as to say Ezekiel was rapt in his spirit from Babel to Ierusalem it might be in spirit or in body The Hebrew Doctours hold in their remote Theologie that the Angels make oblation to God of the soules of his Saints who become dead by way of this abstraction alleadging for it this passage of the 116. Psalme Speciosa in conspectu Dominimors sanctorum suorum Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints but to denie that transportation which is both in body and spirit were to denie the Scripture Eliah Enoch Abacucke were transported and in the Euangelists our Sauiour corporally transported by Satan to the pinacle of the Temple and after vpon a mountaine The best Theologes hold that Habacucke was indeed soule and bodie transported and so Saint Philip the Apostle whereupon Thomas Aquinas reasoneth thus If it bee possible in one it is also possible in moe and in like maner both he and Durand Herne S. Bonauenture do make this argument If Satan can abstract the spirit from the body much more can he transport both because the separation is more miraculous of the two and is next vnto the veritie of Gods word the strongest argument we haue for the immortality of the soule and an argument subiected to reason For saith Aristotle in his ninth booke De Animalibus if the soule can doe any thing without the body then it should be immortall alwayes this Aphairisis Exstasis or ablation of the soule is a thing most vndoubtable the Scripture approueth it in diuers places specially in the persons of Saint P. aul and Saint Iohn the greatest Philosophers haue acknowledged it Plato and Socrates did call the bodie Antrum animae the cauerne of the soule the chiefest Sorcerers who know it by experience haue acknowledged it Zoreaster did call the body the sepulchre of the spirit and the great Orpheus did call it the prison of the soule and to reason euen naturally we see that locall motion can be some times without touching of bodies but onely by vertue of the agent as the sea is mooued by the moone which is distant from it more then 50000. Leagues and the Iron is drawen to mooue by Magnes or the Loadstone without any touching which being so in things so insensible and Inanimal as Iron much more it may be in things not onely animal but who haue their greatest force and vigour in that locall abstraction as our soules be most Galliard when they be most remote from the body And for this point of Satans power to transport I say that while that Cherubin which moues the eight Spheare wherein there fixed stars doth role it Millions of miles in one houre what matter is there of admiration if Satan can transport a body some few miles vpon the earth Lastly there is the commerce or copulation of good and bad spirits with men and women and whether it be really locally or per exstaâ—…n experience doth commonly teach vs that sundry things which we may call spirituall because they are inuisible and intouchable doe take really possession of our bodies as the passion of loue which entering by the subtile spirits of the eyes doth wound the heart corrupt the blood weaken the vitall faculties and sometimes spoyle the life yea the vehemencie of loue towards God hath oftentimes hereby wrought as much in his best Saints Againe the plague of pestilence and such cotagious things doe enter in a mans body in a spirituall sort to possesse it The Scripture doth testifie this reall and locall copulation of good spirits with good men our bodies are said to be the Temples of the holy Ghost Our Sauiour hath said that the father and he would dwell in him who obey his will The Prophet Ezekiel speaking of his vocation by God to preach to the Iewes I fell downe said he vpon my face and the spirit which entered in me did raise me vp and set me on foote In like sort of euill spirits the euill spirit of the Lord is said to enter into Saul really and the spirit of Satan into Iudas and our Sauiour did eiect diuers reall and sensible deuils because their voyces were heard The oddes and distinction of these in my opinion is this the good spirits hath more celestiall and subtile bodies and so their possession of men and copulation with them being more spirituall then others It is also more perceiued by the actions of our spirit then by any change of our bodies whereas Demones as Saint August in his tenth Booke De ciuitate Det Thomas Aquinus in Summa 2. Questi 95. Origen in his booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe affirme that they be meere corporall so that Arist. Plato and diuers Philosophers who diuided them in aereall terrestriall and subterrestriall spirits they hold that the two inferiour species of them be in some sort grosse and elementarie more remoued from the celestiall intelligences of the supreme world and therefore giuen to a wicked commerse with men and women by all sorts of deceitfull and impious suggestions whose copulations are both bodily palpable and visible possessing the bodies specially of women as grosse filthy and contagious vapours breeding inflamation visible in the hearts and breasts mouing swelling and dumbenesse in the tongue depriuing the organicke faculties of hearing seeing and such like as daily experience doth teach Neither let any man imagine the carnall copulation of the euil spirits with women to be a thing extaticke or fantasticke that enemie spirit of whom the Prophet saith Ad conterendum erit cor eius ad internecionem gentium non paucarum whose heart shall bee bent for the ouerthrow and destruction of many nations and people hee delighteth to defile or extinguish the seed of man euen in the mothers wombe so farre that the profound naturallist Paracelsus affirmeth that those grosse and vncleane spirits of deuils doe mixe themselues with humane feed where it is lost by naturall weakenesse or nocturnall dreames that they doe cooperate with it to produce thereby those succumbent or incumbent spirits deuils which are found chiefly in the moystie and Northen Regions To which abomination it seemeth the lawe of God hath some relation where it is said that all these who should couple themselues with the deuill Peor should perish wickedly and who will marke these places in Exod. Leuit. Deut. Where sorcerie and brutall Paliardise or luxurie is forbidden will find vncouth and vnknown villanies couertly touched as there where it is said you shall not present to God the wages of a harlot nor the price of a dogge and againe where God doth say you shall no more sacrifice vnto those Buckes and Satyrs after whom you went a whoring which I doe not heere introduce impertinently nor curiously but that wee may learne to reuerence whatsoeuer meanes the Lord hath appointed for vs to withstand the malice of Satan which is so dangerous for two respects First because of his craft and skilfulnesse who
the Iesuite for a testimony wherof of my most humble and loyall affection to the seruice of his Maiesty and of the common-weale I had the good lucke to haue a hand in the comming of Monfieur 〈◊〉 to his Maiesties seruice where hee dyed Which being so I must haue about with you who haue so liberally calumniated mee I would to God that you your selfe could in these errands prooue adeo potens aduersus Pecuniam that you may keepe your owne hands as free from Spanish Papall or Iesuiticall gold I would to God you knew as well as I doe what it is to conuerse with a Iesuit and to be defiled with his serpentine breath Seeing there is no Iesuite liuing doth not in his heart approue that Diabolical plot machination of the Powder Treason what do you thinke of your selues who are their Disciples who receiue them in your houses and hearken vnto their insinuations are you not a thousand to one a more dangerous Citizen here then Cataline was at Rome who was declared hostis Patriae because hee did practise the change of a ciuill state you practise first against the person and life of our Soueraigne Prince next against the stability of his royall Succession and Crowne thirdly against the peace felicitie of your countrie Fourthly against the famous antiquitie and naturall liberties of the same Fiftlie against the good of euerie particular Subiect of his Maiesties who is not of your lawlesse league Lastlie you practise to remooue the Candlesticke of the word of God and to erect in the place therof the darknesse of superstition striuing to deliuer vs all both Prince Subiects and Country slaues to the Gallies of Papall pride These are your practises who do frequent the Iesuist in regard wherof what stile shall I giue you are you not indeed the chaffe among the corn the noisome cockle among the wheat the cankering vermin among the hearbs the filthie weeds among flowers the moth among roabs a coale in your Princes bosome a gnawing worme in the bowels of this Kingdom a contagious member of the Common-wealth a theefe in the house a fearefull Sanguisuga thirsting after the natiue bloold of your owne Country-men because you haue drunken of that burning and deadlie poison of the Iesuiticall wormewood which is neuer quenched but with the bloud of Legions The Lord God of his infinit goodnesse inspire in you the liuely aire of his holy Spirit to purge your hearts from these pestiferous humors once open your eies to behold the splendent light so much contemned by you that you may see your owne perils and the perillous condition of Christs Church That your soules may at last languish for a generall restitution of ancient primitiue simplicitie that you may reuerence all the meanes which lead thereunto To the effect that by our mutuall honoring of Antiquitie we may also be honoured of our Successors and said of them to bee a happie age of Christian Reformation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eze. chap. 4. Apoc. 2. Num. 19. 2. Tim. 2 Aug. de Trinit lib. 4. cap. 6. Math. 4. Iohn 6. Psam 106. Exod 25. Nomb. 20. 1. Cor. 10. Eze. 36. Isai 24. Isai 55. Iohn 35. Rom. 3. Isa. 35. Psal. 73. Psal. 74. Zach. 1. Iohn 2. Galat 2. Psal. 57. Deut. 32. Ezech 13. Deu. 32. Eze. 13. Gen 49. Zach. 10. Ierem. 5 Gen 49. Eccles. 28. Ierem. 49. Rhen. 16. 1. Peter 2. 1. Peter 5. Gal. 3. Acts 7. Sap. 1. Iohn 2. Ephes. 1. The Apologie of the Asse Math â—…1 Rom 3. Psal. 51. Isay 1. Ierem. 10. Cant. 4. Isai. 6. 1. Thes. 2. The Light of nature 1. Institu cap. 1. Rom. 1. Psol 4. A discourse of three Lawes Rom. 1. 10. Exod. 10. Isai 5. Definition of Idolatrie Isai. 41. 1 Sam 15. Coloss 3. Isa. 2. Orat. 2. de Theolâ—… Isai 9. Isai. 〈◊〉 The true end of Miracles Psalm 17. Acts 3. 1 Cor. 12. Regum 4. Iohn 15. 10. Iohn 5. Ierem. 23. Matth. 24. Matth. 7. Acts 8. 1 Cor. 14. Acts 5. 1 Cor. 1. 2 Thes. 2. Apoc. 13. Dan. 11. 2. Thes. 2. The Manners of Rome Dan. 11. Iohn 1. 2. Ezech. 16. Iud. Num. 12. Mat. 20. Galat. 2. Gen. 11. Zach. 6. Luk. 1. 2 Cor. 12. Iudg. 4. 2 Reg. 21. Gen. 27. Luk. 10. Ierome 96. Ioel 1 Isa 3 Matth 12 Iudg. 5. Dan. 12. Timoth. 1. Math. 18. Luk. 22. Matth. 26. Dan. Authoritie of Princes among the Iewes Deu. 16. Deu. 17. 2 Paral. 19. Deu. 19. 1 Par. 26. 1 Par. 28. Isa. 1. Eccle. 52. In oratione contr an Iustin. Nouell Constit. 123. Esa. 45. Apoc. 2. â—…st contre 3. lib. 5. cap. 6. Bernard lib. 1. de conse Doctrine of the Romane Churches for Princes l. b. 2. cap. 8. Psal. 13. Psal. 90. Hose 7. Ierem. 5. Ezek. 39. Apo. 21. Esa. 62. Psal. 36. Psal. 68. Hos. 1. Esa. 1. Ezek. 8 Ezech. 16. Expostuâ—…t for Christian discords 1. Timoth. 1. 1. Corinth 8. Apoc. 21. Numh. 19. Leuit. 10. 1. Tim. 2. Psalm 48. Baruâ—…â—…lt The reformation of Ierusalem done by ordinary Magistrates Of extraordinary Pretenders in the Church Matth. 7. Reformation of Christian Churches Beza de minist Euang. 18. 21. Distinct of diuine Institut August de bap contra Donat lib. 4. cap. 24. Concil Niâ—… cap. 6. Concil Ephes. post aduent Episcopi Cypri Isa 8. Hos 12. Iob. 9. Ierem. 9. Esa. 1. Matth. 19. Esay 9. Apoc. 5. Tertul. contra Marcion li. 4. Acts 19. 28. 1. Cor. 9. Of Episcopall Gouernment Iâ—…si lib 4. cap 6. Lib. 4. Epist. 9. 1. Cor. 12. Ephes. 18. 4. Lib. 3. Epist. 9. Cyprian lib. 4. epist. 9. Acts 6. Christi anno 45. li. 3. Ireneus li. 3. Ierom. lib. 14. 6. Li. 2. cap. 24. Proâ—…m in Mat. li. 2. ca. 19. Euseb. li. 7. 19. Euse b. li. â—…sto 3 4. 5. 6. 7. Amb. in Gallat Concilium Nicens cap. 8. Hist. confess August per Chytr Hist. confess August pa. 389. Lâ—…ci com in epist. ad Timâ—…th Titum What ought to be the temperate gouernment of Bishops Epistela ad Trallianâ—…s Psal. 18. Hos. 4. Eccles. 31. Esay 37 Eccles. 24. De anima lib. 2. sensus disciplina bilis De arte poetica Cicer. de leg 2. Bucer in Psa. 33. Aug. lib. 5. contra Iulian. Conf Ecclesiast Politic 5. booke 38. Section Bucer in Plal. 33 Basil in Psa. 48. Luk. 2. 13. Mat. 26. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret de prouidentia lib. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isai. 6. 3. Apoc. 4 8. Apoc. 15. 2. Arist Metaph 4. Isa 20. Isa. 12. Ierem. 50. Ezech. 9. Gen. 49. Of Clericall vestiments Apoc 18. 19. Ezech 16. Eccles 9. Psal 67. Eccl 44. ibid. ibid. Eccl 45. 1. Kings 16. Eccles. 45. Exod. 2. Exod. 3. Exod. 6. 7. Polyd. virg lib. 8. Numb 17. 1. Sam. 8.
A VISION OF BALAAMS ASSE VVHEREIN HEE did perfectly see the present estate of the Church of ROME Written by PETER HAY Gentleman of North-Britaine for the reformation of his Countrymen SPECIALLY OF THAT TRVLY Noble and sincere Lord FRANCIS Earle of ERROL Lord HAY and great Constable of SCOTLAND Ioan 8. 32. The truth shall make you free LONDON Printed for IOHN BILL Cum Priuilegio 1616. TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAIESTIE MOst Gracious and most sacred Soueraigne It is not without diuers reasons that I haue not boldly made a Dedication to your Maiestie of this Treatise put foorth for the good of your Maiesties subiects and hauing so much neede to be strongly armed now while as like vnto a weake Barke vpon a raging sea it entereth on the Theater of the World to speake of the peace and vnion of the holy Sanctuary amidst so many furious Giants of contradiction as are now in the Church of God This heauenly voice of Christian harmony hath neuer bin heard but followed with a malignant Echo of proud and vehement Spirits qui pascuntur syllogismo sicut boues feno who delight to feed vpon Disputes as Oxen on hay in such a desperate Paroxisme that they will not lose the reputation of one crooked syllogisme for the peace of whole Christendome yet the world doth neuer want some Phaenix who is content to burne her earthly fame to ashes in that pure fire of Christian loue to bring foorth some seedes of peace So that I do expect no other but to heare my cries contumeliouslie re-echoed that my conceptions of the reconciliation of Rome shal be esteemed not only Paradoxall but smelling of atheisme and that my proiects for perfect vnitie in matter of Ecclesiasticall policie and ceremonies within your Maiesties kingdomes shal be said to be a craftie and cunning preparation for superstition to re-enter into the Church of which vnchristian oblatration the first alarmes haue been sounded in my eares so hardly while my Copie was newly deliuered to the presse that I would haue retired it if I had bin one of those who liue in the aire of popular applause as in their naturall element who like to Narcissus will rather die for loue of their owne image then suffer one blow for so noble a common cause But when I consider how many odious calumnies our Sauiour and his Apostles did suffer for plantation of this peace of the Gospell I hold it a mans truest commendation and comfort if for the sake of the same he may say with S. Paul to the Corinthians that he fought with beasts in the maner of men Seldome is it indeed that goodnes is made the scope of our actions and in this corrupt age this vpright vertue of pacification hath neuer bin seen vpon the stage but waited with an infortunate Genius wee may witnesse those sweete ingines of Cassander of Erasme of Iunius of Paraeus of Causabone and other Pacificators And certainely I thinke it is a sillie vertue that for so braue an end cannot in the conscience of an honest deed with a sterne countenance out-face a guiltie Calumniator for such a Treatise as this can neuer be altogether fruitlesse if it were but to giue aire enough for discouering and venting of malicious humors that lurke in ill affected men And howsoeuer the matter shall worke two things did mightily encourage me first knowing that vnder the godly and gracious Reigne of your Maiestie in whose eares Moderation and Wisedome do constantly dwell an Aristides will be permitted to breath freely without feare of Ostracisme or banishment Next the priuate testimonies which I haue had of the presence of Gods holy Spirit to informe and to confirme my conscience whiles I did labour about these do giue me great hope that they shall haue sufficient auctoritie with good men to purge me from these vglie and odious aspersions And therefore for the first I did rather chuse to betake my selfe to the candor and nobility of my cause to the patience of those benigne and blessed Spirits who haue mooued before me this diuine argument de amahili Ecclesiaconcordia then presumptuously to thrust in your Maiesties bosome my hazardous endeauours the chiesest protection whereof must be to be acceptable of God whiles they are vngracious to men Alurements to Chatholike pacification Inducements to absolute vnitie within the Church of this I le Defence of the Orthodoxall policy of the Church gouernment Apologie of the most lawfull authoritie of my soueraigne Prince Perswasions to so worthy and so deare a Nobleman to vendicate himselfe from the bondage of Idolatry and such like sacred theames as be treated heere are able to preserue my reputation from blemish or suspition vnlesse that Archiecalumniator the Iesuite doe edge his bloody pen against me who seeing hee doth not spare to bend his murthering tongue against your Maiestie who is the Mirror and Miracle of the world his malediction or malscription can procure nothing but glory to such as I am The second reason of my non dedication to your Maiesty is that although it be ingens materia superba inscriptio a most stately and glorious subiect to write of Christian harmony yet it commeth in my hands as an excellent Lute to vnskilfull fingers in which respect I knew my paines to be vnworthy of your Maiesty as also by reason of my base and humble stile which flieth low inter aues palustres and is not composed of those Aquiline penns which can soare neer vnto the Sunne Thirdly I did not wish that any peintured dedication to your Maiesty should hide the true face of my labours and make that to be esteened mercenary which is most sincere Fourthly the whole treatise it selfe is no other then a sacrifice of my deuotion to your Maiesties seruice consisting of the most cleane and costly peeces that I could chuse to offer all tending to perswade your Maiesties people that the prosperity of the Church and the felicity of this kingdome haue no sure fundament now but such a firme coniunction as doth reserue no sparkle color nor pretext of seperation hereafter If that Great King out of the conscience of his Tyrannie and proud ambition did say in his time that he was none of his who did not fauour the Monarch asmuch as Alexander how much more need haue Princes now adaies that we should all insinuate vrge write preach and crie that he is not an vpright Subiect who doth not loue both the Royall person and the Royall Maiestie in these dangerous times while as a spirituall ambition hath so poysoned the soules of men by this Chymique Theologie of the Iesuite who presumeth as it were to Metamorphose nature and superinduce a new face vpon the World spiritualising the grounds of State and temporalising the condition of Religion making Popes absolute ouer Monarches and vsing Kings like to the Shepheards dogs who are beaten and chased away when they are not vigilant and barking to his pleasure that it is to
be as he is which none doe denie creatour of all men master and monarke of all the World the World then must be one familie one City one kingdome of God no earthly Prince will willingly haue diuers Lawes in one kingdome then shall we thinke that God who is wiser then men and wisedome it selfe would giue seuerall lawes for the word no sure enough all those three be but one Law the light whereof doth shine into the conscience of the Iew and Gentile Turke and Pagan Philosopher and of the stupide multitude signatum est super omnes lumen vultus Domini whereupon it must follow that this light is inextinguishable it is that which we call our neuer dying conscience when a man doth apprehend the knowledge of any thing by the vertue of his intellectuall minde it is science and he is said Scire to haue knowledge the conscience againe is the right application and imployment of this knowledge it is a medium a midst betwixt God and man and the rule whereby we know if any thing be in the counsels of our mind or actions of our will contrary to this naturall light and diuine instinct of reason which God hath placed in our hearts like a cleere lampe to illuminate our intellectuall spirit that it might see and discerne right from wrong and truth from falsehood which is a thing so manifest that the Ethnicke Philosophers and the word of God doe iump vpon it The naturallitie of Cicero and the Theologie of Saint Paul concurre to proue it almost in the same termes Cicero in the third Tusculan Question writing to Brutus sunt enim ingenijs nostris semina innata virtutum quae si adolescere liceret neque illa celeriter malis moribus opinionibusque deprauatis extingueremus ipsa nos natura ad beatam vitam perduceret And the Apostle Paul writing also to the Romanes Quū Gentes quae legem non habent naturaliter ca quae legis sunt faciunt eiusmodi legem non habentes ipsi sibi sunt Lex qui ostendunt opus legis scriptum in cordibus suis It is so plaine for the light of nature excepting alwaies the last clause of Cicero concerning beatitude as if Paul Cicero had conferred vpon it which ground for the first being set down in truth as your Lo sees I craue that you will be content to examine all the points of this Treatise by the touchstone of the diuine light instinct of your conscience where your Lo finde those which as is said are inspirations from heauen contradictory to your opinions that in that case you will suffer your conscience to be directed by this light which God hath giuē you to guide it by that your Lo wil forbeare your pretence of deuote ignorance implicita fides things that do meerely extinguish this light of nature if it please you to do so not to smother vnder a bushel this cleere candle which God hath illuminate in your heart there is no doubt but as Cicero saith that same Natura Dux the very light of Nature which hath a Diuine stampe in your conscience shall shew you an outgate from the childish Labyrinths of superstition that doe inuolue your Lo for if any should say to me seeing there is such power in the instinct of naturall reason flowing from this diuine light how is it that so many millions of those who be indued with the same are induced to idolatrie I can giue no other answere then the wise man hath giuen stultorum infinitus numerus est the number of fooles and those who are mistaken in their owne light is infinite Now I will take my first aduantage of this ground to appeale to the diuine light of your Lo conscience how you do iudge of that which already from so many Texts of Scripture I haue spoken touching the plainenesse and perfection of Gods word since on the one part the spirit of God doth testifie that it is eternall incorruptible and inspired from Heauen able to make the man of God perfect and on the other part this intellectual light of nature seruing as eyes to receiue in our conscience the brightnesse of this word it is so powerfull that very Gentiles haue cleerely knowne it and seeing it is sufficient to conuict the conscience of Turkes and Pagans of contempt and ignorance of this word I aske your Lo how shall it be with vs who beside the hauing of this light haue beene brought vp in Christian Religion haue beene taught Gods word can reade it in seuerall languages and vnderstand it when we shall refuse to beleeue for our faith this word preached in puritie when we shall hold it insufficient for our Saluation embracing in place thereof what an implicita fides an implicite faith the colliers beliefe and what is that I beleeue with the Church and how beleeues shee she doth beleeue with the collier is not this ambulare in circuitu impij as the Scripture saith to walke in the about-gates of the wicked well let vs remember how it shall be worse in that day with Corazim and Bethsaida then with Sodom because they had greater light and did despice it They say ignorance is the mother of Deuotion And the Apostle saith Qui ignorat ignorabitur if ignorance cannot excuse a Turke because of that light of Gods face which is stamped in his heart let any man tell me what it can auaile a Christian to bragge of his deuout ignorance affected ignorance is neuer a whit better then knowledge without beliefe or well doing Let vs heere the Prophet Isay my people is carried captiue because they had no knowledge neither is now a daies any other reason of idolatrous captiuitie then this pretended holy ignorance so that for a Christian man to glorie in it it is to become sicut equus mulus quibus non est intellectus Therefore let your Lo remember you are sealed with this Lumen vultus Dei and that he hath blessed you with knowledge to vnderstand that the holy Scriptures are a perfect and neuer perishing word The second ground I would haue your Lo to condescend vpon with me for preparation of your more indifferent iudgement is a certaine definition of idolatrie which may content your Lo and me both to the end we may the better reason of idolatrous worship For as concerning abuse in religion and impietie in manners they be triuiall points that there can be no mysterie in a suruey of the same Idolon is a Greeke word which literally signifieth as much as a litle Forme or Figure formed or figured but taken as it is spoken in Christian Shooles and according to the best Doctors it is a representation of a false God and a false Deitie or a Creature taken and honoured for God As to say the Statue of Moloch of Iupiter the Sunne or Moone the Hebrew word Elil as I read haue very right this same signification of Idol and is vsed in holy
Scripture to signifie the Pagan gods which were things false and so nothing Esay saith of the gods of the Gentiles Behold you are nothing and your workes are of no worth Vnto the which Saint Paul alluding Wee know said he that an Idol is nothing in the world because howsoeuer it bee made of mettall timber or stone yet because the falshood which it representeth is nothing it is said to be nothing Now so ielous is God of his honour and worship That hee hath not only forbidden materiall images to bow down to them but there is also spirituall Idolatry forbidden whereof there is two sorts The first is of these who directly or indirectly haue society and company with the Diuell and trust in him as Sorterers Magitians Witches Consulters The second is of those who mainetaine any erronious opinion concerning the worship of God or against the word of God or who doe cherish and defend any great and odious vice by a displayed banner against God as the Prophet Samuel speaking of the disobedience of Saul Your rebellion saith he is the sinne of Witchcraft and your trangression Idolatry the reason is because hee who doth obey God after his own fantacie and not after Gods expresse Commandement he doth prefer his own conceipt and make an Idol thereof as Saint Ierome in this same sense shewes how there was oftentimes Idolatry among the Iewes when they had no materiall Idoles as the Gentiles saith he worship corporall Idoles so the Iewes hold for gods those Idoles which they haue forged in their soules and therefore they are Pagans and Idolaters Saint Austen expounding the meaning of Iosua when he exhorted the Iewes newly entred in Palestina to put away their strange gods It is not to be thought that in this time the Iewes had any Pagan god said hee because immediatly before he did praise their obedience neither is it to bee thought that hee spake these wordes without cause so it was said he that the holy Prophet vnderstanding them to haue in their hearts erroneous opinions of God contrarie to his honour hee desired them to leaue them Saint Paul doth cleerely testifie that the auaricious man and the glutton be Idolaters the one of his gold the other of his belly Quorum Deus venter est Many were among the Phylosophers whose wisdome did neuer suffer them to worship Creatures as Idoles yet were they spirituall Idolaters by denying of the Resurrection and of the immortality of the Soule in that true eternity which God hath appointed for it The Iewes and Turkes this day doe not worship any materiall Idol yea they worship the same God whom we doe yet they are Idolaters because they doe not acknowledge him as he is a Diuine Essence distinguished in three persons but after a fantasie deuised by Mahomet here and there be the Cabbalists of whom and of of all such Saint Basil saith Cursed be the men who forge false imaginatione in their owne braines and carry spirituall Idolatrie in their hearts And Gregorie Nazianzene more plainely How is it come saith hee euen to this that euery wicked man doth make a God of his wickednesse his filthy passions his wrath his murthers his lust and drunkennesse and other abominable excesse And Saint Ierome writing vpon Isay and Hosea in diuers places and Augustine in the City of God doth reckon monstrons numbers of false gods whom poore Gentility had forged to themselues aswell in their fantasies as in their Temples both which sorts of Iolatrie God hath very well forseene and very strictly forbidden by his precept of no grauen image in heauen aboue nor in the earth beneath wherein no doubt by the heauen are meant not onely the Planeticall bodies but imaginations of Angelicall figures to be counted of vs for gods and all intellectuall phantasies and falsehoods contriued by humane braine in matters of Gods worship that they shall haue no place in our mindes which point your Lo sees how cleare it is It being so then that the poore blinded Pagans who are strangers to doctrine of holy Scripture and kept backe from it by the lawes of Tyrants they are thus conuicted by the Doctors of the Church not onely for materiall Idolatrie but euen for spirituall through the excesse of euery predominant vice or erroneous phantasie which did transport them and that Saint Augustine introduces Iosua as we haue heard exhorting the Iewes to quit their Idolatry of wrongfull opinions I wil in like manner appeale to the diuine light of your Lo conscience how vigilant you thinke a good Christian must be about the points of Gods worship or what warrant there is this description of Idolatry admitted first to erect and maintain such number of images in the Popish Church Secondly what warrant to equall with God the power of the blessed Virgin And lastly and aboue all what warrant presumptuously to affirme that any elementarie thing is really the person of God himselfe I vnderstand that from such grounds as bee in the Romane Church your Lo will giue pretended reason enough but that is contrary to my protestation whereby I haue tyed your Lo. to that which the Diuine instinct of your conscience doth say to you in fauours of the meanest of those superstitions as for the last two of them I need not insist much because I thinke they bee extra controuersiam Idolatries But vnderstanding well how your Lordshippe will holde for the Images by reason of the good meaning and vse which is had of them and from the common ground ab abusu ad non vsum non est argumentum Certainely such fearefull abuses haue I seene which make me to say alas wee doe not remember what a peremptorie terrible and Iealous God hee is in the whole order and in the smallest circumstances of his worship he hath said hee is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and no other will content him Let vs exhauste our whole meanes let vs distill our braines from neuer so good a meaning to worship him if our doing goe not with his owne rule it is hatefull abomination in his eyes and chiefly where any thing is added or altered to the substance and Essence of Gods word giuen out by himselfe it is Idolatry and which is more in the highest degree whereof that one instance of King Saul his disobedience might suffice for a thousand examples who could haue doubted of his extraordinary good meaning in sparing the fat beastes to sacrifice vnto the Lord more who would not haue imagined it should approue his thankefulnesse towards God and yet the Prophet Samuel called it the sinne of Witchcrafte which is Idolatry in the Superlatiue degree and for it had denounced the renting and transferring of his kingdome why because the Lord who knowes the heart of man he did see that Saul by his addition to his Commandement did preferre his owne inuention thereunto hunting thereby after a reputation of zeale in Gods seruice and so honour
to himselfe God lookes to the sinceritie of our spirit to see that no arrogancie be there nor no discrepance from his holy will in matters of his worship how many times did he cast off his people Israel because of their presumptuous confidence in religious Ceremonies in false and Pharisaicall workes because of their lippe-labour and externall shew of pietie saying their heart was farre from him and that he was caried with their tedious and lothsome sacrifices Sisteterint Moses Samuel coram me non est anima mea ad populum istum Euen the best earthly Princes are jealous of their Maiestie but this God of Maiestie he is a consuming fire of jelousie in points of his worship he pronounced Sauls reprobation and ouerthrowe by Samuel for that which appeared to man a light transgression because it was a point of his Maiestie and honour but by the Prophet Nathan hee easily pardoned Dauid for his adulterie and murther which seemed in humane eyes most hainous wickednes because they were not points of his worship but sinnes of weakenesse next he looked to both their hearts in the heart of Dauid it was fleshly corruption which made him to fall in the heart of Saul it was the pride of spirituall Idolatry adding to Gods worship thinking himselfe wiser then God and saying to the Prophet he had obeyed God as it is said in the Church of Rome that worshipping of Images is a point of Gods honour while as it is directly contrary to his Commandement Let all the world tremble at that strict dealing of the Lord with his good seruant Moses in a point of his Commandement at the waters of Contradiction were the Israelites did grudge God said to Moses and Aaron that they should take vp the Rodde and speake to the Rocke of Rephidim and it should yeeld waters loquimini ad Petra◅ because he did strike the Rocke and did not vtter his speaches confidently to Gods meaning saying distrustfully behold rebellious if we may bring water out of this rocke man would imagine that there was but a Peccadiglio a small fault or none at all yet the Lord did not onely impute it for disobedience because thou hast not honoured me before my people said hee but he did punish it in most rigorous manner in mans eies yet iustly hee let him not enioy the fruits of his long paines in the wildernesse preuenting him by death saying for this thou shalt neuer enter into the land considering then that precise Commandement in speciall Thou shalt make no kind of Image in heauen nor earth nor in the waters considering secondly the stricktnesse of Gods word and will in generall wherein Qui cadit in syllaba cadit in t◅to And considering thirdly the greatnesse of his Ielousie what a furious audacity is it that we should sport with God so manifestly to preuaricate in his worship by so many Idoles and strange inuocations by twenty Aue Maries for one Pater noster auowedly repugnant to his precept presuming to excuse it with a good meaning and with I know not what distinctions of Dulia and Latria as if God himselfe could not haue put downe the distinction Certainely I thinke not onely Moses but euen Saul had better excuses for his fault it is no distinction will serue the turne The Lord he is a jelous God and strict in the point of his worshippe They are not founded vpon the Chimeraes of our head but vpon his holy will and who so pleaseth to bee homely with it shall receiue the same doome of Samuel pronounced against Saul that his sinne is a sinne of Witchcraft The most profound Doctor and best versed thac euer hath beene in Gods Law was the Prophet Dauid who speaking in his first Psalme of the iust man sed in lege Domini est voluntas eius whose delight saith he and will is the Law of God which words are obserued to haue a good importance of knowledge noting this much that we must not wry Gods Law to our fancies though it seeme neuer so holy and deuoute nor to our interpretation our will or our delight no but wee must conforme our will and delight to bee in it The Law saies sit irreprehensibilis Episcopus And must we make our owne glose to say it is a Counsell and not a Commande The Law saies Qui viderit mulierem ad concupiscendam eam iam maechatus est in corde shall we interpret that it is spoken to Married persons The Law saies Omnis anima subdita sit superioribus potestatibus shall we glose it to be so long as they gouerne vertuously The Lawe saies absolutely thou shalt haue no kind of image to bow downe to it Shall wee forge an exposition with our friuolous distinctions as if God did sophisticate with vs in the directions of his owne worship truely by this sort of doing Lex est in tua voluntate non autem tua voluntas in Lege The Lawe of of God is in your will and not your will in the Lawe therefore Dauid himselfe did not onely presse to keepe the Law but kept in his heart also Gods own pure meaning in the Law In corde meo absc◅ndi eloquia tua He not only obeyed the Law but he obeyed it by the right way of obedience Uiam mandatorum tuorū cucurri For who knowes not this to be true quod iniustus potest facere iusta sed non iuste that an vniust man may doe a iust act but not iustly Therefore wee must not only obserue Gods precepts according to his owne word precisely but which is more we must doe it as Saint Paul saith Ex corde puro conscientia non ficta for this is to doe iust things iustly facere secundum substantiam ◅erum secundum intentionem Legis latoris to doe the substance expressely of that which is commanded and to doe it after the manner and meaning of him who did command it Out of these it did appeare by the diuine light of reason that the worshipping of images in ◅e Popish Church must bee indeede Idolatry regar◅ed chiefelie as they are which I will shortly tell your Lordshippe All the while I was in France my minde was busied in taking pleasure in those exteriour shewes so gracious to my senses and neuer seene of me before that I tooke no leasure to lift vp the vaile which was so delicatly painted that I might see what poysoned and deadly hookes lay hidden vnder such pleasant baites reseruing my chiefe curiositie to haue her contentment in the famous Citie of Rome a place most proper for true discouery and chiefest Theater of the world for knowledge of things from the which no mysterie can remaine vnseene of one who hath ingine and dexterity to explore it For agitation of great Counsels it is like the Primum Mobile which in his Motu rapto carries with him the inferiour orbes so it is the maine spheare that ◅es many States in Christendome that beside their owne naturall
that to doe miracles it is gratia gratis data a grace freely granted of God as is the gift of Prophesie according to Saint Paul and as the Saints by their praiers haue entreated God to grant them the reall gift of Prophesie so no doubt the faith and praiers of the Saints haue obtained from God for the good of his owne people to bee instruments and workers of Miracles and as the gift of Prophesie was not a constant and habituall vertue resident in their persons by the which they might Prophesie when they would As we see in Elizeus who beeing once demanded of the king vpon a secret Dominus inquit celauit a me the Lord hath hidden it from mee when King Dauid was bidden by the Prophet to build the Lords Temple because God was with him in euery thing the same Prophet did forbid him the morrow after confessing that he had spoken without Gods priuity and therefore falsely so that the gift of Prophesie is a transient passion as is the power of miracles which is not neither permanent but as the Sawe hath a vertue to cut a sunder not at all times but when the Craftesman putteth his hand to it This extraordinary gift was not onely not granted habitually but it was granted to a fewe in number and that in the beginning chiefely of Iewish and Christian religion for establishment of faith in the world which was then bewitched with Ethnicke Idolatry strenghthned with Diabolical miracles so that God well knew Quod contraria contrarijs curantur by the true miracles of his holy spirit wrought by diuers of his good Saints to the astonishment of people he did discredit the spirit of Satan and that was done in the beginning to purchase authority to the faith as our Sauiour saith Si mihi non vultis credere operibus credite si opera non fecissem quae nemo alius vnquam fecit peccatum non baberent But after the word of God and his Lawe hath beene once established and receiued as it was answered to the Rich man in the Gospel Mosen habent Prophetas and therefore they might not looke for one to come from the dead who had the holy Scripture to look vpon euen so we after so many miraculous works done by our Sauiour and his Apostles for confirmation of our faith and after the Gospell left in perfection by the Spirit of God and embraced of the Gentiles for eternall veritie we are no more to depend vpon miracles as Christ himselfe testified after the doing of all these Scrutamini Scripturas quia illa testimonium perhibent de me There is no doctrine more true then this that miracles haue beene onely appointed of God for the aforesaid vse for of themselues they are neither necessarie nor sufficient for saluation The Canancan and the Thiefe vpon the Crosse they did beleeue vvithout miracles and he himselfe hath saide Blessed are they who beleeue and haue not seene so as they are not necessarie Againe Pharoh did see a number of miracles and was euer the more hardened which makes that they are not sufficient Is it not then a great vanity that the Church of Rome should arrogate vnto her that power vvhich God thought not necessarie to leaue to his Church Yea and which he foresaw to be dangerous by reason of the vveakenesse of humane wisdome to discerne betwixt true and false miracles vvhat vvas it that did indure the heart of Pharoh vvant of beleefe in God no doubt but herewith also want of knowledge to discerne betwixt Mosaicall and Magicall miracles so that the leauing of this to the Church had beene an ambush to catch men and lead them to Idolatry and the seruice of Satan testified plainly by the Scipture The Prophet saith Seduxerunt Populum meum in miraculis mendasibus And in the Apostle Surgent Pseudo Christi pseudo Prophetae Dabunt signa magna prodigia in populum ita vt in errorem inducantur etiam Electi si fieri potest How many shall say of those Prophets in Nomine tuâ—… prophetanimus Demonia eijcimus How mightely did Simon Magus deeeiue the multitude so desirous of miracles and so ignorant of them Uir quidam Simon Magus seducebat Ciuitatem Samariae quem auscultabuntur omnes a minimo ad Summum dicentes haec est virtus Dei qui vocatur magna co quod multo tempore magicis suis signis dementasset cos The looking for miracles is a token of Iewish vnbeleeuing hearts Signa non sunt data fidelibus sed infidelibus saith the Apostle Therefore they are most proper to the incredulous Synagogue of the Iewes for the which cause aboue all the other Apostles so great power of miracles was giuen to Saint Peter the Apostle of the Iewes that he did heale the strongest diseases with his shadow which not onely was neuer done by none of his fellow Apostles but we doe not read the like of Christ himself Iudaei signa petunt Gentes sapientiam quaerunt saith Paul Secondly is it not more then madnesse in the Church of Rome by arrogating vnto her this perpetuitie of miracles which God hath made onely temporarie and personall in the beginnings shee doth manifestly cloth her selfe with those markes whereby the Spirit of God doth point forth the Antichrist Let vs heare Saint Paul Reuelabitur iniquus ille cuius aduentus erit secundum operationem Satanae in omni virtute signis prodigijs mendacibus omni seductione iniquitatis his qui pereunt And the Spirit of God in the Apocal speaking of that second Beast which had two hornes like to a Lambe and spake like a Dragon Edetquo Signa magna adeo vt faciat ignem c Coelo discendere in conspectu hominum seducet Incolas Terrae propter signa quae datum est ei vt faciat in conspectu Bestiae In which places as we see this Traffique of Miracles is plainely called Operatio Satanae and a seduction of those who must perish By these I doe appeale vnto the diuine light of your Lordships conscience whither you doe not thinke that we ought to content our selues with Moses the Prophets and Apostles following Christs owne precept Sorutamini Scripturas to search the Scriptures for the doctrine of Saluation and to contemne this ridiculous and impious profession of pretended Miracles I appeale to your Lordship as you will be answerable to him who hath said of that light which he hath giuen you Est lux vera quae illuminat vmâ—…m hominem venientem in mundum Whether you do not thinke that those who in this Sunne-shine of Gods word would ground their beliefe vpon Miracles doe not iustly merite that answere of Christ to the Scribes and Pharises demanding miracles Generatio mala adultera signum quaerit and whither you Lordship doe not hold all those who beleeue such poore and childish conceits bee not iustly giuen ouer to themselues as
high Court of Parliament at Paris hath beene perturbed with the agitation thereof sithence This I thinke is the best seruice which I can yeeld to God my Soueraigne prince and to the common weale seeing it doth concerne euery good subiect both Theologically and ciuilly to vnderstand what hee doth owe to his King in his conscience for Religion and ciuilly it concernes him for the securitie of his state The Iesuits indeed haue most subtilly gon about to make an Antithesis or contradiction betwixt the Principautie and Priesthood holding this to be onely diuine and that onely humane and therefore that to be subiect vnto this vpon which Antithesis they build this vsurpation ouer Princes and states but if your Lo doe not stop your eares against the following discourse I hope your Lordship shall find that in my peregrination beyond seas I did furnish my selfe with as much concerning the substance of this question from the most learned both writers and speakers as is sufficient to ridde any man whatsoeuer of this dangerous doubt vnlesse it be those whose hearts and best spirits are already ouercome by the poyson of this deadly Absinthium And first I lay downe this generall Thesis that all such authoritie and power in the Church which doth disproue Christian orthodoxal Magistrates erecting violent vsurpations in their place is manifestly contrary to the voyce of Christ in the Euangell the practise of the primitiue Church approued by the great doctors thereof in all following ages yea and contrary the first ordinance of God in the typicall gouernment of Moses and consequently all such doctrine which doe mainetaine the same must bee hereticall and impious To cleare this generall Thesis in the fountaine let vs looke vpon the first plantation of Christs Church and the condition wherein it was setled which by the Spirit of God is compared to a vineyard Homo quidem paterfamilias plantauit vineam circundedit eam sepibus and so forth as we read in the Text A certaine husbandman planted a vineyard and hedged it about This is the vineyard of Christianitie watered and made fertile by the foure floods of the foure Euangelists as is mystically figured in Genesis A flood went out of Eden to water the garden and from thence it was diuided into foure heads Christ who is the planter of this vineyard hath fortified it in the Gospel with three seuerall walles as so many diches and rampards to compasse it The first fortification and wall is the word of God and holy Scripture against heresies and heretickes Vt potens sit exhortari in doctrinasana eos qui contradicūt arguere to be able to reach wholsome doctrin to improue them who speak against it The second Fortification is of spirituall Iurisdiction against those who be rebellious Qui Ecclesiam non audinerit sit tibi tanquam Ethnicus Publicanus who is to be excommunicate from the company of the Saints The third Fortification is of Temporall power against humane inuasions Duo gladij Vpon the first of which three Ramparts hee hath placed learned Doctors in the Church who are furnished with spirituall wisedome to conuict herefie Vpon the second Prelates with authoritie to excommunicate those who be disobedient to the voyce of Christ. Vpon the third Brachium seculare Ciuill power of Princes to guard his Church from the persecution and inuasion of rauening Wolues from without and from intestine disorders without any of which three this Vineyard of Christ is neuer sufficiently fortified The erronious dreames of Anabaptists too much imitated by some pure and foolish Puritanes would depriue the Church of the vse of one of those strengths to wit of the secular Arme But specially this Iesuiticall Clergie hath preuailed mightly to breede a disiunction of the Ramparts which God wee see hath conioyned to rend asunder the Church and ciuill authoritie the Prince and the Priest which although they were contrarie in themselues as they be seuerall yet the Lord hath knit them together As of contrary Elements hee hath formed the vnitie of mans bodie and hath vnited a mans owne constitution of things meerely contrary soule and body heauen and earth Caro aduersus spiritum spiritus autem aduersus carnem saith the Apostle for euen as the soule of man which receiueth that diuine inspiration of wisedome and knowledge to rule our life is in it selfe a thing contemplatiue and abstract neuer able to subiect the members of our body to this Rule if it were not that the power of our actiue spirit sitting in the chaire of our conscience doth frame and force our will and the faculties of our minde to make our body obedient otherwise it should neuer obey vnto the soule by reason of the corruption therof Our soule is as the Alte of this Musicke our flesh as the Counterbase our actiue spirit as the Tenor and midcuple that ioyneth them This difference of our soule and spirit is cleere once by Saint Paul Ut seruetur corpus anima spiritus integor in die Domini nostri Our great Philosopher Christ againe did vse to say Tristis est anima meavsque ad mortem Spiritus quidem promptus caro autem infirma And Daniel Laudate Spiritus Animae Iustorum Euen so in Gods Church the Priests and Pastors are the soule which receiue the inspiration of Gods will in his law as the Scripture saith of them In quorū pectora condūtur Oracula Dei ex ore illorum promanant Eloquia diuina to bee taught and communicate to the people who bee the body of this Church if it were not by the power which God giueth vnto the Prince who sitteth in the Throne of authoritie and actiue wisedome like armed Pallas this bodie of ours would oftner refuse obedience to the soule as daily experience doeth prooue That Christian Princes to whose charge is committed the gouernment of States the rule of the people in pietie and iustice the protection of the Widdow the Orphanes the Innocent the Stranger the punishment of Malefactors and aduancement of the vertuous to Gods glory that those be not most diuine Offices and that therefore Ethnicke Princes haue had graunted by God himselfe the title to be his seruants who may deny it the Lords Annointed independent of any but of him alone and holding of him imediately the Charter of their authoritie Into the Iewish policie whereof God was the founder himselfe for an example to all vertuous and godly States wee see in the person of Moses a coniunction of spirituall and temporall power not onely did God esteeme his Vocation diuine but he giueth him the stile of a God Ego te constituam Deum Pharaonis I shall make thee the God of Pharaoh Moses did thereafter indeede by the direction of God separate those functions but alwaies in these termes that they should remaine in one vnited concurrence in the gouernment of Gods people like vnto the fingers of a mans hand
before for after his person had beene inuaded and he stricken in the mouth with a knife wherevpon the high parliament of Paris did pronounce the edict of their banishment and erected a pyramide to remaine the perpetuall testimonie of their villanous perfidie he did pardon them restore them and trust them and partlie I say these attempts haue ben in the great mercie of God preuented when they haue beene plotted against the life of our most gratious Soueraign as the whole world doth know namely by that diabolioal machination of thundering massacre bred in the tempestuous ayer of these infernall spirits the Lord God by a miraculous inspiration made his maiestie to foresee that hellish cloude of powder before the fire was yet broken out The memorie whereof should make this whole kingdome to shake for feare and to cry to God that it would please him to preserue his sacred person from these cruell Hunters because he is now the principall obiect of their malignitie and that prince of all the earth whom they doe most feare hate Seeing how God who hath raysed his horne hath also iustâ—…fied his exaltation by markes more like to Moses and Solomon then vnto Cyrus he hath not onelie holden his right hand and possessed it with monarchiall state strong feareful to his enemies as he hath done to Cyrus made numbers of strange nations who did before striue to depresse him come to honour and admire his regall throne come to aske of him the peace of their people which he hath done also vnto Cyrus saying The labour of Egypt the merchandice of Ethiopia and of the Sabines shal come to thee men of stature shal come to thee and fall downe before thy face saying God is surelie in thee which we haue seene come to passe by ouerflowing of his maiesties court with forraine people with forraigne riches and forraigne presents and by the glorious Spainyard his solicitation of his maiesties wisedome to further his peace with the Netherlands But the lord also hath granted vnto his maiestie the vnderstanding of Moses to build his tabernacle to restore vnto his people the primitiue Gouernment of the Church approoued by catholike antiquytie for a prognosticat that he intendeth to make him the instrument of farther reformation in Christendome And he hath granted vnto him Solomon like knowledge and learning to mayntayne by publicke wryts the riches of his royall Soueraignitie against all those insidious grounds of the craftie Iesuite which is the reason why I must boldly affirme it that there is none of that societie in the world who doth loue his person in other tearmes then Cicero loued Octanius when he called him bonum puerum colendum To proceede there is neither Prince prelate nor priest within the Church of Rome who hath not his displeasure against this doctrine derogatiue to kings except Italians Spainiards and Iesuites be cause that Papall supremacie doth challenge to be aboue the generall counsels taking from Catholike princes that libertie to conuocate them which was due to their predecessors in the primitiue church because it doeth debarre all Cardinalles except Italians from the papall dignitie because it is onely granted to the Iesuites to go through and plant religion hauing infinite priuiledges graunted vnto them for that cause which be hurtfull to all other order of secular and cloysterall priests This is the reason why of these three Italians Spaniards Iesuites there is not on who doth not eschew as a pest the meeting of generall counsels for howsoeuer they doe pretend this quod nunquam acquiescunt heritici they must be vnnecessarie say they because heretickes will neuer rest to the voice of counsels yet this is the misterie and trueth no cardinall must presume to sit in Saint Peters chayre but an Italian no king must ouerrule the consistorie in his election but the Spanyard whom also they thinke to deuoure in the end albeit now he thinketh himselfe their Dictatour in perpetuum and no prince but he may aspire to brooke an heriticall kingdome confiscat by the fulmination of Rome by which kinde of tittles he doeth enioy the Indies and Nauar as the like hath bene graunted to his father Phillip the second by Pope Pius Quintus who did excommunicate the late Queene of England nor no orders of Religion other then the Iesuites may be negotiatours in them or knowe the secretes of this gouernment whereof this is a mayne pointe to decline generall Counsels least these abuses should bee vrged to bee reformed least the King of Great Brittaine should vrge the restitution of Patriarchall libertie for the weale of the Catholike Church least a French King vrge the residence againe of a Pope in Auignion least both should concurre to controle this vsurped fiske of Rome so leasl the fruits of this forbidden Tree of their domination should be made common to all Princes alike and to all Cardinals alike the which mysterie most clearely did appeare in the Sessions and circumstances of the Counsell of Trent for the Emperour Charles the fift being a wise and religious Prince and most studious by all meanes to pacifie the broyles of his Countreyes of Germanie mooued by the Lutheran reformation hee did by obstinate instance hardly obtaine from the Pope the Conuocation of that Counsell which as the Historie saith so soone as it was graunted him Tam citâ—… compedes Pontifici iniectos existimaâ—… he thought that hee had put the Pope into chaines hauing his whole designe to reforme the Church of Rome in matters of gouernement of manners and of grosser points of worship by aduise and concurrence of the whole Christian Embassadours and Commissioners there without respect to the Cardinals of Rome who for all that did so Italiniâ—…e and circumuent the Embassadours Tramontani as they call them making the French Embassadours to beleeue that the Emperour did vrge some secret course for himselfe with the Pope enforming as much againe to the Embassadour of the Emperour against the French they procured in priuate both their warrants in writ without knowledge the one of the other that nothing should be mooued in that Counsell but from the mouth of the Nuncio of Rome whereupon did follow that nothing was disputed there but points of meere doctrine and these most rigorously concluded while as that good Emperour had resolued to heale the Scandalized world as is well vnderstood by that conference in Germanie which is called the Emperours Interim where hee himselfe did condescend to the Matrimonie of Churchmen to the administration of the Sacrament both in bread and wine and other points which be holden hereticall in Rome and during all his life time he did mightily lament the deceit of that Counsell which is to bee verified by diuers Autographicall letters that is to say written with his owne hand and yet extant in the custodie of a Nephew of him who was French Embassadour at Trent in the foresaid Counsel called Pibracke dwelling at Paris as I take it But
feede vs with contentious Sillogismes Pascuntur Sillogismo sicut Boues foeno as Oxen are fed vpon haye O you who call your selfe a Christian Pastor how doe you forget that precept of Saint Paul Vt orationes fiant postulationes gratiarum actiones pro omnibus hominibus That prayers supplications and thankes giuing may bee made for ◅ll men in generall how doe you not remember that he hath commanded your corrections and admonitions to be brotherly Noniactantiae studio nec contumeliosa obiurgatio sed in spiritu lenitat is Not in ostentation or cōtumelious reproach but in the spirit of lenity there is no other reason for this but because Confregitis Iugum rupistis vincula you haue broken the bonds of Christian fraternitie and loue This fire of charitie in the soule of a good man is like to the abundance of heat in the stomacke of a strong body which draweth good nourishment out of grosse and euill matters the want whereof againe doth turne the most delicate substance into phlegme and noysome humours if you had abundance of this loue you would doe through the heat thereof as the Apostle commaunds you Alter alterius onera portare you would digest the ignorance and weakenesse of your brethren by seeking their reformation by all brotherly meanes and the want of this againe vndoubtedly maketh you to distaste and loath euen the good things which be among them The want of it makes you to detest the name of a pacificatour to fly the voyce of peace to cry Crucifige to carrie one against an other murthering tongues poysoned pennes and vehement spirits of destruction spirits contrary to God Inspiritu vehementi conteres naues Tharsus saith Dauid in a vehement spirit shalt thou breake the ships of Tharsus Wee read in the second of the Kings while Eliab was commanded to attend the comming of God vpon the Mountaine the holy Spirit saith Behold there was a winde which did rent the rockes but the Lord was not therein therewas a great commotion and earthquake but neither was he there and thereafter a huge fire but he was not yet in it In the end there came Sibilus aura tenuis the whispering of a sweet and temperate ayre and therein was the Lord Euen so the Christian Clergie who goe into the mountaine of God to vnderstand the secrets of his will so long as they thunder out such tempestuous windes of mutuall despight God will neuer be there to pitty our Christian distractions So long as they raise such vehement commotions and fearefull earth-quakes to rent the states and liues of Christian Princes God will not be there neither to restore Ierusalem and to purge his holy Sanctuarie of the Catholike Church so long as you burne your selues with fire of mutuall acerbity and wrath you shall not yet see the Lord there to pitty our Christian discordes that our Christian Religion bee no longer a reproach to the dangerous multitudes of infidell nations who watch their opportunitie to assault vs because as the holy spirit doth testifie in that same place Non in commotione Dominus the Lord in his mercy cannot be in a commotion but if you should whisper out this Sibulus aurae tennis ibi Dominus this gentle and soft ayre of meeknesse and brotherly admonition there possibly you might finde the Lord. Now to the effect that this briefe exhortation to dispose our selues to Christian peace should not bee mistaken and neglected as an indigested phantasie of my braine I send you all to read that treatise called Eirenicon sine de pace Ecclesiae of the peace of the Church done by that famous Iunius one of the chiefest lights of the Church while he liued In which treatise he doth call all these of your humour wicked and seditious Tribunes and of which he did vpon his death-bed protest as I was informed of those who were present to haue more comfort hauing written it immediately before Tanquam cantum Cygneum as the spirituall song of his farewell then of all the religious exercises of his life time which were many and most laborious So that to imitate for Reformation the practise of our architype Ierusalem this is the first point which we must obserue with Daniel to make generall confession of our transgressions as well Pope and Iesuite as Puritan and againe to make orations and suppications for all which as it is a thing wee ought to doe so it is strange how wee should refuse to doe it while Daniel hath said Lord to vs belongeth open shame our Kings our people our selues T is strange of the Papist that you should affirme thy Pope and thy Priests are holy and cannot erre that they haue no need of generall Councells nor of generall Reformation as if God had taken corruption mutabilitie from the earth and granted vs heere a generall beatitude for the sake of Rome In Gods name let it please you to esteeme your Pope no more holy then Daniel was and if you wish him to be cleansed from his Idolatry and vniust vsurpations to be restored againe to the vnity of the Catholike faith and that dignity which he did once lawfully brooke to be a chiefe Bishop of the occidentall Church Then must you cry with Daniel O God to our Pope our Cardinalls and Priests and to vs belongeth open shame because we haue transgressed against thy seruant Moses euen our great Moses Iesus Christ who redeemed vs from the bondage of that fearfull Pharaoh Satan Wee haue turned his faith and all Religion to superstitious worship wee haue turned his spirituall gouernment into a Tyranous Monarchy and we haue turned the piety of Christian manners into iniquity and abhominion This must be the voyce of thy confession And thou protestant if thou wilt wish the increase and restitution of Christs Church thou must pray for Rome as Daniel did for Ierusalem Lord be mercifull vnto the holy City where thy name was once so truely worshipped thou must teach and admonish them preach and write to them as the Prophets did to the Israelites in captiuity Brethren as it came in your minde to depart from the Lord your God so wee beseech you to indeuour your selues tenne times more to turne to him againe If you will deny that Rome is your mother Church that is nothing either it is lerusalem Antioch Alexandria Rome or some other you cannot deny that shee is your sister Church who once had a concord and vnity of faith with you and that by her defection the Catholike Church is greatly weakned You cannot deny that whiles shee is fornicatrix the Lord doth beget in her sonnes and daughters who daily turne vnto him as he did in Ierusalem when hee said to his Prophet Hosea Goe yet and loue a woman that was an harlot according to the loue of God toward Ierusalem for she looked after strange Gods and I bought her with siluer c. You cannot deny but those who did possesse the chiefest functions
in our Church the times of reformation that they had their calling deriued from the Church of Rome and those who receiued calling from them By the Church of Rome I meane as before those Churches that receiued not the true faith so much at first as at last corruption and Idolatry from her who consenting therein with her may bee called after her name You cannot deny that our Ancestours who now liue in whose faith we were baptised that they had their Baptisme from the Church of Rome and that Sacrament truely administred there not in the name of the Church of Rome but in the name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost therefore our fathers were neuer pressed by any reformed Church to be rebaptised That confession of S. Peter that Iesus was the sonne of God no man can deny that it is the faith of Rome corrupted indeed with Idolatrous worship she hath fallen from her spouse Christ to play the harlot Shall ye not therefore as a member of one body with her as a kinde brother or sister pitty her disease will ye answere me to this that she is obstinate reprobate hath stopped her eares with the serpent so that she cannot heare but how doe you know when God hath appointed her to heare consider the calling of Ezekiel and in what termes that spirit which entered into him did send him to the house of Israel and in his 2. and 3. Chap you shall finde aboue sixe seuerall commissions giuen him in these words Son of man thou shalt go to them but surely they shall neuer heare thee but lay thee in bonds And how many Prophets were sent vnto them whom they did neuer heare yet after seuen generations captiuitie it was said to Ierusalem Lyft vp thine eyes and Behold thy ioyes comming from the east thy people who were caried in captiuitie for their Idolatrie turning backe reioycing in the word of the holy one to the honour of their God saith the Text. Ierusalem was but our Type and shaddow she fell from God so absolutely that Hosea saith Ierusalem for many yeares shall neither haue Prince priest sacrifice nor Prophet because in her captiuitie she durst not practise her owne Idolatries So that neuer Church was in more fearefull and desperate condition yet the Lord did restore her whereupon we haue reason to hope that hee will in his mercie more fauour the body vnlesse our ingratitude and transgressions doe close the doore of his mercie The second point which we note in the Reformation of Ierusalem is that they were performed by ordinary meanes of lawfull Princes and Prelates The Prophets indeed whom God appointed to be watchmen ouer the house of Israel they were extraordinarily called but the worke was wrought by ordinary Gouernours for in that place of Daniel we read that after his prayers for all the Angell Gabriel appeared vnto him reuealing vnto him the designed time of their restitution by certain circumstances saying betwixt the going out of the commandement for taking back of the people and reedifying of Ierusalem and betwixt the comming of Messias the Prince there shall be seuen weekes and threescore and tenne weekes c. where he shewes how that restitution and reformation of Ierusalem proceeded from one ordinance giuen to Princes and Prelates who did enterprize it as wee see testified by the Spirit of God in that restitution made by Cyrus King of Persia who did proclaime it in these words The Lord God of heauen hath giuen me all the kingdomes of the earth and hath commanded mee to build him a house in Ierusalem who is among you with whom his God is let him goe vp to Ierusalem and build the house of the Lord. Where he himselfe professed to haue a warrant from God as supreme King who had power to performe it And againe that hee did not depute to that discharge euery man or any man indifferently no but hee with whom God is and who were such it is subioyned in the Text Then the chiefe Fathers and the Priests and Leuites rose vp to goe to the worke And Cyrus King of Persia brought foorth by the hand of Mithridate his Thesaurour the vessels of the house of the Lord and counted them on to Zorobabel Prince of Iudea and made the people to be furthered and strengthened by siluer gold cattell and substance of his owne subiects T is cleere that the commission was giuen to the Princes and to the Prelates it was not done by priuate pretenders nor by sedition nor insurrection the people did endure the yoake of bondage till it pleased the Lord to reforme Ierusalem by ordinary Magistrates and meanes a point that howsoeuer is is expressely to beimitated and followed in Christian reformations yet such hath beene the times fore-past that diuerse haue beene forced to doe contrary to the same partly for want of patience to attend Gods secret appointments or through the feruours of zeale and partly through the intollerable pride of Rome who would neuer hearken to any voice of Reformation touching the which and the pretenders of extraordinary vocation I will not meddle to speake because I am no extraordinarie Diuine onely this by the way Two things doe appeare to me one that such pretexts haue euer beene the fountaine of all disorder and nouelties in the Church For whence haue Arrianisme Pelagianisme and those other flowed of old and whence of late Anabaptisme Brownisme and besides those so many concussions and afflictions as we haue seene mooued within this kingdome by those who vrged the Geneua discipline to bee accepted for a third essentiall note of the Church From whence came all these but from singularity of opinion and from holy pretenders whereof the meanest would take vpon him to affirme that A Christian true albeit a country clowne May teach a King to weare a Scepter and a Crowne So that so long as extraordinary calling shall bee pretended or permitted that spring of curious and Libertine impieties shall neuer be stopped as may be seene in Holland which is become a Prostibulum of damnable sectaries pretending the holy spirit for their dreames Againe for another it appeares looking vpon the Scriptures of God that there is no backe doore left for such dangerous Reformatours God doth indeed frequently illuminate the hearts of men with vprightnesse and true knowledge amidst vniuersall ignorance that such may perswade write and insinuate why not but to intrude themselues into the Church or to attempt Reformation I know not how euen the Prophets of the old Law who had the extraordinary spirit they would not goe to declaime publikely against manifest Idolaters but when the Angell of God did specially send them There bee times when God will not vouchsafe his light to men as S. Matthew saith Ne Sancta dentur canibus Margaritae porcis proijciantur that holy things should not bee giuen to Dogges nor pearles cast before swine And speaking of the Apostolicall times I thinke they are
England stil since the reformation thereof and who be presently whom you shall see all to be ordinarily taken out of the prime men of the Vniuersities and neuer brought from the Court to that dignity doe witnesse in speciall those graue and most Reuerend diuines the Archb now of Canterbury the Bishops of London Elie and Bathe more shining lights then whom the Church of God hath not within nor without the kingdom which I in special may affirme who haue heard some of their vertuous names remembred with honor by their chiefest enemies in Christendome a cleerer marke then which cannot be of mens worth I say no more but God of his mercy grant that ourmost vpright Christian Ministers may follow their example in true pastorall vigilance and sincerity out of those mirrours let vs reuerence this beginnings which we see of our reformation that by our zeale and loue to peace and vnitie God may be moued to ouerthrow that beast of Rome and to plant againe his holy spirit in it to dissolue the Papall tyranny to reduce it to the ancient regular limits of Patriarchall degree If this Counsell be contrary to your Theologie then learne it from nature That Princes and Prelates are the Superiour Orbes that moue you and therefore that no motion must be within the peculiar Spheare of your Pastorall discharge to make you disobey their motions and if you cannot neither doe this out of a good instinct of nature like the celestiall Planets whose proper mouements doe neuer hinder them to obey and follow their Primum Mobile Then for the last make it a good and necessarie policie to imitate that Goose who knowing her owne imperfection prouides for those euils which might fall vpon her in perilous places through too much noise and so to saue her selfe from the Eagles which frequent the top of mount Taurus as she flieth along it she keepeth a lowe course and carrieth a stone in her beake to restraine her ordinarie cry Princes and Prelates tanquam aues solares are like the celestiall Eagles which goe neerest to the sunne they receiue the immediate inspiration and deputation of God to rule the inferiour world they are placed in the mountaine of gouernment so that you must take heede that you doe not concitate them by your disordered clamours Now hauing said thus farre in fauours of the Episcopall authoritie to the effect that you may see how I intend heere to serue God and not man I will also lawfully speake of that which ought to be the vpright and Christian duety of Bishops They are to remember that it is the fault of rulers which often times giueth distaste to people of lawfull authorities as the tyranny of Rome hath made the Primatiue and Orthodoxall gouernment of Christes Church to be abhorred it is the wisedome and modestie of their carriage which must cast a good smell in the nose of the multitude the Popular is like to a dead Ocean which hath no motion of it selfe but from aboue from the influence of the Moone or from the agitation of the aire Bishops are the Spheares placed aboue them to giue them influence and the Planets which should minister light vnto them So that they are to learne the temperament of their gouernment from the sunne the chiefe of Plannets which if it should still keep the altitude or summer solstice howsoeuer the glory and force thereof should be that way more perceiued yet no man nor beast could endure the vehemence of that heate in such manner that for the benefit of inferiour Creatures which be nourished by it it followes as we see an oblique temperate course betwixt the Tropicks of Cancer and Capricorne They are to learne the artes of their gouernment from God himselfe who albeit hee haue both absolute and infinite power that he could of the stones of the earth raise vp seede to Abraham and bring any thing to passe suddainely and in a moment in the generation of whatsoeuer his creatures yet for the maintenance of their order and policie he doth adioyne vnto his working the ordinarie concurrence of second and inferiour causes making things to goe on by naturall and mutuall meanes they are to follow the example of Moses in the Iewish rule of Gods people not as the Presbyterians doe following the Archi-type for the Laicke Elders and refusing it for the Prelacy they must not onely imitaâ—… the Moysaicall where it serueth to establish their power but also in that which Saint Ierome doth record of Moses Qui cum solus praeesse populo haberet in potestate who hauing in his will to be onely ouer the people yet hee did adioyne vnto him seuenty to assist him among the most ancient Canons which be Catholike this is reckoned with the formost Episcopos singulartum Genium scire oportet qui inter eos primus sit qui habeatur Caput praeter cuius Sententiam nihil agant sed nec ille praeter illorum sententiam faciat The Bishops of all Nations must vnderstand that hee who in his owne iurisdiction is head ouer the rest without whose authoritie they can doe nothing neither hee shall proceed but by their concurrence and aduise Sic enim vnanimitas erit Deus glorificabieur saith he by that meanes Vnanimitie shall be kept and God shall be glorified Ignatius the most ancient of the Fathers hath called the Presbyters Counsellours and Coasessours Cyprian followed this temperate rule Ambrose also doth teach the same For this sort of gouernment doth much ease them in their discharge and nothing derogate from their authority for who will say that a temperate Monarch who followeth his graue Counsell doeth thereby lessen his power but hee is the more aduised The excellent vertues of the Episcopall function are knowne by the excellent stiles giuen vnto it by the Spirit of GOD in the Apocalips they are called Angells and Starres Constantine did call them Gods in his time and seeing they get celestiall stiles they must also imitate the heauens to bee the chiefe Preachers of Gods glory Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei saith the Prophet Dauid These bee the properties of the heauens which also ought to be in them bodies most subtile most high most lucid most cleane most perfectly ordered most round they doe euer moue euer giue life and light vnto inferiour creatures First they must bee subtile in solide knowledge of holy scriptures Quia tu Scientiam repulistirepellam egote ne Sacerdotio fungaris 〈◊〉 saith the Lord Because thou reiectest knowledge I shall relect thee from the Priesthood They must bee high in the vertuous shew of their life Tantum gregem praecellat sanctitas presulis quantum ones superat vita Pastoris The sanctity of a Prelate should as farre excell that of his flocke as the life of a Pastor is more worth then a sheepe In the vertue specially of charitable frugality they should shine Splendidum in panibus benedicent labia multorum
one naturall as we are men endewed with outward sences the vestiments to defend vs from the cold the Musique to mooue our sences to ioyfulnesse or to sadnesse and contemplation the second is a ciuill operation as we are distinct members of a politicall and well ordered society as wee see the vestiments doe shew the distinction of mens callings or degrees and the Musique is a delight and ornament vsed by vs in feasts and publique triumphes The third is a sacred and sequestred proper application in the setting foorth and beautifying within due and decent limits the seruice of Almighty God The first doth worke vpon us as men the second as wee are ciuill men the third as wee are Christian men Of Musique I will speake in the first place presuming that not onely when it is heard acting its owne part to the eare in harmonicall sounds but euen when the vertues and commendation thereof are made the subiect matter of prosaicall discourse presenting the vigour and force thereof though but to the eye of the Reader yet it will haue its wonted operation in sweetly charming the affection of those who haue drunke in some preiudice against it and distaste of the vse of it in sacris so that my Readers mind being set in symbalis bene sonantibus in good tune by the impressions of Musique though by mee an vnskilfull artsman rudely fingered they will I hope the more calmely and temperately accept the other following treatise of uestiments especially while it is so briefe If those who haue stopped their eares against not onely the vocall sound but also the vocall defense of Church-Musique thinke me too arrogant in hoping that any Enthusiasme can proceed from my Musicall discourse to surprize their preiudicat opinions let them but looke into the very nature and instinct proper to an intellectuall substance and they shall find that argument and strength of reason hath no lesse unresistable force to attract and purchase the assent of the reasonable soule then the actuall sound of Musique hath to mooue and mollifie the hardest and most stony hearts as it is written of Amphi◅ that he did Saxa mouere sono testudinis pre◅e bla◅da ducere quo vellet then should not the true reasons of Musical uertue which are to the vnderstanding more strong than harmonie to the sence mollifie and guide the most obdurate harts of such as professe a kind of deadly feade against the vse thereof If the Musique were a thing onely indifferent that is to say the instrumentall Musique i◅ the Church were neither commanded not commended by Gods word it is enough for our reception againe of it by the argument of Zanch◅ for Vnitie as is sayd But certainely the Church Musique or that which is graue affectioned and holy it is a true phisicke of the Spirit which doth restore it from distemperature and confusion whither it doe proceede from naturall melancholy it recalleth the dispersed faculties of the mind to one center it doth reconfort the astonished powers therof and by little and little lead them backe againe to the sense of reason by getting their consent to conspire together and to attend the melodious harmony so that in that case it is a seruant and souldier of the soule which helpeth her and giueth her the meane◅ to pacifie a turbulent and disordered spirit as ancient philosophers speaking metaphisically of this poynt haue sayd that the Musique doth cure the bodie by way of the soule euen as physicke doth cure the minde oftentimes by ◅ay of the bodie What shall I speake of Church Musique when prophane histories do record that among the Greeks the Laconickes y◅a King Alexander himselfe did employ the Musique to medicin their extraordinarie passions And who doth not vnderstand that there is a kinde of furious madnesse of the minde in Almaine called Sa◅uitus which is not cured but by the sound of Musicall Instruments and an other in Italie called Tarantula which is not cured but in the like sort or whither it be that the distemperature of the Spirit doth flow from externall causes as from demoniacall Inuasion the Musique doth helpe it much as we see by that practise of Dauid who by the sweetnesse of his harp did terrifie and banish for the time that vncleane and disordered spirit which vexed King Saul Alwaies to proceede the most apt and open reasons for the profitable vse of Musique in the publibue seruice of God may be drawen out of these two fountaines the one of nature the other of Scripture the one will induce credit as we are men the other as we are Christians The voyce of nature next to our owne experience we may best receiue from the iudgement of those whom we either approue for Philosophers or reuerence for discerners of that which in nature now corrupted yet remaineth sincere vsefull and lawfull And in vaine should I vndergoe needlesse trouble if I would search what the ancients haue found out and recorded heereof Plato shall be to me v◅us instar omnium seconded also by Tully in his second booke de legibus Assentior Platoni nihil tam facile in animos teneros ac ◅lles influere quam varios canendi sonos quorū dici non potest quanta sit vis in vtramque partem Namque incitat languentes languefacit excitatos tum remittit animos tum contrahit Musique hath an incredible power either to stir vp the affections when they are dull heauy or to allay compose them when they are incensed and troubled Martin Bucer giueth a plaine naturall reason heereof which I had rather sticke to then to search of what harmonicall proportion the soule of man is composed Aminales spiritus quibus affectus animae constant aerae sunt materia atque ideo ab infracto extrinsecus temporato que commodum aere per aures delat◅ mirum in modum citantur proque illius temperatura immutantur The animall spirits of our bodyes the next instruments of the soule being made of an aery substance are wonderfully affected with the externall aire when it is tempered with certaine proportionable motions and melodious sounds From hence are the diuerse effects of diuerse kindes of Musique the Phrygian Lydian Doricke and Ionicke S. Augustine citeth out of Tully a remarkable instance Cū vinolenti adolescentes c. When certain younkers well tippled whetted with light wanton musique attempted violently to breake open the doores of a chaste matrons house Pythagoras called to the Musician vt spondeum caneret to play a slow graue and stately tune vpon hearing whereof by the grauitie of that straine their luxurious humour was presently allayed Whereby as also by euery mans daily experience it is euident what force there is in Musique for inciting composing and moderating the passions of the minde But here euen out of this example may be obiected the abuse and corruption of manners by some kinde of light harmonie applyed to lighter Ditties
call for the ornaments of Musique to be put vpon them as if bare reading or pronouncing were too cold and thin a cloathing for them Other passions of desire of spirituall loue of hope of awe of sorrow of charitie of deuote humilitie whatsoeuer else is the exercise of a Christian may receiue from hence their enlargment extention He that in remorse of his own vilenesse would with the Publican beat his breast and strike sadly and softly at the gate of mercy for the easier melting of his soule let his eare be possessed with a dolesome flat and spondaike streine of Musique Here of S. Augustine is a witnesse by his owne experience from whose eyes teares were drawne by the publique Musique of the Church at Milan And surely that heart must needs be very tough and obdurate in which graue and well composed Musique displaying it selfe in the house of God doth neuer beget some good disposition to remorse or deuotion Vere qui norunt quid sit toto corde tota anima totisque viribus amare Deum illi facile agnoscunt quam apposita religioni fit Musica propterea quod tantum ad componendum exci◅andū animum valet Saith Bucer one of the lights of the reformed Church So we see that Musique hath its part in the Church of God for edification though not of the vnderstanding directly because it doth not infuse knowledge yet of the affections which are the proper obiect of Musique as it is operatiue The affections are the Sea on which this heauenly light worketh by perpendicular aspect Their floats their ebbs are caused and guided by this planet their stormes and waues are allayed by this sweet influence As by sleepe concentratur calor colliguntur spiritus the spirits vitall and animall are called in the naturall heat is drawne to the center so by the rauishing slumber in which sweet harmonie enwrappeth the soule the senses are suspended and all exorbitant passions retyred And yet indirectly and by accident it may be said to worke vpon the vnderstanding also by suggesting and proposing fit streynes and harmonies which being but dead in themselues yet doe invite the minde to giue a kinde of forme and soule to them and to apply sutable contemplations and eiaculations of the soule formerly instructed and now abstracted and made in some degree extaticall In which regard there is some libertie giuen vnto organicall Musique not only to accompanie the voyce but also sometime for short spaces to hold on when the vocall maketh a pause that thereby it may be left a little to its owne proper and solitarie operation as also that some relaxation and intermission may be afforded both to those that are imployed in reading and singing and to the continuall intention of the Auditors attention alwayes prouided that in these interims or interscenes neither to much time be taken vp nor in any Church musicke to much curiositie or ostentation of art be vsed as the learned and iuditious Master Hooker admonisheth much lesse any light and wanton tunes or straines of which abomination in the Popish Quyres Master Bucer complaineth that their Organists did Spurcissimarum cautionum melos Organis modulari sub nomine Christi crucifixi nil aliud quam Veneri sacrificari play filthy ribauld tunes vpon the Organs and vnder the shew of deuotion to Christ crucified offer sacrifice euen to Venus But such prophane abuses suggested by the deuill cannot preiudice the Godly vse of graue musicke as before I haue noted Now to proceed in my intended discourse In the holy Scriptures we finde very frequent and diuerse motiues for the approbation and recommendation of the vse of Musicke in the seruice of God In prosecution whereof my intent is not to take vp whatsoeuer may be to that purpose auouched or collected out of the booke of God but only to touch in briefe the principall heads whereto any one that will imploy more particular paines in this search may referre other proofes which I shall passe by The distinct consideration of these proofes may bee raunged according to these seuerall times into which by the ordinance of the Creator all time and euen all succeeding eternitie is diuided namely the ages before the law vnder the law the current season of the Gospel and the boundlesse eternity of future glory And first vnder the law of nature before the Mosaicall was instituted we may obserue that Gen. 4. 21. there is a speciall marke of recommendation to all posteritie set vpon Tubal That he was the father of those that play vpon the Organs and Harpes that is that such musicall instruments were both intended by Tubal and afterward frequented and vsed by his instruction or immitation From whence I thus collect and argue whatsoeuer hath in it a naturall fitnesse for the glorifying of God was in that age if not by the inuenter intended yet by the after practises imployed to the seruice of God But musicke whether vocall or instrumentall hath in it a disposition to the aduancing of the glory of God not in a generall remote and indirect sort as all both artificiall inuentions and naturall creatures haue in their particular ends a secret reference to the last and highest end the glorifying of him who is all in all but properly and directly in guiding conforming altering and seasoning the best of our affections our zeale to Gods honour and admiration of his Maiesty as hath beene before declared Therefore it appearing that in that young growth of the world such instruments were found out published it is more then probable that they were by the best men of that age faithfullest imployed to the best vse euen the helpe and beautifying of the inuocation of the name of God What though it doe not appeare what was then the forme of outward inuocation and worship of God beside sacrificing What though the Church was not then perhaps growen into a politicall state As surely as men had then both by nature instinct of the Godhead and by instruction from Adam a knowledge of the true God and of his due worship so certainely they did vse outward inuocation with the voyce as well as with the heart and why not by singing as well as saying and why not with instrumentall musicke as well as vocall Why then not ordeined and ordered by the oeconomical regiment of the Patriarkes in whom the Priestly power was vnited with the Regall as well as afterward published by more distinct constitution when the Priesthood was seuered from the kingly office He that is incredulous herein let him but trauaile a little further with the Church of God and follow the footsteps of Israel ouer the red sea he shall presently heare sounding in his eares that most Patheticall and Poeticall song of triumph penned and chaunted by the man of God and Prince and Prophet of Israel the great Moses and not so onely but also ecchoed with solemne chorall responses by the sister of the high Priest
the second thing that in all humility I beseech your Maiestie to haue your eyes on remembring how as the crafty goose who flying along Mount Taurus carrieth a stone in her beake to restraine her cry that she bee not heard of the Eagles from the toppe thereof as I haue told before So hee can passe by your Maiesty with a closed mouth and masked face he creepeth into your Maiesties Kingdome as the Serpent did into Paradice to ouerturne the happinesse thereof Looke but vpon the Tragicall examples of strong neighbour Princes Remember that no Iesuite liueth who hath not that minde to your Maiesty which Cicâ—…ro had to Octauius bonuâ—… pâ—…er tâ—…llendus Let your Maiesty consider how one particular man of this great multitude Doctor Parsons a vile excrement of his country of England hath presumed himselfe sufficient to cut the line of the Royall succession to render the Estate Spanish and hath so farre proceeded in that dismall designe as to set downe out of his owne braine the lawes and policy of the new common wealth the acts of the first Parliament as I haue sayd before and hath put to the ports of England a mighty Armada to execute the same What shall we then expect from multitudes hauing the same inspiration and gaping for the Spirit of this false prophet if they bee suffered to practise your Maiesties subiects or to frequent among them Therfore Sr. consider what dangerous enchaunters they be and let your Maiesty like a wise and constant Ulysses bee well tied to your Maine Mast Christ Iesus that no Syrens song may illude your Maiesties perspicuous senses in the meane time when the subtill Cyrce doth striue to bee your Master so that your Maiestie may keepe your Kingdome vnited and firme like a Diamond and couragiously proceede to greater seruice in Gods Church to enterprize this generall Reformation whereof the world holdeth your Maiesty to be so worthy which is immensi praemium labor is the crowne and glorie of your Maiesties trauels and which is so easie for your Maiesty that when your Maiesties admonitory Epistle to Christian Princes came out against the Pope wherein your Maiestie seemeth to appeale to the first 400. yeares of the Primitiue Church for Christian pacification we know it who was then beyond Seas that if it had not beene because your Maiestie doth call the Pope Antichrist shewing by that rather to bee an open Enemie to the Roman Church then a Pacificatour as they sayd who tooke the aduantage of that word otherwise your Maiesty might haue drawen vpon your side the whole Church of France and the whole bodie of the Roman Church other then Iesuites and those who be poysoned with their absinthium that we haue heard with our eares chiefe members of the Consistorie of Rome in contemplation of that businesse expresse with vnfained sighes their reuerence of the simplicitie of these times that nothing is wanting to your Maiestie of meanes if God shall blesse your Maiestie in this Mosaicall perseuerance to negotiate to vrge to insist the present disposition of Christendom will so second your Maiesties beginnings that certainly no opposition shall bee so great which shall bee able to resist for if any should bee beside the inuincible powers of forraine Estates who bee ready to march vnder your Maiesties Colours in that cause Hath not God giuen to your Maiestie store of warlike men within the bowels of your owne Realmes Hath he not prouided for you a braue and worthy Iosua to follow you into this mountaine your Maiesties hopefull Successor to whom your Maâ—… may confidently say in the owne time Elige tibi viros fortes egressus pugna contra Amalechitas The seeds of whose most royall expectation the Lord God of his mercy bring to such maturitie that they may answer that which is vniuersally thought non Romula quâ—…ndam Ullo se tantùm tellus iactauit Alumno That the highest Occident did neuer see a more glorious Orient God of his goodnes strengthen the courage of his great Spirit with the same promise hee made to Iosua Noli timere quia tecum est Dominus Deuâ—…tuus in omnibus ad quaecunque perrexeris Feare not because the Lord God is with you in euery thing you take in hand For the next touching this one word from God Benedicamus what ought to be the true meanes of Christian concord and how neere the possibilitie is to practise them are both declared but when the Lord shall pronounce a blessing vnto it there is the mysterie And yet it is no mysterie to know the cause why he doth not euen aâ—… God was not found in the vehement tempest in the rupture of the rocke nor in the fire sed in fibilo aura tenuis but in a soft ayre as is said God cannot be found in commotion vntill the time that both sides of Christian Clergy do cast off the shooes of their malicious curiosities proud and ambitious emulation thundering contentions to walke vprightly in the mountaine of God teaching people to begge from God in humilitie and out of the gentle spirit of Christian loue this peace of Ierusalem it shall neuer be granted but by the contrarie if wee persist in our wicked contempt God shall make that vermine of the Turks which haue consumed the garden of Ierusalem and all the Orientall Churches to destroy vs also And euen as the Lord did procrastinate and defer the entry of the people into the land of Canaan vntill their rebellious murmurations were spent that of all the multitude which came from Egypt onely Caleb and Iosua did enter So shall he neuer neither blesse those cleare possibilities which are in the person of our excellent Moses to lead vs to the tryumph of that Christian vnitie vnto the time that either our murmurations or murmurers against him be finished Wherefore I exhort euery one out of the blessed spirit of peace and harmonie you who are Papists chiefly and you my LORD for whose seruice in speciall this Treatise is destinate that your Lo will be content to acknowledge that obstinate and foolish superstitions are the danger of your Soule the disgrace of your Noble Spirit the discredit of your House the extinctioÌ„ of your Honors which are proper vnto your Lo vnder your Soueraigne Prince and the nullitie of all your faculties and actiue vertues in this Common-wealth where you haue too great a place to be voyde which things besides other perills that may ensue by many and weightie inducements to reformation If your Lo cannot vpon the suddaine become enemie to the Church of Rome so dearely beloued of you and esteemed for your Mother then like a kindly child compassionate her disease helpe to couer her nakednes and concurre to see her purged from her fornications seeing it pleaseth God to offer such visible meanes to doe it and in his owne time to send a gracious Cyrus for the furtherance of her restitution do abhorre like a pest the poysoned counsells and
little vpon these following speaches to dispute whether there may not also bee a secret antipathie and enmitie naturall betwixt Musicke and wicked Spirits The reason of which when we begin to consider wee finde it more sublime and remote from our sensible capacitie then to search the causes of these other things which euill spirits are also thought to abhorre and therefore it doth argue that Musicke is a thing supernaturall and heauenly We read that the Deuils do mightily hate the presence of fire of salt and of Musicke the fire because it is life and light and Satan is the Prince of darknes and delighteth in darknesse the salt because it hath a virtue to purge corruption it is the marke of eternitie and he seeketh by all meanes to corrupt defile and destroy which is the reason why God commanded in the old Law to put salt vpon the Table of his Sanctuarie and to haue Salt specially in the sacrifice forbidding by the contrarie to put honie or wine therein to signifie that wee must offer the sacrifice of our prayers to God with sobrietie and prudence not mixed with flatteries or bold speeches God saith in the Law I shall make with you a couenant of Salt that is of perpetuitie as many are of opinion that the changing of the wife of Lot into a pillar of Salt was as to say a perpetuall Statue but when wee come to seeke the cause why the Musicke is fled of the Diuell wee finde it more subtle if the opinion were true of the Academicks who say that the Diuells be not onely bodily but elementarie mid-creatures betwixt visible and invisible bodies animalia scilicet corpore aëria mente rationalia animo passiua tempore aeterna Then might wee be induced without running to other mysteries to acknowledge some reason why they cannot abide the melodie of Musicke nor no delectable suffumigations by that which is read of the exorcismes of Salomon and of the smoake of the fish of Tobia but the difficultie to know the demoniack nature substance maketh this contemplation remoter S. August saith in his last chap of the 3. de Trinit that the Diuells are corporall as Basil Gregor Epiph say as much whereon this sort of demonstration is founded There is but one infinite substance the supreme essence a substance cannot be finite but by extremities of superficies and that doth only belong to corporall things and therefore those spirits must bee corporall because they are finite Alwaies the more common opinion of Theologie is as of Damasc Greg. Nazianz Thomas Aquinas and of the Master of the Sentences that the Angels and the Diuels be formes both pure and simple and that both can forme themselues in visible bodies when they would effect any thing bodily which is testified of the Angells by their apparitions to Abraham to Iacob to Moses to Eliah to Abatuck Of the Diuells againe testified by experience inquestionable of the aquilonar Succubi and Incubi testified by the Cabalists who affirme that vncleane spirits do often take the shapes of Bucks ston'd Horses and such like creatures repleat with bestiall luxurie wherevpon say they proceedeth that in Leuiticus that you goe not to sacrifice to those Bucks and Satyres and that in Esay of the destruction of Babell Zijm shall lodge there and their streets shall bee full of O him Satyres shall dance there and â—…im shall cry into their Palaces Testified againe by many places of holy Scripture the Diuell spake bodily to Adam to Christ. Hee tooke the person of Samuel albeit that Iustin Martyr and many of the Hebrew Doctors reason that it was Samuel himselfe as well because of that Text of Ecclesiasticus where it is said that Samuel did prophesie after his death as because of the answer giuen to Saul which seemeth to bee full of pietie pronouncing the name of GOD sixe or seauen times holding that Saul was not condemned eternally as they thinke but in the estate of that incestuous man who was ordayned by S. Paul to bee excommunicate to the end his bodie being chastned his soule might be saued Yet S. Augustine and the best Diuines stand for it that it was Satan and not Samuel which no doubt is the onely sound opinion Scotus subtilis in the second booke of his Sentences saith that the Angells assumed bodies not to bee ioyned or vnited with them hypostatically but to moue them and vse them as instruments much more then saith he the Diuells can assume bodies because they are more elementarie as they doe change themselues in bodies so from this same ground it is affirmed that they can also change bodies For three things we obserue in Gods works Creation which is onely proper vnto himself to make of no thing by the power of his word Generation which hee hath allowed to his Creatures themselues by a naturall instinct and appetite of succession to haue a power of generation and lastly Transmutation whereof hee hath giuen power vnto Starres and to the Spirits as saith Them de Aquin Omnes Angeli boni mali habent ex virtute naturali potestateÌ„ transmutandi corpora nostra All the Angells good and bad haue by a naturall instinct power to change our bodies wee see how the Sorcerers of Pharaoh did counterset the miracles of Moses Iob saith there is no power on earth like vnto that of Satan which prooues that the actions of the euill Spirits are actions indeed but extraordinarily so that wee must not thinke them illusions or prestigitations of our eyes Augustine chap 9. of the third booke de Trinitate saith thus Mali Angelipro subtilitate sui sensus in occultioribus elementorum seminibus norunt vnde rana serpentes nascuntur hac per certas temperationum opportunitates occultis motibus adhibendo faciunt creari The wicked Angells by their subtle sense and knowledge of the secret seeds of nature know by what meanes the Frogs and Serpents are made and by vsing of certaine tymous temperations they can accelerate their Creation Againe they haue power of transportation whereupon some follow the ignorant Viretus who holdeth it a fortitude of imagination in melancholious women who apprehend they bee carried with the deuill albeit antiquity hath esteemed it for a true ground that seldome doth a woman die of melancholie or a man of excessiue ioy for melancholie proceedeth of to much heat and drinesse and breedeth wisedome as Galen saith in his Booke De atra Bile to neither of which two is a woman subiect being of nature humid cold and passiue and therefore not wise as Solomon among a thousand men one among women none Besides that the Septentrinall people with whom the vncleane spirits are said to be most familiar they haue as little melancholie as those haue of flegme who dwell in Africke which sheweth the leuitie and weakenesse of this opinion of Viret Alwayes there be two sorts of transportations one in bodie and spirit the other in abstraction onely of the spirit