particular is onely this that he cannot conceive how such things can be performed which onely argues the weakness and imperfection of our knowledge and apprehensions not the impossibility of those performances and we can no more from hence form an Argument against them then against the most ordinary effects in Nature We cannot conceive how the Faetus is form'd in the womb nor as much as how a Plant springs from the Earth we tread on we know not how our Souls move the Body nor how these distant and extreme natures are united And if we are ignorant of the most obvious things about us and the most considerable within our selves 't is then no wonder that we know not the constitution and powers of the Creatures to whom we are such strangers Briefly then matters of fact well proved ought not to be denied because we cannot conceive how they can be perform'd Nor is it a reasonable method of inference first to presume the thing impossible and thence to conclude that the fact cannot be proved On the contrary we should judge of the action by the evidence and not the evidence by the measures of our fancies about the action This is proudly to exalt our own opinions above the clearest testimonies and most sensible demonstrations of fact and so to give the Lie to all Mankind rather then distrust the little conceits of our bold imaginations But yet further 3. I think there is nothing in the instances mention'd but what may as well be accounted for the Rules of Reason and Philosophy as the ordinary affairs of Nature For in resolving natural Phaenomena we can only assign the probable causes shewing how things may be not presuming how they are And in the particulars under our Examen we may give an account how 't is possible and not unlikely that such things though somewhat varying from the common rode of Nature may be acted And if our narrow and contracted minds can furnish us with apprehensions of the way and manner of such performances though perhaps not the true ones 't is an argument that such things may be effected by creatures whose powers and knowledge are so vastly exceeding ours I shall endeavour therefore briefly to suggest some things that may render the possibility of these performances conceivable in order to the removal of this Objection that they are contradictions and impossible For the First then That the confederate Spirit should transport the Witch through the Air to the place of general Rendezvous there is no difficulty in conceiving and if that be true which great Philosophers affirm concerning the real separability of the Soul from the Body without death there is yet less for then 't is easie to apprehend that the Soul having left its gross and sluggish Body behind it and being cloath'd onely with its immediate vehicle of Air or more subtile matter may be quickly conducted to any place it would be at by those officious Spirits that attend it And though I adventure to affirm nothing concerning the truth and certainty of this supposition yet I must needs say it doth not seem to me unreasonable And our experience of Apoplexies Epilepsies Extasies and the strange things men report to have seen during those deliquiums look favourably upon this conjecture which seems to me to contradict no principle of Reason or Philosophy since Death consists not so much in the actual separation of Soul and Body as in the indisposition and unfitness of the Body for vital union as an excellent Philosopher hath made good On which Hypothesis the Witches annointing her self before she takes her flight may perhaps serve to keep the Body tenantable in fit disposition to receive the Spirit at its return These things I say we may conceive though I affirm nothing about them and there is nothing in such conceptions but what hath been affirm'd by men of worth and name and may seem fair and accountable enough to those who judge not altogether by the measures of the popular and customary opinion And there 's a saying of a great Apostle that seems to countenance this Platonick opinion what is the meaning else of that expression Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell except the Soul may be separated from the Body without death which if it be granted possible 't is sufficient for my purpose And 2 The Transformations of Witches into the shapes of other Animals upon the same supposal is very conceivable since then 't is easie enough to imagin that the power of imagination may form those passive and pliable vehicles into those shapes with more ease then the fancie of the Mother can the stubborn matter of the Foetus in the womb as we see it frequently doth in the instances that occur of Signatures and monstrous Singularities And perhaps sometimes the confederate Spirit puts tricks upon the senses of the spectators and those shapes are onely illusions But then 3 when they feel the hurts in their gross bodies that they receive in their aery vehicles they must be supposed to have been really present at least in these latter and 't is no more difficult to apprehend how the hurts of those should be translated upon their other bodies then how diseases should be inflicted by the imagination or how the fancy of the Mother should wound the Foetus as several credible relations do attest And 4 for their raising storms and tempests they do it not be sure by their own but by the power of the Prince of the Air their friend and allie and the Ceremonies that are injoin'd them are doubtless nothing else but entertainments for their imaginations and are likely design'd to persuade them that they do these strange things themselves And lastly for their being suck'd by the Familiar I say 1 we know so little of the nature of Daemons and Spirits that 't is no wonder we cannot certainly divine the reason of so strange an action And yet 2 we may conjecture at some things that may render it less improbable For some have thought that the Genii whom both the Platonical and Christian Antiquity thought embodied are recreated by the reeks and vapours of humane bloud and the spirits that derive from them Which supposal if we grant them bodies is not unlikely every thing being refresh'd and nourish'd by its like And that they are not perfectly abstract from all body and matter besides the reverence we owe to the wisest antiquity there are several considerable arguments I could alledge to render it exceeding probable Which things supposed the Devil 's sucking the Sorceress is no great wonder nor difficult to be accounted for Or perhaps 3 this may be onely a diabolical Sacrament and Ceremony to confirm the hellish covenant To which I adde 4 That which to me seems most probable viz. That the Familiar doth not onely suck the Witch but in the action infuseth some poisonous ferment into her which gives her imagination and spirits a magical tincture
we ought not to deny the being of Witches and Apparitions because they will create us some difficulties in our notions of Providence But to come more close 2 Those that believe that Infants are Heirs of Hell Children of the Devil as soon as they are disclosed to the world cannot certainly offer such an objection for what is a little trifling pain of a moment to those eternal tortures to which if they die as soon as they are born according to the tenour of this Doctrin they are everlastingly exposed But however the case stands as to that 't is certain 3 That Providence hath not secur'd them from other violences they are obnoxious too from cruelty and accident and yet we accuse It not when a whole Townful of Innocents fall a Victim to the rage and ferity of barbarous executioners in wars and Massacres To which I adde 4 That 't is likely the mischief is not so often done by the evil spirit immediately but by the malignant influence of the Sorceress whose power of hurting consists in the fore-mention'd ferment which is infused into her by the Familiar So that I am apt to think there may be a power of real fascination in the Witch's eyes and imagination by which for the most part she acts upon tender bodies Nescio quis teneros oculus For the pestilential spirits being darted by a spightful and vigorous imagination from the eye and meeting with those that are weak and passive in the bodies which they enter will not fail to infect them with a noxious quality that makes dangerous and strange alterations in the person invaded by this poisonous influence which way of acting by subtil and invisible instruments is ordinary and familiar in all natural efficiencies And 't is now past question that nature for the most part acts by subtil streams and aporhaea's of minute particles which pass from one body to another Or however that be this kind of agency is as conceivable as any of those qualities ignorance hath call'd sympathy and antipathy the reality of which we doubt not though the manner of action be unknown Yea the thing I speak of is as easie to be apprehended as how infection should pass in certain tenuious streams through the air from one house to another or as how the biting of a mad Dog should fill all the bloud and spirits with a venomous and malign ferment the application of the vertue doing the same in our case as that of contact doth in this Yea some kinds of fascination are perform'd in this grosser and more sensible way as by striking giving Apples and the like by which the contagious quality may be transmitted as we see diseases often are by the touch Now in this way of conjecture a good account may be given why Witches are most powerful upon Children timorous persons viz. because their spirits and imaginations being weak and passive are not able to resist the fatal invasion whereas men of bold minds who have plenty of strong and vigorous spirits are secure from the contagion as in pestilential Airs clean bodies are not so liable to infection as are other tempers Thus then we see 't is likely enough that very often the Sorceress her self doth the mischief and we know de facto that Providence doth not always secure us from one another's injuries And yet I must confess that many times also the evil spirit is the mischievous Agent though this confession draw on me another objection which I next propose 5 Then it may be said that if wicked spirits can hurt us by the direction and at the desire of a Witch one would think they should have the same power to do us injury without instigation or compact and if this be granted 't is a wonder that we are not always annoi'd and infested by them To which I return 1 That the laws liberties and restraints of the inhabitants of the other world are to us utterly unknown and this way we can only argue our selves into confessions of our ignorance which every man must acknowledg that is not as immodest as ignorant It must be granted by all that own the being power and malice of evil spirits that the security we enjoy is wonderful whether they act by Witches or not and by what Laws they are kept from making us a prey to speak like Philosophers we cannot tell yea why they should be permitted to tempt and ruine us in our Souls and restrain'd from touching or hurting us in our Bodies is a mystery not easily accountable But yet 2 though we acknowledge their power to vex and torment us in our bodies also yet a reason may be given why they are less frequent in this kind of mischief viz. because their main designs are levell'd against the interest and happiness of our Souls which they can best promote when their actions are most sly and secret whereas did they ordinarily persecute men in their bodies their agency and wicked influence would be discover'd and make a mighty noise in the world whereby men would be awaken'd to a more suitable and vigorous opposition by the use of such means as would engage Providence to rescue them from their rage and cruelties at last defeat them in their great purposes of undoing us eternally Thus we may conceive that the security we enjoy may well enough consist with the power and malice of those evil spirits and upon this account we may suppose that Laws of their own may prohibit their unlicens'd infuries not from any goodness there is in their Constitutions but in order to the more successful carrying on the projects of the dark Kingdom as Generals forbid plunder not out of love to their Enemies but in order to their own success And hence 3 we may suppose a Law of permission to hurt us at the instance of the Sorceress may well stand with the polity of Hell since by gratifying the wicked person they encourage her in malice and revenge and promote thereby the main ends of their black confederacy which are to propagate wickedness and to ruine us in our eternal interests And yet 4 't is clear to those that believe the History of the Gospel that wicked spirits have vex'd the bodies of men without any instigation that we read of and at this day 't is very likely that many of the strange accidents and diseases that befall us may be the infliction of evil spirits prompted to hurt us onely by the delight they take in mischief So that we cannot argue the improbability of their hurting Children and others by Witches from our own security and freedom from the effects of their malice which perhaps we feel in more instances then we are aware of But 6 another prejudice against the belief of Witches is a presumption upon the enormous force of melancholy and imagination which without doubt can do wonderful things and beget strange persuasions and to these causes some ascribe the presum'd effects of Sorcery
would reconcile to men's minds but to endeavour the removal of those prejudices they have received against it the chief of which I shall particularly deal with and I begin with that bold Assertion That 1 The notion of a Spirit is impossible and contradictious and consequently so is that of Witches the belief of which is founded on that Doctrin To which Objection I answer 1 If the notion of a Spirit be so absurd as is pretended that of a God and a Soul distinct from matter and immortal is likewise an absurdity And then that the world was jumbled into this elegant and orderly Fabrick by chance and that our Souls are onely parts of Matter that came together we know not whence nor how and shall again shortly be dissolv'd into those loose Atoms that compound them That all our conceptions are but the thrusting of one part of matter against another and the Idea's of our minds meer blind and casual motions These and a thousand more the grossest impossibilities and absurdities consequents of this Proposition That the notion of a Spirit is absurd will be sad certainties and demonstrations And with such Assertors I would cease to discourse about Witches and Apparitions and address my self to obtain their assent to truths infinitely more Sacred And yet 2 though it should be granted them that a substance immaterial is as much a contradiction as they can fancy yet the Air and all the Regions above us may have their invisible intellectual Agents of nature like unto our Souls be that what it will and some of them at least as much drgenerate as the vilest and most mischievious among Men. This I say may reasonably enough be supposed though as I intimated above the Atheist hath another chain of consequences And this Hypothesis will be enough to secure the possibility of Witches and Apparitions and that all the upper Stories of the Universe are furnish'd with Inhabitants 't is infinitely reasonable to conclude from the analogy of Nature Since we see there is nothing so contemptible and vile in the world we reside in but hath its living creatures that dwell upon it the Earth the Water the inferiour Air the Bodies of Animals the flesh the skin the entrails the leaves the roots the stalks of Vegetables yea and all kind of Minerals in the subterraneous Regions I say all these have their proper Inhabitants yea I suppose this Rule may hold in all distinct kinds of bodies in the world That they have their peculiar Animals The certainty of which I believe the improvement of microscopical observations will discover From whence I infer That since this little spot is so thickly peopled in every Atom of it 't is weakness to think that all the vast spaces above and hollows under ground are desert and uninhabited And if both the superiour and lower Continents of the Universe have their inhabitants also 't is exceedingly improbable arguing from the same analogy that they are all of the meer sensible nature but that there are at least some of the Rational and Intellectual Orders Which supposed there is good foundation for the belief of Witches and Apparitions though the notion of a Spirit should prove absurd and unphilosophical And so this first Objection comes to nothing I descend then to the second Prejudice which may be thus formed in behalf of the Objectors 2 There are Actions in most of those Relations ascribed to Witches which are ridiculous and impossible in the nature of things such are 1 their flying out of windows after they have annointed themselves to remote places 2 Their transformation into Cats Hares and other Creatures 3 Their feeling all the hurts in their own bodies which they have received in these 4 Their raising Tempests by muttering some nonsensical words or performing some little ridiculous ceremonies And 5 their being suck'd in a certain private place of their bodies by a Familiar These are presumed to be actions inconsistent with the nature of Spirits and above the powers of those poor and miserable Agents And therefore the Objection supposeth them performed only by the fancy and that the whole mystery of Witchcraft is but an illusion of crasie imagination But to this Objection I return 1 in the general The more absurd and unaccountable these actions seem the greater confirmations are they to me of the truth of those Relations and the reality of what the Objectors would destroy For these circumstances being exceeding unlikely judging by the measures of common belief 't is the greater probability they are not fictitious For the contrivers of Fictions use to form them as near as they can conformably to the most unsuspected realities endeavouring to make them look as like truth as is possible in the main supposals though withall they make them strange in the circumstance None but a fool or mad-man would relate with a purpose of having it believed that he saw in Ireland Men with hoofs on their heads and eyes in their posteriors or if any should be so ridiculously vain as to be serious in such an incredible Romance it cannot be supposed that all Travellers that come into those parts after him should tell the same story There is large field in fiction and if all those Relations were arbitrary compositions doubtless the first Romancers would have framed them more agreeable to the common doctrin of Spirits at least after these supposed absurdities had been a thousand times laugh'd at people by this time would have learn'd to correct those obnoxious extravagancies and though they have not yet more veracity than the Ages of Ignorance and Superstition yet one would expect they should have got more cunning This suppos'd impossibility then of these performances seems to me a probable argument that they are not wilfull and disigned forgeries And if they are Phancyes 't is somewhat strange that Imagination which is the most various thing in all the world should infinitely repeat the same conceit in all times and places But again 2 the strange Actions related of Witches and presumed impossible are not ascribed to their own powers but to the Agency of those wicked Confederates they imploy And to affirm that those evil spirits cannot do that which we conceit impossible is boldly to stint the powers of Creatures whose natures and faculties we know not and to measure the world of spirits by the narrow rules of our own impotent beings We see among our selves the performances of some out-go the conceits and possibilities of others and we know many things may be done by the Mathematicks and Mechanick Artifice which common heads think impossible to be effected by the honest ways of Art and Nature And doubtless the subtilties and powers of those mischievous Fiends are as much beyond the reach and activities of the most knowing Agents among us as theirs are beyond the wit and ability of the most rustick and illiterate So that the utmost that any man's reason in the world can amount to in this