A Survey of Dialogical Discourses, Survey 8
A Survey of the Eight Dialogue.
Hauing bewrayed your great ignorance concerning the power of Sathan, you come to talke how this power is to be ſubdued: wherein you ſhew your ſelues as blinde, if not alſo obſtinate and peruerſe, as you hauehave in that already paſſed. Much lauiſh ſpeach is in the begining, wherewith I will neither trouble my ſelfe, nor the Reader. OnelyOnly we may noate by the way,page 234. how vntruly you require for the ſubduing of astuall poſſeſſion an extraordinary power: concerning which we ſhall ſee in that which followeth. Then you fling out, as youre cuſtome is, againſt the worke at Nottingham, becauſe (ſay you) Crying aloud, rending ſore, page, 24….& leaving as dead be made vndoubted true ſignes of that diſpoſſeſſion: whereas the ſame things are ſeene in Mania, (and ſometimes a Mania without them as in your ſelues) in Phrenſies, in the Mother, in Convulſions &c. I anſwer, I neither make theſe the onelyonly, nor the neceſſary ſignes of diſpoſſeſſion: for I know diuers hauehave bene wrought without them: but I frame my reaſō thus. Where theſe ſignes be, & a preſent deliuerance doth follow from thoſe & former vexations by Sathan, vponupon the requeſt of God his people, that there is a diſpoſſ ſſion. I confeſſe theſe ſignes particulerly may be in diuers diſeaſes, but they are not from the diuel: neither is there a preſent reſtoring of the parties diſeaſed in naturall ſicknes vponupon the vſing of earneſt prayer.
Thoſe meanes for diſpoſſeſſion which you ſtand vponupon,pag, 244 et…. I allow not. They be not Rings, Rootes, nor Hearbes, that be of any auayle in this worke. Neither doe we vrge the fiſhes liuer nor Dauids harp, nor the muſick wherewith Eliſhas spirit was calmed: and therfore all this as ſupe…fluous talke, nothing perteyninge to this cauſe I omit. But we cleaue onelyonly to God his owne ordinance of prayer, holpen forward by the Exerciſe of faſting, which according to his gratious promiſe & mercy we hauehave proued to be effectuall. Againſt which, before you encounter with your full ſtrength, you ſporte your ſelues with a prophane ſcoffing in the end of this dialogue.in page, 26…. And firſt, you wil needes wring from me whether I wil or no, that the worke done at Nottingham, was done onelyonly by faſting. You are able to wring Hercules his club out of his fiſt. You hauehave proued your ſelues ſuch exceeding ſharp Logicians in the former Diſcourſes, that I ſtād in great feare of you: yet now I muſt endure the brunt of it, come what wil. Go to then, bring forth your wringer. This then is it, That which made the prayer more forcible, & the ſpirit more apt, pag 257. 258was the onli efficient cauſe of the ſuppoſed action: But your faſting made your praier more forcible &c. & the…efore was the efficient cauſe of the action. This is a wringer indeede. If Cardane were aliue he would regiſter this Practicall Theoreme in the booke of his Subtiltyes. What a profit would this propoſition well vnderſtood, bring to many artificers? It would eaſe them of great expence in prouiding many tooles. The Carpenter might ſpare his axe and chiſels, and goe to fell timber, ſquare loggs, and doe his other workes with his onelyonly whetſtone. For that which makes the axe and chiſell more forcible is the onelyonly efficient of the worke. And ſo by this vnanſwerable reaſon I am made a Montaniſt, a Papiſt, pag, 257: &…& one that makes faſting a ſufficiēt meanes in it ſelfe, for ſuppreſſing of all ſuggeſted actuall ſinnes whatſoeuer: which opinion though I am far from, yet if you wil follow my counſaile M. Deacon, for ſome things that I know, you ſhould faſt more then you doe.page 259, Againe you are inſtant to know, If prayer be a meanes, in what order of meanes I woulde place it. Not in that ſure which you fooliſhly fancy to your ſelues, For what childe would eſteeme of praier as a meere naturall action? page, 260But this is ſuteable to your other blinde ignorances. Further you argue, that prayer can be no meanes, whether we respect the Sound, the Voyce, or the wordes: wherein you ſhew your ſelues no leſſe voyd of piety, then you hauehave bene hither to of wit and learning. Can you not be content to reproch me, but you muſt needes open your movthes againſt the holy worſhip of God? Can you finde no other cauſes wherefore prayer ſhoulde be effectuall, but onelyonly for a noyſe that is made, or for ſome diſtinct voice, or elſe for certaine charming words? In which of theſe reſpects cō ſiſteth the power of ordinarie prayer? you muſt needes anſwer, It conſiſteth in none of them: Conclude then, that ordinary praier is but lip labour. Your audatiouſnes is in tollerable: In this 260. page you carry your ſelues more like Athieſts, then Preachers. It is a ſhāe your booke was not better examined before it was allowed to the preſſe. But thus hauing brandiſhed your ſword about your eares, you make an end of this fooliſh talke, and prepare your ſelues to other as good.