Only to let the World know that I Murdered a Man and buried him in this place in the year 1635. Then the Spectre laid down the Sword on the bare ground there whereupon grew nothing but seemed to Goddard to be as a Grave sunk in All this while William Avon remained where Goddard left him and said he saw no Apparition only heard Goddard speak to the Spectre and discerned another voice also making Reply to Goddard's enquiries but could not understand the words uttered by that voice The next day the Mayor caused men to dig in the place where the Spectre said the Body was buried but nothing could be found These examples then shew that the Ghosts of Dead men do sometimes appear and that for such causes as those mentioned There have been some in the world so desperate as to make solemn Covenants with their living Friends to appear unto them after their Death and sometimes though not alwayes it hath so come to pass It is a Remarkable passage which Baronius relates concerning Marsilius Ficinus and his great Intimate Michael Mercatus These two having been warmly Disputing about the immortality of the Soul entred into a solemn Vow that if there were truth in those Notions about a future State in another World he which died first should appear to his surviving Friend Not long after this Ficinus Died. On a morning when Mercatus was intent upon his Studies he heard the voice of Ficinus his Friend at his Window with a loud cry saying O Michael Michael Vera vera sunt illa O my Friend Michael those notions about the Souls of Men being immortal they are true they are true Whereupon Mercatus opened his Window and saw his Friend Marsilius Ficinus whom he called unto but he vanished away He presently sent to Florence to know how Ficinus did and was informed that he Died about the hour when his Ghost appeared at Mercatus his Window There are also later Instances and nearer home not altogether unlike to this For in Mr. Glanvil's late Collection of Relations which we have had occasion more than once to mention It is said that Dr. Farrar and his Daughter made a compact that the first of them which Died if happy should after Death appear to the surviver if possible his Daughter with some difficulty consenting to the agreement Some time after the Daughter living then near Salisbury fell in Labour and having by an unhappy mistake a noxious Potion given to her instead of another prepared suddenly Died. That very night she appeared in the room where her Father then Lodged in London and opening the Curtains looked upon him He had before heard nothing of her illness but upon this Apparition confidently told his Servant that his Daughter was Dead and two Dayes after received the News Likewise one Mr. Watkinson who lived in Smithfield told his Daughter taking her leave of him and expressing her fears that she should never see him more that should he Die if ever God did permit the Dead to to see the living he would see her again Now after he had been Dead about half a Year on a night when she was in Bed but could not sleep she heard Musick and the Chamber grew lighter and lighter she then saw her Father by the Bed-side Who said Mall did not I tell thee that I would see thee again He exhorted her to be patient under her afflictions and to carry it dutiful towards her Mother and told her that her Child that was born since his departure should not trouble her long And bid her speak what she would speak to him now for he must go and she should see him no more upon Earth Vid. Glanvil's Collections P. 189 192. Sometimes the Great and Holy God hath permitted and by his Providence ordered such Apparitions to the end that Atheists might thereby be astonished and affrighted out of their Infidelity Nam primus timor fecit in orbe Deos. Remarkable and very solemn is the Relaon of the Appearance of Major Sydenbam's Ghost mentioned in the Book but now cited P. 181. It is in brief this Major George Sydenham of Delverton in Somerset and Captain William Dyke of Skillgate in that County used to have many Disputes about the Being of God and the Immortality of the Soul in which point they continued unresolved To issue their controversies they agreed that he that died first should the third night after his Funeral between the hours of twelve and one appear at a little House in the Garden After Sydenham was dead Captain Dyke repairs to the place appointed between them two He acquainted a near Kinsman Dr. Thomas Dyke with his design by whom he was earnestly disswaded from going to that place at that time and was told that the Devil might meet him and be his ruine if he would venture on in such rash attempts The Captain Replied that he had solemnly engaged and nothing should discourage him accordingly betwixt twelve and one he went into the Garden-house and there tarried two or three hours without seeing or hearing any thing more than what was usual About six weeks after Captain Dyke rides to Eaton to place his Son a Scholar there The morning before he returned from thence after it was light one came to his Bed-side and suddenly drawing back the Curtains calls Cap. Cap. which was the term of familiarity which the Major when living used to call the Captain by He presently perceived it was his Major and replieth What my Major On the Table in the Room there lay a Sword which the Major had formerly given to the Captain After the seeming Major had walked a turn or two about the Room he took up the Sword and drew it out and not finding it so bright and clean as it ought Cap. Cap. said he This Sword did not use to be kept after this manner when it was mine He also said to the Captain I could not come to you at the time appointed but I am now come to tell you That there is a God and that he is a very just and a terrible God and if you do not turn over a new leaf you will find it so So did he suddenly disappear The Captain arose and came into another Chamber where his Kinsman Dr. Dyke lodged but in a visage and form much differing from himself his Hair standing his Eyes staring and his whole Body trembling telling with much affection what he had seen The Captain lived about two years after this but was much altered in his Conversation the Words uttered by his Majors Ghost ever sounding in his Ears Thus of that remarkable Providence I have not mentioned these things as any way approving of such desperate Covenants There is great hazard attending them It may be after Men have made such agreements Devils may appear to them pretending to be their Deceased Friends and thereby their Souls may be drawn into woful Snares Who knoweth whether God will permit the persons who have
reward for his cure the Knave though he had no skill yet for lucre sake he promised to effect the cure and in order thereto taketh a piece of Paper and maketh therein Characters unto which he never saw the like before only then devised them and writeth in great Letters these Abominable Words Diabolus eruat tibi oculos foramina stercoribus impleat The Papists say that their Saint Francis caused the Devil to depart out of a possessed person by using an alike bruitish expression He folded up the Paper in a cloth requiring the diseased party to wear it about her neck which she did and her disease was healed After two years being desirous to know what was in the Paper she caused it to be opened and read and being greatly offended and inraged at this Indignity cast the Paper away immediately upon which her sore eyes returned again Without doubt then the Devils design in this cure was toâ— encourage the prophane Impostor to endeavour the removal of diseases by like Superstitious and wicked practices whereby his own and the Souls of others unto whom he should impart the Mystery would be endangered The like is to be affirmed concerning attempts to heal diseases by scratching suspected Witches or stopping Urin in Bottles nailing of Horse â—shoes c. It may be the time will come when they that have been thus foolish will feel their own Consciences smiting them for what they have done Let them remember the Example of that gracious and famous Gentlewoman Mrs. Honeywood the occasion of whose sorrowful and doleful desertion was in that having a Child sick she asked counsel of a Wizard about its Recovery Certainly it is better for persons to repent of sin the procuring cause of all affliction and by the prayer of Faith to betake themselves to the Lord Jesus the great Physitian both of body and soul and so to wait for healing in the use of lawful means until God shall see meet to bestow that mercy on them I say this is better than to follow such dark methods as those declared against wherein if they have found any success they may fear it is in wrathful judgment unto them or theirs Some observe that persons who receive present healing in such unlawful wayes usually come to unhappy ends at last Let me then conclude the Answer unto the case propounded with the words which th Angel bid the Prophet Elijah speak to Ahaziah's Messengers 2 King 1. 3. Is it because there is no God in Israel that you go to Baalzebub the God of Ekron There is another Case of Conscience which may here be enquired into viz. Whether it be lawful to bind persons suspected for Witches and so cast them into the Water in order to making a discovery of their innocency or guiltiness so as that if they keep above the Water they shall be deemed as confoederate with the Devil but if they sink they are to be acquitted from the crime of Witchcraft As for this way of purgation it cannot be denied but that some learned men have indulged it King IAMES approveth of it in his Discourse of Witch-craft B. 3. Chap. 6. supposing that the water refuseth to receive Witches into its Bosom because they have perfidiously violated their Covenant with God confirmed by Water in Baptism Kornmannus and Scribonius do upon the same ground justifie this way of tryal But a worthy Casuist of our own giveth a judicious Reply to this supposal viz. that all Water is not the Water of Baptism but that only which is used in the very act of Baptism Moreover according to this notion the Proba would serve only for such persons as have been Baptized Wierus and Bodinus have written against this Experiment So hath Hemmingius who saith that it is both superstitious and ridiculous Likewise that Learned Physitian Iohn Heurnius has published a Treatise which he calls Responsum ad supremam curiam Hollandiae nullum esse aequae innatationem lamiarum indicium That Book I have not seen but I find it mentioned in Mâ—ursius his Athenae Batavae Amongst English Authors Dr. Cott hath endeavoured to shew the unlawfulness of using such a practice Also Mr. Perkins is so far from approving of this probation by cold water as that he rather inclines to think that the persons who put it in practice are themselves after a sort practisers of Witch-craft That most Learned Judicious and Holy Man Gisbertus Voetius in his forementioned Exercitation de Magia P. 573. endeavours to evince that the custom of trying Witches by casting them into the Water is unlawful a Tempting of God and indirect Magic And that it is utterly unlawful I am by the following Reasons convinced 1. This practice has no Foundation in nature nor in Scripture If the Water will bear none but Witches this must need proceed either from some natural or some supernatural cause No natural cause is or can be assigned why the bodies of such persons should swim rather than of any other The Bodies of Witches have not lost their natural Properties they have weight in them as well as others Moral changes and viceousness of mind make no alteration as to these natural proprieties which are inseparable from the body Whereas some pretend that the Bodies of Witches are possessed with the Devil and on that account are uncapable of sinking under the water Malderus his reply is rational viz. that the Allegation has no solidity in it witness the Gadarens Hoggs which were no sooner possessed with the Devil but they ran into the Water and there perished But if the experiment be supernatural it must either be Divine or Diabolical It is not divine for the Scripture does no where appoint any such course to be taken to find out whether persons are in league with the Devil or no. It remains then that the experiment is Diabolical If it be said that the Devil has made a compact with Wizards that they shall not be drowned and by that means that Covenant is discovered the Reply is we may not in the least build upon the Devils word By this Objection the matter is ultimately resolved into a Diabolical Faith And shall that cast the scale when the lives of men are concerned Suppose the Devil saith these persons are Witches must the Judge therefore condemn them 2. Experience hath proved this to be a fallacious way of trying Witches therefore it ought not to be practised Thereby guilty persons may happen to be acquitted and the innocent to be condemned The Devil may have power to cause supernatation on the water in a person that never made any compact with him And many times known and convicted Wizards have sunk under the water when thrown thereon In the Bohemian History mention is made of several Witches who being tried by cold water were as much subject to submersion as any other persons Delrio reports the like of another Witch And Godelmannus speaks of six Witches in whom this way of trial failed
the Apparition I was one night late sent away with one Mark Sharp who upon a Moor naming a place which the Miller knew slew me with a Pick such as Men dig Coals withal and gave me these five Wounds and after threw my Body into a Coal-pit hard by and hid the Pick under the Bank and his shoes and stockins being bloody he endeavoured to wash them but seeing the blood would not wash off he left them there And the Apparition further told the Miller That he must be the Man to reveal it or else she must still appear and haunt him The Miller returned home very sad and heavy but spake not one word of what he had seen yet eschewed as much as he could to stay in the Mill in the night without company thinking thereby to escape the seeing this dreadful Apparition But notwithstanding one night when it began to be dark the Apparition met him again and seemed very fierce and cruel threatning him that if he did not reveal the Murder she would continually pursue and haunt him yet for all this he still concealed it until St. Thomas Eve before Christmas when being soon after Sun-set walking in his Garden she appeared again and then so threatned and affrighted him that he promised faithfully to reveal it the next morning In the morning he went unto a Magistrate and discovered the whole matter with all the circumstances and diligent search being made the Body was found in a Cole-pit with five wounds in the head and the Pick and Shoes and Stockins yet bloody and in every circumstance as the Apparition had related to the Millerâ— Whereupon Walker and Mark Sharp were both apprehended but would confess nothing At the Assizes following I think it was at Durham they were arraigned found guilty and Hanged but I could never hear that they confessed the Fact It was reported that the Apparition did appear to the Judge or the Fore-man of the Jury but of that I know no certainty There are many persons yet alive that can remember this strange Murder and I saw and read the Letter which was sent to Serjeant Hutton about it from the Judge before whom they were tried which maketh me relate it with greater confidence Thus far we have Mr. Webster's Relations It is also credibly Attested that a thing no less Remarkable than either of the former hapned but nine years ago at another place in England The sum of the Story as it is published in Mr. Glanvil's Collection of Relations P. 172. is this On the ninth of November 1674. Thomas Goddard of Marlborough in the Country of Wilts as he was going to Ogborn about 9. h. A. M. he met the Apparition of his Father in Law Edward Avon who had beed dead about half a year He seemed to stand by the Stile which Goddard was to go over When he came near the Spectre spake to him with an audible voice saying Are you afraid to whom he answered I am thinking of one who is dead and buried whom you are like To which the Apparition replied I am be come near me I will do you no harm to which Goddard replied I trust in him who hath bought my Soul with his precious blood you shall do me no harm Then the Spectre said how stand cases at home Goddard askt what cases Then it asked him how doth William and Mary meaning belike his Son William and his Daughter Mary whom this Goddard had married And it said What Taylor is Dead meaning as Goddard thought one of that Name in London who had married another of Avon's Daughters and died in September before this The Spectre offered him some Money desiring it might be sent to his Daughter that was lately become a Widow but Goddard answered In the Name of Iesus Christ I refuse all such Money Then the Apparition said I perceive you are afraid I will meet you some other time so it went away The next night about 7 h. it came and opened his Shop-Window and looked him in the face but said nothing And the next night after as Goddard went into his back-side with a Candle light in his hand but he being affrighted ran into his House and saw it no more at that time But on Thursday November 12. as he came from Chilton the Apparition met him again and stood about eight foot directly before him and said with a loud voice Thomas bid William Avon take the Sword which he had of me which is now in his House and carry to the wood as we goe to Alton to the upper end of the wood by the wayes side for with that sword I did wrong above thirty years ago he never prospered since t was his And do you speak with Edward Lawrence and I desire you to pay him twenty shillings out of the Money which you received of Iames Eliot at two payments for I borrowed so much Money of Edward Lawrence and said that I had paid him but I did not pay it him This Money was received of Iames Eliot on a Bond due to Avon and Goddard had it at two Payments after Avon had been Dead several Moneths Lawrence saith that he lent Avon twenty shillings in Money about twenty years ago which was never paid him again November 23. Goddard did by Order from the Mayor of the Town go with his Brother in Law William Avon with the Sword to the place where the Apparition said it should be carried And coming away thence Goddard looking back saw the same Apparition whereupon he called to his Brother in Law and said Here is the Apparition of your Father William replied I see nothing then Goddard fell on his Knees and said Lord open his eyes that he may see But William said Lord grant I may not see it if it be thy blessed Will Then the Ghost did to Goddard's apprehension becken with his hand To whom Goddard said what would you have me to do the Apparition replied take up the Sword and follow me To which he said should both of us come or but one of us The Spectre replied Thomas do you take up the Sword So he took it up and followed the Apparition about ten poles into the wood Then the Spectre coming towards Goddard he stept back two steps but it said to him I have a permission to you and a commission not to touch you Then it took the Sword and wenâ— to the place at which before it stood and pointed the top of the Sword into the ground and said In this place was buried the Body of him whom I Murdered in the Year 1635. but it is now rotten and turned to Dust. Whereupon Goddard said For what cause did you Murder him The seeming Avon replied I took Money from the Man and he contended with me and so I Murdered him Then Goddard said who was confederate with you in the Murder the Spectre Answered none but my self What said Goddard would you have me do in this thing The Apparition replied