Prophet to wit I will cause the Prophets and unclean spirits to depart out of the land and when any shall yet Prophesie his parents shall say to him Thou shalt not live for thou speakest lyes in the name of the Lord and his Parents shall thrust him through when he Prophesieth c. No no the foretelling of things to come is the only work of God who disposeth all things sweetly of whose counsel there hath never yet been any man And to know our labours the times and moments God hath placed in his own power Also Phavorinus saith That if these cold Prophets or Oraclers tell thee of prosperity and deceive thee thou art made a miser through vain expectation if they tell thee of adversity c. and lye thou art made a miser through vain fear And therefore I say we may as well look to hear Prophesies at the Tabernacle in the bush of the Cherubin among the clouds from the Angels within the Ark or out of the flame c. as to expect an oracle of a Prophet in these dayes But put the case that one in our Common-wealth should step up and say he were a Prophet as many frantick persons do who would believe him or not think rather that he were a lewd person See the Statutes Eliz. 5. whether there be not laws made against them condemning their arrogancy and cosenage so also the canon laws to the same effect Chap. III. That Oracles are ceased TOuching Oracles which for the most part were Idols of silver gold wood stones c. within whose bodies some say unclean spirits hid themselves and gave answers as others say that exhalations rising out of the ground inspire their minds whereby their Priests gave out Oracles so as spirits and winds rose up out of that soil and indued those men with the gift of Prophesie of things to come though in truth they were all devices to cosen the people and for the profit of Priests who received the Idols answers over night and delivered them back to the idolaters the next morning you shall understand that although it had been so as it is supposed yet by the reasons and proofs before rehearsed they should now cease and whatsoever hath affinity with such miraculous actions as Witchcraft Conjuration c. is knocked on the head and nailed on the cross with Christ who hath broken the power of Devils and satisfied Gods justice who also hath troden them under his feet and subdued them c. At whose coming the Prophet Zachary saith That the Lord will cut the names of Idols out of the Land and they shall be no more remembred and he will then cause the Prophets and unclean spirits to depart out of the land It is also written I will cut off thine Inchanters out of thine hand and than shalt have no more Soothsayers And indeed the Gospel of Christ hath so laid open their knavery c. that since the preaching thereof their combes are cut and few that are wise regard them And if ever these Prophesies came to take effect it must be upon the coming of Christ whereat you see the Devils were troubled and fainted when they met him saying or rather exclaming upon him on this wise Fili Dei cur venisti nos cruciare ante tempus O thou Son of God why comest thou to molest us or confound us before our time appointed which he indeed prevented and now remaineth he our defender and keeper from his claws So as now you see here is no room left for such guests Howbeit you shall hear the opinion of others that have been as much deceived as your selves in this matter and yet are driven to confess that God hath constituted his Son to beat down the power of Devils and to satisfie Gods justice and to heal our wound received by the fall of Adam according to Gods promise in Genesis 3. The seed of the woman shall tread down the serpent or the Devil Eusebius in his first book De praedicatione Evangelii the title whereof is this That the power of Devils is taken away by the coming of Christ saith All answers made by Devils all Soothsayings and Divinations of men are gone and vanished away Item he citeth Porphyry in his book against Christian Religion wherein these words are rehearsed It is no marvel though the Plague be so hot in this City for ever since Jesus hath been worshipped we can obtain nothing that good is at the hands of our Gods And of this defection and ceasing of Oracles writeth Cicero long before and that to have happened also before his time Howbeit Chrysostome living lone since Cicero saith That Apollo was forced to grant that so long as any relike of a Martyr was held to his nose he could not make any answer or Oracle So as one may perceive that the Heathen were wiser in this behalf then many Christians who in times past were called Oppugnatores incantamentorum as the English Princes are called Defensores fidei Plutarch calleth Boeotia as we call bablers by the name of Many words because of the multitude of Oracles there which now saith he are like to a spring or fountain which is dryed up If any one remained I would ride five hundred miles to see it but in the whole world there is not one to be seen at this hour Popish cosenages excepted But Plutarch saith That the cause of this defection of Oracles was the Devils death whose life he held to be determinable and mortal saying they dyed for very age and that the divining Priests were blown up with a Whirle-winde and sunk with an earthquake Others imputed it to be the sight of the place of the Planets which when they passed over them carryed away that art with them and by revolution may return c. Eusebius also citeth out of him the story of Pan which because it is to this purpose I will insert the same and since it mentioneth the Devils death you may believe it if you list for I will not as being assured that he is reserved alive to punish the wicked and such as impute unto those Idols the power of Almighty God CHAP. IV. A tale written by many grave Authors and believed by many wise men of the Devils death Another story written by Papists and believed of all Catholicks approving the Devils honestly conscience and courtesie PLutarch saith That his Countreyman Epitherses told him that as he passed by Sea into Italy many passengers being in his boat in an evening when they were about the Islands Echinadae the wind quite ceased and the ship driving with the tide was brought at last to Pax and whilest some slept and others quaft and othersome were awake perhaps in as ill case as the rest after supper suddainly a voyce was heard calling Thamus in such sort as every man marvelled This Thamus was a Pilot born in Aegypt unknown to many that were in the ship wherefore being
most horrible executions as the revenger of a doting old womans imagined wrongs to the destruction of many innocent children and as a supporter of her passions to the undoing of many a poor soul And I see not but a Witch may as well inchant when she will as a lyer may lye whey he list and so should we possess nothing but by a Witches licence and permission And now forsooth it is brought to this point that all Devils which were wont to be spiritual may at their pleasure become corporal and to shew themselves familiarly to Witches and Conjurors and to none other and by them only may be made tame and kept in a box c. So as a malicious old Woman may command her Devil to plague her neighbor and he is afflicted in manner and form as she desireth But then cometh another Witch and she biddeth her Devil help and he healeth the same party So as they make it a kingdome divided in it self and therefore I trust it will not long endure but will shortly be overthrown according to the words of our Saviour Omne regnum in se divisum desolabitur Every kingdom divided in it self shall be desolate And although some say that the Devil is the Witches instrument to bring her purposes and practices to pass yet others say that she is his instrument to execute his pleasure in any thing and therefore to be executed But then methinks she should be injuriously dealt withal and put to death for anothers offence for actions are not judged by instrumental causes neither doth the end and purpose of that which is done depend upon the mean instrument Finally if the Witch do it not why should the Witch die for it But they say that Witches are perswaded and think that they do indeed those mischiefs and have a will to perform that which the Devil committeth and that therefore they are worthy to die By which reason every one should be executed that wisheth evil to his neighbour c. But if the will should be punished by man according to the offence against God we should be driven by thousands at once to the slaughterhouse or butchery For whosoever loatheth correction shall die And who should escape execution if this lothsomness I say should extend to death by the Civil Laws Also the reward of sin is death Howbeit every one that sinneth is not to be put to death by the Magistrate But my Lord it shall be proved in my book and your Lordship shall try it to be true as well here at home in your native countrey as also abroade in your several circuits that besides them that be Veneficae which are plain Poysoners there will be found among our Witches only two sorts the one sort being such by imputation as so thought of by others and these are abused and not abusers the other by acceptation as being willing so to be accounted and these be meer Coseners Calvin treating of these Magicians calleth them Coseners saying That they use their Jugling knacks only to amase or abuse the people or else for Fame but he might rather have said for Gain Erastus himself being a principal writer in the behalf of Witches omnipotency is forced to confess that these Greek words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are most commonly put for illusion false-packing cosenage fraud knavery and deceit and is further driven to say That in ancient time the learned were not so blockish as not to see that the promises of Magicians and Inchanters were false and nothing else but knavery cosenage and old wives fables and yet defendeth he their flying in the air their transferring of Corn or Grass from one field to another c. But as Erastus disagreeth herein with himself and his friends so is there no agreement among any of those Writers but only in cruelties absurdities and impossibilites And these my Lord that fall into so manifest contradictions and into such absurd asseverations are not of the inferiour sort of Writers neither are they all Papists but men of such account as whose names give more credit to their cause then their writings In whose behalf I am sorry and partly for reverence suppress their fondest errors and foulest absurdities dealing specially with them that most contend in cruelty whose feet are swift to shed blood Striving as Jesus the son of Sirach saith and hasting as Solomon the son of David saith to pour out the blood of the Innocent whose heat against these poor wretches cannot be allayed with any other liquor then blood and therefore I fear that under their wings will be found the blood of the souls of the poor at that day when the Lord shall say Depart from me ye blood-thirsty men And because I know your Lordship will take no counsel against innocent blood but rather suppress them that seek to imbrew their hands therein I have made choice to open their case to you and to lay their miserable calamity before your feet following herein the advice of that learned man Brentius who saith Si quis admonuerit Magistratum ne in miseras illas mulierculas saeviat eum ego arbitror divinitus excitatum that is If any admonish the Magistrate not to deal too hardly with these miserable wretches that are called Witches I think him a good instrument raised up for this purpose by God himself But it will perchance be said by Witchmongers to wit by such as attribute to Witches the power which appertaineth to God only That I have made choice of your Lordship to be a Patron to this my Book because I think you favour mine opinions and by that means may the more freely publish any error or conceit of mine own which should rather be warranted by your Lordships authority then by the Word of God or by sufficient argument But I protest the contrary and by these presents I renounce all protection and despise all friendship that might serve to help towards the suppressing or supplanting of Truth knowing also that your Lordship is far from allowing any injury done unto Man much more an enemy to them that go about to dishonour God or to embeazel the title of his immortal glory But because I know you to be perspicuous and able to see down into the depth and bottome of Causes and are not to be carryed away with the vain perswasion or superstition either of Man Custom Time or Multltude but moved with the authority of Truth only I crave your countenance herein even so far forth and no further then the law of God the law of Nature the law of this Land and the rule of Reason shall require Neither do I treat for these poor people any otherwise but so as with one hand you may sustain the good and with the other suppress the evil wherein you shall be thought a Father to Orphans an Advocate to Widows a Guide to the Blind a Stay to the Lame a Comfort and Countenance to the honest a
Assemblies and of their Bargain THat the joyning of hands with the Devil the kissing of his bare buttocks and his scratching and biting of them are absurd lies every one hauing the gift of reason may plainly perceive insomuch as it is manifest unto us by the word of God that a spirit hath no flesh bones nor sinews whereof hands buttocks claws teeth and lips do consist For admit that the constitution of a Devils body as Tatian and other affirm consisteth in spiritual congelations as of fire and air yet it cannot be perceived of mortal creatures What credible witness is there brought at any time of this their corporal visible and incredible bargain saving the confession of some person diseased both in body and mind wilfully made or injuriously constrained It is marvel that no penitent Witch that forsaketh her trade confesseth not these things without compulsion Me thinketh their covenant made at Baptism with God before good witnesses sanctified with the Word confirmed with his Promises and established with his Sacraments should be of more force then that which they make with the Devil which no body seeth or knoweth For God deceiveth none with whom he bargaineth neither doth he mock or disappoint them although he dance not among them The oath to procure into their league and fellowship as many as they can whereby every one Witch as Bodin affirmeth augmenteth the number of fifty bewrayeth greatly their indirect dealing Hereof I have made trial as also of the residue of their cousening devises and have been with the best or rather the worst of them to see what might be gathered out of their counsels and have cunningly treated with them thereabouts and further have sent certain old persons to indent with them to be admited into their society But as well by their excuses and delaies as by other circumstances I have tried and found all their trade to be meer cosening I pray you what bargain have they made with the Devil that with their angry looks bewitch lambs children c. Is it not confessed that it is natural though it be a lye What bargain maketh the Sooth-sayer which hath his several kinds of Witchcraft and Divination expressed in the Scripture Or is it not granted that they make none How chanceth it that we hear not of this bargain in the Scriptures CHAP. VII A Confutation of the Objection concerning Witches Confessions IT is confessed say some by the way of objection even of these women themselves that they do these and such other horrible things as deserveth death with all extremity c. Whereunto I answer that whosoever considerately beholdeth their confessions shall perceive all to be vain idle false inconstant and of no weight except their contempt and ignorance in religion which is rather the fault of the negligent Pastor than of the simple woman First if their confession be made by compulsion of force or authority or by peswasion and under colour of friendship it is not to be regarded because the extremity of threats and tortures provokes it or the quality of fair words and allurements constrains it If it be voluntary many circumstances must be considered to wit whether she appeach not her self to overthrow her neighbour which many times happeneth through their cankered and malicious melancholick humour then whether in that same melancholick mood and frantick humor she desire not the abridgement of her own daies Which thing Aristotle saith doth oftentimes happen unto persons subject to melancholick passions and as Bodin and Sprenger say to these old women called Witches which many times as they affirm refuse to live threatning the Judges that if they may not be burned they will lay hands upon themselves and so make them guilty of their damnation I my self have known that where such a one could not prevail to be accepted as a sufficient witness against himself he presently went and threw himself into a pond of water where he was drowned But the law saith Volenti mori non est habenda fides that is His word is not to be credited that is desirous to dye Also sometimes as elswhere I have proved they confess that whereof they were never guilty supposing that they did that which they did nor by means of certain circumstances And as they sometimes confess impossibilities as that they fly in the air transubstantiate themselves raise tempests transferr or remove corn c. so do they also I say confess voluntarily that which no man could prove and that which no man would guess nor yet believe except he were as mad as they so as they bring death wilfully upon themselves which argueth an unsound mind If they confess that which hath been indeed committed by them as poysoning or any other kind of murther which falleth into the power of such persons to accomplish I stand not to defend their cause Howbeit I would wish that even in that case there be not too rash credit given nor too hasty proceedings used against them but that the causes properties and circumstances of every thing be duly considered and diligently examined For you shall understand that as sometimes they confess they have murthered their neighbours with a wish sometimes with a word sometimes with a look c. so they confess that with the delivering of an apple or some such thing to a woman with child they have killed the child in the mothers womb when nothing was added thereunto which naturally could be noysome or hurtful In like manner they confess that with a touch of their bare hand they sometimes kill a man being in perfect health and strength of body when all his garments are betwixt their hand and his flesh But if this their confession be examined by Divinity Philosophy Physick Law or Conscience it will be found false and insufficient First for that the working of miracles is ceased Secondly no reason can be yielded for a thing so far beyond all reason Thirdly no receipt can be of such efficacy as when the same is touched with a bare hand from whence the veins have passage through the body unto the heart it should not annoy the person and yet retain vertue and force enough to pierce through so many garments and the very flesh incurable to the place of death in another person Cui argumento saith Bodin nescio quid responderi possit Fourthly no law will admit such a confession as yieldeth unto impossibities against the which there is never any law provided otherwise it would not serve a mans turn to plead and prove that he was at Berwick that day that he is accused to have done a murther in Canterbury for it might be said he was conveyed to Berwick and back again by inchantment Fifthly he is not by conscience to be executed which hath no sound mind nor perfect judgement And yet forsooth we read that one mother Stile did kill one Saddocke with a touch on the shoulder for not keeping promise
the benefit of the brain and so of the sense and understanding of the mind And from some it taketh away life and that is more common then the other These be called Philtra or Pocula amatoria or Venenosa pocula or Hippomanes which bad and blind Physitians rather practise than Witches or Conjurers c. But of what value these bables are towards the end why they are provided may appear by the opinions of Poets themselves from whence was derived the estimation of that stuffe And first you shall hear what Ovid saith who wrote of the very art of love and that so cunningly and feelingly that he is reputed the special doctor in that science Fallitur Aemonias si quis decurrit ad artes Datque quod à teneri fronte revellet equi Non facient ut vivat amor Medeides herbae Mistaque cum Magicis mersae venena sonis Phasias Aesonidem Circe tenuisset Ulyssem Si modo servari carmine posset amor Nec data profuerint pallentia philtra puellis Philtra nocent animis vimque furoris habent Englished by Abraham Fleming Who so doth run to Hamon arts I dub him for a dolt And giveth that which he doth pluck from forehead of a colt Medias herbs will not procure that love shall lasting live Nor steeped poyson mixt with Magick charmes the same can give The Witch Medea had full fast held Jason for her own So had the grand Witch Circe too Ulysses if alone With Charmes maintain'd and kept might be the love of twain in one No slibbersawces given to Maids to make them pale and wan Will help such slibbersawces marre the minds of maid and man And have in them a furious force of Phrensie now and than Viderit Aemoniae si quis mala pdula terrae Et magicas artes posse juvare putat English by Abraham Flemming If any think that evil herbs in Haeman land which be Or Witchcraft able is to help let him make proof and see These Verses precedent do shew that Ovid knew that those beggerly Sorceries might rather kill one or make him stark mad than do him good towards the attainment of his pleasure of love and therefore he giveth his counsel to them that are amorous in such hot manner that either they must enjoy their love or else needs dye saying Sit procul omne nefas ut ameris amabilis esto Farre off be all unlawful means thou amiable be Loving I mean that she with love may quit the love of thee CHAP. VII It is proved by more credible writers that Love-cups rather ingender death through venom than love by art and with what toyes they destroy cattel and procure love BUt because there is no hold nor trust to these Poets who say and unsay dallying with these causes so as indeed the wife may perceive they have them in derision let us see what other graver Authors speak hereof Eusebius Caesariensis writeth that the Poet Lucretius was killed with one of those lovers poysoned cups Hierom reporteth that one Livia herewith killed her husband whom she too much hated and Lucilla killed hers whom she too much loved Callisthenes killed Lucius Lucullus the Emperour with a love-pot as Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos say Pliny and Josephus report that Caesonia killed her husband Caligula amatorio poculo with a Lovers-cup which was indeed stark poyson Aristotle saith That all which is believed touching the efficacy of these matters is lyes and old wives tales He that will read more arguments and histories concerning these poysons let him look in J. Wier de Veneficiis The toyes which are said to procure love and are exhibited in their poyson loving cups are these the hair growing in the nethermost part of a Wolves tail a Wolves yard a little fish called Remora the brain of a Cat of a Newt or of a Lizzard the bone of a green Frog the flesh thereof being consumed with Pismires or Ants the left bone whereof ingendreth as they say love the bone on the right side hate Also it is said that a frog bones the flesh being eaten off round about with Ants whereof some will swim and some will sink those that sink being hanged up with a white linnen cloth ingender love but if a man be touched therewith hate is bred thereby Another experiment is thereof with young Swallows whereof one brood or nest being taken and buryed in a crock under the ground till they be starved up they that be sound open-mouthed serve to engender love they whose mouths are shut serve to procure hate Besides these many other follies there be to this purpose proposed to the simple as namely the garments of the dead candles that burn before a dead corps and needles wherewith dead bodies are sown or sockt into their sheets and divers other things which for the reverence of the Reader and in respect of the unclean speech to be used in the description thereof I omit which if you read Dioscorides or divers other learned Physicians you may see at large In the mean while he that desireth to see more experiments concerning this matter let him read Leonardus Vairus de fascin now this present year 1583. newly published wherein with an incestuous mouth he affirmeth directly that Christ and his Apostles were Venefici very fondly prosecuting that argument and with as much Popish folly as may be labouring to prove it lawful to charm and inchant Vermine c. CHAP. VIII Jolin Bodin triumphing against John Wier is overtaken with false Greek and false interpretation thereof MOnsieur Bodin triumpeth over Doctor Wier herein pronouncing a heavy sentence upon him because he referreth this word to Poyson But he reigneth or rather rideth over him much more for speaking false Greek affirming that he calleth Veneficos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as true as the rest of the reports and fables of Witches miracles contained in his book of Devilish devises For in truth he hath no such word but saith they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas he should have said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true accent being omitted and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being enterposed which should have been left out which is nothing to the substance of the matter but must needs be the Printers fault But Bodin reasoneth in this wife 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes put for Magos or Praesâ—igiutores Ergo in the translation of the Septuagint it is so to be taken Wherein he manifesteth his bad Logick more then the others ill Greek For it is well known to the learned in this tongue that the usual and proper signification of this word with all its derivations and compounds doth signifie Venificos Poysoners by Medicine Which when it is most usual and proper why should the Translators take it in a signification less usual and nothing proper Thus therefore he reasoneth and concludeth with his new-found Logick and old found Greek Sometimes it signifieth so though
Augustine saith that these Observations are most superstitious But we read in the fourth Psalm a sentence which might disswade any Christian from this folly and impiety O ye sons of men how long will ye turn my glory into shame loving vanity and seeking lies The like is read in many other places of Scripture Of such as allow this folly I can commend Pliny best who saith that the operation of these Auguries is as we take them For if we take them in good part they are signs of good luck if we take them in ill part ill luck followeth if we neglect them and weigh them not they do neither good nor harm Thomas of Aquine reasoneth in this wise The Stars whose course is certain have greater affinity and community with mans actions than Auguries and yet our doings are neither directed nor proceed from the Starrs Which thing also Ptolomey witnesseth saying Sapiens dominabitur astris A wiseman over-ruleth the Starrs CHAP. XVIII Pond Distinctions of the Heathen Writers concerning Augury THe Heathen made a distinction between divine natural and casual Auguries Divine Auguries were such as men were made believe were done miraculously as when Dogs spake as at the expulsion of Tarquinius out of his Kingdom or when Trees spake as before the death of Caesar or when Horses spake as did a Horse whose name was Zanthus Many learned Christians confess that such things as may indeed have a divine cause may be called divine Auguries or rather fore-warnings of God and tokens either of his blessings or discontentation as the Star was a token of a safe passage to the Magicians that sought Christ so was the Cock-crowing an Augury to Peter for his conversion And many such other Divinations or Auguries if it be lawful so to term them are in Scriptures to be found CHAP. XIX Of Natural and Casual Augury the one allowed and the other disallowed NAtural Augury is a Physical or Philosophical observation because humane and natural reason may be yielded for such events as if one hear the Cock crow many times together a man may guess that rain will follow shortly as by the crying of Rooks and by their extraordinary using of their wings in their flight because through a natural instinct provoked by the impression of the heavenly bodies they are moved to know the times according to the disposition of the weather as it is necessary for their natures And therefore Jeremy saith Milvus in coelo cognovit tempus suum The Physitian may argue a strength towards his patient when he heareth him sneeze twice which is a natural cause to judge by and conjecture upon But sure it is meer casual and also very foolish and incredible that by two sneezings a man should be sure of good luck or success in his business or by meeting of a Toad a man should escape a danger or atchieve an enterprise c. CHAP. XX. A Confutation of Casual Augury which is meer Witchcraft and upon what uncertainty those Divinations are grounded WHat imagination worketh in man or woman many leaves would not comprehend for as the qualities thereof are strange and almost incredible so would the discourse thereof be long and tedious whereof I had occasion to speak elsewhere But the power of our imagination extendeth nor to Beasts nor reacheth to Birds and therefore pertaineth not hereunto Neither can the chance for the right or left side be good or bad luck in it self Why should any Occurrent or Augury be good because it cometh out of that part of the Heavens where the good or beneficial Stars are placed By that reason all things should be good and happy that live on that side but we see the contrary by experience and as commonly as that The like absurdity and error is in them that credit those Divinations because the Stars over the ninth House have dominion at the time of Augury If it should betoken good luck joy or gladness to hear a noise in the house when the Moon is in Aries and contrariwise if it be a sign of ill luck sorrow or grief for a Beast to come into the house the Moon being in the same sign here might be found a foul error and contrariety And for somuch as both may happen at once the rule must needs be false and ridiculous And if there were any certain rules or notes to be gathered in these Divinations the abuse therein is such as the Word of God must needs be verified therein to wit I will destroy the tokens of Soothsayers and make them that conjecture fools CHAP. XXI The Figure-casters are Witches the uncertainty of their Art and of their contradictions Cornelius Agrippa's sentence against Judicial Astrologie THese Casters of Figures may be numbered among the cosening Witches whose practice is above their reach their purpose to gain their knowledge stoln from Poets their uncertain and full vanity more plainly derided in the Scriptures than any other folly And thereupon many other trifling vanities are rooted and grounded as Physiognomy Palmestry interpreting of Dreams Monsters Auguries c. the Professors whereof confess this to be the necessary Key to open the knowledge of all their secrets For these fellows erect a figure of the Heavens by the exposition whereof together with the conjectures of similitudes and signs they seek to find out the meaning of the significators attributing to them the ends of all things contrary to truth reason and divinity their rules being so inconstant that few Writers agree in the very principles thereof For the Rabbbins the old and new Writers and the very best Philosophers dissent in the chief grounds thereof differing in the propriety of the houses whereout they wring the fore-telling of things to come contending even about the number of spheres being not yet resolved how to erect the beginnings and ends of the houses for Ptolomy maketh them after one sort Campanus after another c. And as Alpetragus thinketh that there be in the Heavens divers movings as yet to men unknown so do others affirm not without probability that there may be Stars and Bodies to whom these movings may accord which cannot be seen either through their exceeding highness or that hitherto are not tryed with any observation of the Art The true motion of Mars is not yet perceived neither is it possible to find out the true entring of the Sun into the equinoctal points It is not denied that the Astronomers themselves have received their light and their very Art from Poets without whose fables the twelve signs and the northerly and southerly figures had never ascended into Heaven And yet as C. Agryppa saith Astrologers do sive cosen men and gain by these fables whiles the Poets which are the inventers of them do live in beggery The very skilfullest Mathematicians confess that it is impossible to find out any certain thing concerning the knowledge of Iudgments as well for the innumerable causes which work together
the head of an Owl with a bundle of St. John's Wort or Millies Perforatum this done he must be informed of some miserable creature that hath strangled himself in some Wood or Desart place which they seldom miss to do and while the Carcass hangs the Magitian must betake himself to the aforesaid place at 12 a clock at night and begin his Conjurations in this following manner First stretch forth the consecrated Wand towards the four corners of the World saying By the mysteries of the deep by the flames of Banal by the power of the East and the silence of the night by the holy rites of Hecate I conjure and exorcize thee thou distressed Spirit to present thy self here and reveal unto me the cause of thy Calamity why thou didst offer violence to thy own liege life where thou art now in beeing and where thou wilt hereafter be Then gently smiting the Carcase nine times with the rod say I conjure thee thou spirit of this N. deceased to answer my demands that I am to propound unto thee as thou ever hopest for the rest of the holy ones and the ease of all thy misery by the blood of Jesu which he shed for thy soul I conjure and bind thee to utter unto me what I shall ask thee Then cutting down the Carcass from the tree lay his head towards the East and in the space that this following Conjuration is repeating set a Chasing-dish of fire at his right hand into which powre a little Wine some Mastick and Gum Aromatick and lastly a viol full of the sweetest Oyl having also a pair of Bellows and some unkindled Charcole to make the fire burn bright at the instant of the Carcass's rising The Conjuration is this I conjure thee thou spirit of N. that thou do immediately enter into thy ancient body again and answer to my demands by the virtue of the holy resurrection and by the posture of the body of the Saviour of the world I charge thee I conjure thee I command thee on pain of the torments and wandring of thrice seven years which I by the power of sacred Magick rites have power to inflict upon thee by thy sighs and groans I conjure thee to utter thy voice so help thee God and the prayers of the holy Church Amen Which Conjuration being thrice repeated while the fire is burning with Mastick and Gum Aromatick the body will begin to rise and at last will stand upright before the Exorcist answering with a faint and hollow voice the questions proposed unto it Why it strangled it self where its dwelling is what its food and life is how long it will be ere it enter into rest and by what means the Magitian may assist it to come to rest Also of the treasures of this world where they are hid Moreover it can answer very punctually of the places where Ghosts reside and how to communicate with them reaching the nature of Astral Spirits and hellish beings so far as its capacity reacheth All which when the Ghost hath fully answered the Magitian ought out of commiseration and reverence to the deceased to use what means can possibly be used for the procuring rest unto the Spirit To which effect he must dig a grave and filling the same half full of quick Lime and a little Salt and common Sulphur put the Carcass naked into the same which experiment next to the burning of the body into ashes is of great force to quiet and end the disturbance of the Astral Spirit But if the Ghost with whom the Exorcist consulteth be of one that dyed the common death and obtain'd the ceremonies of burial the body must be dig'd out of the ground at 12 a clock at night and the Magician must have a companion with him who beareth a torch in his left hand and smiting the Corps thrice with the consecrated rod the Exorcist must turn himself to all the four winds saying By the virtue of the holy resurrection and the torments of the damned I conjure and exorcize thee spirit of N. deceased to answer my liege demands being obedient unto these sacred ceremonies on pain of everlasting torment and distress Then let him say Berald Beroald Balbin gab gabor agaba Arise arise I charge and command thee After which Ceremonies let him ask what he desireth and he shall be answered But as a faithful caution to the practicer of this Art I shall conclude with this That if the Magician by the Constellation and Position of the Stars at his nativity be in the predicament of those that follow Magical Arts it will be very dangerous to try this experiment for fear of suddain death ensuing which the Ghosts of men deceased can easily effect upon those whose nativities lead them to Conjuration And which suddain and violent death the Stars do alwayes promise to such as they mark with the Stigma of Magicians CHAP. III. How to raise up the three Spirits Paymon Bathin and Barma And what wonderful things may be effected through their assistance THe Spirit Paymon is of the power of the Air the sixteenth in the ranck of Thrones subordinate to Corban and Marbas Bathin is of a deeper reach in the source of the fire the second after Lucifers familiar and hath not his fellow for agility and affableness in the whole Infernal Hierarchy Barma is a mighty Potentate of the order of Seraphims whom 20 Legions of Infernal Spirits do obey his property is to metamorphose the Magician or whom he pleaseth and transport into foreign Countreys These three Spirits though of various ranks and orders are all of one power ability and nature and the form of raising them all is one Therefore the Magician that desireth to consult with either of these Spirits must appoint a night in the waxing of the Moon wherein the Planet Mercury reigns at 11 a clock at night not joyning to himself any companion because this particular action will admit of none and for the space of four dayes before the appointed night he ought every morning to shave his beard and shift himself with clean linnen providing beforehand the two Seals of the Earth drawn exactly upon parchment having also his consecrated Girdle ready of a black Cats skin with the hair on and these names written on the inner side of the Girdle Ya Ya ✚ Aie Aaie ✚ Elibra ✚ Elohim ✚ Saday ✚ Yah Adonay ✚ tuo robore ✚ Cinctus Sum ✚ Upon his Shooes must be written Tetragrammaton with crosses round about and his garment must be a Priestly Robe of black with a Friars hood and a Bible in his hand When all these things are prepared and the Exorcist hath lived chastly and retired until the appointed time Let him have ready a fair Parlour or Cellar with every chink and window closed then lighting seven Candles and drawing a double Circle with his own blood which he must have ready before hand let him divide
remedies it appeareth that there were not with Christ good and perfect men For the pillars of the faith to wit Peter James and John were absent Neither was there fasting and praying without the which that kind of Devils could not be cast out For the fourth point to wit the fault of the Exorcist in faith may appear for that afterwards the Disciples asked the cause of their impotency therein And Jesus answered it was for their incredulity saying Thut if they had as much faith as a grain of mustard seed they should move mountains c. The fift is proved by Vitas Patrum the lives of the Fathers where it appeareth that S. Anthony could not do that cure when his Scholar Paul could do it and did it For the proof of the sixth excuse it is said that though the fault be taken away thereby yet it followeth not that alwayes the punishment is released Last of all it is said That it is possible that the Devil was not conjured out of the party before Baptism by the Exorcist or the midwife hath not baptized him well but omitted some part of the Sacrament If any object There was no Exorcist in the primitive Church It is answered That the Church cannot now erre And S. Gregory would never have instituted it in vain And it is a general rule that who or whatsoever is newly exorcised must be rebaptized as also such as walk or talk in their sleep for say they call them by their names and presently they wake or fall if they climb whereby it is gathered that they are not truly name in Baptism Item they say It is somewhat more difficult to conjure the Devil out of one bewitched then out of one possessed because in the bewitched he is double in the other single They have a hundred such beggerly foolish and frivolous notes in this behalf CHAP. XXXV Other gross absurdities of Witchmongers in this matter of Conjurations SUrely I cannot see what difference or distinction the Witchmongers do put between the knowledge and power of God and the Devil but that they think if they pray or rather talk to God till their hearts ake he never heareth them but that the Devil doth know every thought and imagination of their minds and both can and also will do any thing for them For if any that meaneth good faith with the Devil read certain conjurations he cometh up they say at a trice Marry if another that hath no intent to raise him read or pronounce the words he will not stirr And yet J. Bodin confesseth That he is afraid to read such Conjurations as John Wierus reciteth lest belike the Devil would come up and scratch him with his foul long nails In which sort I wonder that the Devil dealeth with none other then Witches and Conjurors I for my part have read a number of their Conjurations but never could see any Devils of theirs except it were in a Play But the Devil belike knoweth my mind to wit that I would be loth to come within the compass of his claws But lo what reason such people have Bodin Bartholomeus Spineus Sprenger and Institor c. do constantly affirm that Witches are to be punished with more extremity than Conjurors and sometimes with death when the other are to be pardoned doing the same offence because say they the Witches make a league with the Devil and so do not Conjurors Now if Conjurors make no league by their own confession and Devils indeed know not our cogitations as I have sufficiently proved then would I weet of our Witchmongers the reason if I read the Conjuration and performe the Ceremony why the Devil will not come at my call But oh absurd credulity Even in this point many wise and learned men have been and are abused whereas if they would make experience or duly expend the cause they might be soon resolved specially when the whole Art and Circumstance is so contrary to Gods Word as it must be false if the other be true So as you may understand that the Papists do not only by their doctrin in Books and Sermons teach and publish Conjurations and the order thereof whereby they may induce men to bestow or rather cast away their money upon Masses and Suffrages for their souls but they make it also a parcel of their Sacrament of orders of the which number a Conjuror is one and insert many forms of Conjurations into their Divine Service and not only into their Pontificals but into their Masse-books yea into the very Canon of the Masse CHAP. XXXVI Certain Conjurations taken out of the Pontifical and out of the Missal BUt see yet a little more of Popish Conjurations and confer them with the other In the Pontifical you shall find this Conjuration which the other Conjurours use as solemnly as they I conjure thee thou creature of Water in the Name of the Fa ✚ ther of the So ✚ n and of the Holy ✚ Ghost that thou drive away the Devil from the bounds of the just that he remain not in the dark corners of this Church and Altar ✚ You shall find in the same title these words following to be used at the hollowing of Churches There must a cross of ashes be made upon the pavement from one end of the Church to the other one handful broad and one of the Priests must write on the one side thereof the Greek Alphabet and on the other side the Latin Alphabet Durandus yieldeth this reason thereof to wit It representeth the union in faith of the Jews and Gentiles And yet well agreeing to himself he saith even there That the Cross reaching from the one end to the other signifieth that the people which were in the head shall be made the tail A Conjuration written in the Masse-book Fol. 1. I Conjure thee O creature of Salt by God by the God ✚ that liveth by the true ✚ God by the holy ✚ God which by Elizacus the Prophet commanded that thou shouldest be thrown into the Water that it thereby might be made whole and sound that thou Salt here let the Priest look upon the Salt mayst be conjured for the health of all believers and that thou be to all that take thee health both of body and soul and let all phantasies and wickedness or Diabolical craft or deceipt depart from the place whereon it is sprinkled as also every unclean Spirit being conjured by him that judgeth both the quick and the dead by fire Resp Amen Then followeth a Prayer to be said without Dominus vobiscum but yet with Oremus as followeth Oremus ALmighty and everlasting God we humbly desire thy clemency here let the Priest look upon the Salt that thou wouldest vouchsafe through thy piety to bl ✚ ess and sanc ✚ tifie this creature of Salt which thou hast given for the use of mankind that it may be to all that receive it health of mind and body so as
stroke we stricken bee If hard at hand and near in place Then ruddy colour fils the face Thus much may seem sufficient touching this matter of Natural Magick whereunto though much more may be annexed yet for the avoiding of tediousness and for speedier passage to that which remaineth I will break off this present Treatise And now somewhat shall be said concerning Devils and Spirits in the discourse following The Contents of the Chapters in the Sixteen Fore-going BOOKS BOOK I. CHAP. I. AN Impeachment of Witches power in Meteors and Elementary Bodies tending to the rebuke of such as attribute too much unto them Page 1 CHAP. II. The inconvenience growing by mens credulity herein with a reproof of some Church-men which are inclined to the common conceived opinion of Witches omnipotency and a familiar example thereof Page 3 CHAP. III. Who they be that are called Witches with a manifest declaration of the cause that moveth men so commonly to think and Witches themselves to believe that they can hurt Children Cattel c. with words and imaginnations and of cosening Witches Page 4. CHAP. IV. What miraculous actions are imputed to Witches by Witchmongers Papists and Poets Page 5 CHAP. V. A Confutation of the common conceived opinion of Witches and Witchcraft and how detestable a sin it is to repair to them for counsel or help in time of affliction Page 7 CHAP. VI. A further confutation of Witches miraculous and omnipotent power by invincible Reasons and Authorities with disswasions from such fond credulity ibid. CHAP. VII By what means the name of Witches becometh so famous and how diverssly people be opinioned concerning them and their actions Page 8 CHAP. VIII Causes that move as well Witches themselves as others to think that they can work impossibilities with answers to certain objections where also their punishment by law is touched Page 9 CHAP. IX A conclusion of the first Book wherein is foreshewed the tyrannical cruelty of Witchmongers and Inquisitors with a request to the Reader to peruse the same Page 10 BOOK II. CHAP. I. WHat Testimonies and Witnesses are allowed to give evidence against reputed Witches by the report and allowance of the Inquisitors themselves and such as are special writers herein Page 11 CHAP. II. The order of Examination of Witches by the Inquisitors ibid. CHAP. III. Matters of evidence against Witches Page 13 CHAP. IV. Confessions of Witches whereby they are condemned Page 14 CHAP. V. Presumptions whereby Witches are condemned ibid. CHAP. VI. Particular Interrogatories used by the Inquisitors against Witches Page 15 CHAP. VII The Inquisitors tryal of Weeping by Conjuration Page 16 CHAP. VIII Certain cautions against Witches and of their tortures to procure Confession ibid. CHAP. IX The fifteen Crimes laid to the charge of Witches by Witchmongers specially by Bodin in Demonomania Page 18 CHAP. X. A Confutation of the former surmised Crimes patched together by Bodin and the only way to escape the Inquisitors hands Page 19 CHAP. XI The Opinion of Cornelius Agrippa concerning Witches of his pleading for a poor woman accused of Witchcraft and how he convinced the Inquisitors Page 20 CHAP. XII What the fear of death and feeling of torments may force one to do and that it is no marvel though Witches condemn themselves by their own Confessions so tyrannically extorted Page 21 BOOK III. CHAP. I. The Witches bargain with the Devil according to M. Mal. Bodin Nider Daneus Psellus Erastus Hemingius Cumanus Aquinas Bartholomeus spineus c. Page 22 CHAP. II. The order of the Witches homage done as it is written by lewd Inquisitors and peevish Witchmongers to the Devil in person of their Songs and Dances and namely of Lavolta and of other Ceremonies also of their Excourses Page 23 CHAP. III. How Witches are summoned to appear before the Devil of their riding in the air of their accompts of their conference with the Devil of his supplies and their conference of their farewell and sacrifices according to Daneus Psellus c. Page 24 CHAP. IV. That there can no real league be made with the Devil the first Author of the league and the weak proofs of the Adversaries for the same ibid. CHAP. V. Of the private league a notable table of Bodin concerning a French Lady with a confutation Page 25 CHAP. VI. A Disproof of their Assemblies and of their Bargain Page 26 CHAP. VII A Confutation of the Objection concerning Witches Confession Page 27 CHAP. VIII What folly it were for Witches to enter into such desperate peril and to endure such intolerable torments for no gain or commodity and how it comes to pass that Witches are overthrown by their Confessions Page 28 CHAP. IX How Melancholy abuseth old women and of the effects thereof by sundry examples Page 29 CHAP. X. That voluntary Confession may be untruly made to the undoing of the Confessors and of the strange operation of Melancholy proved by a familiar and late example Page 30 CHAP. XI The strange and divers effects of Melancholy and how the same humor abounding in Witches or rather old women filleth them full of marvellous imaginations and that their Confessions are not to be credited Page 31 CHAP. XII A Confutation of Witches Confessions especially concerning the League Page 32 CHAP. XIII A Confutation of Witches Confessions concerning making of Tempests and Rain of the natural cause of Rain and that Witches or Devils have no power to do such things Page 33 CHAP. XIV What would ensue if Witches Confessions or Witchmongers opinions were true concerning the effects of Witchcraft Inchantments c. Page 34 CHAP. XV. Examples of foreign Nations who in their Wars used the assistance of Witches of Eybiting Witches in Ireland of two Archers that shot with Familiars Page 35 CHAP. XVI Authors condemning the fantastical Confessions of Witches and how a Popish Doctor taketh upon him to disprove the same Page 36 CHAP. XVII Witchmongers Reasons to prove that Witches can work Wonders Bodin's tale of a Friseland Priest transported that imaginations proceeding of Melancholy do cause illusions Page 37 CHAP. XVIII That the Confession of Witches is insufficient in civil and common Law to take away life What the sounder Divines and Decrees of Councels determin in this case ibid. CHAP. XIX Of four capital crimes objected against Witches all fully an swered and confuted as frivolous Page 39 CHAP. XX. A request to such Readers as loath to hear or read filthy and bawdy matters which of necessity are here to be inserted to pass over eight Chapters Page 40 BOOK IV. CHAP. I. OF Witchmongers opinions concerning evil Spirits how they frame themselves in more excellent sort than God made us Page 41 CHAP. II. Of bawdy Incubus and Succubus and whether the action of Venery may be performed between Witches and Devils and when Witches first yielded to Incubus ibid. CHAP. III. Of the Devils visible and invisible dealing with Witches in the way of lechery Page 42 CHAP. IV. That the power of generation is both outwardly
it easily be denyd That to every man and woman while they live the natural Life there belongs a Syderial or starry Spirit which takes its original wholly from the Elemental property And according to the weaker or stronger capacity of the party it hath the longer or shorter continuance after the bodyes decease 3. Such persons as are secretly murthered and such as secretly murther themselves do most frequently appear again and wander hear the place where their Carcase is till the radical moisture be totally consumed according to the opinion of Paracelsus after the consumption whereof they can re-appear no longer but are resolv'd into their first being or Astrum after a certain term of months or years according to the vigour or force of that first attraction which was the only cause of their returning 4. The manner and seasons of their appearing are various Sometimes before the person unto whom they do belong depart this life they do by external presentations forewarn him near the time that the day of death approacheth As it is reported of Codrus Laaenus to whom an empty meager Ghost appeared at midnight signifying unto him how sad and lachrymable a Tragedy was shortly to attend him and also adding that he would visit him in the Execution thereof which proved not contrary to the words of the apparition for at the very instant when his Treacherous Wife had stab'd him at the heart on a suddain he beheld the same with preparations for his interment whilst he yet survived after the fatall wound was given 5. Sometimes the starry spirit of a person appears to his beloved Companion many hundred of miles asunder who was ignorant of the death of the party And it hath often been heard that when none of the kindred or family of the said party deceased have ever been disturbed by it or in the least been sensible of its appearing yet to some of its most intimate acquaintance it discovers it self and importunes them to perform some ceremony or other that it may be returned into rest or else discovers some treasure which was hid by the party whilest alive or else some murther which it had commited But the most frequent cause of their returning is when the party hath himself been privately murthered 6. For such is the poysonous malice and bloudy spirit of the murtherers that it sufficeth them not to have privately bereaved them of their Lives but also by certain earnest Wishes Curses and Conjurations they do afterwards adjure them that for such a term of years they shall never have power to appear again Which wishes being earnestly given forth from the hellish root in the murtherer do exceedingly torment the murthered parties spirit taking deep impression thereon so that it is alwayes in continual sorrow and anguish till the term of years be expired and till the murther be made manifest to the world after which discovery it returns to perfect rest This is well known to those that are exercised in Witchcraft and cruell Murthers though not common to those that murther but once 7. There be many Ancient families in Europe to whom the Ghost of their first Progenitor or Ancestor appears immediately before the departure of some Heir or chief in the same family which assertion is confirmed by Cardan in an Example of an Antient family in the Dukedome of Parma called the Tortells to whom there belongs an ancient Castle with a spatious Hall near the Chimney of the said Hall an old decrepit Woman for these hundreds of years is wonted to appear when any of the Family is about to dye And it is reported amongst them that the same is the Ghost of one belonging to the same name and family who for her Riches was murthered by some of her Nephews and thrown into a pit 8. Many such apparitions do for many years continue to be seen in one particular place ever watching for opportunity to discover some murther or Treasure hid And the cause of the difficulty of the said discovery consists in the nature of their substance for could they make use of the organ of the Tongue they might quickly discover it or if they had the outward benefit of Hands they might produce the said Treasure or Carcase murthered but this they are seldome able to accomplish being destitute of the outward Organs and mediation of Hands to hold withall or Tongue to vent their grievances And that this is true the manner of their appearance doth confirm it For all that they are able to effect if they have been murthered is commonly to appear near the very place where their body lies and to seem as if they sunk down or vanished in the same or else to appear in the posture of a murthered person with mangled and bloudy wounds and hair dishevel'd But it is rarely known that any such apparitions have plainly spoken or uttered by words the time of their murther with the cause the persons name or place unless the murther by circumstances hath been more then ordinary horrid and execrable then the remembrance of the same doth sometimes enable the apparition to frame a voice by the assistance of the Air and discover the fact 9. But to speake in general concerning apparitions why they are so seldome seen and why such spirits as appear can not without mans assistance accomplish their design It may easily be apprehended that all Spirits or spiritual Substances and Devills have their life breath and motion in another source or Element then this external world And as any creature whom the Element of Water hath nourished and bred can live but short while upon the Land So it s with them when they come out of their proper habitations which is the cause of the rarity of apparition it being as difficult for any spirit to manifest it self in this outward principle of the four Elements as for a man to continue with his head under water yea it is rather pain then pleasure for any spirit whether good or bad to come into this outward world 10. Great is the villany of Necromancers and wicked Magicians in dealing with the spirits of men departed whom they invocate with certain forms and conjurations digging up their Carkasses again or by the help of Sacrifices and Oblations to the infernal Gods compelling the Ghost to present it self before them how this was performed in antient times by Hags and Witches is notably described in the Aethiopian History of Heliodorus in the practice of an antient woman who coming into the Camp in the dead of night where amongst many slaughtered bodies the body of her Son was also slain whose carkase she laid before her digging a hole and making a fire on each side with the body in the midst Then taking an earthen pot from a three footed stool she poured honey out of it into the pit then out of another pot she poured milk and likewise out of the third Lastly she cast a Lump
back with me and told me that if I would go along with him I should receive my Money on our way we went I upon my Horse and he on another milk white beast after much discourse I askt him where he dwelt and what his name was he told me That his dwelling was about a mile off at a place called Farran of which place I had never heard though I knew all the Country round about he also told me That he himself was that person of the Family of Learmonts so much spoken off for a Prophet At which I began to be somewhat fearful perceiving us in a road which I had never been in before which increased my fear and admiration more Well on we went till he brought me under ground I know not how into the presence of a beautiful woman that payd me the moneys without a word speaking he conducted me out again through a large and long entry where I saw above 600 men in Armour layd prostrate on the ground as if asleep at last I found my self in the open field by the help of Moon-light in that very place where first I met him and made shift to get home by three in the morning but the money I received was just double of what I esteemed it and what the woman payd me of which at this instant I have several pieces to show consisting of nine pences thirteen pence half-pennies c. 21. The variety of Examples throughout the writings of Learned men may serve as stronge inducements to confirm this particular of Astral Spirits or Ghosts that belong unto Mortal men returning after death untill the cause of their returning be taken away In Ancient times before the name of Christianity there was nothing more frequent then millions of Apparitions in fields where battails had been fought seeming to fight as they had done at first which the Ancient Heathens believed to proceed from the want of Burying And from this arose the Poetical Romance of the wandring of Ghosts besides the River Styx for an hundred years And the custome of Solemn Interment amongst them 22. But with more probability The Custome of the Funeral Piles used by the Romans and the Urns to reduce their Corpses into Ashes was instituted at first to prevent the torment of the Deceased least his Ghost should wander or return which doubtlesse from a natural cause may have the same effect that the reducing of the carcase into Ashes suddainly after its decease may prevent the return of the Astral Spirit for if it be true what is affirmed by Paracelsus that the starry Spirit can continue no longer then the radical moisture in the body it will naturally follow that its appearance is at an end when the body is burnt seeing that the moisture is totally exterminate and consumed thereby And in some sense the Ceremony may be said to be Laudable and Judicious having so beneficial a consequence 23. As there is some semblance of a natural cause in the custome of the Antient urns so likewise may the Interment of slaughtered bodies by the like cause prevent the like Appearances for many are the examples that I have read of such as appeared to their surviving kindred and acquaintance after they had been slaughtered in the Warrs beseeching them to perform unto their bodies the Sacred Funeral Rites that their Ghosts might return into Rest for which many have consulted with the Oracles to be informed whether the deceased deserved Burial because they held it unlawful to bury Murtherers Inecestuous and Sacriligious persons which Nature her self doth also seem to hold if this following Relation be not false which was That some Learned men returning from Persia where they had been to see the King Cosroes by the way interr'd a dead Carcase which they found unburied And in the following night the Ghost of an Ancient Matron as if it had been the Spirit of the World or Madam Nature her self appeard unto them saying Why Interr ye that nefarious Carcase let the Doggs devoure it The Earth who is the Mother of us all admitts not of that man that depraves his Mother So returning they found the Carcase yet unburied 24. To confirm the verity of Astral Spirits proper and their returning I shall conclude this Chapter with the Example of the famous Aristeus the Poet who in the Isle Marmora dyed suddainly at which instant a certain Philosopher of Athens arriving there affirmed That he had lately been in Company and discourst with him In the mean time going to Bury him they found him yet alive but never after that had he any constant residence amongst Mortals Seven years after that he was seen at Proconnesus his native Town and remaind a while composing several Poems and Verses called Arimaspei and then vanished In Metapontis he was seen 300 years after that charging that Apollo's Altar should be erected by the name of Aristeus Praconnesius The like stories are reported of Apollonius and Pythagoras whom their followers would have to be Ubiquitaryes affirming That at one instant of time they were seen in several places thousands of miles in distance And though in Iamblichus who hath wrote the Life of Pythagoras in Philostratus that wrote the Life of Apollonius Tyanus there be many fabulous things reported as to the Astral Spirits separation and return unto the body Yet I have sufficiently here endeavoured to separate the true from the more Poetical part in this particular Subject of the starry Spirits belonging to every individual man and woman and their returning after the body falls away CHAP. IV. Of Astral Spirits or separate Daemons in all their distinctions names and natures and places of Habitation and what may be wrought by their Assistance 1. HAving in the foregoing Chapter sufficiently illustrated the nature of the Astral Spirits proper that belong to every individual The subject of this present Chapter shall be to Astral Spirits separate which are not constitute to any peculiar work or service but do only according to their nature and temper haunt such places in the sublunary world as are most correspendent to their natures and existence 2. According to the Judgment of Magicians the Seven Planets have seven starry Spirits peculiar to themselves whose natures are answerable to that peculiar Planet under which they are constitute And they are said to be substitute under the seven Caelestial Angels that govern the influences of the superiour Spheres being equal in their name and continuance with that planet whose Spirit they are that is till the Consummation of all things visible 3. And in that houre month day or year wherein their Planet hath the most dominion then is their efficacy most prevalent and their operation the most powerful upon inferiour bodies whether to the destruction or prosperity of that animal vegitative or mineral subject to their Influences according to the dignification of the Planet at that instant Dominion for if ill affected their nature
their dwelling the Caverns of the Rocks and Mountains which relation is recorded in the Antiquities of Pomonia 12. I have read another wonderful relation in a book de Annulis Antiquorum Concerning a young man from whom the power of Venus was taken away so that he could not Company with his new marryed Wife The Story is briefly thus Being busy at play or exercise with some of his Companions on his marriage day he put his weddng Ring on the finger of the Statue of Venus that stood besides the place least it should be lost when he had done returning to take his Ring the finger was bended inward so that he could by no means pluck off the Ring to his great amazement at which instant he forsooke the place and in the night the Image of Venus appeared unto him saying Thou hast espoused me and shalt not meddle with any other in the morning returning the Ring was gone and the finger made straight again which troubled him mightily so that he consulted with a Magician who wrote a Letter to some Principal Spirit in that Dominion to which Venus belong'd bidding the party stand watching at such a place at such an houre till he saw many troops of Spirits pass by him and describing one in a Chariot of stern and terrible Countenance to whom he bad him deliver the Letter All which he performed and after the person in the Chariot had read the contents thereof he broke out into this expression great God how long shall we be subject to the insolencies of this accursed Rascal naming the Magitian But withal calling to a most beauteous Woman from amongst the Company he charged her to deliver back the Ring which at length she did with much aversness and after that he injoyd his Marriage rites without impediment 13. Besides the innumerable Troops of Terrestrial Spirits called Faeryes there are also Nymphs of the Woods Mountains Groves and Fountains as Eagle Arethusa Io Menippa Irene c. who are sayd to be altogether of the faeminine kinde sporting and dancing and feasting amongst the trees in Woods and bathing in clean and limpid Fountains such have been seen by many and are often alluded to by the Roman and Greek Poets There is also a relation of a German Prince who being exceeding thirsty and weary with hunting and hawking lost his Company in the Woods on a suddain beheld an opening at a little hillock amongst the trees and a most beautiful Maiden offering a Golden Morn full of Liquor which he received and drunk and after rid quite away with the sayd Horn not regarding the Virgins tears who lamented after him t is sayd that having spilt some of the sayd Liquor it fetcht the hair from off his Horses skin and the horn is yet to be seen in Germany which I have been told by one that hath seen and handled it affirming That the Gold for purity cannot ba parallel'd 14. Another sort are the Incubi and Succubi of whom it is reported that the Hanns have the original being begotten betwixt these Incubi and certain Magical women whom Philimer the King of the Goths banished into the deserts whence arose that savage and untamed Nation whose speech seemed rather the mute attempts of brute Beasts then any articulate sound and well distinguished words To these Incubi are attributed the diseases of the blood called the Night-hag which certainly have a natural cause although at the instant of time when the party is oppressed it is probable that certain malevolent Spirits may mix themselvs therein and terrifie the soul and minde of the afflicted party 15. And amongst such Spirits as are resident amongst mortals there is a very froward kinde who take delight to pull down what man hath builded who have been seen at the building of strong and mighty Castles to come in the night and tumble all to the ground that the workmen had reared the day before of this sort were Horon Stilkon Glaura and Ribbolla four pestiferous and turbulent Animals that for many years infested the first founders of the Emperours Seraglio Till one of the holy Musselmans did by certain Charms and Exorcisms constrain and binde them to tell their names and the cause of their disturbing which they declared and were by him confined to destroy the mines of Copper in Hungaria 16. There is also a Relation extant in the Life of Paul the Hermit of a Satyr appearing to him in the Woods and discoursing with him that it was a mortal Creature as he and served the same God dehorting the people to worship them for demi-Gods as they had been accustomed to Like unto this is the Story of the Death of the great God Pan That a Mariner sailing by the Island of Cicilia was called by his name from the shore and by a certain voice was bid to tell the Inhabitants of the next Island that the great God Pan was dead which he obeyd and though in the next Island there were no Inhabitants yet when he approached he proclaimed towards the shoar that Pan was deceased immediately after which Proclamation he could sensibly hear most doleful and lachrymable Cryes and noyses as of those that lamented his departure 17. Ianthe is sayd by Magitians to be a water Spirit who is ever present when any are drownd in the water being delighted much in the destruction of mankinde that it may enjoy the Company of their Astral Spirits after their decease for according to the four Complexions or Constitutions of the body of Man The Astral Spirit associates it self with separated substances The Phlegmatick to the watry Spirits The Sanguine to those of the Aire The Cholerick to the Fire and the Melancholy to the Terrestrial Spirits But this is only to be supposed of such persons as dyed in discontent and restlesness 18. Of another sort are such Aquatick Animals as in former times have conversed and procreated with mankinde bearing divers Children And at length snatching all away into the watry Element again whereof there are variety of Examples in Cardanus and Bodin Of this sort was the Familiar of Paulus a Mendicant Frier called by him Florimella and entertaind as his Bed-fellow for forty years though unknown and unseen to any but himself till upon some unhandsome carriage of the Fryer his Companion accompanying him over the Danube leapt into the River and was never after seen 19. Innumerable are the reports and accidents incident unto such as frequent the seas as fisher-men and sailers who discourse of noises flashes shadows echoes and other visible appearances nightly seen and heard upon the surface of the water And as the disposition of the Heavens is according to the constellations and climates so are these spectres appropriate to particular parts and coasts from the North to the Southern pole But more especially abounding in the North about Norweigh Isleland Green Land and Nova Zembla 20. Neither are the Storyes of the Greek
and Latine Poets all together to be sleighted in this particular for many verities are inter-woven with their fictions they speak of vocal Forrests as Dodona of Talkative Rivers as Seamander of sensitive Fountains as Arethusa Menippa and Aegle Which more credible Historians have partly confirmed in the Relation of Dodona asserting that the trees do seem to speak by reason of the various Apparitions Phantasms that attend the Forrest And also in the Story of the River Scamander which is sayd at this day to afford plenty of spectres and prophetical Spirits that have nightly conversation with the Turkish Sailers coming by that way with Gallyes into the Mediterranean 21. The like is reported of a Castle in Norweigh standing over a Lake wherein a Satyr appeareth sounding a Trumpet before the death of any Souldier or Governour belonging to the same t is sayd to be the Ghost of some murdered Captain that hath become so Fatal and Ominous to his Successors But with more probability may be called a Spectre proper to the place according to the Constellation 22. And it hath been the conjecture of eminent speculators that from the Loins of such arise the numerous brood of Elves Faeryes Lycanthropi And Pigmyes sometimes visible sometimes invisible in Green-Land and the adjacent rocks where they have no concomitants but bears and scurvy-grass to mix and make merry withal except they pass from thence to the Northern parts of America where they shall find their off-spring adored for Gods and Goddesses by the ignorant Inhabitants about new Albion and as far South as Mexico as is amply related in the discourses of Drake Cortes and Purchas concerning the conquest and discovery of these Territoryes 23. By Apparitions upon the water many have been tempted to leap into the Sea in pursuit thereof till they were drowned of which spectres there is a sort called by Psellus Ordales who do appear like Ducks or other Water fouls till they by fluttering upon the water do entice their followers to pursue them so farr that many perish in the attempt which doth greatly delight these faithless Spirits who as we have said before do long to accompany their Astral Spirits after their decease An Example of this kinde I my self knew besides the numerous relations I have had from the mouths of others which confirm the opinions of the antient Magicians concerning these water Spirits that of all the rest they are the most deceitful and dangerous like the flattering Seas and swift gliding Torrents that when they have wonn any thing to admire and sound them do carry them violently into the abysse of their own Element 24. But we will leave the waters and insist a little on the nature of Igneous or Fiery Spirits that inhabit the Mountains in Hecla Aetna Propo Champ and Poconzi Where the Courts and Castles of these puissant Champions are kept The opinion of some is That they are not Astral but Infernal Spirits and Dâ—mned Souls that for a term of years are confined to these burning Mountains for their Iniquities Which opinion although it be granted yet we may assert That for the most part the apparitions sounds noices clangors and clamors that are heard about the Mountan Hecla in Island and other places are the effects of separated Starry beings who are neither capable of good nor evill but are of a middle vegetative nature and at the dissolution of the Media Natura shall be again reduced into their primary Aether 25. And from natural Causes it may be easily demonstrated That there is great Correspondence betwixt such substances and the Element of fire by reason of the Internal Flagrat and Central Life proceeding from the Quintessence or one only Element which upholds them in Motion Life and Nourishment As every natural and supernatural being is upheld and maintain'd out of the self-same root from whence it had its original or rise So the Angels feed upon the Caelestial Manna The Devils of the fruits of Hell which is natural to their appetite as trash for swine the Astral beings of the source of the stars the Beasts Birds or Reptiles of the fruits of the Earth and the gas of the Air the fishes of the blass of the Water But more particularly every thing is nourished by its Mother as Infants at the Breast either by exhausting or fomentation 26. Such Spirits are very officious in the burnings of Towns or Cole-pits delighting much to dance and exult amidst the flames and become Incendiaries worse then the material Cause of the Combustion often tempting men in drukenness to burn their own Houses and causing Servants carelesly to sleep that such unlucky accidents may happen As the Story of Kzarwilwui a Town in Poland doth confirm which was reduced to ashes by three of these pestilentious Animals called Saggos Broundal and Baldwin who after many open Threatnings for six months together that they would destroy the City and Citizens did on a dark and stormy night set all on fire on a suddain in twenty or thirty several places which irrecoverably destroyed the Inhabitants 27. As for the nourishment of fiery Spirits it is radical heat and the influence of the Aery Region their sport and pastime consisteth for the most part in tumbling and fooling one with another when the flames are most impetuous and violent in the Mountains And it is likewise credited by some that their office is to cruciate and punish some Evil Livers retaining and tormenting their Souls or Astral Spirits for many years after the Bodies decease which is too empty a notion to be hearkened unto by any that are well informed of their natures 28. Neither is it to be wondered at that they are so much delighted with the fiery quality in regard of their affinity and appropriation with infernal spirits whose state and being is altogether damnable and deplorable for although they have not the ability of attaining either the Heavenly or Infernal quality by reason that they are utterly voyd of the innermost Center and may be rather called bruits then rational Animals yet because they belong to the outermost principle such is their innate Affinity and Unity with the dark World or infernal Kingdome that they do often become the Devils Agents to propagate his works upon the face of the Earth 29. By the Instigations of infernal Spirits they are often sent to terrifie men with nocturnal visions in the likeness of monstrous Beasts or Ghosts of their deceased Friends They are moreover often abetted to tempt and provoke melancholy people to execute themselves besides innumerable wayes they have of executing the pleasures of iniquous Spirits through malicious Instigations and secret Stratagems projected by them to the destruction of mortal men especially when the work to be effected by the Devil is too too hard for his subtle and spiritual nature to bring to pass because the same belongs to the Astral source or outward principle to which
these dubious Spirits do properly belong then are they frequently sollicited to mediate in such treacherous actions as the hellish Spirits have conspired against the Lives of mortal men 30. More particularly These Spirits that belong to the fiery Element are most officious in this kinde of service being naturally such as the Antecedent matter hath sufficiently demonstrated but according to the ranks and Categoryes to which they belong some of them are more inveterate and malicious in their undertakings then the rest But every kinde of Astral Spirit is obsequious to the Kingdome of darkness that the devilish Spirits can effect little or nothing without their assistance in this external principle of the Starrs and Elements upon the bodies or possessions of Mankind because their bodies are too crude and rough for the conveyance of their influence either in Dreams Raptures Philtres Charms or Constellations as the following Chapter of the nature of Infernal beings shall make plain wherein the nature and capacity of every damned Spirit is decyphered according to the truth of the antient Philosophy 31. Leave we now the Spirits of the fire to illustrate the natures of subterranean Beings whose Orders Species and Degrees are various for they consist in these distinctions viz. Spirits of men deceased Souls of men deceased separated Spirits Astral separate Spirits semi-Infernal Spirits appropriate to the Constellations where any of the seven metals viz. Saturn Jupiter Mars Sol Luna Venus Mercury are found in the bowels of the Earth and as farr as the natures of Minerals are distinct one from the other so much distant are these Subterranean Spirits in Nature and Faculty in respect of their places shapes names and qualities 32. But they are not all confined unto the metallick Kingdome for there are also Spirits of the Mountains Vallies Caves Deeps Hiata's or Chasma's of the Earth hidden Treasures Tombs Vaults and Sepultures of the Dead To the last belong the Astral Spirits of deceased Mortals that delight to hover over the antient Carcases to which they belong'd seeking still to be dissolved and diligently enquiring the Cause of their retention such are resident in silent Caves and solitary Vaults where the deceased lie till the Humidum Radicale be exciccate and totally dryd up after which their tricks are no more manifest but are utterly extinguished and annihilated 33. To the next belong such Spirits as are Protectors of hidden Treasures from a natural Cause from whence they do exceedingly envy mans benefit and accommodation in the discovery thereof ever haunting such places where money is conceal'd and retaining malevolent and poysonous Influences to blast the Lives and Limbs of those that dare to attempt the discovery thereof Peters of Devonshire with his confederates who by Conjuration attempted to dig for such defended Treasures was crumbled into Atomes as it were being reduced to Ashes with his Companions in the twinkling of an eye 34. And upon this particular we have plenty of Examples of the destruction of such as by Magical experiments have discovered hidden Treasures which instances do rather seem to prove That such as haunt these places do more nearly belong to the Infernal then to the Astral Hierarchy in regard that they are so infesting and inveterate to Mortal men that the Grand Intention of the Prince of darkness may be accomplished in their designs 35. But of all the rest such as haunt Mines and mettle men are the most pernicious and frequent from the same Cause with the former The nature of such is very violent they do often slay whole Companies of Labourers they do sometimes send inundations that destroy both the Mines and Miners they bring noxious and malignant vapours to stifle the laborious workmen briefly their whole delight and faculty consists in tormenting killing and crushing men that seek such Treasures that mankind may never partake thereof to relieve their Cares and worldly necessities 36. Such was Anaebergius a most virulent Animal that did utterly confound the undertakings of those that laboured in the richest Silver mine in Germany called Corona Rosacea He would often shew himself in the likeness of a he-goat with Golden horns pushing down the workmen with great violence sometimes like a Horse breathing flames and pestilence at his Nostrils At other times he represented a Monk in all his Pontificalilus flouting at their Labour and imitating their Actions with scorn and dedignation till by his daily and continued molestation he gave them no further ability of perseverance 37. Thus I have hinted the various distinctions and sub-distinctions of Astral Spirits proper or common illustrating their natures according to the opinions of the Learned from thence I proceed to say what the Infernal Hierarchy is and whereof it doth consist in this fifth Chapter following CHAP. V. Of the Infernal Spirits or Devils and damned Souls treating what their Natures Names and Powers are c. 1. LEaving the Astral Kingdome I will now proceed to describe the natures and distinctions of Infernal Spirits or Devils and damned Souls who are to be considered according to their ranks and orders exactly correspondent to the Quires and Hierarchies of the Angels or Celestial beings wherein I will insist upon their names shapes places times orders powers and capacities proceeding gradually from a general narration to a particular Anatomy of every sort of Spirit in its proper place and order 2. As for the Locality or Circumscription of the Kingdome of darkness it is farr otherwise to be considered then the vulgar account it who esteem the hellish habitation a distinct Chasma or Gulph in a certain place above under or in the Center of the Earth where innumerable Devils and wicked Souls inhabit who are perpetually scorched and tormented with material flames of fire This is the opinion which naturally all men are addicted and prone unto But if we will rightly consider the Kingdome of Heaven and Hell in respect of one another we must look upon the similitude of light and darkness in this outward world who are not circumscribed nor separate as to Locality from one another for when the sun arises the darkness of the night disappeareth not that it removes it self to some other place or Country but the brightness of the light overpowereth it and swallows it up so that though it disappeareth yet it is as really there as the light is 3. This is also to be considered in the description of the Habitations of good or evill beings that they are really in one another yet not comprehended of one another neither indeed can they be for the evil Spirits if they should remove ten thousand miles yet are they in the same quality and source never able to finde out or discover where the Kingdome of Heaven is to be found though it be really through and through with the dark Kingdome but in another quality which makes them strangers to one another 4. A similitude hereof we