propositions they maintain rather than their true natural Sense such as 't is found in other Authors and in ordinary use of a Tongue that is so familiar to them Of these I might recite a thousand proofs if it were necessary and time would allow me Sect. 13. Besides as much as Man has taken pains to acquire uncertain and corrupted Sciences so much has he been negligent of informing himself in the best the finest and at the same time the smallest part of Sciences with which he is ordinarily less acquainted for as I have already said the Youth in the Schools run over all the Countries of the Ancient Heathens only to make a booty of Latin and Greek before they do so much as visit Christianity which is only shewn to them as at a distance they are yet of too tender a constitution to be loaden with such solid meat and too young to be mixed with such important Affairs so that they are taught almost nothing of that matter It is not thought convenient for them to know what Soul and Body are wherein consists the Essence of the Soul or that of the Angels and Devils and what knowledge and operations those Spirits are capable of and what share and administration they take here below in human Affairs No light is afforded to them that may dissipate the darkness that has been spread over their understandings in their youth nor blot out the impressions that have been made upon them as to this point by the means already mention'd so that this darkness and these impressions destitute of Antidotes do still penetrate farther Even those that follow the Principles of Descartes tho' they distinguish better than others the nature of Soul and Body as will be shown in my Second Book Chap. 1. Sect. 12 13 14. yet when they come to the operations of such Spirits as are not joyned to a Body either Angels or Devils and undertake to explain how they can act upon other Bodies either of Men or other matter they take as much freedom as they can and go as far as they can be carried by the prejudices they have imbibed with all others before they studied Scripture and Philosophy Sect. 14. That which may adorn the Human Mind with Light and form its Judgment is what is less intended to be acquired in Universities tho' they seem to be the place where such a rare thing should be gotten which most unhappily affords not the means to grow rich I mean Mathematicks and that part of natural Philosophy that discovers the nature and course of the Heavens not because they treat of our present subject but for two other reasons I shall add The first is that more certainty is to be found in Mathematicks than in all other Sciences because they are grounded upon infallible Principles such Students as are used to the certainty of these Principles will not acknowledge for truth such as are not attended with a full and entire conviction and put a little value upon such Sciences as have not the same certainty But the Second Reason is still more particular viz. That Mathematicks especially that part that treats of the knowledge of Stars manifestly discovers several things that undeniably shew the Sacred Writers accommodated themselves to the stile and capacity of the Vulgar and speak of the Heavens Earth Sun Moon and Stars not according to their own nature and as they are in themselves but according to the common notions of Men. And therefore those that are somewhat addicted to that Science credit not so easily the discourses of other Men and are not satisfied with probabilites They are not disposed to fill the Air with Spirits nor to fix them to Stars nor to confound Spirits and Stars together But the mischief is as I have already hinted that few Learned give up themselves to that part of the Sciences tho' it is the most useful and beautiful of all Sect. 15. All these prejudices with which we have been once fill'd which have been rooted in us more and more by the ways already alleag'd which have grown by the new nourishment they daily received and which have neither been banished nor weaken'd by the endeavours of a better informed Judgment all these prejudices I say are no where more sensible than in the subject we treat of And therefore we have destin'd this First Book to establish this Truth and make it very plain to the end it might be clearly perceived that all those Opinions concerning the Devils Divinations and Witchcraft draw their first Original from the Heathens who communicated them to the Jews during the Babilonian Captivity where they had more conversation with the Philosophers than in the Land of Canaan whilst they liv'd separated from all other Nations of the Earth There they insensibly took the tincture of the Heathen Doctrines and Practices at least of such as seem'd not directly opposed to their Law The first Christians springing from the middle of the Jews and Heathens kept likewise most part of the same Doctrines and intended to gain the Heathens by too great and easie a compliance with their Opinions Thus was insensibly laid the foundation on which the great aedifice of Popery is now founded and rais'd Sect. 16. Another Judgment may be pass'd upon that matter if Popery were put in parallel with Heathenism and not esteem'd the worse of these two For why should not they be held for Heathen Legends what the Pagans have published of their Miracles Oracles Gods Aërial Spectres Dreams and the like prodigies That is why do we not call 'em Lies as we rightly so name the Roman Legends Have we more reason to look upon as suspitious those wonders the relations of which are inserted almost in all the Books of the chief Roman writers and to look upon them as a branch of superstition then to deal in the same manner with those of the Heathens Whence comes it that we publickly laugh at both in our discourses and writings the sham miracles of the former as being meer delusions and trifles and that we approve both by our words and our Books the narrations that the latter make of the wonders seen amongst them and that we quote them as true thô they be of the same matter and weight with the others The antiquity of those Authors and of the times in which they have written has it so much power and efficacy and must we more easily credit stories because they are said to have happen'd a long while ago and in far remote Countries But what 's that to the main point Truth fits not it self in this manner to the inclinations of Men. Lies were anciently told as well as they are now and as well in Foreign Countries as in our own Sect. 17. It is methinks sufficiently proved by all the quotations of this Book that there are no Miracles Oracles purging Fires Apparitions of Hobgoblins or Souls Witchcraft by Letters and â—â—aracters or choice of Days either in
Author and what is his Method AS the two first Books of this work that I published at first have been differently received for Reasons alledg'd in the Preface It will not be amiss to represent to the Reader what has been properly my design in these four Books that I have Intituled The World Bewitch'd nor to shew what foundation I built upon and what way I take to find out the truth For althô I express my self clearly enough in the beginning of the work and in the Preface to the first part I know nevertheless that is not sufficient to destroy the prejudice wherewith the learned themselves appear more biassed than the Vulgar which I should never have thought but it seems at present I have found out the Reason which is that the most part of those which do not put themselves to the trouble to pass through all the Degrees of the Schools aspire to Sciences and sublime knowledge but for their particular pleasure they are the People that love liberty and to whom it matters not who is the Master that instructs them provided that they may learn something or if they are greedy of rarities they have not so much respect to the mode nor to that which is New or Antient as to the beauty of the matter and to that of the work On the contrary it is with those who pass through the Schools as with those who live in Shops where every one has his way every Master has his Method in the work he makes In one Town they make the same things after one fashion and in another after another when one is taken up with the mode he often rejects what is pleasing without any other Reason then because it is not as commonly used in the World And we have a strangeness for all novelties so long as they have not the common vogue althô otherwise we might approve them and have them cheap enough but as soon as Custom has introduced them one begins to seek them out and to be disgusted at the former Sciences are subject to the same inconveniencies Those that we send to the Schools continue in the road which has been mark'd out to them for their exercises they endeavour to form themselves upon the model of those which have most reputation or of those who are the nearest to their first prejudices so this is disapproving the part they have taken not to be apt to take any and to preserve our own liberty and thus we expose our selves very much but one runs a greater risk if willing to ascend higher and search things in their Fountains it happens at last that we find our selves out of the ordinary Road and that we are obliged to take another Hinc illae lachymae From thence proceeds all disorders The common Opinion of the Devil of his knowledge power and Operations and of People which are accused of having commerce with him began by little and little to become very suspitious by the help of natural light which I have common with others which was strengthened and purified by the Scripture so after I had well examined it I was in doubt whether I ought to maintain it any longer or abandon it not only by Reason of the truth but also because of the Piety which it seem'd to contradict My Conscience it self compel'd me to it for I was obliged to answer those that ask'd me and to take care of my Conduct because of the disposition I saw the People in It was the Duty of my charge and every Day occasions offer'd themselves my pain increased every moment by the continual necessity I found my self in to speak and act as others did or to oppose the publick with words or actions which agree not with my Character which is to be complaisant and to agree with all the World as much as is possible Besides I found not as yet foundation enough to act after an other manner which made me at first resolve to make an exact search after the Original of this common and general Opinion to know whether it was founded upon truth But because I make this examination à priore and not à posteriore as they in the Schools I have proposed the state of the Question but at the end of the first Book where I discovered in the 22th Chapter how many of the Opinions which I have related which are all those that ever were in the World upon this subject The Protestants have at last got together and formed those which they retain to this Day In the 23th Chapter I compare them with the Opinions of other Nations and in the 24th Chapter I shew by what means they have been introduced amongst us and what keeps us so strongly tyed to them So in the first Book I examine what is the rise of the Opinion concerning the Devil and in the following Books I discover what sentiments we ought to have of him An Abridgement of the First Book IN the First Book I run over all the World to find whence this Opinion has its Original And for this purpose I have omitted neither time nor place I observe that the subject ought to be examin'd in two Respects In respect of the Devil to find what is his Knowledge and Power and in respect of Men to see what they learn and effect by his means But because these things are preternatural or are so thought to be and that by consequence they are known only to God I have judg'd it necessary to know what are the Opinions of Men concerning the Divinity and Spirits in general either good or bad and of human Souls separated from their Bodies by death which are also Spirits I make a search of all these things First in the Books of the Ancients and afterwards in the Moderns of all Religions and amongst all Nations distinguishing them into Pagans Jews Mahometans and Christians in reference to the present state of the World I begin with the Ancient Pagans which are for the most part Greeks or Romans known to us by Greek and Latin Books they have lest us which I treat of in the 2d 3d and 4th Chapters for there are very few Histories of other Countries and other People which are come to our knowledge There you see what they believe touching Gods and Spirits which are neither Gods nor human Souls and as to the estate of the Souls after death You read there also what means they used to attain that knowledge and to operate things beyond the power of Nature by the means of those Spirits such as they believe them to be I come afterwards down to our time and examine all the Pagans in the World first in Europe in the 6th Chapter after in Asin in the 7th and 8th Chapters then in Africa in the 9th Chapter and at last in America in the 10th Chapter which gives me occasion to demonstrate in the 11th Chapter that the Pagans as well Ancient as Modern have had a notion of the Divinity
of created Spirits which I absolutely reject as a way which is used to lead us into error By consequence I cannot admit the arguments which are taken from the nature of God to demonstrate in what manner acts a Spirit which is his creature and has nothing common with him but the name After in the Third Chapter I prove by arguments drawn from the sovereign perfection of God that there are none of those sorts of Spirits that the Pagans esteem to be Gods and ediators of Men towards the supream Divinity because the Reasons of those that ground that belief upon the perfection of God are directly opposite to this perfection We then having taken off the imaginary Spirits I come to those which we certainly know to exist that is our Souls that are a part of our selves and which by consequence are better known to us by our own experience this is treated of in the fourth Chapter where I prove as much as is possible their immortality and that they subsist even out of the body I employ for this purpose Reason and Scripture because they are two ways that equally conduct us to the knowledge of the Soul the first by experience and by our own Consciousness and the second by the particular instructions God gives us of the estate of the Soul after this life but I quote not the Scripture in this part of my Treatise where I examine but what concerns nature only Neither do I judge it necessary to do it afterwards because it is a point that a Christian looks upon as already sufficiently established and supposes it when he will engage in a dispute upon this subject Besides I reject as superstitions and fables whatever proceeds from the invention of Men especially of the Heathens which is the matter of the fifth Chapter So we come to know with certainty that such a Spirit that is the Soul which truly exists has a body with which it lives and without which it may still live and to reject all the other Spirits of whom the greatest part of the World falsly believe the existence But besides those Pagan Opinions we hear every day mention made of Angels not only by Christians but also by Jews and Mahometans The Question is Whether Reason alone is capable to discover to us that there are such Spirits destitute of a proper and peculiar body Upon this point I shew in the sixth Chapter that our understanding without the help of Scripture cannot penetrate farther than to comprehend that it is possible but not certain that there are Spirits For this Reason I have not judg'd it necessary to examine the Operations of these Spirits upon bodies or upon the other Spirits because it seems to me ridiculous to trouble ones self with the examination of the Operations of Creatures the existence of which is not established as certain And therefore I have spoken in the first Edition but by the way in verse which is at present the seventh Sect. of the sixth Chapter And therefore it is manifest how wrongfully many People would perswade themselves that I have composed my work only To deny the Operations of Spirits upon bodies and upon other Spirits And besides that I ground upon this negative all my explications of the passages of Scripture but that I may avoid this persecution for the future I thought fit to insert in the new Edition that is made of my Book a whole Chapter between the sixth and seventh so that this new Chapter is at present the seventh and the seventh is the eight and so of the others following There I pretend clearly to shew that the proofs related upon that subject strike not at all to the end and cannot be considered as true proofs which I mean as to what concerns nature and as to what Human Reason may conceive of it self as destitute of help from the word of God After that I come to the word of God and then I employ Reason no more but keep to the Scripture only and I search in it what it will teach me touching Spirits which is now the question there I find that under the name of Angels it gives us to understand such Spirits as are the Ministers of God toward other Creatures But there is nothing discovered to us touching their Essence neither is their any thing in the History of the Creation as to their Original or the manner of their fall for which Reason part of them was from the beginning rejected from God notwithstanding the Scripture puts these two things for certain which is the subject of the eight and ninth Chapters I consider afterwards the properties and Operations that the Scripture attributes to them and I endeavour to know what is their proper nature their power upon other Creatures either spiritual or corporeal But the passages that speak of these things do not appear to me to have been understood otherwise than those that attribute also to certain Men that is to Prophets and Apostles the works that they have done in dispensing the miracles of God That which gives me occasion to say that as this dispensation surpasses the force of those to whom it was entrusted it cannot make us know what was their proper nature whence I take occasion to infer the same things touching Angels this is in the tenth and eleventh Chapters That which could not be discovered by the means of the name Original or Operation of those Spirits I endeavour to learn by the means of their orders of which is made an ample mention in the twelfth fifteenth and nineteenth Chapters of my first Book But I draw not any light from thence save that Angels as well good as bad have each their head that the Prince of good Angels is called Michael and that of the bad named Diabolus the Devil that is in the two and twentieth Chapter Yet I leave it not here I consider again that the Scripture attributes in many places some particular administration to Angels I examined to know what it is first as to the good Angels in general in the thirteenth Chapter whom the Scripture often makes appear and always for particular revelations to the faithful either to work extraordinary miracles or execute God's Judgments upon Men by punishments or by deliverances But I conceive not that what is said of this Ministry is different from what is related of that of those holy Men who have been employed in the works of God and his miracles that they in no wise operated by their own virtue by consequence I find nothing as yet which may give me a certain knowledge of the proper Angels their power or their Operations Afterwards I come to a more particular examination of the principle passages especially of the manner of speaking of these three persons which appeared to Abraham of the two others that appeared to Lot Genesis Chapter the eighteenth and nineteenth and in making reflection upon this History and comparing it with other instructions of the Holy
the Creator and the Creature we are obliged more particularly to examine how much the increated Spirit differs from those that are created and amongst these last how much those that are immaterial and those that are united with a Body differ from each other Sect. 7. However such a difficult piece of work cannot be undertaken without knowing the different Opinions and Practices upon this Subject and without special Considerations upon them Now whoever shall reflect upon what is said and practic'd as to this matter through all the World and withall upon the converse which Men may have with the Spirits and the Operations that may attend them he will undoubtedly desire to be well informed of all these things that he may distinguish betwixt the Truth and Falshood of those Opinions and what is lawful and unlawful in those Practices For these Reasons I describe all the Sentiments that have been receiv'd amongst Men in all Ages and Places whatsoever concerning God and the Spirits what means Men have made use of to conjure them up and down and what they may be able to operate by the help of those Spirits whence proceeds a sufficient matter for a more particular examination of what sound Reason and the Holy Scripture teach us as to this Point and what experience testifies of it Sect. 8. To treat of these things methodically I have divided this Treatise into four Books In the first I propose the Opinions and Customs of all Nations in all Ages Countries and Religions concerning the Deity and the good and bad Spirits I say the Opinions and Customs for in the matter we undertake to treat of we must take a special notice of these two things the Knowledge and the Action Since no Fruit can be perceived from the Knowledge but by putting it into Practice Besides we fee every where that the Behaviour of Men either in the Words or Actions has a relation to the Doctrines they have been taught For this Reason I have again divided in two parts the examination of what is contained in the first Book In the first part I enquire what Knowledge may be had or Spirits of their Power and Operations according to Reason and the Holy Scripture which Enquiry is the matter of the Second Book In the other part which is the subject of the Third Book I examine those Sciences that are said to be grounded thereupon as Witchcraft Divination Conjuring and the like Moreover as Men use to have recourse to experience not only in things which are not discover'd by Reason and of which the Holy Scripture is silent but also especially in this Case in which Reason and the Holy Writ are made to speak according to the certainty which we suppose to have acquired by Experience This Consideration has furnished me with the matter of the Fourth Book in which I examine all that Men testifie ever to have experienced in themselves or profess to have done CHAP. II. That the opinions of the Heathens concerning God and Spirits are to be found in Greek and Latin Authors Sect. 1. THat we may the better search into the bottom of this matter it will not methinks prove unserviceable First to examine the various Opinions of other Nations and then those that are receiv'd amongst us As to Foreign Nations we have to consider those that are not Christians and such Christians as may be called Spurious The First are the Heathens who never worshiped one true God or the Mahometans who keep as the mean betwixt them and us or the Jews who Worship one God only The others are Christians who are extreamly corrupted and plung'd into strange Errors both as to the belief and to their Worship such as those of the Roman Communion After we have observ'd the disposition of all these Nations she shall more easily examine what is believed and practised amongst us As to the Heathens we must distinguish betwixt the Customs that were formerly in use in those Countries in which Christianity is at present establish'd and betwixt those that are still practised amongst those Nations that have not yet been illuminated with the light of the Gospel We shall now proceed in that order Sect. 2. Europe which is now most or all Christians and those parts of Asia and Africa which are in the Turks possession and of which very near one half professes the Christian Faith were formerly buryed under the frightful Darkness of Paganism as are still most or all the rest of the World Formerly the Greeks who inhabited those Countries that are in the Grand Seignior's Dominions were the most famous People in the World by reason of their Learning and Religious Worship Next to them came the Romans and most of the Nations who still keep Communion with the Pope of Rome For proportionably as the Romans extended the limits of their Empire so they subjected the conquer'd Nations to the Worship of their Gods and to their Religion so that their Doctrine and Worship spread every where and drew to themselves an Universal Awe and Veneration From them therefore we must know the Customs of our Forefathers in the time of Heathenism but we cannot accurately discover what was their Belief concerning Spirits unless we know at least in general their Opinions and Practices concerning God and inferiour Deities Sect. 3. But the great difference and Divisions that were amongst the Heathens themselves upon this Account leave us extreamly in the Dark as to the Opinions that are to be ascribed to them However we may agree upon this viz. to take that stupendous number of differencies for an Uniformity so that it may he affirmed that in all Ages the Pagans have Unanimously believed that there is but one Sovereign God the First Universal cause of all things since the First Doctors of their most famous Schools and the heads of their principal Sects have generally taught this Doctrine to their Disciples The Opinion of Pythagoras that Old Father of the Pagan Religion may be seen in Lactantius who writing against the Heathens did doubtless not intend to spare them however he says that Pythagoras owned one God an immaterial Spirit diffused and extended through all Nature who gives Life and Sense to all beings Plato who has deserved the name of Wise by all the succeeding Ages agrees with him as to this point as appears by his discourse to the Athenians in his four Books of the Laws Gentlemen says he God in whom according to the Ancient Testimonies is the beginning the middle and the end of all things penetrates every where c. And Aristotle his great Disciple who for Two Thousand Years has been esteemed the Prince of Philosophers plainly sayes in his First Book of Metaphysicks Chap. the 7th that God is Eternal and perfectly good so that the Eternal and Infinite Life consists in him From this capital point they infer this other Belief that the good and evil which befal Men proceed from the First and Universal Deity as Plato
French Tongue it has lost it's Ancient name in remembrance of the Resurrection of our Lord and is called Dimanche from Dies Dominica Sect. 9. Let us proceed from the Gods to the Demons or Spirits of a meaner Order Thales of Milet taught if we believe Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the World is full of Spirits namely the Air which they inhabit and the Earth in which they converse amongst Men the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know as signifying one that is very Learned because they believed that those Demons knew whatever is important to Men either for their Happiness or Misery and that they were as the Mediators of Men towards the Gods And 't is observable that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 likewise signifies to Mediate so that the Demons import so much as Mediators And therefore they have also been called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mediators and Directors of Men and have been placed according to the Opinions of the Heathens betwixt the Heavens and the Earth viz. in the Air and consequently betwixt the Gods and Men. Sect. 10. Though the Opinions were divided as to their Nature yet they agreed in these principal points that they were Spirits that they were Mortal and however that they were no Gods as Plato writes in his Timoeus which explaining more at large in his Convivium he says that the Demons have a Nature which is the Mene betwixt God and Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what virtue have they That of explaining and declaring to Men what things belong to the Gods which are their Commands and how Sacrifices must be performed As also that of offering to the Gods what comes from Men viz. their Prayers and Sacrifices so that they being in the middle comprehend the Nature of both as binding and uniting the whole together Sect. 12. As to their Administration Plato explains it thus From them come to us Predictions Auguries the worship of Sacrifices Conjurations Orations and the whole Art of Magick The Deitie meddles not with Men but those Spirits are the Directors of all the communication and converse of the Gods with us either wakeing or sleeping The Demons therefore being by their Nature Mediators betwixt the Gods and Men and being besides Spirits and almost Gods could not be better called then Spirits of a middle Order in relation to their Nature or Mediating Gods in reference to their Functions in how great consideration those Spirits were and what was the Sentiment of the Antients concerning them may be learned from St. Chrysostome Tom. 6. Less 66. Entituled Against those that say that the Demons direct the Affairs of Men. Sect. 12. But what will be most useful to observe was that there were Demons of a Superiour and others of an Inferior Order and that some were esteemed Good and others Wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good and favourable whereas the other were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil Spirits or by a more particular explication of their Qualities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wicked dangerous Enemies Cruel However these Demons either good or bad were not believed of all Nations to be of the same Dignity There were some amongst whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imported as much as Deity and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine even in Plato the Soveraign God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest Demon. However the general use was to distinguish the Gods from the Demons as has been already observed and as Aeschines expresses it in his Clesias O Earth Gods Demons and Men whoever ye be that desire to know the Truth and therefore Plato in the place already quoted may rightly say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that those learned and middle Spirits are in great numbers and several kinds But 't is not necessary to speak more of it for perhaps it would only induce us into several errors there is so much uncertainty in Plato and others that have written upon it they are so much opposed against one another and even to themselves Sect. 13. As to the Heroes they were extraordinary Men and so far above the vulgar that every where especially amongst the Romans they used to consecrate and deifie them after their Death which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Canonization Herodian in his Fourth Book Chap 2. makes a particular Description of that Ceremony with all the Circumstances of it on occasion of the Death of the Emperor Severus Besides we generally find in the writing of the Ancients that they paraell'd them with the Demons Plutarch relates in his Opinions of the Philosophers Chap. 8. Book First That Thales Plato and the Stoicks believ'd that the Demons were Spiritual substances and that the Heroes were Souls separated from the Body which were good or bad as Men had been Virtuous or Vitious this was especially the Doctrine of Pythagoras who in all things that relate to Religion has had more Disciples then any of the Ancient Heathens and is yet the most followed by those that are not Christians He teaches that those Demons and Heroes brought in Dreams Diseases and Cure to Men and even to Cattle and labouring Beasts according to the Testimony of Diogenes Laertius confirm'd by Plato and not contradicted by Aristotle Sect 14. Apuleius in the Book formerly quoted more particularly demonstrates that the powers which put the natural passions of Men into motion which govern them and Lord it over them as also the Souls separated from the Body are called Gods and Demons or Spirits that the Soul born with the Body dies not however with it and that she bears the name of Genius when they are separated from each other This meaning cannot methinks be better express'd than by naming those Souls Associated Spirits or Spirits peculiar to one subject since every Man has one within himself The others that is those that are separated from the Body or the Souls of the Deceased are commonly called Manes as though remaining because they remain of â—â—â—â—â—st after the Body for Which reason I shall name them Surviving Spirits However as to the Latin word it seems rather to be derived from Manis an Ancient obsolete Term which signifies fine and good as immanis imports as much as Vgly and Cruel because the Manes were ordinarily taken for Benevolent Spirits Sect. 15. Some of this last sort remained in the House of the deceased to watch over his Successors and were called Lares or Domestick Gods but the others err'd at random and as Exiles according as they had deserved by their wicked Life They could cause but vain Fears to virtuous Persons but to the vitious a just Terrour and all sorts of Pains They were called Lares Night Phantasms and Spectra Diogenes writes that most of those things were taught in the School of Plato as it still appears by his Book Entituled Phoedo They had also the name of Lemures which is supposed to come from Remures and this from Remus Brother to
Romulus who frightfully imagined to see the Ghost of his Brother Remus after he had killed him If those Narrations were true such Spirits might be called terrifying Spirits Ovid in the Fifth Book of the Fasti plainly says what must be understood by that Name Mox etiam Lemures animas dixere silentum The Soul of the Dead had the Name of Lemures Sect. 16. The Lares or perhaps the Geniues are called by Macrobius in his Third Book of the Saturnalia Chap. 4. Penates that is Born together Quasi penes nos natos For as that Author pursues 't is by them that we breath by them that we have our Body and by them that our Soul subsists But 't is better to call them Gods and Governors of Countries to distinguish them from the Lares who were particular to each Family as they were both distinguished from the Geniuses and look'd upon as taking care of the exteriour of Man as the Geniuses did of the interior However it must be confess'd that there is but Confusion and Darkness to be met with in the Books of the Heathens concerning those Names and their pretended Signification they having not well known themselves what they Worshipped as Gods or as Spirits neither need we take much trouble in unravelling what they themselves knew not since the memory both of them and of their Daemons is long since extinguished upon Earth This being the Lot of the Heathens and of their Gods Jeremiah cap. 10. Sect. 17. Whether this last sort of Gods or Spirits were called Genii Manes Penates or Lemures it plainly appears that they believed the Immortality of the Soul which Opinion being confounded with that of Daemons gave occasion to contrive those sorts of Spirits Plato in his Book Of the Soul Entituled Phaedo induces Socrates speaking near his Death in these Words Above all the Soul must be immortal and unperishable and consequently it must go to live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in invisible places or as others pretend to infer from the Etymology of the Word in agreeable Places Marcilius Ficinus has Translated it in Latin apud Manes by the surviving Spirits as I have named them above but a little after he Translates apud Inferos in the Subterraneous Places which proceed from that they placed the Soul of the Deceased under the Earth Cicero in the first Book of the Tusculan Questions Sect. 26. shows both in these Words We believe that the Souls survive because all our Reasonings lead us to that Opinion Reason ought also to teach us where they are whence Ignorance has taken occasion to invent subterraneous places because Bodies being put into the Earth and cover'd with Earth humo whence comes humari to be Buried thereof it has been believed that the Dead still live under the Earth Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same word which the Interpreters of the New Testament sometimes Translate by that of Hell sometimes by that of Grave none of which agrees with the Sense of Socrates or that of Plato For at the end of the forementioned Book Socrates derides Crito who asked him how he would be buried He believes says he That I am that dead Body which he shall see anon signifying that they might indeed Bury his Dead Body but as to him that is his Soul he should pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the assur'd Felicity of the Blessed which very much differs from the Grave or Hell And therefore 't is certain that Socrates who spake so believed the Soul to be Immortal and that Plato who writ his Words was of the same persuasion Sect. 18. But there were others who tho' they were of the same opinion yet having not acquired so much insight into the State of Souls separated from their Bodies invented Transmigrations and Purifications The Druids so famous amongst the Ancient Gauls held together the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transmigration of Souls with their Immortality For they unanimously taught according to the Testimony of Caesar Book 8. Chap. 18. Non interire animas sed ab aliis post mortem transire ad alios Souls die not but that after Death they pass from one to another The antient Egyptians were of the same Opinion and Herodotus writes that they were the first who taught the Immortality of the Soul For says he their sentiment is that the Soul being deprived of the Body passes into another Body which is then born and after she has thus walked through all sorts of Bodies upon Earth in the Sea and in the Air she at last returns into a human Body Thence it was that Pythagoras had his Doctrine which he brought over into Greece whence it passed into Italy Lactantius explains the Opinions of that Philisopher in his Seventh Book de Proemio Chap. 8. In these words Pythagoras as foolishly asserted that the Souls passed into other Bodies from the Bodies of Men into those of Beasts and from those of Beasts into those of Men again and that his own had formerly been that of Euphorbius Plato and several others have partly followed him which we shall be obliged frequently to mention hereafter Sect. 19. But Socrates as Plato relates in the forementioned Treatise which contains his last Words leads the Souls to some places where they shall be Blessed or Tormented without Bodies He sends those who shall have done Good into the Upper and Aetherial Regions where he believes the most pure part of this Orb to be and where the Soul shall Eternally live without the Body in an unexpressible Felicity Whereas he condemns those of the Wicked to the Tartarus which is a deep and frightful Abyss where they shall be punish'd according to their Deserts From that Gulf of Torments he draws four Rivers to which he gives as many Names very fit to express his Notion viz. Oceanus a precipitate Torrent Acheron a Torrent of Torments Pyriphlegeton Conflagration and Cocytus Bemoaning Here Sinners who have not been altogether incorrigible are to be purged with many Pains and Vexations more or less longer or shorter according to their Deserts There you have the original of Purgatory or of that purging Fire still believed by the Roman Church However Socrates gives out that Narration but for a Chimaera For before he begins it he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pretty Fable worth hearing and at the end he says But no Man of Sense ought to maintain that Opinion so as I have related though I esteem it rational and just to show that it goes very near so in reference to our Souls and their Habitations since it plainly appears that the Soul is immortal These Words of a Dying Man who exhorts those that were present to be at all times ready for Death persuade me more and more of what I have already said that the Heathens express'd themselves variously upon these Matters and that they speak otherwise when they consider them in reference to Religion than when they conceive them in relation
to produce effects by the power of Herbs Stones and other things of the same kind Moreover says again Agrippa for that Reason Natural Magick is that which penetrates the Virtues of all Natural things and which with a subtle discerning having exactly searched into their Indurations and Sympathies discovers so far their secret powers that by them it produces wonders which amaze Humane understanding not so much by Art as Nature to which as to its Soveraign Art submits it self and only lends her the helping Hand Thus we can by Natural ways produce ripe Fruits before their Season and even infects only by supplying the want of time by Natural means unknown to other Men as it is done thô in a less Degree of perfection by Gardners each of whom strives to be the first in getting early Fruits helping Nature by Art and still however by the means of Nature her self The difference only consists in this that a Magus who wholly gives up himself to his study penetrates much farther into the knowledge of the power of Nature than the Vulgar and even those learned who care not to take that trouble upon them But as all these things are done without the particular assistance and concourse of God and the Spirits they concern not the present question however we mention them that we may learn to distinguish them from the subject in Hand and all it's dependencies of which we intend to give a clear and undeniable notion Sect. 4. We have hitherto seen the Magick of the Pagans included within the bounds of Nature Now I desire the Reader to remember what I have said in my Commentary upon Daniel Sect. 26. viz. That to the Magick antiently in use Mathematicks Physick and Divinity were ordinarily conjoyned some giving up themselves to one of those Sciences and others to another whence proceeded a difference of Names betwixt the Students of Magick some of whom were called Mathematicians and others Physicians or by a more odious name Poisoners The former applyed themselve chiefly to perform wonderful things and the others to perpetrate Wickedness Amongst their Wonders may be counted the Wooden Dove of Architas that fly'd and the Statues of Mercury that spake but the imployment of Poisoners was to annoy Men their Goods and their Beasts by many things commonly unknown And having learned the Virtues and Properties of them by their Study they put them in use in such a concealed and imperceptible way that one could scatce belieye what he saw effected and this is what they really operated But as to what they boasted of besides or perhaps imagin'd themselves capable of it was that by the virtues of Simples and some other Drugs mixed together they could transform Men into Beasts Beasts into Men Beasts and Men into other Beasts and Men conjure up Ghosts or raise the Dead out of their Graves c. Sect. 5. Now we must speak of Magick meerly Artificial which may rightly be so called because Nature has no share in it but that is a work of Art alone which however presupposes Nature one may also very fitly give the names of Witchcraft Conjuration and Inchanting in general to all the various practises that are made of it for we call Witchcraft whatever is operated by the power of the Devil with the communication of Men which is never done without using some sort of Conjuration and Inchanting That Art which required of its Professors a particular way of living always consisted in the use of some certain Signs and Words that they utter'd or wrote and in extraordinary Gestures in consideration of which the Demons were ready at all times to discover to them hidden things and to operate in their behalf supernatural Wonders This was therefore the opinion of the Heathens that besides natural Magick they believed themselves capable of producing the most wonderful effects by the power of Demons whom they knew how to make comply by their Conjurations to whatever they desired Sect. 6. We must carefully observe this because natural Magick is not commonly accurately distinguished from the Artificial either by the Antients or by the Moderns and that which belongs to one is frequently attributed to the other even those that meddle with it having committed as many mistakes as the others For some of them says Agrippa are come to that heighth of Folly as to believe that by the different Concourse and Aspects of the Stars with the interposition of time and proportions duely observed they may in a certain instant acquire a sensible Idaea of Celestial things and a Spirit of Life and Understanding which being Interrogated by them will give them Answers and discover 'em hidden things On the other side they ascribe to Nature what is above her power which I cannot better express than by the very words of Agrippa who proceeds thus I desire you to take notice that those Magicians not only rake up into natural things but even in a manner remove Nature out of her place which they endeavour to do by Motions by Numbers by Gestures by Sounds by Voices by Congregations by Lights by the Inclinations of the Mind and by Words Thus it was that the Inhabitants of Psilli and Marsi conjured Serpents and put them to flight thus Orpheus by his singing allay'd the Tempests for the sake of the Argonauts Thus as Homer relates by some certain words the blood of Vlysses was stopp'd There was a punishment ordained by the Law of the 12 Tables to those that should use such sort of Inchantments against Corn. Sect. 7. It must not seem strange to us that things should be so in the Pagans time for Magick consider'd in general and in it self was esteemed because of its depth and honoured as Divine taking the word in the sense of the Heathens and as it may be attributed to their Deities which have been desâ—ribed before Besides Magick was reverenced because of Efficacy and Power beloved for its serviceableness in the good use of it but hated and detested by reason of its malignity and the disturbance it caused when it was abused The same Agrippa will tell us in the words of Porphyry which was the opinion of the most ingenious Heathens upon that subject Porphyry says he treating of Witchcraft and of the Magick of Divine things concludes at last that it may render the Souls of Men capable of receiving Spirits and Angels but he absolutely denies that one may approach God by that Art CHAP. V. That we see still amongst the present Pagans the same Doctrines and Practices WE have spoken as much as it was necessary for our subject of the Doctrines of the Antient Paganism which reigned in the Countries we inhabit We have also spoken of the Nations who introduced most of those Arts and Sciences of which we treat It is now fit to consider the Modern Heathens to know how far their Sentiments and Practises concerning Spirits can reach without the Light of the Holy Scripture which never shined upon them
upon this Most of the Bramines that are not engaged in any of these two Sects Schaaruakka and Pasenda admit the immortality of human Souls and say that there are some who being separated from the Bodies become Devils because of their sins and that the time of their first punishment being finished they must wander in the Air and there induce an intolerable Hunger it being impossible for them to draw so much as the Leaf of an Herb or to supply their wants with any other thing besides what Men bestow upon them in Charity I had mention'd that Opinion speaking of the Ratsiasias Sect. 21. In a word when we gather all the Observations made in this Chapter and before it to discover the Opinions of the Heathens we find that tho' all their Superstitions be grounded upon very different Causes yet they all tend in the main to the same scope that is to worship one sole Object as the Supream Deity and yet to associate Spirits to him I cannot better express that Thought than by the very words of Carolinus which are as a re-capitulation of what has hitherto been said Some esteem says he that the Souls are mortal others esteem them immortal some establish rhe transmigration of Souls others are not of that Opinion and how much differ those that assert the Metempsychosis between themselves some as those of Java believe that the Soul goes into the first Body she meets with others believe that she is sent into such or such Body according as she has merited by the good or evil she has done which is the Opinion of the Banjanes Some affirm that the Souls change their abode but once others three times and others teach a vast number of Transmigrations others make them pass only into Men who must also be strangers others again send them into Man and Beasts but others at last make them pass only in the Females of Men and Beasts which is the imagination of the Thearauachs others have yet quite different Opinions In a word it may be rightly said upon this subject Many Men many Minds for there are almost as many Opinions as Persons CHAP VIII That the Witchcraft practised amongst the People proceeds from the same source Sect. 8. AS the name of Withcraft is given to whatever is supposed to be done by the help of the Devil I cannot but judge that many persons are called Sorcerers and Witches who perhaps are not so and that this must be ascribed to the same prejudice which I have mentioned before speaking of the worship of Demons And therefore I intend to examine hereafter what these People really are It is sufficient to advertise here before hand that all the Heathens must not be taken for Magicians Sorcerers and Inchanters because many Writers have called them by such names giving them indifferently in their Writings to all the He and She Priests and to all those who discharge any Office Ministry or employment in their Religious Worship and in their Sacrifices But I design to insert in this present Chapter whatever is known to us of their practices or of their communications with any of the inferior Gods or Spirits good or bad Sect. 2. The veneration which that People have for the Sun Moon and Stars is sufficient to establish the choice of Days amongst them whence proceeds whaâ— Peteâ— Vaudenbrook has observed speaking of the Benjanes of Narsinga That as to happy and unhappy â—ours they judge of them by the course of the Stars wâ—â—câ—â—heâ— oâ—sâ—â—â—e with great nicety Trigaltius in 〈…〉 Chap. â—9 says that there is no Su◠〈…〉 in China as that of observing the Feast and Working days and that they rule the whole conduct of their Lives upon the disposition of Time To that end there are Printed every year two sorts of Almanacks made in the Emperor's name by his own Astrologers which contributes to set off this delusion for a Truth there is marked every day what is good to be done or not to be done and to what hour must be deferr'd what offers it self in the intervals of the fortunate or unlucky moments Sect. 2. Carolinus has methinks made a good Abridgment of what follows in Trigaltius which therefore I intend to make use of There are other Books says he besides those that more particularly treat of this matter and even there 's a sort of Teachers which only subsist from what they get in prescribing happy Days and Hours to the Querists thô they have but a small reward for it They are so much bewitcht with those predictions that they often deferr an importunate Affair or a long and dangerous Journey till they have found out a Day or Hour of good Omen And thô it sometimes happens that at that Day or Hour there falls a great Rain or a contrary Wind blows yet for all that they begin the undertaking or journey in their perfixed time should they only proceed 4 steps or dig out but a Basket full of Earth from the place where they intend to lay the Foundation of a House That was also the employment of those that were Anciently called Astrologers and Mathematicians of whom we have spoken before Sect. 4. They are no less superstitiously curious in observing the time of the Birth to foretel the condition of the whole course of ones Life Those calculators of ones Nativity are the same with the Ancient Genethliaci before mentioned Chap. 3. Sect. 4. There are many other Diviners who boast of foreteling future things by the Observation of the Stars by the inspection of the Face by the Dreams by the posture of the enquirer by his manner of sitting or standing and this sort of Men are in great esteem amongst the vulgar Sect 5. Rogerius gives a larger account of what has been said concerning the choice of Days amongst the Chinese which is likewise practised amongst other Nations as especially the Inhabitants of the Coast of Coromandel where they use Almanacks like those of China and call them Paniangam That Author says That they are two sorts one that shows what must be done and the other what must be laid aside at every Hour of the Day of the Week and what shall succeed or not For a Specimen of it he relates the predictions of Sunday from Hour to Hour They reckon in that Country 30 Hours betwixt the Rising and Setting of the Sun 1. Good for all Affairs of Council and Reasoning 2. Undertaking shall prosper 3. Shall not succeed 4. Who means to get an Advantage shall not get it but his Enemy 5. Good for Trading Profitably 6. Good for Rejoycing and Undertaking whatever concern Merriment and Science 7. The Courting of Women shall succeed at a pleasure 8. Trade without gain 9. As the 6th Hour 10. No Project happy 11. Physicks and things taken for Pleasure will not prosper 12. Who aspires after Victory shall obtain it 13. Good for buying Cows and other Beasts 14. Good to take a Servant 15. Bad to enter into a
thô in the Morning they find that he has not touched it Sect. 16. I shall yet give a more particular Relation of the Caraibes drawn from the description made by de la Borde who was sent by the French King with the Jesuit Simon to convert that People what he has in his Relation subservient to our design viz. to know their sentiments concerning the Deity and the Spirits and to be inform'd of their practices is as follows Louquo who was the First Man and Caraibe and consequently the Common-Father of all the others was not made by any but descended from Heaven here below where he liv'd very long He had a great Navel whence he brought out the First Man as well as out of his Thigh making there an Incision There happened many stories during his Life that would be shameful and infamous to be reported he made little Fishes from scraps and little bits of Manjou which he threw into the Sea but the great from great parcels of the same Root He rose again three days after his Death and returned to Heaven Terrestrial Animals are come since but they know not whence They believe that the Heavens have been from all Eternity but not the Earth nor the Sea that neither of them was in that fine disposition in which they now are their mover and first actor Louquo having first made the Earth soft smooth without Mountains but they know not whence he had the matter of it the Moon followed immediatly but eversince she saw the Sun she got away and hid her self for shame and ever since shewed her self but at Night they attribute the Eclipses to Mapoia the wicked Spirit who endeavours to kill them They more esteem the Mâ—on than the Sun and for that Reason rule the days by the Moon and not by the Sun never saying a Month but a Moon nor how many days shall you be on your journey but how many nights shall you sleep abroad Sect. 17. Their Opinion concerning the Demons Inferior Gods and Heroes may easily be learned They believe that all the Stars are Caraibes and that Racunnon was one of the First whom Louquo made he was changed into a great Snake that had a Man's Head and always stood upon a Cabalas which is a very thick hard high and straight Tree but he was since transmuted into a Star Savacon another Caraibe and since a Star is the Captain of the Hurricanes and of Thunder and 't is he that causes great Rains Achinaon a Caraibe and Star causes little Rains and great Winds the Star Couromon raises a Wind that makes the Sea ebb and flow They reckon and mark the Years by the Constellation Chirities which is by them the name of the Pleiades Cavalnia is the Captain of the Zemeans Limacani is a Comet sent by the Captain of the Zemeans to hurt when he is Angry Joalouca or the Rainbow is a Zemean too that makes the Caraibes sick when he finds no Victuals If it appear to them at Sea they take it as a good Omen and say that it comes to accompany them and procure them a good Voyage but if it appears at Land they hide themselves within their Cottages fancying that it is a Foreign Zemean that has no Master that is to say no Piaie and therefore can do nothing but hurt by his Evil Influencies and undoubtedly seeks to kill some body Sect. 18. There are several other things of which they make Zemeans especially such as cause some terrour or amazement as Bats Which they name Boulliri that flie by Night about the Houses they believe that they keep them and that such as kill those Creatures become Sick They have so many sorts of Boule Bonum that is to say bad Omens that I cannot resolve my self to relate all their Trifles and Dreams Sect. 19. Their Religious worship chiefly consists in such Divinations and Witchcrafts as are agreable to their strange notions Assoon as they fall into a Disease they fancy themselves to be bewitch'd and if they can catch the Woman they suspect they kill or cause her to be killed for they commonly assault Women not so freely daring make bold with Men But before they kill her they exercise an unheard of Crueltie upon the poor Wretch their Relations and Friends go to catch her and cause her to rake up the Ground in several places untill she has found what they suppose she has hidden and often that miserable Woman confesses an untruth to free her self from those Tortures When they have gotten that proof of her being a Witch they put her to Death in a most Cruel and Barbarous manner related by the Author who adds that the Caraibes fancy to have several other means to preserve themselves from Witchcraft for Instance They put in a great Gourd Hairs or some bones of their Deceased Relations which they keep in their Carbet for some Witchcraft and say that the Ghost of the Deceased speaks therein and advertises them of the designs of their Enemies Sect. 20. Divinations are made by the means of Zemeans that is to say familiar Spirits Each Picas or Boie having his own and ruling himself by the advices of his detestable Oracles Thus to know the event of their Diseases they cause a Piaice to come at Night who immediatly orders all the Fire of the Cottage to be put out and the suspected Persons to be gone then he withdraws into a Corner where he causes the Sick to be brought and having smoaked a little Tobacco he bruises it in his Hands and blows into the Air shaking and snaking his Fingers 'T is said that the Zemean fails not to come at the smell of that precious Incense and Perfume by the Ministry of the Boie who doubtless is in a compact with the Devil There being interrogated it answers with an audible Voice and as it were at a distance to the Queries put to it Afterwards he comes near the Sick Person strokes and gently handles several times the afflicted part still blowing upon it and sometimes drawing or feigning to draw out of it Thorns little parcels of Manioc Wood Bones or little Fish-bones which his Devil supplyes him with perswading the sick that it was that which caused his pain He often sucks the Aking part and immediatly goes out of the Cottage to spew up says he the Venom Thus the crazy distemper'd is cured rather by Imagination than reallity 'T is observable that he cures neither Agues nor Wounds as those of Arrows or a Knife Not a word is to be said in that Diabolical Assembly nor any noise to be made no not so much as to let a Fart otherwise the Zemean flies away The Caraibes believe that all the time the Piaie goes above and comes back only when the Zemean is gone As a Gratuity they present in their Cottages without other Ceremony the Zemean and the Piaie too for the trouble he has been at in calling out the Spirit some refreshment as some Ouicou and
Names which the Administring Angels seeing said among themselves Let us consult together how we shall do to make Adam Sin against his Creator otherwise he is like to become our Master Sammael who was a great Prince in Heaven she has been before mentioned Ch. 12. S. 8. was present at this Council with the Saints of the first Order and the Seraphins of six Troops Sammael chose some of the twelve Orders to accoâ—â—â—â—ny him and came down below to visit all the Creatures whom God eternally Blessed had created He found none so cunning and so proper to deceive as the Serpent The Author comes afterwards to the Seduction and Fall of Man upon which he tells as many Stories as he has already done So was the Seduction of Man the cause of the fall of the Devil Afterwards he relates how God punished Adam Eve and the Serpent and imposed on each of them his proper Pain He call'd them all three before him charged by his Sentence Adam with nine Curses and condemn'd him to Death but he precipitated Sammael and his whole Troop from the Heavens the abode of his Holiness He cut off the Feet of the Serpent for it had before the shape of a Camel and Sammael rode upon him and he cursed it above all other Beasts and living Creatures That 's the Fall of the Devil according to the Opinion of the Jews for we must not charge this Story upon Eliezer alone The Targums that contain the most ordinary and received explications of their best Doctors mention this Fable in several places Sect. 14. They give yet another original to the Demon feigning him to be issued from Lilis That 's saith Manasse the Name of the Wife of the Devil who according to the Opinion of some had been the Wife of Adam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lilit Is a word to be found in the Holy Scripture Isa 34 14. which our Interpreters translate Satyr the French Lutin and the Dutch Duyuell but we must hear Rabbi Elisha who in his Thisbi has set up the whole Legend We find in some Writings that for one hunderd and thirty years during which Adam abstained from his Wife there came she Devils to him who grew big with Child and brought forth Devils Spirits Hobgoblins and Night Phantasms I find again in other places that the Devils have been brought forth by four Mothers Lilis Naome Ogera and Macholas We likewise read in the Book of Ben Syra Quest 60. that Nebuchadnezar asking him why most Children died within the eighth day of their Birth he answer'd because Lilis kill'd them of which matter there is more largely treated in the same place but I shall not write more of it because I dont credit it By that Narration may be seen how gross the Fictions of the Jewish Doctors are since there are Men amongst 'em who cannot believe them how apt soever that Nation may be to be imposed upon Sect. 15. But as if those four she Devils had not been sufficient to People the World with wicked Spirits they have invented a third sort from what is mention'd Gen. 6.2 That the Sons of God seeing the Daughters of Men that they were fair took for Wives such as they liked From very ancient times the Jews by those Sons of God understand the Angels Wherefore Josephus says in his first Book of the Jewish Antiquities Chap. 4. That several Angels of God mixing themselves with Women begot a very insolent Generation He even knows the Names of those Angels that were carried to that excess of Letchery Aza and Azael were the chiefest amongst them being both enamour'd with the Beauty of Naema Cain's Daughter Thence proceeded the Giants mention'd in the same place of the Holy Writ who as we may infer from that Narration must have been half Devils and half Men. Asmodee the wicked Spirit of Sara Daughter to Raguel of whom mention is made in the Book of Tobit was likewise issued from that Marriage but others affirm him to be Sammael If it be asked how Spirits have the faculty of Generating Eliezer explains that difficulty in his 22th Chapter When they were thrown down from their Holy abode their strength and shape became like to that of Men. Sect. 16. But not to fill up this Book with Tales they had rather imagine as some Heathens have done Chap. 2. S. 12. that those wicked Spirits are half Angels and half Men. Whereupon Vorstius in his Notes upon Rabbi Eliezer relates the following words taken from Rabbi Scheem Toob in that place where Rabi Nitron speaks of Lilis The power of the Devils Night Phantasms and Wicked Spirits which we sometimes see in a human shape proceeds from the concourse of that Chief of theirs and as to their state the Opinion of the Learned is that they resemble Men as much as they do Angels because on the one side they are not such a subtle substance as those of the other Spirits and on the other they are not composed of such a gross matter as that of Men. If we desire to know why those cursed Creatures are called by the Jewish Doctors sometimes Spirits and sometimes Male and Female as tho' they were Men the same Toob will tell us in his 5th Chapter as Vorstius relates in the 22th Chapter of Rabi Eliezer where he speaks of a second Order of Spirits consider'd as distinguished into ten Orders From that Order proceeds in the Universe two sorts of Spirits of Error or Satyrs who behave themselves like Men who appear to them in their Dreams in the shape of handsome Women transforming themselves now into Men then Women Sect. 17 'T is now time to learn their Opinion concerning human Souls at least if they understand themselves distinctly enough to inform us of it For it already appears from what I have quoted out of Philo Sect. 12. that the most Learned do not stick to an accurate distinction betwixt Angels and Souls And Josephus that famous Historian almost as ancient as that other Author says in his seventh Book of the Wars of the Jews Chap. 25. That the Spirits called Daemons are those of the worst of Men who fall upon the living and kill them if not hindred from it Thence it appears that he ascribes something Corporeal to those Spirits so much the more that he fancies that they may be expell'd by the Root Baaras or by some other formerly shewed by Solomon as the same Author intimates in his eighth Book of the Jewish Antiquities But I am to make a large mention of that sort of Enchantment in the following Chapter Sect. 18. The Book which the learned Hoornbeck has written against the Jews contains in short their Opinions as to the Nature and Original of Souls Their Opinion says he Pag. 319. is that the Souls were all created together with the Light the first day of the Creation and not only that they were Created together but by Couples the Soul of a Man and that of a Woman so that
tbem who eagerly addicted themselves to Magick by which they got afterwards into great reputation and that the expounding of Dreams was a pretence they made use of to commit a vast number of Deceits and Villanies We see continues that learned Author in the Book Maarsar Shemi fol. 45. Col. 2 3. That Rabbi Joseph Ben Calpata Rabbi Ismael Ben. Jose Rabbi Lazarus and Akiba made it their whole business many of their expoundings are related in the place I have quoted out of Lightfoot and from several things contained therein it may be infer'd that they instructed their Disciples in those Arts. In the Book Shabbat fol. 3. Col. 2. mention is made of a Phantasm that appeared to one of their Bigots whilst he was meditating the Law and fol. 8. Col. 2. fol. 14. Col. 3. all sorts of Conjurations are treated of some to cure Wounds others against the sting of Serpents against Theft and even against Enchantments this I have Collected from the Second part of the works of Lightfoot page 147. where many other things of that nature are to be found but not necessary to relate and much less to extract out of the own Books of the Jews Sect. 3. However it will not be besides the purpose to add what the same Lightfoot has gather'd from several of their writings especially from the Book Sanhedrin concerning their Bathkol or the Daughter of the Voice which is the name the Jews gave to the Echo pretending it was an Oracle that under the Second Temple supplyed the want of the Vrim and Thummim with which the First Temple was honoured This is known by all that are but a little acquainted with the Jewish affairs and have read some of their writings but here are proofs that show they made use of Bathkool Divinations Rabbi Jochanan and Rabbi Simeon designing to consult Bathkool to go and see Rabbi Samuel the Babylonian they pass'd before the School and heard a Boy reading what is contained 1 Sam. Chap. 25. verse 1. Samuel is Dead They observ'd that and found that the Samuel they sought was Dead Here follows another story Rabbi Jonah and Rabbi Josah went to visit Rabbi Acha while he lay sick they said let us hear what Bathkool will say and immediatly they heard a Voice of a Woman that said to her Neighbor The Candle goes out to which the Neighbor answer'd Pray don't let it go out nor extinguish the light of Israel Lightfoot Tom. 2. p. 167. It is as sure that those words proceeded from Bathkool as it is certain that Elijah is present at the Circumcision of the Children of the Jews as 't is commonly believed among them and as all the learned know Sest 4. But besides those singularities we may take notice that all their Witchcraft is founded upon two grounds the influences of the Stars and thy apparitions of Spirits the reason of the former ground is that thô they esteem not the Celestial lights to be Gods yet they ascribe to them a particular virtue working upon and influencing Human Actions as well external as internal senses We have already heard Philo and Ben. Maimon upon that matter 'T is very usual with them to say The Planets make such a one Wise or Rich as Buxtorf relates it in his Lexicon Talmudicum out of the Books of the Sabbath these are happy influences or Constellations that are called Mazzal-toob but Mazzal-ra is a malignant Star under which one is born or whose virtue influences him all his Life Buxtorf says again upon the Authority of the same Book That the Planet of the Day of ones Birth influences him not but only that of the Hour And even we find in that Book which is the Genius of every Man according to the Planet under which he 's born He who is born under the Sun will be handsom free not dissembling but of an unconstant humour Under Venus he 'll be rich and letcherous Under Mercury skilful and of a good memory Under the Moon sickly and unstedfast Under Saturn unfortunate Under Jupiter just and Under Mars happy Which is the same with all the other Constellations In the mean while it is commonly said That there is no Planet in Israel because all the Jews seem to be born under one Planet being all of the same Genius and Conduct therefore we must conclude that those distinctions concern only strangers and that Israel has the skill of foretelling their good and bad Fortune However they are much disturb'd when the Moon is Eclipsed because they take that accident as an ill presage to them which is an evident proof of the unstedfastness of the Jewish Nation Sect. 5. As to the Spirits Manasse Ben Israel discovering the true ground of the Jewish Divinations leads us to the wicked Spirits saying That some of them are skilful and shrew'd and others foolish and dull The most skilful flying from one corner of the World to the other sometimes learn what is to happen For this Reason he acknowledges page 18. That several Conjure up those Spirits and do wonders by help of the black Art We read even in some Cabbalistical Books as in Pirke Chalos and Ratsiel and in some others the names of those Spirits and the form of the Conjurations used for that purpose There are also to be found all the presages that may be drawn from the various sorts of Apparitions If those Sprits appear to a Man alone they forebode nothing good if they appear to two persons together they presage nothing ill but it never happens that they shew themselves to three in a company Sect. 6. The ways and means they use for their Witchcraft and Divinations are to be observed in the Ceremonies of their Feasts and the whole course of their ordinary Life Every one knows that Marriage is the lawful way to beget Children which makes them believe one must needs know how to preserve himself in that occasion from the wicked Spirits There is none but has read the Book of Tobit how he expel'd the Devil Asmodee by the inspiration of the Angel Raphael and how they took together a Fish which as some suppose was a Pike as to the Heart and Liver says Raphael if the Demon or wicked Spirit disturbs any Person whether Man or Woman he needs but make a perfume before him and the party shall be no more vexed Chap. 6. v. 7. When he was marryed with Sara he remembred the words of Raphael and took the Ashes of the perfumes put the Heart and the Liver of the Fish thereupon and made a smoke with it which when the Evil Spirit had smelt he fled into the utmost parts of Egypt and the Angel bound him there Chap. 8. v. 23. Sect. 7. If that Narration is esteem'd Apochryphal by the Protestants that of Josephus deserves not a better name when in the Second Chap. of the 8th Book of his Jewish Antiquities he deduces the Original of Magick from Solomon and lays the foundation of it upon the wisdom
which issued the Demons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. mihi 44. St. Athanasius who was of the same mind explains those two things more at large in his Ambassy As to the first he says That God created the Angels to take care of the Affairs of Men that are under their direction so that God takes indeed a genâ—â—ral view of all things but as to the particular Inspection he has left it to the Angels constituted over them As to the second he speaks the same Language with the others that the love of Women made some Angels fall into Apostasie whence proceeded a sort of Demons Sect. 6. Justin that enters more into particulars as to what concerns Demons declares that he knows none that has that Divine Power of preserving and rewarding such as obey him and therefore that he knows none likewise that has the power to avenge himself upon the Disobedient and Rebels This he teaches in his 42th Question having said before in the 40th That a Wicked Spirit that has been once expell'd cannot torment him any more whom he had before possess'd In the aforesaid 42th Question he says That when a possess'd seems to break his Bands and Fetters it is the Demon that does it who has that strength himself but cannot communicate it to the Body of any Man This is very particular and it will be fit to call it to mind again in another place wherefore I desire the Reader to observe and remember it Sect. 7. Irenaeus explains himself but obscurely concerning the State of Souls after this Life when he says at the end of his Book That they go to an invisible place God has prepared for them But Justin in his second Apology pag. mihi 58. explaining himself more at large goes also more out of the common road for he affirms that the Souls of the Dead have some power over the living saying That Men being seized and cast down by the Souls of the deceased are ordinary call'd possest and furious It must be observ'd here that having spoken immediately before of human Souls separated from their Bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though the Latin Interpreter has used two different Words viz. first Animae the Souls and then Manes the Ghosts Mention iâ—â—ade of the latter in his second Chapter of this Book S. 14. But in my Opinion the same word cannot be taken in two different Senses at the end of one period and the beginning of the following He must therefore ascribe to the Soul of the deceased of whom he undoubtedly speaks in his first period all the Operations upon the living which the Heathens used to attribute to other Spirits call'd Demons for he there speaks of the Heathens Sect. 8. Origen who lived in the third Age had strange Notions concerning the Angels sometimes he gives them a Nature but equal to that of Men For Writing of the Light which St. John in his first Chapter says to be our Saviour he seems to believe that it was equally communicated to Man and Angels as may be seen more at large in his third Volume on St. John But in another place he makes so great a distinction betwixt Angels and Men that going from the first of Creatures endued with Reason to the last he puts the Angels as betwixt God and Men For he teaches on 1 Sam. 28. that the first Creatures are those which the Holy Writ names Gods The second those that we call'd Thrones and the third those that bear the name of Principalities Afterwards he calls in Question Whether Man is the last of rational Creatures or whether such Creatures as dwell upon Earth amongst which he ranks all the Demons or at least part of them are inferiour to Men that 's his Opinion in his first Vol. St. John Sect. 9. He again intimates elsewhere that as Men who have had the fear of God in this life become Angels after their Death as 't is read in St. Matth 22.30 though there it is not properly they become Angels but they shall be like Angels So that the present Angels might formerly have been Men Moreover he imagines that Angels and Men may dispute which are more perfect establisting betwixt the Nature of those two Subjects the same difference which our Saviour puts between the first and the last St. Matth. 19.30 and ch 20.16 he ascribes to Angels not only the Subregency of the World in his tenth Homil. upon Jeremiah and constitutes as well as other Doctors Guardian Angels upon that Principle but he persuades himself that their Virtues and Devotions may increase as those of Men proportionably to those of the Persons they keep Afterwards he destines some to watch over little Children and others over the Adult grounding his Opinion upon St. Matt. ch 18.10 where mention is made of the Angels of little Children that see the face of their Heavenly Father Sect. 10. He has this particular Opinion concerning the Stars that they may have Light and Intelligence and though he expresses not himself so plainly upon that yet 't is a necessary consequence of his Principles for upon the Words in the Hebrews 2.9 That Christ has tasted Death for all He says first that by that all must not simply be understood all Men but whatever is capable of Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and amongst those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rational Creatures he reckons the Stars a little after and upon that foundation he is not afraid of making our Lord not only the Redeemer of Men but also of Stars that have likewise sin'd because 't is said the Stars are not pure in his sight Job 25.5 he repeates the same at the end of his 2d Volume upon St. John denying however that their Influences should hurt Men notwithstanding what is read of Lunaticks Matth. 17.14 15. Writing upon Genesis he likewise rejects Astrology to which he believes that some Angels having forgotten their Duty have persuaded Men to addict themselves Sect. 11. Tertullian in his second Book against Marcion says as to the original of Devils He has made the Angels that are Spirits now in as much as the Devil was made by God he is an Angel and belongs to his Maker but inasmuch as he has not been made by God viz. as a Devil or a Slanderer it follows that he has made himself so by forsaking God and withall deceiving himself That Language is somewhat obscure Origen speaks not better for in his first part upon St. John he seems to recite a Riddle concerning the Dragon as having been one of the first created by God in a Bodily shape and before Man He strains the Words of God to Job ch 40 v. 15. for he takes them as they are now read in the Greek Bibles as though there was this or that Dragon whereas the Hebrew Text has Behemoth that signifies a great Beast Translating the Verse thus This is the beginning of what God formed which he mad for a matter of laughter to his Angels Sect.
or less enamour'd with corruptible things however in that number are not comprehended those of whom 't is said that they shall not possess the Kingdom of God unless by a convenient Repentance they obtain forgiveness of their Sins Sect. 29. We come down to the 5th Age in which we meet with Theodoret who sufficiently explains as to our design the Opinions of the Doctors of his time concerning good and bad Angels for he proposes to us what he thinks of the Angels properly so call'd as well in reference to their Nature as to their Understanding and Administration As to the first point he holds that though they are not Corporeal yet they are Circumscribed and contained in a certain determinate place as he asserts in his 3d Question upon Genesis The Reason of this Opinion is that he supposes every Angel has some proper Administration and is entrusted with the care either of a Nation or Person but he makes still a more particular distinction in his 10th Exposition upon Daniel putting a Man under the guard of a common Angel and a whole Nation under that of an Angel of a Superior Order As to their Understanding he briefly explains his Mind in these Words Let none be surprised at what I assert as to the Ignorance of the Heavenly Spirits for they neither know future nor other things it only belonging to the Divine Nature but as to Angels Archangels and other Coelestial Spirits they know no more than what they learn and therefore the Holy Apostle speaking of them in the the third Chapter to the Ephesians v. 10. says That to Principalities and Powers in the Heavenly Places c. See his Commentary on the 24th Psalm Sect. 30. Theodoret speaks afterwards of the Demons in the same manner for he holds them not capable of making true Predictions He says upon Ezekiel Sect. 8. That the Demons know nothing before it happens unless it be by guessing and yet they venture to foretell He nevertheless owns in his tenth Book of Oracles that the Spirits have foretold something true but by the Stars For says he whatever the Gods of the Heathens say if it happens that they speak agreeably to the Concatenation of things they must needs gather that knowledge from the Stars which undoubtedly was done by such Gods as declared some things that afterwards fell out 'T is evident that by Demons he understands in general wicked Spirits who cause themselves to be venerated as Gods and gave false Oracles to keep up their Authority and the Credit in which they were amongst the Heathens That Opinion was the most common amongst the Ancients and is in being even to this day as we shall show hereafter Sect. 31. The Opinion of that time upon the original of the wicked Race was that they issued from the Conversation of the Angels with Women Severus Sulpitius relates it not as a particular Belief or as received by some Doctors only but as a Story credited by all Christians for at the beginning of his Ecclesiastical History he presumes to assert it upon the Authority of Josephus as much as if he had been present His words are In that time that is after the Birth of Noah Mankind multiplying exceedingly the Angels whose abode was in Heaven being enamour'd with the Beauty of young Virgins plunged themselves in unlawful pleasures forsook the Supream Region whose Inhabitants they were and ally themselves by Marriages with mortal Women by that unhappy Cohabitation and their depraved Morals they corrupted Mankind by degrees and from thence the Giants are said to be born for the mixture of such different natures must needs produce Monsters Sect. 32. As to the state of Souls separated from their Body the Angels and wicked Spirits this Age affords nothing but what has been observed speaking of the foregoing Centuries Wherefore we descend to Gregory the Great who in the 7th Century joyn'd his particular Opinions to the former He was Bishop of Rome and his Memory is still in great Veneration in that Church tho' he took it very ill that John the Father Bishop of Constantinople and his Contemporary should have presumed to take upon him the Name of Vniversal Bishop to which he believed not that any Bishop had a right and even held it for a Mark of Antichrist Besides 't is not without Reason that the Roman Church makes so much of him For he has taken care to provide her with many Legends so suitable to her Humour and Palate and upon which she has put so great a value that she multiplies them every year And indeed St. Gregory was not contented with the Fables of Origen and other Doctors of which mention has been made but he admitted whatever had been proposed hitherto as Doubts and Questions which he passed into Determinations and Decrees And as tho' what had been maintained before had not been sufficient he thought fit to add something of his own So that since his time there were not only 9 Orders of Angels but they knew also the Degrees of each viz. Angels Archangels Virtue Powers Principalities Dominions Thrones Cherubims and Seraphims as is to be found in his 34th Homily upon the Gospels The Schoolmen that have followed him fail not to take much pains to treat of each of these Angelical orders and to break their head with them in which I intend not to imitate them Sect. 33. It must be observed that at that time the curiosity to know whither Souls went after Death gave occasion by degrees to invent Purgatory the discovery of which has been so far finished amongst the Papists that they go now thither by thousands Boetius a Roman Consul who lived about 63 years before the Pontificate of Gregory begun in his 4th Book Prosa 4. to give some Notion of that place by the Answer he makes to the following Question Does there in your Opinion remain no punishment for the Soul after her separation from the Body To which he Answers Yes doubtless and even 't is not a slight Pain for I hold that some Souls are very severely punished whereas others are purified by Grace As to Gregory himself who from a Souldier became Pope he blows heat and cold from the same Mouth with as much sickliness and levity as the Wind against the Custom of the Popes who use to decide so positively and boldly Upon the 7th Chapter of Job giving advice to a Sinner he saith That there is no human Eye that is no Grace of the Redeemer that casts looks upon the Soul after she has laid off the Flesh And farther he adds That when Holy or wicked Spirit receives at the point of Death a Soul departing from her bodily Prison she remains for ever and without hopes of any Change in the hands of him that has taken her so that when she 's once raised to Glory she can never fall again into Pain and Torments whereas when she is once cast down into the Eternal Abyss she can never come
to reveal it to the Rector or other Priest commission'd by the Bishop never fail to fall into the possession of the Devil to whom the Monitory delivers them after it 's being thunder'd out and that the Devil transforms them most or all the Nights into Dogs Cats Wolves Goats and other Animals which is called to whurry as a Wolf If one meet in the night some Wild-Beast or a Domestick straying he fancies to have met the Wolf-man and is ready to swear it Some of the most thinking and less superstitious part at least believe that the Excommunication contained in those Monitories cuts off from the Communion of their Church and delivers to the Demons those that have not submitted to it by revealing such things as 't is often very convenient and useful to conceal Sect. 18. As all these things are said in general concerning the power of wicked Spirits so certain places are assigned to them where they usually produce their Effects The coâ—mon Opinion is that there are familiar Spirits Domestick and Mountanous Devils 1. The familiar Spirits Spiritus Familiares are those who always keep by a Man even when he calls not for them whether they do it of their own accord or that they have been hired very cheap for that purpose They serve him faithfully at least outwardly whether or no he calls for them They suffer themselves to be shut up in Rings Chrystals Chests and the like and to be carried away whither soever one pleases These are the very words of Schottus pag. 134. Those Demons in Glass or Rings are according to the common Opinion shut in or fastned to them with some certain ceremonies used in that case and not by the virtue of any Conjurations or Exorcisms nor by the power of him that carries them as 't is believed by some but they undergo this willingly or by the absolute order of the Prince of the Devils whom they blindly obey or lastly to deceive Men more easily When they are in those sorts of Prisons and have been carried through several places questions are put to them and sometimes they are forced to speak Then they discover to Men hidden Things and foretell those that are to come It is believed that in our days a great and victorious Prince carried one of these Spirits with him in his Ring and that he lost his sight in a Battle a little after the Stone that was in the Ring was broken into two pieces pag. 143. Sect. 19. Schottus and Dâ—â—â—io relate out of Meletius what is ordinarily said concerning Domestick Devils They withdraw into the most hidden places of the house upon piles of Wood where they are kept with the most delicious Meat because they carry to their Masters Corn that they have stolen from other People's Barns When those Spirits intend to settle in any House they make it known by leaping up sticks of Wood or throwing Dung into Pails of Milk If the Master of the House taking notice of it le ts alone those Sticks and the Dung in the Milk or even if he drinks of the Milk into which the Dung hat been thrown the Spirit appears to him and lives with him Those sorts of Spirits are called by the French Gobelins by the Dutch Guldelkens and Kabautermannekens and by the English Hobgoblins They appear in the shape of Men and Women as little as Dwarfs or such as Pigmies were formerly imagin'd to be Schottus says That it was usual in former times to see many of those Spirits in Houses where they did whatever was necessary They dr essed Horses they swept the House carried Wood and Water and did all sorts of Service pag. 145. he did well by saying 't was formerly done left he should be put to a proof in this curious Age. Sect. 20. He has taken from Georgius Agricola the description he makes of Mountanous Devils saying That they dwell in the Mines under the Mountains that they are cruel and frightful that they make uneasie and perpetually vex those that work in the Mines Some call them the little Hollanders because they ordinarily appear little scarce three foot high with an old wrinckled Face and in the same shape with the Miners clothed with a Wastecoat and Apron Nevertheless he says that they are not so wicked as they love to play Tricks and to be merrily Roguish especially when they will persuade that they do the greatest part of the work in the Mines When all 's done his Opinion comes at last to this that there are two sorts of that kind of Spirits some are good and the other bad The latter are feared and detested by the Workmen whereas they look with pleasure upon the former believing them to be of good Augury But Schottus being willing to grant that they are of a mean Order betwixt Men and Spirits holds them for bad Spirits what good soever they may do believing that when it happens so they are forced to it by God or that they do it Craftily to delude Men Pag. 114. and 149. Sect. 21. There is still more illusions made in relation to the shapes the Devils take on than in the other occasions above-mention'd I will not now speak of whole Armies that are believed frequently to appear in order of Battle of which Schottus treats at large in the addition to his second Book p. 336. but of those that are called Hobgoblins and Fairies Formally our People speak almost of nothing else Schottus writes thereupon p. 339. Delrio says That there is a sort of Spectres that appear as Women all in white in Woods and Meadows Some are seen in Stables with Wax Candles lighted some drops of which they let fall upon the Mains of Horses combing and twisting them very neatly those white Women are also call'd Sybils and 't is said that one of 'em named Haband is as the Queen of the others and commands them People believe their Apparitions to be of good Omen but the Doctors look on such presages as old Womens Tales acknowledging in the mean while that the thing is true or at least possible And Schottus relating p. 215. what Cornelius of Kempen says assures us that in the time of the Emperor Lotarius that is about 830. several of those Fairies were to be found in Friseland where they dwelt in Grotes or on the tops of Hills and Mountains whence they descended at night to carry away Shepherds from their Flocks Children from their Cradles and slip both into their Caverns CHAP. XX. What is the Doctrine of Popery concerning Apparitions of Spirits and how they torment Men either by themselves or by the Ministry of other Men. Sect. 1. IN speaking of this last kind of Demons we are descended by degrees even to Specters and Phantasms But First we have observed that there were yet two things to treat of touching Spirits that is their Apparitions to Men and their Operations in the same It is upon this subject of Apparitions that there is room to speak of
Souls in whatsoever place they may be expect those that are entred into Heaven or into Hell appear to Men p. 253. We see that he will not much trouble us with Purgatory and instead of perplexing himself with a determin'd place he chooses rather to be at large in placeing Souls in loco dispensationis in a place of dispensation such as the Schoolmen have forged it whose Opinion some of ours find not condemnable in what place soever those Souls may be the Papists believe certainly that they appear often to Men to the ends that have been mentioned It is also the common Opinion that the greatest part of the Souls are not those that are in Paradise or in Hell but those that dwel between those two places or in Purgatory for frequent journeys from Heaven to Earth would too much disturb the repose of the Souls that are there and Hell keep its Captives too closely confin'd to give them so much liberty and if it be permitted me to divert the publick I shall say it would bring no profit to the Churches Coffers whose fire of Purgatory makes the pot boyl much better then all the flames of Hell do or all the heat of the Celestial fire Sect. 7. If one would know what all those fantoms do in the World Schottus will not fail to inform you and even to mark with a great deal of care and exactness many different manners in which they shew themselves p. 269 c. First They appear to the sight under divers figures as well of Men as of Beasts or frightful Monsters Second The Ears are often struck without seeing any thing and even sometimes in such an extraordinary manner that it causes astonishment and fear p. 271. Third The touch has it's share in it if what the Author says be true That they move them sometimes to touch Men without doing them any harm but at other times they push them so that they drive them with violence they make them fall down bruise them and beat them that they even trouble them and tempt them to Letchery p. 273. Sect. 8. It is likewise necessary to know that which is written Concerning the figure of bodies in which Phantasms appear he says p. 287. That the Abbot Trithemeus Thyreus Delrius and others whence it apperrs that it is the common Opinion relate Certain signs by which one may know if whether Spirits who present themselves in a corporeal form are Angels or Men good Angels or Devils Souls of the blessed or damned or Souls which are in Purgatory to be purified there However he affords not a very ample instruction upon this point for the chief matter that he says of it is That the Souls of the blessed appear with an Air of content and joy that the Souls which are in Purgatory have a more doleful countenance but that those of the damned have a more frightful aspect with signs of despair And thô it be the common Opinion that there are always some defects or something disfigured in the body in which the Devil presents himself notwithstanding neither our Jesuit nor Delrius holds it for certain see that which the first puts for certain and as generally believed p. 291. It is that when the Devil appears and speaks he always speaks the language of the Country where he is so that he must understand more languages than Mithridates or every Devil can appear but in his proper Country But the voice of a Specter is always perplex'd trembling weak and as muttering as thô it were understood through a Tub or through the cheft of an Earthen Vessel for says Schottus The Devil can speak no better See according to this Author and those of his belief a good mark to know him Sect. 9. We must not omit that which is given out as a thing certain that a Phantasm feels always cold when one touches it Cardan Alexander ab Alexandro are witnesses that affirm it and Cajetan gives a reason that he has learned from the Devil 's own mouth who being asked by a Witch concerning this subject answer'd that the thing must needs be so and that it could not be otherwise the Cardinal explained the words of the Devil in this sense that he will not communicate to a body he takes that moderate heat which is so agreeable or that God will not permit him The Witch was contented with that positive answer without putting the Question further Sect. 10. The Question now is to know who they are which oftenest see Specters our Author answers pertinently to this Question p. 292 and 293. And his words deserve very well to be reported as they are The Souls which are in Purgatory appear rather to the Faithful then to the Excommunicated or to Infidels and among these first they appear rather to their Parents to their Allies and to those which belong to them in any manner whatsoever then they do to Strangers because that they hope for succor from them which they cannot hope from others The Souls of the damned appear particularly to those which have been the cause of their loss and of the torments they suffer The apparitions of Devils are made also with reference to the ruins of those they persecute and their ill will for Mankind whom they take pleasure to torment On the first respect those who are charged with a greater number of Sins have most to suffer in the second the most Virtuous Men are the more exposed to their attacks Sect. 11. After the Specters let us come to the possessest refering the remedies against these two accidents to the following Chapter That which happens to the possest gives occasion to know more particularly what the Devil can act Possessing says Schottus is an inevitable torment to Man from the Devil which is in his body who acts there and keeps him in his power for a certain time p. 521. Which he unfolds more particularly afterwards but as there has been lately published an History of the Devils of Loudun and of a possession very famous said to have happened in the Town the circumstances of which give a great deal of light upon this point we will alledge that which will be proper for this subject referring a more strict examination to our 4th Book which we shall not be afraid to do nothwithstanding the Author appears to be a Protestant because that the most part of the stories this History contains are gathered from many Ecclesiastick Books where they are grounded upon Authentick publick acts and that the possession was declared true by a decree of the Bishop It was also confirm'd by the blood of a Priest who was executed for a Magician after having been condemn'd by an act made by a sentence of Judges Commissioner sent by the French King to examine this affair see then yet what Schottus says p. 533. c. First That a Man may be possest by all sorts of evil Spirits of what order soever they may be for it has been said in