IMPRIMATUR THO. TOMKYNS R. R mo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no. GILBERTO Divina Providentia Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi à Sacris Domesticis Ex Aedibus Lambethan Julii 9. 1668. A TREATISE PROVING Spirits Witches AND Supernatural Operations BY PREGNANT INSTANCES AND EVIDENCES Together with other Things worthy of Note By Meric Casaubon D. D. LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill 1672. TO THE READER CHristian Reader what ever thou art otherwise thou art not a true Christian or so good as thou shouldest be if thou doest not account that of a Christian thy best title though it doth concern thee no further perchance than I shall tell thee by and by yet it doth me very much in thankfulness to God and to acquit my self of wilful negligence in some particulars of this ensuing Treatise to acquaint thee with the occasion and in what condition I was when I wrote it I will not go back so far as to tell thee what I have suffered since I have been in the world by sicknesses and some other accidents the relation whereof though very true yet I am sure would be incredible unto many There may be a time for that if God please It shall now suffice to tell thee that about three years ago and somewhat better being in London I was seized upon with a cold and shortness of breath which was so troublesome that I went to an intimate friend and learned Physician for help who made no question but in few days he would cure me and to that end prescribed some things But before many days were over himself ended his life in whose death good learning ancient I mean had a great loss But the comfort is which I can witness he died a Christian After him the cause still continuing I had recourse unto another of the same profession whom though I knew not before yet I found him very friendly and so far as I could judge very rational in his prescriptions But notwithstanding such help the disease increasing rather than abating I at last resolved with Gods help for Canterbury again which I did think many times I should never see more Where for eight or nine moneths I continued much in the same case till at last that disease ended in some nephritical fits which I did not expect to out-live But I did till April 1666. when I was freshly assaulted with new fits which more remisly or sharply continued some moneths till at last divers other evil symptomes concurring I lost sleep and so lost it that for the space of four moneths and upwards I may truly to the best of my knowledge say I had not one hour of natural sleep but such as was by the advice of my Physicians procured by Drugs the strongest that are to that end which sleep so procured left me always in such a hatred and detestation of life that nothing but obligation of conscience could have prevailed with me or any body else I think in my case to preserve life at so dear a rate What I was unto others I know not I was unto my self I am sure a wonder nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prodigium a monster our old translation that I did hold out so long And yet when I did most despair of life or rather comfort my self that the time of my deliverance was now surely come so it pleased God I began to recover sleep and not long after amended to such a degree of chearfulness 〈◊〉 for many weeks after I did ever and anon 〈◊〉 whether I was not in a dream But 〈◊〉 the continuance of my chearfulness though 〈…〉 other weakness I think any Christian 〈◊〉 if he do not think me worse than an ordiâ—â—â—y Heathen or Infidel will easily believe â—hat I had some thoughts how I might employ a â—â—fe so much of it as was yet to come so strangely prolonged to do Him some service whom I loâ—â—ed upon as the only Author First I resolved my most immediate profession to preach as often as I could And for the first time being an Easter-day a very proper day after such a reviving I thought as to bodily strength I came off well enough But when I attempted it a second time though till the Evening before I thought my self in very good case yet I found my self suddenly so disabled and brought so low again which continued for three days that since that time my opinion hath been I should but tempt God to think of any such thing any more After this my chearfulness and vigour of spirits still continuing I began to think of writing a trade which I began very young and of which I thank God for it I have had comfort at home and abroad as much and more than I did ever promise my self I did pitch upon a subject which I did think most convenient for me as having more immediate relation to devotion and not unseasonable in these ungodly times It was not long before I had all my materials out of several papers and Note-books together and ready But when I thought to put them into a form by coherence of matter and stile I found my self so unable that I did absolutely conclude I had no other business in this world and to no other end God had prolonged my life than by continued earnest repentance a greater work I doubt than many imagine to fit my self for a better How I have acquitted my self I must leave to God But time passing moneth after moneth and I still continuing in as good vigour of mind I thought as when at the best it troubled me not a little that I should live profitable unto my self only At last this subject once before thought upon but since forgotten came into my mind again I will not be so bold without better warrant with God Almighty to say that he put it into my head either before when it first offered it self or now when I remembred it But this I may truly say since I have been a writer I never proceeded in any subject for the time that was bestowed upon it with more expedition and alacrity For it hath been my case ever since I came out of that languishing extremity which affected my Spirits most that my body hath continued very weak ever since so that it is but some part of the day when at best that I can converse with books seldom so well that I can walk or stand upon my legs and when once set in my Study to write or to meditate it is irksome to me to rise upon any occasion and therefore I avoid it without there be some great necessity much more tedious and irksome and not without danger to reach books which I cannot reach a great part of my books without climbing nor always find very readily though ranged and ordered with care when I seek them This is the cause that my quotations are not always so full or so punctual as otherwise they might have been But
Rain to be procured or put back which saith he is so clearly impossible that we need not go to Philosophers to know their opinion AS for Seneca's meaning whether I be in the right or no I shall not think my self much concerned let every man after diligent perusing of his words judge as he pleaseth Though this more to make my interpretation of his words more probable I have to say that it doth appear by other places how fearful he was to utter any thing in this kind that was not generally believed though himself in all probability made little or no question of the truth See but immediately before how tenderly he doth propose and not without an Apology for himself lest he might be thought seriously to believe it which also made Ovid so fearful though himself an eye-witness to write it that the Northern Seas are wont to freez or to congeal in the Winter-time Let also Pliny's words be considered concerning this very thing not the place but the thing There be Spells against Hail saith he and Diseases and ambusta which he also calls ambustiones that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 burnings some of which have been tried or by experience approved true Sed prodendo obstat ingens verecundia that is but to set down particularly a marvellous shame or fear doth hinder me as well knowing the different opinions of men Let every man therefore think of these things as himself pleaseth So Pliny whereby doth appear that he durst not speak what he thought and believed lest he should undergo the reproach those wonderful wise Epicuraeans Pliny himself a great favourer of their Sect being very numerous and in great credit in those times of a writer of tales But as I said before let Seneca's meaning be what it will as to the thing it self though I will not undertake for the truth of it according to every circumstance of Seneca's relation partly because I never saw the Records of that City my self which haply Seneca did and partly because Plutarch who doth mention those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or observers of Hail doth not name any place and instead of the bloud of a Lamb or Chick doth mention another kind of bloud yet that there is no such impossibility in the relation but that it might be very true so far I dare undertake and I hope to make it good Neither will it appear incredible to any man who instead of a natural will but allow us a supernatural cause But first let us see what we can say for the truth or probability of the fact or thing and then let the Reader judge what may probably be the cause It seemeth that very anciently such an opinion hath been among men Romans and Grecians that by some Magick or supernatural art for the Devil was not so well known in those days though Daemons which was an ambiguous word as elsewhere I have shewed were strange things might be wrought as in the air so upon the land to further or hinder the fruits of the Earth Empedocles anciently a notorious Magician became very famous for his skill in that kind ever since he helped the Athenians when by unseasonable winds all their Corn was like to miscarry as Laertius and others bear witness from which time and thing he got the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or wind-stiller Among other things it was very generally believed that Witches and Magicians had a power or an art to transfer both the crop and fertility of one field to another Messes hac atque illac transferunt diris tempestabibus omnesque fructus paucorum improbitas capit saith the Author of that Poem or Comedy ancient and elegant commonly called Qâ—erelâ—u quite different from that in Plautus And Tibullus long before to the same purpose Cantus vicinis fruges traducit ab agris One Caius Furius Cresinus a Roman of a mean fortune whose grounds were observed to thrive so beyond measure that he did reap more ex agello or a little field than his rich neighbours did of sundry large ones was accused that he did fruges alienas pellicere veneficiis that is that by witchcraft he did rob other grounds to enrich his own It came to a trial but he came of with great honour Pliny is my Author BUT by the way it will I hope be no digression to take notice of another story of his which will not be impertinent to our present discourse concerning this anciently believed translation of the fruits of the Earth from one ground to another and very pertinent to our main subject of Credulity and Incredulity of which Pliny doth afford more examples than any other Author I know and is very often wronged and censured by men through Incredulity grounded upon ignorance Many fabulous relations he hath I know from all kind of Authors which himself made no other account of for the most part Nay I am sure he doth sometimes reject that for fabulous which upon better consideration will appear true enough We may therefore think our selves beholding to him for the knowledge of many true things which if because accounted by him fabulous he had taken no notice of in his Observations we had never known But however those things may prove or be judged which he had from others it can hardly be shewed that he records any thing of his own time or upon his own knowledge that can be proved a lye it is well known that being a man of great wealth and dignity wilfully and willingly he did adventure his life and lost it we know in that adventure the better to learn the truth and if possible to discover the cause of some strange things So heartily was he addicted to the study of Nature and therefore more unlikely he would wilfully do the truth of Nature so much wrong as to violate and defile it willingly and wittingly with fabulous narrations But now to the story which himself doth call Prodigium super omnia quae unquam credita sunt A prodigie beyond all prodigies that ever were believed and yet delivered by him as a true story In Nero's time he saith it so happened that a whole Olive-field was transferred or carried to the other side of the high way and the ploughed ground that stood before in the adverse side set in the room He doth not ascribe it to any witchcraft though it be so apprehended by some that tell this story after him as Lodovicus Vives by name for one It is much more likely that it happened if true as I think very reasonable to believe by some strange Earthquake or motion of the ground in those parts occasioned by subterraneous winds and vapours Who hath not heard of Trees and Rivers removed from their proper place and placed elsewhere by Earthquakes But if any be so incredulous as not to believe Pliny in this what will they say to Machiavil an Historian without exception that I know of whatever his religion was who tells
superstition whereof examples are so obvious in great Towns as London especially as no man needs to wonder at it BUT yet let us see what may be said even for that not altogether improbable perchance so they that are not so much experienced will the better know by this example how to examine the truth of things and to distinguish between certainty and probability or possibility Do not we to this day find things which they call Empirica and Specifica in the writings of very sober Physicians that may seem as strange As for example The rindes of the root of Elder pull'd off from the upper part shall purge by vomit from the lower by stools The brain of a Ram with some other ingredients a good medicine against madness provided that the Ram be a virgin Ram virginity an ordinary caution in diabolical exploits to blind the world as afterwards shall be observed and that his head be cut off at one blow I find this in Sennertus the other in Anatomia Sambuci printed in London where the Author thinks but doth not affirm that this happily may be ascribed to some Idiosyncracy either of the body of the patient or of the humor that causeth the disease or perchance to the strength of imagination And even Galen such an hater of all that resented of any superstition and rigid exacter of reason he recanted afterwards we shall shew but even whilest he was so in his Tenth book De compositione Pharmacorum where among others he doth set down a remedy against the stone in the bladder This remedy saith he must be prepared with a kind of religious observation For the ingredients must be beaten or bruised in a wooden-morter with a woodden-pestle and he that beats must not have any Iron about him either in his fingers or shooes And this he calls a mystery which he saith he learned from a Rustick But should I here take notice of those strange things and wonderful effects of herbs which no less a man than Matthiolus tells of in his Dedicatory Epistle to his Herbal for truth what hath been written of the herb Baaras would be acknowledged very credible in comparison I dare say Yet I believe our modern Herbarists that experience doth teach them the contrary Well but doth it follow necessarily that if it be not found so now therefore it was never so Yes if we stick to the true reall nature or natural effects of the Herb. But who knows but that the Devil might abuse the Magicians of those days in that kind making them believe that those strange effects for of that I make no question did proceed from the natural properties of the very herb thus and thus observed which doth not hold at this day as I dare say there be many superstitions about Herbs and Plants now in force among men of that wicked profession which were not known in former times There is nothing in all this but is very possible and if I said probable it might be justified But considering how many things in this kind are to be found in the books of old Magicians as Democritus and others which upon trial even in those days were found false and because we would not multiply wonders where there is no necessity that when there is as we conceive we may speak with more authority and be believed I shall rather stick to my former judgment that it was but a fiction of the Magicians of those days to add credit and reverence to their art BUT now I turn to the men of these times the wits as they call themselves and by some others for want of real wit and good learning are so called who because they believe nothing but what is palpable and visible deny therefore Spirits and all supernatural effects and consequently the truth of all relations wherein supernatural causes are ingaged what will these men say to this of Josephus That he did invent what he recordeth to have been done before such witnesses What reason can they give for such a senseless supposition Or that the eyes of so many were deceived who thought they saw what was not truly and really to be seen But then how deceived by what means natural or supernatural It poseth me to think what they can pretend why we should not believe Yet I will suppose that somewhat they will say if nothing else yet this that it is an old story and therefore they are not bound to believe it A worthy answer for men that pretend to reason But I will see if I can fit them with a later to the same purpose and as irrefragable as I account that old ANDREAS Laurentius a late and learned Physician well known to the world by his writings in his book De Strumis or Kings Evil printed in Paris Anno Dom. 1609 and dedicated to Henry the Fourth of late Glorious memory in his first book ninth Chap. where he treateth of the power of the Devil to cause or to heal diseases at large he hath there this story The most Christian King saith he the very same to whom the book is dedicated did see a Rustick or Country Clown who by the incense or smoak of a certain herb in a moment as it were would cure all that were sick of the Kings Evil. He made them vomit so that they did cast much pituitous stuff and with it certain little creatures which he said were the germina buddings or seminaries perchance of the disease This I have heard more than once from the Kings own mouth when he did enquire the reason from me Besides the King Monsieur de Lominie one of the Kings Privy Council Monsieur de Frontenae Francis Martell chief Chyrurgion to the King and divers others of the Kings bed Chamber did see the same I always was of opinion that it was done by the Devil Neither was I deceived in it for this Rustick some few days after vanished and from that time though by his friends and those of his house sought far and near was never heard of So he Good and unquestionable witnesses I hope the King and so many others of his Court men of credit and of all men the Chyrurgion at least best able to judge LET this be compared with Josephus his relation which shall we sâ—y is the strangest This I think What then shall we say is there any such thing in the world as Truth or such a thing in the Heavens Firmament as a Sun If so then let us account though strange yet not prodâ—gious those things which are known so often to happen but those men not so strange as prodigious who what all men see would make us believe they do not see or though they see yet will not believe BUT now we are upon it I will run through some other instances I shall not be long upon them but they shall be chosen instances that nothing may be left for the cure of those men a hard cure I must confess who love
under the name of superstition subject to derision I think the advice is not amiss ANCIENT Heathens had an opinion not unworthy the consideration that no prodigie or bad Omen could hurt them by the event who did profess not to regard them or could elude them by a contrary interpretation Pliny's words to this purpose are Exemplis apparere ostentorum vires in nostra potestate esse ac prout quaequâ— accepta sint ita valere He doth add In Augurum certè disciplina c. that is That by the discipline of the Augures a sort of Diviners or Soothsayers among the Romans it is very certain that neither imprecations or auspicies or presages did belong unto them to hurt them who when they had any work in hand did profess and declare they did take no notice of either Quo munere divinae indulgentiae maius nullum est saith he that is Than which the Divine mercy hath not vouchsafed unto men a greater gift or boon So Pliny lib. 28. cap. 2. And in the next Chapter he doth mention some particular rites and ceremonies which they used to elude or avert mischiefs when threatned by some ill presage or inauspicious accident Of which St. Augustin doth treat and reckon many in his second de Doct. Christiana Chap. 20. I make no great wonder if many of those superstitious rites and ceremonies by both Pliny and St. Augustin mentioned were thought efficacious to elude or avert when the observation of prodigies was so transcendent that every thing almost that did not happen every day was looked upon as a prodigie It was not hard to avert or elude as they interpreted it what probably as founded upon such groundless fears and imaginations would never have hapned though probable too that meer fear and imagination though no better grounded might be the cause sometimes that some things hapned really which otherwise had never been But however because Pliny no very superstitious man who elsewhere hath not faith enough to believe that God cares for the world or takes any notice of mens actions whether good or bad because he doth here we see so magnifie the power of faith and therein the goodness of God that would so provide it and appoint it and that besides Pliny there be others that attest the same or much to the same purpose as afterwards in due place may be shewed we may consider besides Christian faith whether there be not some kind of natural faith such as natural meer natural men are and always have been capable of which with God by his own order and appointment is and always hath been more or less meritorious or efficacious for the averting of some temporal evils and a good pledge or forerunner of that true faith in Christ by which we hope not only to be rescued from that misery which as the wretched posterity of a sinful protoplast we are born unto but also I expect no otherwise but that the wits will laugh at our simplicity purchase Heaven it self and Immortality But of this more elsewhere which I will not here transcribe WITH this of Pliny the elder doth well agree the resolution of Pliny the latter and as well with Christianity and therefore not unworthy our observation A friend of his who was to plead a cause within one or two days after had a dream which much troubled him and threatned as he did interpret it some kind of miscarrying Whereupon he doth address himself to Pliny that he would procure him a further day Pliny first doth propose unto him what in such a case himself had done preferring that excellent rule or maxim of Homer's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is in effect That a good cause ought to be regarded more than any signs or prodigies whatsoever before terrifying dreams and visions when he was to defend the cause of an innocent friend against potent enemies Wherein notwithstanding his terrifying presages or prodigies he prospered He did so and hoped his friend might also But if that would not satisfie him his next advice is Quod dubâ—t as ne feceris which he calls Consultissimi cujusque praeceptum the precept or advice of all that are wise and prudent Not to do that whereof you doubt which I think doth very well agree with that of the Apostle And he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith For whatsoever is not of faith is sin But lastly I make great difference of prodigies that concern private men only and those which concern Princes and whole common Weals I do not think these so easie to be avoided as those I HAVE done with prodigies I now proceed to that I have to observe upon the instances or the chiefest of them that have been produced which may be useful as I conceive in all or most other cases of Credulity or Incredulity And here first of all I propose this rule of Credulity or Incredulity in general in St. Augustin's words Multa St. Augustin hath it Nonnulla only but I think it will bear multa very well credibilia sunt falsa sicut incredibilia multa sunt vera Or in Minutius Foelix his words more pithily In incredibili verum in credibili mendacium that is in English That many things which seem incredible are true and many things false which are very credible or likely-true Which is no more if so much than what Aristotle long before in that known Axiom of his taught that falsa quaedam c. that some things that are false have more appearance of truth than some things that are true It is no argument to me that a thing is true because it is possible no nor because probable nay it is certain that many lyes and falshoods are founded upon this very thing probability Though civility may oblige not to contradict where we see no impossibility yet discretion will to doubt and to suspend assent till we see good ground of belief I know the wisest man may mistake sometimes many are credulous and many love to tell what themselves have forged or what they have from others though themselves perchance do not believe it I am no Sceptick or Pyrrhonick and whether ever any such were really is a question which to be in my apprehension is little less than of a rational creature born to turn into a senseless brute And it doth much derogate from Gods goodness to think that he should give us reason the best of gifts for no other use than always to doubt which is worse than to have no reason at all Yet this I must say which I think most true their profession was if ever any such to doubt of all things the best way never to be a Sceptick is not to be too quick of belief and to doubt of many things Take it from St. Augustin that it may have more authority best in his own words but because very worthy to be known unto all that would be wise I will put them
to certain knowledge or science though not science properly because not grounded upon the knowledge of the causes In either sense credulity taken will fit our purpose well enough yet of the two I rather chuse the second that credulity may be taken for a vice that so as all or most vertues according to Aristotle's doctrine though by some upon very light grounds as I conceive much opposed we may place this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or belief also in the middle of two vicious extremities And so is this business of believing very well stated by Plutarch in more than one place and upon several occasions LASTLY whereas my title promiseth the consideration of both equally Credulity and Incredulity and most of my examples will be found of Incredulity or such as tend to the reproof and confutation of it I may be thoâ—ght to have dealt partially as though I favoured or less blamed Credulity than the contrary vice But that doth not follow neither had I any such respect in the chusing of my examples Neither indeed is it absolutely determinable which of the two Credulity or Incredulity is most dangerous or blamable but as the particular object of either is so may the one be more or less than the other But I must confess the business of incredulity did more run in my head at this time because of the times so set upon Atheism which of all kind of incredulity is the most horrible and damnable and most unworthy of a rational man Now one prime foundation of Atheism as by many ancient and late is observed being the not believing the existence of spiritual essences whether good or bad separate or united subordinate to God as to the supream and original Cause of all and by consequent the denying of supernatural operations I have I confess applied my self by my examples which in this case do more than any reasoning and the authority of the holy Scriptures laid aside are almost the only convincing proof to the confutation of such incredulity in this first part especially However unadvised credulity and incredulity being considered as two extreams by the doctrine of contraries it will follow that what tends to the illustration or confutation of the one doth in some sort equally belong unto the other and though the examples generally have more reference to the one than to the other the observations upon the examples shall equally concern them both which is enough to justifie my Title NOW because credulity and incredulity doth properly belong unto such things as are wondred at either as besides the ordinary course of nature and therefore wondred at because rare and unusual or against it and therefore thought impossible or supernatural it will not be amiss in the first place to consider what those things are considered in their kinds or generality which usually cause admiration As I go along I may meet with somewhat that may occasion some consideration otherwise I have no intention but to name them only MONSTERS are the most ordinary subject of their admiration who are not qualified to admire any thing else though it deserve it much more However they that have or shall read the History of Monsters written by Bauhinus not to mention others may think the better of many things which before perchance they thought incredible Though he treat of all kind of Monsters yet Hermaphrodites only are in his Title as the most prodigious or most considerable Indeed many laws have been made about them and many cases proposed and answered both in the Civil and Canonical law I have read also of trials processes and Judgments against or concerning them in several Courts beyond the Seas and Pliny doth record that in his time they were in deliciis not for their beauty and good parts I suppose but such is the perversity of some for their very monstrosity And what if after all this some men will maintain that there be no such creatures One great argument will be they never saw any Another there have been some counterfeits Upon these grounds who seeth not how much the History of Nature may suffer through the rashness and ignorance of some who affect to be thought wise for denying what other men believe the Continuator of Thuanus his History will tell what passed in Paris Anno Dom. 1613. about this controversie if any desire to know AFTER Monsters those things I reckon that happen by natural sympathies and antipathies though these also denied by some who must adventure upon somewhat that they may be thought some body and again those things that proceed from what Physicians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is written both ways to which sympathies may be referr'd but it extends much further and again those things that proceed from the strength of imagination concerning all which not only example and instances in most books of all arguments are obvious but also peculiar books and tractates made by learned Physicians and Philosophers searching into the causes though natural acknowledged yet hidden and secret so far as the wit of man can reach are extant all these I conceive to them that search into the works of nature with diligence offer themselves frequently as worthy objects of admiration ANOTHER great object of admiration is that which they call occultae qualitates to which some sympathies and antipathies as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be referred but is much more general than either Those occultae qualitates have been stiled by some men who had the ambition to be accounted more profound and quick-sighted into the works of nature than others asylum asinorum or the refuge or sanctuary of Asses but in their attempts and endeavours of rendring of reasons to maintain manifest qualities they generally have acquitted themselves so weakly so childishly as by the discourses and refutations of Physicians and Philosophers both ancient and late generally most approved and known doth appear that what they thought to brand others with hath unhappily but deservedly stuck to themselves their reasonings if not themselves being become the scorn and ludibrium of all truly wise and judicious So hitherto I am sure according to the old Philosophy But what the conceited omnipotency of Atomes according to the new Philosophy or revived Epicurism may do to satisfie all doubts and scruples I know not For my part I shall not be ashamed to acknowledge my weakness I have looked into it with as much candor and diligence as in such a case I thought necessary so far from prejudice that I would perswade my self I could not but speed and find what I sought for but I have not I profess it yet with submission to better judgments TO these occultae qualitates we may add influxus coelestes or influentiae to which I find very learned men Physicians and others to ascribe strange effects Yet there be very learned too that will by no means admit of such as learned Pererius by name who doth
to believe yet it cannot be denied but the opinion is very apt to promote Atheism and therefore earnestly promoted and countenanced by them that are Atheists And indeed that the denying of Witches to them that content themselves in the search of truth with a superficial view is a very plausible cause it cannot be denied For if any thing in the world as we know all things in the world are be liable to fraud and imposture and innocent mistake through weakness and simplicity this subject of Witches and Spirits is When a man shall read or hear such a story as Erasmus in his Colloquium intituled Spectrum the thing was acted in England as I remember doth relate Who doth not find in himself a disposition for a while to absolute Incredulity in such things And the world is full of such stories some it may be devised of purpose either for sport or of design to advance the opinion in favour of Atheism but very many so attested that he must be an infidel as can make any question of the truth How ordinary is it to mistake natural melancholy not to speak of other diseases for a Devil And how much too frequently is both the disease increased or made incurable and the mistake confirmed by many ignorant Ministers who take every wild motion or phansie for a suggestion of the Devil Whereas in such a case it should be the care of wise friends to apply themselves to the Physician of the body and not to entertain the other I speak it of natural melancholy who probably may do more hurt than good but as the learned Naturalist doth allow and advise Excellent is the advice and counsel in this kind of the Author of the book de morbo Sacro attributed to Hippocrates which I could wish all men were bound to read before they take upon them to visit sick folks that are troubled with melancholy diseases But on the other side it cannot be denied because I see learned Physicians are of that opinion and visible effects do evince it but that the Devil doth immiscere se in several diseases whereof Sir Theodore Mayerne whom I think for strange and even miraculous cures I may call the Aesculapius of his time and do no body wrong gave me a notable instance concerning a maid in his house that had been bitten by a mad Dog which also died of it to whom when he came in a morning with a Looking-glass to make trial of what he had read but not yet experienced himself under his gown before he was in the room she began to cry out and told him what it was he had about him But I leave a further account of it to his own learned and voluminous Observations which I hope they that have inherited that vast estate will not envy to posterity Yet I know there be Physicians too that would make us believe that bare melancholy will make men or women prophesie and speak strange languages as Latine Greek Hebrew of all which there be sundry unquestionable instances but such are looked upon by others of their profession the far greater and every way much more considerable number as Hereticks in that point But because the matter is liable to mistakes and imposture hence to infer and conclude there is no such thing as either Witches or Spirits there is no truth but may be denied upon the same ground since it is certain there is no truth no nor vertue but is attended with a counterfeit often mistaken for the true as by divers Ancients both Historians and Philosophers is observed and by sundry pregnant instances confirmed whereof I have given a further account in my Latine notes upon Antoninus the Roman Emperor his incomparable I must except those of our late Gracious Sovereign and Gods glorious Martyr moral Meditations NOW whereas I said but now they that did not believe there be Witches or Spirits did generally discredit and reject such relations either ancient or late as cannot with any colour of probability or knack of wit be reduced to natural causes it is true generally they do But see the contradictions and confusions of a false opinion and affected singularity For some of them of a more tender mould being convicted by frequent experience of the truth of those operations by others accounted supernatural or diabolical and yet it seems not willing to recant their error of the non-existence of Witches and Spirits which perchance had got them the thing certainly that divers aim at the reputation of discerning able men above the ordinary rate of men to maintain their reputation they devised a way how not to recede from their former opinion and yet not deny that which they thought it is their own acknowledgment could not be denied but by mad-men that is supernatural generally so called operations How so Why they tell us that all men good or bad learned and unlearned by the very constitution of their soul and the power and efficacy of a natural faith or confidence may work all those things that we call miracles or supernatural operations This was the opinion of one Ferrerius a later and learned Physician in France whom I have had occasion but upon this very subject elsewhere to speak of How many more besides him did espouse the same opinion for he was a man of great credit as by Thuanus his relation doth appear I know not Now because I never heard neither is it alledged by any other that I have read that this man or any that were of his opinion did ever attempt to do miracles which certainly they would have done had they had any confidence in their opinion May not any man probably conclude from thence that they maintained what they knew in their own conscience to be false or by Gods just judgment for not submitting their reason to his Revealed Word and the ordinary maxims of Religion were suffered to entertain such opinions as must needs argue some kind of deliration and infatuation BUT if the Reader will have the patience of a short digression I will tell him a story concerning this Auâ—erius or as Bodin writes him Ogerius which may be worth his hearing not because it is strange which is not my business properly but because it is not impertinent to what we drive at truth There was it seems at Tholouse in France where this man lived and died a fair house in a convenient place which was haunted and for that reason to be hired for a very small rent This house Augerius as once Athenodorus the Philosopher did at Athens not giving perchance any great credit to the report did adventure upon But finding it more troublesome than he did expect and hearing of a Portugal Scholar in the town who in the nail of a young boy it is a kind of Divination we shall speak of in due place could shew hidden things agreed with him A young girle was to look She told she saw a woman curiously clad with precious
believe was heresie to which some others may be added But in this particular how impertinent such allegations are who doth not see For it is one thing by some authority of man or probability of reason to be misled into an opinion determinable more by speculation than experience or if by experience yet rare and difficult and wherein few men are concerned as to matter of life In such a case if the error be never so general it is no wonder But in a case of this nature as Witches to which we add Spirits in general and supernatural operations which doth mostly depend especially where learning is not of daily experience and wherein mens lives and fortunes are so much concerned to be misled in this and from age to age to continue in the error is a strange thing indeed if not a meer impossibility The world is much wider now as to Knowledge than it hath been formerly and therefore the consent of it so much the more considerable I have as all men I think have that are any thing curious read several relations of all the known parts of the world written by men of several Nations and Professions learned and unlearned in divers languages by men of several ages ancient and late I do scarce remember any short or long but doth afford somewhat to the confirmation of this truth but in most I remember well to have met with very particular accounts and relations of Witches and Sorcerers strange divinations predictions operations whereof the relators many of them men of several Nations and professions Papists and Protestants who probably never heard of one another profess themselves to have been eye-witnesses NOW if we confine our selves to this one part of the world which we call Europe to which one part all learning seemeth now to be in a manner confined which within this hundred or two hundred years hath produced so many able men of all professions Divines Lawyers Physicians and Philosophers Papists and Protestants those few men excepted who may soon be named all known by their writing to have dissented Who is there among them all who hath not pro re nata and as occasion served born testimony to this truth or cause But how many are there of most Kingdoms Germanes High and Low French English Spanish not to seek further of all professions that have written of this subject pleaded it by reason and experience and all kind of proofs answered all objections and pretensions some whereof learned and grave have had the examination of persons men and women accused for those wicked practices in great number Nicholaus Remigius a man both pious and learned I wish covetous Printers had not bereaved us of his excellent Poetry in many Editions in his books of Demonolatrie doth profess within the space of sixteen years to have had the examination of near 2000 whereof 900 were condemned to death We may say the same or there-abouts I think of Grillandus not to mention others That so many wise and discreet well versed in that subject could be so horribly deceived against their wills or so impious so cruel as wilfully to have a hand in the condemnation of so many Innocents or again wilfully in the face of the Sun and in defiance to God by so many false relations to abuse all men present and future what man can believe Their chiefest evasion who are or would seem to be of a contrary opinion is what a strange thing a depraved fancy or imagination is how easily it may represent to it self Devils and Spirits Sorceries and inchantments and God knows what which things commonly talked of among ordinary people especially as many other things are though they have no real being yet may make great impressions in the brain and offer themselves in sleep or when the brain is sick and out of temper by melancholy especially Or if they be of Wierius his opinion what advantage the Devil may make of a sick brain to make silly poor women believe that they have done things which they never did nor could And this when they have proved by two or three examples or say twenty or more for it is no hard business they think they have done much But what reason have they to think this such a mystery that none of those that have had to do with Witches and Sorcerers ever heard of any such thing and would not well consider it before they passed any judgment But what if more than one ten or twenty perchance it hath been so sometimes have been actors or accessories in some one execrable business and upon suspition being severally examined are found to agree in one tale to have been thus and thus incouraged assisted by Spirits to have acted such and such things met in such places at such times which things accompanied with notable circumstances are found upon examination to be true in all points and particulars What if others men and women be convicted by the deposition of sundry creditable witnesses upon some sudden quarrel or old grudge To have cursed and threatned thus and thus men or cattle and that it hath happened accordingly Strange deaths strange diseases strange unnatural unusual accidents have ensued can all this be the effects of a depraved fancy Or what when such a house such a parish hath been troubled with such unusual accidents if all those accidents immediately cease upon the arraignment and execution of some that are suspected and have confessed though it doth not always so fall out that they confess which may be some argument of their repentance which I fear is not very usual shall we impute all this to a depraved fancy or imagination or say with Wierius that all this is done by the Devil only to bring poor innocent women to destruction And that God doth suffer these things to punish but more of that by and by the credulity of men Truly as I can believe that some men innocently for want of experience and good information may hold such an opinion which of the two they conceive most charitable so that any man of ordinary capacity that hath taken pains to inform himself can really without some great and secret judgment of God persist in it is to me almost incredible or not less strange than any of these supernatural operations which ordinarily cause most admiration THEN if a man consider what kind of men for the most part they have been who have taken upon them to oppose the belief of mankind or universality of men concerning Witches c. some notorious Atheists as Pomponatius Vaninius c. others confident illiterate wretches as one of this Country Reginald Scot and the like he will think certainly that if the cause be no better than the Patrons it cannot be very good nor see any reason at all to embrace it But I must not let Reginald Scot pass so without a further account for their sakes if any that have a better opinion of him though otherwise
racing or any way else by any kind of game or exercise to apply themselves to Witches and Magicians that by their help they might be sure of the game so not unusual also for men to prevail by those arts Which gave occasion to Constantius's law De maleficis comprehendendis where learned Gothofred his note is Agitatores equorum plerique c. that is Most horse-racers of those times by magical arts at times did hinder their adversaries horses and made their own swâ—fter as St. Jerome in the life of St. Hilarion Arnobius contra Gentes and Cassiodore in the third of his Varia bear witness So he We shall have a proper place afterwards to consider of St. Jeromes words here cited which are very pregnant and apposite to prove the thing but otherwise might cause further doubt and wonder and therefore must not be passed over in silence But besides those quoted by Gothofred there be others of as great or greater antiquity and authority that bear witness to the same truth Ammianus Macellinus in his 26. History doth record that one Hilarius a horse-racer was put to death by Apronianus then Governour of Rome a man he saith of equal integrity and severity for being convicted to have sent his son to a Magician to be taught by him secretiora quaedam legibus interdicta certain secret Spells and Charms so I take it by which without any mans knowledge he might be assisted and enabled to compass his desires in the way of his profession St. Augustine also writeth of himself that at a time when he prepared to make a party in a singing-prize or match upon the Theater nor then a Priest or in Orders you may be sure an aruspex or Magician so taken sometimes offered him for a good reward to make him victor which he professeth he did abhor and detest But I must not conceal from the Reader that Galen whose judgment in such a case must needs be very considerable seems to deride such things and particularly that by such devices any man should be enabled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. to confound his enemy in publâ—ck Courts and places of Judicature and to stop their mouths that they shall not be able to speak He doth indeed but then it was when in general he denied all Magical or Supernatural operations and as a rational Physician and Naturalist in which profession he was accounted the wonder of his age he thought himself bound to deny whatsoever had not as he speaks in more than one place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a probable reason to satisfie a rational man Yet the same man afterwards upon further experience and better consideration fearing also probably the reproach and derision of men for his obstinate incredulity did nobly recant and acknowledge his error as we shall shew afterwards BUT to go on as we began we read besides that at the Olympick games the greatest and most solemn conflux of mankind that hath been known either before or since and the records whereof were accounted most authentick a certain Milesian of known valour or ability being to wrestle with an Ephesian he could do nothing because the Ephesian had about him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is certain Spells or Charms so called The Ephesian letters which being suspected and taken from him he was thrown by his adversary no less than thirty times So Eustathius upon the 19. Odissie Suidas hath the same relation but there the Text both and the Translation had need to be corrected a little will do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that sense may be made of it That there be even now Spells and Charms when God is pleased to give way which in all things wrought by the Devil must always be understood to make men invulnerable no man I think upon the attestation of so many creditable witnesses can rationally doubt Learned Sennertus in his book De vulneribus begins his 24. Chapter thus Cum nihil hodie c. that is Whereas there is nothing more ordinary now adays among Souldiers than by certain Pentacula and Seals and Characters to fence themselves and to make themselves inviolable against all kind of arms and musquet-bullets c. and so far was he from suspecting that any body that knew any thing of the world would make a question of the truth of it that omitting that disquisition as needless and ridiculous he presently falls upon that whereof only he thought question could be made An liceat Christiano c. Whether it be lawful for a Christian by certain Amulets or Seals fastned to the body or the like to make himself inviolable to any kind of arms Some take upon them to limit how far the Devils power in point of reason may extend in this kind as I remember a learned man doth who hath written the life of Monsieur de la Nove a French Gentleman of great fame So doth Sennertus too he tells of many particular cases for which no reason can be given but experience wherein and whereby the power of those Spells is eluded or frustrated But I think the truest limitation is so far as God will permit or give leave For I doubt not but the Devil can do much more as he is a Spirit by his own skill and power than to preserve a single man even from Canon-shot It is much more strange which yet I believe true that whole Armies of men God then not without good cause certainly permitting have been defeated by his power as by several Historians and others the relation whereof because obvious enough I shall here omit is averred and some others made victorious as strangely in all which things though set on work by men also I look upon him but as Gods executioner without whose leave and permission whatever his power be by his nature he cannot hurt the meanest man They that desire to be further satisfied in this particular may read Delrio the Jesuite if they please in his Magical Disquisitions Yet I will not say that I believe every thing that he doth propose as true it may be his faith doth in some things extend much further than mine but I would have the quality of his witnesses well considered and if they will not I think they do avail to a certainty in this point there be others that may be consulted whom no man that I know hath gone about to contradict or challenged of falshood except it be in the way of those incredulous wise men of whom Seneca speaketh Mendacium est fabula est it is a lye it is a lye I will not believe it But I name him before any other because every where to be had I HAVE already gone further than I needed to make good my censure of Philostratus or Damis in Philostratus his false and deceitful judgment concerning the power of Magick to offend or to defend in several cases which hath occasioned us all this discourse The Reader I hope
he was calmed by Magick-art and led by a string hundreds of people following and for this very act Demetrius as a notorious inchanter cast into prison But Gilbertus cognatus him I have who very largely doth tell the story and by some prayers I have of his in another book seems to have been a very religious man and was then at Rome as I take it by him indeed the Plague is mentioned a very sad Plague and the confusions of the City at that time fully set out the Magician also hired the Bull required and tamed all this he hath at large but not that the Plague was thereupon asswaged or removed though it seems the people of the City had so good an opinion of the man after he had done his feats that when cast in prison by authority as a Magician he was violently delivered by them and set at liberty And Cognatus doth add that from thence he went into a certain place where the Plague was and that it was said he had by his art cleared it but said only whether truly or falsly he doth not tell us Onuphrius in the life of Adrian the sixth doth mention the Plague but nothing else neither indeed was it for the credit of the place or people he should For Cognatus writing to his friend about it begins De Graeca illâ the Magician that was imployed was a Grecian I told you before superstitione quae Romam Anno 1522. invecta fuit scribere volens vereor c. that is Purposing to write of that Greek superstition which was acted at Rome in the year 1522. I have reason to fear that neither I shall acquit my self as I ought and that both to you and other Readers the thing will seem incredible For such is the indignity of the thing c. WELL I think we may take it for granted if certain and approved experience can make any think indubitable that by charms and inchantments many supernatural operations are brought to pass and if such approved testimonies of fresh memory were wanting yet to me as to many others I suppose the testimony of so many ages grounded upon common experience would be a sufficient evidence After the Scriptures Homer for his antiquity of all Authors now extant is most considerable whose testimony is ordinarily produced as indeed very pertinent and emphatical So is Plato's in more than one place So Pindarus and divers others whom I pass by because every where to be found Physicians and Philosophers if not all yet not a few did allow of them and the laws of Princes sometimes did and sometimes not but those that did not and were most severe but not unjust against them as indeed they were sometimes they are as good evidence in our cause to prove that such things were practised and found available as those laws that did favour them Ammianus Marcellinus whose judgment we need not much stand upon as long as his testimony for the matter of fact is good in his History of those times when himself lived doth record it as an example of great cruelty that some were proceeded against in his time as great malefactors because they had made use of anile incantamentum ad leviendum dolorem and in another place that a certain Magistrate anum quandam simplicem c. that is Did put to death a simple or innocent old woman which was wont with smooth or harmless inchantments to cure intermitting Fevers or Agues after that the same being sent for had healed his own daughter A cruel thing indeed that he should use her help or art to cure his own daughter and afterwards put her to death for curing others and making a practice of it except we understand it so that this man in authority not fully satisfied that such a thing could be that is that charms and inchantments were of that power and having such an opportunity to know the truth having a daughter sick in the house he made use of her and finding that she was a Witch indeed and dealt in those things which by the laws of those times were strictly inhibited under pain of death so he put her to death notwithstanding that against his expectation perchance his daughter had reaped the benefit of her unlawful profession And yet let us observe by the way that if he did it of purpose to make trial and to know the truth besides that he made himself obnoxious to the law for trespassing against it under pretence of trial and finding of transgressors which I believe the law did not allow he might also have missed of his end For it was possible that she that had cured many by those unlawful courses might not cure all though she used the same means For still we must presuppose the concurrence of Gods will and permission without which nothing lawful or unlawful can be done besides what may also be alledged from natural hidden causes and there be store of instances to that purpose that effectual charms in and by the same hands are not always effectual But again Wierius would say that the Devil to mischief a poor innocent old woman did so contrive it that her charms should be effectual at that time though in very deed all that she did did contribute nothing really to the cure whereof himself was the immediate and only author So far we may admit that the charms of themselves were nothing but as they were made effectual by him But the woman therefore that did apply her self to the Devil and entred into covenant with him to such and such purposes or say she made no direct covenant yet used an indirect way by the laws of the land severely interdicted she innocent and no Witch but in conceit Who seeth not I have said it before and say it again how by this device any malefactor may become innocent But of Wierius and his opinion before sufficiently WHAT Ammianus doth call anum simplicem I understand a white Witch as in some parts of England they are called that is such as are generally by the common people supposed to do no hurt but much good to distinguish them from ordinary mischievous Witches When I lived in Sommerset-shire where as soon as by years capable by the Collation of Lancelot Andrews then Bishop of Winchester whose name will be in honour and his books in request as long as good learning and true piety both which of late hath suffered great detriment are in credit in England I had a Living I became acquainted with a very pious and hospitable Gentlewoman one Mistress Still the widow of Bishop Still his eldest son as I take it and by her with another of the Bishops sons yet living for ought I know a Gentleman of excellent parts but I think better known unto most by a strange infirmity he had for which many that had seen him abroad as I have often seen him and once at my house would have sworn he had been bewitched yet natural and contracted
affection I bear unto these stones which seem to me to promise somewhat more than ordinary and worthy to be enquired after As old as I am I could be content to be carried a good way for go I cannot I am sure to learn somewhat of them not so much of their vertues as of their production which to me seems a great secret of nature Yet when I consider that nature doth seem to take some pleasure in those kind of figures which consist of five divisions as by the Stella marina not to speak of five fingers and five toes in man besides what in divers other creatures is answerable to either five senses c. is another thing because not apparent externally a Sea-fish stella Solis c. described and figured by Bâ—llâ—nius and others and by those prety stones ordinarily known and so described by Gesner de fig. lap p. 37. c. under the name of asteriae astroitae c. as also by the pentaphyllum whereof there be many kinds and the like to all or any of which whether the Pythagoreans by their mystical quinary by them called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which consisted of three triangles joyned or interlaced into five points or angles described by Lucian had any reference I shall not now inquire and again that some Naturalists by many pregnant instances do maintain that neither Sea nor Land doth produce any thing but is imitated and represented in some kind by some kind of fossile in the bowels of the Earth whence so many bones of Fishes yea whole Fishes imperfect as to the form but perfect stone are found and digged up out of the Earth even upon high hills far from the Sea some my self have and look upon when occasion offers its self with pleasure and admiration these things considered I think it is possible these stones may be nothing else but even so well deserving some kind of admiration but some kind of fossiles nature aiming by them at the representation of somewhat that doth live or grow either in the Sea or upon the Land But I forget my self BUT now to return to our Wells Thunder the additional of the relation which I have promised is more strange to me than any thing in the said relation if it be true For since no mention of it is made in the exhibited relation I cannot absolutely satisfie my self that it is true much less can I warrant it to others This premised that which came to me whilest I lived in that Country from some others who pretended perfect knowledge of the thing is this A certain man they said had been not long before inducted into a Benefice in that Country of whom there was a report but no proof that he was addicted to the black Art This man being summoned as the fashion is by authority to Preach in the Cathedral took his Text Thou God of Spirits I was told no more as I remember out of Numb 16.22 or 17.16 and whilest he was in his discourse about Spirits of purpose it may be to confirm the opinion of some that he had to do with them thinking thereby to be looked upon as an extraordinary man though perchance no such thing really this storm of Thunder hapned Concerning which I have now besides the relation delivered bona fide what my memory afforded unto me which perchance may receive some illustration from what not out of my memory but out of my book whereof I keep such things which I have by the relation of others and would not forget I have yet to say However if there be any mistake rather than his name should suffer from whom I had it I will take it upon me He was one of the Clergy and a frequent Preacher in this Cathedral to their very good liking that could distinguish which few do or can between sense and sound solid good matter I mean and a plausible voice and delivery which hath been treated of at large by me with an accurate examination of the natural causes in another book I shall not conceal his name to any that have known him to others it is needless The account of my book is this 17. lul Anno Dom. 1638. of Mr. c. That about some thirty years ago when he was a young Scholar in Trinity Colledge in Cambridge as they were in the Hall at the Greek Lecture the Reader then reading upon Aristophanes his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he thinks and perticularly treating of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Thunder there came a sudden clap of Thunder that struck them all down and some a good space from the place where they stood astonished all and deaded one for the space of six hours who also continued lame of it for three months after and split one of the main rafters of the roof in two c. there being no appearance of any Rain or Thunder before THUS verbatim as I entred it in my book how long after I know not but probably not long after However I cannot promise I have exhibited his own words and therefore if there be any impropriety or mistake in the exposition I desire that may be imputed unto me Now supposing this as I believe it true I do not propose it as a matter of great admiration but well worthy of consideration and which may give some light to such accidents For among so many daily events or accidents which have nothing in them but what is ordinary what wonder is it if by meer chance as in the casting of many stones at random something happen that is not ordinary It is possible a blind man if he shoot often may hit the mark when an expert shooter may miss if he shoot but once or twice Such a Thunder I am sure was nothing but usual enough especially if at a seasonable time of the year as this probably because nothing observed to the contrary And that at such a time when such a Lecture was read which treated of or mentioned Thunder if there were no more in it than I have heard that is that not the person reading nor any then present were justly suspected such a thing should happen might be a chance Neither should I make much more of the former relation if the second part of it whereof I have no certainty be not as true NOW to enchantments again the validity whereof because of old so controverted that Pliny as before observed thought no age would or could decide it and of late there have not wanted learned sober men who have maintained the contrary opinion though I have been long upon it from men to beasts not Serpents only justified by the Scriptures but horses dogs bulls and all this by certain undeniable instances sufficiently proved I will yet before I end this subject instance in some other kind not yet spoken of which as the humors of men are may perchance affect some Readers as much or more than any of the former instances THE hunting
hath no dependance from any natural cause according to the course of nature established by God in Heaven or in Earth but the will of God only we have nothing to do with it here Of other divination common to men and Angels whether good or bad but in a different degree which is grounded upon the knowledge of natural causes long observation and experience and the like First Humane so far as may be accounted for by natural causes no man doth doubt of though many things by men that have a natural sagacity improved with long study and experience may be done or foretold upon grounds of reason which by them that are not acquainted with such things may be thought incredible of which more afterwards Secondly Daemoniacal whether immediately by themselves or by their instruments which they that do not believe the existence of Devils and Spirits are obliged to deny is that which we are to consider of so much as may concern us to settle or direct the belief of others who may need it and are content to hear reason Further than that we have no intention or ingagement to meddle with it which elsewhere we have done more largely and concerning which there be so many books already extant as that it would be no small work to find any gleanings worthy the acceptation of judicious men as it would be very easie the work of most writers out of which others have done to compile whole volumes Among us of late writers Peucerus is most known who hath written a large volume De Divinatione I wish he had left out his Divinity which fills a great part of the book I should think better of it though even so the rest doth not give me that satisfaction which I might have expected from a learned man For approved instances or experiments as I may call them he hath few or none and what is it the wit of man can find out in such an abstruse subject but what is grounded besides the authority of Scripture upon experience Raguseius a Venetian Theologus Medicus Philosophus as he is stiled by himself or by his friends hath written two very learned Books De Divinatione but the greatest part is against Judicial Astrology which he once professed himself and got credit by it he saith himself but was so honest and conscientious that notwithstanding the credit he got by it he would be a jugler his own word no more and to make amends to God and the World for what he had been or done thought himself bound in conscience to write against it I think I could reckon half a hundred or more but that is not my business THE several kinds of Divination that have been used anciently and are yet most of them and have got a proper appellation as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like are so many that even to reckon them would take some time At the end of Agrippa De occulta Philosophia in that Edition I have there is a prety full inventory of them So in Debio Pucerus Wierius and many others To these if we add those which by the relation of Travellers are proper almost to every Country or Nation where Christ is not known there being scarce any Country for any other thing so wretched and barbarous but hath attained to so much knowledge if we may call that knowledge which doth commonly most abound where brutish ignorance and savageness hath its reign as to be masters of some kind of Divination or other Of those many kinds that have anciently been used and of those many that have been since devised made known unto us by the relation of Travellers I shall take notice of one or two particularly and then proceed with submission to better judgments to a general conclusion concerning them all OF those anciently used which I shall take notice of the first because where we have the relation of Augerius the Physician his haunted house promised shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or nail divination saith Delrio is by anointing the nail of an impolluted boy with some kind of oil or sout and using some conjuration of words to see things at a far distance and the event of things long before But of an impolluted boy why so Let no man think the better of the Devil for that or of this kind of Divination It is Porphyrius his observation or admiration rather long ago recorded by Eusebius in his own words and since Eusebius by St. Augustine in Latin his admiration I say why such masters of uncleanness in point of life and actions should nevertheless in their mysteries stand so much for cleanness and purity Porphyrius who might very well know as one that had served them a long time doth but propose the question by way of admiration he doth not answer it any Christian may who is taught that the Devil is the author of all evil all uncleanness and affects nothing more yet is an impostor withall and would be thought an Angel of light and to that end doth amuse them that serve him with some shews of holiness in rites and ceremonies of his own institution that he may be thought to love what in truth and sincerity of life he doth abhor And as he so his servants that promote his interest in the world by sects and divisions What more rise in their mouths and ordinary or external behaviour than holiness and purity I need to say no more the rest is too well known But this by the way only Now to the nail-Divination Delrio saith he knew a veteran Spaniard who did practise it and instances in some particulars of his Divination moreover observes of the same that though he could he doth attest it it seems by charms and incantations cure the wounds of others yet neither would cure his own nor suffer them to be cured by others by the same means Some may mistake him as though the man he speaks of made scruple for some hidden reason to have inchantments used upon himself although he did not scruple to use them upon others which is not impossible But I rather believe his meaning is though the man with bare words as apprehended by many but very erroniously could cure other mens bodily diseases yet the wounds of his soul whilest he continued in that base practice and service longe graviora that is wanting in Delrio to make his expression full much more grievous and much more to be dreaded the proper cure whereof are words good advice and instruction according to that of Horace Sunt verba voces that is charms and by charms understanding sermones Philosophicos as that which followeth doth evince he refused miserable wretch either to admit when offered or to procure from others What Delrio doth here attest of one Filesacus De Magia Idolol doth attest of another not upon his own knowledge but upon the report of a man of quality to him well known nobili generoso are his words But enough of
this ANOTHER kind of Divination is that they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which they reckon divers species One was or is to hang a ring by a thred and to cast it or to hold it over a boul of water so that it touch not the water But this is nothing without the charm that belongs unto it After that by the knocks of the ring upon one of the sides which how many they shall be or how few to signifie so and so is before agreed upon the event God permitting as always is declared I have known somewhat which in outward appearance may seem to have some affinity though to another end which is to know the hour of the day It was my luck once at an Inne in very good company to see some trial of it The ring did hit just so many times against one side of the glass as the clocks did strike or had struck-hours and then stood still I saw it when the ring was in the hands of some that wondred at it as much as I and had never seen it done before Yet I am sure no charm was used which is the main business nor any of the company suspected Yet the motion of the hand in such a case not easily discernable might deceive them that look if the actor had any purpose to juggle which I am confident was not the intention of any then present not theirs especially who wondred at it and made trial themselves for better satisfaction which was done then by some who sound it so too But the surest trial would be to hang the ring upon a little frame made gallows-wise and if then also truly I should not stick to conclude that there is somewhat in it more than natural and should advise them that profess they had often tried it both by day and by night as some did to me since with great protestation that it never fail'd earnestly advise them never more to meddle in it IN the life of St. Hilarion written by St. Jerome mentioned before we have a notable example of Hydromancy supernatural but not Diabolical The rites indeed and ceremonies charming excepted were much alike but the efficacy not from the Devil but God And probably God might prompt that holy man to use the same rites but without their words that Magicians did to convince them that ascribe much to them as all Magicians do that the efficacy was not from the outward visible rites and ceremonies themselves which to that effect were but ridiculous but from an invisible cause or agent whether good or bad and withal the better to manifest his power who could use their own weapons against themselves that trusted to them as we see he did in the case of Balack and Balaam when Balaam's inchantments intended for a curse were by Gods power turned into a blessing Upon such extraordinary examples we can ground no warrant for our imitation no more than by casting of rods upon the ground or smiting of the dust of the earth we may lawfully attempt to turn rods into Serpents or the dust into Lice because Moses did both for which he had an express command from God but we none That Hilarion also had a command or commission for what he did if pious indeed and holy as represented unto us by St. Jerome who might know better than we I think we are bound to believe OF those kinds of Divination used at this day besides the Ancients which we have knowledge of none I think either for the certainty if reports be true or for the manner more notable or considerable than that which is described by Leo Africanus a man of no small credit among them who are well versed in the History of the world highly esteemed and chiefly practised in Africa in Fez one of the Royal Cities of that part of the world especially The particulars of it are there to be seen in the Latin translation of it lib. 3. p. 131. as also in the English in Purchas his Pilgrimage a book of very good worth with them that know the right use and more valued abroad than it is at home by many second Tome page 796 c. It is a very perplex and intricate way and requires great learning but if as many think there be nothing of Magick in it and that it never fails which some even Christians have been bold to affirm well worth the labour Leo Africanus from the report of others speaks of it very moderately he doth not affirm either He professeth that being offered the learning of it by some well able to teach him he durst not meddle with it because it hath so much affinity with the black Art What religion the man was of when he wrote I cannot gather certainly by this book of his but a Mahometan I guess though there be places that favour of Christianity as in the description of Nilus if he did not himself alter those places of purpose in his Italian translation of his original Arabick after he was become a Christian Erpennius whom I have reason to remember with honour for the honour he did to me when very young but much more for his noble performances out of his purse being wealthy partly and partly by his excellent knowledge and industry to promote the knowledge so difficult before of the Arabick tongue he also is one of them that did believe this art or way of Divination infallible though and so we must excuse it he might speak the more favourably of it out of his love and respect to that noble tongue For my part I shall not scruple to conclude it if not divine for which there is no ground at all than fallible and more than probably notwithstanding all pretences to nature diabolical Certain enough were it known infallible there would be greater resort to it from all parts of the world and many more of all Nations would apply themselves to the study of it and that it doth so often prove true as generally believed is argument enough to me because not Divine that it is Diabolical I WILL not trouble my self nor my Reader with the relation of more kinds of Divination used at this day in several Countries which all stories of travels almost into those parts of the world where Christianity is not professed afford examples of different from those used in other Countries Concerning all which my opinion is not that they are infallible any one of them which I know cannot be but that really by all or most of them where the Relator doth faithfully acquit himself and doth not wilfully counterfeit and impose or ignorantly mistake which may easily be avoided where we have variety of relations from several Authors that doe not borrow one from another to compare but this case excepted my opinion is that really by all or most kinds of these divinations even those that may seem most ridiculous strange things are foretold Besides printed relations so many in several languages of
Plutarch as from one of them doth answer O but these things are laid to our charge wrongfully the basest of the world generally would be accounted honest if they knew how what is that to the purpose replieth Plutarch whether true or no The question is not now whether deservedly or undeservedly whether truly or falsly but what reputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you have in the world For who doth not see that if a man which was proved before of Epicurus and his adherents place happiness or part of happiness in a good name and become whether justly or unjustly infamous he doth thereby undoubtedly lose some part of his happiness Therefore saith Plutarch arguing from their own suppositions and opinions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reputation and not truth or true desert is the thing we here enquire into And indeed had Plutarch upon this their answer gone about by good proofs and evidences which elsewhere he doth plentifully to make good that what was laid to their charge Atheism c. was very true and real as it was generally believed he had in that wronged his cause and made an unseasonable digression since it was nothing at all to the question proposed what man Epicurus had been really or what his followers were or had been but what fame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they had in the world And could Gassendus grounding upon the ambiguity of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and concealing the occasion and the coherence a notorious kind of jugling and falsification could Gassendus I say from these words infer that as Plutarch's acknowledgment that what he had written of Epicurus was all in compliance to opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not according to truth Or did not Gassendus more probably rely so much upon the favour of the times and those that did set him on work that he thought any argument that had but any slender appearance of truth or probability if but favouring Atheism and sensuality would pass currently enough and get him fame and good will to boot BUT we have not done Plutarch in the same book a little before doth mention that famous Letter mentioned by so many of Epicurus when upon his death-bed by which he makes himself a notable stout man who in such extremities of bodily pains as he doth express could enjoy himself with such peace and tranquillity of mind In which peace and tranquillity to preserve him that which by his own words and acknowledgment as set out by Plutarch did most conduce was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the remembrance of those according to the propriety of the words fleshly pleasures he had formerly enjoyed This Plutarch thinks very strange and almost incredible wicked varlet as though he intended with his last bloud to seal the truth of his abominable doctrine But here Gassendus doth insult At hic Plutarchus c. But Plutarch to the end that he might more effectually traduce Epicurus hath depraved and changed the words c. who can excuse Plutarch if guilty of so great a crime or Gassendus if it prove an arrant falsehood and calumny The question is whether Epicurus wrote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as before exhibited and translated or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The remembrance of our former discourses and reasonings as exhibited by Diog. Laertius and translated by Cicero II. De sinibus memoria rationum inventorumque nostrorum And this Gassendus thinks is enough himself I doubt did not think so he had read Cicero better than so to prove Plutarch a falsary I must acknowledge that Cicero's translation is a great evidence for that reading exhibited by Laertius But had Gassendus looked further into Cicero or rather ingenuously told us all that he knew Vna eademque manus vulnus opemque he would have told us that as the reading exhibited by Laertius is found in Cicero so that exhibited by Plutarch in the same Cicero more than once I am sure as particularly V. Tuscul Sed una se dicit recordatione acquiescere praeteritarum voluptatum and again in the same book from whence that other reading is produced more punctually and emphatically sed vobis speaking to men of that Sect voluptatum perceptarum recordatio beatam vitam facit quidem corpore according to the proper signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perceptarum And this enough I think to acquit Plutarch from all suspition of any falsification what can be said for Gâ—ssendus to acquit him of false and injurious dealing except this that it was for so good an end as to promote Atheism or Epicurism I profess I know not Well it must needs be that either in Cicero's time both those readings were in the Text of that Letter which may be thought the more probable because Câ—cero in the same book or place takes notice of both or that there were two different Copies of that one Lâ—tter and that Cicero made use of either reading as he saw occasion This is certain to which I will add as to me not improbable though I will not affirm it that some of Epicurus his friends or disciples when that letter came first abroad being much ashamed of those words exhibited by Plutarch did make that alteration of the reading exhibited by Laertius which probably that reading I mean never came to Plutarch his knowledge But see the force of conscience sometimes let a man resolve against it never so much After Gassendus had charged Plutarch with two such foul crimes the one of conforming himself to the opinions of the vulgar to take away an honest and worthy mans good name against his own conscience the other of adulterating writings of purpose that he might have some ground to calumniate what could be said more of the arrantest rogue of the world yet at last a sudden qualm takes him Ne Plutarchum accusare videar lest I may be thought to accuse Plutarch saith he and so doth end whether pricked in his conscience because he knew he had accused him falsly as I rather believe or ashamed of his own inconstancy that he had commended one so highly whom afterwards he had charged with the greatest baseness and dishonesty that can be laid to any mans charge for either or for both let the Reader judge but a fit man observe we that by the way to make a Saint of a rogue that could make a rogue to serve his turn of such an incomparable person according to his own testimony in the beginning of the Chapters And as he hath dealt with Plutarch in this just so in effect by false glosses and interpretations doth he deal with Galen in the next Chapter Galen no Stoick but a true lover of vertue and sound reason and upon that score a mortal enemy of Epicurus his phrensies and leud doctrine and let me add one and so Plutarch and Cicero who was better able to judge what was falsly adscribed to Epicurus what not than a hundred such as
of his God and his pretended worship I shall acknowledge my self very much deceived who not only think so of the place but am also very confident that Gassendus thought no otherwise of it himself whatever he was willing his well-affected Reader to the cause should think of it But absurdity be it so or no I make nothing of that in comparison of the impiety For besides many pregnant testimonies of the Old Testament where among other things we shall find that that which doth not profit is the periphrasis of an Idol and so Epicurus his God not a God but an Idol upon that account how shall we excuse St. Paul who every where almost layeth it for a ground of his exhortations to Godliness and Piety that Religion is profitable For therefore we both labour and suffer c. For as much as you know that your labour is not in vain and for the hope that is layed up for you in Heaven c. and looking for the blessed hope c. and the end of your faith the salvation of your souls and for he had a respect unto the recompence of the reward And yet more positively He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder c. and how Christ himself What doth it profit c. for your reward is great in Heaven and the like And what is it that the Deists as they call themselves such Deists as Epicurus was who pretend that they believe a God and that they worship him not for any fear or hope of reward which they exclaim against as servile worship witness their wicked Catechism in Verse set out and refuted by Mersenius but for his goodness in that he suffers men to live as they will and do what they will and takes no notice and for the excellency of his nature what is it I say that they more uphold themselves with or intice others more effectually by than this wicked and abominable but to weak carnal men very plausible plea and pretence THAT Gassendus himself was an Atheist really I would be loath to say I hope not He hath written against some of Epicurus his opinions But in discharge of my duty to God and religion I shall say and my conscience doth oblige me that had he had the advice of all the Atheists that ever were had he advised with Hell it self he could not have lighted upon a more destructive way to all religion and piety to all goodness and vertue than this of Epicurus his filial fear or love of God For what inference will carnal men in such an age as this especially will or can make of it but this that they may believe as Epicurus believed no God I will not say though it be true enough but no providence no conscience no difference of good or evil in nature of what is just or what is not I might add and live as Epicurus lived but I will only say believe as Epicurus believed and yet flatter and comfort themselves that they are religious nay more religious than many nay most Christians accounted religious are Was there ever a more wicked and pernicious device The Reader will excuse me if in all this discourse I have dealt with Gassendus somewhat roundly more than I would have done with a man of his learning and whom I believe to have been a civil man besides a particular respect I have to him for laying open the vanity and falsity of Des Cartes and his Philosophy some part of it at least which I think was a very good work and may prove very useful when once that malignant humor of innovating which doth now so greatly prevail will wax more cold and remiss I wish he had not had so much of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in him as Galen calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I believe was the chief thing that did put him upon this Vnchristian project of magnifying Epicurus Wherein how much he went against his conscience we need not appeal to God who is the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any man may quickly find it by his book who shall but look into it any man I say that hath not according to the current of the times more affection for Epicurus than the truth But what if any man shall reply for Gassendus that all this may be and yet Gassendus not so much in fault who doth in the same book openly profess that whatsoever he had said or should say for Epicurus was but Exercitationis gratia Absit alia mente id praestem quam exercitationis gratia his own words that is God forbid I should do it to any other intention but by way of exercise or exercitation only And why not as fâ—ee for him to praise Epicurus as others have done â—he quartan Ague the Gouâ— an Asse a Louse and thâ—â— Monster of men as described by Homer 〈◊〉 Had he rested there it had been better and more justiâ—â—able Upon the same grounds for ought I know a man â—hough I should not commend it might write the prâ—isâ—â— of the Devil For many things might be spoken oâ— the excellâ—ncy of his nature as he is a Spirit a good Spirit by his first creation then his improvement by his experience since that time his wonderfâ—◠〈◊〉 and projects from time to time to bring himself into credit among men and if a man would say thâ—â—oâ—â— of his love to men he tempted our first Parents 〈…〉 mâ—ght be the occasion of a further good unto them in 〈◊〉 and by Christ and therefore to be honoured and worshipped by men were it but for the conceit and in very deed somewhat I think to that purpose hath been said by some ancient Hereticks and novelty of the opinion there would be some I make no question but would embrace it But Gassendus goes on and when he comes to that as indeed he was bound or he had had no thanks that he did it bona fide though ready to recant when better informed yet this bona fide doth spoil all But whatever himself thought or knew what amends can he make to such who some good Christians I make no question and learned enough perchance to have found out his jugling had they but suspected him upon his credit without any farther disquisition have espoused his cause and think it no disparagement to Christianity if Christians indeed to speak with honour and respect of that monster of men and spiteful enemy of God and all Godliness I HAVE been somewhat long upon this subject of Epicurus somewhat longer perchance than some would have wished But I shall not apologize I have not forgotten that Credulity and Incredulity in Civil affairs which doth include the judgments as well as actions of men is my subject And truly of all things of that nature this age hath produced this of Epicurus seems to me and I believe to many others the most prodigious and incredible Not that any one man for
with him and then give him the slip and after this keep out of his hands and reach in despight of all means that the Emperor or those he employed could use or devise And another in the same Severus his reign named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he had two names of whom some particular acts are related how he came to Rome himself delivered some of his followers when already condemned as the manner was to be cast unto wild beasts how he accosted the Captain or Centurion that was sent against him took him by craft judged him shaved his beard and sent him back with an errand which I shall forbear Generally it was said of him that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I think I may English more plainly and not lose much of the emphasis That when he was seen he could not be â—â—und when he was found he could not be taken when he was taken he could not be held But yet he was taken â—t last not by force or policy of men but by the treachery of a Concubine the less to be pitied that being so wise and wary otherwise he would trust himself to such creatures Some years before the happy which made us all happy restoration of our Gracious Sovereign whom God preserve in a Book-sellers shop I remember I lighted upon a book in two Volumes intituled L' Histoire des Larrons c. that is The History of Thieves in France from what time I know not I am sorry I did not buy it it may be I was not so well furnished which at that time when forced to sell a great part of my books could be no discredit I look upon it as a very useful subject the better to understand the world and if the same were done of the Thieves of England so it were done with judgment and fidelity which from an ordinary hand can hardly be expected I think it would be well worth the labour Here it may be observed that there always hath been a kind of men in the world who naturally as I may say are fitted with a marvellous kind of audacity to attempt strange things and by a strange constellation or fatality are attended with luck and success for a long time at least in their boldest attempts beyond all imagination The Greeks have many names for such kinds of men as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like some of which have an intimation of somewhat above men and if we should say beyond what is supernatural ordinarily known there is a more natural kind of possession not so known it may be there were no great error in it When I lived some years before our Restoration with Sir John Cotton grandchild to famous Sir Robert where besides that inestimable Library known far and near his noble and learned company was a daily comfort I remember well I could tell the day and the year but I forbear that as we were together by the fire not long before dinner a well spoken Gentleman and though not a professed Scholar yet well acquainted with good learning came to him and made relation of what had passed at Westminster-hall that day in the cause of a Lady between her and her husband how among the witnesses that were to depose for the Lady exception was taken against one in the prosecution of which business such things were there publickly without any reply declared against him that he had done in England in France and elsewhere as in all my reading I could scarce paralel either for the quality of the things or for the success and confidence of the person that he that had done such things durst shew himself in a publick Court BUT to return to Herodotus his relations The first of them in his second book doth consist of many parts The first and second part the contriving of a stone in the building that might be taken away at their pleasure that knew the secret whereby they might have an entrance into a Treasury-house and the craft and courage of the Son after his Fathers death the Author of the contrivance when he was fallen into the trap without any hopes of getting out to advise his Brother and fellow-Thief to cut off his head lest he might be known by it so far is credible enough The third part also not altogether incredible by such a device divers Towns some within our memory have been taken But for the fourth of the prostitution of the Kings daughter and the manner how she was eluded hath too much of improbability and somewhat of impossibility to be believed true as Herodotus well judged which is more than I can say of the fifth and last it being very possible in those times and in that place when and where so many brute beasts were worshipped for the benefit they afforded unto men very possible I say that the King should apprehend somewhat of a Deity in that man that could effect such strange things his very curiosity to find the truth of what he so much admired might provoke him to do such a thing more probably than that the incomprehensibleness of the Euripus should be the cause of Aristotle his death or the unsolubleness of the Fisher-mens riddle should of Homers ANOTHER relation he hath in the same book of much affinity concerning Thieves who by long and tedious digging under ground did rob another Kings Treasury which we may wonder at that any should be so confident or so resolute to attempt such a thing in so much improbability for it was a long way that they were to dig of success but have no reason otherwise as set out and explained by Herodotus to think it incredible This digging under ground puts me in mind of the Gunpowder-plot such a Plot as for the horror and immanity of it I know not whether any History can paralel But this hath been sufficiently set out by others both Papists and Protestants I have somewhat to say of it which to me seems as horrible almost as the Plot it self what it may do unto others I know not I was once in the time of the rebellion at the table of one that was very great then but must not now be named There was at the table more than one or two whether Priests or Ministers rightly ordained I cannot tell for even of them some though not many did basely temporize but by their habit and some other circumstances of that sort of people that were Preachers in those days How it came to be talked of I know not but talked of it was I am sure and confidently affirmed that there never was any such thing really as the Gunpowder Plot but that it was a Plot of King James his contriving to endear himself unto the people I do not remember that my patience was ever more put to it though I never came into such company which was not often nor without great necessity but well armed with patience I did not think such