things to come of which she was utterly ignorant so that we grant her under a spiritual league with the Devil as all wicked persons are but we deny that she had any other familiar spirit but only the spirit of delusion and Imposture as we shall make good by these arguments 1. Because the word sometimes signifieth the persons pretending to be skilful in this sort of Divinations for so the Woman saith unto Saul Behold thou knowest what Saul hath done how he hath cut off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythones that is the persons that pretended and practised that kind of Divination And so again in that of Isaiah And thy voice shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sicut Pythonis as the voice of one that useth this kind of Divination So that it is clear that the act is ascribed unto and was performed by the persons practising this couzening craft and not unto a familiar or Devil 2. Sometimes it is taken for the means that they pretended they performed it by as in Sauls deluded and despairing sense for he saith Divina quaeso mihi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Pythone vel per Pythonem and cause to ascend whom I shall name unto thee So that he vainly thought that she could call up and make to ascend whomsoever he should name so blind and deluded was he when the spirit of the Lord was departed from him and was justly delivered up to believe lies because he had not received the love of the truth 3. It doth not appear that she had any familiar spirit or called up any for the name that is there given her is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominam Pythonis vel utris the Mistriss of the Bottle or of the Oracle for Saul saith seek me a Woman that is Mistriss of the Bottle or of the Oracle for so it must signifie if it be genuinely and fitly translated and his servants tell him that at Endor there is a Woman that was Mistriss of Ob the Bottle or Oracle For though some translate it mulier habens Pythonem or as Tremellius mulier praedita Pythone it will but reach thus much that she was possessed of or had in her power this Ob Bottle or Oracle that could be nothing but the fit contrived place to give answers as they did at the Oracle For if they meant that she had a familiar spirit in her Belly then it was possest of her more than she could be said to be possest of it But there is another Text that doth fully agree with this and will help to explicate it and is this speaking of the destruction of Nineveh or the Jewish Nation and the causes of it Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the welfavoured harlot the Mistriss of Witchcrafts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Domina vel patrona the Mistriss or Patroness of Juglings and delusions So that in propriety of language she of Endor is called the Mistriss of Python or Oracle because she could play the couzening feats that belonged unto it 4. Amongst all the several ways of Idolatry that Manasseh set up or caused to be set up this is one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fecit Pythonem or fecissetque Pythonem he made Ob or Pytho and though Translators have been much perplexed and hard put to it to give a signification agreeable to their preconceived opinion yet have they were it right or wrong brought it to their minds though it be utterly false and erroneous for Tremellius renders it instituitque Pythonem which though pretty near yet is altogether short of the propriety and the most of the rest have run quite Counter but our English Translators the worst of all others who give it and dealt with a familiar spirit When it is plain that this word must be taken in this place as it is in the third verse of this Chapter he made groves fecitque lucos because the words are both from the same root which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fecit confecit perâ—ecit and so it is and must be taken in other places and is especially manifest in these God said to Noah make thee an Ark of Gopher wood and after a window shalt thou make to the Ark. The Psalmist saith But our God is in heaven he hath done whatsoever he pleased and again To him who alone doth great wonders We might add forty places more where the word is used that cometh from this root and hath the same punctual signification so that from hence we may conclude 1. That Manasseh could not make a Devil nor a Spirit and therefore that the word Ob doth not intend nor bear forth any such matter in true and genuine signification 2. That he could not make a Man or Woman and therefore the word properly doth signifie neither 3. That he only could make and cause to be contrived the Groves in such as order ar the Idol-Priests might direct as most fit for them to play their couzening and Jugling feats and delusions in So he might make or cause to be contrived the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or place for the Oracle and prepare those knacks and implements wherewith and in which place the Diviner might either by him or her self or with the help of confederates bring to pass strange things which they made the blind and ignorant people believe were performed by the God worshipped in and by those Idols or by Demons and Spirits or the calling up of the dead When in truth there was nothing at all performed but either in raptures feigned and forced Furies Trances and thereby lying predictions and ambiguous equivocations were uttered whereby the people were deluded and drawn unto Idolatry or by giving dark and obscure responsions by Ventriloquy speaking in Bottles or through hollow Pipes and cavities whereby they did peep and mutter or lastly by having knavish confederates hidden in secret and cunningly contrived places and suitably habited to personate those that were desired to be raised up as is most probable in this Woman of Endor and the forged and pretended Samuel So that there was no Devil nor familiar but a couzening Knave or a Quean more crafty than the Demons themselves 5. That they had no familiar Spirit is manifest if we consider the manner how they carried themselves in these cheating actions and performances for the Prophet tells us thus And when they shall say unto you seek unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad Pythones unto Oraclers and unto Wizards that peep and mutter If they had a familiar Spirit or Demon what need they chirp peep or mutter could it not speak loud and plain enough Yea doubtless it could if they had any such but it is to conceal their own deceit and knavery lest it should be found forth and discovered And without such chirping and muttering they could neither perform their Jugling delusions nor keep them from being known and derided Tremellius his note upon this place is
Nature no not of those whereby the propagation of the Gospel might have been much advanced viz. the Mystery of Printing and the Magnet and yet no one useth his silence in these instances as an argument against the being of things which are evident objects of sense To which we answer 1. He falleth into a common mistake in making the Proposition universal and dolus versatur in universalibus when it ought but to be particular so for him to say that no silence of Scripture is argumentative is too universal for its silence in point of Geography as in describing America and the people thereof nor in discovering the Magnalia Naturae Artis is not argumentative and we do not say that all silence of Scripture is argumentative but yet we affirm that some silence of Scripture is argumentative So we cannot universally say that nothing hath a being but what is mentioned in Scripture but we may very well affirm that some things have no being of truth of existence because not declared in Scripture 2. The Scriptures were not written to teach Naural Philosophy Arts or Sciences humane Policy or the like but were given that the man of God might be perfect furnished for every good work and it is by them that we have the doctrine of eternal Salvation revealed unto us and we positively affirm the sufficiency of the Scriptures unto Salvation which thing no Orthodox Divine we suppose will deny and Bellarmine himself did confess in these words Prophetici Apostolici libri sunt verum verbum Dei ac stabilis regula fidei And if it be a certain Rule of Faith and the true Word of God then whatsoever it is silent of we ought not to believe and so its silence is argumentative in that point The Scriptures are utterly silent concerning Purgatory and therefore it is a good argument to affirm there is no such place as Purgatory because the Word of God is silent as concerning it but if it had been necessary to have been believed then there would have been mention made of it 3. And as the Scriptures are sufficient in matters of Faith and circa credenda and what they are silent in are not to be received as Articles of our Faith but to be rejected as having no truth of Existence So likewise what Worship God requireth of his people is fully revealed in his Word and therefore I am to reject the worshipping of Mahomet with the Turks or Images and praying to Saints with the Papists because I have neither precept nor president in the Word but it is silent in such matters nay tells us That he is the Lord our God and him only we ought to serve 4. Though Mr. Glanvil say that God hath given no account of the state of the other World but only that general one of the happiness of some and the misery of others yet Am I to believe as Mr. Glanvil somewhere in his Book affirmeth that Samuels Soul was raised up by the Woman at Endor and that those that he feigneth to make Leagues and Contracts with Witches are the Souls of such as had been Witches when they lived and asketh Who saith that happy Souls were never imployed in any ministeries here below Or am I to believe that both the Souls of the godly and wicked do rove up and down here upon earth and make Apparitions because the Popish Teachers do hold it to be so I hope not and therefore I shall in part give an answer here to some of these and handle that of the Woman of Endor in another place 1. The Word of God doth particularly teach us the state and condition of the Souls after death that they shall be like the Angels in Heaven and all other things necessary to move and draw us to believe the immortal Existence of Souls as that most able and learned Divine Dr. Stillingfleet hath asserted in these words The Scriptures give the most faithful representation of the state and condition of the Soul of Man The World he saith was almost lost in Disputes concerning the Nature Condition and Immortality of the Soul before divine Revelation was made known to Mankind by the Gospel of Christ but life and immortality was brought to light by the Gospel and the future state of the soul of man not discovered in an uncertain Platonical way but with the greatest light and evidence from that God who hath the supreme disposal of souls and therefore best knows and understands them A Sentence truly pious and orthodoxal 2. Hath not God in the holy Scriptures amply and plainly taught us the state of the other World in describing unto us such a numerous company of Sâ—raphims and Cherubims Angels and Archangels with their several Orders Offices Ministeries and Imployments and this is more than a general account as may be seen at full in that learned and godly Piece of Bishop Halls called The invisible World And hath he not given us a particular account of the very Kingdom of Darkness telling us of the Devil and his Angels and precisely in this enumeration For we wrestle not with flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiâ—al wickedness in high places And this is more than a general account and we must needs fay that what he holds is very derogatory to the wisdom and goodness of God and the sufficiency and truth of the Scriptures 3. Must I believe him that the souls of the Saints do rove and wander here below when as Bishop Hall saith where he is speaking against the opinion of those that hold that Souls do sleep until the Day of Judgment Indeed who can but wonder that any Christian can possibly give entertainment to so absurd a thought whilst he hears his Saviour say Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with â—e where I am and that not in a safe sleep they may behold my glory which thou hast given me Sure if the Souls departed be with Christ where he is and do behold his glory then it is a Popish Fable of Mr. Glanvil to feign their coming upon Messages hither The saying of St. Bernard is remarkable in this case Advertisâ—is 〈◊〉 esse sanctarum status animarum primum videlicet in coâ—pore 〈◊〉 â—cundum sinâ— corpore tertium in corpore jam glorificatoâ— Primum in militiâ— secundum in requie tertium in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if the second state of holy Souls bâ— without 〈◊〉 body and be at peace and rest then it must necessarily be a truth that they do not wander here nor run upon Errands For the souls of the righteous are in the hands of the Lord and there shall no torment touch theâ— And our Saviour told the Thief upon the Cross This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise that is as Dr. Hammond giveth the Paraphrase Immediately after thy death thou shalt go to a
explained That many of the Ephesians being of those who had exercised curious Arts had brought their Books and burned them openly c. She forthwith he saith came unto me with a mind plainly troubled and with tears pouring forth into my bosom the secrets of her breast did receive Christian instruction and when she had understood by the blessing of God the vanity of Diabolical Impostures and perceived them with opened eyes she was easily converted to the light of truth the smoak of lyes being laid aside She truth being once received hath most constantly confessed that it did appear to her more clear than the light at noon day that Satan did only deceive and blind the eyes of his Vassals and that there was nothing done in verity and this she declared with a detestation of her Diabolical Art And so concludes it in these words Uno verbo dicam me satis experientiâ didicisse bonam partem incantationum mera esse insomnia And whosoever shall read and seriously consider the Epistle of that excellent and learned Divine will find the most of those vain illusions laid open and confuted so that in all or the most of the things attributed unto Witches we shall find no more of Diabolical operation in them than an internal mental and spiritual delusion in making the Witches to believe and to draw on others to the same opinion that the Devil hath a kind of omnipotent Power and Soveraignty Therefore did Aristotle well conclude Incantamenta esse muliercularum figmenta 4. A fourth Reason of the meer falsity and incredibility of these Confessions is this Is it possibly credible to a rational and unbiassed judgment that the Witches though never so many at several times and places having made themselves the Slaves and Vassals of the Devil both in soul and body and being led by his lying and deceitful Spirit though making large and voluntary confessions can be conceived to have any touch of truth in them at all Surely no more truth in these confessions than there is in the Devil who was a Lyar from the beginning and therefore we argue thus Such kind of will affections and inclinations as are in the Devil himself such kind are in his Children But the will and affections of the Devil are against God his Truth and against all Gods people and his inclinations tend to continual lying Therefore the will affections and inclinations of his Children such as the Witches are and are granted to be are against God his Truth and against all Gods people and their inclinations tend to continual lying The proof of the major and minor Proposition is the plain words of our Saviour Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father the devil ye will do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he was a murtherer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it And again St. John tells us He that committeth sin is of the devil for the devil sinneth from the beginning So that it may truly be said of them They delight in lyes and their confessions are nothing but lyes And if they object and say that here we confess a League with the Devil and the Witch otherwise the Witches could not be his Children Vassals and Bond-slaves which elsewhere we deny we answer it is a gross mistake in not observing the distinction we make betwixt a mental and spiritual League such as the Devil and Judas made and such as all wicked men make with him and under this League we acknowledge all Witches to be but a visible and corporeal League we positively deny and so the objection is of no validity And thus we suppose we have sufficiently proved that there ought no credit at all to be given to the Confessions of Witches no more than to Devils who are all lyars Now let us proceed to their third main Objection That so many wise and grave Judges and honest Juries could not have been deceived to put to death such great numbers of those kind of people without sufficient proof of the matters of fact Against which we oppose these following Reasons 1. It is but an Argument at the best to drive the other Party into an absurdity which is not of any such dangerous consequence as may be supposed for it would but conclude that many grave and wise Judges and Juries have been imposed upon and deceived which is but argumentum ad homines and doubtless many might and have been And do not we Christians hold that the gravest and wisest Judges amongst the Turks and Persians have been and are deceived and have done unjustly in persecuting and putting Christians to death because they would not submit to the Religion of Mahomet and yet we account it no absurdity or injustice to pass that censure upon them And do not the Idolaters in all those large Empires and Kingdoms of Tartary China the Moguls Country and the rest of those Countries in the East of Asia persecute and put many to death for not worshipping their Idols or embracing their Religion and do we think it absurd to censure and condemn them of injustice though in their own Countries they be accounted grave and wise Judges Surely we do not and there is the parity of reason in both the Arguments for all are but men and so may erre 2. But as for the grave learned and wise Judges and understanding and honest Juries within His Majesties Dominions we affirm they are clear and innocent from these imputations and that for divers and sundry sound reasons 1. Our Judges and Juries have no such sinister and corrupt ends to wrest the Laws or wring forth and extort feigned and false Confessions because they have no such ends as to uphold and maintain idolatrous and superstitious Tenents as praying to Saints magnifying of Holy-water or setting up of Purgatory as had the Popish Inquisitors and the Demonographers and Witchmongers that writ for those ends And therefore it is no absurdity to say or think that they dealt unjustly in their proceedings which our learned and pious Judges are not nor can be guilty of 2. The Inquisitors and their Agents had benefit by the death of Witches having a share in their Goods and therefore no absurdity to conclude that their proceedings were unjust partial and corrupt of which our Judges and Juries are clear as having no profit at all by the death of these wretched and deluded people 3. Our Judges are but sworn to the due execution of the Laws made and the Juries sworn to bring in their Verdicts according to their best evidence now if the Witnesses forth of malice envy ignorance or mistake swear to matters of fact for which death or other punishments are allotted by the Law both the Judges and the Jury are absolutely excusable and if there be any
for a Christian to conceal the truth and not to dare to declare and defend it for fear of the vain and perishing censures of men is to make absolute sale of the truth and that for the worst of all prises that can be For what a weightless and worthless prise are the judgments and opinions of vain man whose breath is in his nostrils and whose life is but a vapor that a Christian should for fear of such vain censures be afraid to declare or defend the truth Therefore let the 〈◊〉 Politicians and Machiavillians of this Age who have in a manner turned the truth of the Christian Religion and the most certain Rules of Providence into Atheism and becom'd vain Idolaters to sacrifice to the falsely adored and deified fancies of their own craft and cunning think or say what they please yet the rule of pâ—ous Gregory will ever hold true Ille veritatis desensor esse debet qui quum rectè sentit loqui non metuit nec erubescit And that of Chrysostom ought never to be forgotten by a good Christian and one that fears God who saith Non solùm proditor est veritatis qui mendacium pro veritate loquitur sed qui non liberè pronuntiat veritatem quam pronuntiare oportet aut non liberè defendit veritatem quam defendere oportet But as there have been some that have been affrighted with the feigned Bugbears of malevolent mens censures and scandals so there have been others to whom Nature hath given greater Magnanimity who were better principled in their Morals and better rudimented in the Christian Religion that have scorned and undervalued those censures as vanities and trifles and these were those Quos Jupiter aequus amavit Et meliore luto finxit praecordia Titan. These were those that for the advancement of Truth and Learning and the benefit of Mankind durst undertake Ire per excubias se committere Parcis And feared not the tempestuous storms of venemous tongues or malicious minds of which we shall here enumerate a competent Catalogue 1. In the first place we need not travel far either in regard of time or place to find Precedents of such as have undergone no small censures and â—ubsannations for vindicating Truth and labouring the advancement of it though against common and deep rooted Opinion So ill entertainment new Inventors and Inventions have always found amongst the present Masters of several Professions and those that made the World believe that they alone had gained the Monopoly of all Learning Our learned Country-man Doctor Hackwell in his Preface to his Apology hath sufficiently proved this particular whose profound Piece of proving no decay in Nature a truth now sufficiently known and assented to found no small opposition both from the Learned in Theology and other persons and underwent many sharp censures until men had more considerately weighed the strength and cogency of his Arguments which carry sufficient evidence to confute rational persons Our learned and most industrious Anatomist Dr. Harvey who notwithstanding the late Cavils of some first found forth and evidenced to the World that rare and profitable discovery of the Circulation of the Blood did undergo the like Fate who for eighteen or twenty years together did groan under the heavy censur e of all the Galenists and expert Anatomists almost in Europe and was railed upon and bitterly written against not only by such as Alexander Rosse and Dr. Primrose but by Riolanus and others and not forborn by that famous Physiciâ—n of Roterodam Zacharias Sylvius who ingenuously confesseth thus much Primum mihi inventum hoc non placuit quod voce scripto publicè testatus sum sed dum postea ei resultando explodendo vchementiùs incumbo refutor ipse explodor adeò sunt rationes ejus non persuadentes sed cogentes diligenter omnes examinavi in vivis aliquot 〈◊〉 eum in sinem à mâ— dissectis verissimum comperi Which was a most candid and free retractation and confession of his own errours and may be proposed as an example to all rash and unadvised Censurers Neither could this most clear and evidential Verity which falls under ocular Demonstration and manifest Experiments find countenance in the World until that Wallaeus Plempius and divers other judicious and accurate Anatomists had found the truth of Harvey's opinion by their own tryals and ocular inspection so difficult it is to overthrow an old radicated opinion For I have known some years ago that a person for owning or maintaining the Circulation of the blood should have been censured and derided as much by other Physicians as one should be now for denying the same so hard it is to root out an opinion though never so false and groundless if once setled in the brains of many and hath had a long current of continued reputation and belief And it is much more to consider the ignorance stupidity and perversness of those that in this Age of Knowledge dare take upon them to censure nay to condemn that Society of persons and their endeavours who have a just pious merciful and learned King for their Founder and the greatest number of Nobility and Gentry renowned both for divine and humane Knowledge that can be chosen forth of the three Nations for their Members and whose undertakings and level are the most high noble and excellent that ever yet the World was partaker of And yet which may be wondred at I have not only met with many that do censure and misjudge their vast and laudable enterprise but even have been bold to appear in Print to censure and scandalize their proceedings as is manifest in that Piece styled Plus ultra written by Mr. Stubbs of Warwick wherein he hath effected as much as Dogs do by barking at the Moon But it is plain that highness of place or greatness of parts exempts no man from evil tongues or bad censures And to this purpose I cannot but add Dr. Casaubon who as he had a long sickness of body so doubtless he wanted not some distemper of mind when in his Treatise of Credulity and Incredulity he uttered this If I may speak my mind he saith without offence this prodigious propensity to innovation in all kinds but in matters of Learning particularly which so many upon no ground that I can see or appearance of reason are possessed with I know not what we should more probably ascribe it unto than to some sad Constellation or Influence Alas poor man he was so blind that he could see no ground or appearance of reason for the usefulness of Experimental Philosophy nor for the Institution of the Royal Society but must ascribe it to the Stars it is a wonder why he ascribes it not to natural Melancholy as he doth almost all strange Effects in his Book of Enthusiasm or why not unto Demons or Witches as he doth the most things in the Treatise quoted 2. That learned and
others and this was nothing but contagion or corrupt steams issuing from one body to another which may happen in many diseases as is manifest by the Writings of divers learned Physicians as in bodies infected with the Plague French Pox Leprosie Ophthalmies and such like 3. Sometimes Fascination is taken for some kind of Incantation that by virtue of Words or Charms doth perform some strange things but concerning this there is such incertainty of the opinions of the Learned some flatly denying that Words or Charms have in them any natural efficacy at all others as strongly affirming it that of this point it is very difficult to make a clear determination and therefore we shall say but this of it here that the Angelical Doctor did conclude well in this particular in these words Ad sciendum autem quid sit fascinatio sciendum est quòd secundùm glossam fascinatio propriè dicitur ludificatio sensus quae per artes magicâ—s fieri consuevit putâ— cum hominem facit aspectibus aliorum apparere leonem vel cornutum hujusmodi Having been thus large in considering the names and denomination given to those persons that are esteemed Witches and finding them to be so improper impertinent various and uncertain let us now proceed to the notion and acceptation of Witchcraft and Witches to try if in that we can find any more certainty or consonancy and herein we shall produce some of the chief descriptions that are given of them by several Authors for to quote all would be tedious and superfluous Those that are or may be accounted Witches we rank in these two orders 1. Those that were and are active deceivers and are both by practice and purpose notorious Impostors though they shadow their delusive and cheating knaveries under divers and various pretences some pretending to do their Feats by Astrology which is a general Cheat as it is commonly used some by a pretended gift from God when they are notoriously drunken debauched and blasphemous persons such as of very late years was the Cobler that lived upon Ellill Moor named Richmond and divers others that I could name but that in modesty I would spare their reputations some by pretending skill in Natural Magick when indeed they can hardly read English truly some by pretending a familiar Spirit as one Thomas Bolton near Knaresborough in York-shire when indeed and in truth they have no other Familiar but their own Spirit of lying and deceiving some by pretending to reveal things in Crystal-glasses or Beryls as was well known to be pretended by Doctor Lamb and divers others that I have known And some by pretending to conjure and call up Devils or the Spirits of men departed and some by many other ways and means that are not necessary to be named here for errour and deceit have a numerous train of Followers and Disciples And the existence of such kind of Witches as these if you will needs call them by that name and not by their proper titles which are that they truly are Deceivers Cheaters Couseners and Impostors I willingly acknowledge as having been and are to be found in all ages and these sorts are also acknowledged by Wierus Mr. Scot Johannes Lazarus Gutierius Tobias Tandlerus Hieronymus Nymannus Martinius Biermannus and all the rest that notwithstanding did with might and main oppose the gross Tenent of the common Witchmongers And of this sort were all those several differences of Diviners Witches or Deceivers named in the Scriptures as Mr. Ady hath sufficiently declared in this passage which we shall transcribe A Witch is a man or woman that practiseth Devillish crafts of seducing the people for gain from the knowledge and worship of God and from the truth to vain credulity or believing of lyes or to the worshipping of Idols And again he saith Witchcraft is a Devillish craft of seducing the people for gain from the knowledge and worship of God and from his truth to vain credulity or believing of lyes or to the worshipping of Idols That it is a Craft truly so called and likewise that it is for gain is proved Act. 16. 16 19. The Maid that followed Paul crying brought in her Master much gain and that it is a Craft of perverting the people or seducing them from God and his Truth is proved Act. 6. 7 8. Elimas the Sorcerer laboured to pervert the Deputy from the Faith So likewise Act. 8. 9 10 11. it doth more plainly prove all these words And there was a man before in the City called Simon which used Witchcraft and bewitched the people of Samaria saying That he himself was some great man to whom they gave heed from the least to the greatest saying This man is the great power of God and gave heed unto him because that of long time he had bewitched them with Sorceries How bewitched them with Sorceries That is seduced them with Devillish Crafts as the Greek and also Tremelius Latine Translation do more plainly illustrate In this sense speaketh Paul to the Galatians 3. 1. O foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth And that a Witch or Witchcraft is taken in no other sense in all the Scripture it appeareth by the whole current of the Scriptures as you may see in this Book But against this Mr. Glanvil and the rest of his opinion will object and say that it is hard and severe that Cheaters and Impostors should be ranked with Inchanters and such as converse with Devils and with Idolaters and that of this it is hard to give a reason To this we shall give this full responsion 1. We are to consider in what precise respect actions are in Sacred Writ called sinful and wicked and wherefore they have such severe punishments annexed unto them and we shall find that this is not ratione medii vel actûs sed finis As for instance and illustration we shall find that the Law was peremptory in point of adultery which saith If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband then they shall both of them dye Now the act of copulation as it is an act is all one with a lawful wife and with the wife of another man that is one generically considered and yet the one is lawful as agreeing with Gods Law and Ordinance and the other is unlawful sinful wicked and therefore to be punished with death because it is an aberration from the Divine Ordinance and contrary to the Command of God who saith Thou shalt not commit adultery So though the things committed by these persons were or might be performed by natural or artificial means that simply in themselves were not sinful or so severely punishable yet were they evil in regard of the end which was to deceive and seduce the people to Idolatry 2. Therefore the true and punctual reason why these persons termed Witches or Diviners are by the Law of God so severely to be punished is because they
them to agree together in a common lye I say we have the light of all these circumstances to confirm us in the belief of things done by persons of despicable power and knowledge beyond the reach of Art and ordinary Nature Standing publick Records have been kept of these well-attested Relations and Epocha's made of those unwonted events Laws in many Nations have been enacted against those vile practices those among the Jews and our own are notorious such Cases have been often determined near us by wise and reverend Judges upon clear convictive Evidence and thousands in our own Nation have suffered death for their vile compacts with Apostate Spirits And a little after he saith And I think those that can believe all Histories are Romances that all the wiser World have agreed together to juggle Mankind into a common belief of ungrounded Fables that the sound senses of multitudes together may deceive them and Laws are built upon Chimera's that the gravest and wisest Judges have been Murderers and the sagest persons Fools or designing Impostors Bishop Hall maketh the like Objection saying Neither can I make question of the authentick Records of the Examinations and Confessions of Witches and Sorcerers in several Regions of the World agreeing in the truth of their horrible pacts with Satan of their set Meetings with evil Spirits their beastly Homages and Conversations I should hate to be guilty of so much incredulity as to charge so many grave Judges and credible Historians with lyes These Objections at the first view seem very plausible and to carry with them a great splendour and weight of truth and reason but if they be looked into and narrowly weighed in the balance of sound reason and unbiassed judgment they will be found too light and will soon vanish into Rhetorical fumes and frothy vapours which that it may be more clearly performed we shall rank them into the number of three in which all their seeming strength lyes and these are they 1. They pretend that these things are sufficiently proved by Historians of unquestionable credit and reputation 2. That the Confessions of Witches themselves in divers Regions at several times and places who have all acknowledged these particulars are sufficient evidence of the truth of these performances 3. That so many wise and grave Judges and honest Juries could not have been deceived to put to death such great numbers of these kind of people called or accounted Witches without sufficient proof of the matters of fact To all which we shall give a full response in respect of the four particulars mentioned in the beginning of this Chapter and shall commix and adjoyn such positive Arguments as will be cogent to all rational persons whose corrupt wills have not perverted their judgments 1. It is much to be admired that Mr. Glanvil but especially Bishop Hall a very Reverend and Learned person should lye any great stress upon such a weak foundation For there is none of these three Objections that will amount to a necessary Proposition but only to a contingent one which will infer no certain and necessary Conclusion nor bring forth any certitude or science but only bare opinion and probability Propositio contingens est quâ— sic vera est ut falsa esse possit and at the best the strength of all these are but testimonia humana which are but weak and no sufficient ground for a rational man to believe them to be true because humanum est errare And the weight of these matters is not a contention de lana caprina vel de umbra asini sed de pelle humana for the lives and estates of many poor Creatures and they professed Christians too and therefore doth require stronger Arguments than contingent Propositions to establish a firm ground for the belief of this opinion 2. It is one thing barely to affirm and another thing to prove sufficiently and fully For though they boldly alledge that these things are sufficiently proved by Authors of unquestionable credit and verity we must return a flat negative and that for these reasons 1. Let them shew us any one Author of credible veracity that ever was ear or eye-witness of the Devils making of a visible and corporeal League or Bargain with the Witches or that he ever suckt upon their bodies or that he had carnal Copulation with them or that by the experience of his senses ever certainly knew a man really transubstantiated and transformed into a Wolf or a Wolf into a man and we will yield the whole Cause But we must assert and truly affirm that this pretence of theirs that these things are sufficiently proved by Historians of good credit is a meer falsity and a lying flourish of vain words There are we confess a multitude of vain and lying stories amassed up together in the Writings of Demonographers and Witchmongers of strange and odd Apparitions Feats Confessions and such like but never any one positive proof of any of these four particulars by any Authors of credit and reputation and this we dare boldly aver to the world 2. Let them produce any two Witnesses that were of honesty and integrity sound understandings and ability that ever were present and ear and eye-witnesses of a visible vocal and corporeal League made betwixt the Devil and the Witch or let them tell us who was by and watched and really and truly saw the Devil suck upon some part of the Witches body or who were the Chamberlains Pimps or Panders when the Devil and the Witch committed carnal Copulation or who were ever present when a Witch was changed into a Cat a Dog an Hare or a Wolf If they can but bring forth any two credible Witnesses to prove these things by then we shall believe them but we must assert that never any such two could be produced yet and therefore cannot but wonder at the shameless impudence of such persons that dare affirm these things that never were nor can be proved and yet have not blushed to vent and trumpet forth such execrable and abominable lyes to the World Mr. Glanvil confidently affirms these things to be matters of fact and affirmanti incumbit probatio let him produce his Witnesses and if they be persons of judgment veracity and impartiality then we shall accept their proof but it is not figments supposals weak presumptions or apparent falsities that will perform it for that which never was acted can never truly be proved and things that appear not are as though they were not therefore he must produce his testimonies or lose both his cause and credit and must be taken for an Assertor of never-proved Fables Lying lips are abomination unto the Lord but they that deal truly are his delight Now we know they use to do in this case as Souldiers use who when they are beaten forth of some Out-work or Trench they then retreat into another that they think more strong and safe And being driven from their weak Hold of
a bare affirmation without proof that these things are verified to have been matters of fact and really performed both by authority and the evidence of sense which are both utterly false then they flye to this assertion That the Confessions of so many Witches in all Ages in several Countries at divers times and places all agreeing in these particulars are sufficient evidence of the truth of these matters To which we shall rejoyn that the Confessions of Witches however considered are not of credit and validity to prove these things but are in themselves null and void as false impossible and forged lyes which we shall make good by these following Reasons 1. The Witch must be taken to be either a person insanae vel sanae mentis and if they be insanae mentis their Confessions are no sufficient evidence nor worthy of any credit because there is neither Reason Law nor Equity that allows the testimony or confession of an Idiot Lunatick mad or doting person because they are not of a right and sound understanding and are not to be accounted as compotes mentis nor governed by rationability For as by the Civil Law mad Folks Idiots and Old men childish Bond-slaves and Villains are not capable of making a Will to dispose of Goods Lands or Chattels so much more are all these sorts of persons excepted for giving evidence by confessions or otherwise in matters concerning life and death which are of far greater weight and concernment And that these persons are of unsound understandings is manifest in all the points that they confess and therefore are no proof nor ought to be credited and that for these reasons 1. Because the things they confess are not attested by any other persons of integrity and sound judgment and they must of necessity be lyars because the Bond-slaves of the Devil whose works they will do and he was a lyar from the beginning 2. Because they confess things that are impossible as we shall prove anon and confiteri impossibilia insanienti◠est 3. There is no good end wherefore they make these Confessions neither do they receive any benefit by them either spiritual or temporal internal nor external And this doth sufficiently shew that they are deluded melancholy and mad persons and so their Confessions of no credit truth or validity 2. Their Confessions will be found null and false if we consider the impulsive cause that moves them to make them and the end wherefore they declare such false and lying matters and that in these particulars 1. The moving cause is not nor can be the Spirit of God which is a Spirit of truth and righteousness nor any motion of true remorse for their sins or any thing flowing from repentant hearts because they are persons forsaken of God and his Grace and given over to reprobate minds and senses and therefore the truth of the Word of God is fulfilled in them Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved therefore God shall send them strong delusion that they might believe a lye That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2. Neither is the end for the glory of God or their own Salvation because they are the Vassals and Bond-slaves of Satan being kept Captive at his will and are Rebels and Traitors against God and Christ his Church and Truth having renounced the Faith and become Apostata's to the truth 3. The impulsive cause and chief end wherefore they make these and such like confessions is sometimes and in some persons meerly to eschew torture and bodily pains and sometimes the quite contrary solely to escape the present miseries of a poor wretched and troublesom life and therefore these confessions not at all to be credited as being vain and feigned 4. Sometimes they are by force waking craft and cunning in hope of pardon and life to make such confessions as the base ends and corrupt intentions of the Inquisitors themselves or their Agents have infused into them for the advancement of false Doctrine Superstition and Idolatry such were the most if not all recorded by Delrio Bodinus and the rest of the Witchmongers to which no credit can be given at all 5. But the chief end that Satan hath who is the Forger Contriver and Deviser of these Confessions if voluntarily and freely made the principal Agent in all these matters is to set forth the power and glory of his own Kingdom thereby to lead men into and continue them in lyes and errors for when he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it and the Witches are his Children and the works of their Father the Devil they will do and he was and is a Murtherer and Lyar from the beginning And thus far we acknowledge a spiritual and mental League betwixt the Witch and the Devil by virtue of which they confess these horrible and abominable lyes of the glory of him and his Kingdom but other League or Covenant there is none neither is there any the least spark of truth in all that they say or confess because their sole end in making of these confessions is to advance the credit and power of Satan 6. The impulsive cause that often makes them to utter such confessions of strange and impossible things is the strong passive delusion that they lye under contracted by ignorant unchristian and superstitious education which they have suckt in with their milk heightned with an atrabilarious temper and constitution and confirmed by the wicked lyes and teaching of others which makes them confess these execrable things which they in their depraved and vitiated imaginations do think and believe they have done and suffered when there was never truly acted any such matter ad extrà but only in their mad and deluded Phantasies and so no more credit to be given to them than to the maddest Melancholist that ever was read or heard of 3. That there is not any jot of truth in these Confessions is manifest if we consider the subjective matter of them as is plain by these ensuing grounds 1. For the most of them are not credible by reason of their obscenity and filthiness for chast ears would tingle to hear such bawdy and immodest lyes and what pure and sober minds would not nauseate and startle to understand such unclean stories as of the carnal Copulation of the Devil with a Witch or of his sucking the Teat or Wart of an old stinking and rotten Carkass surely even the impurity of it may be sufficient to overthrow the credibility of it especially amongst Christians 2. There are many things that have no verity in them at all that notwithstanding have verisimilitude but these are not only void of truth but also of truth-likeliness for it is neither truth nor hath any likelihood of it to believe it for a truth that the Devil should carry an
from artificial or counterfeited Transfigurations For it is wonderful to behold how anger and rage doth alter the faces and countenances of some and so grief sorrow despair and the like in others causeth horrible changes all over the external parts both of the face and body Neither is any passion more prevalent than deep-rooted fear mixed with despair as hath been manifested in some that in a short time nay even in the space of one night have had their hair that formerly was black turned into gray or white as is testified by Authors of unquestionable veracity And for diseases it is almost incredible to think what strange alterations Madness Frenzy the bitings of a mad Dog Melancholies especially that kind which Physicians call Lycanthropia which is so wonderful that it hath made many dotingly believe they were really transformed will produce and bring forth Examples of which at large may be seen in Schenckius of which we shall speak more fully anon as also of artificial and counterfeited Transfigurations and that Devils nor Witches can perform no such Transfigurations as this of Christ and Moses is manifest by the Arguments laid down before because these were brought to pass by a divine Hand and an omnipotent Power which Devils and Witches have not and therefore cannot operate any such things 4. Moreover in the Scripture there is mention of counterfeit simulated and hypocritical transformation such the Apostle mentioneth in these words speaking of the false Apostles For such are false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ. And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light Therefore it is no great thing if his Ministers also be transformed as the Ministers of Righteousness whose end shall be according to their works The word there thrice used is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cometh from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habeo possideo teneo and from thence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habitus so that the compound Verb properly signifieth effingo assimulo and so of necessity must signifie in these three places So the Apostle saith in another place The form of this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passeth away that is the fashion condition custom or usage of the world passeth away This place of Scripture concerning Satans transforming of himself into an Angel of light though plain in it self hath been and still is most usually alledged by Witchmongers to prove the Apparitions of Devils by For thus they commonly argue If Satan can transform himself into an Angel of Light much more arguing à majore ad minus into any other shape and so may easily appear in the form of a Cat Dog or in any other shape whatsoever and this they think to be an invincible Argument This way of argument were of force if the Apostle in this place had meant or intended any real or essential transformation but that this is not the meaning of the Text we shall prove by these following Reasons 1. The very signification of the word here doth not bear nor intend any essential transformation but only feigning pretending and assimulating as when Judas pretended charity and love to the poor when he said Why was not this oyntment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor This he said not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and had the bag and bare what was put therein Though Judas Iscariot hypocritically feigned and pretended this charity to and care for the poor yet was he not really a charitable man or a lover of the poor but a thief and a most covetous wretch So these false Apostles did pretend much zeal and piety to preach and promote the Gospel but therefore were they not really transformed and changed into true Apostles but were Deceivers Dissemblers and Hypocrites So Satan often pretendeth heavenly angelical and divine things and to do as the holy Angels do but it is in deceit cozenage falsity and hypocrisie and so he is by counterfeiting and dissembling said to be transformed into an Angel of Light and not otherwise by any essential transformation at all 2. The Text it self doth plainly manifest that they were not transformed into true Apostles for then St. Paul had had no cause to have written so bitterly against them but that notwithstanding that shew form or pretence that they held forth and though outwardly they seemed to personate the true Apostles of Christ yet that was but an external and hypocritical simulation for really and truly they were false Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and deceitful workers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so Satan may make what shews or pretences he will of goodness piety and of heavenly things and so may counterfeit dissemble and lye yet still he remaineth a very accursed Devil and is never really changed from his damned and diabolical Nature 3. Satan is so transformed into an Angel of Light as his Ministers are transformed into the Apostles of Christ. But Satans Ministers are not essentially transformed into the Apostles of Christ. Therefore neither is Satan essentially transformed into an Angel of Light For though Satans Ministers may pretend never so much piety and zeal and labour to personate and imitate the true Ministers of Christ yet notwithstanding that pretended transformation they still really and essentially remain as they were that is Deceivers and Hypocrites And Satan for all his seeming and apparent personating and imitating the Angels of Light he still remaineth in his essence and nature an Angel of Darkness and a lying and accursed Wretch 4. The Devil is never nor can be really and essentially transubstantiated into an Angel of Light for then he could indeed and in truth be no longer a Devil but his diabolical Nature would of necessity cease But all his transformation is when he intendeth most deeply to circumvent and deceive the sons of men then he pretendeth the most religious and the holiest shews of all Pretending in all outward appearance the holy affections sincerity and zeal of the holiest Angels of Light For as St. Austin saith Unless the malignity of Satan be sleightly and cunningly covered his deceivable purpose is seldom or never effected 5. The best and most sound Expositors both ancient middle and modern do expound the place as we have urged it of which we shall name only two or three St. Chrysostom tells us this Operarii dolosi nam operantur quidem sed revellunt ea quae sunt plantata nam quoniam sciunt se aliter non posse esse acceptos personâ veritatis sumptâ erroris actum simulantes peragunt And a little after he saith thus Et multos Diabolus sic decipit personâ in se acceptâ non factus Angelus lucis sic illi personam Apostolorum circumferunt non ipsam potentiam neque fortes sunt Dr. Hammond gives the Paraphrase of this place thus For the truth is he
uti magicis illusionibus cum potestas Philosophiae doceat operari quod sufficit Therefore are those men that came from the East to worship Christ called Magicians not because that great knowledge they had in the secrets of Nature was Diabolical or unlawful for the name of a Magician was honourable and laudable until Knaves and Impostors made use of it to cheat and couzen withal and for wicked and ungodly ends but because they had made use of it for the glory of God and the good of mankind therefore were they Magicians in the genuine and best sense as working by lawful and natural means and to a good end when the Magicians of Pharaoh may be called Cacomagicians because they used the good and excellent causes and agents of nature to a wicked and Diabolical end namely to resist the truth and so the only difference of Magick is from the end and uses and not from the causes or agents that are both natural So what these Magicians of Pharaoh did though it were strange and wonderful yet was it meerly by natural means and causes and yet being for a wicked end was therefore Diabolical So Jacob when he set the pilled rods with white streakes in them before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs that when the Rams and the Sheep came up to drink and coupled together they might conceive and bring forth ring streaked speckled and spotted young ones It came so to pass and is confessed by Pererius himself and the most of learned Expositors upon that place to be from natural causes and was a strange feat of natural Magick but not evil because not directed to a wicked end but that of Pharaohs though wrought likewise by a natural causes for so it was whether ascribed to the Devil that can but work by natural means or not was wicked and Diabolical because they did it to resist Moses and Aaron the messengers of the Lord Jehovah 3. The most or all the learned Expositors that have Commented upon this place of Exodus as may be seen in Dr. Willets Hexapla and divers other learned Authors though they attribute these things done by the Magicians to the power and assistance of Satan yet in the manner they do acknowledge them not to be done really and in truth but only in shew and appearance But what they mean by shew and appearance is not so easie to find out and determine for if by it they mean that they did it as Juglers and those that use the Art of Legierdemane do that is by shewing one thing and then by nimble sleight and agility convey it away and suddainly and unperceiveably substitute another thing in its place which they perform by leading the Eyes and attentions of the spectators another way with staring and using of strange and insignificant words then we should be soon accorded for so they might probably and easily have been performed as we shall prove anon but this is not the thing they mean or intend But some do mean that the Devil did only deceive the Phantasie and imagination of the beholders in causing them to imagine and believe that the rods were changed into Serpents when they were not changed at all but only their imaginations deceived in thinking them to be Serpents when they were but only rods as melancholy persons Men in Feavers Phrensies and Maniacal distempers do often think and affirm that they see strange things when they see no such things externally but the Phantasie is only deceived with the species and images of those things within This might be granted if Pharaoh and all the Spectators could be proved to be Men under those forenamed distempers and the like though yet that might and doth often come to pass from meer natural causes where the Devil hath nothing to do at all But the beholders of these actions of the Magicians are neither proved nor can rationally be supposed to be Men under any such distempers but must be understood to be Men of several constitutions tempers and of sound health and therefore not any way capable of any such illusions neither could the Devil in a moment have so vitiated their imaginations which we affirm he can no ways do except the humours fumes and spirits in the Body be first altered by natural causes which cannot be done instantaneously and if it could then it would follow that no Man could certainly tell when he were deceived in his imagination when not neither could it be as some imagine by casting a mist before their Eyes for though Christ did hold the two Disciples Eyes going from Emaus that they did not know him it were blasphemous to think that Satan could do so also And a mist casting before their Eyes might make them to see more dimly and confusedly and cause things to appear greater than they were but not to make one thing seem a quite contrary But it never was yet proved that Satan could do such a thing and what was never proved may safely and rationally be denied Some do suppose that the Devil did cloath or cover the Magicians rods with some such vestment of an airy substance as might make the rods appear to the eye like Serpents but this is as groundless a whimsey as any of the rest and as it hath no proof so it needs no confutation 4. But to come more close to the matter it is most plain and perspicuous that what they did was meerly by Art or by Art and Nature joined with it for if we may trust any thing to propriety of the words as we have proved sufficiently before they are called mechassephim praestigiatores that is Juglers such as by sleight of hand and nimble conveyance could perform strange and wonderful things and after they are called Hartummin that is Magicians such as had skill in natural things and by knowing their causes and making due and timely application of them to passives that were suitable could produce wonderful effects And if we seriously consider the few things that they performed they might easily be brought to pass by Legerdemain alone For as for holding a rod in their hands and seeming to throw it down upon the ground how soon might they throw down an artificial Serpent in its stead and immediately and unperceivedly make conveyance of the rod And if it be thought difficult or impossible I shall unriddle the mystery as I have sometimes seen it performed and is but thus The Jugler that is to perform this feat is usually provided before-hand with a wiar so twined and wrested that it may be pressed together with the little finger in the ball of the hand and when let loose it will extend it self like a spring and make a pretty motion upon a Table this is fitted with a suitable head and a piece of neatly painted linnen perfectly resembling a Serpent with Eyes and all This thus fitted he holdeth in his right hand betwixt his little finger and the
ball of his hand then with his left hand he taketh up a little white rod that he hath upon the Table with which he maketh people believe he performeth all his feats And then telling them a Story to amuse them that he will like Moses and Aaron transform that rod into a Serpent then he presently beginneth to stare about him and to utter some strange and nonsensical words as though he were invoking some Spirit or Goblin and so immediately conveyeth the rod either into his lap if sitting or into his sleeve if standing and then le ts loose the Serpent forth of his right hand with pushing it forward that what with the wiar and the nimble motion of his hand he maketh it to move a pretty space upon the Table which he continueth while offering with the one hand to catch it by the neck he nimbly with the other puts it forward and turneth it by touching the tail and the mean while hisseth so cunningly that the by-standers think it is the Serpent it self and presently whips it up and conveys it into his pocket And such a trick as this well acted might make Pharaoh and the beholders believe there was as much done as Moses and Aaron did but only that Aarons rod swallowed up their Serpents or his Serpent theirs which they might easily excuse As for the changing water into blood and the producing of Frogs they were so easy to be done after the same manner that they need not any particular explication for by this the manner of their performance may most easily be understood Though I once saw a Gentleman that was much delighted with these kind of tricks and did himself play them admirable well who performed it with a living Snake that he had got for one of his Children to keep in a box for in this North-Countrey they are plentiful and are also innoxious and it might have deceived a very wary person So that it is very foolish and absurd to bring in a Demon from Hell or an Angel from Heaven or a Soul from above to solve a thing that seems strange and uncouth by when the craft and cunning of Men if duely considered and examined are sufficient to perfom the same and much more 5. And in this place of Exodus where our Translators say and the Magicians did so or in like manner with their inchantments the word being Belahatehem ought to have been rendered suis laminis as we have proved before that is with their bright plates of metal for the word doth not signifie Inchantments in any one place in all the Old Testament And if truth and reason may bear any sway at all it must be understood that they were deeply skilled in natural and lawful Magick as generally the Aegyptians and the Eastern Nations were though they did use and apply it to an evil end namely the resisting the power of Gods miracles wrought by Moses and Aaron and so by this word suis laminis with their plates of Metal must be understood Metalline bright plates framed under certain fit constellations and insculped with certain figures by which naturally without any Diabolical assistance they did perform strange things and made the shapes of some things appear to the eye And though we may be derided and laughed to scorn by the ignorant or hardly taxed and censured by the greatest part of Cynical Criticks yet we cannot so far stifle the knowledge of our own brains nor be so cowardly in maintaining the truth but we must assert That anciently there hath been a certain lawful art whereby some sorts of metals might be mixed together under a due constellation and after ingraven in like fit Planetary times with sundry figures that would naturally work strange things And this piece of learning though it may justly be numbred amongst the Desiderata and might very well have been placed in the Catalogue of the Deperdita of Pancirollus yet was it well known unto the ancient Magicians and by them often with happy success put into practise And amongst those many noble attempts of that most learned and experienced though much condemned person Paracelsus this part of learning was not the least that he laboured to restore The truth of which we thus prove 1. That there have been formerly in the World many such like planetary Sigills or Talismans as the Persians called them is manifest from the authority of divers Authors of good credit and account For the learned and most acute Julius Scaliger relateth this saying The novelty of this History also may sharpen the wits of the studious In the Books of the Arabick Aegyptians he saith it is thus written That Hameth Ben Thaulon the Governour of Aegypt for the Arabians did command that a certain leaden Image or Picture of a Crocodile which was found in the ground-work of a certain Temple should be melted in the fire From which time the inhabitants did complain that those Countreys were more infested with Crocodiles than before against whose mischief that Image had been framed and buried there by the more ancient Wisemen or Magicians Junctin upon the Sphear of Sacrobosco affirms that his Master who was a Carmelite named Julianus Ristorius à Prato one that was not any whit superstitious was intreated by a Friend of his to make one of these Images for the cure of the Cramp which he was very much subject to This learned Man resenting his Friends sufferings taught him the manner how to make one so that he not content to make only one made divers of them when the Moon was in the Sign Cancer and that with so good success and with such certainty as that he immediately found the benefit of it Confecit saith he plures imagines pro se amicis suis quibus effectis unam pro se accepit liberatus est The same he reports of a certain Florentine a very Pious Man who made one of these Talismans for to drive away the Gnats which he did with good success Nicolaus Florentinus saith he Vir religiosus fecit in una constellatione annulum ad expellendum culices quas vulgo Zanzaras dicimus sub certis determinatis imaginibus usus fuit constellatione Saturni infortunati eâ—pulit culices Another Story take from an Arabick Cosmographer cited by Joseph Scaliger thus This Talisman he saith is to be seen in the Countrey of Hamptz in a City bearing the same name and it is only the Figure of a Scorpion graved upon one of the Stones in a certain Tower which is of so great virtue as that it suffers not any either Serpent or Scorpion to come within the City And if any one for experiment sake bring one of these out of the field into the City it is no sooner at the Gate but that it dies suddenly This Figure hath this virtue besides that when any one is stung with a Scorpion or bitten by any other Serpent they need but
omnia est sed non exclusus intra omnia sed non conclusus And these places need no fiction of an Hebraism to expound them nor no device of a verb of an active termination and a permissive signification to evade the pressure of this truth And therefore in respect of Physical agency we are bold with Bradwardine to assert these three Corollaries 1. Quod nulla res potest aliquid facere sine Deo 2. Quod nulla res potest aliquid facere nisi Deus per se immediate facit illud idem 3. Quod nulla res potest facere aliquid nisi Deus faciat illud idem immediatiùs quolibet alio faciente 4. So that however permission may be understood it must properly relate to intellectual and rational creatures and that only and especially in respect of those actions which we call moral that is in regard of sin evil or malum culpae for whatsoever is malum poenae God is the author causer and inflicter of according to the Text Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it To understand aright the nature of permission we are to consider the affections properties and adjuncts of it both in regard of the person permitting the creature permitted to act and the thing permitted to be done with all the circumstances about them and these we shall take from their Ring-leader and great Champion Arminius himself in these points 5. And first in respect of the person permitting he saith it is necessary that he know what to whom and the ability of performance that is to be granted or used by the person permitted and that the person permitting have power to permit and to impede and also that he have the right and authority of permitting 2. In the person permitted it is necessarily requisite that he have sufficient power to effect and perform the thing permitted if not hindered for otherwise it would be nonsense to say that a person is permitted to do an act that he hath no power to perform 3. If the person permitted have sufficiency of power to perform the act permitted yet there is also required a propension and disposition in the person permitted to perform the thing permitted otherwise the permission as to that act would be without a certain end and so would be in vagum inconstant and not to be performed and therefore he concludeth thus Imò nec rectè dici potest quod alicui actus permittatur qui actus illos praestandi affectu nullo tenetur 6. We shall omit the exceptions that the learned and subtile Dr. Twisse hath made against diverse particulars in these passages and shall only fix upon one that is manifestly false if he mean of permission in general which he confesseth For in the Angels and Adam before their falling and committing of sin there was not any propension or disposition to sin and therefore to this we shall give the most acute answer of Dr. Twisse in these words Nam licèt insit homini propensio ad peccandum scilicet post lapsum per modum dispositionis quae praecedanâ—a sit permissioni actus peccaminosâ— At in Adamo ante lapsum nulla inerat hujusmodi dispositio aut ad peccandum propensio ante peccatum ejus primum Sed neque in Angelis qui à statu suo ceciderunt Secundo ut ut dispositio sive habitus insit qui inclinet ad agendum non est ex natura dispositionis sive habitus cujuscunque ut faciat hominem propendere ad actum aliquem particularem cujus vel solius ratione dicitur permissio And though it be granted that God did create the Angels and Adam in statu labili wherein they had a sufficiency of power or grace not to have sinned or faln and though that power or grace was not withdrawn from them and that there was no coaction upon their wills to inforce them to sin for if it had been so their falls would have been no sin so neither did God supply them with more assisting grace to have upholden them for then their estate had not been labile nor they in a possibility to sin But it is manifest that they in their Creation were set in aequilibrio and had equal power of freedom of will either to sin or not to sin and so had no propension or disposition at all to commit that sin to which they were left by a free permission and so propension and disposition to the act permitted if permission be understood generally had no place in the Angels nor Adam before their first sinning according to the Text God made man upright that is like a straight or right line that falling perpendicularly upon another right line doth incline to neither end of the line upon which it falls so Adam was made upright without any propension or inclination to sin at all And if this propension and disposition be understood and applied to Angels in their condition after their fall then it is true they have not only an inclination but a most strong will and desire to commit more evil and mischief than God in his goodness permits them to perform for the Devil goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour and it was Satan that not only had a disposition but desired to sift Peter as wheat And it is manifest that wicked Men have a strong will and desire to commit mischief but that God hath an hook in their Nostrils and a Bridle in their Jawes wherewith he curbs and restrains them that they cannot act out all the mischief that they intend as is manifest in the example of Sennacherib and many others 7. Permission must be referred and reduced to the will of God for nolition is an act of his will as well as volition and to speak properly and truly permission is but an act of the Divine Will not to impede such or such particular actions of the creatures and therefore the same things will follow from his volition or his will non impediendi as from his volition to the acts of a free agent seeing neither do put coaction upon the will of the Creature that is to act And that permission is an act of the Divine will and to be reduced unto it Arminius confesseth in these words Permissionem ad genus actionis pertinere ex ipsa vocis flexione est notum sive per se sive reductive ut in Scholis loqâ—untur Cessatio enim ab actu ad actum quoque est reducenda cansamautem proximam immediatam habet voluntatem non scientiam non potentiam non potestatem licet ista in permittente requirantur And when he defineth permission he saith Permissio Dei est act us voluntatis Divinae than which nothing can be more clear And not much different from this is the definition of permission that is given by learned Junius thus Est autem permissio act us voluntatis quo
and hired to assist in the murther Which Raynard and Dunn accomplished upon the May-day by drowning Fletcher as they came all three together from a Town called Huby and acquainting the wife with the deed she gave them a Sack therein to convey his body which they did and buried it in Raynards backside or Crost where an old Oak-root had been stubbed up and sowed Mustard-seed upon the place thereby to hide it So they continued their wicked course of lust and drunkenness and the neighbours did much wonder at Fletchers absence but his wife did excuse it and said that he was but gone aside for fear of some Writs being served upon him And so it continued until about the seventh day of July when Raynard going to Topcliffe Fair and setting up his Horse in the Stable the spirit of Fletcher in his usual shape and habit did appear unto him and said Oh Raph repent repent for my revenge is at hand and ever after until he was put in the Goal it seemed to stand before him whereby he became sad and restless And his own Sister over hearing his confession and relation of it to another person did through fear of losing her own life immediately reveal it to Sir William Sheffield who lived in Rascall and was a Justice of Peace Whereupon they were all three apprehended and sent to the Gaol at York where they were all three condemned and so executed accordingly near to the place where Raynard lived and where Fletcher was buried the two men being hung up in irons and the woman buried under the Gallows I have recited this story punctually as a thing that hath been very much fixed in my memory being then but young and as a certain truth I being with many more an ear-witness of their confessions and an eye-witness of their Executions and likewise saw Fletcher when he was taken up where they had buried him in his cloaths which were a green fustian doublet pinkt upon white gray breeches and his walking boots and brass spurrs without rowels Some will say there was no extrinsick apparition to Raynard at all but that all this did only arise from the guilt of his own conscience which represented the shape of Fletcher in his fancy But then why was it precisely done at that time and not at any others it being far from the place of the murder or the place where they had buried Fletcher and nothing there that might bring it to his remembrance more than at another time and if it had only arisen from within and appeared so in his fancy it had been more likely to have been moved when he was in or near his backside where the murthered body of Fletcher lay But certain it is that he affirmed that it was the shape and voice of Fletcher as assuredly to his eyes and ears as ever he had seen or heard him in his life And if it were granted that it was only intrinsick yet that will not exclude the Divine Power which doubtless at that time did labour to make him sensible of the cruel murther and to mind him of the revenge approaching And it could not be brought to pass either by the Devil or Fletchers Soul as we have proved before and therefore in reason we conclude that either it was wrought by the Divine Power to shew his detestation of murther or that it was the Astral or Sydereal Spirit of Fletcher seeking revenge for the murther of which more anon 4. About the year of our Lord 1632. as near as I can remember having lost my notes and the copy of the Letter to Serjeant Hutton but am sure that I do most perfectly remember the substance of the story near unto Chester in the street there lived one Walker a Yeoman-man of good Estate and a Widower who had a young Woman to his Kinswoman that kept his House who was by the Neighbours suspected to be with child and was towards the dark of the evening one night sent away with one Mark Sharp who was a Collier or one that digged coals under ground and one that had been born in Blakeburn Hundred in Lancashire and so she was not heard of a long time and no noise or little was made about it In the winter time after one James Graham or Grime for so in that Country they call them being a Miller and living about two miles from the place where Walker lived was one night alone very late in the Mill grinding Corn and as about twelve or one a clock at night he came down the stairs from having been putting Corn in the Hopper the Mill doors being shut there stood a Woman upon the midst of the floor with her hair about her head hanging down and all bloody with five large wounds in her head He being much affrighted and amazed begun to bless him and at last asked her who she was and what she wanted to which she said I am the Spirit of such a Woman who lived with Walker and being got with child by him he promised me to send me to a private place where I should be well lookt to until I was brought in bed and well again and then I should come again and keep his house And accordingly said the apparition I was one night late sent away with one Mark Sharp who upon a Moor naming a place that the Miller knew slew me with a pick such as men dig coals withal and gave me these five wounds and after threw my body into a coal-pit hard by and hid the pick under a bank and his shoos and stockings being bloody he endeavoured to wash but seeing the blood would not wash forth he hid them there And the apparition further told the Miller that he must be the Man to reveal it or else that she must still appear and haunt him The Miller returned home very sad and heavy but spoke not one word of what he had seen but eschewed as much as he could to stay in the Mill within night without company thinking thereby to escape the seeing again of that frightful apparition But notwithstanding one night when it begun to be dark the apparition met him again and seemed very fierce and cruel and threatned him that if he did not reveal the murder she would continually pursue and haunt him Yet for all this he still concealed it until S. Thomas Eve before Christmas when being soon after Sun-set walking in his Garden she appeared again and then so threatned and affrighted him that he faithfully promised to reveal it next morning In the morning he went to a Magistrate and made the whole matter known with all the circumstances and diligent search being made the body was found in a coal pit with five wounds in the head and the pick and shooes and stockings yet bloody in every circumstance as the apparition had related unto the Miller Whereupon Walker and Mark Sharp were both apprehended but would confess nothing At the Assizes following I think
it were immoveable until not by any deceit or ambushes but only stretching their hands they had taken them and strangled them This is from his own sight and he a Man of undoubted veracity 5. Another take from the credit of Dr. Casaubon who fathers it upon Remigius but confesseth that at the time of his writing the story he could not find it in Remigius his Book and is this I have seen a Man saith he who from all the neighbourhood or confines would draw Serpents into the fire which was inclosed within a magical circle and when one of them bigger than the rest would not be brought in upon repetition of the charms before used he was forced and so into the fire he did yield himself with the rest and with it was compassed 6. To these we shall adjoin another story written from Wierus by Dr. Moore thus And he saith Wierus tells us this story of a Charmer at Saltzburg that when in the sight of the people he had charmed all the Serpents into a ditch and killed them at last there came one huge one far bigger than the rest that leap◠upon him and winded about his waste like a girdle and pulled him into the ditch and so killed the Charmer himself in the conclusion And this great Serpent the Doctor taketh in his Appendix to be a Devil or a Serpent actuated and guided by him but upon what grounds of reason I can no way understand These are the most material passages that in our reading we can find in credible and learned Authors to prove thereby the effects of charms de facto and we confess they are all short and not sufficiently evidential as such a case may justly require and therefore we shall here add some testimonies of good Authors that do strongly affirm and aver the same As not to stand upon the authorities of the Cabalists Platonists or Arabians we find the truth of the charming of Serpents avouched by Paracelsus whose credit in this point may be equivalent to any others who saith thus But he saith answer me from whence is this that a Serpent in Helvetia Algovia or Suevia doth understand the Greek Idions Osy Osya Osy c. When notwithstanding the Greek tongue is not so common in this age with the Helvetians Algovians or Suevians that the venenous worms should be able to learn it Tell me he saith how where and from what causes Serpents do understand these words or in what Academics have they learned them that they should forthwith at the first hearing of those words stop their ears with their tail turned back lest they should be compelled to hear the words again reiterated For assoon as they hear them they contrary to their nature and cunning do forthwith lie immoveable and do pursue or hurt no man with their venemous biting when notwithstanding otherwise they on the sudden fly from the noise of a mans going as soon as they hear it and turn into their holes From whence it is manifest that Paracelsus knew of his own experience that the charm which it seems he knew would make Serpents lie immoveable and so that there was power and efficacy in words naturally without superstition to work and operate Also the learned person Tobias Tandlerus Doctor of Physick and publick Professor at Witteberge in his smart and pithy Oration de fascino incantatione tells us this That Tucci◠a Woman belonging to the Temple of Vesta being accused of Incest did by the help of prayer carry water in a sieve as Pliny witnesseth lib. 28. c. 2. natur Histor. Who there with many examples doth extol the efficacy of words And further saith They are found that stay wild beasts with words that they efcape not the throwing of the dart And those that render Rats being seen in any place stupid with secret murmuring that they may be taken with the hand and strangled Augerius Ferrerius whom Thuanus calls Medicus Doctissimus in his treating of Homerical medication after he hath quoted Galen's recantation from Trallianus and divers arguments and examples to prove the efficacy of words charms and characters from him from Aetius and others he concludeth thus Quorum experientiam cum ob oculos positam tot illustrium virorum authoritate confirmata videris quid facies Nam iis quae sensibus exposita sunt contravenire sani hominis non est Doctorum vero experimenta infirmare temerarium Lastly for authorities sake we shall add the opinion of sagacious Helmont who writ a Book by him styled In verbis herbis lapidibus est magna virtus and of the efficacy of words saith only thus much De magna virtute verborum quaedam ingenuè dixi quae magis admiror quam applico By which it is manifest that though Helmont did not make use of words or charms yet knowing the efficacy of them he could not but admire them These authorities joyned with the examples may suffice to convince any rational man that at some times and places and by some persons the using of charms have produced strange effects and therefore taking the matter of fact to be a truth we should come to examine the cause of these effects but first it will be necessary to premise some cautions and necessary considerations which we shall pursue in this order 1. We are to consider the intricacy and difficulty of this point which hath exercised the wits of the learned in all ages and forced Pliny to say Maximae quaestionis semper incertae est valeantne aliquid verba incantamenta carminum And again more particularly Varia circa haec opinio ex ingenio cujusque vel casu mulceri alloquio foras quippe ubi etiam Serpentes extrahi cantu cogique in poenas verum falsumne sit vita non decreverit It seems by Pliny that learned men of old have been very much divided in their opinions about this matter insomuch that he dares not take upon him to decide it but leaves it free to every man to believe as they shall see cause And therefore we ought not to be condemned if we do not absolutely decide it neither it is enough if we bring so much light to the matter that it may be better understood though not absolutely determined In magnis voluisse sat est 2. Again we are to note that some Authors of great credit and learning do hold these things to be but meer Aniles fabulae of which opinion it seems Aristotle and Galen were though Trallianus doth affirm though some say falsly that he made a retractation of that opinion and this was the judgment of the learned Spaniard Valesius who in his book De sacra Philosophia hath taken great pains to perswade men though he deny not supernatural operations by Devils and Spirits that inchanting by magical words are impossible and whatsoever is alledged by any ancient or late writer to that purpose he doth reject as meerly fabulous But
ascribed unto himself and in this the Witchmongers do him no small service in giving that power and honour unto the most wicked and wrâ—hed of all Gods Creatures that is only due to the Creator and to his instrument Nature And to conclude this I cannot but repeat that excellent and Christian Sentence of Helmont Pigritiae saltem enim immensae inventum fuit omnia in Diabolum retulisse quae non capimus 3. A third kind of power that he ascribeth unto Devils is their changing and transmuting of bodies which is either in regard of substantial transformations or of those that are but in the external figure or shape or in the qualities accidents and adjuncts only Of real transubstantiations after a long dispute he granteth that they cannot be brought to pass but by a Divine and Omnipotent Power which we have sufficiently proved before and therefore shall forbear to say any further of it here And for what other portents prodigies or lying wonders he can perform we shall here examine and discuss them to the full in this order 1. We shall pass by what may be thought of the strange feats the Magicians of Pharaoh or Simon Magus did perform as fully examined and concluded before and shall give those Texts of Scripture that mention the signs and wonders that Antichrist and false Prophets that are Satans Instruments can or do work and they are these If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder And the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. And that Prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God Another place is this But the Prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak or that shall speak in the name of other gods even that Prophet shall die And if thou say in thine heart How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken When a Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not be afraid of him From whence we may take these Observations 1. That we may know he is a false Prophet that speaketh a thing in the name of the Lord if the thing do not come to pass But yet this must be understood with limitation where God sendeth a Message by a true Prophet where the thing is spoken positively but the condition is concealed and not expressed as in the Message of Jonah to Nineveh yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown which was intended if they repented not but implicitely was understood as the event shewed if they did repent the Lord would spare them of which Learned D r Stillingfleet hath this Proposition Comminations of judgments to come do not in themselves speak the absolute futurity of the event but do only declare what the persons to whom they are made are to expect and what shall certainly come to pass unless God by his mercy interpose between the threatning and the event So that Comminations do speak only the debitum poenae and the necessary obligation to punishment but therein God doth not bind up himself as he doth in absolute promises the reason is because Comminations confer no right to any which absolute promises do and therefore God is not bound to necessary performance of what he threatens 2. That there are those that do foretel or shew signs and wonders that do come to pass and yet those that foretel them are false Prophets because sometimes God sendeth false Prophets with power to work signs and wonders thereby to try his people whether or no they will cleave unto him with all their hearts and souls or turn to other strange gods or Idols and this is ordered by the Providence of God for the trial of the faithful as was in the Case of Job But though these may be great signs and wonders to amaze and amuse men and likewise come to pass yet are they no true miracles but are distinguished in this that true miracles are alwayes for the establishing and confirmation of the true Doctrine and Worship of Christ but the other are lying wonders wrought only to try the godly or for the deluding and punishing of those that received not the knowledge of the truth And though there are and may be signs and wonders that are wrought by Antichrist and false Prophets by and in the power of Satan yet these are all ordered by the Wisdom and Providence of the Almighty and Satan is no more but an organ and instrument in the performance of them There are two other remarkable places of Scripture concerning the Devils power in working signs and wonders the first of which is this For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect The other is this Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders And with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness From whence we may take these remarkable observations 1. Though there arise false Christs and false Prophets and even the Antichrist himself working after the power of Satan with signs and lying wonders yet though Satan be the organ and instrument in performing these lying wonders God is the Author and efficient cause that doth inflict them because they are mala poenae and come not by a bare permissive power but are inflicted by him as punishments upon the wicked even those that received not the love of the truth and therefore these lying wonders cannot possibly deceive the elect but prove all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish and the reason why they are thus punished with the deceits and delusions of Satan is because they received not the love of the truth and therefore God doth send such strong delusion that they might believe a lie and this he doth rightly and justly that as Beza notes Ita tamen ut soli increduli sint illius fraude perituri Upon which place learned Rollock tells us this We are he saith to observe
that Antichrist is nothing else but Gods Executioner by whom he punisheth those by his just judgment who have not received the love of the truth but have contemned the Gospel which is so far forth true that if there had not been and now were a contempt of the truth then altogether Antichrist had not been that is the Executioner had not been whom God sendeth to execute his just judgment upon those that despise the truth of his Gospel So that it is manifest that God doth make a just and good use of the very malice and lying nature of Devils in punishing those that did not receive the love of the truth but deceiving them by strong delusions that they might believe a lie and this he doth as sent and commanded of God and so cannot go one jot further than his Commission or as far as he is limited by God 2. We may observe that how great soever these signs and wonders be yet they are but lying ones both in regard of the end for which they are done and in respect of their substance And therefore how great soever the signs and wonders be that evil Angels do perform yet they are totally different from true miracles those being alwayes wrought for the confirming of the true Doctrine and Worship of God but these have their end only to establish false doctrine lies and erroneous opinions or Idolatrous Worships So they differ in their substance for those miracles that God sheweth for the confirmation of his truth are alwayes true and real being against and above the whole power and course of nature but those wonders wrought by Satan are but delusions cheats juglings and impostures which though they may seem strange to those that are ignorant of their causes yet do but all arise from natural causes or from artificial cunning confederacy and the like And therefore we may conclude that what miracles soever are wrought by a Divine Power tend to the overthrow of Satans power in the world but all false miracles are wrought to uphold the power of Satans Kingdom in the world and following delusions lies and false doctrines 3. Therefore what signs and wonders soever Satan doth work they are no real and true miracles for as Dr. Stillingfleet saith God alone can really alter the course of nature I speak not he saith of such things which are apt to raise admiration in us because of our unacquaintedness with the causes of them or manner of their production which are thence called Wonders much less of meer juggles and impostures whereby the eyes of Men are deceived but I speak of such things as are in themselves either contrary to or above the course of nature i. e. that order which is established in the universe And this cannot be altered by any diabolical power but only by that which is Divine and Omnipotent which never doth it but for considerable ends and important causes as may be manifest from these unshaken grounds 1. That Devils can work no true miracles is manifest from the definition of a miracle which is this Verum miraculum est opus quod fit praeter contra naturam secundas causas cujus nulla Physica ratio potest reddi But Satan cannot alter or change the order and course of nature Therefore Satan cannot work or effect a true miracle The proposition may be illustrated by an induction made of many great miracles of which there is mention made in the Old and New Testament all which are of that sort that are repugnant to the order and course of nature and of which no natural or physical reason can be rendered and given Such were the taking of Enoch and Elias into Heaven the conserving of Noah and his Family in the Ark the confusion of tongues at the building of Babel the fecundity of Sarah being old and barren the passage of the children of Israel over the red Sea and over Jordan the standing still of the Sun in the battel of Joshuah its going back in the dial of Ahaz its eclipse at our Saviours suffering the preservation of Daniel in the Den of the Lions and of the three companions of Daniel in the fiery furnace the preserving Jonas in the belly of the Whale the raising up of the dead and the curing of the Man born blind and all the rest of those most true and wonderful miracles wrought by our blessed Saviour and his Apostles 2. The assumption of the Syllogism is thus proved It is the part of the same power to change the order of nature and to create things that were not existent and so the mutation of the order of nature is a certain kind of new creation But Satan hath not power by which he can create things that as yet had no existence as all persons of reason must needs confess From whence it must follow that Satan hath not power to change the order of nature and consequently that he cannot work true and real miracles 3. The working of true miracles is only a proper attribute of God and incommunicable to any creaturely power for the Text saith Blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel who only doth wondrous things And again thou art the God that dost wonders And these two things the changing of the order of nature and creation S. Paul attributeth to God as only proper to him God who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things that be not as though they were Upon which Beza gives this note Eo qui vitae restituit Apud quem jam sint quae alioqui reipsa non sunt ut qui vel uno verbo quidvis possit ex nihilo efficere But if it be objected that though Satan and his Angels of themselves and by their own proper power do not work true miracles yet may not God work real miracles by them as he did by the Prophets Apostles and his Ministers It is answered That the wonders which are wrought by Satan do tend to that end that they might confirm lies against God and his glory But God doth not accommodate his power to confirm lies contrary to his glory and against himself Therefore Satan by the power of God as his Minister doth not work true miracles for God doth use the faln Angels as executioners of his wrath and judgments for the afflicting and punishing of men but when God worketh any thing for the good of mankind either in Soul or Body he doth not use Devils as his Ministers but the good and blessed Angels who are ministring spirits sent forth for the good of those that shall be heirs of Salvation And if it be queried what things and of what sort and kind are those wonders that are wrought by Satan and Antichrist I answer that either they are indeed nothing but prestigious juglings and illusions or if they be any thing they are not brought to pass contrary to the order of nature and second causes although they may seem so