med peta ienetaaese fits oe * mee say psn AMORA MItaeRANIE MTNFOSS ates B5757" Frat : : SSF aU} sisteseitanaetss sWUtestE aay ; efeTeneriss! +4 ae + SHibssscteretiesaeabarenete 3523 sretbse hey: Iastapessriiee) Soins se gieretetite’ Hs Sits 2 sans te bates A + he, « asad I6 36- 1668 ee St - Saducifnus Be rampbatn: _ OR, Full and Plan EVID ENCE Concerning WITCHES AND APPARITIONS- In Two Parrs. The Firft treating of their POSSIBILITY,|| The Second of their Real EXISTENCE | | By Fofeph Glanvil late Chaplain in Ordinary to | PL his Majefty, and Fellow of the RoyalSociety. | ft ——_— aa } ; With a Letter of Dr. HENRI MORE : ae : a on the fame Subject. TP4 } | And an Authentick,but wonderful ftory ofcertain Swe | | difh Witches; done into Englith by Anth. Horneck, Bae Preacher at the Savoy. i 5 Gio LONDON : Printed for Fi Collins at his Shop under the Temples Church, and S. Lownds at his Shop by the Szvoy- Bate, 16316 Liha = OE er ee oe aPaS aa ptorn Via" sys ey 14 Dy eye £ SRS YAR et aN f * at meetin Dey 8 a way ca edaaeibut AG teh ee ee < : TO THE Right Reverend Father in God — IS ET H* Lord Bifhop of SARUM, Chancellor of the Garter. ' This New and Compleated E D ITI O N OF Saducifmus Triumpbatus i: moft humbly Dedicated to ‘be Lordthip, | By, ei My Lord, | ; | Your Lordfhips moft Obliged and Humble Servant | (The PUBLISHER) Pe. Fames Collins. we a PUBLISHER READER — Reader, : “T Hat thou haft no fooner enjoyed this long-expe- éted Edition, thou canjt not juftly blame ei- ther the Author or my felf. Not my felf, for I could not publifo the book before [ had it ; nor the Author, becanfe many unexpetted occafious drove off bis miad 20 other matters, and interrupted him in his prefent dlefign, infomuch thar he was fnatcht away by Death before he had quire finifhed it. But though the lear- — 2 ; nd World may very well lament the lof8 of fo able and ingenious aWriter, yet as to this préfent point, if that may mitigate thy ire in all likelihood this Book had pot feen the light fo foon if he had lived, fo yRany emergent occaftons CiviIng him new interruptz- ons,and offering bim new temptations to further delay. Indeed it had been defirable that it might have dad the polifhimg of his lat hand, as the perufer of his Papers fignifies in his laft Advertifement. But ‘to compenfate this lofs, the faid Perafer, a friend as ‘wellto his Defign as to his Perfon, bas digefted thofe - Materials he left,nto that order and diftinitnefsand ‘has fo tied things together, and Supplied them in his _Advertifements, hat, to the judicious Reader, no- if A 3 thing ar Sie 5 WR. thing can feem wanting that may ferve the ends of | been, if he had finifhed it himfelf : For, befides the | ~ Advertifomedts of the careful Perufer of his Papers, | _ there ws alfa added a fhort Treatife of the true and ‘things. fed above what was defigned by Mr. Glanvil, though | ‘what ts confonant to right Reafon and found P hilofo- ~~ pleafant and ufeful a Treatife. is "The Publifher to the Reader. his intended Treatife._ Not to intimate what conft- \ derable things are added, more than it is likely had | and that notable late Story of the Swedith Witches | tranflated out of German into the Englihh Tongue, | eenitine Notion of a Spirit, taken out of Dr.More’s | Enchiridion Metaphyficum, to entertain thofe that are-more curious fearchers into the nature of thefe The Number alfo of the Stories are much neal none admitted, but fuch as feemed very well at- | tefted and highly credible to his ecediad Friend, | and fuch, as rightly underftood, contain nothing but ply, as IT have heard him earneftly avouch, though it bad been too tedious to have explained all; and it may be more grateful to the Reader to be left.to ex- ercife his ownwit and ingeny upon the-reft. Thefe are the advantages this Edition .of Mr. Glanvils De- | mon of Tedworth, 2nd his Confiderations about _ » “Wstcheraft have, above any Edition before, though — the laft of them was fo bought up, that there was not a Copy of them to be had in all London and Cam. bridge, ut the Perufer of his Papers was fain to break his own to ferve the Prefs with ; If thefe inti- amations may move thy Appetite to the reading fo And _ The Publifher to the Reader. | And yet I can add one thing more touching the Story of the Demon of Tedworth which is very con: Siderable. It isnot for me indeed to take notice of that meannels of {pirit in the Exploders of Appari- tions and Witches, which very ftrangely betrayed it Self in the decrying of that well-attefted Narrative ‘touching the Stirrs in’ Mr. Mompefion’s houfe: Where; although they that came to be Spectators of the marvelous things there done by fome invifible Agents, had all the liberty imaginable ( even to the ripping of the Bolfters open) to fearch and try # they could difcover any natural caufe. or cunning Artifice whereby fuch firange feats were done; and numbers that had free st from day to day, were a- bundantly fatisfied of the reality ie the thing, that the houfe was haunted and difturbed by Demons or Spirits; yet fome few years after the Stirrs had ceafed, the truth of this ftory lying fo uneafte in the minds of the difgufters of fuch things, they raifed a Report, ( when none of them, no not the moft diligent: and curious could detect any trick or frand themfelves tthe matter) that both Mr. Glanvil himfelf, who publijfbed the Narrative , and Mr. Mompefion, in whofe houfe thefe wonderful things happened, had confelfed the whole matter to be a Cheat and Impo- Sture. And they were fo diligent in {preading ,a- broad this grofs untruth, that it weet currant in al the three Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ire- land. Ax egregious difcovery of what kind of Spirit this fort of men are ! which, as I faid, though it be Hot for me to take notice of, yet 1 will not ftick to Signifte rd te) mas Ni a TE ne) ae ees ey, The Publifher to the Reader, Jignifie (it being both for mine own Iutereft and rhe Intereft of Truth ) that thofe Reports raifed touch+ ing Mr. Glanvil and Mr. Mompefion, are by the prefent Edition of this Book demonftrated to be falfe toall the world. That concerning Mr.Glanvil, by his Preface to the fecond Part of the Book; That touching Mr. Mompefion, dy two Letters of hi own, the one te Mr.Glanvil, the other to my felf, which are fubjoyued to the faid Pretace : Which thing! alone may juftly be deemed to add a very great _ wergpt to the value, as of that Story, fo of this prefent| Edition. But Iwill not, upon pretence of exciting thy Ap petite, keep thee from the fatisfying it by an overlong Preface: which yet if it may feem to be defective in any thing, the Doctors Letter ( where amonglt o: ther things you fhall meet with that famous and well. attefted frory of the Apparition of Anne Walker's Ghoft to the Miller) will, I hope make an abundant} —— fepply. T fhall add nothing more my felf, but that Lam Your Hetiilife Servant ‘Dr. A.M. his LETTER WITHTHE POSTSCRIPT, To Mr. 7. G, Minding him rs the great Expedience and Ufefulnefs of his new intended Edition of the Demon of Tedworth, and briefly reprefenting to him the marvellous weaknefs and gullerie * of Mr. W ebfter’s Difplay of Witche craft. Ss Hen I was laft at Londen, £ @ called on your Book-feller, to Za know in what ae i this BAR vew intended Imprefion of erg the ftory of the Demon of RQ Tedworth was, which wil undleceie te PoPlil touching — that Fame generally fpread abroad, as if Mr. hee aa and your ky had acknowledged the bufinefs oe 2 The Letter of D. H. M. &c. |, 6 But the Story, with your ingenious Confidera-| | tons about Witchcraft , being fo often printed Wo hee ae a: + : bufine to have been a meer ‘Trick or Impofture. already, he faid, it behoved him to take care how’ he ventured ‘on a new Impreffion , wulefs he had _fome new matter of that kind to adde, which might make this new Edition the more certainly Salable; and therefore he expected. the iffue of that yoifed ftory of rhe Spectre at Exeter, feew fo oft. for the difcovering of a Murther committed fome thirty years ago. But the event of this bufnef, as to juridical procefs. , not.anfwering expectation, hé was difcouraged from making il of it, many things being reported to him from thence in faq vour to the party moft concerned. But I told) - him a Story of one Mrs. Britton Fer appearing toy her Maid after her death , very well attefted.| though not of fuch a Tragical kind as that oft Exeter, which he thought confiderable. oa But of Difcoveries of Murther I never with with any frory more plain and unexceptionables than that in Mr. John Webfter his Difplay o fuppofed Witcheratt. The Book-indeed at felf, T confefs,is but a weak and impertinent piece; but that ftory weighty and convincing , and {uch gl himfelf ( though otherwife an affected Caxuiler a gainft almoft all tories of Witcheraft and Appar ritions ) a conftrained to affent. to, as you fhalh\ Jee from hisowu confefion. I fhall for your berm ter eafe, or becaufe you baply may not have the Book, traufcribe it out of the Writer himfelf Pal ‘thou g a BS ee | TSN ee oe a iene] dabtet Oe oe ad fe, oa ‘en though it be fomething long, Chap. 16. Page 298. va ) iPr 3a0 enisd } | About the year of our Lord 16323 ( as neat aL can remember, having loft my. Notes ard the Copy of the Letter to, Serjeant: Hutton, but am fure that I do moft perfectly remember the fub- fiance of the ftory.) near unio Chefter in the Street, there lived one Walker a Teoman-man of good eftate, and a Widower; who had a young Wo- wan to bis Kinfwoman that kept his Houfe, who was by the Neighbours fufpetted to be.with Child, and was towards the dark of the Evening one night fent away with one Mark Sharp,who was a Collier, or one that digged Coals under ground,and one that had been born in Blakeburn-Hundred in Lanca- thire; and fo fhe was not heard of a long time, and no noise or little was made about it. Inthe Win-- ater-time after, ove James, Graham: or’ Grime (for foin that Codutrey they call them’) being alMiler, and living re Two miles from the place where Walker lived, was one night alone ve- ity late in the Mill Grinding Corn; and. as, about twelve or one aClock at night, he came down the Stairs from having been putting Corn in the Fiop- per, the Mill-doors being four, there food a Wo- i upou the midst of the Floor with ber Hair ont her Head hanging down and all bloody, with five large Wounds on her Head. He being much affrighted and amazed, began to blefs him, and at laff asked her who fhe was, and what fhe wanted 2? To which fhe faid, 1 am the Spirit of “ian Bows fach fy on, | i The Letter of Dr. H. M.-&e: x 4 The Letter of Dr. H. M. &c. fuch a Woman, who lived with Walker; and being got with Child by him, he promifed to . fend me to a private place, where TI fhould be ~ well lookt to until I was brought in bed and well again, and then I fhould come again and | keep his Houfe. eed And accordingly, fatd the Apparition, 1 was) one night latefent away with one Mark Sharp, who, upon a Moor (‘waming a*place that the} Miller knew) flew me with a Pick , (fuch as men dig Coals withal.) and gave me thefe five’ Wounds ;\ and after threw my Body’ into aCoal-pit hard by, and hid the Pick under 2 Bank: and his Shoes and Stockings being blou- dy ; he endeavoured to wafh ;\ but feeing the ‘bloud would not wath forth, he hid them there] And the Apparition further told the Miller, that “be muft be the man to reveal it , or elfe that fhe must frill appear and haunt him. The Miller re} turned home very fad and heavy, but fooke nob one word of what he had feen, but efchewed as much as he could to ftay in the Mill within night without company, thinking thereby to efcape the _ Seeing again of that frightful Apparition. 4 But notwithftanding, one night when it begas to be dark, the Apparition met him again, an feemed very flerce and cruel, and threatned him That if he did not reveal the Murder, fhe would continually purfue and haunt him. Yet for al this, he ftill concealed it until St. Thomas-Eu before Chriftmas , when being Joon after Sunfé " walki : we Vata“ geese ed Od an “watking ix his Garden, fhe appeared again ,, and then fo threatned him and affrighted him, that he faithfully promifed to reveal it next mor- w “wing: Ra A _ Inthe morning he went to.a Magiftrate, and made the whole matter known, with all the cir- cumftances; and diligent 'fearch being made, the. Body- was found in a Coal-pit with frve Wounds in the Head, and the Pick, and Shoes , and Stoc- kings yet bloody, in every circumftance as the Ap- _ parition had related unto the Miller. Whereup- , on Walker and Mark Sharp were both apprehen-. _ ded, but would confef nothing. At the Affizes _ following (I think it was at Durham ) they were . arraigned, found guilty, condemned, and executed, but I could never hear that they confeffed the , Lact. There were fome that reported that the seclpparition did appear to the Fudge, or the Fore- _ man of the Fury, (who was alive in Chefter in , the Street about Ten years ago,as I have been ; Gredibly informed) but of that I-know uo cer- ; tainty. , There are many perfons yet alive that. can re- member this ftrange Murder, and the Difcovery of » #5 for it was, and fometimes yet is, as mach dif- digeurjed of in the North-Countrey, as any thing , that almoft hath ever been heard of, and the Re- , tation Printed, though uow not to-be gotten... I. | telate this with the greater confidence, ( though I May fail in fome of the Circumftances) becaufe Lfaw ,, and read the Letter that-was fent to’ Serjeant’ ys ’ B 3 Hut- . “4 | bes , ; ia The Letter of Dr. H. M. &c. 2 Se Ses, DMS PR ee ete ste eee RECN ge” pyr eM #0 ee ee Re | eC SO ee en ea ee “ee > — § ¥ t i a < . Ber 6 The Letter ofDr-HM. &e Hutton, who then lived at Goldsbrugh iw York! fhite, from the Fudge before whom Walker andl Mark Sharp were tried, and-by whom they were condemned ; and had a Copy of it until about the jear 1658, when F had it and many otber Books and Papers taken from me. And this T confefS to. be one of the most convincing Stories: ( being of undoubted verity) that ever Tread, heard, or knew of, and carrieth with it the most evident force to make themost incredulous fpirit to be Satisped that there are really fometimes fuck things as Apparitions. Thus far He. | + This. Story is fo conftderable, that I make mea- tion of it in: my Scholia ow my Immortality of the Soul,i#my Volumen Philofophicum, Ton 2. which Lacquainting.a Friend of mine with, a pru- dent intelligent perfon, Drv J.D. be of his own accord offered me, wt being a thing of fuch confer quence, to fend toa friend of hisin the North for greater affurance of the trath of the Narra tion; which motion I willingly embracing, he did accordingly. The Anfwer to his Letter from bis friend Mr: Shepherdton, is rhis. pea > Bhavedone what Par to inform my felf-:off the paflage of Sharp and) Walker. ‘There are very fewmen that T couldneet, that werethen! men, orat the ‘Tryal faving thefé two in the inclofed Paper, ‘both men at that time, andl bothat-the Tryah And for Mr. Dumley , hel livedinext door to: Walker; and what he hatlt The Letter of Dr. HM. Re, > given under his hand, can depofe if there were occafion. The other Gentleman writ his At-. __teftation with his own hand; but I being not ' théré, got not his Name to it. I could have fent you twenty hands that could have faid — thus much and more by hearfay, but I thought thefe moft proper that could {peak from their own Eyes and Ears. Zhus far Mr. Shepherd- fon,the Doctor's difcreet and faithful Intelligencer. Now for Mr. Lumley’s Teftimony, zt 1 this. Mr.William Lumley of Lumley, dezng an ancient Gentleman, and at the Tryal of Walker and Sharp upon the Murder of Anne Walker, faith, that he doth very well remember that the faid Anne was Servant to Walker, and that fhe was fuppofed to be with Child, but would not »difilofe by whom. But being removed to her Aunts in the fame Town, called Dame Carie, told her Aunt that he that had got her with Child , would take care both for her and it, and bid her not trouble her felf. After fome time fhe had been at her Aunts, it was obferved that Sharp came to Lumley one night , being. a fworn Bro- ther of the faid Walker’s ; and they two that night called her forth from ber Aunts Floufe , _ which night [be was murdered. | About fourteen days after the murder, there appeared to one Graime a Fuller , at his Mull, fix miles from Lumley , the likenef of a Woman, with her Hair about her head, and the appear- et ance ish ita se ee hea ei ee P ple : - ic a gitcie ¢ eas 5 a 8 The Letter of Dr. H. M. &e, | ' ance of frve Wounds in her Head, as the faid “ —-' Graime gave it in Evidence. © 7) hat that appear- | i _ ance bid bim go toa Fuftice of Peace, and relate | 4 ie tohim how that Walker and Sharp had murthered ab: her, infuch a place as foe was murthered: But he { ¥ | fearing to difclofe a thing of that nature against | Hs a perfon of credit as Walker was, would not have a done it; but be continually appearing night by” | night tohim, and ee the Clothes off his Bed, | a told him, he fbould never rest till he had difclofed | a... at. Cponwhich he the faid Graime did go toa | a Fuftice of Peace, and related the whole matter. | q : Wherenpon the Fuftice of Peace granted Warrants | . agatnft Walker and Sharp, and committed them to | i 3 prifon. But they found Bail to appear at the next | i a — Affizes. At which time they came to their Tryal, 4 and upon evidence of the Circumftances with that | ie of Graime of the Appearance ,. they were both i. | found guilty, and executed. | | toe Wil. Lumley. 1th r : ih ae ey Ps ' a - The other Ti eftimony is of Mr. James Smart of | i the City of Durham; who faith, That the Trial ® of Sharp and Walker was in the moneth of Au- i; guft 1631, Lefore Fudge Davenport. One Mr. | . Fairhair gave it in Evidencé upon Oath, that he | | 4 _ fee the likeneB of a Child ftand upon Walker's # : Shoulders during the time of the Trial: At q i = which time the Fudge was very much troubled, and gave Sentence that night the Trial was: ” which was a thing never ufed in Durham before # dor after, - | oe Out anise. . opal Out of which Two Teftimonies feveral things may be corrected or fupplied in Mr.Web{ters Sto- y, though it beevident enough that in the main they agree: For that is but a fmall difagreement “a to the Tear, when Mr. Webster fays about the year of our Lord 1632. and Mr: cae 1631. Bat unlefs at Durham they have Affizes but once in the year , I underftand not fo well how Sharp and Walker fhould be cpvwee Some little while after St.Thomas day, as Mr. Webfter bas it , and be tried the next Afizes at Durham, and yet that be in Augutt according to Mr. Smarts Te eg Out of Mr. Lumley’s Te/timony the Chriften Name of the young Woman is fupplied, as alfo the Name of the Town near Chefter in the ‘Street, namely Lumley. The Circumftances alfo of Walker’s fending away his Kinfwoman with. Mark Sharp , are fupplied out of Mr. Lumley’s Narrative ; and the time rettifed, by telling it was about fourteen days till the Spectre appeared after- the Murther, whenas Mr.Webtter makes it a long’ time. | Two Errours alfo more are corrected in Mr. Webfter’s Narration, by Mr. Lumley’s Teftimo- ay: The diftance of the Miller from Lumley» “Tivo miles, as Mr. Webtter hasit. And alfo, that Clothes. off Graime’s Bed, omitted in Mr.Web- Met's frory, may be fupplied out of Mr. Lumley’s- ‘ And Kee | 7 a The Letter of Dn &e 9 where Walker dwelt, which was Six miles, not at was not a Mill to grinde Corn in, but a Fullers Mill. The Apparition night by night pulling the vat ro -The Letter of Dr. H. M. &c. And Mr. Smart's Teftimony puts it out of contro verfie that the Trial was at Durham, and beforel Judge Davenport, which is omitted by Mr. Web: fier. And whereas Mr. Weber fays, there were fome that reported that the Apparition did appear tothe Fudge, or the Fore-man of the Fury, but of that he knows nocertainty: This confefion of his, asit is afignhe would not write any thing in this) Story of which he was not certatefor the main, fo hereisavery feafonable fupply for this out of Mr, Smart, whoafirms that he heard owe Mr. Fairs hair give Evidence. upon Oath, that he faw the LikenefS of & Child frand upon Walker's Shoul ders during the time of the Trial. It is likely) this Mr. Fashair might be the Fore-man of the Fary ; and in that the Fudge was fo very muchl troubled, that himfelf alfo might fee the fame Ap. parition as Mr. Webster fays report went, though the miftake in Mr. Weblter is, that i? was thel Apparition of the Woman. But this of the Child) was very fit and appofite » placed ow his Shoul- ders, as one that was juftly loaded or charged with that Crime of getting his Kinfivoman with Child, aswell as of complotting with Sharp to mur-— der her. ‘\ | \ The Letter alfo which he mentions writ from the Fudve before whom the Trial wax heard, to Serjeant Hutton, it us plaiw out of Mr. Smart’ | Teftimony, that it was from Fudge Davenport 5) which in all likelihood was avery full and punttu- ab Narrative of the whole bufine,-and enabled w Mr S he LetterofDrH.M. &. tt 3 | Mr. Webfter, in fome confiderable things, to be re particular than Mr. Lamley. But the a- ement 13 fo exact for the main, that there is no doubt to be made of the truth of the Apparition, But that this, forfooth, mut not be the Soul of _ Anne Walker, bur her Aftral Spirit , this bat — afantaftich conceit of Web{ter and his Paracel: . frans, which I have fuficiently fhewn the folly o inthe Scholia on my Immortality of the Soul, . Folum. Philof:Tom.2. p. 384. | This Story of Anne Walker L think you will do well to put amongh your Additions in the new _ Lnprefion of your Deron of ‘Tedworth, it be- ing fo excellently well attefted, and fo unexceptio- _ pably in every refpect ; and to haften as fast as you can that Impreffion,to undeceive the half-witted | World, who fo much exult and triumph in the ex- _ tinguifbing the belief of that Narration, asif the crying down the truth of that ftory of the Demon of Tedworth; were indeed the very flaying of the Devil, and that they may now with more Gai and fecurity than ever fing in aloud note that mad drunken Catch, ; . q F om swe ino if you repeat dm yowe Sip before Yan you may with eafe arid exaCctnefs render it thus; That hears not the voice of muttering Char- mers, no not the voice of a confederate Wizzard or Charmer that is skilful. But feeing Charms, unlefs withthem that are very fhallow and fil. lily credulous , can have no fuch effects of _ themfelves, there is all the reafon in the world _ (according as the very word intitnates; and as Aben- Ezra has declared ) to aferibe the effe& to the affiftanice, confederacy, and co-operation _of evil Spirits, and fo san aain [ Chobher _ Chabharim | of Man a2 [ Chobher Chebher } will plainly fignifie a Witch or a Wizzard ac- cording to the true definition of them. But _ for 7. Web/ter’s rendring this verfe p. 119. thus, — Que non audiet vocem mufitantium incantatio- _ nes dotti Incantantis , ( which he faith is doubt- Iefs the moft genuine rendring of the place ) _ kt any skilful man apply it to the Hebrew Yext, and he will prefently find it Grammati- al Nonfence. If that had been the fence , “it thould have been aan sain“an. _ The Sixth word is, aw baw [ Shoe! Ob] . which ai sind No * ae _ The Poftfcript. ~~ which our Englifh Tranflation renders, a Cox- falter with familiar Spirits; but the Septua- gint "Ey vecetiwi@. Which therefore muft. needs fignifie him that has this familiar Spirit : | And therefore 218 Dxww [ Shoel Obb] I con- | ceive, (confidering the reft of the words are’ fo to be underftood’) is to be underftood .of the Witch or Wizzard himfelf that asks coun- fel of his Familiar, and does by vertue of him | ~ give Anfwersunto others. The reafon of the a name of 218 [04h ] ’tis likely was taken firft ‘7 ‘from that Spirit that was in the Body of the Li ’ party,and fweiled it to a protuberancy like the ) _._ fide ef a Bottle. But after, without any re- lation to that circumftance , OBA fignifies as muchas Pytho ; as Pytho alfo, though at firft } it took its name from the Pythiz Vates, figni- fies no more than Spiritum Divinationis , in ge- neral, a Spirit that tells hidden things or things” to.come. And OBH and Pytho alfo agree in this, that they both fignifie either the divina. tory Spirit itfelf, or the party that has that} = Spirit. But here in DR ORW [ Shoel Obb ] it] ) __. \ being rendred by the Septuagint ‘Eyyacreke- ; S@., OB is neceffarily underftood of the > _. Spirit itfelf, as Pyrho is Acts 16. 16. if you read & mvdune mcwve With Lfaac Cafaubon; but if i @ ws Suv@s, it may be underftood either ways | ~~ OF this rvetpe mS it is recorded in that. | win PES SEE aes WATS CARR Mrieansisita) place, That Paul being grieved, turned and (aid to that Spirit » I command thee, in the name of. The Poftferipr. bee Go. ee Felus Chrift, to come out of her, and he came out at the fame hour ; which fignifies as plainly as = © ~ any thing can be fignified , that this Pyrho or _ Spirit of Divination , that’ this OBH was in ~ her: For nothing can.come out of the Sack - that was not in the Sack, as the Spani/h Proverb ~ _ has it.;- nor could this Pyzho come out of her, — unlefs it was a Spirit diftin&t from her : where- _ fore Tam amazed at the profane impudence of _ F. Webfter, that makes this Pytho in the Maid there’ mentioned , nothing but a wicked hu- mour of cheating and couzening Divination : _ and adds, that this Spirit was no more caft out of that Maid , than the feven Devils out of _ Mary Magdalen, which he would have under. ftood onely of her feveral Vices; which foo- lith Familiftical conceit he puts upon Beza, as ~ well as Adie. Wherein as he is moft un- juft to Beza, fo he is moft grofly impious and ~ blafphemous againft the Spirit of Chrift in St. _ Pavland St. Luke, who makes them both fuch ' Fools as to. believe that there was a Spirit or divining Devil in the Maid, when according to him there is no fuch thing. Can any thing _ be more frantick or ridiculous than this pat- fage of St. Paul, if there was no Spirit or De- vil in the Damfel> But what will this pro- . fane fhuffler ftick to do ina dear regard to his beloved Hags, of whom he is a {worn Advocate and refolved Patron right or wrong? :- But to proceed, that ax [02h] fignifies the ae Spirit ‘Spirit’ itfelf that divines, not oriely he that. has it, is manifeft from Levit. 20. v.27. Vir autem frve mulier chm fuerit [ RTI] in eis | Pytho. And.1 Sam.ch.28. v.8. Divina quefo | mibi [2°82] per Pythonem, n the Septuagint | It 18 dv 7H Eqyagrenuslp, that is, by that Spi- rit that fometimes goes into the body of the | _» party, and thence gives anfwers ; but here it —onely fignifiesa Familiar fpirit. And laftly, ” . * arenbya [ Bagualath OLb) 1 Sam. 28. v. 7% ia Qug habet Pythonem; there OBH mutt needs | | __ fignifie the Spirit it felf, of which fhe of Endor | was the owner or pofleflor ; that is tofay, it” was her Familiar {pirit. But fee what brazen. | and {tupid impudence willdo, here aaandya © [ Bagualath Obh | with Webfer muft not fi g- nifie one that has a Familiar fpirit, but the Mi- — ftrifs of the Bottle. Who but the Mafter of | the Bottle, or rather of whom the Bottle had © become Mafter, and by guzling had made his ~ ‘Wits exceflively muddy and frothy , could e¢- ver {tumble upon fuch a foolith Interpretation? | But becaufe a1x[OZh]in one place of the Scrip. ture fignifies a Bottle, it muft fignifie fo here, © and it muft be the Inftrument, forfooth, out of © which this cheating Quean of Exdor does whi- Sper, peep, or chirp like a Chicken coming out of © the Shell, p. 129, 165. And does fhe not, I~ befeech you, put her Neb alfointo it fome- times, as.intoa Reed, as it is faid of that Bird, : and cry like a Burterbump 2 certainly he might © : a5 The Poftfeript. ‘as well have interpreted aywmoya (Bagualath 0b) of the great Tun of Heydleberg, that Tom. Coriat takes fuch fpecial notice of, asof the Bot- tle. huge Zuz at length, rather than the Botéle, that 1s, fuch a fpacious Tus as he in his deviceful Imagination fancies Manaffés to have built ;.2 -porlaoy forfooth , or Oracular Adifice , for cheating Rogues and Queans to play their cou- -zening tricks in; from that place 2 Chron. 33.6. amwy Er fecit Pythonem. Now, fayshe, , how could Manaffes make a Familiar Spirit, or make one that hada Familiar Spirit 2 There- forehe made a Bottle, a Tun ora large Tub, a "Rover; or Oracular Adifice for cheating Rogues and Queans to play their couxening tricks im. Very wifely argued and out of the very depth of his ignorance of the Hebrew Tongue! when- -as if he had lookt but into Buxtorf’s Dittiona- ry, he might have underftood that Mwy figni- fies not onely fecit, but alfo paravit , compara- Vit acquifivit, magni fecit, none of which words imply the making of OB/7in his fence, but Onely the appointing them to be got, and -countenancing them. For in Web/fer’s fence he did not make ‘yt [Fidegnoni] neither, that 4s Wizzards , and yet Manaffés is faid to make them beth alike. ‘3ywaimwy Er fecit Py- thonem SF Magos, So plain is it that 21x [06] fignifies Pytho, and that adequately in the ae 3 ence _ And truly fo Se as I fee, it muft bcilive fach Se ase ee ee ee re SB Ae Pe ee age a eee ee a ee Pe Oe eee | Se wae ON) ee eee oe eee ee ee ee A US SA eee ee ees | bicedt: Slee Bie Ls 7 ~~ as to the fence of thofe words from whenc@ i they are derived, there isno hurt therein ; and )) ~~—CCsétherefore if rhat were all; ny [ fideguoni | t.. had not been in this black Lit. Wheretore if a is here underftood in that more reftri@ and] worft fence: fo as we underftand ufually now) q adays Witch and Wizzard, fach wife mem and! @ women whofe skillis from the confederacy of ‘ oe a A The Poftfcript. ey evil Spirits , and therefore are real Wizzards | and Witches. In what a bad fence ‘nyt [Fz _degnoni | is underftood, we may learn from . “Levit.20.27. Aman alfo or woman that hath a — familiar Spirit, or that is aWizzard [ Jidecno- Di] fhall be put to death, they fhall ftone them _ with flones, &c. : The laft word is nan wn [Dore/h Ham- methim,| which our Tranflators rightly render _Necromancers; that is, thofe that either upon their own account,or defired by others, do raife_ the Ghofts of the deceafed to confult with ; which is a.more particular term than 21x bya [Bagnal 0bh : | But he that is Bagnal Obb, may be alfo Dore/h Hammethim a Necromancer, as ap- im in the Witch of Exdor. Were Webfter y ounan [ Hammethim] the Dead, would -Underftand dead Statues ;~but let him,if he can, any where fhew in all the whole Scripture Where the word =n" [Hammerhim] is ufed : of what was not once alive. He thinkshe - hits the nail on the head in that place of Tatas, Gh. 8.v. 19. And when they fhall fay unto you, Seek unto (Maxn, that is,to ax Mby3, fuch asthe Witch of Exdor was) them that have fa- Mmiliar Spirits, and to Wizzards that peep and that mutter ; ( the Hebrew has it carvan and E> pyayan ; that is, that fpeak with a queru- lous murmurant or muflitant voice,when they: | either conjure up the Spirit, or give refpontes. Tf this be to peep dike a Chicken, Laiah himfelf of D peeps a = = | i) ple feek unto their Godefor the living [IYNa7 OR] tothe dead? where Hammethim is {0 far from fig- na derftood of the Ghofts of dead:men, as here ‘Im Deuteronomy. None but one that had ei] ~ as an accurate Logical divifion of Witches of TOA yt gees Ra eee eS fda ki> — — PERNT ERO hes COLIN LS Se Maen wees ASRS Be ie ag ) pie eet a N peept like a Chicken, ch. 38.14.) fbould not a peo- nifying dead Statues, that it muft needs be un. ther.ftupidly , or wilfully forgot the ftory off Samuel’s being raifed by that 21x noya [ Bags nalath Obb | the Witch of Exdor, could ever have the face to affirm that nar. [ZZanmes| thim] here in Jfaiah is to be underftood off dead Statues, when Wizzards or Necromancers) were fo immediately mentioned before, efpes cially not Webjffer, who acknowledges. thafl aw Rw [ Shoel Obb | fignifies a Necromant cer inthis Deuteronomical Lift of abominabl¢ names. And therefore, forfooth, would have it a Tautologie that Dorefh Hammethim fhould| fignifie fo too. But I fay it is no Tautologie} this laft term being more exprefs and reftri@ And befides , this enumeration is not intended} Witchcraft into fo many diftinét kinds, but @ reciting of feveral names. of that’ ill Trad@ though they will interfere one with anotheg} and have no fignifications fo precifely diftin@@] But, as I faid before, this fuller recounting @ them is made, that the prohibition in this torm might be the furer fence againft the fin. And now therefore what will 7. Webfer get “by this, if Dorefo Hlammethim will not fignifie @ ‘cae ae Wite ; The Poftfcript. Witch of Endor, when. it mutt neceflarily fig- hifie a Necromancer , which is as much againtt _ ¢romancer is alfoa Witch or Wizzard,according _ to the definition produced above. ! _ The reft of the Chapter being fo inconfide- fable, and I having been fo long already upon it, I fhall pafs tothe next, after I have defired, You to take notice how weak and childith, or -wildand impudent , Mr.Webfer has been in the Interpretation of Scripture hitherto , in _the behalf of his fage Dames, to fence off their -feproach of being termed Witches; whenas there is {carce one word in this place of Dezte- _tonomy that does not imply a Witch or Wizzard -4ccording to the real definition thereof. And truly he feems himfelf to be confcious of the Weaknefs of his own performance, when after all this ado, the fum at laft amounts but to this ; That there are no Names in all the old -Teftament that fignifie fuch a Witch that de- ftroys Men or Beafts, that makes a vifible com- pact with the Devil, or on whofe body he fucketh, or with whom he hath carnal Copu- lation, or that is really changed into a Cat, Hare, Dog, or fuch like. And to fhew it a- ‘Mounts to no more than fo; was the task we ‘undertook in this Chapter. 3 ~ But affure your felf, if you perufehis Book carefully, you ‘fhall plainly find that the main adrift thereof isto prove, as I above noted, that - aa D 2 there a5. 4 his’Tooth as the other? Nay indeed this Neo Ps oS x eS, see ons Se PP er SS OT, iene erm Cae ey ee gi is ye Su Pee he 3 BGy ‘The Poftfcript. | - there is nofach Witch as with whom the De - vil has any thing more to do than with any other finner; which notwithftanding , thi ~~ Conclufion of his a little before recited, come: infinitely fhort of: And therefore this” fixth Chapter, confifting of about Thirty pages in _ Folio, is a mere piece of impertinency. Ane _ there will be Witches for all this, whether thefé particularities be noted in them or no:For it was . -~ fufficient for Mofes to name thofe ill founding | terms in general, which imply a*Witch accor _, ding to that general notion I have above de is livGed ; which if it be prohibited, namely thé ‘having any thing to do with evil Spirits, thet q _ being fuckt by them, or their having any lof ee ful or venereous tranfactions withthem,is mucl ‘2 ~3=,_~- | smoreprohibited. : | But for fome of thefe particularities alf is they may feem tobe in fome manner hinted a PS in fome of the words, efpecially as they arg | = rendred fometimes by skilful Interpreters : fof ae AWIN [ Mecaffeph | is tranflated by Vatabla - and the vulgar Latine Maleficus, by the Septua | Gint Gappangs, that is, Veneficus; which wordi | fignifie mifchievoufly enough both to man and ay beaft. Befides that. Mecaffeph carries along | with it the fignification of Transformation a ! & fo; and haply this may be the difference be —, - -twixt waa [ Mecaffeph | and yaya [ Megat i. nen| that the former ufes preftigious Tran q formations to fome great mifchief, as whet cep : ‘ Olat | The Poftfcript. formed themfelves into Wolves to mensthink- ing, and have -prefently. fallin upon worrying of Sheep. Others transformed in their 4/fral Spirifpinto various fhapes, get into Houfes,and — do mifchief to men.and children , asT remem- ber Remigius reports: And therefore it is lef ‘Wonder that that fharp Law of Mofes is againtt ‘themsw2n [Mecaffephah] fucha Witch as this is, Thou fhalt not fuffer a Witch to live; thismay ‘be'a more peculiar fignification of that word. And now for making a compact with the De- vil, how naturally does that name 72m 721n [chobher Chebher) fignifie that feat alfo? But for fucking and copulation, though rightly fta- ted it may betrue, yet I confefs there 1s no- thing hinted towards that, fo far asI fee, as indeed it was neither neceflary that the other Mhould be. But thefe are the very dregs, the Fex Magorum Sagarum that fink. into thofe abominations, again{t which a fufficient Bar is put. already by this prohibition of Witchcraft ‘in general by fo many names. Andthe other As{o filthy, bafe, and nafty, that the mention thereof was neither fit for the facred Style of Mofes his Law, nor for the Ears of the mcople.: - - Inmy paffing to the eighth Chapter I will ‘onely take notice by the way of the fhamelefs Ais beloved, Hags, that they may never be ie fa thought Olaus Magnus tells of thofe that have tran& — ampudence of 7. Webffer, who in favour to | ea ? \ 98 The Poftfeript. - Thought to do any thing by the affiftance. of »- the Devil, makes the victory of Ahfes, with ~ ‘whom the mighty hand of God was, or of Chrift, (who was the Angel that appeared —_. firft to Mofes in the Buth, and conducted the - Children of Z/rael out of Agypé to the pro- mifed Land) to be the victory onely over fo many Flocus-pocuffes , fo many Jugeglers that Were, as itfeems, old excellent at the tricks of Legerdemain ; which is the bafeft derogation tothe glory of that Victory, and the vileft reproach again{t. the God of Zrael and the | perfon of AMofes; that either the malicious wit of any Devi caninvent, or thedulnefs of any funk Soul can ftumble upon. Affuredly there was a real conflict here betwixt the Kingdom of Light and: the Kingdom: of Darknefs and the evil Spirits thereof, which affifted the yawn E fartummim ) the Magicians of A®gypt ; who before that name is named, that no man may miftake , are called Kyaw [ Mecaffephim ] fuch kind of Magicians as can exhibit to the fight manifold preftigious Transformations through diabolical affiitance, and are rendred Malefici by-good Interpreters, as I noted above ; that is, they were Wizzards or He-witches, | The felf fame word being ufed in that fevere Law of Mofes, Thou fhalt wot fuffer a Witch to five. Are not thefe Magicians then examples plain enough that there are Witches; that iss to fay , fuch wretched Wights as do ftrange | [oe aaaul ¥ iy ae Sere ee pia gna sh Pa rs A. Ebadi ee je ais ae: ae The Popfiript. Boece ase anit : Rhone ’ - miraculous things by the affiftance or confocia- for fo cmren> forfooth muft fignifie. But tion of evil Spirits. | ‘O no, fays Mr. Webfter , thefe are onely ~~ f3n [Chacamim | Wife men,and great Na- turalifts , who all what they did, they did — convwsa, by their bright glittering Lamme, what neceffity thereof that wn? fhould figni- fie Lamina? there is onely the pretence of that one place, Gen. 3.24. 25m wn, where itis ant onely that fignifies the Lamina, and that of a long form,fcarce ufual in thofe magical Lamine with Signatures celeftial upon them, which 7. Webfter would be at ; but UN? figni- fies meerly Flamma ; fo that Sanre'7A by this -account muft fignifie by their flames, if it be from wn ardere, flammare: And therefore | Buxtorfus judicioufly places the word under wid abfcondit, obvelvit, reading not Savona |} but comvxda, which is as much as to fay, occultis fuis rationibus Magicis, which is brie y 'rendred in Englifh, by their Enchantments ; | whichagrees marvelloufly well with Hrswia [Mecaffephim,| which is as much as Preftigza- _tores Magici, or fach as do ftrange wonderous things inan hidden way by the help of evil | Spirits. But that the egyptian Magicians fhould do thofe things that are there recorded | of them in Exodus, by vertue of any Lamels _or Plates of metal with certain Sculptures or Figures under fugh or fuch a Conftellation, ao D 4 a re) ae The Pao isa thing fo fottith and foolifh, that no man | _ Hag or Hobgoblin, can ever take San@tuary | here to fave himfelf or his old Dames from _ “may be He-witches, that is, Magicians, fuch as has clogged his Difcourfe with ) betakes him- } . fame Room with her, or at leaft feeing nothing Samuel appearing in his Body out of the Grave, dilcovering the weaknefs of his former Allega- that is not himfelf bewitched by fome old |i being ina capacity, from.this Hiftory in Exo- dus, of being accounted Witches. For if there thefe of Agypt were, I leave F.Webfter to fcratch his head to find out any reafon why there may not be She-witches alfo. And indeed that of the Witch of Exdory }j to pafs at length to the eighth\ Chapter, is as plain a proof thereof as can be defired by any man whofe mind is not blinded with prejudi- } ces. But here 7. Wed/ter, not impertinently, I confefs, for the general, ( abating him the many tedious particular impertinencies that he felf to thefe two ways , to fhew there was no- thing of a Witch inall that whole Narration. } Firft, by pretending. that all the tranfa€tion on the woman of Exdor’s part was nothing but: collufion and a Cheat, Sazl not being in the. if he was. And then in the next place, That. Samuel that is {aid to appear, could neither be - nor in his Soul ; nor that it was a Devil that | appeared : and therefore it muft be fome col- luding Knave fuborned by the Witch. For the tion, The Poft{cript. tion, we need but to appeal to the Text, which is this, 1 Sam. 28. v. 8. eo _ And Saulfaid, I pray thee, divine unto me by - the familiar fpirit, and bring me up whom I fhall ‘ name unto thee, "2 RY ONDp ; that is, do the - ‘Office of a Divinerefs or a Wife woman, I- + pray thee, unto me, 2182 [Beobh] by vertue ofthe familiar Spirit, whofe affiftance thou haft, hot by vertue of the Bottle, as Mr. Web/ter a ‘would have it. Doeshe think that Damfel. ~ : iin the Ads which is faid to havehad rydinc | miSev@. , that is, to have had ax [OSA] carri- e ed an Aquavitz-bottle about with her, hung at 4 her Girdle, whereby fhe might divine and mut- ter, chirp, or peep out of it, asa Chicken out of an Egg-fhell, or put her Neb into it to cry likea | Bittern,or take a dram of the Bottle to make her “Wits more quick and divinatory?) Who but one -that had taken too many drams of the Bottle ‘could ever fall into fuch a fond conceit ? Where- fore 18 [044] inthis place does not, as indeed | ‘no where elfe , fignifie an oracular Bottle or — Kgvreoy, into which Saul might defire the we- “man of Endor to retire into, and himfelf expect Panfwers in the next Room ; but fignifies that | familiar Spirit by vertue of whole affiftance the was conceived to perform all thofe won- drous offices of a Wit woman. But we pro- os Bee. The Poftfeript. ~ _ Surely as yet Saud and the woman are in the | fame Room ; and being the woman askt,Whom | feall I bring, up unto thee > and he anfwering, | Bring up unto me Samuel, it implies that Samuel was fo to be brought up that Saud might fee him, and not the Witch onely. But we goon, Verfe 12. And when the woman faw Samuel, fhe cried | with aloud voice: and the woman [pake to Saul, Saying, Why Laft thou deceived me > for thou art Sau. ‘Though the woman might have fome fufpicions before that it was Saul, yet fhe now feemg Samuel did appear, and in another kind of way than her Spirits ufed to do, and in ano- ther hue, as itis moft likely fo holy a Soul did, the prefently cried out witha loud voice, (wot _muttered, chirpt, and peept asa Chicken coming out of the Sheil) that now fhe was {ure it was Saul: For fhe was not fuch a Fool.as to think her Art could call up real Samuel, but that the prefence of Saul was the caufe thereof: And Fofepbus writes exprefly , “On SeacipQuov ab yudaov ard ex CeLevoy x Seompean rape Tero, 2g mes thy ony EXTALYAY 5 & ov, Qnatv, 0 Baciads SavaG.; 2.e. The woman fecing agrave Godlike _ wan, ts flartled atit , and thus aftonifbed at the Vifton, turned her felf to the King, and faid, Art wot thou King Saul? Verfe 13. And the King faid wto her, Be not afraid : for what faweft thou > And the woman faid unto ‘Saul, J faw Gods afceuding out of the Earth, iy 3 | The bel crsar Ae) sc trgS y S The Feiss 4g ' ‘The King here affures the woman, that though _ ) he was Saw, yet no hurt fhould come to her, and therefore bids her not be afraid: But the turning her face to Saul, asthe fpake to him, and.he'to her, and _fo her fight being off from the object, Saul asked her, What faweft thou 2 and fhein like manner anfwered, J faw Gods, c, For Gods I fuppofe any free Tranflator in Greek, Latine and Englith would fay, daiygves, Genios, Spirits. And tame fignifies Angels as _ well as Gods; and it ts likely thefe Wile wo. _men take the Spirits they converfe with to _ be good Angels, as Aune Bodenham the Witch told a worthy and Learned Friend of mime, * That thefe Spirits, fuch as fhe had, were good Spirits, and would do a man all good offices all the days of his life; and it is likely this wo- man of Exdor had the fame opinion of hers, -and therefore we need not wonder that fhe calls them can [Elohim] efpecially Samuel appearing among them, to fay nothing of the prefence of Sa#/. And that more than one Spirit appears at a time, there are repeated ex- amplesin Anne Bodenham’s Magical Evocations of them, whofe Hiftory, I muft confefs, I take to be very true. ' ‘The cafe ftands therefore thus: The Wo- man and Saal being in the fame Room , the tuning her face from Saul, mutters to her felf fome Magical form of evocation of Spirits; . whereupon. they beginning to appear and rife Tay Steg es ese Bate oe teens eto 2. SNR ye a= Sn). sib RRs ie eek lta a OR ee aaa i | x ni G ora | = : SS a Pie oftfcript. up, feemingly out of the Earth, upon the fight - of Samuels Countenance, fhe eried out to Saul, and turning her face towardshim {poke to him. Now that Saul hitherto faw nothing, though — athe fame Room, might be either becaufe the body of the woman was interpofed be- * twixt his eyes and them, or the Vehicles of thofe Spirits were not yet attempered to that confpiffation that they would ftrike the eyes | of Saul, though they did of the Witch. And that fome may fee an Obje& others not feeing it, you have an inftance in the Child upon Walker's Shoulders appearing to Mr. Fairhair, and, it may be, tothe Judge, but invifible to the reft of the Court ; and many fuch exam- ples there are: But I proceed to Verfe 14. And he faid unto her, What form is he of 2 and fhe faid, An old man cometh up , and is covered with a mantle. He asks here in the Singular ~ number, -tecaufe his mind was onely fixt on Samuel. And the womans anfwer is exactly — according to what the Spirit appeared to her, when: her eye was upon it, viz. MY tpt wR An old man coming up; for he was but coming up when fhe looked upon him, and according: ly defcribes him : For my there is a Participle of the prefent Tenfe, and the woman de- {cribes Samuel from his Age, Habit, and mo: tion he was in, while her eye was upon him: So that the genuine fenfeand Grammatical in this anfwer to, Whar form is he of > is this;:an old eee Refers: ee The Refi. gg af ee a oe _ old man coming up, and the fame covered with — : _amantle, this is his formand condition I fw. -~ Mi _ himin. Wherefore Saul being fo much con. Be _ cerned herein, either the woman orhe chan- _ Bing their poftures or flandings, or Samuelby = this having fufliciently confpifated his Vehicle = __ and fitted it to Saul’s fight alfo, it followsinthe ~ = _ Text, And Saul perceived it was Samuel, andhe — Stooped with his face to the ground and bowed him- _ felf. ite . | 10 the impudent profanenefs and fottifhnefs _ of perverfe fhufflers and whifflers , that upon — _ the hearing of this paffage can have the face to _ deny that Saz/ faw any thing, and merely be- _ caufe the word [ perceived ] is ufed, and not _ [faw;] when the word [ perceived] plainly _ implies that he faw Samuel, and fomething more, namely, that by his former familiar con- _ verfewith him, he was affured it was he. So ex-. quifitely did he appear and overcomingly to ~ _ his fenfes , that he could not but acknowledge ' Cfor fo the Hebrew word y= fignifies ) that it was he, or elfe why did he ftoop with his Face to the very Ground to do him ho- nour ? : No no, fays F. Webjfer, he faw nothing him- {elf, but ftood waiting like a drowned Puppet (fee of what a bafe rude fpirit this Squire of “Hagsis, to ufe fuch language of a Prince in his diftrefs ) in another Room , to hear what — would be the iffte; for all that he underftood : was MO Ot APOC ee RTT ME ee a NE 46 The Pofifeript. ‘was from her cunning and lying relations. | That this Gallant of Witches fhould dare to _ abufe a Prince thus, and feign him as much foolifher and fottifher in his JuteWeduals as he was taller in Stature than the reft of the people even by head and fhoulders, and merely, for- ~ footh, to fecure his old Wives from being fo much as in acapacity of ever being fufpected for Witches, isa thing extreamly coarfe,and in- tolerably fordid. And indeed upon the confi- deration of Saul’s being faid to bow himéfelf to Samuel, ( which plainly implies that there was — therea Samuel that was the object of his fight and of the reverence he made ) his: own heart — mifgives him in this mad adventure. And he fhifts off from: thence to a conceit that it was a confederate Knave that the woman of Exdor turned ont into the room where Saul was , to act the part of Samuel, having firft put on him her own fhort Cloak, which {he ufed with her maund under her arm to ride to Fairs or Mar- — kets in. To this Country-flouch in the wo- mans Mantle, muft King Saal, ftooping with his face to the very ground, make his profound obeyfance. What, was a Market-womans » Cloak and Samuel's Mantle, which Fofephus calls Simroids teentixla, a Sacerdotal habit, fo like oneanother? Or if not, how came this wo. man, being fofurprized of a fuddain, to pro- vide her felf of fuch a Sacerdotal habit to cloak her confederate Knave in 2? Was Sas as well eB a a blind as a drowned Puppet, that he could not difcern fo grofs and bold an Impofture as this > - Wasit poflible that he fhould not perceive that it was not Samuel when they came to.confer _ together, asthey did? How could that confe- __ derate Knave change his own Face into the fame _ figure, look, and mien that Samuel had, which ~ was exactly known to Saul? How. could he imitate his Voice thus of a fuddain, and: _ they difcourfed'a very confiderable time toge- ether?’ . Befides , Knaves do not ufe to {peak what _ things are true, but what things are pleafing. _ And moreover, this woman of Exdor, though a Pythonefs, yet fhe wasof a very good nature _ andbenign, which fFofephus takes notice of; and extols her mightily for it , and therefore fhe could take no delight to lay further weight on the opprefled Spirit of diftrefled King Saul; _ which is another fign that this Scene was acted bona fide, and that there was no couzening in it. As alfo that is another; that fhe fpoke fo magnificently of what appeared to her, that fhe {aw Gods afcending. Could fhe then poffi- bly adventure to turn out a Country-flouch | _ with a Maund-womans Cloak to act the: part of foGod-like and divine a Perfonage as Samu- el, who was Ged thu yopols ougi@s as the wo- * man defcribes himin Fofephus Antiqu. Judaic. lib.7.c.15. Untoall which you may add, _ That the Scripture itfelf, which was written by ~ In{pira- Pe ty re Co ree Samer om The Poft{cript. ~ Infpiration, fays exprefly, v. 20. that it wag” _ Samuel. And the fon of Sérach, ch. 46. thag 4 Samuel bimfelf prophefyed after his death, re- ferring to this ftory of the woman of Exdor. — But for our new-infpired Seers, or Saints, Si 7 Scot, S. Adie, andif you will. S.Webfer fworn | Advocate of the Witches, who thus madly © and boldly, againft all fenfeand reafon, againft _ all antiquity , all Interpreters, and again{t the © infpired Scripture itfelf,’ will have no Samuel © inthis Scene, but a cunning confederate Knave, _ _' whether the infpired Scripture, or thefe inblown — __ Buffoons , puffed up with nothing but igno- } rance, vanity, and ftupid infidelity,are to be be-_ lieved, let any one judge. a _ Wecomenow to his other Aliegation,where- | in we fhall be brief, wehaving exceeded the | meafure of a Poft(cript already. Zt was nei-% ther Samuel's Soul, {ays he , joyned with his Body, nor his Soul out of his Body , nor the Devil ; and spessfore it must be fome con- federate Knave fuborned by that cunning chea: ting Quean of Endor.. But I briefly anfwer, - it was the Soul of Samuel himfelf; and that it -is the fruitfulnefs of the great ignorance of © ‘F. Webfter in the found Principles of Theofo- 7 phy and true Divinity , that has enabled him to heap together no lefs than Ten Arguments 7 to difprove this Affertion, and all little. to the | purpofe: So little indeed, that I think it little ‘to the purpofe particularly to anfwer them, but foal ) The Poft{cript. ao fhali-hint onely fome few Truths which will — rout the whole band of them. 7 & I fay therefore, that departed Souls, as other’ Spirits, have an @ure€gcioy in them, fuch as Souls have in this life; and have both a faculty _ and a right to move of themfelyes, provided there be no.exprefs Law againft fuch or fucha defign to which their motion tends. Again, ‘That they: havea Power of appear- ing in their own perfonal.fhapes to whom there “is occafion , as Aune Walker’s Soul did to the Miller; and that this being a faculty of theirs either natural or acquirable , the doing fois no miracle. And. _ Thirdly, That it was the ftrong piercing de- fire, and deep diftrefs , and agony of mind in Saul, in his perplexed circumttances , and thé great compaffion and goodnefs' of Spirit in the holy Soul of Samuel, that was the effectual Magick that drew him to condefeend to con- _verfe with Saul in the womanshoufe at Endor; as akeen fenfe of Juftice and Revenge made Anne Walker's Soul appear to the Miller with her five Wounds in her head. The rigid and harfh feverity that Wed/fer fancies Samuel’s Ghoft would have ufed againft the woman,: or fharp reproofs to Say/; As for _ the latter, itis fomewhat expreffed inthe Text, and Saul had his excufe in readinefs, and the - good Soul of Samuél was fenfible of his per- plexed condition, -And as for the former, i tn¢ : 50: ; ee 3 al 7 Ee ae Oe ey he eee wy ke ee eS ee an say, = a = fa A Sata The Poftfeript.~ the Soul of Samuel might indeed have'terrified — the poor woman, and {o unhinged her, that fhe had been fit fornothing after it,butnotconverted her, it is no wonder if he-pafled:her by ; Good- nefs and Forbearance'more befitting an holy Angelical Soul, than blufter and fury , {uch as. is fancied by that rude Goblin that actuates the Body and Pen of Webfer ooo 6 - As for-departed Souls, that they never have any ¢are or regard to any-of their fellow-Souls here‘upon Earth, is expreflyagain{t the known — example of that ‘great Soul, and univerfal Pa- ftor of all good Souls ; who appeared to Ste: phen at his {toning , and to S. Paul before his Cenyerfion , though then in “his glorified'Bo- dy; which is a greater condefcenfion than this of 'the'Soul-of Samuel, which’ was alfo'toa Prince, upon whofe fhoulders lay the great af: fairs of thie People of Z/rael : "To omit that o- ther notableexample of the Angel Raphael fo called, (from his office at that time’, or from - ‘the Angelical Order he was adopted into after hhis'death) but wasindeed the Soul of Azarias the fon of Avanias.the' Great, and of Tob7t’s Bre- thren’: Yobit'ch. 5.12. ' Nor does that which oteurs, Tob: 12.15. at all clafh with what we have faidyif rightly underftood : ‘for his fay- ig, am Raphael one of the feven holy Angels which prefent the ‘prayers of the Saints’, and which go tn'and out before ihe glory of the Holy One, inthe Oabbaliftick fencc.ignifies no more . a 3 than The Pofifeript. et than thus , That he was one cf the univerfal fociety: of the holy Angels, (anda Raphael -anthe Order of the Raphaels ) which minifter _ to the Saints, and reintorce the Prayers of good. and ‘holy men by joyning thereto their own; _and as they are moved by God, miifter to their neceflities, unprayed to themfelves,which _ would be anaboinination to them, but extream prone'to fecond'the Petitions of holy fincere - fouls, and. forward to engage in the accom- _plifhing of them, asa truly good man would — fooner relieve an indigent creature, overhear- ing him making his moan to God in Prayer, than if he begged Almis of himfelf, though he _ might do that without fin. ‘This Cabbalifti- cal account, I think, is infinitely more proba: _ bie, than that Raphae/ told 4 downright bye to _ Tobit, in faying he was the fon of Ananias when he wasnot. And beit fo, will ¥. Webjter fy; _ what is all thistothe purpofe,; when the Book _ of Zobit is Apocryphal ,. 2nd confequently of ho Authority > What of no Authority ? cer- tainly of infinitely more Authority than Mr. Wag flaf, Mr. Scot, and Mr. Adzé, that peated fo frequently and reverently quo- tetn. I but, will he further add, thefe Apparitions _ were made togoodand holy men, or to elect Vefels ; but King Saul was a wretched Repro- bate. 'Thisis thethird liberal badge of honout’ ‘that this i-bred Advocate of the Witches has Jae ‘The Poftfcript. a beftowed ona diftrefled Prince, Firft, a drow- ned Puppet, p.170. then a diftratted Bedlam, ~~ in the fame Page , which I pafled by before; * ‘and now, a wretched Reprobaie: But afluredly ~ Saul was a brave Prince and Commander, as_ - Fofephus juttly deferibes him, and Reprobate” je conely in Type, as J/mael and Efau; which isi Rey myftery;-it feems, that 7. Webj/ter was not a q ‘ware of.» And therefore no fuch wonder t ‘ Es the Soul of Samuel had fuch.a kindnefs for ‘him,.as to-appear to him in thedepth of his diftrefs, to. fettle his mind, by telling hum _ plainly the upfhot of the whole bufinefs,. that” he fhould lofe the Battle, and he and his Sons be flain, that fo he might give a fpecimen of shite. we os ped —— sl q the braveft: Valour that.ever was atehieved: by any Commander , in that he would not fuk fer his Countrey to: be over-run by the Ené _ amy,°while he was.alive, without °refiftance; but though he knew-certainly he fhould fal of fuccefs, and -he and his Sons dye ‘in the, fight, yet in fo juft and honourable a Caufe a the defence of his Crown and his Countrey, would give the Enemy battle in the Field, and facrifice his own Life for the fafety of his Peo ple. Out of the knowledge of which noble fpirit in Saud, and his refolved valour in this point, thofe words haply may come from S# muel, To morrow fhalt thou and thy fons be with) me, (as an aufpicious infinuation of their i} vourable reception into the other world)} | The Poftfcript. tame foe “in py myn in thalamo juftorum, as Mun- : _ fier has noted out of the Rabbins. - | - © Laftly, as for that weak imputation that-this opinion of its being Samuel's foul that appear- ed, is Popith, that is very Plebeianly and Idio- tically fpoken, as if every thing that the Po- — pith party are for, were Popifh. -We divide: our zeal againft fo many things that we fancy’ _ Popith, that we fearce referve a juft fhare of deteftation againft what is truly fo.: Such as: arethat grofs, rank, and fcandalous impoflibili-; _ ty of Zranfubftantiation, the various modes of. _ fulfome Zdolatry and lying Jmpoftures, the Un- certainty of their Loyalty to their lawful So- _ veraigns by their fuperftitious adhefion to the {piritual Tyranny of the Pope, and that bar-. barous and ferine Cruelty againft thofe that are not either fuch fools as to be perfwaded to ‘be-. ~ lieve fuch things as they would obtrude upon. men, or.are not fo falfe to God and their own Confciences, as knowing better, yet to profefs them. a © As for that other opinion, that the greater part of the reformed Divines hold, That it was the Devil that appeared in Samuel's fhape; and. though Grotius alfo feems to be enclined there- to, alledging that paflage of Porphyrius, De Abftinentia Animalium, where he defcribes one: kind of Spirit to be, Tzv@. ar eTHANs QuTews, ‘wavroyoppoyte x woAUTep Toy, raoKnesophuoy % | Meee xt Dakugias ¥ danas rebvaygrans ¢which " 4 oa _- = _s 8 2 " "The P, Meee a _ I confefs, very appofite to this ftery ; nor-do doubt but that in many of thefe Necroman- tick Apparitions, they are ludicrous Spirits,not the Souls of the deceafed that appear) yet I am clear for the appearing of the Soul of Sa. youel inthis ftory, from the reafons above al- ledged, and as clear that in other Necroman- ciesit may be the Devil, or fuch kind of Spirits as Porphyrius above defcribes, that change them- - Selves into.omnifarious forms and fhapes, and one while adt the parts of Deemons, another while: of Angels or Gods; and another while of the Sauls of the deceafed: And ¥ confefs fach a {pirit as this might perfonate Samuelhere, for any thing) Webjrer has alledged to the contrary. For his Arguments indeed. are wonderfully weak and woodden, as may be underftoed out of what 1 have hinted concerning the former opinion. But I cannot further: particularize now. For I have made my Pof/cript much longer than my Letter,before I was aware; and I need not enlarge to you, who are fo well verfed in rhefe things already, and can. by the quicknefs, of your parts prefently collect the whole mea- fure of Hercules. by: his Foot;; and fufficiently underftand by-this time it is no raf cenfure of mine inmy Letter, That Wef/er’s Book is but’ a weak impertinent piece of. work, the very Mafler-piece thereof being fo weak and im- pertinent, and falling fo fhort of the fcope he aims it, which was really to prove that there < eRe wag 4 The Poftfcript. © _ was no fuch thing as. a Witch or Wizzard , that is, not any mention thereof, in Scripture, by any name of one that had more to do with the - Devil,or the Devil with hint, than with. other wic- _ ked men; that is to fay, of one who in vertue of _ Covenanteither implicit or explicit did ftrange : things by the help: of ‘evil Spirits, but haz _ there are many forts of Deceivérs and Impoftors, _ and diverfe perfons, under a paffive delufion of _ Melancholy and Fancy, which 1s part of hus very ) Title-page. rope _ Whereby he does plainly infinuate,there is no- thing but Couzenage or Melancholy in the _ whole bufinefs of the feats of Witches.But a little to mitigate or fmother the groflnels of this falfe Affertion, headds, And that there is uo cor- poreal League betwixt the Devil and the Witch ; and that he does not fuck on the Witches body, nor has carnal Copulation with her, nor the Witches are turned into Dogs or Cats,&c. All which | _ things, as you may fee in hisBook, he under- ftands in the groffeft manner imaginable, as if the Imps of Witches had Mouths of flefh to fuck them , and. Bodies of flefh to lye. with them. Andat this rate he may underftand a corporeal League, as if it were no League or Covenant, unlefsfome Lawyer drew the in- ftrument, and engrofied: it in Vellum or thick Parchment, and theré were fo many. Witnefles with the Hand and Seal of the party: nor any Transformation into Dogs or Cats, unlefs, Bik E 4 it nS a 86 The Poftfcript. it were real and corporeal, or _grofly carnal _ Which none of his Witchmongers, as he rudely -and flovenly calls that learned and ferious per- fon Dr. Ca/aubow and the reft, do believe: One- ly it isa difputable cafe of thew: bodily Tranf ‘formation , betwixt Bodinus and Remigius; of which more in my Scholia. But that without this carnal tranfmutation a woman might not be accounted a Witch, is fo foolifh a fuppofi- tion , that Web/ter himfelf certainly muft be afhamed of it. Wherefore if his Book be writ onely to prove there is no fuch thing as a Witch that covenants in Parchment with the Devil by the advice of a Lawyer, afd is really and carnally turned intoa Dog, Cat, or Hare, Sc. and with carnal lips fucked by the Devil , and is one with whom the Devil lies carnally ; the {cope » thereof is manifeftly impertinent , when. nei- ther Dr. Cafaubon nor any one elfe holds any . fuch thing. But as for the true and adequate hotion of a Witch or Wizzard, fuch as at firft I defcribed, his Arguments all of them dre too too weak or impertinent, as to the difproving the exiftence of fuel a Witch as this, who be- twixt his Deceivers, Impoftours, and Melancho- difts on one hand , and thofle graff Witches he defcribes, on the other hand, goesaway ‘here asa Hare ina green balk betwixt two Lands of Corn, none of his Arguments reaching her or getting the fight of her, himfelf in the » Pee mean OS sl i ae i io 3 = | An Advertifement. + ak is mean time {landing on one fide amiongft es Deceivers and Jmpoftours, his Book, as to the * main defign he drives at , being a mere Cheat and Impoftour. . - C.C.C. May 25. 1678. _ ADVERTISEMENT. sc me Letter of Dr. Moor being left amongft | other Papers appertaining to this new- _ intended Edition by Mr. Glawvil, and I per- ceiving ina Letter of his to the Do¢tor that he had a mind this Letter fhould be publifhed _ together with his Book, it is done accordingly, and prefixed at the beginning thereof, as na- _ tural Method requires, the Letter being hor- _ tatory to quicken Mr. Glanvil to difpatch his _ intended new Edition for the undeceiving-of _ the World, and the Pofifcript containing many things of a general influence upon the whole Book. But that the Doctor may fuffer no pre- _ judice through this, publifhing of his Letzer | _ and Poftfcript , from the fharpnefs and fatyri- 7 calnefs of them in fome places, I fhall for the more rightly underflanding his meaning in . the ufing that mode of writing upon this oc- a _, cafion , tranfcribe a paflage of a Letter of his = ; aie to | Bo 8g in > Tg8 An Advemifement. 4 to his. friend Mr.'Glanvil, relating thereto, — I pray you fend me word whether that Pofttcript — will not meet with all the elufory cavils of that _ profane Buffoon , upon thofe places. of holy Scri- pture: bis umvorthy ufage of the HolyWrit, and his deriforious Interpretations of it in the be-. Dalf of bis beloved Hags, provoked my indigna- tion to fuch Schemes of deriding and expofing . him, as otherwife T fhould never have condefcen- - dedto. This is a fufficient Teftimony of the & Doctor’s averfnefs from fuch manner of wri- ) ‘ting. But as Divines tell us , that Anger and — a Punifhment are God’s. Opus alienum,. his ftrange _ ~—~.-s work, as being more abhorrent from his na- “a ture ; but yet tor the good ‘of ‘the Univerfe | he fteps out fometimes into that difpenfation : fol think it not misbecoming good men, fome: | times to condefcend, as the Dottor calls it, to . the chaitifing prophane Drolls and Abufers of _ holy things, by a juft derifion and fatyrical re- __-prehenfion for their freakiflr and impious fau- cine{s, provided it ‘be done fincerely , and for rhe publick good. Diyas ae 10k gai AD adie ois so OE aire er AA AY Ee i Re ce eR Pe Se PR ae Saducifnus Triumphatus . OR, Fulland plain EVIDENCE Concerning WITCHES | AND : APPARITIONS. | The Firft PART thereof conteining Philofophical Confiderations Which defend their POSSIBILITY. Whereunto is added, . The true and genuine NOTION , and confiftent Explication of the Nature OFA SORT BOY For the more full Confirmation of the POSSIBILITY of their EXISTENCE. LONDON: Printed, 168r. 2) ae face be “pe mf ae a oot 09 > fost 1 : oe TId1H 1220 les a ctnsenal fee -AOTON ont ek Oe Sa Ss ra ion Vea a HiLaOoy. cat tis 0 robseunins ie To the Hluftrious CHARLES DUKE) oF | Richmond and Lenox. My LORD, OUR: Grace having been pleafed to com- ‘mand the furl , and more: imperfect, my . Editionof this Difcourfe, I have pre: | fumed that your Candour will accept the Draught | that hath had my laft band uponit.. And though L ara not fond enough to phancyany Art or Orna- ment zn the compofure to recommend it ; yet, I know, the Effay is feafonable ,azd contains things which relate to our biggelt Lnterefts,; the defign being to fecure fome of the Qut-works of Religion , and to. regain a parcel of grownd which bold Infidelity hath invaded. And, my Lord, I cannot but obferve fadly,. that. while the Sects are venting their Animofities againft each __ other, and {erambling for their Conceits, and the particular advantages of their ways. they. per~ ceive . The Epiftle Dedicatory. : ; cerve not that Atheifm comes on by large ftrides, and. enters the Breaches they have ae Sober ow * Gad confideraté mén Jeé the formidable danger, | and fome of them have ftrenuaufly endeavoured ) to maintate the Wells, while) the factions within . are fo bufie and fo divided, that they cannot at- : tend the defperate hazard , dnd wh, nok joyn ined eS p4 Common Defefice. ¢ Among thofé generous De- - fendants I defrre topitch, “and have indertaken : to make good one of the -Forts upon which the - 4 Enemy bath made impetuous Affaults, and Ihope with no contemptible fuccef...... cee a For my part,my Lord, I am very little concern- ed for the {mall pedlarics that fome mens fond- nels calls Religion , by which that facred thing hath been expofed toa great deal of contempt and difhonour.: “But. yet I-thinkitmy duby to havevazeal for thofé great and ‘certain matiers — upon which ourhopes in another world are grou#- ded: And thatcour expectations of a tuture Being, are not imaginary and fantaftick , we have realonable evidence enough from the Attri- butes of God, the Phenomena of Providence, and the nature of our Souls, to convince any, but thofe who wil Kuptdly believe that they fhail dye like Beafts.,\ thar they may live like them. o 1 confef the Philofophick Arguments that are | _ produced for the defirable Article, though very cogent; are many of them {peculative and deep, 4 requiring fo great an attention and fagacity, % that they take no bold upon the whiffling spirits that | "The EpiftleDedicdtory: _ that are uot ufed to confider ; mor upon the com- monyort, that-cannot reach fach heights of Ar- ‘gument : But they are both bef convinced by the proofs.that come neareft the tence, which in- deed ftrike our minds fullett, and leave the moft _ lafting: ampreffions ; whereas high Speculations being more.thin aed fubtile; eaflyflide off evex fromundenftandings that are moft capable to re- cezve them: For this reafon, among fome others, _ Jf appear thus much concerned for the juftification of the belief of Witches, it fuggefting palpable _ aud current evidence of our Immortality , which if am exceedingly {ollicitous’ to have made 140 Sy good. _ \. For reall ; my Lord, if we make our computes _ like Men, and donot: fuffer-aur felves to be abu- fed by the flatteries ‘of fenie, and the deceitful Bayctiestbat freal-us away from God,.and from eae our felves, there dsmbthing ‘can render the thoughts of this odd life tolerable: but the expectation of another. Andwile men have: faid, that they - - would not live amoment, if-they thought. they _ were not to le again. : Thisxperbaps fome may take to be the: difcontented Paradox of a melan- ~ cholick:,\ vext\ and of mean condition , that is _ pinched by the ftraitneS of fortune, and envies the heights of others felicity, and. grandeurs.; But by that time thofe that judge. fo, have {pent _ the heats of trolick youth , and have paft over the feveral {tages of vanity; when they come to fit down, and make fober reflections upon their F’ ! plea- Dig INE Oe 1 le | ey POD ie - : - \* * world inthofe that not onely fee it ‘painted in their h. a “ ~ > by the infamy: of our natures in the overthrow ‘licence, becaufe poffibly your Grace's mame may The Epiftle Dedicatory. pleafures and purfuits, and fum up the accompt — of all that is with them, and before them, I doubt — not but their confidering thoughts willmake Solo- _ mon’s Conclufion, and find, that ’tis but a mife- ~ ty tolive , if wewereto live for nothing elfe. _ Sothat if the content of the prefent life were af I were to have for the hopes of Immortality, TF fhould even upon that account be very. unwibling — to believe that I was mortal:. For certainly the pleafures chat refult from the thoughts of another imaginations, Jur feel it begun in their Souls, are as far beyond all the titillations of fenfe, as areal lafting happinefs is Zéyond the delufive {mages of a2 Dream. And therefore they that think to fecure. the injoyment of their pleafures of our future hopes ; indeavour to.dam up the Fountain of ‘the fulleft and -cleaneft. delights ;_ and feek for \impid waters in the finks and pude_ dles of the ftreets. Wihbout st ‘ Tou fee, my Lord, howmy zeal for this mighty interelt tranfports me. toa greater length in. this addrefS, than’ perhaps may confifh. with ftrict dee | corum ; and I indulge my Pemthe rather in this draw fome eyes hither that have need of fuch fuggeftions, and thofe that have not need a great deal more. It cannot be proper to add here thofe large accounts which would be requifite ina defga of full conviction ; But for the prefent, if i oy ~ JNA The Epiftle Dedicatory. hall pleafe to look forward, they may likely meet fome things not unfit for their ferious thoughts : and I intend to take a feafon to préfent them others , more particularly fuitable to what F know is as much their intereft, as I doubt it is Seber Wank. \ 2 OTR - | : : _ But, my Lord, Ifear I amimportunate , and befeech your Grace to pardon the boldnef of My LORD, Your Grace's: . Mott obedient Servant; ~ fof. Glanvil. Bet PRE- . ‘as 2 . Wes be abdM NS ee oe eae “Here are a fort of warrowand confin'd Spi- ‘its, who account all Difcourfes needle, that are not for their particular purpofes ; and a judge all the world to be of the fze and Ge- | ius of thofe within the Circle of their Know- ledge and Acquaintance; fo that with a pert and pragmatiqué Infolence , they cenfure all the _ braver Defigus and Notices that liebeyond their _ Ken, as nice and impertinent Speculations : au zgnorant and proud Injuftice; as it this fort were _ theonely perfons, whofe humour and needs _ fhould be confulted. And hence it comes to pafs, that the greateft and worthief# things that are written or faid, do always meet with the moft gerieral neglect arid fcorn, fince thelefer people, tor whom they were not intended, are quick to | » foot their Gol, and to condemn what they ' do not underftand, and becaufe they do. not. a ’ Whereason the other fide, thofethat are able — | to jadge and would incourage, are commonly referv'd and modeft in their fentences ; or, if they fhould feek to do right to things that are » worthy, they are fure to be out-voiced by the rout of ignorant contemners. Upon which accounts I have’ often thought that he that courts and values popular eftimation, takes net Be the LEAT HEN eae OOP NO eM ERS gst eee eee . Preface. . | the right way if he endeavour any thing that. is really excellent: but he mutt ftudy the /- tle plaufibilities, andaccommodate the humour of the 1A NI, who are active Minifters of Fame, being zealous and loud in their applaufes,. as they are clamorous and impetuous in theit oppofttions. As for thefe, “tis one of my chief cares to make my felt as much unconcern’¢ at their Cenfures, as Jam at the cacklings of a flock of Geefe, or at the eager difpleafure of thofe little fnarling’ Animals , that are angry whenT _ go along the ftreets. Nor can any man be either wife or happy, till he hath arrived to that greatnefs of mind, that no more confiders the tattling of the multitude than the whi/fling of the wind. Not that I think the common people are to be contemned for the weakuefS of their un derflandings ; "tis an infolent meannefS of Spirit that doth that: but when conceited ignorance’ fits down in the Judgment feat , and gives pe- remptory Verdicts upon things beyond its Line, the ah man fmiles and paffeth dy. For fuch (if rhat may fignifie any thing to keep them | \ from troubling themfelves about the following | CONSIDERATIONS) I defire they would take notice from me, that I writ not ‘thofe things for fuch as zhey ; and they willdo well to throw up the Book upon this Adver- tifement, except they will {tay to hear, That ‘though Philofophical Difcourfes to juftifie the — ‘common belief about Witches, are nothing at. all Preface. , Fall to them, or thofe of their meafur e; yet they are too feafonable and neceffary for our Age , in which Atheifm is begun in Sadducifm: And - thofe that dare not bluntly fay, There is NO _ GOD, content themfelves ( fora fair Pep and _ Introduction ) to deny there are SPIRITS, or WITCHES. Which fort of Infidels, though they are not ordinary among the meer. vulgar, yet are they numerous ina little higher rank of waderftandings. And thofe that know - any thing of the world, know, that moft of the loofer Gentry, and the {mall pretenders to _ Philofophy and Wit , are generally deriders of the belief of Witches and Apparitions. And were this a flight br mere fpeculative miftake, I thould not trouble my felf or them about it. But I fearthiserrour hath a.Core in it that is worfe than Herefie : and therefore how’ lit- tle foever I care what men delieve or teach in matters ef Opinion, 1 think I have reafon to be ~ concern’d in anaffair that toucheth fo near up- _ on the greateft interefts of Religion. And really Lam aftonifht fometimes to think into _ what a kind of Age we are fallen, in which fome of the greatef? impieties are accounted but Bugs, and terrible Names, invifible Tittles, Peccadillo’s, or Chimera’s. The fad and great- eft inftances, are SACRILEDGE, RE- BELLION,and WITCHCRAFT. - For the two former, there are a fort of men i. ( that are far from being profe{t Enemies to RS Religion ) ° OE Ge dg: ee ee ee es oe = z — OE OR eT ae eee roe, oes ae oe a ee 5 ee Pig oF aur 4 s 5 : af > * <4 Pe nee $ sd ne e z eS E = 7 ? = Pn “ cs = ” . ee) SB. o2 y, q = ‘ 2 ay 2 . Sore = ~ . ¥ i > le oe ¥ 4 e - es Fi = : = Sa ee S : s : Z * . ’ 5 es T4 Saf SS ' — Uy rs . rf Peas t Nt Profitce, | : Religion ) who, Ido not know whether they: own any fuch vices. We find no mention of them in their moft particular Confeffons, nor have I obferved them in thofe Sermons that have contained: the largeft Catalogues of the ‘Sins of our Age and Narion. .*Twere dangerous to fpeak of them as fins , for fear who fhould be found guilty. - But my bufinefsat prefent is not ‘with thefe, but the other, WITCH RAFT, whichI am fare was a Siz of elder times ; and. how comes it about that evi which fo — smuch outdoes them in all other kinds of wic- kednefs , thould be wholly zwmocent im this.2 That there MAT be WITCHES and Ap- paritions in our deys, notwithf{tanding the Od- jettions of thé modern Sadduce , \believe Lhave | made appear inthe CONSIDERATE ONS following ; in which Idid not prima- fily intend direct Proof, but DEFENCE, as the Title of the fir/t Edition, which ts re: — ftor’d in thefe later mention’d. And if it fhould be odjected, That Ihave | for the moft part ufed onely fuppofals and con- — jeclural things in the vindication of the common — belief, and fpeak with no point-blank affurauce in my particular Anfwers, as 1 doin the generaé. Conclafion ; I need onely fay, That the Pro- pofition | defend is matter of fact, which the disbelievers impugne by alledging that it can-_ aia at ia ra Ee not be, ov it is not likely : In return to which, © if I thew how thofe things may de, and eh j é tar: ae ? i" . Preface. . ) _ bly, notwithftanding their afegarzons, though - Tay not downright that'they are in the par- - tidular way I/offer’, yet “tis enough for the defign of Defence,though not for that of Proof: _. for when‘oné ‘faith-a thing -cammor be , and I tal him how pofiibly zt may, thought hit not ERE jaf manmer Of it, T'yet defeat the Obje- - Hon again > aiid’make way for the evidence | Of the ching’ de’ Fado ; which: now'T have ad- . ded from the. Divine*Oracles, and two Mo- dern Relations that are clear and. anexceptiona- ble.” t DOS Res is i Thave no humour nor ‘delight in telling Stories, and do riot publifh zhefe for the gra- tification of thofe that have; but I record them as Arguments for the confirmation of a Truth which hath indeed been attefted by multitudes of the like Evidences in all places and times. But things remote, or long paft, are either not Lelieved or forgotten : whereas thefe _ being frefh and wear, and attended with all the circumftances of credibility ; it may be expe- _ &ed they fhould have the.more fuccefs upon the obftinacy of @nbelievers. | 4 But after all this , I muft confefs , there ts |. one Argument againft me , which is not to be - _ dealt with, viz. a mighty confidence grounded | upon nothing , that fwaggers, and hugs , and } wears there are no TUitches. For fuch Phz- _ +afophers as thefe , let them enjoy the Opinion ) of their own Superlative Fudgements , and en- y Fg ter a ee a ee ee a “ter me in the firft rank of Fools for creditin seni ar ais “my Sexfes, and thofe of allthe World, before their fworn Dittates... If they will believe in Scott, Hobbes , and Osborne, and think them more infalizble than the. Sacred Oracles , the Hiftory ot all Ages.,.and the full experience of our ow, who can help it > They muft not ‘be contraditted , and they are refelved.not. to be perfivaded. For this. fort of mea, I never go about to convince them of any thing. fT can avoid it, I throw nothing before them, left they fhould rurz again, and rend me. 'Theit Opinions came into their Heads by chance, when ‘their “ttle reafons had no. notice of their ey: france; and they muft be let alone. to go out again.ot themfelves, the fame way they en: tred. ‘Therefore not to make much noife to difturb thefe faible Huffers (and they can- not hear a Jittle for their own ) I foftly ftep by them, leaving onely this whifper behind me; That though thei wor/bipful’ ignorance and forrifbnefs can relith nothing of a Difcourle _ that doth not minifter to Senfuality and @n- belief, yet my CONSIDERA TIONS have had the good fortune of ‘a better recep- tion from the draver and more generous Spi- rits, than my fordeft hopes could Have ex- ected; and perfons whote good thoughts I Pie reafon to value, have affured me. that their kinduefs to my Bodk hath improved up- on fecond and more careful perufals ; which Bs 9 Sone Gee Pe eRe eV ay eee Ge ; ing véadine , may pleate to un back, and d Soon think over 4 fered ; from which courfe I ¢ them more Satisfaction than from th S ex Bath June 8. a 1668. “ PET AS ESAS AS, ee - Hi : VO Wile. Thar Anak Bernt ey DO rh gem ' De ee eee Re ee ret Some” 9 "ae CONSIDERATIONS r ABOUT eee Witchcraft. Rozeat Hunt,. Efq; SO oe hi! SIR, ; | T HE frequent and latesdealings you have had in.the Examination of Wit- ches, and the regards of one that hath _ a very particular honour tor you, have brought you the trouble of fome CONSIDER A- TIONS onthe Subje&t. And though what J have to fay, be but the unaccurate product of a little leifure; yet I hope it may afford | you fome, not unreafonable, accounts of the odd Phanomena of Witchcraft and Fafcination., and contribute to the DEFENCE g Oe pene Payer Ras Het 3 Confiderations i rath and certainty of matters, which you kaow by Experiments that could not deceive, in {pite of the petty exceptions of thofe that are refol- - ved to believe nothing in affairs of this na- ture, | : ’ And if any thing were to be much admired in an Age of Wonders , not onely of Nature, ( which isa conftant Prodigie) but of Men and Manners; it would be to me matter of \a/fo- nifbment, that Men, otherwife witty and inge- nious, are failen into the conceit that there is no fuch thing asa Witch or Apparition, but that thefe are the creatures of Melancholy and Super- tition, fofter’'d by ignorance and defign ; which | comparing the confidence of their disbelief with the evidence of the things denied, and the weak- nefs of their grounds, would almoit fuggeft that - themfelves are an Argument of what they de- zy; and that fo confident an opinion could not ; be held upon fuch inducements, but by fome kind of Witchcraft and Fafcination in the Fan- cy. And perhaps that evi’ Spirit whofe in- fluencesthey will not allow in actions afcribed to.fuch Caufes , hath a greater hand and inte- reft in their Propoftion than they are aware of, For that fubtile Enemy of Mankind ( fince Provideuce will not permit him to mifchief us - Without our own concurrence ) attémpts that by /eratagem and artifice, which he could never effect by open ways of acting; andthe fuccefs ' of all wiles depending upon their fecrecy and agi conceal- aboat Witchcraft. oe oncealment, his influence is never more dange- rows than when his agency is leaft fufpetted. In — order therefore to the carrying on the dark and hidden defigns he manageth againft our _ happinefs and our Souls, he cannot expect to advantage himfelf more, than by infinuating a _ belief, Zhaz there is nofach thing as himfelf, bur y _ that fear and fancy make Devils now , as they a did Gods of old. Nor can he ever draw the » afflent of men to fo dangerous an aflertion, _ while the /fanding fenfible evidences of his ex- _ iftence in his praétices by and upon his znftru- ments are not difcredited and removed. — " _- *Tis doubtlefs therefore the intereft of this . Agent of darknefS to have the world. believe, — that the zetion they have of himis but a phan- tome and conceit; and in order thereunto , that the ftories of Witches , Apparitions, and _ indeed every thing that brings tidings of ano- __ ther world, are but melancholick Dreams, and _ pious Romances, And when men are arrived ' thus far to think there are no diabolical con- __ tratts or Apparitions, their belief that there are fuch Spirits refts onely upon their Faith and | Reverence to the divine Oracles, which we have little reafon to apprehend fo great in fuch . affertors, as to command much from. their f aflent; efpecially in fuch things in which they. have corrupt interefts againft their evidence. So that he that thinks there is no W7tch , be- » licves a Devil gratis, or at \caft upon induce- . 4 | ments, OSPR ee ag ATR OS Pe Oe Ne OPT RN REET Ue Sree ee Leen ee a yee ee rs *, 4 Tore goss att 4S Sy Se uf : 1 Wr Vid i> etc. ee eed Ae eee ee, Es Cha i ge gaan > Saldhy oilte lS RT eee RE. i ty Sk LP pe Pee Se as gee Tee ss ia MSM - ’ t oe Confiderations ments, which he is like to find himflf difpo- fed to deny when he pleafeth. And when men are arrived to this degree of difidence and inf. delity, we are beholden to them if they believe either Angel, or Spirit, Refurrection of the body, or Immortality ot Souls. Thele things hang together in a Chain of connexion, at leatt in _ thefe mens A4yporhefis ; and ’tis but an happy chanee if he that hath loft one divk holds ano- ther. So that the vitals of Religion being fo much interefled in this fubjec& , it will not be unneceflary employment particularly to dif. ,courfe it. - And in order to the proof that there have been , and are, unlawful C onfederaciés with evil — Spirits, by vertue ot which the hellih actom- péices perform things above their natural pow- — ers: I muft premile, that this being marter of - fatt, isonely capable of the evidence of autho: rity and fénfe; and by both thefe the being of Witches and diabolical Contraéts is moft aburi- 4 -dantly confirm’d. All Aftories are fall of the exploits of thofe Zi/truments of darknef; and A the teffimony of all ages, not onely of the rude and barbarous, but of the moft ‘civilixd and _ polifb'd world, brings tidings of their ftrange performances. We have the atte/fation of © _ thoufands of eye and ear-witneflés , and thofe | not of the cafily-deceivabie vulgar onely; but | of wife and grave difcerners; and that, when ; no intereft could oblige them to agree together’ i pris ee pe ee eae : about Witcheraft. 5 inacommon Lye. I fay, wehave the lightof _ all thefe circumftances to confirm us inthe be- — lief of things done by perfons of defpicable power and knowledge, beyond the reach of Art and ordinary Nature. Standing publick Records have been kept of thefe well-attefted _ Relations, and. Epocha’s made of thofe unwon-. _ ted events.. Laws in many Nations have been enacted againft. thofe vile practices; thofe a- mong the Fews and our own are notorious ; fach _ cafes have been often determined near us, by” _ wife and reverend Fudzes, upon clear and con-- _ victive Evidence: and thoufands in our own Nation have fuffered death for their vile com- pacts with apaftate fpirits. All thefe I might largely prove in their particular inflances, but’ that ’tis not needful, fince thofe that deny the _ being of Witches, do it not out of ignorance of thefe heads of Argument, of which probably _ they have heard a thoufand times ; but from _an apprehenfton that fucha belief is abfurd, and _ the things zmpofible. And upon thefe prefum- _ ptions they contennn all demonftrations of this nature, and are hardned againft conviction. _ And I think, thofe that can believe all Wéforzes are Romances; ‘That all the wifer world have _ agreed together to jagg/e mankind into a com- mon belief of wagrounded fables; That the Sound fenfes of multitudes together may deceive “them, ‘and Laws are built upon Chimeras: That the graveffand wife? Fudges have been Murderers, here ty ; 133 2 = tt : 6 * Confiderations — . Murderers, and the fageft perfons Fools, or dé Signing Impoftors : \ fay, thofe that can believe’ this heap of abfurdities, are either more credu-— fous than thofe whofe credulity they reprehend a or elfe have fome extraordinary evidence of | their per{wafion, viz. That *tis abfurd and im poffible there fhould be a Witch or Apparition. And Iam confident, were thofe Little appear- | ances remov'd Which men have form’d in their | fancies againft the belief of {uch things, their’ , own evidence would make its way to mens | affent, without any more arguments than what they know already to enforce it. There is no- | thing then neceflary to be done-, in order to the eftablifhing the belief I would reconcile to mens minds, but to endeavour the removal — of thofe prejudices they have received againft it: the chief of which I hall particularly deal with. And I begin with that bold Afertion, That : aie. ScbiG> Ts one ( E " (lL) "JC ae NOTION of a Spirit 6 ime - _ poflible and contradictious, and con-" Sequently fo ws that of Witches, the belief of which is founded on that Dottrine. th about Witcheraft. es. : | ; “TO WHICH O2F ECTION Tat. wer, | (1) If the notion of a Spirit be abfurdas is pretended, that ofa GO Danda SOUL di- Stinét from matter, and immortal , are likewife abjurdities. And then’, that the world wag jumbled into this elegant and orderly Fabrick by chance; and that our Souls are onely parts of matter that came together we know not whence nor how, and fhall again fhortly be dif- folv'd into thofe loofe Atoms that compound _. them; That all our conceptions are but the — a eo < thrufting of one part of matter again{t ano- ther; and the /dea’s of our minds mere blind and cafual motions. Thefe, anda thoufand more the grofleft zmpofiibilities and abfurdities (con- fequents of this Propofition, That the notion of a Spirit 1s abfurd) will be fad certainties and demonftrations. And with fuch Affertors _ would ceafe to difcourfe about Witches and Ap- paritions, and addrefs my felf to obtain thar affent to Truths infinitely mote facred. And yet (2) though it fhould be granted them , that a /ubftance immaterial is as much a contradiction as they can fancy; yet wh . fhould they not believe that the zr and all the Regions above us, may have their nvifible intel- _lettual Agents , of nature like unto our Souls, - '. be that what it will, and fome of them at _ keaft as much degenerate as the vi/eff and moft i — G mifchie- ee Ee ee ee ea rel a ee Sa, s be atie . J ae Confiderations. _mifchievous among men > ‘This Hypothefis wil - beenough to fecure the poffibility of Witches ~ and Apparitions. And that all the upper Szo- ries of the Univerfe are furnish'd with Inhabi- tants,’tis infinitely reafonable to conclude,from the analogy of Nature; fince we fee there is ___ nothing fo contemptible and vile in the world. We refide in, but hath its living Creatures that — dwell upon it; the Earth, the Water, the in- feriour Air, the bodies of Animals, the flefh, the skin, the entrails ; the leaves,the roots, the falks of Vegetables; yea, and all kind of Mizerals in the fubterranecous Regions. fay, all thefe have their proper Inhabitants ; yea, 1 fappofe this rule may hold in all diftin& kinds of Bodies in — the world , That they bave their peculiar Ani- mals. ‘The certainty of which, I believe the improvement of microfcopical Obfervations will difcover. From whence I infer, That fince this little Spot is fo thickly peopled in every Atome of it, *tis weaknefs to think that allthe vatt fpaces above, and hoMows under ground, are defert anduninhabited. And if both the fupe- — riour and lower Continents of the Univerfe have - their Inhabitants alfo , -’tis exceedingly impro- — bable, arguing from the fame analogy, that they: © are all of the meer fenfible nature, but that — there are at leaft fome of the Rational and In-~ tellettual Orders. Which fuppofed, there is — good foundation for the belief of Wirches and. Apparitions ; though the notion of a Spirit Rig, = fhould © Oa = Se ies \ in behalf of the Ofjecors. SE Qoh Weer: IL. (I) J" HERE ARE Adtions ix most of thofe Relations afcribed to Witches, _ which are ridiculous and impoftible in the na _ ture of things ; fuch are (1) their flying out of _ windows , after they have anointed themfelves, — ae ee tS ce to remoté places. (2) Their transformation into Cats, Flares, and other Creatures. (3) Their feeling al the hurts in their own bodies which | theyhave received in thofe. (4) Their raifing Tempefts, 4y muttering fome nonfenfical wordy, or performing ceremonies alike impertinent as ri- diculous. And (5) their being fack’d in a cer- _ tain private place Bb their bodies by a Familiar. Thefe are prefumed to be actions inconfiftent with _ the nature of Spirits, and above the powers of thofé "poor and miferable Agents. And therefore the Objection fuppofeth them performed onely by thé ‘Fancy ; and that the whole myflery of Witch- Craft is but an illufion of crafie imagination. G x To vr 3 age about Witchcraft. | i 9 fhould prove as aéfard, and unphilofophical, as1 _ -judgethe demal of it. And fo this frit Ob- _ jection comes to nothing. I defcend then to ~ _ the fecond Prejudice, which may be thus formed. i ae: ee ee Se Ae PA 10 C onfider ations " would deftroy. For thefe circumftances be- endeavouring to make them look as /éke truth “ar PAO this aggregate Objection l return, (1) Ir : | the general, The more abfurd and: unac- — countable thefe actions feem, the greater confir- mations are they to me of the truth of: thofe ~ Relations,and the reality of what the Odjectors ing exceeding uulikely, judging by the meafures of common belief, ’tis the greater probability — SRS Sea ela they are not fdtitious: For the contrivers of © Fittions ule to form them as near as they can — conformably to the moft unfufpected realities, as.is poffible in the main fuppofals , though withal they make them ftrange in the cércum-— ftance. None but a fool or madman would relate , with a purpofe of having it believed, that he faw in Jreland Men with hoofs on their heads, and eyes in their breafts; or if any thould be fo ridiculoufly vain, as to be ferious in fach an ixcredible Romance; it cannot be fup- | pofed that all Travelers that come into thofe parts after him fhould tell the fame ftory, | There is a large feld in flion ; and if all thof | Relations were arbitrary compofitions, doubtlefS the firft Romancers would have framed them more agreeable to the common doétrine’ of Spirits; at leaft , atter thefe fuppofed abfurdt ties had-been.a thoufand times laugh’d at, peo- ple by this time would have learn’d to. corre thofe obnoxious extravagancies; and though they about Witcheraft. It they have not yet more veracitythan the A- — ges of Ignorance and Superftition, yet one would expect they fhould have got more scanning, This fappos'd impofibility then of thefe perfor- - mances, feems to mea probable argument that _ they are not wilful and defigned Forgeries, And if they are Fancies, tis fomewhat ftrange, . that Imagination , which is the moft various zhing in all the world, fhould infinitely repeat the fame conceit in all times and places. | But again (2) the ftrange Aéfions related. of | Witches, and prefumed impofible, are not For the FIRST then, That the confede- rate Spirit fhould tranfport the Wich through _ the Air to the place of general Rendezvous, _ there is no difficulty in conceiving it; and if that be true which great Philofophers affirm, concerning the real feparability of the Soul G 4 from “about Witcheraft. = 5 Bae Nn oo (nl 14 — Confiderations q from the Body without death, there is yet Jef; for then ’tis eafie to apprehend , that the Soul — having left its grofs and fluggith ody behind — it, and being cloath’d onely with its'‘immediate - vehicle of Air , or more fubtile matter, may be quickly conducted to any place it would be at: by thofe oficious Spirits that attend it. And | though I adventure to affirm nothing concer- | —_ STi. se eto? a a Se ore eae . ning the truth and certainty of this Suppof- tion, yet I muft needs fay, itdoth not feem to | me wnreafonable. And our experience of Apo- > _ plexies, Epilepfes, Ecftafes, and the ftrange . | _ things men report to have feen during thofe | Deliquiums , look favourably upon this conje- dure; which feems to me to contradi& no- principle of Reafon or Philofophy ; fince Death confifts not fo much in the a@uval Separation. of. : Soul and Body, as in the indifpofition and unfit- nefS of the Body for vital union, as an excellent — Philofopher hath made good. On which Hy- — pothefis , the Witches anointing her felf before — fhe takes her flight, may perhaps ferve to keep the Body renantable, and in fit difpofition to ré- — ceive the Spériz at its return. ‘Thefe things, I fay, we may conceive, though J affirm nothing about them ; and there is not any thing in fuch — _ ponceptions but what hath been own’d by men — ef worth and name , and may feem fair and — - accountable enough to thofe who judge not al- ~ together by the meafures of the populace and guftomary opinion. And there’s a faying of the — Oe great | about Witchcraft. 42. great Apofile that feems to countenance this Platonick notion ; what isthe meaning elf of that expreflion, [Whether in the body or out of the body, Icannot tel | except the Soul may be feparated’ from the Body without death ? which if it be granted pofib/e, ’tis fafficient for my purpofe. And Rees’ (2) The Transformations of Witches into the fhapes of other Animals, upon the fame fup- pofal is very conceivable , fince then tis eafie enough to imagine, that the power of imagz-. nation may form thofe pafive and pliable hi cles into thofe fhapes, with more eafe than the fancy of the Mother can the ftubborn matter of the Fetus in the womb, as we fee it fre- quently dothin the inftances that occur of Si- gnatures and monftrous Singularities ; and. per- haps fometimes the confederate Spirit puts ’ tricks upon the fenfes of the Spectators , and _ thofe fhapes are onely 2ufions. : But then (3) when they feel the furts in _ their grofs bodies , that they receive in their airy vehicles , they muft be fuppofed to have been really prefent, at leaft in thefe latter ; and ’tis no more difficult to apprehend how the hurts of thofe fhould be tranflated upon their other Jodies, than how difeafes fhould be’ | inflicted by the imagination, or how the fancy of _ the Mother fhould wound the Fetus, as feveral eredible relationsdoatteft, > And (4) for their raifing Storms and Tem- pes ne iat eee 4 eid) 16 : Ler ees coe is ve — Confiderations : og They doit not, be fure, by-their ows, but y the power of the Prince of the Air, their Friend and Allie; and the Ceremonies that are enjoyn'd them are doubtlefs nothing elfe but — entertainments for, their imaginations, and are likely defign’d to perfwade them , that they do ’ thefe ftrange things zhem/elves. ~ _ And -(laftly) for theirbeing: fuckd by the — Familiar , 1 fay (x) we know. fo little of the — nature of Demons and Spirits, that’tisno won- — der we cannot certainly divine the reafon of © fo ftrange an ation. And yet (2) we may conjecture at fome things that may render it — els improbable. For fome have thought that ~ the Ge#it (whom both the Platowical and’ Chrifttan Antiquity thought embodied) are re- created by the reeks and vapours of humane — blood, andthe fpirits that proceed from them: | Which fuppofal (if we grant them bodies ) is not unlikely, every thing being. refrefhd and — nourifid by its like. And that they are not — perfectly abjtratt from all body and matter, be- — fides the reverence we owe to the wifeft anti- quity , there are feveral confiderable Argu- 7 _ ments I could alledge to render it. exceeding © probable. Which things fuppofed, the Devil’s fucking the Sorcere/s is no great wonder , nor difficult to be accounted for. Or perhaps (3) _ this may be onely a diabolical Sacrament © and Ceremony to confirm the hellifh Covenant. To which I add, (4) That which to me feems © Me moft ; : tion. ~~ about W, itcheraft, — ae fluential; and the word venefica intimates fome fuch matter. Now that the imagination hath -amighty power in operation, is {cen in the juft - now mention’d Séguatures and Difeafes that it caufeth; and that the fancy is modified by the — _ qualities of the blood and 4 ' to need proof.. Which things fuppofed , ’tis irits, 1s too evident lain to conceive that the ev fpirit having reath’d fome vile vapour into the dody of the Witch, it may taint her d/oed and fpirits with a noxious quality, by which her infected imagina- tion, heightned by melancholy and this worfe caufe , may do muclr hurt upon 4odies that are impreffible by fuch influences. And ’tis gination of the SorcerefS to caufe the mentioned agospecte, Or feperation of the Soul from the _ Body, and may perhaps keep the Body: in fit _ temper for Zts re-entry; as alfo it may facilitate — __ transformation, which, itt may be; could not be effected by. ordinary and unafifted imagima- Thus we fee, ’tis not fo defperate to form an ‘ apprehenfion of the manner of thefe odd per- formances ; and though they are not done the _ way IJ have deferib’d, yet what J have faid may relp | 3 17 moft probable, viz. That the Familiar doth not onely fuck the Witch, but in the action in- fufeth fome poyfonous ferment into her, which gives her Imagination and Spiritsa magical tin- dure, whereby'they become mifchievoufly in- ig as _ very likely that this ferment difpofeth the ima- Poe +e % uy — 38 2 Confiderations arte TAPS a NN ee ok ee help us to a conceit of the poffibility , which _ fufficeth for my purpofe. And though the _ Aypothefes Vhave gone upon will feem as un-— likely to fome, as the thingsthey attempt to | explain are to others; yet | muft defire their - Jeave to fuggeft, that moft things feem smpro-_ bable ( efpecially to the conceited and opiniona-_ tive) at firft propofal : and many great truths ‘ are ftrange and odd, till cuftome and acquaintance — have reconciled them to our fancies. AndTle — prefume to add on this occafion , (though I~ Jove not to beconfident in affirming) that there ~ is none of the Platonical fuppofals have ufed, — but what I could make appear to be fair and _ veafonable, to the capableand unprejudicd. SEG T*"1 ¥: Ik UT (ili.) Lcome to another prejudice againft — the being of Witches , which is, That’tis — very improbable that the Devil, who is a wile and — mighty Spirit, fhould be at the beck of a poor Hag, and have fo little to do, as to attend the Errands and impotent Lufts of a filly Old wo- . * O which might anfwer, (1) That “tis” much more improbable that all the : world q y { § ‘A : t about Witchcraft. . ED. ' circumftances of the cleareft evidence and _ conviction; than that the Devi, who is wic- | ked, fhould be alfo wmpife; and that he that — perfwades all his fubjects and accomplices out _ of their wits, fhould himfelf aét like his own _ Yemptations and Perfwafions. _In brief, there isnothing more ftrange in this Objection, than _ that wickedne. is bafene8 and fervility; and | world fhould be deceiv’d in matters of fatt, and that the Devi/ is at leifure to ferve thofe, he is - _ at leifure to tempt, and induftrious to ruine. _ Andagain, (2) I fee no xeceffity to believe that __ the Devil is always the Witches Confederate ; but perhaps it may fitly be confidered , whe- ther the Familiar be not fome departed humane -_ » forfaken of God and goodnefs , and walowed up by the unfatiable defire of mif- chief and revenge, which poffibly by the Laws and capacity of its feate it cannot execute im- mediately. And why we fhould prefume that the Devil fhould have the liberty of wandring up and down the Earth and Air, when he is faid to be held in the Chains of darknef; and yet that the feparated Souls of the wicked , of whom no fuch thing is affirm’d in any facred Record, fhould be thought fo imprifon'd, that they cannot poffibly wag trom the place of their confinement, 1 know -no fhadow of conjecture. _. This conceit ’m confident hath prejudic’'d many a again{t the belief of Witches and. Apparitions ; ° they aot being able to conceive that the Devil fhould | ¢ 2 eS ¥ a i 1 or 40 C onfiderations — fhould be fo ludicrous as appearing fpirits are _ fometimes reported to bein their frolicks; and they prefume,that fouls departed never revifit the free and open Regions ; which confidence, I | know nothing to juftifie: For fince good men in their flate of feparation are {aid to be iaéy- yerot, Why the wicked may not be fuppofed — to be sad aixoves in the worft fenfe of the word, — I know nothing to help me to imagine. _ And if it be fuppofed that the Jnps of Witches are fometimes wicked Spirits of our own kind and nature, and poffibly the fame that have been Sorcerers and Witches in this life: This fup- pofal may givea fairer and more probable ac- count of many of the actions of Sorcery and Witchcraft, than the other Hyporhefis, that they — are always Devils. And to this conjecture Ile adventure to fubjoyn another, which alfo hath its probability, viz. (3) That ’tis not impoffi: ble but the Familiars of Witches are a vile kind of fpirits, of a very interiour Conftitution and nature, and none of thofe that were once of the ’ higheft Averarchy , now degenerated into the — Spirits wecall Devils. And for my part I muft confefs, that I think the common divifion of Spirits much too general; conceiving it likely — there may beas great a variety of intellectual Creatures in the invifthle world, as there is of er =< Animals in the vifibles and that all the fuperi-— our, yea, and inferiour Regions, have their fe- veral kinds of /pirits differing in their natural — pore i oe about Witchcraft. a | perfettions, aswell asin the kinds and degrees - of their depravities ; which being fuppofed, » *tis very.probable that thofe of the ba/ef# and _ meaneft Orders are they,’ who fubmit to the _ mention’d fervilities. And thus the fagef and _ grandeur of the Prince of darknef need not be brought into queftion. ; m ne Set aa | IV. R% (IV) zhe opinion of Witches feems to fome, to accufe Providence, and to fuggeft that _ it hath expofed Innocents to the fury and malice _ of revengeful Fiends 5 yea, and fuppofeth thofe / most obnoxious, for whom we might most reafona- _ bly expett a more fpecial tutelary care and pro- _ tection ; most of the cruel prattices of thofe pre- | fum'd Inftruments of Hell, being upon Children, who as they leaft deferve to be deferted by that Providence that fuperintends all things,. fo they _ -moft need its guardian influence. : a Be this fo fpecious an Objection I have thefe things to an{wer. | * (1) Providence is an unfathomable Depth ; _andif we fhould not believe the Phenomena of: _ our fenfes, before we can reconcile them to our _ notions of Providence, we mutt be grofler Sce- = 2 | pticks mae Ronfidelationgs), pricks than ever yet-were extant.. The miferies good and evil, the ignorance and barbarity of the -greateft part of Mankind, the. fatal difadvan- | — fiftent with that Wifdom and GooduefS that we _ances ; and confequently, we ought not todeny — (2) Thofe that believe that Jvfants are Heirs ‘ vidence hath not fecured them from other vio. of the prefent life, the unequal diftributions of tages weare all under, and the hazard we run | of being eternally miferable and undone; thefe, | I fay, are things that can hardly be made con-" are fure hath made and mingled it felf withall” things. And yet we believe there is a beauty and harmony, and gooduefS in that Providence, though we cannot wariddle it in particular in- ftances; nor, by reafon of our ignorance and imperfection, clear it from contradicting appear- the being of Witches and Apparitions, becaule they will create us fome difficulties in our n0- tions of Providence. But to come more clofe, of Hell, and Children of the Devil as foon as they are difclofed to the world, cannot certainly of | fer fuch an Objection ; for what is a little tri fling pain ofa moment,to thofe eternal Tortures, to which, if they die affoon as they are borm according to the Tenour of this Dodtrine, they are everlaftingly expofed? But however the cafe ftands as to that,’tis certain, (3) That Pro lences they are obnoxious to, from cruelty and accident ; and yet we accufe Z+ not when a whole ‘Townful of Jwnocents fall a Victim to ' aCe the _ by the evil Spirit immediately, but by the ma- lignant influence of the Sorcere/’, whofe power of hurting confifts in the fore-mention’d fer- ment, which is znfufed into her by the Familiar. So that Iam apt to think there may bea dais of real fafcination in the Witches eyes and ima- _. gination, by which for the moft part fhe atts “upon tender bodies. Nefcio quis teneros ocu- lus-— For the peftilential fpirits being; darted by a Jpightful and vigorous imagination from the eye, and meeting with thofe that are weak and pafive in the bodies which they enter, will not fail to infe&t them with a xsoxious quality that makes dangerous and frrange alte- rations in the perfon invaded by this poifonous influence: which way of acting by fubtile and anvifible inftruments, is ordinary and familiar in all natural eficiencies. And ’tis now paft que: flion, that vazare for the moft part acts by fub- tile flreams and aporrbeads of minute particles, - which. pafs from one body to another. Or however that be, this kirid of agency is as con- cetvable as any of thofe qualities ignorance hath _call'd Sympathy and Antipathy , the reality of which we doubt not, though the manner of action be unknown. Yea, the thing I fpeak of is ; as eafie to be apprehended , as how ixfection - fhould pafs in certain sénuious flreams through - H | the : about Witcheraft:, = 23. the rage and ferity of barbarous Executioners in Wars and Maffacres. To which I add (4) That ’tis likely the mi/chief is not fo oftendone -¢ ee Confiderations — i _ the Air from one houfe to another; or, as how ~ _ the biting of a mad Dog Miould fill all the Blood and Spirits with a venomous and malign ferment ; the application of the vertwe doing 7 the fame in our café; as that of contadé doth in © a this. Yea, fome kinds of fafcination are per- | i _ formd in this groffer and more fenfible way, — as by /iriking, giving Apples, and the like, by — which the contagious quality may be tranfmit- — _ ted, as we fee Dzfeafes often are by the touch. — Now inthis way of conjecture a good: account — _ may be given why Witches are moft powerful © upon Children and timorous perfons, viz. be- — caufe their. /pa'zts ‘and amaginations being theak © and pafive, are not able to refift the fatal in-— vafion ; whereas men of bold minds, who have plenty of /frong and vigorous {pirits, are fecure — from the contagion’; as in peftilential Airs clean’ bodies are not fo liable to infection as other — tempers. Thusthen we fee ’tis likely enough, __ that very often the Sorceref her felf doth the — _ mifchief ; and we know, de facto, that Provi- 7) dence doth not always fecure us from one ano- ~ thers injuries: And yet I muft confefs, that ‘many timesalfo the evil /pirit is the mifchievous Agent ; though this conteffion draw on me a- — nother Objection, which{ next propofe. | wont SECT. V; (VON EN it may be aid that if wicked {pirits can hurt us by the direction, and at the defire of a Witch, ome would think — they fhould have the fame power to do us injury ~ without inftigation or compact ; and if this be granted, ’tis a wonder that we are not always n> noyd and infefted by them. Towhich RETURN, (1) That the Laws, Liber- ties, and Reftraints of the Jvbabitants of the other world are to us utterly wknown ; and this way we can onely argue our felves into. con- fefiions of our ignorance, which every man mutt acknowledge that is not as zmmodeft as iguorant. _ It muft be granted by all that own the dezng, power, and malice of evil Spirits, that the fecu- _ rity weenjoy is wonderful, whether they a& by Witches or not ; and by what Laws they are kept from making us a prey , to fpeak like Philofophers, we cannot tell: yea, why they fhould be permitted to tempt and ruine us in _ our Souls, and reftrain’d from touching or hur- ting usin our Bodies, is a myftery not eafily accountable. But yet (2) though we acknow- _ ledge their power to vex and torment us in - ae H 2 our about W. iteberaft. - BS SEC TMi oc oe =e a Confiderations — yy _our Bodies alfo; yet a reafon may be given why they are lefs frequent in this kind of mif- chief, viz. becaufe their main defigns are le- vell'd again{t the intereft and happinefs of our Souls; which-they can beft promote, when their actions are moft /ly and fecret; whereas did they ordinarily perfecute men in their Bo- dies, their agency. and wicked influence would be difcover'd’, and make a mighty noife in the world, whereby men would be awaken’d to a fuitable and vigorous oppofition, by the ufe of fuch means as would engage Providence to refcue them from their rage and cruelties; and at laft defeat them in their great purpofes. of undoing us eternally. Thus we may conceive that the fecurity we enjoy may well enough confit with the power and malice of thofe evil Spirits; and upon this account we may fup- — pofe that Laws of their own may prohibit their unlicens d injuries, not from any goodnefs there — is in their Conftitutions , but in order to the — more facce/Sful carrying on the projects of the | dark Kingdom ; as Generals forbid Plunder, not ( out of Jove to their Enemies, but in order to | their own Succes. And hence ( 3) we may 7 fuppofe a Law of permiffion to hurt us at the — inftance of the Sorcere/f, may well ftand with — the polity of Hell, fince by gratifying the wic- | ked perfon, they encourage her in malice and _ revenge , and promote thereby the main ends q of their Zack confederacy, which are to propa>_ ; gates "about Witchcraft. a gate wickedneff, and to ruine us in our eternal _ mterefts. And yet (4) tis clear to thofe that believe the Hiftory of the Gofpel,. that wicked __ Spirits have vexed the bodies of men, without any inftigation that we read of; and at this day _ *tis very likely that many of the ftrange accé- dents and difeafesthat befal us, may be the inflittion of evil {pirits, prompted to hurt us onely by thedelight they take in mifchief. So that we cannot argue the improbability of their hurting Children and others by Witches, from our own fecurity and freedom from the effects _ of their malice, which perhaps'we feel in more — inftances than we are aware of. : SECT. VIL VI. @T (V1) another prejudice againft the be- < | lief of Witches, is, a prefumption upon the enormous force of melancholy and imagina- tion , which without doubt can do wonderful things, and beget ftrange perfwaftons; and to. begs caufes fome afcribe the prefum'd effects of Sorcery and Witchcraft. ‘To which I reply briefly ; and yet I hope fufficiently, ~ (1) “JRHAT to refolve all the clear circum: | — Rances of Fact, which we find in 3 Ph ge well- lila Confiderations well-attefted. and confirm'd Relations of this : kind, into the power of deceivable'imagination, — isto make fancy the greater prodigie; and to fuppofe, that it can do frranger fears than are believed of any other kind of fafcimation. And — to think that Pisiand Nails, tor inftance ,. can by the power of imagination be convey’d with. in theskins orthat zagination fhoulddeceive — fo.fnany as«have:been witnefles in Objects of — fenfe , in all the circumftances: of difcovery ; — this, I fay, is to‘beinfinitely more credalous than — the aflertors of Sorcery and Demoniack Con- — trats. And by the fame reafon it may be-be- : liev’d, that all the Battles and ftrange events of — _ the world, which our felves have not feen, are but dreams and fond imaginations, and like — thofe that arefought in the Clouds, when the — Brains of the deluded Spectators are the onely. | -Theatre of thofe fancied tranfattions. And (2) to deny evidence of ait, becaufe their imaging- — tion may deceive the Relators 5, when we-have no reaion to think fo but .a-bare, prefumption — that there isno fuch thing asis related, is quite to deftroy thecredit of all bamane teftimeny, — and ito make af men liars in adarger fencethan the Prophet concluded in his haffe. For not onely the melancholick and the fanciful, but the graveand the fober, whofe judgements welhave _ no reafon to {ufpect to be tainted by their zma- ginatiens, havefrom their own knowledge and _ experience made reports of thismature, But tO ’ for whichI contend, viz. ... SECT. VIIL ; VIL (VIL) TY A AT ’tis a fufpicious circumftance | ‘ that Witchcratt is fut a fancy, fince the perfous that are accufed are commonly poor and milerable old women, who are overgrown with difcontent and melancholy, which are very imaginative ; and the perfons faid to be be- witclyd are for the moft part Children, or people very weak, who are eafily impofed upon, and are apt to receive {trongimpretfions from nothing ; whereas were there any fuch thing really ,’tis not _ Likely,but that the more canning and fubtil defpe- rado’s, who might the more fucce/Sfully carry onthe mifchievous defigns of the dark Kingdom, fhould be oftner engaged in thofe black confederacies, and alfo one wold expect effects of the hellith combination upon others than the innocent and ignorant. O. which OLjedion it might perhaps. be enough-to return (as hath been above fuggefted) that nothing can be concluded by - thy andfuch like arguings, but that the policy 4. and ~ re boneibegi ae ply willbe another prejudice againit the belief “30 ° _ thei the greateft part of the world confifts of _ the fiver portions of matter, and our own Souls _ are immediately united unto thefé, tis infinitely’ _ probable to conjecture, that the nearer Orders __ of Spirits are vitally joyned to fuch Bodies ; and fo Nature by degrees afcending fill by the more refin'd and fubtile matter, gets at laft to _ the pure Nées or immaterial or which the Platonifts made the highe/t Order of created Be- ings. But of this I have difcouried elfewhere, and have faid thus much of it at prefent , be- caufe it will enable me to add another Reafon of the uafrequency of Apparitions and Compaits, Viz. (3) Becaufe ’tis very likely, that zhefe Re- gions are very unfuitable, and difproportiond to the frame and. temper of their Senfes and Bo- dies; fo that perhaps, the courfer Spirits can RR eee > ie Me “about Witcheraft. | eo no more bear the 4ir of our World, than Bats, ° __and Owls can the brighteft Beams of Day. Nor _ can the purer and better any more endure the | noifom fieams, and poyfonous reeks of this Dune- _ hil Earth, than the delicate can bear a confine- _ ment in waffy Dungeons, and the foul fQualid _ Caverns of uncomtortable Darkniefs. So that _ *tisno more wonder, that thebetter Spirits no oftner appear, than that men are not more _ frequently in the dark Hollows under ground. | Nor ist any more ftrange that evi Spirits fo rarely vifit us, than that Fé/bes do not ordi- ' tarily fly in the Air, as ’tis faid one fort of oe Mail them fluttering in the Beams of the Sun. And now by the help of what I have fpoken under this. _ Head, Tam provided with fome things where- with to difable another Objection, which I thus : propote. He. : SECT. X14. — XI. 4 CXL) J 4 THERE be fuch am intercourfe be. | tween Evil Spirits and the Wicked, Flow comes it about that there is no corre/pondence b between Good Angels and the Vertuous > fince — without doubt thefe are as defirous to propagate othe Spirit and defigns of the upper and better . World, as thofe are to promote the Intereft of the Kingdom of Darknefs. i : 2 : , ‘ “ . eer | : HICH way of arguing is ftill from _/ Our Lgnorance of the State and Govern- ; ‘ment of the other World, which muft be COM. fet, and may, without prejudice to the Propo- fition\ defend. But particularly,] fay, (1) That | we have ground enough to believe, that good Spirits do interpofe in, yea, and govern our Affairs. For that there.is a Praviceeas reach: -ing from Heaven to Earth, is generally ac: Knowledged ; but that eh fuppoteth all things : rise - to about Witcheraft. = 4 to be ordered by the immediate influence, and. interpofal of the Supream Deity, fome think, — a very Philofophical to fuppofe; fince, if. . _ We judge by the Avalogy of the natural World, _ all things we fee are carried on by the Miniffery Of fecond Causes, and intermediate Agents. _ And it doth not feem fo magnificent and becom- _ img an apprehenfion of the Supream Numen, r to fancy his zmmediate hand in every. trivial _ Management. But ’tis exceeding likely to conjecture, that much .of the Government of us, and our Affairs, is committed. to the detter _ Spirits, with a due fubordination and {ubfer- _viency to the Will of the chief Recfor of the _ Gniverfe. ' And*tis not abfurd to beliéve, that _ there isa Government runs from higheft to low- _ off, the better and more perfect Orders of Being fill ruling the inferiour and lef perfett. So _ that fome one would fancy that perhaps the _ Angels may manage us, as we do the Creatures ~ that God and Nature have placed under our _ Empire and Dominion. But however that is, _ That God rules the lower World by the Mini- _ flery of Angels, is very confonant to the’facred | Oracles, Thus , Deut. XXXII. 8, 9. When _ the most High divided the Nations their Inbe- ritance, when be feparated the fons of Adam, he fet the bounds of the people, Kar aerSugy ayle- Awy @es, according to the number of the Angels _ of God, as the Septuagint renders it; the Au- thority of which Tranflation , is abundantly . Bsiers 1-3 credi- ma ee) i hh’ Serb a aw ee i ae eo: which imports their miniftring in the — aft _ others‘ underftand that to be fpoken by the — | Prefidential’ Angels, Jerem. LI. 9. We would ~ have healed BABY LON, but fhe is nothea- — _ ¥3. who pronounceth the fad Decree againft — _ Elimfelf and his K; ingdom. And that thereare | - Saviour himfelf tells us, that Children have “credited and afferted, by its being quoted in the New Teftament, without notice of the _fromit, as Learned men have obferved. aWatcher, according to the 70.an Aygel, and tat 4 ter eS Sees Seb ay Bin ast vs er EP a as aA i ? : : are : Ag " om sis . = : 44 ~— Confiderations Hebrew Text; even there whete it cifieaa know alfo, that Angels were very familiar with the Patriarchs of old ; and*facob’s Ladder is a | airs of the Lower World. , Thus Origen and — led: forfake her, and let usgo. Like the Voice — heard in the Temple betore the taking of fe: rifulem by ‘Titus, MeanBatvepQu: erred Sev. And a before Nebuchadnezzar was {ent to learn Wi — dom and Religion among the Beafts, 77 fees, an holy One come down from. Heaven, Dan. 1V. F Flim, and calls itthe Decree of the Watchers, | who very probably were the Guardian-Genii of | particular Angels that havethe fpecial Ru/e and ‘Government of particular Kingdoms, Provinces, Cities, yea and of Perfoys, 1 know nothing ~ that can make improbable: ‘The inftance is — notorious in Daniel , of the Angels of Perfia and Grecia, that hindred the other that was — engaged for the concerns of fudea: yea, our their Angels ; and the Congregation of Dif — ‘ ae ciples _ eiples fuppofed that St. Peter had his. — Which _ things, if they be granted, the good. Spirits f Aes not fo little to do with us, and our mat- ters, as is generally. believed. And perhaps it _ would not be abfurd, if we referr’d many of _ the Prange thwarts, and. unexpected events, the difappointments and lucky co-zncidences that be- fal us, the unaccountable fortunes and fucceffes that attend fome /ucky men, and the wxhappy fates that dog others that feem born to be miferable ; the Fame and Favour that ftill waits on fome without any conceivable motive to allure it, and the general neglect of others more . deferving , whole worth is not acknowledgd ; Ifay, thefe, and fuch like odd things, may with _ the greateft probability be refolved into the Conduct and Menages of thofe invifible Super- vifors, that prefide over, and govern our af- fairs. But if they fo far concern themfelves in our matters, how is it that they appear not to main- tain a vilible and confeft correfpondence with fome of the better Mortals, who are moft fitted - for their Communications and their influence 2 To which I have faid fome ¢hings already, when J accounted for the unfrequency of Apparitions ; and I now add what JI intend for another re- turn to the main Objection, wiz. (2) That the apparition of good Spirits is _ not needful for the Defigns of the Zetter world, whatever fuch may be for the intereft of the 2 Aig a other. \ about W, itcheraft. == As a: : =e ee ee ce AG — Confiderations « other. For we have had the Appearance and ‘ Cohabitation of the Son of God; we have Mofes andthe Prophets , and the continued influence % of the Sprrzt, the greate/t arguments to ftreng- _ then Faith, the moft powerful motives to excite: * our Love , and the nobleft encouragements to : quicken’ and raife our Deftres and Hopes , any ae ols) 4 of which are*more than'the apparition of an F. Angel; which would indeed bea great gratif- | cation of the Animal Life, but ’twould render. -_-~ ‘our Faith lefs noble and lefs generous, were it frequently fo affifted: Bleffed are they that ) | believe, and yet have not feen. Befides which, — the good Angels have no fuch ends to profecute, . asthe gaining any Vaflals to ferve them, they. being miniftring Spirits for our Ee , and no | Self-defigners for a proud and infolent Dominion over'us: Abd it miay -be perhaps not imper- ‘tinently added, That they are not always ev Spirits that appear, as is, l know not well upon what grounds, generally imagined ; but that the extraordinary detections of Murders, latent ‘Treafures, falfified and unfulfilled Bequefts, which _ . are fometimes made by Apparitions, may be ’. ‘the courteous Difcoveries. of the better and | more benign Genii. Yea, ’tis not unlikely, that thofe-warzings that the world fometimes hath of approaching Judgements and Calami- are the kind Informations of fomie of the Inha- . ¢ bitants of the upper world, ‘Thus, was Ferz- £ q Ree 3 hs") ped vee a oa wd i ‘ 5 ~ “8 falem \ ‘ties by Prodigies, and fundry odd Phenomena, about Wit _ falem forewarned before its facking by Aytio- _ chus, by thofe airy. Horfemen that. were {een through all the City, for almoft forty days — together, 2 Mac.V.2, 3. and the other Pro. - digious Portents that fore-ran its Deftruétion by 7itus :, which I mention, becaufe they are notorious inftances. And though, for mine own ‘part, I {corn the ordinary Tales of Prodigies, which proceed from Juperftitious fears, and un- | acquaintance with Nature, and have been ufed to bad purpofes by the zealous and the ignorant Yet I think that the Arguments that are brought by a late very ingenious Author, to conclude againft fuch Warnings and Predi- ctions in the whole kind, are /hort and zucon{e- quent, and built upon too narrow Alypothefes. : For if it be fuppofed , that there is a fort of Spirits overus, and about us, who can give a probable guefs at the more remarkable futuri- ties, I know not why it may not be conjectu- red, that the kindnefs they have for us, and the appetite of foretelling ftrange things, and the putting the world upon expeCtation, which we find is very grateful to our.own natures, may not incline them alfo to give us fome ge- neral notice of thofe uncommon Events which they forefee. And I yet perceive no reafon we have to fancy, that whatever isdone in this kind, muft needs be either immediately from Heaven, or from the Angels, by extraordinary. Commiffion and Appointment. But it feems to “ rt : me 48 Confiderations -mienot unreafonable to believe, that rho/é off- cious Spirits that overfee our Affairs, percei- ving fome mighty and fad alterations at hand, in which their Charge is much concerned, can- A not chufe, by reafon of their affection to’ us, but give us forme feafonable hints of thofe ap- — proaching Calamities ; to which alfo their natu- ral defire to foretel ftrange things to come, may contribute to incline them. And-by this A7y- pothefis, the faireft probabilities , and ftronge/t _ Katiocinations againft Prodigies, may be made unferviceable. But this onely by the way. os REET ETL | Defire it may be confidered further, | # (3) That God himfelf affords his i#tima- - _ cles and converfes to the better Souls, that are prepared for 7; which is a priviledge infinitely beyond Angélical correfpondence. | »DPconfefs the proud and phantaftick pretences _ of many of the conceited Melgucholifts in this age, to Divine Communion, have prejudiced di- — vers intelligent perfons againft the Jelief of any fuch happy vouchfafement; fo that they conclude the Do€trine of zmmediate Communi- o2 with the Deity in this Life to be but an high- flown notion of warm imagination, and over- lufcious felffattery ; and {acknowledge I have my felt had thoughts of this nature, fup- vent —pofing © “about Witcherafi. “ag: poling Communion with God to be nothing ee but the exercife of vertue , and that peace, and thofé Comforts which naturally refult from But Ihave confidered fince, that God’s more _ near and immediate imparting himfelf to the Soul that is prepared for that happinefs by divine Love, Fumility, and Refignation, in the way of a vital touch, and Jfenfe, is a thing poff- 4/e in it felf, and will be a great part of our Fleaven. "That Glory is begun im Grace, and God is pleafed to give fome excelent Souls the happy Antepaft. “That holy men in ancient times have fought and gloried in this enjoyment , and never complain fo forely as when it was with: held, and interrupted. That the exprefions. of Scripture run infinitely this way, and the deft of Modern good. men, do from their own ex+ — perience attest i¢.. ‘That this fpiritualizeth Rex . ligion, and renders its enjoyments more comforta: ble and delicious. ‘Thatit keeps the Soul under a vivid fenfe of God, and is'a grand fecurity a+ gainft.. Temptation. . That it holds it fleady amid the flatteries of a profperous ftate, and gives it the moft grounded anchorage and fup- port amid the Waves of an adverfe condition. ‘That ’tis the nobleft encouragement to vertue, and the diggeft aflurance of an happy Immor- | tality. I fay, Iconfidered thefe wezghty things, and wondred at the carelefuefS and prejudice of thoughts that occafion’d my- fuipecting the “ase Ven aye , : reality ‘ e a> an a LP ae YS) Ree LL EU) DR ME NCRRRS AR (PoP ONDE PES ty ekg Say Tis wf ee et Pha VN eee a ee : Gigs Fp CeeTA > Lonfiderations reality of fo glorious a‘Priviledge ; I faw how little réafon there is in denying matters. of ‘7n- _ ward fenfe, becaufe our felves.do not fee/ them, or cannot form an apprehenfion of them in our minds. I am convinced that things of gust and relifp muft be judgd by the fenzzent and viral faculties, and not by the noetical ex- ercifes of {peculative underftandings: And up- on the whole, I-believe infinitely that the Divine Spirit affords its fenfible prefence , and immediate beatifick Touch to fome rare Souls, who are divefted of carual felf, and mundane pleafures., abftratted from the Body by Prayer and holy Meditation ; f{piritual in their Defres, and ora in their Affections ; devout Lovers of God, and vertue, and tenderly affectionate toall the world; fmcere in thew. aims , and circuns- feet in their adtions ; inlarged in their Souls, and clear in.their Minds’: Thefe I think are the dif/pofitions that are requifite to fit-us for Divine Communion; and God tranfacts not in this wear way , but. with prepared {pirits who. are thus. difpofed for the manifeftation of his _ prefente, and his iafluence : And fuch, I believe, he-never fails to blefs with thefe happy foreraftes of Glory. K 10 at i a WN . But for thofe that are paffonate and conceited, turbulent and notional, confident and immodeft, imperious and:-malicious ; That doat upon trifles, and run ftercely in the ways of a Sect, that are: Lifted wp in the apprehenfion of the glorious: ANY prerogatives tt * about. Watcheraft. ° BE prerogatives of themfelves and their party, and {corn all the world befides; For fuch, I fay, be their pretenftons what they will, to divine Com- = munion, IMapfes,and Difrteries Ibelievethem not; Their fancies abufe them , or they would _ us. For what communion hath Light with Dark- nef, or the Spirit of the HOLT ONE with thofé whole genius and ways are fo unlikehim2 But the other excelent Souls I defcribed, wil -ascertainly be vifited by the Divine Prefence, =~ and Converfe , as the Cryftalline ftreams are, with the beams of Light, or the fitly prepar'd Earth whofe Seed is in it felf, will be aétuated by the /pirit of Nature. , “ss Sothat there is no reafon to object here the want of Angelical Communications, though there were none vouchfafed us, fince good men enjoy - the Divine, which are infinitely more fatufatto- ryand indearing. . Sk And now I may haveleave to proceed to the next Odjeion, which may be made to {peak thus: | | _— eS NTH SSG MILE (KIL) ICA HE belief of Witches, and the won- , derful things they are faid to per- ? Sepa ie ay ai Saari (ef ie | are Lun hy as che t , ) mf Wy } a ee expofeth the World. to i OR he Ie On eee ee 2 tee. pea Wi — Confiderations t Anfidelity in the great matters of our Religion. : : For if they by Diabolical affiftauce, can inflict and cure Difeafes, and do things fo much beyond the comprehenfion of oxr Philofophy, and a- Givity of common Nature; What affurante can we have, that the Miracles that confirm our Go- Spel were not the effects of a Compact of like nature,and that Devils vere not caét out by Beel- zebub ? Zfevil Spirits caw allume Bodiesand ren. der themfelves vitible in humane likenefs ; What | Security can we have of the reality of the Refurre- tion of Chrift > And i, by their help, Witches can enter Chambers invifibly through Key-holes and — . tittle unperceived: Crannies , and transform themfelves at pleafure; What Arguments of Di- vinity are.there in our Saviour’s fhewing him- felf in the midft of his Dilciples, when the Doors were {hut, and iis Transfiguration in the Mount 2 Miracles are the great inducements of Belief, and how fball we diftinguifh a Miracle from a lying Wonder ; a Teltimony from Heaven, from a Yrick of the Angels of Hell ; if they can perform things that aftonifh and confound our Rea- fons, and are beyond all the Poffibilities of. Hu- man Nature? ‘This Objection is f{pitetul and : mifchievous ; but I thus endeavour to difpatch as @) aT. HIE Wonders done by Confederacy . With wicked Spirits, cannot derive a : | fufpie | a about Witcheraft. oe fufpicion upon the undoubted Miracles that - Were wrought by the Author and Promulgers of our Religion, as if zhey were performed by « - Diabolical Compaét, fince their Spirit, Endea- vours, and Defigns, were notorioufly contrary to.all the Tendencies, Aims, and Jnterefts of the Kingdomof Darknef. For, asto the Life and — Temper of the blefled and adorable FE SUS, we know there was. an incomparable /weetnefs in his Nazure,ZZumility in his Mauners,Calmnefsin his Te emper Compaffion inhis Miracles, Modefty in his Exprefions, HolinefS in all his Actions, Hatred of Vice and Bafene/s, and Love toall the World; all which are effentially contrary.to the Nature and Conftitution of Apoffate Spirits, who a- bound in Pride and Rancour, Infolence and Rude- nef8, Tyranny and Bafenefs, univerlal Malice, and Hatred of Men. And their Defigns areas op- pofite, as their Spirzt and their Genius. And now, Can the Suz borrow its Light from the bottomle/s Aby/s > Can Heat and Warmth flow in upon the World from the Regions of Sxow and Jce > Can Fire freeze, and Water burn 2 Can Natures, fo infinitely contrary , communi- cate, and jump in projects that are deffructive to each others kvoww Interefts 2 Is there any. . Balfom in the Cockatrices Egg? or, Can the Spirit of Life flow from the Venome of the Afp > Will the Prince of Darknefs firengthen the Arm that is firetcht out to pluck his @/farpt Scepter, and his Spoils from him? And i ue | | en \ Fe EY a aie ea 2 . i $ . 5 3 ; 54 ~ Confiderations ~~ | fend his Legions, to affift the Armies of his Enemy againit him > No, thefe are impoffible ~ - Suppofals; No intelligent Being will induftri- oufly and knowingly contributé to the Cow tradition of its own Principles, the Defeature of its Purpofes, and the Ruiné of its own dear- eft Lnterefls. Thereis no fear then, that our — _ Faith fhould receive prejudice from the ackvow- ledgement of the Being of Witches, and power of eva Spirits, {ince ’tisnot the doing wonderful things that is the onely Evidence that the Holy _ FESYS was from God, and his Doétrine — true; but the conjunétion of other circumftan- — ~ ees, the holinef§ of his Life, the reafonableneS of hisReligton , and the excellency of his De- — figns, added credit to his Works, and ftrength- — fied the great Conclufton’, That be could be no — other than the Son of God, and Saviour of the world. But befides, I fay, : (2) That fince infinite Wifdom and Goodnefs rules the World , it cannot be conceived, that _ they fhould give up the greateft part of men — to unavoidable deception. And if evil Angels - by their Confederates are permitted to perform fuch aftonifbing things, as feem fo evidently to carty God’s Seal and Power with them, for the confirmation of Fal/hoods , and gaining credit to Impaftors , without any counter-evidence to — difabufe the World ; Mankind is expofed to Jad and fatal delufion. And to fay that Provi- dence will fuffer us to be deceived in things A : the about Witchcraft. a2. oe the greateft concernment, when we ufe the beft of ourcare and endeavours to prevent it, is to fpeak hard things of God; and in effect to affirm, That He hath nothing to do in the Government of the World, or doth not con- cern himéelf in theaffairs of poor forlorn men. And if the Providence and GoodnefS of God be not a fecurity unto us againft fuch Deceptions, we cannot be affured, but that we are always abufed by thofe mifchievous Agents, in the 05. _ jetis of plain fenfe , and in all the matters of our daily Converfes. If ONZE that pretends he is zmmediately {ent from God, to overthrow the ancient Fabrick of Eftablithed Worfhip, and to erect a New Religion in His Name, fhall be born of a Virgin, and honour’d by a miraculous Star; proclaimed by a Song of feeming Ay- gels of Light, and worfhippedby the wife Sages _ of the World; Revered by thofe of the grea- ~ te{t aufferity, and admired by all for a miracu- lous Wifdom , beyond his Education and his Tears : If He fhall feed multitudes with almoft nothing, and faft himfelf beyond all the poffibi- lities of Nature: If He fhall be ‘transformed into the appearance of extraordinary Glory, and converfe with departed-Prophers in their vifthle Forms : If He fhall Cure all Difeafes without Phyfick or Endeavour, and raife the _ Dead to Life after they have /funk in their Graves : If He fhall be honoured by Voices from Heaven, and attra& the univerfal wonder K ‘ae 86 | Confiderations ‘ ri) of Princes and People: If He fhall allay Zem- - pefts with a beck, and caft out Devils witha word : If He fhall foretel his own Death par- ticularly, with its Zragical Circumftances, and his Refurrection after it: If the Veil of the moft famous Temple in the world fhall be rent, and the Sun darkned at his Funeral: If He fhall, within the time foretold, break the bonds of Death, and lift up his Head out of the Grave: TE Multitudes of other departed Souls thall arife - with Aim, to attend at the Solemmnity of his Refurrection: \f He fhall after Death , wiftdly converfe., and eat and drink with divers per- fons, who could not be deceived in a matter of clear fenfe, and afcend in Glory in the pre- fence of an aftonifht and admiring Multitude: Tiay, if fch a one as this fhould prove a dia- - bolical Tmpoftor , and Providence fhould permit ~ him to be fo credited and acknowledged ; What poffibility were there then for us to be © a(fured, that we are not always deceived? yea, that our very faculties were not given us onely todeludeand abufe us 2. And it fo, the next Conclufion is, That there is no God that judgeth in the earth; and thebeft, and moft likely Ay- pothefs will be, That the world ts given upto the Government of the Devil. But if there bea Providence that fupervifeth us, ( as nothing is _ more. certain ) doubtlefs it will never fuffer poor helplefs Creatures to be inevitably decei- wedby the craftand fubtilty of their mifchievous — ; he Enemy, | about Witchcraft. rs, : Enemy , to their undoing; but will without. ~ queftion take fuch care, that the works wrought by Divine Power for the Confirmation of — Divine Truth , fhall have fuch vifble Marks and Signatures , if not in their Nature, yet in their Czrcumftances, Ends, and Defigas, as fhall difcover whence they are, and fufficiently diftin- guifb them from all Zmpoffures and Deluftons. And though wicked {pirits may perform fome ftrange things that may excite wonder for a. while, yet He hath, and will {o provide, that they fhall be baffled and difcredited; as we know it was in the cafe of Mofes and the Aigyptian Magicians. Thefe thingsI count fufficient to be faid to this laff, and /brewdeft Objection ; Though fome, I underftand, except, that I have made it /fron- ger than the