Hearts And our promises in another sense to give us The Morning Star Revel 2.28 So that the name of Lucifer is so far from being that of the Prince of the Devils thâ—t it is the most Christian name to be read in the Bible Sect. 23. Let 's go back to Lactantius he says that Monsters were generated from that odious conjunction of Angels with Women that are half Angels or rather Half Demons or half Men thence he infers Duo genera daemonum unum caeleste alterum terrenum That there are 2 sorts of Demons one of Celestial Demons and another of Terrestrial by Celestial he seems to understand Aerial but after the word Terrenum there follows immediatly Hi sunt immunedi malorum quae geruntur auctores quorum idem diabolus est princeps These are unclean Spirits Authors of all the Evil that happens in the World the chief of whom is the Devil already mentioned From this passage may be clearly perceived that he takes for Demons those very same Spirits whom the Heathens made their Gods as has been seen Ch. 2. Sect. 9 to 13 which still confirms more and more what I have asserted Ch. 5. Sect. 4 5. That the Heathen never adored Demons but in as much as they believed them to be Gods Sect 24. The same Lactantius tells us that the Demons are indeed Spirits but Spiritus tenues incomprehensibiles Spirits of a thin subtle matter and imperceptible This we have heard before from Origen and Tertullian He explains himself very clearly as to the power he ascribe to their understanding saying That they know many future things but that it is not possible they should discover the depths of the secrets of God We have already heard Tertullian confirming this proposition by his Reasonings However Lactantius believes that Divinations by the Contemplation of the Stars by the Inspection of the intrals of Beasts and by the Observation of Birds of which mention has been made Ch. 3. Sect. 4 5 7. Are Diabolical Inspirations and therefore holds that they are still capable of discovering to Men many future things Sect. 25. St. Jerom as far as I can conceive constitutes not the same difference of places betwixt the Spirits Yet he believes Ex Pauli dictis ad Ephe Cap. 2. ver 2. 12. colligi Diabolos in aere vagari ac dominari That from what S. Paul writes to the Ephesians may be inferr'd That the Devils are wandering in the Air and â—â—igning there And writing upon the 6th Ch. v. 12. to the Ephesians he explains more at large that proposition as containing the common Opinion of the Christians of that Age. This is the Opinion of all the Doctors That the Air which is betwixt the Heavens and the Earth separating both from what it call'd the Vacuum is fil'd with powers contrary to each other We must yet examine hereafter whence the Principalities Powers and Dominions of this World have received their powert His Opinion upon this last Question is that they have it from God himself and that they exercise it more or less as a less and greater pain is inflicted upon 2 different Criminals according as 't is resolved to make their life more or less bitter he also supposes that the unclean Spirits as well as the Holy Angels are divided into certain Orders which Opinion of his may be seen in his Commentary on the 3 Ch. of Habakuk As Christ is the head of the Church and of every particular faithful Man so is Belzebub the chief of all the Demons who exercise so many cruelties in this World and each Troop of Demons has it's particular Chief and Captain under him Sect. 26. Lactantius must yet inform us what in his Opinion the Demons were able to Operate in reference to Men. We see Sect. 14. that his Opinion in general is That the Corrupted and Contagious Spirits wander'd through the World endeavouring to comfort themselves under their loss by procuring the ruin of Mankind Immediatly after he explains in particular how they hurt Soul and Body They attack says he The Souls by their craft devises and the snares they lay before them they seize upon them by their delusions and by leading them astray they stick to every private person and are always at his elbow creeping into every house from door to door And in relation to the bodies as those very Spirits are according to him partly corporeal and partly extraordinary sâ—â—tle and consequently imperceptible They insinuate into Human Bodies without being perceived act privately within their Bowels impair their Health cause Diseases cast terror into the mind by Dreams overturn it make it stray and force Men by such vexations to have recourse to them It seems however that he intends to ascribe that power to the Devil only over the Heathens because he disputes against them and that they were those that had recourse to the Demons as believing them to be Gods for over the Christians the Ancient Fathers attributed not so much power to them Sect. 27. We may learn from St. Athanasius what were the Opinions of his time as to the Souls separated from their Bodies after Death In the Book before quoted question 32. he asks Whether the Souls after their separation have knowledge of what is done amongst Men as the Holy Angels have he answers Yes at least as to the Souls of the Saints but not as to those of Sinners for their continual torments take them so much up that they have no leasure to think upon any other thing The 33th Question is What is the employment of the Souls departed from their Bodies Answer The Soul separated from the Body is uncapa ble of doing either good or evil However he says a little after That the Souls of the Saints animated by the Holy Ghost praise God and bless him in the Land of the Living He asserts Question 35. That after Death the Souls never come to bring news of the state of the Deceased which would give occasion to many cheats because wicked Spirits might feign that they are Souls of the Deceased that come back to discover somthing to the Living I desire the Reader to observe this very attentively for it will be convenient to reflect upon it hereafter Sect. 28. St. Austin gives us a more large information for thô he does not expresly reject Purgatory yet he confutes it every where as appears from several places of his Writings that have been quoted by one of my predecessors Andrew Landsman in his Book of the Apostasy of the Church of Rome yet this Father in the 69th Chapter of his Manual expresses himself thus 'T is not incredible but somthing like may happen after this life and it may reasonably be enquired whether it is so and what proof may be brought for or against this Opinion viz. that some of the faithful come sooner or later to the Eternal Felicity passing through a certain purging Fire in which they stay longer or shorter as they are more
as he believes particularly happens some certain Nights Chap 96. Pag. 284. The Angels descend at night upon Earth by the leave of their Lord and visit the true faithful till the break of the day Chap. 12. Pag. 290. They will visit the faithful in the Garden of Eden they will salute them and say here is the reward of their perseverance here is the Eternal Grace Sect. 7. As he holds that the Angels are always ready to serve God on behalfe of the Faithful so he believed them no less forward in performing his Orders against the impious When says he Chap. 5. pag. 155. the wicked are at the point of death the Angels stretch out their hands to seize upon their Souls And further P. 172. The Angels of death shall kill those that blaspheme God and his Commandments Chap. 7. Pag. 203 204. Thou hast seen that the Angels have put to death the unfaithful and stricken them before and behind A great power for the executing of God's Judgments is ascribed to them for an Angel is sufficient to destroy all the Inhabitants of the World as Levinius Varnerius quotes it out of a Turkish Book Sect. 8. He forgets not the evils caused by the Devil for the seducing of Man The first was his having them banish'd from Paradise Chap. 1. Pag. 7. He caused Adam and his Wife to sin and to fall from the Grace in which they were Chap. 2. Pag. 8. God advertises Mahomet that the Devil would make hâ—m afraid of the unfaithful Pag. 150. The Devil will make them forget my Commandments Pag. 160. Think upon the day in which I shall gather all the Peopâ—e and say to the Devil O thou Prince of the Devils why hast thou rebelled against me Chap. 56. Pag. 608. For the Devil has puft up Man and made â—im revolt from the Commandments of God He seems even to believe that the malice of the Devil extends as far as the Stars with which he says God has adorned the Heavens and which he preserves against the attempts of the Devils Chap. 40. Pag. 534. Sect. 9. Such are his Opinions as to the Angels in general but as to their particular Ministry Thevenot relates That the Turks acknowledge Guardian Angels but in far greater number than we do for say they God has ordained 70 Angels for an invisible Guard to each Musulman and there happens nothing to any person but they attribute it to them Each has his particular Office one watches over one Member and th' other over another one is so subservient in this and the other in that Affair Amongst all those Angels there are two who preside over all the rest sitting one on the Right and th' other on the Left hand and being call'd Kerim Kiatib that is to say Merciful Writers That on the Right hand keeps account of the good Actions and that on the Left of the bad They are so merciful that they spare him if he commits any sin before he falls asleep hoping he shall repent if not they set it down but if he repents they write Estig fourillah God forgive They accompany him every where unless when he goes to the Necessary house whither they let him go alone waiting for him at the door where they again take possession of him For that reason when the Turks go to that place they go in with the Left Foot and when they come out they put the Right Foot foremost that the Angel who sets down their good Works should seize first upon them Mahomet himself confirms that Fable saying Chap. 52. Pag. 594. Think O Man on the day when thou shalt see near thee thy good Angel on thy Right hand and thy bad Angel on thy Left who have noted and written whatever thou hast done Sect. 10. 'T is observable that this Fable has its Original from the immortality of the Soul and the resurrection of the dead which the Turks believe and are plainly express'd in the foregoing words and else-where as Chap. 12. Pag. 280. The faithful shall go into the Garden of Eden but to the unfaithful he says Pag. 288. Hell is the place to which you are destin'd Chap. 52. Pag. 594. God takes up the Soul of Man as he thinks fit to send her into one of those places But first she returns into the Body after its burying to undergo the strict examination of two frightful Angels Munquir and Guauquir the Fable which Thevenot relates upon their account and that of the Beasts is so gross that I should be ashamed to recite it at large Sect. 11. In the mean while it will not be unserviceable to our subject to give a more particular instruction of their belief upon the state of the Dead I will not here speak of their Carnal Paradise because I treat not of all the points of the Mahometan Religion but only of what concerns the the Spirits they acknowledge that there are appointed two very different places one for the damned and the other for the saved that is to say there are Men who have done so many good works that at the very hour they expire they are admitted into the happiness of Paradise but there are others who having not a sufficient Faith are subjected to I pains for their Sins until they be all expiated after which they enjoy in Paradise the same felicity with the others that are gone in first But as to the unfaithful and wicked they go to burn forever in Hell where there bodies are as often repaired by God as they are reduced to Ashes that their torments may be Eternal That 's the substance of what Thevenot writes Chap. 20 and 31 of his journey and Ricaut says almost the same thing Chap. 2.6 and 12. Sect. 12. The transmigration of Souls from one body into another not only of Human Souls but likewise of those of Beasts is also believed by some Mahometans Ricaut testifies Book 2. Ch. 12. That one of their Sects called Munasichi holds that Opinion and takes occasion from thence to relate how one Roboroski a Polander was dealt with by a Drugist that was angry with him because he had kick'd his Dog for they believe That the Souls of Men after Death enter into the bodies of such Beasts with which the Nature and temper of the bodies that were animated by those Souls had most relation that the Soul of a Glutton passed into the body of a Hog that of a Letcherous into that of a He-goat that of a Generous person is destin'd to animate a Horse and that of a Watchful Man to quicken a Dog To this he adds several circumstances which the curious may see in his own Book He likewise asserts that the Sect Eschrakin that is illuminated is likewise Pythagorean but that it holds not much of the Doctrines of the Alcoran thô most of it's followers are the Schicks or the Preachers and chief Doctors of the Turks They have more rational Opinions than the others concerning the immateriality of Spirits
12. Tertullian explains himself more plainly as to the knowledge he ascribes to the Devils when he in his fifth Book against Marcion speeks thus Servants cannot know the Resolutions of their Masters and therefore the Rebellious Angels and the Devil their leader can much less know the designs of God whence I would willingly take occasion to assert that the greater their Crime has been the more remote they are from the knowledge of their Creator So far only he goes as to the Secrets of God But as to those of Men we hear the Doctors of that Age giving to the Demons a power over Bodies and Souls St. Cyprian establishes both speaking of Idolatry Spirits says he deceive us they disturb our Life and our Sleep insinuating themselves into our Bodies raise terrour in our inward Thoughts bruise our Members impair our Healths and cause us Diseases Tertullian is of the same Opinion in his Book of Passions The Malice of that inveterate Enemy never leaves him quiet but it encreases his Rage when he sees Man fully deliver'd In his Apologetick Chap. 20. he gives a more particular explication of what he believes as to the Assaults made by Demons upon Soul and Body He thinks That having a very subtile and thin Essence they are so much the apter to act in an invisible and insensible manner He shows thereby that he conceives created Spirits as the thinest and subtilest of all Bodies and therefore explains his meaning by this Comparison As it happens that a flame invisible to us burns Corn and the Fruits of Trees when they are in flower or withers them whilst they blossom or corrupts them when the Flower falls off and they are formed or as an infected Air communicates it self in a manner unknown to us so the suggestions of the Devil by a secret contagion seduce the depraved understanding of Man Sect. 13. Origen believes that the Souls of Men existed together before they came to animate the Bodies which he establishes upon St. Matth. Chap. 20. from Ver. 1 to 16. and in his 6th Vol. upon St. John having before proposed in his 5th Chap. the common Opinion of the Christians of his age he asserts accoâ—â—â—â—â— to the sense he gives to the Holy Writ that 〈…〉 the Soul must be distinguished from 〈…〉 the Spirit of Man from the 〈…〉 â—â—ys that the Soul may appâ— her self 〈…〉 evil but that the Spirit â—f Man can 〈…〉 â—eâ—f only to evil In his 19th Chapter he dâ—â—â—â—â—es on occasion of the sepalation of the Soul at the point of death that he believes she is taken out of the Body by some Spirits ordained for that purpose and that the Spirits who have that imployment are of a more noble Nature than the Soul they fetch He puts a very ingenious sense upon the Words of our Saviour in St. Luke Chap. 10. v. 20. and John Chap. 10. v. 18. Sect 14. Tertullian's meaning as to the state of Souls after this life to the day of the Resurrection is that they are in a certain place known by the name of Abraham's Bosom and situated betwixt Heaven and Hell as he writes hi his 4th Book against Marcion That there is a certain and determined place call'd the Bosom of Abraham If you ask where that place lyes and how long the Souls are to stay there he will answer as to the First Question Sinum dico Abrahae regionem etsi non Caelestem superiorem tamen Inferis I call Abraham's Bosom a a Region superior to Hell tho' it properly belongs not to Heaven As to the other he will say Refrigerium praebiturum animabus justorum donec consummatio rerum resurrectionem omnium plenitudine Mercedis expungat The Latin phrase is somewhat obscure but it matters not to Translate the words so much as to give the Sense which is That it will be a place of refreshment for the Souls of the just until the consummation of all things comes and brings on the Resurrection in which every one shal1 be obliged to give account and then receive a full reward Sect. 15. He calls in this place the Subterraneous places Inferos Hell because he puts the place of Abode of the Damned under the Earth or in a great Gulf contained in the bottom of the Earth and believes that for their punishment they shall go to burn in a material Fire For about the end of his Book of Penitency he calls Hell Thesaurum Ignis aeterni The Treasure of Eternal Fire Through the Chimneys of that Fire come out sometimes frightful flames during Earthquakes and immediately after he calls that Abyss of Fire Magni alicujus inaestimabilis foci scintillas missilia exaercitoria jacula The sparks of a prodigious great and unexpressible Fire St. Cyprian speaks so obscurely about the end of his Letter against Demetrian upon that subject that it seems he threatens the Soul with corporeal punishments it being a consequent of the Series of his Reasoning Hell says he shall Eternally burn for the Damned and the punishment of a devouring fire and most glooing flames will neither supersede nor suspend their Torments there the Souls with their Bodies are destined to infinite pains He seems to mean thereby that the Souls and Bodies shall have one and the same share for otherwise he would have declared what peculiar sufferings the Soul is to undergo Sect. 16. In the 4th Age we shall first hear St. Athanasius he also believes that the Angels are not all of an equal Dignity of which he gives a formal explication according to his meaning on the 31st Question to Antiochus where having said something as to the Orders of the Angels he proceeds thus Because those Orders are called Legions and Armies we must thereby understand such Orders as are established to teach to defend provide administer help as also such Orders as receive the Souls and remain by them Now as the difference betwixt the Celestial Orders is known to us we must likewise know which is their State and what Knowledge they have The Thrones Cherubims and Seraphims are taught immediately by God himself as being the nearest to him and raised above the others These teach the inferior Orders and these again others that are under them The last of all are the Angels taking that Name in a particular signification and determin'd to a certain Order of Spirits distinguished from all others and these are the Teachers of Men. 'T is easie to perceive that St. Athanasius has taken this from the Writings of Philo and other Jews as 't is related above Chap. 12. Sect. 4 5 8 9 10. But whatever it be St. Athanasius being the Author of the Confession of Faith so much commended in our Churches and quoted in the 9th Article of the Low-Dutch Confession of Faith as a pattern of Orthodoxy we cannot but admit what he has written upon the present matter as the common Opinion approved of and received by the Principal Doctors of that Age Sect. 17. I grant
or less enamour'd with corruptible things however in that number are not comprehended those of whom 't is said that they shall not possess the Kingdom of God unless by a convenient Repentance they obtain forgiveness of their Sins Sect. 29. We come down to the 5th Age in which we meet with Theodoret who sufficiently explains as to our design the Opinions of the Doctors of his time concerning good and bad Angels for he proposes to us what he thinks of the Angels properly so call'd as well in reference to their Nature as to their Understanding and Administration As to the first point he holds that though they are not Corporeal yet they are Circumscribed and contained in a certain determinate place as he asserts in his 3d Question upon Genesis The Reason of this Opinion is that he supposes every Angel has some proper Administration and is entrusted with the care either of a Nation or Person but he makes still a more particular distinction in his 10th Exposition upon Daniel putting a Man under the guard of a common Angel and a whole Nation under that of an Angel of a Superior Order As to their Understanding he briefly explains his Mind in these Words Let none be surprised at what I assert as to the Ignorance of the Heavenly Spirits for they neither know future nor other things it only belonging to the Divine Nature but as to Angels Archangels and other Coelestial Spirits they know no more than what they learn and therefore the Holy Apostle speaking of them in the the third Chapter to the Ephesians v. 10. says That to Principalities and Powers in the Heavenly Places c. See his Commentary on the 24th Psalm Sect. 30. Theodoret speaks afterwards of the Demons in the same manner for he holds them not capable of making true Predictions He says upon Ezekiel Sect. 8. That the Demons know nothing before it happens unless it be by guessing and yet they venture to foretell He nevertheless owns in his tenth Book of Oracles that the Spirits have foretold something true but by the Stars For says he whatever the Gods of the Heathens say if it happens that they speak agreeably to the Concatenation of things they must needs gather that knowledge from the Stars which undoubtedly was done by such Gods as declared some things that afterwards fell out 'T is evident that by Demons he understands in general wicked Spirits who cause themselves to be venerated as Gods and gave false Oracles to keep up their Authority and the Credit in which they were amongst the Heathens That Opinion was the most common amongst the Ancients and is in being even to this day as we shall show hereafter Sect. 31. The Opinion of that time upon the original of the wicked Race was that they issued from the Conversation of the Angels with Women Severus Sulpitius relates it not as a particular Belief or as received by some Doctors only but as a Story credited by all Christians for at the beginning of his Ecclesiastical History he presumes to assert it upon the Authority of Josephus as much as if he had been present His words are In that time that is after the Birth of Noah Mankind multiplying exceedingly the Angels whose abode was in Heaven being enamour'd with the Beauty of young Virgins plunged themselves in unlawful pleasures forsook the Supream Region whose Inhabitants they were and ally themselves by Marriages with mortal Women by that unhappy Cohabitation and their depraved Morals they corrupted Mankind by degrees and from thence the Giants are said to be born for the mixture of such different natures must needs produce Monsters Sect. 32. As to the state of Souls separated from their Body the Angels and wicked Spirits this Age affords nothing but what has been observed speaking of the foregoing Centuries Wherefore we descend to Gregory the Great who in the 7th Century joyn'd his particular Opinions to the former He was Bishop of Rome and his Memory is still in great Veneration in that Church tho' he took it very ill that John the Father Bishop of Constantinople and his Contemporary should have presumed to take upon him the Name of Vniversal Bishop to which he believed not that any Bishop had a right and even held it for a Mark of Antichrist Besides 't is not without Reason that the Roman Church makes so much of him For he has taken care to provide her with many Legends so suitable to her Humour and Palate and upon which she has put so great a value that she multiplies them every year And indeed St. Gregory was not contented with the Fables of Origen and other Doctors of which mention has been made but he admitted whatever had been proposed hitherto as Doubts and Questions which he passed into Determinations and Decrees And as tho' what had been maintained before had not been sufficient he thought fit to add something of his own So that since his time there were not only 9 Orders of Angels but they knew also the Degrees of each viz. Angels Archangels Virtue Powers Principalities Dominions Thrones Cherubims and Seraphims as is to be found in his 34th Homily upon the Gospels The Schoolmen that have followed him fail not to take much pains to treat of each of these Angelical orders and to break their head with them in which I intend not to imitate them Sect. 33. It must be observed that at that time the curiosity to know whither Souls went after Death gave occasion by degrees to invent Purgatory the discovery of which has been so far finished amongst the Papists that they go now thither by thousands Boetius a Roman Consul who lived about 63 years before the Pontificate of Gregory begun in his 4th Book Prosa 4. to give some Notion of that place by the Answer he makes to the following Question Does there in your Opinion remain no punishment for the Soul after her separation from the Body To which he Answers Yes doubtless and even 't is not a slight Pain for I hold that some Souls are very severely punished whereas others are purified by Grace As to Gregory himself who from a Souldier became Pope he blows heat and cold from the same Mouth with as much sickliness and levity as the Wind against the Custom of the Popes who use to decide so positively and boldly Upon the 7th Chapter of Job giving advice to a Sinner he saith That there is no human Eye that is no Grace of the Redeemer that casts looks upon the Soul after she has laid off the Flesh And farther he adds That when Holy or wicked Spirit receives at the point of Death a Soul departing from her bodily Prison she remains for ever and without hopes of any Change in the hands of him that has taken her so that when she 's once raised to Glory she can never fall again into Pain and Torments whereas when she is once cast down into the Eternal Abyss she can never come
14. Sect. 4 5. and by the Christians Ch. 15. Sect. 5 14 15 23 24 31. draws it 's Original from the Philosophy of the Heathens as has been shown Ch. 2. Sect. 14 16. Ch. 11. Sect. 6. Second The Opinion that ascribes some life and understanding to the stars as to the Sun and Moon whether it be insignificantly express'd as among the Jews Ch. 12. Sect. 3 13. or only darkly as amongst the Mahometans or proposed as a doubt as it has been by Origen and St. Austin amongst the Christians Ch. 15. Sect. 11 19. That Opinion I say looks very Heathenish and differs not much from the Intelligencies of Aristotle Ch. 2 Sect. 5. Nor from the esteem which the modern Heathens have for those celestial Lamps of which mention has been made Ch. 6. Sect. 2. Ch. 11. Sect. 2. Sect. 4. We may also easily compare their belief touching Human Souls First 〈◊〉 â—â—â—inion of the transmigration of Souls so common amâ—â—gst the Heathens Ch. 2. Sect. 17. is not rejected by the Jews but converted into that of the revolution of the Souls Ch. 12. Sect. 19. It is publickly tâ—ught by some Mahometans Ch. 14. Sect. 12. As to the Christians 't is true that they admit it not thô somthing like it be found in Origen Ch. 15. Sect 13. But I must say by the way that I see not how those that still hold that all Human Souls were created together in the beginning and afterwards each in his time introduced into their bodies could solidly confute that Opinion of the Metempsychosis Second The Jews Mahometans and Christians too easily credit the apparitions of Souls which takes place amongst the Jews because they suppose the Souls to wander for a Year about the bodies from which they are separated Ch. 12. Sect 20. Neither can the Mahometans reject that Opinion since they hold the Souls to be made up of the Elements Ch. 14. Sect. 13. and that after their separation from the body they see and hear in Trees Sect. 14. As to the Christians we find Justin one of the First who says that a separated Soul may yet operate upon living persons Sect. 5. All the Opinions that are related here are drawn from Philosophy or mixed with Paganism But the Holy Writ either taken in its true Sense or mis-interpreted has given occasion to the following which we shall mention hereafter First The opinion that the Angels have been created from Fire Air or the most subtile Elements which the Jews only hint Chap. 12. Sect. 15. but what the Mahometans publickly teach Chap 14 Sect. 4. has likewise been received by some Christians Chap. 15. Sect. 4 5 24. because they thought it consonant to what is said Psal 104. ver 4. That God makes Spirits his Angels and flames of fire his Ministers 2 Kings 2.11 that Elijah was taken up into Heaven in a Chariot with fiery horses Chap. 6.17 That they defended Elisha and that Ezekiel Chap. 1.4 5. saw the likeness of four Animals going out of the midst of fire several other misunderstood passages have contributed to the establishing of that Opinion Second The Morning Stars rejoycing together when God ceeated the World Job 38.7 gave occasion to Philo as has been observed Chap. 12. Sect. 4. to confirm himself in that Opinion that the Stars are Vnderstanding Beings as has been likewise proved as to many other Authors Sect. 6. It likewise appears that those that believe Spirits to be corporeal ground their Opinion upon the Holy Scripture First for having no Idea of other Sons of God that fell in love with the Daughters of Men as is mention'd Gen. 6. but of such as are distinguished and separated from Men And conceiving not the true nature of Spiritual Beings they fancied that the Angels had begotten those Giants of whom 't is spoken in that place add to this that they could not think that those Nephilim which word we Translate Gyants should be other Creatures besides fall'n Angels who for that reason are called by that Name which signifies as much as Rebels We have seen that Opinion received by the Jews Chap. 12. Sect. 14. By the Mahometans Chap. 14. Sect. 5. and even by some Christians Chap. 15. Sect. 5 31. Second I grant that it may be inferr'd from thence that there are Incubi and Succubi that is Devils who now in the shape of Males then of Females lye with Men and Women that Opinion of the Jews is still now a days much dispersed among the Christians as shall be shewed hereafter Sect. 7. Such are their Sentiments as to the nature and fall of the Angels but as to their distinction into several Orders and the share they bear in the Government of the World the same differences or very near are ascribed to them that are atributed to the Heathen Gods and Spirits Chap. 11. Sect. 6. And that Opinion is strengthned by a misunderstanding of the Holy Scripture First The Jews explain themselves clearly and largely upon the different Orders of Angels Chap. 12. Sect. 4 7 11. The Mahometans treat of it more confusedly and obscurely Chap. 14. Sect. 16 17 18 25 32. but the Christians speak of it as tho' it could not be doubted but the Holy Writ understands such a Hierarchy of Angels by the different names it gives them Second As the Heathens fill'd the Air with Spirits or placed them above under and in the midle of the World Chap. 2. Sect. 6. Chap. 7. Sect. 2.5 8. So have the Jews according to Philo Chap. 12. Sect. 5 12. Neither do the Christians disagree from them Chap. 14. Sect. 25. Supposing that Opinion to be confirmed in the Scripture Ephes Chap. 2.2 Chap. 6.12 and by several passages in the History of Job Third They agree together again in that they acknowledge as many Guardian Angels of Men and Nations as the Heathens did their Titular Gods The Opinion of the Jews as to this point may be in some manner perceived by the quotations that are set down Chap. 12. Sect. 4.10 That of the Mahometans is more clearly express'd Chap. 14. Sect. 9. But that of the Christians still plainer Chap. 15. Sect. 6 17 18 29. to which they have applyed the passages of the Holy Writ already mention'd Sect. 8. It goes even so with their belief of the Devils First we hear the Jews Chap. 12. Sect. 13 16. The Mahometans Chap. 14. Sect. 5. and the Christians Chap. 15. Sect. 21 31. All speaking in a manner the same Language as to their Original and Fall The last commonly quote the Scripture Genes 3.6 and Isai 14.12 to maintain their Opinions but they quote it no less adorned with their foolish fancies upon the Nature and Creation of Spirits than the others do by their fabulous Tales Second The Opinion of the Jews concerning the malice of the Devils their Virtue and Power to hurt partly appears Chap. 12. Sect. 12 15 18 20. And that of the Mahometans seems to be almost the same As to the Thoughts
other bad the Author of all Evil and the Prince of darkness That the first as they say is the God that has formed all things and that the other is Hyle that is the matter from which all things have been formed and which is esteem'd by them to be the Devil Some distinguish the Devil from the Prince of darkness and translate not as we do the last words of the 44th v. of the 8th Ch. of St. John He is the Father of lies but his Father is a lie namely the Father of the Devil Second As to the good God they say that his Essence is dispersed as by portions through all the Creatures and inherent to them which they explain by many wonderful Commentaries This is what they think of God and the Devil in relation to their Essence and Existence what follows concerns their Operations Sect. 4. Third The People of darkness formerly warr'd with the People of light The good God went himself to attack the Prince of darkness by some certain principal Spirits which he had produced of his own Essence who however being too weak were taken Prisoners but Christ came to repair that disorder having been begotten by some certain first Man who had been the promoter of this War and had begun it Fourth That in the mean while Christ himself is the Serpent that seduced Adam and Eve Fifth That Christ is now fixed amongst the Stars especially in the luminous Globe of the Sun in which sense they explain his Ascension to Heaven Sect. 5. Sixth They believe the Metempsychosis in this manner That the Souls shall pass into the bodies of such a kind of living Creatures as they have most loved or abused during their Life He that has killed a mouse or a fly shall pass in punishment into the body of a mouse or a fly the state in which he shall be put after death shall likewise be opposed to that in which he was during his Life He that is rich shall be poor and he that is poor shall be rich Seventh They also give two Souls to every Man one of which is always contrary to the other But enough of their Doctrines we leave the rest to Danaeus who ascribes to them 21 in all because what he and other Authors say belongs not to our subject Sect. 6. However I am not apt to assert that they have believed and taught such gross Doctrines as are imputed to them and have been now related For supposing the common Opinion concerning the Doctrine of the Manichees that they were chiefly extracted from the Philosophy of the Persians since Manes their First Author was undoubtedly a Persian and that they are strangely mingled with the Christian Divinity It is unreasonable to have the same Opinion of that People that we have of other Nations who never cultivated the study of Nature and Human learning such as those we have met with in the Northern parts of Africa and the Southern of America It may well be that the Manichees ascribe to the whole Vniverse a principle like that which is observed in it's parts viz. The active cause and the matter which Aristotle established to be eternal as well as the World and that afterwards matter considered as insensible by a misinterpretation of the words of Moses that spreads in the beginning darkness over the Abyss and the Spirit of God moving over it should have produced those monstrous thoughts of which we have given some instances Sect. 7. Supposing they have established two principal causes one of good and the other of evil but yet so as that the First is uncontestably superior to the Second as much as light is above darkness and the workman above the matter he works upon 't is probable that they had an Idea of God as a Soul infused through the whole Vniverse that consider'd by them as the body in which that First cause continually operates And as the contrary motions of corporeal passions rise against the Empire of Reason that ought to govern them so they might believe that the Animal Spirits proceeding from matter perpetually rebel against God the Fountain of all Reason Whence it would follow that God should not be more absolute master of the Vniverse than Man is of his body thence has proceeded that Idea of two different Gods one good and the other bad the latter being still inferior to the former who is indeed the workman but has not an arbitrary Government there being a power in the World so great that it is able to resist him Sect. 8. But whether I have made a just conjecture or whether the Manichees had other Opinions then those I imagine it seems nevertheless that I may reasonable suppose it upon this foundation that no Opinions so gross as those that are ascribed to them not only are not admitted but not so much as moved or propounded as we shall see very soon in the series of this work because the principal points of those sorts of belief with their dependencies have a great relation with my Second and Third Book as I hope to show at the end of the Second And therefore whether any one treats of the Devil and Spirits according to the Holy Scripture or whether he only follows his own sense and right it may 〈◊〉 assured that all his Reasonings will turn upon this notion of his that God and the Devil have each an Empire one contrary to the other and that thô the Devil be subject to the power of God yet his Empire is more apparent It is denyed that God now works any miracles but some are rashly ascribed to the Devil that surpass all those that are mentioned in the Holy writ We believe that there are Angels and gather from the Holy Scripture that they encamp about the faithful and the Devil likewise is incessantly active to do them hurt if possible he can but his abode is in Hell However it is very rare to hear any one say he has seen an Angel in a vision whereas the Devil appears almost continually If any thing has been either signified or foretold we never believe it to be the Operation of an Angel but of the Devil one is possest by him and another bewitch'd by his means unknown Tongues are spoken strange things are said others no less wonderful are perform'd and the most hidden secrets discover'd But you will scarce meet with any that has so good Opinion of the power of an Angel if we have any Holy thought or good inspiration how inconsiderable soever it may be we ascribe it to the Holy Ghost and seem not to believe that the Angels are so much as capable of contributing to it since it ne'er comes in our mind to think upon them But the Devil penetrates the most secret thoughts of Men overthrows their best designs and incessantly excites them to Evil if they are accused and convicted of any crime the excuse is always at hand for the Devil has done it or at least
blameable for not sticking to the vulgar explications I had formerly follow'd and preferring before them those of some Persons who have not done what I now suppose to be obliged to do Yet I am not alone in these Opinions for they are agreeable to those of many others some of whom have appear'd in the World even after me And though they have produced and asserted in Writing those new Interpretations and Translations of the Bible but by way of Exercises and to shew what subtilty and parts they acquir'd in their Youth by the alteration of such Expositions as had learned Men for their Authors yet as for me methinks that in my old Age I ought to make use of my own Eyes and to speak with liberty As for the rest if there are amongst us who to multiply the proofs of our Opinion and diminish those of the contrary Party stretch the Holy Scripture too far that 's their own fault and not ours We presume to be provided with better Arms to dcfend the Fundamental Truths of the Church But it must be observ'd as a general fault that the reading of the Bible is undertaken with a Mind full of its own prejudices or those of its Masters and that 't is generally explain'd according to those Notions without any other Reason or Ground but that of chance or of some cases that have occasioned the choice of such parts as is then followed I take the Vail from those prejudices and shew what Method is to be observ'd to undertake the explication of the Holy Writ without any prevention For I hold it for certain that none would have explain'd such passages of the said Writings as I here treat of so as they are usually Interpreted had he not been imbu'd with a prejudice of the great and extraordinary power of the Devil or had he not intended to confute some particular Errors I have already proofs of it for several learn'd and pious Persons have very much approv'd of my Method of examining those Texts and the searching into their Sense and having treated in my Sermons of the chief Points of this subject I am inform'd that many People shew a great impatience to see my Writings upon it I have frequently been in Conversations where the most important matters especially those that are contain'd in my second and third Book were discuss'd and they seem'd partly satisfi'd with my Explications and in hopes of being fully convinc'd by those they expected from me I refer my self to their Judgment to know whether their expectation has been deceived or fulfill'd being persuaded that if they do not agree to some particulars yet they will approve of my intention and contribute their utmost that the greatest part of the things I propose may be receiv'd and relish'd If I were so capricious as to disturb my self on account of what may be said and believ'd of my design and to make more of the number than of the quality of the Readers I should undergo great hardships For I doubt not but most Men having little meditated upon this matter will think that I commit a great Sin in publishing this Treatise not however in reference to the first Book where I only relate the various Opinions of the several Nations from very credible Authors without declaring my own Sentiments or confuting those of others Neither do I believe that the two last parts will be found fault with but only the second where the most important Doctrines are discuss'd will raise some difficulty and not please every one It will especially seem strange that I make so little account of the Devil and endue him with such an inconsiderable Power For matters have been carried so far that some Men think it a piece of Piety to ascribe many Miraculous Effects to the Devil and to hold for rash and impious People those that cannot believe that he does what is testified by thousands of Witnesses If any contradict their Opinion he is taken for an Atheist that is such as denies the Existence of one God tho' he is only guilty of the Crime of not believing two viz. a good and a bad But those that are of your Mind deserve themselves to be called Ditheists or such as believe two Gods as the Arians got the name of Tritheists because they believ'd three Gods of different nature If any desire to put a new name upon me in reference to my Opinions I willingly yield to that of Monotheists that is who believes but one God and one Saviour Jesus Christ upon whose words I wholly trust where he says Fear not them who kills the Body but fear him who can destroy both Soul and Body Mat. 10.28 I fear him much less who has no power either over Body or Soul and trouble not more my head with the judgments of those Judg 6.13 In the name of the Lord the God of hosts I encounter that Goliah let 's see who will lend him a helping hand It any think to have reasons so strong as to confute my Opinion I desire him to propound them with as much softness as I am favourably dispos'd to hear them but at the same time I intreat him to spare to himself and to me an unprofitable labour and to wait till he have read the whole work from the beginning to the end before he makes his objections By those means he shall perfectly know whether those particular and private places which he has read and with which he had not been satisfyd have afterwards been explain'd and made worthier of his approbation by the concatenation of the whole Treatise and the reasons contain'd in it For it would be troublesome to view and examine again all the places of my Answers I would quote So that it must not be take ill if I give none to those that shall follow another Method and would make me waste with them the time that can be better spent Revis'd enlarg'd and given to the Printer March 16. 1691 May 26. 1691 August 1. 1691 I may assure here that nothing has ben taken off from what is contain'd in the Edition of Leeuwarden It 's true something has been added in some places for the better understanding of the matter as may be seen at the end of the Original where a whole Chapter has been added in which the last Chapter of the Friesland Edition is compriz'd It seeming to me it was convenient to inlarge a little more in that place more exactly to shew the use and design of the search I make in this First Book after the various opinions of all Nations and better to discover the foundation of those prejudices that have so long kept us from examining the true state of the matters contain'd in the following Parts Many other additions have been made to the French Translation which it is not needful precisely to mark The curious may compare the Translation with the Original AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE Whole Work What hath been the design of the
of created Spirits which I absolutely reject as a way which is used to lead us into error By consequence I cannot admit the arguments which are taken from the nature of God to demonstrate in what manner acts a Spirit which is his creature and has nothing common with him but the name After in the Third Chapter I prove by arguments drawn from the sovereign perfection of God that there are none of those sorts of Spirits that the Pagans esteem to be Gods and ediators of Men towards the supream Divinity because the Reasons of those that ground that belief upon the perfection of God are directly opposite to this perfection We then having taken off the imaginary Spirits I come to those which we certainly know to exist that is our Souls that are a part of our selves and which by consequence are better known to us by our own experience this is treated of in the fourth Chapter where I prove as much as is possible their immortality and that they subsist even out of the body I employ for this purpose Reason and Scripture because they are two ways that equally conduct us to the knowledge of the Soul the first by experience and by our own Consciousness and the second by the particular instructions God gives us of the estate of the Soul after this life but I quote not the Scripture in this part of my Treatise where I examine but what concerns nature only Neither do I judge it necessary to do it afterwards because it is a point that a Christian looks upon as already sufficiently established and supposes it when he will engage in a dispute upon this subject Besides I reject as superstitions and fables whatever proceeds from the invention of Men especially of the Heathens which is the matter of the fifth Chapter So we come to know with certainty that such a Spirit that is the Soul which truly exists has a body with which it lives and without which it may still live and to reject all the other Spirits of whom the greatest part of the World falsly believe the existence But besides those Pagan Opinions we hear every day mention made of Angels not only by Christians but also by Jews and Mahometans The Question is Whether Reason alone is capable to discover to us that there are such Spirits destitute of a proper and peculiar body Upon this point I shew in the sixth Chapter that our understanding without the help of Scripture cannot penetrate farther than to comprehend that it is possible but not certain that there are Spirits For this Reason I have not judg'd it necessary to examine the Operations of these Spirits upon bodies or upon the other Spirits because it seems to me ridiculous to trouble ones self with the examination of the Operations of Creatures the existence of which is not established as certain And therefore I have spoken in the first Edition but by the way in verse which is at present the seventh Sect. of the sixth Chapter And therefore it is manifest how wrongfully many People would perswade themselves that I have composed my work only To deny the Operations of Spirits upon bodies and upon other Spirits And besides that I ground upon this negative all my explications of the passages of Scripture but that I may avoid this persecution for the future I thought fit to insert in the new Edition that is made of my Book a whole Chapter between the sixth and seventh so that this new Chapter is at present the seventh and the seventh is the eight and so of the others following There I pretend clearly to shew that the proofs related upon that subject strike not at all to the end and cannot be considered as true proofs which I mean as to what concerns nature and as to what Human Reason may conceive of it self as destitute of help from the word of God After that I come to the word of God and then I employ Reason no more but keep to the Scripture only and I search in it what it will teach me touching Spirits which is now the question there I find that under the name of Angels it gives us to understand such Spirits as are the Ministers of God toward other Creatures But there is nothing discovered to us touching their Essence neither is their any thing in the History of the Creation as to their Original or the manner of their fall for which Reason part of them was from the beginning rejected from God notwithstanding the Scripture puts these two things for certain which is the subject of the eight and ninth Chapters I consider afterwards the properties and Operations that the Scripture attributes to them and I endeavour to know what is their proper nature their power upon other Creatures either spiritual or corporeal But the passages that speak of these things do not appear to me to have been understood otherwise than those that attribute also to certain Men that is to Prophets and Apostles the works that they have done in dispensing the miracles of God That which gives me occasion to say that as this dispensation surpasses the force of those to whom it was entrusted it cannot make us know what was their proper nature whence I take occasion to infer the same things touching Angels this is in the tenth and eleventh Chapters That which could not be discovered by the means of the name Original or Operation of those Spirits I endeavour to learn by the means of their orders of which is made an ample mention in the twelfth fifteenth and nineteenth Chapters of my first Book But I draw not any light from thence save that Angels as well good as bad have each their head that the Prince of good Angels is called Michael and that of the bad named Diabolus the Devil that is in the two and twentieth Chapter Yet I leave it not here I consider again that the Scripture attributes in many places some particular administration to Angels I examined to know what it is first as to the good Angels in general in the thirteenth Chapter whom the Scripture often makes appear and always for particular revelations to the faithful either to work extraordinary miracles or execute God's Judgments upon Men by punishments or by deliverances But I conceive not that what is said of this Ministry is different from what is related of that of those holy Men who have been employed in the works of God and his miracles that they in no wise operated by their own virtue by consequence I find nothing as yet which may give me a certain knowledge of the proper Angels their power or their Operations Afterwards I come to a more particular examination of the principle passages especially of the manner of speaking of these three persons which appeared to Abraham of the two others that appeared to Lot Genesis Chapter the eighteenth and nineteenth and in making reflection upon this History and comparing it with other instructions of the Holy
the World and which is not I declare in the last Chapter but one what opinion must be had of those men that credit Apparitions and Witchcrafts And stick not however to converse with those that meddle with those detestable Arts And in the last Chapter what is our Duty and how we are obliged to behave our selves in that respect We must double our devotion and veneration towards God our moderation and charity towards our Neighbours our modesty in our actions and our zeal in the exercises of Piety Such are the Contents of the 3d Book An Abridgment of the 4th Book There would be reason to believe that this subject is exhausted but it seems experience carrys it above Reason and being grounded upon matters of fact and instances it seems that it will not favour us Our Adversaries appeal to its Tribunal and plead their cause with so many strong and aggravating reasons that it seems they design to overwhelm us by their multitude This consideration obliges me to add this 4th Book to the 3 preceding and to examine what experience actually teaches that it may be no more objected that by my new Doctrine I undertake to contradict opinions received and established through all the World where almost no place is to be found but it affords plain instance of the operations of the Devil of which I dare even deny the possibility I distinguish therefore those Instances into those that any one may gather from his own experience and into those that are grounded upon the relation of others there 's no doubt but what one has experienc'd himself must prevail over all the rest But to omit nothing I first show how far one may trust to his own experience and afterwards how far we may rely upon the testimony of others I dismiss the first of these questions in the first eleven Chapters and he Second in the 21 following adding two others at the end as a conclusion of the whole I distinguish again each of those parts into two others having thought convenient to ground upon many examples the instructions and illustrations I give upon both that no body may easily be deceiv'd What I establish as to the first part is contained from the beginning of the 5th Chapter and the examples are the matter of the following Chapter to the 11th But I could not so exactly follow the same method in the 2d part having thought necessary or at least useful in some places to mix with examples the illustrations I give at first and with the illustrations the instances I produce afterwards I therefore show in the first part that there are few Men amongst us that are capable of passing a solid Judgment upon that sort of things and that besides that our occasions will not allow either to examine or to search into whatever could be necessary to attain to a naked and full knowledge of all the matters of Fact I ascribe the first of these faults to the prejudices with which we are imbued or to the terror with which we are surprized at the sight and hearing of what passes This is the subject of the first Chapter I demonstrate in the 2d that this cause also proceeds from that we know not sufficiently how far the strength of nature may extend its operations In the 3d Chapter I assert that we know not more of the things the Images of which nature may only show us when they are not real nor we so far knowing as to observe all the tricks of men nor of sufficient Authority to observe all the circumstances of their Actions I say again we are not Skilful enough to penetrate the Force and Virtue of Arts which encrease proportionably to the exercise we make of them and of the care we take to cultivate them and make us look upon meer natuâ—â—â—acidents as effects of Magick Of these I have alledged many proofs in the first Chapter shewing afterwards in the 5th that often we want only the occasion to discover the Mysteries of the Artifices of Men and the secrets of the operations of Nature I begin in the same 5th Chapter to produce some instances of Apparitions In the 6th I speak of the Possest and Bewitched as far as I am acquainted with them and thereupon I declare in the 7th what judgment I make of that famous Parot which was thought to be bewitched comparing that case with another known to me from my own experience From those bewitchings of the Body I pass to the Enchantings of the Soul and mention in the 8th Chapter what I have seen my self happen to many persons in several places especially at Franeker In the 2th I describe a very remarkable History which happen'd in the same Town and which has been the greatest occasion of exercising my self upon this subject To this I joyn the Imposture of the Witchcraft of Campen that has been lately discover'd of which I have been informed both by word of mouth and writing by understanding Persons that were present and have themselves laid open the whole Intreague having had a full knowledge of the whole matter from the beginning to the end Wherefore I have inserted the Narration word for word in the 10th Chapter In the 11th I relate the Cheat of the Vrsulin Nuns of Londun in France whose History having been lately published manifestly discovers the delusions of the pretended Possession and withalâ— of the Magick with which they charged the innocent Priest Grandier whom they caused to be burnt The illustrations I have made upon the First Part make the instructions I amâ—â— give upon the Second more easy I bestow 12 Chapters upon them still following the Rules I have before proposed which to my best knowledge are universally approved of viz. To admit as Truth no Advices Narrations 〈◊〉 Testimonies how confidently soever they may be told before we have examined them with a full exactness and made experiments upon all those cases and instances the truth of which is proposed to us as undeniable That I may if possible leave no perplexity on darkness in my work I make yet a distinction upon this last point For I propose in four Chapters all the Instances I have been obliged to insert in several places of my First Book to facilitate the understanding of the things contained in it beginning with those that concern the Ancient Heathens that are in the Third Chapter of that Book and in the Thirteenth of this Those that relate to the Modern Pagans in the 6th 8th 9th and 10th Chapters of the Firk Book are contained here in the 14th Those that I have drawn from the Jews and Mahometans are the matter tof the 15th and those that were afforded me by the Papists in the 19th 20th and 21st of the First Book are confuted in the 16th of this Afterwards I run over the whole Universe from the 17th to the 32d Chapter relating and examining the most famous examples and those that are thought to be the strongest proofs for
it was possible that whatever the Vulgar and the Learned say of Devils and whatever they ascribe to them were true I would not have spar'd so much time as to search into this matter had not I perceiv'd that the Opinions of most Men and perhaps of all the World are only grounded upon an unsure and wavering Foundation This has moved me impartially to examine several things which my Calling and common Conversation offered to me This examination forced my Mind to reject many Opinions which I had admitted at first only because they were common though grounded upon insufficient Reasons as I came by degrees to be sensible of so that I find that at present I know much less than I formerly imagined to do especially as to the subject in hand This however I do not say with a design to Censure or Destroy what others have Written I only intend to joyn my Thoughts to theirs for a fuller Instruction of such Readers as love Truth and are enquiring after it Sect. 2. I am not afraid to mistake if I say that whatever belongs to this matter has not been exhausted Those that have written upon it before having been somewhat retarded by Prejudices that stick to their Mind though they had freed themselves of many others for I own they have proceeded so far as to destroy most of the works of the Devil at least so far as 't was necessary to free Men from Superstition and frivolous Fears But as for me I would if it were possible altogether overthrow them and not leave one Stone upon another that should not be demolished And therefore I 'll try whether I can bring my Countrymen to my Opinion especially those of my Profession desiring them to read this Treatise with as little prejudice as I have written and not to suffer themselves to be persuaded by other Reasons but such as proceed from Natural Light from a clear Interpretation of the Holy Scripture and from certain Experiments I have right to require these Conditions from the Reader since they cannot be rejected by any Rational Person that they are a Law to which I submit my self and that the great consequence of the matter requires them Sect. 3. I am Confident and I hope that the Reader will more plainly perceive it hereafter that no point of the Christian Religion is more important than this and that no certain and sufficient proofs may be had of all the others than by rejecting the Opinion commonly receiv'd amongst the Vulgar concerning the Craft and Power of the Devil Can it be imagin'd a small Matter to know whether the Devil has a Kingdom upon Earth and what are the Limits that separate his Dominions from that of God Almighty Or is 〈◊〉 unserviceable to examine whether such a cursed and detestable Creature can do more wonderful things than God ever did and consequently whether the trust we repose in God and the fear we have of the Devil ought to be equal Such Thoughts ought never to enter into a Christian Heart yet they creep into it unawares at least I think so and can scarce doubt of it for the more I search into this matter the more it seems evident to me that whoever entirely believes all that it used to be ascrib'd to the Devils and his Angels and all that is commonly said of them both by the Learned and the Vulgar saving the bottom of the Doctrine publickly receiv'd and taught in our Church he can have no convincing proof that JESVS is the Messiah or that there is but one God And if in this Writing I do not make the Reader very sensible of it I grant that I have composed it to no purpose Sect. 4. But if I succeed it will at the same time plainly appear that it was altogether necessary to publish this Treatise because the Vulgar are still confirm'd in their Errors by Men of Letters and of great Name who being full themselves of those prejudices make use of their Tongue and Learning to lead others into the same Labyrinth To that end they wrest several Expressions and Histories of the Holy Scripture which being not accurately examined nor conferr'd with others give a great probability to the common Opinion concerning the Devil but if taken in the ordinary Sense they prove evidently oppos'd to other clear Expressions concerning the Fundamental Articles of our Faith It follows that such a Sense cannot subsist without overthrowing the grounds of our Salvation that I can hardly bear since a long time the nicety with which Points of small consequence or at least of little certainty use to be treated of since one cannot discuss them without getting into a suspicion of entertaining Erroneous Opinions whilst in the mean time we are not yet agreed upon Matters of the utmost consequence or if we are agreed upon them it 't is without any foundation And therefore since none was ever found fault with for defending an Article of Faith or giving out a new Explication of it so I persuade my self that I do well by publishing the Illustrations upon a matter on which the whole Edifice of our Salvation is grounded in order that whoever will carefully and impartially examine it may become Wiser and Learneder Sect. 5. As to what concerns this Book I will at first set down the subject matter of it before the Reader The design is to examine to the bottom what the Devil can do and what he really doth that is How far his Knowledge extends either in Natural or Supernatural Things Either as to the Presence as it is conceal'd from Men or as to the Future as it is contingent or possible and not necessary Moreover what Direction or Power he has to operate in Nature what Communication he has with Men with the Human Soul and with all sorts of Bodies That he should transmute himself into them or put on their various Forms That he should act upon the Soul or upon the Body That he should direct Thoughts Words Actions and Gestures What is his Power over the Beasts and Fruits of the Earth Over the Air and Winds What his help may contribute to the Knowledge of Man and his Actions Herein consist Auguries or Soothsaying Witchcraft the Art of Conjuring up Ghosts and of Divining Dreams All which things are methodically and in the same order that is mentioned here treated of in this Book Sect. 6. But because the perfect Knowledge of them depends upon another viz. which is the Nature of a Spirit wherein it consists and how it 's distinguished from that of the Body for Devils are undeniably Spirits and Man is composed of a Body and a Spirit so it will be necessary in this Treatise to proceed farther and to examine first the Nature of Spirits Good and Bad and then that of Man Besides God himself being a Spirit but infinite and independent we ought not to pay our selves with the conformity of the Name but by reason of the manifest difference betwixt
French Tongue it has lost it's Ancient name in remembrance of the Resurrection of our Lord and is called Dimanche from Dies Dominica Sect. 9. Let us proceed from the Gods to the Demons or Spirits of a meaner Order Thales of Milet taught if we believe Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the World is full of Spirits namely the Air which they inhabit and the Earth in which they converse amongst Men the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know as signifying one that is very Learned because they believed that those Demons knew whatever is important to Men either for their Happiness or Misery and that they were as the Mediators of Men towards the Gods And 't is observable that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 likewise signifies to Mediate so that the Demons import so much as Mediators And therefore they have also been called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mediators and Directors of Men and have been placed according to the Opinions of the Heathens betwixt the Heavens and the Earth viz. in the Air and consequently betwixt the Gods and Men. Sect. 10. Though the Opinions were divided as to their Nature yet they agreed in these principal points that they were Spirits that they were Mortal and however that they were no Gods as Plato writes in his Timoeus which explaining more at large in his Convivium he says that the Demons have a Nature which is the Mene betwixt God and Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what virtue have they That of explaining and declaring to Men what things belong to the Gods which are their Commands and how Sacrifices must be performed As also that of offering to the Gods what comes from Men viz. their Prayers and Sacrifices so that they being in the middle comprehend the Nature of both as binding and uniting the whole together Sect. 12. As to their Administration Plato explains it thus From them come to us Predictions Auguries the worship of Sacrifices Conjurations Orations and the whole Art of Magick The Deitie meddles not with Men but those Spirits are the Directors of all the communication and converse of the Gods with us either wakeing or sleeping The Demons therefore being by their Nature Mediators betwixt the Gods and Men and being besides Spirits and almost Gods could not be better called then Spirits of a middle Order in relation to their Nature or Mediating Gods in reference to their Functions in how great consideration those Spirits were and what was the Sentiment of the Antients concerning them may be learned from St. Chrysostome Tom. 6. Less 66. Entituled Against those that say that the Demons direct the Affairs of Men. Sect. 12. But what will be most useful to observe was that there were Demons of a Superiour and others of an Inferior Order and that some were esteemed Good and others Wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good and favourable whereas the other were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil Spirits or by a more particular explication of their Qualities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wicked dangerous Enemies Cruel However these Demons either good or bad were not believed of all Nations to be of the same Dignity There were some amongst whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imported as much as Deity and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine even in Plato the Soveraign God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest Demon. However the general use was to distinguish the Gods from the Demons as has been already observed and as Aeschines expresses it in his Clesias O Earth Gods Demons and Men whoever ye be that desire to know the Truth and therefore Plato in the place already quoted may rightly say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that those learned and middle Spirits are in great numbers and several kinds But 't is not necessary to speak more of it for perhaps it would only induce us into several errors there is so much uncertainty in Plato and others that have written upon it they are so much opposed against one another and even to themselves Sect. 13. As to the Heroes they were extraordinary Men and so far above the vulgar that every where especially amongst the Romans they used to consecrate and deifie them after their Death which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Canonization Herodian in his Fourth Book Chap 2. makes a particular Description of that Ceremony with all the Circumstances of it on occasion of the Death of the Emperor Severus Besides we generally find in the writing of the Ancients that they paraell'd them with the Demons Plutarch relates in his Opinions of the Philosophers Chap. 8. Book First That Thales Plato and the Stoicks believ'd that the Demons were Spiritual substances and that the Heroes were Souls separated from the Body which were good or bad as Men had been Virtuous or Vitious this was especially the Doctrine of Pythagoras who in all things that relate to Religion has had more Disciples then any of the Ancient Heathens and is yet the most followed by those that are not Christians He teaches that those Demons and Heroes brought in Dreams Diseases and Cure to Men and even to Cattle and labouring Beasts according to the Testimony of Diogenes Laertius confirm'd by Plato and not contradicted by Aristotle Sect 14. Apuleius in the Book formerly quoted more particularly demonstrates that the powers which put the natural passions of Men into motion which govern them and Lord it over them as also the Souls separated from the Body are called Gods and Demons or Spirits that the Soul born with the Body dies not however with it and that she bears the name of Genius when they are separated from each other This meaning cannot methinks be better express'd than by naming those Souls Associated Spirits or Spirits peculiar to one subject since every Man has one within himself The others that is those that are separated from the Body or the Souls of the Deceased are commonly called Manes as though remaining because they remain of â—â—â—â—â—st after the Body for Which reason I shall name them Surviving Spirits However as to the Latin word it seems rather to be derived from Manis an Ancient obsolete Term which signifies fine and good as immanis imports as much as Vgly and Cruel because the Manes were ordinarily taken for Benevolent Spirits Sect. 15. Some of this last sort remained in the House of the deceased to watch over his Successors and were called Lares or Domestick Gods but the others err'd at random and as Exiles according as they had deserved by their wicked Life They could cause but vain Fears to virtuous Persons but to the vitious a just Terrour and all sorts of Pains They were called Lares Night Phantasms and Spectra Diogenes writes that most of those things were taught in the School of Plato as it still appears by his Book Entituled Phoedo They had also the name of Lemures which is supposed to come from Remures and this from Remus Brother to
Romulus who frightfully imagined to see the Ghost of his Brother Remus after he had killed him If those Narrations were true such Spirits might be called terrifying Spirits Ovid in the Fifth Book of the Fasti plainly says what must be understood by that Name Mox etiam Lemures animas dixere silentum The Soul of the Dead had the Name of Lemures Sect. 16. The Lares or perhaps the Geniues are called by Macrobius in his Third Book of the Saturnalia Chap. 4. Penates that is Born together Quasi penes nos natos For as that Author pursues 't is by them that we breath by them that we have our Body and by them that our Soul subsists But 't is better to call them Gods and Governors of Countries to distinguish them from the Lares who were particular to each Family as they were both distinguished from the Geniuses and look'd upon as taking care of the exteriour of Man as the Geniuses did of the interior However it must be confess'd that there is but Confusion and Darkness to be met with in the Books of the Heathens concerning those Names and their pretended Signification they having not well known themselves what they Worshipped as Gods or as Spirits neither need we take much trouble in unravelling what they themselves knew not since the memory both of them and of their Daemons is long since extinguished upon Earth This being the Lot of the Heathens and of their Gods Jeremiah cap. 10. Sect. 17. Whether this last sort of Gods or Spirits were called Genii Manes Penates or Lemures it plainly appears that they believed the Immortality of the Soul which Opinion being confounded with that of Daemons gave occasion to contrive those sorts of Spirits Plato in his Book Of the Soul Entituled Phaedo induces Socrates speaking near his Death in these Words Above all the Soul must be immortal and unperishable and consequently it must go to live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in invisible places or as others pretend to infer from the Etymology of the Word in agreeable Places Marcilius Ficinus has Translated it in Latin apud Manes by the surviving Spirits as I have named them above but a little after he Translates apud Inferos in the Subterraneous Places which proceed from that they placed the Soul of the Deceased under the Earth Cicero in the first Book of the Tusculan Questions Sect. 26. shows both in these Words We believe that the Souls survive because all our Reasonings lead us to that Opinion Reason ought also to teach us where they are whence Ignorance has taken occasion to invent subterraneous places because Bodies being put into the Earth and cover'd with Earth humo whence comes humari to be Buried thereof it has been believed that the Dead still live under the Earth Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same word which the Interpreters of the New Testament sometimes Translate by that of Hell sometimes by that of Grave none of which agrees with the Sense of Socrates or that of Plato For at the end of the forementioned Book Socrates derides Crito who asked him how he would be buried He believes says he That I am that dead Body which he shall see anon signifying that they might indeed Bury his Dead Body but as to him that is his Soul he should pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the assur'd Felicity of the Blessed which very much differs from the Grave or Hell And therefore 't is certain that Socrates who spake so believed the Soul to be Immortal and that Plato who writ his Words was of the same persuasion Sect. 18. But there were others who tho' they were of the same opinion yet having not acquired so much insight into the State of Souls separated from their Bodies invented Transmigrations and Purifications The Druids so famous amongst the Ancient Gauls held together the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transmigration of Souls with their Immortality For they unanimously taught according to the Testimony of Caesar Book 8. Chap. 18. Non interire animas sed ab aliis post mortem transire ad alios Souls die not but that after Death they pass from one to another The antient Egyptians were of the same Opinion and Herodotus writes that they were the first who taught the Immortality of the Soul For says he their sentiment is that the Soul being deprived of the Body passes into another Body which is then born and after she has thus walked through all sorts of Bodies upon Earth in the Sea and in the Air she at last returns into a human Body Thence it was that Pythagoras had his Doctrine which he brought over into Greece whence it passed into Italy Lactantius explains the Opinions of that Philisopher in his Seventh Book de Proemio Chap. 8. In these words Pythagoras as foolishly asserted that the Souls passed into other Bodies from the Bodies of Men into those of Beasts and from those of Beasts into those of Men again and that his own had formerly been that of Euphorbius Plato and several others have partly followed him which we shall be obliged frequently to mention hereafter Sect. 19. But Socrates as Plato relates in the forementioned Treatise which contains his last Words leads the Souls to some places where they shall be Blessed or Tormented without Bodies He sends those who shall have done Good into the Upper and Aetherial Regions where he believes the most pure part of this Orb to be and where the Soul shall Eternally live without the Body in an unexpressible Felicity Whereas he condemns those of the Wicked to the Tartarus which is a deep and frightful Abyss where they shall be punish'd according to their Deserts From that Gulf of Torments he draws four Rivers to which he gives as many Names very fit to express his Notion viz. Oceanus a precipitate Torrent Acheron a Torrent of Torments Pyriphlegeton Conflagration and Cocytus Bemoaning Here Sinners who have not been altogether incorrigible are to be purged with many Pains and Vexations more or less longer or shorter according to their Deserts There you have the original of Purgatory or of that purging Fire still believed by the Roman Church However Socrates gives out that Narration but for a Chimaera For before he begins it he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pretty Fable worth hearing and at the end he says But no Man of Sense ought to maintain that Opinion so as I have related though I esteem it rational and just to show that it goes very near so in reference to our Souls and their Habitations since it plainly appears that the Soul is immortal These Words of a Dying Man who exhorts those that were present to be at all times ready for Death persuade me more and more of what I have already said that the Heathens express'd themselves variously upon these Matters and that they speak otherwise when they consider them in reference to Religion than when they conceive them in relation
for their Sins to wander in the World and to suffer Hunger and Thirst which they cannot satisfie but by the Alms that Men hand them Wherefore they often appear in a human shape to beg something from them but they have no power to hurt them Besides these there is another sort of Devils or Ratsiasias properly so called because they are the Children of Aditi and are very Malitious They have power to molest Men and even to cause much trouble and vexation to the Angels or Deuetas They may walk every where except save in the abode of Brama and in the Heavens They are described with huge frightful and stinking Bodies they are said to be Male and Female to procreate Children and to be subject to Death Sect. 14. There 's enough concerning the Demons of the Pagans of Asia but as most of those Nations are Pythagoreans and believe the Metempsychosis they also supply us with Heroes For says Baldaeius in his Book of the Idolatry of the East Indies the Modern Heathens believe that Man is happier in this Life than the Beasts by reason that he has a Body by which the Soul may exert her Operation but they agree not that a Man is more noble than a Beast nor that he has a Soul more excellent than it has And when they are ask'd why Beasts reason not they answer because they have not Bodies capable of exerting the qualities of a Soul as a Dumb Man who wants a proper Organ to utter Words and may be nevertheless very Wise or as some People who have a great deal of Knowledge and Learning but have no more readinesâ— to express themselves than Children who cannot do it He that shall Read this will be less surprised at what follows Sect. 15. Nothing certain can be said of the Japanders because the Jesuits who relate their Opinions agree not together It appears however that there are amongst that People three sorts of Opinions concerning human Souls and their Essence The first is That the Soul of Man differs not from that of Beasts The second That Men have a Soul of another Nature than that of Beasts but still Mortal The third That the Soul is Immortal They likewise believe the Metempsychosis and that the Soul going out of the Body is determined to enter into another Body either of Man or Beast by the conjunction that is then made of the Sun and Moon with other Stars Sect. 16. The Chinese are likewise Pythagoreans Martinius testifies it very plainly as to one of their Sects in these Words Chiquiao is a Sect which our People esteem to be the first introduced in China after the Birth of our Saviour They believe the exchanges of Souls inwardly and outwardly They Honour Images and imagine that the Soul after Death passes in punishment of her Sins from one body into another for which reason they abstain from what ever has had life That Narration is confirmed by Trigaltius who says That the Parents are not afraid of killing their Children to be discharged of them when they are incumbred with too many asserting that by that means they procure them a better Condition since instead of Poverty they afford them by Death the occasion of going into other Bodies and being Born again in the House of Richer People where they will live more at ease The Peguans seem to have the same Sentiment by the Relation Piuto when by the Tomb of their Rolym or High-Priest they let loose a great many Birds and Fishes which they kept Prisoners believing them to be as many human Souls who will keep company to their Rolym in his way to the other World Besides we read in Corolinus out of Artus in his Speculum Mundi That the Wise Men of China have invented three places for those that depart this Life Nachac is a place of Torment Schuum one of Delights such as the Paradise of Mahomet and Miba or Nibam signifies an entire privation of being or a full Destruction of Body and Soul All the Souls have their abode in the two first places or depart from thence to go to and fro through the World and often pass from one Body into another by new Birth until they deserve to enter into the Nibam that is to be annihilated Le Blanc speaks of it somewhat differently in a Relation extracted from a Franciscan Monk He says That the Chinese believe that Men become Gods at last after they have passed through the Bodies of several Beasts Birds and Fishes and that they imagine that the Souls after the course of many Ages having been well purified in some proper places and returned several times into new Worlds are at last introduced into Paradise cast down to Hell or reduced to nothing Sect. 18. As to the Opinion of the Siamese in this point we must learn it from the Relation of the Jesuits in their Journey to Siam in the years 1685. and 1686. because that Book is the newest and much credited Thus then writes Tachard p 297 298. Edit Amsteled Metempsychosis is one of the Fundamental Points of their Religion so that the Life of Man passes in continual Transmigrations untill he be sanctified and deserves to be God They admit of Spirits but such as are nothing else than Souls who always inform some Bodies until they have attained to Holiness or Deity Angels are Corporeal and of different Sexes and consequently may beget Sons and Daughters Those Angels are never Sanctified nor Deified but to them only belongs to watch over the Government of the World and the preservation of Men. They distribute them into seven Orders or Hierarchies some of which are more perfect and noble than the others all which they place in as many different Heavens Each part of the World has one of those Intelligences to preside over what is done there They likewise impart them to Stars to the Earth to Cities Mountains and Forests and even to the Winds and Rain And because they are perswaded that those Angels examine the conduct of Men and are witnesses of all their actions to reward those that are commendable by vertue of the merits of their God It is therefore to those Intelligences and not to their God that they use to apply themselves in their necessities and miseries and to thank them for the favours they suppose to have received from them Sect. 19. They acknowledge no other Demons but the Souls of the wicked who making their escape out of the Hell in which they were detained wander through the World a certain time and do as much hurt to Men as they can Amongst those unhappy Spirits they rank untimely Births Women dying in Childbed those that are killed in a Duel or guilty of some crime of that nature Sect. 20. The Heathens of Java believe likewise Metempsychosis as well as those of Sumatra the Malabars and the Inhabitants of the Coast of Cormandel All the Benjanes in the hither East-Indies agree upon no Article of Religion better than
upon this Most of the Bramines that are not engaged in any of these two Sects Schaaruakka and Pasenda admit the immortality of human Souls and say that there are some who being separated from the Bodies become Devils because of their sins and that the time of their first punishment being finished they must wander in the Air and there induce an intolerable Hunger it being impossible for them to draw so much as the Leaf of an Herb or to supply their wants with any other thing besides what Men bestow upon them in Charity I had mention'd that Opinion speaking of the Ratsiasias Sect. 21. In a word when we gather all the Observations made in this Chapter and before it to discover the Opinions of the Heathens we find that tho' all their Superstitions be grounded upon very different Causes yet they all tend in the main to the same scope that is to worship one sole Object as the Supream Deity and yet to associate Spirits to him I cannot better express that Thought than by the very words of Carolinus which are as a re-capitulation of what has hitherto been said Some esteem says he that the Souls are mortal others esteem them immortal some establish rhe transmigration of Souls others are not of that Opinion and how much differ those that assert the Metempsychosis between themselves some as those of Java believe that the Soul goes into the first Body she meets with others believe that she is sent into such or such Body according as she has merited by the good or evil she has done which is the Opinion of the Banjanes Some affirm that the Souls change their abode but once others three times and others teach a vast number of Transmigrations others make them pass only into Men who must also be strangers others again send them into Man and Beasts but others at last make them pass only in the Females of Men and Beasts which is the imagination of the Thearauachs others have yet quite different Opinions In a word it may be rightly said upon this subject Many Men many Minds for there are almost as many Opinions as Persons CHAP VIII That the Witchcraft practised amongst the People proceeds from the same source Sect. 8. AS the name of Withcraft is given to whatever is supposed to be done by the help of the Devil I cannot but judge that many persons are called Sorcerers and Witches who perhaps are not so and that this must be ascribed to the same prejudice which I have mentioned before speaking of the worship of Demons And therefore I intend to examine hereafter what these People really are It is sufficient to advertise here before hand that all the Heathens must not be taken for Magicians Sorcerers and Inchanters because many Writers have called them by such names giving them indifferently in their Writings to all the He and She Priests and to all those who discharge any Office Ministry or employment in their Religious Worship and in their Sacrifices But I design to insert in this present Chapter whatever is known to us of their practices or of their communications with any of the inferior Gods or Spirits good or bad Sect. 2. The veneration which that People have for the Sun Moon and Stars is sufficient to establish the choice of Days amongst them whence proceeds whaâ— Peteâ— Vaudenbrook has observed speaking of the Benjanes of Narsinga That as to happy and unhappy â—ours they judge of them by the course of the Stars wâ—â—câ—â—heâ— oâ—sâ—â—â—e with great nicety Trigaltius in 〈…〉 Chap. â—9 says that there is no Su◠〈…〉 in China as that of observing the Feast and Working days and that they rule the whole conduct of their Lives upon the disposition of Time To that end there are Printed every year two sorts of Almanacks made in the Emperor's name by his own Astrologers which contributes to set off this delusion for a Truth there is marked every day what is good to be done or not to be done and to what hour must be deferr'd what offers it self in the intervals of the fortunate or unlucky moments Sect. 2. Carolinus has methinks made a good Abridgment of what follows in Trigaltius which therefore I intend to make use of There are other Books says he besides those that more particularly treat of this matter and even there 's a sort of Teachers which only subsist from what they get in prescribing happy Days and Hours to the Querists thô they have but a small reward for it They are so much bewitcht with those predictions that they often deferr an importunate Affair or a long and dangerous Journey till they have found out a Day or Hour of good Omen And thô it sometimes happens that at that Day or Hour there falls a great Rain or a contrary Wind blows yet for all that they begin the undertaking or journey in their perfixed time should they only proceed 4 steps or dig out but a Basket full of Earth from the place where they intend to lay the Foundation of a House That was also the employment of those that were Anciently called Astrologers and Mathematicians of whom we have spoken before Sect. 4. They are no less superstitiously curious in observing the time of the Birth to foretel the condition of the whole course of ones Life Those calculators of ones Nativity are the same with the Ancient Genethliaci before mentioned Chap. 3. Sect. 4. There are many other Diviners who boast of foreteling future things by the Observation of the Stars by the inspection of the Face by the Dreams by the posture of the enquirer by his manner of sitting or standing and this sort of Men are in great esteem amongst the vulgar Sect 5. Rogerius gives a larger account of what has been said concerning the choice of Days amongst the Chinese which is likewise practised amongst other Nations as especially the Inhabitants of the Coast of Coromandel where they use Almanacks like those of China and call them Paniangam That Author says That they are two sorts one that shows what must be done and the other what must be laid aside at every Hour of the Day of the Week and what shall succeed or not For a Specimen of it he relates the predictions of Sunday from Hour to Hour They reckon in that Country 30 Hours betwixt the Rising and Setting of the Sun 1. Good for all Affairs of Council and Reasoning 2. Undertaking shall prosper 3. Shall not succeed 4. Who means to get an Advantage shall not get it but his Enemy 5. Good for Trading Profitably 6. Good for Rejoycing and Undertaking whatever concern Merriment and Science 7. The Courting of Women shall succeed at a pleasure 8. Trade without gain 9. As the 6th Hour 10. No Project happy 11. Physicks and things taken for Pleasure will not prosper 12. Who aspires after Victory shall obtain it 13. Good for buying Cows and other Beasts 14. Good to take a Servant 15. Bad to enter into a
They give the first share to the most visible and shining as the Celestial Lamps which they look upon as Lights placed in Heaven by the Sovereign Creator for a proof of his Eternal Power and Deity The Inhabitants of Dâ—mute a Country lying very near the Equinoctial Lâ—ne those that live under the Dominion of the Great Negus and those of Ballagata in the Kingdom of Monopotapa have time out of mind adored the Rising Sun Those of the Kingdom of Mâ—ngibur Subjects to the Great Negus render him the same worship and hold him for the Creator himself Those of Suarim capital of the Kingdom of Morat under the same Empire have the same Faith But they say according to the relation of le Blanc that Heaven is only for the Gods by which they show that they acknowledge other Gods who are doubtless inferior to and in less credit than the Sun Those of Songo in the Kingdom of Congo look on the Sun and Moon as Husband and Wife and as the First and Second God They adore the Earth as the Mother of all things They worship likewise some Birds particular to theâ—â— Country and as it seems what ever comes into thâ—ir fancy Sect. 3. When those of Jaloffe in Guinea discover the Moon they adore her with great Cries They have the same Custom at Mandimanca in the same Country where the Moon is named Bariomari or the Goddess of the Night Daviti says that the Berbeseins in the Kingdoms of Ale and Brocale worship her at the foot of certain Trees But other People of Guinea make even of certain Trees and Herbs their Fetissos or Gods They worship the speckled Starry-Hern as a Divine Bird. Amongst the Fishes they venerate the Tunny as Fetissos and put them before the Emperadors or Emperor's Fishes which they venture to Fish but not to Eat until they have cut off their Sword which being dry becomes then a Fetisso too When it Lightens or Thunders upon very high Mountains fear makes them believe that those Mountains are likewise Fetissos The Lybians divided into 4 Nations do all agree that there is a particular virtue and even Deity in Garlick Some Inhabitants of Capo Verde worship the Moon and others the God Conculi because of his Malice Sect. 4. Few among them believe the Mortality of the Soul or if they do their Faith is attended with many doubts and mix'd with the Opinion of the Metempsychosis so far the Sect of Pythagoras reaches The Inhabitants of Mongibur in Ethiopia make a favourable reception to strangers provided they be no Christians who they esteem less than others The cause of that kind reception is that they imagine the Souls of their Relations or Friends may be passed into those Persons They admit pains and punishment during this Life but without any larger explication of it In Guinea the Hollanders were told in 1600 that the belief of the Country was that the Souls of the Deceased came again upon Earth and that they took from Houses what they stood in need of so that when they have sustained some loss they easily suspect that those Spirits have taken it away The Inhabitants of Capo Verde imagine that after their Death they are transform'd into white Men and in that State come to dwell upon Earth Sect. 5. I find no other particular Observation on the sentiments of those Nations and much less upon their practices In the mean while what may be learned of it sufficiently shows that they proceed from the same Original with the others they have very near the same Gods and the same Oracles which they get from their Gods by the same means viz. Divination and Witchcraft In The new History of the Abyssines by Ludolf may be seen how the Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Zendero have themselves in the Election of a King He is chosen from the greatest Men of the Kingdom who go together in a Wood whither they expect the flight of a certain Bird that nearks by his Cry who is to be their new Prince As they have a great Inclination to Witchcraft the new Prince gives immediatly a proof of his Proficiency in that Art for as soon as by his Conjurations he has Notice of his choice he draws by the same virtue Lyons Tygers Vipers and Dragons about him and in the middle of that stately Pomp he is received by all the great ones of his Kingdom who go to meet him This is what that Author relates and the pure Truth in his Judgment but we shall examine hereafter what virtue such a Witchcraft may have Sest 6. The Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Baiafar on the East of that Benin are accused to be the greatest Magicians in the World because they boast of obtaining Rain and causing Thunder and Lighting whenever they please and even of effecting all they desire The Brames in the Kingdom of Loango know how to hinder by their Inchantments the Fruits of the Earth from being taken away by Thieves who are in great numbers amongst them and yet not so bold as to touch any thing where there is a Basket with a pair of Goats Horns Parrots Feathers and other trifles of Nature because they are consecrated to their God Maguschi otherwise Moquische or Mohilo of whom however Daviti has no reason to believe that he is the Devil Sect. 7. When those of Guinea meet not with a happy Fishing they compel their Gods with their Conjurations to drive Fish into their Nets which is done by the frightful noise of the Fetisseres who are their Priests Wives or by branches of Trees hanging about their Neck supposing those Trees to have a Divine virtue as has been observed or by the beating of Drums or by some words that the Fetissero or Priest mutters as grumbling against his Wife or by some Corn or other matters variously Painted and thrown into the Sea If the King happen to have occasion for Money and impatiently desires to know whether there are Merchants in the way from whom he may hope to get an Advantage the Fetissero goes with his Wives to interrogate a Tree thereupon at first he makes a great many postures then offers Sacrifices uses Ashes the branch of a Tree cut on purpose Water drawn sucking from a Beason into his Mouth wherewith he besprinkles the said branch then he says some words to his Wives upon whom he likewise makes aspersion afterwards he pronounces the questions aloud then there is heard without seeing any thing a Voice answering which sometimes manifests it self under the shape of a Dog but that 's only practised for things that concern this Life especially for the Kings prosperity Sect. 8. But they use another sort of Witchraft either for the King or the Subjects to obtain a good condition in the future Life When any body comes to Die they chuse a new Fetisso for that time whom they intreat to conduct the Soul of the Deceased into the other World The nearest Relations come together kill a Hen and
of the first operating by the last and that they hold the Celestial Bodies for Gods because they act upon the sublunary which are of a particular and necessary use to Mankind Thus the Heathens endeavour each according to his fancy to acknowledge a Deity in Heaven and to adore it upon Earth Sect. 8. The immortality of the Soul the punishment of the wickâ—d and the rewards of pious Men after this Life are generally believed in Peru but not the Resurrection of the dead says Montanus pag. 307. However 't is strange that a People who have such a gross Religion and such material Gods should nevertheless believe that the Soul subsists tho' they hear nothing of it after the death of the Body and that they could not imagine that the Body which subsists still for some time before their Eyes though without Life can return to its first State as Trees Herbs and Plants which dye and revive Sect. 9. The Statues of their Gods that are of many strange Figures and some very frightful are used to utter Oracles in their Pagodes Some says Montanus give their Answers as formerly did the Diabolical Oracles of Delphos and Dodona he calls them Diabolical following the common Opinion that the Oracles of the Heathens were not pronounced by God but by the Devil But it may be seen in the Book of Anthony Vandale of Oracles how little ground that Opinion has and we shall also treat of it in its proper place Sect. 10. As to their practices no people is so much esteemed in Peru as those we call Exorcistâ— Magicians and Diviners because they discover private Robberies even such as are committed in very remote Countreys and foretell good or bad fortune which happâ—â—s saith Montanus by their converse with wicked Spirits in dark places They declared to the Spaniards the victories their Country-men obtained or the Battles they lost in the Low Countries the very same day that they were fought There are also in Peru many She Diviners who shut themselves in their Houses where they make themselves drunk with Chica mixed with the Herb Vilca till they fall down on the place and when they awake and come to themselves again they answer all the Questions that are proposed to them Sect. 11. The Cannibals who take the Name of Caraibes and dwell to the North of Southern America acknowledge the Sun for their Soveraign God but in the mean while each Bâ—ie or Priest has his own which he calls out to himself in the most frightful Nights by Songs or inchanted Verses in the midst of the smoak of Tobacco The Devil says Montanus but I would rather say the Spirit utters his Oracles by the means of dead bones wrap'd up in Cotton Those Heathens have at all times but especially in case of death much to endure from the Piais or Magicians but methinks Montanus had express'd himself better had he said Priests rather then Magicians One of the greatest disturbances they cause is that when they are consulted they persuade People that such or such has caused them to interrogate such a deceased which incites the nearest Relations of the deceased to avenge themselves of those that have disturbed his Rest by that action Sect. 12. Montanus adds to this also The Caraibes follow a most strange Opinion concerning the Soul every one believes to have as many Souls as beatings of the heart The chief of which is still the Heart it self which after the death goes to Icheiri or the God that is particular to him where he lives in the same condition that he has done upon Earth for which reason they kill the Servants upon the Tomb of their Masters to go and Minister to them in the other World The other Souls that consist in Beatings of the Heart have two sorts of abode The Maboias wander in Deserts and Woods and the Ormiceous keep along the Sea and overturn Vessels The Souls of warlike Heroes go into the fortunate Islands where the Arouages are their Slaves Bloâ—dy Cruel Mâ—n go out of this life eternally to wander in dry Wildernesses behind high Mountains to carry the Yoak of the Arouages a People that was expell'd out of its ancient abode if we believe the account that is given of their Destruction From all this it appears that this Nation acknowledges almost no other God but their own Souls of which they have very near the same Sentiments that the ancient Greeks had of their Demons and Heroes Sect. 13. Richard Blome an English Author has published of late in his America a large account of the Opinions and Practices of the Carabes where he speaks of the Isle of St Vincent They have says he some Natural Notion of a Deity or Supream Being but who is too much pleased with the enjoyment of the Soveraign Happiness to disturb himself with the Wicked Actions of Men and whose Goodness is so great that he is averse from avenging himself of his Enemies when they refuse to pay the Honour due to him They likewise believe that there are good and bad Spirits and that the Good are Gods each of whom has his particular Admistration but that the Vniverse was not created by them tho' every one of them may be the Creator of the Country where he is venerated and which he governs Sect. 14. They never call upon their Gods but to let them come to them which is done by the Ministry of the Priests and for the 4 following reasons First to be aveng'd for some injury received Secondly to be cured of their Diseases Thirdly to learn the success of the War Fourthly to expel the great Devil or rather the wicked God Mapoia whom they never adore Thence may be inferr'd that they believe good and bad Spirits besides they acknowledge the immortality of the Soul which Opinion is the Original of Demons and Heroes since as they suppose they are the Souls of the Deceased which they call to their assistance against their Enemies Sect. 15. The Description of their Witchcraft is to be found in the same place after this manner When their Priests call upon many of their Gods together they seem to dispute and quarrel with one another so far as to come to blows somtimes they hide themselves amongst Dead bones which they draw out of Graves and wrap up in Cotton whence they utter their Oracles They use that Witchcraft to bewitch their Enemies for which purpose the Witches must have somthing that has belong'd to the party to be bewitched the Spirit seizes sometimes upon the body of those Women whence they give formal answers to whatever is proposed to them They serve up Meat to those Spirits in places separated from the Commerce that is kept with them The Boy or Priest that has brought it being gone out they hear the Dish move and the Devil according to Blome or the God according to that People moves the Jaws and makes a great noise as if he chewed the Meat that has been served to him
thereby it may be easily understood that Marriages must be very happy and attended with great Sweetness and Tranquillity when one marries with his peculiar Soul that is with that which was created with her Whereas they cannot be but unhappy and turn to the punishment of Men when they are bound to a Body whose Soul was not created with the Soul of him that Espouses her We have to strive against that Vnhappiness until we be rid of it and that we may be united by a second Marriage to the Soul that was made our Partner in the Creation to lead a happier Life Manasse Ben Israel gives a more large account of that belief in several places as in his Conciliador Quest 6. Pag. 12. In his second Book of the Resurrection Chap. 13. as also in the third Book Chap. 9. and in his Treatise de Termino Vitae Sect. 8. pag. 207. which he more largely confirms after the Jewish manner in his third Question Sect. 19. As to the State of Souls after Death the Metempsychosis of Pythagoras is also received amongst the Jews which Transmigration they call Gilgul that is to say the Revolution of Souls for they imagine that after Death the Soul wanders for a year about the Body whence she is gone out and goes still rambling till she meets with another Body into which she may enter to be born again with it They fancy that this happens three times as it is observed in the Thisbi upon the word Gilgul in this manner The Opinion of the Cabbalists is that every Soul is created thrice to let us understand that she introduces her self successively into the Bodies of three Children or Men. This they hope in some manner to confirm from the Book of Job ch 23. v. 19. according to that they say That the Soul of the first Man enter'd into the Body of King David and is now to pass into that of the Messiah that Mystery being contained in the three Hebrew Letters of Adam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the initial Letter of the name of Adam the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the first of that of David and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the first of that of Messiah Their learned hold that the Souls of the wicked pass into the Bodies of Beasts each Soul according to the nature of the Sins she has committed Thus the Soul of a Man that has debauch'd his Neighbours Wife is to enter into a Camel And therefore says David I shall sing to the Lord ki gamal alaii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he has deliver'd me from the Camel as they interpret it using this Reason that when the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is punctuated it is read otherwise and pronounced Gamaal which signifies a Camel Sect. 20. There are some however who believe that the Souls of the wicked perish with their Bodies Josephus says of the Pharisees of his time that they asserted the Transmigration of the Souls of the good only but that they sent those of the impious to the eternal Torments in his second Book of the Wars of the Jews Chap. 7. The Sadducees according to the Testimony of the Holy Scripture believed neither Resurrection nor Angels nor Spirits in St. Matth. Chap. 22. v. 23. and in the Acts Ch. 23. v. 8. but now the Jews have invented a great many Chimaera's that powerfully confirmed them in their Magick and the practice of their Conjurations for as it has already been said the Soul separated from the Body must wander a whole year about her Corps during which the wicked Spirits that abide in the Air and are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Malachi Chabbalah or Devils of Torments and have yet several other Names find occasion to make them reenter into their Bodies as they have power to do when they are required to it by Conjurations Thence proceeds in their meaning That the Witch of Endor called again the Soul of Samuel into his Body because he had not been dead a whole year Manasse Ben Israel teaches the same Doctrine and assures us 't is that of the Ancients which he has extracted especially from Gemara Siabbas There are some however who have more rational Opinions as we shall see in the second Book when we have occasion to examine that instance CHAP. XIII That the Witchcraft anciently Practised and still in use amongst the Jews proceeds from the same Original Sect. 1. WE have examined the Opinions of the Jews upon that matter as much as they differ from the holy writ for as far as their belief is consonant to it we receive and approve of the same Let 's now see what they practise as to Witchcraft the Holy Scripture may fully convince us of the great inclination that People ever had for it which doubtless proceeded First from the practices they had seen in Egypt and of which perhaps they had not abstained but had seen the continuation of them in the Country they inhabited that was surrounded and intermixed with so many Nations addicted to that Art 'T is for that Reason the Law gives them such frequent warnings to beware of it Exodus 22 18. Levit. Chap. 18. v. 31. Cap. 5. v. 27. Deuter. Chap. 13 8 9 14. Isaiah Chap. 6. v. 12.20 And that he threatned them so severely because they could not resolve to forsake that impious exercise as may be seen especially in Manasseh King of Judah 2 Kings Chap. 21. v. 6. 2. Cron. Chap. 3. v. 6. That Sin became general in the midst of Israel or the Kingdom of the 10 Tribes so that the Scripture says that They used Divinations and observed the cry of Birds 2 Kings Chap. 17. v. 17. In the Apostles time there were Seven Sons of the same Father one of the high Priests who took upon them to be Exorcists and to conjure Devils Acts 19. v. 13 14. But all these things made no part of the contents of their Law and on the contrary were the effects of their Rebellion so that Judaism was not properly answerable for them until they were taught by the Rabbins themselves and at last introduced to make up part of their Religion Such are the Doctrines which I have represented in the preceeding Chapter to which the practices of the present Jews are perfectly agreeable Sect. 2. The inquisitive Lighfoot has shewed by many proofs that the Jews at their return from the Babylonian Captivity having entirely forsaken Idolatry and finding they were destitute of Prophets addicted themselves by degrees to Witchcraft and Divination about the time of our Saviours coming The writings of the Talmud that are full of Instructions for that purpose and are nevertheless in great credit among them give upon that subject a testimony not advantageous to them especially since in the following times they used the same Arts against Christianity Lightfoot assures us That after the Destruction of their City and Temple there were several Impostors amongst
things as they relate Now there 's none but knows that the Doctrine and Worship of that Sect as they are contained in the Alcoran and their other Writings are involved with many Fables and Fictions which are generally received as Truth amongst them but explained in a very rational sense by the Learned which makes it that they are not so intolerable in that respect as that they are false and groundless And therefore 't is but reasonable to use this circumspection that knowing that sort of People to be Men of sense as there are many in other Sects we interpret their Fables only with relation to that which is clearly and significantly express'd in other places and in reference to the tendency they seem to have in what is related of their other Opinions Sect. 2. It is also reasonable to relate at first what is to be gathered from the Alcoran and to joyn to it afterwards what other Authors supply us with either as to the Doctrine of the Spirits taught amongst the Musulmans that is the Faithful as they love to call themselves or as to their practices in Witchcraft and Divinations But because the Book of Laws collected after the death of Mahomet by his Disciples that are the most famous Doctors of the Musulmans is not uniform as to the Order in which it is translated in several Languages for the conveniency of the Reader I design to follow the division observed by du Râ—er in his French Translation and by le Verrier in his Dutch who both divâ—de the whole work into 113 Chapters Sect. 3. First of all 't is amongst them a fundamental point repeated above a hundred times in the Book of the Law that God is but One and hath no partner in which they perfectly agree with the Jews even in reference to the Holy Trinity as has been already mention'd Chap. 12. Sect. 1. Marmol says however in the first part of his description of Africa Pag. 128. Edit Paris That the Morabites a Sect of Mahometan Arabs hold that the Heavens Stars and Elements make up but one God together The Sahis another Sect of the Turks believe that there is some Deity in the Sun and Moon because of the influence those two great Lights of the Universe have upon sublunary Creatures according to the Relation of Ricaut in his description of Turkey Book 2. Chap. 12. De la Vall in his journey Book 4. Chap. 17. says that amongst the Persians several Mahometans ascribe assisting Forms and Intelligences to the Sun Moon and Stars by which they are quickned and directed as our Bodies are by our Souls Sect. 4. In most or all the pages of the Alcoran mention is made of the Holy Angels of the wicked Devil and of the Original of Devils far more rationally than in the Books of the Jews For they make the Angels immaterial tho' they believe that they appear in a Corporeal shape as is to be read in this passage of the 5th Chapter The Angels say they are the only constant and immutable Creatures there being no others endued with such Properties Thus is this passage quoted by Levinius Varnerius in his Miscellanies who has extracted it from some other Book But this is a reasoning of the moâ—t thinking part and the best Philosophers amongst them For Mahomet himself believ'd that the Angels had been created of some certain Matter as he gives us to know in one of his Fables to be related anon He often speaks too grosly and gives us occasion to doubt whether he understands in a proper or figurative Sense what he so frequently says that the Angels go to and fro hear the Law have Beings and even are distinguish'd into Males and Females for he believes that distinction of Sexes to be found in every thing See his 52 Chap. pa. 594. He no less vilifies the Dignity of Angels ascribing the cause of the fall of some to their refusal of paying an extraordinary Honour to Adam who was wiser than they were and convers'd more familiarly with God For God taught Adam the Names of all things and Adam taught them to the Angels Chap. 2. pa. 5. Lastly the great number of Guardian Angels whom he gives to every Musulman evidently infers that one of his Disciples was look'd upon by him of greater worth than several Angels Sect. 5. Mahomet has very plainly express'd in several places of his Book of the Law his Opinion upon the Nature and Original of Devils who at the beginning were created in the rank of the Angels whence they fell for their envy Thus in the 6th Chap. Pag. 109. he introduces God speaking to him I have created and made thee I have commanded the Angels to adore Adam which they have done save only the Devil This place must be understood with the distinction brought by Levinius Varnerius out of a Turkish Book Adoration belongs to the Great God as a Worship but it may belong to others as a mark of Veneration In that Sense it is that Adam was adored by the Angels and Joseph by his Father and Brothers Mahomet proceeds relating what God said to the Devil What hinders you from adoring Adam as I have order'd you The Devil Answer'd Because I am Superior to him since thou hast created me out of Fire and Man out of Clay Hereupon I said Go out of Paradise 't is not the abode of the proud thou shalt be in the number of those that are cover'd with infamy He replyed Let me be here till the day of the Resurrection Why said he hast thou tempted me I shall said he turn Men from the right way I shall hinder them by all means from believing thy Law and even let the greatest part fall into ungratefulness I said to him Go out of Paradise thou shalt be rejected by all the world and deprived from the effects of my Mercy and I shall fill Hell with those that shall listen to thee and follow thee The same Relation is repeated in the 14 16 and 37 Chapters Pag. 293 381 and 511. And thô he mentions but one Devil as the Chief he nevertheless believes a vast number of good and wicked Angels for in the 7th Chapter he speaks of thousands of good Angels whom God sent once from Heaven to his assistance whilst he prayed he likewise mentions the Demons in the plural number as Chap. 6. We have created Hell to punish Devils and Men. Sect. 6. His distinction betwixt the state of Angels and Devils is not to be rejected in all respects such as they are towards God and the Faithful such he describes them to be one towards another Chap. 7. Pag. 198. God said to his Angels I will be with you confirm the steps of the true faithful Chap. 11.278 The Angels tremble in the presence of God Chap. 20. Pag. 360. They are not ashamed to adorâ— him And again Chapter 15. Pag. 296. God orders his Angels to go down and sends his inspiration to whom he pleases This
sufficiently known that amongst them as amongst other Nations their practices are answerable to their Doctrines for if their Witchcraft and Exorcisms proceed not all from their superstitions yet they are not inconsistent with them It is strange that such as ascribe a Soul and Life to the Celestial Lamps that acknowledge the Stars to influence Human Actions and search for Mysteries in numbers letters and names should be addicted to Witchcraft and Divinations and make them part of their religious worship neither is it surprising that not conceiving Angels as altogether immaterial they should fancy Apparitions either waking or dreaming 'T is yet less strange looking upon them as Creatures of a dignity inferior to their's since they establish great numbers of them for the guard of each Musulman they should invite and call them to their service by Witchcraft consisting in Characters in which they imagine a secret virtue for that purpose or if they should believe by the same means and Virtue to be able to expel wicked Angels their mortal Enemies But 't is time to come to the Christian World and to examine in what state things are at home CHAP. XV. That some of the Heathen Opinions upon this subject have in process of time crept in amongst the Christians Sect. 1. WE must not wonder that great part of the Doctrines above mentioned have not yet been banished by the light of the Gospel For what Man naturally conceives is not always darkness neither is the illumination which the Holy writ affords to the understanding always efficacious so that a Christian often better knows what he ought to know then he does what he ought to do This plainly appears in that Man is readier to search after the Truth by his reason than to put it in practice by his Virtue The cause of it is that our natural curiosity that has contributed to the fall of our first Parents has been since increased and strengthned by the effect of the fall it self and that it drives us on so much the more to desire to know much as our understanding is become less capable of true conceptions But the corruption of Man allows him not to make such Progresse And therefore we must imagine that whatever is practiced amongst such or such People especially as to Religion always and only proceeds from their belief and Doctrine This will quickly be known to us if we take the trouble of considering Christianity such as it formerly was and still is at this present Sect. 2. I shall name ancient Christianity the six first Centuries before the Pope and Mahomet arose However I shall not consider it as it was establish'd by our Lord and his Apostles which will be done more conveniently hereafter but with relation to the succession of times In the mean while a careful distinction must be made between the Opinions of the Church or of the Chief Doctors of her Communion and the Errors of those she has condemn'd We must afterwards take notice of what certainty may be had both of the Practices and particular Sense of those that have been branded for Hereticks For we pretend not to impute to Christians what has been rejected by the generality of them nor to charge the Hereticks with whatever is said of their Errours Now one may methinks take for Opinions generally received in the Church those that have been taught by their Chief Doctors without being contradicted by the others as far as it appears by any Writing though they must not for that be taken for Articles of Faith And likewise though the Hereticks should have been charged as to the Doctrine with some Opinions they owned not yet 't is not conceiveable that they should have been falsly accused of Acts of Magick the possibility of which they did not so much as believe After that Observation let 's see what the most famous Christians of the Primitive times have believed as to Spirits and their Operations and at the same time what they relate of other Sects and People Sect. 3. Following still the same Order I shall first speak of the Angels and then of the Souls separated from their Bodies I shall pass by the first Century in which the Apostles lived because in my second Book I take their Writings for the Rule of Faith and for the Fountain whence Truth must be drawn But we must examine those that have followed them from Age to Age and see what was their Opinion upon those two Points without presuming it was grounded upon Rule or Ecclesiastical Assemblies which appears not And though those two Points are of the highest consequence yet every one had still liberty to express his particular Opinions However for other Opinions of less consequence and I durst almost say of nothing Men have been dealt with as Hereticks and the whole Christian World must be call'd together to come to a conclusion And therefore I shall only make use here of such Explications of the chief Doctors as I have read my self which I shall endeavour to translate faithfully and word for word as much as possible Sect. 4. We shall first hear in the second Age Tatian Clement and Justin concerning the Nature of Angels Tatian indeed ascribes not a gross material Being to the Angels and yet he seems to attribute to them some Corporeal Being Here are his own Words that seem very strange All Demons are so as that indeed they have nothing Carnal but their Composition is Spiritual and as a Fire and Light The Nature of their Bodies can however be penetrated by none but such as are endued with the Spirit of God What he adds afterwards is more Consonant to Reason That the Demons are not the Souls of Men. He believes not however that Souls are simple Natures but that they are composed of parts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he believes they cannot be conceived as Corporeal without having a Body and that the material part cannot rise without the Soul Several Doctors of that time speak very near the Words tho' they explain not themselves so openly so that they must not be look'd upon as very far from that Opinion as will more plainly appear when we mention the fall of the Angels Sect. 5. Clemens Alexandrinus in his 6th Book of Miscellanies shows that he holds the Angels for the Inspectors of Men and those that inspire Wisdom into them that each Country and perhaps each Man has his own A little after he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God has distributed amongst Angels the Inspection and Care of each City and Nation He says also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Divine Power distributes good by the means of Angels whether they be visible or invisible Justin favours that suppposed visibility of the Angels or at least he tolerates it since he asserts in his 4th Apology That God entrusted the Angels with the Conduct of the other human Affairs under the Heavens some of whom fell off because of their Conversation with Women from
which issued the Demons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. mihi 44. St. Athanasius who was of the same mind explains those two things more at large in his Ambassy As to the first he says That God created the Angels to take care of the Affairs of Men that are under their direction so that God takes indeed a genâ—â—ral view of all things but as to the particular Inspection he has left it to the Angels constituted over them As to the second he speaks the same Language with the others that the love of Women made some Angels fall into Apostasie whence proceeded a sort of Demons Sect. 6. Justin that enters more into particulars as to what concerns Demons declares that he knows none that has that Divine Power of preserving and rewarding such as obey him and therefore that he knows none likewise that has the power to avenge himself upon the Disobedient and Rebels This he teaches in his 42th Question having said before in the 40th That a Wicked Spirit that has been once expell'd cannot torment him any more whom he had before possess'd In the aforesaid 42th Question he says That when a possess'd seems to break his Bands and Fetters it is the Demon that does it who has that strength himself but cannot communicate it to the Body of any Man This is very particular and it will be fit to call it to mind again in another place wherefore I desire the Reader to observe and remember it Sect. 7. Irenaeus explains himself but obscurely concerning the State of Souls after this Life when he says at the end of his Book That they go to an invisible place God has prepared for them But Justin in his second Apology pag. mihi 58. explaining himself more at large goes also more out of the common road for he affirms that the Souls of the Dead have some power over the living saying That Men being seized and cast down by the Souls of the deceased are ordinary call'd possest and furious It must be observ'd here that having spoken immediately before of human Souls separated from their Bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though the Latin Interpreter has used two different Words viz. first Animae the Souls and then Manes the Ghosts Mention iâ—â—ade of the latter in his second Chapter of this Book S. 14. But in my Opinion the same word cannot be taken in two different Senses at the end of one period and the beginning of the following He must therefore ascribe to the Soul of the deceased of whom he undoubtedly speaks in his first period all the Operations upon the living which the Heathens used to attribute to other Spirits call'd Demons for he there speaks of the Heathens Sect. 8. Origen who lived in the third Age had strange Notions concerning the Angels sometimes he gives them a Nature but equal to that of Men For Writing of the Light which St. John in his first Chapter says to be our Saviour he seems to believe that it was equally communicated to Man and Angels as may be seen more at large in his third Volume on St. John But in another place he makes so great a distinction betwixt Angels and Men that going from the first of Creatures endued with Reason to the last he puts the Angels as betwixt God and Men For he teaches on 1 Sam. 28. that the first Creatures are those which the Holy Writ names Gods The second those that we call'd Thrones and the third those that bear the name of Principalities Afterwards he calls in Question Whether Man is the last of rational Creatures or whether such Creatures as dwell upon Earth amongst which he ranks all the Demons or at least part of them are inferiour to Men that 's his Opinion in his first Vol. St. John Sect. 9. He again intimates elsewhere that as Men who have had the fear of God in this life become Angels after their Death as 't is read in St. Matth 22.30 though there it is not properly they become Angels but they shall be like Angels So that the present Angels might formerly have been Men Moreover he imagines that Angels and Men may dispute which are more perfect establisting betwixt the Nature of those two Subjects the same difference which our Saviour puts between the first and the last St. Matth. 19.30 and ch 20.16 he ascribes to Angels not only the Subregency of the World in his tenth Homil. upon Jeremiah and constitutes as well as other Doctors Guardian Angels upon that Principle but he persuades himself that their Virtues and Devotions may increase as those of Men proportionably to those of the Persons they keep Afterwards he destines some to watch over little Children and others over the Adult grounding his Opinion upon St. Matt. ch 18.10 where mention is made of the Angels of little Children that see the face of their Heavenly Father Sect. 10. He has this particular Opinion concerning the Stars that they may have Light and Intelligence and though he expresses not himself so plainly upon that yet 't is a necessary consequence of his Principles for upon the Words in the Hebrews 2.9 That Christ has tasted Death for all He says first that by that all must not simply be understood all Men but whatever is capable of Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and amongst those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rational Creatures he reckons the Stars a little after and upon that foundation he is not afraid of making our Lord not only the Redeemer of Men but also of Stars that have likewise sin'd because 't is said the Stars are not pure in his sight Job 25.5 he repeates the same at the end of his 2d Volume upon St. John denying however that their Influences should hurt Men notwithstanding what is read of Lunaticks Matth. 17.14 15. Writing upon Genesis he likewise rejects Astrology to which he believes that some Angels having forgotten their Duty have persuaded Men to addict themselves Sect. 11. Tertullian in his second Book against Marcion says as to the original of Devils He has made the Angels that are Spirits now in as much as the Devil was made by God he is an Angel and belongs to his Maker but inasmuch as he has not been made by God viz. as a Devil or a Slanderer it follows that he has made himself so by forsaking God and withall deceiving himself That Language is somewhat obscure Origen speaks not better for in his first part upon St. John he seems to recite a Riddle concerning the Dragon as having been one of the first created by God in a Bodily shape and before Man He strains the Words of God to Job ch 40 v. 15. for he takes them as they are now read in the Greek Bibles as though there was this or that Dragon whereas the Hebrew Text has Behemoth that signifies a great Beast Translating the Verse thus This is the beginning of what God formed which he mad for a matter of laughter to his Angels Sect.
the 19th Ch. Sect. 8. That the Devils are divided into different orders and the History of the Devils of Loudun shews us that one Elizabeth Blancheard said to be possest by six Devils by Astaroh and the coal of uncleanness by the order of Angels by Belzebub and the Lion of Hell of the order of Archangels by Perou and Marou of the order of Cherubins p. 255. Second That all persons of what Sex Age Condition or Religion soever they may be whatsoever kind of life they lead either good or bad may be possest by Devils Third Althô the most part are possest without their consent and in spight of them by evil Spirits it is believed sometimes that there are some which consent to it there are those to whom are attributed Spirits of Pithon who divine by means of the Devil Schottus p. 550. Sect. 12. This Author explains to us more precisely in what manner the Devil enters into Men and how he works First Granting he can cloath all sorts of bodies as he pleases and according as God permits him he can sometimes go and come enter into Man and come out invisibly and sometimes also visibly and under the figures of small Beasts or insects as Ants Flies Spiders or under those little birds This is the common Opinions of Popish writers althô Schottus is not very much for it p. 539. But he is in the wrong for here 's a proof at least as to his invisible going in and coming out in the History of the Devils of Loudun where it is said that a Devil called Bihemot being gone out to seek a new Covenant the guardian Angel of the Nun that he possest seized upon him and bound him for a Month under the Picture of St. Joseph in the Church p. 405. And that this Religious fancyed as tho I know not what should have gone out from her head which removed from her as the Devil retired farther and afterwards the Devil himself declared that after having been tied in his body not to part from it he had at present as well as his companions the liberty of coming too and fro p. 408. Second Schottus howevever agrees that evil Spirits give to the possest the faculty of speaking strange languages that they never learned and of revealing secrets which they could not know of themselves p. 540. So it is that the Nun of Loudun spoke Latin the best he could assuring that she had never learned it History of the Devils of Loudun And so it is that the Demons discovered to the Jesuit surin secret matters in his thought or in his person p. 273. or that they went to kiss the right hand of one of the exorcists for that the Duke of Orleance had so desired it and had declared his desire to another exorcist p. 297. Upon which one of them hath writ that the Devils answered often to interrogatories made to them by the exorcists without expressing them otherwise then by the inferior direction of their thoughts p. 104. See there the last effort of Divination to divine thoughts hidden and in no ways expressed Third Schottus says in other places that the principal operations of the Devil are made in the body of the possest and that they art little or nothing upon the Soul and that for this reason they cannot make a Man loose his Faith nor Hope nor Charity p. 534. But the Devil Isaacarum who knew more of it then our Author says that Behemet had not only vex'd Job in his body but that he had also troubled his Soul and that it is for this reason that he sinned not in all that he said History of the Devils of Loudun Pag. 374. Sect. 13. See what the Devil can do and what he does very often according to the opinions of the Roman Catholicks be it that he makes use of the Ministry of Men in these occasions or that he uses them nor those that he imployes in his Ministry are called Sorcerers Enchanters and Magicians 'T is stedfastly believed that those People have given themselves to the Devil and have covenanted with him and signed it with their own Blood That the Devil on his part is observed to do all they desire during the course of their life and that the Magicians on their part give themselves to the Devil and put themselves into his possession all their days or for a certain time that they have mutually agreed together If you would see an example very particular of such a contract you need but read the History of the Devils of Loudun Pag. 271. but you cannot read it without being amazed The Magicians in consequence of their Covenants are to enjoy a great deal of pleasure which will be procured to them by the Devil to do a great deal of mischief to others and cause a great deal of damage to their Cattle and to their other Goods Their pleasure consists in solemn Assemblies which are held in the night in places the Devil appoints and where he appears in all sorts of Figures there they dance drink and eat in excess and the Men and Women mix themselves carnally together and with the Devil himself who for that purpose sometimes transforms himself into a Man sometimes into a Woman The Wizards and Witches are transported thro the' Windows to places where they assemble by virtue of a certain Ointment they anoint themselves with they ride mounted upon the Devil as upon a Horse for he is obliged to serve them and for this purpose he transforms himself into a Goat or some other Animal Sometimes there are in those Assemblies strange Sacrifices for the History of the Devils of Loudun writes Pag. 153. That they force the Devil Leviathan to surrender a Contract written upon the flesh of the Heart of an Infant taken in a Sabbat held at Orleans and of the Ashes of a burnt Host Sect. 14. The disorders that they cause to Men are to mischief their persons or their Cattle to stir up Tempests to spoil the Corn of the field to breed Disputes to disturb the Society of Men by a thousand means some times they do good with an eye to proper advantage for some Money they discover things lost they declare if one is bewitch'd or if not and by whom it has been they teach what must be done to cure them that are so or they cure them themselves Of this Bodin in his Book intituled Daemonamania shall fully instruct the reader that will take the pains to read him For no Authors are more large upon that subject than he and Delrio In the mean while we will look into their Sentiments related by Schotus more plainly than in their own Books Sect. 15. He defines this unlawful Magick upon which subject the Reader will not forget the distinction heretofore made Chap. 4. Sect 2. 7. A Power by which Man works certain wonders which surpass ordinary Vnderstanding which is done not by any Art nor by the force of his proper Faculties nor by
which is nevertheless the common belief of all the Pagans which is received among the Jews and has not been confuted sufficiently by the primitive Christians among whom are found some who have expresly taught it Sect. 7. But the Pagans differ from the Mahometans and Christians chiefly in two points First That they mix and confound together the supream God with other superior and inferior Gods good and bad and also the Souls of Men with all those Gods in such a confused manner that it is impossible to comprehend any thing and that it is a Labyrinth from whence they cannot extricate themselves On the contrary the Jews and Mahometans agree with the Christians in this point that there is one only God and that all that is besides him has been created by him Second In that that not only they make no great difficulty to deify Men but that they make also the Gods return to the condition of Men and that they believe there are Men the issue of the Gods there are some of these errors which the Papists cannot boast of being entirely free from for they may reasonably be reproached that they have substituted their Saints to these imaginary Gods and to those Demons of the Pagans That they speak of Saints as the Pagans do of their Gods that they make them act in the same manner that these false Deities were supposed to act But pure Christianity such as has been in all times upon this point never make Gods a Man nor never raises Man to the dignity of God Sect. 8. There is notwithstanding some point upon which the Protestants are not agreed and upon which nevertheless the Papists the primitive Christians the Jews the Mahometans and all the Pagans agree viz. The Tutelary Gods of the Pagans who were the guardian Angels in the first Christianity We have lately seen they are admitted without contestation among the Papists the Protestants in general are not disposed to receive this Opinion those of the profession of France Holland and Swisserland reject it and nevertheless there are some but very few that admit it or at least believe not that there are sufficient reasons to oppose it we shall examine afterwards which is the soundest of these Opinions In the mean while we must take notice before hand that what the Papists teach upon this subject together with some of other Christians that are not of their Communion relates more to the light and knowledge which they suppose that those Spirits communicate to them than real help they can expect in their actions and in their manner of living for it is rarely seen or to say better it is never seen that the People ascribe a considerable deliverance or a great oppression that befal them to an Angel either their keeper or their enemy but they never fail to ascribe it immediatly to the providence of God or if they sometimes turn their Eyes to another side the Papists as to their particular refer all the good that happens to them to the protection of some great Saint especially to that of the Virgin Mary but the Protestants lest they should seem to favour the belief of the Popish Saints would rather say if occasion serves that the Devil was the Author of it Sect. 9. There is also a difference to be taken notice of betwixt the Heathens on one side the Jews and the Mahometans on the other and all the Christians on another it is chiefly in the practice of Witchcraft and Divination which according to the principles of the first is a laudable practice in it self althô often abused as a great many good things are according to the principles of the second it is only allow'd and useful in many occasions and according to the last it is directly opposite to Christianity The reason of it is that the Pagans hold for Gods or at least for Ministers and Ambassadors of the Gods Spirits which are lookt upon by Christians as unpure Spirits and that the Jews and the Mahometans cause to proceed from the Virtue of the Caballa and the influences of the Stars whatever the Christians take to be Magick Witchcraft or Enchantments It is true that in the time of Ancient Paganism the Mathematicians have been put into the rank of Poisoners and that both were treated as persons equally pernicious to whom it was forbidden to exercise their art as being unlawful But the occasion of these prohibitions was only founded upon the ill use that was made of this Art which had been before not only permitted but even much esteem'd At this time the Christians have no longer any aversion for the name of Mathematician but that of Poysoner never received any good interpretation no that words are here to be disputed for 't is of things that we treat and we are to examine them and not words Perhaps there will be occasion to have some regard to them in our third Book where without doubt it will be necessary to speak fully of these terms and of many others Sect. 10. Let 's now see what conformity is found among all these People together Pagans Jews Mahometans Christians both Ancient and Modern Roman Catholicks Protestants and others They all confess First That there are Spirits distinct from God and bodies for thô some contrive yet another kind of Spirits as we have said it is one of the points in dispute among them and now we are about to seek wherein they agree together Second That there natures are different some absolutely subsisting without body as Angels and others being united to a body as Souls Third That however both are mortal Fourth That of such Spirits as are united to a body some are good to Men and others bad Fifth That therefore Man has reason to seek the friendship of good Spirits that is the Angels and to take all possible care to divert from him evil Spirits which are Devils Sixth That an infinite happiness or misery attends Men after this life Seventh That likewise of the Souls of the deceased some are bad and some good and holy thô they seem not to explain themselves always in the same manner sometimes upon one of the points and sometimes upon the other it i◠nevertheless certain considering the bottom of the matter that their sentiments are agreeable see then in what consists the conformity of the Opinions in general of all Nations and in what they differ We have now to examine what is true or what not in all that has been related and it is for that purpose I design my second and third Book according to the division I have established before Chapter the first Sect. 8. However we shall yet see what cautions may be drawn from all that has been said CHAP. XXIV That all that has been related shews upon what foundation the Christians in general and the Protestants in particular say such extraordinary things of the Devil Sect. 1. BEfore I pass to my second Book where I shall examine what is purely
propositions they maintain rather than their true natural Sense such as 't is found in other Authors and in ordinary use of a Tongue that is so familiar to them Of these I might recite a thousand proofs if it were necessary and time would allow me Sect. 13. Besides as much as Man has taken pains to acquire uncertain and corrupted Sciences so much has he been negligent of informing himself in the best the finest and at the same time the smallest part of Sciences with which he is ordinarily less acquainted for as I have already said the Youth in the Schools run over all the Countries of the Ancient Heathens only to make a booty of Latin and Greek before they do so much as visit Christianity which is only shewn to them as at a distance they are yet of too tender a constitution to be loaden with such solid meat and too young to be mixed with such important Affairs so that they are taught almost nothing of that matter It is not thought convenient for them to know what Soul and Body are wherein consists the Essence of the Soul or that of the Angels and Devils and what knowledge and operations those Spirits are capable of and what share and administration they take here below in human Affairs No light is afforded to them that may dissipate the darkness that has been spread over their understandings in their youth nor blot out the impressions that have been made upon them as to this point by the means already mention'd so that this darkness and these impressions destitute of Antidotes do still penetrate farther Even those that follow the Principles of Descartes tho' they distinguish better than others the nature of Soul and Body as will be shown in my Second Book Chap. 1. Sect. 12 13 14. yet when they come to the operations of such Spirits as are not joyned to a Body either Angels or Devils and undertake to explain how they can act upon other Bodies either of Men or other matter they take as much freedom as they can and go as far as they can be carried by the prejudices they have imbibed with all others before they studied Scripture and Philosophy Sect. 14. That which may adorn the Human Mind with Light and form its Judgment is what is less intended to be acquired in Universities tho' they seem to be the place where such a rare thing should be gotten which most unhappily affords not the means to grow rich I mean Mathematicks and that part of natural Philosophy that discovers the nature and course of the Heavens not because they treat of our present subject but for two other reasons I shall add The first is that more certainty is to be found in Mathematicks than in all other Sciences because they are grounded upon infallible Principles such Students as are used to the certainty of these Principles will not acknowledge for truth such as are not attended with a full and entire conviction and put a little value upon such Sciences as have not the same certainty But the Second Reason is still more particular viz. That Mathematicks especially that part that treats of the knowledge of Stars manifestly discovers several things that undeniably shew the Sacred Writers accommodated themselves to the stile and capacity of the Vulgar and speak of the Heavens Earth Sun Moon and Stars not according to their own nature and as they are in themselves but according to the common notions of Men. And therefore those that are somewhat addicted to that Science credit not so easily the discourses of other Men and are not satisfied with probabilites They are not disposed to fill the Air with Spirits nor to fix them to Stars nor to confound Spirits and Stars together But the mischief is as I have already hinted that few Learned give up themselves to that part of the Sciences tho' it is the most useful and beautiful of all Sect. 15. All these prejudices with which we have been once fill'd which have been rooted in us more and more by the ways already alleag'd which have grown by the new nourishment they daily received and which have neither been banished nor weaken'd by the endeavours of a better informed Judgment all these prejudices I say are no where more sensible than in the subject we treat of And therefore we have destin'd this First Book to establish this Truth and make it very plain to the end it might be clearly perceived that all those Opinions concerning the Devils Divinations and Witchcraft draw their first Original from the Heathens who communicated them to the Jews during the Babilonian Captivity where they had more conversation with the Philosophers than in the Land of Canaan whilst they liv'd separated from all other Nations of the Earth There they insensibly took the tincture of the Heathen Doctrines and Practices at least of such as seem'd not directly opposed to their Law The first Christians springing from the middle of the Jews and Heathens kept likewise most part of the same Doctrines and intended to gain the Heathens by too great and easie a compliance with their Opinions Thus was insensibly laid the foundation on which the great aedifice of Popery is now founded and rais'd Sect. 16. Another Judgment may be pass'd upon that matter if Popery were put in parallel with Heathenism and not esteem'd the worse of these two For why should not they be held for Heathen Legends what the Pagans have published of their Miracles Oracles Gods Aërial Spectres Dreams and the like prodigies That is why do we not call 'em Lies as we rightly so name the Roman Legends Have we more reason to look upon as suspitious those wonders the relations of which are inserted almost in all the Books of the chief Roman writers and to look upon them as a branch of superstition then to deal in the same manner with those of the Heathens Whence comes it that we publickly laugh at both in our discourses and writings the sham miracles of the former as being meer delusions and trifles and that we approve both by our words and our Books the narrations that the latter make of the wonders seen amongst them and that we quote them as true thô they be of the same matter and weight with the others The antiquity of those Authors and of the times in which they have written has it so much power and efficacy and must we more easily credit stories because they are said to have happen'd a long while ago and in far remote Countries But what 's that to the main point Truth fits not it self in this manner to the inclinations of Men. Lies were anciently told as well as they are now and as well in Foreign Countries as in our own Sect. 17. It is methinks sufficiently proved by all the quotations of this Book that there are no Miracles Oracles purging Fires Apparitions of Hobgoblins or Souls Witchcraft by Letters and â—â—aracters or choice of Days either in