comforted himself in the prospect hereof 2 Sam. 23.5 though his house should not grow though severe corrections and rebukes should cause the Beauty of his house to wither yet God would give him the Covenant-salvation it should be well with him in case of such coming though the Text less intend it the Doctrine is both true and useful 3. Sometime the Lord cometh to search and try mens state and conscience is awakened to make enquiry and to discover them to themselves While God stands as at a distance men are secure but when he cometh by his Word and Spirit and commands an admission he sets up that light within the mans soul that discovers what he hath done what he may expect and what he farther must do The word is sharp as a two-edged sword and searcheth the reins Heb. 4.12 And thus the secrets of mens hearts are discovered when God cometh with his word 1 Cor. 14.25 among men When God heweth men by his prophets and maketh his judgments as the light Hos 6.5 then he cometh into the heart and conscience Now certainly the Faithful and Diligent are in a good condition when their hearts do not condemn them when they know God will not condemn them But oh the sad condition of those that dare not look themselves in themselves that are self-condemned and afraid to know what God discovereth at such coming The Kings of Judah who did not obey the Command of the Lord could not endure the Prophets or their word But Josiah who was faithful to God can bear such a searching word 2 Chron. 34.19 27. ver Who desire to be faithful to God they dare abide this coming it doth discover their sincerity and declare them happy In this case though not directly intended by the Text it holdeth true All Gods faithful Servants and Stewards are found in a good and happy state But next which is that coming intended chiefly in the words and Doctrine 4. When Death is the Messenger God sendeth to let us know he is coming to us when he fetcheth us from amidst men and cometh to take account of each of us each man by man thus visited is either more or less happy as he is found more or less faithful and diligent at this coming of the Lord this is that coming of which by concurrent vote of our Interpreters the Text doth speak as also doth its Parallels Matt. 24. ver 42 43. and Mark 13. ver 34 35 36. of which I say the less because it passing with so general consent needs not much proof But Fifthly and lastly The Lord cometh in his Glory and Majesty to raise the dead and to Judg all men They who now do shall not eternally sleep in the dust God will come and call them out of their beds The Lord Jesus will descend with the voice of the Trump and the dead shall hear and rise to the great general and last judgment Thus he cometh to judg the world Psal 96.13 and 98.9 with righteousness and the people with equity Places that speaking of the Kingdom of the Messiah do include this Royal procedure which shall consummate his ministerial Government When he cometh as Rev. 1.7 in view of every eye for every eye shall see him when he thus cometh or as 't is described 1 Cor. 15.23 24 25 At this coming the Faithful diligent Servant is in good state Briefly then Whether our Lord come sooner or later to try the heart by his word or families by his Rod or Nations as he did try the Jews by more publick calamities In these cases the most faithful of his Servants and Stewards are in the most safe and blessed state but when he cometh as the judg of all men to particular judgment calling each man by death and to the general judgment calling all men before him He and he only is in a good and blessed state who is found to have been faithful and diligent in his Stewardship and Service within the House and Family of God giving to each what portion of meat is due to them Which is In the third place now to be proved by the more general Testimony of the Scriptures Where we find all faithful and diligent Servants and Stewards especially pronounced blessed and happy in their attendance to the work of doing good to all as they are able and therein serving their Lord and waiting for his coming So Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord Death is the greatest as well as last Enemy to our life yet if that natural life be spent for the Lord and we dye in him we are blessed for such mens Works do follow them and they rest from their Labours Now certainly lesser troubles and lighter afflictions cannot render him or her unhappy whom Death found and left in a blessed state so that to work those works which we would have to follow us and to dye in the Lord as they prove our Fidelity so they do prove our Felicity and at once prove us good Christians and in good state Again Matth. 25.34 35 Come ye blessed of my father c. These are such who fed cloathed harboured visited and refreshed those in the Lords Family though the least of his Family vers 40 which was as much a Duty to them who could do it as it was useful to others for whom it was done Now they are declared happy ones who had thus according to their opportunity Ministred unto others And much more will they appear blessed who have faithfully directed thirsty Souls to the Fountain of living Waters hungry Souls to the Bread of Life naked Souls to the white Robes wandring Souls to the rest of Souls Again Matth. 7.21 Not he that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the Will of my heavenly Father c. not a fruitless profession but a faithful obedience not an unactive complement but a diligent fulfilling the Will of our Lord is at last a blessing to us he is in a good state indeed whose Lord doth reward his Service with an entrance into and enjoyment of eternal life in Heaven And nothing can alter it to him who altereth not his course of Faithfulness and Diligence Such an one is Jam. 1.22 Blessed in his deed now who is blessed in doing his work can never be in ill-state whilst he is doing it and he is in better state when the work done is rewarded whose work is his happiness cannot but be happy whilst he attends his work and this is the case of all diligent and sincere observers of Gods Commandments The keeping them is a great reward Christians consider it if glory honour immortality and eternal life can be a blessedness to us we are assured of this For every soul that doth good as God requireth whether Jew or Gentile Rom. 2.13 There is a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 for St. Paul who had fought a good fight c. Yea but if it were limited to his person none could
guess at what I say by the resentment Cain of men one of the worst had of Gods refusing to accept him Gen. 4. ver 5. It cast him down and fill'd him with trouble No condition is uneasy to a soul that enjoys Gods Favour for it is better than life Psal 63. ver 3. and every condition is dark and doleful without his favour What is Hell but a place where hopeless Souls are under the inconceivable Tortures of an eternal rejection and separation from God What is Heaven but a glorious free full and eternal state of nearness to God and of favour with him This acceptance is the great blessing God hath promised to such as serve and love him Isa 56.7 It is the sum of all we obtain through Christ in whom we are accepted with God Eph. 1. ver 6. Matt. 25. ver 21 Well done good and faithful Servant is enough to make us blessed now enter thou into the joy of thy Master is fulness of the future blessedness In every state and at the coming of the Lord thus blessed is the good Servant 3. This Blessedness of the faithful and good Servant doth lie partly in the peace and tranquility of his mind perswaded that now sin is pardoned and his duties are accepted every condition shall at last give place to what is best and all shall work together for good to him though various troubles do toss him yet they like rowling waves carry the Ship toward the Harbour It is well with him because he knoweth the knife which lanceth him doth not make him a Sacrifice under avenging Justice And though he is corrected yet it is under the hand of a Father he is not destroyed by the hand of an Executioner He is satisfied that it is good for him that he hath been afflicted Psal 119. ver 67 71 75. When he suffers with others he seeth he needed it so all appears seasonable necessary and profitable to him 1 Pet. 1.6 We are in heaviness for a season if need be and for our profit Heb. 12. ver 10. It is blessed to be refined and God doth by his coming intend this Isa 48. ver 10 That he may chuse them before others Now this considered the faithful Servants of God do account their condition good for that it is always tending to and shall at last end in what is best for them It is on the increase towards full happiness 4. The faithful and good Servants happiness doth partly consist in that support which his Lord giveth to him under his burthens while he submits to the will of his Lord waits for him and doth his Duty he is supported by the presence of his Lord He sinketh not because the Lord upholdeth him Psal 94. ver 17 18. When Davids feet did well nigh slip the Lords mercy held him up It is an unutterable variety of helps that God affordeth to his faithful ones they are very secret unexpected strong and satisfactory many times beyond the belief of strangers and the hope of those who receive them Isa 43.2 In midst of Rivers and waters in midst of fire and flames if God promise to be with us we may account our condition good and safe for his presence shall save us from Rivers that they do not overflow us and from Fire that it kindle not on us Now thus safe and good is the condition of every faithful Servant of God he is pardoned accepted bettered and supported still The Angel of Gods presence is with him and saveth him Isa 63. ver 9. He is blessed whom God will save whom God will support It is sad to be left sinking under our burthens but to be supported under them is next to a blessed freedom from them or next to a life above them 5. However it may be death shall be the sad consequence of a faithful and diligent Servants sufferings with others yet he is in this case blessed too For he might die in peace and joy he doth at least die in safety and free from danger of future evils It is possible a good Servant may die under fears but he doth not die under danger of condemnation Who walk in their integrity enter into their Rest Isa 57. ver 2. Though Death be an enemy it is last to a child of God Stewards and Servants though faithful and diligent yet they must die but after death there is no other enemy all is then safe to them they pass by Death to the enjoyment of the love of their Lord to be filled with that love which is inconceivable and possess that love which is eternal from which Nothing can ever separate them Rom. 8. ver 37 38. thus death is theirs 1 Cor. 3. ver 22. Now that is a blessed state indeed which is so full of safety How do dying men acknowledg this when Death brings no danger with it we are happy indeed This Balaam wish'd for though he never attained it The untrusty and slothful Servant is unhappy in his death because he dyeth under greatest danger he dyeth an evil and wicked Servant the good Servant dyeth as safe as he can wish and as happy as he can be made Which will appear in the Sixth thing wherein the blessed state of such doth consist They pass after death immediately into an inconceivable glory where their souls purifi'd from all sin and made perfectly holy enjoy a blessed though not a full consummated glory they are in the joys of their master they live in the sight of their glorifi'd redeemer triumph over sin and temptation assured of the future resurrection of their bodies without tediousness of a delay wait for it they possess their building of God their house not made with hands which is eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 They are before the throne c. Rev. 7.14 Thus blessed in life in death after death are the faithful Servants of the Lord. And yet this is not all there is A seventh thing part of their blessedness which when their Lord cometh they shall enjoy that is the resurrection of their bodies in a glorious conformity to the glorifi'd body of their redeemer When the Lord of these Servants and Stewards we speak of shall come and awaken all out of their beds of dust His good Servants whose bodies were sown in dishonour shall receive their bodies raised in honour those bodies which were sown mortal and weak shall be raised immortal and in strength fit to be the eternal habitation of immortal souls and both soul and body united shall ever live in a most delightful regular and sinless harmony and friendship You that admire the unparallel'd beauties of mortal creatures and judg That their happiness which is your envy or wish withdraw your eye and look to the Grave whence the rarest beauties are at last to rise whence the firmest strength the most desirable activity and the spiritfullest vigor And then say whether you can think them less than blessed who have their part in this Resurrection
to allude to that of Saint John Nothing shall ever be able to hinder them from this which though exceeding great is yet followed with another part necessary to their happiness which is 8thly A publick solemn and full declaration of their absolution from the charge which men or Devils in their accusation of them would load them with nay the charge wherewith the Law would burthen them shall be fully and solemnly taken off when they shall be justified before men and Angels from all that from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.38 which shall be when our Lord shall proceed in Judgment towards all when according to the order of the Resurrection those that are Christs shall be first called judged and absolved when according to the order of the Parable Matt. 25.34 Those shall be adjuged to glory first who fed the hungry cloathed the naked took into their houses those that were strangers c. This I doubt not you 'l confess is a great happiness indeed well when our Lord cometh thus happy shall all his faithful and diligent Servants be who in life laid out themselves in labour for the Lord who in death rest from their labours and whose labours follow them into Judgment to be examined pardoned and rewarded according to the riches of Grace 9thly Our Lord when he cometh will add another thing to their happiness They shall then with him as assessors and approvers of his righteous proceeding with the rest of the world sit Judges of the world of this we are assured Jude 14 The Lord cometh with or in midst of ten thousand of his Saints to Judg c. Of this the Apostle speaks more clearly 1 Cor. 6.2 The Saints shall judg the world Nay more we shall judg Angels saith the Apostle This honour have all his Saints and in this they are blessed and this is enough to make every condition good to them until the glorious coming of their Lord until they are thus advanced In a word Christ seems to promise to his who are more than the ordinary Servants in his Family a more than ordinary degree of this Honour Luk. 22. ver 28 29 30. with Matt. 19.28 I will not enquire how far faithful Stewards and Ministers are herein next to the Apostles concerned It is well for them their faithfulness to souls shall then be manifested and honoured 10thly and lastly Christ our Lord when he cometh in the Glory of his Father Judg of all will when the solemnity of Judgment is finished and the wicked world is cast into Hell thrown into the place of Torment where their worm dieth not where the fire is not quenched Then Christ will take all his faithful ones and pass with them into the inconceivable and eternal Glory of his Kingdom brought to the fullest degree of greatness and Majesty that is foretold to us When they shall ever be with the Lord and behold his Glory when they shall be like to him whom they see and be filled with that Glory that shineth on them when all the Saints of God and none others shall be amassed into one great and general assembly and all orderly ranged before the throne of God and the Lamb ministring in sinless praises love and adoration for ever Now certainly could you and I lift up our eyes towards this illustrious assembly could we view them there we should ever be satisfied That diligence in and faithfulness to the service of our Lord according to our capacity now is and will at the coming of our Lord appear to be as much our comfort and happiness as it is our Duty and ought to be our care Oh then let us consider What it is to be acquitted from guilt What to be approved and rewarded What 't is to be bettered by all providences What to die in safety at last Is not this to be blessed Is not this to die the death of the righteous Why Christians your faithfulness and diligence shall so be found and so end if you continue it Do we believe a glory succeeds our death a resurrection our burial a publick absolution our being judged shall we sit assessors approvers and witnesses to the Great Judg and pass with him into glory everlasting And shall not our unwearied diligence and faithfulness exercised in his Service prove we believe the truth and expect this benefit hereof I hope now you will be less moved with present difficulties and more fixed for future diligence in serving the Lord and doing good to his Family expressed here by giving the Portion of meat in season in which appears the wisdom and fidelity of Servants and Stewards and to which blessedness is annexed and appropriated in the Text. The Reason whereof is the fifth general head of discourse and which we shall now briefly touch upon 1. Wisdom and faithfulness in Servants and Stewards are the best qualifications and comprise all that a Lord and Master requireth or need require in them for wisdom makes them meet for such a trust and faithfulness encourageth their Lord to trust them And both these appear in their observing what is sit for each person and season and applying to both accordingly So when Fathers know what is fit for Children and Masters know what is fit for Servants and Ministers for their people and accordingly instruct reprove warn encourage or comfort them Here is both the widom and fidelity requisite to a good Servant and the Lord who intends in the Text to oblige us to all that good Servants and Stewards should do hath thus closely couched all our Duty in this comprehensive phrase So the blessedness is appropriated not to a single Duty but to the universal diligent discharge of all our Duty which is summed up in this giving to each other our Portion of meat in season 2. Thus we are seasonably minded of that great and necessary duty which the last and worst age of the world doth neglect we are minded of giving mutual help and furtherance to each other in the way of Holiness and Obedience Our disputing quarrelling censuring and condemning age is ready to turn one another out of the way to dispute each other out of the truth and to quarrel each other for doing their duty instead of helping each other to do it But this little becomes Servants and Stewards in the same Family this is no part of their wisdom or fidelity Christ knew we should unto his coming need each others help and hath therefore so commended it as our wisdom and fidelity and so encouraged the discharge of it by this large reward Let us then have so much reason to see the excellency of the duty and temper and so much Religion before God and love to our selves as to get this temper that we may do the duty and receive the reward and be at last blessed with those we helpt towards Heaven 3. This giving the portion of meat in season This charitable benificence puts
a great honour upon Religion and commends it to others And Christ doth therefore expect we should thus adorn our Profession and he encourageth us to it by such a declaration of the blessedness of those who attend this duty A wise faithful and diligent Physitian credits his Profession and convinceth men that it is very useful and profitable to mankind A Christian of such a temper in Christianity and so exercising himself to do this comprehensive good in his place doth as much convince the world that Christianity is of all Professions most useful to mankind who are by it helped forward in the arduous and important affairs of eternity 4. Thus we are awakened to greater watchfulness over our selves and others and minded of observing laying hold on and improving opportunities which though we are so engaged not to let slip yet we too too often let fall quite out of our own hands and that becometh for ever impossible to us which once might have been easily effected by us Time is not easily redeemed but opportunities are more difficultly recovered and for most part once slipt and for ever lost Well then might such Emphasis be laid on this Duty of giving a portion in season that all might be awakened to heed what opportunities are in their hand Oh consider it I beseech you Parents for your Children Husbands for your Wives Masters for your Servants elder ones for the younger and Ministers for their People you cannot always live they must dye and neither can give or receive helps when death swallows up your opportunities You 'l never hear him catechising preaching praying and exhorting who now rests in his grave and you are not sure you shall ever have such another How heedful should we be then to receive our portion when offered and to offer it to others while we may and be so found prepared for the reward which is promised to these good Servants but is reserved until the coming of our Lord The reason of which delay or adjourning of our happiness is the sixth General branch of our discourse and now cometh to be considered And so 1. The seasons and manner of our Lords coming before Death and Judgment are notable discoveries of the unhappiness of sinners and therefore do by a necessary consequence manifest the happiness of the servants of God Though light is always pleasant yet it was most pleasant in Goshen when Egypt lay in darkness Heaven is always desirable but when the misery threatned involves the contemners of it they will appear blessed indeed who sought it and obtain'd it The various coming of our Lord doth shew the world the evil state in which the unbelieving and rebellious sinners are found and so cannot but shew the good state in which the faithful are found to be at his coming 2. There is somewhat of Royal prerogative in it God will have his last coming to be the season because it seems good to him that it should be so And this were reason enough though there were no other he hath reserved times and seasons in his own hand and he who gives the reward freely may surely choose the time wherein he will give it That ever he will give it is grace that he will give it at last is his pleasure of which none ever complain'd when they received the blessing 3. There is much of Decorum and due order herein it would not be so seasonable at any other time their Service is for the Lord their Master and he is the fittest to view their Service and to assign their recompence they did not expect their happiness before his coming and yet they professed they should receive it at his coming and now when times and seasons suit their expectations and declared hopes there appears a just order and harmony between times and things Now the promise and their hopes are consonant to each other 4. There is somewhat of that we call necessary in the case their happiness is reserved to that time because it could not be sooner For 1. All the greatest good Gods Servants can receive before this coming of their Lord is too little and mean to be their blessedness besides that most of external advantages are the rewards of such as shall never have better and are given to hypocrites Now 't is necessary that faithful Servants should stay till they may receive a better reward than hypocrites have 2. It is necessary all their work be done before they receive their full blessedness now their work ends not till they dye then their works follow them and they are blessed It is not more necessary a Labourer do his work ere he receive his wages or a Soldier conquer ere he triumph than that the faithful Servants of the Lord do all their work ere they are blessed and fully recompenced for it 3. Full blessedness of Gods Servants must be in a place and state where all not one excepted may meet and be joynt-heirs of the same inheritance Now this cannot be in any place or state but that to which at the Lords coming they shall be carried Now we come into the world live a few days and in small numbers together and cannot live all together nor long together your tears witness it but we must be all gathered together ere all tears shall be wiped from all faces and this cannot be but where our Lord will be with us for ever which will not cannot be till his coming 4. Vntil death be conquered and we raised immortal which cannot be till the last coming of our Lord we are not able to bear that glory which must be our final and full blessedness none can see God while they live mortal flesh is too weak for immortal Glory this is too weighty a Crown for heads that must lye down in dust We must dye that we may be raised immortal and so be made capable of our final happiness Vlt. lastly in a word The eternal Presence of God with us in the immediate fruits of it is our objective happiness and necessary to our reward and this cannot be hoped or enjoyed whilst we are on this side eternity and are measur'd by time But when the last coming of our Lord shall determine the periods of time and fix our eternity which shall commence at the expiration of time Then he will never more be absent from us or hide his presence or abate it to us This being necessary to our happiness it is necessary we stay until his last coming wherein you will I hope and wherein I pray that you may meet the faithful and diligent Servants of God his Stewards wherein I perswade my self you will meet this faithful servant of Christ whom you now lament but shall then ever rejoyce with him Sirs I believe you will scarce doubt the truth I have preached I am sure you cannot with reason contradict it I hope you will not through slothful hearts lose the proposed blessedness which is last that it may be best
for which the Heathen Priests were wont to Inspect the Bowels of their Sacrifices according to that in the Poet. Consulit Exta Augur absolvens superis effata recantat These Weather-Gagers were antiently applyed to to secure Corn Ground Vineyards and Cattle as well as Towns and Houses from Storms and Tempests mentioned by Seneca in his Fourth Book of Natural Questions They were deputed to a certain Office to observe give notice to the People when a Storm was coming who upon such warning hastened to kill a Lamb or a Chick or some young thing or other or if they had none of these to offer they were to prick their Finger and that blood was accepted and the Storm ceased or was prevented This was indeed a strange kind of Oblation and one might well conclude with Seneca that the Clouds have little Affinity with blood or a Prickt Finger but what will not the great Enemy of Souls do if he can but abuse and delude poor Men into a belief that by some outward means Tempests may be diverted that they may have the less suspicion of themselves and be less suspected by others whilst in the mean time they are hereby ensnared into a Diabolical Idolatry By Sorcerers such may be understood who having Contracted a Familiarity and entred into a Confederacy with the Devil or some of his Infernal Spirits consult and advise with their Hellish Confederates about the affairs in which they are employed and make their determinations according to the advice of their Familiars Nay many Extraordinary things which seem to be done by the Sorcerer are really done by the Spirit so that they seem to Exchange forms one with the other the Daemon sometimes appears in the shape and resemblance of the Sorcerer at another time the Sorcerer shall haunt ye in semblance of the Daemon Of this more will appear when we come to particular Instances in the subsequent discourse Magician is a name which imports the esteem the Ancients had for such as could perform feats above the reach and Conception of Ordinary men whether by that which is called Natural Magick or some stricter Familiarity with the Inhabitants of the lower world they were by them esteemed Wise-Men for so the word Magi Signifies and that is the name which the Turks give to their Conjurers and such as deal in those forbidden Arts at this day Such were those whom the hardened Pharaoh called for by their Magical Operations to perform things semblable in some sort and like those wrought by Holy Moses by a Divine Command and power for the wicked King saw them turn Water into Blood Rods into Serpents and with Multitudes of Frogs to cover the face of the Earth Nor is it Improbable that the evil Angels were permitted by an Extraordinary providence thus to exert and shew their power by the hand of their evil Ministers in a Judicial way for the hardening of that seared King so that seeing the seeming miracles wrought by his Magicians he might be the more confirmed in his obstinacy against the Counsel of God by his Servant Moses For the sacred Text assures us that he was raised up in an Extraordinary manner to be to future Ages an Example of the Righteous Judgment of God upon hardened self-deluded and deluding Infidels And some we read of are given up to strong delusions that they might believe a Lie By a Witch is Commonly understood a Femal Agent or Patient who is become in Covenant with the Devil having in a literal sense sold her self to work Wickedness such whose chief Negotiation tends to the spoiling their Neighbours persons or goods They have Commonly certain Excrescencies like Teats or Nipples in private parts of their Bodies which their Familiars often suck Sometimes personally and sometimes in a Dream or Trance they Revel with the evil Spirit in nightly Cabals and Consults Those particularly intended here are such as are Commonly called Black Witches there is besides another sort termed White Witches These by a Diabolical Complaisance or good-nature are to uncharm and give ease to those the other have afflicted but sometimes it so happens that one or other of the Witches dyes by force of the Counter-charm Both these are condemned to death by the Divine Law Exod. 22.18 The Suasion of such hath been sometimes sought unto and used to entice young Maids to unclean folly But Witches are themselves Imposed upon as well as they Impose on others The Grand Impostor the Devil deceiveth them as they deceive those that seek unto them and the Cures which by these Imps are performed on the Bodies of their deluded Patients tend to the Tainting and Infection of the Soul There are divers other General names for the Students of this Infernal Art as Enchanters Wizzards Dreamers Observers of times of divers of which there will be Instances in the following Collection of Relations But these being mostly Included under the definitions herein specified being much of the same Import and Signification it will be Superfluous to mention in this place but the further Notion of those Black Scholars will be better discerned as we come to give Relation of their several ways and Methods of their Operations as they appear in the subsequent Chapters Having thus displayed the various degrees and kinds of those Confederates with the Lower World we shall now enter upon the proofs that the Heathen Priests of Old and the Idolatrous Papists of later date have been and are the Great promoters of this Infernal and accursed defection from the Eternal Fountain of happiness and the great encouragers of Daemonolatry as well as Idolatry that is to say of Devil-Worship which is the highest Homage he expects from his Infatuated Vassals and on the Account of which he principally instructs them in the dark and devilish Mysteries of Hell-Craft and Fascination It was alwaies the Custom of the Nations to seek unto their Gods for Counsel in the case of War and other Extremities and as the holy one Commanded his People to seek his face and call upon his name and expresly in the first Table forbids the making any semblance or likeness of any Image in Heaven in Earth or in the Waters under the Earth thereby strictly forbidding all manner of Idolatry so the wicked Angel hath at all times been seducing and alienating the hearts of Men from their Obedience to the Righteous Command by setting up false Gods And as the Prophets and Holy Men of God spake as they were Inspired by the Holy Ghost So the Idol Priests and Pythonists delivered the Devils Oracles to the People They were enquired of and sought unto in relation to future events and Contingencies Nay so far had these Infernal Priests Imposed upon the Biggotted World that their Daemons or Familiars for their Deities were no better obtained Divine Adoration and wanted not their High-places Groves and Altars so this Devil-Worship was Promoted under the Notion of Religion and their Services abounded with the
Sphere and it will not be found at all available against the Possibility of such performances no more than a Mans doubting how it is possible that the Sea doth Ebb and Flow should be an Argument that there were no such thing in Nature We cannot conceive how from such small and various Seeds such different species of Plants and Trees receive their Formation or how the Extream distant Natures and Compositions of Soul and Body are United but Yet notwithstanding our Ignorance these things are very Obvious to our sense tho beyond the Comprehension of our Reasons and therefore it is no wonder if we are strangers to the Constitutions and Powers of Creatures that do not appear to us Therefore the best Judgment we can make of such extraordinary things is by the Evidence and not the Measure of our Fancies For by this we are certainly convinced that such things are really so tho by reason of our confined Circumstances we are not able to penetrate into the Rationality of their Contingencies CHAP. V. Propositions or Assertions concerning Witches and Witchcraft The Character of a Witch Same Considerations of the Original of their power THE last Chapter having designed that Idol Worship as the Devil is therein proposed Objectively to be Adored Is not only a great Countenancer but Tends vastly to the promotion of Diabolical Confederacies Before we proceed to a particular and Historical Account of Ancient and Modern Witches it may be necessary a little farther to explain what we mean by a Witch and how far the power of such a one may be understood And this being a nice and difficult determination The Candid Reader shall find very little new Asserted Notions either in Relation to their persons or practices but we shall chuse to lay down what the most Unprejudiced Learned and Sober Writers of things relating to Matters of this Nature have upon their best search and Enquiry determined And first it is agreed that it is very difficult to prove such or such a one to be a Witch and it ought to be done with the greatest Caution and Tenderness Imaginable The loss being greater on the part of a false Testimony than on that of a Supposed Criminal Infernal Contracts are not supposed to be made in the presence of Witnesses being as hath been said against the Law of God and Man So that the Devil out of a seeming regard to the safety and Immunity of his Prostitute may omit the Ceremony of Testes the black pupil acting with greater security when she apprehends none knows of or is privy to the Confederation Yet is there no doubt but the Devil is as secure of his prey as if the whole world had subscribed a Teste to the Indenture for by the consent of the party he hath Seisin of her as his Property which he will be sure never to part with unless Ejected by a stronger than He. Those Hellish Compacts therefore are Managed like the filthy Intrigues betwixt a Fornicator and his Strumpet where it may be no Eye sees them that may Expose them to the penalties of Humane Laws and it is difficult to prove matter of fact between them but at last a Spurious off-spring or a more Nauseous Rotteness unveils them to the world and they linger out to a more Infamous Death than if the Law had Chastised them The Rotteness of their bones giving them more severe pains and Twinges than the Rod of Justice could have done Not unlike this do some of these Infernal Prostitutes Escape the hand of the publick Justice until at last their loath'd and miserable Lives are seized as forfeitures to the Devil and they are found like Faustus with broken Necks or with some other wrack upon their Nauseous Bodies that Evidently discovers their souls to have been Extorted from them and that they have been forcibly Ejected upon forfeiture of their Lease Some too may have been unjustly accused for Witches either by an Ignorance of Causes meerly Natural or misapplying Causes that in themselves are supernatural So that the very same operations which to Intelligent and Enquiring Philosophers are meerly the product of Natural Sympathies or Antipathies of Heat or Cold or the like to the unskilful shall appear as done by Art Magical or Diabolical So the Freezing a cup of snow-water to a Stool by the fireside looks to some weak persons with an Aspect very strange and unaccountable whilst to those that consider and know the restringent Quality of the Salt the others Admiration becomes almost Ridiculous It is acknowledged by all Naturalists that the power of Imagination hath had and may have strange Effects especially upon tender and Irrational Bodies such as Children Chickens Lambs c. according to that of Virgil Nescio quis Teneros Oculus mihi fascinat Agnos And very strange performances may be effected by an Exalted and Fixed Imagination the Intention of which vastly contributes towards the Effecting things seemingly Impossible The formation of the Child in the Mothers Womb which if good Authority may be Credited hath been Imputed to the force of an Imagination strongly possessed with such or such a belief And to this purpose it is very remarkable what is by a learned pen related of a Lady who being used to wear patches and that during the time she was with child a Gentleman told her that her child would have such a patch in its forehead and accordingly at the birth of the Child such a spot was discerned in the place described and still remained in that same part of the Ladies Face as a Testimony of the Impression a powerful Imagination may have on tender Bodies Infinite more are the Experiments that might be mentioned of this kind but if I should Enumerate never so many it would nevertheless appear that the Feats and performances of Infernal Confederacies vastly surpass whatsoever can be thought attainable in this kind and this will be so Evident by matters of Fact related in the following Collection that it would be needless to speak any thing more to it in this place Besides if it be supposed that some have been suspected for Witches barely for having deformed Bodies Ill Aspects or Melancholy Constitutions doth it any ways appear from hence that there is really no such thing as a Witch Or may it not with as much reason be alledged that because some for having Arms found about them have been wrongfully accused for being Robbers that therefore there is no such thing as a High-way man Such allegations as these do not at all disprove the Existence of such Haggs Tho I must confess that there is no reason that any person by reason of those deformities which may be only the Effects of old Age or the product of some disease should be presently Indicted and trust up for a Witch nor can I Imagine that ever such a thing hath been in a Civilized Nation without the concomitant circumstances of some other proofs That would be a hard case indeed