A COLLECTION Of Modern Relations of Matter of Fact CONCERNING Witches Witchcraft Upon the Persons of People TO Which is prefixed a Meditation concerning the Mercy of God in preserving us from the Malice and Power of Evil Angels Written by the Late Lord Chief Justice Hale UPON Occasion of a Tryal of several Witches before him PART I. LONDON Printed for John Harris at the Harrow in the Poultrey MDCXCIII Price 1 s. Licensed 18. May 1693. Edward Cooke ADVERTISEMENT MAthematical Divinity Or A plain Demonstration from the Holy Scriptures that the Times of this World were Fore-appointed by the Covenant made with Abraham And determined to be according to the Measure of the Age and Fulness of Christ. Kept Secret since the World began but is now made plain upon Twelve Tables in a Solar Calendar as familiar to the Understanding as a Common Almanack With a full Proof that this is the last Generation which shall not pass away till all things be Fulfilled and the Gates of Righteousness be Opened Being the Result of many Years Study By Elias Palmer Printed for John Harris at the Harrow in the Poultrey 1693. Price 1 s. THE PREFACE IT was not to convince the Atheists and Sadduces of this Age of the Existence of Spirits and by consequence of a Deity that I began this Collection They have the Works of the Creation both of the Great and of the Lesser World and an admirable Scene of Providence exhibited to the rest of Man-kind in the Posterity of Abraham and Recorded in the Sacred Writings which if they were disposed with well defecated Minds gently putting by the Leaves and the Prickles and the mean outside Covering whereby they are Veiled from the Prophane to inspect the internal Form and Composure and deeply Contemplate the admirable Accomodations of all the Parts the Design and Tendency of the Whole and the Secret Powers by which all is Sustained and Ordered they might by the help of a certain Divine Light which doth often illustrate such Souls so employed discern a more Noble Evidence and satisfactory Conviction of those things which the Ignis Fatuus of a vitiated Natural Vnderstanding however improved as is imagined by the accomplishments of what we commonly call Learning but is in truth but a superficial thing in respect of true Knowledge cannot receive and be assured that Christianity is indeed a Noble and Divine Philosophy cast out like a Ball among the Children of Men that they should catch it that catch could and accordingly is very differently and by most very unworthily entertained in the World not only by the sensual Swine and by the Muckworms but by such as would be thought to be of a more generous Strain Cocks of the Game and yet prefer a Corn of Barly and a Feather before an inestimable solid Jewel But not only their Wills which are a great Byas upon the Judgment but the Minds and Consciences of most of these People are so Corrupted that they can not or will not acquiesce in these Matters even in greater Evidence than what they freely act upon in Matters more agreeable to their own Genius and corrupt Affections being as averse to subject their Vnderstanding to the Divine Wisdom as their Wills to the Laws and VVill of God tho the Subjection of the one is no less necessary to the attainment of the great end of Man accordingly designed in the Divine Methods of Providence than that of the other And therefore to have undertaken such a Work as this for the Service of such People I can hardly think would have been to much purpose and besides it would have obliged me to such Proofs and Evidence for the satisfaction of others as I conceive not so absolutely necessary for my purpose in many particulars though I shall lay no farther stress upon any of the Relations when I come to make use of them than I am satisfied they may reasonably bear But my Design is this Being well satisfied that much of the Good and Evil which occurs in the World not only in relation to particular Persons but whole Families Cities and Nations which is commonly attributed to Humane Management or I know not what blind Fortune or Chance is in truth produced by the Secret prevalent Energy and Operations of certain Invisible Intelligent Agents which not only order and dispose divers Occurrences which to us Mortals seem very minute and inconsiderable to be Occasions of great Consequences but do also insensibly and yet effectually bind and impede or excite and promote the Actions of Men to produce Events some much short some beyond and some contrary to their Designs And that our common Notion of Spirits that is of those Invisible Agents which I conceive to be of very different Natures and Powers are greatly and unhappily mistaken And lastly that much of the Evils which afflict Mankind are effected by Spirits of an inferior Nature and Power and but of the next degree in knowledge and Power above us Mortals and such as are usually imployed by Witches and Magitians I suppose that a better Vnderstanding of the Nature Power and Operations of these Spirits of the Means by which they get Advantage against us and of the Means whereby we may either prevent the same or be relieved and extricated out of their Power would be a matter of no little Vse and Benefit to Men. And in order to this I have begun A Collection of Modern Relations of Matters of Fact concerning Spirits but principally of Apparitions and Witches intending in Conclusion to put together my Observations upon them and what others I have met with in print of this or former Ages for this purpose And because this Wicked and even in Things wherein they think themselves Wise Foolish Age have strangely imposed upon themselves or been imposed upon by the Efficacy of the Devil or his Instruments to a Disbelief of the being of Witches or of much of that Power which they exercise through the Instruction and Assistance of those Spirits and by consequence of their Agency in many Mischiefs and Evils which we ignorantly attribute to other Causes And also of some Means which might be useful to detect them and to disappoint their Wicked Operations whereby many innocent and good People are left exposed to their Malice who might otherwise be relieved I thought fit to begin with a Publication of part of my Collection concerning Witches reserving divers others which I have for a more Compleat Information and my Collection of Relations of Apparitions till another time And in the mean time shall be very glad of any good Information or Assistance in any thing relating thereunto Wherein I desire only Certainty as to Matter of Fact and then how Incredible soever it may seem to the Vulgar or such as are skilled in the common Notions of Philosophy I care not For I am well satisfied that divers great Truths cannot but seem so to them To this I thought it very proper to
prefix a Meditation though not finished of that no less Wise Profound Sagacious and Ingenuous than Just and Good Man the late Lord Chief Justice HALE concerning the Mercy of God in preserving us from the Malice and Power of Evil Angels which he wrote at Cambridge the next Lord's day after the Tryal of certain Witches before him at St. Edmund's bury whom he there Condemned and ordered to be Executed after a long Tryal from Seven or Eight in the Morning till Seven or Eight at Night wherein be called to his assistance divers Physitians and other learned Men and at last after a full and careful Examination the Jury finding them Guilty he passed Sentence upon them with full Satisfaction of the Justice of their Verdict There is a Relation of it in print written by his Marshal which I suppose is very true though to the best of my Memory not so compleat as to some observable Circumstances as what he related to me at his return from that Circuit But that he was well satisfied in it may be perceived by his Writing this Meditation so immediately upon it And therefore I think it very proper for this place not only for the use which well-disposed People may make of it but also as an Evidence of the Judgment of so Great so Learned so Profound and Sagatious so Cautious Circumspect and Tender a Man in matters of Justice and especially in matter of Life and Death upon so great Deliberation for he knew by his Kalendar before-hand what a Cause he was to Try and he well knew the Notions and Sentiments of the Age and upon so solemn an Occasion to check and correct the Impiety the Vanity the Self-conceitedness or Baseness of such Witch-Advocates as either confidently maintain that there are no Witches at all making their shallow Conceptions an adequate measure for the extent of the Powers of Nature and of the Wisdom and Power of God or contrary to their Duty and their Oaths make light of the Examination and Tryal of them when brought before them Such Persons may have cause to be ashamed of themselves after notice of such a Judgment and others may hereby be admonished what to think of them if they persist in such Assertions or Pretences A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The great Mercy of God in preserving us from the Power and Malice of Evil Angels Written by Sir Matt. Hale at Cambridge 26 Mar. 1661. Vpon occasion of a Tryal of certain Witches before him the Week before at St. Edmund's-Bury 1. THat there are such evil Angels it is without all question The Old Testament assures us of it as it easily appears upon the consideration of the Temptation of our first Parents the History of Abimeleck and the Men of Shechem the History of Saul and the Witch of Endor the History of Micaâ—ah and the false Prophets the History of Job the Prophecy of the Desolation of Babylon wherein Jim and Ziim and the Satyrs were Prophesied to Inhabit The New Testament more explicitly and abundantly clears it by the History of the Temptation of our Lord the Demoniacks of several Symptoms Cured by our Lord and his Apostles the Procession of the Evil Spirit and his return with seven other Spirits the Vision of the Fall of Satan from Heaven like Lightning by our Saviour the several assertings of it in the Gospel and Apostolical Epistles the Prince of the power of the Air the Spirit ruling in the Children of Disobedience the Kingdom of Satan Principalities and Powers in high Places and more frequently yet in the Apocalyps It is also confirmed to us by daily Experience of the Power and Energy of these Evil Spirits in Witches and by them 2. That these evil Spirits have likewise a great measure of Power and a greater measure of Malice appears in the same Scriptures and by Experience The greatest Strength and Energy of any corporeal Creature is in the vigourand power of those Natural and Animal Spirits that are within them The great swiftness and strength of the Lyon the Wolf the Tyger and of the strongest of Men is the exerting of these Vital and Animal Spirits without which their Bodies tho of the exactest Model and Compages for strength were but a Trunk and iners moles Certainly therefore those Separate Spirits that are not clogged nor encumbred with Matter have a greater strength and energy which is evident in those Possessed Demoniacks both in the Gospel and in known Experience who could not be holden by the strength of Men when Possessed with this powerful and malignant Influence 3. And yet their Malice to the Children of Men is more extensive than their Power It began with the First Man in Innocence and it hath improved ever since The evidence both of his Power and Malice is mostlively seen in that display of the Invisible Administration and Exercise of it towards Job that it contented not it self with any Bounds his Goods his Children his Name his Body the very Peace of his Soul and Mind were not enough to content or quenoh it insomuch that had there not been a guard upon his Life his Malice had also seized that And which is yet more his Malice against the everlasting Soul of Man is unsatiable as appears in that express description of the Tempting of our Lord Tempting him to Presumption to Despair to Apostacy from God And this he did not only out of a particular or personal Malice against him but as in his first Temptation of the First Adam his Malice was not only at him but at the whole Kind which in a great measure he effected so in his Tempting of our Lord he aimed not only Personally at him but in him at the totum genus Humanum For tho possibly he might be ignorant of the hypostatical Union of the Divine Nature to our Lord yet doubtless he did suspect that much of the good of Mankind was deposited in that Treasury which if he could have shattered and broken he had exquisitely satisfied the extent of his Malice against Mankind 4. This Malice and Power of that Evil one is much advantaged in reference to Man 1. By his great Experience and Subtilty 2. By his Invisibility and Swiftness whereby he can secretly and powerfully insinuate and mingle himself with the Subject he means to mischief He knows the Avenues into Man and he knows how most subtily and unsuspectedly to seize upon them In reference to the Body of Man he knows his Humours his Temper his Distemper and hath the advantage of the higher Ground as Perseus had in his fight with the Monster in the Fable as the Eagle in his fight with the Dragon He can watch his Advantage and Undiscovered can derive into him a malignant Air or a poysonous Fume or a venomous Infusion His Experience in Natural Causes his Ability to discover fit Actives and to apply them effectually to Passives his acquaintance with the Natural Constitutions and his opportunities to disturb or invenom it his
Speed and imperceptible Motion in insinution of himself and his Experiments upon the Body renders it upon a bare natural account much subject to his Power 5. And no less advantage hath he upon the Soul First in respect of it self and its own spiritual Nature whereby in all probability he can secretly and immediately insinuate himself with it and Perswade and Excite and Deceive and Abuse as a subtil Man can deal with another of more simplicity For it seems altogether as reasonable upon a bare natural account that one Spirit may communicate with another in a Kind proper to their Nature as one Man may communicate to another in a Kind suitable with his Nature 2. And principally in respect of the manner of the operation of the Soul of Man in Communion with the Body whereby she hath a kind of dependance upon the Body's Constitution and by a disturbance or disorder in that become subject to a disorder in her Actings Upon this account he can disturb the Blood into Cholar or Lust abuse the Fancy with false representations or disturbances in Truth corrupt the Organ of the Sense or the Species which they receive inrage and discompose the Humours of the Body mingle Ingrediants with them that shall impede or corrupt the actings of the Soul And as thus he can corrupt within so he can by observation of the prevalence of any Lust or Passion and of the just and true season when it is at the height fit it with a Temptation that shall draw it out to Action When Achan's covetous humour is high he can unvail the Wedge of Gold and the Babylonish Garment When David's Security and Idleness and possibly high and delicate Fare hath raised up the Lust of his Flesh he can present him with a Bathsheba Thus partly by his own Wisdom Experience malicious Vigilancy Invisibility Strength and Power partly by our own Weakness and Infirmity partly by the Correspondence he hath with our Tempers and Dispositions he is able to make advantage upon us either by internal Corrupting or by external Alluring or Inciting us to what is hurtful and prejudicial 6. Since therefore it is apparent that he wants neither Power nor Opportunity nor Malice to mischief us it remains that certainly the obstruction of the executing of that Power doth not arise from himself for his Malice is unsatiable it is his business every day to go about seeking whom he may Devour And unquestionably his Malice would carry him to the execution of the utmost of his Power either to destroy Mankind or at least to make them Slaves to his Kingdom Alexander who was most certainly the most Ambitious Prince in the World could not be near so fond of bringing the World under his Subjection as this Prince of Darkness is Those that he cannot make his Vassals he would soon extirpate and exterminate out of the Bounds of his affected Empire And on the other side the obstruction is not from our selves we are too weak to deal with him he was too hard for Adam in his Innocence and therefore must needs be too hard for us in our corrupted Estate And if it be said there was but one to one we are many to one or at least to few we deceive our selves herein for they are Numerous One Man was possessed with a Legion in the Gospel But if it were otherwise yet the Agility and nimbleness of those impure Spirits is great and their dispatches speedy they are Itinerarii Circumferanei walking to and fro through the World 7. It remains therefore that the power and malice of this great Enemy is checked and controlled and limited by a higher Power it is Regnum sub graviori Regno And he that hath shut up the Sea in Bars and Doors and said Hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud Waves stay hath likewise limited and confined this proud and malicious and powerful Adversary within his Sphear and Limit and chained up this unruly and ravenous Woolf so that he cannot to one Link beyond his prefixed Bounds 8. These Bounds or limits of the Power and Activity of this Adversary are many we may reduce them into these four viz. 1. The Law of their Subjection 2. Providential Dispensation 3. Ministerial Resistance 4. Natural Impediments I. The first restraint is the Law of their Subjection for tho those impure Spirits are like Rebels and Malefactors against their Lord and have an habitual Opposition against him yet they are under his Dominion tho they hate to Obey him they dare not disobey him tho they have not the love of the Law of their Being yet they are under the Cohersion and fear of that Law Just as there be among Men many vile People that yet dare not act their Villany for fear of Punishment and if they do they do it by stealth and secretly So doubtless those Evil Angels are under a fear of Offending and do smart for it Government is the Ordinance of God as well in the Invisible as the Visible World And this seems plain to me by that Petition of the evil Spirits to our Saviour that they might not be sent to the place of Torment even before their last and final Judgment There are certain Torments for their Extravagancies inflicted by an Invisible Oeconomy which they fear and dread as much as Malefactors do the Whip and the Pillory And upon this account partly it was that Satan tho he had naturally power to have afflicted Job durst not attempt it without leave and permission from God II. Providential Dispensation And this is the same over Men and Devils It naturally lies in the Power of one Man to Kill or Hurt another yet that same Superintendency of Divine Providence without which a Sparrow falls not to the Ground prevents one Man from doing all the mischief to another that naturally lies in his Power and the same prevention and Providential interposition hinders the activity of the Evil One from doing all that Mischief he naturally can among the Children Men. And this was that Hedge and Fence that God had made about Job and all he had and till that were removed the attempts of Satan were vain and idle to have broken in upon him III. Ministerial Impedimeuts and these are of two kinds 1. Such Impediments as concern the Soul only and the immediate Agency there Satan he disturbs and provokes and perswades and tempts to Evil but the Divinae Graciae Adminicula counter-perswade The Son of God came into the World to destroy the Works of the Devil and there is a perpetual contest between these two for the Principality and Dominion over the Children of Men on the one side the Devil and his Angels they Fight by their Method and Temptations and Allurements and Insinuations to win over the Children of Men to the Kingdom of Darkness On the other side Michael and his Angels the Angels of the Covenant and the secret and powerful Agencies of his Grace
Objects we saw in this Dark World I must add this that were but the Eyes of Men opened to see the Kingdom of the Dragon in this World with the multitudes of Evil Angels which are every where tempting and ensnaring Men they would be amused and not dare to be by themselves without good Consciences and a great assurance of the love and favour of God in protecting them by the Ministration of the holy Angels 2. As to the Objects of the outward Smell I must let you know that within the three Weeks space in which these Wonders appeared at several times the Evil Spirits and Angels did raise up such noysom poysonous Smells that both the inward and outward part of those that were exercised with them became much disturbed and offended For through the sympathy betwixt the Body and the Soul the sulphurous hellish Smells much exercised both by Magical Tincturation 3. In reference to the Objects of Tast You must know that sometimes both in the day and night we were exercised with the loathsom hellish tasts of Sulphur Brimstone Soot and Salt mingled together Which were so loathsom to our Natures as that they were ready to cause great Distempers and Nauseousness in our Bodies but the Invisible Power of Jehovah supported us beyond our own Strength 4. In relation to our inward and outward Touch we were much exercised both in Body and Soul As to our Souls we sometimes felt such strange Magical Wounds and Prickings by the fiery Darts of the Devil that none can express but those that have been exercised in some measure as Job was who felt the Poyson of those invenomed Arrows which came upon him by the permission of the Almighty which like the Scorpions in the Revelations sting and pierce those they touch As to our Bodies we found material Impressions from the Powers of Darkness very noxious in themselves to our natural Spirits and Life but cheerfully born by Invisible support and quiet submission unto the Will of God But to conclude By these wonderful and strange Exercises we could not but have strong apprehensions and lively resemblances of the Torments and Miseries of Hell where Sulphur Fire Brimstone poysonous Smells Darkness monstrous horrid Shapes and Sights are the entertainment of the imprisoned Spirits But now I come to the other Internal World which we may term Mundus Luminosus or the Light World which with its various Objects was then likewise opened to the inward Senses First then I shall here set forth the Objects of the inward Eye which were then seen by us There appeared then to our inward Sight multitudes almost innumerable of pure Angelical Spirits in figurative Bodies which were clear as the Morning-Star and transparent as Christal These were Mahanaim or the Lord's Host appearing all in manly Forms sending forth a Tincture like the swift Rays of the hot Beams of the Sun which we powerfully felt to the refreshing of our Souls and enlivening of our Bodies Now beholding the multiplicity variety and beauty of these Spirits with the various Objects and Wonders of this World Cloathed in the purest Tincture of Light and Colour we could not but bless the God of Heaven who by the Eyes of Wisdom and Hand of Power brought forth such Glorious Creatures and now shewed them in their several Beauties to us in a time of Tryal and Temptation Secondly In relation to our inward sense of Hearing there were many musical Sounds and Voices like those which John heard upon Mount Zion then heard by us the sweetness harmony and pleasantness of which cannot be expressed nor that Spiritual Joy and Delight which by them was infused into our Souls uttered by the Tongue being ready to ravish our Spirits into the highest Praises of the Eternal Jehovah Thirdly In relation to the Faculty of Smelling the Tongue can hardly express those Odours of Paradise and heavenly Perfumes which then were smelt piercing into the very Spirit with a cherishing Tincture besides that quickning Virtue which by them was communicated and insinuated into the Spirits of our outward Bodies which like a Cordial had been able to have renewed the strength of our languishing Nature Fourthly Our Sense or Faculty of Tasting was very pleasantly entertained with those invisible Dews which were sweeter than Hony or the Hony-comb and therefore deserve to be called the Dews of Heaven with which instead of Food we were many times wonderfully Refreshed Fifthly In relation to the Sense of spiritual Contaction that was also delighted with its heavenly Objects For none can utter that pleasing Impression which the burning Tincture of this Light World afforded us coming like a hot Cordial into the centre of our Spirit being sensibly felt in the inward Parts so as to cause much joy and heavenly Pleasure which penetrated through our Souls giving us occasion to bless praise and magnifie the Lord. Thus for the space of three Weeks or a Month were we exercised inwardly and outwardly through that great Conflict which was betwixt those two Worlds and their Inhabitants The Dark World sometimes afflicting us with dreadful Shapes abominable Smells loathsom Tasts with other Operations of the Evil Angels The Light World at other times opening and relieving us with odoriferous Perfumes most sweet Dews glorious Visions and Angelical Harmony which the Lord favoured us with to shew his extraordinary Love in this Succouring us in extraordinary Exercises and Tryals Thus much for those two internal Worlds spread throughout the visible World in which the Evil and good Angels are more immediately than in this visible Air to which they cannot be commensurate by reason of their spiritual Natures each of them abiding in their distinct Principle the the one sort being in Joy the other being in Torment the one in Light the other in Darkness according to the Scripture Besides these two Worlds we had an opening of the Eternal World called in Scripture the World to come or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 2. 5. from the futurity of its full and clear manifestation and a precursory entrance into the most Holy Place by a Divine Transportation into the Glory of the Majesty agreeable to that of St. John 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me c. Here were seen heard and felt unutterable Mysteries of that Kingdom which are not yet to be divulged in regard of the Pride Ignorance Prejudice and Envy of many in the World being reserved for those humble gracious Spirits which are waiting in Silence for the second coming of the Son of Man But now it is time to come to the third Particular which was the effects and Impressions left upon our Spirits by these wonderful Exercises and Manifestations After this we began more clearly to see that Strait and Narrow Way which leads to Life Eternal which we call the Virgin Life or the Life of Purity and Righteousness
in its Perfection being the Life of fixed Love In any thing short of which the perfection of Virgin Life cannot consist So that meerly to abstain from the concupiscible lustings of Venus under the Spirit of this great World is but the Life of outward Chastity and but a particular Branch of the other For the Virgin Life is not attained till the Will of the Soul is brought through Death to be so Passive as to will desire and act nothing but what the essential Essence of Love wills moves and acts through it For till then the Soul cannot be a pure Virgin nor live without all Desire and Imagination which must all cease before the pure Life of God can come to be all in all This Life of Virginity was placed fore-right as to the inward Eye of the Mind being that mark of Persecution at which we are to aim in our pressing toward the Resurrection of the Dead To this Wisdom that Eternal Virgin Prov. 8. 20 23. as a Leading-Star invited us calling to follow her in the way of Circumcision Resignation and the Cross in the way of total Self-denial and forsaking of all for her sake in the way of Annihilation and conformity to Christ's Death by which we saw undoubtedly we should come to Christ's Resurrection Ascention Glorification and Fixation in the love of the Holy Ghost the third and last Dispensation Here we clearly saw the danger of looking back to the External World and of putting out our Imagination into the Inward World or the Kingdom of the Dragon or of resting in the openings and delights of the Inward Light World For by turning back into the delights of the Senses we saw the Soul would become Bastial by turning to the left Hand and imagining into the Kingdom of the Dragon in awakening the fire of Wrath and Subtilty devilishly and dangerously Wicked by turning to the right Hand in imagining into and taking too much complacency in the Visions Illuminations Tinctures and Enthusiasms of the Light World we saw the Soul might become elevated into self-conceit and tinctured with Pride and be in danger of neglecting the Death of the Cross which is the only safe Path into eternal Rest and Fixation Here then we were shewed that the way which leads up to the Virgin Essence the New Jerusalem was strait and narrow as upon the Breadth of an Hair so that we were to turn no way either on the right or left Hands but stand without Lusts with our Eyes fixed upon the Being of Love pressing forwards after Fixation in the Eternal House of God there to become immoveable Pillars no more to go out but there always to bear the Name of God and the Name of the City of God which is New Jerusalem And now for the space of this four Years ever since the time of these great Manifestations we by the Grace of God have enjoyed the exercises of our Spiritual Senses which never since have been shut neither ever will be except through voluntary Transgression and Disobedience we Apostatize and run back into the Earthly Nature or turn aside to center in something short of the pure Life of Virginity which calls us from the External through the Internal into the Eternal World which is that Kindom prepared for us from the beginning of the World But Thirdly after this extraordinary time of Grace and Mercy to us we enjoyed not only a clear leading convicting Light upon our Understandings but likewise received from the Lord a stamp and strong impression of Power moving our Wills to follow this Light through the Death of all things to come up into the perfect Life and Image of God that so we might be transformed into that Righteous Nature which we so clearly behold through Divine Light Hence we came to live in a greater abstraction from our Sensitive Nature in a constant watchful practice of the Cross in reference to all external and internal Objects which might by entertaining our Affections hinder our progress to God Hence also we came to live a more devoted strict dedicated Life sequestring our selves from the World and worldly things giving our selves almost continually to Prayer Fasting and waiting upon God in dying daily to all self-Ownments Relations and Proprieties in which most are intangled to the great prejudice of their Spirits And in this way we have ever since continued endeavouring to be wholly conformable to the Death of Christ in renouncing our own Lives and proper Wills as opposite to the Life and Will of God experimenting those profound Mysteries of the Cross of Christ which are hidden to most in the World But what Joy Life Power divine Pleasure and Heavenly Communion the Lord hath blessed us with in this our dying resigning Progress I shall wrap up in Silence together with those blessed Secrets of the Kingdom which in these few last Years past we have been acquainted with to the comfort of our Spirits in this sad time when we are judged and condemned of the World in the participations of Christ's Sufferings The Discovery of Thirty and Two young Girls in the Cloister of Madam Bourignon at Lisle found to be Witches Related by her self and the Continuator of her Life ANthoinette Bourignon was Born at Lisle in Flanders 13 January 1616. Her first appearance in the World was not without some Deformity her Forehead being grown all over with black Hairs her upper Lip drawn up to her Nose and her Mouth gaping wide open But the hairs of her Fore-head afterward fell off of themselves and her Lip was restored to its proper Posture by the help of a Chirurgeon and she grew more and more Comely yet her Mother had never any great Affection to her but loved her least of all her Children but her Father loved her best of all possibly the better for being of his own Complexion he being an Italian whereas all the rest who were Fair possibly took after their Mother who was of the Country of Lisle She was it seems from her Child-hood to be conformable to her Saviour in Sufferings And her first Persecutions were by her own Kindred and nearest Relations even her Mother and her Sister which had this happy effect upon her that she became very Retired and Serious in her tender Age. And she then received such strong impressions and attractions by the Grace of God as soon as she had the use of Reason that her Thoughts and Discourses were such as seemed not to come from a Child but from one of well grown in Years She always thought she should be in some other Place and enquiring where was the Country where Christians Inhabit expressed a desire to go thither And when she was told she was then in a Country of Christians she could not believe it because Jesus Christ was born in a Stable and lived in Poverty but the People there had stately Houses rich Furniture and plenty of Mony c. But such Discourse would not down there but