So as the Prophet knew and taught thereby That none but God could work Miracles Infinite places for this purpose might be brought out of the Scripture which for brevity I omit and overslip St. Augustine among other reasons whereby he proveth the ceasing of Miracles saith Now blind flesh doth not open the eyes of the blinde by the Miracle of God but the eyes of our heart are opened by the word of God Now is not our dead carcase raised any more up by Miracle but our dead bodies be still in the grave and our souls are raised to life by Christ Now the ears of the deaf are not opened by Miracle but they which had their ears shut before have them now opened to their salvation The miraculous healing of the sick by anointing spoken of by S. James is objected by many specially by the Papists for the maintenance of their Sacrament of Extream Unction which is apishly and vainly used in the Romish Church as though the miraculous gift had continuance till this day Herein you shall see what Calvin speaketh in his Institutions The grace of hearing saith he spoken of by S. James is vanished away as also the other miracles which the Lord would have shewed only for a time that he might make the new preaching of the Gospel marvellous for ever Why saith he doth not these meaning Miracle-mongers appoint some Siloah to swim in whereinto at certain ordinary recourses of times sick folk may plunge themselves Why do they not lye along upon the dead because Paul raised up a dead child by that means Verily saith he James in the miracle to anoint spake for that time whiles the Church still enjoyed such blessing of God Item he saith That the Lord is present with his in all ages and so often as need is he helpeth their sicknesses no less then in old time But he doth not so utter his manifest power nor distributeth miracles as by the hands of the Apostles because the gift was but for a time Calvin even there concludeth thus They say such vertues or miracles remain but experience says nay And see how they agree among themselves Danaeus saith that neither Witch nor Devil can work miracles Giles Alley saith directly That Witches work Miracles Calvin saith They are all ceased All Witchmongers say They continue But some affirm That Popish Miracles are vanished and gone away howbeit Witches miracles remain in full force So as S. Loy is out of credit for a horse-leach Master T. and Mother Bungie remain in estimation for Prophets nay Hobgoblin and Robin-Goodfellow are contemned among young children and Mother Alice and Mother Bungie are feared among old fools The estimation of these continue because the matter hath not been called in question the credit of the other decayeth because the matter hath been looked into Whereof I say no more but that S. Anthonies bliss will help your pig whensoever Mother Bungie doth hurt it with her curse and therefore we are warned by the Word of God in any wise not to fear their curses But let all the Witchmongers and specially the Miraclemongers in the World answer me to this supposition Put the case that a Woman of credit or else a Woman-witch should say unto them that she is a true Prophet of the Lord and that he revealeth those secret mysteries unto her whereby she detecteth the lewd acts and imaginations of the wicked and that by him she worketh Miracles and Prophesieth c. I think they must either yield or confess that Miracles are ceased But such things saith Cardigan as seem miraculous are chiefly done by Deceipt Legierdemain or Confederacy or else they may be done and yet seem unpossible or else things are said to be done and never were nor can be done CHAP. II. The gift of Prophesie is ceased THat Witches nor the Woman of Endor nor yet her Familiar or Devil can tell what is to come may plainly appear by the words of the Prophet who saith Shew what things are to come and we will say you are gods indeed According to that which Solomon saith Who can tell a man what shall happen him under the sun Marry that can I saith the Witch of Endor to Saul But I will rather believe Paul and Peter which say That Prophesie is the gift of God and no wordly thing then a cosening quean that taketh upon her to do all things and can do nothing but beguile men Up steppeth also another Bungie and she can tell you where your Horse or your Ass is bestowed or any thing that you have lost is become as Samuel could and what you have done in all your age past as Christ did to the Woman of Sichar at Jacobs well yea and what your errand is before you speak as Elizeus did Peter Martyr saith That only God and man knoweth the heart of man and therefore that the Devil must be secluded alledging these places Solus Deus est scrutator cordium Only God is the searcher of hearts And Nemo scit quae sunt hominis nisi spiritus hominis qui est in eo None knoweth the things of man but the spirit of man which is within him Solomon saith Tu solus nosti cogitationes hominum Thou only knowest the thoughts of men And Jeremiah saith in the person of God Ego Deus scrutans corda renes I am God searching hearts and reins Also Mathew saith of Christ Jesus autem videns cogitationes eorum And Jesus seeing their thoughts who in Scripture is called the searcher and knower of the thoughts in the heart as appeareth in Act. 1. 15. Rom. 8. Mat. 9.12 22. Mark 2. Luke 6. 7. 11. John 1.2.6 13. Apoc. 2. 3. and in other places infinite The same Peter Martyr also saith That the Devil may suspect but not know our thoughts for if he should know our thoughts he should understand our faith which if he did he would never assault us with one temptation Indeed we read that Samuel could tell where things lost were strayed c. but we see that gift also ceased by the coming of Christ according to the saying of Paul At sundry times and in divers manners God spake in the old times by our Fathers the Prophets in these last dayes he hath spoken unto us by his son c. And therefore I say that gift of Prophesie wherewith God in times past endued his people is also ceased and counterfeits and coseners are come in their places according to this saying of Peter There were false Prophets among the people even at there shall be false teachers among you c. And think not that so notable a gift should be taken from the beloved and the elect people of God and committed to Mother Bungie and such like of her profession The words of the Prophet Zechary are plain touching the ceasing both of the good and bad
For by that means men should have good occasion and opportunity to flie from him and to run to God for succour as the manner is of all them that are terrified though perchance they thought not upon God a long time before But in truth we never have so much cause to be afraid of the Devil as when he flatteringly insinuateth himself into our hearts to satisfie please and serve our humours enticing us to prosecute our own appetites and pleasures without any of these external terrours I would weet of these men where they do find in the Scriptures that some Devils be spiritual and some corporal or how these earthy or watery Devils enter into the mind of man Augustine saith and divers others affirm That Satan or the Devil while we feed allureth us with gluttony he thrusteth lust into our generation and sloth into our exercise into our conversation envie into our traffick avarice into our correction wrath into our government pride he putteth into our hearts evil cogitations into our mouthes lyes c. When we wake he moveth us to evils works when we sleep to evil and filthy dreams he provoketh the merry to loosness and the sad to despair CHAP. XII That the Devils assaults are Spiritual and not Temporal and how grossly some understand those parts of the Scripture UPon that which hitherto hath been said you see that the assaults of Satan are spiritual and not temporal in which respect St. Paul wisheth us not to provide a corselet of Steel to defend us from his claws but biddeth us Put on the whole armour of God that we may be able to stand against the invasions of the Devil For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities powers and spiritual wickedness And therefore St. Peter adviseth us To be sober and watch for the Devil goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour He meaneth not with carnal teeth for it followeth thus Whom resist ye stedfast in the faith And again St. Peter saith That which is spiritual only discerneth spiritual things for no carnal man can discern the things of the spirit Why then should we think that a Devil which is a Spirit can be known or made tame and familiar unto a natural man or contrary to nature can be by a Witch made corporal being by God ordained to a spiritual proportion The cause of this gross conceipt is that we hearken more diligently to old Wives and rather give credit to their fables than to the Word of God imagining by the tales they tell us that the Devil is such a Bulbegger as I have before described For whatsoever is proposed in Scripture to us by Parable or spoken figuratively or significatively or framed to our gross capacities c. is by them so considered and expounded as though the bare letter or rather their gross imaginations thereupon were to be preferred before the true sense and meaning of the Word For I dare say that when these blockheads read Jothams Parable in the ninth of Judges to the men of Sichem to wit that The trees went out to anoint a King over them saying to the Olive-tree Reign thou over us who answered and said Should I leave my fatness c. they imagine that the wooden Trees walked and spake with a mans voyce or else that some spirit entred into the Trees and answered as is imagined they did in the Idols and Oracles of Apollo and such like who indeed have eyes and see not ears and hear not mouths and speak not c. CHAP. XIII The Equivocation of this word Spirit how diversly it is taken in the Scriptures where by the way is taught that the Scripture is not alwayes literally to be interpreted nor yet allegorically to be understood SUch as search with the the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding shall find that Spirits as well good as bad are in the Scriptures diversly taken yea they shall well perceive that the Devil is no horned beast For sometimes in the Scriptures Spirits and Devils are taken for infirmities of the body sometimes for the vices of the mind sometimes also for the gifts of tither of them Sometimes a man is called a Devil as Judas in the sixt of John and Peter in the 16. of Matthew Sometimes a Spirit is put for the Gospel sometimes for the mind or soul of man sometimes for the wil of man his mind and councel sometimes for Teachers and Prophets sometimes for zeal towards God sometimes for joy in the Holy Ghost c. And to interpret unto us the nature and signification of spirits we find these words written in the Scripture to wit The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him The Spirit of counsel and strength The Spirit of wisdom and understanding The spirit of knowledg and the fear of the Lord. Again I will pour out my Spirit upon the house of David c. The Spirit of grace and compassion Again Ye have not received the spirit of bondage but the Spirit of adoption And therefore St. Paul saith To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit to another the gift of healing to another the gift of faith by the same Spirit to another the gift of prophesie to another the operation of great works to another the discerning of spirits to another the diversity of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues and all these things worketh one and the self-same Spirit Thus far the words of St. Paul And finally Isaiah saith that The Lord mingled among them the spirit of errour And in another place The Lord hath covered you with a spirit of slumber As for the spirits of divination spoken of in the Scripture they are such as was in the woman of Endor the Philippian woman the wench of Westwell and the holy maid of Kent who were indued with spirits or gifts of divination whereby they could make shift to gain money and abuse the people by sleights and crafty inventions But these are possessed of borrowed spirits as it written in the Book of Wisdom and spirits of meer cosenage and deceipt as I have sufficiently proved elsewhere I deny not therefore that there are Spirits and Devils of such substance as it hath pleased God to create them But in what place soever it be found or read in the Scriptures a Spirit or Devil is to be understood spiritually and is neither a corporal nor a visible thing Where it is written That God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Sichem we are to understand that he sent the spirit of hatred and not a Bulbegger Also where it is said If the Spirit of jealousie come upon him it is as much as to say If he he be moved with a jealous mind and not that a corporal Devil
was throughly executed If they could indeed bring these things to pass at their pleasure then might they also be impediments unto the course of all other natural things and Ordinances appointed by God as to cause it to hold up when it should rain and to make midnight of high noon and by those means I say the Divine power should become servile to the will of a Witch so as we could neither eat nor drink but by their permission Me thinks Seneca might satisfie these credulous or rather idolatrous people that run a whore-hunting either in body or phansie after these Witches believing all that is attributed unto them to the derogation of Gods glory He saith that the rude people and our ignorant predecessors did believe that rain and showers might be procured and stayed by Witches charms and inchantments of which kind of things that there can nothing be wrought it is so manifest that we need not go to any Philosophers School to learn the confutation thereof But Jeremy by the Word of God doth utterly confound all that which may be devised for the maintenance of that foolish opinion saying Are there any among the gods of the Gentiles that send rain or give showers from Heaven Art not thou the self same our Lord God We will trust in thee for thou doest and maketh all these things I my therefore with Brentius boldly say that it is neither in the power of Witches nor Devils to accomplish that matter but in God only For when exhalations are drawn and lifted up from out of the earth by the power of the Sun into the middle region of the air the coldness thereof constraineth and thickeneth those vapours which being become clouds are dissolved again by the heat of the Sun whereby Rain or Hail is ingendred Rain if by the way the drops be not frozen and made hail These circumstances being considered with the course of the whole Scripture it can neither be in the power of Witch or Devil to procure rain or fair weather And whereas the story of Job in this case is alledged against me wherein a Witch is not once named I have particularly answered it else-where And therefore thus much only I say here that even there where it pleased God as Calvin saith to set down circumstances for the instruction of our gross capacities which are not able to conceive of spiritual communication or heavenly affairs the Devil desireth God to stretch out his hand and touch all that Job hath And though he seemeth to grant Satans desire yet God himself sent fire from heaven c. Whereby it is to be gathered that although God said He is in thine hand it was the Lords hand that punished Job and not the hand of the Devil who said not Give me leave to plague him but Lay thine hand upon him And when Job continued faithful notwithstanding all his afflictions in his children body and goods the Devil is said to come again to God and to say as before to wit Now stretch out thine hand and touch his bones and his flesh Which argueth as well that he could not do it as that he himself did it not before And be it here remembred that M. Mal. and the residue of the Witchmongers deny that there were any Witches in Jobs time But see more hereof elsewhere CHAP. XIV What would ensue if Witches confessions or Witchmongers opinions were true concerning the effects of Witchcraft Inchantments c. IF it were true that Witches confess or that all Writers write or that Witchmongers report or that fools believe we should never have Butter in the chearn nor Cow in the close nor Corn in the field nor fair weather abroad nor health within doors Or if that which is contained in M. Mal. Bodin c. or in the Pamphlets late set forth in English of Witches executions should be true in those things that Witches are said to confess what creature could live in security Or what needed such preparation of wars or such trouble or charge in that behalf No Prince should be able to raign or live in the Land For as Danaeus saith that one Martin a Witch killed the Emperour of Germany with witchcraft so would our Witches if they could destroy all our Magistrates One old Witch might over-throw an Army Royal and then what needed we any Guns or wild-fire or any other Instruments of war A Witch might supply all wants and accomplish a Princes will in this behalf even with out charge or bloud-shed of his people If it be objected that Witches work by the Devil and Christian Princes are not to deal that way I answer that Princes disposed to Battel would not make Conscience therein specially such as take unjust wars in hand using other helps devises and engines as lawful and devillish as that in whose Camp there is neither the rule of Religion or Christian order observed insomuch as ravishments murthers blasphemies and thefts are there most commonly and freely committed So that the Devil is more feared and better served in their Camps than God Almighty But admit that souldiers would be scrupulous herein the Pope hath authority to dispense therewith as in like case he hath done by the testimony of his own authors and friends Admit also that throughout all Christendom was were justly maintained and Religion duly observe in their Camps yet would the Turk and other Infidels cut our throat or at least one anothers throats with the help of their Witches for they would make no conscience thereof CHAP. XV. Examples of foreign Nations who in their wars used the assistance of Witches of eye-biting Witches in Ireland of two Archers that shot with familiars IN the wars between the Kings of Denmark and Sueveland 1563. the Danes do write that the King of Sueveland carryed about with him in Camp four old Witches who with their charms so qualified the Danes as they were thereby disabled to annoy their Enemies insomuch as if they had taken in hand any enterprise they were so infeebled by those Witches as they could perform nothing And although this could have no credit at the first yet in the end one of these Witches was taken Prisoner and confessed the whole matter so as saith he the threads and the line and the characters were found in the highway and water-plashes The Irishmen addict themselves wonderfully to the credit and practise hereof insomuch as they affirm that not only their children but their cattel are as they call it eye-bitten when they fall suddenly sick and tearm one sort of their Witches eye-biters only in that respect yea and they will not stick to affirm that they can rime either man or beast to death Also the West-Indians and Muscovites do the like and the Huns as Gregory Turonensis writeth used the help of Witches in time of war I find another story written in M. Mal. repeated by Bodin that one souldier called Pumher
they said we A man and his child said he What were their names said we The childs name was Edward said he What more then Edward said we Edward Ager said he What was the mans name said we Richard said he What more said we Richard Ager said he Where dwelt the man and the child said we At Dig at Dig said he This Richard Agar of Dig was a Gentleman of forty pounds land by the year a very honest man but would often say he was bewitched and languished long before he dyed Whom else hast thou killed for her said we Woltons wife said he Where did she dwel In Westwell said he What else hast thou done for her said we What she would have me said he What is that said we To fetch her meat drink and corn said he Where hadst thou it said we In every house said he Name the houses said we At Petmans at Farmes at Millens at Fullers and in every house After this we commanded Satan in the name of Jesus Christ to depart from her and never to trouble her any more nor any man else Then he said He would go he would go but he went not Then we commanded him as before with some more words Then he said I go I go and so he departed Then said the maid He is gone Lord have mercy upon me for he would have killed me And then we kneeled down and gave God thanks with the maiden praying that God would keep her from Satans power and assist her with his grace And noting this in a piece of paper we departed Satans voice did differ much from the maids voice and all that he spake was in his own name Subscribed thus Witnesses to this that heard and saw this whole matter as followeth Roger Newman Vicar of Westwell John Brainford Vicar of Kenington Thomas Taylor Henry Taylors Wife John Taylor Thomas Frenchborne Wife William Spooner John Frenchborne and his wife CHAP. II. How the lewd practice of the Pythonist of Westwell came to light and by whom she was examined and that all her Diabolical speech was but Ventriloquie and plain cousenage which is proved by her own confession IT is written That in the latter dayes there shall be shewed strange illusions c. insomuch as if it were possible the very elect shall be deceived Howbeit St. Paul saith There shall be lying and false Wonders Nevertheless this sentence and such like have been often laid in my dish and are urged by divers writers to approve the miraculous working of Witches whereof I will treat more largely in another place Howbeit by the way I must confess that I take that sentence to be spoken of Antichrist to wit the Pope who miraculously contrary to Nature Philosophy and all Divinity being of birth and calling base in learning gross in valure beauty or activity most commonly a very lubber hath placed himself in the most lofty and delicate seat putting almost all Christian Princes heads not only under his girdle but under his foot c. Surely the tragedy of this Pythonist is not inferiour to a thousand stories which will hardly be blotted out of the memory and credit either of the common people or else of the learned How hardly will this story suffer discredit having testimony of such authority How could Mother Alice escape condemnation and hanging being arraigned upon this evidence when a poor Woman hath been cast away upon a cosening Oracle or rather a false lye devised by Feats the Jugler through the malicious instigation of some of her adversaries But how cunningly soever this last cited Certificate be penned or what shew soever it carryeth of truth and plain dealing there may be found contained therein matter enough to detect the cosening knavery thereof and yet divers have been deeply deceived therewith and can hardly be removed from the credit thereof and without great disdain cannot endure to hear the reproof thereof And know you this by the way that heretofore Robin Goodfellow and Hobgoblin were as terrible and also as credible to the people as Hags and Witches be now and in time to come a Witch will be as much derided and condemned and as plainly perceived as the illusion and knavery of Robin Goodfellow And in truth they that maintain walking spirits with their transformation c. have no reason to deny Robin Goodfellow upon whom there have gone as many and as credible tales as upon Witches saving that it hath not pleased the translators of the Bible to call Spirits by the name of Robin Goodfellow as they have termed Diviners Soothsayers Prisoners and Coseners by the name of Witches But to make short work with the confutation of this bastardly queans enterprise and cosenage you shall undestand that upon the bruit of her divinity and miraculous trances she was convented before M. Thomas Wotton of Bocton Malherbe a man of great worship and wisdom and for deciding and ordering of matters in this Common-wealth of rare and singular dexterity through whose discreet handling of the matter with the assistance and aid of M. George Darrel Esq being also a right good and discreet Justice of the same limit the fraud was found and the cosenage confessed and she received condigne punishment Neither was her confession won according to the form of the Spanish Inquisition to wit through extremity of tortures nor yet by guile or flattery nor by presumptions but through wise and perfect tryal of every circumstance the illusion was manifestly disclosed not so I say as Witches are commonly convinced and condemned to wit through malicious accusations by guesses presumptions and extorted confessions contrary to sense and possibility and for such actions as they can shew no tryal nor example before the wise either by direct or indirect means but after her due tryal she shewed her feats illusions and trances with the residue of all her miraculous works in the presence of divers Gentlemen and Gentlewomen of great worship and credit at Bocton Malherbe in the house of the said Mr. Wotton Now compare this wench with the Witch of Endor and you shall see that both the cosenages may be done by one art CHAP. III. Bodins stuffe concerning the Pythonist of Endor with a true story of a counterfeit Dutch-man UPon the like tales both Bodin built his doctrin calling them Atheists that will not believe him adding to this kind of Witchcraft the miraculous works of divers maidens that would spue pins clowts c. as one Agnes Brigs and Rachel Pinder of London did till the miracles were detected and they set to open penance Others he citeth of that sort the which were bound by Devils with garters or some such like stuffe to posts c. with knots that could not be undone which is an Aegyptians jugling or cosening feat And of such foolish lyes joyned with bawdy tales his whole book consisteth wherein I warrant you there are no fewer then two hundred fables and as many impossibilities And
And never think that a poor old woman can alter supernaturally the notable course which God hath appointed among his creatures If it had heen Gods pleasure to have permitted such a course he would no doubt have both given notice in his word that he had given such power unto them and also would have taught remedies to have prevented them Furthermore if you will know assured means and infallible Charms yielding indeed undoubted remedies and preventing all manner of Witchcrafts and also the assaults of wicked Spirits then despise first all cosening knavery of Priests Witches and coseners and with true faith read the sixt chapter of St. Paul to the Ephesians and follow his counsel which is ministred unto you in the words following deserving worthily to be called by the name ensuing The Charm of Charms FInally my Brethren be strong the Lord and in the power of his might Put on the whole armour of God that you may stand against the assaults of the Devil For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against Principalities and Powers and against worldly Governours the Princes of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickednesses which are in the high places For this cause take unto you the whole armour of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day and having finished all things stand fast Stand therefore having your loins girded about with verity and having on the brestplate of righteousness c. as followeth in that Chapter verses 15 16 17 18. 1 Thess 5. 1 Pet. 5. Vers 8. Ephes 1. and else-where in the holy Scripture Otherwise IF you be unlearned and want the comfort of friends repair to some learned godly and discreet Preacher If otherwise need require go to a learned Physitian who by learning and experience knoweth and can discern the difference signs and causes of such diseases as faithless men and unskilful Physitians impute to Witchcraft CHAP. XXIII A Confutation of the force and vertue falsely ascribed to Charms and Amulets by the Authorities of ancient Writers both Divines and Physitians MY meaning is not that these words in the bare letter can do any thing towards your ease or comfort in this behalf or that it were wholesome for your body or soul to wear them about your neck for then would I wish you to wear the whole Bible which must needs be more effectual than any one parcel thereof But I find not that the Apostles or any of them in the Primitive Church either carryed St. John's Gospel or any Agnus Die about them to the end they might be preserved from bugs neither that they looked into the four corners of the house or else on the roof or under the threshold to find matter of Witchcraft and so to burn it to be freed from the same according to the Popish rules Neither did they by such and such Verses or Prayers made unto Saints at such or such hours seek to obtain grace neither spake they of any old Women that used such Trades Neither did Christ at any time use or command holy Water or Crosses c. to be used as terrours against the Devil who was not affraid to assault himself when he was on Earth And therefore a very vain thing it is to think that he feareth these trifles or any external matter Let us then cast away these prophane and old Wives Fables For as Origen saith Incatationes sunt Demonum irrisiones idololatriae fex animarum infatuatio c. Incantations are the Devils sport the dregs of Idolatry the besotting of souls c. Chrysostome saith there be some that carry about their necks a piece of a Gospel But is it not daily read saith he and heard of all men But if they be never the better for it being put into their ears hour shall they be saved by carrying it about their necks And further he saith Where is the vertue of the Gospel In the figure of the letter or in the understanding of the sense If in the figure thou dost well to wear it about thy neck but if in the understanding then thou shouldst lay it up in thine heart Augustine saith Let the faithful Ministers admonish and tell their people that these Magical Arts and Incantations do bring no remedy to the Infirmities either of Men or Cattel c. The Heathen Philosophers shall at the last day confound the infidelity and barbarous foolishness of our Christian or rather Antichristian or prophane Witchmongers For as Aristrtle saith that Incantamenta sunt muliercularum figmenta Inchantments are womens figments So doth Socrates who was said to be cunning herein affirm that Incantationes sunt verba animas decipientia humanas Incantations are words deceiving humane souls Others say Inscitia pallium sunt carmina maleficium Incantatio The cloak of Ignorance are Charms Witchery and Incantation Galen also saith that such as impute the Falling-evil and such like diseases to divine matter and not rather to natural causes are Witches Conjurers c. Hippocrates calleth them arrogant and in another place affirming that in his time there were many deceivers and coseners that would undertake to cure the Falling-evil c. by the power and help of Devils by burying some Lots or Inchantments in the ground or casting them into the Sea concludeth thus in their credit that they are all Knaves and Coseners for God is our only defender and deliverer O notable sentence of a Heathen Philosopher BOOK XIII CHAP. I. The signification of the Hebrew word Hartumim where it is found written in the Scriptures and how it is diversly translated whereby the Objection Pharaohs Magicians is afterward answered in this Book also of Natural Magick not evil in it self HArtumim is no natural Hebrew word but is borrowed of some other Nation howbeit it is used of the Hebrews in these places to wit Gen. 4.1.8.24 Exod. 7.13 24. 8.7.18 9.11 Dan. 1.20 2.2 Hierome sometimes translateth it Conjectores sometimes Malefici sometimes Arioli which we for the most part translate by this word Witches But the right signification hereof may be conceived in that the Inchanters of Pharaoh being Magicians of Aegypt were called Hartumim And yet in Exodus they are named in some Latine Translations Venefici Rabbi Levi saith it betokeneth such as do strange and wonderful things naturally artificially and deceitfully Rabbi Isaac Natar affirmeth that such were so termed as amongst the Gentiles professed singular wisdom Aben Ezra expoundeth it to signifie such as know the secrets of Nature and the quality of Stones and Hearbs c. which is attained unto by Art and specially by Natural Magick But we either for want of speech or knowledge call them all by the name and term of Witches Certainly God endueth bodies with wonderful graces the perfect knowledge whereof man hath not reached unto and on the one side there is amongst them such mutual love society and consent and
a great he cometh forth like a Souldier riding on a great Horse he hath a Lyons face very red and with flaming eyes he speaketh with a big voyce he maketh a man wonderful in Astronomy and in all the liberal Sciences he bringeth good familiars and ruleth Thirty six Legions Saleos is a great Earl he appeareth as a gallant Souldier riding on a Crocodile and weareth a Dukes crown peaceable c. Vuall is a great Duke and a strong he is seen as a great and terrible Dromedary but in humane form he soundeth out in a base voyce the Aegyptian tongue This man above all other procureth especial love of Women and knoweth things present past and to come procuring the love of friends and foes he was of the order of Potestates and governeth Thirty seven Legions Haagenti is a great President appearing like a great Bull having the wings of a Griffin but when he taketh humane shape he maketh a man wise in every thing he changeth all metals into gold and changeth Wine and Water the one into the other and commandeth as many Legions as Zagan Phoenix is a great Marquess appearing like the bird Phoenix having a childs voyce but berore he standeth still before the Conjuror he singeth many sweet notes Then the Exorcist with his companions must beware he give no ear to the melody but must by and by bid him put on humane shape then will he speak marvellously of all wonderful Sciences He is an excellent Poet and obedient he hopeth to return to the seventh Throne after a thousand two hundred years and governeth Twenty Legions Stolas is a great Prince appearing in the form of a Night-raven before the Exorcist he taketh the image and shape of a man and teacheth Astronomy absolutely understanding the vertues of herbs and pretious stones there are under him Twenty six legions Note that a Legion is 6666. and now by Multiplication count how many Legions do arise out of every particular ✚ Secretum secretorum The secret of secrets Tu operans sis secretus horum Thou that workest them be secret in them CHAP. XII The hours wherein principal Devils may be bound to wit raised and restrained from doing of hurt AMaymon King of the East Corson King of the South Zimimar King of the North Goap King and Prince of the West may be bound from the third hour till noon and from the ninth hour till evening Marquesses may be bound from the ninth hour till compline and from compline to the end of the day Dukes may be bound from the first hour till noon and clear weather is to be observed Prelates may be bound in any hour of the day Knights from day dawning till Sun rising or from evensong till the Sun set A President may not be bound in any hour of the day except the King whom he obeyeth be invocated nor in the shutting of the evening Counties or Earls may be bound at any hour of the day so it be in the woods or fields where men resort not CHAP. XIII The form of adjuring or citing of the Spirits aforesaid to arise and appear WHen you will have any Spirit you must know his Name and Office you must also fast and be clean from all pollution three or four days before so will the Spirit be the more obedient unto you Then make a Circle and call up the Spirit with great intention and holding a ring in your hand rehearse in your own name and your companions for one must alwayes be with you this Prayer following and so no Spirit shall annoy you and your purpose shall take effect And note how this agreeth with Popish Charmes and Conjurations In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ the ✚ Father ✚ and the Son ✚ and the Holy Ghost ✚ holy Trinity and unspeakable Unity I call upon thee that thou mayst be my salvation and defence and the protection of my body and soul and of all my goods through the virtue of thy holy Cross and through the vertue of thy passion I beseech thee O Lord Jesus Christ by the merits of thy blessed Mother S. Mary and of all thy Saints That thou give me Grace and Divine power over all the wicked Spirits so as which of them soever I do call by name they may come by and by from every coast and accomplish my will that they neither be hurtful nor fearful unto me but rather obedient and diligent about me And through thy virtue streightly commanding them let them fufil my commandements Amen Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbaoth which wilt come to judge the quick and the dead thou which art Α and Ω first and last King of Kings and Lord of Lords Ioth Aglanabrath El Abiel Anathiel Amazim Sedomel Grayes Heli Messias Tolimi Elias Ischiros Athanatos Imas By these thy holy Names and by all other I do call upon thee and beseech thee O Lord Jesus Christ by thy Nativity and Baptism by thy Cross and Passion by thine Ascension and by the coming of the Holy Ghost by the bitterness of thy soul when it departed from the body by thy five wounds by the blood and water which went out of thy body by thy virtue by the Sacrament which thou gavest thy Disciples the day before thou sufferedst by the holy Trinity and the inseparable Unity by blessed Mary thy Mother by thine Angels Arch-Angels Prophets Patriarchs and by all thy Saints and by all the Sacraments which are made in thine honour I do worship and beseech thee to accept these prayers Conjurations and words of my mouth which I will use I require thee O Lord Jesus Christ that thou give me thy virtue and power over all thine Angels which were thrown down from heaven to deceive mankind to draw them to me to tie and bind them and also to loose them to gather them together before me and to command them to do all that they can and that by no means they contemn my voyce or the words of my mouth but that they obey me and my sayings and fear me I beseech thee by thine Humanity Mercy and Grace and I require thee Adony Amay Horta Vegedora Mitai Hel Suranat Yston Ysesy and by all thy holy Names and by all thine holy He-Saints and She-Saints by all thine Angels and Archangels Powers Dominions and Virtues and by that name that Solomon did bind the Devils and shut them up Elbrach Evanher Agle Goth Ioth Othie Venoch Nabrat and by all thine holy Names which are written in this book and by the virtue of them all that thou enable me to congregate all thy Spirits thrown down from heaven that they may give me a true answer of all my demands and that they satisfie all my requests without the hurt of my body or soul or any thing else that is mine through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son which liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost one God world without end
whole and holy company of Heaven and by the dreadful day of doom and by all Angels and Archangels Thrones Dominations Principates Potestates Virtutes Cherubim and Seraphim and their vertues and powers I conjure thee and bind thee Sibylia that thou shalt not depart out of the circle wherein thou art appeared nor yet to alter thy shape except I give thee licence to depart I conjure thee Sibylia by the blood that ran out of the side of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified and by the vertue hereof I conjure thee Sibylia to come to me and to appear to me at all times visibly as the Conjuration of words leadeth written in this Book I conjure thee Sibylia O blessed Virgin of Fairies by the opening of Heaven and by the renting of the Temple and by the darkness of the Sun at the time of his death and by the rising of the dead in the time of his glorious Resurrection and by the unspeakable Name of God ✚ Tetragrammaton ✚ and by King and Queen of Fairies and by their vertues I conjure thee Sibylia to appear before the Conjuration be read over four times and that visibly to appear as the the Conjuration leadeth written in this Book and to give me good counsel at all times and to come by treasures hidden in the earth and all other things that is to do me pleasure and to fulfil my will without any deceit or tarrying nor yet that thou shalt have any power of my body or soul earthly or ghostly nor yet to perish so much of my body as one hair of my head I conjure thee Sibylia by all the royal words aforesaid and by their vertues and powers I charge and bind thee by the vertue thereof to be obedient unto me and to all the words aforesaid and this bond to stand between thee and me upon pain of everlasting condemnation Fiat fiat fiat Amen CHAP. XVIII A License for Sibylia to go and come by at all times I Conjure thee Sibylia which art come hither before me by the commandement of thy Lord and mine that thou shalt have no power in thy going or coming unto me imagining any evil in any manner of wayes in the earth or under the earth of evil doings to any person or persons I conjure and command thee Sibylia by all the royal words and vertues that be written in this Book that thou shalt not go to the place from whence thou camest but shalt remain peaceably invisibly and look thou be ready to come unto me when thou art called by any conjuration of words that be written in this Book to come I say at my commandement and to answer unto me truly and duly of all things my will quickly to be fulfilled Vade in pace in Nomine Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti And the holy ✚ cross ✚ between thee and me or between us and you and the Lion of Juda the root of Jess the kindred of David be between thee and me ✚ Christ cometh ✚ Christ commandeth ✚ Christ giveth power ✚ Christ defend me ✚ and his innocent blood ✚ from all perils of body and soul sleeping and waking Fiat fiat Amen CHAP. XIX To know of Treasure hidden in the Earth WRite in paper these characters following on the Saturday in the hour of ☽ and lay it where thou thinkest Treasure to be if there be any the paper will burn else not And these be the characters This is the way to go invisible by these three Sisters of Fairies IN the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost First go to a fair Parlor or Chamber and an even ground and in no loft and from people nine dayes for it is the better and let all thy cloathing be clean and sweet Then make a Candle of Virgin Wax and light it and make a fair fire of Charcoles in a fair place in the middle of the Parlour or Chamber Then take fair clean water that runneth against the East and set it upon the fire and if thou washest thy self say these words going about the fire three times holding the Candle in thy right hand ✚ Panthon ✚ Craton ✚ Muriton ✚ Bisecognaton ✚ Siston ✚ Diaton ✚ Maton ✚ Tetragrammaton ✚ Agla ✚ Agarion ✚ Tegra ✚ Pentessaron ✚ Tendicata ✚ Then rehearse these names ✚ Sorthie ✚ Sorthia ✚ Sorthios ✚ Milia ✚ Achilia ✚ Sibylia ✚ In Nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen I conjure you three sisters of Fairies Milia Achilia Sibylia by the Father by the Son and by the Holy Ghost and by their vertues and powers and by the most merciful and living God that will command his Angel to blow the trump at the day of Judgment and he shall say Come come come to judgment and by all Angels Archangels Thrones Dominations Principates Potestates Virtutes Cherubim and Seraphim and by their vertues and powers I conjure you thre sisters by the vertue of all the royal words aforesaid I charge you that you do appear before me visibly in form and shape of fair women in white vestures and to bring with you to me the Ring of Invisibility by the which I may go invisible at mine own will and pleasure and that in all hours and minutes In Nomine Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Amen Being appeared say this bond following O blessed Virgins ✚ Milia ✚ Achilia ✚ I conjure you in the Name of the Father in the Name of the Son and the Name of the Holy Ghost and by their vertues I charge you to depart from me in peace for a time And Sibylia I conjure thee by the vertue of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the vertue of his flesh and precious blood that he took of our blessed Lady the Virgin and by all holy company in Heaven I charge thee Sibylia by all the vertues aforesaid that thou be obedient unto me in the Name of God that when and what time and place I shall call thee by this foresaid Conjuration written in this Book look thou be ready to come unto me at all hours and minutes and to bring unto me the Ring of Invisibility whereby I may go invisible at my will and pleasure and that at all hours and minutes Fiat fiat Amen And if they come not at the first night then do the same the second night and so the third night until they do come for doubtless they will come and lie thou in thy bed in the same Parlor or Chamber And lay thy right hand out of the bed and look thou have a fair silken Kercher bound about thy head and be not afraid they will do thee no harm For there will come before thee three fair women and all in white cloathing and one of them will put a Ring upon thy finger wherewith thou shalt go invisible Then with speed bind them with the bond aforesaid When thou hast this Ring on thy finger look in
Conjuration that be written in this Book I conjure thee Bealphares by all Angels and Archangels Thrones Dominations Principates Potestates Virtutes Cherubim and Seraphim and by their vertues and powers I conjure and charge bind and constrain thee Bealphares by all the royal words aforesaid and by their vertues that thou be obedient unto me and to come and appear visibly unto me and that in all days hours and minutes wheresoever I be being called by the vertue of our Lord Jesus Christ the which words are written in this Book Look ready thou be to appear unto me and to give me good counsel how to come by treasures hidden in the earth or in the water and how to come to dignity and knowledge of all things that is to say of the Magick Art and of Grammar Dialectike Rhetorike Arithmetick Musick Geometry and of Astronomy and in all other things my will quickly to be fulfilled I charge upon pain of everlasting condemnation Fiat fiat fiat Amen When he is thus bound ask him what thing thou wilt and he will tell thee and give thee all things that thou wilt request of him without any Sacrifice doing to him and without forsaking thy God that is thy Maker And when the Spirit hath fulfilled thy will and intent give him license to depart as followeth A License for the Spirit to depart GO unto the place predestinated and appointed for thee where thy Lord God hath appointed thee until I shall call thee again Be thou ready unto me and to my call as often as I shall call thee upon pain of everlasting damnation And if thou wilt thou mayst recite two or three times the last Conjuration until thou do come to this term In throno if he will not depart and then say In throno That thou depart from this place without hurt or damage of any body or of any deed to be done that all creatures may know that our Lord is of all power most mightiest and that there is none other God but he which is three and one living for ever and ever And the malediction of God the Father Omnipotent the Son and the Holy Ghost descend upon thee and dwell alwayes with thee except thou do depart without damage of us or of any creature or any other evil deed to be done and thou to go to the predestinated And by our Lord Jesus Christ I do else send thee to the great pit of Hell except I say that thou depart to the place whereas thy Lord God hath appointed thee And see thou be ready to me and to my call at all times and places at mine own will and pleasure day or night without damage or hurt of me or of any creature upon pain of everlasting damnation Fiat fiat fiat Amen Amenl The peace of Jesus Christ be between us and you In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Per crucis hoc ✚ signum c. Say In principio erat Verbum Verbum erat apud Deum In thee beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and God was the Word and so forward as followeth in the first Chapter of Saint John's Gospel staying at these words Full of grace and truth to whom be all honour and glory world without end Amen The fashion or form of the Conjuring knife with the Names thereon to be graven or written AGLA And on the other side this name A Type or Figure of the Circle for the Master and his Fellows to sit in shewing how and after what fashion it should be made Agla eL ya panthon dextera dmÌ„i fecit virtutem ✚ dextera dmÌ„i exaltauit me ✚ dextera dmÌ„i fecit virtutem ✚ dextera dmÌ„i exaltauit me ✚ mellyas emanuel alpha et ω Tetragrammaton Iesus nazarenus Adonay Elfelbey Magister THis is the Circle for the Master to sit in and his fellow or fellows at the first calling sit back to back when he calleth the Spirit and for the Fairies make this circle with chalk on the ground as is said before This Spirit Bealphares being once called and found shall never have power to hurt thee Call him in the hour of ♃ or ♀ the ☽ increasing CHAP. XXIV The making of Holy Water EXorciso te creaturam salis per Deum vivum ✚ per Deum ✚ verum ✚ per Deum sanctum ✚ per Deum quite per Elizaeum Prophetâ—m in aquam miti jussit ut sanaretur sterilitas aquae ut efficiaris sal exorcisatus in salutem credentium ut sis omnibus te sumentibus sanitas animae corporis effugiat a que discedat ab eo loco qui aspersus fuerit omnis phantasia nequitia vel versutia Diabolicae fraudis omnisque spiritus adjuratus per cum qui venturus est judicare vivos mortuos saeculum per igném Amen Oremus Immensam clementiam tuam Onmipotens aeterne Deus humiliter imploramus ut hanc creaturam salis quam in usum generis humani tribuisti bene ✚ dicere sancti ✚ ficare tua pietate digneris ut sit omnibus sumentibus salus mentis corporis ut quicquid ex eo tactum fuerit vel respersum careat omni immunditia omnique impugnatione spiritualis nequitiae per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum qui tecum vivit regnat in unitate spiritus sancti Deus per omnia saecula saeculorum Amen To the Water say as followeth EXorciso te creaturam aquae in nemine ✚ Patris ✚ Jesu Christi Filii ejus Domini nostri in virtute Spiritus ✚ Sancti ✚ ut fiat aqua exorcisata ad effugandani omnen potestatem inimici ipsum inimicum eradicare explantare valeas cum angelis suis Apostatis per virtutem ejusdem Domini nostri Jesu Christi qui venturus est judicare vivos mortuos seculum per ignem Amen Oremus Deus qui ad salutem humani generis maxima quaeque sacramenta in aquarum substantia condidisti adesto propitius invocationibus nostris elemento huic multimodis purificationibus praeparato virtutem tuea bene ✚ dictionis infunde ut creatura tua mysteriis tuis serviens ad abigendos Daemones morbosque pellendos divinae gratiae sumat effectum ut quicquid in domibus vel in locis fidelium haec unda resperserit careat omni immunditia liberetur à noxa non illic resideat spiritus pestilens non aura corrumpens discedant omnes insidiae latentis inimici si quid est quod aut incolumitati habitantium invidet aut quieti aspersione hujus aquae effugiat us salubritas per invocationem sancti tui nominis expetita ab omnibus fit impugnationibus defensa per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum qui tecum vivit regnat in unitate spiritus sancti Deus per omnia saecula saeculorum Amen Then take the Salt in thy
what time he will be in such a place what day and hour and this and all other things to declare plainly on pain of Hell fire Fiat Amen A Licence to Depart DEpart out of the sight of this Crystal-stone in peace for a time and ready to appear therein again at any time or times I shall call thee by vertue of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the bonds of words which are written in this Book and to appear visibly as the words be rehearsed I constrain thee Spirit N. by the divinity of the Godhead to be obedient unto these words rehearsed upon pain of everlasting condemnation both in this world and in the world to come Fiat fiat fiat Amen CHAP. XXIX When to talk with Spirits and to have true answers to find out a Theif THe days and hours of ♄ ♂ ☿ and the ☽ is best to do all crafts of Necromancy and for to speak with Spirits and for to find theft and to have true answer thereof or of any other such like And in the days and hours of ☉ ♃ ♀ is best to do all experiments of love and to purchase grace and for to be invisible and to do any operation whatsoever it be for any thing the ☽ being in a convenient sign * As when thou labourest for theft see the Moon be in an earthy sign as ♉ ♠♑ or of the air as ♊ ♎ ♒ * And if it be for love favour or grace let the ☽ be in a sign of the fire as ♈ ♌ ♠and for hatred in a sign of the water as ♋ ♠♓ For any other experiment let the ☽ be in ♈ * And if thou findest the ☉ and the ☽ in one sign that is called in even number then thou mayst write consecrate conjure and make ready all manner of things that thou wilt do c. To speak with Spirits CAll these names Orimoth Beltmoth Lymock and say thus I conjure you up by the names of the Angels Satur and Azimor that you intend to me in this hour and send unto me a Spirit caded Sagrigrit that he do fulfill my commandement and desire and that also can understand my words for one or two years or as long as I will CHAP. XXX A Confutation of Conjuration especially of the raising binding and dimissing of the Divel of going invisible and other lewd practices THus far have we waded in shewing at large the vanity of Necromancers Conjurors and such as pretend to have real conference consultation with Spirits and Divels wherein I trust you see what notorious blasphemy is committed besides other blind superstitious Ceremonies a disordered heap which are so far from building up the endeavors of these Black Art practitiers that they do altogether ruinate and overthrow them making them in their follies and falsehoods as bare and naked as an Anatomy As for these ridiculous Conjurations last rehearsed being of no small reputation among the ignorant they are for the most part made by T.R. for so much of his name he bewrayeth and John Cockars invented and devised for the augmentation and maintenance of their living for the edifying of the poor and for the propagating and inlarging of Gods glory as in the beginning of their Book of Conjurations they protest which in this place for the further manifestation of their impiety and of the Witchmongers folly and credulity I thought good to insert whereby the residue of their proceeding may be judged or rather detected For if we seriously behold the matter of Conjuration and the drift of Conjurors we shall find them in mine opinion more faulty then such as take upon them to be Witches as manifest offenders against the Majesty of God and his holy Law as apparent violators of the laws and quietness of this Realm although indeed they bring no such thing to pass as is surmised and urged by credulous persons coseners lyars and Witchmongers For these are alwayes learned and rather abusers of others than they themselves by others abused But let us see what appearance of truth or possibility is wrapped within these mysteries and let us unfold the deceit They have made choice of certain words whereby they say they can work miracles c. And first of all that they call Divels and souls out of Hell though we find in the Scripture manifest proofs that all passages are stopped concerning the egress out of Hell so as they may go thither but they shall never get out for Ab inferno nulla est redemptio out of hell there is no redemption Well when they have gotten them up they shut them in a circle made with Chalk which is so strongly beset and invironed with crosses and names that they cannot for their lives get out which is a very probable matter Then can they bind them and loose them at their pleasures and make them that have been lyers from the beginning to tell the truth yea they can compel them to do any thing And the Devils are forced to be obedient unto them and yet cannot be brought to due obedience unto God their Creator This done I say they can work all manner of miracles saving blew miracles and this is to believed of many to be ttue Tam credula mens hominis arrectae fabulis aures Englished by Abraham Fleming So light of belief is the mind of man And attentive to tales his ears now and than But if Christ only for a time left the power of working miracles among his Apostles and Disciples for the confirmation of his Gospel and the faith of his elect yet I deny altogether that he left that power with these Knaves which hide their cosening purposes under those lewd and foolish words according to that which Peter saith With faigned words they make merchandize of you And therefore the counsel is good that Paul giveth us when he biddeth us Take heed that no man deceive us with vain words For it is the Lord only that worketh great wonders and bringeth mighty things to pass It is also written that Gods Word and not the words of Conjurors or the Charms of Witches healeth all things maketh tempests and stilleth them But put case the Devil could be fetched up and fettered and loosed again at their pleasure c. I marvel yet that any can be so bewitched as to be made to believe that by vertue of their words any earthly creature can be made invisible We think it a lye to say that white is black and black white but it is a more shameless assertion to affirm that white is not or black is not at all and yet more impudency to hold that a Man is a Horse but most apparent impudency to say that a Man is no Man or to be extenuated into such a quantity as thereby he may be invisible and yet remain in life and health and that in the clear light of the day even in the presence of them that are
whatsoever shall be touched thereby or sprinkled therewith may be void of all uncleanness and all resistance of spiritual iniquity through our Lord. Amen What can be made but a Conjuration of these words also which are written in the Canon or rather in the Saccaring of Masse This holy commixtion of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ let it be made to me and to all the receivers thereof health of mind and body and a wholesome preparative for the deserving and receiving of everlasting life through our Lord Jesus Amen CHAP. XXXVII That Popish Priests leave nothing unconjured a form of Exercism for Incense ALthough the Papists have many Conjurations so as neither Water nor Fire nor Bread nor Wine nor Wax nor Tallow nor Church nor Church-yard nor Altar nor Altar-cloth nor Ashes nor coals nor Bells nor Bell-ropes nor Copes nor Vestments nor Oyl nor Salt nor Candle nor Candlestick nor Beds nor Bed-staves c. are without their form of Conjuration yet I will for brevity let all pass and end here with Incense which they do conjure in this sort ✚ I conjure thee most filthy and horrible Spirit and every vision of our enemy c. that thou go and depart from out of this creature of Frankincense with all thy deceipt and wickedness that this creature may be sanctified and in the name of our Lord ✚ Jesus ✚ Christ ✚ that all they that taste touch or smell the same may receive the virtue and assistance of the holy Ghost so as wheresoever this Incense or Frankincense shall remain that there thou in no wise be so bold as to approach or once presume or attempt to hurt but what unclean Spirit soever thou be that thou with all thy craft and subtilty avoid and depart being conjured by the name of God the Father Almighty c. And that wheresoever the fume or smoke thereof shall come every kind and sort of Devils may be driven away and expelled as they were at the increase of the liver of fish which the Archangel Raphael male c. CHAP. XXXVIII Toe Rules and Laws of Popish Exorcists and other Conjurors all one with a confutation of their whole power How S. Martin conjured the Devill THe Papists you see have their certain general Rules and Laws as to abstain from sin and to fast as also otherwise to be clean from all pollutions c. and even so likewise have the other Conjurors Some will say that Papists use Divine Service and Prayers even so do common Conjurors as you see even in the same Papistical form no whit swarving from theirs in faith and doctrin nor yet in ungodly and unreasonable kinds of petitions Methinks it may be a sufficient argument to overthrow the calling up and miraculous works of Spirits that it is written God only knoweth and searcheth the hearts and only worketh great wonders The which argument being prosecuted to the end can never be answered in so much as that Divine power is required in that action And if it be said That in this Conjuration we speak to the Spirits and they hear us and therefore need not know our thoughts and imaginations I first ask them Whether King Bael or Amaymon which are Spirits raigning in the furthest regions of the East as they say may hear a Conjurors voyce which calleth for them being in the extreamest parts of the West there being such noises interposed where perhaps also they may be busie and set to work on the like affairs Secondly Whether those Spirits be of the same power that God is who is everywhere filling all places and able to hear all men at one instant c. Thirdly Whence cometh the force of such words as raise the dead and command Devils If sounds do it then may it be done by a taber and a pipe or any other instrument that hath no life If the voyce do it then may it be done by any Beasts or Birds If words then a Parret may do it if in mans words only where is the force in the first second or third syllable If in syllables then not in words If in imaginations then the Devil knoweth our thoughts But all this stuffe is vain and fabulous It is written All the generations of the earth were healthful and there is no poyson of destruction in them Why then do they conjure wholesome creatures as Salt Water c. where no Divels are God looked upon all his works and saw they were all good What effect I pray you had the seven sons of Sceva which is the great objection of Witchmongers They would needs take upon them to conjure Devils out of the possessed But what brought they to pass Yet that was in the time whilest God suffered miracles commonly to be wrought By that you may see what Conjurors can do Where is such a promise to Conjurors or Witches as is made in the Gospel to the faithful where it is written In my name thay shall cast out Devils speak with new tongues if they shall drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall take away Serpents they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover According to the promise this grant of miraculous working was performed in the primitive Church for the confirmation of Christs doctrin and the establishing of the Gospel But as in another place I have proved the gift thereof was but for a time and is now ceased neither was it ever made to Papist Witch or Conjuror They take upon them to call up and cast out Devils and to undo with one Devil that which another Devil hath done If one Devil could cast out another it were a Kingdom divided and could not stand Which argument Christ himself maketh and therefore I may the more boldly say even with Christ That they have no such power For besides him there is no Saviour none can deliver out of his hand Who but he can declare set in order appoint and tell what is to come He destroyeth the tokens of Soothsayers and maketh the Conjecturers fools c. He declareth things to come and so cannot Witches There is no help in Inchanters and Soothsayers and other such vain sciences For Devils are cast out by the finger of God which Matthew calleth the Spirit of God which is the mighty power of God and not by the virtue of the bare name only being spoken or pronounced for then might every wicked man do it And Simon Magus needed not then to have proffered money to have bought the power to do Miracles and Wonders for he could speak and pronounce the name of God as well as the Apostles Indeed they may soon throw out all the Devils that are in Frankincense and such like creatures wherein no Devils are but neither they nor all their holy-water can indeed cure a man possessed with a Devil either in body or mind as Christ did Nay why do they not cast out the
fire about with them alwayes in so much as they say they leave ashes evermore where they stand Surely she made in her Prayer an unreasonable request but the date of her Patent is out for I believe that whosoever at this day shall burn a pound of good Candles before her shall be never the better but three pence the worse But now we may find in St. Margarets life who it is that is Christs wife whereby we are so much wiser than we were before But look in the life of S. Katherine in the golden Legend and you shall find that he was also marryed to S. Katherine and that our Lady made the marriage c. An execellent authority for Bigamie Here I will also cite another of their notable stories or miracles of authority and so leave shaming of them or rather troubling you the Readers thereof Neither would I have written these fables but that they are authentick among the Papists and that we that are Protestants may be satisfied as well of Conjurors and Witches miracles as of others for the one is as gross as the other CHAP. XLVI A pleasant Miracle wrought by a Popish Priest WHat time the Waldenses Heresies began to spring certain wicked men being upheld and maintained by Diabolical vertue shewed certain signs and wonders whereby they strengthened and confirmed their Heresies and perverted in Faith many faithful men for they walked on the water and were not drowned But a certain Catholick Priest seeing the same and knowing that true signs could not be joyned with false doctrine brought the body of our Lord with the Pix to the Water where they shewed their power and vertue to the people and said in the hearing of all that were present I conjure thee O Devil by him whom I carry in my hands that thou exercise not these great Visions and Phantasies by these men to the drowning of this people Notwithstanding these words when they walked still on the water as they did before the Priest in a rage threw the body of our Lord with the Pix into the River and by and by so soon as the Sacrament touched the Element the Phantasie gave place to the Verity and they being proved and made false did sink like lead to the bottom and were drowned the Pix with the Sacrament immediately was taken away by an Angel The Priest seeing all these things was very glad of the Miracle but for the loss of the Sacrament he was very pensive passing away the whole night in tears and mourning in the morning he found the Pix with the Sacrament upon the Altar CHAP. XLVII The former Miracle confuted with a strange story of St. Lucy HOw glad Sir John was now it were folly for me to say How would he have plagued the Devil that threw his God in the River to be drowned But if other had had no more power to destroy the Waldenses with Sword and Fire than this Priest had to drown them with his conjuring Box and cosening Sacraments there should have been many a life saved But I may not omit one fable which is of authority wherein though there be no Conjuration expressed yet I warrant you there was cosenage both in the doing and telling thereof You shall read in the lesson on Saint Lucies dayes that she being condemned could not be removed from the place with a teem of Oxen neither could any fire burn her insomuch as one was fain to cut off her head with a Sword and yet she could speak afterward as long as she list And this passeth all other miracles except it be that which Bodin and M. Mal. recite out of Nider of a Witch that could not be burned till a scroll was taken away from where she hid it betwixt her skin and flesh CHAP. XLVIII Of Visions Noises Apparitions and imagined Sounds and of other Illusions of wandering Souls with a confutation thereof MAny through Melancholy do imagine that they see or hear Visions Spirits Ghosts strange Noises c. as I have already proved before at large Many again through fear proceeding from a cowardly nature and complexion or from an effeminate and fond bringing up are timerous and afraid of Spirits and bugs c. Some through imperfection of sight also are afraid of their own shadows and as Aristotle saith see themselves sometime as it were in a Glass And some through weakness of body have such imperfect imaginations Drunken men also sometimes suppose they see trees walk c. according to that which Solomon saith to the drunkards Thine eyes shall see strange visions and marvellous appearances In all ages Monks and Priests have abused and bewitched the world with counterfeit Visions which proceeded through idleness and restraint of marriage whereby they grew hot and lecherous and therefore devised such means to compass and obtain their loves And the simple people being then so superstitious would never seem to mistrust that such holy men would make them Cuckholds but forsook their beds in that case and gave room to the Clergy Item little children have been so scared with their mothers maids that they could never after endure to be in the dark alone for fear of bugs Many are deceived by Glasses through Art Perspective Many hearkening unto false reports conceive and believe that which is nothing so Many give credit to that which they read in Authors But how many Stories and Books are written of walking Spirits and Souls of men contrary to the Word of God a reasonable volum cannot contain How common an opinion was it among the Papists that all souls walked on the earth after they departed from their bodies In so much as it was in the time of Popery a usual matter to desire sick people on their death-beds to appear to them after their death and to reveal their estate The Fathers and ancient Doctors of the Church were too credulous herein c. Therefore no marvel though the common simple sort of men and least of all that women be deceived herein God in times past did send down visible Angels and Appearances to men but now he doth not so Through ignorance of late in Religion it was thought that every Church-yard swarmed with souls and Spirits but now the Word of God being more free open and known those conceits and illusions are made more manifest and apparent c. The Doctors Councels and Popes which they say cannot err have confirmed the walking appearing and raising of Souls But where find they in Scriptures any such doctrine And who certified them that those appearances were true Truly all they cannot bring to pass that the lyes which have been spread abroad herein should now begin to be true though the Pope himself subscribe seal and swear thereunto never so much Where are the souls that swarmed in times past Where are the Spirits Who heareth their noises Who seeth their Visions Where are the Souls that made such moan for Trentals whereby to be
we may certainly know the same we ought to content and frame our selves faithfully to believe the words and sense there delivered unto us by the high Spirit which is the Holy Ghost who is Lord of all spirits alwayes considering that evermore spirits are spoken of in Scripture as of things spiritual though for the help of our capacities they are sometime more grossly and corporally expressed either in Parables or by Metephors than indeed they are As for example and to omit the History of Job which elsewhere I handle it is written The Lord said Who shall entice Ahab that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead c. Then came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said I will go entice him And the Lord said Wherewith And he said I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets Then he said Go forth thou shalt prevail c. This story is here set forth in this wise to bear with our capacities and specially with the capacity of that age that could not otherwise conceive of spiritual things than by such corporal demonstrations And yet here is to be noted that one spirit and not many or divers did possess all the false Prophets at once Even as in another place many thousand Devils are said to possess one man yet it is also said even in the self same place that the same man was possessed only with one Devil For it is there said that Christ met a man which had a Devil and he commanded the foul spirit to come forth of the man c. But Calvin saith Where Satan or the Devil is named in the singular number thereby is meant that power of wickedness that standeth against the Kingdom of justice And where many Devils are named in the Scriptures we are thereby taught that we must fight with an infinite multitude of enemies lest despising the fewness of them we should be more slack to enter into battel and so fall into security and idleness On the other side it is as plainly set down in the Scripture That some are possessed with the Spirit of God as that the others are endued and bound with the spirit of the Devil Yea sometimes we read That one good Spirit was put into a great number of persons and again That divers Spirits rested in and upon one man and yet no real or corporal spirit meant As for example The Lord took of the spirit that was upon Moses and put it upon the seventy Elders and when the Spirit rested upon them they prophesied Why should not this be as substantial and corporal a spirit as that wherewith the Maid in the Acts of the Apostles was possessed Also Elisha intreated Elias that when he departed his spirit might be double upon him We read also that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel upon Gideon Jeptha Samson Balaam Saul David Ezekiel Zachary Amasay yea it is written that Caleb had another spirit than all the Israelites beside and in another place it is said that Daniel had a more excellent spirit than any other So as though the spirits as well good as bad are said to be given by number and proportion yet the quality and not the quantity of them is alwayes thereby meant and presupposed Howbeit I must confess that Christ had the Spirit of God without measure as it is written in the Evangelist John But where it is said that spirits can be made tame and at commandment I say to those gross conceivers of Scripture with Solomon who as they falsly affirm was of all others the greatest Conjuror saith thus in express words No man is lord over a spirit to retain a spirit at his pleasure CHAP. XVII Whether Spirits and Souls can assume bodies and of their Creation and Substance wherein Writers do extreamly contend and vary SOme hold opinion that Spirits and Souls can assume and take unto them bodies at their pleasure of what shape or or substance they list of which mind all Papists and some Protestants are being more gross than another sort which hold that such bodies are made to their hands Howbeit these do vary in the Elements wherewith these spiritual bodies are composed For as I have said some affirm That they consist of fire some think of air and some of the Stars and other celestial powers But if they be celestial then as Peter Martyr saith must they follow the circular motion and if they be elementary then must they follow the motions of those Elements of which their bodies consist Of air they cannot be for air is Corpus homogeneum so as every part of air is air whereof there can be no distinct members made For an organical body must have bones sinews veins flesh c. which cannot be made of air Neither as Peter Martyr affirmeth can an anybody receive or have either shape or figure But some ascend up into the clouds where they find as they say divers shapes and forms even in the air Unto which objection Peter Martyr answereth saying and that truly That Clouds are not altogether air but have a mixture of other elements mingled with them CHAP. XVIII Certain Popish Reasons concerning Spirits made of Air of Day-Devils and Night-Devils and why the Devil loveth no Salt in his Meat MAny affirm upon a fable cited by M. Mal. that Spirits are of air because they have been cut as he saith in sunder and closed presently again and also because they vanish away so suddenly But of such Apparitions I have already spoken and am shortly to say more which are rather seen in the imagination of the weak and diseased than in verity and truth Which sights and apparations as they have been common among the unfaithful so now since the preaching of the Gospel they are most rare And as among faint-hearted people namely women children and sick folks they usually swarmd so among strong bodies and good stomachs they never used to appear as elsewhere I haved proved which argueth that they were only phantastical and imaginary Now say they that imagine Devils and Spirits to be made of air that it must needs be that they consist of that element because otherwise when they vanish suddenly away they should leave some earthy substance behind them If they were of water then should they moisten the place where they stand and must needs be shed on the floor If they consisted of fire then would they burn any thing that touched them and yet say they Abraham and Lot washed their feet and were neither scalded nor burnt I find it not in the Bible but in Bodin that there are Day-Devils and Night-Devils The same fellow saith That Deber is the name of that Devil which hurteth by night and Cheleb is he that hurteth by day howbeit he confesseth that Satan can hurt both by day and night although it be certain
and in that sense did Christ himself use it saying Be ye wise as Serpents c. So that by this brief collection you see that the word Serpent as it is equivocal so likewise it is sometimes taken in the good and sometimes in the evil part But where it is said That the Serpent was father of lyes author of death and the worker of deceit methinks it is a ridiculous opinion to hold that thereby a Snake is meant which must be if the letter be preferred before the Allegory Truly Calvin's opinion is to be liked and reverenced and his example to be embraced and followed in that he offereth to subscribe to them that hold that the Holy Ghost in that place did of purpose use obscure figures that the clear light thereof might be deferred till Christs coming He saith also with like commendation speaking hereof and writing upon this place That Moses doth accommodate and fitten for the understanding of the common people in a rude and gross style those things which he there delivereth forbearing once to rehearse the name of Satan And further he saith That this order may not be thought of Moses his own device but to be taught him by the Spirit of God for such was saith he in those dayes the childish age of the Church which was unable to receive higher or profounder doctrine Finally he saith even hereupon That the Lord hath supplyed with the secret light of his Spirit whatsoever wanted in plainness and clearness of external words If it be said according to experience That certain other Beasts are farre more subtil than the Serpent They answer That it is not absurd to confess that the same gift was taken away from him by God because he brought destruction to mankind Which is more methinks than need be granted in that behalf For Christ saith not Be ye wise as Serpents were before their transgression but Be wise as Serpents are I would learn what impiety absurdity or offence it is to hold that Moses under the person of a poysoning Serpent or Snake describeth the Devil that poysoned Eve with his deceitful worâ—s and venomous assault Whence cometh it else that the Devil is called so often The Viper The Serpent c. and that his children are called the generation of Vipers but upon this first description of the Devil made by Moses For I think none so gross as to suppose that the wicked are the children of Snakes according to the letter no more than we are to think and gather that God keepeth a Book of Life written with Pen and Ink upon Paper as Citizens record their Free-men CHAP. XXXI Of the Curse rehearsed Gen. 3. and that place rightly expounded John Calvins opinion of the Devil THe curse rehearsed by God in that place whereby Witchmongers labour so busily to prove that the Devil entered into the body of a Snake and by consequence can take the body of any other creature at his pleasure c. reacheth I think further into the Devils matters than we can comprehend it or is needful for us to know that understand not the wayes of the Devils creeping and is far unlikely to extend to plague the generation of Snakes though they had been made with legges before that time and through his curse was deprived out of that benefit And yet if the Devil should have entered into the Snake in manner and form as they suppose I cannot see in what degree of sin the poor Snake should be so guilty as that God who is the most righteous Judge might be offended with him But although I abhor that lewd interpretation of the Family of Love and such other Heretiques as would reduce the whole Bible into allegories yet methinks the creeping there is rather metaphorically or significatively spoken than literally even by that figure which is there prosecuted to the end Wherein the Devil is resembled to an odious creature who as he creepeth upon us to annoy our bodies so doth the Devil there creep into the conscience of Eve to abuse and deceive her whose seed nevertheless shall tread down and dissolve his power and malice And through him all good Christians as Calvin saith obtain power to do the like For we may not imagine such a material tragedy as there is described for the ease of our feeble and weak capacities For whensoever we find in the Scriptures that the Devil is called God the Prince of the world a strong armed man to whom is given the power of the air a roaring Lion a Serpent c. the Holy Ghost moved us thereby to beware of the most subtil strong and mighty Enemy and to make preparation and arm our selves with faith against so terrible an Adversary And this is the opinion and counsel of Calvin That we seeing our own weakness and his force manifested in such terms may beware of the Devil and may flie to God for spiritual aid and comfort And as for his corporal assaults or his attempts upon our bodies his night-walkings his visible appearings his dancing with Witches c. we are neither warned in the Scriptures of them nor willed by God or his Prophets to flie them neither is there any mention made of them in the Scriptures And therefore think I those Witchmongers and absurd Writers to be as gross on the one side as the Sadduces are impious and fond on the other which say That Spirits and Devils are only motions and affections and that Angels are but tokens of Gods power I for my part confess with Augustine That these matters are above my reach and capacity and yet so farr as God Word teacheth me I will not stick to say That they are living creatures ordained to serve the Lord in their vocation And although they abode not in their first estate yet that they are the Lords Ministers and Executioners of his wrath to try and tempt in this world and to punish the reprobate in Hell fire in the world to come CHAP. XXXII Mine own Opinion and Resolultion of the Nature of Spirits and of the Devil with his properties BUt to use few words in a long matter and plain terms in a doubtful case this is mine opinion concerning this argument First that Devils are spirits and no bodies For as Peter Martyr saith spirits and bodies are by antithesis opposed one to another so as a body is no spirit nor a spirit a body And that the Devil whether he be many or one for by the way you shall understand that he is so spoken of in the Scriptures as though there were but one and sometimes as though one were many legions the sense whereof I have already declared according to Calvins opinion he is a creature made by God and that for vengeance as it is written in Ecclus. 39. v. 28. and of himself naught though imployed by God to necessary and good purposes For in places where it is written
doth he constantly deny it to be a creature Now if any ask me why Hilarie was so coy and nice to name the Holy Spirit God whom he denyeth to be a creature when as notwithstanding between God and a creature there is no mean I will in good sooth say what I think I suppose that Hilarie for himself thought well of the Godhead of the Holy Spirit but this opnion was thrust and forced upon him by the Pneumatomachi who at that time rightly deeming of the Son did erewhiles join themselves to those that were sound of judgment There is also in the Ecclesiastical History a little book which they gave Liberius a Bishop of Rome whereinto they foisted the Nicene Creed And that Hilarie was a friend of the Pneumatomachi it is perceived in his Book De Synodis where he writeth in this manner Nihil autem mirum vobis videri debet fratres charissimi c. It ought to seem no wonder unto you dear Brethren c. As for the objection of the Prayers of the Church called the Collects that in them the Holy Spirit is not called upon by name we oppose and set against them the Songs of the Church wherein the said Spirit is called upon But the Collects are more ancient than the Songs Hymns and Anthems I will not now contend about ancientness neither will I compare Songs and Collects together but I say thus much only to wit that in the most ancient times of the Church the Holy Spirit hath been openly called upon in the Congregation Now if I be charged to give an instance let this serve In the Collect upon Trinity Sunday it is thus said Almighty and everlasting God which hast given unto us thy servants grace by the confession of a truth to acknowledg the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of the divine Majesty to worship the Unity we beseech thee that through the stedfastness of this faith we may evermore be defended from all adversity which livest and reignest one God world without end Now because that in this Collect where the Trinity is expresly called upon the names of persons are not expressed but Almighty and Everlasting God invocated who abideth in Trinity and Unity it doth easily appear elsewhere also that the persons being not named under the Name of Almighty and Everlasting God not only the Father is to be understood but God which abideth in Trinity and Unity that is the Father the Son and the Holyghost A third objection of theirs is this The Son of God oftentimes praying in the Gospels speaking unto the Father promiseth the Holy Spirit and doth also admonish the Apostles to pray unto the heavenly Father but yet in the Name of the Son Besides that he prescribeth them this form of Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven Ergo The Father only is to be called upon and consequently the Father only is that one and very true God of whom it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Whereto I answer first by denying the consequent The Son prayed to the Father only Ergo the Father only is of us also to be prayed unto For the Son of God is distinguished of us both in Person and in Office he as a Mediator maketh Intercession for us to the Father and although the Son and the Holy Spirit do both together receive and take us into favour with God yet is he said to intreat the Father for us because the Father is the fountain of all counsels and divine works Furthermore touching the form of Praying described by Christ it is not necessary that the Fathers name should personally be there taken sith there is no distinction of persons made but by the Name of Father indefinitely we understand God or the Essence of God the Father the Son and the Holy-Ghost For this name hath not alwayes a respect unto the generation of the Son of God but God is called The Father of the faithful because of his gracious and free adopting of them the foundation whereof is the Son of God in whom we be adopted but yot so adopted that not the Father only receiveth us into his favour but with him also the Son and the Holy Spirit doth the same Therefore when we in the beginning of Prayer do advertise our selves of God's goodness towards us we do not cast an eye to the Father alone but also to the Son who gave us the Spirit of Adoption and to the Holy Spirit in whom we cry Abba Father And if so be that invocation and Prayer were restrained to the Father alone then had the Saints done amiss in calling upon invocating and praying to the Son of God and with the Son the Holy Spirit in Baptism according to the form by Christ himself assigned and delivered Another objection is out of the fourth of Amos in this manner For lo it is I that make the Thunder and create the spirit and shew unto men their Christ making the light and the clouds and mounting above the high places of the earth the Lord God of Hosts is his Name Now because it is read in that place Shewing unto men their Christ the Pneumatomachi contended that these words are to be understood of the Holy Spirit But Ambrose in his Book De Spiritu Sancto lib. 2. cap. 7. doth rightly answer That by Spirit in this place is meant the Wind for if the Prophets purpose and will had been to speak of the Holy Spirit he would not have begun with Thunder nor have ended with light and clouds Howbeit the same father saith If any suppose that these words are to be drawn unto the interpretation of the Holy Spirit because the Prophet saith Shewing unto men their Christ he ought also to draw these words unto the mystery of the Lords incarnation and he expoundeth Thunder to be the words of the Lord and Spirit to be the reasonable and perfect soul But the former interpretation is certain and convenient with the words of the Prophet by whom there is no mention made of Christ but the power of God is set forth in his works Behold saith the Prophet he that formeth the Mountains and createth the Wind and declareth unto man what is his thought which maketh the morning darkness and walketh upon the high places of the earth the Lord God of Hosts is his Name In this sort Santes a right skilful man in the Hebrew tongue translateth this place of the Prophet But admit this place were written of the Holy Spirit and were not appliable either to the Wind or to the Lords Incarnation yet doth it not follow that the Holy Spirit is a creature because this word of Creating doth not alwayes signifie a making of something out of nothing as Eusebius dxpounding these wrrds The Lord created me in the beginning of his wayes writeth thus The Prophet in the Person of God saying
Behold I am he that made the Thunder and created the Spirit and shewed unto men their Christ this word created is not so to be taken as that it is to be concluded thereby that the same was not before For God hath not so created the Spirit fithence by the same he hath shewed and declared his Christ unto al men Neither was it a thing of late beginning under the Son but it was before all beginning and was then sent when the Apostles were gathered together When a sound like Thunder came from Heaven as it had been the coming of a mighty wind this word created being used for sent down for appointed ordained c. and the word Thunder signifying in another kind of manner the Preaching of the Gospel The like saying is that of the Psalmist A clean heart create in me O God wherein he prayed not as one having no heart but as one that had such a heart as needed purifying as needed perfecting and this phrase also of the scripture that he might create two in one new man that is that he might joyn couple or gather together c. Furthermore the Pneumatomachi by these testimonies insuing endeavour to prove the Holy Spirit to be a creature Out of John the 1. ch By this word were all things made and without it nothing was made Out of 1 Cor. 8. We have one God the Father even he from whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and we by him Out of Col. 1 By him were all things made things in heaven and things in earth visible and invisible c. Now if all things were made by the Son it followeth that by him the Holy Spirit was also made Whereto I answer that when all things are said to be made by the Son that same universal proposition is restrained by John himself to a certain kind of things Without him saith the Evangelist was nothing made that was made Therefore it is first to be shewed that the Holy Spirit was made and then will we conclude out of John that if he were made he was made of the Son The Scripture doth no where say that the Holy Spirit was made of the Father or of the Son but to proceed to come and to be sent from them both Now if these universal propositions are to suffer no restraint it shall follow that the Father was made of the Son than the which what is more absurd and wicked Again they object out of Mat. 11. None knoweth the Son but the Father and none the Father but the Son to wit of and by himself for otherwise both the angels and to whomsoever else it shall please the Son to reveal the Father these do know both the Father and the Son Now if so be the Spirit be not equal with the Father and the Son in knowledge he is not only unequal and lesser than they but also no God for ignorance is not incident unto God Whereto I answer that where in holy Scripture we do meet with universal propositions negative or exclusive they are not to be expounded of one person so as the rest are excluded but creatures or false gods are to be excluded and whatsoever else is without or beside the essence and being of God Reasons to prove and confirme this interpretation I could bring very many whereof I will adde some for example In the seventh of John it is said When Christ shall come none shall know from whence he is notwithstanding which words the Jews thought that neither God nor his Angels should be ignorant from whence Christ should be In the fourth to the Galatians A mans Covenant or testament confirmed with authority no body doth abrogate or adde any thing thereunto No just man doth so but tyrants and truce-breakers care not for covenants In John eight Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst And yet it is not to be supposed that a multitude of people was not present and the Disciples of Christ likewise but the word Solus alone is referred to the womans accusers who withdrew themselves away every one and departed In the sixt of Mark When it was evening the ship was in the midst of the sea and he alone upon land he was not alone upon land or shore for the same was not utterly void of dwellers but he had not any of his Disciples with him nor any body to carry him a shipboard unto his Disciples Many phrases or forms of speeches like unto these are to be found in the sacred scriptures and in authors both Greek and Latin whereby we understand that neither universal negative nor exclusive particles are strictly to be urged but to be explained in such sort as the matter in hand will bear When as therefore the Son alone is said to know the Father and it is demanded whether the holy Spirit is debarred from knowing the Father out of other places of Scripture judgment is to be given in this case In some places the Holy Spirit is counted and reckoned with the Father and the Son jointly wherefore he is not to be separated Elsewhere also it is attributed to the holy spirit that he alone doth know the things which be of God and searcheth the deep secrets of God wherfore from him the knowing of God is not to be excluded They do yet further object that it is not convenient or fit for God after the manner of suters to humble and cast down himself but the holy Spirit doth so praying and intreating for us with unspeakable groans Rom. 8. Ergo the holy Spirit is not God Whereunto I answer that the Holy Spirit doth pray and intreat insomuch as he provoketh us to pray and maketh us to groan and sigh Oftentimes also in the Scriptures is that action or deed attributed unto God which we being stirred up and moved by him doe bring to passe So it is said of God unto Abraham Now I know that thou fearest God and yet before he would have sacrificed Isaac God knew the very heart of Abraham and therefore this word Cognovi I know is as much as Cognoscere feci I have made or caused to know And that the Spirit to pray and intreat is the same with that to make to pray and intreat the apostle teacheth even there writing that we have received the spirit of adoption in whom we cry Abba Father Where it is manifest that it is we which cry the Holy-ghost provoking and forcing us thereunto Howbeit they goe further and frame this reason Whosoever is sent the same is inferior and lesser than he of whom he is sent and furthermore he is of a comprehensible substance because he passeth by local motion from place to place but the Holy Spirit is sent of the Father and the Son John 14 15. 16. It is poured forth and shed upon men Acts 10. Ergo the Holy