the Devil that the Christians have since he that knows not God after the manner of the Christians cannot also know the Devil and that is impossible that any rational Creature should know the Devil as he is and adore him For as to what is said by the Apostle concerning the Heathens that they offer their sacrifices to the Devils 1 Cor. 10.20 'T is not expresly said to the Devil as to the Chief of the wicked Angels no more then in St. Matth. 25.41 But to him as the Chief of the Demons of which we have formerly spoken And 't is observable that the Greek word used by St. Paul is not that of Devils but Demons which is the name the Heathens gave to a sort of inferior Gods as has been already said After that Observation let us see what conformity may be found betwixt the sentiments of the Ancient Pagans and that of the Modern Heathen as to Spirits we shall begin with Europe thence proceed to Asia and Africa and at last go over into America CHAP. VI. That this Conformity must be sought 1st in the remains of Paganism in Europe Sect. 1. IT has been already said that there are some Pagans in the extremity of Europe especially in the Northern parts but they are so brutish and wild that it is easier to see what they do than to conceive or guess what they believe They are Laplanders and Finlanders especially those Swedish Dominion with whom we are best acquainted by a description drawn from the best Authors which Scheffer has made in his Swedish Lapland and therefore I shall declare as much as I judge convenient for my design First what he says of these and afterwards what is added of the others yet without giving credit to whatever is written of which I scarce believe one halfe to be true This however is certain that those People tho' under the Dominion of Christian Princes viz. those of Swedeland Denmark and Muscovy are as fond of their Pagan Superstition and continue as zealously tho' secretly their antient practises as they have little knowledge of Christianity and inclination to embrace our Faith In the mean while Scheffer has made of late such an accurate description of Lapland and upon such certain information that one may methinks surely relye upon what he says and as he frequently intermixes in his Narrations other Laplanders and Finlanders it may be probably inferr'd that he esteems them all very near alike in Belief and Worship which may be confirm'd by this reason that what other Writers say of those other Nations is pretty agreeable with what Scheffer relates of Swedish Lapland And therefore I shall follow him only tho' I ought not to say him only since his Book contains whatever the others had written before him Let us then First â—ee which are the sentiments of those Pagans and afterwards we shall speak of their Magick Sect. 2. The objects of their Worship are divided into three sorts as into so many degrees the most sublime are Thor or Thordoen which is properly the Thunder Storjunkare or Stourra-passe which signifie Holy and Great and Baiwe that is the Sun The first has also the name of Tiermes which in the Laplandish Language is as much as the noise of the Thunder because that God is believed to be the Master of Thunder and seems therefore to be their Jupiter He is also named Aijeke that is Great Father The Laplanders ascribe co him an absolute Power over the Life and Death of Men over their Health and Diseases and over the wicked Demons who live on the top of the Rocks Mountains and Lakes They believe that he restrains those Demons when they vex Men too much that he chastises them that he sometimes Thunder-strikes 'em and puts 'em to death esteeming it to be the chief employment of the Thunder as the eminent Latins imagin'd that Jupiter cast his Thunderbolt upon the wicked and all other Criminals for that purpose they give him a Bow which they imagin'd to be the Iris or Rainbow that he might dart his Arrows wound and kill all the wicked Demons They call in their Tongue the Iris Aijeke dauge the great Fathers Bow that is the Bow of the Good and Beneficent God who preserves them as his Children and defends them against the Insults of those wicked Demons They imagine that God has likewise a Hammer which they call Aijewetchera with which he strikes on the Neck of the Demons and breaks their Head Storjunkare or Stourra-passe which signifies the Governor of the Country is amongst them as the Great Pan or as Diana having the Country and Woods under his directions Fishes and Birds are also at his disposal and all Animaâ—s and wâ—ld Beasts acknowledge his Empire 't is by him 〈◊〉 they are happy in hunting and without his leave they cannot catch any thing True it is that Aijeke or Tiermes governs Gods Demons and Men but Storjunkare in quality of Vicar of that God has the conduct of all those other things Barwe that signifies the Sun as Paiwe does the Day is adored by them for the good he does to the Earth but they particularly venetrate him in Summer time because they always see him that he has restored them his Light dissipated their Darkness brought Heat and expel'd Cold. Sect. 3. The Manes of the Romans mentioned before Chap. 2. Sect. 15. Are among the Laplanders Inferior Gods which they call Sitte They erect no Figures to their Honour and content themselves with offering Sarcifices to them we find in no writing what sentiments they have of the power of those Sitte nor for what reason they make them Offerings The last sort of those Inferiour Gods are the Juhles or Inhlaforket that are a Vagabond Crowd whom they believe to wander in the Air and through Forests and Mountains But I find also no where what good or hurt those Spirits may in their Opinion procure to Men only they believe them Inferior to the Sitte however they pay them also some Worship behind their Cottage at a Bow shot distance which Worship ends in a superstitious Sacrifice They consecrate to them neither Images nor Statues no more then to the Manes they have likewise no Image of Bawe or the Sun either because he is visible himself or because the most secret Science of their Mysteries accounts him but one God with Tiermes There is but Ayeke and Storjunkar who have Statues erected to their Honour those of Aijeke are of Wood and those of Storjunkare of Stone Sect. 4. 'T is upon those Opinions that their Divinations and Witchcraft are grounded and hereupon I can't but make this observation that by reading Scheffer and comparing what he fays of his own with what he has collected from other Authors it may easily be perceived that the Witchcraft of the Northern Nations extends not so far as is commonly reported But then we must credit what Scheffer assures us from his own experience in the following words Chap. 12. Tho
Romulus who frightfully imagined to see the Ghost of his Brother Remus after he had killed him If those Narrations were true such Spirits might be called terrifying Spirits Ovid in the Fifth Book of the Fasti plainly says what must be understood by that Name Mox etiam Lemures animas dixere silentum The Soul of the Dead had the Name of Lemures Sect. 16. The Lares or perhaps the Geniues are called by Macrobius in his Third Book of the Saturnalia Chap. 4. Penates that is Born together Quasi penes nos natos For as that Author pursues 't is by them that we breath by them that we have our Body and by them that our Soul subsists But 't is better to call them Gods and Governors of Countries to distinguish them from the Lares who were particular to each Family as they were both distinguished from the Geniuses and look'd upon as taking care of the exteriour of Man as the Geniuses did of the interior However it must be confess'd that there is but Confusion and Darkness to be met with in the Books of the Heathens concerning those Names and their pretended Signification they having not well known themselves what they Worshipped as Gods or as Spirits neither need we take much trouble in unravelling what they themselves knew not since the memory both of them and of their Daemons is long since extinguished upon Earth This being the Lot of the Heathens and of their Gods Jeremiah cap. 10. Sect. 17. Whether this last sort of Gods or Spirits were called Genii Manes Penates or Lemures it plainly appears that they believed the Immortality of the Soul which Opinion being confounded with that of Daemons gave occasion to contrive those sorts of Spirits Plato in his Book Of the Soul Entituled Phaedo induces Socrates speaking near his Death in these Words Above all the Soul must be immortal and unperishable and consequently it must go to live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in invisible places or as others pretend to infer from the Etymology of the Word in agreeable Places Marcilius Ficinus has Translated it in Latin apud Manes by the surviving Spirits as I have named them above but a little after he Translates apud Inferos in the Subterraneous Places which proceed from that they placed the Soul of the Deceased under the Earth Cicero in the first Book of the Tusculan Questions Sect. 26. shows both in these Words We believe that the Souls survive because all our Reasonings lead us to that Opinion Reason ought also to teach us where they are whence Ignorance has taken occasion to invent subterraneous places because Bodies being put into the Earth and cover'd with Earth humo whence comes humari to be Buried thereof it has been believed that the Dead still live under the Earth Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same word which the Interpreters of the New Testament sometimes Translate by that of Hell sometimes by that of Grave none of which agrees with the Sense of Socrates or that of Plato For at the end of the forementioned Book Socrates derides Crito who asked him how he would be buried He believes says he That I am that dead Body which he shall see anon signifying that they might indeed Bury his Dead Body but as to him that is his Soul he should pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the assur'd Felicity of the Blessed which very much differs from the Grave or Hell And therefore 't is certain that Socrates who spake so believed the Soul to be Immortal and that Plato who writ his Words was of the same persuasion Sect. 18. But there were others who tho' they were of the same opinion yet having not acquired so much insight into the State of Souls separated from their Bodies invented Transmigrations and Purifications The Druids so famous amongst the Ancient Gauls held together the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transmigration of Souls with their Immortality For they unanimously taught according to the Testimony of Caesar Book 8. Chap. 18. Non interire animas sed ab aliis post mortem transire ad alios Souls die not but that after Death they pass from one to another The antient Egyptians were of the same Opinion and Herodotus writes that they were the first who taught the Immortality of the Soul For says he their sentiment is that the Soul being deprived of the Body passes into another Body which is then born and after she has thus walked through all sorts of Bodies upon Earth in the Sea and in the Air she at last returns into a human Body Thence it was that Pythagoras had his Doctrine which he brought over into Greece whence it passed into Italy Lactantius explains the Opinions of that Philisopher in his Seventh Book de Proemio Chap. 8. In these words Pythagoras as foolishly asserted that the Souls passed into other Bodies from the Bodies of Men into those of Beasts and from those of Beasts into those of Men again and that his own had formerly been that of Euphorbius Plato and several others have partly followed him which we shall be obliged frequently to mention hereafter Sect. 19. But Socrates as Plato relates in the forementioned Treatise which contains his last Words leads the Souls to some places where they shall be Blessed or Tormented without Bodies He sends those who shall have done Good into the Upper and Aetherial Regions where he believes the most pure part of this Orb to be and where the Soul shall Eternally live without the Body in an unexpressible Felicity Whereas he condemns those of the Wicked to the Tartarus which is a deep and frightful Abyss where they shall be punish'd according to their Deserts From that Gulf of Torments he draws four Rivers to which he gives as many Names very fit to express his Notion viz. Oceanus a precipitate Torrent Acheron a Torrent of Torments Pyriphlegeton Conflagration and Cocytus Bemoaning Here Sinners who have not been altogether incorrigible are to be purged with many Pains and Vexations more or less longer or shorter according to their Deserts There you have the original of Purgatory or of that purging Fire still believed by the Roman Church However Socrates gives out that Narration but for a Chimaera For before he begins it he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pretty Fable worth hearing and at the end he says But no Man of Sense ought to maintain that Opinion so as I have related though I esteem it rational and just to show that it goes very near so in reference to our Souls and their Habitations since it plainly appears that the Soul is immortal These Words of a Dying Man who exhorts those that were present to be at all times ready for Death persuade me more and more of what I have already said that the Heathens express'd themselves variously upon these Matters and that they speak otherwise when they consider them in reference to Religion than when they conceive them in relation
could not find any particular Description of it thô I was never so inquisitive after it but I suppose that to this may be referr'd what is related by Livy Decad. 1 Book 7. Sect. 6. concerning Marius Curtius In the same Year which was according to the Calculation of Calvisius 357 before Christ either by an Earthquake or some other strange commotion almost one half of the Market of Rome was swallowed up There was a great Depth and most frightful Chasm which could not be fill'd what trouble soever was taken for it thô People carried Cattle thither continually The Oracles of the Gods were consulted and the Diviners answer'd that the things in which the principal Strength of the Roman People consisted must be Consecrated to them in that very place if they desired to establish for ever the Republick of Rome And as they were troubled to know what was the thing to be Consecrated a warlike Young Man called Martius Curtius derided it asserting that the chief Strengh of the Roman People consisted in Valour and an undaunted Courage to confirm which he got on Horseback and precipitated himself into the Abyss Sect. 17. Chiromancy or Palmistry considers the Lines of the Hands to know the Fortune of Men whereupon Juvenal says in his 6th Satyr Frontemque manumque Praebebit vati His Hand and Head he 'd show to the Divine Whence appears that Physiognomy that is accordeing to the Etymology of the word the Knowledgs of Nature but by use the Observation of a Man Shape must be comprehended under this sort for this Art foretells things by the Looks the Features and Lineaments of the Face by which the Genius and Humour of Men are to be discovered Sect. 18. Now all these things are natural thô they were abused to attain to a supernatural knowledge But Art was made use of in other means which were the works of Mens Hands that might well be called a Bewitching Pomp in that ranck was contain'd the Axinomancy a Witchcraft made with an Axe Hatchet or the like Tool The Lecanomancy another Witchcraft in which they used a Caldrâ—u full of Water on the bottom of which they fancyed that the Demons came to walk The Catoptromancy a Witchcraft made with Looking-glasses in which they supposed that blindfolded Children saw what 't was desired to be known The Keskinomancy in which they used a Seive and a Thousand other Impertinencies CHAP. IV. That all the different sorts of Witchcraft that have been in use proceeded from the same Original Sect. 1. I have hitherto treated of those Arts that to say properly are Sciencies supposed to be acquired several ways by the Communication with the Gods or with the Spirits Now I shall Treat of Magick which refers to Action That name is now determin'd to that particular practice thô it has been given in general to all the other Sciencies of which I have spoken in the foregoing Chapter If comes from the Grecians thô it be not a Greek word 'T is universally believ'd that it is a Persian word now that Tongue had Anciently many things common with the Hebrew as well in the Stile as in the Etymologie But in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hagah signifies to censider to reflect and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mahgeh thinking Person one who tells Secrets and Mysteries I have explain'd what the Magi were in my Commentary upon Daniel Sect 62 where the matter required it they were at first honest Men who endeavoured to penetrate into the secrets of Nature by lawfull means and attained to the performance of things above the common Belief Nam quod ego apud plurimos lego Persarum lingua magus est qui nostra sacerdoss for as I read in several Authors a Magus in the Persian Tongue signifies a Priest in ours These are the words of Apuleius in his Apology and Plato calls Magick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Cure of the Gods ' and Porphyrie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says that Divines and Physicians were called by the Persians Magi which title was given to both in the Countrey Hesychius likewise says that a pious Man and well inform'd in the knowledge of Divine things or a Priest is called Magus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Cicero de Divinatione sapientum doctorum genus magorum habebatur in Persis amongst the Persians the Magi were look'd upon as Wise and learned Men. Sect. 2. 'T is very probable that when those Men were got at Court and in great esteem amongst the Vulgar their Art was not sufficient to keep up their Reputation then they begun to use Craft and Cheats and even some of them abused that Art so far as to joyn Malice to Deception and not to spare either the Goods or the Blood or several Persons so that as on the one side the Pagans extreamly honoured that sort of People because of their Wit and parts so they despised them upon another Account and had a great hatred for them Thence proceeded that some have Anciently been famous in the Magick Art as well for the good as the bad use they made of it as Apollonius of Tyanis whose Life has been written by Philostrates and Elymas who resisted St. Paul Acts 13. Verse 8. And the Wisemen of Egypt and Babylon who were called to expound the Dreams of their Kings Gen. Chap. 4. Verse 8. And Daniel Chap. 2. Verse 4. Even Moses Daniel the Wisemen of the East who sought the King of the Jews newly born all those Men were famous for Magick thô Authors speak variously of them either with or against them there is so much difference betwixt the same Sciences and the same Actions by the good or bad use that is made of them Nevertheless it was properly that Art to which we now give the name of Magick Agrippa of Nettinheim distinguishes it in Two sorts one of which may be called Natural Magick and the other Artificial because the first having Natural causes produces Natural Effects but the Second being an invention of Art Nature has no share in it's Operations I mean that as it is necessary in all Arts and Handicrafts that Nature should supply the matter and power of Action thô the Workman imploys them this or that way only by the rules of his Art It goes even so with the Artists of whom I speak and not as which a Husbandman who can only prepare the Ground cast his Seed upon or plant a Tree upon it but must expect the Harvest and Fruit from Nature it self holpen with his Art Sect. 3. They believe says Agrippa that Natural Magick is but the highest Degree of power in Natural Sciences for which Reason they call it the extream and last perfection of the knowledge of Nature saying that it is the active part of Natural Wisdom which by the help of Natural power used in proper time operates wonderful effects and raises Admiration The Moors and Indians made a special use of that Magick that is as much as it was able
to produce effects by the power of Herbs Stones and other things of the same kind Moreover says again Agrippa for that Reason Natural Magick is that which penetrates the Virtues of all Natural things and which with a subtle discerning having exactly searched into their Indurations and Sympathies discovers so far their secret powers that by them it produces wonders which amaze Humane understanding not so much by Art as Nature to which as to its Soveraign Art submits it self and only lends her the helping Hand Thus we can by Natural ways produce ripe Fruits before their Season and even infects only by supplying the want of time by Natural means unknown to other Men as it is done thô in a less Degree of perfection by Gardners each of whom strives to be the first in getting early Fruits helping Nature by Art and still however by the means of Nature her self The difference only consists in this that a Magus who wholly gives up himself to his study penetrates much farther into the knowledge of the power of Nature than the Vulgar and even those learned who care not to take that trouble upon them But as all these things are done without the particular assistance and concourse of God and the Spirits they concern not the present question however we mention them that we may learn to distinguish them from the subject in Hand and all it's dependencies of which we intend to give a clear and undeniable notion Sect. 4. We have hitherto seen the Magick of the Pagans included within the bounds of Nature Now I desire the Reader to remember what I have said in my Commentary upon Daniel Sect. 26. viz. That to the Magick antiently in use Mathematicks Physick and Divinity were ordinarily conjoyned some giving up themselves to one of those Sciences and others to another whence proceeded a difference of Names betwixt the Students of Magick some of whom were called Mathematicians and others Physicians or by a more odious name Poisoners The former applyed themselve chiefly to perform wonderful things and the others to perpetrate Wickedness Amongst their Wonders may be counted the Wooden Dove of Architas that fly'd and the Statues of Mercury that spake but the imployment of Poisoners was to annoy Men their Goods and their Beasts by many things commonly unknown And having learned the Virtues and Properties of them by their Study they put them in use in such a concealed and imperceptible way that one could scatce belieye what he saw effected and this is what they really operated But as to what they boasted of besides or perhaps imagin'd themselves capable of it was that by the virtues of Simples and some other Drugs mixed together they could transform Men into Beasts Beasts into Men Beasts and Men into other Beasts and Men conjure up Ghosts or raise the Dead out of their Graves c. Sect. 5. Now we must speak of Magick meerly Artificial which may rightly be so called because Nature has no share in it but that is a work of Art alone which however presupposes Nature one may also very fitly give the names of Witchcraft Conjuration and Inchanting in general to all the various practises that are made of it for we call Witchcraft whatever is operated by the power of the Devil with the communication of Men which is never done without using some sort of Conjuration and Inchanting That Art which required of its Professors a particular way of living always consisted in the use of some certain Signs and Words that they utter'd or wrote and in extraordinary Gestures in consideration of which the Demons were ready at all times to discover to them hidden things and to operate in their behalf supernatural Wonders This was therefore the opinion of the Heathens that besides natural Magick they believed themselves capable of producing the most wonderful effects by the power of Demons whom they knew how to make comply by their Conjurations to whatever they desired Sect. 6. We must carefully observe this because natural Magick is not commonly accurately distinguished from the Artificial either by the Antients or by the Moderns and that which belongs to one is frequently attributed to the other even those that meddle with it having committed as many mistakes as the others For some of them says Agrippa are come to that heighth of Folly as to believe that by the different Concourse and Aspects of the Stars with the interposition of time and proportions duely observed they may in a certain instant acquire a sensible Idaea of Celestial things and a Spirit of Life and Understanding which being Interrogated by them will give them Answers and discover 'em hidden things On the other side they ascribe to Nature what is above her power which I cannot better express than by the very words of Agrippa who proceeds thus I desire you to take notice that those Magicians not only rake up into natural things but even in a manner remove Nature out of her place which they endeavour to do by Motions by Numbers by Gestures by Sounds by Voices by Congregations by Lights by the Inclinations of the Mind and by Words Thus it was that the Inhabitants of Psilli and Marsi conjured Serpents and put them to flight thus Orpheus by his singing allay'd the Tempests for the sake of the Argonauts Thus as Homer relates by some certain words the blood of Vlysses was stopp'd There was a punishment ordained by the Law of the 12 Tables to those that should use such sort of Inchantments against Corn. Sect. 7. It must not seem strange to us that things should be so in the Pagans time for Magick consider'd in general and in it self was esteemed because of its depth and honoured as Divine taking the word in the sense of the Heathens and as it may be attributed to their Deities which have been desâ—ribed before Besides Magick was reverenced because of Efficacy and Power beloved for its serviceableness in the good use of it but hated and detested by reason of its malignity and the disturbance it caused when it was abused The same Agrippa will tell us in the words of Porphyry which was the opinion of the most ingenious Heathens upon that subject Porphyry says he treating of Witchcraft and of the Magick of Divine things concludes at last that it may render the Souls of Men capable of receiving Spirits and Angels but he absolutely denies that one may approach God by that Art CHAP. V. That we see still amongst the present Pagans the same Doctrines and Practices WE have spoken as much as it was necessary for our subject of the Doctrines of the Antient Paganism which reigned in the Countries we inhabit We have also spoken of the Nations who introduced most of those Arts and Sciences of which we treat It is now fit to consider the Modern Heathens to know how far their Sentiments and Practises concerning Spirits can reach without the Light of the Holy Scripture which never shined upon them
It is the more necessary to enter into that examination that we shall see withal the Customs of very many Nations arid that the proofs they shall furnish us with of the uniformity of Opinion that which we contend to be amongst the Heathens will then be more general and extended then such as are drawn from the Writings of those we have already spoken of of which Christianity has taken place since they inhabited only a small part of life World and have given us in their Writings but a slender account of the other Heathens So that all these others the number of which is far more considerable are absolutely unknown to us Sect. 2. Experience teaches us that we cannot better divide the World then as into three great Islands one part of which was known to the antient Greeks and Romans though not perfectly The second part is come to our knowledge since about two hundred years The third is yet for the most part unknown The first is called for that Reason the Antient World divided into Europe Asia and Africa But in the North of Europe which continent is not much greater than one half of the other there are still many Heathen Inhabitants In Asia the Christians are hardly the tenth part of the People and about the third part of the rest follow Mahomet so that the greatest number is still Pagans The Mahometans take up the North of Africa and the Heathens possess the two third parts Eastward The half of the third part is filled with Mahometans and the other half by imperfect Christians In the new World called America or the West Indies the Southern part is almost as big as Africa and the Northern which is not yet fully known is perhaps as big as Asia All that Country is Heathen save a small number of Christians gone thither from Europe viz. some Spaniards Portuguese English French and Dutch who bring over from time to time some Heathens though very few to Christianity at least the English are now very earnest in it In the mean while those Europeans may inform us of the State of those Nations as to what concerns their Belief and Religion of which they have gotten a great knowledge by the Commerce they have with them But as to the Austral Country which is known only by the Conjectures that we can make upon its Circuit their being no Inland Sea 't is perhaps as big as Europe and Asia together Now that great part having never been enlightned by the Doctrine of our Saviour must be presumed to be still altogether Heathen Sect. 3. But it will perhaps be said to what purpose is all that Narration I answer that having shown the Reader that three parts of the known World consider'd as divided into five are still Pagan he cannot but infer that we are not sufficiently informed of the Customs and Sentiments of the Heathens concerning Spirits by the Books of those Nations that subsist no more and who never made up the tenth part of the Inhabited World and therefore we must not keep there but 't is likewise fit to examine the Opinions of those many Nations who are not yet Christians whose uniformity upon this question notwithstanding so many other things in which they differ and with all the great distance of the places they Inhabit which cuts of all manner of Communication betwixt them so that the greatest part of the one never heard so much as one word of the other That Uniformity I say is an evident proof of the good which the common light of the Understanding remained in Man after his Fall has preserved in him and of the evil which the general corruption has brought to the fame And when we come to the examination of the Sentiments of the Christians that will help us to distinguish betwixt those general Truths and those impure mixtures of Corruption For these Reasons I shall now speak of the Belief and Practices of the present Heathens Sect. 4. But I need not to treat largely of it for an entire Volume would not suffice Neither do I intend to write a History but only to give Instances in order to show what the most pare of the Nations known to us think in this matter 'T is not convenient to proceed in this enquiry farther then it 's requisite to show that all those People agree together as also with the Ancient Nations thô there is never so great a difference in their Language Country and time The way is already more than half traced out by the diligence of Carolinus who in his Modern Paganis◠has extracted out of more than 50 Authors whatever the Heathens of our time Believe and Practise as to Religion in all Asia Africa and part of Europe 'T is pity he has not lived long enough to inform us of the Opinions of the new World It would have proved very serviceable to me for it would have spared me the trouble of consulting a great many Writers whence I have extracted them Sect. 5. In the mean while it will not be useless to observe that all the Authors which Carolinus has follow'd and which I am likewise oblig'd to follow are Christians and therefore they have set down the Belief and Worship of those Heathens only upon the particular Information they received from the Heathens themselves or the things that they saw them practise so that they cannot afford us such a clear and neat knowledge of what they relate as is that which may be gathered from the Writings of the Ancient Heathens who have themselves in their own Tongue treated of their own Affairs And therefore we cannot relie so much upon the descriptions of the present Heathenism which are made by Christians who undoubtedly have but seen or learned part of the Sentiments and Customs of the People they speak of and who perhaps are not disposed to make such a simple and natural relation of them as could be desired Now I find that all those Writers are in the fame prejudice when they tell us that there are many Nations who adore the Devil himself vexing themselves with grievous pains and cruel torments to be his Martyrs But the mistake of those Authors seems to me to discover it self for he that has been quoted before says in the 7th Chap. of his 1st Part pa. 56. That Trigaltius testifies that most of the Chinese interrogated the Devil or Familiar Spirits as they call'd a them of which there are many amongst them and that they esteem it rather a Divine than a Diabolical operation I believe that 't is the same with all the other Nations woh are accused directly to adore the Devil and am perswaded that if the thing were strictly examined it would be found that they have not so much as a Notion of what we understand by the word Devil Sect. 6. For 't is easie to conceive that those that have not the same knowledge and sentiments of God with us cannot also have the same Ideas of
of the first operating by the last and that they hold the Celestial Bodies for Gods because they act upon the sublunary which are of a particular and necessary use to Mankind Thus the Heathens endeavour each according to his fancy to acknowledge a Deity in Heaven and to adore it upon Earth Sect. 8. The immortality of the Soul the punishment of the wickâ—d and the rewards of pious Men after this Life are generally believed in Peru but not the Resurrection of the dead says Montanus pag. 307. However 't is strange that a People who have such a gross Religion and such material Gods should nevertheless believe that the Soul subsists tho' they hear nothing of it after the death of the Body and that they could not imagine that the Body which subsists still for some time before their Eyes though without Life can return to its first State as Trees Herbs and Plants which dye and revive Sect. 9. The Statues of their Gods that are of many strange Figures and some very frightful are used to utter Oracles in their Pagodes Some says Montanus give their Answers as formerly did the Diabolical Oracles of Delphos and Dodona he calls them Diabolical following the common Opinion that the Oracles of the Heathens were not pronounced by God but by the Devil But it may be seen in the Book of Anthony Vandale of Oracles how little ground that Opinion has and we shall also treat of it in its proper place Sect. 10. As to their practices no people is so much esteemed in Peru as those we call Exorcistâ— Magicians and Diviners because they discover private Robberies even such as are committed in very remote Countreys and foretell good or bad fortune which happâ—â—s saith Montanus by their converse with wicked Spirits in dark places They declared to the Spaniards the victories their Country-men obtained or the Battles they lost in the Low Countries the very same day that they were fought There are also in Peru many She Diviners who shut themselves in their Houses where they make themselves drunk with Chica mixed with the Herb Vilca till they fall down on the place and when they awake and come to themselves again they answer all the Questions that are proposed to them Sect. 11. The Cannibals who take the Name of Caraibes and dwell to the North of Southern America acknowledge the Sun for their Soveraign God but in the mean while each Bâ—ie or Priest has his own which he calls out to himself in the most frightful Nights by Songs or inchanted Verses in the midst of the smoak of Tobacco The Devil says Montanus but I would rather say the Spirit utters his Oracles by the means of dead bones wrap'd up in Cotton Those Heathens have at all times but especially in case of death much to endure from the Piais or Magicians but methinks Montanus had express'd himself better had he said Priests rather then Magicians One of the greatest disturbances they cause is that when they are consulted they persuade People that such or such has caused them to interrogate such a deceased which incites the nearest Relations of the deceased to avenge themselves of those that have disturbed his Rest by that action Sect. 12. Montanus adds to this also The Caraibes follow a most strange Opinion concerning the Soul every one believes to have as many Souls as beatings of the heart The chief of which is still the Heart it self which after the death goes to Icheiri or the God that is particular to him where he lives in the same condition that he has done upon Earth for which reason they kill the Servants upon the Tomb of their Masters to go and Minister to them in the other World The other Souls that consist in Beatings of the Heart have two sorts of abode The Maboias wander in Deserts and Woods and the Ormiceous keep along the Sea and overturn Vessels The Souls of warlike Heroes go into the fortunate Islands where the Arouages are their Slaves Bloâ—dy Cruel Mâ—n go out of this life eternally to wander in dry Wildernesses behind high Mountains to carry the Yoak of the Arouages a People that was expell'd out of its ancient abode if we believe the account that is given of their Destruction From all this it appears that this Nation acknowledges almost no other God but their own Souls of which they have very near the same Sentiments that the ancient Greeks had of their Demons and Heroes Sect. 13. Richard Blome an English Author has published of late in his America a large account of the Opinions and Practices of the Carabes where he speaks of the Isle of St Vincent They have says he some Natural Notion of a Deity or Supream Being but who is too much pleased with the enjoyment of the Soveraign Happiness to disturb himself with the Wicked Actions of Men and whose Goodness is so great that he is averse from avenging himself of his Enemies when they refuse to pay the Honour due to him They likewise believe that there are good and bad Spirits and that the Good are Gods each of whom has his particular Admistration but that the Vniverse was not created by them tho' every one of them may be the Creator of the Country where he is venerated and which he governs Sect. 14. They never call upon their Gods but to let them come to them which is done by the Ministry of the Priests and for the 4 following reasons First to be aveng'd for some injury received Secondly to be cured of their Diseases Thirdly to learn the success of the War Fourthly to expel the great Devil or rather the wicked God Mapoia whom they never adore Thence may be inferr'd that they believe good and bad Spirits besides they acknowledge the immortality of the Soul which Opinion is the Original of Demons and Heroes since as they suppose they are the Souls of the Deceased which they call to their assistance against their Enemies Sect. 15. The Description of their Witchcraft is to be found in the same place after this manner When their Priests call upon many of their Gods together they seem to dispute and quarrel with one another so far as to come to blows somtimes they hide themselves amongst Dead bones which they draw out of Graves and wrap up in Cotton whence they utter their Oracles They use that Witchcraft to bewitch their Enemies for which purpose the Witches must have somthing that has belong'd to the party to be bewitched the Spirit seizes sometimes upon the body of those Women whence they give formal answers to whatever is proposed to them They serve up Meat to those Spirits in places separated from the Commerce that is kept with them The Boy or Priest that has brought it being gone out they hear the Dish move and the Devil according to Blome or the God according to that People moves the Jaws and makes a great noise as if he chewed the Meat that has been served to him
thereby it may be easily understood that Marriages must be very happy and attended with great Sweetness and Tranquillity when one marries with his peculiar Soul that is with that which was created with her Whereas they cannot be but unhappy and turn to the punishment of Men when they are bound to a Body whose Soul was not created with the Soul of him that Espouses her We have to strive against that Vnhappiness until we be rid of it and that we may be united by a second Marriage to the Soul that was made our Partner in the Creation to lead a happier Life Manasse Ben Israel gives a more large account of that belief in several places as in his Conciliador Quest 6. Pag. 12. In his second Book of the Resurrection Chap. 13. as also in the third Book Chap. 9. and in his Treatise de Termino Vitae Sect. 8. pag. 207. which he more largely confirms after the Jewish manner in his third Question Sect. 19. As to the State of Souls after Death the Metempsychosis of Pythagoras is also received amongst the Jews which Transmigration they call Gilgul that is to say the Revolution of Souls for they imagine that after Death the Soul wanders for a year about the Body whence she is gone out and goes still rambling till she meets with another Body into which she may enter to be born again with it They fancy that this happens three times as it is observed in the Thisbi upon the word Gilgul in this manner The Opinion of the Cabbalists is that every Soul is created thrice to let us understand that she introduces her self successively into the Bodies of three Children or Men. This they hope in some manner to confirm from the Book of Job ch 23. v. 19. according to that they say That the Soul of the first Man enter'd into the Body of King David and is now to pass into that of the Messiah that Mystery being contained in the three Hebrew Letters of Adam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the initial Letter of the name of Adam the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the first of that of David and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the first of that of Messiah Their learned hold that the Souls of the wicked pass into the Bodies of Beasts each Soul according to the nature of the Sins she has committed Thus the Soul of a Man that has debauch'd his Neighbours Wife is to enter into a Camel And therefore says David I shall sing to the Lord ki gamal alaii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he has deliver'd me from the Camel as they interpret it using this Reason that when the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is punctuated it is read otherwise and pronounced Gamaal which signifies a Camel Sect. 20. There are some however who believe that the Souls of the wicked perish with their Bodies Josephus says of the Pharisees of his time that they asserted the Transmigration of the Souls of the good only but that they sent those of the impious to the eternal Torments in his second Book of the Wars of the Jews Chap. 7. The Sadducees according to the Testimony of the Holy Scripture believed neither Resurrection nor Angels nor Spirits in St. Matth. Chap. 22. v. 23. and in the Acts Ch. 23. v. 8. but now the Jews have invented a great many Chimaera's that powerfully confirmed them in their Magick and the practice of their Conjurations for as it has already been said the Soul separated from the Body must wander a whole year about her Corps during which the wicked Spirits that abide in the Air and are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Malachi Chabbalah or Devils of Torments and have yet several other Names find occasion to make them reenter into their Bodies as they have power to do when they are required to it by Conjurations Thence proceeds in their meaning That the Witch of Endor called again the Soul of Samuel into his Body because he had not been dead a whole year Manasse Ben Israel teaches the same Doctrine and assures us 't is that of the Ancients which he has extracted especially from Gemara Siabbas There are some however who have more rational Opinions as we shall see in the second Book when we have occasion to examine that instance CHAP. XIII That the Witchcraft anciently Practised and still in use amongst the Jews proceeds from the same Original Sect. 1. WE have examined the Opinions of the Jews upon that matter as much as they differ from the holy writ for as far as their belief is consonant to it we receive and approve of the same Let 's now see what they practise as to Witchcraft the Holy Scripture may fully convince us of the great inclination that People ever had for it which doubtless proceeded First from the practices they had seen in Egypt and of which perhaps they had not abstained but had seen the continuation of them in the Country they inhabited that was surrounded and intermixed with so many Nations addicted to that Art 'T is for that Reason the Law gives them such frequent warnings to beware of it Exodus 22 18. Levit. Chap. 18. v. 31. Cap. 5. v. 27. Deuter. Chap. 13 8 9 14. Isaiah Chap. 6. v. 12.20 And that he threatned them so severely because they could not resolve to forsake that impious exercise as may be seen especially in Manasseh King of Judah 2 Kings Chap. 21. v. 6. 2. Cron. Chap. 3. v. 6. That Sin became general in the midst of Israel or the Kingdom of the 10 Tribes so that the Scripture says that They used Divinations and observed the cry of Birds 2 Kings Chap. 17. v. 17. In the Apostles time there were Seven Sons of the same Father one of the high Priests who took upon them to be Exorcists and to conjure Devils Acts 19. v. 13 14. But all these things made no part of the contents of their Law and on the contrary were the effects of their Rebellion so that Judaism was not properly answerable for them until they were taught by the Rabbins themselves and at last introduced to make up part of their Religion Such are the Doctrines which I have represented in the preceeding Chapter to which the practices of the present Jews are perfectly agreeable Sect. 2. The inquisitive Lighfoot has shewed by many proofs that the Jews at their return from the Babylonian Captivity having entirely forsaken Idolatry and finding they were destitute of Prophets addicted themselves by degrees to Witchcraft and Divination about the time of our Saviours coming The writings of the Talmud that are full of Instructions for that purpose and are nevertheless in great credit among them give upon that subject a testimony not advantageous to them especially since in the following times they used the same Arts against Christianity Lightfoot assures us That after the Destruction of their City and Temple there were several Impostors amongst