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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	air_n	body_n	element_n	4,001	5	9.7677	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07467	The admirable history of the posession and conuersion of a penitent woman Seduced by a magician that made her to become a witch, and the princesse of sorcerers in the country of Prouince, who was brought to S. Baume to bee exorcised, in the yeare 1610, in the moneth of Nouember, by the authority of the reuerend father, and frier, Sebastian Michaëlis, priour of the couent royall of S. Magdalene at Saint Maximin, and also of the said place of Saint Baume. Who appointed the reuerend father, Frier Francis Domptius, Doctor of Diuinity, in the Vniuersity of Louaine, ... for the exorcismes and recollection of the acts. All faithfully set down, and fully verified. Wherunto is annexed a pneumology, or discourse of spirits made by the said father Michaëlis, ... Translated into English by W.B.	Michaelis, Sébastien, 1543?-1618.; W. B., fl. 1613-1617.	1613 (1613)	STC 17854; ESTC S107052	483,998	666

most conspicuous thing that is Hence it is that as many as haue laboured to discouer the intricacy of these subtilties do resemble those that by a mathematicall demonstration would prooue quadraturam circuii for being not able to reach vnto it they haue an infinity of false hypotheses and suppositions Among these the two Arabicke Philosophers may be numbred Aben Rois whom some by corruption of speech cal Auerrois and Aben Pace whose opinions are largely confuted by Saint Thomas But to come to those who haue drawne neerer vnto the truth Aristotle doth affirme and prooue that those few Spirits whom he had knowledge of were certainely free from any Masse or pressure of bodies and were substances separated and abstracted from all composition of elements for he well knew that a corporeall forme ought to be proportioned vnto the body wherein it doth act and produce motion If then the Intelligences who moue the heauens were corporeall it must needs be that their bodies should be proportionable vnto the quantity of the heauenly bodies which is so great that it comprehendeth and compasseth in all the world and as touching the outward superficies it is contained in no place If then these Spirits should be fashioned to such greatnes they would be exceeding monstrous and hideous to looke vnto which is not to be conceited of these substances which are the most noble and excellent of all others They moue then the heauens as the reasonable soule doth our bodies that is meerely by their will which the body in his corporall motions cannot possibly resist if so be it be furnished with Organs proper for the same mouet voluntate non tactu which manner of working is strange and incomprehensible because it is a spirituall kind of working and not a corporall Many other reasons are alleaged by Aristotle but because they are drawne from naturall Philosophy and cannot easily be vnderstood but by those that are well versed in the Maximes of that science it shal be sufficiēt that we haue alleadged these few Plato seemeth to himselfe to haue soared higher in his Philosophy but he is not without this errours for hauing got the sight of the holy Scriptures and taking the words according to the rigor of the letter he affirmeth that these excellent Spirits haue a thinne and subtile kinde of body made of fire or ayre wherein he followeth the Scriptures which seeme to say that they are made of winde or of a flame of fire and do alwayes mention their appearing to be clothed in such materiall shapes as when they speake of the Angell that conducted the people in the wildernesse it is said that hee was as a pillar of fire vnto them in the night and as a cloud in the day Besides in the mountaine of Sinay there were seene lightnings lampes and flames of fier as also the two Cherubins of the Mercies seate resembled two yong boyes with winges and Helias his taking vp to heauen was by Horses of fire But Plaeto vnderstood not that it is an vsuall thing with the holy Scripture to set before vs the highest mysteries by metaphors borrowed from things that are more vile so they be more familiar vnto vs. In like manner are the fowre Elements the seauen Planets and that supreame heauen of all where God and his Saints do dwell blessed for euermore are represented vnto vs in the Mercies seate by artificiall things the seauen Planets by the seauen Lampes in the middest of whom one was more bright and conspicuous then the rest and that represented the Sunne the like may be said of other things as that in the garments of Auron the High Priest there was representation made of the whole world and a kinde of expression of the Maiesty of God as the wise man saith In veste Aaron erat descriptus orbis terrarum The linen breeches did betoken the earth not onely because the earth bringeth forth flaxe and linnen but also because it is one of the worst stuffes that is there described the large girdle wherewithall the Priest did engirt himselfe represented the Ocean sea that compasseth all the earth the coate of blew veluet with the little bells of pomegranets the aire which is of the same colour and is the shopp where all thunders and lightnings are hammered the Rochet that was vpon his shoulders beautified with all variety of precious colours the heauen where all the Starres do like spangles beautifie that place the twelue precious stones that were set into this garment the twelue signes of the Zodiacke the Miter vpon his head the highest heauen and the plate of gold in which the ineffable name of God was ingrauen and which was vpon all the rest did represent the Mai●sty of God In the like manner God is shadowed out vnto vs with eyes eares and hands that is to say seeing hearing and doing all things which these Anthropomorphites not vnderstanding did maintaine wherein they fell into Platoes errour that God had also a body but how monstrous a body must this be since God himselfe is euery where They may as well say that he is a Lambe a Lyon or a Beare and the like then which borrowed speeches nothing is more frequent in Scripture So that when Angels are figured out with winges and are said to be clothed with winde or fire it signifieth nothing else vnto vs but that they are swift and ready to execute the will of God as the Psalmist doth explaine it speaking of Angels and saying Potentes robore seu virtute ad audiendam vocem sermonum eius The Ethnicks also hauing stolue the same from the Iewish antiquities as Iosephas calleth them that is to say from the holy Scripture doth set forth Mercury with winges and describe the winde in the shape of a man hauing winges thereby to expresse the swiftnesse and celerity which they conceiued and saw in these things And Hamer when he would speake of Gods descent vpon the earth whom he alwayes calleth Iupiter hee bringeth him downe couered and wrapped in a cloud which he stole from the bookes of Moyses where God is alwayes said to come downe in a cloud Descendebat columna nubis ad ostium Tabernaculi and as King Dauid saith Descendit dominus caligo sub pedibus eius The winde also is figured out to be a man with winges which is drawne from that place Qui ambulas super pennas ventorum And that we may more fully vnderstand the Maiesty and antiquity of the holy Scripture from whence the opinions of Plato had their first ground and originall and which the most famous Philosophers and Diuines haue followed in part as we will by and by demonstrate it is expedient to obserue breefely that which the ancients haue more largely expressed vnto vs especially Clemens Alexandrinus Origen Eusebius and Tertullian and that is that whatsoeuer Poets and Philosophers whether they were Greekes or Latines haue truly and excellently

left vnto posterity they haue stolne or borrowed the same from the customs of the people of Israel S. Chrysostome commendeth the inuention of Poets in describing the sonne drawne in a burning Chariot by foure horses running at full speede this is not a meere fable saith he if it be rightly vnderstood because the Sunne in Greeke is called Helios For finding that Helias was carried to heauen in a firy Chariot drawne with foure horses they applied this vnto the Sunne conceiting that the Scripture spake metaphorically and by Helias meant Helion that is the Sunne The Cherubins also are said to be drawne in a Chariot and Abacuc calleth them the horses of God saying Qui ascendis super equos tuos This the Poets would expresse when they say that the heauens are wheeled and rowled about by Angels as if they were drawne by swift horses Moreouer whereas the Iewes had within their Temple two manner of Oracles the one vocall the other mute and without a voyce the first was when God spake out of the midle of the Tabernacle to Moyses the other when from the precious stones of the high Priests Ephod their beamed forth a certaine splendor that betokned good fortune which is mentioned in the 1. of Kings The Gentiles herein endeauoured to imitate the Iewes and had also two manner of Oracles the one which spake and was called Oraculum Dodoneum the other which spake not and was called Oraculum Hammonium which word Oracle signifieth in the Hebrew nothing else but a place of speaking and where answeres are commonly giuen for it is called Debir in Greeke it may be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Loquuterium as Saint Ierome hath obserued And as it is commanded in the Law that they should offer cakes vnto God in their sacrifices but that no sacrifice should be without salt so doth Pliny also note of the Gentiles omnibus sacrificijs adhiberi solitam molam salsam which is also witnessed by Ouid Ante deos homini quod conciliare valebat far erat puri lucida mica salis Hence haue the customes of the Gentiles there beginning and this Plato hath more excellently and accurately followed then any other whereupon he gained the surname of Diuine being commonly styled Diuinus Plato We are not then to wonder though Plato do affirme that Angels haue bodies of fire or ayre since that the Scripture doth so cleerely and frequently make repetition of the same and it may be that he vnderstood those speeches according to the sense and meaning of the Scripture that is to say metaphorically because either they are not so grosse and heauy as humane bodies which indure wearinesse in their motion or rather because they are like birds or clouds in the ayre or else because they appeare to men in such formes and fashions For if it bee lawfull for Moyses to say that God is a fire Deus noster inquit ignis consumens est because he was thus represented vnto him in the bush and vpon the mountaine why may it not be lawfull for vs to say that Spirits are made of aire or fire because in their apparitions they euer take an airie or a firie body vpon them And thus wee are to vnderstand S. Augustine when he seemeth to affirme that spirits haue bodies and thus S Bernard also is to bee interpreted that is that spirits are then said to haue bodies when they would appeare vnto vs for they can haue no other meaning since our eye hath no proportion with spirituall substances It may well be that some haue thus spoken of them thereby to intimate that spirits are not pure qualities but essences subsisting of themselues which maketh much against the error of the Sadduces who reduced all the apparitions recited in the fiue bookes of Moyses to the imaginations and fancies of men whereas indeed Angels doe vnderstand conferre and direct men managing and gouerning Prouinces and kingdomes and as our Sauiour saith they doe alwaies behold the face of God the Father which is in heauen Thus ought Tertullian to be vnderstood when he saith that God hath a bodie not that he hath the least composition of matter but he is a body that is to say a thing really subsisting accommodating his manner of speaking to the weakenes of ruder apprehensions and it may bee to the vnderstandings of certaine Anthropomorphites who as Cassianus saith by reason of their great dulnesse and simplicitie could not conceiue that any thing could bee reallie subsisting vnlesse it had a body not being able as wee are vsed to say to iudge further then their nose Notwithstanding the experiēce of the soules working may be sufficient to sublime mens thoughts from such earthie conceptions touching Spirits since the soule doth discourse and worke although the body be fallen into a sound sleepe Adam when he sleeped very profoundly saw God when he tooke from him one of his ribbes thereof to make the woman and when the soule at the houre of death is diuorsed from the body it cannot bee seene by any because it is a spirit as Christ himselfe vpon such an occasion did say Pater in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum and afterward inclinate capite emisit spiritum That we may vse these phrases of speaking in a good sense it appeareth by that which wee haue formerly said for wee cannot doe amisse in vsing Scripture-phrases if so bee they bee taken according to the meaning of the Scripture as Christ Iesus himselfe declareth in S. Iohn chap. 10. where he argueth against the Pharisies who in those daies stood nicely vpon words as wee haue many of that captious b●ood amongst vs in these times Againe it is not to be conceiued that so great and learned personages should be so ignorant as not to be conuersant in the texts of the new Testament which doe cleerely declare that they haue no bodies In the third place they doe for the most part expresse and interpret themselues as S. Atbanasius amongst the rest who in his definition of Angels doth briefly say Angelus est animal rationale but because the word Animal doth signifie a bodily substance he doth therefore afterwards explane himselfe and say Est autem expers materia Wherein although he seemes to contradict himselfe yet his meaning is that since the holy Scripture doth stile these spirits Animalia in Exodus and Abacuc In medio duorum animalium it is no absurditie to giue vnto them the same appellations but these places are to bee vnderstood metaphorically and then there can be no inference of bodily substance fastened vpon them Thus doth Didymus S. Ieromes Master say that an Angell can bee but in one place at one time and lest any man should misconceiue him as though he should maintaine them to be corporeall because it is the propertie of a body to be circumscribed in a place hee addeth in that very passage that they

into that from whence they were exhaled and drawne faith Tertullian Eadem ratione species illa intercepta est qua edita fuerat si non fuit initium visibile nec finis By which it appeareth that the Doue that descended from heauen and lighted vpon Christ Iesus was fashioned of aire and not of earth for it is said Descendit spiritus sanctus corporali specie sicut columba in ipsum The like may be said of the firy tongues that sate vpon the Apostles at the feast of Whitsontide Factus est repente de coelo sonus tanquam aduenientis spiritus vehementis So that it is cleere that these apparances are framed of aire as the cloud out of which God the Father spake to his Sonne in his transfiguration which vanished into aire as did Moyses also whose body in that apparition was composed of the same element and whiles the Apostles eyes were fixed on these obiects it vanished and they saw none but Christ Iesus alone So when the Angell appeared to Manoah the father of Samson he mounted vp into heauen in a flame of fire and in his ascent was visibly seene of him but by little and little Manoah and his wife lost the sight of him because his body began to dissolue into the first matter whereof it was framed Thus did the Angell that accompanied Tobias in his iourney It is now time said hee for me to returne to him that sent me and presently hee vanished from them And for addition vnto the truth hereof some alleage experience saying that if a man should cut such airie bodies it would fare with them as it doth with the Sun-beame which doth runne together and presently vnite it selfe without any signe of such separation which very well agreeth with the nature of aire and is fit to confute the error of Psellus who in the seuenth chapter of his booke maintaineth that they haue a naturall body yet in the 23. chapter he granteth that such bodies being smit asunder doe ioyne againe as doth the aire when it is diuided whence he might easily haue collected that these bodies must bee made of aire and not proper vnto Angels For touching the reason which he bringeth that if they had not bodies they could not be tormented with fire it is certaine that the diuine prouidence may easily bring to passe that a body may really worke vpon a spirit and likewise the contrary which no Christian can deny to bee by diuine prouidence wrought in the Sacrament of Baptisme where the water as the instrument of the diuine bountie doth really and truly wash and purge the soule that is a spirit and experience teacheth vs this truth in nature for imaginations which are corporall things doe depresse the soule and make it heauie euen vnto death as Christ Iesus himselfe said Besides by this reason we should say that the soules of the damned being departed from this world are not cast into hell-fire because they haue no bodies and must therefore bee impassible And so wee shal fall into their heresie that maintaine that the soules lie sleeping till the day of iudgement which doth directly oppose the holy Scriptures which shew vnto vs that the soules of good men returne vnto God who hath created them to be at quiet in his hands and vnder his protection as S. Stephen saith Domine suscipe spiritum meum and S Paul wished for death to no other end but to be with Christ Cupio inquit dissolui esse cum Christo which is confirmed by S. Iohn in the Reuelation saying Henceforth doe the soules rest from their labours for their good workes follow them and death saith S. Paul shall be a gaine vnto me on the other side they teach that the soules of the reprobate are tormented in the flames of hell as appeareth in the Gospell by the rich Glutton and by the saying of Saint Iohn Baptist who told the Pharisies that the axe was alreadie applied vnto the roote of the tree and euery tree that brought not foorth good fruite should bee hewen downe and cast into the fire This S. Iude affirmeth is already happened to the Sodomites as also to Chorah Dathan and Abiron with their complices and that they went quicke downe to hell But here may an obiection be made how Spirits are able to frame vnto themselues such bodies at their own pleasure S. Augustine answereth that Spirits by a certaine agilitie and naturall power can bring to passe whatsoeuer may be done in nature for they doe perfectly know not onely the effects of nature but the causes also which proceedeth from the refinednesse and subtilitie of spirit wherewith they are indowed which they so well know how to manage and applie that whatsoeuer nature maketh successiuely and at leisure they doe the same in an instant We see the aire diuers times being disposed thereunto by certaine causes is variously depainted with colours and diuers semblances and in the sommer wee sometimes see toades and frogs fall with the raine which proceedeth frō the corruption of the aire from whence also butter-flyes and catterpillers and the like vermine are ingendred all which is produced from the successiue operations of nature The like effects may bee produced by Spirits by vniting of causes whereupon the effects doe necessarily follow Thus we reade that the Diuell tooke vpon him the forme of a Serpent which cannot be denied as also that Pharaohs Magicians by the assistance of Satan did make serpents and frogs appeare before the people and surely they may in the like manner shape and counterfeit any other figure yea of a man himselfe as is cleere by the apparitions recited in the book of Genesis From whence we must draw this necessarie conclusion that it is contrary both to naturall reason and to Scrip that Spirits should haue bodies but that they are incorporeall and inuisible The resolution of all this discourse may bee had in the booke intituled De Ecclesiastic is dog matibus which is amongst the workes of S. Augustine where in the 11. chapter he saith We beleeue that God is inuisible and incorporeall because hee is euery where and is present in all places yet not bounded in by any place but we beleeue that intellectuall substances are corporeall because they are circumscribed in a place as the soule within the body and hence it is that they are called corporeall because they are limited in their substances It remaineth that wee endeuour to know when they were created since Moyses maketh no mention of it and from whence it proceedeth that there is a difference betwixt Spirits so that some are good and some bad CHAP. III. Of the Creation goodnesse or maliciousnesse of Angels SAint Athanasius when he was to giue his full resolution and opinion concerning Spirits vnto Prince Antiochus demandeth in the first place whether Angels were created or no for Moses maketh no mention thereof in the first chap. of Genesis

it may bee also to auoide the massacring one onother in the Sabbath by reason of some enmity or hatred They haue also no salt which figureth out wisedome and vnderstanding neither know they the vse of oliues or oyle which represent mercy When this is done the Magicians and those that can reade sing certaine Psalmes as they doe in the Church especially Laudate Dominum de Coelis Confitemini domino quoniam bonus and the Canticle Benedicite transferring all to the praise of Lucifer and the Diuels And the Hagges and Sorcerers doe houle and vary their hellish cries high and low counterfaiting a kinde of villanous musicke They also daunce at the sound of Viols other instruments which are brought thither by those that were skild to play vpon them Finally they committed vncleannesse one with another vpon Sundaies they pollute themselues by their filthy copulation with Diuels that are Succubi and Incubi Vpon Thursdayes they contaminate themselues with Sodomy Vpon Saturdaies they doe prostitute themselues to abominable bestiality vpon other daies they vse the ordinary course which nature prompteth vnto them When this is finished about three of the clocke after midnight euery one is caried to his owne home and those that are seruants doe carry the Prince and the Princesse in State some supporting the body others the feet and the rest the head Vpon Wednesdaies and Frydaies their Sabbathes of blasphemies and reuenge are held where they doe nothing but blaspheme God and the Saints and by all the contriuances of their braine they study to take vengeance of their enemies Magdalene also said that all Magicians Sorcerers c. are ordinarily marked in three places vpon the braine vpon the heart and vpon the reines and sometimes in other parts but commonly the markes of the Prince and Princesse are more inward that they may not be found She further said that that accursed Magician Lewes instigated thereunto by the outragiousnesse which raigned in him which might parallel that of Lucifer did first inuent the saying of Masse at the Sabbaths and did really consecrate and present the sacrifice to Lucifer and in the distribution of the consecrated bread euery one trampled it vnder his feet and then they cast it vnto dogs which the hagges and witches brought with them from their granges She said that vpon a certaine day the Magician commanded a great Mastiffe to be brought to eate the consecrated bread which he made vp into a lumpe to be deuoured by him but the dog being brought before the blessed Sacrament he as it were kneeled with his hinder feet closed his two fore feet together bowing downe his head as if hee had worshipped the same in so much as they could not beate him from thence neither with blowes of staues nor stones whereupon many of them fell a weeping so that it was ordained that from that time forward they should bring no more dogs to these assemblies She also related that the said Magician did sprinkle the consecrated wine vpon all the company iust like the Priest when he deales about the hallowed water at which time euery one cryeth Sanguis eius super nos filios nostros She further said that one of the hansomest fellowes in all that troope crying vpon a time as high as possibly he could Sanguis eius c. a rocke vnder which hee stood brake in peeces at the top so that a stone thereof fell vpon his head and did shrewdly cut him But hee continuing his cry it thundred so terribly in the ayre and the ratling of the thunder was so fearefully intermingled with flakes of fire that they were all amazed at it But he still persisting in his blasphemous cry Sanguis eius c. was hurried away in the ayre euer keeping the same cry so that at the last he was carried out of the sight of all the spectators and neuer afterward appeared whereupon many of them were conuerted The Acts of the 20. of Ianuary AS Magdalene was confessing her selfe in the morning in her chamber Belzebub cryed out diuers times and endeauoured to interrupt the confession and would by no meanes permit that they should giue absolution vnto her saying aloud that he had rather bee in hell then suffer it and that this absolution did burne him more then the fire of Hell did which hee also sundry times repeated when the said Magdalene went to confession He also said some daies before that he had rather be shut vp in Hell then enter into the Church of S. Baume especially into the place of Penitence where the Sorcerers had no power to spread and cast abroad their charmes and enchantments whereunto Verrine added that none were to enter thither but such as were in the state of grace and those were to goe in bare-footed It happened towards the euening at the time wherin Magdalene was accustomed to come to S. Baume to be exorcised they found her stiffe as a statue of marble in all her limmes and very dull and drowsie so that they were forced to carry her betweene foure to the Church where shee remained a good space at the foote of the high Altar and could not bee brought to her selfe till they carried her to the place of the blessed Penitence applying and laying the holy Pix vpon her face whereupon she came to her selfe and went forth to be exorcised This euening at the second Exorcisme Belzebub was sullen and would not speake a word whereupon Verrine said he doth this to make you leaue your exorcising for hee feareth lest being enforced to speake the Magicians who are oftentimes carried hither by Diuels should reuolt from him and bee conuerted as diuers of them haue already done The Acts of the 21. of Ianuary AT the euening Exorcismes Belzebub was questioned whether hee were in the body of Magdalene or no who answered that he was Being asked why he together with his companions left not that body and being many times adiured to make his answere vnto the same he would say nothing thereunto Yet after that the Priests had powred forth their prayers before God and had laid many grieuous paines vpon him hee made answere in a great rage Haue not I told thee that the obstinacy of Lewes the Magician was the cause hereof and that wee would neuer depart from hence vntill he bee conuerted or dead or else punished by iustice being asked what the reason was that this Magician was so hardened in his sinne and had such a cauterized conscience shut against all good admonitions and what aduantage hee did conceiue would redound from hence vnto him hee would make no answere a long time till at last by encreasing the degrees of his punishments vnto the number of daies that S. Magdalene had remained in the place of her pennance hee answered It proceedeth from the hatred hee beareth vnto God and because hee would still liue in his licentiousnesse without the checke and controule of his conscience Being

are not properly inuironed or bounded in by any place thereby letting vs vnderstand that his meaning was not to attribute any bodily substance vnto them The like may be obserued out of S. Ierome who saith with Saint Paul that Angels and soules doe bow their knees before God yet are wee not here saith he to conceiue that they haue their members and dimensions like vnto vs. Before wee descend to the proofes out of Scriptures wee shall doe well to examine whether the opinion of those that take the Scripture-phrase according to the rigour of the letter may bee defended S. Thomas dispureth against it and saith that it cannot be defended For first if they had bodies made of aire as Apuleius dreamed they could not bee immortall but would in the end fall into corruption as we doe because whatsoeuer is compounded of elementarie qualities must of necessitie be framed of contrary and repugnant natures which in the end by their perpetuall opposition and fight do ruine one the other and this truth is beyond exception Secondly the aire is a body which the Philosophers terme homogeneall that is whose least part is of the same nature and condition with the whole as euery drop of water is water as well as whole riuers or the sea from whence this absurditie would follow their opinion that the whole bodie of the aire must be one immense Angelicall substance Thirdly the men bers of a liuing bodie must haue seuerall organes fit for the performance of those functions whereunto nature doth ordaine them which cannot be true of the aire and if they were made of aire they may thē be dissolued and melted into water as the clouds are they should also be hot moist like vnto the aire as if they were cōposed of fire then must they burne All which absurdities doe euidently shew that they are said to bee airie only because they abide for the most part in the aire And therfore Saint Paul writing vnto the Ephesians who were great Philosophers and much addicted vnto Magicke as S. Ierome obserueth giueth them to vnderstand that this opinion was not repugnant vnto Christianitie but that they were to hold it for a truth that there are a great number of Spirits in the airie region against whom they were to combat insinuating thereby that they may in this sense bee called airie if thereby wee meane that they are Spirits without flesh and bones Non est nobis saith he colluctatio aduersus carnem sanguinem sed aduersus principes potestates aeris huius he also calleth them Spiritalia nequitiae in coelestibus Wee may safely saith that Father call them airie or heauenly but wee must alwaies suppose them to be Spirits In this sense doe the Hebrewes call birds the fowles of the heauen and of the aire and men are by them stiled terrestriall not that birds haue bodies of aire or men of earth but because they doe inhabite in the aire and dwell vpon the earth For conclusion of this point let vs hearken what the holy Scriptures say and for the old Testament King Dauid calleth them Spirits where he faith Qui facis angelos tuos spiritus as if he should haue said Lord thou hast ordained that those whom wee call Angels should be Spirits Now there is a contradiction and Antithesis betweene a bodie and a spirit so that the consequence by negation doth necessarily follow one vpon the other as if such a thing be a bodie it will be negatiuely inferred then is it not a spirit and contrariwise if it be a spirit then is it not a bodie which conclusion Christ himselfe maketh vnto his Apostles when after his resurrection they conceiued him to be a spirit Touch me said he and looke what I am being risen with my true bodie for a spirit hath neither flesh nor bones as you see I haue So that this were sufficient to proue that a spirit hath no body although there should bee no other place or text to strengthen the same And lest wee should fall into the opinions of certaine Stoicks who maintained diuersities of kindes in Angels and that some had bodies and others had not S. Paul doth direct vs vnto this generall Maxime which is without exception when hee pronounceth this sentence Omnes sunt administratorij spiritus and in another place he saith that amongst Gods creatures there are some visible and some inuisible such as are Thrones Dominations Principalities Powers for confirmation whereof wee may adde that which we haue alreadie alleaged out of the Epistle vnto the Ephesians where there is an opposition expressed between the things that appertaine to flesh and blood and the things that belong vnto the spirit Touching Diuels they are also called Spirits but to put a difference betweene the good and them there is euer subioyned some restriction as in the historie of Achab one of them speaketh in this manner Ero spiritus mendax in ore prophetarum Christ Iesus often calleth them vncleane spirits or the Diuels angels conformable whereunto S. Paul termeth them the angels of Satan which must be vnderstood to proceed from their imitation not from their creation But it may be obiected that they haue a body and are tyed so really vnto the same that Abraham washed their feete they tooke Lot by the arme and by strong hand drew him forth out of Sodome and Iacob wrestled a whole day with them It is true indeed they are supported sometimes by a body for otherwise they could not be seene because of themselues as S. Paul saith they are inuisible yet wee are not to detract from the authoritie of Scriptures that do cleerely teach vs that they haue no bodies of their owne for wee must affirme with Tertullian Habere corpora peregrina sed non sua They haue bodies saith he which they borrow but haue none in their owne nature Wee know that a Spirit did appeare vnto our grandmother Eue in the forme of a Serpent yet was there neuer any of so blunt earthy an apprehension that would affirme that this body of a Serpent was the body of an Angell Wee are then to say that this body was framed of one of the foure elements not of fire for it would burne nor of water for such a body would easily fleet away and be dissolued nor of earth for that would remaine sollid vnto the view and should afterward also bee found it must therefore necessarily bee framed of aire both because Spirits haue their places of abode from aboue the good Spirits dwelling in heauen and the bad in the aire as also for that this element doth easily take the impression of all colours formes as we see what great variety of colours are in the rainebow and what diuersities of shapes and semblances bearing the formes of Dragons Serpents and the like are represented vnto vs in the clowds And these formes are dissolued

qui facitis verbum eius ad audiendani vocem sermonum eius Thus were the euill Spirits thrust out of heauen for their pride whereas the good Spirits were still made blessed in the participation of the vision and presence of God This did Christ signifie vnto his Apostles when out of pride they demanded of him who among them should bee the greatest in the kingdome of heauen hee tooke a litle childe by the hand saying if you become not like vnto this litle childe yee cannot enter into that kingdome and beware how you offend one of these litle ones for their Angels doe alwayes see the face of my Father which is in heauen whereby he giueth to vnderstand that children by reason of their naturall humility are like vnto Angels which Angels by this meanes doe see the face of God Since this great reuolte in heauen there hath euer been a contrariety and warre betweene the will 's of good and bad spirits and betweene good and bad men also as between Abel and Cain Isaac and Ismael Iacob and Esau. And this is it which S. Iohn speaketh of in the Apocalypse that there was a great battell in heauen between Michael and his Angels the Dragon with his Angels and S. Iude bringeth in the same Michael disputing and chiding with Satan Since therefore hee is full of wickednesse and altogether depriued of the grace of God he can doe nothing but what is naught and because hee cannot wreake his malice vpon the Saints in Paradise hee conuerteth his fury against man that is made after the image of God and is heere seated vpon the earth that hee may worship his Creator and acknowledge and serue him with his whole heart that so he may at length participate of that diuine glory and felicity which the Diuell by reason of his pride is vtterly depriued of as we haue already alleaged And this is the next pointe which offereth it selfe to consideration in the ensueing chapter CHAP. IIII. The meanes which Diuels haue to appeare and come vnto vs in what part of the world they reside how they are bound and their sundrie waies to tempt men TOuching the meanes which Spirits haue to performe this the scripture teacheth vs that in their downe-fall from heauen some remained in the middle region of the aire which is darksome obscure because the Sun-beames passe through the same without refraction of any solid body which by repercussion might double their force and light and without which they shine not at all as is euidently seene in a caue where there is no light at all perceiued but in the place where the sunne-beame doth fall And although we had no other proofe then that generall rule of Saint Ierome it might sufficiently euince the same for these are his very words Omnium doctorum opinio est quod aër iste qui coelum terram medius diuidens inane appellatur plenus sit contrarys fortitudinibus Since then there was neuer any Doctor of the Church which made scruple of the truth hereof wee must thinke that they had good warrant for the same from the Scripture They did no doubt consider that our Lord in the parable of the seede did by the birds of heauen which deuoured the corne vnderstand and also interpret it to be the Diuels whom he calleth the birds of heauen thereby meaning the aire according to the vsuall Hebrew phrase and agreeable vnto our maner of speech also who commonly say the raine falleth from heauen when the meaning is from the aire For as S. Ierome hath well obserued all Philosophers doe agree in their opinions that the clouds by the dissoluing of which the raine is engendred are not drawne vp aboue two miles at the most from the earth whereas the distance betwixt heauen and earth is incomparably greater And this is S. Pauls meaning when hee telleth the Ephesians that our fight is not chiefly against men but against the princes of this world which are the wicked spirits that haue their abode aboue in high places and as himselfe explaneth all these authorities in the second chapter of the same Epistle by these high places he meaneth the aire Secundum seculum mundi huius saith hee secundum principem potestatis aëris huius spiritus qui nunc operaetur in filios diffidentiae Which is also declared by S. Iude in his Canonicall epistle shewing that these wicked spirits are abiding in that darksome aire are there reserued for the day of iudgement when they shall heare these words Goe yee cursed into hell fire which is from the beginning prepared for the Diuell and his angels His words are these Angelos qui non seruauerunt suum principatum sed dereliquerunt suum domicilium in indicium magni diei vinculis aeternis sub caligine reseruauit And here may be fitly alleaged that which is written in S. Luke where it is related that the Diuels besought Christ Iesus not to send them out into the deepe but rather into the heard of swine and they doe likewise complaine vnto our Sauiour saying Vt quid venisti ante tempus torquere nos As if they should haue said we are assured of our totall and vtter damnation but the time thereof is not yet come for this shall bee put in execution at the last day of iudgement which being not yet present thou maist doe well to leaue vs in these parts vntill that time approch The like may be said of that place in the Reuelation Vah mari terrae quia descendit diabolus ad vos habens iram magnam and it is againe declared in the same booke that our aduersarie the diuell was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone And that wee may resolue what the difference is betweene the diuels that are in hell and those whose abode is in the aire although S. Ierome maketh daintie to meddle with it because he conceiued it to be from the matter whereof he intreated as also for that hee feared as himselfe excuseth it lest hee should trespasse too farre vpon the readers patience in dwelling so long vpon this argument yet will we speake somewhat of the same because this present discourse doth demaund it It is an infallible truth that there are great multitudes of wicked spirits who abide in that gloomie region of the aire and come also lower and neerer vnto vs which God in his prouidence hath and doth permit First because himselfe imployeth these his creatures although it be in base and seruile offices as a King or ciuill Iustice are accustomed to condemne certaine malefactors not vnto death but vnto the performance of some worke which aduantageth these offenders nothing at all but is onely charged with laboriousnesse and toyle and tendeth meerely to the publike good Thus were many in times past banished or confined to some Isle or mountaine to labour and digge in the Quarries of Marble for the Princes