to certain knowledge or science though not science properly because not grounded upon the knowledge of the causes In either sense credulity taken will fit our purpose well enough yet of the two I rather chuse the second that credulity may be taken for a vice that so as all or most vertues according to Aristotle's doctrine though by some upon very light grounds as I conceive much opposed we may place this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or belief also in the middle of two vicious extremities And so is this business of believing very well stated by Plutarch in more than one place and upon several occasions LASTLY whereas my title promiseth the consideration of both equally Credulity and Incredulity and most of my examples will be found of Incredulity or such as tend to the reproof and confutation of it I may be thoâ—ght to have dealt partially as though I favoured or less blamed Credulity than the contrary vice But that doth not follow neither had I any such respect in the chusing of my examples Neither indeed is it absolutely determinable which of the two Credulity or Incredulity is most dangerous or blamable but as the particular object of either is so may the one be more or less than the other But I must confess the business of incredulity did more run in my head at this time because of the times so set upon Atheism which of all kind of incredulity is the most horrible and damnable and most unworthy of a rational man Now one prime foundation of Atheism as by many ancient and late is observed being the not believing the existence of spiritual essences whether good or bad separate or united subordinate to God as to the supream and original Cause of all and by consequent the denying of supernatural operations I have I confess applied my self by my examples which in this case do more than any reasoning and the authority of the holy Scriptures laid aside are almost the only convincing proof to the confutation of such incredulity in this first part especially However unadvised credulity and incredulity being considered as two extreams by the doctrine of contraries it will follow that what tends to the illustration or confutation of the one doth in some sort equally belong unto the other and though the examples generally have more reference to the one than to the other the observations upon the examples shall equally concern them both which is enough to justifie my Title NOW because credulity and incredulity doth properly belong unto such things as are wondred at either as besides the ordinary course of nature and therefore wondred at because rare and unusual or against it and therefore thought impossible or supernatural it will not be amiss in the first place to consider what those things are considered in their kinds or generality which usually cause admiration As I go along I may meet with somewhat that may occasion some consideration otherwise I have no intention but to name them only MONSTERS are the most ordinary subject of their admiration who are not qualified to admire any thing else though it deserve it much more However they that have or shall read the History of Monsters written by Bauhinus not to mention others may think the better of many things which before perchance they thought incredible Though he treat of all kind of Monsters yet Hermaphrodites only are in his Title as the most prodigious or most considerable Indeed many laws have been made about them and many cases proposed and answered both in the Civil and Canonical law I have read also of trials processes and Judgments against or concerning them in several Courts beyond the Seas and Pliny doth record that in his time they were in deliciis not for their beauty and good parts I suppose but such is the perversity of some for their very monstrosity And what if after all this some men will maintain that there be no such creatures One great argument will be they never saw any Another there have been some counterfeits Upon these grounds who seeth not how much the History of Nature may suffer through the rashness and ignorance of some who affect to be thought wise for denying what other men believe the Continuator of Thuanus his History will tell what passed in Paris Anno Dom. 1613. about this controversie if any desire to know AFTER Monsters those things I reckon that happen by natural sympathies and antipathies though these also denied by some who must adventure upon somewhat that they may be thought some body and again those things that proceed from what Physicians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is written both ways to which sympathies may be referr'd but it extends much further and again those things that proceed from the strength of imagination concerning all which not only example and instances in most books of all arguments are obvious but also peculiar books and tractates made by learned Physicians and Philosophers searching into the causes though natural acknowledged yet hidden and secret so far as the wit of man can reach are extant all these I conceive to them that search into the works of nature with diligence offer themselves frequently as worthy objects of admiration ANOTHER great object of admiration is that which they call occultae qualitates to which some sympathies and antipathies as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be referred but is much more general than either Those occultae qualitates have been stiled by some men who had the ambition to be accounted more profound and quick-sighted into the works of nature than others asylum asinorum or the refuge or sanctuary of Asses but in their attempts and endeavours of rendring of reasons to maintain manifest qualities they generally have acquitted themselves so weakly so childishly as by the discourses and refutations of Physicians and Philosophers both ancient and late generally most approved and known doth appear that what they thought to brand others with hath unhappily but deservedly stuck to themselves their reasonings if not themselves being become the scorn and ludibrium of all truly wise and judicious So hitherto I am sure according to the old Philosophy But what the conceited omnipotency of Atomes according to the new Philosophy or revived Epicurism may do to satisfie all doubts and scruples I know not For my part I shall not be ashamed to acknowledge my weakness I have looked into it with as much candor and diligence as in such a case I thought necessary so far from prejudice that I would perswade my self I could not but speed and find what I sought for but I have not I profess it yet with submission to better judgments TO these occultae qualitates we may add influxus coelestes or influentiae to which I find very learned men Physicians and others to ascribe strange effects Yet there be very learned too that will by no means admit of such as learned Pererius by name who doth
hath no dependance from any natural cause according to the course of nature established by God in Heaven or in Earth but the will of God only we have nothing to do with it here Of other divination common to men and Angels whether good or bad but in a different degree which is grounded upon the knowledge of natural causes long observation and experience and the like First Humane so far as may be accounted for by natural causes no man doth doubt of though many things by men that have a natural sagacity improved with long study and experience may be done or foretold upon grounds of reason which by them that are not acquainted with such things may be thought incredible of which more afterwards Secondly Daemoniacal whether immediately by themselves or by their instruments which they that do not believe the existence of Devils and Spirits are obliged to deny is that which we are to consider of so much as may concern us to settle or direct the belief of others who may need it and are content to hear reason Further than that we have no intention or ingagement to meddle with it which elsewhere we have done more largely and concerning which there be so many books already extant as that it would be no small work to find any gleanings worthy the acceptation of judicious men as it would be very easie the work of most writers out of which others have done to compile whole volumes Among us of late writers Peucerus is most known who hath written a large volume De Divinatione I wish he had left out his Divinity which fills a great part of the book I should think better of it though even so the rest doth not give me that satisfaction which I might have expected from a learned man For approved instances or experiments as I may call them he hath few or none and what is it the wit of man can find out in such an abstruse subject but what is grounded besides the authority of Scripture upon experience Raguseius a Venetian Theologus Medicus Philosophus as he is stiled by himself or by his friends hath written two very learned Books De Divinatione but the greatest part is against Judicial Astrology which he once professed himself and got credit by it he saith himself but was so honest and conscientious that notwithstanding the credit he got by it he would be a jugler his own word no more and to make amends to God and the World for what he had been or done thought himself bound in conscience to write against it I think I could reckon half a hundred or more but that is not my business THE several kinds of Divination that have been used anciently and are yet most of them and have got a proper appellation as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like are so many that even to reckon them would take some time At the end of Agrippa De occulta Philosophia in that Edition I have there is a prety full inventory of them So in Debio Pucerus Wierius and many others To these if we add those which by the relation of Travellers are proper almost to every Country or Nation where Christ is not known there being scarce any Country for any other thing so wretched and barbarous but hath attained to so much knowledge if we may call that knowledge which doth commonly most abound where brutish ignorance and savageness hath its reign as to be masters of some kind of Divination or other Of those many kinds that have anciently been used and of those many that have been since devised made known unto us by the relation of Travellers I shall take notice of one or two particularly and then proceed with submission to better judgments to a general conclusion concerning them all OF those anciently used which I shall take notice of the first because where we have the relation of Augerius the Physician his haunted house promised shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or nail divination saith Delrio is by anointing the nail of an impolluted boy with some kind of oil or sout and using some conjuration of words to see things at a far distance and the event of things long before But of an impolluted boy why so Let no man think the better of the Devil for that or of this kind of Divination It is Porphyrius his observation or admiration rather long ago recorded by Eusebius in his own words and since Eusebius by St. Augustine in Latin his admiration I say why such masters of uncleanness in point of life and actions should nevertheless in their mysteries stand so much for cleanness and purity Porphyrius who might very well know as one that had served them a long time doth but propose the question by way of admiration he doth not answer it any Christian may who is taught that the Devil is the author of all evil all uncleanness and affects nothing more yet is an impostor withall and would be thought an Angel of light and to that end doth amuse them that serve him with some shews of holiness in rites and ceremonies of his own institution that he may be thought to love what in truth and sincerity of life he doth abhor And as he so his servants that promote his interest in the world by sects and divisions What more rise in their mouths and ordinary or external behaviour than holiness and purity I need to say no more the rest is too well known But this by the way only Now to the nail-Divination Delrio saith he knew a veteran Spaniard who did practise it and instances in some particulars of his Divination moreover observes of the same that though he could he doth attest it it seems by charms and incantations cure the wounds of others yet neither would cure his own nor suffer them to be cured by others by the same means Some may mistake him as though the man he speaks of made scruple for some hidden reason to have inchantments used upon himself although he did not scruple to use them upon others which is not impossible But I rather believe his meaning is though the man with bare words as apprehended by many but very erroniously could cure other mens bodily diseases yet the wounds of his soul whilest he continued in that base practice and service longe graviora that is wanting in Delrio to make his expression full much more grievous and much more to be dreaded the proper cure whereof are words good advice and instruction according to that of Horace Sunt verba voces that is charms and by charms understanding sermones Philosophicos as that which followeth doth evince he refused miserable wretch either to admit when offered or to procure from others What Delrio doth here attest of one Filesacus De Magia Idolol doth attest of another not upon his own knowledge but upon the report of a man of quality to him well known nobili generoso are his words But enough of
believe was heresie to which some others may be added But in this particular how impertinent such allegations are who doth not see For it is one thing by some authority of man or probability of reason to be misled into an opinion determinable more by speculation than experience or if by experience yet rare and difficult and wherein few men are concerned as to matter of life In such a case if the error be never so general it is no wonder But in a case of this nature as Witches to which we add Spirits in general and supernatural operations which doth mostly depend especially where learning is not of daily experience and wherein mens lives and fortunes are so much concerned to be misled in this and from age to age to continue in the error is a strange thing indeed if not a meer impossibility The world is much wider now as to Knowledge than it hath been formerly and therefore the consent of it so much the more considerable I have as all men I think have that are any thing curious read several relations of all the known parts of the world written by men of several Nations and Professions learned and unlearned in divers languages by men of several ages ancient and late I do scarce remember any short or long but doth afford somewhat to the confirmation of this truth but in most I remember well to have met with very particular accounts and relations of Witches and Sorcerers strange divinations predictions operations whereof the relators many of them men of several Nations and professions Papists and Protestants who probably never heard of one another profess themselves to have been eye-witnesses NOW if we confine our selves to this one part of the world which we call Europe to which one part all learning seemeth now to be in a manner confined which within this hundred or two hundred years hath produced so many able men of all professions Divines Lawyers Physicians and Philosophers Papists and Protestants those few men excepted who may soon be named all known by their writing to have dissented Who is there among them all who hath not pro re nata and as occasion served born testimony to this truth or cause But how many are there of most Kingdoms Germanes High and Low French English Spanish not to seek further of all professions that have written of this subject pleaded it by reason and experience and all kind of proofs answered all objections and pretensions some whereof learned and grave have had the examination of persons men and women accused for those wicked practices in great number Nicholaus Remigius a man both pious and learned I wish covetous Printers had not bereaved us of his excellent Poetry in many Editions in his books of Demonolatrie doth profess within the space of sixteen years to have had the examination of near 2000 whereof 900 were condemned to death We may say the same or there-abouts I think of Grillandus not to mention others That so many wise and discreet well versed in that subject could be so horribly deceived against their wills or so impious so cruel as wilfully to have a hand in the condemnation of so many Innocents or again wilfully in the face of the Sun and in defiance to God by so many false relations to abuse all men present and future what man can believe Their chiefest evasion who are or would seem to be of a contrary opinion is what a strange thing a depraved fancy or imagination is how easily it may represent to it self Devils and Spirits Sorceries and inchantments and God knows what which things commonly talked of among ordinary people especially as many other things are though they have no real being yet may make great impressions in the brain and offer themselves in sleep or when the brain is sick and out of temper by melancholy especially Or if they be of Wierius his opinion what advantage the Devil may make of a sick brain to make silly poor women believe that they have done things which they never did nor could And this when they have proved by two or three examples or say twenty or more for it is no hard business they think they have done much But what reason have they to think this such a mystery that none of those that have had to do with Witches and Sorcerers ever heard of any such thing and would not well consider it before they passed any judgment But what if more than one ten or twenty perchance it hath been so sometimes have been actors or accessories in some one execrable business and upon suspition being severally examined are found to agree in one tale to have been thus and thus incouraged assisted by Spirits to have acted such and such things met in such places at such times which things accompanied with notable circumstances are found upon examination to be true in all points and particulars What if others men and women be convicted by the deposition of sundry creditable witnesses upon some sudden quarrel or old grudge To have cursed and threatned thus and thus men or cattle and that it hath happened accordingly Strange deaths strange diseases strange unnatural unusual accidents have ensued can all this be the effects of a depraved fancy Or what when such a house such a parish hath been troubled with such unusual accidents if all those accidents immediately cease upon the arraignment and execution of some that are suspected and have confessed though it doth not always so fall out that they confess which may be some argument of their repentance which I fear is not very usual shall we impute all this to a depraved fancy or imagination or say with Wierius that all this is done by the Devil only to bring poor innocent women to destruction And that God doth suffer these things to punish but more of that by and by the credulity of men Truly as I can believe that some men innocently for want of experience and good information may hold such an opinion which of the two they conceive most charitable so that any man of ordinary capacity that hath taken pains to inform himself can really without some great and secret judgment of God persist in it is to me almost incredible or not less strange than any of these supernatural operations which ordinarily cause most admiration THEN if a man consider what kind of men for the most part they have been who have taken upon them to oppose the belief of mankind or universality of men concerning Witches c. some notorious Atheists as Pomponatius Vaninius c. others confident illiterate wretches as one of this Country Reginald Scot and the like he will think certainly that if the cause be no better than the Patrons it cannot be very good nor see any reason at all to embrace it But I must not let Reginald Scot pass so without a further account for their sakes if any that have a better opinion of him though otherwise
the masters of it did know what or how much had been taken away A third story is of one Flaccianus well known to St. Augustin it seems who being about to purchase a piece of ground went to this Diviner or Cunning-man to see what he could tell him about it who had no sooner seen Flaccianus but presently told him what he was come about and named the ground or Farm as it was ordinarily called which Flaccianus himself it seems it was somewhat an uncouth hard name did not well know But the fourth story made St. Augustin a young man then under the name and person of the said Licentius even tremble for amazement whilest he did relate it A condisciple of his or one that had been hearing so much of the man and either not believing or for further trial and to know the utmost of his power went to him and boldly and importunately challenged him to tell him what it was he had in his thoughts who put to it as he was told him he did think of Virgil. Being further asked what particular place of Virgil the man though otherwise scarce able to read pronounced aloud boldly and securely the very verse of the Poet he had then in his mind Who makes any question but he that did this no man of God but a very rogue was really possest by the Devil And do we wonder at it or rather wonder that any men or women that take upon them to do such things in a Christian Common-weal should be suffered to live Or that any that make use of such whether men or women should make any question if Christians by profession and education but that in so doing they go to the Devil But some may wonder perchance as St. Augustin or his friend did at the first for afterwards he made nothing of it that the Devil should have such power which the Scripture doth seem to appropriate unto God to know thoughts But it is one thing to have the thoughts of all men in all places at all times open and naked which belongs unto God only by some subtilty or secret of nature to know the thoughts of some men at sometimes which the Devil can it is certain if God do not hinder which men also well acquainted with nature by diligent observation of the eyes and otherwise may in some part attain unto And why not this as possible as for men but women rather in the light or day-time at a good distance to communicate and to impart their thoughts freely and fully without any noise or voice by the observation of the lips only and other parts about the mouth A secret of nature lately discovered of which more in my Treatise of Enthusiasm Chapter 4. of the second Edition page 181 c. I name the second Edition because not so much of it in the first to be found AFTER Divination somewhat because of the affinity may be expected of Prodigies of which as of Divination much hath been written and argued to and fro by divers and very lately by one by some whom I have heard much commended I therefore shall say the less neither indeed doth my subject engage me to say much As all other things in the world not determinable by sense those especially that relate to God and his providence have been liable to superstition and credulity so this of prodigies as much as any The ancient Romans have been noted for their excess in this kind and their best Historian Titus Livius for inserting that into the body of his History which stood upon publick records hath been censured as fabulous for which nevertheless he doth often excuse himself and smartly doth censure the credulity of the people of those days Yet I make no question but by the contrivance of the Devil in those days of ignorance and superstition as of Oracles was said before for the increase of superstition many things in that kind might happen besides what did by Gods order and appointment which have not hapned so frequently since But what excess soever they might justly be charged of yet we must acknowledge that the ground of it Quod omnium secundorum adversorumque causas in Deos had he but said Deum verterent that is in effect Because they bâ—lieved a God and a providence the cause of all good and evil that hapneth unto men as the same Livy doth inform us was commendable which would make us besides other reasons think the better of prodigies in these days wherein Epicurism and Atheism do so mightily prevail And it cannot be denied but they lived then generally according to their belief frugally and vertuously Witness those rare Examples those times afforded scarce to be matched in any other age And as this belief made them vertuous so their vertue conquerors of the best and greatest part of the then known world Whereas when all observation of prodigies ceased which the same Livy saith did proceed ab eadem negligentia quâ nihil Deos portendere vulgo nunc credunt a mild word negligentia for Atheism or Epicurism all manner of vices pride luxury covetousness and the like crept in which occasioned their Civil wars and their Civil war with these vices the ruine of that glorious Empire Were there no other thing in the world to perswade me yet the authority of two such men as Camerarius and Melanchton so pious so learned both would make me not to reject all prodigies whether publick or private Yet it must be confessed that where the opinion lights upon a man who is naturally tender and fearful and such was the nature of them both I have named of Melanchton especially it hardly escapes excess But again were there no other examples or instances of prodigies known to me than what hapned before the death of Julius Caesar the Roman Emperor and what before Henry the Fourth late King of France who for their valour and manner of death may well be paralleled being so well attested as no rational man can make any question I should think and acknowledge my self sufficiently convicted that there be prodigies presaging prodigies I mean And if in their case why not in the case of many Princes and others such especially who have been active men in the world and made a great noise by their valourous or ventrous atchievements and undertakings Always provided that there be like evidence and attestation I think I have read in Julius Scaliger a man of singular as learning so piety some where I find it so in my papers but not the place quoted Melior superstitio so it do not proceed to a breach of any particular command of Gods revealed word so I understand it nimiâ sobrietate quae facile degenerat in Atheismum that is Better is superstition sometimes than too much sobriety or cautelousness which is apt soon to degenerate into Atheism At another time perchance I should not think so well of it But now when Atheism doth so prevail and true Piety
inveigh against them as the confusion of all sound Philosophy and in very deed the true asylum asinorum Yet if a man consider of it soberly and read impartially what is by very sober men pleaded for them he may find ground enough it is my opinion to believe them especially when he doth consider that Aristotle himself was forced besides his four Principia or Elementa to have recourse to a quintam essentiam besides that which he doth appropriate to the Heavens as a more noble cause yea to God himself in some things as the immediate cause operating above nature above reason humane by his meer Omnipotency Whereby Aristotle doth apparently lay a foundation for miracles as we may shew in due place whereas some conceited foolish men pretended Christians but real Atheists as Pomponatius and the like because they would not seem to depart from Aristotle's doctrine refer all miracles to natural causes Besides it is well known that Hippocrates also doth acknowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in diseases by which though Gallen and some others understand ambientem aerem only yet even so then certainly the aer preternaturally or supernaturally affected by some divine or celestial cause which is the more probable because in other places he doth speak of the Gods according to the phrase of those days very reverently and doth much ascribe to their power in those things that happen unto men BUT to our Coelestes influxus though they be granted yet it is very possible that many things may be ascribed unto them which may proceed from other causes That some men are lucky at Cards beyond all imagination or do feats with them beyond the limits of any supposed activity or jugling such as learned Raguseius doth profess in the presence of some others men of great worth and fame whom he doth name Hieron Fabritius ab Aquapendente Hercules Saxonia c. to have seen and admired I should not though never so much admired or incredible ascribe to a Celestial influence though I find a very good Author whom I ever look'd upon as a second Aristotle the greatest commendation I think that can be given to man Religion laid aside in point of sound and solid reasoning even Thomas Aquinas cited for it by the same learned Author whose opinion in that matter I much sooner embrace that such things are done by contract with the Devil And yet I have ground to believe that so much may be done in this kind by art and cunning which things are commonly referred to the power of uâ—e and custom which will be our next consideration after this of influxes so strange and miraculous in appearance that a man had need to be very well vers'd in such speculations before he charge any man And that is when the case is so notorious as no man can rationally doubt as in that pretended Jugler who related by divers before Charles the Ninth King of France made the Rings of a gold Chain to leap towards him one after another who was at a distance and after that made the Chain whole again which at last himself confessed to have done by the help of the Devil for which he was deservedly cast out of the Court and punished Learned Vossius hath it too and quotes three Authors for it but those three have it but from one which kind of quoting is not so safe except this very thing add some weight because it hath been believed by such and such and not contradicted by any But in a case of this nature before such company and yet of fresh memory when the first relation was made the testimony of one credible witness may be thought sufficient But for Pererius why he should be so bitter against Celestial influences since he also doth grant and ground upon occult qualities which often are fetched from Celestial influences and liable to the same inconveniencies and therefore by some as was said before who would gladly be thought to see further than other men so termed asylum asinorum I see no reason BUT granting these influences the great question doth remain whether they work as general only or as particular causes also It is the opinion of some very learned that their power and operation doth extend even to particulars as for example to dispose and to incline not compel a man to such and such actions but of more that they work only as general causes as for example why in some ages men generally have been more inclinable to superstition ready to believe and to swallow more than the boldest impostor could invent in others more to Atheism and incredulity all upon the senses and what is visible and palpable though against all sense and reason In some more for strifes and contention in others more for peace and calmer studies And what shall we say to that influence that produced in men that frantick humor the beginning whereof is ascribed by Historians to the year of the Lord 1260. of wandring about half naked and whipping themselves unto bloud Which though suppressed by authority for a while sprung up again some forty or fifty years after with so much advantage that most Kingdoms in Europe were over-run with it and notwithstanding the opposition of Popes by their excommunications and other means that were used continued above 100. years after as doth appear by a peculiar tractate of Gerson the learned Chancellor of France set out Anno Dom. 1460. against it Thousands in one company of all kind of people might have been seen in divers places thus martyrizing their bodies by tearing their flesh and their bloud running a pitiful sight in outward appearance but whether to the greater pleasure of their distemper'd minds or pain of body I know not I have spoken of it elsewhere which I shall not here repeat I quote no Authors there are so many Historiographers besides others that take notice of it I think it needless If I may speak my mind without offence this prodigious propensity to innovation in all kind but in matters of learning particularly which so many upon no ground that I can see on appearance of reason are possessed with I know not what we should more probably ascribe it unto than to some sad constellation or influence But to conclude this matter of influences whether of general only or of particular efficacy also it is agreed on all hands that they are secrets of Nature or of Heaven if you will which none will upon pretence of any art attempt to dive unto but upon a presumption that the world as of wicked men in general some Philosophers have maintained cannot subsist without cheaters and impostors ANOTHER great cause of wondring is the power of use and custom which they who either by the report of others creditable witnesses or by their own experience have not been acquainted with and well considered of must needs ascribe to magick and supernatural causes many things which are meerly natural It is a subject of a
the Reader must excuse me where after I had been some days upon some information concerning a Gentlewoman that had some relation to the house though not then in the house who was said to live without meat I made bold to ask my friend a noble Knight the Master of the house what he knew of it His answer was that she had been his house-keeper one month he said as I remember and sat at his table every day but had never seen her eat This did set an edge upon my desire and curiosity to enquire further This Gentlewoman had married one of his Sons who lived and kept house by himself there also have I been kindly entertained more than once not many miles off He was a Scholar and a very ingenuous Gentleman and one who himself was as curious to understand as much of nature as by ordinary study and curiosity can be attained His answer was that ever since some years I am sure she had been his wife he never did observe her to eat otherwise than that sometimes once in a week perchance in handling of dishes she would seize hastily upon some one bit which her phancy more than her stomack was tempted with I make no question but if faithful observations were duly made which was the way in ancient times of all that hapneth extraordinarily in this one Country of England we should not need be beholding to strangers so much or at least would find less cause in many things to reject and contemn their relations as incredible and fabulous Sure I am in most books that I have read to understand what is not ordinary in the cause of nature I find England often named where I can find or hear of no English-man to attest In this very particular I am now upon I have read of some I am sure reported to have lived in England without either meat or drink I know not how long of whom I have read nothing in English Histories But I shall not trouble my self to find where having said enough to satisfie them who have not by some solemn vow or resolution made themselves impenetrable to reason Yet the story of an English-woman or maid that lived I think twenty years without eating written by Roger Bacon the Reader may find if he please in the Collection before mentioned for the truth whereof though I doubt not the possibility except otherwise confirmed I will not engage But whereas he doth fetch the cause from Heaven or Heavenly influences if he be in the right in that this example will not so properly concern us who pretend in this particular to nothing but natural causes I know there be also who ascribe it to the Devil neither will I deny the possibility of such a thing However when natural causes may clear the business except some unnatural circumstances as sometimes it doth happen perswade to the contrary much better it is to let the Devil alone than to fly to him for satisfaction BUT to return to our relations I have said it before and say it again No man I think that will take the pains to read the books I have mentioned with all the particulars which they contain but will what ever opinion he was of before acknowledge himself satisfied of the truth as to matter of fact As to possibility in point of nature I will not be so peremptory though I acknowledge my self very fully satisfied by those learned Tractates that have been set out about it that it may be Now that any women most to whom this hath happened should after long sickness fall to this and so continue dull heavy consumptive in their bodies and some without motion and so after some years die though strange even so yet I do not see much to admire but that it should so happen unto any who nevertheless for some years have continued fresh and vigorous with a good colour and without any abatement of flesh without or any other notable alteration and have returned in time to eating and drinking again as other folks as I think it happened to her that was kept by Maximilian's order is that I most wonder at and wherein we might with more probability suspect a supernatural cause though herein also I submit to better judgments and believe as they do that it may be naturally The matter is fully discussed by Sennertus also a man of so much authority with me and with all men I think whom new discoveries have not so besotted as to think nothing right but what is new that he alone might go a great way to perswade me Marcellus Donatus also De Med. Hist mirab lib. 4. c. 12. is very full upon it and hath many instances this among the rest That a certain Priest did live 40. years in Rome with Air only as by the keeping of Pope Leo and divers Princes and the Narration and Testimony of Hermol Barbarus is most certain HOWEVER I am not so addicted to any cause that I would allow of any indirect ways to maintain it To prove the possibility among other arguments and instances that are used I shall here take notice of one and what I have to except against it not hence to infer against the cause it self any thing for which there is no just reason this being but a remote and inconsiderable proof in comparison of so many more pregnant and direct evidences but to take this occasion by the way to shew how testimonies should be examined before we yield much to their authority It is alledged by more than one that there is a people in the North about Mascovia who constantly from such a day in November to such a day in April following hide in Caves of the Earth and continue all that time without any food but sleep Now that this was averr'd to Henry the III. King of France when in Polonia by men of great quality who lived in or about those Countries and might easily know the certainty with great asseveration this indeed I believe and is of great weight with me though I would not upon no greater evidence press or perswade any other to work somewhat towards a belief Sennertus I find dares not peremptorily affirm it for a truth or much trust to it for an evidence as having much greater and more wonderful things which no man he saith can question to prove the possibility of living without eating or drinking Yet it doth appear by his words though he feared it would multis fabulo sum videri by many be slighted as a fable yet that himself did much more incline to believe it than not And there be other relations of those Northern people believed I see by sundry grave and learned men which to be compared might seem every whit as strange and incredible But because I do not make it my business here to undertake for the truth of it as I before professed nor have any intention to entertain my Reader with strange relations more than shall be
magnifie this Art and the power of it Iosephus doth there produce a notable instance which is this How that on a time himself being present one Eleazer before Vespasian and his Sons or Children and the chiefest Officers of the Army did cast out Devils from several that were possest and to satisfie the company there was no jugling in the business commanded the Devils as they went out to do somewhat which might witness the presence of a supernatural power To bring this to pass this dispossession I mean besides words there was some other mystical action that was the applying of a certain ring to the nose of the possessed under the seal of which ring a piece of root was inclosed which was believed so reported at least to be of singular efficacy to drive out Devils The name of the root is not there set down by Iosephus but in another book De bello Iudaico lib. 7. Cap. 23. he doth name it Baaras and withal doth tell strange things of it what danger it is to pull it out of the Earth except such and such ceremonies and cautions which I forbear here be used Now that in all this Iosephus though his report to some may seem both ridiculous and incredible and is I know by some rejected as meerly fabulous which made me pitch upon it the rather yet that in all this he doth deal bona fide truly and sincerely as I believe my self so I hope to give good and convincing reasons why others also who pretend to reason as the trial of truth should believe First that such a thing was really done before Vespasian the Roman Emperor as he relates it they that know that Josephus was a man as nobly born so of great credit at the Court and in great favour with Vespasian himself how can they rationally doubt He must be supposed more than a mad man that durst write such a forged story and attest persons of that quality for the truth had it been a thing of his own devising nay had he lyed in any circumstance of it As for that he writes of that root or herb that it hath such properties such vertues how to be pull'd out of the earth and where to be found c. whether true or no must not be laid upon his account as I conceive because in that trusting the relation of men whom he took to be real honest men in their profession and to work by natural means himself professing no skill or insight in that art it is enough that in all he saith of it there is nothing but what was generally believed or at least reported and famed not among the Jews only but Grecians also and others that were Gentiles The name of the herb he saith was Baaras and what is that from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I need not tell them that have any skill in the tongue but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek which herb is acknowledged by all or most that write of herbs Josephus saith of it it will with some adjurations expel Devils Pliny saith or Democritus rather in Pliny it is a Magical herb which Negromancers or Magicians use to raise the Gods that is in the phrase of our times Spirits Josephus saith there is great danger in the pulling up of it One way he doth mention is by uncovering the root so far that it may have but little hold in the ground and then tying a dog to it so that the dog may easily draw it out with him when he thinks to follow his Master going away as he followed him thither But if the report be true the dog comes short of his reckoning or rather doth much more than what he thinks he doth For when he thinks to follow him he doth his Master a better service he dieth for him who otherwise if the report be true as before could not have out-lived the boldness of his attempt A strange story but not of Josephus's contriving nor by Josephus only believed The very same as to the substance is recorded by Aelianus also De Histor animal lib. 14. cap. 27. more fully and as his manner is with studied elegancy He doth also give it another name taken from this very ceremony or action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is dog-drawn The Latin interpreter doth somewhat contract the relation for which I do not seeing he hath all the substance much blame him it being almost impossible to express all in another tongue without an unpleasing redundancy except the sweetness next unto sweet musick to curious ears of the collocution a grand mystery of the so much admired Sophisters or Orators of those times their Rhetorick as elsewhere I have declared at large could have been exhibited also But again Josephus saith the herb grew in Judea Democritus in Pliny saith in Arabia but this is easily reconciled and is done very fully by learned men and had Democritus said in Aegypt or Aethiopia there is enough besides to satisfie any man that Baaras was a known herb to those effects by him mentioned among men of that profession whom Josephus a learned pious man but herein too credulous but not the first or only pious and learned that hath been deceived in such accounted holy religious men but in very truth no better as how many at this day than cheaters and impostors to what they pretended by some others of those times who had considered of it better than Josephus rightly called praestigiatores and magi Now Josephus so far acquitted that he had no intention to deceive but was deceived himself by others if any will be so curious as to know what truth there is or then was for the reports concerning that herb that there is such an herb which for some kind of resplendency may be called Aglaophotis is by all Botanicks or Herbarists I have seen acknowledged And if it be a kind of Peony as is averred by divers which against the falling-sickness is known to be of excellent vertue it is less to be wondred that for this very reason it was first supposed to be of some vertue against Devils and Daemons the nature of this disease being somewhat extraordinary and by some formerly supposed to proceed from some extraordinary cause for which reason it was also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or morbus sacer the sacred disease and not only supposed to proceed but also certainly known sometimes to be accompanied with extraordinary supernatural effects yea plaâ—â—y Diabolical whereof I have given some instances in my Treatise of Enthusiasm So far the mistake then might be tolerable but for the rest the danger of plucking it out of the ground with the root and the means used to prevent it this by the experience of best Herbarists of these days being found false and fictitious we must look upon it as the meer invention of Magicians and Impostors to inhance the credit of their Drugs and to serve the Devil by the increase of
superstition whereof examples are so obvious in great Towns as London especially as no man needs to wonder at it BUT yet let us see what may be said even for that not altogether improbable perchance so they that are not so much experienced will the better know by this example how to examine the truth of things and to distinguish between certainty and probability or possibility Do not we to this day find things which they call Empirica and Specifica in the writings of very sober Physicians that may seem as strange As for example The rindes of the root of Elder pull'd off from the upper part shall purge by vomit from the lower by stools The brain of a Ram with some other ingredients a good medicine against madness provided that the Ram be a virgin Ram virginity an ordinary caution in diabolical exploits to blind the world as afterwards shall be observed and that his head be cut off at one blow I find this in Sennertus the other in Anatomia Sambuci printed in London where the Author thinks but doth not affirm that this happily may be ascribed to some Idiosyncracy either of the body of the patient or of the humor that causeth the disease or perchance to the strength of imagination And even Galen such an hater of all that resented of any superstition and rigid exacter of reason he recanted afterwards we shall shew but even whilest he was so in his Tenth book De compositione Pharmacorum where among others he doth set down a remedy against the stone in the bladder This remedy saith he must be prepared with a kind of religious observation For the ingredients must be beaten or bruised in a wooden-morter with a woodden-pestle and he that beats must not have any Iron about him either in his fingers or shooes And this he calls a mystery which he saith he learned from a Rustick But should I here take notice of those strange things and wonderful effects of herbs which no less a man than Matthiolus tells of in his Dedicatory Epistle to his Herbal for truth what hath been written of the herb Baaras would be acknowledged very credible in comparison I dare say Yet I believe our modern Herbarists that experience doth teach them the contrary Well but doth it follow necessarily that if it be not found so now therefore it was never so Yes if we stick to the true reall nature or natural effects of the Herb. But who knows but that the Devil might abuse the Magicians of those days in that kind making them believe that those strange effects for of that I make no question did proceed from the natural properties of the very herb thus and thus observed which doth not hold at this day as I dare say there be many superstitions about Herbs and Plants now in force among men of that wicked profession which were not known in former times There is nothing in all this but is very possible and if I said probable it might be justified But considering how many things in this kind are to be found in the books of old Magicians as Democritus and others which upon trial even in those days were found false and because we would not multiply wonders where there is no necessity that when there is as we conceive we may speak with more authority and be believed I shall rather stick to my former judgment that it was but a fiction of the Magicians of those days to add credit and reverence to their art BUT now I turn to the men of these times the wits as they call themselves and by some others for want of real wit and good learning are so called who because they believe nothing but what is palpable and visible deny therefore Spirits and all supernatural effects and consequently the truth of all relations wherein supernatural causes are ingaged what will these men say to this of Josephus That he did invent what he recordeth to have been done before such witnesses What reason can they give for such a senseless supposition Or that the eyes of so many were deceived who thought they saw what was not truly and really to be seen But then how deceived by what means natural or supernatural It poseth me to think what they can pretend why we should not believe Yet I will suppose that somewhat they will say if nothing else yet this that it is an old story and therefore they are not bound to believe it A worthy answer for men that pretend to reason But I will see if I can fit them with a later to the same purpose and as irrefragable as I account that old ANDREAS Laurentius a late and learned Physician well known to the world by his writings in his book De Strumis or Kings Evil printed in Paris Anno Dom. 1609 and dedicated to Henry the Fourth of late Glorious memory in his first book ninth Chap. where he treateth of the power of the Devil to cause or to heal diseases at large he hath there this story The most Christian King saith he the very same to whom the book is dedicated did see a Rustick or Country Clown who by the incense or smoak of a certain herb in a moment as it were would cure all that were sick of the Kings Evil. He made them vomit so that they did cast much pituitous stuff and with it certain little creatures which he said were the germina buddings or seminaries perchance of the disease This I have heard more than once from the Kings own mouth when he did enquire the reason from me Besides the King Monsieur de Lominie one of the Kings Privy Council Monsieur de Frontenae Francis Martell chief Chyrurgion to the King and divers others of the Kings bed Chamber did see the same I always was of opinion that it was done by the Devil Neither was I deceived in it for this Rustick some few days after vanished and from that time though by his friends and those of his house sought far and near was never heard of So he Good and unquestionable witnesses I hope the King and so many others of his Court men of credit and of all men the Chyrurgion at least best able to judge LET this be compared with Josephus his relation which shall we sâ—y is the strangest This I think What then shall we say is there any such thing in the world as Truth or such a thing in the Heavens Firmament as a Sun If so then let us account though strange yet not prodâ—gious those things which are known so often to happen but those men not so strange as prodigious who what all men see would make us believe they do not see or though they see yet will not believe BUT now we are upon it I will run through some other instances I shall not be long upon them but they shall be chosen instances that nothing may be left for the cure of those men a hard cure I must confess who love
more in their Athiesm and other wickedness or an act of his providence perchance to prevent the mischief that they would do had they such an assistant Whereof we have a notable example in that monster Nero who as Pliny relateth having with care and great longing applied himself to the best Magicians of his time yet God would not permit Pliny was not so well perswaded of the gods of his time as to say so but would not I say permit that they could do any thing before him for the credit of their profession whereby Nero grew very confident and upon that very ground many were then and have been since that there is no such thing as Magick and that all that professed it were but cheaters and impostors We might also say somewhat of Julian the Apostate one of the greatest followers of Magicians when Magick and Nâ—cromancy was in highest request that ever was as all writers Christians and others acknowledge Yet for all that how long he reigned and how he died we know But yet more particularly we have heard of one Bishop who sped as to this world wretched man in the hands or by the hands of a Witch But Bodinus will tell us of another Bishop whom he names with all his titles and dignities and he saith he was present with one Faber a learned Physician when one of that profession did take upon him to cure him of a Quartan Ague which nevertheless for all his confidence he could not do But this is but one for another because it offered it self so opportunely but I believe as I said before that many more without number miscarry either seeking to no purpose or when they have found whom to treat with finding themselves cheated and frustrated BUT to return to the relation it self wherein I would leave nothing disputable I observe in it an Image or picture of the party to be tormented made of wax I observe it because I know some who question not the power of Devils or Witches yet in this particular are not satisfied how such a thing can be For there is no relation or sympathy in nature saith one who hath written not many years ago between a man and his effigies that upon the pricking of the one the other should grow sick It is upon another occasion that he speaks it but his exception reacheth this example equally A wonder to me he should so argue who in many things hath very well confuted the incredulity of others though in some things too credulous himself If we must believe nothing but what we can reduce to natural or to speak more properly for I my self believe the Devil doth very little but by nature though to us unknown manifest causes he doth overthrow his own grounds and leaves us but very little of magical operations to believe But of all men Cardan had least reason to except against this kind of Magick as ridiculous or incredible who himself is so full of incredible stories in that kind upon his own credit alone that they had need to be of very easie belief that believe him especially when they know whereof more afterwards what manner of man he was But I dare say that from Plato's time who among other appurtenances of Magick doth mention these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as Ovid doth call them Simulachra cerea or as Horace cereas imagines who also in another place more particularly describes them there is not any particular rite belonging to that art more fully attested by Histories of all ages than that is Besides who doth not know that it is the Devils fashion we shall meet with it afterwards again to amuse his servants and vassals with many rites and ceremonies which have certainly no ground in nature no relation or sympathy to the thing as for other reasons so to make them believe they have a great hand in the production of such and such effects when God knows many times all that they do though taught and instructed by him is nothing at all to the purpose and he in very deed is the only agent by means which he doth give them no account of Bodinus in his Preface to his Daemonology relateth that three waxen Images whereof one of Queen Elizabeths of glorious memory and two other Reginae proximorum of two Courtiers of greatest authority under the Queen were found in the house of a Priest at Islington a Magician or so reputed to take away their lives This he doth repeat again in his second book Chap. 8. but more particularly that it was in the year of the Lord 1578. and that Legatus Angliae and many French-men did divulge it so but withal in both places he doth add that the business was then under trial not yet perfectly known I do not trust my memory I know my age and my infirmities Cambden I am sure I have read and read again but neither in him nor in Bishop Carletons thankful remembrancer do I remember any such thing Others may perchance Yet in the year 1576. I read in both of some pictures representing some that would have kill'd that glorious Queen with a Motto Quorsum haec alio properantibus which pictures were made by some of the conspiracy for their incouragement but intercepted and shewed they say to the Queen Did the time agree it is possible these pictures might be the ground of those mistaken if mistaken waxen Images which I desire to be taught by others who can give a better account MY next and last instance in this kind or matter of Cures shall be out of the Observationes Medicae of Henricus ab Heer 's Domestick Physician not many years ago to the Elector of Colen a man of no small credit in those parts among the better sort especially but no friend to Empericks among whom he reckoned Van Helmont as one of the chief But I shall not interpose my judgment in that Of Heer 's I dare say in general not to meddle with those things that properly belong unto a Physician to judge of that he doth write as a sober learned and which is the Crown of all pious man The subject of his eighth observation is a very strange story of a young maid that was bewitched by one of that wicked crew which being found by the consequents of the presence or absence of the Witch she was laid hold of arraigned and convicted and for that and many other things of the same nature done by her as she confessed deservedly put to death But with the Witch as she her self at her death had foretold it would be the pains of the miserable girle did not expire but continued at least one year after So long is expressed how much longer I know not Heer 's had the keeping of her a good part of the time In the mean time such strange things happened unto her and such strange things came out of her that her keeper did verily believe and did endeavour to perswade
declare durst mention such a book except such a one had been then extant in Galen's name or could be mistaken in his judgment concerning the Author whom he had read so diligently as by his writings doth appear So that even Valesius though he doth write against the opinion maintained by Trallianus yet he doth upon his authority yield it as unquestionable that such a book was then extant written by Galen As he so Fererius who hath written a Chapter of that argument and entituled it as Galen had his Treatise NOW because in those times most incantations used not only by the Jews but by Gentiles also as by Trallianus by Lucian by Origen and by others may appear had the name of Dominus Sabaoth as a chief ingredient it is observable that some godly Fathers who knew Christians had more right to that name than either Gentiles or Jews of those times had thought it no superstition to commend unto them the nomination of the Lord of Sabaoth upon such occasions not as an inchantment but a lawful prayer So doth Cyrillus Alexandrinus in his book De Adoratione Spirituali lib. 6. whose words perchance some might interpret as though he allowed those words to them that have faith as a lawful charm But what he writes in that very place against all kind of inchantments as unlawful and forbidden by God may sufficiently acquit him from any such intention But I cannot acquit Origen neither is it much material except I could acquit him of so many other pestilent errors wherewith he stands charged in the Ecclesiastical story and his books yet extant though much purged by Ruffinus the Latine interpreter proclaim him guilty of In his 20. Homily upon Josuah part of which in Greek is preserved in that Philocalia collected out of his works he doth very erroniously ascribe power to the very words and letters of ordinary charms for which he doth appeal to common experience and consequently would have the very letters or words of the Scripture in any language though not understood if but read and pronounced to be of great power and efficacy which as it is against the very principles of Natural Philosophy so against the determination of all sober Philosophers Physicians and Divines YET as there is nothing so uncouth or absurd but shall meet with a Patron so hath this opinion of the efficacy of bare sounds and letters met with some in our age as Thomas Bartholinus for one This Thomas Bartholinus one of the King of Denmarks Physicians the Author of many curious pieces if he be not either too credulous sometimes or too ambitious to be the reporter of strange things in his Centuriae Historiarum Anatomicarum rariorum upon the experience of some to whom he doth give credit doth maintain that the Epilepsie may be cured by charms and those charms upon a natural account of the causes not unlawful His reason I will not stand to examine I think they will not perswade very many besides those who think well enough of charms in general whatever it be that makes them effectual but would be glad to find a plausible pretence THIS mention of Bartholinus puts me in mind of a strange story I profess again seriously as I have done before this Discourse was never undertaken by me to tell the Reader strange stories though true which might have made it much more both easie and voluminous Yet the use that may be made of this in point of Credulity or Incredulity in case any such report as very probably may occur of any other place or Country besides what inferences or experiments may be made upon it for the publick good if this be true makes me take notice of it and the rather because having enquired of divers Travellers into those parts whom I have had the opportunity to consult about it I have not as yet met with any that could give me any account Now the story is this In Italy not above twelve leagues they reckon there by miles ordinarily but he saith 12. leucis near a Town or Village vulgarly known he saith by the name of Il Sasso in Latin Braccianum there is a Cave commonly called the Cave of Serpents Serpents at all times it seems but at some time of the year more certainly and solemnly frequent it in great number And then if any troubled and afflicted with any ordinary disease proceeding from a cold cause as the Palsie Leprosie Dropsie c come and lie down immovable which the better to do some take Opium beforehand Serpents will come about him and suck him or lick him till he be well He tells of more but of one Cardinal among the rest particularly who being desperately ill there recovered Many other things he tells of it which it seems with other company he went of purpose to see This upon the report of the Country people he more delivers of it which sounds somewhat of a fable that one of the Serpents Coronâ insignitus adorned with a kind of Crown as the governor of the rest useth to come out of his hole first and after diligent search if he finds all things safe gives notice unto the rest This if true may give light to some other story which as I said before made me the more willing to take notice of it BY this I hope yea and before this as I have said before but that I had some consideration of the good use that might be made of what did offer it self over above but now again by this I hope it will be granted by all that do not profess wilful incredulity and contradiction that many things happen supernaturally which are above the sphere and activity of the believed and beloved atomes and can be referred to no other cause but the operations of Daemons or evil Spirits which once secured Atheism hath lost its greatest prop and the mockers and scoffers of the time the chiefest object of their confidence and boasting which though not our immediate subject yet of purpose as before said did we make choice of such instances of Credulity and Incredulity that we might una fidelia as they say duos parietes and yet still according to my Title in this First Part have I kept within the bounds of things Natural which by many according to the genius of the times are laid for a foundation of Atheism or at least for the undermining of Christianity which they that profess yet secretly endeavour to undermine deserve to be accounted the worst of Atheists I have now but a word or two concerning Divination and Prodigies in general because in all ages a main object of Credulity and Incredulity to add and then we shall see what observations more we can draw from the premised instances and so conclude which I begin to be weary of as much as any Reader can be this first Part. DIVINATION as it belongs unto God more properly nay unto God only if it be true divination that is such as
Kings order brought to Paris and by him bought to be kept in his Cabinet of rarities as the very bones of a Gyant This Riolanus doth not deny Peireskius that great and famous Antiquary upon accurate examination of all circumstances did at first pass his verdict that probably they might be true bones of some great Gyant of the old time but afterwards did rather incline to think them the bones of an Elephant Riolanus after some conjectures doth pitch upon that at the last to make them fossilia bred and begot in the earth because saith he it is the property of some grounds to produce some bony stones or stony bones which have all the properties of true bones Or that they might be made by art which may be done he saith and in time thus metamorphosed by the water He hath more conjectures but in this particular case for as to the nature of the Fossilia in general and the marvellous works of nature in this kind I believe much but in this particular case in my judgment so improbable that it doth to me clearly appear that he had more will to oppose others than ability to give better satisfaction himself His exceptions from the dimensions or properties of the bones as first related I shall not take upon me to examine or to control it is not my trade Only I can say there might be some mistake in the relation or somewhat besides the ordinary course of nature which doth happen we know sometimes I my self when I was young did see a grave in Spittle-fields two or three days after it was opened The skull was broken in pieces by him that digged the ground and the pieces scattered and some carried away But by some pieces that were found and put together the whole skull by the Kings appointment as I was told being drawn out according to art did equal a bushel in the compass of it So I was told and I think by one of the Court and a Scholar but I am not certain I my self was then sick of a disease which I think caused more wonder than the Gyants bones It was but a pin but a very costly pin it proved in the compass of seven years for so long it was not before it came out of my body but before my body was well of it so that I was seldom out of the Chirurgeons hands But Physicians I thank God cost me little Sir Theod. Mayerne and Dr. Raphael Thoris I had in London where most of my sickness was who were my very good friends as they had been my Fathers But to return I had some of the Coins that were found in this Spittle-field's Grave But that other Grave is my business That that Grave should be the Grave of Teutobochus that Gyant or Gyant-like man mentioned by divers Ancients who according to Peireskius his casting must have been some 10. or 12. foot high according to an old inscription pretended to be found in the said grave besides other reasons that have been given I less believe it for that very inscription which I am sure cannot be of that antiquity except we should say that such a grave being digged up many hundred years ago which by a constant tradition or by some much worn inscription did appear to be Teutobochus his grave to increase the miracle of his height and bigness it was of purpose so re-built and the inscription also according the wit and genius of that age so renewed This is possible a man may say and somewhat of that nature I am sure hath been done in more than one age Witness the old Statues which with changing of their heads became the Statues of divers men or perchance of Gods and Men successively and many other things done in that kind which I will not stop to call to mind because there is no need except I had more confidence that it is so indeed I shall conclude nothing but as I begun when I have well considered of all particulars in the relation of these bones what I account certain in it what doubtful and perchance fabulous and read what others have thought and written of it and not of this only but of many such relations of graves and bones well attested I am at a stand and suspend my belief But therefore to conclude that all such relations are false because we cannot absolutely resolve or answer all doubts and Queres I hold that a very preposterous way and very unworthy the profession of a Philosopher or one that seeks after truth time may reveal many secrets which are now hid and diligent searching may find some but well agreeing with the dull and sottish Epicuraean humour which to prevent the trouble of inquiry and withal fearing that we may be forced sometimes to go to a higher cause than the sanctuary of Atomes hath found a compendious way to reject all as fabulous any evidence of truth to the contrary notwithstanding which it cannot give a reason of We have their own words out of Lucian a great friend if not professor of the Sect in our Preface to Dr. Dâ—e's Plato therefore said well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that To wonder and to admire was a quality that well became a Philosopher and was indeed the beginning and foundation of all Philosophy And so Aristotle too more than once very rightly For to wonder and admire doth cause inquiry and diligence it also sharpens the wit and brain But to believe nothing true that is strange and admirable doth well become such infidels who make their ease and their pleasure their God If any except that rather to wonder little Nil admirari the Poet saith may become a Philosopher better as he whose work is to dive into the causes of things which cause wonder to the ignorant that may be true too rightly understood since that not to wonder or to wonder but little is the fruit of having wondred much and that too from Aristotle that true master of reason indeed a title lately usurped by some who have as little right to it as any men of the world I think 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what if the deceitfulness of men more than the obscurity of nature or any other cause be the cause of our admiration That also must upon such occasions among other things be remembred and those Etruscae Antiquitates before spoken of may serve for a pregnant example what pains some men though they get nothing by it will take to contrive a cheat and what admiration they cannot by true to raise it by false miracles What if some men though they cannot contrive any thing that will be ripe to work whilest they live yet can be so base and unworthy as to solace themselves whilest they live with the presumption of deluded posterity by their means So indeed it might happen that four or five hundred years before that grave was opened in Daulphine some such conceited man if man to be called and not Devil rather