be said he was conveyed to Berwick and back agaiâ— by inchantment Fiftly he is not by conscience to be executed whicâ— hath no sound mind nor perfect judgement And yet forsooth we read that one mother Stile did kill one Saddocke with a touch on the shoulder for not keeping promise with her for an old cloak to make herâ— safeguard and that she was hanged for her labour CHAP. VIII What folly it were for withes to enter into such desperate perill 〈◊〉 to endure such intollerable tortures for no gain or commodity and bâ—â— it comes to passe that witches are overthrowne by their confessions ALas if they were so subtill as witch-mongers make them to be theâ— would espy that it were meer folly for them not onely to make bargain with the devill to throw their soules into hell fire but their bodies to the tortures of temporal fire and death for the accomplishmeâ—â— of nothing that might benefit themselves at all but they would at thâ— leastwise indent with the devill both to enrich them and also to enablâ— them and finally to endue them with all worldly felicity and pleasure which is furthest from them of all other Yea if they were sensible theâ— would say to the devill Why should I hearken to you when you 〈◊〉 deceive me Did you not promise my neighbour mother Dutton to saâ— and rescue her and yet lo she is hanged Surely this would appose thâ— devill very sore And it is a wonder that none from the beginning 〈◊〉 the world till this day hath made this and such like objections whereâ—â— the devill could never make answer But were it not more madnesse foâ— them to serve the devill under these conditions and yet to endurâ— whippings with iron rods at the devils hands which as the witch-mongers write are so set on that the print of the lashes remain upon the witches body ever after even so long as she hath a day to live But these old women being daunted with authority circumvented with guile constrained by force compelled by fear induced by error and deceived by ignorance do fall into such rash credulity and so are brought unto these absurd confessions Whose error of mind and blindnesse of will dependeth upon the disease and infirmity of nature and therefore their actions in that case are the more to be borne withall because they being destitute of reason can have no consent For Delictum sine consensu non potest commiti neque injuria sine animo injuriandi that is There can be no sinne without consent nor injury committed without a mind to do wrong Yet the law saith further that a purpose retained in mind doth nothing to the private or publique hurt of any man and much more that an impossible purpose is unpunishable Sanae mentis voluntas voluntas rei possibilis est A sound mind willeth nothing but that which is possible CHAP. IX How malancholy abuseth old women and of the effects thereby by sundry examples IF any man advisedly marked their words actions cogitations and gestures he shall perceive that melancholy abounding in their head and occupying their brain hath deprived or rather depraved their judgements and all their senses I meane not of cosening witches but of poor melancholike women which are themselves deceived For you shall understand that the force which melancholy hath and the effects that it worketh in the body of a man or rather of a woman are almost incredible For as some of these malancholike persons imagine they are witches and by witch-craft can worke wonders and do what they list so do other troubled with this disease imagine many strange incredible and impossible things Some that they are Monarches and Princes and that all other men are their subjects some that they are brute beasts some that they be urinals or earthen pots greatly fearing to be broken some that every one that meeteth them will convey them to the gallowes and yet in the end hang themselves One thought that Atlas whom the poets feigne to hold up heaven with his shoulders would be weary and let the skie fall upon him another would spend a whole day upon a stage imagining that he both heard and saw interludes and therewith made himselfe great sport One Theophilus a Phâ—sitian otherwise sound enought of mind as it is said imagined that he heard and saw musitians continually playing on instruments in a certain place of his house One Bessus that had killed his father was notably detected by imagining that a Swallow upraided him therewith so as he himselfe thereby revealed the murther But the notablest example hereof is of one that was in great perplexity imagining that his nose was as big as a house insomuch as no friend nor Physitian could deliver him from this conceipt nor yet either ease his grief or satisfie his fansie in that behalfe till at the last a Physitian more expert in this humor than the rest used this devise following First when he was to come in at the chamber door being wide open he suddenly stayed and withdrew himselfe so as he would not in any wise approach neerer then the door The melancholike person musing hereat asked him the cause why he so demeaned himselfe Who answered him in this manner Sir your nose is so great that I can hardly enter into your chamber but I shall touch it and consequently hurt it Lo quoth he this is the man that must do me good the residue of my friends flatter me and would hide my infirmity from me Well said the Physitian I will cure you but you must be content to indure a little pain in the dressing which he promised patiently to sustain and conceived certain hope of recovery Thâ—n entered the Physitian into the chamber creeping close by the walles seeming to feare the touching and hâ—rting of his nose Then did he blindfold him which being done he caught him bâ— che nose with a pair of pinsors and threw down into a tub which he had placed before his patient a great quantity of bloud with many piâ—câ— of bullocks livers which he had conveyed into the chamber whilest the others eyes were bound up and then gave him liberty to see and beholâ— the same He having done thus again two or three times the melancholike humor was so qualified that the mans mind being satisfied his griefe was eased and his disease cured Thrasibulus otherwise called Thrasillus being sore oppressed with the melancholike humor imagined that all the ships which arrived at porâ— Pyraeus were his insomuch as he would number them and command the mariners to lanch c. triumphing at their safe returnes and mourning for their misfortunes The Italian whom we called here in England the Monarch was possessed with the like spirit or conceipt Danar himself reporteth that he saw one that affirmed constantly that he 〈◊〉 a cocke and saith that through malancholy such were alienated froâ— themselves Now if the fansie of a melancholike person may be occupyed
the honest a scourge and terror to the wicked Thus farre I have been bold to use your Lordships patience being offended with my self that I could not in brevity utter such matter as I have delivered amply whereby I confesse occasion of tediousnesse might be ministred were it not that your great gravity joined with your singular constancy in reading and judging be means of the contrary And I wish even with all my heart that I could make people conceive the substance of my writing and not to misconstrue any part of my meaning Then doubtles would I perswade my self that the company of witchmongers c. being once decreased the number also of witches c. would soon be diminished But true be the words of the Poet Haudquaquam poteris sortirier omnia â—olus Námque aliis divi bello pollere dederunt Huic saltandi artem voce huic cytharáqne canendi Rursum alii inservit sagax in pectore magnus Iupiter ingenium c. And therefore as doubtfull to prevaile by perswading â— though I have reason and common sense on my side I rest upon earnest wishing namely to all people an absolute trust in God the creator and not in creatures which is to make flesh our arme that God may have his due honour which by the undutifulnesse of many is turned into dishonour and lesse cause of offence and error given by common received evil example And to your Lordship I wish as increase of â—onour so continuance of good health and happy daies Your Lordships to be commanded Reginald Scot. To the right worshipfull Sir Thomas Scot Knight c. SIr I see among other malefactors many poor old women convented before you for working of Miracles otherwise called witchcraft therefore I thought you also ameet person to whom I might commend my book And here I have occasion to speak of your sincere administration of justice and of your dexterity discretion charge and travel emploied in that behalf whereof I am oculatus testis Howbeit I had rather refer the Reader to common fame and their own eies and ears to be satisfied then to send them to a Stationers shop where many times lies are vendible and truth contemptible For I being of your house of your name and of your bloud my foot being under your table my hand in your dish or rather in your purse might be thought to flatter you in that wherein I know I should rather offend you than please you And what need I curry-favour with my most assured friend And if I should only publish those vertues though they be many which give me special occasion to exhibit this my travel unto you I should do as a painter that describeth the foot of a notable personage and leaveth all the best features in his body untouched I therefore at this time do only desire you to consider of my report concerning the evidence that is commonly brought before you against them See first whether the evidence be not frivolous and whether the proofs brought against them be not incredible consisting of guesses presumptions and impossibilities contrary to reason Scripture nature See also what persons complain upon them whether they be not of the basest the uÌ„wisest most faithlesse kind of people Also may it please you to way what accusations and crimes they lay to their charge namely She was at my house of late she would have had a pot of milk she departed in a chafe because she had it not she railed she cursed she mumbled and whispered and finally she said she would be even with me and soon after my child my cow my sow or my pullet died or was strangely taken Nay if it please your Worship I have further proof I was with a wise woman she told me I had an ill neighbour and that she would come to my house ere it were long and so did she and that she had a mark above her waste and so had she and God forgive me my stomach hath gone against her a great while Her mother before her was counted a witch she hath been beaten and scratched by the face till bloud was drawn upon her because she hath bin suspected and afterwards some of those persons were said to amend These are the certainties that I hear in their evidences Note also how easily they may be brought to confess that which they never did nor lieth in the power of man to do and then see whether I have cause to write as I do Further if you shall see that infidelity popery and many other manifest heresies be backed and shouldered and their professors animated and heartned by yielding to creatures such infinit power as is wrested out of Gods hand and attributed to witches finally if you shall perceive that I have faithfully and truely delivered and set down the condition and state of the witch and also of the witch monger and have confuted by reason and law and by the word of God it self all mine adversaries objections arguments then let me have your countenance against them that maliciously oppose themselves against me My greatest adversaries are young ignorance and old custome For what folly soever tract of time hath fostered it is so superstitiously pursued of some as though no error could be acquainted with custome But if the lawe of nations would join with such custom to the maintenance of ignorance to the suppressing of knowledge the civilest country in the world would soon become barbarous c. For as knowledge time discovereth errors so doth superstition and ignorance in time breed them And concerning the opinions of such as wish that ignorance should rather be maintained than knowledge busily searched for because thereby offence may grow I answer that we are commanded by Christ himself to search for knowledge for it is the kings honour as Solomon saith to search out a thing Aristotle said to Alexander that a mind well furnished was more beautifull then a body richly arraied What can be more odious to man or offensive to God than ignorance for through ignorance the Iewes did put Christ to death Which ignorance whosoever forsaketh is promised life everlasting and therefore among Christians it should be abhorred above all other things For even as when we wrestle in the dark we tumble in the mire c. so when we see not the truth we wallowe in errors A blind man may seek long in the rushes ere he find a needle and as soon is a doubt discussed by ignorance Finally truth is no sooner found out in ignorance then a sweet savor in a dunghill And if they will allow men knowledge and give them no leave to use it men were much better be without it than have it For it is as to have a talent and to hide it under the earth or to put a candle under a bushell or as to have a ship and to let her lie alwaies in the dock which thing how profitable it is I
the devill that committed the murther and that he compelled them to do it and must make them beleeve that they thinke them to be innocents Item if they will confesse nothing but upon the racke or torture their apparell must be changed and every hair in their body must be shaven off with a sharpe razor Item if they have charmes for taciturnity so as they feel not the common tortures and thefore confesse nothing then some sharpe instrument must be thrust betwixt every nail of their fingers and toes which aâ— Bodin saith was king Childeberts devise and is to thia day of all others the most effectuall For by meanes of that extreame paine they will saith he confesse any thing Item Paulus Grillandus being an old doer in these matters wisheth that when witches sleepe and feel no pain upon the torture Domine labia mea aperies should be said and so saith he both the torments will be felt and the truth will be uttered Et sic ars deluditur arte Item Bodin saith that at the the time of examination there should be a semblance of great a do to the terrifying of the witch and that a number of instruments gives manacles ropes halters fetters c. be prepared brought forth and laid before the examinate and also that some be procured to make a most horrible and lamentable cry in the place of torture as though he or she were upon the rack or in the tormentors hands so as the examinate may hear it whiles she is examined before she her selfe be brought into the prison and perhaps saith he she will by this meanes confesse the matter Item there must be subborned some crafty spy that may seem to be a prisoner with her in the like case who perhaps may in conference undermine her and so bewraie and discover her Item if she will not yet confesse she must be told that she is detected and accused by other of her companions although in truth there be no such matter and so perhaps she will confesse the rather to be revenged upon her adversaries and accusers CHAP. III. Matters of evidence against witches IF an old woman threaten or touch one being in health who dieth shortly after or else is infected with the leprosie apoplexie or any other strange disease it is saith Bodin a permanent fact and such an evidence as condemnation or death must insue without further proofe if any body have mistrusted her or said before that she was a witch Item if any come in or depart out of the chamber or house the doores being shut it is an apparent and sufficient evidence to a witches condemnation without further tryall which thing Bodin never saw If he can shew me that feaâ— I will subscribe to his folly For Christ after his resurrection used the same not as a ridiculous toie that every witch might accomplish but as a speciall miracle to strengthen the faith of the elect Item if a woman bewitch any bodies eyes she is to be executed without further proofe Item if any inchant or bewitch mens beasts or corne or fly in the air or make a dog speak or cut off any mans members and unite them again to men or childrens bodyes it is sufficient proofe to condemnation Item presumptions and conjectures are sufficient proofes against witches Item if three witnesses do but say Such a woman is a witch then it is a clear case that she is to be executed with death Which matter Bodin saith is not onely certain by the canon and civill lawes but by the opinion of Pope Innocent the wisest Pope as he saith that ever was Item the complaint of any one man of credit is sufficient to bring a poor woman to the rack or pully Item a condemned or infamous persons testimony is good and allowable in matters of witch-craft Item a witch is not to be delivered though she endure all the tortures and confesse nothing as all other are in any criminall cases Item though in other cases the epoâ—iâ—ions of many women at one instant are disabled as sufficient in law because of the imbecillity and frailty of their nature or sex yet in this matter one woman though she be a party either accuser or accused and be also infamous and impudent for such are Bodins words yea and already condemned she may neverthelesse serve to accuse and condemne a witch Item a witnesse uncited and offering himselfe in this case is to be heard and in none other Item a capitall enemy if the enmity be pretended to growe by meanes of witch-craft may object against a witch and none exception is to be had or made against him Item although the proofe of perjury may put back a witnesse in 〈◊〉 other causes yet in this a perjured person is a good and lawfull witnesse Item the proctors and advocates in this case are compelled to be witnesses against their clients as in none other case they are to be constrained thereunto Item none can give evidence against witches touching their assemblies but witches onely because as Bodin saith none other can do 〈◊〉 Howbeit Ri. Ga. writeth that he came to the God-speed and with his sword and buckler killed the devill or at the least he wounded him sore that he made him stinke of brimstone Item Bodin saith that because this is an extraordinary matter theâ— must herein be extraordinary dealing and all manner of waies are to 〈◊〉 used direct and indirect CHAP. IIII. Confessions of witches whereby they are condemned Some witches confesse saith Bodin that are desirous to dy not 〈◊〉 glory but for despair because they are tormented in their life-time But these may not be spared saith he although the law doth 〈◊〉 them The best and surest confession is at strife to her ghostly father Item if she confesse many things that are false and one thing 〈◊〉 may be true she is to be taken and executed upon that confession Item she is not so guilty that confesseth a falshood or ly and dâ—enieth a ruâ—h as she that answereth by â—ircumstance Item an equivocall or doubtfull answer is taken for a confession against a witch Item Bodin reporteth that one confessed that he went out or rather up in the air and was transported many miles to the fairies dance only because he would spy unto what place his wife went to hagging and how she behaved her selfe Whereupon was much ado among the inquisitors and lawyers to discusse whether he should be executed with his wife or no. But it was concluded that he must die because he bewrayed not his wife the which he forbare to do Propter reverentiam honoris familiae Item if a woman confesse freely herein before question be made and yet afterward deny it she is neverthelesse to be burned Item they affirme that this extremity is herein used because not one among a thousand witches is detected And yet it is affirmed by Sprenger in M. Mal. that there is not so
little a parish but there are many witches known to be there CHAP. V. Presumptions whereby witches are condemned IF any womans Child chance to dy at her hand so as no body knoweth how it may not be thought or presumed that the mother killed it except she be supposed a witch and in that case it is otherwise for she must upon that presumption be executed except she can prove the negative or contrary Item if the child of a woman that is suspected to be a witch be lacking or gone from her it is to be presumed that she hath sacrificed it to the devill except she can prove the negative or contrary Item though in other persons certain points of their confessions may be thought erroneous and imputed to error yet in witches cauâ—es all oversights imperfections and escapes must be adjudged impious and malicious and tend to her confusion and condemnation Item though a theefe be not said in law to be infamous in any other matter than in theâ—t yet a witch defamed of witch craft is said to be defiled with all manner of faults and infamies universally though she were condemned but as I said defamed with the name of a witch For rumors and reports are sufficient saith Bodin to condemne a witch Item if any man woman or child do say that such a one is a witch it is a most vehement suspicion saith Bodin and sufficient to bring her to the racke though in all other cases it be directly against law Item in presumptions and suspicions against a witch the common brute or voice of the people cannot erre Item if a woman when she is apprehended cry out or say I am undone Save my life I will tell you how the matter standeth c. she is thereupon most vehemently to be suspected and condemned to dy Item though a conjurer be not to be condemned for curing the diseased by vertue of his art yet must a witch die for the like case Item the behaviour looks becks and countenance of a woman are sufficient signes whereby to presume she is a witch for alwaies they looke downe to the ground and dare not look a man full in the face Item if their parents were thought to be witches then is it certainly to be presumed that they are so but it is not so to be thought of whores Item it is a vehement presumption if she cannot weep at the time of her examination and yet Bodin saith that a witch may shed three drop out of her right eye Item it is not only a vehement suspicion and presumption but an evident proof of a witch if any man or beast dy suddainly where she hath been seen lately although her witching-stuffe be not found or espied Item if any body use familiarity or company with a witch convicted it is a sufficient presumption against that person to be adjudged â— witch Item that evidence that may serve to bring in any other person to examination may serve to bring a witch to her condemnation Item herein judgement must be pronounced and executed as Bodâ—â— saith without order and not like to the orderly proceeding and formâ—â— judgement in other crimes Item a witch may not be brought to the torture suddenly or before long examination least she go away scotfree for they feel no torment and therefore care not for the same as Bodin affirmeth Item little children may be had to the torture at the first dash but 〈◊〉 may it not be done with old women as is aforesaid Item if she have any privy marke under her arme-pits under heâ— haire under her lip or in her buttock or in her privities it is a presumption sufficient for the judge to proceed and give sentence of deaâ—â— upon her The onely pitty they shew to a poor woman in this case is that thougâ— she be accused to have slain any body with her inchantments yet if 〈◊〉 can bring â—orth the party alive she shall not be put to death Whereas marvell in as much as they can bring the devill in any bodies likenesse and representation Item their law saith that an uncertain presumption is sufficient when a certain presumption faileth CHAP. VI. Particular interrogatories used by the inquisitors against witches I Need not stay to confute such partiall and horrible dealings being apparently impious and full of tyranny which except I should 〈◊〉 so manifestly detected even with their own writings and assertions 〈◊〉 or none would have beleeved But for breviâ—ies sake I will passe over thâ— same supposing that the citing of such absurdities may stand for a sufficâ—â—ent confutation thereof Now therefore I will proceed to a more particular order and manner of examinations c. used by the inquisitors and allowed for the most part throughout all nations First the witch must be demanded why she touched such a child or such a cow c. and afterward the same child or cow fell sick or lame c. Item why her two kine give more milke than her neighbours And the note before mentioned is here again set down to be specially observed of all men to wit that though a witch cannot weep yet she may speak with a crying voice which assertion of weeping is false and contrary to the saying of Seneca Cato and many others which affirme that a woman weepeth when she meaneth most deceipt and therefore saith M. Mal. she must be well looked unto otherwise she will put spitle privily upon her cheeks and seem to weep which rule also Bodin saith is infallible But alas that teares should be thought sufficient to excuse or condemne in so great a cause and so weighty a triall I am sure that the worst sort of the children of Israel wept bitterlly yea if there were any witches at all in Israel they wept For it is written that all the children of Israel wept Finally if there be any witches in hell I am sure they weep for there is weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth But God knoweth many an honest marrone cannot sometimes in the heavinesse of her heart shed teares the which oftentimes are mâ—re ready and common with crafty queanes and strumpets than with sober women For we read of two kinds of teares in a womans eye the one of true grief the other of deceipt And it is written that Dediscere flere foeminium est mendaâ—ium which argueth that they ly which say that wicked women cannot weep But let these tormentors take heed that the teares in this case which runne down the widowes cheeks with their cry spoken by â—esus Sirach be not heard above But lo what learned godly and lawfull meanes these popish inquisitors have invented for the triall of true or false teares CHAP. VII The inquisitors triall of weeping by conjuration I Conjure thee by the amorous teares which Jesus Christ our Saviour shed upon the crosse for the salvation of the world and by the most earnest and burning teares of his
miracle done at Lions c. What Bodin is I know not otherwise than by report but I am certain this his tale is a fond fable and Bodin saith it was performed at Lions and this man as I understand by profession is a civill lawyer CHAP. VI. A disproofe of their assemblies and of their bargain THat the joyning of hands with the devill the kissing of his bare buttocks and his scratching and biting of them are absurd lies every one having the gift of reason may plainly perceive insomuch as it is manifest unto us by the word of God that a spirit hath no flesh bones nor sinews whereof hands buttocks claws teeth and lips do consist For admit that the constitution of a devills body as Tatian and other affirme consisteth in spiritual congelations as of fire and aire yet it cannot be perceived of mortall creatures What credible witnesse is there brought at any time of this their corporall visible and incredible bargain saving the confession of some person diseased both in body and mind willfully made or injuriously constrained It is marvell that no peniteâ—t witch that forsaketh her trade confesseth not these things without compulsion Me thinketh their covenant made at baptisme with God before good witnesses sanctified with the word confirmed with his promises and established with his sacraments should be of more force then that which they make with the devill which no body seeth or knoweth For God deceiveth none with whom he bargaineth neither doth he mocke or disappoint them although he dance not among them The oath to procure into their league and fellowship as many as they can whereby every one witch as Bodin affirmeth augmenteth the number of fifty bewrayeth greatly their indirect dealing Hereof I have made triall as also of the residue of their cosening devises and have been with the best or rather the worst of them to see what might be gathered out of their counsels and have cunningly treated with them thereabouts and further have sent certain old persons to indent with them to be admitted into their society But as well by their excuses and delaies as by other circumstances I have tried and found all their trade to be meer cosening I pray you what bargain have they made with the devill that with their angry lookes bewitch lambs children c Is it not confessed that it is naturall though it be a ly What bargain maketh the sooth-sayer which hath his severall kinds of witch-craft and divination expressed iâ— the Scripture Or is it not granted that they make none How chanceth it that we hear not of this bargain in the Scriptures CHAP. VII A confutation of the objection concerning witches confessions IT is Confessed say some by the way of objection even of these women themselves that they do these and such other horrible things aâ— deserveth death with all extremity c. Whereunto I answer that whosoever considerately beholdeth their confessions shall perceive all to be vain idle false inconstant and of no weight except their contempt and ignorance in religion which is rather the fault of the negligent pastor than of the simple woman First if their confession be made by compulsion of force or authority or by perswasion and under colour of friend-ship it is not to be regarded because the extremity of threats and tortures provokes it or the quality of fair word and allurements constraines it If it be voluntatary many circumstances must be considered to wit whether she appeach not her selfe to overthrow her neighbour which many times happeneth through their cankered and malicious melancholike humor then whether in that same malancholike mood and frantick humor she desire not the abridgement of her own dayes Which thing Aristotle saith doth oftentimes happen unto persons subject to malancholike passions and as Bodin and Sprenger say to these old women called witches which many times as they affirme refuse to live threatning the judges that if they may not be burned they will lay hands upon themselves and so make them guilty of their damnation I my self have known that where such a one could not prevaile to be accepted as a sufficient witnesse against himselfe he presently went and threw himselfe into a pond of water where he was drowned But the law saith Volenti mori non est habenda fides that is His word is not to be credited that is desirous to dy Also sometimes as else-where I have proved they confesse that whereof they were never guilty supposing that they did that which they did not by meanes of certain circumstances And as they sometimes confesse impossibilities as that they fly in the air transubstantiate themselves raise tempests transferre or remove corne c. so do they also I say confesse voluntarily that which no man could prove and that which no man would guesse nor yet beleeve except he were as mad as they so as they bring death wilfully upon themselves which argueth an unsound mind If they confâ—sse that which hath been indeed committed by them as poysoning or any other kind of murther which falleth into the power of such persons to accomplish I stand not to defend their cause Howbeit I would wish that even in that case there be not too rash credit given nor to hasty proceedings used against them but that the causes properties and circumstances of every thing be duly considered and diligently examined For you shall understand that as sometimes they confesse they have murthered their neighbours with a wish sometimes with a word sometimes with a look c. so they confesse that with the delivering of an apple or some such thing to a woman with child they have killed the child in the mothers wombe when nothing was added thereunto which naturally could be noysome or hurtfull In like manner they confesse that with a touch of their bare hand they sometimes kill a man being in perfect health and strength of body when all his garments are betwixt their hand and his flesh But if this their confession be examined by divinity philosophy physick law or conscience it will be found false and insufficient First foâ— that the working of miracles is ceased Secondly no reason can be yielded for a thing so farre beyond all reason Thirdly no receipt can be oâ— such efficacy as when the same is touched with a bare hand from whence the veines have passage through the body unto the heart it should not annoy the poyson and yet retain vertue and force enough to pearce through so many garments and the very flesh incurable to the place of death in another personr Cui argumento saith Bodin nescio quid responderi possit Fourthly no law will admit such a confession as yeeldeth unto impossibilities against the which there is never any law provided otherwise it would not serve a mans turne to plead and prove that he wâ—â— at Berwick that day that he is accused to have done a murther in Cantâ—â—bury for it might
in christendome even of â—ate daies to be one of those kind of witches so as he could when â—e â—ist turne himselfe to a wolfe affirming that he was espyed c oftentimes seen to performe that villany because he would be counted the king of all witches He saith that this transubstantiation is most common in Greece and through out all Asia as marchant strangers have reporteed to him For Anno Domini 1542 when Sultan Solimon reigned there was such force and multitude of these kind of wolves in Constantinople that the Emperour drave together in one stock 150. of them which departed out of the city in the presence of all the people To perswade us the more throughly herein he saith that in Livonâ—a yearly about the end of December a certaine knave or devill warneth all the witches in the countrey to come to a certain place if they faile the devill commeth and whippeth them with an iron rod so as the print of his lashes remainâ— upon their bodies for ever The captain witch leadeth the way through a great poole of water many millions of witches swim after They are no sooner passed through that water but they are all transformed into wolves and fly upon and devoure both men women cattell c. After twelve daies they returne through the same water and so receive humane shape again Item that there was one Bajanuâ— a Iew being the sonne of Simeoâ— which could when he list turne himselfe into a wolfe and by that meanes could escape the force and danger of a whole army of men Which thing saith Bodin is wonderfull but yet saith he it is much more marvelous that men will not beleeve it For many Poets affirme it yea and if you look well into the matter saith he you shall find it easie to do Item he saith that as naturall wolves persecute beasts so do these magicall wolves devoure men women and children And yet God saâ—â—â— to the people I trowe and not to the cattle of Israel If you observe noâ— my commandements I will send among you the beasts of the fâ—eld which shall devoure both you and your cattle Item I will send the teeth 〈◊〉 beasts upon you Where is Bodins distinction now become He neâ—â—â— saith I will send witches in the likenesse of wolves c. to devoure you or your cattle Neverthelesse Bodin saith it is a clear case for the mâ—â—â—ter was disputed upon before Pope Leo the seventh and by him all the matters were judged possible and at that time saith he were the transformations of Lucian and Apuleius made canonicall Furthermore he saith that through this art they are so cunning that 〈◊〉 man can apprehend them but when they are a sleep Item he named another witch that aâ— M. Mal. saith could not be caught because he would transforme himselfe into a mouse and runne into every little holes till at length he was killed coming out of the hole of a â—amme in a windoâ— which indeed is as possible as a camell to go through a needles eye Iteâ— he saith that divers witches at Vâ—rnon turned themselves into cats anâ— both committed and received much hurt But at Argentine there was â— wonderfull matter done by three witches of great wealth who transformâ—ing themselves into three cats assaulted a faggot-maker who having 〈◊〉 them all with a faggot-sticke was like to have bin put to death But he was miraculously delivered and they worthily punished as the story saith from whence Bodin had it After a great many other such beastly fables he inveyeth against such Physitians as say that Lycanthropia is a disease and not a transformation Item he maintaineth as sacred and true all Homers fables of Circes anâ— Vlysses his companions inveying against Chrysostome who rightly interpreteth Homers meaning to be that Vlysses his people were by the harlot Circes made in their brutish manners to resemble swine But least some Poets fables might be thought lies whereby the witch-mongers arguments should quaile he maintaineth for true the most part of Ovids Metamorphosis and the greatest absurdities and impossibilities in all that book marry he thinketh some one tale therein may be fained Finally he confirmeth all these toies by the story of Nabuchadnezzar And because saith he Nabuchadnezzar continued seven years in the shape of a beast therefore may witches remain so long in the forme of a beast having in all the mean time the shape haire voice strength agility swiftnesse food and excrements of beasts and yet reserve the minds and soules of women or men Howbeit S. Augustine whether to confute or confirme that opinion judge you saith Non est credendum humanum corpus daemonum arte vel potestate in bestialia lineamenta converti posse We may not beleeve that a mans body may be altered into the lineaments of a beast by the devils art or power Item Bodin â—aith that the reason why witches are most commonly turned into wolves is because they usually eate children as wolves eate cattle Item that the cause why other are truly turned into asses is for that such have been desirous to understand the secrets of witches Why witches are turned into cats he alledgeth no reason and therefore to help him forth with that paraphrase I say that witches are curst queanes and many times scratch one another or their neighbours by the faces and therefore perchance are turned into cats But I have put twenty of these witch-mongers to silence with this one question to wit Whether a witch that can turn a woman into a cat c. can also turn a cat into a woman CHAP. II. Absurd reasons brought by Bodin and such others for confirmation of transformations THese Examples and reasons might put us in doubt that every Asse wolfe or cat that we see were a man a woman or a child I marvel that no man useth this distinction in the definition of a man But to what end should one dispute against these creations and recreations when Bodin washeth away all our arguments with one word confessing that none can create any thing but God acknowledging also the force of the canons and imbracing the opinions of such Divines as write against him in this behalfe Yea he doth now contrary to himself elsewhere affirme that the devil cannot alter his form And lo this is his distinction Non essentialis forma id est ratio sed figura solum permutatur The essentiall form to wit reason is not changed but the shape or figure And thereby he proveth it easie enough to create men or beasts with life so as they remain without reason Howbeit I think it is an easier matter to turn Bodins reason into the reason of an asse then his body into the shape of a sheep which he saith is an easie matter because Lots wife was turned into a stone by the Devil Whereby he sheweth his grosse ignorance As though God that commanded Lot upon pain of death not
aures Good Lord how light of credit is the wavering mind of man How unto tales and lies his eares attentive all they can Generall councels and the Popes canons which Bodin so regardeth do condemne and pronounce his opinions in this behalfe to be absurd and the residue of witchmongers with himselfe in the number to be worse than infidels And these are the very words of the canons which else-where I have more largely repeated Whosoever beleeveth thâ—â— any creature can be made or changed into better or worse or transformed into any other shape or into any other similitude by any other thâ—â— by God himselfe the creator of all things without all doubt is an infidel and worse than a pagan And there withall this reason is rendred to wiâ—â— because they attribute that to a creature which onely belongeth to God the creator of all things CHAP. IV. A summary of the former fable with a refutation thereof after 〈◊〉 examination of the same COncerning the verity or probability of his enterlude betwixt Bodâ—â— M. Mal. the witch the asse the masse the merchants the inquisâ—â—tors the tormentors c. First I wonder at the miracle of transubstantiation Secondly at the impudency of Bodin and Iames Sprenger for affirming so grosse a ly devised belike by the knight of the Rhodes to make a foole of Sprenger and an asse of Bodin Thirdly that the asse had no more wit than to kneele downe and hold up his forefeet to a peece of starch of flowre which neither would nor could nor did helpe him Fourthly that the masse not reform that which the witch transformed Fiftly that the merchants the inquisitors and the tormentors could nor either severally or jointly do it but referre the matter to the witches courtesâ—â— and good pleasure But where was the young mans own shape all these three yeares wherein he was made an asse It is a certaine and a generall rule that two substantiall formes cannot be in one subject simul semel both at once which is confessed by themselves The forme of the beast occupied some place in the air and so I think should the forme of a man do also For to bring the body of a man without feeling into such a thine airy nature as that it can neither be seen nor felt it may well be unlikely but it is very impossible for the air is inconstant and continueth not in one place So as this airy creature would soon be carried into another region as else where I have largely proved But indeed our bodies are visible sensitive and passive and are indued with many other excellent properties vvhich all the devills in hell are not able to alter neither can one haire of our head perish or fall away or be transformed without the speciall providence of God Almighty But to proceed unto the probability of this story What luck was it that this young fellow of England landing so lately in those parts and that old woman of Cyprus being both of so base a condition should both understand one anothers communication England and Cyprus being so many hundred miles distant and their languages so farre differing I am sure in these daies wherein trafficke is more used and learning in more price few young or old mariners in this realme can either speake or understand the language spoken at Salamin in Cyprus which is a kind of Greek and as few old women there can speake our language But Bodin will say You heare that at the inquisitors commandement and through the tormentors correction she promised to restore him to his own shape and so she did as being thereunto compelled I answer that as the whole story is an impious fable so this assertion is false and disagreeâ—ble to their own doctrine which maintaineth that the witch doth nothing but by the permission and leave of God For if she could do or undo such a thing at her own pleasure or at the commandement of the inquisitors or for fear of the tormentors or for love of the party or for remorse of conscience then is it not either by the extraordinary leave nor yet by the like direction of God except you will make him a conâ—ederate with old witches I for my part wonder most how they can â—urne and tosse a mans body so and make it smaller and greater to wit like a mouse or like an asse c. and the man all this while to feel no paine And I am not alone in this maze for Danaeus a speciall maintainer of their follyes saith that although Augustine and Apuleius do write very credible of these matters yet will he never beleeve that witches can change men into other formes as asses apes wolves bears mice c. CHAP. V. That the body of a man cannot be turned into the body of a beast by a witch is proved by strong reasons scriptures and authorities BUt was this man an asse all this while Or was this asse a man Bodin saith his reason onely reserved he was truly transubstantiated into an asse so as there must be no part of a man but reason remaining in this asse â—nd yet Hermes Trismegistus thinketh he hath good authority and reason 〈◊〉 say Aliud corpus quam humanum non capere animam humanam nec fas esse in corpus animae ratione carentis animam rationalem corruere that is An humane soule cannot receive any other than an humane body nor yet can light into a body that wanteth reason of mind But S. Iames saith The body without the spirit is dead And surely when the soul is departed from the body the life of man is dissolved and therefore 〈◊〉 wished to be dissolved when he would have been with Christ. The body of man is subject to divers kinds of agues sicknesses and infirmities whereunto an asses body is not inclined and mans body must be fed with bread c. and not with hay Bodins asse-headed man must either eat hay or nothing as appeareth in the story Mans body also is subject unto death and hath his daies numbred If this fellow had died in the mean time as his hour might have been come for any thing the devils the witch or Bodin knew I marvell then what would have become of this asse or how the witch could have restored him to shape or whether he should have risen at the day of judgement in an asses body and shape For Paul saith that that very body which is sowne and buried a naturall body is raised a spirituall body The life of Jesus is made manifest in our â—â—rall flesh and not in the flesh of an asse God hath endued every man and every thing with his proper nature substance forme qualities and gifts and directeth their wayes â— for the waies of an asse he taketh no such care howbeit they have so their properties and substance severall to themselves For there is 〈◊〉 flesh saith Paul of men another flesh of beasts
another of fishes 〈◊〉 other of birds And therefore it is absolutely against the ordinance 〈◊〉 God who hath made me a man that I should fly like a bird or 〈◊〉 like a fish or creep like a worme or become an asse in shape 〈◊〉 much as if God would give me leave I cannot do it for it were conâ—ry to his own order and decree and to the constitution of any body which he hath made Yea the spirits themselves have their lawes and limits prescribed beyond the which they cannot passe one haires breadth otherwise God should be contrary to himselfe which is farre from him Nâ—â—â—ther is Gods omnipotency hereby qualified but the devils impotency manifested who hath none other power but that which God from 〈◊〉 beginning hath appointed unto him consonant to his nature and substance He may well be restrained from his power and will but beyond theâ—â— he cannot passe as being Gods minister no further but in that which hath from the beginning enabled him to do which is that he being spirit may with Gods leave and ordinance viciate and corrupt the 〈◊〉 and will of man wherein he is very diligent What a beastly assertion is it that a man whom GOD hath made according to his own similitude and likenesse should be by a witch turn into a beast What an impiety is it to affirme that an asses body is 〈◊〉 temple of the Holy Ghost Or an asse to be the child of God and 〈◊〉 to be his father as it is said of man Which Paul to the Corinthiaâ— divinely confuteth who saith that our bodies are the members of Christ. In the which we are to glorifie God for the body is for the Lord. 〈◊〉 the Lord is for the body Surely he meaneth not for an asses body by this time I hope appeareth in such wise as Bodin may go hide him 〈◊〉 shame especially when he shall understand that even into these our bodies which God hath framed after his own likenesse he hath also breathed that spirit which Bodin saith is now remaining within an asses body which God hath so subjected in such servility under the foot of man of whom God is so mindfull that he hath made him little lower than angels yea than himselfe and crowned him with glory and worship and made him to have dominion over the works of his hands as having put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen yea wolves asses and all other beasts of the field the foules of the air the fishes of the sea c. Bodins Poet Ovid whose Metamorphosis makes so much for him saith to the overthrow of this phantasticall imagination Os homini sublime dedit coelumque videre Iussit erectos ad sydera tollere vultus The effect of which verses in this The Lord did set mans face so hie That he the heavens might behold And look up to the starry skie To see his wonders manifold Now if a witch or a devill can so alter the shape of a man as contrarily to make him look down to hell like a beast Gods works should not only be defaced and disgraced but his ordinance should be wonderfully â—tered and thereby confounded CHAP. VI. The witchmongers objections concerning Nabuchadnezzar answered and their error concerning Lycanthropia confuted MAlleus Maleficarum Bodin and many other of them that maintain witchcraft triumph upon the story of Nabuchadnezzar as though Circes had transformed him with her sorceries into an oxe as she did others into swine c. I answer that he was neither in body nor shape transformed at all according to their grosse imagination as appeareth both by the plaine words of the text and also by the opinions of the best interpreters thereof but that he was for his beastly government and conditions throwne out of his kingdome and banished for a time and driven to hide himselfe in the wildernesse therein exile to lead his life in aâ—beastly sort among beasts of the field and foules of the air for by the way I tell you it appeareth by the text that he was rather turned into the shape of a fowle than of a beast untill he rejecting his beastly conditions was upon his repentance and amendment called home and restored unto his kingdome Howbeit this by their confession was neither devils nor witches doing but a miracle wrought by God whom alone I acknowledge to be able to bring to passe such workes at his pleasure Wherein I would know what our witch-mongers have gained I am not ignorant that some write that after the death of Nabuchadnezzar his son Evilmorodath gave his body to the ravens to be devoured least afterwards his father should arise from death who of a beast became a man againe But this tale is meeter to have place in the Cabalisticall art to wit among unwritten verities than here To conclude I say that the transformations which these witchmongers do so rave and rage upon is as all the learned sort of Physitians affirme a disease proceeding partly from melancholy whereby many suppose themselves to be wolves or such ravening beasts For Lycanthropia is of the ancient Physitians called Lupina melancholia or Lupina insania I. Wierus declareth very learnedly the cause the circumstance and the cure of this disease I have written the more herein because hereby great princes and potentates as well as poor women and innocents have been deâ—amed and accounted among the number of witches CHAP. VII A speciall objection answered concerning transportations with the consent of diverse writers thereupon FhOr the maintenance of witches transportations they object the words of the Gospell where the devill is said to take up Christ and to set him on a pinnacle of the temple and on a mountain c. Which if he had done in manner and forme as they suppose it followeth not therefore that witches could do the like nor yet that the devil would do it for them at their pleasure for they know not their thoughts neither can otherwise communicate with them But I answer that if it were so grossely to be understood as they imagine it yet should it make nothing to their purpose For I hope they will not say that Christ had made any ointemnts or entred into any league with the devil by vertue thereof was transported from out of the wildernesse unto the top of the temple of Jerusalem or that the devill could have masteries over his body vvhose soul he could never lay hold upon especially when he might with a beck of his finger have called unto him and have had the assistance of many legions of angels Neither as I thinke will they presume to make Christ partaker of the devils purpose and sinne in that behalfe If they say This was an action wrought by the speciall providence of God and by his appointment that the scripture might be fulfilled then what gain our witchmongers by this place First for that they may not produce a
enemies either bodily or ghostly neither shall be robbed or slaine of theeves pestilence thunder or lightning neither shall be hurt with fire or water not combred with spirits neither shall have displeasure of lords or ladies he shall not be condemned with false witnesse nor taken with fairies or any manner of axes nor yet with the falling evil Also if a woman be in travel lay this writing upon her belly she shall have easie deliverance and the child right shape and christendome and the mother purification of holy church and all through vertue of these holy names of Jesus Christ following ✚ Iesus ✚ Christus ✚ Messias ✚ Soter ✚ Emmanuel ✚ Sabbaoth ✚ Adonai ✚ Vnigenitus ✚ Majestas ✚ Paracleius ✚ Salvaâ—or noster ✚ Agiros iskiros ✚ Agios ✚ Adonaâ—os ✚ Gasper ✚ Melchior ✚ Balthasar ✚ Matthaeus ✚ Marcus ✚ Lucas ✚ Iohannes The epistle of S. Saviour which pope Leo sent to King Charles saying that whosoever carrieth the same about him or in what day soever he shall reade it or shall see it he shall not be killed with any iron toole nor be burned with fire nor be drowned with water neither any evill man or other creature may hurt him The crosse of Christ is a wonderfull defence ✚ the crosse of Christ be alwaies with me ✚ the crosse is it which I do alwaies worship ✚ the crosse of Christ is true health ✚ the crosse of Christ doth lose the bands of death ✚ the crosse of Christ is the truth and the way ✚ I take my journey upon the crosse of the Lord ✚ the crosse of Christ beateth down every evill ✚ the crosse of Christ giveth all good things ✚ the crosse of Christ taketh away paines everlasting ✚ the crosse of Christ save me ✚ O crosse of Christ be upon me before me and behind me ✚ because the ancient enemie cannot abide the sight of thee ✚ the crosse of Christ save me keep me governe me and direct me ✚ Thomas bearing this note of thy divine majesty ✚ Alpha ✚ Omega ✚ first ✚ and last ✚ middest ✚ and end ✚ beginning ✚ and first begotten ✚ wisdome ✚ vertue ✚ A popish periapt or charme which must never be said but carried about one against theeves I Do go and I do come unto you with the love of God with the humility of Christ with the holinesse of our blessed lady with the faith of Abraham with the justice of Isaac with the vertue of David with the might of Peter with the constancy of Paul with the word of God with the authority of Gregory with the prayer of Clement with the flood of Iordan p p p c g e g a q q est p t 1 k a b g l k 2 a x t g t b a m g 2 4 2 1 que p x c g k q a 9 9 p o q q r. Oh onely Father ✚ oh onely lord ✚ And Iesus ✚ passing through the middest of them ✚ went In ✚ the name of the father ✚ and of the Sonne ✚ and of the Holy Ghost ✚ Another amulet JOseph of Aâ—imathea did find this writing upon the wounds of the side of Iesus Christ written with Gods finger when the body was taken away from the crosse Whosoever shall carry this writing about him shall not dye any evill death if he beleeve in Christ and in all perplexities he shall soone be delivered neither let him fear any danger at all Fons alpha omega ✚ figa ✚ figalis ✚ Sabbaoth ✚ Emmanuel ✚ Adonai ✚ o ✚ Neray ✚ Elay ✚ â—he ✚ Rentone ✚ Neger ✚ Sahe ✚ Pangeton ✚ Commen ✚ a ✚ g ✚ l ✚ a ✚ Mattheus ✚ Marcus ✚ Lucas ✚ Iohannes ✚ ✚ ✚ titulus triumphalis ✚ Iesus Nasareuus rex Iudaeorum ✚ ecce dominicae crucis signnm ✚ fugite partes adversae vicit leo de tribu Iudae radix David aleluijah Kyrie eleeson Christe eleeson pater noster ave Maria ne nos veniat super nos salutare tuum Oremus c. I find in a Primer intituled The houres of our Lady after the use of the church of Yorke printed anno 1516. a charme with this titling in red letters To all them that afore this image of pity devoutly shall say five Pater nosters five Aves and one Credo pitiously beholding these armes of Christs passion are granted thirty two thousand seven hundred fifty five years of pardon It is to be thought that this pardon was granted in the time of pope Boniface the nineth for Platina saith that the pardons were sold so cheape that the apostolicall authority grew into contempt A papistical charme SIgnum sanctae crucis defendat me a malis praesentibus praeteritis futuris interioribus exterioribus That is The signe of the crosse defend me from evils present past and to come inward and outward A charme found in the canon of the masse ALso this charge is found in the canon of the masse Haec sacrosancta commixtio corporis sanguinis domini nostri Iesu Christi fiat mihi omnibusque sumentibus salus mentis corporis ad vitam promerendam capessendam praeparatio salutaris that is Let this holy mixture of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ be unto me and unto all receivers thereof health of mind and body and to the deserving and receiving of life an healthful preparative Other papisticall charmes Aqua benedicta sit mihi salus vita Let holy water be both health and life to me Adque nomen Martini omnis haereticus fugiat palladus When Martins name is sung or said Let hereticks flie as men dismaid But the papists have a harder charme than that to wit Fire and â—agot Fire and fagot A charme of the holy crosse Nulla salus est in domo Nisi cruce munit homo Superliminaria Neque sentit gladium Nec amisit filium Quisquis egit talia No health within the house doth dwell Except a man do crosse him well At every doore or frame He never feeleth the swords point Nor of his sonne shall lose a joint That doth performe the same Furthermore as followeth Ista suos fortiores Semper facit victores Morbos sanat languores Reprimit daemonia Dat captivis libertatem Vitae confert novitatem Ad antiquam dignitarem Crux reduxit omnia O Crux lignum triumphale Mundi vera salus vale Inter ligna nullum tale Frande flore germine Medicina Christiana Salva sanos aegros sana Quod non valet vis humana Fit in tuo nomine c. It makes her souldiers excellent And crowneâ—h them with victory Restores the lame and impotent and healeth every malady The devils of hell it conquereth releaseth from imprisonment Newnesse of life it offereth It hath all at commandement O crosse of wood incomparable To all the world most wholesome No wood is half so honourable In branch in bud or blossome O medicine which
the time of popery a usuall matter to desire sicke people in their death beds to appeare to them after their death and to reveale their estate The fathers and ancient doctors of the church were too credulus herein c. Therefore no marvell though the common simple sort of men and least of all that women be deceived herein God in times past did send downe visible angels appearances to men but now he doth not so Through ignorance of late in religion it was thought that every churchyard swarmed with soule and spirits but now the word of God being more free open and known those conceits and illusions are made more manifest and apparent c. The doctors councels and popes which they say cannot 〈◊〉 have confirmed the walking appearing and raising of soules 〈◊〉 where find they in the scriptures any such doctrine And who certified them that those appearances were true Truly all they cannot bring to passe that the lies which have beene spread abroad herein should 〈◊〉 beginne to be true though the pope himselfe subscribe seale and sweare thereunto never so much Where are the soules that swarmed in times past Where are the spirits Who heareth their noyses Who seeth their visions Where are the soules that made such moane for trenâ—â—s where by to be eased of the palmes in purgatory Are they all gone into Italy because masses are growne deere here in England Marke welâ— this illusion and see how contrary it is unto the word of God Consider how all papists beleeve this illusion to be true and how all 〈◊〉 driven to say it is was popish illusion Where be the spirits that 〈◊〉 to have buriall for their bodies For many of those walking soules 〈◊〉 about their bâ—stnes Do you not thinke that the papists shew nor 〈◊〉 selves Godly divines to preach and teach the people such doctrine 〈◊〉 to insert into their divine service such fables as are read in their 〈◊〉 church all scripture giving place thereto for the time You shall see 〈◊〉 lessons read there upon S. Stevens day that Gamaliel Nichodemus 〈◊〉 man and Abdias his sonne with his friend S. Steven appeared 〈◊〉 priest called Sir Lucian requesting him to remove their bodies and to bury them in some better place for they had lien from the time of their death untill then being in the raigne of Honorius the emperors to 〈◊〉 foure hundred yeares buried in the field of Gamaliel who in that 〈◊〉 said to Sir Lucian Non insi selummodo causa solicitus sum sed potius 〈◊〉 illis qui meâ—um sunt that is I am not only carefull for my selfe but chiefely for those my friends that are with me Whereby the whole course may be perceived to be a false practise and a counter-felt vision or rather a lewd invention For in heaven mens soules remaine not in sorrow and care neither studie they there how to compasse and get a worship full buriall here in earth If they did they would not have foreflowed it so long Now therefore let us not suffer our selves to be abused any longer either with conjuring priests or melancholicall witches but be thankfull to God that hath delivered us from such blindnesse and error CHAP. XL. Cardanus opinion of strange noises how counterfeit visions grow to be credited of popish appearances of pope Boniface CArdanus speaking of noises among other things saith thus A noise is heard in your house it may be a mouse a cat or a dog among dishes it may be a counterfeit or a theafe indeed or the sault may be in your eares I could recite a great number of tales how men have even forsaken their houses because of such apparitions and noises and all hath beene by meere and ranke knavery And wheresoever you shall heare that there is in the night season such rumbling and fearefull noises be you well assured that it is flat knavery performed by some that seemeth most to complaine and is least mistrusted And hereof there is a very art which for some respects I will not discover The divell seeketh dayly as well as nightly whom he may devour and can do his feats as well by day as by night or else he is a young divell and a very bungler But of all other couseners these conjurors are in the highest degree and are most worthy of death for their blasphemous impiety But that these popish visions and conjurations used as well by papists as by the popes themselves were meere cousenages and that the tales of the popes recited by Bruno and Platinâ—â— of their magicall devices were but plaine cousenages and knaveries may appeare by the history of Bonifacius the eight who used this kinde of inchantment to get away the popedome from his predecessor Coelestinus He counterfeitted a voyce through a cane reed as though it had come from heaven persvading him to yeeld up his authority of popeship and to institute therein one Bonifacius a worthy man otherwise he threatened him with damnation And therefore the foole yeelded it up accordingly to the said Bonifacius An. 1264. of whom it was said He came in like a fox lived like a woolfe and died like a dog There be innumerable examples of such visions which when they are not detected goe for true stories and therefore when it is answered that some are true tales and some are false untill they be able to shew forth before your eyes one matter of truth you may reply upon them with this distinction to wit visions tryed are false visions undecided and untryed are true CHAP. XLI Of the noise or sound of eccho of one that narrowly escaped droâ—â—ning thereby c. ALas how many naturall things are there so strange as to many seeme miraculous and how many counterfeit matters are there that to the simple seem yet more wonderfull Cardane telleth of one Comansis who comming late to a rivers side not knowing where to passe over cried out alowd for some body to shew him the foordâ— who hearing an eccho to answer according to his last word supposing it to be a man that answered him and informed him of the way he passed through the river even there where was a deepe whirlepoole so as he hardly escaped with his life and told his friends that the divell had almost persuaded him to drowne himselfe And in some places these noises of eccho are farre more strange than other specially at Ticinum in Italy in the great hall where it rendereth sundry and manifold noises or voyces which seeme to end so lamentably as it were a man that lay a dying so as few can be persuaded that it is the eccho but a spirit that answereth The noise at Winchester was said to be a very miracle and much wondering was there at it about the yeare 1569 though indeed a meere naturall noise ingendered of the wind the concavity of the place and other instrumentall matters helping the sound to seeme strange to the
Familiares daemones which we call familiars such as Socrates and Caesar were said to have and such as Feats sold to Doctor Burcot Quintus Sertorius had Diana her self for his familiar and Numa Pompilius had Aegeria but neither the one nor the other of all these could be preserved by their familiars from being destroyed with untimely death Simon Samareus boasted that he had gotten by conjuration the soul of a little child that was slain to be his familiar and that hee told him all things that were to come c. I marvell what priviledge soules have which are departed from the body to know things to come more than the soules within mans body There were spirits which they called Albae mulieres and Albae Sibyllae which were very familiar and did much harm they say to women with child and to suckling children Deumus as a divell is worshipped among the Indians in Calesute who as they think hath power given him of God to judge the earth c. his image is horribly pictured in a most ugly shape Thevet saith that a divell in America called Agnan beareth sway in that country In Girue one Grigrie is accounted the great divell and keepeth the woods these have priests called Charoibes which prophesie afterâ— hey have lien by the space of one houre prostrate upon a wench of twelve yeares old and all that while say they he calleth upon a divell called Hoviculsâ—ra and then commeth fourth and uttereth his prophesie For the true successe whereof the people pray all the while that he lieth groveling like a lecherous knave There are a thousand other names which they say are attributed unto divels and such as they take to themselves are more ridiculous than the names that are given by others which have more leasure to devise them In little bookes containing the cousening possessed at Maidstone where such awonder was wrought as also in other places you may see a number of counterfeit divels names and other trish trath CHAP. XXII Of the Romans chiefe gods called Dii-selecti and of other heathen gods their names and offices THere were among the Romans twenty idolatrous gods which were called Dii selecti sive electi chosen gods whereof twelve were male and eight female whose names do thus follow Ianus Saturnus Iupiter Genius Mercurius Apollo Mars Vulcanus Neptunus Sol Oâ—cus and Vibar which were all he gods Tellus Ceres Iuno Minerva Luna Diana Venus and Vesta were all she gods No man might appropriate any of these unto himselfe but they were left common and indifferent to all men dwelling in one realme province or notable city These heathen gentiles had also their gods which served for sundry purposes as to raise thunder they had Statores Tonantes Feretrii and Iupiter Elicius They had Cantius to whom they prayed for wise children who was more apt for this purpose than Minerva that issued out of Iupiters owne braine Lucina was to send them that were with childe safe delivery and in that respect was called the mother of child wives Opis was called the mother of the babe new borne whose image women with child hanged upon their girdles before their bellies and bare it so by the space of nine moneths and the midwife alwayes touched the child therewith before she or any other layed hand thereon If the child were well borne they sacrificed thereunto although the mother miscaried but if the child were any part unperfect or dead c. they used to beat the image into powder or to burne or drowne it Vagianus was he that kept their children from crying and therefore they did always hang his picture about babes neckes for they thought much crying in youth portended ill fortune in age Cuninus otherwise Cunius was he that preserved as they thought their children from misfortune in the cradle Ruminus was to keepe their dugs from corruption Volumnus and his wife Volumna were gods the one for yong men the other for maids that desired marriage for such as prayed devoutly unto them should soone be marryed Agrestis was the god of the fields and to him they prayed for fertility Bâ—llus was the god of warre and warriers and so also was Victoria to whom the greatest temple in Rome was built Honorius was he that had charge about in keepers that they should well intreat pilgrimes Bâ—recynthia was the mother of all the gods Aesculanus was to discover their mines of gold and silver and to him they prayed for good successe in that behalfe Aesculapius was to cure the sicke whose father was Aâ—ollo and served to keepe weeds out of the corne Segacia was to make seeds to grow Floâ—a preserved the vines from frosts and blasts Sylvanus was to preserve them that walked in gardens Bacchus was for drunkards Pavor for cowherds Meretrix for whores to whose honour there was a temple built in Rome in the middest of forty and foure streets which were all inhabited with common harlots Finally Colatina alias Clotina was goddesse of the stoole the jakes and the privy to whom as to every of the rest there was a peculiar temple edified besides that notable temple called Panthâ—oâ— wherein all the gods were placed together so as every man and woman according to their sollyes and devotions might go thither and worship what gods they list CHAP. XXIII Of diverse gods in diverse countres THe Aegyptians were yet more foolish in this behalfe than the Romans I meane the heathenish Romans that then were and not the popish Romans that now are for no nation approcheth neere to these in any kind of idolatry The Aegyptians worshipped Anubis in the likenesse of a dog because he loved dogs and hunting Yea they worshipped all living creatures as namely of beasts a bullocke a dog and a cat of flying fowles Ibis which is a bird with a long bill naturally devouring up venemous things and noisome serpents and a sparrow hawke of fishes they had two gods to wit Lepidotus piscis and Oxyrinchus The Saitans and Thebans had to their god a sheepe In the city Lycopolis they worshipped a woolfe in Herinâ—polis the Cynocephalus the Leopolitans a lion in Leâ—topolis a fish in Nilus called Latus In the city Cynopolis they worshipped Anubis At Babylon besides Memphis they made an onion their god the Thâ—bans an eagle the Maendescans a goate the Persians a fire called Orimasda the Arabians Bacchus Venus and Diasaren the Boeotians Amphyaraus the Aphricans Mopsus the Scyâ—hians Minerva the Nancratits Serapis which is a serpent Astartes being as Cicero writeth the fourth Venus who was she as others affirme whom Solomon worshipped at his concubines request was the goddesse of the Assyrians At Noricum being a part of Bavaria they worship Tibilenus the Moores worship Iubaâ— the Macedonians Gabirus the Poenians Vranius at Samos Iuno was their god at Paphos Venus at Lemnos Vulcane at Naxos Liberus at Lampsacke Priapus with the great genitals who was set up at Hellespont to be adored In
a whit nice of their cunning yea greater matters are said to be in one of their powers than is in all the other saints And these are they S. mother Bungiâ— S. mother Paine S. Feats S. mother Still S. mother Duâ—ten S. Kytrell S. Ursula Kempe S. mother Newman S. doctor Heron S. Rosimund a good old father and diverse more that deserve to be registred in the popes kalendar or rather the divels rubrick CHAP. XXV A comparison between the heathen and the papists touching their excuses for idolatry ANd because I know that the papists will say that their idols are saints and no such divels as the gods of the Gentiles were you may tell them that not only their saints but the very images of them were called Divi. Which though it signifie gods and so by consequence idols or friends yet put but an â—â— thereunto and it is Divill in English But they will say also that I do them wrong to gibe at them because they were holy men and holy women I grant some of them were so and further from allowance of the popish idolatry employed upon them than grieved with the derision used against that abuse Yea even as silver and gold are made idols unto them that love them too well and seek too much for them so are these holy men and women made idols by them that worship them and attribute unto them such honour as to god only appertaineth The heathen gods were for the most part good men and profitable members to the commonwealth wherein they lived and deserved fame c. in which respect they made gods of them when they were dead as they made divels of such emperours and philosophers as they hated or as had deserved ill among them And is it not even so and worse in the common wealth and church of popery Doth not the pope excommunicate curse and condemne for hereticks and drive to the bottomlesse pit of hell proclaiming to the very divels all those that either write speak or think contrary to his idolatrous doctrine Cicero when he derided the heathen gods and inveyed against them that yeelded such servile honour unto them knew the persons unto whom such abuse was committed had well deserved as civill citizens and that good fame was due unto them and not divine estimation Yea the infidels that honoured those gods as hoping to receive benefits for their devotion employed that way knew and conceived that the statues and images before whom with such reverence they powred forth their prayers were stocks and stones and only pictures of those persons whom they resembled yea they also knew that the parties themselves were creatures and could not doe so much as the papists and witchmongers think the Roode of grace or mother Bungie could doe And yet the papists can see the abuse of the Gentiles and may not hear of their owne idolatry more grosse and damnable than the others CHAP. XXVI The conceipt of the heathen and the papists all one in idolatry of the councell of Trent a notable story of a hangman arraigned after he was dead and buried c. BUt papists perchance will deny that they attribute so much to these idols as I report or that they think it so meritorious to pray to the images of saints as is supposed affirming thay they worship God and the saints themselves under the formes of images Which was also the conceipt of the heathen and their excuse in this behalf whose eyesight and insight herein reached as farre as the papisticall distinctions published by popes and their councels Neither doe any of them admit so grosse idolatry as the councel of Trent hath done who alloweth that worship to the Rood that is due to Jesus Christ himselfe and so likewise of other images of saints I thought it not impertinent therefore in this place to insert an example taken out of the Rosarie of our Lady in which book do remain besides this ninety and eight examples to this effect which are of such authority in the church of Rome that all scripture must give place unto them And these are either read there as their speciall homilies or preached by their chief doctors And this is the sermon for this day verbatim translated out of the said Rosarie a book much esteemed and reverenced among papists A certain hangman passing by the image of our Lady saluted her commending himself to her protection Afterwards while he prayed before her he was called away to hang an offendor but his enemies intercepted him and slew him by the way And loe a certain holy priest which nightly walked about every church in the city rose up that night and was going to his Lady I should say to our Lady church And in the churchyard he saw a great many dead men and some of them he knew of whom he asked what the matter was c. who answered that the hangman was slain and the divel challenged his soul the which our Lady said was hers and the judge was even at hand comming thither to hear the cause and therefore said they we are now come together The priest thought he would be at the hearing hereof and hid himselfe behind a tree and anon he saw the judiciall seat ready prepared and furnished where the judge to wit Jesus Christ sate who took up his mother unto him Soon after the divels brought in the hangman pinnioned and proved by good evidence that his soul belonged to them On the other side our Lady pleaded for the hangman proving that he at the hour of death commended his soul to her The judge hearing the matter so well debated on either side but willing to obey for these are his words his mothers desire and loath to do the divels any wrong gave sentence that the hangmans soul should returne to his body untill he had made sufficient satisfaction ordaining that the pope should set forth a publick forme of prayer for the hangmans soul. It was demanded who should doe the errand to the popes holinesse Maâ—y quoth our Lady that shall yonder priest that lurketh behind the tree The priest being called forth and injoined to make relation hereof and to desire the pope to take the paines to do according to tâ—is decree asked by what token he should be directed Then was delivered unto him a rose of such beauty as when the pope saw it he knew his message was true And so if they do not well I pray God we may CHAP. XXVII A confutation of the fable of the hangman of many other feigned and ridiculous tales and apparitions with a reproofe thereof BY the tale above mentioned you see what it is to worship the image of our lady For though we kneel to God himself and make never so humble petitions unto him without faith and repentance it shall do us no pleasure at all Yet this hangman had great friendship shewed him for one point of courtesie used to our
distinguished A day naturall is the space of foure and twenty houres accounting the night withall and beginneth at one of the clocke after midnight An artificiall day is that space of time which is betwixt the rising and falling of the ☉ c. All the rest is night 〈◊〉 beginneth at the ☉ rising Hereafter followeth a table shewing how the day and the night is divided by houres and reduced to the regiment of the planets The division of the day and the planetary regiment The division of the night and the planetary regiment CHAP. VII The characters of the angels of the seven days with their names of figures scales and periapts These figures are called the scales of the earth without the which no spirit will appeare except thou have them with thee CHAP. VIII An experiment of the dead FIrst fast and pray three dayes and abstaine thee from all filthynesse go to one that is new buried such a one as killed himselfe or destroyed himselfe willfully or else get thee promise of one that shall be hanged and let him sweare an oath to thee after his body is dead that his spirit shall come to thee and do thee true service at thy commandements in all dayes houres and minuts And let no persons see thy doings but thy fellow And about eleven a clocke in the night goe to the place where he was buried and say with a bold faith and hearty desire to have the spirit come that thou doest call for thy fellow having a candle in his left hand and in his right hand a crystall stone and say these words following the master having a hazell wand in his right hand and these names of God written thereupon Tetragrammaton ✚ Adonay ✚ Agla ✚ Craton ✚ Then strike three strokes on the ground and say Arise N. Arise N. Arise N. I conjure thee spirit N. by the resurrection of our Lord Jesu Christ that thou do obey to my words and come unto me this night verily and truly as thou beleevest to be saved at the day of judgement And I will swear to the an oath by the perill of my soule that if thou wilt come to me and appeare to me this night and shew me true visions in this crystall stone and fetch me the fairie Sibylia that I may talke with her visibly and she may come before me as the conjuration leadeth and in so doing I will give thee an almesse deed and pray for thee N. to my Lord God whereby thou mayest be restored to thy salvation at the resurrection day to be received as one of the elect of God to the everlasting glory Amen The master standing at the head of the grave his fellow having in his hands the candle and the stone must begin the conjuration as followeth and the spirit will appeare to you in the crystall stone in a faire forme of a child of twelve yeares of age And when he is in feele the stone and it will be hot and feare nothing for he or she will shew many delusions to drive you from your worke Feare God but feare him not This is to constraine him as followeth I conjure thee spirit N. by the living God the true God and by the holy God and by their vertues and powers which have created both thee and me and all the world I conjure thee N. by these holy names of God Tetragrammaton ✚ Adonay ✚ Algramay ✚ Saday ✚ Sabaoth ✚ Plaâ—â—both ✚ Panthon ✚ Craton ✚ Neupuraton ✚ Deus ✚ Homo ✚ Omnipotens ✚ Simpiternus ✚ Ysus ✚ Terra ✚ Vnigeniius ✚ Salvator ✚ Via ✚ Vita ✚ Manus ✚ Fons ✚ Origo ✚ Filius ✚ And by their vertues and powers and by all their names by the which God gave power to man both to speak or think so by their vertues and powers I conjure thee spirit N. that now immediately thou doe appeare in this crystall stone visibly to me and to my fellow without any tarrying or deceipt I conjure thee N. by the excellent name of Jesus Christ A and Ω the first and the last For this holy name of Jesus is above all names for in this name of Jesus every knee doth bow and obey both of heavenly things earthly things and infernall And every tongue doth confesse that our Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of the Father neither is there any other name given to man whereby he must be saved Therefore in the name of Jesus of Nazareth and by his nativity resurrection and ascension and by all that appertaineth unto his passion and by their vertues and powers I conjure the spirit N. that thou doe appeare visible in this crystall stone to me and to my fellow without any dissimulation I conjure thee N. by the blood of the innocent lambe Jesus Christ which was shed for us upon the crosse for all those that doe beleeve in the vertue of his bloud shall be saved I conjure thee N. by the vertues and powers of all the royall names and words of the living God of me pronounced that thou be obedient unto me and to my words rehearsed If thou refuse this to doe I by the holy trinity and by their vertues and powers doe condemne thee thou spirit N. into the place where there is no hope of remedy or rest but everlasting horror of paine there dwelling and a place where there is pain upon pain dayly horribly and lamentably thy pain to be there augmented as the starres in the heaven and as the gravell or sand in the Sea except thou spirit N. doe appeare to me and to my fellow visibly immediately in this crystall stone and in a fair form and shape of a childe of twelve yeares of age and that thou alter not thy shape I charge thee upon pain of everlasting condemnation I conjure thee spirit N. by the golden girdle which girdeth the loins of our Lord Jesus Christ so thou spirit N. be thou bound into the perpetuall paines of hell fire for thy disobedience and unreverent regard that thou hast to the holy names and words and his precepts I conjure thee N. by the two edged sword which Iohn saw proceed out of the mouth of the Almighty and so thou spirit N. be torne and cut in peeces with that sword and to be condemned into everlasting pain where the fire goeth not out and where the worm dyeth not I conjure thee N. by the heavens and by the celestiall city of Ierusalem and by the earth and the sea and by all things contained in them and by their vertues and powers I conjure thee spirit N. by the obedience that thou dost owe unto the principall prince And except thou spirit N doe come and appear visibly in this crystall stone in my presence here immediately as it is aforesaid Let the great curse of God the anger of God the shadow and darknesse of death and of eternall condemnation be upon thee spirit N. for ever and ever
because thou hast denyed thy faith thy health and salvation For thy great disobedience thou art worthy to be condemned Therefore let the divine trinity thrones dominions principats potestats virtutes cherubim and seraphim and all the soules of saints both of men and women condemn thee for ever and be a witnesse against thee at the day of judgement because of thy disobedience And let all creatures of our Lord Jesus Christ say thereunto Fiat fiat fiat Amen And when he is appeared in the crystall stone as is said before bind him with this bond as followeth to wit I conjure thee spirit N. that an appeared to me in this crystall stone to me and to my fellow I conjure thee by all the royall words aforesaid the which did constrain thee to appeare therein and their vertues I charge thee by them all that thou shall not depart out of this crystall stone untill my will being fulfilled thou be licensed to depart I conjure and bind thee spirit N. by that omnipotent God which commanded the angell S. Michaâ—ll to drive Lucifer out of the heavens with a sword of vengeance and to fall from joy to paine and for dread of such paine as he is in I charge thee spirit N. that thou shalt not goe out of the crystall stone nor yet to alter thy shape at this time except I command thee otherwise but to come unto me at all places and in all houres and minutes when and wheresoever I shall call thee by the vertue of our Lord Jesus Christ or by any conjuration of words that is written in this book and to shew me and my friends true visions in this crystall stone of any thing or things that we would see at any time or times and also to goe and fetch me the fairy Sibylla that I may talk with her in all kinde of talk as I shall call her by any conjuration of words contained in this book I conjure thee spirit N. by the great wisdome and divinity of his Godhead my will to fulfill as is aforesaid I charge thee upon pain of condemnation both in this world and in the world to come Fiat fiat fiat Amen I conjure thee spirit N. in this crystall stone by God the father by God the son Jesus Christ and by God the Holy Ghost three persons and one God and by their vertues I conjure thee spirit that thou do goe in peace and also to come again to me quickly and to bring with thee into that circle appointed Sibylia fairie that I may talk with her in those matters that shall be to her honour and glory and so I change thee declare unto her I conjure thee spirit N. by the bloud of the innocent lamb the which redeemed all the world by the vertue thereof I charge thee thou spirit in the crystal stone that thou do declare unto her this message Also I conjure thee spirit N. by all angels and archangels thrones dominations principats potestates virtues cherubim and seraphim and by their vertues and powers I conjure thee N. that thou do depart with speed and also to come again with speed and to bring with thee the fairie Sibylia to appeare in that circle before I doe read the conjuration in this booke seven times Thus I charge thee my will to be fulfilled upon pain of everlasting condemnation Fiat fiat fiat Amen Then the figure aforesaid pinned on thy brest rehearse the words therein and say ✚ Sorthie ✚ Sorthia ✚ Sorthios ✚ then begin your conjuration as followeth here and say I conjure thee Sibylia O gentle virgine of fairies by the mercy of the Holy Ghost and by the dreadfull day of doom and by their vertues and powers I conjure thee Sibylia O gentle virgin of fairies and by all the angels of ♃ and their characters and vertues and by all the spirits of ♃ and ♀ and their characters and vertues and by all the characters that be in the firmanent and by the king and queen of fairies and their vertues and by the faith and obedience that thou bearest unto them I conjure thee Sibylia by the bloud that ran out of the side of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified and by the opening of heaven and by the renting of the Temple and by the darknesse of the Sunne in the time of his death and by the rising up of the dead in the time of his resurrection and by the Virgin Mary Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the unspeakable name of God Tetragrammaton I conjure thee O Sibylia O blessed and beautifull Virgine by all the riall words aforesaid I conjure thee Sibylia by all their vertues to appeare in that circle before me visible in the form and shape of a beautifull woman in a bright and white vesture adorned and garnished most fair and to appeare to me quickly without deceit or tarrying and that thou faile not to fulfill my will and desire effectually For I will choose thee to be my blessed virgin and will have common copulation with thee Therefore make hast and speed to come unto me and to appear as I have said before To whom be honor and glory for ever ever Amen The which done and ended if thee come not repeat the conjuration till they doe come for doubtlesse they will come And when shee is appeared take your censers and incense her with frankincense then bind her with the bond as followeth I doe conjure thee Sibylia by God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost three persons and one God and by the blessed virgine Mary mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and by all the whole and holy company of heaven and by the dreadfull day of doome and by all angels and archangels thrones dominations principates potestates virtutes cherubim and seraphim and their vertues and powers I conjure thee and binde thee Sibylia that thou shalt not depart out of the circle wherein thou art appeared nor yet to alter thy shape except I give thee licence to depart I conjure thee Sibylia by the bloud that ran out of the side of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified and by the vertue hereof I conjure thee Sibylia to come to me and to appeare to me at all times visibly as the conjuration of words leadeth written in this book I conjure thee Sibylia O blessed Virgine of fairies by the opening of heaven and by the renting of the Temple and by the darknesse of the Sun at the time of his death and by the rising of the dead in the time of his glorious resurrection and by the unspeakable name of God ✚ Tetragrammaton ✚ and by the king and queen of fairies and by their vertues I conjure thee Sibylia to appeare before the conjuration be read over four times and that visibly to appeare as the conjuration leadeth written in this book and to give mee good counsell at all times and to come by treasures hidden in the earth and all other things
S. Margaret is a fable may be proved by the incredible impossible foolish impious and blasphemous matters contained therein and by the ridiculous circumstance thereof Though it were cruelly done of her to beat the divell when his hands was bound yet it was curteously done of her to pull away her foot at his desire He could not speak so long as she troad on his head and yet he said Tread off that I may tell you what I am She saw the heavens open and yet she was in a close prison But her sight was very clear that could see a little dove sitting upon a crosse so far off For heaven is higher than the Sun and the sun when it is neerest to us is 3966000. miles from us And she had a good pair of ears that could hear a dove speak so far off And she had good luck that S. Peter who they say is porter or else the Pope who hath more doings than Peter had such leisure as to stay the gates so long for her Salomon provided no good place neither took good order with his brazen bowl I marvell how they escaped that let out the divels It is marvell also that they melted it not with their breath long before for the divels carry hell and hell fire about with them alwayes in so much as they say they leave ashes evermore where they stand Surely she made in her prayer an unreasonable request but the date of her patent is out for I beleeve that whosoever at this day shall burn a pound of good candles before her shall be never the better but three pence the worse But now we may find in S. Margarets life who it is that is Christs wife whereby we are so much wiser then we were before But look in the life of S. Katharine in the golden legend and you shall find that he was also married to S. Katherine and that our Lady made the marriage c. An excellent authority for bigamie Here I will also cite another of their notable stories or miracles of authority and so leave shameing of them or rather troubling you the readers thereof Neither would I have written these fables but that they are authentick among the papists and that we that are protestants may be satisfied as well of conjurors and witches miracles as of others for the one is as grosse as the the other CHAP. XXXVII A pleasant miracle wrought by a popish Priest WHat time the Waldenses heresies began to spring certain wicked meâ— being upheld and maintained by diabolicall vertue shawed certaine signes and wonders whereby they strengthened and confirmed their heresies and perverted in faith many faithfull men for they walked on the water and were not drowned But a certain catholick priest seeing the same and knowing that true signs could not be joined with false doctrine brought the body of our Lord with the pix to the water where they shewed their power and vertue to the people and said in the hearing of all that were present I conjure thee O divell by him 〈◊〉 I carry in my hands that thou exercise not these great visions and phantasies by these men to the drowning of this people Notwithstanding their words when they walked still on the water as they did before the priest in a rage threw the body of our Lord with the pix into the river and by and by so soon as the sacrament touched the element the phantasie gaâ—â— place to the verity and they being proved and made false did sink 〈◊〉 lead to the bottome and were drowned the pix with the sacrament immediately was taken away by an angell The priest seeing all these things was very glad of the miracle but for the losse of the sacrament he was very pensive passing away the whole night in tears and mourning in the morning he found the pix with the sacrament upon the altar CHAP. XXXVIII The former miracle confuted with a strange story of St Lucy HOw glad Sr Iohn was now it were folly for me to say How would he have plagued the divell that threw his God in the river to be drowned But if other had had no more power to destroy the Waldenses with sword and fire than this priest had to drown them with his conjuring box and cousening sacraments there should have been many a life saved But I may not omit one fable which is of authority wherein though there be no conjuration expressed yet I warrant you there was cousenage both in the doing and telling thereof You shall read in the lesson on saint Lucies day that she being condemned could not be removed from the place with a teem of Oxen neither could any fire burn her in somuch as one was faine to cut off her head with a sword and yet she could speak afterwards as long as she list And this passeth all other miracles except it be that which Bodin and M. Mal. recite out of Nider of a witch that could not be burned till a scroll was taken away from where she hid it betwixt her skin and flesh CHAP. XXXIX Of visions noises apparitions and imagined sounds and of other illusions of wandering soules with a confutation thereof MAny through melancholy doe imagine that they see or hear visions spirits ghosts strange noises c. as I have already proved before at large Many again through fear proceeding from a cowardly nature and complexion or from an effeminate and fond bringing up are timerous and afraid of spirits and bugs c. Some through imperfection of sight also are afraid of their own shadows as Aristotle saith see themselves sometime as it were in a glasse And some through weaknesse of body have such imperfect imaginations Drunken men also sometimes suppose they see trees walk c. according to that which Salomon saith to the drunkards Thine eyes shall see strange visions and marvellous appearances In all ages monkes and priests have abused and bewitched the world with counterfeit visions which proceeded through idlenesse and restraint of marriage whereby they grew hot and lecherous and therefore devised such means to compasse and obtaine their loves And the simple people being then so superstitious would never seem to mistrust that such holy men would make them cuskholds but forsooke their beds in 〈◊〉 case and gave room to the cleargy Item little children have been so scared with their mothers maids that they could never after endure to â—e in the dark alone for fear of bugs Many are deceived by glasses through art perspective Many hearkening 〈◊〉 false reports conceive and beleeeve that which is nothing so Many give credit to that which they read in authors But how many stories and bookes are writen of walking spirits and soules of men contrary to the word of God a reasonable volum cannot containe How common an opinion was it among the papists that all soules walked 〈◊〉 the earth after they departed from their bodyes In so much as it was in