habet de Magia that is Astrology that is not mixed nor intermeddleth with Magicke Wherby is necessarily concluded that Astrology may be and sometimes is impure and defiled with Magicke and Sorcerie In other places of the same worke he maketh a difference betweene Astrologers simply and such as with Astrologie ioined Magicke And out of Brentius he reciteth these words Non negat Hierimias eam partem Astrologiae quae sequitur manifest as naturae rationes that is the Prophet Ieremy doth not deny or condemne that part of Astrology which is guided by manifest reason or cause in nature Hereby then is vnauoidably concluded that the Prophet of God cōdemneth that part of Astrology which exceedeth causes reason in nature that necessarily must needs be Sorcery and Magicke As it is not obscure that some men vnder the colour of Astrology haue practised Magicke and Sorcery so is it no lesse euident that many others vnder the pretense of aduising and counselling in Physicke of curation or prognostication of diseases haue likewise exercised the same diuelish practice That this hath beene no new vpstart custome the multitude of diseases which ancient times doe register to haue been cured by enchaunted Spels and words and Magicke skill doth plentifully witnesse The most ancient father of all Physicke and Physicions the in comparable worthy founder of Method and Art Hippocrates Dioscorides Theophrastus with other succeeding Ancients do generally all acknowledge the force and power of Magicall curation Galen in his younger time gaue no credit thereto but in the more aged experience of right obseruatiō he doth acknowledge it I will not stuffe this small Treatise with the particular citation of euery Author Later Physicians also of the best and most choyse note doe herein with former ages consent and concurre and experience doth confirme all truth in both Whosoeuer is acquainted with books and reading shal euery where meet a world of the wonders of cures by words by lookes by signes by figures by characters and ceremonious rites As what the practice of former ages hath beene is manifest so what our age and later time doth herein afford is almost no where in this kingdome obscure The neerest vnto that impudence which here in this our time doth produce and set forth is that history of a Germane Witch reported in the Malleus Maleficarum There was as the Author of that worke sayth sometime a Sorceresse in Germany who vsually cured not only all that were bewitched but all kinde of diseased people so farre beyond all power or course of Art and Nature and with such facility that all vse of the Art of Physicke or of Physicions was altogether for a time neglected and forsaken while people from all Countries both neere and remote in such numbers and frequence resorted vnto her that the Gouernour of that Countrey imposing vpon euery man one penny that resorted vnto her thereby raised himselfe a mighty treasure What others among the most ancient Authors that are not Physicians do publish concerning the power of incantations in the curing of diseases is needlesse to write Hee that hath read any few lines of old Homer or of diuers other aged Poets shall finde plentifull record hereof Herodotus is not silent herein But to omit all their needlesse testimonies Physicians of these last times of the most eminent note worth whose pennes are yet scarce drie doe witnesse the truth hereof from their owne knowledge sight and experience Aboue the rest Fernelius de Abditis rerum causis is worthy any mans paines or view Let vs now lastly see what may bee collected out of the booke of God concerning the power of the Diuell in curing diseases from whom all these inferiour Agents Witches and Sorcerers do deriue their power and skill If it bee in his power where God doth permit to induce diseases it must needes be in his power to cease or calme diseases because both causing and curing consist in the vertue and force of the same meanes He therefore that knoweth how and by what cause the disease is induced doth necessarily vnderstand that by the remouall of that cause it is cured and according to that rule can equally as well by the remouall of that cause cure as by the induction of the cause bring sickenesse For this reason it is a maxime in Physicke infallible that hee is the most excellent Physician who knoweth best the causes of diseases and who vpon the knowledge of their true causes doth found the right method of their curation That the Diuell doth both know the causes of diseases and also how by them to procure and produce diseases is manifest by the history of Iob vpon whom hee brought that grieuous generall botch and byle ouer all his body Iob. chap. 2. verse 7. That he did this by the force of causes in nature must needes be euident first because hee is a creature and subiect and limited by nature vnto and within her lists and therefore is not able absolutely and simply without causes and meanes in nature to produce any effects in nature although our ignorance of his power and knowledge because it so farre excelleth our power or nature doth call all his workes iustly supernaturall Secondly for that byles and botches are knowne naturall diseases and therefore had naturall causes although haply vnknowne to any man and beyond the nature of knowledge or skill in man These reasons of the Diuels impossibility to worke those effects without nature are thus yet more briefly and cleerely made infallible Of nothing simply to produce any thing vnto a true being and existence is the sole and proper worke of an infinite Creator and impossible vnto any creature Therefore the Diuell being a creature could not bring those diseases vpon Iob but by created meanes preexisting in created nature in which he is contained and limited And thus much concerning that kinde of Witch and Sorcerer which is enquired at concerning the curing and issue of diseases which we will conclude with this note that all learned men of the best experience haue obserued that in those cures by Witches and Sorcerers the Diuell hath neuer perfectly healed but for a time or els where he hath seemed most perfectly to cure it hath been for a reseruation of the body by him cured vnto a greater and further mischiefe in time to succeede Besides this kind of Witch by meanes vnknown to man or by a supernaturall vertue in knowne means aboue beyond their nature vndertaking to cure the sick or to foretell the euent and issues of diseases there is also another kind which doth vndertake to bee enquired at for extraordinary reuelation of such diseased persons as are bewitched or possessed by the Diuell This kinde is not obscure at this day swarming in this kindom wherof no man can be ignorant who lusteth to obserue the vncontrouled liberty license of open ordinary resort in all places vnto wise-men
man sodainely surprised with an extraordinarie ordinarie fashion or shape of madnesse or phrensie wherein he vttered and reuealed things hidden and of profound science and reuelation not onely aboue the pitch and power of naturall capacitie and the forgerie of fained extasie but really in true and vpright iudgement and vnpartiall discerning beyond all question and exception supernaturall The sequel after made it good These examples are sufficient vnto men that are wise and with whom reason hath authoritie I doe not affect vnaduised multiplication herein suspecting many histories and reports of diuers Authors The possibilitie of those which are here produced beside the vnstained credit of the Author is apertly confirmed by the holy Scripture where in the Lunatike the Diuell manifested himselfe by actions onely proper and appropriate vnto the power of a Spirit such was his casting the Lunatike into the fire and into the water his violent rending and tearing him which were things impossible vnto the power and nature of the Lunatike himselfe or of his disease alone The man possessed among the Gadarens Math. 8. Mark 5. Luk. 8. likewise doth establish the same who was knowne and seene euidently not to be simply or solely diseased by those vndoubted workes and that finger of the Diuel when he easily brake in peeces those iron chaines wherewith the Lunatike was bound so that no force thereof whatsoeuer could hold or binde him as also when he vttered and spake that more then humane vnderstanding and reuelation of Iesus Christ to be the Sonne of God a knowledge as yet vncommunicated vnto mankinde and vnto reason impossible Concerning the second way of detection subiect vnto the Physicion alone namely when naturall remedies aptly applyed are attended with supernaturall consequences contrary to their nature or aboue the same out of the former Author and fore-named place there is an example also without farther straggling of vnquestioned estimation A certaine man there mentioned vehemently burning and thirsting and by intolerable heate compelled to seeke any mitigation or extinction of his heate and thirst in want of drinke or other fitting liquor happened to finde an Apple in the moisture and naturall iuice whereof hoping the vsuall short refreshing of the tongue he after the first tasting thereof immediately found not onely that which was contrarie to the nature of an Apple greater burning and thirst then before but had instantly his mouth and iawes so fast closed and sealed vp thereby that he hardly escaped strangling The reasonable doubt of the latitation of the Diuel in this faire harmelesse and vsuall remedie of the tongues thirst and drinesse was afterward made more euident and manifest by the sodaine and swift obsession of his minde with frightful visions wherof as in the disposition temper substance or qualitie of his braine or body there was no ground or cause so in the Apple it selfe was no other pernicious mixture but that the Diuel as with Iudas Sop though wholesome and sauing in it selfe so in this medicinall fruit entred and possessed where God permitted The like may be said of other both outward inward remedies which by a Magick power are and may be oft interrupted turned and bent vnto a vse contrarie to their nature For this cause Hyppocrates himselfe in his booke de sacro morbo de natura muliebri doth acknowledge many accidents as also diseases and remedies themselues to be diuine as hauing their cause and being aboue the course of nature When therefore fitting vnto any cause matter or humour in the body according to true Art and Reason discouered apt and fit remedies are aptly fitly by the iudicious Physicion applyed notwithstanding contrary to the nature and custome of such remedies they haue extraordinary vnusuall and iustly wondred effects is there not iust matter of doubt concerning an vnusuall and an extraordinarie cause answerable thereto The deepe and mysticall contingents in this kinde and their hidden reason and cause the vnlearned man or hee that is not exercised in difficult discoueries cannot discerne nor can the intricate and perplexed implications therein of doubts and ambiguities possibly become intelligible in euery ordinary apprehension yet by the former easie and familiar example euery man may gesse and coniecture at the most abstruse The subtilty of the Diuell doth easily deceiue a vulgar thought and in the cloudes and mists of doubts and difficulties beguileth vsually the dimme sight and disquisition The learned Physicion notwithstanding possessing true iudgement and learning who doth and can warily obserue and distinguish first the wonders of nature vnknowne vnto euery mediocrity of knowing secondly the true wonders aboue nature in due collation with nature to bee knowne doth not easily or rashly with vulgars erre or runne mad in the confusion of vaine and idle scruples The wonders of nature are such naturall diseases as are seene in their wondred and admired shapes or mixture to haue a great likenesse or deceiuing identity with such maladies as are inflicted by the Diuell The wonders aboue nature are such diseases as are truly and vndoubtedly knowne and proued to haue no consistence or power of consistence or cause in sublunary nature Of the first I will heere cite no particular examples because I haue both formerly in a former Manuall deliuered briefly some of their generall descriptions denyed by no man that in ancient time was or at this time is a iudicious and learned Physician as also diuers of their particular Histories in the persons of some sicke men knowne vnto my selfe Of the second it is heere needlesse to propound any more particulars then those aboue mentioned which I esteeme for the generall illustration sufficient In true and right decision distinction of the one from the other multiplicity of consideration and circumspection ought diligently attend the intricate maze and labyrinth of error and illusion in their deceiueable likenesses whereby the Diuell for his owne aduantage and the perdition of seduced and beguiled men doth sometimes cunningly hide his owne workes and the diuelish practices of Witches and Sorcerers from their due detection and punishment sometimes to insnare the guiltlesse and innocent doth iugglingly seem to do those things which Nature doth iustly challenge not as his but as her owne in iust ballance weighed It is most certaine that the Diuell cannot possibly mixe himselfe or his power with any inferior nature substance or body but the alteration by the coniunction of so far discrepant natures in the vnchangeable decree of the vniuersall nature of all things necessarily and vnauoidably produced must needs witnes and manifestly detect it in the great and mighty oddes This is very euident and apparent in all the supernaturall workes of the Diuell before mentioned in the generall discourse of this small Treatise or worke whether such as were declared manifest to sense or such as were euident to reason whether such as were affected by the Diuell himselfe with the consent or contract of a Sorcerer or Witch
one cannot bee diuided or is indiuisible foure is more then two Likewise in Physicke these Euery man is sicke or healthful or a neuter Contraries are cured by contraries as heat by cooling cold by heating moysture by drying drynesse by moysting As in these named Sciences so in all other there are the like generall notions immediatly at the first viewe proouing themselues vnto the vnderstanding and euery man in common sense and reason immediatly consenteth vnto their truth and he that denieth it or seeketh proofe thereof is esteemed iustly madde or voyd of reason There are other things also subiect vnto the vnderstanding only which do not immediatly vpon the first view or consideration as the former proue themselues but are proued by others more cleere and euident then themselues as this proposition The motion of the heauens is not infinite This is not manifest vnto euery man at first view but requireth another more manifest then it selfe to make it manifest then it selfe to make it manifest thus That which hath a certaine limitted course circumuolution and motion cannot be infinite but Astronomie for many thousands of yeares hath discouered the courses periods reuolutions and set perambulations of the heauens and therfore the motions of the heauens cannot be infinite It may here easily be obserued how the first position being vnable to proue it selfe but another more manifest doth giue it light and doth deduce it vnto that which doth so immediately proue it selfe vnto common sense and reason and obseruation of all ages and times that no idiot can be ignorant or will deny it Thus hath been manifested how some things are immediately vnderstood in the very first consideration and view some are proued by themselues some not proued by themselues but made euident by others As many things are in the former kindes and seuerall manners manifested and euidently proued vnto Reason Sense or vnderstanding so are there many things neither by themselues nor by other euident neither to the vnderstanding and reason nor to the outward sense at the first apparent but remaine ambiguous and doubtfull In these things certainety of knowledge by manifest proofe failing there remaineth no other refuge but prudent and artificiall coniecture narrowly looking and searching thorow probabilities vnto the neerest possibilitie of truth and certainty From hence doe arise excellent vses and benefits vnto vnderstanding though not so farre forth ofttimes gained as is defired vnto all priuate ends yet so farre forth as maketh wise and vnderstanding men excell and shine before others Hence it commeth to passe that in doubtfull cases counsels and attempts one man is seene and knowne to ouershine an other as much as the glorious Sunne doth his ecclipsed sister the Moone Hence haue issued so many noble and heroike Vertues Sagacitie exquisitnes of iudgement Prudence Art in the administration of high affaires For although in probabilities are no euident certainties yet doe they so farre forth oft-times aduantage and aduance vnto the knowledge of certainety that it is almost equall vnto certainty and doth perswade and settle discreete resolution and disposition in all affaires In this consisteth the height the top the summe of Art and the perfection of all humane knowledge aboue or beyond which no man could euer soare or leuill By this light onely the former mentioned meanes failing is oft times gained much excellence of natural knowledge to man beyond and without which the eye and sight of knowledge in man is sealed vp his vnderstanding darkned and cannot know many hidden things And thus to him that rightly doth meditate and consider it is vndoubtedly cleere and certaine how the Creator and infinite Prince of all principles hath founded the beginning end the power and posse of all knowledge vpon one of the former waies of inuestigation beside which there is no naturall knowledge to be expected Philosophie as yet neuer found other* waies vnto that infinite number of all Arts and Sciences so admirably flourishing thorow so many ages of the world For this cause the most excellent prime Philosopher Aristotle reiecteth whatsoeuer cānot be found by Sense or proued by reason as spurious Likewise Ptolomie hath bounded the true Art of Astronomie within fatum Physicum within a necessitie in Nature and to distinguish it from superstition wherwith curiositie vsually defileth or intangleth it doth limit it intra conuenientem natura modum that is within proportion and measure answerable to Reason and Nature For this cause also all true Philosophers haue determined the two onely instruments of all true Arts to bee Reason and Experience which Galen doth call the two legges wherevpon the Art of Physike doth consist And therefore in the second chapter of his Finitiones medicae he saith Optimus is est Medieus qui omnia in Medicina recta agit ratione that is hee who doth all things in his subiect of Physike according to right rule of reason is the most excellent Physicion From hence also all true Artists haue defined Art to bee Habitus cum ratione factiuus that is a settled habilitie and promptnesse of action and operation according to reason Vpon this ground others haue built other true rules and obseruations concerning true and lawfull Arts. Therefore saith Galen ars non est exijs quorum neutiquam est potestas Isagog cap. 5. that is Art is not of such things as cannot be accomplished Which is worthy noting to distinguish prestigious and supposed Arts from true Art To this others likewise haue added another obseruation that is that Art is imployed about such things as are in reason profitable and not vaine So saith Scaliger exercit 37. Sect. 31. Ars non est de rebus inutilibus It is yet further obserued vpon the same ground that true Art doth not confound or cloud it selfe in mists but reduceth vnto order light and reason things dissipate confused and out of order and reason as Cicero affirmeth Ars res diuulsas dissolutasque conglutinat ratione quadam constringit Vpon the same grounds diuers renowmed common weales haue expelled all false and forged Arts as Necromancy Aeromancy Geomancy with other sortiligious Diuinations Vpon the same reasons diuers Emperors Kings Kingdomes and Lawes haue exploded censured and condemned all such as vnder pretext of the wholesome Arts of Astronomy Mathematikes and the like haue runne into foolish curiosities impostures and deceitfull practices Iustinian the Roman Law-giuer and Emperour his lawes are extant to this purpose Likewise Tiberius his Decrees for the expulsion of counterfeit Mathematicians and Magicians And Vlpian in his booke de Mathematicis Maleficis testifieth the publication of their goods and their inhibition by the Emperors from communion with other Citizens so much as in fire or water And as Reason good Lawes Kingdomes Nations and Common-weales haue distinguished ingenuous liberal true and profitable Arts and Sciences builded vpon reason truth and vnderstanding from base ignoble vnprofitable needlesse curious and erronious Arts so hath the holy
want of sleepe drinesse thirst paines in diuers parts sides ribbes backeand belly What disease or diseases here are can neither be manifest to sense distracted in this confusion multitude and concurrence of accidents nor yet be euident to reason at the first view because it requireth so different consideration and deuided contemplation of so many seuerals apart Here then it remaineth that learned iudicious prudent and discreete artificiall coniecture proceed exactly to distinguish and analise as followeth All the forenamed paines distempers and accidents may indifferently arise either from the Longs inflamed or the Liuer or the Midriffe or the Pleura because any one of these by it selfe doth vsually bring forth all or most part of them Heere then prudent artificiall and exquisite perpension doth exactly valew and esteeme all the different manners quantities qualities positions and situations of pains likewise accidents motions times manners of motion caracters orders and all other both substantiall and circumstantiall considerations And first as touching the feuer head-ache thirst idlenesse of braine because they are common to many other diseases besids these require no curious but a more carelesse and common respect prudent circumspect coniectation doth leaue their needlesse confusion of more vsefull and needfull perpension and doth more narrowly search about those accidents which are more inseparable proper and peculiar vnto the diseases named and by exact disquisition in their indifferencies doth notwithstanding sift out their hidden and secretly couched differencies by which in exact view they are found and distinguished sufficiently differing The inseparable accidents which doe peculiarly or for the most part accompany the diseases before named that is the inflammation of the Longs the Liuer the Midriffe and the Pleura are cough shortnesse of winde spitting of bloud paines about the ribbes sides belly which in all these named diseases more or lesse are present either primarily or by consent of one part with another These though seldome absent from most of the foure former diseases and therefore not easily distinguished when they proceed from th' one or th' other yet rightly weighed and accurately considered in their seuerall manners measures and right positions in euery one when a part and single they doe likewise in their confused mixture one with another yeeld distinct and seuerall difference to him that in a iudicious and discerning thought doth beare their iust distinctions apart For illustration spitting of bloud is vsually a companion to all or most of the foure named diseases but in one in lesse quantity in another more in one after one manner in another after another in one by vomiting in another by expectoration and in another by coughing in one with much expuition in another with little in one with danger of strangulation and suffocation in another without in one with thicknesse blacknesse and small quantity of bloud in another with thinnesse brightnesse of colour and more quantity and in one of these also with lesse and in another with more difficulty and labour Shortnesse of winde or difficulty of breathing is a common companion to all the named diseases but in one with frequent expuition in another without and where with expuition in one with more facility in another with difficulty in one with one manner of distension of the instruments of respiration in another with another in one kinde of difficulty of respiration more frequent in another lesse in one more grieuous in another tolerable The like may be sayd of coughing and pains Coughing in one of the forenamed diseases is with much in another with little and in another with no expuition at all in one continuall in another with intermission in one with intension in another with remission in one loud in another stil and where with expectoration in one of one colour and quantity in another of another and in another of none at all in one easie gentle free and without paine in another grieuous and painfull yea suffocatory and neere to strangle Paine likewise is a common companion to al the mentioned diseases but distinguished in th' one and the other by the manner nature and situation of the seuerall parts which apart in euery one it possesseth and also by the different oddes fashions and kindes of paine some being sharp some dull some quicke some slowe some with dissension some with punction some with heauinesse and sensible weight some more grieuous to the Patient lying some to him sitting or standing some more calme in one position of the body and some in another And thus prudent and skilfull coniecture by due and diligent perpension comparing together oddes and exactly referring vnto true discerning the seuerall properties and differences of accidents their manners proportions and other due circumstances doth in the end reduce euery accident to his right disease and euery disease to his right cause whereby the prudent and iudicious Physicion doth cleerely vnderstand directly and timely to apply proper and pertinent remedies And thus in doubtfull cases which are neither euident to Reason nor manifest to Sense in the Art and exercise of Physike it is manifest how solert and accurate coniectaon through the clouds and mists of ambiguities doth in the end so cleerely send forth and giue so faire a light that doubt it selfe doth become out of doubt and is little inferiour vnto certaine and plaine demonstration As a short summe of all that hath been said whatsoeuer hath beene declared of diseases the same may bee propounded concerning their issues very briefely The issues of all diseases are either informed from Sense or euident by reason or scrutable by artificiall coniecture Examples of the first kinde are manifest when with our eyes we behold the motion and Sense externall and other outward functions of the body either abolished or in an high degree depriued of their power and naturall vse This certaine testimonie of our sight doth certainely informe the vnderstanding concerning the dangerous issue Examples of the second kinde are manifest likewise when we finde either the causes of diseases vnremoueably fixed or the disease it selfe rooted in the substance of any of the principall parts or accidents in malignitie vehemence and fury irresistable In these cases a doubtful and hard issue is euident to Reason by iust consequent Examples of the latter kinde are also apparent when in diseases good and euill signes are so doubtfully mixed that some promise Life others as much threaten Death some in number discourage other some in worth as much as incourage We do oft see and know in the middest of this mist and darknes where there appeareth not to a common sense so much as the least shew of any indication of certaine issue yet through the exquisitenesse of prudent and artificiall perpension and due exact distinction in the fore-mentioned seeming inscrutable oddes the learned Physicion euen in the first scarce sensible budding of indication and in the first most imperfect and scarce-being being thereof doth oft discouer that true euent
which vsually and for the most part is seene and obserued to come to passe If any man not rightly apprehending reason make a doubt or question of any such possible exquisitnes let him consider and behold it by an easie example In an inequalitie of one and the same Vermiculant pulse where the beginning of the same distension is quicker the next continuation or middle part is flower and the beginning of the end thereof ending almost before it begin it must needs be very difficult nay almost impossible vnto the first view of Sense or Reason or to a common iudgement or learning to diuide really and distinguish this one short small motion into two or three distinct times and parts of motion the space so very short the faculty of mouing so low and weake and the mouing it selfe almost altogether in an insensible exiguitie and an indiuisible degree of lownesse We see oft-times a common vulgar cannot in his reason conceiue it much lesse by his sense at all perceiue it Neither is it found easie to euery man though learned therein yea or educate thereto either perfectly to apprehend the general Idea of such a motion or at all in the first proofes and tryals of his sense or hand to deprehend any particular Notwithstanding the Physicion that exquisitely discerneth and iudgeth doth both in reason see that euery single smallest motion hath his diuers distinct diuision of parts and also by his discerning wary iudicious and exercised touch doth apertly detect and discouer it And thus hath been proued by seuerall instances taken in the Art of Physike in steade of all other Arts and Sciences for auoiding tediousnesse and confusion that all knowledge all Art all Science whatsoeuer giuen vnto man hath no other entrance meanes or wayes thereto but thorow Sense or Reason or prudent and artificiall coniecture sagacitie and exquisitenesse of iudging and discerning thereby And that it may the better appeare that beyond these waies and lights the Physicion cannot sinde any knowledge or discouery of Diseases let vs view some particular examples of some Diseases for this cause vndiscouerable and not to be detected and therewith consider the impossibilitie of discouerie to consist solely herein namely for that they are remoued from any capacitie of Sense or Reason and from the reach of all artificiall search scrutiny and accurate insight deriued from both which is the highest straine of humane Vnderstanding In the generall it cannot be denied except of such whose vnderstandings are extremely blinde that it is impossible that those diseases should or can bee at all so much as suspected and therefore much lesse knowne which yeeld no shew no signe no indication of themselues There needeth hereof no other nor better proofe then the enumeration of some particular diseases of this kinde Are not diuers secret and hidden Apostemations other inward collections of vicious matter in the body dayly Seminaries of vnexpected and wondred shapes of corruption and putrifaction which lying long hidden in the body and by an insensible growth taking deepe roote in the end sodainely breake forth beyond all possible expectation or thought of the most excellent exquisie and subtill circumspection and disquisition For a briefe confirmation hereof Hollerius doth mention a man the cause of whose disease while he liued being vnknowne to Physicions and Art after his decease his guts were found gangrened and perished and therein things viewed like vnto Water-snakes and his Liuer full of schirrose knots There happened vnto my selfe this yeere last past a Patient a very worthy Gentleman who being extremely vexed with the Strangury Disurie and Ischurie together with pissing of blood in great abundance and the stone who by the vse and accommodation of remedies found much ease mitigation of paines and qualification of the extremitie of all the former accidents Notwithstanding for that there were certaine indications of an Vlcer in the body or capacitie of the Bladder his recouerie was not expected but after his decease in the dissection of his body his Bladder was found rotten broken and black without any manifest matter therin as cause thereof or so much as one stone although hee had formerly and immediately before auoided many stones at seuerall times This I produce being fresh in memory as an instance of impossibilitie of knowledge vnto a Physicion in many and frequent cases For how could the fracture or colour of his Bladder while the Patient was liuing by any exquisitenesse of Art or vnderstanding be knowne in any possibilitie meanes or power of man although all the other accidents aboue mentioned were vndoubtedly by certaine indications and signes discouered I might here deliuer many other like Examples out of mine owne knowledge I will onely call to remembrance one more I was of late yeares Physicion vnto a right Noble Lady the cause of whose apparent dangerous estate diuers learned and famous Physicions conioyned with my selfe could neuer discouer In the dissection of her body after her decease her heart was found inclosed with a shining rotten gelly and the very substance of the heart of the same colour In the same Lady an intolerable paine about the bottome of her stomack by fits depriued her of all ease by day and of rest by night and could neuer be either knowne in the cause or remoued in the accident by any meane or remedy but after death in the dissection of her body before mentioned a black round gelly as bigge as a Tenice ball did manifest it selfe in that place where in her life the intolerable paine was seated and fixed Of this euill discoloration of her heart of the matter and euill colour of that matter wherewith her heart was inuironed as also of that collected gelly in her stomake what possible knowledge thinke you or exquisite vnderstanding or art of man could euer in her life time giue any notice or information Like vnto this is that which Hollerius in the 21. of his rare obseruations doth mention In a sicke man perplexed in a strange manner from an vnknowne cause in his life after his death his liuer and epiploon did appeare corrupted and putrified his stomake toward the bottome bruised and full of blacke iuice or humour Christophorus Sillineus opening the body of a childe after death reporteth that he saw in the small veines running thorow the substance of the liuer many small scrauling wormes then liuing Beniuenius doth make mention of a woman tormented grieuously by a needle in her stomake which was impossible by any art or exquisitnesse of vnderstanding to be conceiued or suspected if nature it selfe working it out thorow the body and substance of the stomake vnto the outward view and sense had not so discouered it I will not here mention the generation of worms stones and the like in the guts gall heart longs and other parts of which no art or excellence of knowledge can possibly take notice vntil they haue proued themselues vnto the sight Many diseases of these kindes
being fearefull and terrible accidents and afflictions vnto the body yet for the most part are neuer detected because they haue not onely no proper true certaine likely but no possible meanes or way of indication or notice at all in any reason or vnderstanding of humane Art or Science without which the most exquisite and Scientifical Clarkes are altogether disabled and must necessarily be ignorant Thus hath been at large manifested that nothing can bee vnto the Physician in his Art and Science knowne which either by outward sense or inward is not apparent or by likely and artificiall coniecture from both is not detected or discerned The like might be vrged concerning the trials of lawe and iustice and inquisitions of offences and errors against the law which are the diseases of a Common-weale as the former of the body of man Many offences against the law are apparent vnto the outward sense as sight or hearing and therefore being witnessed by hearers or beholders are without doubt or difficulty immediately dispatched sentensed and adiudged Many also are euident to reason which therefore are held and reputed inuincibly and infallibly to to conuince Many offences also there are neither manifest to sense nor euident to reason against which onely likelihood and presumptions doe arise in iudgement whereby notwithstanding through narrow search and sifting strict examination circumspect and curious view of euery circumstance together with euery materiall moment and oddes thorowly and vnto the depth and bottome by subtil disquisition fadomed the learned prudent and discerning Iudge doth oft detect and bring vnto light many hidden intestine and secret mischiefes which vnsensibly and vnobseruedly would otherwise oppresse and subuert the Common-weale When by none of these wayes of extrication the truth can possibly be gained the wise and vpright Iudge vnto necessity in want of due warrant vnto iust proceeding doth with patience and sobriety submit For this cause as may bee seene vpon records many cases iustly necessarily and vnauoidably stand perpetually inscrutable vndecided and neuer determined as certaine proofes and euidences of the limitation and annihilation of mans knowledge in many things of this life Almighty God oft-times decreeing to hide some truth from the sight of man and detaining it in his owne secret will and pleasure CHAP. III. Whether Witch-craft haue any other wayes or meanes of inuestigation then these before mentioned and what is the true inuestigation IT hath been at large before declared how God and Nature haue limited and confined all knowledge of man within certaine waies and bounds out of which and beyond which it cannot passe as also for that cause that no iustifiable Art or true Science whatsoeuer doth or can exceede those restraints There haue been also diuers examples produced of the necessity of mans ignorance in the impossibility of much knowledge and discouery of things hidden and inhibited by the iust and vnsearchable decrees of God and Nature It remaineth now to enquire concerning one particular subiect of Witch-craft whether in the cōmon way of all other detections of truths it ought likewise consist orwhether by it selfe it haue other priuiledges beyond all other trials If reason be the sole eye and light of naturall vnderstanding which God hath giuen vnto reasonable man as is before proued If without it can be no naturall knowledge no Art no Science no discouery If lawe among all people and nations be so iust in all things as to do or allow nothing against true reason in which consisteth right If God himselfe and all flourishing Common-weales haue tyed men and lawes and the decision by them of all doubts questions and controuersies either vnto right proofe euidence and allegation according vnto reason or at least faire likelihood presumption and probabilitie and beyond these there neuer was is or can be any iust iudgement or triall How is it possible that man can attaine any knowledge of Witch-craft if not by those meanes by which only his nature is capable of whatsoeuer is allotted to be known thereto If this be infallibly true man must either by the former common wayes of knowledge and detection know likewise and detect Witch-craft or els bee altogether ignorant thereof whereof the contrary by daily experience is manifest It may bee and is obiected that it is a hard and difficult matter to detect Witch-craft by the former and ordinary courses as is oft seene and found apparent So is it likewise equally difficult and as hard by the same meanes oft-times for many a iust man to proue and cleere his opposed innocency and for many an iniuriously wronged wretch to proue his right to defend his goods yea life it selfe from violence notwithstanding this is no allowance vnto another way no reason or iustification of any vnwarranted way or way out of the way of Reason Iustice and Lawe be his burden neuer so importable or his iniury exceeding crueltie For if God had allowed vnto men alwaies smooth assured certaine and infallible wayes vnto the satisfaction of their wants and the accomplishment of their intentions desires without failing what would become of Religion Vertue and Wisedome Then should euery man be alike wise and men would be so confident in their own strength and power and so proud that they would forget God and neuer thinke of the Almighty If the meanes and waies vnto all knowledge and the information of our desires and affections did meet with no impediment no opposition no contradiction no casualty to intercept and all things should prosperously succeed vnto our means and endeuors there would neuer be any vse of Patience Temperance or dependance vpon the diuine prouidence and consequently little acknowledgement and lesse worship and adoration of our Creator who according to his wisedome good will and pleasure doth otherwise gouerne guide order and dispose all things For if vnto our supposed needfull ends vses and necessary desires were certaine and vncontrouled waies nothing impossible nothing denyed then were our lust a lawe and manin no power but in his owne in no awe in no lawe in no rule Therefore Almightie God in his great and vnspeakeable Wisedome hath subiected vaine man and made his pride subiect to infinite creatures limits restraints coertions thereby to teach him true wisdome piety trust dependance worship and adoration of his all-restraining all-limiting vnlimited power Man therefore must thereby learne to be contented so to know as therewith to learne to know himselfe that is with his large portion his lot his manifold indowments his excellencie of Sense Reason Vnderstanding Prudence Art not to forget or spurne at their interdictions prohibitions and inioyned lists beyond which to desire to know is curiositie is folly Sapientia vera Nolle nimis sapere saith the Poet. It is true Wisedome not to be too wise that is not to know nor desire to know more then is allowed or needfull needful not in our desires but Gods Decree Here then let me intreat reasonable men not too much as
of Pythagoras that hee was at once by seuerall parties seen in the very same point of time both in the Citie of Thurium and the towne of Metapontum Apollonius like wise was translated as it were in the twinkling of an eye or in the space of a word speaking from Smyrna vnto Ephesus as some histories report That the power by which these things were done was more then humane no Reason can doubt That also the voluntary accession of these mens disposing or apting thēselues vnto these works doth proue their consent and by consent societie with a Spirit who can doubt But here by the way is iust occasion offered vnto a question namely whether a Spirit or Diuell can cause or bring to passe that the same true body at once may be really in two distant places as it seemeth by this history of Pythagoras The answer hereto must needs in reason be negatiue because it is impossible in nature and in the ordinary vnchangeable course of all things by God created that one indiuiduall continued substance or entire thing should be wholly deuided from it selfe and yet be it selfe or possibly be twice or be in two places and yet bee but one and the selfe same thing Wee must therefore rather here thinke that the diuell is a Iuggler presenting the liuely shape pourtraiture of Pythagoras in one place and thereto haply by his supernaturall power adding a counterfait liuelihood of speech and gesture while the true substance is certainely and truely seene in another place That these like practises are vsuall with the diuell is apparent in many other kinds beside Did hee not vndertake Math. 4. verse 8. vnto wisedome it selfe our blessed Sauiour to shew vnto him all the Kingdomes of the earth a thing so farre out of his reach and compasse but only by a lying and iuggling vision If this he doth vnto the Sonne of God how shall the silly sonnes of sinfull men escape It is written by some Authors that the diuel hath perswaded some foolish Sorcerers and Witches that hee hath changed their bodies and substances into Catts Asses Birds and other creatures which really and indeed without illusion if it be not presumption to reason with the Diuell is impossible vnto him to doe For there can bee no reall or true transmutation of one substance or nature into another but either by creation or generation The one is the sole immediate hand of God communicable to no creature because there cannot be two Creators the other is naturall the finger-work and power of God in nature and proper to the nature of liuing animate creatures not to Angels or Spirits Againe creation is the worke of an infinite power and therefore of God alone because there can be but one Infinite whose nature containing all things and contained of nothing can admit no equall no second no other The Diuell then cannot create That likewise he cannot cause these transmutations by generation is as plaine and euident because a true and reall generation hath many precedent alterations and by little and little in space of time groweth vnto the perfection of that kinde vnto which it doth tend or is begotten but these seeming transmutations by the Diuell of the substances of Men into Cattes and the like are swift and sodaine in a moment and without preparation and therefore are no true but seeming and iuggling transmutations Here may be againe obiected that the Diuell is able to worke aboue the power of Nature and therfore beside and aboue the naturall course of generation hee is able to make these reall transmutations It is answered though the diuel indeed as a Spirit may do and doth many things aboue and beyond the course of some particular natures yet doth hee not nor is able to rule or commaund ouer generall Nature or infringe or alter her inviolable decrees in the perpetuall and neuer-interrupted order of all generations neither is he generally Master of vniuersall Nature but Nature Master and Commaunder of him For Nature is nothing els but the ordinary power of God in al things created among which the Diuell being a creature is contained and therefore subiect to that vniuersall power For this cause although aboue the power of our particular nature the Diuell as a Spirit doth many things which in respect of our nature are supernaturall yet in respect of the power of Nature in vniuersall they are but naturall vnto himselfe and other Spirits who also are a kinde of creature contained within the generall nature of things created Opposite therefore contrary against or aboue the generall power of Nature hee can do nothing Therefore to conclude this point hee cannot be able to commaund or compasse any generation aboue the power of Nature whose power is more vniuersall and greater then his We wil then hence conclude that aboue and beyond the vniuersall Nature and course of all generation hee cannot make a true transmutation of the substance of any one creature into another It was before proued that it is impossible for him to do it by creation It is here manifest that he cannot do it by any course of true generation There can be no reall transmutation of one substance into another without either a creation or generation Wee will therefore conclude with the saying of Saint Augustine de Ciuitate Dei lib. 18. cap. 18. Nec sane Daemones naturas creant sed specie tenus quae à Deo creata sunt commutant vt videantur esse quae non sunt that is diuels cannot create any nature or substance but in iuggling shew or seeming onely whereby with false shadowes and outward induced shapes couering those things which are created of God by these commutations they cause them to seeme that which they are not indeed Concerning other manifest iugglings and illusions of the Diuell diuers authors haue giuen diuers examples but that which aboue all the rest doth most palpably detect him herein is a history related by Ioannes Baptista Porta in his second booke de Magia naturali He there witnesseth that vpon the Diuels suggestion a Witch beleeued firmely and perswaded her selfe that all the night shee had rid in the ayre ouer diuers great Mountaines and met inconuenticles of other Sorceresses when the same night the mentioned Authour himselfe with others had watched and seene her all that imagined time of her transuectiō in the ayre to be within her chamber profoundly sleeping yea had smitten her made her flesh blue with strokes and could not awake her nor perswade her afterward when shee was awaked that they had so vsed her or at all had either seene or beheld her Thus preualent was the iuggling power of the Diuell S. Austine de Ciuitate Dei lib. 18. doth deliuer an History concerning the father of one Praestantius who lying in a deep traunce so profoundly that no meanes could awake him did dreame as when hee awaked he did report that hee was transformed into an Asse and carryed
bagges or burdens of corne into a campe of Souldiers At the same time in the same manner such a like Asse as hee in dreame imagined himselfe did bring such burdens into the same campe From these examples may bee iustly drawne a plaine demonstration of the Diuels palpable iuggling and illusion which also may serue for confirmation together with the reasons before annexed vnto my former answer concerning the Diuels seeming or deceitfull presentation of the reall body of Pythagoras in two distant places at once in the same point of time And from all these conioined and conferred may be truely inferred and collected that the Diuell as hee doth many supernaturall workes really so he doth many other by illusion and beguiling the imagination These his iugglings notwithstanding are things also supernaturall and tricks onely possible to Spirits and impossible to man For it is impossible to man to frame so liuely a seeming presence of man in one place that it shall not bee discerned otherwise then the very same true presence and real substance which is really in another place as also to fasten such dreames as were before mentioned vpon men and according to those dreames to cause the things dreamed by the witnesse and testimony of other beholders to bee brought to passe in so liuely likenesse and similitude as cannot bee discerned and discouered otherwise then the very same that they were in dreame likewise beleeued From hence it doth also follow very necessarily that what man soeuer shall vndertake these supernaturall iuglings which are only possible in the power of Spirits and of the Diuell alone is therby as truly conuinced to be a Witch or Sorcerer as hee that vndertaketh any of the former reall supernaturall works or any other of the like kinde because they are both and all alike proper onely to the diuell and wherein man can haue no property or power but by and through him Let vs now then againe returne vnto the Diuels reall supernaturall performances and workes vnto Sorcerers from whence by the way of answere vnto the former doubt concerning Pythagoras his supposed realty of being at once in two places wee haue hitherto onely digressed It is written as a thing vsuall vnto many famous Magicians Sorcerers and Witches vnto the view and sight of some admitted spectators to raise resemblances of the dead which seemeth a thing vndoubted by the Witch of Endor raising Samuel the Prophet vnto Saul the King before mentioned In this kinde those famous and renowned Witches Medea and Circe in old and ancient times are reported to excell Hence among the Heathen had Necromancie the reason of the name and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is diuination by calling vp or raising the dead Later times haue not been behinde former times in the record of the like but to adde reason to inforce the truth of report herein I will answer an obiection which may be made Whether in these apparitions there be only illusion and imagination or some thing truely and really visible vnto the outward sense As touching the reall raising of the dead it is impossible vnto the limited power of the Diuell either in the substance of body or soule to reduce or bring the dead back into this world or life or sense againe because in death by the vnchangeable and vnalterable decree of God in his holy Writ the body returneth into dust from whence it came and the Soule to God who gaue it Notwithstanding since the outward shape and figure and proportion of any substance and not the substance it selfe or creature is the true and naturall obiect of the eye according to the Philosopher who truely saith Res non videntur sedrerum species that is the substances or things themselues are not offered nor come vnto the sight but onely their shape and outward figure as also for that common sense and experience doe teach vs that it is a thing absurd and impossible that all those bodies substances which in infinite number wee dayly see and behold really and materially in their corporall substances and dimensions should be contained in the small body of the eye for these causes I say it is possible according to reason that the Diuell in these supposed apparitions of the bodies and substances of dead men may present true reall and naturall obiects certaine and assured vnto the eye and sight if he can onely present thereto the outward liuely pourtraitures and shapes of the substances or bodies though the bodies themselues be away That the Diuel can doe this is no doubt For if man by Art can vsually diuide the outward shapes and figures of creatures and substances from the substances creatures themselues as is apparent by the looking glasse and the cunning Painter can in another borrowed substance separated from their true right and proper substance represent perfectly the true and liuely shape of men and other creatures euen when they are not onely absent and remoued in farre distant places but when oft-times they haue many yeares beene swallowed of the graue why should it be thought impossible vnto the Diuell who certainely is more then exquisite Apelles excellent to offer and present vnto the eye likewise any true shape whatsoeuer If he can offer the true shape as is not to be doubted he doth offer a true and perfect obiect and therefore that which is truely and certainely manifest to sense although speech and the motion thereof without another visible bodie to sustaine it being impossible vnto shapes and pourtraitures drawne by men be things supernaturall and truely spirituall which doe therefore make it a worke proper vnto the Diuell And thus it is apparent that the supposed apparitions which the Diuell doth offer of dead men may bee esteemed and reckoned among such supernaturall workes of Diuels and Sorcerers as manifestly are brought to outward sense Now let vs returne to view some other kindes of the same workes of the same Authors It is reported by some Writers of worthy credit that the bodies of Sorcerers and Witches haue beene really carried and locally remoued from one place into another by the Diuell And of later times as Bartholomaeus de Spina doth witnesse the inquisitâ—â—â— haue condemned vnto perpetual prison and there detained Witches who by their owne confession and others proofe haue by the Diuell been transported into so farre distant places in few houres that afterward it hath bin a trauell of many dayes by their owne naturall power to returne againe from whence they were manifestly by the diuell carried It is a thing likewise written and vulgarly receiued that Witches are oft-times seene bodily to haunt places fields houses graues and sepulchers in an vniuersall and miraculous manner and wondred fashion These things and infinite more whether true or no cannot be knowne but to him that doth himselfe behold and can from his owne sight auouch them really true and not imaginarie To performe some manner of asportation and locall translation of the bodies of
possible that a Spirit should mixe it selfe in corporall things but the discrepant nature thereof and mighty difference must produce and beget some great apparent alteration which alteration being beyond the wonted nature of the one doth proue another superiour nature in the other For illustration hereof let vs borrow an instance from one of the forenamed manifest Sorceries Water is turned into bloud by a Spirituall power They eye doth manifestly see the water and as apparently after see the bloud and is a true and vndeceiued witnesse of both Reason and common sense doe know the transmutation to proceed from an inuisible power which appearing in visible bodies is by them apart seene and doth detect an inuisible Author because an immediate effect manifested to sense doth necessarily in nature proue the immediate cause though hidden and vnknowne to sense That inuisible and spirituall things may by those things which are visible and bodily be conceiued and discerned the holy Scripture doth witnesse in these words of S. Paul Rom. 1. verse 20. The inuisible things of God sayth he are seene by the visible things or by his workes in the creation of the world which are visible It may be here demaunded since it is the propertie of the Diuel in his seeming miraculous contriuements and actions though a limited and finite obiect creature of God yet to indeuour to countereit imitate the most high and mightiest workes of wonder of the infinite Creator thereby to magnifie deifie and equall himselfe vnto God in vnbeleeuing and seduced hearts Since I say this is his property how shall the fraile vnderstanding and capacity of man distinguish the maruailes of the diuell so liuely resembled thereto from the true miracles and truly miraculous works of God that thereby with more facility and lesse confusion industrious mindes may discouer the proper works and acts of the Diuel and his associates Enchaunters Witches and Sorcerers First the true miracles of God being transcendent aboue all cteated power and the immediate effects only of a creating vertue Almighty God for his sole good will and pleasure doth vsually and euer dispense by the hands and through the administration of holy men Prophets and Apostles manifestly called of God Secondly the end and scope of Gods myracles directly and mainely ayme and are bent at the glory of God and the benefit of his people not vnto any priuate end any particular vaine end tending to satisfaction of priuate lusts and curiositie For this cause the holy Apostles vsed the gift of myracles not vnto any other ends then vnto the confirmation of that holy Gospel which they preached and published from God neither did they therein ascribe ought vnto their own praise or glory but solely vnto the praise and glory of God and the good of his Church That this was their true end and ought to be the scope and end of all that receiue the power of myracles from GOD S. Paul doth witnesse and teach 1. Cor. chap. 12. vers 4 5 6 7. Now there are saith hee diuersities of gifts but the same Spirit and there are diuersities of administrations but the same Lord and there are diuersities of operations but God is the same which worketh all in all But the manifestation of the Spirit is giuen to euery man to profit withall It is from hence manifest that if any myracles proceed from God as Author they are dispensed by men sanctified by God and who can and are able to proue iustifie their warrant from God as also that these men of God do solely professe and bend them vnto the glory of God and the weale of his Church This then is the square and infallible rule by which all myracles doe stand ot fall and are approued either to be of God or conuinced to be of Diuels Let vs then conclude this point with that excellent diuine saying of Theophilact vpon the 9. chap. of S. Luke Praedicatio miraculis miracula praedicatione sanciuntur Multi enim saepe miracula ediderunt per Daemones sed eorum doctrina non erat sana quamobrem eorum miracula non extiterunta Deo That is the word of God doth establish confirme the truth of myracles and myracles ratifie and confirme the authoritie and truth of the word For many haue done myracles by the power of the diuel but their doctrine was corrupt not found and therefore their myracles were not of God Wheresoeuer therefore myracles or supernaturall works shall dare to shew their heads not contained within those limits or compasse that is neither proued immediately from God himselfe nor mediately by him reuealed in his writ word of truth they are iustly to be suspected to issue from the enemies of God the Diuell and euill Spirits and therefore their Authors ought to be accomptant therin vnto Iustice and all religious ministers and seruants of God and Iustice in the most strict and seuere extent of Lawe And thus much concerning the manifestation of the supernaturall workes of Witches and Sorcerers vnto or through the outward Sense CHAP. VII The workes of the Diuell or Witches manifest to Reason or consequence of Reason ALl doubts being cleared it hath vndoubtedly appeared how supernaturall and spirituall workes are apparent to sense It now followeth to declare how likewise they are euident to Reason or necessary to consequence of Reason Those things are said to be proper obiects of Reason and vnderstanding which being remote frō the immediate view or notice of the outward senses are grounded vpon vniuersall and intellectuall knowne positions propositions and certaine vndoubted general notions by necessary collections or raciocinations That we may build the foundation of this our Reason or Raciocination vpon the infallible truth of Gods holy Word which shall neuer be shaken let vs for the detection of Witches and Sorcerers by reason and consequence of reason syllogise directly and immediately from God himselfe Thus saith Almightie God Isaiah chap. 8. verse 19. And when they shall say vnto you Enquire of those that haue a Spirit of Diuination and at the South-sayers which murmure and whisper should not a people enquire of their God Vnder this interrogatiue should not a people inquire of their God is vnderstood this affirmatiue A people should enquire of no other Spirit but of their God alone From this holy text and writ reason doth assume and collect necessarily and truely First that many things are hidden from the knowledge of man which are reuealed vnto the science and knowledge of Spirits Otherwise neither would man aske or enquire of Spirits as hath been vsuall in all ages neither should God haue occasion here to forbid the enquiring at Spirits That the ignorance also of man in things knowne to Spirits is the true First and originall motiue or reason for enquiring at Spirits is very plaine by the words of King Saul 1. Sam. chap. 28. verse 15. God is departed from me saith he vnto the vision of Samuel raised by
of this life a depriuation of due remedies which God hath allowed while beguiled with vaine and foolish opinion with wilfull blindnesse they worthily esteeme not nor will expect his grace and fauour therein Assuredly he that doth giue vp himselfe to become a prey to folly and illusion and led by deceiuers headlong into confused vniustifiable vnwarranted and inhibited explorations and trials doth forsake the guidance and vse of right reason and in stead thereof is intemperately distracted with impatience of expectation of due respect and esteeme of Gods ordinance and allowance in his ordinary meanes may iustly feare that God hath decreed and determined not onely to dispoyle him of that common blessing which he hath promised to all that duely seek and rightly vse his allowed means but also that hee leaueth him vnto the cursed path and way of perpetuall blindnesse and hardnesse of heart therin except his speciall and extraordinary diuine grace in time reduce his dangerous steps For certainely he vnto whose blinded eies God doth offer so great mercy and fauour as is plainely euident in all his ordained ordinary meanes vnto euery good that befalleth man in this life and with thankfulnesse cannot or will not behold it when it is layd at his vnthankfull feete is in a desperate way of a lethargicall disposition or senselesse memory and obliuion both of his reason and of himselfe of Gods mercifull goodnes towards him And thus the vglinesse of imposture both by the description therof and also by example doth appeare wherein may bee first seene how they that trust thereto doe forsake God themselues and their owne common sense and reason and giue themselues to bee swallowed vp of lying and illusion Secondly in the whole course of imposture it selfe is seene the continuall practice of mercilesse impiety the vsuall wrong of the afflicted the belying of truth the deceiuing the miserable the depriuation of the sicke of the vse of due remedies and meanes which God hath made blessed vnto men that with praise vnto his name patience due dependance vpon his prouidence therein can be contented to seeke and expect the likely and hopefull issue thereof in vsuall course of nature Lastly may be collected and obserued the vse and necessitie of distinction betweene Imposture and Witchcraft namely that the odious abominable sinne of witchcraft be not suffered to continue vnregarded or neglected vnder the colour of vaine Imposture and that the Diuell be not suffered to liue amongst vs too commonly too openly in the coate and habite of a foolish Impostor or Iuggler For certainely nothing doth more hood-winke the throughdiscouery of Sorcerers then remissenesse and omission of inquisition and castigation of Impostors out of whose leauen no doubt but diligent animaduersion might oft-times boult out many a subtill and concealed Witch CHAP. X. How men may by reason and nature be satisfied concerning such as are indeede and truely bewitched IT followeth now according to promise briefely to point vnto direction how men leauing to enquire at Witches Sorcerers Impostors concerning the sick supposed to be bewitched may enquire and be better satisfied by the light of Reason which God hath giuen vnto them Reason doth detect the sicke to be afflicted by the immediate supernaturall power of the Diuell two wayes The first way is by such things as are subiect and manifest vnto the learned Physicion onely the second is by such things as are subiect and manifest vnto a vulgar view Those things which are manifest vnto the Physicion alone are of two sorts The first is when in the likenesse and similitude of a disease the secret working of a supernatural power doth hide it selfe hauing no cause or possibilitie of being in that kinde or nature The second is when naturall remedies or meanes according vnto Art and due discretion applyed doe extraordinarily or miraculously either lose their manifest ineuitable nature vse and operation or else produce effects and consequences against or aboue their nature The impossibilitie of either of these in vsuall or ordinarie course of nature doth certainely proue an infallibilitie of a superiour nature which assuredly therefore must needs be either Diuine or Diabolicall This conclusion concerning the infallibilitie of a supernaturall mouer from the like assumption the learned and worthy preseruer of reuerent antiquitie Master Camden in his description of Cheshire hath truely inferred vpon the miraculous prelusions and presages euer and perpetually fore-running the death of the heyres of the house or family of the Briertons These such like things saith he are done either by the holy tuteler Angels of men or els by Diuels who by Gods permission mightily shew their power in this inferiour world Whensoeuer therefore the Physicion shall truely discouer a manifest transcending power manner or motion in any supposed disease there is an vndoubted conclusion of the Author Where likewise remedies finde concomitances or consequences contrary to their nature or such as neuer were nor euer can be contingent in course of nature this assumption truely granted doth inuincibly inferre a transcendent force and vertue therein neuer to be denied Thus how diseases and the wonderfull accidents which oft happen in diseases may bee by the Physicion detected according vnto the rule of reason whether induced by the Diuell or no is briefely pointed at How the guilt of any man therein with the Diuell which doth onely conuince a Witch may and ought appeare hath been before declared and shall likewise hereafter be further made cleare It will not now be immateriall or vnprofitable for confirmation illustration and better proofe of those two wayes which are distinguished to be onely subiect and manifest vnto the Physicion in the detection of the secret workes of Diuels and Witches in diseases to produce one or two examples of both Concerning the first Fernelius in his 2. booke De Abd Rer. causis cha 16. deliuereth a history of a yong man of a noble family who was by a violent conuulsion in an extraordinary manner long time tormented Diuers learned Physicions remained long time doubting and vnsatisfied both in the cause of this disease as also of the seate or place where the cause with any sufficient reason might be iudged setled Behold very pregnant inducements of the finger of the Diuell mouing in the disease One was the incredible velocitie of motion in the diseased impossible vnto the force of man the other was for that in all the fits and conuulsions though very strong and vehement his sense and vnderstanding remained in the diseased perfect and nothing obscured or interrupted which in conuulsions according vnto natural causes was neuer seene and is impossible The force of these reasons to euince the presidence of the Diuell in the manner and motion of the fore-named disease the Diuell himselfe did shortly after iustifie declaring and professing himselfe the Author thereof in plainely expressed words In the fore-named booke and chapter there is another report or relation of a
or such as were without their knowledge society or contract performed by himselfe All those supernaturall workes of both these kindes were therefore knowne to be supernaturall because they were aboue and beyond any cause in sublunarie nature The like the learned Physician may certainely conclude concerning diseases inflicted or moued by the Diuell For it is impossible that the finger or power of the Diuell should bee in any malady but such a cause must needes produce some effect like it selfe where true and iudicious discerning is able to finde the infallible certaine and vndeceiued stampe of difference Thus farre hath been briefly declared how the Physician properly and by himselfe doth alone enter into the due consideration examination of diseases where is iust occasion of question whether naturally or supernaturally inferred How vnfit it is here to admit euery idiot for a Physician or Counsellor as is too common both in these and all other affaires of health let wise men iudge Certainely from hence it commeth to passe that most men for euer liue in perpetuall confusion of their thoughts in these cases and as a iust iudgement of God against their carelesse search and neglect of learned and warranted true counsel all certainty truth herein doth still fly farre from them For as in these ambiguities is requisite and necessary a learned iudicious and prudent Physician so is it as necessary that hee finde those that neede herein aduice truly and constantly obedient vnto good reason temperate and discreete not mutable vpon euery vaine and idle proiect to start away and to bee transported from reasonable iust and discreete proceeding vnto vncertaine vaine and Empiricall tryals since wisedome knowledge and truth are neuer truly found but onely of those that with diligence patience and perseuerance search and seeke them out It remaineth now to come vnto the second way of detection of the bewitched sicke which was before said to consist in such things as were subiect and manifest vnto a vulgar viewe as the first vnto the learned Physician alone As of the first some few examples haue been propounded so of the later let vs also viewe other some In the time of their puroxismes or fits some diseased persons haue beene seene to vomit crooked iron coales brimstone nailes needles pinnes lumps of lead waxe hayre strawe and the like in such quantity figure fashion and proportion as could neuer possibly passe downe or arise vp thorow the naturall narrownesse of the throat or be contained in the vnproportionable small capacity naturall susceptibility and position of the stomake These things at any time happening are palpable and not obscure to any eye without difficulty offering themselues to plaine and open viewe These like accidents Beniuenius Wierus Codronchius and others also euen in our time and countrey haue published to haue been seen by themselues Some other sicke persons haue in the time of the exacerbations of their fits spoken languages knowingly and vnderstandingly which in former time they did neuer know nor could afterward know againe as Fernelius a learned Physicion and beyond exception worthy credit doth witnesse concerning a Sicke man knowne to himselfe Some Sicke men also haue reuealed and declared words gestures actions done in farre distant places euen in the very time and moment of their acting doing and vttering as I haue knowne my selfe in some and as is testified likewise to haue beene heard knowne and seene by diuers witnesses worthy credit in our countrey in diuers bewitched Sick people As these examples are manifest to any beholder which shall at any time happen to view them so are the examples of the first and second kinde euident to the reason and iudgement of the learned and iudicious Physicion and all doe therfore certainely detect and proue a supernaturall Author cause or vertue because they are manifest supernaturall effects Thus haue wee pointed out briefely the detection of the bewitched Sicke both by learned Reason proper vnto the iudicious Physicion and also by common sense and reason in all men If men more at large please to exercise themselues in due consideration and proofe heereof they shall finde more certaine and sound satisfaction and fruit with the blessing and allowance of God then can issue out of the mouthes of Sorcerers Witches which God hath cursed and disallowed and in whose hearts and mouthes the Diuell is oft a lying Spirit It hath been briefely and yet sufficiently herein proued that Almightie God hath giuen vnto Reason light whereby reasonable temperate and sober mindes through circumspect care and diligence may see and behold whatsoeuer is truely possible or iust for man to know with the fauour and allowance of Gods grace in the detection and discouerie of the bewitched Sicke Whosoeuer therefore shall contemne or neglect this light and shall aske counsell of Diuels and Witches the open and proclaimed enemies of God doe certainely relinquish their faith and trust in God their Creatour and their patience and dependance vpon his prouidence And although it may sometimes fall out that prosperous issue doth seeme to follow the counsell of the Diuell yet doth it behooue men to be wary and not presume lest it proue onely a sweet baite that by a sensible good the Diuell may draw their bewitched desirous vaine mindes vnto an insensible damnable hurt For certainely hee who will rather be beholding vnto the Diuell for his life or health then chuse to die in the gracious and mercifull hand of God his Creator can neuer expect to participate any portion of saluation in him Thus much concerning the reasonable discouerie of the bewitched Sicke wherein leauing to enquire at Witches Sorcerers or Impostors vpright men that loue or feare God or imbrace Religion or common reason may and ought confine and satisfie their iust desires CHAP. XI The production of the workes of Witches and Sorcerers vnto the publique seate and censure of Iustice. WE haue hitherto considered how the workes of Diuels and Witches may bee both manifest to Sense and euident to Reason They haue in their diuers kindes and different performances and manners distinctly beene instanced Besides those kindes which haue been mentioned there may be innumerable more among which are those who vndertake and are enquired at to reueale treasures hid goods lost or conueighed away the workes and guilt of other Witches good fortunes and euill fortunes in diuers affaires desseignes and attempts as also those who vndertake by inchantment to leade captiue the wils and mindes of men vnto extraordinarie and vnreasonable desires or lusts hatred or loue vnto or against this or that person or this or that particular thing aboue or beyond the naturall power of resistance and the force and vsuall guidance of naturall reason in the ordinarie course of mans will and nature but they are all included in the same generall kinde and common proofe of their diuellish impietie deriued from the word of God before alledged vnanswerably and the true consequence of Reason
detection of Witches but the very true way by God himselfe in all true reason intended and commanded And from this way it is both by multitudes of examples by experience and reason manifest that neither Witches nor the Diuel himselfe is altogether able to hide or defend their guilt Diligence therefore herein duely and carefully exercising it selfe certainely shall not nor can proue the Lawe of God vaine nor the owne indeuour frustrate or voyde although haply difficulties and impediments may sometimes interrupt as in all other cases and affaires is vsuall Thus hath been made manifest how Witch-craft is discouerable by sense and euident by reason likewise that it is no more inscrutable or hidden from detection in the inquisition thereof by signes of presumption probable and likely coniecture or suspicion then all other intricate or hidden subiects or obiects of the vnderstanding what soeuer For although presumptions are alone not sufficient proofe yet doe they yeeld matter and occasion of diligent and iudicious inquisition which is the reasonable way and due method of vpright proceeding and the common hopefull and warranted path vnto all detections in all other cases of doubt and difficulty whatsoeuer wherein I see no cause or reason why iudicious wary wise practice and proofe weighing pressing circumstances into the bone marrow should not equally in case of Witch-craft as in al other cases of iudgement inquisitions though not euer because that exceedes the nature of presumption equally I say and as oft should not confound the guilty and chase and winde out as faire an issue Certainely if men would more industriously exercise their sharper wits exquisite sense and awaked iudgements according vnto the former reasonable religious and iudicious wayes exempt from the burden and incumbrance of blinde superstitions traditionarie and imaginarie inuentions and customes no doubt but experience would yeeld and bring forth in short time a much more rich increase of satisfaction and more happy detection in iudiciall proceedings It is true that in the case of Witch-craft many things are very difficult hidden and infolded in mists and clouds ouershadowing our reason and best vnderstanding Notwithstanding why should men be more impatient or deiected that in matter of Witch-craft many things are oft hidden from our knowledge and discouery when the same darknesse obscuritie difficultie and doubtfulnes is a thing ordinary in many other subiects beside as necessary vnto vs and concerning which it may be no lesse truely said that in this life of mortalitie much more is that which is vnknowne then that which is knowne and reuealed vnto vs. Hence is that ancient saying of the Philosopher Hoc tantum scio quòd nihil scio that is so few are those things which are demonstratiuely truely and certainely knowne that they are nothing in comparison of the infinite number and multitude of such things as are either onely probable or obscure or inscrutable For to deny that God hath giuen vnto man a great measure of knowledge in many things were not onely grosse darknesse and blindnesse but great ingratitude yea impiety Neuerthelesse it were also as great fatuity not to see or acknowledge that God hath mixed this knowledge with much intricate difficultie and ambiguitie which notwithstanding he doth in his wisedome more or lesse reueale distribute and dispense in seuerall measures vnto seuerall men according to their seuerall cares studies indefatigable paines and more industrious indeauour in seeking and inquiring it in defect whereof more commonly then either in Gods decreed restraint or natures abnuence mens desires and labours are so often annihilate CHAP. XIII The confutation of diuers erroneous wayes vnto the discouerie of Witches vulgarly receiued and approued AS true religion doth truely teach the true worship of God in that true manner which he requireth commandeth so superstition in an vnapt measure or manner doth offer vp sacrifice her vaine foolish zeale or feare Vnto her therefore and her sacrifice thus doth Almightie God reply Who required this at your hands I hate and abhor your Sabboths and your new Moones Isaiah 12. 13. The heathen Oratour could say Religio continetur cultu pio Deorum True religion consisteth in the holy and true worship of God Vnto the aduancing of the worship of the true God the extirpation of Witches and Witch-craft because it is the most abominable kinde of Idolatry is a speciall seruice and acceptable duty vnto God expressely commanded by himselfe Deut. 17. 3 4 5. In the performance therefore of this worship as it is solely and truely religious to seeke their extermination by those meanes and in that manner which Almightie God doth approue and allow so with misgouerned zeale or feare in the ignorance or neglect of the right manner or way inconsiderately to follow vnwarranted pathes thereto is plaine Superstition Iulius Scaliger in his third booke of Poetrie thus describeth very liuely the nature of Superstition Superstitio satisfacit ad notandum eum habitum quo metuimus aut Deum sine ratione aut ei opera attribuimus quae opera ne cogitauit quidem vnquam ille that is this word Superstition doth serue to set forth such an habite or disposition of minde wherein wee worship or so feare God as is voide of cause or reason or vnto our owne hurt or damage we attribute vnto God as of God those workes or things which Almightie God himselfe neuer thought or intended The word which the Greekes vse for Superstition is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inconsulta absurda diuinae potentiae formido that is in absurd and ill-aduised feare or worship of God which certainely is there where he neither requireth it nor is true cause or reason either of such worship or in such sort or manner In this special part therefore of the worship and feare of God namely in the discouery of Witch-craft and Sorcery as wee haue before laboured to finde out those wayes which are lawfull iustifiable and allowed so let vs now briefely display the folly and vanity of erroneous and blinde pathes pointing deceitfully thereto that wee seeke not superstitiously to serue God in our inioyned and commanded duties of the discoueries of Witches with our owne vanities or follies rash inuentions or deuices but in reasonable iust discreete and religious proceeding which is onely and solely acceptable with God In former ages and times haue been published by diuers writers many ridiculous traditions herein so vaine and so farre vnworthy any serious confutation that they scarce deserue so much as bare mention Of this sort are the imagined profligations of the fits of the bewitched by beholding the face of a Priest by being touched by hallowed oyntments or liniments by the vertue of exorcisation of incense of odours of certaine mumbled sacred or mysticall words I will therefore omit these as by time it selfe worne exolete found worthlesse and almost of later writers left namelesse and will onely oppose and examine such later experiments as doe in
our time and countrey most preuaile in esteeme CHAP. XIIII The casting of Witches into the water Scratching Beating Pinching and drawing of blood of Witches IT is vulgarly credited that the casting of supposed Witches bound into the water and the water refusing or not suffering them to sinke within her bosome or bowels is an infallible detection that such are Witches If this experiment be true then must it necessarily so be either as a thing ordinary or as a thing extraordinary because nothing can happen or fall out that is not limited within this circuit or compasse That which is ordinary is naturall as likewise that which is naturall is ordinarie Aristotle in the second of his Ethicks saith of that which is naturall quod aliter non assurscit that is ordinarily it is not otherwise then euer the same Frō whence it doth follow by good consequent that whatsoeuer is ordinary must be naturall because it keepeth the same course and order which is the property of nature For this cause Scaliger in his booke de subtilitate saith Natura est ordinaria Dei potestas that is nature is the ordinarie power of God in the ordinarie course and gouernment of all things If then this experiment in the tryall of Witches bee as a thing ordinary as it is vulgarly esteemed it must bee found likewise naturall If it cannot be found naturall it cannot be ordinarie That it is not nor cannot be naturall is manifest First for that the ordinarie nature of things senselesse and voide of reason doth not distinguish one person from another vertue from vice a good man from an euill man This our Sauiour himselfe doth confirme Math. 5. verse 45. God maketh his sunne to arise on the euill and the good and sendeth raine on the iust and vniust Nay we may further obserue in the booke of God and also reade in the booke of nature and common experience that the common benefit of nature is not onely vouchsafed vnto all wicked men indifferently but euen vnto Diuels themselues who doe not onely participate in nature the common essence faculties and powers proper vnto the substance and nature of all other Spirits but also doe exercise these powers and spirituall forces vsually vpon other inferiour natures subiect vnto their supernaturall nature reach and efficacie as is oft seene in their workes euen vpon the bodies goods of the blessed Saints and sonnes of God Hereby then is euident that nature cannot take notice or distinguish a wicked man no not a Diuell and therefore much lesse a Witch But here may be obiected that diuers hearbs other simples produce many strange and wondred effects by an hidden secret and occult quality and property in nature though there appeare no manifest qualitie oft-times in them by which in reason or probabilitie they should or can bee effectuall thereto This Physicions do dayly witnesse and proue true Why then may there not bee likewise yeelded the like hidden power or antipatheticall vertue in the nature of the element of water and thereby a Witch bee detected as well without knowne cause or reason thereof in nature notwithstanding naturally the euils or diseases both of body and minde are both detected and cured by elementary substances or compositions in which there is no manifest known proportion therewith It is truely answered that although in this supposed experiment of the disposition of the element of water towards Witches casualtie may haply sometimes seeme to iustifie it true yet is not this sufficient to euince it a thing naturall Those things which are naturall necessarily and euer produce their effect except some manifest or extraordinary interception or impediment hinder Thus fire doth necessarily ordinarily and alwayes burne and consume any combustible matter or fuell being added thereto except either some manifest or extraordinary hindrance oppose it The like may be sayde of all other elements for their natural effects in their proper obiects Natural medicines likewise if rightly accommodated with prudence art and discretion vnto the right disease doe neuer faile their vsuall productions or effects This Almighty God in his holy writ doth confirme and long and aged experience of many hundreths of yeares hath successiuely witnessed wherin the ancient records of all learned Writers haue euer testified innumerable medicinal herbs and drugges certainly and truly to bee euer the same Present times do likewise see and witnesse it and no man doth or can doubt it in the right proofe Concerning any such nature or custome in the element of water in the refragation of Witches who was as yet euer able to write and fully resolue or proue it ordinary necessary certaine euer or for the most part not fayling as is in course of nature most infallible and neuer doubted What former ages haue successiuely vouchsafed the mention of truth or certainty therein Hath Almighty God at all so much as approued any opinion or thought thereof Is it not rather to be iustly doubted that it may bee esteemed among the abominations of the Gentiles which God in his people doth detest Deut. 18. verse 9 Doe all men in our time or good and iust men auouch their owne proofe in the tryall thereof Or contrariwise do not many wise religious learned and equall minds with reason reiect and contemne it Dooth Law as yet establish it or reason proue it How can it then be proposed as equiualent with those reasonable meanes or wayes of iust proceedings or tryals which God his diuine Lawe his law of nature iudgement reason experience and the lawes of men haue euer witnessed perpetually and onely assured certaine and infallible It wanteth the vniuersall testimony of former ages and Writers in this our age it is held in iealosie with the most iudicious sage and wise It hath no reasonable proofe no iustifiable tryal hath dared to auouch it vpon publike record no lawe hath as yet thought it worthy of admittance and the Lawe of God is not proued to proue or approue it If it had beene a thing naturall ordinary of necessary or of certaine operation or power and therein so euidently remarkeable it is impossible it should haue escaped authenticall approbation or the same notable testimonies which all other tryed truths haue euer obtained From the former premises therefore we conclude that it cannot be a thing naturall necessary or ordinary If it bee not ordinary then is it not alwayes the same if not alwayes the same then is it sometimes fayling if sometimes fayling then is it not infallible if not infallible then in no true iudgement or iustice to bee trusted or credited It now remayneth to enquire whether being proued false as ordinary it may not be proued true as extraordinary for to esteeme or grant it both is an impossibility in nature and an absurdity in reason Let vs grant it may be iudged and deemed extraordinary the next doubt then remaining is whether being extraordinary or miraculous it be of God or of the Diuell The reason why