A DETECTION OF THAT SINNFVL SHAMFUL LYING , AND RIDICVLOVS DISCOVRS , OF SAMVEL HARSHNET . ENTITVLED : A DISCOVERIE OF THE FRAVVDVLENT PRACTISES OF IOHN DARRELL WHEREIN IS MANIFESTLY AND APPARANTLY SHEWED IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD NOT only the vnlikelihoode , but the flate impossibilitie of the pretended counterfayting of William Somers , Thomas Darling , Kath. Wright , and Mary Couper , togeather with the other 7. in Lancashire , and the supposed teaching of them by the saide Iohn Darrell .

IMPRINTED 1600.

In the dayes of Henrie the second of Fraunce , father to Charles , the great massacrer and murderer of Godes Sayntes , when the Sunne●●ine of the Gospell beganne to breake forth in that kingdome , and the name of Hugonot as a by-word of reproch was giuen to the professors thereof : in the very entrie as it were of those troubles and hurlie burleyes for religion , it is recorded of the Italian weomen and credulous popularitie of that countrie , that hearing of the great sturre that was then risen about those Hugonotes , they would needes knowe of their gostlye fathers and holy inquintinge Fryers , what those French Hugonotes were : vnto whom that deuoute and Pop-holy generation ( not vnlike themselues ) made this wholesome and catholike answere : That they were not men forsooth , but vglye and monstrous shapes of men , headed like Dragons , faced like Dogges : eared like Swine , snoured like Serpents , with Boares tuskes and Asses iawes , yea such as would eate and dououre vp their owne mothers , &c. wherevpon the poore weomen and sily multitude , neuer requyringe nor examining the matter any farther , fell straight to a kinde of hissing & clapping their hands , with most bitter out cries and hatfull exclamations against them , with fie on them wretches , fie on them wretches . Now even thus good reader ( and no better then thus ) fareth it with me at this instant . The name & sound of Darrell , of his imprisonment , and the cause therof , hath in a manner possessed & overspread the whole land . why , what is he saith one ? what is the matter saith another ? Answere is made presently and readilye by our two English Inquisiters . Samuell Harsnet and his master , togeather with such others , whom they with theire crooked conueyances haue be witched , that Darrell is forsooth a cogger , a cousener , a Iugler , an Exorcist , a counterfeite , a deuill-flinger , a deuill-driuer , a Seducer , a deceiuer , an Impostor , and I know not what : that of an impious simplicitie he holdeth it lawfull to lye , cogge and faine , so it be to a good end , ( as his fauorits tearme it , ) to the glory of God , in which regard he hath taken vpon him to be deeplye seene in the mysterie of deuils , and hath playd his publike prize in this iuglinge science , casting out more deuils by prayer and fasting after a good dinner perhaps , then euer any ? of the Apostlee did at so full a season . And this in effect not onely the streetes and Tavernes haue ronge off , but ( as I haue bene informed ) the very benches and Seates of Iustice haue sounded with the noyse of this Darrell , the deuil driuer , and of the counterfeite trickes that he should teach . Wherein notwithstandinge I thanke God , when they haue thundered out the vttermost they can against me , I may truly say ( and that with the testimonie of mine owne hart and conscience ) that I am iust so guiltie of the thinge they charge me with , as the fore-recited French Hugonotes were of all that rablement wherewith they were so besmeared and de pictured by that Italian munckish fraternitie . For if it be true that the had heades like dragous , faces like dogges , eares like swine , snoutes like serpentes , and that they would eate vp their mothers , &c. Then is it also true I confesse , that Darrell is such a mounstrous vile fellow as is heere layd forth and described . But alas good reader this is no new thinge : looke backe to ages past and thou shalt find it to be an old inueterate ouerworne practise of sathan , newly furbished and set abroach againe by his instrumentes , to paint out the professors of the gospell in the most ougly deformed shape they can deuise : ( as we see by our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles and so consequently by his ministers specially : ) not that they be such indeede as they are despitfully featured out , but to this end , to make them more odiously enuied and malitiously hated of the world , which is the speciall marke the enimy shooteth at .

Now the principall thinge that is charged vpon me , ( and which I haue all this while denied , and still denye ) is , teachinge to counterfeite . But what is this , that Darrell should thus teach to counterfeite ? why nothinge els forsooth , but a reall entrance and possession of the deuill of and into the bodies of men , to be dispossessed and remooued thence by fasting and prayer , and all to grace and make good the hipocriticall fasting and exercise of the puritans , which otherwise ( without some such fetches and deuises ) would prooue starke naught . This then we see is the sinne , if it be true . And suerly allow it to be true and to be such indeede as they haue layde it forth to be with all his circumstances , I my selfe will subscribe & ioyne with them in the condemnation of it to the bottome of hell , and the sinner to the very depth of the graue , as wherin ( if it be rightly examīed and weighed , ) is closlye shut vp and included not onely the dishonor of God and disgrace of his workes , but a foule and detestable abuse of Godes church and a mocking of Gods people , with a scornefull and shameles contempt both of magistracy and ministerie . And can not the wisdome and maiestie of the state of England finde out adue punishment and correction for so wretched and greiuous an enormitie as this ? no question but it can , may , and ought , if the partie were once orderlye and by law convicted . But as it was not the manner of Romanes in auntient time for fauor to deliuer any man to death before the partie accused had his accusers before him , & leaue to defend him selfe : so is it not the manner of the Honorable Courtes of Iustice in England , to proceed to sentence before conviction , or to punishment before apparant proofe . And this is it that hath and doth make me more confident in defense of myne owne innocencie , and the equitie of my cause , even the reuerent opinion and estimation that I haue of the ordinarie courtes of Iustice in this land , before whom whensoeuer I shal be called , I know it is not a hundred of such lying and libelling discourses as this of Samuell Harsnetes , that shall any way swaye them , either to sentence or censure the meanest of her Maiesties subiectes without euidence and proofe .

But my fault they will needes haue to be double : one an error in my Iudgment , the other a plaine knacke of knauery ( for I can call it no better ) in my practise . For the first my simple Iudgment ( as I haue already both by word & writting made knowne ) is this : That as the bodies of men may really be possessed of Sathan in this age as well as in former times : so the ordinarie way and meanes of their dispossession and deliuerance is prayer , or prayer and fastinge . This is ( in effect ) all that I hold , and contend for . wherin I willinglye referre and submitt my selfe to the godly learned of our Church . I challeng no power to worke miracles , nor guift aboue others to cast out deuils . I haue not vsed any adiuration : all which are fathered vpon me , but I condemned the same in others . And now before the Lord and men I doe vtterly & from my soule renounce them , as heeretofore I haue often done with my tongue & pen : what grosse and dangerous error then doe I maintaine ? For the other that is my knacke or packe of knauery in teachinge to counterfeite , and fayning a dispossession by prayer , when their were no such things performed : I cannot be perswaded ( for all this impudent & shameles discourse of S Harsnetes , so bedecked and adorned with my L. of Londons flowers ) that they themselues in their consciences doe beleeue this knacke of knauerie against me in that sort as they haue sett it downe . 1 The reasons that induce me so to thinke be these .

First , as men proph●ly call them . because they would not suffer Somers or rather the deuill in him to doe his trickes , though they were sundrie times desired publiklye and priuatly that he might doe them for the better endinge of the controuersie , and that he offered to doe the same .

Secondly , their manner of proceeding against me contrarie to the ordinarie course of iustice and equitie : 2 yea such as heathens and infidels would blush and be ashamed to vse : as appeareth by the particulars in the treatise following . Now what neede they to haue vsed any such extraordinarie and vnlawfull proceedings , If they were perswaded of the truth of that which they pretended against me , or that they had any iust matter or sound and cleare euidence to convince me by ? nay if they weare not in themselues perswaded , that Darrell would cleare himselfe of teaching to counterfeite , if he should be admitted to a proceeding according to the lawes of the Realme in such cases prouided ?

Thirdly , their very writtinge against me in this case in that manner as they haue done , 3 is sufficient in the iudgment of the wise to discry and discouer the guiltines of their consciences this way . For what a test were it to punish treason or rebellion by Booke-writting ? I willinglye confesse the sinne they charge me with ( if it be true ) to be as bad as rebellion , and to deserue more then the pillorie , yea a shamefull and a reprochfull death to the terror of others . And if they can proue the thinges published against me in that printed Libell of S. Harsnetes , they shall neede no Iurie to passe vpon me , neither will I craue any fauour but iustice with seueritie . Seeinge then the punishe not nor neuer went about to punish this supposed offence according to the weight and desert thereof : nay haue bene so farr from that , as within 14. dayes after the publishinge of the booke made against me , they offered me libertie vpon condition I would promise not to preach of possession nor dispossession : nor in my publike preaching iustifie the possession and dispossessinge of the persons controverted nor deale any more in the dispossessinge of any : and yet haue publiklye made it knowne for so haynous and notorious a crime , what doth this argue but that inwardly in theire owne soules , they doe not beleiue their owne lible ?

Fourthly , their often and ordinarie bringinge in the testimonie of Somers against me in theire saide booke , ( able to make a horse to spue ) whensoeuer they are at a stand and can by no meanes writhe nor wrest in that which they would faine make good ( being vtterlye voyd of all honest course of defence ) then forsooth comes in M. 4 Somers dropping out of M Harsnets budget as an authenticall witnes . And what doth more argue the guiltines of ther consciences , the despratēes of their cause , & the shamlesnes of their defence then this ? That they are not abashed to suppresse the examinations of sundry honest men , wise men and gentlemen of good place , taken by Comission from the Arch. B. of Yorke as thinges of no account : and instead of them to tell vs a tale of Robin-hood , or rather if you will , of Robin the deuill , alias , William Somers ? why alas , are they so simple or sottish to imagine , that any man that is well in his wittes , will beleeue this or that because Somers saith it , that infamous and notorious lyer , counterfeit , blasphemer , and forsworne wretch ?

Fiftly , theire winkinge at theire 7. Lancashire counterfeits , and smoth passing by them not punishinge them , albeit 6. of them were in the same family , nor any of those 4. whom they haue deait with , and say vpon their examination haue confessed that they haue counterfeted , no not Somers their principall supposed counterfeite : but fauoured , intertained , countenaunced , ●●erished and made much of him though most vile and infamous , and such as they must needes know to haue scarce any match in lewdnes and iniquitie : as if counterfeiting and blaspheming were a prayse or but a spirt of youth in him , and teaching to counterfeite onely odious in me . Now whence commeth this stealing by the 7. and impunitie of all , but from t●e conscience of man , tening him that they are no counterfeits , and therfore it is best to let them alone , and not to punish all these innocentes : Lest they in their innocencie denying constantlye to haue counterfeited , and exclaming against them , should bring them to great shame .

Sixety and 〈◊〉 the thing that most moueth me thus to be perswaded is : their winking at , and not answering at all to the impossibilities of or concerning Dacling , Katherine Wright , Mary Cooper , and the 7. in Lancashire , which are the onely thinges we al●eadge against their counterfeiting , why they neither are nor can possiblie be counterfeites : and the silly thiftes ( to blere the eies of men ) they haue deu●ed and forged out of their owne braines for answere to the impossibilities presse● aga●● Somers counterfeiting , & namely to the depo●tions of the 17 pro●ing the impossibilities by oath . Heerevnto I may add the 〈…〉 , and more then ridiculous proofes of my teaching 4. pro. 14. 15. 〈◊〉 their 〈◊〉 ●eites . For 〈…〉 stolidu●n vulgus , the foolish people , which w●ll beleiue every thing ( that Christ was a glutton , &c. that he had a d●uill , speciallye when they haue the phariuees telling them , that 〈◊〉 feth forth deuil , through Beelzebuh : that he is a blasphemer , specially w●en the high preist saith he hath blasphemed , yee heare his blasphemie : ) will vpon the producinge of these silly shiftes and absurd proo●es , by a Prelate specially and his Chaplaine , hand ouer head , and of their word , rather then vpon an● diligent examination of the matter receiue these for covnterfeites , and me for their instructor : ( which the B. of London and S. Harsnet knew full well , eis they woulde haue saued that labour : ) yet the Prelate and his Chaplaine cannot possiblie so beleeue and be perswaded in their consciences , which haue forged them to this saide end and purpose , and haue deliberatly and aduisedly wayed all things throughly concerning this matter : except you will cleane put out the eyes of their vnderstan●ingl , and depriue them of their reason , math , 28. 13. & make them of reasonable , vnreasonable creatures . Though the people of the Iewes through that silly shift of the Hie Preists and the Elders did beleiue , that Christes disciples came by night and stole him away , whiles the souldiers sleept , yet the hie priestes and Elders who deuised this shift for the smotheringe of Christs resurrection , knewe and were perswaded in their consciences it was not so , but far otherwise . Even so in this our case , though many of the people of England doe in their simplicitie and rash credulitie verelie beleiue that Somers & the rest haue counterfeited , & I instructed them , be cause of the silly reasons printed & published to that end by the B. of London and S. Harsnet : yet the B. & Harsnet which haue invented & deuised those sottish reasons , and framed a whole booke for the smotheringe of the worke of God wrought vpon these persons , can not but know and be in their consciences perswaded , that they haue not counterfeited , nor I taught them .

These then ( good reader ) with sundrie others are the speciall reasons that moue me to thinke , that they themselues ( what face soeuer they sett on it ) doe not yet in their owne consciences betwixt god & them , constantly beleiue all that they haue thus published or rather libelled against me , beinge a thinge vnpossiblie they should . And if it fare so with the bitingest and bitterest aduersaries , I may the bolder I thinke ( even by the law and rule of equitie ) be an earnest suter vnto thee whosoeuer thou art to suspend thy iudgment , and not hastily to passe any sentence against me : & intreat thy patience christian reader and fauourable censure of me thus farr fourth , as to cause thee to stope thine eares to all vniust surmizes and odious exclamations against me , till proofe and triall haue discouered my guiltines or innocencie . And this the rather I trust you will doe , if you remember and forgett not that saying of the holy ghost : he that is first in his owne cause is iust , then cometh his neighbour , and maketh inquirie of him . And that other in the same place : he that answereth , amatter before he heare it , it is follie and shame vnto him . pro. 18. 13. 17. He that answereth , that is , taketh vpon him to iudg or determine of a matter incontrouersie , before he heare it , meaning , what can be said of both sides , it is follie and shame vnto him , that is , a poynt of follie comming from the lake of wisdome , and such as whereof one ought to be ashamed .

And the rather I am to intreat this fauour at thy handes , in that I haue not bene dealt with accordinge to the ordinarie course of Iustice of this land , but altogether against the haire and in the vnreason ablest manner of proceeding that might be , as if it were no matter at all what violence & indignitie they offer to a man of my condition , or to so base a fellowe as Darrell is . Neither by their patience doe I thinke , that they can for their liues giue me an instance or shewe me the like president of their irregular & disorderly proceeding against me , in any of the honorable ciuil cour●●● of the Realme , which is worthy the notinge , yea to be recorded and nayled on the postes of the streetes to the veiw of posteritie . One would thinke that the reuerent fathers of the Church , should in their courtes and iudiciall proceedinges giue their children ( as they would haue them counted ) the reuerent Iudges of the land , and fathers of the common wealth , an example and pa●terne of Iustice and equitie : and not such an example as they would abhorr and be a shamed to followe . I haue heard that amonge other the excellent graces of God vpon her Maiestie , this is one that doth exceedingly grace both her person & her goverment , namely , that in the makinge and ordaininge of her Iudges , she doth among other things enioyne than this speciall charge : That what soeuer in equitie may be produced on the behalfe of the subiecte , may be patiently heard and fauourably admitted without exception or partialitie and that they should not perswade themselues to sitte otherwise in Iudgment for her selfe , then for her subiecte . which kind of equall and christian procedinge if it had bene held with me , I needed not now to haue spent my time in refuting this shameles and malitious invectiue . what proceedinge hath bene vsed against me will plainly appeare by this discourse followinge , and namely in my answeare to the second chapter of the first booke , by the quaeries or demaundes to the Discouerer ( I meane the B. pag. 14 of the Discouerie . of London and S. Harsnet ) iustifiynge the same , and affirminge that this cause hath bene examined , accordinge to the vsual course by the lawes of the Realme in such cases provided . And yet shall not the Discouerer be euer able to name in what one thing after my appearance before the high commission , I was dealt with according to lawe . Truly for my owne parte I can not . If he can , let him doe it . For these reasons I hope good reader , that layinge aside all partiallitie and preiudice , you will reserue the one eare , to heare what Darrell hath to say for the Lord and himselfe , and against counterfeiting , and teachinge Somers , Darling &c. to counterfeite : and that you will beware how you receiue a false report against your neighbour , specially against the Lord himselfe and his workes .

If any thinke that the charge of counterfeiting , and of my teachinge to counterfeite ( the summe of the booke answeared by me , ) is so lying , slaunderous , abhorring to common sence , palpable false , and vnpossible to be true , that it was altogether vnworthy the answearinge and convincing , or at least of so large an answeare and conviction as heere followeth : such may remember that the Apostles being charged with drunckennes and to be full of newe wine , act. 2. 13 14. math. 12. Peter for them all answeare 〈◊〉 & conuinced that vile slaunder . In like sort did our Sauiour Christ being charged more vily to be a coniurer , and to cast out deuils through Belzabub , the prince of deuils . which thinges are written for our learning , even to teach vs what to doe when any such thing falleth out . Now the larger I haue bene for these two reasons . First , I thought it fitt to answeare to all that is contained in the Discouery , which seemeth to make more or selfe against the cause or my selfe : least passing by some of this kind , it might be thought I therfore did it and purposly , because I were not able to answere . Againe , I considered that many haue already giuen an eare to counterfeitinge , and verily beleiue our Demomakes to be counterfeits : for their sakes therfore , & that I might draw these preiudicate : persons from their error to the imbracinge of the truth , it was requisite to answere all that in the face made for counterfeitinge , which could not be performed in fewe wordes . Secondly , I knewe the credit of the aduersarie was great , my owne little , beinge a base & contemptible person in the eyes of the world . That my selfe then and that which I contend for might be beleiued , even of this dotinge and blind generation , It was necessarie I should not onely cracke or diminish the credite of the a duersarie , even with his best frendes , which might haue bene done in afew wordes : but take all credit from him , by detectinge all his filthines : for in makinge his name to rotte and stinke , and the counterfeit cause he hath in hand , their is hope that men will giue some eare vnto me , and that I striue for , be I neuer so meane . Now this would be best performed in the larger pursuite and stirringe deepely in the falshods , lyes , and absurdities of the Discouerer , which coulde not be donne without the multiplyinge of wordes . For the more one stirreth in that which is stinkinge and filthy , the more stinking sauor it sendeth forth . And so shall we find it to be in the ample ripping vp of this foule Discouery , to the Detection wherof we will now proceed , God assistinge vs . If the falshood of some be detected , and thou find out the truth by this our Detection : then open thy mouth in the defence of that truth , and assist me with thy prayers .