Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	fear_n	lord_n	wisdom_n	5,389	5	6.9425	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62397	The discovery of witchcraft proving that the compacts and contracts of witches with devils and all infernal spirits or familiars are but erroneous novelties and imaginary conceptions : also discovering, how far their power extendeth in killing, tormenting, consuming, or curing the bodies of men, women, children, or animals by charms, philtres, periapts, pentacles, curses, and conjurations : wherein likewise the unchristian practices and inhumane dealings of searchers and witch-tryers upon aged, melancholly, and superstitious people, in extorting confessions by terrors and tortures, and in devising false marks and symptoms, are notably detected ... : in sixteen books / by Reginald Scot ... ; whereunto is added an excellent Discourse of the nature and substance of devils and spirits, in two books : the first by the aforesaid author, the second now added in this third edition ... conducing to the compleating of the whole work, with nine chapters at the beginning of the fifteenth [sic] book of The discovery.; Discoverie of witchcraft	Scot, Reginald, 1538?-1599.; Scot, Reginald, 1538?-1599. Discourse concerning the nature and substance of devils and spirits.	1665 (1665)	Wing S945A; ESTC R20054	529,066	395

For by that means men should have good occasion and opportunity to flie from him and to run to God for succour as the manner is of all them that are terrified though perchance they thought not upon God a long time before But in truth we never have so much cause to be afraid of the Devil as when he flatteringly insinuateth himself into our hearts to satisfie please and serve our humours enticing us to prosecute our own appetites and pleasures without any of these external terrours I would weet of these men where they do find in the Scriptures that some Devils be spiritual and some corporal or how these earthy or watery Devils enter into the mind of man Augustine saith and divers others affirm That Satan or the Devil while we feed allureth us with gluttony he thrusteth lust into our generation and sloth into our exercise into our conversation envie into our traffick avarice into our correction wrath into our government pride he putteth into our hearts evil cogitations into our mouthes lyes c. When we wake he moveth us to evils works when we sleep to evil and filthy dreams he provoketh the merry to loosness and the sad to despair CHAP. XII That the Devils assaults are Spiritual and not Temporal and how grossly some understand those parts of the Scripture UPon that which hitherto hath been said you see that the assaults of Satan are spiritual and not temporal in which respect St. Paul wisheth us not to provide a corselet of Steel to defend us from his claws but biddeth us Put on the whole armour of God that we may be able to stand against the invasions of the Devil For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities powers and spiritual wickedness And therefore St. Peter adviseth us To be sober and watch for the Devil goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour He meaneth not with carnal teeth for it followeth thus Whom resist ye stedfast in the faith And again St. Peter saith That which is spiritual only discerneth spiritual things for no carnal man can discern the things of the spirit Why then should we think that a Devil which is a Spirit can be known or made tame and familiar unto a natural man or contrary to nature can be by a Witch made corporal being by God ordained to a spiritual proportion The cause of this gross conceipt is that we hearken more diligently to old Wives and rather give credit to their fables than to the Word of God imagining by the tales they tell us that the Devil is such a Bulbegger as I have before described For whatsoever is proposed in Scripture to us by Parable or spoken figuratively or significatively or framed to our gross capacities c. is by them so considered and expounded as though the bare letter or rather their gross imaginations thereupon were to be preferred before the true sense and meaning of the Word For I dare say that when these blockheads read Jothams Parable in the ninth of Judges to the men of Sichem to wit that The trees went out to anoint a King over them saying to the Olive-tree Reign thou over us who answered and said Should I leave my fatness c. they imagine that the wooden Trees walked and spake with a mans voyce or else that some spirit entred into the Trees and answered as is imagined they did in the Idols and Oracles of Apollo and such like who indeed have eyes and see not ears and hear not mouths and speak not c. CHAP. XIII The Equivocation of this word Spirit how diversly it is taken in the Scriptures where by the way is taught that the Scripture is not alwayes literally to be interpreted nor yet allegorically to be understood SUch as search with the the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding shall find that Spirits as well good as bad are in the Scriptures diversly taken yea they shall well perceive that the Devil is no horned beast For sometimes in the Scriptures Spirits and Devils are taken for infirmities of the body sometimes for the vices of the mind sometimes also for the gifts of tither of them Sometimes a man is called a Devil as Judas in the sixt of John and Peter in the 16. of Matthew Sometimes a Spirit is put for the Gospel sometimes for the mind or soul of man sometimes for the wil of man his mind and councel sometimes for Teachers and Prophets sometimes for zeal towards God sometimes for joy in the Holy Ghost c. And to interpret unto us the nature and signification of spirits we find these words written in the Scripture to wit The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him The Spirit of counsel and strength The Spirit of wisdom and understanding The spirit of knowledg and the fear of the Lord. Again I will pour out my Spirit upon the house of David c. The Spirit of grace and compassion Again Ye have not received the spirit of bondage but the Spirit of adoption And therefore St. Paul saith To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit to another the gift of healing to another the gift of faith by the same Spirit to another the gift of prophesie to another the operation of great works to another the discerning of spirits to another the diversity of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues and all these things worketh one and the self-same Spirit Thus far the words of St. Paul And finally Isaiah saith that The Lord mingled among them the spirit of errour And in another place The Lord hath covered you with a spirit of slumber As for the spirits of divination spoken of in the Scripture they are such as was in the woman of Endor the Philippian woman the wench of Westwell and the holy maid of Kent who were indued with spirits or gifts of divination whereby they could make shift to gain money and abuse the people by sleights and crafty inventions But these are possessed of borrowed spirits as it written in the Book of Wisdom and spirits of meer cosenage and deceipt as I have sufficiently proved elsewhere I deny not therefore that there are Spirits and Devils of such substance as it hath pleased God to create them But in what place soever it be found or read in the Scriptures a Spirit or Devil is to be understood spiritually and is neither a corporal nor a visible thing Where it is written That God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Sichem we are to understand that he sent the spirit of hatred and not a Bulbegger Also where it is said If the Spirit of jealousie come upon him it is as much as to say If he he be moved with a jealous mind and not that a corporal Devil

through weakness of mind and body are shaken with vain dreams and continual fear The Scythians being a stout and a warlike Nation as divers writers report never see any vain sights or spirits It is a common saying A Lyon feareth no Bugs But in our childhood our Mothers maids have so terrified us with an ugly Devil having horns on his head fire in his mouth and a tail in his breech eyes like a bason fangs like a Dog claws like a Bear askin like a Niger and a voyce roaring like a Lyon whereby we start and are afraid when we hear one cry Bough and they have so frayed us with Bul-beggers Spirits Witches Urchens Elves Hags Fairies Satyrs Pans Faunes Sylens Kit with the canstick Tritons Centaures Dwarfes Gyants Imps Calcars Conjurers Nymphes Changelings Incubus Robin Goodfellow the Spoorn the Mare the man in the Oak the Hell-wain the firedrake the Puckle Tom-thombe Hob-goblin Tom-tumbler Boneless and such other Bugs that we are afraid of our own shadows insomuch that some never fear the Devil but in a dark night and then a polled Sheep is a perilous beast and many times is taken for our Fathers soul specially in a Churchyard where a right hardy man heretofore scant durst passe by night but his hair would stand upright For right grave writers report that spirits most often and specially take the shape of women appearing to Monks c. and of Beasts Dogs Swine Horses Goats Cats Hares of Fowles as Crowes night Owles and shreek Owles but they delight most in the likeness of Snakes and Dragons Well thanks be to God this wretched and cowardly infidelity since the Preaching of the Gospel is in part forgotten and doubtless the rest of those illusions will in short time by Gods grace be detected and vanish away Divers writers report that in Germany since Luthers time Spirits and Devils have not personally appeared as in times past they were wont to do This argument is taken in hand or the ancient Fathers to prove the determination and ceasing of Oracles For in times past saith Athanasius Devils in vain shapes did intricate men with their illusions hiding themselves in waters stones woods c. But now that the word of God hath appeared those sights Spirits and mockeries of Images are ceased Truly if all such Oracles as that of Apollo c. before the coming of Christ had been true and done according to the report which hath been brought through divers ages and from far Countries unto us without Priestly fraud or guil or as the spirits of Prophesie and working of Miracles had been inserted into a Idol as hath been supposed yet we Christians may conceive that Christs coming was not so fruitless and prejudicial in this point unto us as to take away his spirit of Prophesie and Divination from out of the mouth of his elect people and good Prophets giving no answer of any thing to come by them nor by Urim nor Thummim as he was wont c. And yet to leave the Devil in the mouth of a Witch or an Idol to Prophesie or work Miracles c. to the hinderance of his glorious Gospel to the discountenance of his Church and to the furtherance of Infidelity and false religion whereas the working of Miracles was the only or at least the most special means that moved men to believe in Christ as appeareth in sundry places of the Gospel and specially in John where it is written That a great multitude followed him because they saw his Miracles which he did c. Nay is it not written That Jesus was approved by God among the Jews with miracles wonders and signes c. And yet if we confer the Miracles wrought by Christ and those that are imputed to Witches Witches miracles shall appear more common and nothing inferior unto his CHAP. XVI Witches Miracles compared to Christs that God is the creator of all things of Apollo and of his names and portraiture IF the Witch of Endor had performed that which many conceive of the matter it might have been compared with the raising up of Lazarus I pray you is not the converting of water into milk as hard a matter as the turning of water into wine And yet as you may read in the Gospel That Christ did the one as his first miracle so may you read in M. Mal. and in Bodin that Witches can easily do the other yea and that which is a great deal more of Water they can make Butter But to avoid all cavils and least there should appear more matter in Christs miracle then the others you shall finde in M. Mal. that they can change water into Wine and What is it to attribute to a Creature the power and work of the Creator if this be not Christ saith Opera quae ego facio nemo potest facere Creation of substance was never granted to Man nor Angel Ergo neither to Witch nor Devil for God is the only giver of life and being and by him all things are made visible and invisible Finally this woman of Endor is in the Scripture called Pythonissa whereby it may appear that she was but a very cosener for Pytho himself whereof Pythonissa is derived was a counterfeit And the original story of Apollo who was called Pytho because he killed a Serpent of that name is but a Poetical fable for the Poets say he was the God of Musick Physick Poetry and Shooting In heaven he is called Sol in earth Liber Pater in hell Apollo He flourisheth alwayes with perpetual youth and therefore he is painted without a beard his picture was kept as an Oracle-giver and the Priests that attended thereon at Delphos were coseners and called Pythonists of Pytho as Papists of Papa and afterwards all Women that used that trade were named Pythonissae as was this Woman of Endor But because it concerneth this matter I will briefly note the opinions of divers learned men and certain other proofs which I finde in the Scripture touching the ceasing of Miracles Prophesies and Oracles BOOK VIII CHAP. I. That Miracles are ceased ALthough in times past it pleased God extraordinarily to shew Miracles amongst his people for the strengthening of their faith in the Messias and again at his coming to confirm their faith by his wonderful doings and his special graces and gifts bestowed by him upon the Apostles c. yet we ordinarily read in the Scriptures That it is the Lord that worketh great wonders Yea David saith That among the dead as in this case of Samuel God himself sheweth no wonders I find also That God will not give his glory and power to a creature Nicodemus being a Pharisee could say That no man could do such Miracles as Christ did except God were with him according to the saying of the Prophet to those Gods and Idols which took on them the power of God Do either good or ill if you can c.

Oh Father Omnipotent oh wise Son oh holy Ghost the searcher of hearts oh you three in persons one true Godhead in substance which didst spare Adam and Eve in their sins and oh thou Son which dyedst for their sins a most filthy death sustaining it upon the holy cross oh thou most merciful when I flie unto thy mercy and beseech thee by all the means I can by these the holy Names of thy Son to wit Α and Ω and all other his Names grant me thy Virtue and Power that I may be able to cite before me thy Spirits which were thrown down from heaven and that they may speak with me and dispatch by and by without delay and with a good will and without the hurt of my body soul or goods c. as is contained in the book called Annulus Solomonis Oh great and eternal vertue of the highest which through disposition these being called to judgement Vachoon Stumulamaton Esphares Tetragrammaton Olioram Cryon Esytion Existion Eriona Onela Brasim Noym Messias Soter Emanuel Sabboth Adonay I worship thee I invocate thee I implore thee with all the strength of my mind that by thee my present Prayers Consecrations and Conjurations be hollowed and wheresoever wicked Spirits are called in the virtue of thy names they may come together from every coast and diligently fulfil the will of me the Exorcist Fiat fiat fiat Amen CHAP. XIV A confutation of the manifold vanities conteined in the precedent Chapters specially of commanding of Devils HE that can be perswaded that these things are true or wrought indeed according to the assertion of Coseners or according to the supposion of Witchmongers and Papists may soon be brought to believe that the Moon is made of green Cheese You see in that which is called Solomons Conjuration there is a perfect inventary registred of the number of Devils of their Names of their Offices of their Personages of their Qualities of their Powers of their Properties of their Kingdoms of their Governers of their Orders of their Dispositions of their Subjection of their Submission and of the wayes to bind or loose them with a note what Wealth Learning Office Commodity pleasure c. they can give and may be forced to yield in spight of their hearts to such forsooth as are cunning in this Art of whom yet was never seen any rich man or at least that gained any thing that way or any unlearned man that became learned by that means or any happy man that could with the help of this Art either deliver himself or his friends from adversity or add unto his Estate any point of felicity yet these men in all worldly happiness must needs exceed all others if such things could be by them accomplished according as it is presupposed For if they may learn of Marbas all secrets and to cure all diseases and of Furcas wisdome and to be cunning in all Mechanical Arts and to change any mans shape of Zepar if Bune can make them rich and eloquent if Beroth can tell them of all things present past and to come if Asmodie can make them go invisible and shew them all hidden treasure if Salmacke will afflict whom they list and Allocer can procure the love of any Woman if Amy can provide them excellent Familiars if Caym can make them understand the voyce of all Birds and Beasts and Buer and Bifrons can make them live long and finally if Orias could procure unto them great friends and reconcile their enemies and they in the end had all these at commandement should they not live in all worldly honour and felicity Whereas contrariwise they lead there lives in all obloquy misery and beggery and in fine come to the gallows as though they had chosen unto themselves the spirit Valefer who they say bringeth all them with whom he entreth into familiarity to no better end then the gibbet or gallows But before I proceed further to the confutation of this stuff I will shew other Conjurations devised more lately and of more Authority wherein you shall see how fools are trained to believe these absurdities being won by little and little to such credulity For the Author hereof beginneth as though all the cunning of Conjurors were derived and fetcht from the Planetary motions and true course of the Stars Celestial bodies c. CHAP. XV. The names of the Planets their Characters together with the twelve signes of the Zodiack their Dispositions Aspects and Government with other observations The Characters of the Planets ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ Saturn Jupiter Mars Sol. Venus Mercury Luna The five Planetary Aspects ☌ ⚹ □ 🜂 ☍ Conjunction Sextile Quadrat Trine Opposition The twelve signs of the Zodiack their Characters and Denominations c. ♈ ♉ ♊ ♋ ♌ ♍ ♎ ♏ ♐ ♑ ♒ ♓ Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo. Virgo Libra Scorpio Sagittarius Capricornus Aquarius Pisces Their Disposition or Inclinations Good signes ♈ ♋ ♉ ♓ ♐ Evil signes ♎ ♏ ♑ ♒ ♊ Signes indifferent ♒ ♏ ♋ ♓ ♍ Very good signes ♈ ♎ ♐ Very evil signes ♑ ♊ ♌ ♉ The Disposition of the Planets ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ planets good ♃ ♀ Indifferent ☉ ☽ ☿ Euill ♄ ♂ ♑ ♒ ♐ ♓ ♃ ♏ ♈ ♂ ♌ ☉ ♉ ♎ ♀ ♊ ♍ ☿ ♋ ☽ A fierie Triplicitie ♈ ♂ ☉ ♃ ♉ ♂ ☉ An earthie Triplicitie ♌ ☉ ♃ ♍ ☿ ♐ ♃ ☉ ♑ ♄ ♂ A waterie Triplicitie ♋ ☽ ♃ ♀ ♊ ☿ An aierie Triplicitie ♏ ♂ ♎ ♀ ♄ ♃ ♓ ♃ ☽ ♀ ♒ ♄ ♃ The Aspects of the Planets ☌ Is the best Aspect with good Planets and the worst with evil ⚹ Is a mean Aspect in goodness or badness 🜂 Is very good in aspect to good Planets and hurteth not in evil □ This Aspect is of enimity not full perfect ☍ This Aspect is of enimity most perfect How the Day is divided or distinguished A Day natural is the space of four and twenty hours accounting the Night withal and beginneth at one of the clock after midnight An artificial day is that space of time which is betwixt the rising and falling of the Sun c. all the rest is night and beginneth at the Sun rising Hereafter followeth a Table shewing how the day and the night is divided by hours and reduced to the regiment of the Planets The division of the Day and the Planetary Regiment day lord 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 day lord ☉ ♐ ☿ ☽ ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ ♄ day lord ☽ ♄ ♃ ♐ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ day lord ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ☿ ♀ ☽ day lord ☿ ☽ ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ ♄ ♃ ♂ day lord ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ day lord ☿ ♀ ☽ ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ ♄ ♃ day lord ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ ♄ ♂ ♃ ☉ ♀ The division of the Night and the Planetary Regiment night lord 1 2 3 4

except thou Spirit N. do come and appear visibly in this Crystal-stone in my presence here immediately as it is aforesaid Let the great curse of God the anger of God the shadow and darkness of death and of eternal condemnation be upon thee Spirit N. for ever and ever because thou hast denyed thy faith thy health and salvation For thy great disobedience thou art worthy to be condemned Therefore let the divine Trinity Thrones Dominions Principates Potestates Virtutes Cherubim and Seraphim and all the souls of Saints both of men and women condemn thee for ever and be a witness against thee at the day of judgment because of thy disobedience And let all creatures of our Lord Jesus Christ say thereunto Fiat Fiat fiat Amen And when he is appeared in the Crystal-stone as is said before bind him with this bond as followeth to wit I conjure thee Spirit N. that art appeared to me in this Crystal-stone to me and to my fellow I conjure thee by all the royall words aforesaid the which did constrain thee to appear therein and their vertues I charge thee by them all that thou shall not depart out of this Crystal-stone until my will being fulfilled thou be licened to depart I conjure and bind thee Spirit N. by that omnipotent God which commanded the Angel S. Michael to drive Lucifer out of the Heavens with a Sword of vengeance and to fall from joy to pain and for dread of such pain as he is in I charge thee Spirit N. that thou shalt not go out of the Crystal-stone nor yet to alter thy shape at this time except I command thee otherwise but to come unto me at all places and in all hours and minutes when and wheresoever I shall call thee by the vertue of our Lord Jesus Christ or by any Conjuration of words that is written in this Book and to shew me and my friends true visions in this Crystal-stone of any thing or things that we would see at any time or times and also to go and fetch me the fairy Sibylia that I may talk with her in all kind of talk as I shall call her by any Conjuration of words contained in this Book I conjure thee Spirit N. by the great wisdom and divinity of his Godhead my will to fulfill as is aforesaid I charge thee upon pain of condemnation both in this world and in the world to come Fiat fiat fiat Amen This done go to the place fast by and in a fair Parlor or Chamber make a ✚ ✚ ✚ Sorthie Sorthia Sorthios circle with chalk as hereafter followeth and make another circle for the fairy Sibylia to appear in four foot from the circle thou art in and make no names therein or cast any holy thing therein but make a circle round with chalk and let the Master and his fellow sit down in this circle the Master having the Book in his hand his fellow having the Crystal-stone in his right hand looking in the Stone when the Fairy doth appear The Master also must have upon his brest this figure here written in Parchment and begin to work in the new of the ☽ and in the hour of ♃ the ☉ and the ☽ to be in one of inhabiters signes as ♋ ♐ ♓ This bond as followeth is to cause the Spirit in the Crystal-stone to fetch unto thee the fairy Sibylia All things fulfilled begin this bond as followeth and behold for doubtles they will come before thee before the Conjuration be read seven times I conjure thee spirit N. in this Crystal-stone by God the Father by God the Son Jesus Christ and by God the Holy Ghost three Persons and one God and by their vertues I conjure thee spirit that thou do go in peace and also come again to me quickly and to bring with thee into that circle appointed Sibylia Fairie that I may talk with her in those matters that shall be to her honour and glory and so I charge thee declare unto her I conjure thee spirit N. by the blood of the innocent Lamb the which redeemed all the world by the vertue thereof I charge thee thou spirit in the Crystal-stone that thou do declare unto her this message Also I conjure thee spirit N. by all Angels and Archangels Thrones Dominations Principates Potestates Virtutes Cherubim and Seraphim and by their vertues and powers I conjure thee N. that thou do depart with speed and also to come again with speed and to bring with thee the fairie Sibylia to appear in that circle before I do read the Conjuration in this Book seven times Thus I charge thee my will to be fulfilled upon pain of everlasting condemnation Fiat fiat fiat Amen Then the figure aforesaid pinned on thy brest rehearse the words therein and say ✚ Sorthie ✚ Sorthia ✚ Sorthios ✚ then begin your Conjuration as followeth here and say I conjure thee Sibylia O gentle Virgine of Fairies by the mercy of the Holy Ghost and by the dreadful day of doom and by their vertues and powers I conjure thee Sibylia O gentle Virgine of Fairies and by all the Angels of ♃ and their characters and vertues and by all the spirits of ♃ and ♁ and their characters and vertues and by all the characters that be in the Firmament and by the King and Queen of Fairies and their vertues and by the faith and obedience that thou bearest unto them I conjure thee Sibylia by the blood that ran out of the side of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified and by the opening of Heaven and by the renting of the Temple and by the darkness of the Sun in the time of his death and by the rising up of the dead in the time of his Resurrection and by the Virgin Mary Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the unspeakable Name of God Letragramaton I conjure thee O Sibylia O blessed and beautiful Virgin by all the royall words aforesaid I conjure thee Sibylia by all their vertues to appear in that circle before me visibly in the form and shape of a beautiful woman in a bright and white vesture adorned and garnished most fair and to appear to me quickly without deceit or tarrying and that thou fail not to fulfil my will and desire effectually For I will choose thee to be my blessed Virgin and will have common copulation with thee Therefore make hast and speed to come unto me and to appear as I have said before To whom be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen The which done and ended if she come not repeat the Conjuration till they do come for doubtless they will come And when she is appeared take your censers and incense her with frankincense then bind her with the bond as followeth I do conjure thee Sibylia by God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Gost three Persons and one God and by the blessed Virgin Mary Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and by all the

hand and say putting it it into the Water making in the manner of a Cross COmmixtio salis aquae pariter fiat In Nomine Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Amen Dominus vobiscum Et cum spiritu tuo Oremus Deus invicte virtutis Author insuperabilis Imperii Rex ac semper magnificus triumphator qui adversae dominationis vires reprimis qui inimici rugientis saevitiam superas qui hostiles nequitias potens expugnas te Domine trementes supplices deprecamur ac petimus ut hanc creaturam salis aquae aspicias benignus illustres pietatis tuae rore sancti ✚ fices ubicunque fuerit aspersa per invocationem sancti tui nominis omnis infestatio immundi spiritus abjiciatur terrorque venenosi serpentis procul pellatur praesentia sancti spiritus nobis misericordiam tuam poscentibus ubique adesse dignetur per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum qui tecum vivit regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus per omnia sacula saeculorum Amen Then sprinkle upon any thing and say as followeth ASperges me Domine hyssopo mundabor lavabis me supra nivem dealbabor Miserere mei Deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam supra nivem dealbabor Gloria Patri Filio Spiritui sancto Sicut erat in principio nunc semper in saecula saeculorum Amen Et supra nivem dealbabor asperges me c. Ostende nobis domine misericordiam tuam salutare tuum da nobis exaudi nos Domine Sancte Pater Omnipotens Aeterne Deus mittere dignare sanctums Angelum tuum de Coelis qui custodiat foveat visitet defendat omnes habitantes in hoc habitaculo per Christum Dominum nostrum Amen Amen CHAP. XXV To make a Spirit to appear in a Crystal I Do conjure thee N. by the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost the which is the beginning and the ending the first and the last and by the latter day of judgment that thou N. do appear in this Crystal-stone or any other instrument at my pleasure to me and my fellow gently and beautifully in fair form of a Boy of twelve years of age without hurt or damage of any of our bodies or souls and certainly to inform and shew me without any guil or craft all that we do desire or demand of thee to know by the vertue of him which shall come to judge the quick and the dead and the World by fire Amen Also I conjure and exorcise thee N. by the Sacrament of the Altar and by the substance thereof by the wisdom of Christ by the Sea and by his vertue by the earth and by all things that are above the Earth and by their vertues by the ☉ and the ☽ by ♄ ♃ ♂ and ♀ and by their vertues by the Apostles Martyrs Confessors and the Virgins and Widow and the chast and by all Saints of mens or of women and innocents and by their vertues by all the Angels and Archangels Thrones Dominations Principates Potestates Virtutes Cherubim and Seraphim and by their vertues and by the holy Names of God Tetragrammaton El Ousion Agla and by all the other holy Names of God and by their vertues by the Circumcision Passion and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ by the heaviness of our Lady the Virgin and by the joy which she had when she saw her Son rise from death to life that thou N. do appear in this Crystal-stone or any other instrument at my pleasure to me and to my fellow gently and beautifully and visibly in fair form of a child of twelve years of age without hurt or damage of any of our bodies or souls and truly to inform and shew unto me and to my fellow without fraud or guil all things according to thine oath and promise to me whatsoever I shall demand or desire of thee without any hindrance or tarrying and this Conjuration be read of me three times upon pain of eternal condemnation at the last day of Judgment Fiat fiat fiat Amen And when he is appeared bind him with the bond of the dead above written then say as followeth ✚ I charge thee N. by the Father to shew me true Visions in this Crystal-stone if there be any treasure hidden in such a place N. and wherein it lieth and how many foot from this piece of Earth East West North or South CHAP. XXVI An Experiment of the Dead FIrst go and get of some person that shall be put to death a promise and swear an oath unto him that if he will come to thee after his death his Spirit to be with thee and to remain with thee all the days of thy life and will do thee true service as it is contained in the oath and promise following Then lay thy hand on thy Book and swear this oath unto him I N. do swear and promise to thee N. to give for thee an alms every month and also to pray for thee once in every week to say the Lords Prayer for thee and so to continue all the days of my life as God me help and holy doom and by the contents of this Book Amen Then let him make his oath to thee as followeth and let him say after thee laying his hand upon the Book ✚ I N. do swear this oath to thee N. by God the Father Omnipotent by God the Son Jesus Christ and by his pretious blood which hath redeemed all the world by the which blood I do trust to be saved at the general day of judgment and by the vertues thereof I N. do swear this oath to thee N. that my spirit that is within my body now shall not ascend nor descend nor go to any place of rest but shall come to thee N. and be very well pleased to remain with thee N. all the days of thy life and so to be bound to thee N. and to appear to thee N. in any Crystal-stone Glass or other mirror and so to take it for my resting-place And that so soon as my spirit is departed out of my body straight-way to be at your commandements and that in and at all days nights hours and minutes to be obedient unto thee N. being called of thee by the vertue of our Lord Jesu Christ and out of hand to have common talk with thee at all times and in all hours and minutes to open and declare to thee N. the truth of all things present past and to come and how to work the Magick Art and all other noble Sciences under the Throne of God If I do not perform this oath and promise to thee N. but do fly from any part thereof then to be condemned for ever and ever Amen Also I N. do swear to thee by God the Holy Ghost and by the great wisdom that is in the divine Godhead and by their vertues and by all the holy

not blind But surely he that cannot make one hair white or black whereof on the other side not one falleth from the head without Gods special Providence can never bring to pass that the visible creature of God shall become nothing or lose the vertue and grace poured therein by God the Creator of all things If they say that the Devil covereth them with a cloud or veil as M. Mal Bodin and many other do affirm yet me thinks we should either see the cover or the thing covered And though perchance they say in their hearts Tush the Lord seeth not who indeed hath blinded them so as seeing they see not yet they shall never be able to perswade the wise but that both God and man doth see both them and their knavery in this behalf I have heard of a fool who was made believe that he should go invisible and naked while he was well whipped by them who as he thought could not see him Into which fools Paradise they say he was brought that enterprised to kill the Prince of Orenge CHAP. XXXI A Comparison between Popish Exorcists and other Conjurors a Popish Conjuration published by a great Doctor of the Romish Church his rules and cautions I See no difference between these and Popish Conjurations for they agree in order words and matter differing in no circumstance but that the Papists do it without shame openly the other do it in hugger mugger secretly The Papists I say have Officers in this behalf which are called Exorcists or Conjurors and they look narrowly to other cosenours as having gotten the upper hand over them And because the Papists shall be without excuse in this behalf and that the world may see their cosenage impiety and folly to be as great as the others I will cite one Conjuration of which sort I might cite a hundred published by Jacobus de Chusa a great Doctor of the Romish Church which serveth to find out the cause of noise and spiritual rumbling in Houses Churches or Chappels and to conjure walking Spirits which evermore is knavery and cosenage in the highest degree Mark the cosening device hereof and confer the impiety with the others First forsooth he saith it is expedient to fast three days and to celebrate a certain number of Masses and to repeat the seven Penitential Psalms then four or five Priests must be called to the place where the haunt or noise is then a Candle hallowed on Candlemas day must be lighted and in the lighting thereof also must the seven Psalms be said and the Gospel of St. John Then there must be a Cross and a Censer with Frankinsense and therewithal the place must be censed or perfumed holy Water must be sprinkled and a holy Stoal must be used and after divers other Ceremonies a Prayer to God must be made in manner and form following O Lord Jesus Christ the knower of all secrets which alwayes revealest all wholesome and profitable things to thy faithful children and which sufferest a Spirit to shew himself in this place we beseech thee for thy bitter Passion c vouchsafe to command this spirit to reveal and signifie unto us thy servants without our terrour or hurt what he is to thine honour and to his comfort In Nomine Patris c. And then proceed in these words We beseech thee for Christs sake O thou spirit that if there be any of us or among us whom thou wouldst answer name him or else manifest him by some sign Is it Fryer P. or Doctor D. or Doctor Burc or sir Feats or sir John or sir Robert Et sic de caeteris circumstantibus For it is well tryed saith the gloss he will not answer every one If the Spirit make any sound of voyce or knocking at the naming of any one he is the Cosenour the Conjuror I would say that must have the charge of this Conjuration or Examination And these forsooth must be the interrogatories to wit Whose Soul art thou Wherefore camest thou What wouldst thou have Wantest thou any Suffrages Masses or Alms How many Masses will serve thy turn three six ten twenty thirty c By what Priest Must he be religious or secular Wilt thou have any Fasts What How many How great And by what persons Among Hospitals Lepers or Beggars What shall be the sign of thy perfect deliverance Wherefore liest thou in Purgatory and such like This must be done in the night If there appear no sign at this hour it must be deferred until another hour Holy water must be left in the place There is no fear they say that such a Spirit will hurt the Conjuror for he can sin no more as being in the mean state between good and evil and as yet in the state of satisfaction If the Spirit do hurt then it is a damned soul and not an elect Every man may not be present hereat specially such as be weak of complexion They appear in divers manners not alwayes in body or bodily shape as it is read in the life of S. Martine that the Devil did but sometimes invisible as only by sound voyce or noise Thus far Jacobus de Chusa But because you shall see that these be not empty words nor slanders but that in truth such things are commonly put in practice in the Romish Church I will here set down an instance lately and truly though lewdly performed and the same in effect as followeth CHAP. XXXII A late Experiment or cosening Conjuration practised at Orleance by the Franciscan Friers how it was detected and the Judgement against the Authors of that Comedy IN the year of our Lord 1534. at Orleance in France the Maiors wife dyed willing and desiring to be buried without any pomp or noise c. Her husband who reverenced the memorial of her did even as she had willed him And because she was buryed in the Church of the Franciscans besides her Father and Grandfather and gave them in reward only six Crowns whereas they hoped for a greater prey shortly after it chanced that as he felled certain Woods and sold them they desired to give them some part thereof freely without money which he flatly denyed This they took very grievously And whereas before they misliked him now they conceived such displeasure as they devised this means to be revenged to wit that his Wife was damned for ever The chief workmen and framers of this tragedy were Colimannus and Stephanus Aterbatensis both Doctors of Divinity this Colimannus was a great Conjuror and had all his implements in a readiness which he was wont to use in such business And thus they handle the matter They place over the Arches of the Church a young novice who about midnight when they came to mumble their Prayers as they were wont to do maketh a great rumbling and noise Out of hand the Monks began to conjure and to charm but he answered nothing Then being requireed to

fire about with them alwayes in so much as they say they leave ashes evermore where they stand Surely she made in her Prayer an unreasonable request but the date of her Patent is out for I believe that whosoever at this day shall burn a pound of good Candles before her shall be never the better but three pence the worse But now we may find in St. Margarets life who it is that is Christs wife whereby we are so much wiser than we were before But look in the life of S. Katherine in the golden Legend and you shall find that he was also marryed to S. Katherine and that our Lady made the marriage c. An execellent authority for Bigamie Here I will also cite another of their notable stories or miracles of authority and so leave shaming of them or rather troubling you the Readers thereof Neither would I have written these fables but that they are authentick among the Papists and that we that are Protestants may be satisfied as well of Conjurors and Witches miracles as of others for the one is as gross as the other CHAP. XLVI A pleasant Miracle wrought by a Popish Priest WHat time the Waldenses Heresies began to spring certain wicked men being upheld and maintained by Diabolical vertue shewed certain signs and wonders whereby they strengthened and confirmed their Heresies and perverted in Faith many faithful men for they walked on the water and were not drowned But a certain Catholick Priest seeing the same and knowing that true signs could not be joyned with false doctrine brought the body of our Lord with the Pix to the Water where they shewed their power and vertue to the people and said in the hearing of all that were present I conjure thee O Devil by him whom I carry in my hands that thou exercise not these great Visions and Phantasies by these men to the drowning of this people Notwithstanding these words when they walked still on the water as they did before the Priest in a rage threw the body of our Lord with the Pix into the River and by and by so soon as the Sacrament touched the Element the Phantasie gave place to the Verity and they being proved and made false did sink like lead to the bottom and were drowned the Pix with the Sacrament immediately was taken away by an Angel The Priest seeing all these things was very glad of the Miracle but for the loss of the Sacrament he was very pensive passing away the whole night in tears and mourning in the morning he found the Pix with the Sacrament upon the Altar CHAP. XLVII The former Miracle confuted with a strange story of St. Lucy HOw glad Sir John was now it were folly for me to say How would he have plagued the Devil that threw his God in the River to be drowned But if other had had no more power to destroy the Waldenses with Sword and Fire than this Priest had to drown them with his conjuring Box and cosening Sacraments there should have been many a life saved But I may not omit one fable which is of authority wherein though there be no Conjuration expressed yet I warrant you there was cosenage both in the doing and telling thereof You shall read in the lesson on Saint Lucies dayes that she being condemned could not be removed from the place with a teem of Oxen neither could any fire burn her insomuch as one was fain to cut off her head with a Sword and yet she could speak afterward as long as she list And this passeth all other miracles except it be that which Bodin and M. Mal. recite out of Nider of a Witch that could not be burned till a scroll was taken away from where she hid it betwixt her skin and flesh CHAP. XLVIII Of Visions Noises Apparitions and imagined Sounds and of other Illusions of wandering Souls with a confutation thereof MAny through Melancholy do imagine that they see or hear Visions Spirits Ghosts strange Noises c. as I have already proved before at large Many again through fear proceeding from a cowardly nature and complexion or from an effeminate and fond bringing up are timerous and afraid of Spirits and bugs c. Some through imperfection of sight also are afraid of their own shadows and as Aristotle saith see themselves sometime as it were in a Glass And some through weakness of body have such imperfect imaginations Drunken men also sometimes suppose they see trees walk c. according to that which Solomon saith to the drunkards Thine eyes shall see strange visions and marvellous appearances In all ages Monks and Priests have abused and bewitched the world with counterfeit Visions which proceeded through idleness and restraint of marriage whereby they grew hot and lecherous and therefore devised such means to compass and obtain their loves And the simple people being then so superstitious would never seem to mistrust that such holy men would make them Cuckholds but forsook their beds in that case and gave room to the Clergy Item little children have been so scared with their mothers maids that they could never after endure to be in the dark alone for fear of bugs Many are deceived by Glasses through Art Perspective Many hearkening unto false reports conceive and believe that which is nothing so Many give credit to that which they read in Authors But how many Stories and Books are written of walking Spirits and Souls of men contrary to the Word of God a reasonable volum cannot contain How common an opinion was it among the Papists that all souls walked on the earth after they departed from their bodies In so much as it was in the time of Popery a usual matter to desire sick people on their death-beds to appear to them after their death and to reveal their estate The Fathers and ancient Doctors of the Church were too credulous herein c. Therefore no marvel though the common simple sort of men and least of all that women be deceived herein God in times past did send down visible Angels and Appearances to men but now he doth not so Through ignorance of late in Religion it was thought that every Church-yard swarmed with souls and Spirits but now the Word of God being more free open and known those conceits and illusions are made more manifest and apparent c. The Doctors Councels and Popes which they say cannot err have confirmed the walking appearing and raising of Souls But where find they in Scriptures any such doctrine And who certified them that those appearances were true Truly all they cannot bring to pass that the lyes which have been spread abroad herein should now begin to be true though the Pope himself subscribe seal and swear thereunto never so much Where are the souls that swarmed in times past Where are the Spirits Who heareth their noises Who seeth their Visions Where are the Souls that made such moan for Trentals whereby to be

he could tell where any thing lost became with divers other such practices whereby his fame was farr beyond the others And yet on his death-bed he confessed that he knew nothing more then any other but by sleight and devices without the assistance of any Devil or Spirit saving the Spirit of cosenage and this did he I say protest before many of great honesty credit and wisdom who can witness the same and also gave him good commendations for his godly and honest end Again who will maintain that common Witchcrafts are not Cosenages when the great and famous Witchcrafts which had stoln credit not only from all the common people but from men of great wisdom and authority are discovered to be beggerly sleights of cosening varlots Which otherwise might and would have remained a perpetual objection against me Were there not three images of late years found in a dunghil to the terrour and astonishment of many thousands In so much as great matters were thought to have been pretended to be done by Witchcraft But if the Lord preserve those person whose destruction was doubted to have been intended thereby from all other the lewd practices and attempts of their enemies I fear not but they shall easily withstand these and such like devices although they should indeed be practised against them But no doubt if such bables could have brought those matters of mischief to pass by the hands of Traitors Witches it Papists we should long since have been deprived of the most excellent jewel and comfort that we enjoy in this world Howbeit I confess that the fear conceit and doubt of such mischievous pretences may breed inconvenience to them that stand in aw of the same And I wish that even for such practices though they never can or do take effect the practisers be punished with all extremity because therein is manifested a traiterous heart to the Queen and a presumption against God But to return to the discovery of the foresaid Knavery and Witchcraft So it was that one old Cosenor wanting money devised or rather practised for it is a stale device to supply his want by promising a young Gentleman whose humor he thought would that way be well served that for the sum of forty pounds he would not fail by his cunning in that Art of Witchcraft to procure unto him the love of any three women whom he would name and of whom he should make choice at his pleasure The young Gentleman being abused with his cunning devices and too hastily yielding to that motion satisfied this cunning mans demand of money Which because he had it not presently to disburse provided for him at the hands of a friend of his Finally this Cunning man made the three puppets of Wax c. leaving nothing undone that appertained to the cosenage until he had buried them as you have heard But I omit to tell what ado was made hereof and also what reports and lies were bruited as what white Dogs and black Dogs there were seen in the night season passing through the watch maugre all their force and preparation against them c. But the young Gentleman who for a little space remained in hope mixed with joy and love now through tract of time hath those his felicities powdred with doubt and despair For instead of atcheiving his love he would gladly have obtained his money But because he could by no means get either the one or the other his money being in hucksters handling and his sute in no better forwardness he revealed the whole matter hoping by that means to recover his money which he neither can yet get again nor hath payed it where he borrowed But till trial was had of his simplicity or rather folly herein he received some trouble himself hereabout though now dismissed CHAP. IV. Of one that was so bewitched that he could read no Scriptures but Canonical of a Divel that could speak Latine a proof that Witchcraft is flat Cosenage HEre I may aptly insert another miracle of importance that happened within the compass of a childs remembrance which may induce any reasonable body to conceive that these supernatural actions are but fables and cosenages There was one whom for some respects I name not that was taken blind deaf and dumb so as no Physitian could help him That man forsooth though he was as is said both blind dumb and deaf yet could he read any Canonical Scriptures but as for Apocrypha he could read none wherein a Gods Name consisted the miracle But a leaf of Apocrypha being extraordinarily inserted among the Canonical Scriptures he read the same as Authentick wherein his knavery was bewrayed Another had a Devil that answered men to all questions Marry her Devil could understand no Latine and so was she and by such means all the rest may be bewrayed Indeed our witching Writers say that certain Devils spaek only the language of that Countrey where they are resiant as French or English c. Furthermore in my conceit nothing proveth more apparently that Witchcraft is cosenage and that Witches Instrument are but ridiculous Bables and altogether void of effect than when learned and godly Divines in their serious writings produce experiments as wrought by Witches and by Devils at Witches commandements which they expound by miracles although indeed meer trifles Whereof they conceive amiss being overtaken with credulity CHAP. V. Of the Divination of the Sive and Sheers and by the Book and Key Hemingius his opinion thereof confuted a Bable to know what is a clock of certain Jugling knacks manifold reasons for the overthrow of Witches and Conjurors and their cosenages of the Devils transformations of Ferrum candens c. TO pass over all the fables which are vouched by the Popish Doctors you shall hear the words of N. Heminguis whose zeal and learning otherwise I might justly commend howbeit I am sorry and ashamed to see his ignorance and folly in this behalf Neither would I have bewrayed it but that he himself among other absurdities concerning the maintenance of Witches Omnipotency hath published it to his great discredit Popish Priests saith he as the Chaldaeans used the Divination by Sive and Sheers for the detection of theft do practice with a Psalter and a Key fastened upon the 49. Psalm to discover a Thief and when the names of the suspected persons are orderly put into the Pipe of the Key at the reading of these words of the Psalm If thou suwest a Theef thou didst consent unto him the Book will wagge and fall out of the fingers of them that hold it and he whose name remaineth in the Key must be the theef Hereupon Hemingius inferreth that although conjuring Priests and Witches bring not this to pass by the absolute words of the Psalm which tend to a far other scope yet Satan doth nimbly with his invisible hand give such a twitch to the Book as also in the other case to the

of Rome but might also have made the Pope that now is content with our Christmas and Easter-day and not to have gathered the minutes together and reformed it so as to shew how falsly he and his predecessors whom they say could not err hath observed it hitherto And truly this and the dancing of the Sun on Easter-day morning sufficiently or rather miraculously prove that computation which the Pope now beginneth to doubt of and to call in question CHAP. V. The Opinion of Fascius Cardanus touching Spirits and of his Familiar Devil FAscius Cardanus had as he himself and his son Hierome Cardanus report a familiar Devil consisting of the fiery Element who so long as he used Conjuration did give true answers to all his demands but when he burned up his Book of Conjurations though he resorted still unto him yet did he make false answers continually He held him bound twenty and eight years and loose five years And during the time that he was bound he told him that there were many Devils or Spirits He came not always alone but sometimes some of his fellows with him He rather agreed with Psellus then with Plato for he said they were begotten born died and lived long but how long they told him not howbeit as he might conjecture by the Devils face who was 42 years old and yet appeared very young he thought they lived two or three hundred years and they said that their souls and ours also died with their bodies They had Schools and Universities among them but he conceived not that any were so dull headed as Psellus maketh them But they are very quick in credit that beleive such fables which indeed is the ground-work of Witchcraft and Conjuration But these Histories are so gross and palpable that I might be thought as wise in going about to confute them as to answer the stories of Fryer Rush Adam Bell or the golden Legend CHAP. VI. The Opinion of Plato concerning Spirits Devils and Angels what Sacrifices they like best what they fear and of Socrates his familiar Devil PLato and his followers hold that good Spirits appear in their own likeness but that evil Spirits appear and shew themselves in the form of other bodies and that one Devil reigneth over the rest as a Prince doth in every perfect Common-wealth overmen Item they obtain their purposes and desires only by intreaty of men and women because in nature they are their inferiors and use authority over men none otherwise than Priests by vertue of their function and because of Religion wherein they say they execute the Office of God Sometimes they say that the fiery Spirits or supreme Substances enter into the purity of the mind and so obtain their purpose sometimes otherwise to wit by vertue of holy Charms and even as a poor man obtaineth for Gods sake any thing at a Princes hand as it were by importunateness The other sort of Devils and defiled souls are so conversant on earth as that they do much hurt unto earthly bodies specially in leachery Gods and Angels say they because they want all material and gross substance desire most the pure Sacrifice of the Mind The grosser and more terrestrial Spirits desire the grosser Sacrifices as Beasts and Cattel They in the middle or mean Region delight to have Frankincense and such mean stuffe offered unto them and therefore say they it is necessary to Sacrifice unto them all manner of things so the same be slain and dye not of their own accord for such they abhor Some say that Spirits fear wonderfully vain threats and thereupon will depart as if you tell them that you will cut the Heavens in pieces or reveal their secrets or complain of them to the gods or say that you will do any impossibility or such things as they cannot understand they are so timerous as they will presently be gone and that is thought the best way to be rid of them But these be most commonly of that sort or company which are called Principatus being of all other the most easie to be conjured They say Socrates had a familiar Devil which Plato relyeth much upon using none other argument to prove that there are such Spirits but because Socrates that would not lye said so and partly because that Devil did ever disswade and prohibit not only in Socrates his own cases but sometimes in his friends behalf who if they had been ruled might through his admonition have saved their lives His Disciples gathered that his Devil was Saturnal and a principal fiery Devil and that he and all such as do naturally know their Devils are only such as are called Daemonii viri otherwise coseners Item they say That fiery Spirits urge men to contemplation the airy to business the watery to lust and among these there are some that are Martial which give fortitude some are Jovial giving wisdom some Saturnal always using disswasion and dehorting Item some are born with us and remain with us all our life some are meer strangers who are nothing else but the souls of men departed this life c. CHAP. VII Plato's nine Orders of Spirits and Angels Dionysius his Division thereof not much differing from the same all disproved by learned Divines PLato proposeth or setteth forth nine several orders of Spirits besides the spirits and souls of men The first Spirit is God that commandeth all the residue the second are those that are called Ideae which gave all things to all men the third are souls of heavenly bodies which are mortal the fourth are Angels the fift Archangels the sixt are Devils who are ministers to infernal powers as Angels are to supernal the seventh are half Gods the eighth are Principalities the ninth are Princes From which division Dionysius doth not much swerve saving that he dealeth as he saith only with good Spirits whom he likewise divideth into nine parts or offices The first he calleth Seraphim the second Cherubim the third Thrones the fourth Dominations the fift Vertues the sixt Powers the seventh Principalites the eighth Archangels the ninth and inferiour sort he calleth Angels Howbeit some of these in my thinking are evil Spirits or else Paul gave us evil counsel when he willed us To fight against Principalities and Powers and all spiritual wickedness But Dionysius in that place goeth further impropriating to every Countrey and almost to every person of any accompt a peculiar Angel as to Jewry he assigneth Michael to Adam Razael to Abraham Zekiel to Isaac Raphael to Jacob Peliel to Moses Metraton c. But in these discourses he either followed his own imaginations and conceits or else the corruptions of that age Nevertheless I had rarher confute him by Mr. Calvin and my Kinsman M. Deering than by my self or mine own words For Mr. Calvin saith That Dionysius herein speaketh not as by hearsay but as though he had slipped down from Heaven and told of things which he had

him Deus c. This although it be not so proper to our present purpose yet because we are in hand with the Holy Spirits Deity is not altogether impertinent But why God would have his Name as it were universally bounded within the number of four letters I can give sundry reasons which requires too long a discourse of words by digression and therefore I will conceal them for this time These opinions of Philosophers I have willingly remembred that it might appear that the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit is very ancient which they have taken either out of Moses writings or out of the works of the old Fathers published in and set forth in Books though not wholly fully and perfectly understood and known and also that our Pneumatomachi may see themselves to be more doltish in divine matters than the Heathen who will not acknowledg that essential and working power of the divinity whereby all things are quickened which the Heathen did after a sort see after a sort I say because they separated the soul of the world which they also call the begotten mind from the most soveraign and unbegotten God and imagined certain differences of degrees and as Cyrill saith did Arrianize in the Trinity So then I conclude against these Pneumatomachi that in so much as they imitate the old Gyants who piling up Pelion upon Ossa and them both upon Olympus attempted by scaling the Heavens to pull Jupiter out of his Throne of Estate and to spoil him of his principality and were notwithstanding their strength whereby they were able to carry huge Hills on their shoulders overwhelmed with those Mountains and squeized under the weight of them even to the death so these Pneumatomachi being Enemies both to the Holy Spirit and no friends to the Holy Church for then would they confess the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity and consequently also the Deity of the Holy Spirit deserve to be consumed with the fire of his mouth the heat whereof by no means can be slacked quenched or avoided For there is nothing more unnatural nothing more monstrous then against the Person of the Deity I mean the Spirit of Sanctification to oppose mans power mans wit mans policy c. which was well signified by that Poetical fiction of the Giants who were termed Anguipedes Snake-footed which as Joachimus Camerarius expoundeth of wicked Counsellours to whose filthy perswasions Tyrants do trust as unto their feet and James Sadolet interpreteth of Philosophers who trusting over-much unto their own wits become so bold in challenging praise for their wisdom that in fine all turneth to folly and confusion so I expound of Hereticks and Schismaticks who either by corrupt doctrine or by maintaining precise opinions or by open violence c. assay to overthrow the true Religion to break the unity of the Church to deny Caesar his homage and God his duty c. and therefore let Jovis fulmem wherewith they were slain assure these that there is Divina ultio due to all such as dare in the fickleness of their fancies arrear themselves against the Holy Spirit of whom sith they are ashamed hereupon earth otherwise they would confidently and boldly confess him both with mouth and pen he will be ashamed of them in Heaven where they are like to be so farre from having any society with the Saints that their portion shall be even in full and shaken measure with miscreants and Infidels And therefore let us if we will discern and try the Spirits whether they be of God or no seek for illumination of this inlightning Spirit which as it bringeth light with it to discover all Spirits so it giveth such a fiery heat as that no false spirit can abide by it for fear of burning Howbeit the Holy Spirit must be in us otherwise this prerogative of trying spirits will not fall to our lot But here some will peradventure move a demand and do ask How the Holy Spirit is in us considering that Infiniti ad finitum nulla est proportio neque loci angustia quod immensum est potest circumscribi of that which is infinite to that which is finite there is no proportion neither can that which is unmeasurable be limited or bounded within any precinct of place c. I answer That the most excellent Father for Christs sake sendeth him unto us according as Christ promised us in the person of his Apostles The Comforter saith he which is the Holy Spirit whom my Father will send in my Name And as for proportion of that which is infinite to that which is finite c. I will in no case have it thought that the Holy Spirit is in us as a body placed in a place terminably but to attribute thereunto as duly belongeth to the Deity an ubiquity or universal presence not coporally and palpably but effectually mightily mystically divinely c. Yea and this I may bodldly add that Christ Jesus sendeth him unto us from the Father neither is he given us for any other end but to enrich us abundantly with all good gifts and excellent graces and among the rest with the discerning of Spirits aright that we be not deceived And here an end of the first Book BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of Spirits in General What they are and how to be considered Also how farr the Power of Magitians and Witches is able to operate in Diabolical Magick 1. BEcause the Author in his foregoing Treatise upon the Nature of Spirits and Devils hath only touched the subject thereof superficially omitting the more material part and with a brief and cursory Tractar hath concluded to speak the least of this subject which indeed requires most amply to be illustrared therefore I thought fit to adjoyn this subsequent discourse as succedaneous to the fore-going and conducing to the compleating of the whole work 2. The Nature of Spirits is variously to be considered according to the source to which each Caterva doth belong for as some are altogether of a divine and celestial nature not subject to the abominable Inchantments and Conjurations of vitious mankind so others are the grand Instigators stirring up mans heart to attempt the inquiry after the darkest and most mysterious part of Magick or Witchcraft neither is this their suggestion without its secret end that is that by the private insinuation and as it were incorporating themselves into the affection or desire of the Witch or Magician they may totally convert him into their own nature reducing him at last by constant practice to such obdurateness and hardness of heart that he becometh one with them and delighted with their association being altogether dead to any motions in himself that may be called good 3. And if we may credit example which is the surest proof the very imaginations and affection of a Magician doth create an evil Essence or Devil which was not before in being for as the Astral Spirits are