Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	wonder_n	word_n	world_n	131	3	4.1962	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28908	Pandaemonium, or, The devil's cloyster being a further blow to modern sadduceism, proving the existence of witches and spirits, in a discourse deduced from the fall of the angels, the propagation of Satans kingdom before the flood, the idolatry of the ages after greatly advancing diabolical confederacies, with an account of the lives and transactions of several notorious witches : also, a collection of several authentick relations of strange apparitions of dæmons and spectres, and fascinations of witches, never before printed / by Richard Bovet ...	Bovet, Richard, b. ca. 1641.	1684 (1684)	Wing B3864; ESTC R15851	101,986	250

But I think it will not be difficult to prove that there have been some whose Insides have been blackned with as foul and damnable Confederacies as others who have notwithstanding appeared with Faces very Charming and Angelical For we have no account of any very Nauseous deformity that sate on the forehead of Jesabel Joan of Arc or Joan Queen of Naples And perhaps the Attempts of these Hellish Agents may pass with less Suspicion when under the plausible disguise of a handsom Face For from Objects Nasty and deformed men Naturally turn away with a kind of Innate Aversion and Contempt whilst under the Charming Attraction of a fair Face the Magical Enchantment Insensibly Steals upon men Nor is the Devil at any time more dangerous than when he appears as an Angel of Light Spotswood in his History of the Church of Scotland book the 6th page 383. Reports that there was one Agnes Sampson amongst the Witches and Sorcerers of that Kingdom who was comonly called the Wise Wife of Keith who was very remarkable being as he says a Woman not of the sordid and base sort of Witches in outward appearance but of a Matron like and grave Mein settled and seemingly Judicious in her answers who upon her Examination declared That she had a Familiar Spirit which upon her Invocation usually appeared to her in a Visible form resolved her of doubtful Matters especially concerning Matters relating to the Life or Death of persons lying sick and that he had taught her when she called him to use the word Holla Master Upon which he usually appeared to her See Wanly's Wonders of the little World lib. 5. chap. 20. So that Deformity alone is no more an Argument of a Witch than Beauty may be said to be an Evidence of a Whore Somtimes it is Objected that some have come in and given Evidence against themselves and being brought before Magistrates have it may be thought causlesly accused themselves by Confessing themselves to be Witches and relating divers things by them done as they have supposed by the help of the Devil And all this may be the Effect of a Deep Melancholy or some Terrour that they may have been under or perhaps an Argument that themselves have at the same time been under the Power of Witchcraft or at least in some kind of Delirium of Phancy So some Lunaticks have fancied themselves to be Kings or Queens and it hath been beyond the Power of the most Rational Arguments and Demonstrations to convince them of the contrary But the Self-accusations of such is as little to be credited as the Self-Compurgations and Applauses of others without some more substantial Testimony It is Observable that Witches are commonly of the Female Sex and some there are that confine that Term wholly to them And ever since the prevalence of the First Temptation upon the first Woman it is no wonder if the subtil Adversary still offer his Baits to such palats as are most desirous to taste Fruits forbidden and more negligent in Enquiring into the Nature of what they Swallow It was an Observation of Fulgentius Nescio quid habet Muliebre Nomen semper cum Sacris And it has been a long time observed of them that if they incline to Virtue and Piety few go beyond them but if they take up with Superstitious and evil courses none surpass them in Heights of Wickedness and mischief Tho these wretched Artists are commonly distinguished into those of the Black and White orders they are certainly the same and cannot be said to differ in deeds of darkness which admit of no difference of Colour They are certainly both alike guilty in Compounding with the Devil The black are those which are looked upon to do the most Mischief because they commonly Torment mens bodies or Injure them in their Estates and the White are reckoned to be such as restore people to health and to goods lost So that accordingly they have acquired the Names of Good and Evil Women But what Fellowship hath Light with Darkness or what Communion hath Christ with Belial Both these deal in the same forbidden Arts and Equally bring Clients to their Hellish Master They may be said to be like the Glasiers boys about the Town who Employ themselves to break the Neighbours windows that their Masters may have the profit of mending them again Some Ancient Arts and Mysteries are said to be lost but we have reason to believe that the Father of Mischeif will not let fall any of those Trades by which he brings Souls to perdition as long as he can have Scholars and Servants to carry on his purposes So that we need not doubt the Continuance of that Ancient Devil-Craft and Infernal Combination as long as a Sordid Ignorance Revengeful Malice or Blind Superstition remain in the World The Ignorant resort to it as to a School of Instruction where they proceed and graduate themselves in the Cursed Mathematicks and Mysteries of the Lower World The Malicious apply themselves for Revenge to wreak their spleens upon those they have Animosity against and they are all the better part of Mankind For if once they become in League with the Devil they must be supposed to have espoused his Interest so far as to stretch out their Malice answerable to his Enmity which is against all Mankind in general but particularly against those of the greatest Integrity as is evident in the case of our First Parents Job our Blessed Saviour and his Holy Apostles And in the Revelation of St. John the Angel tells the Church of Smyrna that the Devil should cast some of them into prison that they might be Tryed And Luke 22. chap. 31. vers He tells Peter that Satan had desired to winnow him as they do wheat but our Lord had prayed for him c. And this must be Imputed to that Enmity which was put between the seed of the Woman and that of the Serpent So that ever since the Apostate Angel hath by himself and his wicked Agents continually been Attempting to wreak his Revenge upon them The Superstitious are with as much ease as any drawn into the Fatal snare for they often become Witches by endeavouring to defend themselves against Witchcraft These doubting that some Witch might have power to hurt them arm themselves with the Devil's Shield against the Devil's Sword Putting on the Armour of Charms and Spells piecemeal by degrees until at length they come to be Devil-fenc'd cap-a-pie and so at first they are drawn into a League Defensive until at last it comes to be declared Offensive too That Art is quickly learnt which wants nothing but Credulity and practice to attain it and where the Devil once finds an Invitation he ever after Haunts Of these Proficients in the Black Mysteries there are some who at first begin with Feats rather diverting than Hurtful for they are sometimes entertained by Ludicrous and gamesom Spirits who to appearance do things seemingly pleasant but this pastime costs

you if you will remember and imitate those whose life and carriage was much in your eye And let me tell you in the Copy our late faithful Brother set you there are remarkable for your imitation A prudent care to manage soul-concerns a constant unwearied diligence in Labours for their good an undaunted resolution for known duty to God and Man a tender and meek spirit gently dealing with the weak yet willing enquirers after God A ready and full-willing mind to minister on every occasion to the edifying of those he conversed with An even and steddy practice of what he commended as excellent or urged as necessary duty an acquaintedness with the importance of duty and reward A serious mindfulness of Death and Judgment on which he discoursed frequently and lively dying to the World but living to God and still valuing most what was so good God would not and men could not take from him which appear'd in his deportment and frame of spirit when loss of dying Children and uncertain riches raised his esteem and value of the Gospel and his and your hopes set before us in the Gospel a heart full of love and thoughtfulness for your good whence those last desires and requests in order to the promoting of your good which I am informed he left you to consider Prize a Guide that will be faithful to your souls keep the unity of the spirit into which you are called by the Gospel and seek God earnestly for both Now could we prevail with you who heard and with others who read this discourse to endeavour for such a frame of spirit and to act according to it I know there would be more faithfulness diligence and mutual hope among the Servants of the Lord and his Family would be more beautiful in sight of others and more comforted and edified in their own souls Read then and read again and be in your houses which should be little Families or Churches of God in directing and helping them to Heaven what he desired and labour'd to be amongst you all I do think he gave you the Copy of Faithfulness and Diligence or I would not have thus set it before you and I commend it to you as becomes both me and it viz. It is the Copy of one who whilst he was good was still a man but though I could wish you would excel him I will not flatter you with a hope you will do it Oh that you would equal him of whom allow me to say He could do as much as most of best Men Scholars Christians Husbands Fathers Brethren Ministers and his will was ever equal to his ability the Service of his Lord was his life though he lived not on it he would not he could not live without it by a gracious Master sitted for succeeded in carried through much work in a little time and I believe now rewarded with a Crown of Life and Righteousness which he knew he did not merit though he knew it should be his wages In brief he was such an one as friends who knew him desire they may be and now is such as they hope they shall be such an one as some enemies already as I am inform'd have wisht they might be and others will once at last wish they had been He had a worth known to himself and others but it did not puff him up Should I say all I could strangers would think I exceed Friends would know a better Orator might justifiably have spoken more Yet once for all If either Readers or Hearers carp at the Character I have given him I have two things to say First it will be easier to quarrel at the praises than to deserve them Next I would defraud none of the Commendation due to them nor do I prefer him above all there are some but too few superior in gifts and graces I hope there are many his equals I am sure the most are lower by head and shoulders who likeliest to misinterpret me shall have a good wish for them or rather a serious Prayer testimony of a hearty love to their persons and unfeigned desire of their own good comfort and welfare and of all these to theirs and the Church of God in this and after ages for them I say I will pray more days fewer troubles and that they may be in other things altogether such as he was FINIS only on particular Men Women and Children but even on whole Towns and Countries many of which have been miserably Afflicted and some even totally destroyed by Tempests Fires Pestilences and other strange Accidents whereof no cause in Nature could appear And this hath been Attested not by one or two private or Ignorant Men but Transmitted from one Generation to another as the Opinion of the most Authentick Historians Physicians and Divines grounded on the best and strictest Enquiries of such who have taken Indefatigable pains to sift and search out the truth of what they have Related Nor have we alone the Authority of such but the consent of whole Courts of Judicature and the most Learned Assemblies of States-Men and Divines who in all Ages by their Publick Solemn Sanctions have declared their belief Detestation of such Cursed Practices Besides the undeniable Testimony of the sacred Scriptures before mentioned to whose Unerring Suffrage we ought to submit our belief and not by our fidelity Contradict the Authority of the Almighty and take upon us to be the Patrons and Champions of those Hellish Practises we seem to disbelieve By Charmers in a strict sense may be understood such as by some spell or form of Words employ their Familiar Spirits to bring at their call such Creatures as they shall demand rendering Venomous Creatures disarmed of their Noxious Quality during their pleasure and the most Ferose and Wild Brutes to become Tractable and Couchant Such were they who could suscitate or call together great numbers of Snakes or Serpents and cause them to go of their own accord into the Fire which was inclosed within a Magical Circle of which Dr. Casaubon of Credulity and Incredulity gives an account at large page 103. some have Charmed Flyes and Grashoppers when the Fields have been Infested with them and the fruits of the Earth in danger And of this sort of Operators the Psalmist seems to speak Ps 58. v. 4. Which will not hearken to the voice of the Charmer Charming never so wisely So Ecclesiastes ch 10.11 v. surely the Serpent will bite without Enchantment and the 8. of the Prophet Jerem. 17. v. I will send Serpents Cockatrices amongst you which will not be Charmed and they shall bite you c. Southsayers were such as by Inspection into the Entrails of Beasts or the flying of Birds were wont to prognosticate of Weather what Tempests or other seasons were like to ensue they gave their Opinions too with relation to other Contingencies as Events of Battle the fatality of Seasons or Attempts This they foretold by some certain Omens

of Enquiring of her was supposed verse 7th Besides it seems evident that the Samuel there raised up was not by the power of the Witch for she was affrighted when she saw Samuel and cryed out like one in a surprise and under a Disappointment of what she Expected This was none of her Familiars that appeared for then we may conclude she had not been transported with such a fear Her Confederates were tyed up and could not answer her but it is most probable to be the Prophet Samuel raised by the power of God to pronounce the Sentence of death upon Saul and his Sons for his Disobedience which the Holy man had told him was as the sin of Witchcraft and for Violating the Righteous Command in applying himself to the Witch of Endor contrary to the declared will of God Not unlike to this was that dreadful Judgment of Fire from Heaven which at the prayer of Eliiah fell upon the two Captains and their Fifty's when Ahaziah King of Samaria had sent his servants to Enquire of Baalzebub the Idol or Daemon of Ekron in 1. chap. 2 Book of Kings But how many more of this kind are mentioned in Scripture besides the Witch of Endor will appear if we read what is recorded of Manasseh Jesebell Simon Magus and Elimas the Sorcerer with many other Instances of the same kind whereof the New Testament as well as the Old hath divers extraordinary Relations but of that the passage in the Prophesie of Isaiah chap. 2. ver 6. they are southsayers like the Philistines And it is evident by the 19. verse of the 18. chap. of the same Prophesie that the Jewish Nation were in a great measure given up to the Satanicall delusion of enquiring after Witches and Sorcerers and such as divined to them by Pythons so that they forsook the holy Oracles of the Divine Law and in their difficulties they counselled one another to apply themselves to those forbidden abominations Therefore it must proceed from a Neglect or careless Perusal of the Sacred Books that any one should be ignorant of other instances of Witches besides that of the Pythoness of Endor Suidas has a most considerable proof of the Daemons answering the Heathens by Oracles where speaking of Augustus Caesar's enquiring at an Oracle who should be his Successor the Oracle returned him this answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which may thus be Englished A Boy Of Hebrew Offspring whom the Gods Adore Commands me hence to Hell my proper shore Henceforth forbear Our Altars to implore The Emperour at his return commanded an Altar to be Erected in the Capital having this Inscription Haec est Ara Primogeniti Dei This is the Altar of the first-born of God Now it is plain that our Saviour was born dureing the Reign of this Augustus for in the second chap. of St. Luke we find that Joseph and Mary went up to Judea to be taxed at that time when Augustus had imposed a General Tax upon the World and that during their abode at Bethlehem the blessed Nativity happened of which the Eastern Sages had notice by his Star and that the Roman Cesar had some such apprehension or Impression at least the words upon the Altar do plainly manifest And if this relation of Suidas obtain credit it may easily be Evinced that they were Daemons or Crafty Spirits which answered at the Oracles of the Heathens for if we admit that many answers were given by the Cunning and Jugling of their Priests Yet it could not make for their interest to discredit their Oracle nor for the Credit of their Deity But the almighty power of the Son of God forced those Infatuating Spirits to acknowledge his Soveraign Divinity as the unclean Spirit in the 8. chap. of Luke verse 28. What have I to do with thee Jesus thou Son of the most High God Thus at the arising of the Son of Righteousness did the Dark Oracles vanish as the shadows of the night are chased away by the Appearing of the Sun beames To which may be added what Plutarch relates in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He tells yee that a certain company sailing from Greece towards Italy happened of a sudden to be becalmed and one Thamus an Egyptian who was of the Ships Crew was called three times at the third call he made answer Here am I whereupon the voice bad him when he came to the Palodes certain Shelves in the Ionian Sea that then he should publish that the great Pan was dead And then the Ship was discharged of her restraint and went forward so that wh●n they came to the place appointed Thamus from the Poop of the Ship published what he had been commanded whereupon followed a great noise of shrieking and lamenting together so that the Sea resounded with the lamentation The Emperour Tiberius having been made acquainted with this passage demanded of his wise men who this great God Pan might be But the best answer they could give him was that he was the Son of Mercury and Penelope But this circumstance happening just at the time when our Saviour was crucified it was concluded by more intelligent and considerate men that by the Great God Pan was meant the Blessed Redeemer of Mankind who by his Death on the cross Overthrew the Kingdom and power of Satan so that the Devils were now to Quit those Oracles by which they had so long deceived the World and on this account those Spirits might be thought to make that great and dismall lamentation For from that time they soon ran into decay and the Delphi Oracula cessant which Juvenal records makes it plain that they were but of short continuance after the fatal blow given them on the Cross when our blessed Saviour gave up the Ghost with an It is Finished Now had these Oracles been managed only by the subtilty and artifice of the Priest it is very improbable but they might have been of longer continuance for the Priests continue to be as Crafty and Covetous as ever and as dexterous at all the feats of Juggling and Legerdemain But it is plain the time of their delusions was expired and it is no small Argument of the power of the Gospel of Truth that those vanquished Spirits flye before it they retire with the molten and Carved Images to the Owls and to the Batts not being able to endure the splendour of the Tidings of Salvation Hence it is that in those Countries where there is least Idolatry and where the sincere preaching of the Word of Power is countenanced there it is very rare comparatively to meet with instances of the Satanical craft and power his strong holds are beaten down tho some small forts he still retains amongst the ignorant and superstitious but in countries where Idolatry and Paganism prevail he Governs as among the Children of disobedience Here he hath his Groves his Cells and Hermitages and Altars He