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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09402	A discourse of the damned art of witchcraft so farre forth as it is reuealed in the Scriptures, and manifest by true experience. Framed and deliuered by M. William Perkins, in his ordinarie course of preaching, and now published by Tho. Pickering Batchelour of Diuinitie, and minister of Finchingfield in Essex. Whereunto is adioyned a twofold table; one of the order and heades of the treatise; another of the texts of Scripture explaned, or vindicated from the corrupt interpretation of the aduersarie.	Perkins, William, 1558-1602.; Pickering, Thomas, d. 1625.	1610 (1610)	STC 19698; ESTC S114527	101,186	282

described Witchcraft is a wicked Arte seruing for the working of wonders by the assistance of the Deuill so farre forth as God shall in iustice permit Sect. I. I say it is an Arte because it is commonly so called and esteemed amongst men and there is reason why it should be thus tearmed For as in all good and lawfull arts the whole practise thereof is performed by certaine rules and precepts and without them nothing can be done so Witchcraft hath certaine superstitious grounds and principles whereupon it standeth and by which alone the seats and practises thereof are commonly performed If it be demaunded what these rules be and whence they had their beginning considering that euery Arte hath reference to some author by whom it was originally taught and deliuered I answer that they weare deuised first by Satan and by him reuealed to wicked and vngodly persons of auncient times as occasion serued who receiuing them from him became afterward in the iust iudgement of God his instruments to report and conuey them to others from hand to hand For manifestation whereof it is to be considered that God is not onely in generall a Soueraigne Lord and King ouer all his creatures whether in heauen or earth none excepted no not the deuills themselues but that he exerciseth also a speciall kingdome partly of grace in the Church militant vpon earth and partly of glorie ouer the Saints and Angels members of the Church triumphant in heauen Now in like manner the Deuill hath a kingdome called in Scripture the kingdom of darknes whereof himselfe is the head and gouernour for which cause he is tearmed the Prince of darknes the God of this world ruling and effectually working in the hearts of the children of disobedience Againe as God hath enacted Laws whereby his kingdome is gouerned so hath the deuill his ordinances whereby he keepeth his subiects in awe and obedience which generally and for substance are nothing else but transgressions of the very lawe of God And amongst thē all the precepts of Witchcraft are the very chiefe and most notorious For by them especially he holds vp his kingdome and therefore more esteemeth the obedience of them then of other Neither doth he deliuer them indifferently to euery man but to his owne subiects the wicked and not to them all but to some speciall and tried ones whome he most betrusteth with his secrets as beeing the fittest to serue his turne both in respect of their willingnesse to learne and practise as also for their abilitie to become instruments of the mischiefe which he intendeth to others If it be here asked whence the deuill did fetch and conceiue his rules I answer out of the corruption and deprauation of that great measure of knowledge he once had of God and of all the duties of his seruice For that beeing quite depraued by his fall he turnes the same to the inuenting and deuising of what he is possibly able against God and his honour Hereupon well perceiuing that God hath expressely commanded to renounce and abhorre all practises of Whitchcraft he hath set abroach this art in the world as a maine pillar of his kingdome which notwithstanding is flatly and directly opposed to one of the maine principall lawes of the kingdome of God touching the seruice of himselfe in spirit and truth Againe the reason why he conueies these vngodly principles and practises from man to man is because he finds in experience that things are farre more welcome and agreeable to the common nature of mankinde which are taught by man like vnto themselues then if the deuill should personally deliuer the same to each man in speciall Hereupon he takes the course at first to instruct some fewe onely who beeing taught by him are apt to conuey that which they know to others And hence in probabilitie this deuillish trade had his first originall and continuance Sect. II. In the second place I call it a wicked art ●o distinguish it from all●good and lawfull a●●s taught in schooles of learnin● which 〈◊〉 they are war●antable by the word of God so are they no lesse profitable and necessary in the Church Againe to shewe the nature and quali●ie of 〈◊〉 that it is a most vngracious and wicked art as appear●th by the Scriptures For when Saul had broken the expresse commandement of God in sparing Agag and the best things Samuel tells him th●t rebellion and disobedience is as the sinne of Witchcraft that is a most horrible and 〈…〉 like vnto that wicked capitall and 〈◊〉 sinne 1. Sam. 15. 23. Sect. III. Thirdly I ●dde te●●ing to the working or producing of wonders wherein is noted the pro●er ende of this art whereby I put a further difference betweene it and others that are godly and lawfull Now if question be mooued why man should desire 〈◊〉 Witchcraft to worke wonders 〈…〉 the true and proper cause is 〈…〉 first temptation whereby the deuill preuailed against our first parents had inclosed within it many sinnes for the eating of the forbidden fruit was no small or single offence but as some haue taught contained in it the breach of euery commandement of the Morall lawe Amongst the rest Satan laboured to bring them to the sinne of discontentment whereby they sought to become as Gods that is better then God had made them not resting content with the condition of men 〈◊〉 his sinne was then learned and could neuer since b● forgotten but continually is deriued from them to al their poster●ie and now is become so common a corruption in the whole nature of flesh and blood that there is scarce a man to be found vvho is not originally tainted therevvith as he is a man This corruption shevves it selfe principally in tvvo things both vvhich are the maine causes of the practises of Witchcraft First in mans outwardest●●e for lie beeing naturally possessed with a loue of himselfe and an high conceit of his owne deseruing when he liues in base and low estate whether in regard of pouertie or want of honour and reputation which he thinkes by right is due vnto him he then growes to some measure of griefe and sorrow within himselfe Hereupon he is mooued to yeeld himselfe to the deuill to be his vassall and scholler in this wicked art supposing that by the working of some wonders he may be able in time to releeue his pouerty and to purchase to himselfe credit and countenance amongst men It were easie to shew the truth of this by examples of some persons who by these meanes haue risen from nothing to great places and preferments in the world In stead of all it appeareth in certain Popes of Rome as Syluester the second Benedict the eight Alexander the sixt Iohn the ●0 and twentie one c. who for the attayning of the Popedom as histories record gaue thēselues to the deuil in the practise of witchcraft that by the working of wonders they might rise frō one step of honour to

Exod. 22. 20. Deut. 13. 5. the Blasphemer must be stoned Leuit. 29. 19. And the VVitch is numbred amongst these grieuous of fend●rs therefore his punishment is as great as any other For the text saith he might not be suffered to liue Exod. 22. 18. But why should the VVitch be so sharply censured And what should mooue the Lord to allot so high a degree of punishment to that sort of offenders Ans. The cause was not the hurt which they brought vpon men in bodie goods or outward estate For there be sundrie that neuer did harme but good onely VVe reade not of any great hurt that was done by the Inchanters of Egypt or by the Pythonisse of Endor or by Simon Magus in Samaria And those diuining VVitches which haue taken vpon them to foretell things to come hurt not any but themselues yet they must die the death This therefore is not the cause But what if these doe hurt or kill must they not then die yes verely but by another law the law of Murther and not by the law of VVitchcraft For in this case he dieth as a murtherer and not as VVitch and so he should die though he were no VVitch The cause then of this sharpe punishment is the very making of a league with the deuill either secret or open whereby they couenant to vse his helpe for the working of wonders For by vertue of this alone it commeth to passe that VVitches can doe strange things in Diuining Inchanting and Iugling Now let it be obserued of what horrible impietie they stand guiltie before God who ioyne in confederacie with Satan Hereby they renounce the Lord that made them they make no more account of his fauour and protection they doe quite cut themselues off from the couenant made with him in Baptisme from the communion of the Saints from the true worship and seruice of God And on the contrarie they giue themselues vnto Satan as their god whome they continually feare and serue Thus are they become the most detestable enemies to God and his people that can be For this cause Samuel told Saul that rebellion was as the sinne of Witchcraft that is a most heinous detestable sinne in the sight of God The traytour that doth no hurt to his neighbour but is willing and readie to doe him the best seruices that can be desired is notwithstanding by the law of Nations no be●ter then a dead man because he betraies his Soueraigne and consequently cannot be a friend vnto the Common-wealth In like manner though the Witch were in many respects profitable and did no hurt but procured much good yet because he hath renounced God his king and gouernour and hath bound himselfe by other lawes to the seruice of the enemie of God and his Church death is his portion iustly assigned him by God he may not liue CHAP. VII The application of the doctrine of Witchcraft to our times THus hauing deliuered the true sense and interpretation of this Iudiciall Law both concerning the sinne of Witchcraft the persons by whom this sinne is practised it remaineth now that I should make some vse thereof by way of application to the Witches of our times In doing whereof foure particular Questions of moment are to be handled I. Whether the Witches of our times be the same with those that are here condemned by the law of Moses for some there be and those men of learning and members of Gods Church that hold they are not II. If they be the same as it shall appeare they are then how we may in these daies be able to discerne and discouer a Witch III. What remedie may be vsed against the hurt of Witchcraft IV. Whether our Witches are to be punished with death and that by vertue of this Lawe of Moses Sect. I. I. Question Whether the Witches of our times be the same with those that are here condemned by Moses Law Ans. If we doe well consider the qualitie and condition of the Witches of our daies we shall easily see that they be the same For experience sheweth that whether they be men or women but especially aged women they be such persons as doe renounce God and their Baptisme and make a league with the deuil either secretly or openly in which the deuill bindeth himselfe to teach them certaine rites and ceremonies whereby they may be able to worke wonders as to stirre vp tempests to reueale secrets to kill or hurt men and cattell or to cure and doe good according to the tenour of their couenant The confessions of Witches recorded in the Chronicles of countries through all Europe doe with common consent declare and manifest this point So that howsoeuer our VVitches may differ in some circumstances from those in the time of Moses as either in the instruments and meanes vsed or in the manner and forme or in some particular ends of their practises yet in the substance and foundation of Witchcraft they agree with them For both of them haue made a couenant with the Deuill one way or other and by vertue thereof haue wrought wonders aboue the order of nature Agreeing therefore in the verie foundation and forme of Witchcraft which is the league and in the proper end the working of wonders they must needs be in substance and effect the same with the Witches mentioned by Moses And yet this point is denied by some and the Witches of these daies haue their patrons who vse reasons to prooue that now we haue none such as we speake of Their reasons are specially three First they labour to take away the forme of Witchcraft affirming that there can be no confederacie made betweene the Witch and the Deuill and that for foure causes I. In euery league and contract the parties must be mur●ally bound each to other now betweene man or woman and the deuill there can be no bond made and though there could yet man is bound in conscience to God to renounce the bond of obedience to Satan and to breake the couenant Ans. There be two sorts of leagues lawfull and vnlawfull in all lawfull leagues it is true that there must be a mutuall bond of both parties each to other which may not be dissolued but in vnlawfull compacts it is otherwise And no man can say that this league betweene a Witch and the Deuill is lawfull but wicked and damnable yet beeing once made howsoeuer vnlawfully it is a league and compact This therefore prooueth not that there can be no couenant at all but that there can be no lawfull couenant betwixt them which no man will denie II. Satan and the Witch are of diuers natures he is spirituall they are corporall substances therefore there can be no league made betweene them Ans. The reason is not good For euen God himselfe who is of nature most simple and spirituall made a couenant with Adam renued the same vnto Abraham Isaac and Iacob and continueth it with his Church on earth from age