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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19798	A dialogue of witches, in foretime named lot-tellers, and novv commonly called sorcerers VVherein is declared breefely and effectually, vvhat soueuer may be required, touching that argument. A treatise very profitable ... and right necessary for iudges to vnderstande, which sit vpon lyfe and death. Written in Latin by Lambertus Danæus. And now translated into English.; De venificis quos olim sortilegos, nunc autem vulgo sortarios vocant, dialogus. English	Daneau, Lambert, ca. 1530-1595?; Twyne, Thomas, 1543-1613, attributed name.	1575 (1575)	STC 6226; ESTC S109219	58,911	164

be true Theophilus Wherin then doe you disagrée from me Anthony Antho. Forsooth in these thrée thinges First in this that the Sorcerers say and you likewise folowing the truthe of their confession doe affirme the same that verely and corporally they bée present in those assemblies which are called by Satan Secondly where you say that they bee caried by Satan vnto those places Thirdly in that whiche you sayde laste that they can intoxicate men without any mingling of poyson For I can not perswade my selfe that any thing can possibly be by méere voyces wordes figures or charecters hurte holpen poysoned or intoxicated Theophilus I will answere you orderly to these thrée poyntes And as touching the first Doe you not thinke Anthony that Sorcerers doe méete togither and be present in those their diuelishe conuenticles and Synagogues notwithstanding that they vaunt themselues thereof How I pray you then doe you thinke it is Anthony Onely in cogitation of mind and illusion of the Diuell like as in our sléepe we thinke that we haue seene many thinges and to haue beene in suche places where we neuer were and many times that we haue talken with those that are very farre of from vs yea perhaps more than two hundred miles The like whereof happeneth to Sorcerers through crafte of the Diuel who sundry times also deludeth vs in other matters in so muche that oftentimes we thinke that we see touche and feele thinges whiche in deede we neither see nor feele And that you shal not thinke that I am of this opinion without sufficient reason I haue many excellent learned and auncient men of myne opinion Throughout all the discourse of this question you haue often commended Sainct Augustine But he in place where he intreateth of the chaunged shapes of men as in the .xviii. booke de Ciuitate Dei teacheth howe thinges that are beléeued and supposed doo so come to passe in déede for as much as therein that power of the minde which is one of the chiefe fiue and is termed the Phantasie and resteth in the foremost part of the brayne I meane the phantasie is hurt and disturbed by Satans meanes and the outwarde senses buried and by him maruelously troubled Why then should we not so thinke of the méeting and presence of Sorcerers And if drunken men when hote vapours ascende out of their stomackes into their brayne suppose they see such thinges as be absent and if the sickenesse of melancholie doe persuade many thinges to those that are sicke of that disease whiche they neyther doe sée nor are present we may thinke and define that these thinges happen to Sorcerers by illusion of Satan who is of greater force than any of the aboue named causes to trouble the vertues and powers of the minde and not to thinke that in déede such thinges be present or that them selues be in place where they suppose For Satan is able to hurt binde the powers of the minde and strength of the body as Thomas Aquinas teacheth and as before him S. Augustine in the .vii. booke of Genesis vpon the letter the .xi. Chapter hath written Besides this the same S. Augustine in a certayne Epistle of his vnto his familiar friend Nebridius which is the .lxxii. in number distinguisheth the thrée kinds of our fantastical sightes and appearances The first kinde is of them whiche our fantasie or imagination conceaueth of thinges whiche we haue seene The seconde kinde is of thinges whiche our fantasie it selfe hath founde out the lyke whereof it neuer see nor hearde of before The thirde kynde is of thinges whyche our imagination conceaueth and deuiseth vppon the wordes and reporte of other And these ●oyes and imaginations of Sorcerers are of the second kinde namely when our fantasie of herselfe deuiseth and imagineth many thinges Which that I may more substantially confirme vnto you out of the same Authour the same S. Augustine in the hundred and one Epistle to Euodius of straunge sightes writeth that when those sightes are so liuely and effectually represented vnto vs that wee thinke verely wee haue seene them for all that our soules doe not wander out of our bodies neyther goe abroade in those places wherein wee thought our selues conuersaunt but they remayne within our bodies euen in the same moment wherein they behelde those thinges so euidently so that it happeneth by meanes of the obiectes that we see them In the meane season our bodely senses are asleepe within vs so that they can by no meanes be awaked while wee bee occupied in this sighte whereby it happeneth that afterwarde wee beeing awaked suppose that wee talked and dranke and eate and sawe all those thinges The reason is because the liuely and effectuall fourme of all those thinges was represented vnto our mynde wherewith wee were then busied And examples heereof are commonly to bee found● in the same Sainct Augustine For in the hundred Epistle he maketh mention of a certayne Phisition of Carthage called Gennadius who doubting whether after this life there were another to bée hoped for sawe the companies of Aungels and hearde the●● singing so playnely in his sleepe that hee thoughte hee was in heauen whose body notwithstanding lay all the while in the bedde and remayned in the Chamber as hee him selfe afterwarde confessed Likewise in the .xviij. booke De Ciuitate Dei the .xviij. Chapter hee telleth of another who affirmed for a truth that he conferred with a certen Platonicall Philosopher in his sléepe concerning Platoes writinges of whom hee learned the Authours meaning in a certayne place whiche before he vnderstoode not In the booke which is intituled Vitae Patrum the life of the Fathers it is written of a certayne father who not in the night nor in a dreame but at midde day and broade light when he behelde with his eyes his owne daughter it seemed to him that he sawe a Cowe whiche notwithstanding others and especially Macharius acknowledged and testified that it was a humane creature and a Uirgin What Theophilus haue not you your self somtime read in the xvj booke De Diebus Genialibus whiche are written by Alexander Neopolitanus the .xxi. Chapter of a certeyne accused person who thought that he wente downe to hell whereof he reported to the Iudge moste euident testimonies For he discouered and opened a certayne secrete of his whiche was knowne to no man What in the xxvi Canon of Bishop the .v. question whiche was copied foorth of the Counsell of Aquilea is it not there openly pronounced that all these voyces and imaginations of Sorcerers are but vayne showes meere toyes and illusions of the mynde whyche Satan chyefe workeman of suche trumperie representeth vnto them theyr bodyes notwithstandyng remayning styll in the same place In conclusion that I may at length shut vp all this place these bée the wordes either of S. Augustine or whosoeuer els was aucthour of that booke which is intituled De spiritu litera where in the 28. chapter he writeth thus VVherefore

strange if in this place he ether did amisse or forgat himself But admit y Ierome were of y opinion notwithstāding other no lesse graue learned interpretours of the place doo write otherwise gather out of this place of S. Paul that there be sorcerers Of which opiniō was Chrisostome an approued writer with others also of later yeares As for August who in no respect is inferior to Ierōe what he hath written we haue shewed before Anthony These doo satisfie me Theoph. neither require I any moe mens testimonies but performe the whch you promised which is the seconde proofe of your opinion Teach me I say that it is founde out by experience that there are Sorcerers Theophil You require of me but y which is due you remēber euery thing in order wherefore I wil briefly comprise all in a worde or two Anthony Procéede then Theophil Now as cōcerning experiēce that most certen true thus much I say that in al ages it hath bin obserued founde y ther hath béen alwaies some which haue vsed this diuellish arte meanes to entoxicate men For els why should there haue béen lawes writtē against thē if there had neuer bin any such at al why should their punishmēts haue béen appointed For ther are no laws set forth to repres any crimes that are not there is one selfesame iudgemēt to be geuē by the ciuile law on thinges that are not as on thinges that appéere not as the lawiers doo teach When the question was demaūded of the most wisest lawmaker of the Atheniās Solon why he wrote no lawes against such as slewe their fathers answered that he thought that ther would neuer be any such So verely both before the birth of Christe also sithence hath this kinde of witches bin cōmonly abroade in the world And that they were before Christe sufficiētly most faithfully y most holy man of God Moyses witnesseth who by cōmaundment of God maketh mēcion of thē condēneth thē namely in Exod. the .22 chap .9 verse In Leuit. the 19. chap. .31 verse likewise in the .20 chap. .27 verse In the booke of Nūb. the .23 cha the .28 verse In Deu. the .18 cha .. .11 verse Some write y Zoroastes a man of the cūtry of Persia a great Magiciā expert in the iudiciarie Astrologie first of all men founde and practized witchcraft and afterwardes taught it to other who were al of thē Idolaters as he was Now that there were also some of the same sort since the incarnatiō of Christ infinite histories beare record and the sundry reportes of men in wryting touching the same the sentences also of Iudges geuen vpon them are witnesses lawes likewise and punishments published against thē doe beare record established aswell by the Ciuile lawe as the Canon being at this day both whole Titles Rubrikes foūde written against that kinde of crime like as appeareth in Gratianes Decree causa .xxvi. quest i. ii.iii.iiii v. Moreouer these sortes of witches haue alwayes been well knowne in our countrey of Fraunce which to be trew the innumerable actes of Parliament against thē dooe testifie which many learned m●n haue gathered together of the mat●er But cheefly a certen famous solemne cōdemnatiō of articles opiniōs made by a Sorbonist of Paris vnder Charles the .6 king of Fraunce in the yeare of our Lord .1398 maketh much to the proofe of our opiniō which opinions the schollars of the vniuersitie commonly professed in Paris Yea hath not this our age seene many witches condemned of witchcraft Anthony Can you shewe mée the cause Theophil why it should so be in our time Theophil Truely it is the terrible iudgement of God agaynst vs the cause whereof is vnknowne vnto vs For the iudgementes of God although they be hid from vs yet are they iust and holy as it appeareth in the xxv Psalme and x. verse most truely godly in the like argument and as S. Augustine sayeth in his worke of Deuinacion of Diuels Anthony How thē hath God any iuster cause to punish men in this our age thē he had in foretime thrée hūdred yéeres agoe ▪ Theophil Yea surely Anthony greater then heretofore how much the more the worlde at this present doth more shamefully and obstinately reiect the woord of God and the reuealed light thereof For how much the more men doe now a dayes shewe themselues vnthankfull towardes God the more iust cause God taketh to forsake them and geue them ouer vnto Satan to reuenge the contempt of his name So that in these dayes wherein is séene a most gréeuous pitiefull rebellion of men against Gods true doctrine Satan hath receyued the power frō God to allure thē vnto him and to sifte them and there is geuen vnto him the very effect and force of errour to deceiue intrappe and leade away many as the spirite of God hath long since witnessed it should bée in the seconde to the Thessalonians the second Chapter tenth verse and that God would geue him the power and gift to deceyue that men should geue credence to Satan and to lyes and such should bée damned as beléeued not the trueth but haue yéelded to vnrighteousnes bicause they haue not embraced the loue of the trueth that they might be saued Anthony But some there be that hold opinion that al these thinges which are reported of Sorcerers are but deuised feyned and if any such thing doe chance they come only by some sicknes of the mynd or by reason of some melancholicke humour these appearances fansies trouble them not being any tokens or signes of the iuste iudgement of God against men Theophil But truely they be very much deceiued frende Anthony no lesse then those which supposed that the madde men and possessed with diuels which liued in the time of our Lord and sauiour Iesus Christ and were by him healed were none other then men sick and troubled with melancholick chollerick diseases whose opiniō is altogither blasphemous for thei take away the certentie of the christian faith and deny the deuine nature of our Lord Iesus Christ repugning lying against the trueth of the thing for how could the diuels haue spoken with in their bodies or with so great force haue gone out of the possessed persons haue torne the members partes of their bodies if these thinges were but mere dreemes of troubled minds fansies only fits of melācholick diseases So are sorcerers plainly miserable slaues vnto Satan in subiection vnto him him doe they worship to him doo they cōmit themselues yea offer vnto him cādles of waxe in token of honour Yet some of thē doo séeme far more abiecte filthily seruisable For when Satan sheweth himself vnto them in the likenes of a man the which is to shamful to speak they kisse his buttocks which thīg certē of thē afterward haue frāckli cōfessed thēselues to haue don And

as they doo report Yea moreouer they doo this which I wil tell a thing passing meruelous they wil tie a knot vpon a point as our cuntreymen speake that is to say they can hinder and binde maryed couples that they shal not pay their due one to the other or at leastwise that one of them shall not Anthony What is that you say Theophil Theoph. It is euen as I tell you Anthony For if they be able with their poysons to impaire the good helth of men to diminish the strength force of the body weakē the sinnes dull the senses to distemper the inward humours what merueile is it if they can hinder the vertue acte of generation which is contayned within the bodie in certen vessels of seed either by casting in by their venim an ouer coldnes of the vessels or else raysing a certen hatred or misliking one of the other betwéene man wife ▪ whom in suchwise they doo trouble which I doo easily graūt the they doe by Satanicall artes yet doe they it to thintent they may sow discorde and contencion betwéene them betwéene whom ought to be sounde and great agréement Thus these wicked men reuenge themselues bicause they hate them whom they doe so molest although vndeseruedly and without cause but to the imitacion and example of Satan their master they reioyce to sowe cockle among men Mathew the xiii Chapter .xxxix. verse Iohn the third Chapter and x. verse Anthony Haue you any examples or argumentes to confirme your saying Theophil Yea I haue both And as for examples they are almost infinite dayly hapning and conuersant before our eyes And as touching testimonies argumēts I haue that are most sure First S. Augustine amōg the sundry meanes of hurting which he attributeth vnto Sorcerers in the vii treatise vpon S. Iohn reciteth bindinges whereof this binding is a kinde of which we now speake Moreouer that which Virgil prince of Poetes and best learned of all the learned of his time in the eight Ecloge prooueth the same For this is taken from dayly experiēce which he sayth Knit collers three in three knots them Amaryllis fitte Knit Amaryllis and say thus I Venus knots doe knit The same also is cōfirmed by the Canon Si. Per. which is the last xxxiij.j question in the Decrée And if Sorcerers can let hinder the nourishing facultie of the soule as Thomas Aquinas in the .i. Sum. the .iij. quest iiij article largely disputeth proueth by the same meanes also they may corrupt hinder the engendring facultie Anthony You driue me to that exigent that I knowe not what to say or whyther to turne my selfe Theophilus What if I should also ad that which will séeme much more meruelous which notwithstāding S. Augustine and Apuleus doe credibly wryte yet am I of opinion that it can not be so Anthony What is that Theophil Forsooth that Sorcerers can chaunge men into other formes shapes that is to wit into wolues Beares Asses Anthony I pray you doth S. Augustin● wryte so Theophil Yea truly Anthony reade the 17. 18. Chapter of his worke De Ciuitate dei where S. Augustine reporteth that many both heathen men and Christians haue sayd that they were so transfourmed specially one Daniaenetus and Praestans with many other moe Anthony Surely that can not bée that an euyl spirite or Diuell can chaunge our nature or being as they call it For this is the only propertie and power of God that as he hath created the natures of thinges so is he able to chaunge them which Satan cannot doe by any meanes neither by himself neither by his seruantes the Sorcerers Theophil You say trueth and so sainct Augustine also writeth in another place Howbeit they that say they were so transfourmed they doo but suppose that sometime they liued so yet they are deceiued and those be none other then false fansies and imaginations which by meanes of some stronge illusion or great sicknesse are imprinted in their myndes But I doo not likewise deny but that Satan bringeth some into that persuasion which that hée may bring to passe hée bringeth a sléepe and blyndeth their outward senses then bringeth hée into their imagination sundry fourmes of thinges which he imprinteth so effectually within their troubled myndes and humoures that they thinke themselues in déed to be at that present to haue bin such things So likewise phisitiōs teach vs that there are certē diseases of the bodie wherein a man shall séeme to himself to be a Woulfe an Hogge an Oxe a Mule likewise that they bée all made of glasse or of Waxe such other like thing I haue also séene one that would affirme and sweare that hée was a Cocke wherefore the true and vndoubted cause of such illusions and deceiptions of minde which may be done by Sorcerers arte dependeth vpon this that the humours and temperament of the bodie being distempered the parties themselues séeme after a sort to be chaunged and alienated from themselues by working of the Diuell that they shall not know any other thinges that are represented vnto them So that those that be so vexed doe easily persuade themselues that they are such as they reporte which notwitstanding are but mere illusions of the Diuell Anthony But Nabucadnezar King of Assyrians was transfourmed into a brute beast and eate grasse the space of seuen yeares as it is read in Daniel the fourth chapter Theophil So it is But that is thus to be vnderstoode of Nabucadnezer that we must not thinke that his humane nature was conuerted into the essencie or being of a brute beast But his conuersation was chaunged and his mynde and affection which was wont to be desirous of mās company Moreouer that we must graunt that all this befell vnto him by the power of almightie God our creatour and not by Satans meanes by which onely Sorcerers doe worke to haue béene brought to passe For God is able to take away or change the essēcies or natures of thinges but Satan is not able Wherefore those things which are reported how some men are cōuerted into wolues are to be iudged most false Howbeit there be some that affirme such thinges to be doone among the farre Northerne people nigh to the riuers Borysthenes Tanais But wheras Varro wryteth that there is a Lake in Arcadia ouer which those that doe passe become Wolues I think it must thus be vnderstoode that by reason of the feare which men conceaue in passing ouer the most perillous Lake they thinke thēselues to be wolues otherwise I would say that all that history is but méere tryfles and oulde wyues tales Anthony Hitherto you haue sufficiētly declared ouer what kynd of thinges sorcerers haue power Shew me also this one thing why these wicked men are able to intoxicate poyson good and godly Christian men which thing most certen and dayly experience proueth to be true Theophil The solution of this your demaunde is easy

alwayes haue thē more more obedient vnto him Yea I wil moreouer say thus much that these figures charecters are of themselues but meere toyes colourable trifles to bleare mens eyes which being layd before thē by their most wicked schoolemaister doo kéepe vnto him those his wretched schollars who séeke for no other nor truer cause of that euent although in déed they be of no force to bring the thing to effect which they goe about neither doo the Sorcerers vnderstand how much they doo auaile But like as certen iuglers which would séeme to doo many straunge feates in the midst of a circle or ring of people by sundry gestures casting of the handes and with much babling and prittle prattle of wordes doo fil wéery the eares and eyes of the lookers on that they shall not perceiue how in the place of one little bal they lay down thrée or foure which they kept couertly betweene their fingers which notwithstāding is all done by nimblenes of their handes so likewise Satan representeth these vaine and friuolous colours showes of figures woordes vnto the eyes of his accomplises whom hee is willing to kéepe from the diligent inquiry of suche matters y being amoped with thē only they may be stay●d vnto him and not searche with any greater care or diligence what should bee the grounde and cause of the matter which notwithstanding are of no suche kynde or nature of causes as may bring foorthe any such effect Anthony Tell me then Theophilus by what meanes worketh Satā in déed whilest he would séeme to worke by enchauntmentes or superstitious describing of Charecters or certen fourmes of prayers Theophil I am about to doo so And to begin with all I am certen and well assured of this that Satan can doo nothing but by naturall meanes and causes For whatsoeuer hee doth eyther by him self or by his the Magicians Sorcerers it is altogither eyther illusion of their myndes and eyes or only the true effect of naturall causes As for any other thing or that is of more force hee can not doe it Anthony Can hee not also worke miracles as Sainct Paule sayeth in the second to the Thessalonians the second chapter the ix verse And Sainct Iohn in the reuelation the sixtene Chapter and fourtenth verse Theophilus What call you a miracle Anthony Anthony I call a miracle a certaine worke which is done in a natural body cōtrary to the naturall course and disposition thereof created by god As for example when iron swimmeth vpon the water as is reported in the story of Elias in the second booke of kinges the vi Chapter and vj. verse when a stone flitteth vpon the water when water is truely turned into wine when the dead are vnfeynedly restored vnto lyfe Theophil Truely you haue properly defined a miracle For as Sainct Augustine writeth y must only be called a miracle which surmounteth the power of all thinges created neither can be wrought by them So that a miracle is only the worke of Gods power being most worthely and properly to be tearmed by that name But Sainct Paule and the Reuelation in those places which you haue commended vse not this worde so strictly and precisely but rather more at large for any kinde of woorke which may séeme straunge and meruelous vnto men although it procéede from naturall meanes and causes So that this worde Miracle is oftentymes vsed for that which may more rightly bée called a woonder For as touching a Miracle Satan truely is able to worke none as you haue most properly described a Miracle Anthony Is there then any diuersitie betwéene a woonder and a Miracle Theoph. Yea very large whether you haue respect to the name or to the thing And as touching the word Mirū a wonder which is also called of Greciās 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is one thing Miraculū a Miracle called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another S. Augustine so distinguisheth these words in the third booke De Trinitate So that a wonder is a worke which is not vulgare or cōmon ▪ yet that is wrought by naturall causes Howbeit they be many times vnknowne vnto vs or known to fewe only or else are done by such meanes as we men cānot vse or are not wont or haue not lerned to doo in the same or the like matter As for example sake when that great cunning workman also famous Philosopher Archytas Tarentinus shewed openly to the people a doue of wood which flue in the ayre it was a wonderful thing but it was no miracle For this motion was caused in the woodden body through certen equallitie of weight by meanes of certē lines workmanship and by so neare narrow ioyning of them that one drew foreward another so all that worke was but naturall Likewise when the same Archytas caused as it is written by Plutarch in the life of Mercellus y whilest Syracu●e in Sicilia was beséeged one lad drew after him plucked on land by an hooke a ship for burthen of monstrous weight and bignes it was a wonderfull péece of worke but no miracle For it was done by naturall meanes by deuises of rowles and turning wormes gathered out of the Mathematical rules So likewise learned Phisitions woorke many wonders and so doo handicraftes men but no miracles Therefore as touching wonders that bee so called Satan can easily and with small traueile worke many those far more excellēt thē we men cā in respect that his strēgth wit is much better thē ours yet for all this he can worke no miracles Anthony Why so Theophil For sundry causes chiefly for thrée And first in respect of the excellencie of his nature aboue ours For hée is of an Angelicall and Spirituall nature and wee are earthly and carnall by reason whereof hee can doo many thinges which we can not Secondly for his moouing and the great quicknes of dooing his actions For in a moment he can come so long a iourney as wee that are heauy and slowe can not doo the like in six dayes So that in a minute hee can passe from one place to another be it neuer so far a sunder for the ayre doth not stay nor let him Thirdly for his manifold skil in the natures of thinges and longe experience which hée hath gotten to whose if ours were compared it is but ignorance whereby it commeth to passe that hee hath the knowledge and can worke in such sort as we are not able to attaine to the lyke Anthony How chaunceth it then that as you say Satan can worke no miracles Theophilus Fyrst bicause that in woorking of miracles it behooueth to destroy take away the nature from thinges which God hath geuen them which Satan can not doo for it belongeth to god only that as hee can create and make the nature of thinges so can he also ouerthrow and destroy it Secondly that in a miracle it is

néedefull to geue vnto the thing new vertues and properties which he can by no meanes doe For the true God is onely aucthour and creatour of the properties which are in thinges Thirdly that a true miracle is such a worke which surpasseth the vertue and power of all thinges created be they neuer so excellent Wherefore Sainct Peter the Apostle in the third of the Actes the .xij. verse when he had healed the lame man and had wrought a true miracle sayde thus Yee men of Israëll vvhy doe you wonder at this or vvhy doe you looke vpon vs so earnestly as though vve had vvrought it by our owne power or godlynesse that this man should vvalke The God of Abraham the God of Isaac c. By which wordes it is signified as you sée that the power to worke miracles is proper vnto God onely Anthony But the blessed Angels Apostles and many other holy men haue wrought miracles Theoph. Truely they haue wrought miracles by the working of God in them For the power which worketh them is in God onely and in him onely resident and neuer transported to any creature for as it is written in Esay God will neuer geue away his peculiar glory to another Wherefore they whom you haue last recyted Good Angells Apostles Prophets and holy men in woorking of those miracles which they are reported to haue done were onely gods instruments in working of them that meere passiue not actiue as they terme them and yet notwithstanding it followeth not that if God vsed the ministrie of those his seruauntes he doth also vse Satan likewyse woorking miracles by him also For God of his iustice wyll not communicate his glory in such measure vnto Satan and Diuells as hée geueth it vnto the blessed Angells and holy men Which is euidently confirmed by this onely example in as much as Moses and Aaron the seruauntes of God wrought true miracles which Pharaos Magicians although they were schollars very well practized in the artes of Satan and his most excellent mynisters could neuer doe the lyke acknowledging the true effect thereof to be wrought by the finger of God onely and confessing that the thinges which they did farre surmounted the course of nature as it is wrytten in the eight Chapter of Exodus the eightenth verse And the cause of this diuersitie betwéene Satan and the true seruauntes of God and the diuersitie of his counsell and prouidence is this in that Satan in woorking of miracles séeketh not the glory of God but the good Angells and holy men haue onely regarde and respect to that So that many tymes these men are the instrumentes of God but he neuer is And although this bée true that Satan of himselfe can doe nothing but how much and when it pleaseth God to geue him leaue so lykewise neither can hée destroy nor chaunge the order of thinges determyned by God neither hath God geuen him such power neither that he may woorke by any other thinges then naturall although sometymes they be hid from vs finally he enforceth them with such celeritie that the whole woorke séemeth vnto vs to be a miracle For he quickly gathereth the meanes and causes whereby he worketh As for example he soone gathereth cloudes together to cause rayne he soone driueth together thickneth the Ayre that thereby he may represent vnto our sight some shape or thickened visible body and in a momēt he can compound poysons to do hurt withall immediatly he can resemble or driue away whatsoeuer is of him required or demaūded Moreouer he worketh all these thinges with such swiftnes that the expedition thereof seemeth straunge vnto vs which notwithstanding he worketh al by naturall causes Wherefore as I haue sayde before figures drawing of lines and circles noyses enchauntments breefly superstitious mumbling of certen prayers are not the causes of such thinges as the Sorcerers doe worke but rather pleadges and tokens onely of Satans promises vnto them So then Satan himselfe worketh those thinges which they thinke thē selues to haue done by vertue of those meanes For he hath instituted these tokens which he will not haue seeme either vnprofitable either impossible or friuolous Wherfore all those thinges are done by meanes of Satan onely Wherein the opinion of Saint Ierome onely who doubteth thereof ought not to moue vs For he wauereth therein and Iohn Chrisostome is flatly against him in his homilies vpon the Epistle of Sainct Paule to the Galathians the iii. Chapter and seconde verse and others also of no lesse aucthoritie And among later wryters what Peter Martyr an excellent well learned Deuine wryteth vpon the .xxviij. Chapter of the first booke of Samuel all men doe well knowe Wherefore to conclude in fewe woordes Satan woorketh all those thinges vpon couenaūt By the same meanes it commeth to passe that Sorcerers doe coniure exorcize as they call it the Diuell or call him foorth or call him vp or speake with him face to face hauing apointed and agreeed vppon such couenauntes that at sometimes he should appeare and at other tymes depart away ▪ After this maner Numa Pompilius the seconde king of the Romanes a great Magician Sorcerer if euer there were any communed and talked oftentymes with Diuells as Plutarch a graue authour wryteth in his lyfe And now Anthony that I haue answered vnto your thrée questions what remayneth there more Anthony I aske you this question whether all the poysons which Sorcerers doe vse be mortall and bring men into perill of death Theophilus Why would you learne this of mée which they them selues doe not knowe God onely knoweth that in whose hande lyeth our death and lyfe not in the power of the Sorcerer no not of the Diuell him selfe as it is wrytten in the eight Chapter and ninth Uerse of ●cclesiasticus For the mynde and desyer of the Sorcerer is varyable in that poinct many times to doe hurt onely for a tyme they caste theyr poysons vppon men and oftentymes theyr poysons bée mortall and deadly And therefore when they bée threatned they seeke meanes to vndooe and take away theyr poysons from those whome they haue bewitched and poysoned and therein they requyre healpe of the Diuell howbeit sometimes they cannot vndooe it whatsoeuer they attempt forasmuch as God hath otherwyse determined of vs For he hath appointed the tearme of our lyfe which we can not passe as it is written in Iob the fouretenth Chapter and fift verse Anthony Ouer and besides this Theophilus after they bée come intoo the Iudges handes and caste intoo Prison can they then vse those their poysons and doe any harme Theophilus If I shall saye what I thinke I wyll aunswere that they can if so bée they haue any conference with theyr maister Satan But if you aske mee what the common people think thereof surely that they can not So that if they can by anye meanes fréely and commodiously come by those theyr Diuellishe poysons and conferre wyth Satan as otherwyse they myght if they