Objectors That I could wish they would take care of such Suggestions which if they overthrow not the Opinion they oppose will dangerously affront the Religion they would seem to acknowledge For he that saith That if there are WITCHES there is no way to prove that Christ Iesus was 〈◊〉 a Magician and Diabolical Impostor puts a deadly Weapon into the hands of the Infidel and is himself next door to the SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST of which in order to the perswading greater tenderness and caution in such matters I give this short account The Sin against the Holy Ghost is said to be Unpardonable by which sad Attribute and the Discourse of our Saviour Mat. XII from the xxii to the xxxiii ver we may understand its Nature In order to which we consider That since the Mercies of God and the Merits of his Son are infinite there is nothing can make a Sin unpardonable but what makes it incurable and there is no Sin but what is curable by a strong Faith and a vigorus Endeavour For all things are possible to him that believeth So that that which makes a Sin incurable must be somewhat that makes Faith impossible and obstructs all means of Conviction In order to the finding which we must consider the ways and methods the Divine Goodness hath taken for the begetâ—ing Faith and cure of Infidelity which it atâ—â—â—ted first by the Prophets and holy men 〈…〉 times who by the excellency of their 〈…〉 the greatness of their Miracles and the 〈…〉 of their Lives endeavoured the conviction and reformation of a stubborn and unbelieâ—ing World But though Few believed their report and men would not be prevail'd on by wha 〈…〉 they said yet their Infidelity 〈…〉 incurable because further meanâ— were provided in the Ministry of Iohn the Baptist whose Life was more severe whose Doctrines were more plain pressing and particular and therefore 't was possible that He might have succeeded Yea and where He failed and could not open mens hearts and their eyes the Effect was still in possibility and it might be expected from Him that came after to whom the Prophets and Iohn were but the Twilight and the Dawn And though His miraculous Birth the Song of Angels the Iourney of the Wise Men of the East and the correspondence of Prophesies with the Circumstances of the first appearance of the Wonderful Infant I say though these had not been taken notice of yet was there a further provision made for the cure of Infidelity in his astonishing Wisdom and most excellent Doctrines For He spake as never Man did And when These were despised and neglected yet there were other means towards â—â—â—â—viction and Cure of Unbelief in those mighty Works that bore Testimony of Him and wâ—â—â— the evident marks of Divine Power in their forâ—â—heads But when after all these â—lear and unquestionable Miracles which were wrought by the Spirit of God and had eminently his Superscription on them shall be ascriâ—â—◠〈…〉 the Agency of evil Spirits and Diabolical â—ompact as they were by the malicious and spightful Pharisees in the periods above-mentioned when those great and last Testimonies against Infidelity shall be said to be but the Tricks of Sorcery and Complotment with Hellish Confederates This is Blasphemy in the higest against the Power and Spirit of God and such as cuts off all means of Conviction and puts the Unbeliever beyond all possibilities of Cure For Miracles are God's Seal and the great and last evidence of the truth of any Doctrine And though while these are onely disbelieved as to the Fact there remains a possibility of perswasion yet when the Fact shall be acknowledg'd but the Power blasphemed and the effects of the adorable Spirit maliciously imputed to the Devils such a Blasphemy such an Infidelity is incurable and consequently unpardonable I say in sum the Sin against the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 to be a malicious imputation of the Miracles 〈◊〉 by the Spirit of God in our Saviour 〈…〉 Confederacy and the power of Apo 〈◊〉 Spirits Than which nothing is more 〈…〉 and nothing is more like to pro 〈◊〉 the Holy Spirit that is so abused to an Eternal Dereliction of so Vile and so Incurable an Unbeliever 〈…〉 't is clear and reasonable in it self 〈…〉 lodg'd in the mention'd Discourse of our Saviour And those that speak other things about it seem to me to talk at randome and perfectly without book But to leave them to the fondness of their own conceits I think it now time to draw up to a Conclusion of the whole Therefore briefly Sir I have endeavoured in these Papers which my respect and your concernment in the subject have made yours to remove the main prejudices I could think of against the existence of Witches and Apparitions and I 'm sure I have suggested much more against what I defend than ever I heard or saw in any that opposed it whose Discourses for the most part have seemed to me inspired by a lofty scorn of common belief and some trivial Notions of Vulgar Philosophy And in despising the Common Faith about matters of Fact and fondly adhering to it in things of 〈…〉 they very grosly and absurdly mistake◠〈◊〉 things of Fact the People are as much 〈…〉 liev'd as the most subtile 〈…〉 culators since here Sense is the Judge 〈◊〉 in matters of Notions and Theory Thâ— are not at all to be heeded because Reason is to be Judge of these and this they known not how to use And yet thus it is with the 〈…〉 that will deny the plain 〈…〉 Senseâ— of Mankind because they can not 〈…〉 appearances with the fond Crotcâ—â—â—â— of a Philosophy which they lighted on in the High-way by chance and will adhere to at adventurâ— So that I profess for mine own part I never yet heard any of the confident Declaimers against Witchcraft and Apparitions speak any thing that might move a mind in any degree instructed in the generous kinds of Philosophy and Nature of things And for the Objections I have recited they are such as rise out of mine own thoughts which I obliged to consider what was possible to be said upon this occasion For though I have examined Scot's Discovery phancying that there I should find the strong reasons of mens dis-belief in this matter yet I profess I met not with the least suggestion in all that Farrago but what it had been ridiculous for me to have gone about 〈◊〉 answer For the Author doth little but tell 〈…〉 and silly Legends which he confutes and laughâ— at and pretends this to be a Confutation of the Being of Witches and Apparitions 〈◊〉 which His Reasonings are trifling and Childish and when He ventures at Philosophy He is little better than absurd So that 't will be a Wonder to me if any but Boys and Buffoons imbiâ—e any Prejudices against a Belief so infinitely Confirmed from the Loose and Impotent Suggestions of so weak a Discourser And now Sir 't is fit that I relieve your patience and I shall do so when I have said that You can abundantly prove what I have but attempted to defend And that among the many Obligations your Country hath to you for the Wisdome and Diligence of your Endeavours in its service your Ingenious Industry for the Detecting of those Vile Practicers is not the least considerable To which I will add no more but the Confession who it is that hath given you all this trouble which I know you are ready to pardon to the respect and good Intentions of SIR Your Affectionaâ—◠〈…〉 J G.
would reconcile to men's minds but to endeavour the removal of those prejudices they have received against it the chief of which I shall particularly deal with and I begin with that bold Assertion That 1 The notion of a Spirit is impossible and contradictious and consequently so is that of Witches the belief of which is founded on that Doctrin To which Objection I answer 1 If the notion of a Spirit be so absurd as is pretended that of a God and a Soul distinct from matter and immortal is likewise an absurdity And then that the world was jumbled into this elegant and orderly Fabrick by chance and that our Souls are onely parts of Matter that came together we know not whence nor how and shall again shortly be dissolv'd into those loose Atoms that compound them That all our conceptions are but the thrusting of one part of matter against another and the Idea's of our minds meer blind and casual motions These and a thousand more the grossest impossibilities and absurdities consequents of this Proposition That the notion of a Spirit is absurd will be sad certainties and demonstrations And with such Assertors I would cease to discourse about Witches and Apparitions and address my self to obtain their assent to truths infinitely more Sacred And yet 2 though it should be granted them that a substance immaterial is as much a contradiction as they can fancy yet the Air and all the Regions above us may have their invisible intellectual Agents of nature like unto our Souls be that what it will and some of them at least as much drgenerate as the vilest and most mischievious among Men. This I say may reasonably enough be supposed though as I intimated above the Atheist hath another chain of consequences And this Hypothesis will be enough to secure the possibility of Witches and Apparitions and that all the upper Stories of the Universe are furnish'd with Inhabitants 't is infinitely reasonable to conclude from the analogy of Nature Since we see there is nothing so contemptible and vile in the world we reside in but hath its living creatures that dwell upon it the Earth the Water the inferiour Air the Bodies of Animals the flesh the skin the entrails the leaves the roots the stalks of Vegetables yea and all kind of Minerals in the subterraneous Regions I say all these have their proper Inhabitants yea I suppose this Rule may hold in all distinct kinds of bodies in the world That they have their peculiar Animals The certainty of which I believe the improvement of microscopical observations will discover From whence I infer That since this little spot is so thickly peopled in every Atom of it 't is weakness to think that all the vast spaces above and hollows under ground are desert and uninhabited And if both the superiour and lower Continents of the Universe have their inhabitants also 't is exceedingly improbable arguing from the same analogy that they are all of the meer sensible nature but that there are at least some of the Rational and Intellectual Orders Which supposed there is good foundation for the belief of Witches and Apparitions though the notion of a Spirit should prove absurd and unphilosophical And so this first Objection comes to nothing I descend then to the second Prejudice which may be thus formed in behalf of the Objectors 2 There are Actions in most of those Relations ascribed to Witches which are ridiculous and impossible in the nature of things such are 1 their flying out of windows after they have annointed themselves to remote places 2 Their transformation into Cats Hares and other Creatures 3 Their feeling all the hurts in their own bodies which they have received in these 4 Their raising Tempests by muttering some nonsensical words or performing some little ridiculous ceremonies And 5 their being suck'd in a certain private place of their bodies by a Familiar These are presumed to be actions inconsistent with the nature of Spirits and above the powers of those poor and miserable Agents And therefore the Objection supposeth them performed only by the fancy and that the whole mystery of Witchcraft is but an illusion of crasie imagination But to this Objection I return 1 in the general The more absurd and unaccountable these actions seem the greater confirmations are they to me of the truth of those Relations and the reality of what the Objectors would destroy For these circumstances being exceeding unlikely judging by the measures of common belief 't is the greater probability they are not fictitious For the contrivers of Fictions use to form them as near as they can conformably to the most unsuspected realities endeavouring to make them look as like truth as is possible in the main supposals though withall they make them strange in the circumstance None but a fool or mad-man would relate with a purpose of having it believed that he saw in Ireland Men with hoofs on their heads and eyes in their posteriors or if any should be so ridiculously vain as to be serious in such an incredible Romance it cannot be supposed that all Travellers that come into those parts after him should tell the same story There is large field in fiction and if all those Relations were arbitrary compositions doubtless the first Romancers would have framed them more agreeable to the common doctrin of Spirits at least after these supposed absurdities had been a thousand times laugh'd at people by this time would have learn'd to correct those obnoxious extravagancies and though they have not yet more veracity than the Ages of Ignorance and Superstition yet one would expect they should have got more cunning This suppos'd impossibility then of these performances seems to me a probable argument that they are not wilfull and disigned forgeries And if they are Phancyes 't is somewhat strange that Imagination which is the most various thing in all the world should infinitely repeat the same conceit in all times and places But again 2 the strange Actions related of Witches and presumed impossible are not ascribed to their own powers but to the Agency of those wicked Confederates they imploy And to affirm that those evil spirits cannot do that which we conceit impossible is boldly to stint the powers of Creatures whose natures and faculties we know not and to measure the world of spirits by the narrow rules of our own impotent beings We see among our selves the performances of some out-go the conceits and possibilities of others and we know many things may be done by the Mathematicks and Mechanick Artifice which common heads think impossible to be effected by the honest ways of Art and Nature And doubtless the subtilties and powers of those mischievous Fiends are as much beyond the reach and activities of the most knowing Agents among us as theirs are beyond the wit and ability of the most rustick and illiterate So that the utmost that any man's reason in the world can amount to in this
that Prayer Psal. 71 9 10. Cast me not off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth For They that keep my soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the LXX and the Vulgar Latin Qui custodiunt animam meam they take counsel together saying God hath forsaken him persecute him and take him for there is none to deliver him But I adde 2 That 't is very probable that the state wherein they are will not easily permit palpable intercourses between the bad Genii and our nature since 't is like enough that their own Laws and Government do not allow their frequent excursions into this world Or it may with as great probability be supposed that 't is a very hard and painful thing for them to force their thin and tenuious bodies into a visible consistence and such shapes as are necessary for their designs in their correspondencies with Witches For in this action their bodies must needs be exceedingly compress'd which cannot be well supposed without a painful sense And this is perhaps a reason why there are so few Apparitions and why appearing Spirits are commonly in such haste to be gone viz. that they may be deliver'd from the unnatural pressure of their tender Vehicles which I confess holds more in the apparitions of good than of evil Spirits most Relations of this kind describing their discoveries of themselves as very transient though for those the Holy Scripture records there may be peculiar Reasons why they are not so whereas the wicked ones are not altogether so quick and hasty in their Visits The reason of which probably is the great subtilty and tenuity of the bodies of the former which will require far greater degrees of compression and consequently of pain to make them visible whereas the latter are more foeculent and gross and so nearer allyed to palpable consistencies and more easily reduceable to appearance and visibility At this turn Sir you may perceive that I have again made use of the Platonick Hypothesis That Spirits are Embodyed upon which indeed a great part of my Discourse is grounded And therefore I hold my self obliged to a short account of that supposal It seems then to me very probable from the Nature of Sense and Analogie of Nature For 1. We perceive in our selves that all Sense is caus'd and excited by motion made in matter And when those motions which convey sensible impressions to the Brain the Seat of Sense are intercepted Sense is lost So that if we suppose Spirits perfectly to be disjoyn'd from all matter 't is not conceivable how they can have the sense of any thing For how material Objects should any way be perceiv'd or felt without vital union with matter 't is not possible to imagine Nor doth it 2. seem suitable to the Analogie of Nature which useth not to make precipitious leaps from one thing to another but usually proceeds by orderly steps and gradations whereas were there no order of Beings between us who are so deeply plunged into the grossest matter and pure unbodied Spirits 't were a mighty jump in Nature Since then the greatest part of the World consists of the finer portions of matter and our own Souls are immediately united unto these 't is infinitely probable to conjecture that the nearer orders of Spirits are vitally joyn'd to such Bodies And so Nature by Degrees ascending still by the more refin'd and subtile matter gets at last to the pure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or immaterial minds which the Platonists made the highest Order of created Beings But of this I have discoursed else-where and have said thus much of it at present because it will enable me to add another Reason of the unfrequency of Apparitions and Compacts viz. 3. Because 't is very likely that these Regions are very unsuitable and disproportion'd to the frame and temper of their Senses and Bodies so that perhaps the Courser Spirits can no more bear the Air of our World then Batts and Owls can the brightest beams of Day Nor can the Purer and Better any more endure the noysom steams and poysonous reeks of this Dunghil Earth then the Delicate can bear a confinement in nasty Dungeons and the foul squallid Caverns of uncomfortable Darkness So that 't is no more wonder that the better Spirits no oftner appear than that men are not more frequently in the Dark Hollows under ground Nor is' t any more strange that evil Spirits so rarely visit us then that Fishes do not ordinarily fly in the Air as 't is said one sort of them doth or that we see not the Batt daily fluttering in the beams of the Sun And now by the help of what I have spoken under this Head I am provided with some things wherewith to disable another Objection which I thus propose XI If there be such an intercourse between Evil Spirits and the Wicked how comes it about that there is no correspondence between Good Spirits and the Vertuous since without doubt these are as desirous to propagate the Spirit and Designes of the upper and better World as those are to promote the Interest of the Kingdom of Darkness Which way of arguing is still from our Ignorance of the State and Government of the other World which must be confest and may without prejudice to the Proposition I defend But particularly I say 1. That we have ground enough to believe that Good Spirits do interpose in yea and govern our Affairs For that there is a Providence reaching from Heaven to Earth is generally acknowledg'd but that this supposeth all things to be order'd by the immediate influence and interposal of the Supreme Deity is not very Philosophical to suppose since if we judge by the Analogie of the Natural World all things we see are carried on by the Ministry of Second Causes and intermediate Agents And it doth not seem so Magnificent and Becoming an apprehension of the Supreme Numen to phancy His immediate Hand in every trivial Management But 't is exceeding likely to conjecture that much of the Government of us and our Affairs is committed to the better Spirits with a due subordination and subserviency to the Will of the chief Rector of the Universe And 't is not absurd to believe that there is a Government runs from Highest to Lowest the better and more perfect orders of Being still ruling the inferiour and less perfect So that some one would phancy that perhaps the Angels may manage us as we do the Creatures that God and Nature have placed under our Empire and Dominion But however that is That God rules the lower World by the Ministry of Angels is very consonant to the sacred Oracles Thus Deut. XXXII viii ix When the Most High divided the Nations their inheritance when he separated the sons of Adam he set the bounds of the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the number of the Angels of God as the Septuagint renders it the Authority of which Translation
of Divinity are there in our Saviour's shewing himself in the midst of his Disciples when the Doors were shut and his Transfiguration in the Mount Miracles are the great inducements of Belief and How shall we distinguish a Miracle from a Lying Wonder a Testimony from Heaven from a Trick of the Angels of Hell if they can perform things that astonish and confound our Reasons and are beyond all the Possibilities of Humane Nature This Objection is spiteful and mischievous but I thus endeavour to dispatch it 1. The Wonders done by Confederacy with wicked Spirits cannot derive a suspition upon the undoubted Miracles that were wrought by the Author Promulgers of our Religion as if they were performed by Diabolical Compact since their Spirit Endeavours and Designes were notoriously contrary to all the Tendencies Aims and Interests of the Kingdome of Darkness For as to the Life and Temper of the Blesâ—ed and Adorable IESUS we know there was an incomparable sweetness in his Nature Humility in his Manners Calmness in his Temper Compassion in his Miracles Modesty in his Expressions Holiness in all his Actions Hatred of Vice and Baseness and Love to all the World all which are essentially contrary to the Nature and Constistitution of Apostate Spirits who abound in Pride and Rancour Insolence and Rudeness Tyranny and Baseness universal Malice and Hatred of Men. And their Designes are as opposite as their Spirit and their Genius And now Can the Sun borrow its Light from the bottomless Abyss Can Heat and Warmth flow in upon the World from the Regions of Snow and Ice Can Fire freeze and Water burn Can Natures so infinitely contrary communicate and jump in projects that are destructive to each others known Interests Is there any Balsome in the Cockatrice's Egge or Can the Spirit of Life flow from the Venome of the Asp Will the Prince of Darkness strengthen the Arm that is stretcht out to pluck his Usurp't Scepter and his Spoyls from him And will he lend his Legions to assist the Armies of his Enemy against him No these are impossible Supposals No intelligent Being will industriously and knowingly contribute to the Contradiction of its own Principles the Defeature of its Purposes and the Ruine of its own dearest Interests There is no fear then that our Faith should receive prejudice from the acknowledgment of the Being of Witches and power of evil Spirits since 't is not the doing wonderful things that is the onely Evidence that the Holy IESUS was from God and his Doctrine true but the conjunction of other circumstances the holiness of his Life the reasonableness of his Religion and the excellency of his Designes added credit to his Works and strengthned the great Conclusion That he could be no other than the Son of God and Saviour of the World But besides I say 2. That since infinite Wisdome and Goodness rules the World it cannot be conceiv'd that they should give up the greatest part of men to unavoidable deception And if evil Angels by their Confederates are permitted to perform such astonishing things as seem so evidently to carry God's Seal and Power with them for the confirmation of Falshoods and gaining credit to Impostors without any counter-evidence to disabuse the World Mankind is exposed to sad and fatal delusion And to say that Providence will suffer us to be deceived in things of the greatest concernment when we use the best of our care and endeavours to prevent it is to speak hard things of God and in effect to affirm That He hath nothing to do in the Government of the World or doth not concern Himself in the affairs of poor forlorn Men. And if the Providence and Goodness of God be not a security unto us against such Deceptions we cannot be assured but that we are always abused by those mischievous Agents in the Objects of plain sense and in all the matters of our dayly Converses If ONE that pretends he is immediately sent from God to overthrow the ancient Fabrick of Established Worship and to erect a New Religion in His Name shall be born of a Virgin and honour'd by a miraculous Star proclaimed by a Song of seeming Angels of Light and Worshipped by the wise Sages of the World Revered by those of the greatest austerity and admired by all for a miraculous Wisdome beyond his Education and his Years If He shall feed Multitudes with almost nothing and fast himself beyond all the possibilities of Nature If He shall be transformed into the appearance of extraordinary Glory and converse with departed Prophets in their visible Forms If He shall Cure all Diseases without Physick or Endeavour and raise the Dead to Life after they have stunk in their Graves If He shall be honoured by Voyces from Heaven and attract the universal Wonder of Princes and People If he shall allay Tempests with a Beck and cast out Devils with a Word If He shall fore-tell his own Death particularly with its Tragical Circumstances and his Resurrection after it If the Veil of the most Famous Temple in the World shall be rent and the Sun darkened at his Funeral If He shall within the time fore-told break the bonds of Death and lift up his Head out of the Grave If Multitudes of other departed Souls shall arise with Him to attend at the Solemnity of His Resurrection If He shall after Death visibly converse with eat and drink with divers persons who could not be deceived in a matter of clear sense and ascend in Glory in the presence of an astonisht and admiring Multitude I say if such a One as this should prove a Diabolical Impostor and Providence should permit him to be so credited and acknowledged What possibility were there then for us to be assured that we are not always deceived yea that our very Faculties were not given us onely to delude and abuse us And if so the next Conclusion is That there is no God that judgeth in the Earth and the best and most likely Hypothesis will be That the World is given up to the Government of the Devils But if there be a Providence that superviseth us as nothing is more certain doubtless it will never suffer poor helpless Creatures to be inevitably deceived by the craft and subtilty of their mischievous Enemy to their undoing but will without question take such care that the works wrought by Divine Power for the Confirmation of Divine Truth shall have such visible Marks and Signatures if not in their Nature yet in their Circumstances Ends and Designes as shall discover whence they are and sufficiently distinguish them from all Impostures and Delusions And though wicked Spirits may perform some strange things that may excite wonder for a while yet He hath and will so provide that they shall be baffled and discredited as we know it was in the case of Moses and the Aegyptian Magicians Now besides what I have directly said to the Objection I have this to adde to the