Automaton that is any kind of Machine that moves of it self wound up having of it self the corporeal principle of those Motions for which it was instituted with all things requisite for its action and the same Watch or other Engine when it is broken and the principle of its Motion ceases to act From hence it will appear that there is no impossibility in the thing nor any such inextricable difficulty in conceiving how the Soul may actually separate from the Body for some time without ensuing Death For the further clearing of which there are these two things required 1. To shew how the necessary Functions of life may be conserved and kept up while the Soul is separate from the Body 2. To consider what those things are which may cause a Temporaneous disunion and disjunction of the Soul from the Body First then it will not seem at all strange that the principal Functions of life should be performed for some time without the presence of the Soul to them who will admit of the principles of the Cartesian Philosophy which supposes that the Soul contributes nothing to any of those Motions in the Body which depond not upon actual Will and Cogitation And if withal we suppose Brutes to be but Machines or Automata it will be very clear that all those Motions which we call Vital in the Body may be performed without the actual presence of the Soul But if this seem harsh and irrational to them who imagine bare Mechanism to be an incompetent cause for the production of such effects and that the Systole and Diastole of the Heart which later Anatomists have found to be a Muscular Constriction and Relaxation and the Circulation of the Bloud through all parts of the Body must proceed not from a Mechanical but Vital principle They may be pleased to consider that in Nature there is a certain Vis Plastica or rather Nature it self is it a Plastick Power or Inconscious Incorporeal life which passing through the Universe governs all the Motions of Matter every where according to such laws fatally imprest upon it and reconciles the enmities and contrarieties of particular things bringing them into one general Harmony in the whole and strikes the first and Rudimental lineaments in the formation of the Bodies of Animals and lastly may be particular Souls or Spirits be so far rapt and drawn into consent as to work strange effects not only upon their own but upon separate and distant Bodies Now by this Hylarchical principle or Plastick nature so many of the vital motions of the Body may be kept in play as shall render it as fit and convenient for the Inhabitation of the Soul at its return as it was when she dislodged and separated from it In answer to the second particular it may be said that it is possible the Soul may be rapt from this Terrestrial Body and carried to remote and distant places from whence she may make a Postliminiar return by either of these two ways 1. From a vehement affection or deep imagination piercing into the very lowest of her Powers 2. By the assistance and activity of a more potent Spirit While a House is standing whole and entire the occupier of it may go out and in and still keep the possession but when it is either thrown down and broken by an external violence or falls to pieces through the rottenness and consumption of its parts he must lye in the streets if he cannot get another dwelling Such is the condition of the Soul in respect of the Body whose principal parts in which consist the safety of the whole being corrupted she hastes away never to return till it be rebuilt But while they remain firm and safe she may be carried out by strong and powerful affections and re-enter and dwell there as before Nor is any Desire or Velleity whereby many will say they would fain go out of their Bodies to some distant place though without any more potent affection than to try the experiment enough to cause a separation but it must be so strong and vehement and so far imprint it self upon the imagination as to reach that Plastick Faculty by which the Soul is connected to the Body and these cords being loosened and untied she may without any difficulty pass into the open Air. And he that considers the strange and wonderful effects of Imagination even upon these our Earthly Tenements will have no reason to doubt but the same Power may extend to a Temporary disjunction of the Soul from the Body Common experience shows how the Pica or longing of a pregnant Woman will by a keen Fancy stamp and impress the character of the thing so passionately desired upon the Child in her womb I will not take upon me to maintain the truth of all those strange effects attributed to the strength of Imagination by Fienus Cornelius Agrippa and others though I must confess so much is said by them as to matter of Fact as may satisfie a free and unprejudicated mind that the power of Imagination even upon these gross and unwieldy Bodies is much greater and more notable than is by many supposed But if any one shall so far distrust the truth of such stories as to rank them among Legendary Fables let him consider what other could be Iacobs intent in that device of his in placing pilled and straked Rods before the flocks at the watring-places but only to heighten and invigorate the Imaginative Faculty of the Ews at the time of Conception Now that this hath actually hapned namely that the Soul hath been carried from the Body and after some time returned again the relations of disinterested persons would induce us to believe And it is very probable that upon a due search into the Causes and Natures of things it may not seem incredible what Cardan relates of himself that he could when he pleased fall into this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disjunction or Abreption of his Soul from his Body A thing which is credibly reported of the Lappians who lying as it were in a Trance for some hours will give a perfect account of affairs at three hundred miles distance and by some evident token give assurance of their being in such places To which if we should add the story of Phaereus Pamphylius recorded by Plato of Hermotimus Clazomenius by Pliny and of Soleus by Plutarch it will at least assure us that grave and wise Persons did not think such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is here contended for to be altogether a thing so monstrous and incredible The other way whereby a Soul may be withdrawn from the Body and brought back again is by the efficiency and activity of a more powerful Spirit And hitherto some learned men refer that of Ezek. 37.1 The hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley And though S. Paul deliver it doubtfully as
not knowing whether he was in the body or out of the body when he was rapt into the third Heaven yet so much at least may be gathered from the Apostles words that in his judgment such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Disjunction of the Soul from the Body without ensuing Death was possible To this head may likewise be referred the detestable and nefarious Conventions of Witches with wicked Spirits those officious Daemons loosening the Continuity or Vinculum between Soul and Body by which means they pass freely and securely to the general Rendezvous But here I would not so be understood as if I thought that Witches did never bodily assist at the performance of their Hellish Rites but only that sometimes they may be present at them when their Bodies are at home perhaps among other reasons that they may act with more safety and security and the better preserve their necks from the halter And though these discoveries are in a great measure owing to the confessions of Witches yet when these confessions are voluntary and unconstrained by any Racks or Torments and proceed from persons of perfect health of Body and no way disturbed in their Rational Faculties it is too open and pitiful a sham to ascribe them to the effects of Dotage and Melancholy since upon the same grounds it may be affirmed that the soberest actions of our lives are but dreams and all Histories past and present relations of matters of Fact especially if they refer never so little to the Being of Spirits may be concluded by an Atheistical Foppe to be no other than melancholick delusions OBJECTION II. That these Airy Spirits are too remote and of a Nature too sublime to have any Communication with Mortals TO this it is replied 1. That those who are at the furthest distance from us never exceed or go beyond the Regions of the Air being fetter'd and chained within the Atmosphere of the Earth by that Divine Nemesis that casts them thither and here the grand Prince of Darkness hath seated his Throne and from hence casting his envious eyes upon Earth like a Vultur descends whereever he spies his prey Nor will the sublimity of their Nature be a sufficient security to frail Mortals from their revenge and malice since lust and ambition balk no employments but will undertake the most fordid offices to compass their desired Ends. And that stately Apostate who once disdained not to insinuate and couch himself in the winding Spires of a hateful Serpent the better to allure and deceive the innocent credulity of Eve we have no reason to think that to gratifie his revenge and lust he will abhor the society of a Witch 2. It is affirmed that there have been persons bodily acted and possessed by evil Spirits which is not only attested by the many relations of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daemoniacks that is men possessed with Devils or infested by them recorded in the holy Scriptures in our Saviours time but confirmed by later Writers of unexceptionable credit and veracity that it were a perfect piece of impudence to go about to deny and out-face them And I do not doubt but a curious Observator may find some fresh instances even in our own Times But this hankering after the bare Mechanical causes of things and not acknowledging any higher principle than Matter and Motion in the Universe the very dregs of Atheism hath cast so much dust into some mens eyes that those effects which really proceed from the Activity and Energy of Incorporeal Beings are by them ascribed to Frenzy and madness or some other Bodily disease Though it be true which is asserted by a very learned Author of our own that the Iews in our Saviour's time as they did not suppose all Mad-men to be Daemoniacks so neither all Daemoniacks Mad-men we reading of Devils cast out from others besides Mad-men and of a Woman which had a Spirit of infirmity only and was bowed together and could not lift up her self which is said by our Saviour Christ to have been bound by Satan To which purpose this learned person gives a notable instance of a Demoniacal possession out of Fernelius a very experienced Physician who was an eye-witness thereof A young man of a Noble Family who was strangely convulsed in his Body having sometimes one member and sometimes another violently agitated insomuch that four several persons were scarcely able to hold him and this at first without any distemper in his head or crazedness in his brain To whom Fernelius with other skilful Physicians being called applied all manner of remedies Blisters Purgations Cupping-glasses Fomentations Unctions Plaisters and strengthning Medicines but all in vain The reason whereof is thus given by the same Fernelius Quoniam omnes longe aberamus c. i.e. Because we were all far from the knowledge of the Truth For in the third Month it was first plainly discovered to us that it was a certain Daemon who was the Author of all this mischief He manifesting himself by his speech and by unusual words both in Greek and Latin though the Patient were altogether ignorant of the Greek Tongue and by his revealing many of the secrets of those who stood by especially of the Physicians whom also he derided for tormenting the Patient in that manner with their frustraneous Remedies By which it is apparent that neither the fancied remoteness and distance nor yet the sublimity of their natures is any bar to these wicked Spirits from having Communication with us Mortals and that this Objection is vainly urged against the Being of Witches 3. But to give it all the strength that may be it is further answered that it is not necessary to suppose the Grandees of the Airy Principality to trade with Witches but that the Souls of extremely wicked persons after their release from the Body may do those feats For whether we suppose that such as in this life have incorporated themselves into the Dark Society by all manner of villanous and flagitious actions are when loosened by Death from their Terrestrial Bodies the Vassals and Slaves of those crafty Daemons whose cursed inspirations and counsels they so eagerly followed and so by them are employed in these abominable offices Or whether the proclivity of their own Natures to all enormous wickedness may not induce them to attempt Familiarity and Society with Sorcerers and Witches especially since those radicated and confirmed habits of Vice contracted in this life are rather heightned and increased than any way diminished or abated by the releasement from the flesh and consequently it may be accounted by them a pleasant sport and pastime to tempt and inveigle such desolate and forlorn Mortals Either of these ways are sufficient to beget a probability that those Familiars of Witches to whom they have linked themselves may be no other than humane Souls deeply sunk and drowned in wickedness OBJECTION III. That it supposes Witches by the help of evil Spirits may do real Miracles
calls man to Life he on the contrary should hale and lead them unto Death He it is that allures or deceives them that endeavour after the Truth or if he cannot effect it by deceitful stratagems he assumes greater courage and attempts to weaken the vigour and activity of the highest proficients and thus by execrable and nefarious means he torments and kills and yet as he overthrows many so is he by many overthrown and when he is foiled departs and goes away 4. That it is possible for the Soul to arise to such a height and become so Divine that no Witchcraft or evil Daemons can have any power upon the Body When the Bodily life is too far invigorated and awakened and draws the Intellect the flower and summity of the Soul into a Conspiration with it then are we subject and obnoxious to Magical assaults For Magick or Sorcery being founded only in this lower or Mundane Spirit he that makes it his business to be freed and released from all its Blandishments and flattering Devocations and endeavours wholly to withdraw himself from the love of Corporeity and too near a Sympathy with the frail flesh he by it enkindles such a Divine principle as lifts him up above the fate of this Inferior world and adorns his mind with such an awful Majesty that beats back all Inchantments and makes the Infernal Fiends tremble at his presence hating those vigorous beams of light which are so contrary and repugnant to their dark Natures And in this is clearly fulfilled what the Aramitick Sorcerer spake that there is no Inchantment or Divination against Israel that is such who are established in a Principle above the world and in whose Souls the All-powerful life of God is firmly radicated and fixed who are indeed the true and perfect Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. for neither Astral Spirit nor Angelcan prevail against one Ray of the Deity as Aesculapius writes to King Ammon And how far successful in this very case this holy Contention of conquering the Bodily life and setting free the mind from the bondage and toils of the flesh may be is evident in Plotinus whose Soul as Porphyry relates was come to that high and noble Temper that he did not only keep off Magical assaults from himself but retorted them upon his Enemy Olympius which Olympius himself who practised against him did confess to be from the exalted power of his Soul So true is that which Lactantius cites from Hermes that those who have the true knowledge of God are not only safe from the assaults of the Devil but from Fate it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The only safe custody is Godliness for neither evil Daemon nor Fate can take hold of a pious man for God extricates and delivers the holy Person from all evil OBJECTION V. That it is very ridiculous to imagine that Devils though never so foul and unclean should delight in sucking the Bloud of these accursed Hags Answ. HOW ridiculous soever this may seem to an Objector that perhaps would willingly turn all things related of Spirits whether good or bad into Ridicule yet as the frequent and constant Confessions of these despicable Creatures have made it unquestionable matter of Fact so those who have searched more narrowly into the nature and extraordinary degeneracy of these course and foul Spirits suppose they have reason to believe that a Daemon's sucking the Bloud of a Witch is no such strange and unaccountable Phaenomenon And perhaps if the sacred Scriptures had not so fully assured us that the Devils whom our Saviour cast out entred immediately into the herd of Swine it would have been deemed a thing alike monstrous and incredible which Marcus the Monk in answer to this very instance tells his Thrax that these Daemons enter into Brute Animals not out of any spleen or hatred they bear to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but because they are wonderfully desirous of Animal warmth For the confederate Spirit whether of a Nature Humane or Diabolical must necessarily have a Body proportionable to the grossness and courseness of its Powers and Faculties which being so mightily debauched through the excessive prevalency and exorbitancy of the sensual life cannot act in any other Vehicle but what is drawn from the clammy and caliginous parts of the Air which Bodies in this agree with ours in that they have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effluvia and exhale and wear away by a continual deflux of Particles and therefore require some Nutriment to supply the place of the fugacious Atoms which is done by sucking the Bloud and Spirits of these forlorn wretches And that this was the Opinion of the wisest and best Philosophers among the Greeks that evil Daemons were extremely delighted with the Bloud and Nidours of Sacrifices as being a refreshment and nourishment to their Vaporous Bodies appears from what Celsus writes Xp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We ought to give credit to wise men who affirm that most of these lower and circumterraneous Daemons are delighted with Geniture Bloud and Nidour and such like things and much gratified therewith And Origen agrees with him fully in this point and tells us that the Devils were not only delighted with the Idolatry of the Pagans in their Sacrifices but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that their very Bodies were nourished by the Vapours and Fumes arising from them and that these evil Daemons therefore did as it were deliciate and Epicurize in them To this purpose the same Father makes mention of a certain Pythagorean who wrote of the Mysterious and Recondite sense of Homer That Chryses words to Apollo and his Immission of a Pestilence upon the Grecians teach us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that Homer did believe there were certain evil Daemons who took pleasure in Fumes and Nidours of Sacrifices and that they were ready as a reward to gratifie the Sacrificants with the destruction of any person if they so desired it Which by the way may give some satisfaction to those importunate Inquirers why the Possessions and Vexations of men by evil Daemons should be wrought upon the desire of a Witch viz. to gratifie her revenge as a reward for the pleasure the wicked Fiend reaped from such vile and damnable Commerce with her Body Nor was this a singular Fancy of Origen for Athenagoras a Christian Philosopher writes the very same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. The Daemons assist at the Sacrifices being allured and brought down by the bloud which they greedily take in And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the material Daemons do strangely gluttonize upon the Nidours and Bloud of Sacrifices Which they suck in not with their mouths but as Marcus in Psellus who had formerly been initiated in the Diabolical Mysteries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as spunges and testaceous Fishes And no doubt but those impure Devils may take as much pleasure
MELAMPRONOEA OR A DISCOURSE OF THE POLITY AND Kingdom of Darkness TOGETHER With a Solution of the chiefest Objections brought against the Being of WITCHES By Henry Hallywell Master of Arts and sometime Fellow of Christs Colledge in Cambridge Ephes. VI. 12. For we wrestle not against flesh and bloud but against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the Darkness of this World against Spiritual wickedness in high places LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops Head in S. Paul's Church-yard 1681. TO THE Right Worshipful Sir Iames Morton OF SLAVGHAM IN THE County of Sussex Knight SIR TO prefix your Name to the present Treatise I could give many Reasons that induced me did I not know that you are more delighted in doing Worthy Things than to have the Praise of your Actions re-echoed and repeated from others And since my choice and affection hath thus far led me I am the less solicitous of the various Censures that a Discourse of this nature may probably meet withal For even the clearest Reason does often lose its force when it meets with strong and inveterate Prejudices However I have done my endeavour to make things appear plain and easie and the better to comply with an Inquisitive and Philosophical Age have made use of such Principles as the best and choicest Philosophy could afford me which as it is not in the least derogatory to my Profession so was highly necessary to make good one great end of the Christian Religion in delivering us from the Power of the Dark Kingdom whose very Existence some smatterers in Philosophy have the Confidence to deny Whether I please others or not I am not much concerned having the satisfaction of pleasing my self in taking the opportunity of a grateful Acknowledgment of your many favours towards me who am SIR Your most Faithful and Affectionate Servant Henry Hallywell THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Reader THE ensuing Treatise being a Discourse of the Dark side of Providence or of that Rebellious Polity that proudly opposes it self against the Kingdom of Light I am obliged to give some Account as well of the Work it self as Design in writing it As for the Design of it it is no other than what is good and laudable namely to shew our Sceptical and staggering Religionists that there is a very Potent and Adverse party of Incorporeal Agents that entring into a Rebellious Confederacy against God and being cast out of the Mansions of Light have formed themselves a Kingdom in the Aereal Regions and not content with this Power and Dominion among themselves have studiously endeavoured ever since the Creation to deprave and corrupt Mankind and to enlarge their own Empire by the Accession of frail man whose weakness they abuse and triumph over and strive by all means to keep him fast within their clutches that if at least they must be miserable they may make others so and have companions in their Torments Now concerning the Work it self I must confess I have framed it in a lax and diffuse manner not endeavouring to prove the Existence of Spirits either good or bad but supposing them both in Being already and likewise taking many other things for granted which are already either made good by divers Learned Authors or may evidently be deduced from the principles of true and sound Philosophy As likewise purposely omitting many otherwise material proofs of some heads in this Discourse being willing to bring the Hypothesis into as small a compass as may be Nor have I been wanting to confirm my Discourse in the most material parts of it by the Testimony of the Sacred Scriptures and sometimes added the Suffrage of some of the Ancient Fathers in such speculations as otherwise perhaps would have seemed over nice and curious And lastly which in a Discourse of this nature could not well be pretermitted I have briefly resolved the Question of Witchcraft and shewed the possibility of such detestable Confederacies with wicked Spirits and answered the strongest and most considerable Objections I could meet withal against it That which at the present seems to me to be most liable to Exception is the Introduction of the Spirit of Nature which by Corporealists is looked upon at the same rate with an Occult Quality and brought in rather as an Asylum of Ignorance than a Philosophical Truth To which I have this to reply That the ground and reason of using that Hypothesis arose partly because I saw it maintainable by rational and solid Arguments and partly through a natural propensity of my own whereby I am prone to think that whatever boasts may be made by the followers of Democritus and Epicurus who have dismembred and disjoyned the Ancient Atomologie from the Doctrine of Spirits or the Metaphysical part of it there is not one considerable Phaenomenon in the Cartesian Philosophy that can be solved by the mere and solitary principles of Matter and Motion For a conclusion of the whole I have drawn such Inferences as may most effectually perswade men from Sin and Vice by which they infallibly entertain Communion and Society with the Dark Kingdom and to assert themselves under a higher and more propitious Providence by the sincere practice of true and unfeigned Piety and Religion Farewel H. H. THE CONTENTS THE Introduction Page 1. CHAP. I. That the Lapse and Revolt of the Angels from the Blessed life of God consists mainly in debasing their higher and nobler Faculties by enslaving and subjugating them to their Inferior and more Material Powers pag. 5. CHAP. II. That these Lapsed Angels have formed themselves into a Polity or Kingdom of Darkness pag. 14. CHAP. III. That these wicked Spirits being supposed Rational Creatures must needs be studious in diffusing their own sinful Nature upon all capable subjects and thereby of enlarging the bounds of their usurped Dominions pag. 26. CHAP. IV. That the great end of our Saviours coming into the World was to rescue men from the Tyranny Slavery and Oppression of the Dark Kingdom pag. 33. CHAP. V. That though men by the Gospel are freed from that Slavery under the Prince of Darkness that yet he strives to countermine the Kingdom of Light and when men will so far reject and despise the Admonitions and Assistances that God affords them he may justly suffer them to be acted and guided by evil Spirits pag. 40. CHAP. VI. That nothing hinders but having full Possession of the Minds of men these evil Spirits may likewise enslave their Bodies pag. 46. CHAP. VII Of Witchcraft pag. 49. OBJECTION I. That these Witches are supposed to be present at their Nocturnal Conventicles and Diabolical meetings when their Bodies are at home which is Impossible pag. 66. OBJECTION II. That these Airy Spirits are too remote and of a Nature too sublime to have any Communication with Mortals pag. 76. OBJECTION III. That it supposes Witches by the help of evil Spirits may do real Miracles pag. 81. OBJECTION IV. That it gives evil Spirits and Witches
and ways of recovering men out of the hands of the Devil undervalued and despised when he sees men wilfully shut their eyes against those bright rays of Truth that encircle them then in a just judgment he suffers them to fall under the power of Satan and to be led away as the Apostle speaks with strong delusions to the occecation and blinding their very Reasons and Judgments And this insensate condition can never arrive to its full maturity and perfection without the potent Energy and Activity of the Devil CHAP. VI. That nothing hinders but having full Possession of the Minds of Men these Evil Spirits may likewise enslave their Bodies FOR the Possession of the Mind by such strong falshoods as shall lead to all Impurity of life and actions may be as real a work of the Devil though not so visible as his inacting their Bodies And if it might as well conduce to the interest and advantage of his Kingdom to make such visible discoveries of himself by acting in the Bodies of men there is no question but such Possessions would be infinitely more frequent than they are For the frame and temper of the Mind being the peculiar object of Divine Providence it is certain that a man may lapse so far into wickedness and vice as to forfeit this Care and to turn himself out of her Protection and then he comes into the dominion of and becomes a prey to the invisible Harpyes And though these bodily vexations and infestations by evil Daemons may sometimes befal others yet they are more infrequent and permitted by Providence for ends and purposes not readily discoverable by us But when they are exercised upon deplorably wicked and profligate persons those Daemons seise upon and use but what is their own Now that there have been such real Possessions of men by Devils hath been so fully attested by unprejudic'd persons in all Ages that he cannot escape the suspicion of having imbibed some Atheistical principles that shall have the confidence to deny them But because there are many so staggering fluctuating and uncertain in their Religion that they can hardly be perswaded to believe the existence of such Spirits or the association and confederation of men with these foul and unclean Daemons and that the Scriptures speak of Wizards Witches and Magicians by which we understand persons that combine with and are confederate with impure Spirits I shall endeavour to take off this grand Objection against those Sacred Writings by shewing the possibility of the thing that there have been in all Ages of the World such as have practised and entred into Familiarity with wicked Daemons and that the Scriptures are not therefore to be derided and exposed by profane Wits when they speak of these things as matters of Fact and Reality since true and genuine Philosophy asserts the same and the wisest and most learned persons among the Heathens believed it and that the Arguments and Objections against it are weak and frivolous and betray the ignorance and unskilfulness of their Authors CHAP. VII Of Witchcraft THE Devil is not contented to abuse mankind at a distance as it were by all those ways and arts and illusions in offering temptations from without and thereby seducing them from their obedience to God but in all Ages those impure Spirits have made use of capable subjects with whom they have entred into a nearer union and stricter confederation being first initiated into those hellish mysteries by some External solemnities by which they surrender themselves to the will and power of those Aiery tyrants and by seeming for a time to command render themselves Vassals to the mockery cruelty and unbridled lusts and passions of those malicious Goblins for ever And such persons are properly called Magicians Wizards and Witches Nevertheless it must here be acknowledged that there have been and doubtless are a kind of Necromancers or Magicians who are not like the common sort not only grosly sunk and debauched in their lives but also knowingly do homage to evil Spirits as such for the gratification of their Lusts but more refined Ones who call themselves Theurgists such as being in some measure freed from the grosser Vices and thinking to have to do only with good Spirits yet being proud and vain-glorious and affecting wonders and to transcend the generality of mankind are by a Divine Nemesis justly exposed to the illusions of the Devil or evil Spirits cunningly insinuating here and aptly accommodating themselves to them Now such as these may have the assistance of wicked Spirits though they know them not to be so in the performance of many strange and wonderful things without any such solemn compacts as those fouler and grosser Sorcerers enter into And though Porphyry and some others did distinguish these two sorts so as to condemn indeed the grosser which they called Magick or Goety but allowed the other which they termed Theurgie as laudable and honourable and as an art by which they received Angels and had communication with the Gods Yet S. Austin assures us they are both damnable and bound to the observation of false and silthy Devils instead of Angels which he further proves by relating a memorable story out of Porphyry of a certain Chaldean who good man complained that all his endeavour to purge his Soul by these Theurgick consecrations was frustrate by reason a great Artist envying him this happiness adjured the powers he was to deal with by holy Invocations and bound them from granting him any of his requests Of this sort were probably Zoroaster Apollonius Tyanaeus Apuleius and some others of later times For a more distinct and orderly procedure in this Chapter I shall consider these three things 1. First the account which the Scriptures give of Magick or Witchcraft In the Law of Moses a severe punishment no less than Death it self is ordained for Necromancers Wizards and Witches and such as have commerce with familiar Spirits Levit. 20.27 And the people of Israel are expresly forbid to consult with any such Levit. 19.31 Deut. 18.10 11. Now it seems very dilute and insipid to direct the intention of these Laws only against Juglers Miracle-mongers or Impostors as if it were impossible in the nature of the thing that there should be any confederation of men with evil Spirits and that all those strange effects performed by Necromantick Arts and truly supposed to be brought to pass by the assistance of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 malicious and deceitful Daemons with whom the Magicians are confederate are only Prestigious delusions and tricks as it were of Leger du maine For first the reason of the Law it self shews it to be of a higher and greater importance Deut. 18.12 For all that do these things are an abomination to the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee And surely nothing can be a greater and more hainous wickedness than for a man to forsake the
in sucking the warm Bloud of Men or Beasts as a chearful and healthy constitution in drawing in the refreshing gales of pure and sincere Air. CHAP. VIII Inferences drawn from the foregoing Treatise HAving now dispatched the most material Objections against the opinion of Witchcraft I now come to the last part of my design which is to draw some Practical Conclusions from this whole Discourse in reference to the conduct of mens lives and manners And First since we have so clear a discovery of the Powers of Darkness whose united and combined Forces are so potent and terrible in opposing the growth of sincere Piety and Religion we should be strong in God and couragiously resist them being stedfast in the Faith Divine Providence having placed us in this lower World where we are surrounded with Enemies designs not by this our ruine and undoing but that our contest should end in Victory and our warfare crowned at last with Immortal Glory and Felicity Wherefore though our Enemies are tall and mighty Gyants and from the reason of their Natures have many advantages over frail Flesh and Bloud yet such is the Constitution of things and such the Arms we are furnished withal for the Combate that as David through a great Faith and Confidence in the Divine Assistance prevailed over the mighty Champion of the Philistines with a Sling and a Stone so by a firm Trust reposed in the same Aid we may overthrow and become Victorious over all the Infernal Powers that desie the Armies of the God of Israel Here therefore lies the Field of Gallantry and Honour here are the Olympia of the Soul wherein she strives and wrestles not with Flesh and Bloud but with the strong and subtle Forces of Hell and Darkness not for a Garland of Flowers but for Wreaths of Immarcessible Glory Take heart then O Man and like an invincible Champion of the Holy Iesus fight the good fight of Faith Be true and sincere to thy best Hopes and Interests by a perfect Eradication of all thy Exorbitant lusts and corruptions and by a strong Faith and profound Humility form the living Image of God within thee Then shall thy Soul with joy and triumph be lifted up above the perplexed Fate of this Inferior World and be able to repress and extinguish the Incantations and Allurements of the Mundane Spirit through the might and power of a Divine Principle Nor shall the subtle Plots and Machinations of the Powers of Darkness and the Conspiracies of Hell be able to defeat those watchful Armies of Light with which thou art guarded Act generously and becoming not only the nature of a man but a faithful Disciple of the Son of God and behold those numerous Troops of Angels which though invisible to our weak and bodily eyes perpetually surround and encompass the servants of the living God The Blessed Iesus who in the days of his flesh by his Soveraign Command ejected Legions of Infernal Spirits out of their usurped Holds in the Bodies of men and by his glorious Resurrection cast down the Prince of Darkness from his unjust Empire and Dominion in the World maintains the same Righteous Cause still and carries on a successful War against those Apostate Spirits in which whosoever will persevere with courage and resolution shall at the last reap the joyous Fruits of his Victory and Patience and receive from the hands of the glorious King of Righteousness a Beautiful and Immortal Crown of life and blessedness Secondly We learn not to speak evil of Angels For he who is now the Head and Prince of the Dark Kingdom is supposed by most Divines to have been once the highest in Dignity and Power of the whole Angelick Order and though reflecting upon his State and Grandeur and finding himself the chiefest of the works of Gods hands in the haughty pride of his heart he aspired to an equality with God and was thereby cast down into these Aereal Regions yet is he still a very formidable and tremendous Power not to be blasphemed or spoke evil of but to be resisted by all those ways and means which God in his holy Word hath propounded to us It is S. Austin his opinion that what is spoken of the King of Babylon by the Prophet Esay may prefigure or allude to this mighty Prince of the Dark Legions How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer son of the morning For thou hast said in thineheart I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God I will sit also upon the Mount of the Congregation in the sides of the North I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds I will be like the most High And hitherto he refers the description of the Prince of Tyrus by Ezekiel Thou hast been in Eden the Garden of God every precious stone was thy covering the Sardius Topaz and the Diamond the Beryl the Onyx and the Iasper the Saphire the Emerald and the Carbuncle and Gold the workmanship of thy Tabrets and of thy Pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created Thou art the anointed Cherub that covereth and I have set thee so thou wast upon the Holy Mountain of God thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created till Iniquity was found in thee And if this so high and majestick a description in its first and primary sence belong to that mighty Angel of Darkness he is not foolishly and idly to be scoffed at or blasphemed but according to the sober advice of the Author of the Golden Verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to be feared as a very powerful and implacable Enemy of mankind by doing good and justifiable actions and by persevering in a course of Virtue which only through the assistance of Divine Goodness can deliver us from his Rage and Malice There is a place of Scripture which though not much taken notice of by later Divines yet is very full to this purpose 2 Pet. 2.10 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tremble not when they rail at Glories or as our Translation renders it they are not afraid to speak evil of Dignities whereas Angels which are greater in power and might bring not a railing Accusation or a contumelious Indictment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against them before the Lord. Parallel to which is that of S. Iude ver 8 9. speak evil of Dignities or rail at Glories yet Michael the Archangel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing Accusation but said The Lord rebuke thee That by dignities here are understood Angels is clear 1. From the manner of expression calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Glories a word frequently used in the Old Testament to express the appearance of Angels The only difficulty will be why evil Angels should be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉