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
our Saviour Jesus are very much lessened that the vanity of Man is maintained and increased and that the comfort of the humble is cut off or at least suffers a great diminution That is whatever is contained in my second Book An Abridgment of the Third Book After having thus simply treated of what concerns Spirits and particularly the Devil according to the knowledge that sound Reason can furnish us with according to that which may be drawn from the word of God where Reason ceases I pass still following the order and division established in my first Book to those Men who according to the common sentiment have communication with Spirits especially with the Devil The same order to which I have kept in my second Book is also observed in this for in the eight first Chapters I make an exact scrutiny of all which may contribute to clear the subject I treat of and afterwards in the seven last I shew what light the inquiry has afforded me and how far one can rely upon what I have discovered I propose at first the true state of the question shewing that the query is not Whether Magick is possible for I grant it but whether there is a Magick which by the virtue of agreement made between Men and the Devil may discover hidden things predict those that are to come and produce effects above the force of nature This is discust in the first Chapter Following the distinction that I have already heretofore many times set down I make in the first and second Chapters the search required and that first by the light of Reason which I divide it into two parts in the first I examine whether it be possible to conceive that Men have any commerce with Spirits that the one and the other may rely upon mutual help or that they may act one upon another In the second part I examine whether there is Reason to believe that there may be express compacts between them that they may mutually contract and reciprocally perform the conditions of their Covenants I expresly deny the first of these founded upon the Reasons alledged Book 2. Chap. 2. and I unfold a little more precisely in the 2 Chapter of this what is contained in the first which I defend against the arguments of Glanvil an English Author I bestow the third Chapter upon confuting those compacts of the Magicians with the Devil as ridiculous and altogether incredible and I answer at the same time several objections and shifts of Glanvil convincing him by his own Reasons that are sufficient for that purpose I pass afterwards to the Scripture as to an upper School from the 4th Chapter to the 7th I undertake it over from the beginning to the end to find out with the utmost exactness what it discovers to us upon this point and upon all it's dependencies either by it's expressions or by the examples it affords us Than I begin to establish what we may believe of it according to Scripture As an Introduction to this examination I relate all the names it gives to that sort of People to their trade and art and I compare the difference to be found between the translations of our own Interpreters as well as between the translation of others This examination is but general but afterwards I come to particulars whether the Scripture speaks of that sort of People of their trade and arts so as it is ordinarily supposed This I do from the fifth Chapter to the 12th but finding it expresses not it self as they give out I examine what sort of People they can be and what the Scripture really says of them from the 13 Chap. to the 17th I discuss the first of these as well by Scripture as Reason and proceed by degrees searching first whether these of whom the Scripture speaks have a particular communication with the Devil whether they make their predictions and enchantments by his undertaking or by his power and at last whether they have between them covenants for that purpose The passages of Scripture which I examine upon this subject are of three sorts some contain Histories of that kind of People and of their Witchcrafts which I show in the 5th 6th and 7th Chapters viz. In the 5th all the enchantments of the Egyptians in the 6th those of Bilsa those of the Priests of the Philistins and of the Witch of Endor and many others by whom the idolatrous Kings of Israel fell into great Sins especially when they came to the Court of Babylon and in the 7th Chapter the enchantment of Simon and Elimas who are called enchantors those of the maid servant which was in the Town of Philippi who had a Spirit of Pithon and those of the seven Brothers Exorcists Afterwards I come to the examination of the names of words of actions and circumstances as well by themselves as comparing the Dutch translations of the Scripture with those which have been made in divers Languages by different Translators and by comparing with the texts the explications which are given by so many different interpreters All the passages where those things are contained being examined very attentively give cause to conclude that the Magicians or Enchanters have been very mischeivous People whose Doctrine and morals were very much corrupted but they do not furnish any probable argument to assert that these People had a particular communication with the Devil The second Order of the passages of the Holy Writ upon this subject consists of those that contain the express Laws which condemn that sort of People and forbid them the exercise of their Function which I examine in the 8th and 9th Chapters But I find no other Reasons for those Prohibitions and the punishments inflicted upon them but their Idolatry and Cheats both of which are Criminal and not becoming the People of God The third Order consists in those Reasonings and Proverbial Expressions dispersed through the whole Scripture that have relation to those things either to the Persons themselves or to their ways I examine therefore whether nothing can be understood in those places whence some consequence may be drawn to illustrate the subject in hand But having bestowed the whole tenth Chapter upon it I find nothing more than before Now as in the third Chapter I have examined by the light of Reason whether there is cause to believe the possibility of the communication of Men with the Devil by express Covenants I do here the same by that of the Holy Writ For in the two following Chapters I run it over again and insisting upon all the passages where the least mention is made of Alliances or Compacts that are not made with God but against Him sinfully and with an evil design I find not so much as one that speaks of those Agreements made with the Devil or any thing like it Upon this I bestow the 11th Chapter In the 12th I run over again the whole Scripture from the beginning to the end From the
it was possible that whatever the Vulgar and the Learned say of Devils and whatever they ascribe to them were true I would not have spar'd so much time as to search into this matter had not I perceiv'd that the Opinions of most Men and perhaps of all the World are only grounded upon an unsure and wavering Foundation This has moved me impartially to examine several things which my Calling and common Conversation offered to me This examination forced my Mind to reject many Opinions which I had admitted at first only because they were common though grounded upon insufficient Reasons as I came by degrees to be sensible of so that I find that at present I know much less than I formerly imagined to do especially as to the subject in hand This however I do not say with a design to Censure or Destroy what others have Written I only intend to joyn my Thoughts to theirs for a fuller Instruction of such Readers as love Truth and are enquiring after it Sect. 2. I am not afraid to mistake if I say that whatever belongs to this matter has not been exhausted Those that have written upon it before having been somewhat retarded by Prejudices that stick to their Mind though they had freed themselves of many others for I own they have proceeded so far as to destroy most of the works of the Devil at least so far as 't was necessary to free Men from Superstition and frivolous Fears But as for me I would if it were possible altogether overthrow them and not leave one Stone upon another that should not be demolished And therefore I 'll try whether I can bring my Countrymen to my Opinion especially those of my Profession desiring them to read this Treatise with as little prejudice as I have written and not to suffer themselves to be persuaded by other Reasons but such as proceed from Natural Light from a clear Interpretation of the Holy Scripture and from certain Experiments I have right to require these Conditions from the Reader since they cannot be rejected by any Rational Person that they are a Law to which I submit my self and that the great consequence of the matter requires them Sect. 3. I am Confident and I hope that the Reader will more plainly perceive it hereafter that no point of the Christian Religion is more important than this and that no certain and sufficient proofs may be had of all the others than by rejecting the Opinion commonly receiv'd amongst the Vulgar concerning the Craft and Power of the Devil Can it be imagin'd a small Matter to know whether the Devil has a Kingdom upon Earth and what are the Limits that separate his Dominions from that of God Almighty Or is 〈◊〉 unserviceable to examine whether such a cursed and detestable Creature can do more wonderful things than God ever did and consequently whether the trust we repose in God and the fear we have of the Devil ought to be equal Such Thoughts ought never to enter into a Christian Heart yet they creep into it unawares at least I think so and can scarce doubt of it for the more I search into this matter the more it seems evident to me that whoever entirely believes all that it used to be ascrib'd to the Devils and his Angels and all that is commonly said of them both by the Learned and the Vulgar saving the bottom of the Doctrine publickly receiv'd and taught in our Church he can have no convincing proof that JESVS is the Messiah or that there is but one God And if in this Writing I do not make the Reader very sensible of it I grant that I have composed it to no purpose Sect. 4. But if I succeed it will at the same time plainly appear that it was altogether necessary to publish this Treatise because the Vulgar are still confirm'd in their Errors by Men of Letters and of great Name who being full themselves of those prejudices make use of their Tongue and Learning to lead others into the same Labyrinth To that end they wrest several Expressions and Histories of the Holy Scripture which being not accurately examined nor conferr'd with others give a great probability to the common Opinion concerning the Devil but if taken in the ordinary Sense they prove evidently oppos'd to other clear Expressions concerning the Fundamental Articles of our Faith It follows that such a Sense cannot subsist without overthrowing the grounds of our Salvation that I can hardly bear since a long time the nicety with which Points of small consequence or at least of little certainty use to be treated of since one cannot discuss them without getting into a suspicion of entertaining Erroneous Opinions whilst in the mean time we are not yet agreed upon Matters of the utmost consequence or if we are agreed upon them it 't is without any foundation And therefore since none was ever found fault with for defending an Article of Faith or giving out a new Explication of it so I persuade my self that I do well by publishing the Illustrations upon a matter on which the whole Edifice of our Salvation is grounded in order that whoever will carefully and impartially examine it may become Wiser and Learneder Sect. 5. As to what concerns this Book I will at first set down the subject matter of it before the Reader The design is to examine to the bottom what the Devil can do and what he really doth that is How far his Knowledge extends either in Natural or Supernatural Things Either as to the Presence as it is conceal'd from Men or as to the Future as it is contingent or possible and not necessary Moreover what Direction or Power he has to operate in Nature what Communication he has with Men with the Human Soul and with all sorts of Bodies That he should transmute himself into them or put on their various Forms That he should act upon the Soul or upon the Body That he should direct Thoughts Words Actions and Gestures What is his Power over the Beasts and Fruits of the Earth Over the Air and Winds What his help may contribute to the Knowledge of Man and his Actions Herein consist Auguries or Soothsaying Witchcraft the Art of Conjuring up Ghosts and of Divining Dreams All which things are methodically and in the same order that is mentioned here treated of in this Book Sect. 6. But because the perfect Knowledge of them depends upon another viz. which is the Nature of a Spirit wherein it consists and how it 's distinguished from that of the Body for Devils are undeniably Spirits and Man is composed of a Body and a Spirit so it will be necessary in this Treatise to proceed farther and to examine first the Nature of Spirits Good and Bad and then that of Man Besides God himself being a Spirit but infinite and independent we ought not to pay our selves with the conformity of the Name but by reason of the manifest difference betwixt
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
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
by their Operations But we find nothing considerable left in writing as to their way of exercising Magick Sect. 10. The Islanders have more relation to the Laplanders and Fuilanders the greatest knowledge we have of them comes to us from the writings of Blefkenius they also believe Domestick Spirits who wake them in the Night to go a Fishing being perswaded that if one should go thither without the Advertisement of these Spirits he could not make a happy Fishing The same Ditmarus Blefkenius sailing from that Countrey to Portugal in 1633 received from one Jonas a Handkerchief with three Knots to be loosed at Sea in case he wanted Wind. They use to make these Knots softly muttering some words Besides that they boast that from the place where they stand upon the ground they may cause Vessels at Sea to stop or to Sail on But I shall yet keep by me for some time that Handkerchief and it's Knots to try hereafter how they may be unty'd I shall also leave those Vessels at Sea untill I examine what may stop or promote their Voyage So that having nothing more to do with Europe we shall go over to Asia CHAP. VII That the same Sentiments are to be found amongst most of the Nations of Asia Sect. 1. THE Inhabitants of Asia as far as that Continent is known to us are not so dull as the Northern Europeans The Chinese Japanders Sianese Peguans those Indians that are known from ancient times and those from the West of Bengala surpass all the rest in civility and ingenuity but the Chinese carry it before all other Nations Let us allow them to explain their own Sentiments and give us an account of their practises We shall hear them unanimously grant that to speak properly there is but one Divine Being whose virtue extends every where However when they came to consider the various objects of the Divine Administration and his different effects they divided the Government of the World betwixt two Principal and many Inferior Gods as the Ancient Heathens of whom we have spoken Sect. 2. Thus the Japanders have intrusted Chaca and Amida with the supream administration of all things and Tanconida Benjamonda Homocanda Zoiola Pipi and Jisus with the particular directions of the Heavens whither the last leads the Souls of the deceased The principle Sect amongst the Chinese is that which follows the Sentiments of Conr futius who is esteemed a great Saint amongst them That Sect says Carobius in the words of Trigaltius acknowledges and adores one only God believing that he governs and keeps all things here below They also venerate the Spirits but much less than that Deity neither do they ascribe to them so great a Power All these People imagine a graduation from the Great Gods to the Inferior Gods and from them to the Spirits for these pretend that the Soveraign God has set over the Heavens Laocon that is the Minister of the Great God and upon the Inferior World Cansai who has under him three Spirits Tanduam Teiquam and Tsuiquam the first of whom has the direction of the Air the second of the Earth and the third of the Sea Amongst the inferior Gods who are very numerous they reckon the Inventors of Arts especially Sichia Quanina and Neoma a God and two Goddesses Amongst the Tartars those of Sarmacande who border on the Empire of the Great Mogul are Mahometans But amongst the others particularly those of Niuche on whom the Empire of Chinais now depending The Deity is likewise divided into two the one is the God of Heaven and the other of the Earth but they make the condition of the first so high and sublime that it may be easily perceived they acknowledge but one God indeed Sect. 3. The Peguans believe a Supream Deity called Duma who is Good but admit also of a 2d who is Bad and for that reason is accounted to be the Devil by the Christians They esteem besides that there are a great number of Gods each of whom has his particular Office the Chief are Carco vitas the most ancient of all on whom the other depend Oisnna the mover of all things Apalita the Leader of the Pilgrims Fotoco their Intercessor by Duma who especially prays for the Souls of the deceased that are condemn'd to the darkness or the Gulf in the House of Smoak The Siamois acknowledge one God who inhabits the Heavens with many other Gods inferior to him amongst whom they place the deceased who have been their Law-givers Sect. 4. Amongst the Inhabitants of Java in which Island is situated the City of Batavia belonging to the Dutch East-India Company some believe the Transmigration of Souls The Cingalois in the Isle of Ceilon worship four Gods betwixt whom they believe the Goverment of the World to be divided and withal venerate the Souls of the deceased whose Lives have been virtuous so that both the one and the other believe the existence of Demons But those of the Javanois may be good or bad whereas those of the Cingalois can be but good Sect. 5. Those that inhabit the North of the Cape Comorin and reach to the Dominions of the Great Mogul tho' they be much divided in their Sentiments yet agree in this point that there is a Supream Deity called either Vistenau or Esuara who however Governs the world only by the Ministry of inferior Gods of whom Brama who is the Creator and Director of all things is the Chief Some say that all these three depend upon Tsechti as upon the only Sovereign God But after all the difference is not so much in the thing as in the name They all believe that Brama gives to Indre or Deuendre a Supream Authority over 8 principal Directors of the Superior World who they place higher than the Earth and nevertheless under Bramalocon which is the abode of Brama Of these eight seven receive the Souls of the dying who have led a good Life and the eighth receives that of the Damned They likewise believe that those Gods have been begotten and married after the manner of Men that they have sometimes appeared upon Earthy in a bodily shape and that Vistenau himself has been seen under more than ten Forms as Rogerius relates to have learned it from the mouth of a Bramine Sect. 6. Going farther Northward into the Kingdoms of Gusuratte or Cambaie Decan and Bengale subject to the Great Mogul you will find above fourscore Sects amongst which there are four Principal whereof one called Chevravac hardly believes the existence of one God However taken together they all confess that there is one who presides over all the rest and on whom they all depend Even that Sect that will scarce believe the Existence of Gods worship Tiel Tenquer who is esteemed a general Saint shewing thereby that it is easier to forsake God with the Mouth than with the Heart The Sect named Samaraet constituted under Permiseer their Soveraign God three other Gods each of
whom has a share in the Government of the World They say that Brama has power over all the Souls and distributes them to Men and Beasts as he pleases that Baffiuna teaches Men the Commandments of Permiseer and provides with all things in this life those that are obedient to him and that Mais calls to Judgment before Permiseer the Souls separated from the Bodies who sends them according to their deserts into the Bodies of Men or Beasts to be afterwards with them purified of their Fits in a certain purging Fire The Gentives in the Kingdom of Goleonda believe also one only God who has been from all Eternity but in process of time has associated himself to some inferior Gods chosen from amongst Men which notion is agreeable with the Semidii Indigetes or Heros of the Ancient Romans Sect. 7. Those Ancient Persians who have remained in their Religion since Mahometism has setled in their Country deserve to be taken notice of Some remained in Persia and live for the most part at Ispuhum the Capital of that Empire Others have retired into the Indies especially into the Kingdom of Gusuratte where they are in great numbers Here you have the belief of the people in the very words of Carolinus extracted from de Laat Varenius and Tuist They believe that there is one God present every where who Governs all things aâ— pleasure without needing the assistance of any one tho' in the mean time he has seven Ministers by him almost of the same Dignity with himself who have each their particular Office of which they are accountable to him The 1st is Hamalda the Governour of Men. The 2d is Baman who has inspection over the Beasts and the Creatures of the Sea The 3d. is Ardi Best who preserves Fire and hinders it from going out The 4th is Sariuard on whom Metals and Minerals depend The 5th is Espendaar who takes care lest the Earth should be fill'd with filthiness and grow wild The 6th is Arendaar who has the direction of the Waters and who takes care that they be not soiled with nastiness The last is Amadaat who has the inspection of the Trees and Fruits of the Earth and of Herbs All these Gods are only Inspectors and Directors it being not in their power to inflict death upon any thing or to give it a new Life for they are solely established to give an account to the Sovereign God and to inform against those that have ill used corrupted or violated the things that are under their keeping Sect. 8. Besides those 7 Ministers there are yet 26 of an inferior Order each of which has his particular district Sorach is the first whose Office it quickly to bring the Souls separated from the Bodies before their Judges viz. Mees Resna and Saros The 4th is Beram Carrasedaats who directs War at his pleasure The 5th is the Sun The 6th is Anoa who has dominion over the Waters The 7th is Ader who is established over Fire The 8th is Maho who governs the Moon The 9th is Tiera that is the Rains 10th Gos governs and preserves Cattle 11. Tavardi takes care of the Sâ—uls who are in Heaven 12th Aram brings Joy to tâ—e World and banishes Pains and Sorrows from thence 13th Goada rules the Winds tho' he be not the Wind himself 14th Dien gives to Nations information and understanding of the Laws and inclination to keep them 15. Appersone affords Riches 16th Astaat gives Vnderstanding and Memory 17 th Assamaan has the inspection of Wares 10. Gimninaat has the conduct of the Earth 19. Marisipant is the God of Goodness which he communicates to those that have recourse to him 20. Armira is the director of Money 21. Hoem is the Author of the conception of Women and gives life to their Fruit. 22 23. Dimnia and Base are established to succor those that stand in need of them The three last Befadeer Defemeer and Defyn stand by God to serve him and are always ready to perform his Orders These are the Names of those 26 Ministers whom the Country men of Persia honour with the Title of Gestio or Saint and whom they believe to have Authority and Power all the things that are under their direction For which reason they also adore them trusting that they will be their Intercessors to God and obtain from him whatever shall be necessary for their good Sect. 9. Having thus sufficiently spoken as to the Gods we 'll now treat of the Spirits tho' we find but little information upon this point in Authors saving in what concerns China and the East-Indies on this side the River Ganges I only find mention made that the Japanders in a place not farr from Osacca venerate a God or Spirit named Tiedebaie lest he should hurt them and that another God called Goquis frequently appears to them in a humane Shape In the Town of Micao They worship in a Statue of a frightful Figure another Spirit to whom the Christians give the name of King of the Devils There is no Pagod in all Japan saith Carolinus which is so frequented nor enriched with so great Presence because thereby they think to redeem their sins Sect. 10. Martinius Kircher and Trigaltius three Jesuits have written large Histories of China but very little insisted upon this matter However considering what they observe of the Worship of that People it may be concluded that they believe the existence of Spirits as we shall show hereafter The Siamese likewise venerate some wicked Gods though against the sentiment of many of their Doctors under pretence of charging those bad Spirits of such evils of which they will not make God the Author It is said of the same Nation that they give two Spirits to every Man one of which makes them to be good and the other evil Sect. 11. But the greatest knowledge we have of the Opinions of those Countries comes from the Coast of Choromandel Carolinus who has gatherd what Rogerius says of it in many places says That they believe good and bad Spirits that is Angels and Devels They name the Angels Deuetas and the Devils Ratsiasias They hold that both were begotten by Men and that their common Father was Cassiopa the first Bramaine or Priest and Legislator The Mother of the Deuetas was Diti and that of the Ratsiasias was Aditi both Wives of Cassiopa Sect. 12. There are two sorts of Deuetas For such Men as go after their Decease into the Happiness of the Worlds under the Sun and above the Earth are also called Deuetas but those places are not for them an eternal abode since after the succession of some Ages they must come back into the World and be Born again As to the other Deuetas who are in great numbers they never depart from their Abode The Sun Moon and Stars are in that number they ascribe unto them both Soul and Life Sect. 13. The Ratsiasias are also of two sorts some of them are Wicked Men who are condemn'd
to this that Christ is acknowledged by the Mahometans for a great Prophet and honoured in that quality whereas he is horribly blasphemed by the Jews For these reasons I say that the Mahometans are halfe nearer to us than the modern Jews But what need we any farther proof since as to this matter it is plain that the Jews are less from Paganism than the Mahometans as shall appear by the proof I shall produce Sect. 2. As long as we have had to do with Heathens only we needed but to make an inquiry after their Opinions concerning their Gods the Spirits and the Souls But here the Question is not concerning the plurality of Gods for thô formerly the Jews have been extraordinarily inclined to Idolatry they have now such a great aversion for Polytheism ever since 2300 years that they are returned from the Babylonian Captivity that they will acknowledge but one Person in the Divine Unity They believe by the light of the Holy Writ that this only God is Almighty and sufficient to himself and to all things which he has created of nothing and governs and maintains alone Amongst his Creatures they reckon Angels and Men and think that the last have a Soul more excellent than that of Bruits tho' far inferior to the Angelical Perfection Such has been in all times the belief of the Jews and so farr is more agreeable to the Christian Faith then that of the Mahometans as we shall say hereafter Sect. 3. But the state of the Jewish Religion whilst the first Temple stood must be well distinguished from that into which it is insensibly fall'n The Jews of that time were Orthodox save only those who suffer'd themselves to be carried into Idolatry and undoubtedly they had no other Opinion of the Angels Demons and Souls of Men but what the Holy Writings still teach us so that if we still look upon them as different from us it is because we consider those of latter times when their State was in its fall and Christianity in its growth But tho' they be now divided into two Sects that of the Carraijim who only follow the Holy Writ and that of the Rabbanim who adhere to the Traditions of their Doctors there is yet but the latter which deserves to come into consideration the number of the former being altogether inconsiderable they being a remainder of the Sadduces which are hardly known in Europe whereas the other may be called the posterity of the Pharisees Sect. 4. Tho' we design only to insist upon the latter yet a more particular difference may be observed betwixt the Ancient Jews and the Modern By the Ancient Jews I understand here those that lived in the time of our Saviour of his Apostles or a little after Philo who was the Learnedst and Wisest is of an Opinion not far from that of Plato when he says that the Stars are animated and that they move circularly by their own intelligence Ben Maimon is in that point of his Sentiment of which he has made an abridgement in these words All the Stars and Celestial Orbs have a Soul Knowledge Vnderstanding and a lasting Life knowing him by whose Word the Vniverse was made Each of those â—reatures according to his Excellency and Dignity praisâ—s and glorifies his Author following the example of the Angels but as they know God so they understand what they are themselves as well as the Angels who however are above them Their Knowledge being inferior to that of the Angels and superior to that of Men This is to be read in the Book of that Author Entituled Of the Grounds of Faith Sect. 5. If we come more particularly to examine their Opinions as to the Spirits whether Angels or Human Souls we shall not find the Ancient and Modern Writers agree well together Philo who is amongst the former believes That the Air is full of Spirits the most perfect of whom never assumed Bodies but go to and fro ascend and descend from Heaven upon Earth for the service of the Great God That there are others inferior in Dignity to the first who take on Bodies of which they are deprived by death and into which some of them return But others being wearied of this life go up higher and live there in peace But there are others the most pure and excellent of all who have a sublime and Divine Vnderstanding despise Terrestrial and perishing things are the Ministers of the Almighty and as the Ears and Eyes of the Great God those see and hear everything The Philosophers call them Genii and the Holy Writ names them most properly Angels that is to say Messengers for they are really Messengers who carry to Children the Orders of their Father and to the Father the Prayers of his Children wherefore it is said of them that they ascend and descend This is contained in the Book of Dreams written by Philo. Sect. 6. If you now desire to hear the Jews of the latter times and their Opinions upon the Nature of Angels Vorstius will tell you most truly in his Annotations upon the Grounds of the Faith written by Maimonides that they do not perfectly agree together For some believe That those Spirits have been created of the most subtile Elements as Rabbi Juda relates it in his Book Entituled Cusri Chap. 4. Sect. 4. Others as the Author of the Book Jezira hold as the same Rabbi Juda assures us that the Angels proceeded from the Holy Ghost We find also in the Book Chagiga fol. 14. That by the word of God administring Angels are created every day But Maimonides speaks of his own more wisely upon this subject and generally upon all others The Angels says he in Chap. 2. Sect. 4 Have an Essence that subsists without Matter not having Bodies but being Essences distinguished from one another Sect. 7. Upon this difference of the Angels in the opinion of the Jews I think it better to propose what has been said by the same Author than to quote any other because there is none amongst them that may be compar'd to him either for Learning or Judgment as not intending to impute to them more foolish Doctrines than those that are admitted by their most authentick Writers Thus then Maimonides expresses this Opinion When the Prophets say that they have seen the Angels as a fire and with wings they speak after the manner of the Prophets and by a simile designing only to shew that they are neither corporeal nor heavy In this sense it is that God himself is called a Consuming fire viz. improperly thus likewise this passage must be understood he makes the Winds his Angels or as it is in some Translations The Spirits for the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruach having those two significations of Spirits and of Winds And therefore the Angels being material are essentially distinguished betwixt themselves as by degrees the one being above the other to which the Author applies these words For a higher than that high takes
12. Tertullian explains himself more plainly as to the knowledge he ascribes to the Devils when he in his fifth Book against Marcion speeks thus Servants cannot know the Resolutions of their Masters and therefore the Rebellious Angels and the Devil their leader can much less know the designs of God whence I would willingly take occasion to assert that the greater their Crime has been the more remote they are from the knowledge of their Creator So far only he goes as to the Secrets of God But as to those of Men we hear the Doctors of that Age giving to the Demons a power over Bodies and Souls St. Cyprian establishes both speaking of Idolatry Spirits says he deceive us they disturb our Life and our Sleep insinuating themselves into our Bodies raise terrour in our inward Thoughts bruise our Members impair our Healths and cause us Diseases Tertullian is of the same Opinion in his Book of Passions The Malice of that inveterate Enemy never leaves him quiet but it encreases his Rage when he sees Man fully deliver'd In his Apologetick Chap. 20. he gives a more particular explication of what he believes as to the Assaults made by Demons upon Soul and Body He thinks That having a very subtile and thin Essence they are so much the apter to act in an invisible and insensible manner He shows thereby that he conceives created Spirits as the thinest and subtilest of all Bodies and therefore explains his meaning by this Comparison As it happens that a flame invisible to us burns Corn and the Fruits of Trees when they are in flower or withers them whilst they blossom or corrupts them when the Flower falls off and they are formed or as an infected Air communicates it self in a manner unknown to us so the suggestions of the Devil by a secret contagion seduce the depraved understanding of Man Sect. 13. Origen believes that the Souls of Men existed together before they came to animate the Bodies which he establishes upon St. Matth. Chap. 20. from Ver. 1 to 16. and in his 6th Vol. upon St. John having before proposed in his 5th Chap. the common Opinion of the Christians of his age he asserts accoâ—â—â—â—â— to the sense he gives to the Holy Writ that 〈…〉 the Soul must be distinguished from 〈…〉 the Spirit of Man from the 〈…〉 â—â—ys that the Soul may appâ— her self 〈…〉 evil but that the Spirit â—f Man can 〈…〉 â—eâ—f only to evil In his 19th Chapter he dâ—â—â—â—â—es on occasion of the sepalation of the Soul at the point of death that he believes she is taken out of the Body by some Spirits ordained for that purpose and that the Spirits who have that imployment are of a more noble Nature than the Soul they fetch He puts a very ingenious sense upon the Words of our Saviour in St. Luke Chap. 10. v. 20. and John Chap. 10. v. 18. Sect 14. Tertullian's meaning as to the state of Souls after this life to the day of the Resurrection is that they are in a certain place known by the name of Abraham's Bosom and situated betwixt Heaven and Hell as he writes hi his 4th Book against Marcion That there is a certain and determined place call'd the Bosom of Abraham If you ask where that place lyes and how long the Souls are to stay there he will answer as to the First Question Sinum dico Abrahae regionem etsi non Caelestem superiorem tamen Inferis I call Abraham's Bosom a a Region superior to Hell tho' it properly belongs not to Heaven As to the other he will say Refrigerium praebiturum animabus justorum donec consummatio rerum resurrectionem omnium plenitudine Mercedis expungat The Latin phrase is somewhat obscure but it matters not to Translate the words so much as to give the Sense which is That it will be a place of refreshment for the Souls of the just until the consummation of all things comes and brings on the Resurrection in which every one shal1 be obliged to give account and then receive a full reward Sect. 15. He calls in this place the Subterraneous places Inferos Hell because he puts the place of Abode of the Damned under the Earth or in a great Gulf contained in the bottom of the Earth and believes that for their punishment they shall go to burn in a material Fire For about the end of his Book of Penitency he calls Hell Thesaurum Ignis aeterni The Treasure of Eternal Fire Through the Chimneys of that Fire come out sometimes frightful flames during Earthquakes and immediately after he calls that Abyss of Fire Magni alicujus inaestimabilis foci scintillas missilia exaercitoria jacula The sparks of a prodigious great and unexpressible Fire St. Cyprian speaks so obscurely about the end of his Letter against Demetrian upon that subject that it seems he threatens the Soul with corporeal punishments it being a consequent of the Series of his Reasoning Hell says he shall Eternally burn for the Damned and the punishment of a devouring fire and most glooing flames will neither supersede nor suspend their Torments there the Souls with their Bodies are destined to infinite pains He seems to mean thereby that the Souls and Bodies shall have one and the same share for otherwise he would have declared what peculiar sufferings the Soul is to undergo Sect. 16. In the 4th Age we shall first hear St. Athanasius he also believes that the Angels are not all of an equal Dignity of which he gives a formal explication according to his meaning on the 31st Question to Antiochus where having said something as to the Orders of the Angels he proceeds thus Because those Orders are called Legions and Armies we must thereby understand such Orders as are established to teach to defend provide administer help as also such Orders as receive the Souls and remain by them Now as the difference betwixt the Celestial Orders is known to us we must likewise know which is their State and what Knowledge they have The Thrones Cherubims and Seraphims are taught immediately by God himself as being the nearest to him and raised above the others These teach the inferior Orders and these again others that are under them The last of all are the Angels taking that Name in a particular signification and determin'd to a certain Order of Spirits distinguished from all others and these are the Teachers of Men. 'T is easie to perceive that St. Athanasius has taken this from the Writings of Philo and other Jews as 't is related above Chap. 12. Sect. 4 5 8 9 10. But whatever it be St. Athanasius being the Author of the Confession of Faith so much commended in our Churches and quoted in the 9th Article of the Low-Dutch Confession of Faith as a pattern of Orthodoxy we cannot but admit what he has written upon the present matter as the common Opinion approved of and received by the Principal Doctors of that Age Sect. 17. I grant
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
which is nevertheless the common belief of all the Pagans which is received among the Jews and has not been confuted sufficiently by the primitive Christians among whom are found some who have expresly taught it Sect. 7. But the Pagans differ from the Mahometans and Christians chiefly in two points First That they mix and confound together the supream God with other superior and inferior Gods good and bad and also the Souls of Men with all those Gods in such a confused manner that it is impossible to comprehend any thing and that it is a Labyrinth from whence they cannot extricate themselves On the contrary the Jews and Mahometans agree with the Christians in this point that there is one only God and that all that is besides him has been created by him Second In that that not only they make no great difficulty to deify Men but that they make also the Gods return to the condition of Men and that they believe there are Men the issue of the Gods there are some of these errors which the Papists cannot boast of being entirely free from for they may reasonably be reproached that they have substituted their Saints to these imaginary Gods and to those Demons of the Pagans That they speak of Saints as the Pagans do of their Gods that they make them act in the same manner that these false Deities were supposed to act But pure Christianity such as has been in all times upon this point never make Gods a Man nor never raises Man to the dignity of God Sect. 8. There is notwithstanding some point upon which the Protestants are not agreed and upon which nevertheless the Papists the primitive Christians the Jews the Mahometans and all the Pagans agree viz. The Tutelary Gods of the Pagans who were the guardian Angels in the first Christianity We have lately seen they are admitted without contestation among the Papists the Protestants in general are not disposed to receive this Opinion those of the profession of France Holland and Swisserland reject it and nevertheless there are some but very few that admit it or at least believe not that there are sufficient reasons to oppose it we shall examine afterwards which is the soundest of these Opinions In the mean while we must take notice before hand that what the Papists teach upon this subject together with some of other Christians that are not of their Communion relates more to the light and knowledge which they suppose that those Spirits communicate to them than real help they can expect in their actions and in their manner of living for it is rarely seen or to say better it is never seen that the People ascribe a considerable deliverance or a great oppression that befal them to an Angel either their keeper or their enemy but they never fail to ascribe it immediatly to the providence of God or if they sometimes turn their Eyes to another side the Papists as to their particular refer all the good that happens to them to the protection of some great Saint especially to that of the Virgin Mary but the Protestants lest they should seem to favour the belief of the Popish Saints would rather say if occasion serves that the Devil was the Author of it Sect. 9. There is also a difference to be taken notice of betwixt the Heathens on one side the Jews and the Mahometans on the other and all the Christians on another it is chiefly in the practice of Witchcraft and Divination which according to the principles of the first is a laudable practice in it self althô often abused as a great many good things are according to the principles of the second it is only allow'd and useful in many occasions and according to the last it is directly opposite to Christianity The reason of it is that the Pagans hold for Gods or at least for Ministers and Ambassadors of the Gods Spirits which are lookt upon by Christians as unpure Spirits and that the Jews and the Mahometans cause to proceed from the Virtue of the Caballa and the influences of the Stars whatever the Christians take to be Magick Witchcraft or Enchantments It is true that in the time of Ancient Paganism the Mathematicians have been put into the rank of Poisoners and that both were treated as persons equally pernicious to whom it was forbidden to exercise their art as being unlawful But the occasion of these prohibitions was only founded upon the ill use that was made of this Art which had been before not only permitted but even much esteem'd At this time the Christians have no longer any aversion for the name of Mathematician but that of Poysoner never received any good interpretation no that words are here to be disputed for 't is of things that we treat and we are to examine them and not words Perhaps there will be occasion to have some regard to them in our third Book where without doubt it will be necessary to speak fully of these terms and of many others Sect. 10. Let 's now see what conformity is found among all these People together Pagans Jews Mahometans Christians both Ancient and Modern Roman Catholicks Protestants and others They all confess First That there are Spirits distinct from God and bodies for thô some contrive yet another kind of Spirits as we have said it is one of the points in dispute among them and now we are about to seek wherein they agree together Second That there natures are different some absolutely subsisting without body as Angels and others being united to a body as Souls Third That however both are mortal Fourth That of such Spirits as are united to a body some are good to Men and others bad Fifth That therefore Man has reason to seek the friendship of good Spirits that is the Angels and to take all possible care to divert from him evil Spirits which are Devils Sixth That an infinite happiness or misery attends Men after this life Seventh That likewise of the Souls of the deceased some are bad and some good and holy thô they seem not to explain themselves always in the same manner sometimes upon one of the points and sometimes upon the other it i◠nevertheless certain considering the bottom of the matter that their sentiments are agreeable see then in what consists the conformity of the Opinions in general of all Nations and in what they differ We have now to examine what is true or what not in all that has been related and it is for that purpose I design my second and third Book according to the division I have established before Chapter the first Sect. 8. However we shall yet see what cautions may be drawn from all that has been said CHAP. XXIV That all that has been related shews upon what foundation the Christians in general and the Protestants in particular say such extraordinary things of the Devil Sect. 1. BEfore I pass to my second Book where I shall examine what is purely