Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	holy_a	spirit_n	worship_v	3,077	5	9.0447	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

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

doth he constantly deny it to be a creature Now if any ask me why Hilarie was so coy and nice to name the Holy Spirit God whom he denyeth to be a creature when as notwithstanding between God and a creature there is no mean I will in good sooth say what I think I suppose that Hilarie for himself thought well of the Godhead of the Holy Spirit but this opnion was thrust and forced upon him by the Pneumatomachi who at that time rightly deeming of the Son did erewhiles join themselves to those that were sound of judgment There is also in the Ecclesiastical History a little book which they gave Liberius a Bishop of Rome whereinto they foisted the Nicene Creed And that Hilarie was a friend of the Pneumatomachi it is perceived in his Book De Synodis where he writeth in this manner Nihil autem mirum vobis videri debet fratres charissimi c. It ought to seem no wonder unto you dear Brethren c. As for the objection of the Prayers of the Church called the Collects that in them the Holy Spirit is not called upon by name we oppose and set against them the Songs of the Church wherein the said Spirit is called upon But the Collects are more ancient than the Songs Hymns and Anthems I will not now contend about ancientness neither will I compare Songs and Collects together but I say thus much only to wit that in the most ancient times of the Church the Holy Spirit hath been openly called upon in the Congregation Now if I be charged to give an instance let this serve In the Collect upon Trinity Sunday it is thus said Almighty and everlasting God which hast given unto us thy servants grace by the confession of a truth to acknowledg the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of the divine Majesty to worship the Unity we beseech thee that through the stedfastness of this faith we may evermore be defended from all adversity which livest and reignest one God world without end Now because that in this Collect where the Trinity is expresly called upon the names of persons are not expressed but Almighty and Everlasting God invocated who abideth in Trinity and Unity it doth easily appear elsewhere also that the persons being not named under the Name of Almighty and Everlasting God not only the Father is to be understood but God which abideth in Trinity and Unity that is the Father the Son and the Holyghost A third objection of theirs is this The Son of God oftentimes praying in the Gospels speaking unto the Father promiseth the Holy Spirit and doth also admonish the Apostles to pray unto the heavenly Father but yet in the Name of the Son Besides that he prescribeth them this form of Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven Ergo The Father only is to be called upon and consequently the Father only is that one and very true God of whom it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Whereto I answer first by denying the consequent The Son prayed to the Father only Ergo the Father only is of us also to be prayed unto For the Son of God is distinguished of us both in Person and in Office he as a Mediator maketh Intercession for us to the Father and although the Son and the Holy Spirit do both together receive and take us into favour with God yet is he said to intreat the Father for us because the Father is the fountain of all counsels and divine works Furthermore touching the form of Praying described by Christ it is not necessary that the Fathers name should personally be there taken sith there is no distinction of persons made but by the Name of Father indefinitely we understand God or the Essence of God the Father the Son and the Holy-Ghost For this name hath not alwayes a respect unto the generation of the Son of God but God is called The Father of the faithful because of his gracious and free adopting of them the foundation whereof is the Son of God in whom we be adopted but yot so adopted that not the Father only receiveth us into his favour but with him also the Son and the Holy Spirit doth the same Therefore when we in the beginning of Prayer do advertise our selves of God's goodness towards us we do not cast an eye to the Father alone but also to the Son who gave us the Spirit of Adoption and to the Holy Spirit in whom we cry Abba Father And if so be that invocation and Prayer were restrained to the Father alone then had the Saints done amiss in calling upon invocating and praying to the Son of God and with the Son the Holy Spirit in Baptism according to the form by Christ himself assigned and delivered Another objection is out of the fourth of Amos in this manner For lo it is I that make the Thunder and create the spirit and shew unto men their Christ making the light and the clouds and mounting above the high places of the earth the Lord God of Hosts is his Name Now because it is read in that place Shewing unto men their Christ the Pneumatomachi contended that these words are to be understood of the Holy Spirit But Ambrose in his Book De Spiritu Sancto lib. 2. cap. 7. doth rightly answer That by Spirit in this place is meant the Wind for if the Prophets purpose and will had been to speak of the Holy Spirit he would not have begun with Thunder nor have ended with light and clouds Howbeit the same father saith If any suppose that these words are to be drawn unto the interpretation of the Holy Spirit because the Prophet saith Shewing unto men their Christ he ought also to draw these words unto the mystery of the Lords incarnation and he expoundeth Thunder to be the words of the Lord and Spirit to be the reasonable and perfect soul But the former interpretation is certain and convenient with the words of the Prophet by whom there is no mention made of Christ but the power of God is set forth in his works Behold saith the Prophet he that formeth the Mountains and createth the Wind and declareth unto man what is his thought which maketh the morning darkness and walketh upon the high places of the earth the Lord God of Hosts is his Name In this sort Santes a right skilful man in the Hebrew tongue translateth this place of the Prophet But admit this place were written of the Holy Spirit and were not appliable either to the Wind or to the Lords Incarnation yet doth it not follow that the Holy Spirit is a creature because this word of Creating doth not alwayes signifie a making of something out of nothing as Eusebius dxpounding these wrrds The Lord created me in the beginning of his wayes writeth thus The Prophet in the Person of God saying

Aesops dog who greedily coveting to catch and snatch at the shadow of the flesh which he carried in his mouth over the water lost both the one and the other as they do their increase and their principal But to break off abruptly from this matter and to leave these hypocrites for why may they not be so named who as Homer speaking in detestation of such rakehells saith very divinely and truely Odi etenim seu claustra Erebi quicunque loquuntur Ore aliud tacitoque aliud sub pectore claudunt Englished by Abraham Fleming I hate even as the gates of Hell Those that one thing with tongue do tell And notwithstanding closely keep Another thing in heart full deep To leave these hypocrites I say in the dregs of their dishonesty I will conclude against them peremptorily that they with the rabble above rehearsed and the rout hereafter to be mentioned are rank Couseners and consuming Cankers to the Common-wealth and therefore to be rejected and excommunicated from the fellowship of all honest men For now their art which turneth all kind of metals that they can come by into mist and smoak is no less apparent to the world than the clear sunny rayes at noonsted insomuch that I may say with the Poet Hos populus ridet multumque torosa juventus Ingeminat tremulos naso crispante cachinnos Englished by Abraham Fleming All people laugh them now to scorn each strong and lusty blood Redoubleth quavering laughters loud with wrinkled nose a good So that if any be so addicted unto the vanity of the art Alchymisticall as every fool will have his fancy and that beside so many experimented examples of divers whose wealth hath vanished like a vapour whiles they have been over rash in the practice hereof this discourse will not move to desist from such extream dotage I say to him or them and that aptly dicitque facitque quod ipse Non sani esse hominis non sanus juret Orestes Englished by Abraham Fleming He saith and doth that every thing which mad Orestes might With Oath averre became a man bereft of reason right BOOK XV. CHAP. I. Of Magical Circles and the reason of their Institution MAgitians and the more learned sort of Conjurers make use of Circles in various manners and to various intentions First when convenience serves not as to time or place that a real Circle should be delineated they frame an imaginary Circle by means of Incantations and Consecrations without either Knife Pensil or Compasses circumscribing nine foot of ground round about them which they pretend to sanctifie with words and Ceremonies spattering their Holy Water all about so far as the said Limit extendeth and with a form of Consecration following do alter the property of the ground that from common as they say it becomes sanctifi'd and made fit for Magicall uses How to consecrate an imaginary Circle LEt the Exorcist being cloathed with a black Garment reaching to his knee and under that a white Robe of fine Linnen that falls unto his ankles fix himself in the midst of that place where he intends to perform his Conjurations And throwing his old Shooes about ten yards from the place let him put on his consecrated shooes of russet Leather with a Cross cut on the top of each shooe Then with his Magical Wand which must be a new hazel-stick about two yards of length he must stretch forth his arm to all the four Windes thrice turning himself round at every Winde and saying all that while with fervency I who am the servant of the Highest do by the vertue of his Holy Name Immanuel sanctifie unto my self the circumference of nine foot round about me ✚ ✚ ✚ from the East Glaurah from the West Garron from the North Cabon from the South Berith which ground I take for my proper defence from all malignant spirits that they may have no power over my soul or body nor come beyond these Limitations but answer truely being summoned without daring to transgress their bounds Worrh worrah harcot Gambalon ✚ ✚ ✚ Which Ceremonies being performed the place so sanctified is equivalent to any real Circle whatsoever And in the composition of any Circle for Magical feats the fittest time is the brightest Moon-light or when storms of lightning winde or thunder are raging through the air because at such times the infernal Spirits are nearer unto the earth and can more easily hear the Invocations of the Exorcist As for the places of Magical Circles they are to be chosen melancholly dolefull dark and lonely either in Woods or Deserts or in a place where three wayes meet or amongst ruines of Castles Abbies Monasteries c. or upon the Sea-shore when the Moon shines clear or else in some large Parlour hung with black and the floor covered with the same with doors and windowes closely shut and Waxen Candles lighted But if the Conjuration be for the Ghost of one deceased the fittest places to that purpose are places of the slain Woods where any have killed themselves Church-yards Burying-Vaults c. As also for all forts of Spirits the places of their abode ought to be chosen when they are called as Pits Caves and hollow places for Subterranean Spirits The tops of Turrets for Aerial Spirits Ships and Rocks of the Sea for Spirits of the Water Woods and Mountains for Faries Nymphs and Satyres following the like order with rall the rest The reason that Magitians give for Circles and their Institution is That so much ground being blest and consecrated by holy Words hath a secret force to expel all evil Spirits from the bounds thereof and being sprinkled with holy water which hath been blessed by the Master the ground is purified from all uncleanness besides the holy Names of God written all about whose force is very powerful so that no wicked Spirit hath the ability to break through into the Circle after the Master and Scholler are entered and have closed up the gap by reason of the antipathy they possesse to these Mystical Names And the reason of the Triangle is that if the Spirit be not easily brought to speak the truth they may by the Exorcist be conjured to enter the same where by virtue of the names of the Sacred Trinity they can speak nothing but what is true and right But if Astral Spirits as Faries Nymphs and Ghosts of men be called upon the Circle must be made with Chalk without any Triangles in the place whereof the Magical Character of that Element to which they belong must be described at the end of every Name As for Spirits of the Air Water Fire Woods Caves Mountains Mines Desolate Buildings CHAP. II. How to raise up the Ghost of one that hath hanged himself THis experiment must be put in practice while the Carcass hangs and therefore the Exorcist must seek out for the straightest hazel wand that he can find to the top whereof he must binde

therefore may and is called the Spirit of spirits This Spirit withdrawing it self from the hearts of men for that it will not inhabit and dwell where sin hath dominion giveth place unto the spirit of errour and blindness to the spirit of servitude and compunction which biteth gnaweth and whetteth their hearts with a deadly hate of the Gospel in so much as it grieveth their minds and irketh their ears either to hear or understand the truth of which disease properly the Pharisees of old were and the Papists even now are sick Yea the want of this good Spirit is the cause that many fall into the spirit of perverseness and frowardness into the spirit of giddiness lying drowsiness and dulness according as the Prophet Isaiah saith For the Lord hath covered you with a spirit of slumber and hath shut up your eyes and again elsewhere Dominus miscuit in medio c. The Lord hath mingled among them the spirit of giddiness and hath made Egypt to err as a drunken man erreth in his vomit And as it is said by Paul And their foolish heart was blinded and God gave them over unto their own hearts lusts Which punishment Moses threatneth unto the Jews The Lord shall smite thee with madness with blindness and amazedness of mind and thou shalt grope at high noon as a blind man useth to grope c. In some this word Spirit doth signifie a secret force and power wherewith our minds are moved and directed if unto holy things then it is the motion of the holy Spirit of the Spirit of Christ and of God if unto evil things then is it the suggestion of the wicked spirit of the Devil and of Satan Whereupon I inferr by the way of a question with what spirit we are to suppose such to be moved as either practice any of the vanities treated upon in this Book or through credulity addict themselves thereunto as unto divine oracles or the voyce of Angels breaking through the clouds We cannot impute this motion unto the good Spirit for then they should be able to discern between the nature of spirits and not swerve in judgment it followeth therefore that the spirit of blindness and error doth seduce them so that it is no marvel if in the alienation of their minds they take falsehood for truth shadows for substances fancies for verities c for it is likely that the good Spirit of God hath forsaken them or at leastwise absented it self from them else would they detest these devillish devices of men which consist of nothing but delusions and vain practices whereof I suppose this my Book to be a sufficient discovery It will be said That I ought not to judge for he that judgeth shall be judged Whereto I answer That judgment is not to be understood of three kind of actions in their proper nature whereof the first are secret and the judgment of them shall appertain to God who in time will disclose whatsoever is done in covert and that by his just judgment The second are mixed actions taking part of hidden and part of open so that by reason of their uncertainty and doubtfulness they are discussable and to be tryed these after due examination are to have their competent judgment and are incident to the Magistrate The third are manifest and evident and such as do no less apparently shew themselves than an inflammation of blood in the body and of these actions every private man giveth judgment because they be of such certainty as that of them a man may as well conclude as to gather that because the Sun is risen in the East Ergo it is morning he is come about and is full South Ergo it is high noon he is declining and closing up in the West Ergo it is evening So that the objection is answered Howbeit letting this pass and spiritually to speak of this Spirit which whiles many have wanted it hath come to pass that they have proved altogether carnal and not savouring heavenly divinity have tumbled into worse than Philosophical barbarism and these be such as of Writers are called Pneumatomachi a Sect so injurious to the holy Spirit of God that contemning the sentence of Christ wherein he foretelleth That the sin against the Holy Spirit is never to be pardoned neither in this world nor in the world to come they do not only deny him to be God but also pull from him all being and with the Sadduces maintain there is none such but that under and by the name of holy Spirit is meant a certain divine force wherewith our minds are moved and the grace and favour of God whereby we are his beloved Against these shameless Enemies of the Holy Spirit I will not use material weapons but syllogistical charms And first I will set down some of their paralogisms or false arguments and upon the neck of them infer fit confutations grounded upon sound reason and certain truth Their first Argument is knit up in this manner The Holy Spirit is nowhere expresly called God in the Scriptures Ergo he is not God or at leastwise he is not to be called God The Antecedent of this Argument is false because the Holy Spirit hath the title or name of God in the fift of the Acts. Again the consequent is false For although he were not expresly called God yet should it not thereupon be concluded that he is not very God because unto him are attributed all the properties of God which unto this do equally belong And as we deny not that the Father is the true light although it be not directly written of the Father but of the Son He was the true light giving light to every man that cometh into this world so likewise it is not to be denyed that the Spirit is God although the Scripture doth not expresly and simply note it sithence it ascribeth equal things thereunto as the properties of God the works of God the service due to God that it doth interchangeably take the names of Spirit and of God oftentimes They therefore that see these things attributed unto the Holy Spirit and yet will not suffer him to be called by the name of God do as it were refuse to grant unto Eve the name of Homo whom notwithstanding they confess to be a creature reasonable and mortal The second reason is this Hilarie in all his twelve Books of the Trinity doth nowhere write that the Holy Spirit is to be worshipped he never giveth thereunto the name of God neither dares he otherwise pronounce thereof than that it is the Spirit of God Besides this There are usual Prayers of the Church commonly called the Collects whereof some are made to the Father some to the Son but none to the Holy Spirit and yet in them all mention is made of the three persons Hereunto I answer that although Hilarie doth not openly call the Holy Spirit God yet

Spirit is lesser than the Father and the Son and of a comprehensible nature and consequently not very God Whereto I answer first that he which is sent is not alwayes lesser than he that sendeth to prove which position any mean wit may inferre many instances Furthermore touching the sending of the Holy Spirit we are here to imagine no changing or shifting of place For if the Spirit when he goeth from the Father and is sent changeth his place then must the Father also be in a place that he may leave it and goe to another And as for the incomprehensible nature of the Spirit he cannot leaving his place passe unto another Therefore the sending of the Spirit is the eternal and unvariable will of God to do something by the Holy Spirit and the revealing and executing of this will by the operation and working of the Spirit The Spirit was sent to the Apostles which Spirit was present with them sith it is present every where but then according to the will of God the Father he shewed himself present and powerful Some man may say If sending be a revealing and laying open of presence and power then may the Father be said to be sent because he himself is also revealed I answer that when the Spirit is said to be sent not only the revealing but the order also of his revealing is declared because the will of the Father and of the Son of whom he is sent going before not in time but in order of persons the Spirit doth reveal himself the Father and also the Son The Father revealeth himself by others the Son and the Holy Spirit so that his will goeth before Therefore sending is the common work of all the three persons howbeit for order of doing it is distinguished by divers names The Father will reveal hims●lf unto men with the Son and the Spirit and be powerful in them and therefo●● is said to send The Son doth assent unto the will of the Father and will that 〈◊〉 be done by themselves which God will to be done by them these are said to be sent And because the will of the Son doth goe before the Spirit in order of persons he is also said to send the Spirit Yet for all this they alledge That if the Spirit had perfection then would he speak of himself and not stand in need alwayes of anothers admonishment but he speaketh not of himself but speaketh what he heareth as Christ expresly testifieth John 16. Ergo he is unperfect and whatsoever he hath it is by partaking and consequently he is not God Whereto I answer that this argument is stale for it was objected by Heretiques long ago against them that held the true opinion as Cyrill saith who answereth that by the words of Christ is rather to be gathered that the Son and the Spirit are of the same substance For the Spirit is named the minde of Christ 1 Cor. 2. and therefore he speaketh not of his own proper will or against his will in whom and from whom he is but hath all his will and working naturally proceeding from the substance as it were of him Lastly they argue thus Every thing is either unbegotten or unborn or begotten and created the Spirit is not unbegotten for then he were the Father and so there should be two without boginning neither is he begotten for then he is begotter of the Father and so there shall be two Sons both Brothers or he is begotten of the Son and then shall he be Gods Nephew than the which what can be imagined more absurd Ergo he is created Whereto I answer that the division or distribution is unperfect for that member is omitted which is noted of the very best Divine that ever was even Jesus Christ our Saviour namely to have proceeded or proceeding That same Holy Spirit saith he which proceedeth from the Father Which place Nazianzen doth thus interpret The Spirit because he proceedeth from thence is not a creature and because he is not begotten he is not the Son but because he is the mean of begotten and unbegotten he shall be God c. And thus having avoided all these cavils of the Pneumatomachi a Sect of Heretiques too too injurious to the Holy Spirit insomuch as they seek what they can to rob and pull from him the right of his divinity I will all Christians to take heed of their pestilent opinions the poison whereof though to them that be resolved in the Truth it can do little hurt yet to such as stand upon a wavering point it can do no great good Having thus farr waded against and overthrown their opinons I must needs exhort all to whom the reading hereof shall come that first they consider with themselves what a reverend mystery all that hitherto hath been said in this chapter concerneth namely The Spirit of Sanctification and that they so ponder places to and fro as that they reserve unto the holy Spirit the glorious title of Divinity which by nature is to him appropriate esteeming of those Pneumatomachi or Theomachi as of Swine delighting more in the durty draffe of their devices than in the fair Fountain water of Golds Word yea condemning them of grosser ignorance than the old Philosophers who though they favoured little of heavenly Theology yet some illumination they had of the Holy and Divine Spirit marry it was somewhat misty dark lame and limping nevertheless what it was and how much or little soever it was they gave thereunto a due reverence in that they acknowledged and intituled it Animam Mundi The soul or life of the World and as Nazianzen witnesseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The mind of the universal and the outward breath or the breath that cometh from without Porphyrie expounding the opinion of Plato who was not utterly blind in this mystery saith That the divine substance doth proceed and extend to three subsistencies and beings and that God is chiefly and principally good next him the second Creator and the third to be the soul of the world for he holdeth that the divinity doth exttend even to this foul As for Hermes Trismegistus he saith That all things have need of this Spirit for according to his worthiness he supporteth all he quickneth and sustaineth all and he is derived from the holy Fountain giving breath and life unto all and evermore remaineth continual plentiful and unemptyed And here by the way I give you a note worth reading and considering namely how all Nations in a manner by a kind of heavenly influence agree in writing and speaking the Name of God with no more than four letters As for example the Egyptians do call him Theut the Persians call him Syre the Jews express his unspeakable name as well as they can by the word Adonai consisting of four vowels the Arabians call him Alla the Mahometists call him Abdi the Greeks call him Theos the Latines call

use such circumstances even in these very actions as to make these assemblies conventicles ceremonies c. when he hath already bought their bodies and bargained for their souls Or what reason had he to make them kill so many Infants by whom he rather loseth than gaineth any thing because they are so far as either he or we know in better case than we of riper years by reason of their innocency Well if she be not past children then stealeth he seed away as hath been said from some wicked man being about that lecherous business and therewith getteth young Witches upon the old And note that they affirm That this business is better accomplished with seed thus gathered than that which is shed in Dreams through superfluity of humors because that is gathered from the virtue of the seed generative And if it be said That the seed will wax cold by the way and so lose his natural heat and consequently the vertue M. Mal. Danaeus and the rest do answer That the Devil can so carry it as no heat shall go from it c. Furthermore old Witches are sworn to procure as many young Virgins for Incubus as they can whereby in time they grow to be excellent bawds but in this case the Priest playeth Incubus For you should find that confession to a Priest and namely this word Benedicit driveth Incubus away when Ave Maries crosses and all other Charmes fail CHAP. III. Of the Devils visible and invisible dealing with Witches in the way of Lechery BUt as touching the Devils visible or invisible execution of Lechery it is written that to such Witches as before have made a visible league with the Priest the Devil I should say there is no necessity that Incubus should appear invisible marry to the standers-by he is for the most part invisible For proof hereof James Sprenger and Institor affirm That many times Witches are seen in the fields and woods prostituting themselves uncovered and naked up to the navil wagging and moving their members in every part according to the disposition of one being about that act of concupiscence and yet nothing seen of the beholders upon her saving that after such a convenient time as is required about such a piece of work a black vapor of the length and bigness of a man hath been seen as it were to depart from her and to ascend from that place Nevertheless many times the husband seeth Incubus making him cuckhold in the likeness of a man and sometimes striketh off his head with his sword but because the body is nothing but air it closeth together again so as although the good-wife be sometimes hurt thereby yet she maketh him believe he is mad or possessed and that he doth he knoweth not what For she hath more pleasure and delight they say with Incubus that way than with any mortal man whereby you may perceive that Spirits are palpable CHAP. IV. That the power of Generation is both outwardly and inwardly impeached by Witches and of divers that had their genitals taken from them by Witches and by the same means again restored THey also affirm That the virtue of Generation is impeached by Witches both inwardly and outwardly for intrinsecally they repress the courage and they stop the passage of the mans seed so as it may not descend to the vessels of generation also they hurt extrinsecally with images hearbs c. And to prove this true you shall hear certain stories out of M. Mal. worthy to be noted A young Priest at Mespurge in the Diocess of Constance was Bewitched so as he had no power to occupy any other or mo women than one and to be delivered out or that thraldom sought to flie into another Countrey where he might use that Priestly occupation more freely but all in vain for evermore he was brought as far backward by night as he went forward in the day before sometimes by land sometimes in the air as though he flew And if this be not true I am sure that James Sprenger doth lie For the further confirmation of our belief in Incubus M. Mal. citeth a story of a notable matter executed at Ravenspurge as true and as cleanly as the rest A young man lying with a wench in that Town saith he was fain to leave his instruments of Venery behind him by means of that prestigious art of Witchcraft so as in that place nothing could be seen or felt but his plain body This young man was willed by another Witch to go to her whom he suspected and by fair or foul means to require her help who soon after meeting with her intreated her fair but that was in vain and therefore he caught her by the throat and with a towel strangled her saying Restore me my tool or thou shalt die for it so as she being swoln and black in the face and through his boisterous handling ready to die said Let me go and I will help thee and whilest he was losing the towel she put her hand into his Cod-piece and touched the place saying Now hast thou they desire and even at that instant he felt himself restored Item A reverend Father for his life holiness and knowledge notorious being a fryer of the order and company of Spire reported that a young man at strift made lamentable moan unto him for the like loss but his gravity suffered him not to believe lightly any such reports and therefore made the young man untruss his cod-piece-point and saw the complaint to be true and just Whereupon he advised or rather enjoyned the youth to go to the Witch whom he suspected and with flattering words to intreat her to be so good unto him as to restore him his instrument which by that means he obtained and soon after returned to shew himself thankful and told the holy father of his good success in that behalf but he so believed him as he would needs be Oculatus testis and made him pull down his Breeches and so was satisfied of the truth and certainty thereof Another young man being in that very taking went to a Witch for the restitution thereof who brought him to a tree where she shewed him a nest and bad him climb up and take it And being in the top of the tree he took out a mighty great one and shewed the same to her asking her if he might not have the same Nay quoth she that is our Parish Priests tool but take any other which thou wilt And it is there affirmed That some have found 20 and some 30 of them in one nest being there preserved with provender as it were at the rack and manger with this note wherein there is no contradiction for all must be true that is written against Witches that if a Witch deprive one of his Privities it is done only by prestigious means so as the senses are but illuded Marry by the Devil it is really taken away and in like

yet are the other divinations more vain and foolish Howbeit Plato thinketh a Common-wealth cannot stand without this Art and numbereth it among the liberal Sciences These fellows promised Pompy Cassius and Caesar that none of them should die before they were old and that in their own houses and in great honour and yet they all died clean contrarily Howbeit doubtless the Heathen in this point were not so much to be blamed as the sacrificing Papists for they were directed hereunto without the knowledge of Gods promises neither knew they the end why such Ceremonies and Sacrifices were instituted but only understood by an uncertain and slender report that God was wont to send good or ill success to the children of Israel and to the old Patriarchs and Fathers upon his acceptance or disallowance of their Sacrifices and Oblations But men in all ages have been so desirous to know the effect of their purposes the sequel of things to come and to see the end of their fear and hope that a silly Witch which hath learned any thing in the Art of cosenage may make a great many jolly fools CHAP. X. The cosening Art of Sortilege or Lottery practised especially by Aegyptian Vagabonds of allowed Lots of Pythagoras his Lot c. THe counterfeit Aegyptians which were indeed cosening Vagabonds practising the Art called Sortilegium had no small credit among the multitude Howbeit their Divinations were as was their fast and loose and as the Witches cures and hurts and as the Sooth-sayers answers and as the Conjurers raising up of spirits and as Apollo's or Grace's Oracles and as the Jugglers knacks of Legierdemain and as the Papists Exorcisms and as the Witches charms and as the counterfeit Visions and as the coseners Knaveries Hereupon it was said Non inveniatur inter vos Menahas that is Sortilegus which were like to these Aegyptian coseners As for other lots they were used and that lawfully as appeareth by Jonas and others that were holy men and as may be seen among all Common-wealths for the deciding of divers Controversies c. wherein thy neighbour is not misused nor God any way offended But in truth I think because of the cosenage that so easily may be used herein God forbad it in the Common-wealth of the Jews though in the good use thereof it was allowed in matters of great weight as appeareth both in the Old and New Testament and that as well in doubtful cases and distributions as in Elections and Inheritances and pacification of variances I omit to speak any thing of the Lots comprised in Verses concerning the luck ensuing either of Virgil Homer or any other wherein fortune is gathered by the sudden turning unto them because it is a childish and ridiculous toy and like unto childrens play at Primus secundus or the game called The Philosophers Table but herein I will refer you to the bable it self or else to Bodin or to some such sober Writen thereupon of whom there is no want There is a Lot also called Pythagora's Lot which some say Aristotle believed and that is where the characters of letters have certain proper numbers whereby they divine through the proper names of men so as the numbers of each letter being gathered in a sum and put together give victory to them whose sum is the greater whether the question be of Warr Life Matrimony Victory c. even as the unequal number of vowels in proper names portendeth lack of sight halting c. which the God-fathers and God-mothers might easily prevent if the case stood so CHAP. XI Of the Cabalistical Art consisting of Traditions and Unwritten Varieties learned without Book and of the Division thereof HEre is also place for the Cabalistical Art consisting of unwritten Verities which the Jews do believe and brag that God himself gave to Moses in Mount-Sinai and afterwards was taught only with lively voyce by degrees of succession without writing until the time of Esdras even the Scholars of Archippus did use Wit and Memory in stead of Books They divide this in twain the one expoundeth with Philosophical reason the Secrets of the Law and the Bible wherein they say that Solomon was very cunning because it is written in the Hebrew Stories that he disputed from the Cedar to Libanus even to the Hysope also of Birds Beasts c. The other is as it were a Symbolical Divinity of the highest Contemplation of the divine and angelike vertues of holy names and signs wherein the letters numbers figures things and arms the pricks over the letters the lines the points and the accents do all signifie very profound things and great secrets By these Arts the Atheists suppose Moses wrote all his Miracles and that hereby they have power over Angels and Devils as also to do miracles yea and that hereby all the miracles that either any of the Prophets or Christ himself wrought were accomplished But C. Agrippa having searched to the bottom of this Art saith it is nothing but superstition and folly Otherwise you may be sure Christ would not have hidden it from his Church For this cause the Jews were so skilful in the Names of God But there is none other Name in Heaven or Earth in which we might be saved but Jesus neither is that meant by his bare Name but by his vertue and goodness towards us These Cabalists do further brag that they are able hereby not only to find out and know the unspeakable mysteries of God but also the secrets which are above Scripture whereby also they take upon them to Prophesie and to work Miracles yea hereby they can make what they list to be Scripture as Valeria Proba did pick certain Verses out of Virgile alluding them to Christ And therefore these their Revolutions are nothing but Allegorical Games which idle men busied in Letters Points and Numbers which the Hebrew tongue easily suffereth devise to delude and cosen the simple and ignorant And this they call Alphabetary or Arithmetical Divinity which Christ shewed to his Apostles only and which Paul saith he speaketh but among perfect men and being high mysteries are not to be committed unto writing and so made popular There is no man that readeth any thing of this Cabalistical Art but must needs think upon the Popes cunning practices in this behalf who hath In scrinio pectoris not only the Exposition of all Laws both Divine and Humane but also Authority to add thereunto or to draw back there-from at his pleasure and this may he lawfully do even with the Scriptures either by addition or substraction after his own pontifical liking As for example He hath added the Apocrypha whereunto he might as well have joyned S. Augustine's Works or the course of the Civil Law c. Again he hath diminished from the Decalogue or Ten Commandements not one or two words but a whole Precept namely the second which it hath pleased him to dash out with