To the next section I haue answeared before / where I haue entreated of churchyng women / and of prayer / it foloweth to speake vnto that / in the. 205. and. 206. pa.
TO pas by the prophane prouerbe here vsed / which matcheth mad men & wo∣men / & children togither / most vnsemely for a D. of diuinity / especially hand∣ling diuine matters: for the singing of psalmes by course / and side after side / although it be very auncient / yet it is not commēdable / and so much the more to be suspected / for that the deuil hath gone about to get it so great authority / partly * 1.1 by deriuing it from Ignatius time / and partly in making the world beleue / that thys came from heauen / and that the angels were heard to sing after thys sorte / whych as it is a mere fable / so is it confuted by hystoriographers / whereof some ascribe the begynning of thys to Damasus / some other vnto Flauianus & Dio∣dorus. Frō whēce so euer it came / it can not be good / considering that when it is graūted y• all the people may praise God (as it is in singing of psalmes) there this ought not to be restrained vnto a few / & wher it is lawful both wt hart and voyce to sing the whole psalme / there it is not mete yt they should sing but the one halfe wyth their heart and voice / and the other with their heart only. For where they may both wyth heart and voice sing / there the heart is not enough. Therfore be∣sides the incommodity whych commeth thys way / in that being tossed after thys sort / men can not vnderstande what is song / these other two inconueniences come of thys forme of singing / and therfore is banyshed in all reformed churches.
Vnto two very good reasons whych the admonition vseth / to shewe the in∣connenience of making curtesy / and stāding at the name of Iesus / and at the gos∣pell / rather then at other names of God / and the rest of the scripture: wherof the one is / that it is against decencye and good order whych is broken by scraping of the feete / and the other y• it may brede a dangerous opinion of the inequality either of the sonne of God with the other persons / or of the gospels wt other scriptures / M. doctor sayth y• it is an indifferent thyng / and neyther taketh away their rea∣sons / nor setteth down any of hys own: thys is a slēder defence. And it is no ma∣licious dealing / to note those faults whych are so generall & so open / & yet notwt∣standing vncorrected or vnreformed by those / by whom M. d. wold make vs be∣leue / yt the church is best gouerned. But I pray you tel me / why do you cōdemn the seruing of two cures / ye alow the hauing of two benefices? If it be no fault to haue two benefices / how is it one to haue two cures? for ye curate is better able to read hys seruice in .ij. places / thē the pastor to discharge his office in .ij. churches. As for ye speche of ye cathedral churches / either it is nothing / or els it is fals. For if he say y• ther is either in al those cathedral churches one / or in euery of those. 12. churches one / which is able to cōfute papists. &c. what great thing saith he / which