstanding very shortly be manifested vnto you by such a corrupt boy or rather if you will by some diuell in the boy at the least Were not this pockie good stuffe think you to pester your Pulpit withall And yet this in effect is euen the very same which you affoord vnto vs froÌ„ that your former most filthie conceit Hauing thus in some sort discharged my conscience by giuing you admonition in time doe you now produce better arguments to proue your supposed essentiall possessions of spirits and diuels or els doe forthwith giue ouer the field for shame Exorcistes Why sir I dispossest them all by prayer and fasting therefore they were all essentiallie possessed Physiologus What man are you quite spent vp concerning the pretended essentiall possessions of those your eight Demoniakes that you are now like a steale-counter thus couertly creeping vnto their supposed dispossessions by prayer and fasting Surely sir if while we be but in dealing spare blowes the one with the other you begin like a cowardlie crauen so soone to set vp the heckle it is to be feared you will neuer hold out when once we come to the deadly fight Exorcistes Yes yes I warrant you feare it not For neither is my cause so crasie that I neede to feare your encounter nor my courage so cowardly as that I will euer fight crauen be the bickering neuer so sharpe Phyfiologus Well said Exorcistes when the cause it selfe becomes desperate then well fare a valourous heart howbeit it were much better in my simple conceite to yeeld vp the field by a faire and a friendly perswasion then in a foole-hardie or humorous course to continue a desperate fight till you receiue a deadly foyle Lycanthropus Surely Exorcistes howsoeuer you braue it in words it were better the controuersie were brought to an issue because the faster you runne the further you range and the more fiercelie you fight the more feeble you growe yea all men may plainely perceiue that howsoeuer you prate you will neuer preuaile Exorcistes Tush man feare you not that Philologus Nay feare that feare will we feare not at all Exorcistes Neither yet I I assure you Orthodoxus Well then Exorcistes hauing said what possiblie you can concerning your first distribution I meane the supposed essentiall possessions of those your eight pretended Demoniakes let vs now for one houre or two goe take the fresh aire and then reuiue our skirmish afresh concerning your second distribution I meane your dispossessing of those eight by your prayer and fasting Exorcistes I doe willingly yeeld to your motion The end of the first Dialogue The second Dialogue THE ARGVMENT Whether this fresh encounter containing an hotch-potch of matters confusedly shuffled together hath found a better successe concerning the pretended Dispossession of Diuels by prayer and fasting then any the precedent particulars propounded at large in those our former Discourses The speakers names PHILOLOGVS LYCANTHROPVS PNEVMATOMACHVS PHYSIOLOGVS ORTHODOXVS EXORCISTES Orthodoxus THis pleasant fresh ayre I assure you hath well refreshed our feeble spirits and therefore that we protract no further time doe tell vs directly Exorcistes what you say now to your falslie pretended Dispossession of Diuels by Prayer and Fasting Exorcistes Sir hauing sufficiently proued that the eight persons we speake of were euery of them essentiallie possest by the Diuell yea and this also with such vnanswerable and inuincible arguments as may fully perswade an indifferent Reader there needes no further labour herein Nnotwithstanding because that which makes for the proofe of their Dispossession tendeth directlie to the further confirmation of that their said essentiall possession I am therefore
Christ. Orthodoxus And he that knoweth not Christ what faith or hope hath he in Christ Ambrose yeelding a reason why Peter after his fall did not speake but weepe saith thus Peter doth not now vse speech by the which he had lied by the which he had sinned by the which he had lost his faith And againe Peter became more faithfull after he had bewailed the losse of his faith By all the premisses then it is very apparant that notwithstanding the prayer of Christ the Apostles faith it might and did faile at some time in doctrine and iudgement and therefore much more in the working of miracles Exorcistes This in my opinion is a dangerous point For if it be fully concluded that the Apostles at some time both might and did also erre in their iudgement concerning some points of doctrine then how may wee be certaine which of their writings must be held for infallible truths Orthodoxus Surely euen all those their writings whatsoeuer which the holie Ghost did leade them into those are the onely infallible truths of the spirit of truth But such only are all those which their master Christ had taught them before for the testimonie of Iesus is the spirit of prophesie and none other truths then those which Iesus before had testified to them were they led into by the spirit of truth Those their testimonies therefore what or how many soeuer they are to be esteemed as authenticall and infallible truths Al other their testimonies which only but slipped from humane infirmities how glorious soeuer in shew as they are not the testimonie of Iesus and therefore not the spirit of prophesie so are they in euery place of the Bible all tainted and branded for errors or vntruths by the spirit of truth as wee shewed before For howsoeuer the Apostles themselues were subiect to errors yet could they not possiblie erre so long as they onely but heard the voyce of Christ their Master and Shepheard and but followed the only directions of the spirit of truth Againe howsoeuer some one of them at some time and in some speciall point both might and did erre as hath been declared yet al their whole Colledge or companie it did not nor could not possiblie erre But euermore the light of truth was cleerely conserued in some of their mindes to discouer the clowdes of darknes which shadowed the rest and to propagate the light of the truth to all posteritie in which onely respect they are purposely called the lights of the world the foundations and pillars of truth Besides that the Apostles they did neuer vniuersallie erre I meane their faith neuer failed in all the parts of Christian doctrine howsoeuer some of them at some one time or other might happily swarue in some certaine point Moreouer they did neuer decline from the foundation it selfe because then they could not haue been the true Church of Christ which must necessarily bee builded vpon Christ the head corner stone and therefore they euermore held the foundation fast Briefly the Apostles faith it neuer finally failed for howsoeuer they at some times stragled aside through humane frailtie yet were they in time recalled from their errors as may plainly appeare For not only they all returned to Christ so soone as he was risen from death but which more is they first acknowledged themselues and then taught soundly to others the state of Christs kingdome And Peter being reprooued of Paul did willingly yeeld vnto him and Iohn staied himselfe vpon the Angels admonition from offering worship vnto him and the Apostles with the brethren being taught the truth reioyced greatly that God had granted the Gentiles also repentance to life and saluation Yea and in this their sound conuersion is fully performed that which was promised before by Christ when he said vnto Peter vpon that his worthie confession of faith Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall neuer preuaile against the same Marke the words the gates of hel they shal not preuaile against the Church that is they shall not be of a preuailing strength for so much the word importeth They shall then be of strength against the Church but they shal not preuaile by their strength no albeit their said strength bee as strong as holds as the Apostle elsewhere doth purposely call them yet are they not preuailing holds For the elect and chosen of God may take a fall at some time but fall finally away they can neuer Perhaps at some time they build straw or stubble yet they build on the foundation and the foundation is Christ. The sheepe of Christ may eftsoones goe astray in the wildernes but perish they cannot because none shall euer be able to plucke them forth of the true shepheards hands The prodigall sonne may happily at sometime goe away from his fathers house but he shall be made to returne againe and be no lesse fauourablie entertained of his father then hee was before The faith of Peter himselfe did euen swoune as we say but finally it failed him not He was turned away from the Lord whom hee also denied but hee returned againe to the Lord with the bitter teares of repentance Briefly the faithfull they are oft times very shrewdly pressed with many and mightie enemies howbeit they are neuer suppressed It is certaine therefore that the elect and chosen albeit they be made the children of God by adoption yet are they subiect to errors and slips Howbeit on the other side they are subiect so as they are freed from the guilt of error by Christ and accepted as holie in the sight of God because they are holie in part I am blacke O ye daughters of Ierusalem saith the Spouse yet am I comely as the tents of Kedar yet as the hangings of Salomon Yea further the bridegrome he saith she is faire nay which more is that she is the fairest but yet the fairest of women not simply the fairest but in comparison of women but in respect of earthly creatures To teach the Church thereby least happily she grow proude of her borrowed beautie that so long as she liueth in this tabernacle of the bodie she goeth on towards but is not yet come to the perfection of fairenes and therefore that she is not faire altogether though she be therefore commended for her fairenesse because she walketh after the spirit not after the flesh So then to conclude this point sith it is apparantly euident by all the premisses that the Apostles faith it might and did sometimes faile in doctrine or iudgement yea euen since that very time they were filled with the spirit therefore it is likewise apparantly euident that their said faith it might much more faile in the working of miracles Exorcistes Their faith neuer failed in the working of miracles since that time especially they were filled with
infallible Doctrines which you haue learned from Christ and auoyd them For they that are such serue not the Lord Iesus Christ but their owne bellies and with faire speech and flattering deceiue the hearts of the simple Consider therefore we humbly beseech you consult and giue sentence either with vs or against as the Lord shall direct your hearts If wee be thought to haue the truth on our sides we doubt not but that you will fight together with vs in one and the selfesame faith of the Gospell On the other side if we be found to haue faulted either in matter or manner wee beseech you confute vs and spare not and the blessing of God doe light on your hearts for your labour that way Neither shall our priuiledged bookes be any stoppage at all to so good a purpose for if you be vnwilling to deale that way because of authoritie your priuate conuictions shall suffice to procure from vs a publike retractation of whatsoeuer shall bee soundly adiudged amisse For howsoeuer we may happily erre we purpose by Gods grace to bee no Heretikes Referring therefore our selues and our labours to your approued considerations we humblie betake you all in our hartiest prayers to the holy directions of the onely wise God who iudgeth according to trueth Amen Your louing brethren assuredly in the Lord and the Lord his vnworthiest on earth IOHN DEACON IOHN WALKER TO THE CHRISTIAN AND WELL AFFECTED READERS WHO EXPECT THE COMming of the Lorde Iesus to their immortalitie I.D. and I.W. doe wish the necessarie graces of the spirit with a sauing knowledge in Iesus Christ So be it GOod Christian Reader when we dulie considered Maister Darel and his complices their lately dispersed pamphlets concerning their new-found trade of Diuillitie as also their vndutifull manner of imprinting and publishing the same to the world we could not but call to remembrance a most pestilent practise which Cardinall Benno reporteth of Hildebrand Who hauing killed Alexander the second for that he refused to sit at his speciall appointment in the Apostolike Sea without the good Emperours licence was by the ayde of his souldiours forthwith enthronized into the Popedome himselfe not hauing therein the consent either of Cleargie or people The which his prowd vsurpation when Abbas Cassinensis was come to redresse Hildebrand that insolent Vsurper very scornefullie sayth vnto him thus Frater nimium tardasti Brother you haue beene somewhat too slowe to whome Cassinensis very boldly replyed saying tu Hildebrande nimium festinasti and thou O Hildebrand thou hast beene ouer-hastie by much both in killing thy good predecessour in procuring the Popedome by such prowd vsurpation Euen thus surely it falles forth with vs at this present concerning especiallie the matters controuerted betweene our selues and those our Antagonists For they not only giuing the Canuisado of late to her Maiesties high Commission but hauing withall by the venemous infection of their viperous pennes verie vncharitablie endeuoured to wound S. H. vnto death for that by meanes of the sayd S. H. his dutifull discouerie of those their vndutifull dealings they might not be permitted to vsurp in our English Church a new Apostolicall power at their pleasures without any her Maiesties authenticall licence Maister Darel the principall agent partly by the inherent pride of his insolent spirit and partly by the prowde support of many his vnder-hand fauorits is very prowdlie enthronized into a new Popedome forsooth And by priuiledge thereof he hath very peremptorily imprinted and published sundrie seditious pamphlets hauing thereunto neither warrant from God nor dispensation from Prince nor testimonie of sound conscience no nor so much as the holie approbation of any good christian subiect Notwithstanding all this he hath for a season though feare and shame enforceth him now to pluck in his head very prowdlie ietted from countrie to countrie like a pettie new Pope among his owne Cardinals yea and that also in his pontificalities portrayed and contriued after the new-found popelike cut The which their vnbridled insolencie when we indeuoured to encounter by publishing as we verily beleeue the infallible truth of these intricate matters in a treatise at large and had signified so much to themselues by word and by letters in an only desire of doing them good they labored by letters and otherwaies to intercept our said enterprise a time at the least And in the meane time by printing and publishing the trifling toyes of that their new found trifling trade they haue sought to forestall our former good purpose and laboured to calme our carefull endeuours for doing them good Yea and by these their preuenting practises they do in effect but disdainefullie say vnto vs with Pope Hildebrand their prowd copartner Deere brethren you haue bin somewhat too slow in publishing those your dialogicall Discourses concerning Spirits and Diuels Howbeit we by these our subsequent labours and second encounters may with Cassinensis very conscionablie replie vpon them thus and you oh counterfeit Exorcistes you haue bin ouer-hastie by much not only in killing your good predecessour by your poysoned penne but also in broaching a fond triall abroade without any triall of truth in designing a Doctrine so opposite to the Doctrine of Christ and in discouering a Detection to detect your great follie and shame to the world The truth of the premisses good christian Reader may be made more apparantlie euident if thou wilt prouidently examine first the pamphlets themselues and then next the spirit it selfe which may be supposed to endight the same The pamphlets themselues notwithstanding any their outward florishing shewes they are inwardlie faultie we verily thinke both in matter and manner That they are ouermuch faultie in matter is more then may be denyed being euery of them fraught full of vnsound and absurd positions as shall be shewed hereafter in a short Catalogue prefixed before this booke Moreouer that they be likewise faultie in their manner or forme may easily appeare vnto such as are not vtterlie ignorant of methode or do any thing know what belongs to an orderlie manner of writing For first their manner of writing it seemes to be something Schismaticall and very shrewdlie to sauour of a Serpentine subtiltie because whatsoeuer their pamphlets pretend they proceede not by a plaine course of teaching but do rather incedere tortuosè goe wrigginglie to worke and walke this way and that way like to the hunted Hare which knoweth not whereon to resolue for a certaine Besides that their manner of writing it is also verie enigmaticall obscure and cloudie their sentences or periods they are in effect no better then riddles and for the most part so vncertaine so variable so flitting and so changing as none but themselues may possiblie spell or spie forth their meaning Briefely the very frame itselfe of their whole proceeding resembleth fitlie a paire of tarriours or tyring yrons and serueth to no other purpose at all but to hold men occupied all
the day long about a new nothing to hang on their sleeues Or they may well be compared to an intricate Labyrinth or maskaring maze from whence when a man is once entred into them he wots not which waies to winde himselfe forth as may plainely appeare vnto such as carefullie consider the same and this in effect for the Pamphlets themselues The spirit which may be supposed to indite those pamphlets should make wise men beware how they doe rashlie entertaine them for truths before they haue soundly tried the same with the touchstone of truth This sacred triall being dulie obserued herein it may greatly be feared that the spirit inditing those pamphlets will hardly be found to sauour of that wisedome which is from aboue which is pure peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of mercie and good fruites without grudging without hypocrisie but rather to tast of that wisedome which descendeth not from aboue but is earthlie sensuall and diuellish And howsoeuer no man knoweth the secrets of man saue only the spirit of man which is in him and therefore may iudge nothing too rashly of man before the time yet when the Lord himselfe is come and hath lightned things which were hid in darknes and made manifest the counsels of the hart to all mens eyes then I see no reason at all but that by the out-goings of the spirit a man may as easily discerne the nature of the spirit it selfe as iudge of a tree by the fruites And therefore when we behold men caried headlong with selfe conceits vaunting very prowdlie with the Anabaptists and saying Quod volumus sanctum est quod nolumus id iniquum iniustum Whatsoeuer we will or affect that same is holie whatsoeuer we nil or affect not that same is vniust vnholie Briefly when we do heare M. Darel and his vnderhand fauorits in sundrie places of their published pamphlets to cry out and confesse that all the learned men in the land are of a contrarie iudgement to them and yet notwithstanding do prowdlie oppose themselues to all the learned men in the land as though the word of truth came out only from them or came only vnto themselues what should set them agog in such a glorious vaunt but only a prowd and insolent spirit Againe when we heare how these vnrulie spirits doe nothing else in effect but rayle vpon men reuile their persons yea and euen vtterlie disable the iudgements of such and so reuerend personages as they themselues in comparison of true learning in deede of sound knowledge and of all good gifts and graces of the spirit are vtterlie vnworthie to be named the seauenth day after the meanest of those whom they so deepely disable what may we imagine should hale them headlong an end in such a disgracing course but only some phrentike some furious or some carnall spirit sith the holie spirit of truth hath told vs for truth that where there is nothing but enuying but strife and diuisions there the men themselues are yet carnall and walke but as men Againe when as their published pamphlets are pestered full of apparant contradictions the one very cruellie giuing a countercheck and cutting the throate of the other as hereafter appeareth how may we iustlie imagine that any other then an erronious and a lying spirit should be the primarie inditor thereof seeing the holie spirit of God is the spirit of truth euermore but one and the same and leadeth men alwayes into all soundnes of truth and Religion Againe when as they do nothing in effect but accuse and sclaunder throughout their seuerall pamphlets they care not whome what drawes them thereto but a diuellish satanicall spirit sith the Diuell you know hath euermore beene the accuser of our brethren If they haplie imagine that those whom they accuse or slaunder are but beasts and no brethren at all we answere that is much more then they are able to know and we hold them no competent Iudges concerning such cases especially as the Lord hath purposely reserued to his proper Consistorie and appropriated wholly to his owne iudgement seate Neither shall it suffice to say that howsoeuer they be thought to accuse or to slaunder they speake but the truth of euery of them because if that were so indeede yet they do it vntrulie in as much as they do it only to reproch and to slaunder the persons of men and not to reforme their supposed disorders For neither do they proceede therein by a iudiciall course neither yet are they iudiciallie called to testifie against them and so not only they breake the ninth commaundement but which more is they do very daungerouslie scandalize the minds of so many in the land as being but ignorant before of those their falslie supposed crimes are now by their clamorous accusations vncharitablie drawne into an hard conceit against their persons Whether this be not a diuellish Satanicall spirit let M. Darel himselfe determine who doth very confidently affirme that so many as are giuen to cursing and lying to speake euill of persons which are in authoritie to rayling reuiling sclaundering hatred and such like they are vndoubtedlie the childrē of the Diuel who himselfe was a liar and a murderer from the beginning Briefly when we behold them throughout their whole pamphlets not only to impugne her Maiesties high Commission concerning ecclesiasticall persons and causes but which more is by toong by penne by practize and such other apparant shewes of vndutifull subiects to resist her highnesse authoritie and which is worst of all euen then to accomplish euerie of these when they were by God forbidden by her highnesse restrayned by due order of lawe conuented conuicted apprehended imprisoned by the sentence of Iustice definitiuely condemned for grosse malefactors adiudged to prison and so consequentlie by God himselfe by her excellent Maiestie by course of lawe by all good conscience and by the approued practise of all holie Martyrs enioined eftsoones to a dutifull silence whence come these vnrulie proceedings I pray you but from such a rebellious spirit as neither for feare nor for conscience can be made to subiect it selfe to Gods sacred ordinance but prowdlie resisteth the same and so procureth the sword of Iustice to be vnsheathed against themselues and to take vengeance on them as vnrulie and turbulent spirits Thus then the truth of the premisses is verie apparant you see as well by the seuerall pamphlets as by the spirit it selfe which may well be supposed to be the indighter thereof And therefore we would to God good christian Readers you could suffer vs a little in our foolishnes and in very deede you do suffer vs. For we are iealous ouer you with a godlie iealousie because we labour to prepare you for one husband and to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. Howbeit we feare least as the Serpent beguiled Euah through his subtiltie
Satan is sooner cast forth being essentiallie within a man then when he but vexeth him by some outward operation Doct. 26. 7 Satan by his operation caused something to be felt and to appeare in some visible forme or shape Doct. pag. 37. 1 Satan repossessing a man may notwithstanding that in Luke 11. of taking 7. other worse then himselfe and dwelling there be cured by fasting and prayer Doct. pag. 37. 9 One place of Scripture may haue two senses the one Spirituall the other Literall Doct. pag. 39. 10 Fasting a more effectuall exercise then Prayer Doct. 43. 11 Difference concerning the nature of Diuels Doct. 49. 12 The Apostles Faith being a miraculous Faith could not possibly faile for it was giuen without meanes and hath no meanes ordained for the encrease thereof Doct. 47. 13 The Apostles could not possibly erre in doctrine or iudgement much lesse could their Faith faile about a Miracle sith they were shortly after to receiue the holy Ghost Doctrine pag. 49. 14 Prayer and fasting an ordinance of Christ though no such ordinance may be proued by Scripture Doct. pag. 54. 15 Many yea infinite things are decreed in the secret and eternall counsell of God and knowen to be so of men which are not set downe in his reuealed will and yet are the ordinances of God and so to be taken Doctr. 54. Detect 42. 16 The meanes which God himselfe hath appointed to some certaine end doth not alwaies prosper thereunto as the word preached meates husbandrie c. Doctr. 58. 17 That is no miracle which is effected by any one meanes ordeined to that end Doctr. pag. 60. 18 The outward thinges or actions which sometimes were vsed in working of miracles were not vsed as meanes but as signes when and according as the Apostles perceiued them profitable for man pag. 61. 19 If any heretofore haue vsed Prayer in working of miracles they haue not vsed it as a meanes leading thereto but vsed the same as a signe or document pag. 63. 20 Prayer and fasting is the onely meanes to remoue any iudgement from vs. Doctrine pag. 66. 21 Gods prouidence denied in saying that Satan can enter into a man at his pleasure so the partie but giue his consent pag. 80. 22 To entreat Christ to cast out a Diuell is mirandum but not miraculum Apolog. pag. 33. Detection pag. 8. 23 Reprobates may now cast out Diuels Doctr. pag. 106. 24 Where the proper signe of a thing is there is also for certaine the thing signified Detection pag. 50. 25 Physicke and such like peculiar ordinances are not mentioned at all in the Scriptures Doctrine pag. 54. 26 Diuels doe earnestly desire to be essentially inherent in the possessed mans body Doctrine pag. 2. 27 Master Darell auoucheth a Vbiquitie in Diuels namely that at one instant they are without and within a man Detection pag. 103.110 Behold gentle Reader we haue here giuen thee an inckling as it were by the way concerning the supposed soundnesse of Master Darell his subsequent Doctrine of the essentiall possessions and dispossessions of Spirits and Diuels his published Pamphlets being euery of them vniuersally pestered with these and sundry other absurd and vnsound Positions as will plainely appeare in their orderly examinations Now then as by hauing the iust length of the one arme of a man thou maist very neerely ghesse at the iust length also of the other so surely hauing felt by these few a shrewd sauour of palpable absurdities thou maist very shrewdlie imagine what the whole Discourse is likely to be the same being builded as thou seest vpon such fickle and sandie foundations as are vtterly vnable to support the vnwealdie frame of so tottring a worke Moreouer in that very many of these his Positions are directly opposite to the infallible truth of the sacred Scriptures it doth minister vnto thee a notable watchword and exact at thy hands a circumspect consideration concerning the entertainement of any thing contained in his Bookes For doe tell me I pray thee whether it be any waies possible that such palpable vntruthes should possibly proceede from that Spirit of truth which leadeth the seruants of God into all soundnesse of truth The Lord giue thee an vnderstanding Hart to know and a discerning Spirit to determine rightly of the things that differ and to hold fast whatsoeuer is good to thy owne euerlasting comfort in Iesus Christ. So be it A briefe Catalogue of Master Darel his apparant contradictions 1IN his doctrine pag. 29. he saith to be possessed of a diuell is as ordinary a disease as blindnes deafnes and such like but ibidem pag. 67. hee makes both it and the cure an extraordinarie worke calling for an extraordinarie vse And ibidem pag. 79. a disease supernaturall and medicine supernaturall And ibidem pag. 103. a rare and extraordinarie worke of God And ibidem pag. 105. the casting out of the diuell at Nottingham is made the same with Christes miraculous worke and aboue some other miraculous actions Also detection pag. 41. supernaturall meanes supernaturall disease And pag. 58. prayer is as ordinarie a meanes as other medicines And pag. 59. prayer and fasting an ordinarie meanes 2 In his detection pag. 54. signes of dispossession not necessary but pag. 57 as also doctrine pag. 36. they are absolutelie necessarie for sundrie reasons and a direction left in the word for discerning the same signes 3 In his doctrine pag. 39. no eiection of Satan in the papacie yet pag. 70. a true deliuerance in the papacie graunted and that by their humiliation 4 In pag. 39. he auoucheth a voluntarie departure of diuels but pag. 77. the diuell he saith must be inticed out 5 In his doctrine pag. 12.41.81 he saith the Demoniakes receiue no hurt at all by anie their torments and pag. 13. he rendreth a reason why but pag. 36. hee saith Darling was so sore hurt as for thirteene weekes after he was lame and had no vse of his legges 6 In his doctrine pag. 40. hee saith that diuels are now cast forth by Christ his owne absolute authoritie and pag. 41. by his absolute supreame authoritie but in pag. 55. he saith that this supernaturall disease is cured by the supernaturall medicine applied thereto as a natural medicine is applied to a natural disease 7 In his doctrine pag. 41. hee maketh fasting and prayer a warranted ordinance for the expelling of diuels by the wordes of Christ in Matth. 17.21 and in Mar. 9.29 but in his detection pag. 41. wee read not saith he of the first ordayning of anie such meanes 8 In examining the words of Math. 17.21 and Mar. 9.29 he saith the same words were spoken to the Apostles and Disciples as appeareth in his doctrine pag. 41.42.50 but pag. 43.44.45.46.47.48.49 he flatlie opposeth himselfe to that exposition and inuents many reasons why that speech of Christ should not be appropriated to them of that age but all this in his detection pag. 43. hee doth plainely confute in this
others Moreouer it may please the good Reader to remember withal that such absurd positions and so many apparant contradictions they cannot possiblie proceed from that spirit of truth which leadeth into all soundnes of truth and religion and that therefore they haue in them no force at all to fight for the Lord who needeth not the lies of mortall men Brieflie this we our selues doe certainely know all men more especiallie the iudiciall sort they plainely perceiue that howsoeuer those their pretended essentiall possessions and dispossessions of diuels may haplie accord with the truth of the Scriptures yet these their published Pamphlets they will neuer be able to make good the supposed truths which themselues doe pretend and that therefore they must of necessitie be forced to begin a new ground or to giue ouer their cause The Lord by his spirit direct vs only vnto that which tends to the glory of his great name the present good of his Church and our owne euerlasting comforts in Iesus Christ. So be it euen so Lord Iesu. Amen The seuerall Arguments handled at large in the subsequent Dialogues concerning our second encounter The first Dialogue Pag. 1. The Argument 1 WHether Master Darel his second encounter contayning an hotch-potch of things confusedly shuffled together hath found a better successe concerning the pretended essentiall possession of Spirits and Diuels then any the precedent particulars propounded at large in our former Dialogues The second Dialogue Pag. 81. The Argument 2 WHether this fresh encounter contayning an hotch-potch of matters confusedlie shuffled together hath found a better successe coÌ„cerning the pretended dispossession of Diuels by prayer and fasting then any of the precedent particulars propounded at large in those our former discourses The third Dialogue Pag. 197. The Argument 3 THe holie and right vses which the Church and Children of God are to make of this Doctrine concerning the finall determination of possessions and disposessions of spirits and diuels A SVMMARIE ANSWERE TO ALL THE MATERIALL POINTS in any of Master DAREL his bookes The first Dialogue THE ARGVMENT Whether Master Darel his second encounter containing an hotch-potch of things confusedly shuffled together hath found a better successe concerning the pretended essentiall possession of Spirits and Diuels then any the precedent particulars propounded at large in our former Dialogues The speakers names PHILOLOGVS LYCANTHROPVS PNEVMATOMACHVS PHYSIOLOGVS ORTHODOXVS EXORCISTES Orthodoxus EXorcistes Hauing very lately receiued your late-spread factious Pamphlets as also your Champion-like challenge concerning your old inueterate opinions about the essentiall possessions of Spirits and Diuels I vnderstand by Master Physiologus and the rest of our companie that according to your owne appointment for time and place you are now come purposely ouer vnto vs to mannage your challenge Surely howsoeuer your maine forces may happely be feeble there is no want I perceiue of a valorous minde Well sir you are welcome vnto vs. And therefore what say you man Doe you feele your selfe no lesse readie than willing to aduenture the combate afresh Exorcistes Yea sir I am very willing and readie at all assaies and doe purpose very valiantlie to hold out the encounter or lie fast by the heeles But what say you first to those my three late published treatises which you so scornefully brand with the odious title of factious Pamphlets Orthodoxus Or euer I come to open my mouth concerning any your owne matters I must first of all be very importunate vpon the rest of our companie that they would in no wise interrupt our talke for protracting the time but onely attend with silence and become indiffâ—rent Iudges concerning the scope of our conference Vnles happilie it may please Master Physiologus for better ease vnto me and more delight to your selues to enterlace now and then some such Philosophicall points as may in any sort tend to the further manifestation of the maine purpose in hand Lycanthropus We like very well of and doe willinglie submit to your motion proceede therefore in your matters as the Lord in mercie shall direct your minds Orthodoxus Content Come on therefore Exorcistes what say you now to the essentiall possession of Spirits and Diuels Exorcistes Sir be you sure you must finde me no Changeling concerning that so weightie a matter But first shew me I beseech you how you may possiblie make good the intolerable disgrace which you haue primarilie imposed vpon those my fruitefull labours which it pleaseth your own selfe to terme but factious Pamphlets Orthodoxus Why man It hath been euer my ordinarie manner of dealing you know to call a spade a spade and therefore you must pardon my plainenes herein Howbeit be patient I pray you we will neuer fall forth for naming the Childe And therefore pretermitting the terme of factious Pamphlets those your three last published treatises sith forsooth you will needes haue them intituled so they are either such as concerne onely but matters of fact or such as concerne matters of fact and Doctrine together Your treatises concerning onely but matters of fact namely your Triall and Detection I doe purpose at no hand to intermeddle withall Both because you your owne selfe haue purposely singled forth from the rest your proper Antagonists whom you proudely intitle the two English Inquisitours Samuel Harsnet I meane and his Master whom also in the very heate of your pride you haue by a Hysteron Proteron preposterouslie put downe in your Pamphlet and for that I also my selfe haue no authenticall Commission to enquire after much lesse to determine such factious proceedings For which speciall respects I doe purposely put ouer the trying forth of your Triall as also the orderly deciding of that your Detection to such Ecclesiasticall Commissioners as her excellent Maiestie hath authenticallie subordinate vnder her Highnes for the orderlie finding forth of all those vnorderlie and grosse malefactors which doe indirectlie withstand or impugne the same Exorcistes Well what say you then to the other of my treatises Orthodoxus You shall vnderstand anon my censure concerning the same In the meane time howsoeuer for the former considerations I doe vtterlie refuse to meddle with those two forenamed Pamphlets being meerelie but matters of fact yet must I bicker with you a blowe or two concerning the seuerall Epistles prefixed to both For besides that they are in some places absurd and senseles doe labour thoroughout vpon a pitifull begging of the cause of Possession and Dispossession are branded with Grosthead his corrections by matching in your Apocryphall text that your pretended miracle with the true miracles of Christ but yet making the same in your marginall note no miracle at all besides I say that they all keepe onely a circular motion are full fraught with idle excursions with rouing phantasies with extrauagant speeches are thirteene times pestered with an idle traducing tautologie are stored with fearefull disloyall titles and termes of disgrace with vaunting challenges virulent raylings and
neuer failed in doctrine or iudgement so neyther in the working of miracles This seemeth an irrefragable reason no doubt and such a one I beleeue as may not possiblie be shaken Well bee it supposed that after the Apostles receiued the holie Ghost their faith fayled sometimes in Doctrine or iudgement then it is very probable their said faith it might also fayle at sometime in the working of miracles That the Apostles at sometimes fayled in the first it is verie apparant For Peter hee went not rightly to the truth of the Gospell Iohn would haue worshipped the angell once or twice The Apostles and brethren who were at Iudaea they thought that the word of God was not to be preached vnto the Gentiles All these were errors in doctrine and iudgement And therefore the Apostles faith fayling directlie in these it might fayle much more in the working of miracles Howbeit because you seeme so confident in this one assertion doe shew vs the reason why the Apostles faith so soone as they were filled with the holy Ghost could not possiblie fayle in doctrine or iudgement Exorcistes My reason is this The holy Ghost is called the spirit of truth This spirit being promised to them was afterwards in miraculous maner bestowed vpon them they therefore receyuing the fulnes of this spirit their faith from thenceforth could not possiblie faile in Doctrine or iudgement and therefore much lesse in the working of miracles Orthodoxus I answere The holie Ghost is iustly called the spirit of truth This spirit of truth was faithfullie promised vnto the Apostles and at the feast of Pentecost very miraculouslie bestowed vpon them Hitherto we accord you see in euery point Howbeit your inference inforced from hence is not proued but pitifullie begged for we denie that either all or any one of the Apostles receyued the fulnes of this spirit Exorcistes Then you denie the truth of the sacred Scriptures For doth not the Euangelist Luke verie flatlie affirme that they were all filled with the holie Ghost and spake with new toongs as the spirit gaue them vtterance Orthodoxus He denyes not the truth of the sacred scriptures who onlie denyes but your erronious collections vntrulie gathered from the sacred scriptures For it is one thing to be filled with and another thing to receyue the fulnes of the spirit It is an axiome not onely warrantable by learned Philosophers and commonlie knowen to the simplest on earth but approued of all by common experience that whatsoeuer thing is receyued of another the same thing is receyued only according to the capacitie of that which receyueth the same We do willinglie acknowledge that the holie Ghost hath replenished only our sauiour Christ with the vnmeasurable aboundance of his graces and that Christ only hath receyued the fulnes of the spirit because that vnto him the father giueth not the spirit by measure Notwithstanding the Apostles and all other the elect they do only apprehend the graces of the spirit in their proper measure according to which measure they haue receyued not the fulnes it selfe but of the fulnes of Christ his spirit euen grace for grace By all which it is very apparant that euen the blessed Apostles and other the elect in Christ they receyue the graces of the spirit only according to the simple capacitie of humane frailtie and not according to the maiestie and fulnes of the spirit it selfe so as their faith could not faile in any respect For howsoeuer they were trulie renued and enlightned with the holy Ghost yet were they not in this present life so absolutely enligtned renued or clensed from all peruersnes of hart or blindnes of mind as that they could neyther swarue in doing their dutie nor be deceiued at all in their iudgement Not that the measure of the spirit which they receyued was of it selfe insufficient to preserue them absolutely from either of both but for that it pleased the father in such sort to dispence his spiritual graces to men in this life as the verie best might perceiue their owne imperfections and therewithall be driuen to acknowledge that the fulnes of perfection consisteth only in Christ. For who will denye there is water enough in the mayne Ocean sea to quench the raging flames whatsoeuer which wast a whole towne howbeit this we must needes acknowledge withall that a simple earthen vessell cannot possiblie contayne enough of that water to asswage the fier alone that burneth one house The blessed Apostles they acknowledge themselues to be men yea men who being naturallie begotten in the image and likenes of Adam their father must naturallie flame and burne as the Prophet reporteth And therefore albeit they were certainely borne anew of water and the spirit yet the water of the spirit it doth not so thoroughlie extinguish in them all sparks and ouersights whatsoeuer as that their faith could not faile in any respect For then what needed their corruptible bodies to put incorruption vpon them or themselues desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ Howbeit this we certainely know that during this life there remayneth euen in the best of all a dayly strife betweene the spirit and the flesh yea and that the remnants of flesh do sticke very fast not only in their harts but also in their minds And for these selfe-same respects the very Apostles themselues do freely acknowledge that now namely while they liue in this life they knowe only but in part that the power of God is perfited in weakenes and that therefore they do all cry out with the Prophet and say heale thou vs O Lord and we shall be healed yea and euen Paule he acknowledgeth of himselfe that he is not yet perfit although he be laboring earnestly towards the marke And Iames sayth generally concerning the faithfull that in many things they all offend Briefly our sauiour affirmeth flatly that he which is washed the whitest of all hath neede notwithstanding to wash his feete By all which its very apparant that the Apostles themselues they were not so absolutely filled with the graces of the spirit but that their faith notwithstanding it might and did faile at one time or other in some point of doctrine or iudgement and therefore much more in the working of miracles Exorcistes If it be certainely true that their faith at any time fayled in doctrine or iudgement how then is the promise of Christ to be credited concerning the holie Ghost for he told his Disciples that the same should leade them into all truth Orthodoxus That the Apostles faith in some things and at sometime might faile it is vndoubtedly true and the promise also of Christ cōcerning the holie Ghost his direction is as vndoubted a truth For the holie Ghost no doubt did leade them into all truth yea I say further into all holines of soule and bodie howbeit he led them into all truth in such sort as
bitter exclamations I must necessarilie admonish you Readers of some particulars in either of both and therewithall must aduise them to beware they doe not either too rashlie approue of your spirit or too inconsideratelie affect your Cabalisticall conceits For first in one of the Epistles you apparantly discouer to all the world your grosse and intolerable pride by indighting arraigning adiudging and condemning of Passhur and the Prelates as it please you to terme them of the vnpardonable sinne against the holy Ghost Labouring the Lord Chiefe Iustice withall not onely to recouer himselfe with speede from that forenamed fearefull sinne whereunto it seemes by the purport of your speech you doe greatlie feare he is fearefullie falling but also to practise a fresh such a platforme of Iustice as your selfe doth more deliberatelie portrature to him for those his iudiciall proceedings more especiallie concerning your speciall matters Namely that he doe forthwith reuerse the precedent iudgement which passed against you and admit you a new plea to proceede in a fresh and the same at your pleasure to prosecute eftsoones before the iudgement seate Which motion of yours being freely admitted and the same once made but a meere matter of course tell me what one definitiue sentence against malefactors must at any time stand currantly sound without the speedie reuersing of some at the least For if offendors may once haue free passage to such a proceeding they can very subtlelie suggest and are cunning enough to pretend many colourable pretences and probable presumptions for the timely annihilating and for making a plaine nullitie in any definitiue sentence against themselues whatsoeuer Againe in the very title it selfe as also in the Epistle before your detection you doe to too dangerouslie detect a very vndutifull and disloyall heart to her Maiestie by branding her Maiesties iudiciall proceedings against you with the treacherous title of a sinfull shamefull lying and ridiculous discourse terming the dealers against you no better then English Inquisitours such as bewitch her Maiesties people with their crooked conueiances Instruments of Satan Impudent and shameles discoursers the publishers of shameles and malitious inuectiues yea such and so mightie aduersaries as you must necessarilie cracke and diminish their credits yea take all credit quite from them by detecting their filthinesse especiallie the Discoursers that so by making his name to rot and to stinke you may gaine among men the more credit to your sillie poore languishing cause With these and infinite other like vnchristian courses vndutifull termes and inhumane proceedings are those your two Epistles pestered full what say you Exorcistes vnto them Exorcistes I am so farre off from forethinking the same as I could heartilie wish they were doubled and trebled vpon their pates Orthodoxus Fie fie for shame these your vndutifull and disloyall reuilings of men endowed with her Maiesties lawfull authoritie doe euen make the very eares of all men to tingle Surelie howsoeuer we our selues in our former conferences were in very great hope of your happie conuersion yet now the naturall corruption of your proude and intemperate spirit so deepelie discouers it selfe all good men stand greatlie in doubt of doing you good by any their holy endeuours But tell me I beseech you what spirit you are of Tell me from whence you receiued so large a Commission as that you dare by vertue thereof thus insolentlie inthronize your selfe into the sacred throne of the eternall God for the arraigning adiudging and condemning of consciences What priuiledge haue you thus proudely to pull downe from the seate of iustice such approued Magistrates as her Maiestie hath authenticallie placed therein and then so proudely skippe vp into their places your selfe by countermaunding annihilating and reuersing definitiue sentences yea and which more is by aduising disposing and determining at your pleasure quite contrarie courses for iudiciall proceedings Where is your warrant so vnreuerently to rayle vpon reuile and speake euill of any in authoritie We know very well who hath giuen vs straightly in charge not to curse or reuile the rulers of the people but we vnderstand not as yet where or from whence your selfe should possiblie procure such a plenarie power to countermaund or controll that former charge of the Lord. You take much more vpon you herein then euer did Iehoshuah the high Priest or Michael the Archangeli when they stroue with the Diuel for they durst neuer giue rayling sentence to him but onely said thus The Lord reproue thee O Satan euen the Lord that hath chosen Ierusalem reproue and rebuke thee Whereas your selfe in most disloyall and vndutifull manner doe offer a most dispitefull disgrace to publike gouernment and doe very seditiouslie depraue and speake euill of persons in publike authoritie as though your tongue were your owne to prate what pleaseth your selfe But tell me good Exorcistes doe these the outragious outgoings of your vnrulie affections proceede from the spirit of God or the Diuell Exorcistes I reuerence the authoritie it selfe and doe only oppose my speech to shameles and graceles men in authoritie Orthodoxus Whatsoeuer you imagine the men to be the best is they doe stand or fall to their Lord and therefore there is no cause they should greatly feare the boysterous thumps of any your Cannon-like thunder cracks all the while the greatest matter of your charge is but winde and paper For it is an vndoubted truth I assure you that as these Rabshakeian reuilings and raylings against the persons of men doe bewray to the world the badnes of your cause and primarilie proceede from the very circumference it selfe of your circular conceits so are they all equallie and proportionably directed to one and the selfe same period viz. ad vertiginem cerebri I meane to the giddi-braines disease or the turne-about sicknes But be it the men were fully so bad as you beare vs in hand we hope you will neuer hold them to be halfe so bad as the Diuell and yet the Diuell receiuing notwithstanding his badnes a Commission from God to afflict the Church Iehoshuah and Michael they durst not as we told you before giue rayling sentence against the Diuell for feare of being found thereby to rayle against God himselfe whose Executioner or hang-man he was You are wise enough to make the application your selfe Besides al this we haue the exāple of Dauid of Stephen of our Sauiour himselfe of all the holy Martyrs of God yea and of the saued theefe on the Crosse who all prayed for their persecutors pursuing their deaths but we haue no one president of any that euer reuiled or railed on the persons of men saue onely that of cursed Shimei of rayling Rabshakeh and of the damned theefe on the Crosse whose number we hope you will neuer encrease by seconding such their vnchristian courses your selfe For if he who curseth the Ruler but only in the secret and hidden thought of his heart
Exorcistes And what say you to the other part Orthodoxus The other part of that Pamphlet respecting matters of fact and matters of Doctrine confusedly iumbled and blended together is intituled The Doctrine of the Possession and Dispossession of Demoniakes out of the word of God Wherein wee haue summarily to obserue first the Preface put downe in the very forefront of the Pamphlet and then next the Doctrine it selfe with the prosecution thereof The Preface containeth first the maine purpose of that friuolous Pamphlet and then next a three-fold Distribution of that selfesame purpose The maine purpose you pretend for publishing that friuolous Pamphlet is the glorie of God and the edification of the Christian Reader Surely how friuolous soeuer the Pamphlet be deemed the pretended maine purpose for publishing the same is a very honourable and a glorious purpose no doubt Howbeit because the most counterfeit Coyne resembleth eftsoones the most glittering shew and the most horrible Strumpet the honestest face yea and for that also we haue it very strictly giuen vs in charge first to search out and examine your Spirit or euer we doe ouer rashly giue credit to any your holie pretences It shal not be amisse before hand very euenly to peize with the holie waights of the Sanctuarie whatsoeuer payment you proffer in liew of such purpose and then after approoue or disprooue of your holie pretences accordingly And this in effect for the maine purpose prefixed in the very forefront of that friuolous Pamphlet The three-fold Distribution of that selfesame purpose is this that followeth in order 1. First you would proue that the eight persons you speake of were euery of them possessed by Satan 2. Secondly that they were all of them vndoubtedly dispossessed by your fasting and prayer 3. Lastly you lay downe the holie and right vses which you say we must make of this wonderfull worke This wee suppose is the three-fold Distribution of that your former pretended maine purpose whereof we like wondrous well especially if you shall shew your selfe no lesse sufficiently able to prosecute then you haue orderly disposed of that your pretended maine purpose And to ease you something herein this we must tell you before that if you can soundly informe our iudgements concerning the infallible truth of those the two former points we will not greatly sticke to yeeld you the latter Albeit the same be shrewdly intermingled with some such disloyal assertions such strange conceits and such needlesse toyes as are not in our powers to reforme and we wholy disclaime Moreouer whatsoeuer odde Question concerning these matters hath been controuerted or handled before in anie one of our former Conferences that wee will not now disputs of afresh but only referre you to the Dialogue wherein the same is determined Briefly your needles Dilatations your superfluous applications your often excursions your idle repetitions your wandring Vagaries your roauing Discourses and extrauagant speeches more befitting a Rhetoricall Declamer then a Logicall Disputer all those we will passe by with a purposed silence for mispending the time Neither will we tye our selues strictly to your course of speech but will briefly abstract from the whole your propositions and proofes with whatsoeuer els is materiall and onlie endeuour to answere the same And this in effect for the whole preface put downe in the verie forefront of your friuolous Pamphlet The Doctrine it selfe with the prosecution thereof comes next to our consideration The Doctrine it selfe is a Doctrine concerning the essentiall possession and dispossession of Demoniakes out of the word of God Whether this be an high or rather a deepe point of diuinitie will appeare in the handling thereof The prosecution of this deepe point of Doctrine is performed according to the threefold distribution aforesaid Thus haue we brieflie and summarilie broken vp the whole body of this your Doctrinal discourse with the due order obserued therein Goe to now Exorcistes proceed according to this order and spare not what say you man to the first point of al I meane the essentiall possession of those your pretended Demoniakes Exorcistes I doe confidentlie auouch to the world that those eight persons we speak of they were in deed essentiallie possessed with vncleane spirits and did not counterfeit a possession as is affirmed by some Orthodoxus You say they were in deed essentiallie possessed I pray you forget not your wordes Howbeit or euer we come to dispute the verie point of that Question this I must tell you for truth that you cannot possiblie name anie one place throughout the whole Bible wherein the words possession or possessed are properlie vsed to this your pretended purpose as wee haue shewed sufficientlie in our second Dialogue and then how should you possiblie proue your supposed essentiall possessions of those your pretended Demoniakes out of the word Exorcistes O yes sir euerie where throughout the Geneuah translation those words are ordinarilie obserued Orthodoxus A proper Disputer you shew your selfe I insist vpon the Originall and you vrge the Geneuah translation which yet being dulie conferred one place with another will be found directlie against you For first concerning the Originall the word which the Euangelist vseth therein is Daemonizomênos that is one Diuellished or one afflicted tormented or vext with a Diuell And so hath your Geneuah translation in the fifteenth of Matthew the twentie two verse Yea and herein also you your owne selfe very fullie accordeth in the verie Title of that your forenamed Narration terming that your supposed Possession in your eight pretēded Demoniakes to be nothing els but a grieuous vexation by the Diuell Yea and which more is euen in the verie title of this your treatise of doctrine you doe call them onelie Demoniakes as also in sundrie places throughout that booke By all which it is to too apparant that either you finallie distrust the finding of that word possession throughout the whole Bible and so speake of possession at a blind aduenture or that els you do with the Geneuah translator account the words possession and vexation by Diuels to be indifferentlie taken for one and the selfesame matter and so your supposed essentiall possession falles flat to the ground Howbeit if we should verie fauourablie affoord you the word possession which by great hand you see will neuer be gained yet then also you are as far from the point of your purpose as euer before For how proue you those your eight pretended Demoniakes to be in such sort possessed as you beare vs in hand they were Exorcistes I proue it directlie from the verie cause of their actions or passions thus Supernaturall effects doe argue some supernaturall cause Those actions or passions which they endured were supernaturall effects therefore those actions or passions they argue some supernaturall cause Orthodoxus Your Assumption is vtterlie vntrue For those their supposed actions or passions they were not supernaturall whatsoeuer you seeme to report and which more is meere naturall
causes haue had and may haue more wonderfull effects then any of those your eight pretended Demoniakes their actions or passions being soundly reported as in our seuenth Dialogue is shewed at large Neither may you in such vncertaine causes and courses of nature so certainelie conclude from the effect to the cause as you seeme at this present Both because but one and the selfesame cause may bring forth sundrie effects and for that also euen one and the selfesame effect doth eftsoones proceed from seuerall causes Touching the first we haue a liuelie experiment from the Sunne it selfe whose heate beeing euer but one and the same doth cause quite contrarie effects For it softeneth wax and hardeneth clay it draweth a verie fragrant sauour from flowers and a foule noysome stinke from the dung-hill Now next for the other I meane that one and the selfesame effect may fitlie proceed from seuerall causes we may see it apparant by an extraordinarie heat in our bodies Which extraordinary heat being but one and the same may be an vndoubted effect either of fire or of aboundance of clothes or of excessiue drinking of wine or of some violent exercise The like experiments doe daily appeare from the sundrie humours of our naturall bodies and from the variable operations of nature arising thence Yea and which more is those your supposed supernaturall effects namelie rending foaming crying aloude leauing for dead and so forth they may and doe eftsoones arise from sundrie meere naturall diseases I meane from melancholie from mania from lunacie from phrensie from the Epilepsie from the mother from conuulsions from crampes and such like And therefore from these so vncertaine effects you cannot certainely conclude such certaine essentiall possession of Diuels as appeareth at large in sundrie our former Dialogues Exorcistes But sir the actions or passions of those eight Demoniakes they were vndoubtedly supernaturall effects and must necessarilie proceed from some supernaturall cause namelie either from God or good Angels or from Satan at least From God or good Angels they could not possiblie proceed being toyes and fooleries so farre vnbeseeming their sacred natures and therefore no doubt from the Diuell to whose filthie disposition they are so correspondent and suting Orthodoxus They were not supernaturall effects as we told you before and your selfe shall neuer be able to proue them such Besides that your supposed impossibilitie for either God or good Angels to effect any such phantasticall vaine and filthie effects so much vnbeseeming their natures is to too grosse and absurde sith the iudgments of God whatsoeuer in shew howsoeuer or by whomsoeuer effected are holie and good and for that the Lord also in the orderlie executions or effects of his iudgments is not preciselie tyed to this or that supposed seemelie manner of effecting the same In like manner your inference concerning the suting of such vnseemelie effects to the verie nature of the vncleane spirit it selfe that your inforced conclusion of essentiall possessions pretended from thence is much more absurde then the other before For if those vaine and vnseemelie effects so fitlie suting you say to the nature of the vncleane spirit must necessarily conclude an vndoubted essentiall possession of some vncleane spirit effecting the same then those holie and those seemely effects namelie the confessing of Christ and of the way of saluation as also Sommers his sound exposition of the Creed for a long time together all of them so fitlie consorting with the nature of an holie spirit they must necessarilie conclude an vndoubted essentiall possession of some holie spirit effecting the same But the first say you is vndoubtedlie true and therefore also the latter Notwithstanding be it supposed that those vaine and vnseemelie effects which your selfe so vainely pretend were effected in deed by some vncleane spirit as you seeme to inferre yet that concludeth no essentiall or inherent possession in anie of your eight pretended Demoniakes Because not onelie those but farre greater effects may be wrought by the diuell though himselfe be not essentiallie in the partie possessed and therefore proue soundlie their essentiall inherencie in the parties possessed or hold your peace Exorcistes Why sir the Scriptures in euerie place they speake of the Diuell his entring in and going out of the partie possessed Orthodoxus Wheresoeuer the Scriptures so speak of the possession of diuels they speake it only by Metaphore as hath beene sufficientlie declared in our second Dialogue And this I say further that you cannot possiblie alleadge throughout the whole Scriptures any one text wherein either Angels or Spirits or Diuels are otherwise spoken of then only by metaphor the which places being interpreted literallie would pester the Church with many absurd and inconuenient opinions As for example the diuell he is said in Iob to compasse the earth What must we therefore conceiue that the diuell in deed hath his legges and feete like a man wherewith as it were a Malt-milne horse hee doth compasse the world by a circular motion So should we discouer to the world our circular follie Againe he is said to walke through drie places seeking his rest Must we therefore imagine that the diuell in deed doth trudge vp and downe the mountainous countries like to a roging vagobond hauing no habitation wherein to hide his head Againe he is said to goe continuallie about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom to deuour Must wee therefore beleeue that the diuell in deed runneth hither and thither as a bellowing Bull that seeketh for pasture So should wee make it apparant that we ourselues runne wilde in our wits And as in these few examples so in all other besides you may see the absurdities of such expositions Now then if in expounding these and all other Metaphoricall speeches concerning spirits and diuels you must necessarily let passe the bare literal sense or otherwaies fall flat into a thousand absurd and inconuenient opinions why should you sticke so fast to the letter in this one place alone concerning the entring in and going out of the diuell from the partie possessed Which being spoken by Metaphor as well as the rest may with no lesse absurdities be made to vndergoe the literall sense then any of the rest whatsoeuer Exorcistes I doe therefore sticke so fast to the bare letter especiallie in this aboue all the rest because these words of entring in and of going out are neuer vsed in the spirituall sense but often yea vsuallie in the other Orthodoxus The best is that which you so boldlie auouch is but one Doctors opinion yea and which more is such a Doctor besides as is not yet of that credit that men may say autos epha Doctor Exorcistes hath spoken it Howbeit because in this point especially you sticke so fast to the bare letter alone that also of a verie set purpose I feare to pull in as it were by the eares your sensles opinion of essentiall possessions I pray you make
originall in deed is thus There was in the Synagogue a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. habens spiritum daemonii impuri that is hauing a spirit of an vncleane diuell And so the Syriack Erasmus Montanus and the Geneuah translates the same The which translation of theirs is vndoubtedly tolerable especiallie if by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a spirit you vnderstand not the simple essence but the onely impulsion motion or inspiration of the spirit According to which sense the word spirit is vsuallie obserued both in the olde and new Testament For first in the old it is said of Daniel that he had the spirit of the holy Gods that is a diuine and holy inspiration of God Againe in the new Testament the Ambassadours of Antichrist they are said to be the spirits of diuels that is men of most diuelish spirits And euen so in that place which you quote from the Euangelist Luke where it is said There was in the Synagogue a man hauing the spirit of an vncleane diuell the meaning is a diuelished vncleane spirit and so the sense of that place is currant and sound otherwise if by these words the spirit of an vncleane diuell you doe essentiallie vnderstand the very spirit it selfe according to the onely bare purport of the letter who seeth not then how groslie you distinguish a spirit and a diuell making them two distinct or seuerall essences the one begetting the other which is monstrous absurd Howbeit to interpret that place both according to the true naturall sense thereof and as neer to the very letter it selfe as may be I would take the words of that text to be onely but an hebraicall iterating or doubling of one and the selfesame matter to make it more notoriouslie and expreslie apparant And this hebraisme I assure you is very ordinarie and vsuall throughout the old Testament As first in the Psalmes where Dauid saith thus The Lord brought me out of the horrible pit out of mittith hauen the clay of mire that is the mirie clay or the most deepe mire Againe in Daniel where it is said and many of them that sleepe admath-gnaphar in the earth of dust that is in the dustie earth shall awake And euen so in this place of Luke where it is said there was a man which had a spirit of an vncleane Diuell that is a spirit very diuelishlie addicted to all manner of vncleannes Not vnderstanding by the word spirit in that place the simple essence but the motion inspiration or instigation of the spirit as the Geneuah Bible very aptly expounds it in the marginall note By all the premisses then it is very apparantly euident that those words of the entring in and going out of the diuell are spoken onely but metaphoricallie or that else because you so stricktlie restraine those words to the onely bare literall sense we may also by vrging the bare letter vpon you as boldlie conclude the possessed man to be essentiallie inherent within the diuell as the diuell himselfe to be essentiallie inherent within the possessed man both which to affirme were monstrous absurd So then from any thing hetherto heard you cannot possiblie conclude the essentiall possession of diuels Both because no such thing is apparant in all the Scriptures and for that also those your pretended effects of such a possession they may very well be wrought by the diuell though he be neuer essentiallie within the possessed as in our seuenth Dialogue hath been shewed at large Exorcistes The diuell I confesse may mightelie torment and vexe a man being but onely without him howbeit he cannot possiblie dispose either of the whole or any part of mans bodie vnles he be essentiallie in him Orthodoxus This is to too absurd For if the wicked are held captiues by Satan at his owne will and pleasure is it impossible thinke you that he at his pleasure so farre forth I meane as his Commission extends should dispose of the whole or any part of their bodies by an onely effectuall operation without any essentiall inherencie in them The diuell by the permission of God in those his sundrie transportings of Christ did after a sort dispose of the bodie of Christ although yet not essentiallie inherent in the bodie of Christ. The diuell hee disposed the tongues of Ieremie Iob Shimei and Rabshakeh to cursing and rayling though neuer essentiallie in any of their tongues The diuell he put into the hart of Iudas to betray his maister yet not essentiallie in Iudas his hart The diuell he filled Ananias his hart with a lie and yet not essentiallie in Ananias his hart The vnregenerate they giue ouer the members of their bodies as instruments of vnrighteousnes to sinne yea euen according to the disposing of Satan himselfe who worketh effectuallie in euerie of them although yet he be neuer essentially in any one of their members Briefly all those the aforesaid actions or passions pretended to be done in deed by those your supposed Demoniakes namelie wallowing foaming rending tearing crying gnashing of teeth leauing for dead and so forth they are not as the simplest man liuing may see so supernaturall strange or impossible but that the like and euerie way as strange things are eftsoones effected by meere naturall causes and diseases as our seauenth Dialogue declareth and that also without any operation of the diuell essentiallie in them Exorcistes If the diuell may fullie effect as much in a man being onlie but without him as if he were essentiallie within him why doth hee then so earnestly desire to be essentiallie inherent in anie mans body Orthodoxus It s a verie phantasticall or an idle conceit to dreame that the diuell hath such a desire I meane to be essentiallie inherent in any mans bodie notwithstanding his inexorable desire to doe the most mischiefe he may I make no question but that the diuell desired fullie as much against Iob as he did euer against any either since or before yea and this I hold further that the Lord intending purposelie to portraiture in the person of Iob an absolute patterne of perfect patience gaue the diuell as much power ouer Iob as ouer anie besides And yet neither did the diuel so much as desire nor the Lord once permit him any such essentiall possession in the body of Iob as your selfe in these your pretended Demoniakes would beare vs in hand Againe the diuell hee desired to become a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab his Prophets yet hee neuer desired to be essentiallie inherent in any of their tongues Neither will those your quotations from Matthew and Luke enforce so fond an assertion as you seeme to auouch For that desire of Satans reentrie expressed there being but an allegoricall demonstration of the Iewes accursed condition who wilfullie reiect the exhibited graces of God in Iesus Christ as appeares by the application therof it may at
meanes or signes to demonstrate Demoniakes For first respecting our Sauiour himselfe all such demonstratiue signes had bin meerelie superfluous because he verie well knew the parties possessed without the weake help of any such sensible or humane experiments As also the people they very well might and did also vndoubtedly know the parties possessed partlie from the often reuelations of the parties themselues partlie from the deliberate determinations of sundrie their approued Phisitions who duelie examining the order and manner of the possessed mans fits could certainely tell them that the same must necessarily proceed from some supernaturall cause Partlie also from the outrage of Satan more at the presence of Christ then euer before acknowledging him withall to be the sonne of the liuing God And partlie also from the common peoples proper experience who hauing throughly experimented all physicall helpes and finding such ordinarie or naturall meanes ineffectual for working the cure were driuen to conclude of some other efficient then the common course of nature could possiblie affoord Neither did the parties who brought the Demoniakes to Christ purposelie relate those fearefull vexations as the onelie infallible meanes whereby they truely discerned the party his vndoubted possession which you very fondly imagine but they reported them rather as forcible motions to incline and stirre vp our Sauiours heart vnto some timelie compassionable care for their timely dispossession as plainely appeareth Besides this the inference you bring from that Cananitish woman whom you quote in your margine doth rather maime then mannage your cause in question For she was none of the common people of the Iewes but a Christian proselyte verie truely instructed concerning a sauing knowledge in Christ as may plainely appeare by her holy confession And therefore there is no doubt but that selfesame Spirit which had instructed her soule so soundlie before concerning the vndoubted true meanes for her daughters deliuerance had also foreshewed her as soundly before the verie true nature of her daughters maladie from the which she was then to be miraculouslie deliuered by Christ. Moreouer if the common people of the Iewes could not possiblie discerne of the parties possessed but by some such sensible effects or signes as they had sensiblie experimented in their precedent Demoniakes then how were those other Demoniakes discerned of whō no such sensible signes at al are recorded in Scripture Brieflie your pretended obiection concerning the Iewes doth not concludentlie auouch that eyther the Iewes themselues did vndoubtedly hold an essentiall possession in those their Demoniakes or that otherwaies it was needlesse for them to seeke vnto Christ for his help all the while the diuell did but outwardlie afflict the partie possessed No no the manner of their speech importeth rather the contrarie of that which your selfe doe affirme namely that they holding onlie but an outward vexation by Satan in those their Demoniakes did verie earnestly importune our Sauiour Christ for their speedie deliuerance So then that your idle conceit concerning some certaine true meanes or signes for the Iewes to discerne their Demoniakes by is meerely ridiculous Both because those your supposed meanes or signes are onely recorded as meere matters of fact and for that also no certaine rules to discerne of possessions may certainly be concluded from such vncertaine effects Sith as straunge and as admirable matters as any you name may and doe eftsoones also proceed from the onlie operations and corruptions of nature as our seauenth Dialogue declareth Exorcistes Not so for these actions or passions I speake of they are vndoubtedly such as surmount the whole faculty skil power of nature Physiologus Giue me leaue M. Orthodoxus to argue this point Come on Exorcistes rehearse some few of the straungest of those your supposed actions or passions which so highly surmounted the whole facultie skill and power of nature Exorcistes With verie good will First therefore the youngman hauing pinnes thrust verie deepe into his legges and other parts of his bodie he was without sense or feeling thereof a thing vtterlie impossible to nature Physiologus Hee himselfe hath eftsoones deposed and confessed since then that he hath felt the pinnes and plucked them forth although for the present he whollie dissembled the paine as if he had beene altogether in a sensles condition Howbeit because in this and those other his deposed reports which directly doe crosse your idle conceit you vsuallie giue him the lie let vs therefore the more stricktly examine this your sensles opinion concerning his supposed sensles condition Galene very flatlie auoucheth that sense is not the alteration or chaung which is made in the organon or instrument of sense but the knowledge rather of that selfesame alteration As for example if while I am attentiue to any thing one passeth before me though the very image of that partie be truelie receiued into the Christalline humour of mine eye as it were in a glasse yet for all that I doe not see the said partie so passing before me Because eyther the visuall spirit with the facultie thereof is kept backe in the spring originall fountaine of sight or for that the soule doth not send forth the common sense into the eie it being els where imployed without which there can be no sense and so by consequence eyther little or no paine at all Againe if I be earnestly busied or attentiuely occupied about any matter although at that instant some one being neere vnto me should speake or crie out aloud yet should not I discerne what is spoken or cryed because the common sense is imployed hindred els where As for example Archimedes he was so earnestly busied about and so attentiuelie bent vpon his Geometricall lines during the siege of Syracuse as when the Cittie it selfe was subdued he did neyther thinke nor know that the same had beene taken before Againe some hauing receiued many dangerous gunshots in warres yet being wholie taken vp with resolution and purpose to fight they felt for the present no paine at all which pearcing of shot was tenne thousand times more torment then the youngman his pricking with pinnes Now then if constancie and resolution in any set purpose as also if a strong imagination may forciblie detaine the spirit animal in her originall fountaine brieflie if the soule doth not send forth her common sense into any part or member affected without the faculty of which common sense there must needs be in that part or member either little or no feeling at al and so by consequence either little or no paine perceiued for the present shal we therfore imagine it straung highly surmounting the whole facultie and power of nature that your pretended poore patient at Nottingham being especially so resolute vpon that his pretended purpose should endure with very little or no paine the pricking with pinnes and so to dissemble the same for the present as if he had bin altogether in a sensles
the Boy is in deed and in truth essentially possessed of Satan Exorcistes Why sir I my selfe haue beene there sith he was so possessed to take a circumspect view of his fearefull fits and doe plainely perceiue by his supernaturall actions and passions that he is in verie deed essentiallie possessed of some spirit or diuell at the least Orthodoxus So were you with him also as some doe crediblie auouch immediatlie before he fel into these his supposed fittes and might therfore for any thing known to the cōtrary be confederate with himselfe or some others concerning those his cosoning courses But be it supposed you neuer saw him before and then tell vs how you dare so confidently conclude from those his supposed actions an essentiall possession of some spirit or diuell sith diuels you know are such spirituall and inuisible substances as may not possiblie be discerned by any corporall sense Exorcistes Why sir his supernaturall actions do plainely demonstrate the same to all the world Orthodoxus Rehearse some few of those his supposed supernaturall actions I pray you Exorcistes I will First he continuallie waggeth his head without anie intermission at all Orthodoxus So doth the palsie sicke patient as we may see by daylie experience and which more is whereas the palsie-sicke hath no intermission at all that your pretended Demoniake hee onelie waggeth the head in the day time and when people are present howbeit in the night time he sleepes very quietlie as his owne mother reporteth And therefore if an only bare wagging of the head doth necessarilie argue an essentiall possession then euery palsie sicke patient that waggeth the head hee also is essentiallie possessed of Satan Howbeit sir we also our selues haue seene this your supposed Demoniake as well as your selfe but could not perceiue in him any such supernaturall actions or passions as you boldlie report vpon your bare credit Besides that if the onlie bare wagging of the head must necessarilie conclude a supernaturall action then euery little childe that playeth wag-wanton it also effecteth some supernaturall action Moreouer this one and the rest of those your pretended Demoniakes they were and are commonlie ouertaken with those their supposed supernaturall fits when they are layd on their bedde and closelie vnder a couerlid by which meanes they may the more easilie wagge their heads or worke any their pretended actions and so likewise the sooner deceiue the sillie beholders Who being wholie taken vp before with a deepe impression of some supposed essentiall possession were thereby so fearefullie forestalled in iudgement as they could not prouidently behold nor aduisedlie consider the manner of the Demoniakes working And therefore this wagging of the head it is no such supernaturall action as may vndoubtedlie conclude an essentiall possession Exorcistes But sir besides this extraordinary wagging of the head he is also of a supernaturall strength Orthodoxus No such supernaturall strength was apparant to vs being present with him I assure you in the very extremitie or middest of those his pretended fits For the one of vs did easily hold his head his shoulders and all the other parts of his bodie from mouing at all yea and this also euen in despight of the boy himselfe or of any supposed Diuell inherent within him and therefore this supernaturall strength is rather supposed and suggested by your selfe and your fauourites then any waies soundly prooued or but probablie demonstrated to vs. Exorcistes Besides all this hee was vndoubtedly of a supernaturall knowledge for if two or three had suddenly come into the parlour where he lay with seuerall bookes of sundrie matters hid close in their hats hee could tell which of them had the holie Bible of God in his hat and at him he would catch and snatch letting all the prophane bookes passe quietly by him without any such stirre at all Orthodoxus So could Bankes his blacke horse very sensiblie demonstrate what money some had in his purse with sundrie other trickes more admirable then this by much and yet not possessed at all with a Diuell So a blind man but casting his staffe at all aduenture may happely at some time to kill a Crow and yet neither indued with supernaturall knowledge nor possest with a Diuell in the doing thereof So likewise a blindfolded lubber playing at blindman buzz may happely by skuffling vp and downe in the house to light vpon one and the selfe same person for two or three times together and yet not assisted therein at all with any supernaturall knowledge or led thereunto by any the extraordinarie directions of either Spirit or Diuell Briefly so likewise a little yong child playing at handie dandie may happely for three or foure times together to make choise of that hand wherein the pin or the point is placed and all this I hope without any supernaturall knowledge at all And therefore it is very absurd that your selfe from any such action as stands only vpon hap and hap hazard should so confidently conclude a supernaturall knowledge and so by consequence an essentiall possession of either Spirit or Diuell Besides that how confidently soeuer you report this point of chusing the Bible before any other booke else there bee some of good credit and such also as fauour your cause so farre forth especially as they perceiue not as yet the contrarie truth who doe confidently report that in deede and in truth this your supposed Demoniake did so much as you say for once or twice but that at some other times againe hee had failed grosly therein and therefore this tricke of hap-hazard is no such certaine signe as may vndoubtedly conclude an essentiall possession in that your pretended poore patient I told you a little before if you haue not forgotten that whensoeuer you hapned afresh vpon some other such new-found Demoniake we then should haue some other new signes of this your supposed essentiall possession to make your game hit and now I perceiue it is growing very fast towards such a pretended period For behold wee haue here now in this your newly pretended Demoniake two other essentiall signes forsooth of an essentiall possession namely the wagging of the head and the playing at handie dandie Alas Exorcistes though your conscience trembleth not yet me thinkes your very face should blush for shame in reporting these trifling toyes for true and infallible tokens of an essentiall possession of some one Diuell or other inherently couching within the very bodie of this your new-found Demoniake Exorcistes But sir besides all this the boy I assure you he is for the whole time of his fearefull fits so senselesse in euery part as he neither seeth nor heareth nor speaketh nor feeleth and therefore essentially possest with a Diuell Orthodoxus How know you for certaine that hee is in deede and in truth so senselesse as you beare vs in hand You are able I confesse to know when your selfe neither seeth nor heareth nor speaketh nor feeleth but that you should in like manner
readie with the like inuincible reasons to deale in that poynt if you please Orthodoxus It pleaseth vs passing well and the sounder you deale the better we like it and the sooner we shall make an ende As for your sufficient prouing of that which you falslie pretend let the indifferent Reader determine In the meane time because you brag beyond measure of your vnanswerable and inuincible arguments to mannage your matters withall we will therefore the more exactly examine them seuerally to make present triall of that their pretended force And whereas you seeke to shelter all those your falslie pretended Patients vnder an holie couerture of the parties dispossessed in Scripture and by such a deuice would seeme to soare aloft in the clowdes before you be feathered fleg to flie at so loftie a pitch this therefore wee must tell you or euer we enter the combat that the holie Scriptures themselues wil not yeeld their holie protection to so paltrie a cause And therefore that which we haue hitherto spoken against your falslie pretended essentiall possessions may fullie suffice to answere the whole because where there was no true possession there can be no dispossession in truth yet because the finall ouerthrow of these your pretended dispossessions doth more fully destroy your falslie supposed essentiall possessions we are also here readie to encounter your vttermost force Pretermitting therefore all those your falslie pretended signes of dispossession from sacred Scripture as also your intolerable prophanation thereof by your fond applications doe presentlie proceede in propounding vnto vs your arguments Exorcistes I will First there were in euery of our Demoniakes those selfesame signes or notes of dispossession precedent and subsequent which wee reade of in the Scripture Demoniakes and therefore there was in euery of them the selfesame dispossession no doubt Orthodoxus If there were no doubt in the matter at al it were vndoubtedly a meere madnes for any to impugne the same Howbeit thus we answer your argument There were not in those your pretended Demoniakes the selfesame signes or notes precedent and subsequent therefore not the selfesame vndoubted dispossessions That there were not the selfesame signes or notes I proue it thus First those signes or notes in the Scripture Demoniakes they were vndoubted effects of their dispossessions the signes or notes in those your pretended Demoniakes they were in truth but counterfeit cousonages as themselues haue freely confessed vpon their oathes Furthermore those signes or effects which wee finde in the Scripture Demoniakes they were sensibly performed to the view of the beholders eye the other in those your pretended Demoniakes they were not so by your owne confession Againe howsoeuer those signes or notes in Scripture Demoniakes were the vndoubted effects of dispossessions then and so to be taken because they are recorded for such by the blessed Euangelist who could not erre in so recording the same those your falsely pretended signes they are but the vnruly reports of your lying pen directed therein by a deceitfull heart yea they bee such signes Master Darell affirmeth as men may be deeply deceiued in discerning thereof Besides that those selfesame effects in the Scripture Demoniakes then they cannot so concludently proue dispossessions now because the like effects doe eftsoones also arise from meere naturall causes and corporall diseases as our seauenth Dialogue declareth at large And therefore if those selfesame effects then must necessarily bee made the vndoubted true signes of dispossessions now then wheresoeuer is the like rending and tearing crying aloude and leauing for dead there is also the like essential dispossession of Diuels which were to too absurd to imagine Briefly your good friend Master Darell he doth confidently conclude a dispossession of Diuels where no such signes are apparant and therefore those your pretended signes precedent and subsequent they doe not necessarily conclude an essentiall dispossession of Diuels Exorcistes Oh yes sir for besides those Scripture signes I haue in my proper experience eftsoones obserued in the dispossession of some certaine Demoniakes a very sensible seeing or feeling of some thing going out of their bodies like to a Mouse an Vrchin a Toade a Bull a foule blacke man a Dog and such like and therefore there is vndoubtedly an essentiall dispossession of Diuels Orthodoxus What man are you wearie alreadie of those your Canonicall notes of dispossessions that you are fled so soone to those your owne experimented apocryphall signes or effects Surely it should seeme your force is but weake Notwithstanding howsoeuer you say you haue eftsoones obserued such things in your owne experience very certaine it is that not your owne selfe but those your counterfeite Patients rather if any at all they alone experimented some such supposed sensible seeings and feelings of some thing going out of their bodies and therefore it is very vntrue to say that you your owne selfe obserued the same in your proper experience Besides that Master Darell your good friend doth flatlie affirme that the Spirits themselues they neither were nor continued with those his pretended Demoniakes in any such sensible bodies as you say here you haue eftsoones obserued in sundrie of them and therefore impossible there should be any such sensible seeing or feeling of substances proceeding foorth from them as you beare vs in hand For howsoeuer you seeme to qualifie your former speech from the Spirit his supposed operation in the present procuring of some such sensible matters in shew at the very instant of their seuerall dispossessions that is ouer childish a conceit to perswade any reasonable man hauing especially his eyes in his head For the Spirits they could not by any their supposed operations whatsoeuer procure such sensible things as might be sensiblie seene or palpablie felt of any whosoeuer as in our second third fourth and fift Dialogues is shewed at large Exorcistes Yea but besides all this I haue by my proper experience obserued eftsoones in sundrie Demoniakes a vomiting immediatly before the egresse of the Spirit prognosticating plainlie vnto vs his imminent essentiall dispossession and therefore there is vndoubtedly an essentiall dispossession of Diuels Orthodoxus If this your new-coyned Prognostication had indeede been printed with priuiledge wee might by the warrant thereof not onely bee perswaded of the very trueth of that which you prate but withall we might by vertue thereof very boldly auouch that euery Gormandizing belli-god and surfetting Swil-boule so oft as they happen to spue are essentially dispossest of one Diuell at the least Yea and so much more likely than the other you speake of by how much those your pretended Demoniakes spitting vp but a little quantity of choler or phlegme as your selfe do report and that also with very great labour these drunken Epicures they doe spue forth the Spirits by whole pottles at once and that with a trice Besides that if vomiting forsooth be an vndoubted true signe of essentiall dispossessions it is
Iewish bondage from which they were freed by theyr libertie and freedome in Christ. And therefore by such needlesse obseruation of dayes of monthes and of yeares you may happilie enthrall the poore ignorant soules afresh and bring their spirituall fathers in feare of bestowing their labours among them in vaine Moreouer if fasting doth necessarilie require a whole day from eeuen to eeuen or otherwise the holie ordinance of God concerning that exercise is apparantly violated and fearefullie broken then surelie the strickt and full obseruation thereof in the powerfull expelling of diuels may haue manie absurdities following the same For be it supposed the diuell should be driuen from the partie possessed before noone at the furthest as were those seuen from K. Wright if we may boldlie credit your own report who seeth not then but that the one of these two absurdities must follow thereof at the least Namelie that eyther men must necessarilie transgresse that holy ordinance of prayer and fasting by giuing ouer the solemne continuance thereof before the set and appointed time be fullie accomplished because the diuell is departed before or must els very triftlinglie continue in calling vpon Christ for his absolute power to cast forth the spirit notwithstanding he be cleerelie expelled before and onelie because the set time for the fast is not fullie expired which were fond and ridiculous Besides that you your owne selfe obserued no such set or appointed times for fasting and prayer in any one your pretended dispossessions For in some of them you rather fâ—asted then fasted and therefore how can you in conscience commend the said exercise of fasting to any of your pupils vnlesse it be purposelie and onelie done to make good the old verse which saith Qui satur est pleno laudat ieiunia ventre that is Who so crammeth himselfe till his stomacke doth staunch He fasting commends with a pampered paunch Againe in that your pretended dispossessing of Sommers and the rest you spent not a whole day in prayer and fasting from eeuen to eeuen but beginning about nine of the clocke in the morning you had finisht your worke betweene three and foure at the farthest So that howsoeuer you would bind the Disciples teeth and hands to the good behauiour for a whole day together from eeuen to eeuen it seemes you your selfe must haue your owne teeth and tongue at libertie so soone and so oft as it pleaseth your selfe Brieflie whereas your selfe by vrging so stricktly the Leuiticall fasts would haue the Disciples of Christ euen necessarilie taken vp with those exercises of fasting and prayer for a whole day together your old friend M. Darel it seemes he affoords them more fauour in not tying them so stricktly to any set time for the same For he tels vs directlie that the diuell how combersome soeuer hee hath in the partie possessed his determined time appointed of God longer then the which he cannot continue one minute of an houre but must necessarilie depart at that time though no meanes for dispossession were vsed at all And therefore sith for any thing we know to the contrarie the Lord may determine the spirits departure before the one halfe of the day be spent in those exercises it were but a vaine and vncertaine course to appoint a whole day for fasting and prayer from eeuen to eeuen So then by this you see it is very apparant that notwithstanding anie your supposed want of time for the worke this speech of Christ it may very well be appropriated to the Apostles them selues Exorcistes Nay that I flatlie denie For the Apostles being filled with the holy Ghost at the feast of pentecost they were neuer after so farre emptied thereof but that in attempting any miraculous worke whatsoeuer they were throughlie able to accomplish the same without any such vse of fasting and prayer and therefore it is very vnlikelie that our Sauiour Christ for fortie dayes space and no longer would euer establish such an ordinance of fasting and prayer for them to obserue in anie their dispossessions whatsoeuer Orthodoxus This then by the way you confesse at vnwares that before the Apostles were filled with the holie Ghost at the feast of pentecost their faith was but weake and needed fasting and prayer to support the same But this accident befell the Apostles before the said feast and therefore by your owne speech they needed fasting and prayer at that present to stir vp and quicken their faith Besides that your old friend M. Darel he tels vs directly that the Apostles in deed by the power they receiued from Christ were able to driue out any diuell whatsoeuer and as occasion was offered they did so vndoubtedlie from time to time if their faith fayled them not which saith he at that present it did and euen in this very worke and therefore this speech of Christ concerning fasting and prayer it was peculiarly appropriated to them Brieflie our Sauiour Christ he tels his Disciples directlie that their vnbeleefe and weakenes of faith was the maine impediment to that speciall busines and therefore howsoeuer your selfe affirmeth els where that their faith was so strong as it needed no meanes to stirre vp the same Christ telleth them plainely they should haue vnderpropped their sayd faith by the holy exercise of feruent prayer to God Exorcistes Verie true before they were filled with the holy Ghost there was some need to haue stirred vp their weake faith by fasting and prayer but after the feast of pentecost there was no need of any such helps For euen as after they receiued the fulnes of the spirit their faith neuer failed in doctrine and iudgment so neyther in the working of miracles Orthodoxus A man may perceiue by your manner of writing that you meane to turne ere you burne yea and when you haue turned your selfe besides all manner of turnings that then you will not sticke to returne a fresh to your former turnings and so begin there to turne as fast as euer you turned before For what an odde iest is this to affirme but euen now that before the Apostles were filde with the spirit their faith was so strong as it needed no meanes to stirre vp the same and euen then also with the turning of an hand to turne the Catte in the panne and to say on your credit that before the feast of pentecost there was some neede to quicken their faith by fasting and prayer May not those your young pupils be pestilent proude who in this new-found trade of diuillitie are got vnder the trustie tuition of such a turne-about tutor as turnes like the weathercocke with euery blast of Doctrine Howbeit you seeke to shelter your weather shaken opinion with this slender shift namely that howsoeuer the Apostles faith might be weake before they were filde with the spirit and thereupon they needed prayer and fasting to stir vp and strengthen the same yet after the fulnes of spirit as their faith
Paule protesteth vnto the Ephesians that he shewed them all the counsell of God Now he shewed them all the counsell of God not absolutely and simplie but so much thereof and so farforth also as was profitable for them otherwayes if he had absolutely shewed them the whole counsell of God whatsoeuer he must necessarily then haue shewed them also the secret things of God which only belong to the Lord alone and concerned neither them nor their children And therefore whereas our sauiour promised such a comforter vnto his disciples as should leade them into all truth the meaning is that he should leade them into nothing else but the truth of God and into all that truth whatsoeuer which concerned their owne and his Churches saluation For more then this our Sauiour neuer promised to them and more then this they were not to expect at their maisters hands So then howsoeuer the particle al may seeme to haue reference vnto whatsoeuer the Apostles should speake or do yet Christ he restraines the holie Ghost his directions to those only truths which he by his owne mouth had taught them before as appeareth by the very tenâ—ur of that promise it selfe which sayth But the Comfortor which is the holie Ghost whom the father will send in my name hee shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance which I haue told or taught you before Giuing them thereby to vnderstand that whensoeuer they spake or did that which was not according to the reuealed truth he had taught them that saying or doing of theirs was more then he had told them before and more then they were led vnto by the spirit of truth By all the premisses then it is very apparant that the holie Ghost in those daies enlightened the Apostles mindes and now also at this present doth sanctifie the hearts of all the elect so farre foorth as is expedient for their owne and the Churches saluation But it was then and is now expedient for them and for vs to erre in some things that wee may giue all glorie to God alone that so seeing our owne frailtie and weakenes we might not be high minded but feare that thereby wee may be taught very willingly to beare one anothers burthen that we might learne to worke forth our owne saluation with feare and trembling that we may be made to vnderstand with Paul that the grace of God is sufficient for vs that we may sharpen our trust in him stirre vp our loue towards him pray more feruently vnto him to increase our faith and to forgiue vs our sinnes briefly that wee may runne forth the whole race of our life with greater stedfastnes and constancie Now then the case being thus wee may boldly conclude that the Apostles themselues and all the elect in Christ they are led in all truth and holines by the certain direction of the holy Ghost howbeit this wee haue to consider withall that they are so led vnto this saluation as they are not absolutely free from euery sparke and wrinkle either of manners or doctrine but that at some time and in some speciall points they might and did erre as hath been declared Exorcistes How then could the efficacie of Christ his intercession concerning their soundnes of faith be certaine vnto them who hauing related the insatiable desire of Satan to sift them as men winnow wheate told them forthwith that he had prayed their faith should not faile By which we may learne that if the intercession of Christ be any thing gratious with God his father the Apostles faith could not possibly faile in doctrine or iudgement Orthodoxus Nay rather by this we may learne that you grossie abuse both the prouidence of God and that promise of Christ and all to support your idle fansies For Christ did not promise that Peters iudgement should neuer faile but that in the following temptation which was forthwith to fall vpon Peter his faith should not finally perish I haue prayed for thee saith Christ that thy faith shall not faile that is saith Chrysostome that thou finally perish not For Christ did not say I haue prayed that thou mightest not denie me but that thy faith should not wholie faile for by the fauour and care of Christ it came to passe that Peters faith was not vtterly extinguished Hereunto accordeth Beda saying Our Sauiour prayed for Peter not that hee should not be tempted but that his faith should not faile that is that after Peter was fallen by denying his master he might rise againe by repentance to his former state Now then if you rightly frame your argument from the premisses you may plainly behold the absurditie of your owne illation thus I haue prayed for thee saith Christ that thy faith should not vtterly vanish away though thou shalt thrice denie me and most shamefully forsake and forsweare me therefore neither Peter himselfe nor the rest of the Apostles could possibly erre in matters of doctrine or iudgement This you see is your argument and now I aske you not what boy but what Bedlem would thus dispute Exorcistes Peter denied not the faith but the person of Christ. Orthodoxus And hee that denieth the person of Christ denieth not a part but the whole faith of Christ. It is a sorer and more dangerous fall to denie the Lord himselfe then to bee deceiued only in an opinion of faith and this also according to the verie confession of Peter himselfe For thus he placeth them both in his second Epistle There shall bee false teachers amongst you which shall priuilie bring in damnable sects yea denying the Lord that hath bought them And our Sauiour in his admonition to the seauen Churches of Asia sheweth the Church of Pergamos that he which denieth his name denieth his faith Thou holdest fast my name saith he and hast not denied my faith wherefore not to hold fast the name of Christ is flatly to denie the faith of Christ. And how can you doubt of the trueth of this since the missing of any point of faith is onely but heresie whereas the denying of Christs name which fearefull offence Peter fell into is flat Apostasie farre worse then the former by much See then I beseech you how lewdly you peruert the words of our Sauiour For where Peter is only forewarned of his fall you would make Christs words a warrant vnto him that he shall neuer fall And where the Lord promised Peter repentance you turne the text as if he were finally freed from all future offences Exorcistes Not so I confesse Peter offended but not in the faith Orthodoxus Could Peter denie his master Christ and not denie his faith and hope in Christ or can there be greater infidelitie then flatly to denie the sonne of God And yet Peter not onely denied him thrice but with an oath and a curse hee ratified his former deniall Exorcistes Peter only denied that he knew
the spirit Orthodoxus Then was it needles for them to haue prayed for the timely increase and confirmation thereof which they vndoubtedly did as we haue proued and your selfe confessed before And whereas you would strengthen your cause from the Apostles fulnes of faith if you rightlie consider the matter that doth rather confound then confirme the same For by arguing that the Apostles faith could not possiblie faile from the time they were filled with the spirit you do implicatiuelie conclude that it might and did also faile before which is the very point you denie And thus hauing lost your selfe in a thicket of thornes the faster you runne the further you raunge and the fouler you bescratch your face with the briers Briefely whereas you seeme to inferre that fasting and prayer it had beene but a needles ordinance for the Apostles of Christ especiallie after they were filled with the spirit and that therefore it is very vnlikely that our sauiour for that short time only wherein the Apostles faith was subiect to failing would haue instituted the same as an ordinance only for them to obserue Our answere is that you do ouerproudly or peruersely controll the wisedome of Christ and it may please you to consider withall that the time betweene Christ his transfiguration and Pentecost was not so short as you haplie by your inconsiderate accompt of bare fortie dayes would beare vs in hand for if you runne ouer your reckonings afresh you shall finde the interim I meane the distance betweene them to be full tenne weekes at the least In all which time the Apostles of Christ though at seuerall times they had fasted and prayed a whole day together they might notwithstanding haue kept a combersome coyle in casting out Diuels especiallie if they had happened vpon many such tractable patients as was Katherine Wright who hauing seuen or eight diuels you say within her at once had them all driuen forth in lesse space then an hower And therefore for any thing hitherto heard I cannot perceiue but that those words of Christ namely this kind goeth not forth but by fasting and praier they may and are to be peculiarly appropriated vnto the Disciples themselues Exorcistes Nay sir that interpretation is so farre opposite to the words of Christ as we dare by no meanes admitte of the same For Christ in the dispossession hee speaketh of heere requireth a meanes for the expelling of Diuels as without which meanes the same could not possiblie be brought to passe and then telleth vs what that meanes is namely fasting and prayer Whereas this your obiected interpretation implieth that this kind of spirit it might be cast forth without this said meanes of fasting and prayer if so be the Apostles faith had beene strong enough Orthodoxus Very true as you say and what one inconuenience I pray you in holding so We for our owne partes perceyue no such opposition betweene our sayd interpretation and the words of Christ as you falsely would beare vs in hand Nay rather you your owne selfe do shrewdlie ouerthwart not only our sauiour but also euen your greatest acquaintance M. Darel I meane For first you make prayer and fasting an ordinarie established meanes for the perpetuall expelling of Diuels whereas our sauiour sayth plainely that the Apostles miraculous faith was the onely powerfull meanes which should haue effected the same Againe you do heere very flatly auouch that this was such a daungerous kind of Diuel as could not possiblie haue beene cast forth at all by the Apostles faith had the same beene neuer so strong without fasting and prayer annexed thereto Whereas your good friend M. Darel doth firmely hold that the Apostles faith was so strong as if he were a Diuel of what kind soeuer they could and were able to haue cast him out Exorcistes Very true if he had beene any diuell of the one sort of diuels For you must note that Christ in saying this kinde goeth not out obserueth therein a distinct sort degree or order of diuels some way differing and distinguished from others with one of which number he implyeth that the childe was possessed whereby partly it came that they had not cast the diuell forth Orthodoxus How know you that Christ noteth therein such a distinct order of diuels differing from others Exorcistes First the same doth fitly accord with the very letter of the text which telleth vs directly that this kinde of diuels goeth not forth but by fasting and prayer Orthodoxus You doe falsely belie the text it selfe For the words of the text they are not thus this kinde of diuels but this kinde and no more Wherein Christ onely distinguisheth diuels from all other creatures but seuereth not spirits by any distinct or seuerall orders among themselues As if some man intending to set forth a shrewe to the full should say in this sort the best of this kind is shrewish enough Who seeth not plainely that the man by this speech doth onely distinguish women from men by their sexe or kinde but seuereth not shrewes by seuerall degrees among themselues So surely our Sauiour Christ in saying this kinde goeth not forth intendeth to set downe no seuerall orders of diuels among themselues but speaketh onely of diuels in generall as if he should say thus this kind that is these diuels they goe not out but by prayer and fasting Notwithstanding if you will haue vs approue of this your new-coyned distinction doe tell vs I pray you from whence you first learned the same I meane where find you these your distinguished diuels into such their seuerall orders among themselues For tell me I beseech you are not all the holy Angels how glorious soeuer of one and the selfe same kinde Againe are not all men how different soeuer in the doing of mischiefe of one and the selfe same kind I beleeue you dare neuer deny it And onely are spirits or diuels distinguished into their seuerall kinds Hitherto I haue been I assure you of this opinion that all diuels whatsoeuer they are onely spirites by nature and Angels by office and that the distinction of Angels is onely of good and euill Angels As for those your supposed sundry kindes of diuels distinct into some seuerall orders among themselues that mysticall point of Diuillitie I neuer heard of I assure you before this present neither yet of any further distinction of diuels then only that of the diuell and his Angels Exorcistes Sir I distinguish not diuels in an especiall respect of any their essentiall being for therein they are all of one and the selfe same nature or kinde but my meaning is that there is a distinct sort or order of diuels seuered by sundrie degrees among themselues For howsoeuer when we distinguish the whole state of this kingdome of England by the Queene and her subiects we do make therein but one only superiour and all the other inferiours yet who seeth not withall but that the inferiours
properly import their office are especially two namely Angels and Archangels that is messengers and principall messengers And howsoeuer these two seuerall names the one signifying simplie a messenger the other a principall messenger may seeme at a blush to import a seuerall order of Angels yet is it not so Besides that if indeede it were so as it seemes yet doth it not conclude your purpose in hand but commeth short of Dionysius and your owne account by seauen supposed seuerall orders at least Howbeit this I say for an answere that wheresoeuer the name Archangell is mentioned it signifieth our Sauiour Christ and no creature at all Or if happily the name Archangell bee any where attributed to any creature in heauen yet then hee that in one worke is called simplie an Angell in another worke of greater glorie in our eyes may there be called an Archangell Euen as we see a Messenger sent from the Prince of a message to some of his subiects is simplie called an Ambassadour whereas notwithstanding the same person being imployed by his Prince to some forraine Potentate is more honorablie termed a Lord Ambassadour All the other names attributed to Angels namely Thrones Dominations Vertues Powers or Principalities they are but borrowed from matters of state concerning humane policies and but metaphoricallie transferred to Angels in an especiall regard of some speciall actions as we said before of Gabriel Raphael and Pel◠but do signifie vnto vs no distinct or seuerall orders of Angels Exorcistes If those seuerall names do signifie no seuerall orders of Angels why then were they bestowed vpon them Physiologus They were so bestowed vpon them partly to expresse what superexcellent dignitie they were destinated vnto partly to declare vnto vs what great and admirable matters the almightie hath wrought by meanes of their ministerie and partly in regard of our naturall weakenes who could not otherwise be made to conceiue of their nature or actions For these and such other respects best knowne to his wisedome hath the Lord bestowed those metaphoricall titles of Thrones Dominations Powers and Principalities vpon Spirits or Angels but in no wise to distinguish any different superioritie or seuerall orders among themselues or no further at least then onely to difference Michael and his Angels I meane Christ and his heauenly host as was shewed before Exorcistes But sir they are called Thrones Principalities and Powers in the plurall number which importeth not simplie one singuler superiour but many superiours possessing seuerall superiorities degrees and orders among themselues in heauen and therefore by consequence there are seuerall superiorities among Spirits and Diuels in hell Physiologus The Angels respectiuely referred to Christ are all of equall condition and generally set forth by the only name of Angels without any other swelling words of superioritie as Michael and his Angels Christ and his Angels Howbeit when Angels are spoken of comparatiuely in an onlie respect of humane Princes then are they purposely put downe by the titles of Thrones Dominations Principalities or Powers to expresse their glorious dignitie in comparison of earthly creatures and to teach vs withall that they haue a superioritie and chiefdome ouer the kingdomes of the world committed vnto them from that almightie Iehouah who is Lord and King ouer al. For which only respect they are called Principalities or Powers in the heauens Notwithstanding be it supposed that those seuerall names implied some seuerall orders of Angels yet can they conclude no certaine number of any such seuerall orders Because the Apostle hauing elsewhere expreslie put downe those seuerall names contents not himselfe therein but goeth on further thus and euery name that is named not onely in this world but also in that that is to come leauing the names you see indefinitely and your supposed seuerall orders of Angels in perpetuall suspence And therfore Dionysius and your selfe doe but triflingly deale with your Readers both in presuming to put downe a certaintie of that which the holie Ghost so vncertainly expresseth and in nominating also such seuerall orders of Angels there where the holie spirit of God did purpose no such speciall matter at all but laboured onely by that excessiue manner of speaking to lift vp our Sauiour Christ farre aboue the excellencie of all created powers in heauen in earth or in hell Again be it supposed indeed that the Apostle by those seueral names did purposely put downe some seuerall orders of Angels in heauen yet your inference enforced from thence namely that therefore there are likewise some distinct or seuerall orders among Spirits and Diuels in hell is to too absurd For howsoeuer the Lord might haue singular vse for the seuerall orders among Angels in heauen till the comming of Christ there can be no further vse of any such seuerall orders of Diuels in hell then onely that of the hangmans vse as hath been declared Yea and which more is whatsoeuer further preheminence of order they ioyntly enioyed before their fall the same now is so vtterly lost by the comming of Christ as they are destinated for euer to vtter confusion According to that of the Apostle who telleth vs directly that Christ hath spoyled principalities and powers and made openlie a shew of them all and triumphed ouer them in his crosse and not onely this but also hath chained them vp vnder darknes vnto the great and notable day So farre off is it therefore you see that there should be now any further distinction of orders in hell then only of the Diuell and his Angels as that they are rather euen vtterly spoyled of all princely preheminence and power whatsoeuer Exorcistes That is not so For the Apostle else where speaking purposely of the power of diuels doth call them principalities powers worldly gouernors princes of darknesse spirituall wickednesses and so forth But all these are seuerall names of order therefore there are seuerall orders of diuels in hell Physiologus The Apostle in deed he calles them so as you say but concludes from thence no further distinction of orders among them then onely that of the diuell and his Angels as we told you before Making therein the diuell an onely superiour and all other infernall spirits his inferiours but yet all of them equall inferiours I proue it thus The diuell alone he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I meane a prince as hauing all other infernall spirits subiected vnto him the rest they are al equally called together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a power or rather powers in the plurall number as it were all very equally combined in one and the selfe-same power And this also according to the accustomed course of the Scriptures themselues which whensoeuer they entreate of the hierarchie of infernall spirits doe onely but mention the diuell and his Angels The diuell as a prince alone the Angels as his onely subordinate powers Yea and which more is euen Satan
orders of angels in heauen you doe therein directly oppose your selfe not only vnto that definition which the Apostle maketh of Angels in the Epistle to the Hebrewes but which more is euen vnto his maine purpose in that selfesame place For first he defineth all Angels howsoeuer called in scripture to be none other but ministring spirits that is to be all of one and the selfesame condition in nature and office Secondly his maine purpose in so speaking of Angels there is to aduance Christ Iesus farre aboue all principalities or powers whatsoeuer therefore if any Archangell Throne Domination power or any other name els that is named were any greater then an angel surely all that disputation of the Apostle were nothing worth For how could it conclude the excellency of Christ aboue all creatures because he is greater then Angels if Cherubim Seruphim or any Archangell were also greater in dignitie then Angels And therefore that the Apostles reason may as it is be strong and vnanswerable we must confesse all blessed spirits whatsoeuer they be to be all but this namely ministring spirits for all the Elect. Moreouer by auouching for certaine some seuerall orders also among spirits or diuels in hell you doe therein bewray your intolerable pride to all the world For if Moses knowing by inspiration the originall of the world how it was had it not yet reuealed vnto him what to write of angels or diuels if Stephen who saw the heauens open yet saw not these supposed seuerall orders of angels or diuels if Paul who was taken vp into the third heauen saw notwithstanding so little concerning such seuerall orders of angels or diuels that whosoeuer will auouch so curiouslie thereof he saith they be puft vp with a fleshlie minde to speake of thinges which they neuer saw brieflie if Iohn in all his reuelations had no such knowledge reuealed concerning the seuerall orders of spirits or diuels who then is Exorcistes or what is his parentage that hee dare so proudlie determine such certeintie of things vncertaine or that we should once beleeue him in that wherein I am certaine he beleeues not himselfe For this we hold an infallible truth that the seuerall names which are giuen to angels or spirits they were purposelie giuen them for our better vnderstanding of the vnspeakeable power of God in their seuerall ministeries and not to haue vs so precisely determine of anie their seuerall orders And this is most cleere in Paule himselfe who when hee had reckoned vp principalities thrones dominions and powers hee addeth and euery name that is named in this world or in the world to come A cleare sentence of his own modestie in confessing an holy ignorance concerning the seuerall orders of angels or diuels and such as should moue vs in all holie sobrietie to say with Augustine The difference of these seuerall degrees I confesse I know not if any man will say that hee knoweth it let him speake but let him proue what he speaketh Seeing therefore Exorcistes you doe vaunt it so brauely of your certaine knowledge concerning the seuerall orders of spirits and diuels doe proue directlie vnto vs that of infernall spirits some are greater or lesse then other in princely preheminence or els doe now plainely confesse that Christ by these words this kinde doth but generallie vnderstand all Diuels whatsoeuer Exorcistes Oh then I perceiue you haue hitherto wholie mistaken my meaning For Christ in saying this kinde doth not preciselie distinguish spirits or diuels into seuerall officers making some higher and some lower in princely preheminence among themselues but teacheth vs rather that among the sundrie sorts of vncleane spirits some goe beyond others in malice and crueltie towards men in subtiltie and iniquitie And that therefore these are called by our Sauiour Christ the worst kind of spirits whereby they are distinguished and doe differ from others which are lesse cruell and wicked Physiologus Oh then I also perceiue that howsoeuer your knowledge may be infinitely profound in comparison of others your hap in disputing these parabables is to too ouerthwart at this present For the further you wade in the bottomles gulph of this new-found diuillitie the deeper you diue your selfe ouer head and eares in all grosse and senseles absurdities Before you did only distinguish diuels into their seuerall sorts or orders but finding no fast footehold in those wandring vagaries you would now difference them only in regard of their naturall qualities Making of infernall spirits some cruell some kind some good some bad some meeke and some very malitious in comparison of others Thereby insinuating closely vnto vs that some Diuels are but yet in declining and not come to the full period of their fearefull Apostacie or falling from God I euer did thinke till now that all Diuels whatsoeuer they had been equallie malitious equallie enuious equallie cruell equallie ramping and roaring like Lions equallie compassing the world to worke our destruction and that therefore they are all purposely and all iointly sayde to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is spirituall wickednesses aboue in the aire Marke I beseech you the Apostle he calleth them spirituall wickednesses in the plurall number to signifie vnto vs that euery Diuell seuerally hath complete in that his spirituall nature the fulnes of spiritual wickednes Howbeit your mind it should seeme was musing vpon the gentle departure of Midlecub and his courteous companions and that was some cause why you put downe at vnwares such palpable grosse and ridiculous fooleries For surely had you only but thought vpon Sommers his knauish diuell for so it pleaseth your selfe to accompt him you would neuer haue dreamed of any such kinde or courteous Diuels as you tell vs of here Notwithstanding sith you are now anatomizing the nature of Diuels do shew vs I pray you among whether of those your two contrary â—anckes of infernall spirits we may boldly raunge Diuell Ascalon the Iester of Hell It may be you will haue him to make vp a full consort among those your musicall Lancashire spirits who were giuen for the most part to singing and dauncing to gibing and iesting and so keepe a seemely decorum in those your seuerall orders of Diuels As for Roofye your old acquaintance we see not as yet how we may possiblie make of him either flesh or fish for he hath only you say the appellatiue name of all Diuels whatsoeuer and by reason thereof he may boldly partake with the Diuels of euery kinde whether cruell or courteous But fie fie Exorcistes are you not euen groslie ashamed thus triflingly to delude your poore ignorant Readers in making them beleeue the Crowe is white I meane in bearing them thus boldlie in hand that all Diuels whatsoeuer are euen such as your selfe do deuise them to be Yea and this also without due regard of God of Religion of reason of common sense and all honest
course of nature Howbeit if the Phisition should effect the said cure by sole prayer and fasting alone without any such naturall medicine or by a quite contrary meanes namely if he together with prayer and fasting should worke the sayd cure by the only applying of a plaister of clay which naturallie hath in it selfe no naturall disposition at all for the orderlie effecting of any such worke and wherein nature her selfe neither hath nor naturally can haue any such secret operation at all then surely the cure it selfe in such sort effected it is vndoubtedlie supernaturall extraordinarie and meerely miraculous By the premisses then you may plainely perceiue what things in a naturall disease must necessarily concurre for the timely effecting of the ordinarie cure thereof and therefore do tell me plainely whether you make the possession of Diuels a disease or not Exorcistes Yes sir it is a disease as ordinarie as other diseases in men Orthodoxus But whether is it a naturall or supernaturall disease Exorcistes It is a supernaturall disease no doubt Orthodoxus And is not the cure thereof eyther ordinarie or extraordinarie at least Exorcistes The cure thereof in Christ and his Disciples dayes was extraordinary no doubt but now in these dayes of the Gospell it is altogether ordinarie Orthodoxus If an ordinarie cure as you say then must you be able to demonstrate vnto me the necessarie concurrencie of all the precedent matters and so you say something vnto vs. My meaning is this you must demonstrate vnto me first an ordinarie medicine for that selfesame cure Secondly a secret operation of some other effectual power concurring therewith Thirdly a ministeriall hand to apprehend and applie that selfesame medicine Fourthlie a theorie or skill to direct the sayd hand Fiftlie a meanes to imprint that selfesame theorie in the phisitions breast Lastlie an habite of that selfesame skill to imbolden and warrant the practise thereof and then the cure in such sort effected is vndoubtedlie ordinarie Exorcistes Why sir prayer fasting is a medicine ordained by Christ to effect that ordinarie cure Orthodoxus Haue prayer and fasting any such energetical force in themselues as doth naturallie and directlie tend to the timely effecting of that selfesame cure or doe they rather ex opere operato effect the said worke Exorcistes Neither of both Although yet sole prayer fasting do effect the said worke as wee see in experience notwithstanding my selfe be vtterlie vnable to expresse the manner how it effecteth the same Orthodoxus I doe verilie beleeue you in this Howbeit if sole prayer and fasting be able of it selfe to effect such a worke without any the other precedent matters concurring therewith then surely that selfesame cure as we told you before in naturall diseases it must needes be extraordinarie and so by consequence a miraculous cure no doubt Notwithstanding all this the working of miracles you say it was ceased long since and therefore also the miraculous expelling of spirits and diuels Besides that you your owne selfe doe terme the possession of diuels a supernaturall disease But supernaturall diseases doe necessarilie craue a supernaturall manner of cure for nothing in an orderly course of nature may possiblie cure a supernaturall infirmitie and therefore that selfesame pretended cure of yours concerning Sommers if euer the same was truely effected it must needes be as extraordinarie now as euer were any before and so by consequence as miraculous now as euer were any before whatsoeuer you prate to the contrary as in our tenth Dialogue is plainely declared Exorcistes Sir I prate not at all but doe aduisedlie report that infallible truth whereof we haue the examples the practise and counsell of fathers who generallie auouch the holie exercise of prayer and fasting for the perpetuall expelling of spirits and diuels Orthodoxus Your Fathers forsooth being euery of them mute before concerning the essentiall possession of diuels are here mustered afresh in one the selfesame ranck to support your idle cōceit of an ordinarie dispossessing of diuels by prayer fasting And herein howsoeuer you wrest open their mouthes to make them speake what you please they speake nothing at all to your purpose in hand my meaning is they doe not concludently proue that Christ hath purposelie established prayer and fasting as an ordinary and perpetuall meanes for the powerfull expelling of diuels For first howsoeuer you begin with Origen he rather insinuateth simplie the supposed efficacie of fasting and prayer in those your pretended admirable actions then purposelie put downe the practise thereof as a perpetuall ordinance peculiarlie and purposelie establisht by Christ for the powerfull expelling of spirits and diuels Tertullian he speaketh of many pretended deliuerances from some supposed extraordinarie afflictions of Satan but sheweth not the manner how they were freed from thence Neyther had Cyprian in those his pathetical perswasions any purpose at all to put downe the pretended establishment of that your conceited new ordinance for the powerful expelling of spirits and diuels as may plainely appeare by that authenticall censure which Iacobus Pamelius hath set downe vpon that selfesame place of Cyprian which your selfe doth alleadge Telling vs confidently that the Exorcists office was not then of any vse in the Church and giueth this reason withall Nam munus illud cum miraculorum dono coniunctum temporarium fuit For that office or function being conioyned with the gift of miracles it was onelie a temporarie office Yea and in an vtter detestation of this your deluding conceit concerning the perpetuitie thereof from those your preposterous practises a little after he saith that the crafts and iuggling sleights of counterfeit Exorcists and coniuring Priests they are long since apparantly euident yea euen to the very eyes of the blind By that then which is hitherto spoken concerning your mustered Fathers you may easilie iudge the very iust length of all the others footings concerning especiallie their hoped releefe towardes this your languishing ordinance For whatsoeuer they may seeme in your sillie conceit to set downe concerning some supposed supplie for your falslie pretended ordinance very certaine it is they doe not nor durst not auouch the pretended establishment of that selfesame supposed ordinance by Christ his authoritie as you very fondly imagine And as you are not herein assisted by any their determinate or resolute iudgements so neyther haue you their own examples or practise to any such purpose but onely their bare reports concerning the apocryphall practise of some others conuersing among them Neyther doe they once open their mouthes concerning any such established ordinance only Origen as we yeelded vnto you before he speakes of prayer and fasting by way of aduise all the rest if they speake anie thing they speake onlie of prayer alone as of that which they deeme a notable exercise or fruit of faith Neyther doe any one of them all in any their published workes write eyther of sole prayer alone or
themselues which you produce for your purpose they all import so much as I say Namely the deuiding of Iorden by Eluah his cloake the curing of Naamans leprosie by washing seauen times in Iorden the opening of the dumbe mans eares by the touch of Christs finger and the loosing of his tongue by his spattle his curing of the blind by a playster of clay and by washing in Siloam with sundry such other besides as in our tenth Dialogue doth plainely appeare Exorcistes These outward things or actions which were sometimes practised by the Prophets Apostles and others in the working of miracles they were not vsed as meanes but as signes when and accordingly as the actors themselues perceiued them profitable for the people present Orthodoxus Why man what more profit might grow to the people of God by vsing them rather as signes then as meanes of those their miraculous actions Exorcistes They vsed them rather as signes then as meanes happilie to trie the beholders faith the better thereby or imprint the worke wrought the more in the beholders mindes and parties cured or for some other speciall purpose best knowen to the Lord. Orthodoxus Your Diuinitie it should seeme is but sillie Diuinitie standing for the most part vpon sillie and doubtfull grounds namelie eyther vpon hap and hap hazard or vpon some other fickle foundation you wot not well what And yet notwithstanding you do no lesse impudentlie auouch the same for an infallible truth then if you meant to out-face the whole world with the sway of your words But good Exorcistes doe tell vs directly how any mans faith may the better be tried or the action it selfe more deepely imprinted in the beholders breasts by making those accidentall matters to be rather the signes thē the meanes of such miraculous actions Moreouer in auouching those matters to be rather the signes then the meanes of such miraculous actions you doe therein directly conclude that euery of those admirable actions whereof those outward matters are onely but signes and no meanes were vndoubtedly true miracles Because saith good Master Darel whatsoeuer is brought to passe without meanes that same is a miracle as we haue handled at large in Oth and mopeth in semeion teras throughout our tenth Dialogue But what might be the maine reason it selfe which makes you so carefull in auoyding the word meanes and so egerlie to take vp the word signes concerning this point Exorcistes I purposelie do it to proue all those the aforesaid strange actions no miracles at all how wonderfull soeuer in shew For whatsoeuer is brought to passe by meanes is no miracle because of the same meanes Orthodoxus If for this onlie respect you denie those outward matters to be meanes and onlie auouch them to be but bare signes of the action effected then surely you therein doe make those selfesame actions whereof such outward matters are onelie but signes to be much more miraculous then if these outward matters themselues had beene some meanes at the least to accomplish the action And so by consequence the dispossessing of those your Demoniakes it was an action very miraculous as hauing no meanes at all to effect the same Exorcistes Yes sir they had prayer and fasting as the onelie appointed meanes to that special worke Orthodoxus Yea but you flatlie denie those outward matters whatsoeuer to be thereunto any meanes at all and do auouch them to be but the onlie bare signes of such actions effected Exorcistes I denied those other matters which were mentioned before in the Propheticall and Apostolicall operations to be anie meanes at all and did make them but the onelie bare signes of those their miraculous actions Howbeit I euer haue held and doe confidently auouch that prayer and fasting is a peculiar meanes appointed by God for the perpetuall expelling of spirits and diuels Orthodoxus This your pretended ordinance of prayer and fasting hauing hitherto beene often denied and neuer yet by your selfe confirmed for truth it is to little or no purpose to insist as you doe vpon one and the selfesame point Besides that your selfe hauing spoken elsewhere of the prayers of Christ of Peter and others in the working of miracles you make their said prayers to be onely but signes and no meanes of their miracles Exorcistes Very true as you say For they expelled Diuels by a commaunding power not by any intreating word and therefore if at any time they prayed at their working of miracles they vsed not those their said prayers as any appointed meanes leading to the action intended but rather in regard of the people present To teach them thereby that whensoeuer they effected miraculous actions they wrought not those works by any godlinesse or power of their owne but by the only immediate power of him whom they called vpon Orthodoxus Well be it so as you say But declare plainely vnto vs I pray you your owne purpose in praying also at the dispossession of those your pretended Demoniakes Was it to perswade the people that your selfe expelled those diuels by any your owne godlines or power of your prayers and not rather to teach them that the diuels so expelled were vndoubtedly driuen forth by the onely power of him vpon whom you did call by your feruent prayers Exorcistes We purposely praid I must needs confesse to teach the beholders that the worke was effected by the onely power of him to whom we put vp our prayers Orthodoxus Herein then you confesse at vnwares that your said prayer and fasting was no meanes at all for those your pretended dispossessings of Satan but only a bare signe of the absolute power of Christ which draue forth the diuell and so by consequence you doe fully conclude that your expelling of Diuels by prayer and fasting if any such were was also a miraculous worke Exorcistes I denie such a driuing out of diuels to be any miracle at all and doe very confidently auouch that prayer and fasting in such sort obserued is a supernaturall medicine for the timely curing of supernaturall diseases Orthodoxus If prayer and fasting be as you say a supernaturall medicine for supernaturall diseases why then are not parties bewitched deliuered in like manner from those their torments by the onely meanes of prayer and fasting Exorcistes Had we the like Scriptures for the extraordinarie curing of parties bewitched by prayer fasting as we haue for the admirable dispossessing of parties possessed we would not then doubt but that the one might therby be helped as well as the other Orthodoxus But tell vs in good earnest haue you not as full warrant from Scripture for the curing of parties bewitched by prayer and fasting as you haue for the timely dispossessing of those your pretended Demoniakes Exorcistes No in very deed we haue not in Scripture the like warrant for one which we haue for the other Orthodoxus By what warrant then did you vndertake the pretended dispossession of Kath.
vs whether it was an inward possession or an outward vexation Or whether it was neyther of both but some other straunge iudgement of God or whether it was the hand of God some one way or other vpon them but what way you know not And yet notwithstanding you dare proudlie determine these intricate matters as if they were certainelie reuealed vnto you by an Angell from heauen Exorcistes Whatsoeuer you say to the contrarie the parties we speak of they were euery of them essentiallie possessed of Satan and dispossessed also by meanes of our prayer and fasting yea and these things we hold very confidentlie without any doubting at all Neyther will wee be otherwaies perswaded though an Angell from heauen should come and tell vs the contrarie Orthodoxus It is very commendable to be confident in a good and commendable cause both when you are present and absent As for your present purpose in hand it were much better to acknowledge the ignorance of your soule and freelie to confesse that you hold a lie in your right hand then with such setled pertinacie to persist as you do in your peeuish opinions and thus blasphemouslie to prophane the Apostles speech concerning the infallible testimonie of an Angell from heauen For hereby you giue all good men a iust occasion not onely to suspect very shrewdlie the sinceritie of your spirit but also after twise or thrise admonition to shew themselues very carefull in fleeing from your person as from a man that sinneth and persisteth in sinning you know very well how In the meane time whatsoeuer you haue hitherto sayde for your purpose it moues not our mindes the breadth of one haire but maketh vs more confident concerning the goodnes of our owne cause And so wee meane still to continue vntill your selfe vpon further conference and sounder deliberation with your secret fauorites shall be found able to say more for the matter then hitherto you haue done And therefore now to conclude for the present and to inferre something of the premisses and so to proceed to some speciall vses concerning the same If it be vndoubtedlie true that men now in these last dayes are not essentiallie possessed with diuels nor dispossessed and that sole prayer and fasting they are no speciall meanes appointed purposelie by the Lord himselfe for their perpetuall dispossessing but that also the seauen in Lancashire and William Sommers with the other two namelie Darling and K. Wright were not in deed essentially possessed and being not so were not dispossessed at all by your pretended ordinarie meanes of prayer and fasting then let the good Christian Reader iudge whether those men doe not very groslie erre in the generall who so confidentlie hold that men now a dayes both may be and are also essentiallie possessed and those also who affirming fullie so much doe yet further very flatlie auouch that euen in these dayes of the Gospell men possiblie may be and are also essentially dispossessed by sole prayer and fasting as by a speciall ordinaunce established purposelie by our Sauiour Christ to that speciall purpose And whether those men likewise be not as faultie in the particular who cannot with any patience endure that the pretended possession and dispossession of those the forenamed persons how absurd soeuer should be impugned by any Yea and rather then any sound opposition of truth to those their palpable vntruthes should gaine a publike passage they will by all manner of meanes directlie or indirectlie contend for a most vaine and friuolous matter namelie that the said Sommers Darling and K. Wright were no counterfeits Notwithstanding howsoeuer some in the world for any thing that may possiblie be sayde to the contrary will neuer be brought to acknowledge the infallible truth which we teach nor disclaime those palpable vntruthes which your selfe so vndutifully haue broched abrode to the world and thereupon be moued to giue the Lord that glorie and praise which is iustlie due to his Maiestie for these his latelie reuealed counsels concerning these intricate questions and endeuour withall to make their right vse of euery point a thing rather to be wished then hoped for yet wisedome no doubt she shall and will be iustified freelie of all her children And thus much in effect for your two first distributions namelie the essentiall possessions and dispossessions of spirits and diuels which may serue to giue wise men a watchword till we heare your further determination concerning the same Exorcistes Well but what say you now to my third distribution I meane the seuerall vses which we are to make of the same Orthodoxus We will say no more concerning those matters then that which we haue spokeÌ„ before namelie that in manie of those your supposed vses there are some thinges to too vnsound and absurd as in some part of our answeres hath beene partly obserued Notwithstanding were they euerie of them so sound and so currant as you would haue vs imagine yet could they not gaine at our hands any entertainement or answere before the two precedent points be more substantiallie proued vnto vs. For what one sauorie vse may any man possiblie draw from matters vnsauorie or rather which more is from matters not now existing in nature Physiologus Verie true as you say And therefore Exorcistes eyther you must presentlie forsake your cause or more sufficientlie confirme the same then you haue hitherto done Otherwise the whole world will forthwith condemne you for a verie perâ—erse and contentious person very wilfullie bent to your idle conceits without eyther sway of reason or shew of sense Exorcistes Well sir sith you so careleslie reiect those holie and profitable vses which are drawen from this my Doctrine concerning essentiall possessions and dispossessions of diuels I pray you what one good vse may be made of that which you hold to the contrarie Orthodoxus I doe no further reiect your said vses then their proper vnsoundnes and want of sound matter to be grounded vpon doth necessarily require at my hands Howbeit because you shall not imagine that we haue broached such opposite points to yours as cannot possiblie afoorde any profitable vse to the Church or people of God we are therefore not vnwilling to put downe some few vses of many to make knowen to the world what true vses in deed may soundly be drawen from the soundnesse of our Doctrine Which being by vs very faithfully propounded are now authentically priuileged by publike authoritie Howbeit because we are almost all weary of this wearisome businesse let vs walke forth to refresh our selues for one hower or two and then proceed in our purpose Physiologus We all approue of your motion The end of the second Dialogue The third Dialogue THE ARGVMENT The holy and right vses which the Church and children of God are to make of this Doctrine concerning the finall determination of possessions and dispossessions of Spirits and Diuels The speakers names PHILOLOGVS LYCANTHROPVS PNEVMATOMACHVS PHYSIOLOGVS
continuall wrestlings with Principalities with Powers with worldly gouernours of the darkenesse of this world yea and with spirituall wickednesses in the high places themselues while he surprise their slumbring soules at vnwares with his spirituall assaults and â—irie temptations And therefore whensoeuer we behold hereafter an extraordinarie or vnwonted course vndertaken by any for the speciall supporting of this idle conceit let vs then vndoubtedly assure our selues that euen Satan himselfe is a principall partie and hath very cunningly his hand in the packe by being a lying spirit in the practisers mouthes of very purpose to circumuent and deceiue vnstable soules That thus holding their cogitations captiuated by a causelesse conceite of a matter which is not at all he might the more cunningly suggest his intestine poysons and spirituall temptations yea and the more couertly miscarrie mens mindes in a corrupt conuersation without any due regard of the glory of God or the good of their Soules Philologus The truth of this point is apparantly euident to all in their proper experience but proceede I beseech you Orthodoxus Furthermore inasmuch as this Doctrine of ours concerning the finall accomplishment of Sathan his power of actuall possession is so mightily maligned and so preposterouslie impugned by some certaine persons professing the holie religion of God it doth very liuely demonstrate to all the world the vnsuspected subtilties and wilie proceedings of that old Serpent the Diuell Who at his first beginning of mischiefes hauing purposely imployed the externall ministerie of the subtilest beast in the speedie subuersion of Adam and all his posteritie and perceiuing there was euer since by the predeterminate purpose of God such a perpetuall enmitie betweene them and their seede as he became vtterly without hope of vsing that selfesame meanes as before in any his mischieuous purposes against the persons and bodies of men doth practise now a quite contrarie course and the same also more dangerous then the other by many degrees Namely he endeuoureth eftsoones for the speedier and more effectuall corrupting of euery such sacred ordinance of God as concernes especially the seruice of Saints to stirre vp in the Church not cruell persecutors but some certaine professors of the selfesame societie Men I meane not only reputed precise in the world but such for the most part as will not sticke forsooth in the pritching heate of their holie pride to say with skornefull disdaine to all others besides themselues Stand apart and come not neere vnto me for I am holiâ—r then thou notwithstanding they be for the most part the smoking wrath of Iehouah and a fire that burneth all the day These men for their outward shewes of sinceritie being among many others in the least suspition of all concerning any sinister practises and so in very deede the fittest instruments for the timely accomplishment of Sathan his pestilent purposes therefore hee doth cunningly seduce their soules by one meanes or other and so makes them eftsoones very fearefullie to fall into and boldlie to broach some odde phantasticall conceipt of their owne proper braine to the fearefull infecting of many poore soules before they beware In this cunning course he began to worke first by our grandmother Euah who being her selfe before very groslie bewitched by his wilie perswasions and holie pretences and fobbed vp with a fond conceite of being like vnto God in the knowledge of good and euill became forthwith a very fit instrument to seduce and deceiue her owne husband and so brought him and all his into a miserable experience indeede not of good but of euill And this Connie-catching course the Diuell hath successiuely continued from age to age vnto this present time as the sacred scriptures themselues and the ecclesiasticall histories do plainely record if any desire to peruse the same Neither doth this cunning conueyance of these his inueterate mischiefes stay here or take vp themselues from any further proceeding but euen also in this last age of the world he goeth still forwards with his legerdemaines and iuggling sleights procuring among our owne selues some certaine persons to spring vp from time to time and to vtter many peruerse and pestilent points of very purpose to draw disciples after them That euen as Iacob and Esau being brethren by nature contended together in one and the selfesame wombe to the deadlie griefe of Rebecca their mother so surely the Diuell by these cunning deuises endeuoureth daylie to stirre vp among brethren by outward profession such an intestine strife in the true Church of Christ and to hatch vp in the same such a secret viperous broode as should like the fretting Gangrena deuoure and eate through the very bowels thereof before the danger it selfe be espied A most lamentable experience concerning the infallible truth of that which we teach we may haue from the Anabaptists in Europe from the Donatists in Affricke from the Iesuites in Germanie in Fraunce and elsewhere from the Familists and Barrowists in England from the fearefull seduction of Hacket of Coppinger of Arthington yea and euen now at this present from the seducing Exorcists of euery condition Euery of these howsoeuer they otherwaies pretend the good of the Church and the credit of christian Religion haue bred a more dangerous scandal and giuen a more deadlie wound to the happie proceeding of our holie Religion in deede then if they had bin the professed and open aduersaries to the holie profession thereof The dutifull consideration of these dangerous occurrents arising especially from Sathan his subtile proceedings should help to engraue in our hearts a deeper impression of that the Apostle his heauenly admonition concerning the due triall of Spirits before we do rashly beleeue their roauing reports Yea and the same doth further demonstrate to all the world that howsoeuer the phantasticall crew may haplie impute a great follie vnto vs for these our painefull proceedings yet notwithstanding the premisses dulie considered the wise will confesse that we haue very iust cause to cry out with the blessed Apostle and say Would to God you could suffer alittle our foolishnes yea and indeede do you suffer vs. Because we are iealous ouer you all with a godlie iealousie endeuouring to prepare you for one husband and to present you a pure virgin to Christ. Howbeit we stand greatly in feare least as the Serpent beguiled Euah through her subtiltie so your minds should be corrupt from the simplicitie that is in Christ. Physiologus This vse I assure you is worthie of consideration but proceed in the rest Orthodoxus Moreouer in that the holy exercise of prayer and fasting is so stoutlie pretended to be a sole and onlie ordinary meane establisht by Christ for the powerfull expelling of diuels without the help of any other besides and that the saide meanes so obserued the spirits they shall and will vndoublie depart from the partie possessed This serueth very fitlie to discouer vnto
bodily exercise and such also as profits very little or nothing at all Notwithstanding these sillie poore soules or rather these strongly seduced sots they speake and esteeme of such superstitious fastings as of a superexcellent and the most powerfull meanes of all other to worke many wonders withall Yea and so this be in euery point performed according to the iust compasse of their idle conceit though the parties themselues haue only but a bare historicall faith which the very Diuels are endued withall yet their said exercises they are vndoubtedly of force as themselues very fondly imagine not onely to remoue any temporarie iudgement how heauie soeuer but also to obtaine any temporall blessing at the hands of God And whereunto tends this paltrie stuffe I beseech you but onely to bring the holie things of our God into publike reproch among the irreligious Atheists and godlesse crew who when they shall see them practised but only as cloakes to couer mens paltrie pretences and to nousle vp the world in their hypocriticall practises will presently grow into scorning thereof Yea and which more is seeing these cunning seducers do so stoutely beare men in hand that euen those verie outward worshippings albeit they proceede but from a bare historicall faith will worke such straunge and wonderfull things what a dangerous blow doe they offer vnto all the sound reprehensions of the Prophets Apostles and all other the seruants of God who vsed euermore very sharply to checke the people of God for their onely relying on and for resting themselus too much vpon those their externall exercises when in the meane time they neglected a true sauing faith with all other the vnfained fruits of repentance Moreouer this their idle conceit concerning the falsely supposed efficacie of sole prayer and fasting for the powerfull expelling of Diuels what doth it else I beseech you but ioy the very hearts and open the cauilling mouthes of all those our Iusticiaries and cunning Recusants who remembring very well that in all our former preachings and writings we haue hitherto very mightily impugned and flatly denied them the expected merits of those their voluntarie worships and of all other their owne workes of what nature soeuer shall yet now notwithstanding behold vs to chalenge the same to our selues yea euen vnto the very meanest of al our exercises and those also not performed by the holie directions of a sanctified knowledge but by the onely sudden fier-flash of a bare historicall faith without any warrant at al from the spirit of God And thus much for the present concerning those seuerall vses which haue a more speciall relation to Satan himselfe Philologus Very well and what are those other I pray you which more respectiuely apperâ—aine vnto men Orthodoxus They are summarilie such as respect mens seuerall cariages concerning those intricate and vnwonted occurrents which in these our former discourses are handled at large And these vses also they doe either generally appertaine to al or they are more particularly befitting some speciall persons Pneumatomachus Which doe generally appertaine to all Orthodoxus They are all those which do indefinitely belong to euerie condition of people without any respect of their persons And these vses also they are such as doe generally concerne either the seuerall points propounded at large or the parties whatsoeuer perusing those points Lycanthropus We approue of your order Begin therefore we pray you with the orderly declaration of such speciall vses as haue speciall relation to any the seuerall points propounded Orthodoxus Content First therefore in that we haue shewed at large how the vnsearchable power of God concerning especially the promised seede was not onely in his eternall counsell very certainely established before all beginnings of time but which more is the same also was correspondentlie promised and performed in time according to the predeterminate purpose of the eternall God Surely the deliberate and serious consideration hereof doth minister vnto vs a singular meditation or rather a notable document concerning the stabilitie and perpetuitie of any the sacred mysteries propounded vnto vs at large in the sacred Scriptures Wherein for the better confirmation of our faith in any other the eternall Decrees of God propounded vnto vs in his vnchangeable word we haue deepely to consider and marke what an immutable Coherence methode or order the Lord hath obserued from time to time not onely in causing to be but also in bringing to passe yea euen in the fittest seasons of all his owne vnchangeable purposes his hidden Decrees and Counsels his admirable operations and wonderfull actions how impossible soeuer in nature yea though neuer so absurd or obscure in humane reason As for example the Lord hauing in his eternall Counsell purposed before all times the manifestation of his glory by the work of his hands did in his owne appointed time correspondently accomplish the same by bringing light out of darkenesse by causing something of nothing and by producing of order from out of palpable confusion and all this by the methodicall and orderly creation of things in heauen and in earth The which worke of creation being in his owne eternall purpose before all times was in time you see very effectually performed So likewise the Lord hauing purposed from before all eternities to call out from the kingdome of confusion and darkenesse such â— selected people for the further manisfestation of his glory on earth as should in a more special manner professe his holy religion this said purpose being in his eternall Counsell determined before all times was in due time accomplished by calling forth Abraham from his owne Countrey and kindred and by raysing from out of his withered Loynes such an vnspeakable seede as should surmount in number the Starres of heauen promising them certainely the appointed Sauiour and performing the said promise to them in due time Againe the Lord hauing eternally decreed not onely to deliuer his said Church from the firie furnace of Aegypt but also to plant the same in the promised Canaan this his said purpose being before all beginning of time was correspondently accomplished foure hundred yeeres after in that he caused the said Land to cast out the Amorites and planted therein his owne inheritance So likewise the Lord hauing from before all eternities determined with himselfe to deliuer the children of Israell from that Aegyptian bondage by the mediation and ministerie of Moses hee obserued the selfesame order also therein For this his saide purpose being in himselfe from before all beginnings of time was correspondentlie accomplished at his owne appointed time And therefore accordingly as he had promised before vnto Abraham he sent Moses his seruant to accomplish the worke Both by putting into his minde when he was fortie yeeres old to visite his brethren and by confirming him also in that honorable calling fortie yeeres after partly by an admirable order of appearing vnto him and partly also by a
miraculous manner of working by him Thus then you see their said deliuerance being determined with God before all times it was accordingly promised and performed in time And as before the Law written from the very first creation the Lord obserued this method order in the orderly manifestation of any his vnchangeable ordinances so surely both at and after the giuing of the Law there was in him no shadow of chaunge concerning that selfesame vnchaungeable course For First hauing determined with himselfe before all beginnings of time to establish the Morall Law as a perpetuall rule of perfect obedience not onely he did in very fitte time make promise thereof to his people but which more is after the full expiration of foure hundred and thirtie yeeres I meane at the very appointed season it selfe he did correspondently accomplish the same Neither hath the Lord obserued such an orderly methode of working onely before and at the giuing of the Law but euer since then he hath beene altogether one and the same in the orderly accomplishment of al his actions as may plainly appeare in his orderly establishing and subuerting of the seuerall Monarkes how mightie soeuer in the seauentie yeeres captiuitie of Israell his people in the birth and death of his onely Sonne in the vniuersall establishment of his glorious Gospell in Ierusalems finall destruction in reiecting his owne people the Iewes and in bringing the Gentiles into their roomes And as in all these the precedent operations and actions so likewise in the powerfull dispossessing of Satan and in the finall determination of that his tyrannicall power of actuall possession the Lord hath carefully obserued not onely in purposing but also in promising and performing the selfesame order accordingly For as the Lord before all beginnings of time did purposely determine such a temporary iudgement as a peculiar demonstration of the Deitie of his onely Sonne and promised withall the admirable conquering of the selfesame iudgement in that promised seede which was actually to bruse the Serpents head so hath his said Sonne correspondently accomplisht the same by his death and resurrection destroying through death him that had power ouer death that is to say the Diuell Yea he hath spoyled Principalities and Powers made such a shew of them openly and so triumphed ouer them all in his Crosse as we may boldly assure our selues of the finall accomplishment of that which our Sauiour affirmeth saying Now is the iudgement of this world now is the Prince of this world cast out that is his power of actuall possession is fully and finally determined According to that his authenticall message else wherâ— vnto Herode saying Behold I cast out Diuels to day and tomorrow and the third day I shall be perfected or the third day I will make an end of that businesse The premâ—sses therefore considered there is no more reason to doubt of the finall determination of this one then of any other the eternall Decrees of God whatsoeuer For seeing the Lord not onely purposed the finall determination of Satan his power of actuall possession from before all beginnings of time but also very solemnely promised and most powerfully effected the same in that promised seede which was actually to bruise the Serpents heade who seeth not euen one and the selfesame methode and order herein obserued as in all other the forenamed purposes and determinations of our eternall God And therefore there is no more reason to denye the finall determination of this one then of any other the like purposed operations of God vnlesse we doe purposely entend to bring present confusion vpon the orderly actions of that only wise agent who accomplisheth and ordereth all things in measure in number and waight Physiologus Very true as you say And therefore let those men beware who so constantly auouch the continuance of actuall possession now in these later dayes of the world But proceede in the rest Orthodoxus Againe this doctrine of ours deciphering so plainely vnto vs all those the deceiuable notions whatsoeuer which more peculiarlie appertaine to this new-found trade of Diuillitie with the seuerall points thereof it ministreth vnto vs a notable meditation or rather a watchfull consideration concerning the very proper foundation of all those the common receiued opinions fantasies dreames or idle conceites which runne all the world ouer about the Diuels their essential assuming and transforming of bodies their pretended apparitions in this or that essentiall forme their absolute power for creating of substances their essentiall possessions their supernaturall operations with sundrie other such idle conceites These their strange imaginations concerning Spirits and Diuels if we rightlie consider the same they arise not from any the infallible truths of the Lord reuealed vnto vs in the sacred scriptures for then we might and ought boldly to imbrace them for truths how absurd soeuer in humane reason but they do rather proceede from the only imagination of mans idle braine Who hauing their cogitations darkened through the ignorance that is naturallie in them cannot possiblie be made to discerne aright of any such intricate matters Yea and they spring partly also from the corrupt customes of the world For men receiuing such vntruthes from hand to hand as it were an inueterate lie by an auncient tradition do careleslie transferre the same from themselues to their owne posteritie and the ages to come And thus forsooth an old doating custome hauing careleslie begotten many grosse and erroneous opinions concerning Spirits and Diuels the world at this present is so vniuersally besotted bewitched and possessed with these palpable fooleries as they had rather to hold a manifest lye in their very right hand then be brought from their former most fond conceites and corrupt customes to an vndoubted knowledge of the truth it selfe For howsoeuer they may haplie pretend herein the holie Religion and feare of the Lord they feare him not in deede and in truth but do serue him only after the manner of former nations yea euen vnto this day they deale in these points according to the old accustomed manner and not after the ordinances customes lawes and commaundements which the Lord commaunded the children of Iacob They runne not for a true vnderstanding of these mysticall matters to the lawe and the testimonie neither speake they at all according to this truth but euery man speaketh herein according to the blind imagination of his owne â—oolish heart and after the corrupt customes of the world itselfe because there is in them no light of truth concerning these matters And thus much in effect for those speciall vses which haue a more speciall relation to any the seuerall points propounded Lycanthropus Very well Proceede now I pray you vnto those other vses which more specially concerne the parties themselues perusing those seuerall points Orthodoxus With very good will Wherin especially we haue to consider that seeing the matters we
aside from the way they shall not onlie saue a soule and couer the multitude of sinnes but which more is they may in hauing this learning and in knowing the deepnes of Satan concerning these mysticall matters very assuredly expect with patience their happie coronation with Christ in the celestiall throne And thus much in effect for the holie vses of this doctrine whether they concerne the Lord himselfe or his creatures Lycanthropus These vses they are euery way so pertinent and so consonant to the substance of the doctrine it selfe as none but the headie and obstinate who hauing with a setled pertinacie euen secretly and finally deuoted themselues to their selfe-conceit will any waies mislike or impugne the same But what saith Exorcistes vnto them Exorcistes I neither could nor would willingly be opposite to them especially if the Doctrine it selfe from whence they are drawne were so currantly sound as Master Orthodoxus and the rest would beare me in hand Howbeit notwithstanding any thing hitherto heard I am and must still be in the selfe same opinion I was in at the first For if none in these daies be essentially possessed of Satan do tel me I pray you how we are to esteeme of such extraordinarie actions or passions as do eftsoones befall to sundrie distressed persons Orthodoxus I will simplie tell you what my owne selfe suppose them to be and how also I would haue your selfe and all others accompt of such accidents First such extraordinarie and vnwonted occurrents may eftsoones appeare and be practised by meere cousoning collusions and craftie conueiances of legerdemaine Yea and these counterfeite actions or passions may also bee broached either by the only pretended Demoniake himselfe as did the dissembling caitife who cousoned that reuerend father Master Fox without the assistance of any other besides or else such extraordinarie actions they may be effected by the ioynt assistance helpe and direction of some craftie confederate conioyned with that the aforesaid pretended Demoniake in the couert dispatch of those his counterfeit prankes Of this kinde of Demoniakes the world hath been successiuely pestered in euery age since the Primitiue Church and therefore no wonder at all though now in these daies some certaine persons should likewise depart from the faith giuing heede to spirits of error and to doctrines of Diuels Sometimes againe the pretended Demoniake may in deed and in truth be easily drawen to beleeue that he is without doubt essentially possessed of Satan when there is no such matter at all he hauing onely at vnwares to himselfe and by some paltrie Priest or cunning Impostor beene before verie grosly abused partly by Patheticall and circumuenting perswasions and partly also by some intoxicated perfume some filthie confection or potion The which bewitching sorceries doe so strangely disorder the poore Patients body his minde it selfe with all the powers and faculties concerning them both as for the present the very beholders themselues are easily perswaded with the people of Samaria to beleeue that the partie in deed is essentially possessed Yea and which more is the very Exorcist himselfe who pretendeth and vndertaketh the supposed dispossession of this newly supposed Demoniake he may also very easily beare the beholders in hand that he is vndoubtedly some mightie Magnifico in this new-found trade of Diuillitie and make them thus to crie out frō the least to the most Doubtlesse this man is the great power of God Of this kind of Demoniakes as also of that the intoxicated potion it selfe the Iesuiticall Exorcists in their Exorcising pamphlets they affoord vs sundry examples Thirdly these extraordinarie and vnwonted occurrents they may and doe also eftsoones arise from meere naturall causes namely from Mania from Melancholy from Lunacy from Furie from the Phrensie from the Epilepsie from the Mother from Conuulsions obstructions and sundry such other vnnaturall accidents as we haue eftsoones declared in our former discourses By the vnwontednes and efficacie of which vnnaturall infirmities the minde it selfe being mightily disordered before by meanes of the Phantasie doth easily resolue that some extraordinarie operations of Satan doe mightilie distemper his natural constitution and strangely afflict the same in euery part Of this kind of extraordinarie actions or passions very many but lately departed this life and many yet liuing haue oftentimes had an experience yea and the best vse you may possibly make of all those your eight supposed Demoniakes more especially of your newly pretended Patients sprong vp in Cheshire of late is only this Namely that the excesse of melancholy or some other disordered humour did for the present disorder their bodies according to the approued iudgement of learned Physitions concerning especially the boye at Northwitch Lastly the Diuell being alwaies desirous to worke among the deare children of God the greatest disturbance that may be and finding withall some such lewd disposed person as is naturally enclined to all manner of knaueries he taketh the oportunitie of so fit a subiect and worketh so cunningly vpon the corruption of that lewd persons nature as the partie himselfe is easily brought to beleeue and to beare others also in hand that he is in deede and in truth essentially possessed of Satan Yea and which more is the said vngratious body partly for gaine partly for glory and partly also in an affected desire to be deemed terrible to others about him he doth from thence forth very willingly endeuour himselfe to speake and to act some such strange and vnwonted acts as the like were neuer espied in him before By which his villanous practises the silly beholders surprised before with an inueterate opinion of Demoniacall possessions are easily brought to intertaine for infallible truth that the partie is in deed essentiallie possessed with some Spirit or Diuell Of this kinde of Demoniakes we haue often experience in euery age and the cousoning of good Master Foxe doth plainely confirme By the premisses then you may plainely perceiue that the supposed strange actions or passions in any such falslie pretended Demoniakes they may and are also eftsoones effected without any supernaturall power of a Diuell and therefore you neede not so easilie be ledde to conceiue of those matters in such sort as you doe but ought rather to examine the causes themselues with the sundrie occasions and seuerall circumstances of persons of times and of places with other occurrents that thereby you may more soundly be able to determine thereof Lycanthropus Surely sir these Cautions and considerations being duely obserued there could not possibly be such contrarietie of opinions concerning these matters as now are rashly broached abroad to the intolerable disturbance of the Peace of the Church But what saith Exorcistes to all these matters Exorcistes I say and hold as before that there are essentiall possessions of Spirits and Diuels in these daies of the Gospell and that sole prayer and fasting is a perpetuall ordinance established by Christ for the powerfull expelling of Spirits