according to the command from their Father brought the Tythes of all their gains by Fishing and Offered them to St. Peter and the Priests attending Divine Service in his Church But one among them having presumed to defraud the Church of this Oblation presently was deprived of the wonted benefit of his Trade till having confess'd his fault and restored what he had reserv'd he promised amendment for the future And moreover the Fisherman who was very simple and as yet not a Christian described to the Bishop very exactly the Shape and Lineaments of St. Peter well known to the Bishop by his Picture at Rome Cr. p. 308. St. Lawrence found the Son of a man who had kindly entertained him dead and the Parents in great sorrow who with a loud voice cryed to him O holy man restore our Son to us that we may more firmly believe in Christ. Hereupon the Bishop having offered up his Prayers said to the Child arise who presently rose up and withal testified That being dead his Soul was violently drawn by horrible Spirits to the flames of Hell but upon the Prayers of St. Lawrence it was by Angels shining with brightness brought back to the Body Cr. p. 327. A Miracle wrought at King Oswald's Cross. Bothelm a Monk of Hagulstad walking unwarily by night upon the Ice fell suddenly and broke his Arm one morning having heard that one of his Brethren was to go that day to the place of the Holy Cross he desired him to bring him a small portion of that sacred Wood for he said he was confident it would cure him by Gods help The Brother performed what he desired and gave him a little of the Moss which covered the outside of the Wood which he put into his bosom when he went to bed forgetting to lay it by it remained in his bosom all night but waking about midnight he felt something that was cold lying against his side and searching for it with his Hand he perceived that both his Hand and Arm were become perfectly whole Cr. p. 347. A certain Woman who had a long time been deprived both of her Sight and Hearing to her it was suggested by Revelation that she should repair to the Bishop Birinus for her Cure she delay'd not therefore but took with her a Guide to conduct her The Bishop therefore seeing the Womans piety immediately made the sign of the Cross upon her Eyes and Ears whereupon both her-Sight and Hearing were restored to her Cr. p. 351. St. Fursey's wonderful Visions On a certaim time he was rapt from his body and in that extasie which continued from evening to Cock-crowing he was favoured with the sight of troops of Angels Three days after being again in an extasie he saw yet more glorious apparitions of Angels Moreover there were discovered to him very earnest contentions of wicked Spirits who by many Accusations of a certain Sinner lately dead endeavoured to stop his passage to Heaven but by reason the holy Angels protected him they could not effect their desire On a certain time being elevated in spirit he was commanded by the Angels which conducted him to look down upon the Earth whereupon bowing his Eyes downward he saw as it were a dark Valley under him in a very low bottom He saw likewise in the Air four Fires not much distant one from another and asking the Angels what Fires those were he was told that those were the Fires which now inflamed the World and would in the end consume it viz. the Fire of Lying the Fire of Covetousness the Fire of Dissention and the Fire of Iniquity Now these four Fires increasing by little at last joyned together and became an immense Flame and when they approached near them Fursey was affraid and said to the Angel Sir behold the Flames come close to us but the Angel answered Fear not for since thou didst not kindle this Fire it will not burn thee for though this Flame seems to thee great and terrible yet it tryes every one according to his Merits so that the Concupiscence which is in any one shall burn in this Fire for accordingly as every one being in the Body is inflamed by unlawful pleasures so being loosed from his Body shall he burn by condign torment Then he saw one of the three Angels which in both Visions had been his Conductors go before the other and divide the Flame and the other two flying on each side of him which defended him from the danger of the Fire He saw likewise many Devils flying through the Fire and kindling war against the Just These malign Spirits pursued him likewise with Accusations but the good Angels defended him And after this he saw great numbers of blessed Spirits among which some were of his own Nation Priests who had well discharged their Office as he had heard by report by these he was informed of many things very profitable both to himself and all who are willing to attend them When they had finished their speeches and were returned to Heaven with the rest of the Angels there remained only with St. Fursey the three Angels mentioned before who were to restore him to his body And when he came close to the foresaid great Fire one of the Angels divided it as before but when the Man of God was come to a door which stood open among the Flames the unclean Spirits snatching up one of those whom they were tormenting in the Flames and casting him against him touched him and burnt his Shoulder and one of his Cheeks He knew the Man and remembred when he was ready to dye he had received from him a Garment But the Angel laying hold of him cast him back into the Fire but the Devil answered Do not cast him back since you have once received him for as you have taken the Goods belonging to a Sinner so you must be partakers of his Punnishment but the Angel replied He took not that out of Covetuousness but for saving the Mans Soul After this the burning ceased and the Angel turning himself to St. Fursey said The Fire that thou hast kindled has now burnt thee for if thou hadst not received Money from this Man who is dead in his sins thou hadst not tasted of his torments St. Fursey being afterwards restored to his body carried visibly in his shoulder and cheek all his life time the marks of the burning which he had suffered in his soul. Cr. p. 354. St. Eanswitha's Monastery being seated on the top of high Rocks they found this incommodity in their retirement which was a penury of sweet water The holy Virgin was sensible of this inconvenience and after she had by Prayer sollicited our Lord she went to the Fountain more than a mile remote from the Monastery and striking the water with a Staff commanded it to follow her the deaf Element heard and obeyed the sacred Virgins voice and against the inclination of Nature followed her steps till overcoming all the difficulties of
Souls of men which wofully cryed out whilst the others burst forth into laughters And among these Souls I could distinctly see one that was shaved like an Ecclesiastical person another was a Lay-man and a third was a Woman These unhappy Souls thus haled along by those spitefully malicious Spirits at length were plunged into the midst of that burning pit Into which after they were descended a good way I could no longer distinctly hear the wailing of Men and laughing of Devils but only had in mine ears remaining a confused promiscuous sound In the mean time certain obscure Spirits ascended out of that fire-vomiting pit which approached me on all sides and with flaming eyes and stinking fire issuing out of their mouths and nostrils vexed me grievously Moreover with fiery pincers which they held in their hands they threatned to catch me but for all that though they frighted me they had not the boldness to touch me Being thus on all sides encompassed with darkness and enemies I turned mine eyes every way to see if there were any one to deliver me At last there appeared by the way which I had passed something that shone like a Star which increasing and approaching nearer and nearer as soon as it came to me all those hateful Spirits which had endeavoured with their fiery pincers to lay hold on me were dispersed and fled Now he whose coming drove away these Spirits was the same who at first had been my Conductor who presently after turning his steps more southerly toward the East led me out of that darkness into a clear and lightsom air in which after we had walked a while I saw before us a mighty Wall of the length and height whereof every way I could see no end I began then to marvel to what purpose we should go to that Wall in which I could discover neither door window nor any other passage But being come to it presently I know not by what means we found our selves on the top of it And there appeared to me a most large pleasant Field so replenished with all sorts of odoriferous Flowers that the sweet fragrancy of them immediately took away all the former stench of the dark fiery furnace And so great was the light there on all sides that it far exceeded the brightness of mid-day Moreover there were in that field innumerable assemblies of men in pure white garments all rejoycing and singing Now as he led me among these happy Quires I began to think that this might be the Kingdom of Heaven which I had oft heard preached of But he again answered to my thought No this is not Heaven as thou supposest And as we passed on in our progress I saw before mine eyes a far greater and more pleasant Light than we had seen before and in that Light I heard a most sweet melody of persons joyfully singing and so wonderful a fragrancy of a most sweet odour issued from thence that the former sweetness which before seemed excessive to me now I very meanly esteemed as likewise the former Light compared with this appeared almost obscure Now when I was in a hopeful expectation that we should enter into this blessed place my Guide made a stop and presently turning his steps he lead me back again the way that we had come And when in our return we were come to the joyful mansions of those Inhabitants cloathed in white garments he said to me Doest thou know what these things are which thou hast seen I answered No. He replied That Valley which thou sawest so terrible by the scorching flames and horrible frosts is the place in which those souls are to be tried and afflicted which having delayed to confess and amend their sins at the very point of death retire for safety to repentance and so depart out of the body These because even in the last moment of their lives they confessed and were contrite for their sins they shall all at least in the day of Iudgment come to the Kingdom of Heaven and many of them before that day are eased and delivered by the Prayers Fasting and Alms of the Living and especially by the celebrating the most Holy Sacrifice Moreover that flame-vomiting and stinking pit which thou sawest is the very Mouth of Hell into which whosoever once falls he shall never come out of it for all eternity As for this pleasant flowery field here before thine eyes in which thou seest such multitudes of youth making merry and cloathed with white raiment this is the place which is the Receptacle of such souls which have continued to their death in the exercise of virtue but yet their works have not been of such perfection as to deserve their present admission into the Kingdom of Heaven yet all these in the day of Iudgment shall arrive unto the Vision of our Lord and the joys of his heavenly Kingdom But as for those who in their words works and thoughts have attained to perfection such assoon as they have left the body shall enter into that blessed Kingdom To the Confines of which Kingdom that Place pertains where thou sawest so great a Light and heardest so sweet Harmony and wast refreshed with so admirably sweet-smelling Odours Thou therefore having seen all these things must presently return to thy Body and again as formerly live among men If then hereafter thou wilt be diligent to examine all thine actions and to observe uprightness and simplicity in thy conversation and speeches thou also after death shalt receive a mansion among these joyful troops of happy Spirits For I having departed for a time from thee did it to this end that I might see what would in the end become of thee When he had spoken thus to me I had a horrible aversion from returning to my Body being extremely delighted with the sweetness and beauty of that place which I saw and the happy society of the persons living in it Notwithstanding I had not the boldness to make any such request to my Guide And whilst I was busie in these thoughts I know not how I presently perceived that I was again alive among men Cr. p. 500. Saint Decumanus when his Head was cut from his Body the Trunk raising it self up took the Head which it carried from the place wher it was slain to a Spring not far off which flowed with a most chrystalline Water in which with the Hands it washed the blood away which Spring in reverend memory of the Saint is to this day called St. Decumanus Spring near to which place the Body together with the Head was buried Cr. p. 526. In those dayes there was in the Territory of Worcester a certain place wholly uncultivated and almost unpassable by reason of thorns and bryars growing thick there This place formerly called Homme was in succeeding times named Eovesham for the reason which I shall now declare St. Egwin had appoinetd four Shepherds to feed their flocks about the said Wood for the sustenance of
Wereburga was dead her Body was carried to the Church of Trickingham where it was most diligently kept the doors of the Church being carefully barred and a Watch moreover set upon it But one night a deep sleep suddenly seised on those which watched and at the same time great multitudes of the inhabitants of Hambury coming on them all the doors of the Monastery became opened the Locks and Bars without any violence offered falling to the ground Whereupon they took away the Body not any one resisting and with great joy carried it to Hambury where it was honourably buried In which place sick persons recover health sight is restored to the blind hearing to the dumb the leprous are cleansed and persons oppressed with several other Diseases do there praise God for their recovery Cr. p. 427. St. Milburga rests at Wenlock In antient times her memory was celebrated by the inhabitants but after the coming in of the Normans by reason that the place of her Sepulchre was unknown she became forgotten But of late a Covent of Cluny-Monks having been established there whilst they were busie in erecting the Fabrick of a new Church a certain Child running earnestly over the pavement the vault of her Sepulchre broke under him by which means the Body of the H. Virgin was discovered which being taken up a most odoriferous vapour as of a most precious Balsam perfumed the whole Church And such a world of Miracles were wrought by her Intercession that wonderful multitudes flock'd thither both rich and poor insomuch as there was scarce room in the open Fields to receive them so strong a faith they had to find remedy there for their maladies Neither did they fail of their expectation for none departed away without a Cure or at least a mitigation of their Diseases And particularly the Kings-Evil incurable by Physicians was through the Merits of the Holy Virgin healed perfectly in several persons Cr. p. 429. A wonderful Miracle shewing the efficacy of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In a Battel where Prince Elwin was slain among others there was one of the Princes Souldiers named Imma slain at least in opinion This Souldier all that day and the night following lay among the other dead bodies as if he had been slain but at last his Spirit returning he sate up and as well as he could bound up the wounds he had received then resting himself a while he raised himself on his feet and began to walk away with an intention to find out if possible some friends who might take care of him As he was going away he was met with and taken by some of the enemies the Mercians and brought to their Captain a principal Officer of King Ethelred who examined him what he was The poor man was afraid to acknowledge himself a Souldier therefore he answered that he was a poor countrey-man who had a Wife and was come in this Expedition with several others of the like quality to bring Provision to the Army Upon this answer the Officer commanded that care should be taken of his Wounds and when they began to be almost cured he made him every night to be put in Chains to prevent his running away but no Chains could hold him for after they were gone which had put the Chains upon him they presently fell off And the cause of this Wonder was this He had a Brother named Tunna a Priest and Abbot of a Monastery in a certain Town which at this day from his name is called Tunnacestir This Abbot having heard that his Brother was slain in the late battel came himself to search for his body and having found another in all regards very like to his he carried it to his Monastery and there buried it honourably Moreover he took care that several Masses should be said for the pardon of his sins and by vertue of those Masses it came to pass that no bands could hold him but they presently fell loose from him In the mean time the Officer whose Prisoner he was began to ask him How came it to pass that he could not be bound Whether he had about him certain Charms which as some think have a power to untie all bands His answer was that he was utterly ignorant of such unlawful Arts But said he I have a Brother in mine own countrey and I am assured that he thinking I am slain says frequent Masses for me so that if I were now in the other World I doubt not but my Soul by his intercession and prayers would be absolved from all pains After he had continued a good space a Prisoner to the said Officer those who guarded him observed by his countenance gesture and speeches that he was no countrey-peasant but a person of quality Thereupon the Officer calling him aside privately enquired more diligently who he was withal promising him that if he would simply declare his condition he would not use him any thing the worse He then plainly manifested to him that he was a Servant of the King of the Northumbers Whereupon the Officer replied I did assure my self by the manner of thy speech that thou wert not of a base condition and now thou deservest to dye in revenge of all my brethren and kinsmen who have been slain in the Battel but because I will not break my promise I will not kill thee As soon therefore as he had recovered health and strength the Officer sold him to a certain man at London called Freson But neither could he be bound by his new Master for after tryal of several sorts of Bands and Chains they became all unloosed When he therefore who had bought him perceived that he could not be restrained by Fetters he gave him permission to redeem himself if he could For commonly after nine of the Clock in the morning the usual time of Masses his Bands were untyed Upon this offer the Prisoner was suffered to depart having first given his promise by Oath that he would either send the money agreed on for his Ransom or return and yield himself a Prisoner again He went therefore from London into Kent to King Lothere Nephew to the famous Queen Ethelreda by her Sister who likewise had formerly been a Servant to the said Queen and from him the Prisoner received the Money appointed for his Ransome which according to promise he sent to his Master Being thus free after some time he returned to his Countrey and coming to his Brother the Abbot he related to him particularly all the Accidents both good and bad which had befaln him and then perceived that his Chains for the most part had been loosed precisely at the Hours in which Masses had been celebrated for him and moreover that many other commodities and comforts had befaln him from Heaven in his dangers by his Brothers Prayers and the Oblation of the Saving Sacrifice Cr. p. 439. On a certain day St. Cuthbert came to the Village of a certain Count whose Wife at that time lay
Swibert by his accustomed piety to succour his afflicted servant vowing withal that if she might have her Child restored she would consecrate him for ever to Gods service in his Church The day following about eight of the clock in the morning the dead body was found and taken up out of the River Which being presented to his Mother she became pale and fell into a swoon but being recovered she took the body in her arms and attended with a great troop of men and women weeping with her she carried it into the Church and laid it before the Sepulchre of St. Swibert After which the whole company betook themselves to their Prayers and within a very short time the Childs Spirit returned into him so that he opened his eyes and standing upon his feet he looked about with wonder on so great a multitude and spoke some tender and kind words to his Mother Cr. p. 687. The Pagans having cut off St. Edmond's Head they cast it into a secret place in a Thicket of the Wood adjoyning there it remained a whole years space after which the said Pagans retiring out of the Countrey the first care of the Christians was to honour their holy King and Martyr Assembling themselves therefore together out of their lurking-places they reverently took his Body out of the unclean place where it had been cast and then with all diligence sought for the Head and whilst every one of them with equal affection searched each corner of the Wood there hapned a Wonder not heard of in any age before For whilst they dispersed themselves in all parts and each one demanded of his companions where it was that the Danes had cast the Head the same Head answered them aloud in their own tongue Here here here neither did it cease to cry out in the same words till it had brought them to the place And to add to the wonder there they found a mighty and fierce Wolf which with its fore-feet held the Head as if appointed to watch and defend it from other beasts When they were come the Wolf quietly resigned it to them So with joyful hymns to God they carried and joyn'd it to the body the Wolf in the mean time following them to the place where they buried it after which the Beast returned into the Wood in all which time neither did the Wolf hurt any one neither did any one shew the least intention to hurt the Wolf Cr. p. 736. A certain Scotchman buried in the Church at Rhemes lay many years there unknown till the ground being afterwards digged for the burial of another his Coffin was found but could by no force of Men be opened till the Pastor of the Place whose Name was Hildegarius comeing opened it a little and was infinitely ravished with the odoriferous smell issuing out of it within the Coffin he saw a Body intire cloathed with Priestly Vestments therefore not daring further to violate the Sepulchre but laying boards over it upon those boards he placed the other dead Body The night following his Uncle who had been dead many years and was a Priest appeared to him telling him that he had much offended God in violating the Sepulchre of a Holy Man The like did the Holy Man himself make known to another commanding him to signifie to the Priest that unless he removed from out his Grave the stinking Carkase he should quickly receive from God a severe punnishment Whereupon without delay he caused a new Grave to be made for the newly dead Persons Body Afterward the same Holy Man in a Vision required a Husbandman and again a Priest to advise him in his Name to remove his Body from without into the Church withall signifying that he was of the Scottish Nation that his Name was Merilolan and had been murdered in his way towards Rome on the River Aisne Axona And least he should forget the Name he commanded him to write it with Chalk which he seemed to give him upon the Cover of a Chest standing by which he accordingly did and writing it false was corrected by the Holy Man The next morning he found the Name written in so perfect a manner that he could not write so well though waking and in the light Cr. p. 813. A debate happening between the Secular Canons and the Monks about their Revenue and Possession the Canons pretentions were supported by the Queen c. on the Monks side stood King Edward Saint Dunstan c. When the debate was in the Assembly St. Dunstan was silent and holding down his head he debated in his mind what might be the best course to proceed in this Affair A great silence was observ'd by the whole Assembly every one expecting the Archbishops answer and resolution when on a sudden an Image of our Lord upon the Cross which was fastned aloft in the room in the hearing of all that were present spake these words distinctly It must not be it must not be you have ordered things well you shall do ill to change them This strook a terrour into the whole Assembly and thereupon St. Dunstan said My brethren what would you have more you have heard the present Affair decided by a Divine sentence they answered We have heard it And upon this the Monks of Winchester remained secure Cr. p. 883. St. Editha Daughter to King Edgar a little before her death built a Church to the honour of St. Dionysius at the Consecration whereof by St. Dunstan he observed how the Virgin frequently with her Thumb made the sign of the Cross upon her Forehead at which being much delighted he said May that Thumb never be corrupted Thirteen months after her death St. Dunstan in a vision of sleep saw St. Dionysius holding the Virgin by the hand who commanded that her memory should be celebrated on earth the Virgin her self likewise admonished him to take up her Body withal telling him that he should find her upper parts her Eyes and Hands all corrupted because in her childish age she had employed them lightly and vainly but her Thumb which she had frequently used in signing her self with the Cross and all her lower parts remained uncorrupted in as much as she had been alwayes free from impurity and gluttony hereupon St. Dunstan went to Wilton and taking up her sacred Reliques found all she had said to be true But Canutus the Danish King who made small account of English Saints was wont to say in jest he could never believe that a King so licentious and cruel as K. Edgar could have a Saint to his Daughter And when Archbishop Ednot defended the sanctity of S. Editha the King being then at Wilton in a passion commanded her Sepulchre to be opened which being done the holy Virgin was seen to sit up with a Veyl before her face in a posture as if she intended to assault the King at which he terribly affrighted started back and fell half dead to the ground But coming to himself he ever held
sick at the point of death the Count himself met him in the way and conducted him into his House and acquainted him with the desperate state of his Wife beseeching him that he would give his benediction to Water for sprinkling her the Bishop assented to the Mans request and Water being brought he blessed it and gave it to a Priest commanding him to sprinkle the sick Lady with it who thereupon entred into her Chamber where she lay like one deprived of sense and life and both sprinkled her face and bed yea withal opening her Mouth distilled a few drops into it the Holy Water had no sooner touched her but O wonderful though she was utterly ignorant of what had been done she presently recovered a perfect health of Body and Mind and without delay rising up she her self came to do service to the Bishop being the first of the whole Family which presented to him a Cup of refection Cr. pag. 469. The Divine Disposition being pleased to demonstrate in how great Glory St. Cuthbert lived after his death gave this Testimony Eleven years after his burial his Brother Monks opening his Sepulchre to take up his bones found his body perfectly intire with a lively freshness and all his limbs as flexible as if he had been alive so that he appeared like a person rather asleep than dead moreover all his Vestments were not only undecayed but appeared in their primitive freshness and also with the addition of a wonderful lustre Cr. p. 473. A Coffin of stone was prepared for entombing the body of King Sebbe but when they endeavour'd to put the body into it they found that it was a hands breadth too long for the Coffin whereupon paring away as much of the stone at each end as they could they thereby lengthened it about the measure of two fingers breadths yet after all it would not receive the body whereupon finding so great a difficulty to inter him they intended either to seek out a new Coffin or to endeavour by hewing the body to shorten it so much as to make it enter into the Coffin but by a wonderful accident which could proceed from no less than an Heavenly Power both these designs of theirs were prevented for presently in the sight of the Bishop and Sighard Son to the said King and Monk who together with his brother Seofrid Reigned after him a great multitude of others being likewise present the Coffin was found of a convenient length insomuch that there was room enough to lay a Cushion under his head and yet at the feet there remained four fingers breadths beyond the body Cr. p. 486. The wonderful Story of a Man revived and recounting his Visions A certain Man who had been a good while dead was restored to the life of his body and related many notable things which he had seen This Man was an honest House-keeper who with his Family lived a Religious Life in a Region of the Northumbers called Incuningum who having been struck with a Disease the same growing more and more violent upon him it brought him to extremity so that on a certain day towards evening he died but the day following early he came to life and suddenly raising himself up in his bed all those who mournfully watched the body were terribly affrighted and ran away only his Wife whose love to him was excessive though she trembled at the sight staid still by him The Man seeing his Wife bid her be of comfort Fear not said he for I am truly restored to life from death which had seized me and permission is given me to live a while longer among Men but my conversation hereafter must be quite otherwise than formerly it has been Having said this he presently rose and went to an Oratory of that Village where he remained a good while in Prayer Afterward having divided his whole Substance into three Portions one Portion he gave to his Wife a second to his Children and the third he distributed to the Poor Not long after having thus freed himself from all worldly cares he went to the Monastery of Mailros where having received Tonsure he entred into a Religious Life Now the account which he gave of his Visions was on this manner A certain person brightly shining in his face and vestments conducted me and we walked together silently as it seemed to me towards the place where the Sun rises in high Summer Thus walking together we came to a place where there was on our left hand a Valley of a vast depth and breadth and the length of it seemed infinite one side of this Valley was terrible with its burning flames and the other no less intollerable for the cold blasts hail and snow driving through it and both these places were full of mens souls which seemed to be forcibly tossed from one side to the other for those which were in the fire not being able to endure its scorching leaped into the horrible cold and not finding ease there they leaped back into the unquenchable flames Having observed an infinite number of deformed souls thus tormented with an interchangeable vicissitude of tortures without any respite of ease I began to think that this place was surely Hell of whose intollerable torments I had oft heard Preachers speak But my Conductor who went before me answered these my thoughts saying Do not entertain such an imagination for this is not Hell as thou thinkest But when he saw me affrighted with so horrible a spectacle he conducted me leisurely somewhat further where I saw all places round about me become obscure and at length filled with utter darkness Into which when we were entred the darkness was so thick that I could see nothing but the shape and vestment of my Conductor And as we went on further in this shady darkness on a sudden there appeared before us frequent globes of hideous flames ascending out of a deep pit and again falling down into it When I was come thither presently my Guide vanished out of sight leaving me alone in the midst of this darkness and horrid spectacle But when the said globes of Fire without any intermission mounted up and again fell down I perceive that they full of were humane Souls which like sparks of fire carried up by the smoak were sometimes cast upward and then drawn back by the vapours of fire Moreover an unexpressibly noysom stink belched out by those vapours filled all the dark spaces round about As I was thus standing still in a terrible fright being uncertain what to do whither to go and what would be the end of all this I heard behind my back a most horrible noise as of persons wailing in unutterable misery and also at the same time I heard others loudly and scornfully laughing as the rude vulgar people are wont to do when they insult over their captive enemies When this noise came nearer to me I perceived a troop of wicked Spirits haling into the midst of that darkness the