A SVMMARIE ANSWERE TO AL THE MATERIAL POINTS IN ANY OF Master DAREL his bookes MORE ESPECIALLIE TO THAT ONE BOOKE OF HIS INTITVLED the Doctrine of the Possession and Dispossession of Demoniaks out of the word of God By IOHN DEACON IOHN WALKER Preachers And the Sorcerers or Charmers of Aegypt they did in like manner with their inchauntments For they cast downe euery man his rod and they were turned into Serpents but Aarons rod deuoured their rods and so Pharaohs heart was hardened Exdo. 7.11.12.13 Si de veritate scandalum sumitur vtilius permittitur nasci scandalum quà m veritas relinquatur Aug. de libro arbitrio Talis est conditio falsitatis vel erroris vt etiam nullo sibi adsistente consenescat talis autem è diuerso veritatis status vt etiam multis impugnantibus suscitetur crescat Chrys. de laudibus Pauli lib. 3. Eugubinus de perenni Philosoph lib. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heu Tripodes lugete perit praesagus Apollo Aye me alas Tripodes perisheth presager Apollo Propugnaculum vitae patientia LONDINI Impensis Geor. Bishop 1601. TO THE REVEREND FATHERS THE LEARNED PREACHERS AND GODLIE BREthren in this our English Church I. D. and I. W. doe hartily wish the abundance of Reuelation in Iesus Christ with an holy discerning spirit that they may be the better inabled thereby to discerne aright of the things that differ and to hold fast for euer the infallible truth for the glorie of God the Churches good and their owne euerlasting comfort in Iesus Christ. So be it REuerend Fathers and Brethren beloued and longed for in the Lord The blessed Apostle putting downe some certaine precepts or Canons concerning the sacred Schooles of prophesie obserueth in effect this following order First hee permitteth the Prophets to speake by two or by three appointing the other Prophets to determine vprightlie of that which they speake and then next hee decreeth that if any thing be reuealed to another which sitteth by the former should be silent a time and the other man speake because all being thereunto called may prophesie one by one that all may learne and all may haue comfort Howbeit least any the Prophets should happily presume vpon this his permission to speake at their pleasure the Apostle forthwith for auoyding disordered confusion subiecteth the spirits of the Prophets to which more is if wee found them able to mannage their matters to giue them the hand of fellowship concerning their doubtfull cause Or if happily vpon better deliberation they yeelded the question to vs wee protested further to conceale their secret being vntill some good course might forthwith be taken for informing authoritie as well of their present conformitie as also for procuring their speedie deliuerance from the Ecclesiasticall censures so farre foorth as possiblie might be effected Sixtly beholding the holie Religion of Christ verie shrewdly scandalized by reason of such falsely pretended miracles we knew in our conscience we might doe nothing at all against the truth but for the truth and therefore not possiblie conceale those truthes which the Lord hath discouered vnto vs. Seuenthly our holy established Religion being verie scornefully derided with Papists and Atheists as a Religion that needeth now at length to be presentlie supported by superfluous miracles we verely perswaded our selues that no good Christian heart could possiblie forbeare his best endeuour to stay their intemperate courses Eightly Master Darel and his fellowes very confidently persisting in the vnhappie support of those their newly broached opinions hath mightily moued our hearts to haue at the least a compassion of some by putting a difference and othersome again to saue with feare by pulling them violently forth of the fire Ninthly their deceitful and coloured kind of proceeding in that they not onely pretend an holie cause but which more is doe varnish the same with holy pretences with faire words and flattering speeches to intangle if possiblie they may the very hearts of the simple hath made vs the more carefully to discouer vnto all the world what lurking poyson lieth shrowded vnder those glorious pretences Lastlie who would not both speake and write whatsoeuer they conscionablie knowe concerning these causes if hee but respect as in conscience hee ought that shamefull reproch which Master Darell and his fauourits like disordered persons doe verie iniuriouslie impose vpon the whole land vpon Magitracie Ministery and people in these following words Wee doubt not say they but that other nations and kingdomes about vs will both giue credit to this matter of fact so soone as they shall heare thereof and see how the same hath been witnessed vpon the oathes of many and will also receiue the Doctrine of possession and dispossession which we so much haue gaine-saide Blush then oh England and be thou ashamed of this thy incredulitie which is such as the like thereof hath not bin read nor heard of before for others haue yet acknowledged the worke which hath been done in them but thou hast not gone so farre but rather denied the same Loe these in effect be the maine occasions themselues which moued vs especially to labour these matters Now next the principall ends which we propound to our selues in publishing our labours are these that follow Namely we haue first done it to testifie our hearts desire for the timely accomplishment of Ierusalems peace Secondly to make knowne to the world our prouident care for the speedie preuenting of euery such future disordered courses as happily might preiudice the whole or any part of Gods truth as heretofore the Brownists and Hackets haue too inconsideratlie effected by their vnruly and headie conceits Thirdly to insinuate vnto al the world our arnest endeuours to know the truth and to be better informed if happily we erre in these matters Fourthly to lay open our Christian care for the timely informing of such as are contrarie minded Fiftly to discouer our vndoubted detestation of all false waies in any how deare soeuer vnto vs. Sixtly to vnfold the preposterous giddines of such humorous spirits as dare in this our doting age so dangerouslie pester the Church with strange and vnwonted opinions very fitly consorting with their fauourits natures Lastly wee haue more especially published our labours to stand in steede of some prouident watch-word for yong students in Diuinitie and newly conuerted Christians that in any wise they beware how they doe either broach abroad or receiue any such phantasticall conceits of priuate persons as are not primarily examined according to the infallible rules of the word neither yet authentically approued by publike authoritie Loe these in effect were the maine occasions and ends for the now publishing of our labours in print The premisses therefore considered and the arguments on both sides rightly respected we beseech you reuerend Fathers and Brethren to consider diligentlie whether of vs both haue caused diuisions and offences contrarie to the
infallible Doctrines which you haue learned from Christ and auoyd them For they that are such serue not the Lord Iesus Christ but their owne bellies and with faire speech and flattering deceiue the hearts of the simple Consider therefore we humbly beseech you consult and giue sentence either with vs or against as the Lord shall direct your hearts If wee be thought to haue the truth on our sides we doubt not but that you will fight together with vs in one and the selfesame faith of the Gospell On the other side if we be found to haue faulted either in matter or manner wee beseech you confute vs and spare not and the blessing of God doe light on your hearts for your labour that way Neither shall our priuiledged bookes be any stoppage at all to so good a purpose for if you be vnwilling to deale that way because of authoritie your priuate conuictions shall suffice to procure from vs a publike retractation of whatsoeuer shall bee soundly adiudged amisse For howsoeuer we may happily erre we purpose by Gods grace to bee no Heretikes Referring therefore our selues and our labours to your approued considerations we humblie betake you all in our hartiest prayers to the holy directions of the onely wise God who iudgeth according to trueth Amen Your louing brethren assuredly in the Lord and the Lord his vnworthiest on earth IOHN DEACON IOHN WALKER TO THE CHRISTIAN AND WELL AFFECTED READERS WHO EXPECT THE COMming of the Lorde Iesus to their immortalitie I.D. and I.W. doe wish the necessarie graces of the spirit with a sauing knowledge in Iesus Christ So be it GOod Christian Reader when we dulie considered Maister Darel and his complices their lately dispersed pamphlets concerning their new-found trade of Diuillitie as also their vndutifull manner of imprinting and publishing the same to the world we could not but call to remembrance a most pestilent practise which Cardinall Benno reporteth of Hildebrand Who hauing killed Alexander the second for that he refused to sit at his speciall appointment in the Apostolike Sea without the good Emperours licence was by the ayde of his souldiours forthwith enthronized into the Popedome himselfe not hauing therein the consent either of Cleargie or people The which his prowd vsurpation when Abbas Cassinensis was come to redresse Hildebrand that insolent Vsurper very scornefullie sayth vnto him thus Frater nimium tardasti Brother you haue beene somewhat too slowe to whome Cassinensis very boldly replyed saying tu Hildebrande nimium festinasti and thou O Hildebrand thou hast beene ouer-hastie by much both in killing thy good predecessour in procuring the Popedome by such prowd vsurpation Euen thus surely it falles forth with vs at this present concerning especiallie the matters controuerted betweene our selues and those our Antagonists For they not only giuing the Canuisado of late to her Maiesties high Commission but hauing withall by the venemous infection of their viperous pennes verie vncharitablie endeuoured to wound S. H. vnto death for that by meanes of the sayd S. H. his dutifull discouerie of those their vndutifull dealings they might not be permitted to vsurp in our English Church a new Apostolicall power at their pleasures without any her Maiesties authenticall licence Maister Darel the principall agent partly by the inherent pride of his insolent spirit and partly by the prowde support of many his vnder-hand fauorits is very prowdlie enthronized into a new Popedome forsooth And by priuiledge thereof he hath very peremptorily imprinted and published sundrie seditious pamphlets hauing thereunto neither warrant from God nor dispensation from Prince nor testimonie of sound conscience no nor so much as the holie approbation of any good christian subiect Notwithstanding all this he hath for a season though feare and shame enforceth him now to pluck in his head very prowdlie ietted from countrie to countrie like a pettie new Pope among his owne Cardinals yea and that also in his pontificalities portrayed and contriued after the new-found popelike cut The which their vnbridled insolencie when we indeuoured to encounter by publishing as we verily beleeue the infallible truth of these intricate matters in a treatise at large and had signified so much to themselues by word and by letters in an only desire of doing them good they labored by letters and otherwaies to intercept our said enterprise a time at the least And in the meane time by printing and publishing the trifling toyes of that their new found trifling trade they haue sought to forestall our former good purpose and laboured to calme our carefull endeuours for doing them good Yea and by these their preuenting practises they do in effect but disdainefullie say vnto vs with Pope Hildebrand their prowd copartner Deere brethren you haue bin somewhat too slow in publishing those your dialogicall Discourses concerning Spirits and Diuels Howbeit we by these our subsequent labours and second encounters may with Cassinensis very conscionablie replie vpon them thus and you oh counterfeit Exorcistes you haue bin ouer-hastie by much not only in killing your good predecessour by your poysoned penne but also in broaching a fond triall abroade without any triall of truth in designing a Doctrine so opposite to the Doctrine of Christ and in discouering a Detection to detect your great follie and shame to the world The truth of the premisses good christian Reader may be made more apparantlie euident if thou wilt prouidently examine first the pamphlets themselues and then next the spirit it selfe which may be supposed to endight the same The pamphlets themselues notwithstanding any their outward florishing shewes they are inwardlie faultie we verily thinke both in matter and manner That they are ouermuch faultie in matter is more then may be denyed being euery of them fraught full of vnsound and absurd positions as shall be shewed hereafter in a short Catalogue prefixed before this booke Moreouer that they be likewise faultie in their manner or forme may easily appeare vnto such as are not vtterlie ignorant of methode or do any thing know what belongs to an orderlie manner of writing For first their manner of writing it seemes to be something Schismaticall and very shrewdlie to sauour of a Serpentine subtiltie because whatsoeuer their pamphlets pretend they proceede not by a plaine course of teaching but do rather incedere tortuosè goe wrigginglie to worke and walke this way and that way like to the hunted Hare which knoweth not whereon to resolue for a certaine Besides that their manner of writing it is also verie enigmaticall obscure and cloudie their sentences or periods they are in effect no better then riddles and for the most part so vncertaine so variable so flitting and so changing as none but themselues may possiblie spell or spie forth their meaning Briefely the very frame itselfe of their whole proceeding resembleth fitlie a paire of tarriours or tyring yrons and serueth to no other purpose at all but to hold men occupied all
so your minds should be corrupt from the simplicitie that is in Christ. For if these men do preach another Iesus then him whom others haue preached before or if you receiue another spirit then that which you haue receiued either yet an other Gospell then that which was taught you before you might well haue admired their persons approued their practises and so desirouslie haue entertained their factious pamphlets Notwithstanding when there are no such matters at all as you haplie imagine why haue they so stronglie bewitched your minds that you should not obey the truth to whom Iesus Christ hath bin described in your sight and among you crucified They do ring in your eares and would beare you in hand that they only but display that authenticall power of the Lord which others doe darken as though all other saue onely themselues did daylie obscure the glorious scepter of Christ and herein also by the preposterous approbation of their vnderhand fauourets they haue gotten a popular applause But wherein will they not very fitlie resemble Sulpitius a man fearefully confect in all kind of mischiefe who hauing by the voyce of the vulgar sort very peremptorilie passed a Decree that no Senatour should borow aboue two hundred Crownes at the most was found at his death to owe thirtie thousand himselfe So surely these men do seeme with the vulgar sort to dislike that any should darken the glorious power of the Lord whereas they them selues do obscure it the most of all others For howsoeuer they wholie pretend to vphold the kingdome of Christ what do they else by those their iollie pretences but couer themselues as we say with a wet sack For it will euidentlie appeare by the following discourses that none haue more dangerouslie trampled downe the dignitie of Christ then themselues and yet as if the Crow had engendred the Swanne these men forsooth they will seeme now to build vp the dignitie they destroyed before Perhaps thou wilt say or surmize at the least that we our selues by omitting and taking what part of their pamphlets might make most for our owne purpose haue therein euen purposely maymed their writings and foyled the very force of their cause Our answer is this we haue carefullie quoted the page it selfe from whence we do drawe our seuerall collections and therefore let the learned determine whether we haue any where abstracted their pamphlets besides their purposed scope or haue otherwise pretermitted any thing materiall which might but in shew either mannage or further their cause and God forbid but that we should very willinglie acknowledge and redresse the offred wrong In deede we haue purposelie pretermitted many impertinent vagaries extrauagant speeches idle excursions needles dilatations friuolous amplifications and humorous illustrations which like vnto vglie botches and swelling tumours do filthilie disfigure the bodie it selfe and are nothing materiall but meerely superfluous because the very ground-worke it selfe whereon they seeme to be builded is ouersandie or weake to support such a combersome frame very confidentlie concluding withall that for vs to answere their nothing with something would be in the iudgement of the learned a labour worth nothing For what do they by such their clamorous outcryes but deale with their ignorant Readers as the foolish huntsman deales with his hounds who by his crying so ho before the game it selfe be on foote or first found at the least do but set the vnskilfull hounds at an idle gaze Our Antagonists in deede they do keepe a clamorous coyle against the impugnings of any their pestilent practises and tels iâ— in the eares of all the world that do the aduersaries what they are able their wisedome forsooth it must and shall be iustified of all her children as though they thought it but an easie matter to breake an Eele with their knee or to build vp the roofe without a foundation Howbeit they haue herein verie earnestlie solicited sundrie of our honorable Iudges and Magistrates and presumed to prescribe them their seuerall courses concerning anie their iudiciall proceedings against their persons forgetting belike that they who take in hand to limit authoritie are like vnto such as seeke to stay the course of the Sunne They should rather acknowledge with Plutarch that it is vnfitting for him who falleth to lift vp who knoweth nothing to teach who is disordered to order who is vnrulie to rule or who cannot himselfe obey to commaund obedience to others It had beene much better for them to haue trulie learned their dutie to God and their Prince before they had so prowdly presumed to pester the Church with such vndutifull and disordered Pamphlets Howbeit because they haue publisht abroade such perilous points without any respect of Princes authoritie or due regard of the Churches peace it shall not be amisse to tell to their faces that they haue therefore iustlie deserued the selfesame recompence which Alexander Seuerus gaue to his friend Vetronius Turmius namely vt fumo pereant qui fumum vendunt that they perish with smoake who sell forth smoake For what other thing else do they set forth to sale but such fuming smoke as is readie to breake forth into dangerous firie flames Beware therefore good christian Reader that thou increase not the fire alreadie kindled by blowing a popular applause into the wide open eares of any those turbulent spirits Be not too credulous or rash in intertayning their Bookes as the approued oracles of Apollo Pythius at Delphos Know this for a certaine that euerie light beliefe is none other thing else but a foolish document Therefore try all things and keepe that which is good abstayne from all appearance of euill Now the verie God of peace sanctifie you throughout and we pray God that your whole spirit and soule and bodie may be kept blameles vnto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. Faithfull is he which calleth you who also will do it Amen And now brethren wee beseech you for our Lord Iesus Christs sake and for the loue of the spirit that you would striue together with vs by prayers to God for vs that we may be deliuered from them which are disobedient in Iudea and that our seruice which we haue to do at Ierusalem may be acceptable among the Saints of God Thus the God of peace be with you all Amen Your louing brethren assuredly in the Lord and the Lord his vnworthiest on earth IOHN DEACON IOHN WALKER A summarie suruey of Master Darel his absurd and vnsound positions 1 POssessions are only to be iudged by the Scriptures Doctrine pag. 5. 2 It is impossible for Satan being without man to haue the whole rule and disposition of the body Doct. pag. 2. 3 The Demoniakes in their fits are depriued of all their senses externall and internall Doctrine pag. 10. 4 A direction left to the Church to discerne of possessions for euer Doct. pag. 19. 5 A medicine left for the curing of possessions Doct. p. 6
Satan is sooner cast forth being essentiallie within a man then when he but vexeth him by some outward operation Doct. 26. 7 Satan by his operation caused something to be felt and to appeare in some visible forme or shape Doct. pag. 37. 1 Satan repossessing a man may notwithstanding that in Luke 11. of taking 7. other worse then himselfe and dwelling there be cured by fasting and prayer Doct. pag. 37. 9 One place of Scripture may haue two senses the one Spirituall the other Literall Doct. pag. 39. 10 Fasting a more effectuall exercise then Prayer Doct. 43. 11 Difference concerning the nature of Diuels Doct. 49. 12 The Apostles Faith being a miraculous Faith could not possibly faile for it was giuen without meanes and hath no meanes ordained for the encrease thereof Doct. 47. 13 The Apostles could not possibly erre in doctrine or iudgement much lesse could their Faith faile about a Miracle sith they were shortly after to receiue the holy Ghost Doctrine pag. 49. 14 Prayer and fasting an ordinance of Christ though no such ordinance may be proued by Scripture Doct. pag. 54. 15 Many yea infinite things are decreed in the secret and eternall counsell of God and knowen to be so of men which are not set downe in his reuealed will and yet are the ordinances of God and so to be taken Doctr. 54. Detect 42. 16 The meanes which God himselfe hath appointed to some certaine end doth not alwaies prosper thereunto as the word preached meates husbandrie c. Doctr. 58. 17 That is no miracle which is effected by any one meanes ordeined to that end Doctr. pag. 60. 18 The outward thinges or actions which sometimes were vsed in working of miracles were not vsed as meanes but as signes when and according as the Apostles perceiued them profitable for man pag. 61. 19 If any heretofore haue vsed Prayer in working of miracles they haue not vsed it as a meanes leading thereto but vsed the same as a signe or document pag. 63. 20 Prayer and fasting is the onely meanes to remoue any iudgement from vs. Doctrine pag. 66. 21 Gods prouidence denied in saying that Satan can enter into a man at his pleasure so the partie but giue his consent pag. 80. 22 To entreat Christ to cast out a Diuell is mirandum but not miraculum Apolog. pag. 33. Detection pag. 8. 23 Reprobates may now cast out Diuels Doctr. pag. 106. 24 Where the proper signe of a thing is there is also for certaine the thing signified Detection pag. 50. 25 Physicke and such like peculiar ordinances are not mentioned at all in the Scriptures Doctrine pag. 54. 26 Diuels doe earnestly desire to be essentially inherent in the possessed mans body Doctrine pag. 2. 27 Master Darell auoucheth a Vbiquitie in Diuels namely that at one instant they are without and within a man Detection pag. 103.110 Behold gentle Reader we haue here giuen thee an inckling as it were by the way concerning the supposed soundnesse of Master Darell his subsequent Doctrine of the essentiall possessions and dispossessions of Spirits and Diuels his published Pamphlets being euery of them vniuersally pestered with these and sundry other absurd and vnsound Positions as will plainely appeare in their orderly examinations Now then as by hauing the iust length of the one arme of a man thou maist very neerely ghesse at the iust length also of the other so surely hauing felt by these few a shrewd sauour of palpable absurdities thou maist very shrewdlie imagine what the whole Discourse is likely to be the same being builded as thou seest vpon such fickle and sandie foundations as are vtterly vnable to support the vnwealdie frame of so tottring a worke Moreouer in that very many of these his Positions are directly opposite to the infallible truth of the sacred Scriptures it doth minister vnto thee a notable watchword and exact at thy hands a circumspect consideration concerning the entertainement of any thing contained in his Bookes For doe tell me I pray thee whether it be any waies possible that such palpable vntruthes should possibly proceede from that Spirit of truth which leadeth the seruants of God into all soundnesse of truth The Lord giue thee an vnderstanding Hart to know and a discerning Spirit to determine rightly of the things that differ and to hold fast whatsoeuer is good to thy owne euerlasting comfort in Iesus Christ. So be it A briefe Catalogue of Master Darel his apparant contradictions 1IN his doctrine pag. 29. he saith to be possessed of a diuell is as ordinary a disease as blindnes deafnes and such like but ibidem pag. 67. hee makes both it and the cure an extraordinarie worke calling for an extraordinarie vse And ibidem pag. 79. a disease supernaturall and medicine supernaturall And ibidem pag. 103. a rare and extraordinarie worke of God And ibidem pag. 105. the casting out of the diuell at Nottingham is made the same with Christes miraculous worke and aboue some other miraculous actions Also detection pag. 41. supernaturall meanes supernaturall disease And pag. 58. prayer is as ordinarie a meanes as other medicines And pag. 59. prayer and fasting an ordinarie meanes 2 In his detection pag. 54. signes of dispossession not necessary but pag. 57 as also doctrine pag. 36. they are absolutelie necessarie for sundrie reasons and a direction left in the word for discerning the same signes 3 In his doctrine pag. 39. no eiection of Satan in the papacie yet pag. 70. a true deliuerance in the papacie graunted and that by their humiliation 4 In pag. 39. he auoucheth a voluntarie departure of diuels but pag. 77. the diuell he saith must be inticed out 5 In his doctrine pag. 12.41.81 he saith the Demoniakes receiue no hurt at all by anie their torments and pag. 13. he rendreth a reason why but pag. 36. hee saith Darling was so sore hurt as for thirteene weekes after he was lame and had no vse of his legges 6 In his doctrine pag. 40. hee saith that diuels are now cast forth by Christ his owne absolute authoritie and pag. 41. by his absolute supreame authoritie but in pag. 55. he saith that this supernaturall disease is cured by the supernaturall medicine applied thereto as a natural medicine is applied to a natural disease 7 In his doctrine pag. 41. hee maketh fasting and prayer a warranted ordinance for the expelling of diuels by the wordes of Christ in Matth. 17.21 and in Mar. 9.29 but in his detection pag. 41. wee read not saith he of the first ordayning of anie such meanes 8 In examining the words of Math. 17.21 and Mar. 9.29 he saith the same words were spoken to the Apostles and Disciples as appeareth in his doctrine pag. 41.42.50 but pag. 43.44.45.46.47.48.49 he flatlie opposeth himselfe to that exposition and inuents many reasons why that speech of Christ should not be appropriated to them of that age but all this in his detection pag. 43. hee doth plainely confute in this
whatsoeuer Know you not who it is that the father in these last dayes hath finallie appointed to reueale and to speake all truthes to his Church What man will you then forsake the fountaine of liuing waters for the reuelation of truthes and runne to such filthie puddles of your owne deuising as are able to hold no water at all Will you leaue the law and the testimonies and trot after a blind and a trothlesse lad for the reuelation of these hidden truthes will you withdraw your selfe from that holy oyntment whose onelie office it is to lead into all truth whatsoeuer and hunt after a supposed wicked spirit in a graceles and sensles boy Will you returne from the author of truth to the author of lyes from the holy ministrie of God to an extraordinarie ministerie of the diuel and his diuellish instrument In the name of God doe presentlie humble your soule at the fearefull remembrance of this your horrible and fearefull condition Pray earnestlie to God that if it be possible this blasphemous thought of your heart may be forgiuen you when the time of refreshing commeth What great blasphemie is this against our Lord Iesus the Churches sole Prophet For the onlie testimonie of Iesus is that spirit of Prophecie whereupon wee must soundly relie for the reuelation of all truthes whatsoeuer What intollerable iniurie is this to the office of his holy spirit who alone must bring to our remembrance whatsoeuer the Lord Iesus hath spoken before What a fearefull checke giueth this blasphemous speech of yours to the ordinarie ministerie of Christ so singularly graced and so notablie qualified with sundrie giftes from aboue for the manifestation of all truthes whatsoeuer to the end of the world Yea besides these your sundrie and intolerable blasphemies what a deadlie blow haue you giuen your owne selfe and your fellow-laborers as though that might be made knowen to the world by the ministerie of diuels which could not nor cannot possiblie be found forth by the Lord Iesus his ordinance A very dangerous conceit and flat opposite I assure you to our Sauiour himselfe who saith they haue Moses the Prophets let them heare them That wee should therefore expect reueâ—ations of truthes from any other meanes els was neuer taught from heauen but from hell yea euen out of the lying mouth of that damned rich glutton who reiecting the reuelations of the word did say vnto Abraham that if one should arise from the dead they would vndoubtedly beleeue and be saued Behold here the infernall author of that your vile and fearefull conceit and be forthwith ashamed of such a tutor The Lord open your eyes and instruct you better that so you may be enabled hereafter to deuide the word more truelie and to shew your selfe a more sound and substantiall teacher of truth For consider I beseech you how harshlie this blasphemous speech of yours would sound in the verie eares of your prophanest hearers namelie if you should say thus vnto them Good people be not troubled I pray you with any your owne ignorance concerning these hidden truthes which wee intimate to you and which are now in question among vs. For be you well assured that this truth which hitherto hath bin hidden from manie it shall now notwithstanding very shortly be manifested vnto you by such a corrupt boy or rather if you will by some diuell in the boy at the least Were not this pockie good stuffe think you to pester your Pulpit withall And yet this in effect is euen the very same which you affoord vnto vs froÌ„ that your former most filthie conceit Hauing thus in some sort discharged my conscience by giuing you admonition in time doe you now produce better arguments to proue your supposed essentiall possessions of spirits and diuels or els doe forthwith giue ouer the field for shame Exorcistes Why sir I dispossest them all by prayer and fasting therefore they were all essentiallie possessed Physiologus What man are you quite spent vp concerning the pretended essentiall possessions of those your eight Demoniakes that you are now like a steale-counter thus couertly creeping vnto their supposed dispossessions by prayer and fasting Surely sir if while we be but in dealing spare blowes the one with the other you begin like a cowardlie crauen so soone to set vp the heckle it is to be feared you will neuer hold out when once we come to the deadly fight Exorcistes Yes yes I warrant you feare it not For neither is my cause so crasie that I neede to feare your encounter nor my courage so cowardly as that I will euer fight crauen be the bickering neuer so sharpe Phyfiologus Well said Exorcistes when the cause it selfe becomes desperate then well fare a valourous heart howbeit it were much better in my simple conceite to yeeld vp the field by a faire and a friendly perswasion then in a foole-hardie or humorous course to continue a desperate fight till you receiue a deadly foyle Lycanthropus Surely Exorcistes howsoeuer you braue it in words it were better the controuersie were brought to an issue because the faster you runne the further you range and the more fiercelie you fight the more feeble you growe yea all men may plainely perceiue that howsoeuer you prate you will neuer preuaile Exorcistes Tush man feare you not that Philologus Nay feare that feare will we feare not at all Exorcistes Neither yet I I assure you Orthodoxus Well then Exorcistes hauing said what possiblie you can concerning your first distribution I meane the supposed essentiall possessions of those your eight pretended Demoniakes let vs now for one houre or two goe take the fresh aire and then reuiue our skirmish afresh concerning your second distribution I meane your dispossessing of those eight by your prayer and fasting Exorcistes I doe willingly yeeld to your motion The end of the first Dialogue The second Dialogue THE ARGVMENT Whether this fresh encounter containing an hotch-potch of matters confusedly shuffled together hath found a better successe concerning the pretended Dispossession of Diuels by prayer and fasting then any the precedent particulars propounded at large in those our former Discourses The speakers names PHILOLOGVS LYCANTHROPVS PNEVMATOMACHVS PHYSIOLOGVS ORTHODOXVS EXORCISTES Orthodoxus THis pleasant fresh ayre I assure you hath well refreshed our feeble spirits and therefore that we protract no further time doe tell vs directly Exorcistes what you say now to your falslie pretended Dispossession of Diuels by Prayer and Fasting Exorcistes Sir hauing sufficiently proued that the eight persons we speake of were euery of them essentiallie possest by the Diuell yea and this also with such vnanswerable and inuincible arguments as may fully perswade an indifferent Reader there needes no further labour herein Nnotwithstanding because that which makes for the proofe of their Dispossession tendeth directlie to the further confirmation of that their said essentiall possession I am therefore
care towards God to his Church to their owne soules and more especially to that people of the Lord which peculiarly dependeth vpon them And that also in an only respect of these the precedent coÌ„siderations they do forthwith make apparantly known to all the world their proper abilitie their valour and courage in defending the truth and in conuincing the aduersaries thereof of what coÌ„dition soeuer That by such a conscionable course they may truly declare themselues to be men sanctified and prepared for the seruice of the Lord yea and such also as can do nothing against the truth but for the truth notwithstanding any the sinister perswasions of men or the carnall respects of this bewitching world And this in effect â—â—r those seuerall vses which more especially concerne the publike mislikers of this new-found Diuillitie Lycanthropus Very well Proceede now I beseech you to the timely vnfolding of some such speciall vses as haue a more speciall relation to the priuate mislikers Orthodoxus With all my hart Wherein we haue first to consider that seeing the â—ound truth of this doctrine we teach hath in euery age of the world bin so mightily vndermined by Sathan himselfe and so dangerously darkened by such seducing companions as accompting glorie or gaine the greatest godlines do endeuour to withhold the veritie it selfe in vnrighteousnes and to turne the manifest truth of God into a mysticall lye This therefore it tendeth very notably you see to the timely commendation and comfort of all such sound harted Christians as notwithstanding these encountring occurrents are not lightly carried about with euery vaine blast of deceiueable doctrines from the sinceritie and soundnes of that sacred faith which they firmely hold in Iesus Christ but do rather very circumspectlie watch most couragiouslie stand fast in the faith to too valiantly quite themselues like valorous souldiers are vnconquerablie strong against principalities and powers against the worldly gouernours euen the princes of the darkenes of this world against spirituall wickednesses in the high place yea and which more is do euen fight together in one faith of the Gospell not fearing the outragious force of their aduersaries how many or how mightie soeuer which is vndoubtedly vnto their aduersaries a token of perdition but vnto them a signe of saluation and that also of God Surely such their sound persisting in the puritie of faith as it argueth no small measure of grace so doth it freelie afoord theÌ„ a singular meditation of spirituall comfort so oft as they in the middest of this reeling and wauering world be soundly touched with the due consideration of that their setled constancie For consider I beseech you and tell me directly what persons they were that were freed from those the bewitching Inchantments wherewith Pharaoh and the Egyptians were so grosly deluded but only the true Israell of God Againe who are they that do considerately foresee those seducing practises of such miracle-mongers as giue men a signe or a wonder to draw them from God but they who do circumspectlie respect the purpose of Iehouah in sending such seducers among theÌ„ which is only to â—ound and to try their sincere and faithfull cleauing to him with all their harts Againe who were they that discerned the lying spirit in the mouth of Baall his prophets but those only seuen thousand whome the Lord in mercie had elected to himselfe and called to the sincere profession of his holie name Againe who are they that discouer those the deceiueable sounds and signes of such counterfeit Christs as cry out and say Lo here is Christ Lo there is Christ but only those saued ones who hauing receiued his cognizance do heare only his voyce and follow him whether soeuer he goeth Againe what were they that escaped the bewitching snares of Simon Magus very pestilentlie termed the great power of God but such only as gaue an attentiue regard to the preaching of Phillip and faithfullie entertained his powerfull miracles Againe who had an immunitie from those satanicall inticements of Elymas the sorcerer who mightily withstood the preaching of Paule and seducingly sought to turne Sergius Paulus away from the faith but only those prudent deputies and those prouident people who conscionablie conuersing with Paule and Barnabas do desire to be soundly instructed in the word of God Againe who are mercifully deliuered from the deluding enchantments of such schismaticall teachers as draw men into factious courses but they only that receiue not the word with respect of persons Againe who are they that are sincerely preserued and cheerefullie presented chast virgins to Christ but such onely as are not seduced with serpentine sleights but can and doe prouidently perceiue the legerdemaines of those cunnicatching companions who cunningly transforme themselues as if they were the Apostles of Christ Againe who are they that are not spiritually entrapped with the deceiueable signes and woâ—ders which the second Beast hath power to worke vpon earth but such onely as being wise to number the name of the Beast haue their own names assuredly written in the booke of life Thus then these holie mislikers of this new found Diuillitie who accompt the faith of miracles to be but rash and vncertaine they plainly perceiue by all the premisses their happie condition in Iesus Christ and may assuredly comfort their soules in this their immoueable constancie notwithstanding the daily contemplation of such strange signes and wonders as if it were possible are able to deceiue the verie elect Peuumatomachus This sir I assure you is a comfortable vse but proceed in the rest I beseech you Orthodoxus Moreouer in that the holie mislikers of this new found trade of Diuillitie haue found themselues notwithstanding Satan his sundrie sleights of legerdemaine to remaine sincerely and immutably constant in their holy profession surely the timely consideratioÌ„ of this so singular a mercie in Iesus Christ should stirre vp their hearts vnto a dutifull thankfulnes to God for the same Yea and it should make them to testifie such speciall fauour both in labouring earnestly the hoped saluation of the rest of their brethren by hauing a mutuall compassion vpon some and other some againe by sauing with feare in pulling them violently from out of the fire That being by this meanes recouered they may conscionablie confesse their holie conuersion and therewithall be brought not only to present all those their vnpriuiledged bookes concerning this curious craft to the publike Magistrate to bee sacrificed forthwith in the fire but also euen ioyntly and couragiously to encounter with Satan himselfe or any his Serpentine ymps for the speedie suppressing of all such seducing courses as our miracle-mongers doe hourely imagine and with flattering speeches doe purposely plot to deceiue the hearts of the simple Briefly let them vndoubtedly assure themselues that by such an happie conuersion of these their poore seduced brethren thus straggling
others Moreouer it may please the good Reader to remember withal that such absurd positions and so many apparant contradictions they cannot possiblie proceed from that spirit of truth which leadeth into all soundnes of truth and religion and that therefore they haue in them no force at all to fight for the Lord who needeth not the lies of mortall men Brieflie this we our selues doe certainely know all men more especiallie the iudiciall sort they plainely perceiue that howsoeuer those their pretended essentiall possessions and dispossessions of diuels may haplie accord with the truth of the Scriptures yet these their published Pamphlets they will neuer be able to make good the supposed truths which themselues doe pretend and that therefore they must of necessitie be forced to begin a new ground or to giue ouer their cause The Lord by his spirit direct vs only vnto that which tends to the glory of his great name the present good of his Church and our owne euerlasting comforts in Iesus Christ. So be it euen so Lord Iesu. Amen The seuerall Arguments handled at large in the subsequent Dialogues concerning our second encounter The first Dialogue Pag. 1. The Argument 1 WHether Master Darel his second encounter contayning an hotch-potch of things confusedly shuffled together hath found a better successe concerning the pretended essentiall possession of Spirits and Diuels then any the precedent particulars propounded at large in our former Dialogues The second Dialogue Pag. 81. The Argument 2 WHether this fresh encounter contayning an hotch-potch of matters confusedlie shuffled together hath found a better successe coÌ„cerning the pretended dispossession of Diuels by prayer and fasting then any of the precedent particulars propounded at large in those our former discourses The third Dialogue Pag. 197. The Argument 3 THe holie and right vses which the Church and Children of God are to make of this Doctrine concerning the finall determination of possessions and disposessions of spirits and diuels A SVMMARIE ANSWERE TO ALL THE MATERIALL POINTS in any of Master DAREL his bookes The first Dialogue THE ARGVMENT Whether Master Darel his second encounter containing an hotch-potch of things confusedly shuffled together hath found a better successe concerning the pretended essentiall possession of Spirits and Diuels then any the precedent particulars propounded at large in our former Dialogues The speakers names PHILOLOGVS LYCANTHROPVS PNEVMATOMACHVS PHYSIOLOGVS ORTHODOXVS EXORCISTES Orthodoxus EXorcistes Hauing very lately receiued your late-spread factious Pamphlets as also your Champion-like challenge concerning your old inueterate opinions about the essentiall possessions of Spirits and Diuels I vnderstand by Master Physiologus and the rest of our companie that according to your owne appointment for time and place you are now come purposely ouer vnto vs to mannage your challenge Surely howsoeuer your maine forces may happely be feeble there is no want I perceiue of a valorous minde Well sir you are welcome vnto vs. And therefore what say you man Doe you feele your selfe no lesse readie than willing to aduenture the combate afresh Exorcistes Yea sir I am very willing and readie at all assaies and doe purpose very valiantlie to hold out the encounter or lie fast by the heeles But what say you first to those my three late published treatises which you so scornefully brand with the odious title of factious Pamphlets Orthodoxus Or euer I come to open my mouth concerning any your owne matters I must first of all be very importunate vpon the rest of our companie that they would in no wise interrupt our talke for protracting the time but onely attend with silence and become indiffâ—rent Iudges concerning the scope of our conference Vnles happilie it may please Master Physiologus for better ease vnto me and more delight to your selues to enterlace now and then some such Philosophicall points as may in any sort tend to the further manifestation of the maine purpose in hand Lycanthropus We like very well of and doe willinglie submit to your motion proceede therefore in your matters as the Lord in mercie shall direct your minds Orthodoxus Content Come on therefore Exorcistes what say you now to the essentiall possession of Spirits and Diuels Exorcistes Sir be you sure you must finde me no Changeling concerning that so weightie a matter But first shew me I beseech you how you may possiblie make good the intolerable disgrace which you haue primarilie imposed vpon those my fruitefull labours which it pleaseth your own selfe to terme but factious Pamphlets Orthodoxus Why man It hath been euer my ordinarie manner of dealing you know to call a spade a spade and therefore you must pardon my plainenes herein Howbeit be patient I pray you we will neuer fall forth for naming the Childe And therefore pretermitting the terme of factious Pamphlets those your three last published treatises sith forsooth you will needes haue them intituled so they are either such as concerne onely but matters of fact or such as concerne matters of fact and Doctrine together Your treatises concerning onely but matters of fact namely your Triall and Detection I doe purpose at no hand to intermeddle withall Both because you your owne selfe haue purposely singled forth from the rest your proper Antagonists whom you proudely intitle the two English Inquisitours Samuel Harsnet I meane and his Master whom also in the very heate of your pride you haue by a Hysteron Proteron preposterouslie put downe in your Pamphlet and for that I also my selfe haue no authenticall Commission to enquire after much lesse to determine such factious proceedings For which speciall respects I doe purposely put ouer the trying forth of your Triall as also the orderly deciding of that your Detection to such Ecclesiasticall Commissioners as her excellent Maiestie hath authenticallie subordinate vnder her Highnes for the orderlie finding forth of all those vnorderlie and grosse malefactors which doe indirectlie withstand or impugne the same Exorcistes Well what say you then to the other of my treatises Orthodoxus You shall vnderstand anon my censure concerning the same In the meane time howsoeuer for the former considerations I doe vtterlie refuse to meddle with those two forenamed Pamphlets being meerelie but matters of fact yet must I bicker with you a blowe or two concerning the seuerall Epistles prefixed to both For besides that they are in some places absurd and senseles doe labour thoroughout vpon a pitifull begging of the cause of Possession and Dispossession are branded with Grosthead his corrections by matching in your Apocryphall text that your pretended miracle with the true miracles of Christ but yet making the same in your marginall note no miracle at all besides I say that they all keepe onely a circular motion are full fraught with idle excursions with rouing phantasies with extrauagant speeches are thirteene times pestered with an idle traducing tautologie are stored with fearefull disloyall titles and termes of disgrace with vaunting challenges virulent raylings and
selfesame preuailing course with K. Wright and her seauen Diuels for among seauen you might peraduenture haue fallen vpon one of those combersome Spirits which would not be remoued but by prayer and fasting together and yet notwithstanding you onely but prayed at her deliuerance Exorcistes Indeede she was dispossessed by prayer alone vpon the very day of her appointed deliuerance by my only prayer without fasting ioyned therewith or so much as entended either by her selfe or any other in her behalfe or so much as aduised thereto Orthodoxus Surely it should seeme you haue a very rare gift for driuing forth Diuels in that sometimes without either prayer or fasting at all hauing onely but a purpose thereto you can so easilie accomplish the worke For vpon the very day of K. Wrights second deliuerance when you neither prayed nor fasted it seemes you could driue out those seauen at a clap if it be true that others report and your selfe depose For first your selfe hauing well dined before with Master Beresford at Cutthorpe and then after dinner going two or three miles vnto the appointed place you had fully dispatched them all by noone or shortly after Howbeit I am something too blame for intermedling so farre with the secret mysteries of this new-found trade for notwithstanding the premisses and those your precedent Canons concerning the same there may bee couched some hidden conceit vnder those your changeable 〈…〉 Spirit had time long enough for his further continuance yet K. Wrights seauen Diuels they had continued in her their appointed terme to the full and then Master Darell affirmeth they will goe out of their owne accord without any such meanes at all Thus then it is vncertaine you see whether that their speedie departure from out of her bellie was voluntarie of themselues or constrained rather by the ineuitable force of your fasting and prayer neither do we perceiue how we may be soundly resolued herein but by old Midlecubs mouth For if their speedie departure was voluntarilie performed by their owne accord then what need I beseech you of that your new-found ordinance of prayer and fasting especially where such curteous Diuels must bee encountred with Surely none at all Nay rather much needles labour might well haue bin spared and such causelesse sturres needed neuer haue been raised all the countrey ouer about a new nothing On the other side if their speedie departure was not voluntarie as before but that they were by the very force of your prayers compeld to bee packing without longer delay then tell vs I pray you how your rule was obserued concerning the vse of fasting therewith Now surely this new-found trade of Diuillitie it was first founded it seemes vpon a tottering pillar or fickle foundation and that is the reason why you haue made your chaungeable Canons so suteable and correspondent thereto Exorcistes Howsoeuer it pleaseth your selfe very disdainfullie to terme it a new-found trade very certaine I am that our Sauiour Christ he hath in those Scriptures established prayer and fasting as a perpetuall ordinarie meanes for the powerfull expelling of Diuels Orthodoxus Not so Those Scriptures haue only a reference to the Disciples of Christ concerning that action in hand as wee shewed and your selfe confessed before For by them alone the question was moued to them alone the answere was giuen and of them alone must the same be vnderstood Exorcistes To appropriate that speech of Christ and to restraine it precisely to the persons of the Disciples alone as meerely and peculiarly appertaining to them is much more then the text it selfe either in expresse words or by necessarie consequence may possibly beare Orthodoxus Oh then I perceiue you are a Kingstroppe man concerning your word who will say and vnsay with a breath For did not your owne selfe so appropriate this scripture a little before when you gaue the sense of the place protesting withall you would sticke fast to that sense for euer Exorcistes Yea but I haue vpon better deliberation considered since that there is no scripture besides to helpe in this case and therefore that former sense is more then any man may for certaintie auouch Yea it is such a sense I assure you as we our selues may by as good warrant denie as others may dare to affirme Physiologus Master Orthodoxus this man by his variable answeres doth make me remember a merrie old iest of an Hermite Who comming in a cold winters night to a Farmers house and blowing his fingers was demanded of the Farmer what he meant by blowing his fingers I doe it quoth the Hermite to warme them with all This Hermite being foorthwith set downe to his supper with a good messe of warme pottage before him he blew his said pottage The Farmer beholding the man said thus vnto him Thou didst blow thy fingers euen now to warme them withall but I pray thee for what purpose dost thou now blow thy pottage I blow my pottage saith he to coole them thereby Yea quoth the Farmer can there come out of thy mouth both heate and colde at a clap I perceiue then by these pranckes thou art but a dissembling fellow or some counterfeite Frier and therefore be packing I pray thee from out of my house for I like not those fobbing companions which can so cunningly blow both hotte and cold with a breath Exorcistes Howsoeuer this tale befitteth your person the allusion you see resembleth your practise in euery point For you told vs euen now very confidently that Christ did appropriate this text to his Disciples demand and now with one and the selfe same breath you doe beare vs in hand that such a sense is much more then may be auouched for truth it hauing none other scripture besides to mannage the same Surely as the Lord for his owne part protesteth to vomite such lukewarme Laodiceans out of his mouth as are neither hotte nor colde so shall it not be amisse for the wise Farmers of England to beware how they harbour those doublefaced Ianusses which know how to blow both hotte and colde with a breath Besides that this your new found ordinance hauing neither expresse scripture to establish it nor any text else to support the supposed truth thereof it must needs be a pitifull ordinance yea and which more is an ordinance flat opposite both in nature and qualitie to all ordinances else whatsoeuer And therefore it shall not be amisse for your ignorant Reader to haue a more watchfull respect to the maine point it selfe being thus matched with such a coging companion as knowes how to alter his shape with atrice Exorcistes Howsoeuer you catch hold of any thing said by my selfe to the contrary that scripture it cannot be vnderstood of Christs Apostles or of any others endewed with like miraculous giftes neither may it any further be meant of or directed to them then thereby to signifie to them that it was one of the worst kinde of
auouch any thing for truth which is not a truth or to father a lie vpon Christ and so to hold the truth in vnrighteousnes It is impietie to put vpon the pure Spouse of Christ the besmearing brand of that antichristian strumpet to whome alone is giuen power to worke lying signes and wonders in all deceiueablenesse of vnrighteousnesse and so make her saith M. Darel to boast or bragge that she hath in her eare the marke of a Rogue or that shee is burnt in the hand like a theefe For as these saith he are the infallible markes of rogues and theeues so surely the miraculous expelling of diuels by papists and others in these dayes of the Gospell it is the vndoubted true ensigne badge or cognizance of antichrist It is impietie to affirme that fasting and prayer ex opere operato may possiblie effect such a worke and so to iumpe with trayterous Stapleton and with Thyreus the Iesuite It is impietie to prophane the holy exercise of prayer and fasting by such preposterous practises without any warrant at al from the word It is impietie to draw prayer and fasting from their peculiar and proper appointed ends namely from being but proppes and helpes for the onlie support of our feeble faith in the promises of God and to make them the only sole meanes for the powerfull expelling of diuels without any faith at al. Yea and euen such a meanes forsooth as may saith M. Darel enable a reprobate to effect such a worke Loe these are the seuerall impieties which doe necessarilie succeede your sensles exposition and yet you aske what impieties would follow thereof Now next for absurdities It is to too absurde to auouch that fasting is more effectuall and more powerfull for the expelling of spirits and diuels then is prayer it selfe It is absurde to make sole prayer but a practicall meanes to proue experiments by It is absurd to make fasting the subsequent of prayer whereas it should indeed be a precedent exercise or rather an ordinarie preparation thereunto It is absurde to establish a trade without a tuition or to prescribe a medicine where there is no maladie at all Loe these and such other absurdities doe necessarilie succeed your sensles exposition of Math. 17. vers 21. and yet you enquire what absurdities may possiblie succeed the same Now next shall be handled succinctlie the daungers also thereof which are both manie and those also most mightie For first it cannot but be fearefullie dangerous that the Church should be brought to imbrace for infallible truth that which cannot possiblie be proued a truth Againe it is vndoubtedly dangerous for the Church by this meanes to consort her selfe with her enimy especially in such grosse and erronious opinions To practise prayer and fasting as a perpetual ordinance establisht by Christ for the powerful expelling of diuels hauing no one warrant in the word for the same To be made carelesse of the true spirituall armour against Satan in deed by buzzing secretlie into her eares that which is not her armour appointed by God Loe these are some of those palpable impieties absurdities and dangers which must necessarilie succeed your said exposition and yet you are not ashamed to enquire what impieties absurdities or daungers may possiblie follow thereof These and such like they are the supposed good fruites which grow vp and may possiblie be gathered from your former most fruitles exposition concerning that portion of scripture As for the euill fruits you enquire after therein you are sufficiently able to resolue your selfe For what fruit may you haue of that whereof you are now so filthilie ashamed that you dare not shew forth your face as in former times Exorcistes Sir I would you knew it I am nothing ashamed of that infallible truth which I teach Orthodoxus If you blush not for very shame at so grosse an exposition the lesse is your glorie and the greater your confusion no doubt For who but an impudent person would not be highlie ashamed of the ignorance of his owne soule Howbeit if in very deed you be not ashamed thereof from your heart why then doe you thus hide your head in a corner Truth you know she seeketh no corners neyther feareth she more in her heart then to be hid from the eyes of the world Exorcistes I forsake not the truth it selfe be you sure I onely but flee those fierie trials which so fiercely doe follow the truth Neither take I this course without the warrant of Christ who wils me when I am persecuted in one Citie to flie into another Orthodoxus Alas poore pitiful cause what hard hap hadst thou to put thy selfe vnder the protection of so cowardly a Patrone as only but braues it in words without either beating once back or bearing off the blowes which daily befall thy vntimelie birth Howbeit you doe blasphemouslie belie our Sauiour Christ in saying that hee should approue of your cowardlie flight from citie to citie For the flight which Christ warranteth there is that wherin only your person not your profession is hotlie pursued by persecuting Tyrants You are not pursued with any purposed hurt to your person but onely with a prouident respect to those your preposterous practises which your selfe hauing preposterously set first on foote doe now by this your cowardly cariage euen purposely betray in the open field Besides that howsoeuer your flight might bee warranted lawfull before the challenged combat yet being once purposely billed forth for the battell and your owne selfe vndertaking the graund-Captaine his charge in this singular skirmish you haue from hence-foorth no more warrant to flee the very forefront of the field then hath the apprehended offender to breake out of prison Notwithstanding let vs set these things aside for the present and doe shew foorth vnto vs I pray you how from that portion of Scripture you may possibly conclude the timely establishment of that your supposed ordinance of prayer and fasting Exorcistes Why sir he knoweth nothing at all in the holie things who vnderstandeth not this namely first if any bee now possest and by prayer preuaile not then prayer and fasting together must forthwith be vsed Secondly that prayer and fasting being so vsed will certainly prosper either to the present remouing or to the powerfull sanctifying of the said iudgement at least Orthodoxus If that man who vnderstands not the profunditie of these new-found mysteries knoweth nothing at all in holie things then surely I for mine owne part must freely confesse that hitherto I haue knowne nothing at all concerning that mysticall way Yea and which more is this your pretended great knowledge therein it is I verely beleeue but a presumptuous knowledge hauing in it no soundnes of knowledge at all For who euer taught you as yet or from what spirituall fountaine can you possiblie conuey such a profunditie of sacred knowledge as may warrant vs to vndertake first an
of prayer and fasting together as of a perpetuall ordinance establisht by Christ to any such purpose onely they giue their aduise for the exercise of prayer alone if any such supposed occurrent should at any time befall the people of God Besides that these your produced Fathers not prouing before your priuate opinion concerning essentiall possessions their now propounded speeches to proue your pretended dispossessions by prayer and fasting as by a perpetuall ordinance established purposely by Christ himselfe to such speciall purpose are meerely vaine and superfluous Exorcistes The Fathers you say they onely but giue their aduise concerning such workes would the Fathers presume to aduise vnto that thinke you whereof they had no warrant at all in the word Orthodoxus Yea why not they hauing especially the selfesame aduising course so authentically warranted to them by good Master Darels example who without any warrant at all from the word as he saith presumes to giue the selfesame aduice concerning the cure of parties bewitched Howbeit if either those fathers or you your selfe were possiblie able to proue prayer and fasting such a perpetuall ordinance establisht by Christ as you falsely pretend then surely albeit they gaue no such aduice at all the same supposed ordinance being at any time orderly vsed should bee euer effectuall For who may bee able to alter the certaine appointment of God or possibly withstand his absolute will concerning the purposed efficacie of any his established ordinances Otherwise saith good Master Darell the Lord should haue instituted something in vaine a medicine for the curing of that selfesame disease which neuer can bee or if happily it so fell forth that any were sick thereof yet should not the medicine it selfe be of that powerfull efficacie which is by your selfe pretended Exorcistes That followeth not because the meanes which God himselfe hath appointed to some certaine end doe not alwaies prosper thereunto Orthodoxus It may follow very fitly for any thing hitherto heard yea and it is impious and to too absurd saith good Master Darell for any to affirme the contrarie Besides that the meanes which God himselfe appointeth to some certaine end it shall and doth euermore prosper to that selfesame end whereunto it is appointed of God though we perceiue not the manner how nor yet know the period of time when the same is effectuall Exorcistes But we see it eftsoones to be otherwise in preaching in feeding and plowing which the Lord hath appointed for the conuersion of sinners for the sustentation of nature and for the encrease of fruites all which notwithstanding the Lord his appointment are eftsoones ineffectuall Orthodoxus You prate herein you know not or care not what at the least For if the Lord hath certainly appointed preaching feeding and plowing for those the forenamed endâ— they shall vndoubtedly accomplish those ends notwithstanding any supposed occurrent whatsoeuer As for example the Lord hath appointed the preaching of the Gospell to be either a sauour of life vnto life or a sauour of death vnto death and therefore the said preaching of the Gospell it shall certainly prosper and haue it vndoubted effect concerning life or death at the least For first it shall be euermore effectuall concerning the worke of saluation in all the elect enioying the same howsoeuer your selfe imagine the contrarie First because so many as are certainly ordained to life shall thereby bee conuerted and brought in time to a sauing faith Secondly the very period of time concerning their said conuersion is vtterly vnknowne to all yea euen to the conuerted himselfe who knoweth no more the certaine time of his spirituall regeneration then the naturall man knoweth the certaine season of his naturall conception though they haue both in time an experimentall knowledge that they were certainlie begotten in time Thirdly their said conuersion is continually encreasing and growing thereby though wee cannot possibly discerne the manner of that selfesame encrease no more then wee may possibly discerne the growing of grasse albeit we should daily stand staring and gazing vpon it Fourthly euen then also when we imagine their said conuersion to prosper the least or is resisted the most it doth eftsoones prosper the best Lastly the said preaching of the Gospell it shall be from time to time as effectuall in euery respect for the elects conuersion as for the reprobates certaine conuiction but the same is euermore an effectuall meanes which maketh the wicked to stumble and therefore effectuall to raise vp the elect in Iesus Christ. Now next for the vsage of meates and drinkes they in like manner are euermore effectuall either to nourish or to annoy the bodies of men at the least which are the two certaine ends whereunto they are certainly appointed of God For as men at sometimes doe feed very moderatly and are much refreshed thereby because the Lord so appointed the same so surely at sometimes againe euen when they are eating and while the meate is still in their mouthes the wrath of God falleth very fearfully vpon them Lastly for plowing and sowing very certaine it is the same shall euermore effectually prosper in procuring abundance or barrennes vpon the ground at the least which are the two certaine ends whereunto they are certainly appointed of God For howsoeuer we may by the secret operation of God beholde in Isaack his tillage the blessing of abundance yet sometimes againe the Lord maketh the fruitfullest land to become very barren because of the wickednesse of such as dwell therein Thus then you may plainly perceiue that both preaching and feeding and plowing they are neuer in vaine but doe effectually worke to that certaine end whereto they are certainlie appointed of God and therefore praying and fasting if they bee certainly appointed by God for the powerfull expelling of Diuels they shall certainly prosper to that selfe-same end and be alwaies effectuall thereunto Howbeit because you so confidently impugne the truth of these points let vs heare your reason why the same should not be alwaies effectuall Exorcistes The reason is because the Lord is euer at libertie and not tyed to any one meanes at all he may blesse or keepe backe if hee please the blessing which himselfe hath appointed and then the meanes or second cause it selfe will neuer preuaile Orthodoxus That is vntrue For if the Lord hath appointed the meanes it selfe to a certaine end he is not then at libertie but hath necessarily bound himselfe to that selfesame meanes so farre forth especially as concernes that certaine end whereunto he hath certainly appointed the same yea and he must also in equitie euen make the said meanes to be very effectuall So as if at any time the meanes it selfe be vtterly ineffectuall we may certainly conclude that the Lord had not certainly appointed the same to that certaine end The which point Master Darell perceiued full well as appeares by his speech saying thus When the
vs whether it was an inward possession or an outward vexation Or whether it was neyther of both but some other straunge iudgement of God or whether it was the hand of God some one way or other vpon them but what way you know not And yet notwithstanding you dare proudlie determine these intricate matters as if they were certainelie reuealed vnto you by an Angell from heauen Exorcistes Whatsoeuer you say to the contrarie the parties we speak of they were euery of them essentiallie possessed of Satan and dispossessed also by meanes of our prayer and fasting yea and these things we hold very confidentlie without any doubting at all Neyther will wee be otherwaies perswaded though an Angell from heauen should come and tell vs the contrarie Orthodoxus It is very commendable to be confident in a good and commendable cause both when you are present and absent As for your present purpose in hand it were much better to acknowledge the ignorance of your soule and freelie to confesse that you hold a lie in your right hand then with such setled pertinacie to persist as you do in your peeuish opinions and thus blasphemouslie to prophane the Apostles speech concerning the infallible testimonie of an Angell from heauen For hereby you giue all good men a iust occasion not onely to suspect very shrewdlie the sinceritie of your spirit but also after twise or thrise admonition to shew themselues very carefull in fleeing from your person as from a man that sinneth and persisteth in sinning you know very well how In the meane time whatsoeuer you haue hitherto sayde for your purpose it moues not our mindes the breadth of one haire but maketh vs more confident concerning the goodnes of our owne cause And so wee meane still to continue vntill your selfe vpon further conference and sounder deliberation with your secret fauorites shall be found able to say more for the matter then hitherto you haue done And therefore now to conclude for the present and to inferre something of the premisses and so to proceed to some speciall vses concerning the same If it be vndoubtedlie true that men now in these last dayes are not essentiallie possessed with diuels nor dispossessed and that sole prayer and fasting they are no speciall meanes appointed purposelie by the Lord himselfe for their perpetuall dispossessing but that also the seauen in Lancashire and William Sommers with the other two namelie Darling and K. Wright were not in deed essentially possessed and being not so were not dispossessed at all by your pretended ordinarie meanes of prayer and fasting then let the good Christian Reader iudge whether those men doe not very groslie erre in the generall who so confidentlie hold that men now a dayes both may be and are also essentiallie possessed and those also who affirming fullie so much doe yet further very flatlie auouch that euen in these dayes of the Gospell men possiblie may be and are also essentially dispossessed by sole prayer and fasting as by a speciall ordinaunce established purposelie by our Sauiour Christ to that speciall purpose And whether those men likewise be not as faultie in the particular who cannot with any patience endure that the pretended possession and dispossession of those the forenamed persons how absurd soeuer should be impugned by any Yea and rather then any sound opposition of truth to those their palpable vntruthes should gaine a publike passage they will by all manner of meanes directlie or indirectlie contend for a most vaine and friuolous matter namelie that the said Sommers Darling and K. Wright were no counterfeits Notwithstanding howsoeuer some in the world for any thing that may possiblie be sayde to the contrary will neuer be brought to acknowledge the infallible truth which we teach nor disclaime those palpable vntruthes which your selfe so vndutifully haue broched abrode to the world and thereupon be moued to giue the Lord that glorie and praise which is iustlie due to his Maiestie for these his latelie reuealed counsels concerning these intricate questions and endeuour withall to make their right vse of euery point a thing rather to be wished then hoped for yet wisedome no doubt she shall and will be iustified freelie of all her children And thus much in effect for your two first distributions namelie the essentiall possessions and dispossessions of spirits and diuels which may serue to giue wise men a watchword till we heare your further determination concerning the same Exorcistes Well but what say you now to my third distribution I meane the seuerall vses which we are to make of the same Orthodoxus We will say no more concerning those matters then that which we haue spokeÌ„ before namelie that in manie of those your supposed vses there are some thinges to too vnsound and absurd as in some part of our answeres hath beene partly obserued Notwithstanding were they euerie of them so sound and so currant as you would haue vs imagine yet could they not gaine at our hands any entertainement or answere before the two precedent points be more substantiallie proued vnto vs. For what one sauorie vse may any man possiblie draw from matters vnsauorie or rather which more is from matters not now existing in nature Physiologus Verie true as you say And therefore Exorcistes eyther you must presentlie forsake your cause or more sufficientlie confirme the same then you haue hitherto done Otherwise the whole world will forthwith condemne you for a verie perâ—erse and contentious person very wilfullie bent to your idle conceits without eyther sway of reason or shew of sense Exorcistes Well sir sith you so careleslie reiect those holie and profitable vses which are drawen from this my Doctrine concerning essentiall possessions and dispossessions of diuels I pray you what one good vse may be made of that which you hold to the contrarie Orthodoxus I doe no further reiect your said vses then their proper vnsoundnes and want of sound matter to be grounded vpon doth necessarily require at my hands Howbeit because you shall not imagine that we haue broached such opposite points to yours as cannot possiblie afoorde any profitable vse to the Church or people of God we are therefore not vnwilling to put downe some few vses of many to make knowen to the world what true vses in deed may soundly be drawen from the soundnesse of our Doctrine Which being by vs very faithfully propounded are now authentically priuileged by publike authoritie Howbeit because we are almost all weary of this wearisome businesse let vs walke forth to refresh our selues for one hower or two and then proceed in our purpose Physiologus We all approue of your motion The end of the second Dialogue The third Dialogue THE ARGVMENT The holy and right vses which the Church and children of God are to make of this Doctrine concerning the finall determination of possessions and dispossessions of Spirits and Diuels The speakers names PHILOLOGVS LYCANTHROPVS PNEVMATOMACHVS PHYSIOLOGVS
ORTHODOXVS EXORCISTES COme on Exorcistes you doe earnestly expect I am sure what holy vses we may possibly make of these our former discoursed opinions so opposite to yours in euery point Exorcistes I doe so indeed neither need you to wonder thereat For if you so carelesly reiect those seuerall vses which I made before and onely because there is no matter as you say to ground them from what ground haue your selfe to build any vses vpon denying so flatly the essentiall possession and dispossession of Diuels Orthodoxus Why man we will draw our vses from the finall determination of possessions and dispossessions but seeing you are in such expectation thereof we will no longer protract the time Lycanthropus Nay sir we also our selues are all held in as earnest expectation thereof as is Exorcistes I am sure and therefore I pray you proceede in your purpose Orthodoxus With very good will Wherein also you haue to vnderstand that the vses whatsoeuer which we entend to put downe from any the precedent points they are summarilie such as haue a speciall relation either to the Lord himselfe or to some other besides Pneumatomachus A very excellent order I pray you therefore proceede in putting downe first those seuerall vses which haue a more speciall relation to the Lord himselfe Orthodoxus Content First therefore these our precedent discourses they offer vnto vs in generall a very holy meditation concerning the vndoubted faithfulnesse and truth of our eternall God Who promising foure thousand yeeres fully before to send such a blessed seede of the woman as should actually bruse the Serpents head hath in his owne determined time very faithfully fulfilled the same by sending his owne Sonne into the world to accomplish his said eternall decree concerning the timely subduing of Satan his kingdome of darkenesse This therefore may serue very fitly to confirme our faith and hope in the faithfull assurance of all the rest of his promises as yet vnperformed how impossible soeuer they seeme in our weake apprehension More especially it may fully assure our soules of the faithfull performance of that one infallible promise of God which concerneth the vtter subuersion of Satan his whole kingdome of darkenes and of the quite treading downe of himselfe very shortly vnder our feete Because whatsoeuer is alreadie fulfilled in part the same is a very sure pawne to our soules of fulfilling the whole in that conuenient season which the Lord hath appointed Let vs therefore in an holy meditation of this so faithfully performed a promise be more readie to raise vp our drouping soules with an holy consideration and full assurance of all the rest of Gods promises Yea and whensoeuer any doubtings by the suggestions of Satan shall at any time hereafter arise in our harts and seeke to surprise our faith and hope concerning the vndoubted certainetie of any one promise of our gratious God let vs forthwith begin to checke our fainting soules very earnestly to meditate thus with our selues and say My Soule be not faithlesse I pray thee but faithfull in those the assured promises of God which chiefely concerne the finall and full subuersion of Satan For what though he be dayly assaulting suggesting and tempting what though he seeke dayly to fanne and to winnowe thee as men winnow wheate what though he rageth howrely like a cruell red Dragon and goeth continuallie about like a ramping and roaring Lion to deuoure thee yea admit he doth eft soones trip vp thy heeles at vnwares and giue thee a fearefull fall yet shall he neuer finallie preuaile against thee thou canst not finallie lye still in the dust of death thy faith cannot finallie faile No no thou hast a sure promise from God to go conqueringlie vpon the Lion and Adder and to trample the yong Dragon vnder thy foote yea the Lord God he hath promised very shortly to tread Sathan downe vnder thy feete And what one cause hast thou I pray thee to distrust the truth of this promise thou hauing especiallie such a sure earnest pennie thereof in the faithfull performance of other his faithfull promises Let not any supposed lingring delay procure in thee a languishing hope Consider the Lord his experimented faithfulnes concerning that promised seed which was actuallie to bruse the serpents head That promise being solemnely pronounced vpon Adam his fall was foure thousand yeares after very faithfullie fulfilled in Christ and therefore this his latter giuen promise coÌ„cerning the treading downe of Sathan vnder thy feete it shall in his certaine appointed time be certainely performed vnto thee For as all times with the Lord are presentlie present and therefore no forgetfulnes may possiblie lodge with his maiestie so is there with him no shadow of change and therefore he will vndoubtedly performe whatsoeuer he hath certainely promised Lycanthropus This I assure you is a most comfortable vse for Christian consciences I pray you proceede in the rest Orthodoxus I will This doctrine againe as it franklie affordeth an holie meditation coÌ„cerning the faithfulnes and truth of God so doth it no lesse freelie offer vnto vs a very deepe and sacred consideration concerning the omnisufficiencie of our all-sufficient Creator and of the exceeding mightie power of his ouer-ruling arme ouer euerie of his creatures of what nature or kind soeuer Yea euen ouer those the intellectuall spirits who for their inueterate malice are called accusing aduersaries for their insatiable crueltie are termed ramping and roaring Lions for their inexorable rage are intituled the red firie Dragons for their vndermining subtiltie are said to be Serpents and for their Lordlie dominion are accompted the Princes and gods of this world These titles howsoeuer they seeme terrible vnto vs yet are the Spirits themselues no better then hangmen to the heauenlie maiestie oâ— the mightie Iehouah but vile vassals to accomplish his vnchangeable decrees and the slauish executioners of his ineuitable iudgements Yea and howsoeuer they make an out-facing brauado in any their outragious attempts against the sonnes of mortall meÌ„ as though they would forthwith surprize the whole world not vnlike to the chayned Monkie which keepeth a skipping and leaping as though she would presentlie ouerleape the vtmost borders of Egypt yet can they extend their furie no further then the length of their chaine will giue them leaue because their whole malice power and policie are perpetuallie limited within those their appointed bounds which they cannot possiblie passe And therefore the serious consideration of this the ouer-ruling hand and power of the Lord may notablie serue to support those often feares which do ordinarilie arise from the often feeling of our fraile and feeble condition concerning our powerfull resisting of any the forcible assaults of Satan Let vs therefore in euerie of these daunting feares endeuour to strengthen our weake knees and to support our feeble hands which hang so droâ—pingly downe by meditating daylie vpon the
continuall wrestlings with Principalities with Powers with worldly gouernours of the darkenesse of this world yea and with spirituall wickednesses in the high places themselues while he surprise their slumbring soules at vnwares with his spirituall assaults and â—irie temptations And therefore whensoeuer we behold hereafter an extraordinarie or vnwonted course vndertaken by any for the speciall supporting of this idle conceit let vs then vndoubtedly assure our selues that euen Satan himselfe is a principall partie and hath very cunningly his hand in the packe by being a lying spirit in the practisers mouthes of very purpose to circumuent and deceiue vnstable soules That thus holding their cogitations captiuated by a causelesse conceite of a matter which is not at all he might the more cunningly suggest his intestine poysons and spirituall temptations yea and the more couertly miscarrie mens mindes in a corrupt conuersation without any due regard of the glory of God or the good of their Soules Philologus The truth of this point is apparantly euident to all in their proper experience but proceede I beseech you Orthodoxus Furthermore inasmuch as this Doctrine of ours concerning the finall accomplishment of Sathan his power of actuall possession is so mightily maligned and so preposterouslie impugned by some certaine persons professing the holie religion of God it doth very liuely demonstrate to all the world the vnsuspected subtilties and wilie proceedings of that old Serpent the Diuell Who at his first beginning of mischiefes hauing purposely imployed the externall ministerie of the subtilest beast in the speedie subuersion of Adam and all his posteritie and perceiuing there was euer since by the predeterminate purpose of God such a perpetuall enmitie betweene them and their seede as he became vtterly without hope of vsing that selfesame meanes as before in any his mischieuous purposes against the persons and bodies of men doth practise now a quite contrarie course and the same also more dangerous then the other by many degrees Namely he endeuoureth eftsoones for the speedier and more effectuall corrupting of euery such sacred ordinance of God as concernes especially the seruice of Saints to stirre vp in the Church not cruell persecutors but some certaine professors of the selfesame societie Men I meane not only reputed precise in the world but such for the most part as will not sticke forsooth in the pritching heate of their holie pride to say with skornefull disdaine to all others besides themselues Stand apart and come not neere vnto me for I am holiâ—r then thou notwithstanding they be for the most part the smoking wrath of Iehouah and a fire that burneth all the day These men for their outward shewes of sinceritie being among many others in the least suspition of all concerning any sinister practises and so in very deede the fittest instruments for the timely accomplishment of Sathan his pestilent purposes therefore hee doth cunningly seduce their soules by one meanes or other and so makes them eftsoones very fearefullie to fall into and boldlie to broach some odde phantasticall conceipt of their owne proper braine to the fearefull infecting of many poore soules before they beware In this cunning course he began to worke first by our grandmother Euah who being her selfe before very groslie bewitched by his wilie perswasions and holie pretences and fobbed vp with a fond conceite of being like vnto God in the knowledge of good and euill became forthwith a very fit instrument to seduce and deceiue her owne husband and so brought him and all his into a miserable experience indeede not of good but of euill And this Connie-catching course the Diuell hath successiuely continued from age to age vnto this present time as the sacred scriptures themselues and the ecclesiasticall histories do plainely record if any desire to peruse the same Neither doth this cunning conueyance of these his inueterate mischiefes stay here or take vp themselues from any further proceeding but euen also in this last age of the world he goeth still forwards with his legerdemaines and iuggling sleights procuring among our owne selues some certaine persons to spring vp from time to time and to vtter many peruerse and pestilent points of very purpose to draw disciples after them That euen as Iacob and Esau being brethren by nature contended together in one and the selfesame wombe to the deadlie griefe of Rebecca their mother so surely the Diuell by these cunning deuises endeuoureth daylie to stirre vp among brethren by outward profession such an intestine strife in the true Church of Christ and to hatch vp in the same such a secret viperous broode as should like the fretting Gangrena deuoure and eate through the very bowels thereof before the danger it selfe be espied A most lamentable experience concerning the infallible truth of that which we teach we may haue from the Anabaptists in Europe from the Donatists in Affricke from the Iesuites in Germanie in Fraunce and elsewhere from the Familists and Barrowists in England from the fearefull seduction of Hacket of Coppinger of Arthington yea and euen now at this present from the seducing Exorcists of euery condition Euery of these howsoeuer they otherwaies pretend the good of the Church and the credit of christian Religion haue bred a more dangerous scandal and giuen a more deadlie wound to the happie proceeding of our holie Religion in deede then if they had bin the professed and open aduersaries to the holie profession thereof The dutifull consideration of these dangerous occurrents arising especially from Sathan his subtile proceedings should help to engraue in our hearts a deeper impression of that the Apostle his heauenly admonition concerning the due triall of Spirits before we do rashly beleeue their roauing reports Yea and the same doth further demonstrate to all the world that howsoeuer the phantasticall crew may haplie impute a great follie vnto vs for these our painefull proceedings yet notwithstanding the premisses dulie considered the wise will confesse that we haue very iust cause to cry out with the blessed Apostle and say Would to God you could suffer alittle our foolishnes yea and indeede do you suffer vs. Because we are iealous ouer you all with a godlie iealousie endeuouring to prepare you for one husband and to present you a pure virgin to Christ. Howbeit we stand greatly in feare least as the Serpent beguiled Euah through her subtiltie so your minds should be corrupt from the simplicitie that is in Christ. Physiologus This vse I assure you is worthie of consideration but proceed in the rest Orthodoxus Moreouer in that the holy exercise of prayer and fasting is so stoutlie pretended to be a sole and onlie ordinary meane establisht by Christ for the powerfull expelling of diuels without the help of any other besides and that the saide meanes so obserued the spirits they shall and will vndoublie depart from the partie possessed This serueth very fitlie to discouer vnto
miraculous manner of working by him Thus then you see their said deliuerance being determined with God before all times it was accordingly promised and performed in time And as before the Law written from the very first creation the Lord obserued this method order in the orderly manifestation of any his vnchangeable ordinances so surely both at and after the giuing of the Law there was in him no shadow of chaunge concerning that selfesame vnchaungeable course For First hauing determined with himselfe before all beginnings of time to establish the Morall Law as a perpetuall rule of perfect obedience not onely he did in very fitte time make promise thereof to his people but which more is after the full expiration of foure hundred and thirtie yeeres I meane at the very appointed season it selfe he did correspondently accomplish the same Neither hath the Lord obserued such an orderly methode of working onely before and at the giuing of the Law but euer since then he hath beene altogether one and the same in the orderly accomplishment of al his actions as may plainly appeare in his orderly establishing and subuerting of the seuerall Monarkes how mightie soeuer in the seauentie yeeres captiuitie of Israell his people in the birth and death of his onely Sonne in the vniuersall establishment of his glorious Gospell in Ierusalems finall destruction in reiecting his owne people the Iewes and in bringing the Gentiles into their roomes And as in all these the precedent operations and actions so likewise in the powerfull dispossessing of Satan and in the finall determination of that his tyrannicall power of actuall possession the Lord hath carefully obserued not onely in purposing but also in promising and performing the selfesame order accordingly For as the Lord before all beginnings of time did purposely determine such a temporary iudgement as a peculiar demonstration of the Deitie of his onely Sonne and promised withall the admirable conquering of the selfesame iudgement in that promised seede which was actually to bruse the Serpents head so hath his said Sonne correspondently accomplisht the same by his death and resurrection destroying through death him that had power ouer death that is to say the Diuell Yea he hath spoyled Principalities and Powers made such a shew of them openly and so triumphed ouer them all in his Crosse as we may boldly assure our selues of the finall accomplishment of that which our Sauiour affirmeth saying Now is the iudgement of this world now is the Prince of this world cast out that is his power of actuall possession is fully and finally determined According to that his authenticall message else wherâ— vnto Herode saying Behold I cast out Diuels to day and tomorrow and the third day I shall be perfected or the third day I will make an end of that businesse The premâ—sses therefore considered there is no more reason to doubt of the finall determination of this one then of any other the eternall Decrees of God whatsoeuer For seeing the Lord not onely purposed the finall determination of Satan his power of actuall possession from before all beginnings of time but also very solemnely promised and most powerfully effected the same in that promised seede which was actually to bruise the Serpents heade who seeth not euen one and the selfesame methode and order herein obserued as in all other the forenamed purposes and determinations of our eternall God And therefore there is no more reason to denye the finall determination of this one then of any other the like purposed operations of God vnlesse we doe purposely entend to bring present confusion vpon the orderly actions of that only wise agent who accomplisheth and ordereth all things in measure in number and waight Physiologus Very true as you say And therefore let those men beware who so constantly auouch the continuance of actuall possession now in these later dayes of the world But proceede in the rest Orthodoxus Againe this doctrine of ours deciphering so plainely vnto vs all those the deceiuable notions whatsoeuer which more peculiarlie appertaine to this new-found trade of Diuillitie with the seuerall points thereof it ministreth vnto vs a notable meditation or rather a watchfull consideration concerning the very proper foundation of all those the common receiued opinions fantasies dreames or idle conceites which runne all the world ouer about the Diuels their essential assuming and transforming of bodies their pretended apparitions in this or that essentiall forme their absolute power for creating of substances their essentiall possessions their supernaturall operations with sundrie other such idle conceites These their strange imaginations concerning Spirits and Diuels if we rightlie consider the same they arise not from any the infallible truths of the Lord reuealed vnto vs in the sacred scriptures for then we might and ought boldly to imbrace them for truths how absurd soeuer in humane reason but they do rather proceede from the only imagination of mans idle braine Who hauing their cogitations darkened through the ignorance that is naturallie in them cannot possiblie be made to discerne aright of any such intricate matters Yea and they spring partly also from the corrupt customes of the world For men receiuing such vntruthes from hand to hand as it were an inueterate lie by an auncient tradition do careleslie transferre the same from themselues to their owne posteritie and the ages to come And thus forsooth an old doating custome hauing careleslie begotten many grosse and erroneous opinions concerning Spirits and Diuels the world at this present is so vniuersally besotted bewitched and possessed with these palpable fooleries as they had rather to hold a manifest lye in their very right hand then be brought from their former most fond conceites and corrupt customes to an vndoubted knowledge of the truth it selfe For howsoeuer they may haplie pretend herein the holie Religion and feare of the Lord they feare him not in deede and in truth but do serue him only after the manner of former nations yea euen vnto this day they deale in these points according to the old accustomed manner and not after the ordinances customes lawes and commaundements which the Lord commaunded the children of Iacob They runne not for a true vnderstanding of these mysticall matters to the lawe and the testimonie neither speake they at all according to this truth but euery man speaketh herein according to the blind imagination of his owne â—oolish heart and after the corrupt customes of the world itselfe because there is in them no light of truth concerning these matters And thus much in effect for those speciall vses which haue a more speciall relation to any the seuerall points propounded Lycanthropus Very well Proceede now I pray you vnto those other vses which more specially concerne the parties themselues perusing those seuerall points Orthodoxus With very good will Wherin especially we haue to consider that seeing the matters we
handle at large concerning these seuerall points are euery of them as you haue heard the infallible truthes of the Lord and the same also most soundly confirmed by the very sway of sound reason by the testimonie of fathers and by the vndoubted auctoritie of the sacred Scriptures notwithstanding any thing hitherto written or said to the contrarie this Doctrine therefore of ours it ministreth a most christian admodition to all especially the fauourits of this new-found diuillitie to beware how they do ouer-rashlie iudge or condemne any how contemptible soeuer in their ouer-weening conceits for Atheists reuolters formalists and irreligious persons who either oppose themselues against or at least do not fauour such phantasticall fooleries and fond conceites as are lately broached abroade concerning these matters in question Let men therefore beware how they doe ouer-rashly iudge or condemne their brethren for these things least haplie they be thought to oppose themselues not only against euident reason and the approued testimonie of auncient Fathers but also against the infallible truths of the sacred scriptures Besides that let them further consider that they cannot so rashlie speake euill of and condemne their brethren in these points but necessarilie they must speake euill of the law and condemne the law and so make themselues no obseruers but iudges ouer the law forgetting that there is but one law-giuer and iudge who alone is able to saue and destroy Yea and so much the rather should wise men be willinglie admonished to beware of euerie such rash and inconsiderate censuring of others by how much they may easilie perceiue not onlie their corrupt inclination very prone thereto but also the seuerall effects thereof to be very filthie and dangerous That their corrupt inclination is very prone to such an vnchristian course it is not to bee doubted for these following reasons First Satan himselfe being carried an end with an inueterate rage against humane societies hee endeuoureth nothing more earnestlie then to make diuisions in the Church of Christ and to cause among Christians such an vnchristian censuring of one another that by such their inconsiderate courses he might make them more conformable to his own cursed nature in accusing and condemning their brethren Secondlie the corruption of their owne heart which naturallie lusteth after euill things doth naturallie affect the godles gracing of themselues by their vngodlie disgracing of others Thirdlie a proud and vaine-glorious conceit concerning their proper supposed excellencie in comparison of all other besides themselues doth easilie draw them vnto such an vnchristian course Lastlie their inueterate malice and enuie against other mens gifts doth breed in them an inexorable disdaine that any other but their own twinckling starres should so much as peepe forth at all within the circumference of their proudlie vsurped element Neyther onlie the pronenes of this their corrupt inclination but which more is the filthie and most daungerous effects which will vndoubtedlie follow thereof should forciblie disswade their mindes from such an vncharitable censuring of others For first pretending an holie zeale of religion and yet determining to too rashlie of others for but opposing themselues to any their preposterous idle conceits what other thing els doe they effect thereby but an apparant discouerie of their owne cloaked hypocrisie Besides that they doe thereby also very vncharitably prouoke their poore brethren to anger against their persons and so procure them to sinne Thirdlie they doe by those their inconsiderate courses very apparantlie discouer to all the world that they are in effect no better then beastlie incarnate diuels thus rashlie to accuse and condemne their poore brethren for but onelie opposing themselues to anie their sensles opinions Lastlie by those their vncharitable censurings of others they doe in the iust iudgement of God very iustlie procure to themselues the law of like For what one good thing can they possiblie purchase thereby to themselues or what other euent doth follow thereof but a very iust occasion for others to render and repay them their measure running ouer pressed downe and shaken together The premisses therefore duelie examined and consideratlie wayed with the euen ballance of an holy discretion wee doubt not but that this admonition of ours being giuen to the wise will make them more wise and verie warilie to consider how they inconsiderately rush vpon any those vncharitable censurings of others or iudge rashlie of any man before the time vntill the Lord come who will lighten things that are hid in darkenes and make manifest the counsels of euery mans heart that so euery one may haue his due praise or dispraise from God In the meane time therefore this one vse of ours may fitlie serue as a watchword for wise men to make them beware how they doe eyther approue or disproue of any the published labours of other in an onlie regard of the author himselfe which argueth in euery of them very grosse and carnall affections Yea and it may in like manner very fully suffice to make them much more considerate how they doe entertaine hand ouer head the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ with respect of persons which is vndoubtedlie a very preposterous kind of profession Brieflie it aduiseth better and worse to take diligent heede that in their prouing of spirits and trying of all things they doe onlie hold that which is good and very conscionablie abstaine from all appearance of euill Lycanthropus Surely sir if a word be enough for a wise man this one vse may fullie suffice to admonish so many as are not ouer wilfullie wed to the vnrulie sway of their corrupt inclination but proceed in the rest Orthodoxus Again in that the resplendent beames of this plaine truth which wee teach so liuely and so notably laieth open to all the world the palpable and foggie clowdes of that their new-found trade of Diuillitie which hitherto haue so dangerously dazeled the iudgements of men together with all and euery the appurtenances appertaining thereto who seeth not now how fitly and how forcibly the same admonisheth al men of euerie condition to cease forthwith and to take vp themselues in time from being any further bewitched as in former seasons with such babling fooleries as are broached abroad in those their vndutifull Pamphlets and from being caried about any more like children by any those vaine windie blasts which like to vntimely births are so vainly vented foorth from their proud and insolent puffes Namely the Diuels their supposed absolute power to worke what they lust their pretended essentiall possessions their imagined assumings and transformings of what bodies they please at their pleasure their falsely conceited facultie for the creating of substances their dreamed dispossessions by an established ordinarie meanes of prayer and fasting as by themselues is fondly imagined with sundrie such other supposals besides All these their vnwritten verities
of the world hath made it apparantly euident Lycanthropus This vse I assure you it serueth for singular purposes but proceede in the rest I beseech you Orthodoxus Moreouer it being by these our precedent discourses apparantly made knowen to all the world that the very Authours themselues of any such vnderhand practises haue in euery age been fearefully disgraced by the all seeing God sharply censured by godly Superiours greatly disliked of all the Religious perpetually impugned by the most iudiciall sort miserably scorned among the secure and godlesse Atheists yea and euen generally condemned of one and other this should sufficiently enforme the late spronge plotters and dayly deuisers of euery such new found senselesse Diuillitie concerning the vndoubted vanitie of euery such vaine inuention yea and it should make them withall to be mightily amazed and to tremble exceedingly at the vnsearchable iudgements of God concerning such subtill Impostors as seeke to seduce the world by any their vnder-hand shifts Who notwithstanding they be neuer so outwardly holy in those their plotted pretences yet when they shall once but dare to enterprise the vnorderly mannaging of any such slie and cunning conueyances without an authenticall warrant from the word of the Lord they doe thereby not onely procure the mightie Iehouah to bring their Legerdemaines to light but which more is they doe also to any one of sounde iudgement so euidently bewray their palpable follie and so apparantly lay open their owne weakenesse concerning the necessary support of their languishing cause as euen the very best affected towards their proceedings being especiallie iudiciall persons such also as are not too much ouercome and too preposterouslie carried with partiall conceites may easily be ledde to thinke that the very Authors themselues doe but struggle against their enlightened iudgements not vnlike vnto those who making shipwracke of conscience haue fearefully forsaken their former synceritie and soundnesse of faith And this in effect for those seuerall vses which more particularly respect the Authours themselues Pneumatomachus Very well But proceede now I pray you to those other vses which more specially concerne their vnderhand fauourits Orthodoxus With all my hart Wherein we haue first to consider that seeing howsoeuer the cunning Impostors of euery age haue like Iannes and Iambres euen openly encountered with the sound ministerie of Moses their deceiueable signes and lying wonders could neuer possiblie stand against the ineuitable force of the word but like to the AEgyptian sorcerers roddes haue been euermore deuoured by Aaron his rodde this therefore may fitly serue to admonish to the full our vnderhand fauourits of euery such newfound Diuillitie that now at length they beware how they doe hereafter receiue the holy word of the Lord in an onely respect of persons which is the ordinarie vsage of carnall professors Least as Simon Magus along time Samâ—riaâ—ith â—ith his seducing sorceries so their mindes alas should by some serpentine subtiltie be drawen at vnwares from that holy simplicitie which is in Christ. Yea and this should admonish them further that in these and all other like intricate causes they receiue not hand ouer head whatsoeuer is disorderly printed or vnderhand broached by those whom they partially fauour with a personall respect but that they would rather haue speedie recourse to the Law and the testimonies and search there with the good men of Berrea whether they doe proportionably speake or write according to the infallible truth thereof which they will vndoubtedly doe if there be in them any true light at all Because being otherwise either too partiall towards those whom they fondly affect or too preiudicate at least towards such as soundly impugne their proceedings they should shew themselues to haue no loue of the truth for the only truths sake and therefore no maruell though they be purposelie subiected to strong illusions and euen desperately giuen ouer to entertaine vntruthes falshoods and lies to their further peruerting and the fearefull hazarding of their hoped saluation Philologus The Lord graunt that this vse may become no lesse profitable then we see it expedient for euery condition of people but proceede in the rest Orthodoxus Moreouer sith the fearefull inconueniences ensuing such Legerdemaines are diuersly dangerous concerning the glorie of God and the good estate of his Church here on earth this therefore should throughly aduise the vnderhand fauourits of any such newfound Diuillitie to beware how either by company conference continuance or any their vnderhand maintenance they doe couertly vphold such cunning Impostors in any their counterfeite courses more especially concerning those idle conceites which haue so vndutifully and so disordredly been broached abroad by their Bookes Least they be otherwise very iustly adiudged to iustle against the glory of God to vndermine the supereminent dignitie of Iesus Christ to enlarge that temporarie power of the Diuell which Christ hath long since restrained for euer to weaken the certaintie of faith respecting especially those particular promises which the Almightie hath made concerning our full deliuerance in Iesus Christ yea and which more is to countenance a confused disorder against her Maiesties established Lawes and orders And this in effect for those seuerall vses which onely concerne the inconsiderate affectors of this newfound Diuillitie Lycanthropus Proceed now I beseech you to some such seuerall vses as may more especiallie respect the mislikers thereof Orthodoxus With very good will Wherein also wee haue to consider that al those the following vses they are here to be put downe in a double respect Namelie in an especiall respect of publike or priuate persons Lycanthropus A very plaine order and therefore I pray you proceede first to the timelie vnfolding of those sundrie vses which more especiallie concerne the publike persons Orthodoxus Content Wherein especiallie you haue to consider that the seuerall vses respecting publike persons they are such as haue a more speciall relation to their publike places and callings And these publike persons are also twofold namely eyther the ciuill magistrates or the ecclesiasticall ministers Philologus Vnfold those vses first I beseech you which more especiallie concerne the ciuill magistrates Orthodoxus With very good will Wherein we haue first to consider that seeing so many and such daungerous mischiefes doe daylie proceed from the vnderhand practises and legerdemaines of cunning impostors as in our seuerall discourses hath beene handled at large this therefore may fitlie serue for the further enlightning of all in authoritie concerning especiallie their orderlie esteemings and iudgings about any the like occurrents which may haplie hereafter be brought into their open consistories or before any their iudiciall thrones And this moreouer may giue them accordingly some further inckling how to proceed against the persons of any how holie soeuer in shew that shall once but dare to maintaine such idle conceits to the high dishonour of God and the daylie incumbrance of Christes Church Yea and which more is we doubt