they would only have thought that Moses and Aaron were more cunning Jugglers than themselves without acknowledging that it was the finger of God that did it But I find him yet very unwilling to yield because sayes he whosoever believes that the Devil could turn these staves into Serpents ascribes to him an omnipotent creating power But if this be all he sticks at I shall quickly remove that obstacle by showing upon how little reason it is founded for first let him consider the vast difference which is between creating all things of nothing and changing one thing into another for by creating we understand the giving of the first being and making not onely the thing but the matter also of which it is compos'd Now I see nothing of this ascribed to the Devil by that opinion Secondly let him observe that many times such changes are seen in nature Serpents being bred of the corruption of other bodies even of rotten Trees and sticks and the Devil having had time enough to search into the wayes of Nature might probably follow the same steps which she treads in changes of this kind though he might go faster and be sooner at his journeys end and seeing no man has yet attain'd to that perfection in Natural Philosophy as to know the thousandth part of what may be done by natural means it is but vanity in any one to measure the time which is requisite for such a production being wrought by Supernatural Agents especially seeing no man knows the means by which it is done for would not that man make himself extremely ridiculous that should with an ignorant confidence affirm that 't is impossible to take the Copy of a Book by any means sooner than by writing because he never knew the Art of Printing Now if he grants that the seed of a Serpent is in a stick and that the Devil of this seed may produce a Serpent as he seems to do and that sooner than they are form'd by Nature for he confesses that Devils may strangely promote the generation of several Creatures if I say this be granted I may as well say that he can do it in a minute For if by his great skill he can find out wayes of accelerating generation why may not he improve those wayes by the greatness of his skill so far as to do that in an hour which nature does in a year for to say that in regard the Devils do these things by application of matter to matter they cannot produce a Creature of it's seed without such a space of time as to us seems convenient is to measure the Devils knowledge by our own and to fathom the depth of Nature by the short line of our understandings But I see no necessity of believing that the Devil chang'd those Rods into Serpents neither do I believe it but rather think that it was a meer illusion and deceit of the Devils who might either deceive the lookers on with an appearance of what was not really there or by placing true Serpents instead of the staves And now I would not have this Author take me up and say that if I once recede from the letter of the Text he may as well say 't is a Juggle of the Magicians for I have already said that it is not at all conceivable that it was possible for the Magicians to do it by meer humane Art in regard that when they threw them down they were yet staves but though we deny that it could be done by them we may yet believe that the Devil has both agility and subtilty enough to effect it But if he will after all this believe that the Magicians might by slight of hand conveigh away the staves and lay Serpents in their places certainly he cannot think that they turn'd the waters into blood and brought up Frogs by slight for I cannot see how they could carry Frogs enough about them to strew the Land with neither do I believe the Author himself can guess how it might be done because he silently pass'd by this place of Scripture As for the interpretation which he has given to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by their tricks thinking from thence to infer that they were no other that the tricks of the Magicians though such an inference is of small force it properly signifies by their Inchantments and so Iunius and Tremellius Arias Montanus and Pagninus expound it all three in the same words Incantationibus suis and in this his exposition of it he differs from most if not all Translatours I am of the same opinion with him where he sayes the Scripture speaks oftentimes according to the deceived apprehensions of men and I cannot deny but it may be so in this expression of the slaves being turn'd into Serpents but that it is so as he affirms in that of Samuels being raised when Saul came to consult the Witch of Endor I cannot say for the Scripture sayes not that the Witch raised Samuel and that he was sent by God is not so very improbable as he would make it for though God to shew his displeasure against Saul had refused to answer when he enquired of him there is no reason from thence to conclude that he did not at this time send Samuel to him seeing God might do it for many reasons unknown to us And 't is probable that if he had at first answered Saul though he had received the same answer as he did now from the mouth of Samuel he had not been stricken with so great a sence of his sin and of Gods anger against him as by being first reduced to the extreamity of not knowing what to do or whither to go for counsel because God had refused to answer him And to say that 't is unlikely that God would answer him when he sought in a forbidden way is vain for we see that he did the same in sending Elijah to meet the Messengers of Ahaziah when they were going to enquire of Beelzebub in the first Chapter of the second book of the Kings But we must not look for a reason of all Gods actions we find that many times his great wisdom sees good to do those things which to us seem very strange and unaccountable Besides 't is no small motive to perswade us that it was Samuel that the Witch cryed out as at some unexpected accident being it may be frighten'd at the sight of one whom she so little expected and this 't is probable made her say that she had seen a God coming up from the Earth meaning a blessed Spirit As for his Argument drawn from Samuels words Why hast thou disquieted me That he was not sent by God seeing that could have been no trouble to him it is of no force at all for those words were spoken to Saul's capacity and as being words of course importing no more than if he had said why hast thou not suffered my Body to rest that is lye still in the grave
THE OPINION OF WITCHCRAFT Vindicated In an Answer to a Book Intituled the Question of WITCHCRAFT Debated Being a Letter to a Friend By R. T. Licensed November 20. 1669. Roger L' Estrange LONDON Printed by E. O. for Francis Haley and are to be sold at his Shop at the corner of Chancery-lane in Holborn 1670. THE Opinion of Witchcraft VINDICATED SIR I Received yours and with it that little treatise of Witchcraft which you were pleased to send me which when I had opened I found the Author in his Preface laying about him like a Hercules furens or an Ajax mastigophorus and charging his opposers with no less than Paganisme acknowledging a plurality of Gods and ascribing omnipotency to the Devil This he doubts not but he shall make good with the same ease as he asserts it and promises himself and his Reader to force a surrender at the first assault But his batteries are not of force enough to effect it his strongest arguments being little better than an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his whole Book standing upon no firmer ground than his own Supposals The vast confidence which he seems to have in the strength of his Arguments had made me arm my self with a more than ordinary care and circumspection for the sharp encounter I was like to receive from this great Goliah but I have since found that I may lay aside those heavy Arms and that a stone and a sling will serve the turn At the entrance of his Book he layes before you the necessity in which the Eastern Empire stood of Juggling tricks and Impostures to uphold it's greatness and that the heathen Priests were by continual practice arrived to that perfection in cheating that they stood not in need of the Devils assistance from hence he would infer that the answers given at Oracles were no other than cheats put upon the people and the Priests inventions But 't is very improbable that the Devil who had the liberty of possessing so many Bodies as we find he had by several undeniable instances of the New-Testament should be debarred that of a wicked Idolatrous Priest or the shrines of the heathen Gods or that if he had that freedom he would not make use of it for the establishing of his own Kingdom After this he tells you of the great variety of Impostures used by them all which he reduces to four heads viz. Juggling Inchanting Conjecturing and Divining Of these he gives you definitions ad arbitrium and you must take them on his word as if that were as uncontroulable as the Laws of the Medes and Persians he sayes that a Familiar was no Devil but a confederated person privy to the plot and assistant to the performance I do not deny but some cheats of this Nature have been and yet are in the World but he that from hence concludes that all are so is but a bad Logician For my part I cannot be convinc'd by such an Argument when I find as I shall endeavour to prove both the testimonies of Scripture and History against it Nor indeed is there any probability that the Heathen Priests could so readily give answers to all questions put to them or the sudden and ex improvise as to keep up the credit of their Oracles to that height they were at for many Ages together neither may we easily suppose that this miraculous Art of cheating could be conveyed from one Priest to another and not one of so many thousands discover the deceit to the World and that of so great a number all should be so ready witted as to give their answers at a venture and yet with so much cunning as that whatever happen'd the Oracles should not be taxed with falshood which I believe our Author if he were put to it would find something harder to perform than he seems to think it Yet all this he easily believes they did and by such tricks magnified their Idols and seduced the common people for which cause they were so great an abomination before God as that in the Law given by Moses he so strictly gave in charge to the Israelites the rooting them out from among them To this purpose he quotes the eighteenth Chapter of Deuteronomy the ninth tenth eleventh and twelfth verses And this he thinks to be as considerable a place as any can be brought from the whole Bible for the proof of Witches Here therefore he takes occasion to fall foul with our Translatours of the Bible for that sayes he they have falsly Translated the tenth and eleventh verses making them more significant to that purpose than they are in the Original Wherefore I think it will not be much amiss to compare the Authors Translation of those two Verses and ours with the Hebrew so far as they differ one from the other ours runs thus There shall not be found among you any that maketh his Son or his Daughter to pass through the fire or that useth Divinations or an observer of times or an Inchanter or a Witch Or a Charmer or a Consulter with familiar Spirits or Wizards or a Necromancer Now the main difference for I pass by those of less concernment is that instead of a Witch in the tenth verse this Author has put the word miracle-monger and for a Consulter with familiar Spirits a seeker of an Oracle Now in these places he seems much to blame for having so peremptorily charg'd the learned Translatours of the Bible with a false interpretation making himself the only Judge in the sense of the original and refusing any translation that suites not with his fancy meerly for that reason Now the original being rightly considered we shall find but little difference between it and our translation as in that of a Witch the Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word if we may believe the best Hebricians signifies Witchcraft or fascination for so Buxtorfe and Xantes Pagninus understand it expounding it by these words fascinum maleficium and Praestigium and so Pagninus in his translation of the Bible in which he endeavour'd to come as near the sense of the original as was possible for him has in this very place expounded the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maleficus which is the same with our word Witch Iunius and Tremellius render it Praestigiator which has the same signification with the other though our Author takes it for no more than a meer Juggler or to use his word a miracle-monger But the word has more in it than so for though it be true that every Praestigiator is a miracle-monger a Juggler or a Coozner yet as we find it alwayes used in Authors it implyes a doing of those deceits by Witchcraft As for what he sayes of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint that it signifies an Impostor I cannot at all conceive why he should so positively assert it or at least why I should believe it except he
and the Hebrew word in this place implyes no more than why hast thou mov'd me to come up So this phrase of dead bodies resting and being disturbed is usual with us though we know that they are not at all sensible of repose or disquiet But if it were not Samuel 't is very irrational to believe that it was either the Witch or any confederated person for two reasons first because it is said in the Scripture that Saul knew that it was Samuel and he bowed himself for it is not imaginable that any man could so change his face as that Saul who questionless was well enough acquainted with Samuels countenance could be deceiv'd by it and to think that Saul saw him not is as ridiculous for then why did he bow himself Secondly because he foretold Saul's Death for if as this Author supposes it had been said by the Woman at a venture the more cunning way had been to have told him that he should live for then if he had died who could have accused her of falshood If he had liv'd she had told the truth But to tell him positively that he should dye and not only himself but his Sons too and this with a limitation of time to morrow was something too much to be spoken at a venture The second difference between our Translation and the Authors is where he puts a seeker of an Oracle for a Consulter with familiar Spirits Here he tells you that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in Scripture sometimes for the gift of Oracling sometimes for the person that has such a gift this is as much and no more than if he had told you that he is pleas'd to understand it so I confess as an Oracler may be understood that is for one that takes and gives answers from the Devil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may have that signification for ob properly signifies a Daemon or an evil Spirit and so the best Hebricians expound it now this being the true sence of the word ob I see no reason for blaming our Translatours who have not at all erred from the Original in this place But he understands an Oracler otherwise to wit for one that gave answers at a venture and only followed the dictates of his own fancy counterfeiting strange voices thereby to deceive the people c. And so he interprets the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but how they came by that signification I cannot tell for I find it no where but in his Book And from the Scripture I think the contrary may be gather'd viz. That ob and Python are taken for an evil Spirit that possess'd the person Divining and not for the person himself we read in Leviticus the twentieth Chapter and the twenty seventh verse and a Man or a Woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when there is in them a Python which words in them seem to imply something of this Nature and that the ob was some distinct being from the person in whom it was for he could not be in himself And we find in some old Translations where mention is made of Saul's turning the Witches out of Israel 't is said Et qui Pythones habebant in ventre But whosoever reads the sixteenth Chapter of the Acts of the Holy Apostles will be fully confirm'd that this is the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except he himself be possessed with a spirit of contradiction for he there shall find that as St. Paul was walking he met a Maid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having a Spirit of Divination as our Translation renders it and in the eighteenth verse Paul turning himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he said to the Spirit I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and it came out that same hour This methinks shews plainly to any body but our Author that this kind of Divining was done by the help of the Devil But it may be he will say for I know no other way that he can answer it that she did but deceive the people by counterfeiting strange voices and speaking in a bottle or some such Juggle and that where St. Paul bid the Spirit come out of her it is to be understood that he bid her Juggling tricks come out of her But to those that rightly consider this place it will plainly appear that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was no other than a Devil and this being true I see no reason to deny that the Witch of Endor was possessed with the same Spirit or that the Pythons of Manasses were Familiar Spirits Thus I have almost done with his first Chapter But I cannot pass by one argument which he uses without taking notice of it for I cannot tell sayes he how Witches come in here no not how Devils neither except you believe that the Devils made answer at Heathen Oracles which if you do I must crave leave to dissent truly no man can deny him this leave and he may dissent when he pleases but I do not conceive my self obliged to follow his example for if they were as he supposes onely Jugling tricks of the Priests I cannot imagine how it came to pass that they ceas'd so suddenly after our Saviours time beginning sensibly to fall away at the time of his Birth and since his Death being wholly extinguish'd For the first we find something considerable in Suidas who writes that Augustus who liv'd at the time of our Saviours Birth as he enquired of an Oracle concerning his Successour had this answer given him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In English A Boy Of Hebrew race whom the blest Gods obey Bids me go hence to Hell without delay In silence from our Altars go thy way Hereupon Augustus at his return commanded that an Altar should be built in the Capitol with this inscription HAEC EST ara primogeniti Dei Now if this story may be credited it makes very much for the opinion of the Devils answering at the heathen Oracles and this answer is not at all like the fancy of a Juggling Priest it being neither for the Priests Interest nor the credit of the Oracle Thus we see how soon they began to decay upon our Saviours coming and we find another story to this purpose which happen'd at the time of his Crucifixion in Plutarchs Morals that part which is intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why Oracles are ceased where he sayes that a certain company sailing from Greece towards Italy were suddenly becalmed and heard a voice calling one Thamus who was an Egyptian and at that time in the Ship but he being called twice gave no answer but at the third time he said here am I whereupon the voice bid him when he came at the Shelves in the Ionian Seas which are called Palodes to publish that the great God Pan was dead then the Ship going