So Orpheus asswag'd the Tempest of the Argonauts with a Song and Homer relates how the course of Vlysses blood was stopt by the power of words Moreover in the Law of the Twelve Tables there is a Law against those that did inchant the standing Corn whereby it is apparent that Witches have a power by the force of words to produce strange Effects not onely upon themselves but also upon outward things All which things that is to say to separate the hidden force of things and either draw them to themselves and repel them from themselves they credibly believe themselves to effect no other way than as the Loadstone draws Iron or Amber or Jet draws Chaff and as Onions again destroys the Magnetick Power So that by this Gradual and Concatenated Sympathy not only Natural and Celestial Gifts but also Intellectual and Divine may be receiv'd into humane Souls as Iamblicus Proculus and Sinesius gather from the Opinions of Great Men and that by this Consent and Harmony of things Magicians do call up the very Spirits For some of them are arriv'd at such a height of Madness that they believe that upon the right Observation of such and such Constellations at such intervals of time and by such reason of Proportions an Image being made would receive Life and Motion which upon counsel desired should be able to give Answers and Reveal the hidden Secrets of Truth Hence it is manifest That this Natural Magick inclining toward Conjuring and Necromancy is often entangled in the Snares and Delusions of Evil Spirits CHAP. XLV Of Conjuring and Necromancy THE Ceremonial Parts of Magick Conjuring and Necromancy Geocie or Conjuring curs'd for being familiar with unclean Spirits ceremonies of wicked curiosity compos'd of Prayers and Inchantments is held Abominable and wholly Condemn'd by the Decrees of all Lawgivers Men hateful to the Gods that stain the Skie And blot the Stars though Natures Progenie The setled course of things they can confound Can fix the Poles send Lightnings on the ground Pull down the Heavens and Hills eradicate These are those that Invoke the Souls of dead Bodies who Inchant Children and cause them to give the Answer of the Oracle and as we read of Socrates carry about with them certain Pocket Daemons and who as they say nourish little Spirits in Glasses by which they pretend to Foretel and Prophesie All these proceed in a twofold manner For some of them make it their business to adjure and compel Evil Spirits to appearance by the Efficacy and Power of sacred Names because seeing that every Creature doth fear and reverence the Name of its Creator no wonder if Conjurors and other Infidels Pagans Jews Saracens or prophane Persons do think to force the Devils Obedience by the Terrour of his Creators Name Others more to be detested than they and worthy the utmost punishment of Fire submitting themselves to the Devils sacrifice to them and Worship them become guilty of the vilest subjection and Idolatry that may be to which Crimes though the former are not quite so obnoxious yet they expose themselves to manifest dangers For the Devils are always watchful to intrap Men in the Errors they heedlesly run into From this insipid crowd of Conjurors have flow'd all those Books of Darkness which Vlpian the Civilian calls by the name of forbidden Writings Of which one of the first Authors is said to be Zabulus a man wholly inclin'd to unlawful Arts. Then Barnabas 〈◊〉 Cyprian and now frequently other Books are Published up and down under the feigned Titles and Names of Adam Abel Enoch Abraham and Solomon others under the Names of Paulus Honorius Cyprian Albertus Thomas Hierome and one Eboracensis to whose silly trifles Alphonsus King of Castile Robert the Englishman Bacon Apponus and many other of deprav'd Fancies have adher'd But besides this they have not only made the holy Patriarchs and Angels Authors and Upholders of their detestable Studies but also shew several Books which they pretend were written and delivered by Razial and Raphael tutelar Angels of Adam and Tobias Which Books notwithstanding to any one that narrowly considers the Rules of the Masters the Customes and Ordinances of their Ceremonies the Nature and Choice of their Words and Characters their insipid and barbarous Pharases sufficiently betray themselves to contain nothing but meer Toys and Geugaws and that they were in far later Ages contriv'd by such as were utterly ignorant of that Magick Profess'd by the Ancients being â—ounded only upon certain prophane Observations mixt with the Ceremonies of our Religion with an addition of many unknown Names and Characters to terrifie ignorant and silly people and to amuse those that are void of sence and understanding Neither doth it therefore follow that these Delusions are Fables for unless there were something of reality in them and that many mischievous and wicked things were accomplish'd thereby both Divine and Humane Laws had not so strictly provided for the punishment thereof and Ordain'd them to be quite extirpated from the Earth Now why these Conjurers make use only of evil Spirits the reason is because the Good Angels seldome appear being only attendant on the Commands of God and not vouchsafing to be known but only to upright and holy Men. But evil Spirits submit themselves more willingly to their Invocations falsely assuming to themselves and counterfeiting Divinity always ready to deceive and delighting to be ador'd and worship'd and because Women are more covetous of the Knowledge of Secrets and not less cautious and prone to Superstition and more easily Deluded therefore to them the Devils show themselves more familiar and make them the performers of many Miracles as are related of Circe and Medaea of many others the Stories of the Poets are full and Cicero Pliny Seneca St. Austin and many others both Philosophers Doctors and Historians as also Sacred Writ bring many Testimonies For in the Book of Samuel we read of a certain Woman-Witch that liv'd in Endor that rais'd the Soul of Samuel though most Interpreters agree that it was not the soul of Samuel but an Evil spirit that took upon him the shape of the Prophet Yet some of the Hebrew Doctors aver neither doth St. Austin to Simplician deny the possibility thereof that it was the true Soul of Samuel which before a compleat Year after its departure from the Body might be easily call'd up according to the rule of Necromancy The Necromantick Magicians believe that the same may be performed by certain Natural tyes and Obligations which was the reason that the Ancient Fathers well-read in Spirituals not without good cause ordain'd that the Bodies of the Dead might be buried in Holy-ground should be assisted with Lights and sprinkled with Holy-water be perfumed with Incense and pray'd for by the Living so long as they were above Ground For say the Hebrew Doctors All our Carnal Body remains as Food for the Serpent which they call Arazel which is Lord of the Flesh and the Blood
to one World but said withal that this was a small Particle only of the Universe But Democritus and Epicurus were of Opinion That there were Innumerable worlds whom Metrodorus their Disciple follows saying That there are Innumerable Worlds being that the Causes of them are Innumerable neither was it less absurd to think that there should be one World in the Universe than to imagine one Ear of Corn in a whole Field But as to the Continuance of the World Aristotle Averroes Cicero Xenophon make it Aeternal and void of all Corruption For when that they could not understand whether the Egg or the Bird were first Generated since no Bird could be without the Egg Hence they imagin'd that this World and the Beginning of every begotten thing together with the End thereof was by perpetual Revolution sempiternal Pythagoras and the Stoicks said That the World was of God yet as far as its Divine Nature could permit should be corrupted in time with whom Anaxagoras Thales Herocles Avicen Algasel Alcmeus and Philo the Jew concur in Opinion But Plato affirming that it was Created by God after his own likeness denies that it shall ever be destroy'd Democritus saith That the World was once Created shall once be Destroyed and never more be renewed Empedocles and Heraclitus the Ephesian were of Opinion That the World doth every day renew and every day perish or decay Let us discourse of any thing which they say proceeds from a Natural Cause as for Example let it be an Earthquake yet are they at no certainty therein but wander in Extravagancies while Anaxagoras makes the Cause thereof to be the Air Empedocles Fire Thales Milesius Water Aristotle Theophrastus and Albertus Subterraneal Wind or Vapour Asclepiades great Mischances or Devastations Possidonius Calisthenes and Metrodorus the Destinies Seneca and others variously dissenting seem to have labour'd in vain in the search thereof And therefore the Ancient Romans when they either felt or heard of shaking or trembling of the Earth commanded Holy-days but never did Enact to which of the Gods they should be Dedicated because it was uncertain what force or which of the Gods was the Cause thereof CHAP. LII Of the Soul IF you desire to know any thing from them concerning the Soul there is far less of certainty among them For Crates the Theban affirm'd that there was no Soul but that the Body was mov'd by Nature Those who grant that there is a Soul suppos'd it to be the most thin and subtile of all bodies infus'd into this thick and earthy body Others there be that affirm it to be of a fiery nature of which number were Hipparchus and Leucippus with whom the Stoicks for the most part agree who define the Soul to be a hot Spirit together with Democritus who calls it a moveable and fierce Spirit mix'd and infus'd into Atomes Others said it was the Air as Anaximines and Anaxagoras Diogenes the Cynick and Critias with whom Varro concurs where he says that The Soul is Air receiv'd into the Mouth heated in the Lungs temper'd in the Heart and diffus'd over the whole Body Others will have it of a watery substance as Hippias Others of an earthy substance as Heliodorus and Pronopides to whose opinion Anaximander and Thales willingly agree both fellow-Citizens with Thales Others will have it to be a Spirit compos'd partly of Fire and partly of Air as Boetes and Epicurus Others compos'd of Earth and water as Zenophantes Others of earth and fire as Parmenides Others affirm'd the Soul to be the blood as Empedocles and Circias Some would have it be a thin Spirit diffus'd through the body as Hippocrates the Physitian Others flesh exercis'd by the senses as Asclepiades But many others have been of opinion that the Soul is not that little body but a certain quality or complexion thereof infus'd through all the particles of the same as Zeno the Cithick and Dicearchus defining the Soul to be the complexion of the four Elements Cleanthes also Antipater and Possidonius affirming the same to be a certain heat or complexion of heat drew Calenus the Pergamenian into the same opinion Others there are that uphold that the Soul is not that quality or complexion but something residing in some part of the body as the heart or brain as it were in its proper point or center and from thence governing the whole body Amongst the number of these are Chrysippus Archelaus and Heraclitus Ponticus who thought the Soul to be Light There are others who have thought more freely believing the Soul to be a certain unfix'd Point ty'd to no part of the Body but separated from any determinated Situation being totally present in every part of the Body which whether it were begot by Complexion or Created by God yet was first hatch'd and form'd in the bosome of Matter Of this Opinion were Zenophanes Colophonius Aristoxenus and Asclepiades the Physitian who held the Soul to be the Exercise of the Sences and Cretolaus the Peripatetick who call'd it the Fifth Essence as also Thales who held That the Soul is an unquiet Nature moving it self and Zenocrates would have it to be a Number moving it self whom the Aegyptians follow asserting the Soul to be a certain Force or Vertue passing through all Bodies The Caldaeaus were of Opinion That it was a Force or Vertue without a determinate Form but receiving all Forms that are External So that they altogether agree That the Soul is a certain Vertue fit to cause Motion or that it is else a Sublime Harmony of all the Corporeal Parts depending however upon the Nature of the Body The Footsteps of these Men are followed by that Daemoniack Aristotle who by a new-invented Name of his own calls the Soul Entelechia that is to say the Perfection of a Corporal Organ Potentially having life from which the same Body receives the Principles of Understanding Perceiving and Moving And this is the most receiv'd though most impâ—rtinent Definition of a Soul found out by that great Philosopher which doth not however declare or make manifest the Nature or Original but only the Affections of the Soul There are others that soare somewhat higher than these men who affirm the Soul to be a certain Divine Substance whole and individual diffus'd through the whole and every part of the Body produc'd in such manner from the Incorporeal Author as that it depends upon the force of the Agent not on the Generative Faculty of the Matter Of this Opinion were Zoroastes Hermes Trismegistus Pythagoras Euminius Hammonius Plutarch Porphyrius Timaeus Locrus and Divine Plata himself who defin'd the Soul to be an Essence moving it self endu'd with Understanding Eunomius the Bishop consenting partly to Plato partly to Aristotle affirms the Soul to be an Incorporeal substance made in the Body upon which definition he lay'd the Foundation of all his Opinions Cicero Seneca and Lactantius affirm That it is impossible to define what the Soul should be Thus it is
Principal Part of the substance of the Soul Aristotle believes the Intellect to be present only Potentially in the Soul and that Actually it works from without neither that it conduces to the Essence or Nature of Man but only to the Perfection of Knowledge and Contemplation Therefore he affirms That few Men and those only Philosophers are endu'd with Actual Understanding And indeed there is a great Dispute among Divines whether according to the Opinion of Plato the Souls of Men after they are Departed from the Body do retain any Memory of things done while the Body was alive or whether they altogether want the Knowledge thereof which the Tomists together with their mighty Aristotle firmly assert And the Carthusians confirm it from the Testimony of a certain Parisian Divine returning from Hell who being ask'd what Knowledge he had left him return'd Answer That he understood nothing but Pain and then citing the words of Solomon There is no understanding no knowledge no wealth in Hell he seem'd to them to make it out that after Death there was no Knowledge of any thing which notwithstanding is not only manifestly against the Opinion of the Platonicks but repugnant to the Authority and Truth of the Scripture it self also which teaches That the wicked shall see and know that he is God and that they shall give an account not only of aâ—l their Deeds but of all their idle Words and Thoughts Moreover there are some that have adventur'd to write and report many things concerning the Apparition of separated Souls and those oft-times repugnant both to the Doctrine of the Gospel and the sacred Text. For whereas the Apostle teaches us That we ought not to believe the Angels from heaven if they should preach otherwise than what is delivered yet the Gospel is so much out of date with them that they will rather believe one come from the Dead than the Prophets Moses Apostles or Evangelists Of this Opinion was the Rich Man in the Gospel who believed that his Brothers and Kindred living would give credit to any one that were sent from the Dead To whom so vainly Conjecturing Abraham made answer If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets neither will they believe any one that should be sent from the dead However I do not absolutely deny some Holy Apparitions Admonitions and Revelations of the Dead but yet I admonish ye to be very wary knowing how easie it is for Satan to Transform himself into an Angel of Light Therefore they are not absolutely to be believ'd but to be entertain'd as things which are Apocryphal and without the Rule of the Scripture There are many Fabulous stories to this purpose written by one Tundal in his Consolation of Souls and also by some others of which your Cunning Priests and Friars make use to terrifie the Vulgar sort and get Mony A certain French Notary hath also lately put forth a Relation of a Spirit walking at Lyons a Person of no Credit and less Learning But the most approved Authors that write of these things is Cassianus and James of Paradise a Carthusian But there is nothing in them of solid Truth or secret Wisdome tending to the encrease of Charity or edifying of the Soul only they thereby perswade people to Alms Pilgrimages Prayers Fastings and such other Practical Works of Piety which the Scripture nevertheless with far greater Reason and Authority enjoyns But of these Apparitions we have discours'd at large in a Dialogue which we have Written of Man as also in our Occult Philosophy But now let us return to the Philosophers All the Heathen who affirm the Soul to be Immortal by common consent also uphold the Transmigration of the Soul and farther That rational Souls do sometimes Transmigrate into Plants and Creatures void of Reason Of this Opinion of Transmigration Pythagoras is said to be the first Author of which thus Ovid Souls never die but in Immortal state From dead to living bodies transmigrate I now my self can call to minde how I When long since Troy the strength of Greece did try Was then Euphorbus that my life sold dear To crown the Conquest of Atrides Spear Which then my left hand bâ—re I knew the Shield Which late in Juno's Temple I beheld Much more has been written concerning this Pythagorical Transmigration by Timon Xenophanes Cratinus Aristophon Hermippus Lucianus and Diogenes Laertius But Iamblicus who has many other Abettors asserts That the Soul does not Transmigrate out of Man into Brutes nor return from Creatures Irrational into Men but that there are Transmigrations of Souls that is of the Souls of Beasts into Beasts and of the Souls of Men into Men he does not deny There are also Philosophers of which number Eâ—â—ripides is one a greatfollower of Anaxagoras together with Archelaus the Naturalist and after them Avicen who report the first Men to have sprung out of the Earth like Herbs in that not less ridiculous than the Poets who feign certain Men to have sprung from the Teeth of a Serpent sown in the Earth Some there are who deny that the Soul is Generated and others who deny that it has any Motion CHAP. LIII Of Metaphysicks BUT let us go a little farther and make it appear that these Philosophers are not only at a loss about those things that seem to have a Being in Nature but that they are also at great variance among themselves concerning such as have no Principle or Foundation at all it being altogether uncertain whether they be or no and which they believe to subsist without Body or Matter and which they call Separated forms which because they are not in Nature but thought to be above Nature therefore they are call'd Metaphysicks and said to be beyond Nature from thence sprang those Infinite every way contradictory and not less impious and unlearned Opinions concerning the Gods For Diagoras Milesius and Theodorus Cyrenaicus altogether deny that there was any God Epicurus held that there was a God but that he took no care of things below Protagoras said that whether they were or no they had little or no Power Anaximander thought that there were Gods Native of Countries some in the East and some in the West at great distances one from another Xenocrates held that there were Eight Gods Antisthenes that there were many popular Gods but one Supream the Creator of the rest Others have precipitated themselves into such a profundity of Madness as to make with their own hands the Gods which they intended to Worship such was the Image of Bell among the Assyrians which made and carved Gods Hermes Trismegistus does notwithstanding very much applaud in his Aesculapius But Thales Milesius discoursing of the Divine Essence asserted the Understanding to be God who Form'd all things out of Water Cleanthes and Anaximenes held the Air to be God Chrysippus Deified the Natural Ability endu'd with Reason or Divine Necessâ—â—y Zeno ascribes Divinity to the Divine Law of Nature Anaxagoras to
above Humane Reason The Aethiopians and Indians were the greatest admirers of Magick where there was a great supply of variety of Stones and Herbs conducing thereto Of this some think that St. Jerome to Paulinus makes mention where he saith That Apollonius Tyaneus was a Magician or Philosopher Of the same sort were those Magi who bringing Gifts to Christ did first adore him which the Expositors of the Evangels call the Philosophers of the Caldaeans Such were the Hiarchs among the Brachmans Tespion among the Gymnosophists Budda among the Babylonians Numa Pompilius among the Romans Zamolxides among the Thracians Abbas among the Hyperboreans Hermes among the Egyptians Zorastes the Son of Ormasus among the Persians for the Indians Aethiopians and Persians always had the pre-eminence in Magick wherein as Plato in his Alcibiades testifies the Children of the Persian Emperours were always instructed that they might learn to govern the Kingdom by the Pattern of the Grand and Universal Order And Cicero in his Book of Divinations asserts That no Persian could enjoy the Scepter of that Empire if he were not skill'd in Magick Natural Magick therefore is that which considering well the strength and force of Natural and Celestial beings and with great curiosity labouring to discover their affections produces into open Act the hidden and concealed powers of Nature so cupoling inferiour with superior faculties by a mutual application thereof that from thence many times great and marvelous Miracles have been effected not so much by Art as Nature to whom Art onely shews her self a Hand-maid and Assistant in her operations For Magicians as the most accurate inquirers into Nature taking along those things which are prepared by Nature and applying Actives to Passives oftentimes produce effects before the time ordained by Nature which therefore the Vulgar take for Miracles when they are notwithstanding onely natural Operations as if any person should in March produce Roses ripe Figs or Garden-beans or should cause Parsly to spring from the Seed into a perfect Plant in few hours and greater things than these as to cause Thunder Clouds Rain Animals of divers sorts and several transmutations and transigurations of living beings such as Roger Bacon is said to have done by pure natural Magick Of these Operations sundry have written as Zoroastes Hermes Evantes King of the Arabians Zachary of Babylon Joseph the Jew Bocus Aaron Zenotenus Kirannides Almadal Thedel Alchindus Abel Ptolomy Geber Zahel Nazaharub Tebith Erith Salomo Astropho Hipparchus Alcmeon Apollonius Tryphon and many others of which Writings there are many whole and entire some imperfect which have come to my hands Of Modern Writers there have been but few who have treated of Natuâ—â—l Magick nor have they left many Writings behinde them that is to say Albertus Arnoldus de Villa nova Raymund Lully Bacon and Aponus and the Author of the Book dedicated to Alphonsus which mingles abundance of Superstition with Natural Magick which many others have also done CHAP. XLIII Of Mathematical Magick THere are besides these many other imitators of Nature wise inquirers into hidden things who without the help of natural Virtues and Efficacies confidently undertake onely by Mathematical learning and the help of Celestial influences to produce many miraculous Works as walking and speaking Bodies which notwithstanding are not the real Animal such was the wooden Dove of Archytas which flew the Statues of Mercury that talk'd and the Brazen Head made by Albertus Magnus which is said to have spoken In these things Boetius excell'd a man of a large Ingenuity and manifold Learning to whom Cassiodorus writing upon this Subject Thou saith he hast propounded to thy self to do great things and to know the most difficult by thy ingenious skill Metals are heard to roar Brazen Diomed sounds a Trumpet a Brazen Serpent hisses Birds are counterfeited and they that are incapable of a voice of their own yet are heard to make a sweet noise We relate but small things of thee that hast so great a power to imitate Heaven Of these delusory Sciences may be said that which we read in Plato's tenth Book of Laws Art is given to Mortals which enables them to produce certain posterior and succeeding Inventioâ—s neither pertaking of Truth or Divinity but ceâ—tain Imitations somewhat akin thereto Wherein Magicians have adventured to proceed so far by the help of that ancient and subtile Serpent the great promiser of knowledge that Aping him they become imitators of God and Nature CHAP. XLIV Of Witchcraft THere is a sort of Natural Magick which they call Witchcraft the effects whereof are wrought by Potions Philters and other compositions of Medicaments such as Democritus is said to have made for the begetting of good happy and fortunate Children and that other by which we should be able to understand the Language of Birds which Philostratus and Porphyrius relate Apollonius to have made Virgil also speaking of certain Pontick herbs Such Herbs as these when Meris us'd Streight as a Wolf unto the Woods did flee And by their powerful Charms dead bodies rear'd From out their Graves in open Air appear'd And Crops of Corn to ripeness were improv'd Streight have I seen to other Fields remov'd And Pliny declares that one Demarchus Parrasius at a Sacrifice which the Arcadians made to Jupiter Lycaeus wherein they offered Humane Bodies tasted the Entrails of a Boy and streight changed himself into a Wolf by reason of which transmutation into Wolves Austin believes the name of Lycaeus was attributed to Jupiter and Pan. St. Austin declares also That when he was in Italy certain Female Witches like Circe giving to certain Travellers a kind of Enchanting Medicament in Cheese turn'd them into Cattle and when they had made them to carry what burthens they thought fitting they restor'd them again to their former shape which thing as he affirms happen'd to one Father Prestantius Now lest any person should believe these things to be meer Chimaera's and Fictions let him remember how Sacred Scripture testifies of Nebuchadnezzar's being chang'd into an Ox and that he liv'd upon Fodder seven years together though at length by the mercie of God he was restored to his former shape whose body his son Evilmerodach after he was dead caus'd to be thrown to the Vultures to feed on lest he should rise from the dead that had been chang'd from a Beast into a Man And concerning Pharaoh's Magicians many more things are related in Exodus But of these Magicians or Witches the Wise man speaketh but a hard Sentence when he cries Thou hast abhorr'd them O God because they work abominable works by Medicaments I would have you also farther to understand that these Magicians do not onely pry into Natural things but also those things which accompany Nature and do almost shake off all Relation to her as Numbers Figures Sounds Voice Lights Affections of the mind and words So the Psylli and Marsi called Serpents together which others with other Charms put to flight
and Prince of this World in Leviticus nam'd the Prince of the Deserts to whom it was said in Genesis Thou shalt eat the dust all the days of thy life And in Isaiah The Dust is thy bread that is our Corporeal Body Created out of the dust of the Earth so long as it remains unsanctifi'd and not chang'd for the better to be no longer then at the disposal of the Serpent but of God according to the word of St. Paul It is sow'd corporal but shall rise spiritual And in another place All shall rise but all shall not be chang'd for that many shall remain perpetual food for the Serpent This foul and detestable matter of the Flesh the food of the Serpent lies in the Grave in hopes of a better Lot and spiritual Transmutation which is already come to pass in those that have already tasted the first-Fruits of Redemption and some have attain'd it by vertue of the Deifick Spirit as Elias and Enoch and as some are of opinion Moses whose bodies being chang'd into the nature of Spirits never saw corruption nor as other Carcasses were left to the power of the Serpent And something to this purpose it was thought was the great dispute of Michael with the Devil about the body of Moses which St. Jude mentions in his Epistle Thus much concerning Conjuring and Necromancy CHAP. XLVI Of Theurgy MAny there are that believe Theurgy not to be unlawful which pretends to have to do with none but good Angels and the Divine Numen himself though under the names of God and Angels it proves to be onely the delusion and mockery of evil Spirits It pretends no natural Power but to make use of Celestial Ceremonies by which they think to attract and reconcile the Divine Natures Concerning which the antient Magi have deliver'd several Rules in several Volumes But the chiefest part of their Ceremonies is in observing Cleanliness first of the Soul then of the Body then of those things about the Body as in the Skin the Garments the Dwelling Vessels Utensils Immolations and Sacrifices which cleanliness renders them capable of being the receptacles and fit for the entertainment of Divine Spirits and is very much encourag'd and commended in Sacred Scripture according to the words of Esay Be glad and be clean and take away the evil of your thoughts But uncleanness which often corrupts and defiles and infects man disturbs the most clean and pure Society of Celestial Beings and chases away the spotless Spirits and Angels of God It is true that many times unclean and delusive powers to the end they may be ador'd and worship'd for Gods do counterfeit this Purity and therefore great diligence and care is to be us'd for the avoiding thereof and therefore we have abundantly discours'd thereof in our Books of Occult Philosophy Now of this Theurgy or Divine Magick Porphyrius having delivered many things at length concludes that by Theurgick Operations the soul may be made fit to receive Spirits and Angels and to see and converse with them but that there can be any access to the Deity thereby he altogether denies His Rules and Directions are contain'd in his Art Almabel his Notorious Art his Art Pauline his Art of Revelations where are abundance of Superstitions to be found which are so much the more pernicious by how much they seem more Losty and Divine to the unskilful CHAP. XLVII Of the Cabalists HEre the words of Pliny come into my minde There is saith he another Sect of Magicians of which Moses and Latopea Jews were the first Authors which words bring to my remembrance the Cabala of the Jews which as the constant opinion among the Hebrews goes was delivered by God to Moses and thence through succession of Ages even to the times of Ezra preserv'd by Tradition onely without the help of writing As of old the Doctrine of Pythagoras was delivered by Archippus and Lysiades who kept School at Thebes in Greece where the Scholars learning all their Masters Precepts by heart made use onely of their Memories instead of Books So certain Jews despising Letters plac'd all their Learning in Memory Observation and verbal Tradition whence it was call'd by the Hebrews Cabala that is to say a receiving from one to another by the Ear An Art by report very antient though the name be but of later times known among the Christians Now this Cabala they divide into three parts the first contains the knowledge of Bresith which they call also Cosmology explaining and teaching the force and efficacie of things created Natural or Celestial expounding also the Laws and Mysteries of the Bible according to Philosophical reasons which for that cause differs little from Natural Magick wherein they say K. Solomon excell'd Therefore we finde in the Sacred Histories of the Jews that he was wont to discourse from the Cedar of Libanon to the low Hyssop as also of Cattle Birds Reptiles and Fish all which contain within themselves a certain kinde of Magical vertue Moses also the Egyptian in his Expositions upon the Pentateuch and most of the Talmudists have followed the Rules of this Art The other part thereof contains the knowledge of more sublime things as of Divine and Angelical Powers the contemplation of Sacred Names and Characters being a certain kinde of Symbolical Theology wherein the Letters Figures Numbers Names Points Lines Accents are esteemed to contain the significations of most profound things and great Mysteries This part again is twofold Arithmantick handling the nature of Angels the Powers Names Characters of Spirits and Souls departed and Theomantick which searches into the mysteries of the Divine Majesty his Emanations his Names and Pentacula which he that attains to they account endu'd with most admirable power By vertue of this Art they say Moses wrought so many Miracles changing his Rod into a Serpent the Water into Blood and plagu'd Egypt with Frogs Flyes Lice Locusts Emrodes and Pestilence slaying the first-born of Man and Beast By this Art he divided the Red-sea caus'd Water to flow out of the Rock brought the Qualls into the Wilderness sweeten'd the bitter Waters made Lightning by day and a Pillar of Fire by night to lead the March of his people call'd down the Voice of God among the people By this Art he punish'd the Arrogant with Fire the Murmurers with Leprosie Mutiners with sudden Destruction causing the Earth to swallow them up preserv'd the Clothes of the Israelites from wearing out and gave them Victory over their Enemies Lastly by means of this Art Josua commanded the Sun to stand still Elias call'd down Fire from Heaven and rais'd the dead Youth to life Daniel muzzled the Lions mouths and the three Children sang in the middle of the fiery Furnace Nay the perfidious and unbelieving Jews stick not to aver that Christ himself wrought all his Miracles by vertue of this Art Solomon as they say did excel in this Art and that he discovered several secrets thereof
spoken to contentious Theosophists but to the true Divines Apostles Evangelists and Messengers of the Word of God who say I dare not utter any thing which Christ doth not work by me Therefore the Traditions of these Divines concerning Faith and Godliness are truely Theological To the Writings and sayings of these men we give credit as being founded not upon contentious Syllogisms or Opinions of men but as S. Paul saith being divinely inspired not in defining compounding dividing contemplating after the manner of Philosophers but in an essential contact of Divinity apprehended through a clear vision in the divine light it self of which vision we finde several sorts in the holy Scripture as the Prophets had several dispositions to receive For we read how some saw God or Angels in the forms of men others in the shape of Fire others in the similitude of Air or Wind others in the shape of Rivers or Water others in the form of Birds Precious Stones or Metals others in the forms of Letters or Characters others in the sound of a Voice others in Dreams others in a Spirit residing within themselves others in the work of the Understanding And therefore the Scripture calls all Prophets Seers Thus we read of The Visions of Isaias The Visions of Jeremy The Visions of Ezekiel and the rest And under the New law S. John faith I was in the Spirit upon the Lords day On the wings whereof he was carried and beheld the Throne of God And Paul witnesses that he saw those things which it is not lawful for men to utter And this Vision is called a Rapture or Ecstasie or spiritual death Concerning this death it is said No man shall see God and live And in another place Precious in the sight of God is the death of his Saints And it is more clearly expressed by the Apostle where he says You are dead and your life is hid with Christ. And it is necessary for him to die this death that will pierce into the secrets of Prophetick Theologie Now there is a double sight of this Deifick vision One when God is seen face to face and then the Prophets see what S. Paul faith Things which are not fit for men to utter and which no tongue of men or Angels can express nor Pen unfold There is also a certain contact or union of the Divine Essence and an illustration or enlightning of the pure and separate Intellect without appearance of any shape or likeness This Divines call The Meridional Understanding Of which S. Augustin upon Genesis and Origen against Celsus largely dispute The other sort of Seeing is that by which we see the hinder parts of God when the creatures which are the hinder parts or effects of God are understood with a more exalted judgement as by the knowledge whereof the Creator the chief workman and the First Cause that moves all things is the better known as the Wiseman faith From the bigness of the kinde and of the creature may be known the Creator of things And Paul also about the same subject The invisible things of God are known being understood by these things which are made And it is an usual Saying among the Peripateticks that they who argue from the Effects to the Causes are said to argue à posteriori from the hinder part Moses enjoyed both these Visions as the Scriptures witness Of the first we read that Moses saw God face to face As to the other we read what God spake to him Thou shalt see my hinder parts And by the means of this later Vision Moses made a Law instituted Sacrifices and Ceremonies built a Tabernacle and other Mysteries according to the most elaborate Exemplar of the whole world comprehending all the secret works of God and Nature therein This Vision is again twofold for we either behold the creature in God himself which Divines call The Morning-vision or else we behold God himself in the creatures There is also another Prophetick Vision in Dreams thus we read in Matthew how the angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream And in another place that the Magi who ador'd Christ were admonisht in a dream that they should return another way into their own Country There are in the Old Testament many Examples thereof Now what this Vision is Job expounds where he says In the horrour of nocturnal visions when sleep falleth upon men and they sleep in their beds then he opens their ears and teaching them instructs them with learning And this being a fourth species of Vision is called Nocturnal There are also two other kindes of Prophecie the one receiv'd by word of mouth and thus was Moses enlightened and taught in Mount Sinai Abraham Jacob Samuel and many other Prophets under the Old Law Under the New Law the Apostles and Disciples of Christ were taught by the mouth of Christ he being alive among them There is another sort of Prophecie which consists in the agitation of the Spirit while the soul ravisht away by some Deity then joyn'd to that and abstracted from the body of man is by the same Spirit fill'd with Knowledge beyond humane strength or wit Which ravishment is not performed always by Angels but sometimes by the Spirit of God as we read of Saul that the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied and was changed into a new man and numbered among the Prophets And in the Acts of the Apostles the Spirit of God came upon them that were baptized in flames of fire Which Spirit also many times seizes upon men that are liable to sin so that there were many Prophets among the Gentiles as Cassandra Helenus Calchas Ampharans Tiresias Mopsus Amphilochus Polybius Corinthus also Galanus the Indian Socrates Diotyma Anaximander Epimenides the Cretan Also the Magi among the Persians Brachmans among the Indians Gymnosophists among the Aethiopians Druids among the Gauls and Sibyls among the Romans To which Prophetick seizure of the Spirit many times certain previous Ceremonies authority of Function and communion of sacred Mysteries do very much conduce as the Scripture amply declares concerning Balaam and in other places by the application of the Ephod And the Evangelist witnesses concerning Caiaphas that he prophesied being high priest that year Hence the Mecubals among the Hebrews adventured to counterfeit their Artificial Prophecie I omit what the Hebrews have written concerning the Two and thirty paths of Wisdom and what S. Austin has toucht upon concerning the Degrees or Albertus in his reception of Forms of which he reckons up seven Apparitions in Dreams and as many waking So we read in Plato and Proculus of Socrates that he was not inspired by an intelligible influx but by voice and familiar speech But these things come to pass more easily in Dreams But let us return to our purpose Now therefore Prophetick Theologie is that which by an Intuitive Inspiration teaches the unshaken Word of God But the Authority and Arguments by which that Truth is confirm'd are