of the first operating by the last and that they hold the Celestial Bodies for Gods because they act upon the sublunary which are of a particular and necessary use to Mankind Thus the Heathens endeavour each according to his fancy to acknowledge a Deity in Heaven and to adore it upon Earth Sect. 8. The immortality of the Soul the punishment of the wickâ—d and the rewards of pious Men after this Life are generally believed in Peru but not the Resurrection of the dead says Montanus pag. 307. However 't is strange that a People who have such a gross Religion and such material Gods should nevertheless believe that the Soul subsists tho' they hear nothing of it after the death of the Body and that they could not imagine that the Body which subsists still for some time before their Eyes though without Life can return to its first State as Trees Herbs and Plants which dye and revive Sect. 9. The Statues of their Gods that are of many strange Figures and some very frightful are used to utter Oracles in their Pagodes Some says Montanus give their Answers as formerly did the Diabolical Oracles of Delphos and Dodona he calls them Diabolical following the common Opinion that the Oracles of the Heathens were not pronounced by God but by the Devil But it may be seen in the Book of Anthony Vandale of Oracles how little ground that Opinion has and we shall also treat of it in its proper place Sect. 10. As to their practices no people is so much esteemed in Peru as those we call Exorcistâ— Magicians and Diviners because they discover private Robberies even such as are committed in very remote Countreys and foretell good or bad fortune which happâ—â—s saith Montanus by their converse with wicked Spirits in dark places They declared to the Spaniards the victories their Country-men obtained or the Battles they lost in the Low Countries the very same day that they were fought There are also in Peru many She Diviners who shut themselves in their Houses where they make themselves drunk with Chica mixed with the Herb Vilca till they fall down on the place and when they awake and come to themselves again they answer all the Questions that are proposed to them Sect. 11. The Cannibals who take the Name of Caraibes and dwell to the North of Southern America acknowledge the Sun for their Soveraign God but in the mean while each Bâ—ie or Priest has his own which he calls out to himself in the most frightful Nights by Songs or inchanted Verses in the midst of the smoak of Tobacco The Devil says Montanus but I would rather say the Spirit utters his Oracles by the means of dead bones wrap'd up in Cotton Those Heathens have at all times but especially in case of death much to endure from the Piais or Magicians but methinks Montanus had express'd himself better had he said Priests rather then Magicians One of the greatest disturbances they cause is that when they are consulted they persuade People that such or such has caused them to interrogate such a deceased which incites the nearest Relations of the deceased to avenge themselves of those that have disturbed his Rest by that action Sect. 12. Montanus adds to this also The Caraibes follow a most strange Opinion concerning the Soul every one believes to have as many Souls as beatings of the heart The chief of which is still the Heart it self which after the death goes to Icheiri or the God that is particular to him where he lives in the same condition that he has done upon Earth for which reason they kill the Servants upon the Tomb of their Masters to go and Minister to them in the other World The other Souls that consist in Beatings of the Heart have two sorts of abode The Maboias wander in Deserts and Woods and the Ormiceous keep along the Sea and overturn Vessels The Souls of warlike Heroes go into the fortunate Islands where the Arouages are their Slaves Bloâ—dy Cruel Mâ—n go out of this life eternally to wander in dry Wildernesses behind high Mountains to carry the Yoak of the Arouages a People that was expell'd out of its ancient abode if we believe the account that is given of their Destruction From all this it appears that this Nation acknowledges almost no other God but their own Souls of which they have very near the same Sentiments that the ancient Greeks had of their Demons and Heroes Sect. 13. Richard Blome an English Author has published of late in his America a large account of the Opinions and Practices of the Carabes where he speaks of the Isle of St Vincent They have says he some Natural Notion of a Deity or Supream Being but who is too much pleased with the enjoyment of the Soveraign Happiness to disturb himself with the Wicked Actions of Men and whose Goodness is so great that he is averse from avenging himself of his Enemies when they refuse to pay the Honour due to him They likewise believe that there are good and bad Spirits and that the Good are Gods each of whom has his particular Admistration but that the Vniverse was not created by them tho' every one of them may be the Creator of the Country where he is venerated and which he governs Sect. 14. They never call upon their Gods but to let them come to them which is done by the Ministry of the Priests and for the 4 following reasons First to be aveng'd for some injury received Secondly to be cured of their Diseases Thirdly to learn the success of the War Fourthly to expel the great Devil or rather the wicked God Mapoia whom they never adore Thence may be inferr'd that they believe good and bad Spirits besides they acknowledge the immortality of the Soul which Opinion is the Original of Demons and Heroes since as they suppose they are the Souls of the Deceased which they call to their assistance against their Enemies Sect. 15. The Description of their Witchcraft is to be found in the same place after this manner When their Priests call upon many of their Gods together they seem to dispute and quarrel with one another so far as to come to blows somtimes they hide themselves amongst Dead bones which they draw out of Graves and wrap up in Cotton whence they utter their Oracles They use that Witchcraft to bewitch their Enemies for which purpose the Witches must have somthing that has belong'd to the party to be bewitched the Spirit seizes sometimes upon the body of those Women whence they give formal answers to whatever is proposed to them They serve up Meat to those Spirits in places separated from the Commerce that is kept with them The Boy or Priest that has brought it being gone out they hear the Dish move and the Devil according to Blome or the God according to that People moves the Jaws and makes a great noise as if he chewed the Meat that has been served to him
French Tongue it has lost it's Ancient name in remembrance of the Resurrection of our Lord and is called Dimanche from Dies Dominica Sect. 9. Let us proceed from the Gods to the Demons or Spirits of a meaner Order Thales of Milet taught if we believe Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the World is full of Spirits namely the Air which they inhabit and the Earth in which they converse amongst Men the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know as signifying one that is very Learned because they believed that those Demons knew whatever is important to Men either for their Happiness or Misery and that they were as the Mediators of Men towards the Gods And 't is observable that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 likewise signifies to Mediate so that the Demons import so much as Mediators And therefore they have also been called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mediators and Directors of Men and have been placed according to the Opinions of the Heathens betwixt the Heavens and the Earth viz. in the Air and consequently betwixt the Gods and Men. Sect. 10. Though the Opinions were divided as to their Nature yet they agreed in these principal points that they were Spirits that they were Mortal and however that they were no Gods as Plato writes in his Timoeus which explaining more at large in his Convivium he says that the Demons have a Nature which is the Mene betwixt God and Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what virtue have they That of explaining and declaring to Men what things belong to the Gods which are their Commands and how Sacrifices must be performed As also that of offering to the Gods what comes from Men viz. their Prayers and Sacrifices so that they being in the middle comprehend the Nature of both as binding and uniting the whole together Sect. 12. As to their Administration Plato explains it thus From them come to us Predictions Auguries the worship of Sacrifices Conjurations Orations and the whole Art of Magick The Deitie meddles not with Men but those Spirits are the Directors of all the communication and converse of the Gods with us either wakeing or sleeping The Demons therefore being by their Nature Mediators betwixt the Gods and Men and being besides Spirits and almost Gods could not be better called then Spirits of a middle Order in relation to their Nature or Mediating Gods in reference to their Functions in how great consideration those Spirits were and what was the Sentiment of the Antients concerning them may be learned from St. Chrysostome Tom. 6. Less 66. Entituled Against those that say that the Demons direct the Affairs of Men. Sect. 12. But what will be most useful to observe was that there were Demons of a Superiour and others of an Inferior Order and that some were esteemed Good and others Wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good and favourable whereas the other were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil Spirits or by a more particular explication of their Qualities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wicked dangerous Enemies Cruel However these Demons either good or bad were not believed of all Nations to be of the same Dignity There were some amongst whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imported as much as Deity and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine even in Plato the Soveraign God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest Demon. However the general use was to distinguish the Gods from the Demons as has been already observed and as Aeschines expresses it in his Clesias O Earth Gods Demons and Men whoever ye be that desire to know the Truth and therefore Plato in the place already quoted may rightly say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that those learned and middle Spirits are in great numbers and several kinds But 't is not necessary to speak more of it for perhaps it would only induce us into several errors there is so much uncertainty in Plato and others that have written upon it they are so much opposed against one another and even to themselves Sect. 13. As to the Heroes they were extraordinary Men and so far above the vulgar that every where especially amongst the Romans they used to consecrate and deifie them after their Death which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Canonization Herodian in his Fourth Book Chap 2. makes a particular Description of that Ceremony with all the Circumstances of it on occasion of the Death of the Emperor Severus Besides we generally find in the writing of the Ancients that they paraell'd them with the Demons Plutarch relates in his Opinions of the Philosophers Chap. 8. Book First That Thales Plato and the Stoicks believ'd that the Demons were Spiritual substances and that the Heroes were Souls separated from the Body which were good or bad as Men had been Virtuous or Vitious this was especially the Doctrine of Pythagoras who in all things that relate to Religion has had more Disciples then any of the Ancient Heathens and is yet the most followed by those that are not Christians He teaches that those Demons and Heroes brought in Dreams Diseases and Cure to Men and even to Cattle and labouring Beasts according to the Testimony of Diogenes Laertius confirm'd by Plato and not contradicted by Aristotle Sect 14. Apuleius in the Book formerly quoted more particularly demonstrates that the powers which put the natural passions of Men into motion which govern them and Lord it over them as also the Souls separated from the Body are called Gods and Demons or Spirits that the Soul born with the Body dies not however with it and that she bears the name of Genius when they are separated from each other This meaning cannot methinks be better express'd than by naming those Souls Associated Spirits or Spirits peculiar to one subject since every Man has one within himself The others that is those that are separated from the Body or the Souls of the Deceased are commonly called Manes as though remaining because they remain of â—â—â—â—â—st after the Body for Which reason I shall name them Surviving Spirits However as to the Latin word it seems rather to be derived from Manis an Ancient obsolete Term which signifies fine and good as immanis imports as much as Vgly and Cruel because the Manes were ordinarily taken for Benevolent Spirits Sect. 15. Some of this last sort remained in the House of the deceased to watch over his Successors and were called Lares or Domestick Gods but the others err'd at random and as Exiles according as they had deserved by their wicked Life They could cause but vain Fears to virtuous Persons but to the vitious a just Terrour and all sorts of Pains They were called Lares Night Phantasms and Spectra Diogenes writes that most of those things were taught in the School of Plato as it still appears by his Book Entituled Phoedo They had also the name of Lemures which is supposed to come from Remures and this from Remus Brother to
sufficiently known that amongst them as amongst other Nations their practices are answerable to their Doctrines for if their Witchcraft and Exorcisms proceed not all from their superstitions yet they are not inconsistent with them It is strange that such as ascribe a Soul and Life to the Celestial Lamps that acknowledge the Stars to influence Human Actions and search for Mysteries in numbers letters and names should be addicted to Witchcraft and Divinations and make them part of their religious worship neither is it surprising that not conceiving Angels as altogether immaterial they should fancy Apparitions either waking or dreaming 'T is yet less strange looking upon them as Creatures of a dignity inferior to their's since they establish great numbers of them for the guard of each Musulman they should invite and call them to their service by Witchcraft consisting in Characters in which they imagine a secret virtue for that purpose or if they should believe by the same means and Virtue to be able to expel wicked Angels their mortal Enemies But 't is time to come to the Christian World and to examine in what state things are at home CHAP. XV. That some of the Heathen Opinions upon this subject have in process of time crept in amongst the Christians Sect. 1. WE must not wonder that great part of the Doctrines above mentioned have not yet been banished by the light of the Gospel For what Man naturally conceives is not always darkness neither is the illumination which the Holy writ affords to the understanding always efficacious so that a Christian often better knows what he ought to know then he does what he ought to do This plainly appears in that Man is readier to search after the Truth by his reason than to put it in practice by his Virtue The cause of it is that our natural curiosity that has contributed to the fall of our first Parents has been since increased and strengthned by the effect of the fall it self and that it drives us on so much the more to desire to know much as our understanding is become less capable of true conceptions But the corruption of Man allows him not to make such Progresse And therefore we must imagine that whatever is practiced amongst such or such People especially as to Religion always and only proceeds from their belief and Doctrine This will quickly be known to us if we take the trouble of considering Christianity such as it formerly was and still is at this present Sect. 2. I shall name ancient Christianity the six first Centuries before the Pope and Mahomet arose However I shall not consider it as it was establish'd by our Lord and his Apostles which will be done more conveniently hereafter but with relation to the succession of times In the mean while a careful distinction must be made between the Opinions of the Church or of the Chief Doctors of her Communion and the Errors of those she has condemn'd We must afterwards take notice of what certainty may be had both of the Practices and particular Sense of those that have been branded for Hereticks For we pretend not to impute to Christians what has been rejected by the generality of them nor to charge the Hereticks with whatever is said of their Errours Now one may methinks take for Opinions generally received in the Church those that have been taught by their Chief Doctors without being contradicted by the others as far as it appears by any Writing though they must not for that be taken for Articles of Faith And likewise though the Hereticks should have been charged as to the Doctrine with some Opinions they owned not yet 't is not conceiveable that they should have been falsly accused of Acts of Magick the possibility of which they did not so much as believe After that Observation let 's see what the most famous Christians of the Primitive times have believed as to Spirits and their Operations and at the same time what they relate of other Sects and People Sect. 3. Following still the same Order I shall first speak of the Angels and then of the Souls separated from their Bodies I shall pass by the first Century in which the Apostles lived because in my second Book I take their Writings for the Rule of Faith and for the Fountain whence Truth must be drawn But we must examine those that have followed them from Age to Age and see what was their Opinion upon those two Points without presuming it was grounded upon Rule or Ecclesiastical Assemblies which appears not And though those two Points are of the highest consequence yet every one had still liberty to express his particular Opinions However for other Opinions of less consequence and I durst almost say of nothing Men have been dealt with as Hereticks and the whole Christian World must be call'd together to come to a conclusion And therefore I shall only make use here of such Explications of the chief Doctors as I have read my self which I shall endeavour to translate faithfully and word for word as much as possible Sect. 4. We shall first hear in the second Age Tatian Clement and Justin concerning the Nature of Angels Tatian indeed ascribes not a gross material Being to the Angels and yet he seems to attribute to them some Corporeal Being Here are his own Words that seem very strange All Demons are so as that indeed they have nothing Carnal but their Composition is Spiritual and as a Fire and Light The Nature of their Bodies can however be penetrated by none but such as are endued with the Spirit of God What he adds afterwards is more Consonant to Reason That the Demons are not the Souls of Men. He believes not however that Souls are simple Natures but that they are composed of parts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he believes they cannot be conceived as Corporeal without having a Body and that the material part cannot rise without the Soul Several Doctors of that time speak very near the Words tho' they explain not themselves so openly so that they must not be look'd upon as very far from that Opinion as will more plainly appear when we mention the fall of the Angels Sect. 5. Clemens Alexandrinus in his 6th Book of Miscellanies shows that he holds the Angels for the Inspectors of Men and those that inspire Wisdom into them that each Country and perhaps each Man has his own A little after he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God has distributed amongst Angels the Inspection and Care of each City and Nation He says also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Divine Power distributes good by the means of Angels whether they be visible or invisible Justin favours that suppposed visibility of the Angels or at least he tolerates it since he asserts in his 4th Apology That God entrusted the Angels with the Conduct of the other human Affairs under the Heavens some of whom fell off because of their Conversation with Women from
which issued the Demons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. mihi 44. St. Athanasius who was of the same mind explains those two things more at large in his Ambassy As to the first he says That God created the Angels to take care of the Affairs of Men that are under their direction so that God takes indeed a genâ—â—ral view of all things but as to the particular Inspection he has left it to the Angels constituted over them As to the second he speaks the same Language with the others that the love of Women made some Angels fall into Apostasie whence proceeded a sort of Demons Sect. 6. Justin that enters more into particulars as to what concerns Demons declares that he knows none that has that Divine Power of preserving and rewarding such as obey him and therefore that he knows none likewise that has the power to avenge himself upon the Disobedient and Rebels This he teaches in his 42th Question having said before in the 40th That a Wicked Spirit that has been once expell'd cannot torment him any more whom he had before possess'd In the aforesaid 42th Question he says That when a possess'd seems to break his Bands and Fetters it is the Demon that does it who has that strength himself but cannot communicate it to the Body of any Man This is very particular and it will be fit to call it to mind again in another place wherefore I desire the Reader to observe and remember it Sect. 7. Irenaeus explains himself but obscurely concerning the State of Souls after this Life when he says at the end of his Book That they go to an invisible place God has prepared for them But Justin in his second Apology pag. mihi 58. explaining himself more at large goes also more out of the common road for he affirms that the Souls of the Dead have some power over the living saying That Men being seized and cast down by the Souls of the deceased are ordinary call'd possest and furious It must be observ'd here that having spoken immediately before of human Souls separated from their Bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though the Latin Interpreter has used two different Words viz. first Animae the Souls and then Manes the Ghosts Mention iâ—â—ade of the latter in his second Chapter of this Book S. 14. But in my Opinion the same word cannot be taken in two different Senses at the end of one period and the beginning of the following He must therefore ascribe to the Soul of the deceased of whom he undoubtedly speaks in his first period all the Operations upon the living which the Heathens used to attribute to other Spirits call'd Demons for he there speaks of the Heathens Sect. 8. Origen who lived in the third Age had strange Notions concerning the Angels sometimes he gives them a Nature but equal to that of Men For Writing of the Light which St. John in his first Chapter says to be our Saviour he seems to believe that it was equally communicated to Man and Angels as may be seen more at large in his third Volume on St. John But in another place he makes so great a distinction betwixt Angels and Men that going from the first of Creatures endued with Reason to the last he puts the Angels as betwixt God and Men For he teaches on 1 Sam. 28. that the first Creatures are those which the Holy Writ names Gods The second those that we call'd Thrones and the third those that bear the name of Principalities Afterwards he calls in Question Whether Man is the last of rational Creatures or whether such Creatures as dwell upon Earth amongst which he ranks all the Demons or at least part of them are inferiour to Men that 's his Opinion in his first Vol. St. John Sect. 9. He again intimates elsewhere that as Men who have had the fear of God in this life become Angels after their Death as 't is read in St. Matth 22.30 though there it is not properly they become Angels but they shall be like Angels So that the present Angels might formerly have been Men Moreover he imagines that Angels and Men may dispute which are more perfect establisting betwixt the Nature of those two Subjects the same difference which our Saviour puts between the first and the last St. Matth. 19.30 and ch 20.16 he ascribes to Angels not only the Subregency of the World in his tenth Homil. upon Jeremiah and constitutes as well as other Doctors Guardian Angels upon that Principle but he persuades himself that their Virtues and Devotions may increase as those of Men proportionably to those of the Persons they keep Afterwards he destines some to watch over little Children and others over the Adult grounding his Opinion upon St. Matt. ch 18.10 where mention is made of the Angels of little Children that see the face of their Heavenly Father Sect. 10. He has this particular Opinion concerning the Stars that they may have Light and Intelligence and though he expresses not himself so plainly upon that yet 't is a necessary consequence of his Principles for upon the Words in the Hebrews 2.9 That Christ has tasted Death for all He says first that by that all must not simply be understood all Men but whatever is capable of Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and amongst those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rational Creatures he reckons the Stars a little after and upon that foundation he is not afraid of making our Lord not only the Redeemer of Men but also of Stars that have likewise sin'd because 't is said the Stars are not pure in his sight Job 25.5 he repeates the same at the end of his 2d Volume upon St. John denying however that their Influences should hurt Men notwithstanding what is read of Lunaticks Matth. 17.14 15. Writing upon Genesis he likewise rejects Astrology to which he believes that some Angels having forgotten their Duty have persuaded Men to addict themselves Sect. 11. Tertullian in his second Book against Marcion says as to the original of Devils He has made the Angels that are Spirits now in as much as the Devil was made by God he is an Angel and belongs to his Maker but inasmuch as he has not been made by God viz. as a Devil or a Slanderer it follows that he has made himself so by forsaking God and withall deceiving himself That Language is somewhat obscure Origen speaks not better for in his first part upon St. John he seems to recite a Riddle concerning the Dragon as having been one of the first created by God in a Bodily shape and before Man He strains the Words of God to Job ch 40 v. 15. for he takes them as they are now read in the Greek Bibles as though there was this or that Dragon whereas the Hebrew Text has Behemoth that signifies a great Beast Translating the Verse thus This is the beginning of what God formed which he mad for a matter of laughter to his Angels Sect.
12. Tertullian explains himself more plainly as to the knowledge he ascribes to the Devils when he in his fifth Book against Marcion speeks thus Servants cannot know the Resolutions of their Masters and therefore the Rebellious Angels and the Devil their leader can much less know the designs of God whence I would willingly take occasion to assert that the greater their Crime has been the more remote they are from the knowledge of their Creator So far only he goes as to the Secrets of God But as to those of Men we hear the Doctors of that Age giving to the Demons a power over Bodies and Souls St. Cyprian establishes both speaking of Idolatry Spirits says he deceive us they disturb our Life and our Sleep insinuating themselves into our Bodies raise terrour in our inward Thoughts bruise our Members impair our Healths and cause us Diseases Tertullian is of the same Opinion in his Book of Passions The Malice of that inveterate Enemy never leaves him quiet but it encreases his Rage when he sees Man fully deliver'd In his Apologetick Chap. 20. he gives a more particular explication of what he believes as to the Assaults made by Demons upon Soul and Body He thinks That having a very subtile and thin Essence they are so much the apter to act in an invisible and insensible manner He shows thereby that he conceives created Spirits as the thinest and subtilest of all Bodies and therefore explains his meaning by this Comparison As it happens that a flame invisible to us burns Corn and the Fruits of Trees when they are in flower or withers them whilst they blossom or corrupts them when the Flower falls off and they are formed or as an infected Air communicates it self in a manner unknown to us so the suggestions of the Devil by a secret contagion seduce the depraved understanding of Man Sect. 13. Origen believes that the Souls of Men existed together before they came to animate the Bodies which he establishes upon St. Matth. Chap. 20. from Ver. 1 to 16. and in his 6th Vol. upon St. John having before proposed in his 5th Chap. the common Opinion of the Christians of his age he asserts accoâ—â—â—â—â— to the sense he gives to the Holy Writ that 〈…〉 the Soul must be distinguished from 〈…〉 the Spirit of Man from the 〈…〉 â—â—ys that the Soul may appâ— her self 〈…〉 evil but that the Spirit â—f Man can 〈…〉 â—eâ—f only to evil In his 19th Chapter he dâ—â—â—â—â—es on occasion of the sepalation of the Soul at the point of death that he believes she is taken out of the Body by some Spirits ordained for that purpose and that the Spirits who have that imployment are of a more noble Nature than the Soul they fetch He puts a very ingenious sense upon the Words of our Saviour in St. Luke Chap. 10. v. 20. and John Chap. 10. v. 18. Sect 14. Tertullian's meaning as to the state of Souls after this life to the day of the Resurrection is that they are in a certain place known by the name of Abraham's Bosom and situated betwixt Heaven and Hell as he writes hi his 4th Book against Marcion That there is a certain and determined place call'd the Bosom of Abraham If you ask where that place lyes and how long the Souls are to stay there he will answer as to the First Question Sinum dico Abrahae regionem etsi non Caelestem superiorem tamen Inferis I call Abraham's Bosom a a Region superior to Hell tho' it properly belongs not to Heaven As to the other he will say Refrigerium praebiturum animabus justorum donec consummatio rerum resurrectionem omnium plenitudine Mercedis expungat The Latin phrase is somewhat obscure but it matters not to Translate the words so much as to give the Sense which is That it will be a place of refreshment for the Souls of the just until the consummation of all things comes and brings on the Resurrection in which every one shal1 be obliged to give account and then receive a full reward Sect. 15. He calls in this place the Subterraneous places Inferos Hell because he puts the place of Abode of the Damned under the Earth or in a great Gulf contained in the bottom of the Earth and believes that for their punishment they shall go to burn in a material Fire For about the end of his Book of Penitency he calls Hell Thesaurum Ignis aeterni The Treasure of Eternal Fire Through the Chimneys of that Fire come out sometimes frightful flames during Earthquakes and immediately after he calls that Abyss of Fire Magni alicujus inaestimabilis foci scintillas missilia exaercitoria jacula The sparks of a prodigious great and unexpressible Fire St. Cyprian speaks so obscurely about the end of his Letter against Demetrian upon that subject that it seems he threatens the Soul with corporeal punishments it being a consequent of the Series of his Reasoning Hell says he shall Eternally burn for the Damned and the punishment of a devouring fire and most glooing flames will neither supersede nor suspend their Torments there the Souls with their Bodies are destined to infinite pains He seems to mean thereby that the Souls and Bodies shall have one and the same share for otherwise he would have declared what peculiar sufferings the Soul is to undergo Sect. 16. In the 4th Age we shall first hear St. Athanasius he also believes that the Angels are not all of an equal Dignity of which he gives a formal explication according to his meaning on the 31st Question to Antiochus where having said something as to the Orders of the Angels he proceeds thus Because those Orders are called Legions and Armies we must thereby understand such Orders as are established to teach to defend provide administer help as also such Orders as receive the Souls and remain by them Now as the difference betwixt the Celestial Orders is known to us we must likewise know which is their State and what Knowledge they have The Thrones Cherubims and Seraphims are taught immediately by God himself as being the nearest to him and raised above the others These teach the inferior Orders and these again others that are under them The last of all are the Angels taking that Name in a particular signification and determin'd to a certain Order of Spirits distinguished from all others and these are the Teachers of Men. 'T is easie to perceive that St. Athanasius has taken this from the Writings of Philo and other Jews as 't is related above Chap. 12. Sect. 4 5 8 9 10. But whatever it be St. Athanasius being the Author of the Confession of Faith so much commended in our Churches and quoted in the 9th Article of the Low-Dutch Confession of Faith as a pattern of Orthodoxy we cannot but admit what he has written upon the present matter as the common Opinion approved of and received by the Principal Doctors of that Age Sect. 17. I grant
ancient Fathers establish 99 to one Man Our Schottus makes their number amount to 1000,000,000,000 a Thousand Thousand Millions more of whom are good then bad though he undertakes not to determine the number of each pag. 9 10. This vast number of Angels as well bad as good are divided by way of degrees into some certain orders which are explained in particular somewhat further in that same Book Sect. 6. As to the power ascribed to good and bad Angels 1. They can neither penetrate the secret thoughts of one another nor those of Men yet they can much better pierce into futurities then Men can do by the help of natural Causes and know for instance whether the year shall be fruitful whether it will freeze very hard whether it will Rain or blow pag. 12 13 14. 2. 'T is observable that he ascribes to them the faculty of moving from one place to another tho' it be not done in an instant and that of extending and contracting themselves locally pag. 17. 18. 3. He admits the Opinion of Ignatius Erkenness that it is not necessary an Angel should have a Body to move another Body pag. 20. c. 4. That nevertheless neither Angel nor Devil can act upon each other unless they meet both in the same place pag. 21. 5. It is the common Opinion that a Spirit may assume a Body in such a manner as outwardly to be seen in a Bodily shape by a Person whose Eyes are conveniently disposed without being perceiv'd by another near him tho' his Eyes be as fit for it as those of the former pag. 24. 6. 'T is likewise the common Opinion that each Person has his particular Angel and Devil p. 37 38. Sect. 7. As to the Holy Angels in particular the Opinion of Lombard concerning their Orders and different Ministries has been always much credited among the Papists They believe that he speaks according to the Scripture when he constitutes nine Orders of them Angels Archangels Principalities Powers Virtues Dominions Thrones Cherubims and Seraphims Lombard asserts that Dionysius the Areopagite has distinguished them so but I have shewed before Chap. 15. Sect. 3. that it is Pope Gregory who has established that number tho' not altogether in the same Order These nine Orders have been since divided into three times three the three superiour Orders are the Seraphims Cherubims and Thrones and so forth ascending again and reckoning all nine Lombard explains this thought more at large saying That as the Martyrs are one Order and the Apostles another and yet one Apostle is above another as one Martyr above another he reasonably believe the same to be with the Angels Sect. 8. As to the wicked Spirits in particular 't is believed 1. That they have not all been precipitated into Hell immediately after their Fall but that part of them remained rambling without and sometime return upon Earth or abide in the Air p. 26 27. 2. That there are six different places where the Devils commonly dwell and whence they effect their Malice and Power and therefore are called in relation to those places 1. Ignean or Superaereal Devils 2. Aereal Devils 3. Terrestrial 4. Aquatick 5. Subterraneous 6. Those that hate the Light The Abbot Trithemius Delrio and Agrippa are quoted by our Author on that account pag. 28. 31. 3. They are as well as the Angels divided into several Orders But the Papists agree not together upon this matter neither our Author nor Agrippa who has treated at large of this matter agree together nor with others but after all I relate here what is most generally received to which I add that the Opinion of Thyleus who divides the Devils into three Spiritual Dominions and nine Quires is not rejected pag. 36 37. Sect. 9. Their Power and Effects have always been much exalted amongst the Papists They hold for certain that the wicked Spirits can do great wonders either by their Knowledge or Power Mira hoc loco vocamus says Schottus quorum causas etiam sapientes ignorant digna admiratione censent sive de â—aetero natura facultates transcendunt sive non I give here the name of wonders to those Effects the causes of which even the Wise are ignorant of and judge them worthy Admiration whether or no they surpass the forces of Nature pag. 39 40. 'T is therefore his Opinion That the Devils can produce Effects that are above the power of Nature For though he declares afterwards That they produce but apparently and not really some Effects that are peculiar to God only yet he believes that frequently they really operate others which indeed are not proper to God but which neither Men nor the ordinary course of Nature are capable of effecting without the assistance of those Spirits To prove this Thesis he quotes many Popish Authors and shows that they are all of the same Opinion In the mean while he distinguishes what the Devils are able to effect of themselves from what they cannot do but by the means of Magicians and Witches Pag. 40. to 50. Sect. 10. The Consequence he draws from what has been said is That the Devils operate some things by motion others by the active virtue of Natural Causes and others by Illusion 1. They alledge 15 sorts of their Operations by their Motion from one place to another of which the five first consist in real Operations and the nine last in meer Representations Those of the first Classis are First They cause Fire to descend from Heaven as 't is related in the first Chapter of Job Second According to the same History they may raise Storms and Tempests Third They may likewise cause Rain bring fair weather make Winds blow upon the Sea stop the course of Vessels and overturn them Fourth They may produce Earthquakes Fifth They may transport through the Air or in some other manner the Bodies of Men and all other sorts of Bodies Sect. 11. Our Author afterward relates what they operate by motions of meer Representation to the internal and external Senses 1. They render visible things invisible by suddenly snatching them from the sight of Men. 2. They make Statues and other inanimate Objects move and walk They make them speak 4. They make appear Man and Beast in their dead Bodies as tho' they were alive 5. They take upon them Aereal Bodies and by that means produce several Effects 6. They represent the Figure of all sorts of matter either Gold Silver precious Stones or others 7. They direct in such a manner the Animal Spirits of Men that they maks appear to them past present and future things in their own shape and perswade them that they see hear and do things that are not real 8. They cause pineings and violent Diseases in human Bodies 9. By Dreams they present to People such objects as are absent and remote and forewarn them of future things 10 They produce in Men the passions of Love Hatred Anger and Fury from Pa. 51. to 54. Sect.
which is nevertheless the common belief of all the Pagans which is received among the Jews and has not been confuted sufficiently by the primitive Christians among whom are found some who have expresly taught it Sect. 7. But the Pagans differ from the Mahometans and Christians chiefly in two points First That they mix and confound together the supream God with other superior and inferior Gods good and bad and also the Souls of Men with all those Gods in such a confused manner that it is impossible to comprehend any thing and that it is a Labyrinth from whence they cannot extricate themselves On the contrary the Jews and Mahometans agree with the Christians in this point that there is one only God and that all that is besides him has been created by him Second In that that not only they make no great difficulty to deify Men but that they make also the Gods return to the condition of Men and that they believe there are Men the issue of the Gods there are some of these errors which the Papists cannot boast of being entirely free from for they may reasonably be reproached that they have substituted their Saints to these imaginary Gods and to those Demons of the Pagans That they speak of Saints as the Pagans do of their Gods that they make them act in the same manner that these false Deities were supposed to act But pure Christianity such as has been in all times upon this point never make Gods a Man nor never raises Man to the dignity of God Sect. 8. There is notwithstanding some point upon which the Protestants are not agreed and upon which nevertheless the Papists the primitive Christians the Jews the Mahometans and all the Pagans agree viz. The Tutelary Gods of the Pagans who were the guardian Angels in the first Christianity We have lately seen they are admitted without contestation among the Papists the Protestants in general are not disposed to receive this Opinion those of the profession of France Holland and Swisserland reject it and nevertheless there are some but very few that admit it or at least believe not that there are sufficient reasons to oppose it we shall examine afterwards which is the soundest of these Opinions In the mean while we must take notice before hand that what the Papists teach upon this subject together with some of other Christians that are not of their Communion relates more to the light and knowledge which they suppose that those Spirits communicate to them than real help they can expect in their actions and in their manner of living for it is rarely seen or to say better it is never seen that the People ascribe a considerable deliverance or a great oppression that befal them to an Angel either their keeper or their enemy but they never fail to ascribe it immediatly to the providence of God or if they sometimes turn their Eyes to another side the Papists as to their particular refer all the good that happens to them to the protection of some great Saint especially to that of the Virgin Mary but the Protestants lest they should seem to favour the belief of the Popish Saints would rather say if occasion serves that the Devil was the Author of it Sect. 9. There is also a difference to be taken notice of betwixt the Heathens on one side the Jews and the Mahometans on the other and all the Christians on another it is chiefly in the practice of Witchcraft and Divination which according to the principles of the first is a laudable practice in it self althô often abused as a great many good things are according to the principles of the second it is only allow'd and useful in many occasions and according to the last it is directly opposite to Christianity The reason of it is that the Pagans hold for Gods or at least for Ministers and Ambassadors of the Gods Spirits which are lookt upon by Christians as unpure Spirits and that the Jews and the Mahometans cause to proceed from the Virtue of the Caballa and the influences of the Stars whatever the Christians take to be Magick Witchcraft or Enchantments It is true that in the time of Ancient Paganism the Mathematicians have been put into the rank of Poisoners and that both were treated as persons equally pernicious to whom it was forbidden to exercise their art as being unlawful But the occasion of these prohibitions was only founded upon the ill use that was made of this Art which had been before not only permitted but even much esteem'd At this time the Christians have no longer any aversion for the name of Mathematician but that of Poysoner never received any good interpretation no that words are here to be disputed for 't is of things that we treat and we are to examine them and not words Perhaps there will be occasion to have some regard to them in our third Book where without doubt it will be necessary to speak fully of these terms and of many others Sect. 10. Let 's now see what conformity is found among all these People together Pagans Jews Mahometans Christians both Ancient and Modern Roman Catholicks Protestants and others They all confess First That there are Spirits distinct from God and bodies for thô some contrive yet another kind of Spirits as we have said it is one of the points in dispute among them and now we are about to seek wherein they agree together Second That there natures are different some absolutely subsisting without body as Angels and others being united to a body as Souls Third That however both are mortal Fourth That of such Spirits as are united to a body some are good to Men and others bad Fifth That therefore Man has reason to seek the friendship of good Spirits that is the Angels and to take all possible care to divert from him evil Spirits which are Devils Sixth That an infinite happiness or misery attends Men after this life Seventh That likewise of the Souls of the deceased some are bad and some good and holy thô they seem not to explain themselves always in the same manner sometimes upon one of the points and sometimes upon the other it i◠nevertheless certain considering the bottom of the matter that their sentiments are agreeable see then in what consists the conformity of the Opinions in general of all Nations and in what they differ We have now to examine what is true or what not in all that has been related and it is for that purpose I design my second and third Book according to the division I have established before Chapter the first Sect. 8. However we shall yet see what cautions may be drawn from all that has been said CHAP. XXIV That all that has been related shews upon what foundation the Christians in general and the Protestants in particular say such extraordinary things of the Devil Sect. 1. BEfore I pass to my second Book where I shall examine what is purely
propositions they maintain rather than their true natural Sense such as 't is found in other Authors and in ordinary use of a Tongue that is so familiar to them Of these I might recite a thousand proofs if it were necessary and time would allow me Sect. 13. Besides as much as Man has taken pains to acquire uncertain and corrupted Sciences so much has he been negligent of informing himself in the best the finest and at the same time the smallest part of Sciences with which he is ordinarily less acquainted for as I have already said the Youth in the Schools run over all the Countries of the Ancient Heathens only to make a booty of Latin and Greek before they do so much as visit Christianity which is only shewn to them as at a distance they are yet of too tender a constitution to be loaden with such solid meat and too young to be mixed with such important Affairs so that they are taught almost nothing of that matter It is not thought convenient for them to know what Soul and Body are wherein consists the Essence of the Soul or that of the Angels and Devils and what knowledge and operations those Spirits are capable of and what share and administration they take here below in human Affairs No light is afforded to them that may dissipate the darkness that has been spread over their understandings in their youth nor blot out the impressions that have been made upon them as to this point by the means already mention'd so that this darkness and these impressions destitute of Antidotes do still penetrate farther Even those that follow the Principles of Descartes tho' they distinguish better than others the nature of Soul and Body as will be shown in my Second Book Chap. 1. Sect. 12 13 14. yet when they come to the operations of such Spirits as are not joyned to a Body either Angels or Devils and undertake to explain how they can act upon other Bodies either of Men or other matter they take as much freedom as they can and go as far as they can be carried by the prejudices they have imbibed with all others before they studied Scripture and Philosophy Sect. 14. That which may adorn the Human Mind with Light and form its Judgment is what is less intended to be acquired in Universities tho' they seem to be the place where such a rare thing should be gotten which most unhappily affords not the means to grow rich I mean Mathematicks and that part of natural Philosophy that discovers the nature and course of the Heavens not because they treat of our present subject but for two other reasons I shall add The first is that more certainty is to be found in Mathematicks than in all other Sciences because they are grounded upon infallible Principles such Students as are used to the certainty of these Principles will not acknowledge for truth such as are not attended with a full and entire conviction and put a little value upon such Sciences as have not the same certainty But the Second Reason is still more particular viz. That Mathematicks especially that part that treats of the knowledge of Stars manifestly discovers several things that undeniably shew the Sacred Writers accommodated themselves to the stile and capacity of the Vulgar and speak of the Heavens Earth Sun Moon and Stars not according to their own nature and as they are in themselves but according to the common notions of Men. And therefore those that are somewhat addicted to that Science credit not so easily the discourses of other Men and are not satisfied with probabilites They are not disposed to fill the Air with Spirits nor to fix them to Stars nor to confound Spirits and Stars together But the mischief is as I have already hinted that few Learned give up themselves to that part of the Sciences tho' it is the most useful and beautiful of all Sect. 15. All these prejudices with which we have been once fill'd which have been rooted in us more and more by the ways already alleag'd which have grown by the new nourishment they daily received and which have neither been banished nor weaken'd by the endeavours of a better informed Judgment all these prejudices I say are no where more sensible than in the subject we treat of And therefore we have destin'd this First Book to establish this Truth and make it very plain to the end it might be clearly perceived that all those Opinions concerning the Devils Divinations and Witchcraft draw their first Original from the Heathens who communicated them to the Jews during the Babilonian Captivity where they had more conversation with the Philosophers than in the Land of Canaan whilst they liv'd separated from all other Nations of the Earth There they insensibly took the tincture of the Heathen Doctrines and Practices at least of such as seem'd not directly opposed to their Law The first Christians springing from the middle of the Jews and Heathens kept likewise most part of the same Doctrines and intended to gain the Heathens by too great and easie a compliance with their Opinions Thus was insensibly laid the foundation on which the great aedifice of Popery is now founded and rais'd Sect. 16. Another Judgment may be pass'd upon that matter if Popery were put in parallel with Heathenism and not esteem'd the worse of these two For why should not they be held for Heathen Legends what the Pagans have published of their Miracles Oracles Gods Aërial Spectres Dreams and the like prodigies That is why do we not call 'em Lies as we rightly so name the Roman Legends Have we more reason to look upon as suspitious those wonders the relations of which are inserted almost in all the Books of the chief Roman writers and to look upon them as a branch of superstition then to deal in the same manner with those of the Heathens Whence comes it that we publickly laugh at both in our discourses and writings the sham miracles of the former as being meer delusions and trifles and that we approve both by our words and our Books the narrations that the latter make of the wonders seen amongst them and that we quote them as true thô they be of the same matter and weight with the others The antiquity of those Authors and of the times in which they have written has it so much power and efficacy and must we more easily credit stories because they are said to have happen'd a long while ago and in far remote Countries But what 's that to the main point Truth fits not it self in this manner to the inclinations of Men. Lies were anciently told as well as they are now and as well in Foreign Countries as in our own Sect. 17. It is methinks sufficiently proved by all the quotations of this Book that there are no Miracles Oracles purging Fires Apparitions of Hobgoblins or Souls Witchcraft by Letters and â—â—aracters or choice of Days either in
thô amongst above 200 Ministers who consented to that Judgment none could alledge so much as one solid Reason against it and that afterwards it should have been twice unanimously approved of without any change as to the Doctrine and the controverted Points having been made in it This has confirm'd me in this persuasion that a true Christian especially a Doctor of Divinity ought groundedly himself to enquire into things without resting upon the Judgment of others that he may obtain a full certainty of the object of his Faith and the matter of his Precepts Since that time I resolved only to follow the Holy Scripture and Reason in such things in which it ought to supply the silence of the Sacred Writings and to assure my self by those two means of what I was to believe and to teach others without taking the trouble of following the steps of other Men never putting Pen to Paper but to write upon those subjects the importance of which I was convinced of or had not been sufficiently explain'd and examin'd I have therefore endeavour'd to free as much as possible our Holy Doctrine from such errors as most Men appear to me to be taken with or at least to set in order such things whic I conceive to be confused Whether I was the first that discover'd it or whether I needed only to promote what had been begun by others There are other Reasons that have engag'd me in that design For having sworn in the University of Franeker faithfully to maintain the pure Doctrine of the Reformed Church and defend it both by words and writings in all necessary occasions I may now say with Prudentius and as it becomes my Age. Per quinquennia jam decem Ni fallor fuimus septimus insuper Annum cardo rotat dum fruimur sole volubili Vicinum senio jam Deus applicat Quid nos utile tanti spatio tempor is egimus Two score years are past the third is running Since the Sun's light is upon me shining Old Age comes on What have I been doing But it would be too long to enter into particulars I shall only say that I intend to imploy the rest of my Life first to the Duties and Functions of my Ministry which the circumstances and largeness of this Town make more painful than in other places and than to make an exact enquiry after whatever is falsly believed in the World and the Erroneous Opinions that are entertained without any other ground then that they are every day told and heard of For my most earnest desire is to see Men become more wise and honest than they are thâ—ugh very few sincerely intend it or at least do their Endeavours to attain to that perfection most â—art choosing rather to believe and to do what is commonly believed and done than to be at the trouble of freeing themselves from Errors In the mean while what past in Freiseland when my first Book appear'd abroad ought to have taught me how dangerous it is to write upon such matters there being neither favour nor profit to be expected for such Authors as rid themselves from all prejudices and having no regard either for the Credit or Power of the Faction whose Sentiments they reject resolve to follow only what the Scripture teaches or Reason dictates to them and to embrace no Opinions but such as are founded upon those two Grounds Perhaps after my Death the usefulness of this Undertaking will be known and tho' I dare not hope that it will be done in my Life time yet I publish it my self to learn the Judgment of the publick to defend my Works and to enlarge or correct them according to the Light I may acquire a-new or that shall be communicated to me For methinks I am more able to do it and to be Interpreter of my own Words and Thoughts than those that may afterwards adopt my Opinions and have some regard for my Memory As for the rest though my intention and scope may be plainly perceived by the first Chapter yet I shall add that no Men in the World are more remote from any Atheistical Sentiments more persuaded of the Divinity of the Holy Writ and more disposed to render to God the Honour and Reverence due to him than those who as I am are opposed to the common Opinion of the Power and Vertue of the Devil Whoever shall read this Book with attention and without partiality will undoubtedly be persuaded of it at least I mean that there is enough to satisfie those that absolutely reject the Principles of Descartes concerning the use of Reason and at the same time such as give too much extent to those Principles and that those two Parties will equally approve of the manner in which I distinguish Spirits from Bodies and both from God without however establishing any thing as to their Operations that cannot be proved by plain and necessary Inferences So that I powerfully confute the foolish Errors of Spinosa who confounds God and Nature together I believe not that there is any Author who has more solidly establisht the infinite difference that there is betwixt God and the Creature and the inconsistency of the Properties of Bodies with those of Spirits then I do here as was necessary to be done to lay a firm foundation to this work that is wholly grounded upon that Principle at least as to those things that are the object of the Light of Reason Besides I have this internal satisfaction that I confirm by an evident proof the Doctrine of our Churches that tends still to diminish the Honour paid to the Creatures in order to increase that which is due to God This Book witnesses for me that I set up the Glory Power and Wisdom of the Soveraign Master of the World as much as they had been taken from him to be communicated to the Devil I banish from the Universe that abominable Creature to chain him in Hell that Jesus our Supream King may more powerfully and securely reign Though his Empire that is to endure to the last day is likewise to subsist in the midst of his Enemies that are here upon Earth that is amongst the People of the Devil or such in whom Sin keeps still imprinted the Image of the Devil With that intention I am not afraid to explain in my second Book several passages of the Hâ—ly Writ in another Sense than they have hitherto been taken But if by the publishing of such new explications one aimed not at the Honour of God and only sought to impair and stain the Reputation of those that are of contrary Opinion he should take more to heart his own Credit than the Glory of God As for me who have formerly been in Opinions contrary to those I speak of and which are still held by the greatest part of Men I willingly propose my present Sentiments but only with a sincere intention of glorifying God and bringing Truth to Light I think not therefore to be
Author and what is his Method AS the two first Books of this work that I published at first have been differently received for Reasons alledg'd in the Preface It will not be amiss to represent to the Reader what has been properly my design in these four Books that I have Intituled The World Bewitch'd nor to shew what foundation I built upon and what way I take to find out the truth For althô I express my self clearly enough in the beginning of the work and in the Preface to the first part I know nevertheless that is not sufficient to destroy the prejudice wherewith the learned themselves appear more biassed than the Vulgar which I should never have thought but it seems at present I have found out the Reason which is that the most part of those which do not put themselves to the trouble to pass through all the Degrees of the Schools aspire to Sciences and sublime knowledge but for their particular pleasure they are the People that love liberty and to whom it matters not who is the Master that instructs them provided that they may learn something or if they are greedy of rarities they have not so much respect to the mode nor to that which is New or Antient as to the beauty of the matter and to that of the work On the contrary it is with those who pass through the Schools as with those who live in Shops where every one has his way every Master has his Method in the work he makes In one Town they make the same things after one fashion and in another after another when one is taken up with the mode he often rejects what is pleasing without any other Reason then because it is not as commonly used in the World And we have a strangeness for all novelties so long as they have not the common vogue althô otherwise we might approve them and have them cheap enough but as soon as Custom has introduced them one begins to seek them out and to be disgusted at the former Sciences are subject to the same inconveniencies Those that we send to the Schools continue in the road which has been mark'd out to them for their exercises they endeavour to form themselves upon the model of those which have most reputation or of those who are the nearest to their first prejudices so this is disapproving the part they have taken not to be apt to take any and to preserve our own liberty and thus we expose our selves very much but one runs a greater risk if willing to ascend higher and search things in their Fountains it happens at last that we find our selves out of the ordinary Road and that we are obliged to take another Hinc illae lachymae From thence proceeds all disorders The common Opinion of the Devil of his knowledge power and Operations and of People which are accused of having commerce with him began by little and little to become very suspitious by the help of natural light which I have common with others which was strengthened and purified by the Scripture so after I had well examined it I was in doubt whether I ought to maintain it any longer or abandon it not only by Reason of the truth but also because of the Piety which it seem'd to contradict My Conscience it self compel'd me to it for I was obliged to answer those that ask'd me and to take care of my Conduct because of the disposition I saw the People in It was the Duty of my charge and every Day occasions offer'd themselves my pain increased every moment by the continual necessity I found my self in to speak and act as others did or to oppose the publick with words or actions which agree not with my Character which is to be complaisant and to agree with all the World as much as is possible Besides I found not as yet foundation enough to act after an other manner which made me at first resolve to make an exact search after the Original of this common and general Opinion to know whether it was founded upon truth But because I make this examination à priore and not à posteriore as they in the Schools I have proposed the state of the Question but at the end of the first Book where I discovered in the 22th Chapter how many of the Opinions which I have related which are all those that ever were in the World upon this subject The Protestants have at last got together and formed those which they retain to this Day In the 23th Chapter I compare them with the Opinions of other Nations and in the 24th Chapter I shew by what means they have been introduced amongst us and what keeps us so strongly tyed to them So in the first Book I examine what is the rise of the Opinion concerning the Devil and in the following Books I discover what sentiments we ought to have of him An Abridgement of the First Book IN the First Book I run over all the World to find whence this Opinion has its Original And for this purpose I have omitted neither time nor place I observe that the subject ought to be examin'd in two Respects In respect of the Devil to find what is his Knowledge and Power and in respect of Men to see what they learn and effect by his means But because these things are preternatural or are so thought to be and that by consequence they are known only to God I have judg'd it necessary to know what are the Opinions of Men concerning the Divinity and Spirits in general either good or bad and of human Souls separated from their Bodies by death which are also Spirits I make a search of all these things First in the Books of the Ancients and afterwards in the Moderns of all Religions and amongst all Nations distinguishing them into Pagans Jews Mahometans and Christians in reference to the present state of the World I begin with the Ancient Pagans which are for the most part Greeks or Romans known to us by Greek and Latin Books they have lest us which I treat of in the 2d 3d and 4th Chapters for there are very few Histories of other Countries and other People which are come to our knowledge There you see what they believe touching Gods and Spirits which are neither Gods nor human Souls and as to the estate of the Souls after death You read there also what means they used to attain that knowledge and to operate things beyond the power of Nature by the means of those Spirits such as they believe them to be I come afterwards down to our time and examine all the Pagans in the World first in Europe in the 6th Chapter after in Asin in the 7th and 8th Chapters then in Africa in the 9th Chapter and at last in America in the 10th Chapter which gives me occasion to demonstrate in the 11th Chapter that the Pagans as well Ancient as Modern have had a notion of the Divinity
who exclaim against my Second Book passing my First none has taken notice of my error in this point and declared it to me very few having done so much as reflected upon it But in vain they attack the Second if they admit the First They in no wise see the end I aim at nor the order I have followed as ought to be done in an exact search after the Truth But they undertake to confute my Second Book because it offers a larger field to their censures by different things expounded in an opposite Sense to that of the literal like those ignorant Disputants who let slip the antecedent Propositions and deny the consequence that is necessarily drawn from it I have reason to complain for passing an over-hasty judgment upon the halfe of my Work without staying till it appeared intire and they have seen the following Part and the Connexion no circumstance of time required that precipitation for I had not lost a moment to publish the two last Parts had they not hinder'd it by the disturbances they have given me I believe not that the whole extent of a project or its oeconomy may be perfectly seen while 't is but halfe done So 't is but at present that some judgement may be past upon this work since it begins but now to appear altogether and to be a perfect Body with all its Members The Second Book and the Third consist in the search after Truth and what of certainty may be had as to the Sentiments that have been upon this subject of Spirits and Men who have communication with them that is with evil Spirts I examine in the Second Book what concerns Spirits and in the Third what concerns these wicked People who seek to deal with them according to the division that I have proposed in the beginning of the First Book Chap. 1. Sect. 8. As to the Fourth I shall say hereafter what connection it has with the former and its usefulness Touching the method I take to make by degrees and in order this Search after Truth if whatever I have written upon this subject be attentively consider'd you will undoubtedly know the injustice of those who impute to me that I offer chiefly new Propositions of my own head that I take the greatest trouble imaginable to wrest the Scripture and my reasonings to accommodate them to it or that I make use of Reason as of a Rule with which I would measure Scripture and adapt it to the same On the contrary it is impossible not to see that I never had as yet the least thought of building upon such a foundation but that I have run through all the World and all times to discover where Men may have found the foundations of these Opinions which I have undertaken to find out For when one has attain'd to that knowledge he is in a condition to judge solidly whether those Opinions or Practices are grounded upon good or bad Reasons I declare then that I have not examined all the divers Opinions of the Pagans Jews Mahometans and Christians as well Ancient as Modern nor their Doctrines and Practices with an intent to give explanations of them nor to mainâ—aâ—n them or confute them but only to consider them in themselves and to expose them as they are without making any Judgment or producing any proofs to support or destroy them which is an extraordinary labour that none would ever undertake unless carry'd by the desire of truth So far I lay no foundation I that am a Christian and a Protestant and have no desire to become either Papist Jew or Pagan If I found nothing solid in the search I make I consent that they continue to say and believe concerning Spirits in general and Devils in particular all that is wont to be said and all that can be imagined But altho' I have not as yet found the bottom I seek and that neither Popery Judaism nor Paganism considered in themselves having there withal to furnish me I have notwithstanding a solid foundation which is common to me with those People And I have further another particular which I have in common but with part of them The first is reason which is the light of all men in general when it is found pure in them and neither perplexed nor obscured by prejudices or passions The other foundation upon which I rest is the Scripture inspireed by God which is equally pure in it self And and to the reading of which we ought also to apply our selves as if one had never read them that is to say with an entire disingagement of all humane prejudices and from those that may proceed from the versions of the Hebrew and the Greek which are the original languages in which it has been written he must meditate upon it without any regard to the interpretation which have been made by all sorts of Doctors either Ancient or Modern These two foundations are not Subordinate one to the other but subsist equally together Philo the Jew loving very much to search allegorical Sensâ—s in Scripture and not approving what St. Paul wrote upon the subject of Sarah and Agar Galatians Ch. 4. v. 2. has been the first that has applied to the Scripture and to reason the distinction of Mistress and Servant saying that you must thereby understand that Philosophy and humane understanding ought to be submitted to the holy writ This application is become so familiar to Divines that it has been received as an undeniable maxime since Philo took a fancy to propose it It is however a truth that reason ought to precede Scripture because the latter presupposes the former I understand sound reason to which the Scripture ought to present it self and make it self known as divine after that Reason comes to the help of Scripture teaching us things wherein Scripture is silent and the Scripture likewise comes to assist reason discovering to us things which are above it and above the reach of our understanding We must nevertheless confess that the Scripture is above reason not as mistress for they have every one their particular Empire and Direction But as being more noble and excellent because it is in this God manifests to us things which no humane understanding ever could comprehend 1 Corinthians 2.9 notwithstanding it happens sometimes that they meet both in the same way where they lodge together in the same house and by consequence they often lend one another the helping hand but they do it freely althô with this difference that reason as an inferiour alwayes shows a great respect for the Holy writ When therefore 't is said a Christian ought to submit his understanding to the word of God it must be understood the understanding such as it is in the Estate of corruption obscure by he Clouds that surround it and infected by the stâ—ins that dâ—â—â—â—gure it And such it is in respect of things which are above our reach which are only manifested to us in the word of
in this second examination of the second part where the certainty of the knowledge which proceeds from Scripture alone is treated of I am nevertheless obliged to employ my Reason to the end it may serve me to examine what Scripture contains not that it may reach so far as to comprehend the things themselves but it ought nevertheless to comprehend what the Scripture it self says and that things are such as it says although I conceive them not such as they are But see here the knot of the difficulty that is that every one crys out that the Scripture says such or such things because he conceives that the Scripture says them and when the Scripture may be understood two â—â—ys we easily embrace the Sense which best suites our Notions If already without too much examination we have sufferd our selves to be prejudiced with Opinions of which we would however be better satisfied and find some more particular instruction in the Scripture It is not sought with that impartiality and liberty of Mind which are necessary but we still incline towards the prejudices If there is the least appearance that we may by wresting the Scripture adapt it to the Sense we would have it we never fail to do all our Endeavours in order thereto and afterwards imagine to have found there sufficient proofs in favour of our Opinion because it seems to say what we desire As we see two Counsellors explain the same Law each for the advantage of his Client and that they never want Reasons on both sides to confute the contrary Arguments so that they appear each to have the right on his side and that it is very difficult to extricate what they have so much perplexed But it is said that I my self do what I condemn in others and for me I maintain that those who are conscious of their guilt and worthy of censure cast that imputation upon me seeing me explain so many passages in another Sense than that with which they are prevented without any other Reason than because it is ordinarily received They are persuaded that this change proceeds in me from the same cause that I discover in them See the true cause that makes them say I wrest the Scripture not that I really wrest it but rather that I keep not as a Slave to their Interpretations But I make say they a false Supposition and after I endeavour to give to the Scripture a Sense which agrees to that Supposition That may be but to know what it is you must examine after what manner I make the exposition of the Scripture and whether I turn it towards my prejudices and theâ—efore 't is necessary that I explain a little more clearly every one of the Articles I treat of The Principle they say I suppose is that a Spirit cannot act upon a Body nor upon other immaterial Spirits That 's the burthen of the Song and what they make me say over and over every where and is so confidently published that even my Friends can scarce forbear crediting it as there come every day occasions which make me know it It is a prejudice that passes from hand to hand from one party to another It insensibly spreads it self in all the Minds and in that Disposition the reading of my Book is undertaken but they seldom read it entire from one end to the other as it would be but just and necessary to do they only read some separate places viz. those they are referr'd to and especially those in which I dispute upon the Operations of Spirits For I may boldly say that of those that have read my Book with attention I find but very few which hold the same Discourses On the contrary they take quite another party viz. that of Truth So that I defie all those that have read it to mark so much as one place where I put as a Principle of my Opinion touching the Devil That a Spirit cannot act either upon a Body or another Spirit What is then the foundation of this noise which is so strongly and so generally spread abroad and which is the cause of the great prosecution that is made against me It is this general prejudice which proceeds from the common Exposition of the passages of Scripture upon this that is That a Spirit as a Spirit and so much the more as it is a Spirit can without Body act upon all sorts of Bodies and upon other Spirits I require proofs of this Thesis and because this demand is unthought of and extraordinary and upon which by consequence every one is not prepared my demand is taken for a Negative But before I lay my self that foundation which ordinarily is not call'd in Question I examine first the Grounds upon which these People themselves rest their Opinion or upon what they ought to establish it according to the Idea they have of Spirits I say according to the Idea they have of Spirits for whether according to the Principles of Descartes they distinguish them from Bodies the more neatly then other Philosophers do or that they grosly attribute something corporeal to them These two Idea's nevertheless proceed as yet equally from that they conceive the Operations of Spirits upon external Objects whether Bodies or other Spirits as a property of the Spiritual Nature and from that they include them in the notion they have of that Nature and it is by this means that instead of considering the Body as an instrument which is necessary to the Operation of Spirits or at least proper to them they look upon it as an obstacle to the liberty and virtue of the Operations of a Spiritual Nature Thence comes that every Body crys â—ut so differrently against me some saying that Descartes's Philosophy has spoiled me and that is the fruit which is reaped by his Followers desiring to cast upon it the Errors that they accuse me of Others who being in the same prejudice yet are Cartesians at bottom give out that I understand not the Philosophy of Descartes But whatever my Learning and Experience be I intend to have to do but with sensible People and leave the others at full liberty to pass upon the Doctrine I teach such Judgments as they please An Abridgment of the Second Book As to what concerns my Second Book see the method I have taken I begin with the distinction of names in fixing at first what must be understood by a Body and a Spirit to avoid all equivocations which I have done in the first Chapter I speak of God in the Second proveing not only that the supream Being which I denote by that word is only one but also that there is not the least communion between it and created things directly confuting the Opinion of Spinosa upon this subject which I pretend to do with more force and evidence than any hitherto because ordinarily they undertake to demonstrate by the most perfect and incomprehensible Essence of God the manner and virtue of the Operations
of created Spirits which I absolutely reject as a way which is used to lead us into error By consequence I cannot admit the arguments which are taken from the nature of God to demonstrate in what manner acts a Spirit which is his creature and has nothing common with him but the name After in the Third Chapter I prove by arguments drawn from the sovereign perfection of God that there are none of those sorts of Spirits that the Pagans esteem to be Gods and ediators of Men towards the supream Divinity because the Reasons of those that ground that belief upon the perfection of God are directly opposite to this perfection We then having taken off the imaginary Spirits I come to those which we certainly know to exist that is our Souls that are a part of our selves and which by consequence are better known to us by our own experience this is treated of in the fourth Chapter where I prove as much as is possible their immortality and that they subsist even out of the body I employ for this purpose Reason and Scripture because they are two ways that equally conduct us to the knowledge of the Soul the first by experience and by our own Consciousness and the second by the particular instructions God gives us of the estate of the Soul after this life but I quote not the Scripture in this part of my Treatise where I examine but what concerns nature only Neither do I judge it necessary to do it afterwards because it is a point that a Christian looks upon as already sufficiently established and supposes it when he will engage in a dispute upon this subject Besides I reject as superstitions and fables whatever proceeds from the invention of Men especially of the Heathens which is the matter of the fifth Chapter So we come to know with certainty that such a Spirit that is the Soul which truly exists has a body with which it lives and without which it may still live and to reject all the other Spirits of whom the greatest part of the World falsly believe the existence But besides those Pagan Opinions we hear every day mention made of Angels not only by Christians but also by Jews and Mahometans The Question is Whether Reason alone is capable to discover to us that there are such Spirits destitute of a proper and peculiar body Upon this point I shew in the sixth Chapter that our understanding without the help of Scripture cannot penetrate farther than to comprehend that it is possible but not certain that there are Spirits For this Reason I have not judg'd it necessary to examine the Operations of these Spirits upon bodies or upon the other Spirits because it seems to me ridiculous to trouble ones self with the examination of the Operations of Creatures the existence of which is not established as certain And therefore I have spoken in the first Edition but by the way in verse which is at present the seventh Sect. of the sixth Chapter And therefore it is manifest how wrongfully many People would perswade themselves that I have composed my work only To deny the Operations of Spirits upon bodies and upon other Spirits And besides that I ground upon this negative all my explications of the passages of Scripture but that I may avoid this persecution for the future I thought fit to insert in the new Edition that is made of my Book a whole Chapter between the sixth and seventh so that this new Chapter is at present the seventh and the seventh is the eight and so of the others following There I pretend clearly to shew that the proofs related upon that subject strike not at all to the end and cannot be considered as true proofs which I mean as to what concerns nature and as to what Human Reason may conceive of it self as destitute of help from the word of God After that I come to the word of God and then I employ Reason no more but keep to the Scripture only and I search in it what it will teach me touching Spirits which is now the question there I find that under the name of Angels it gives us to understand such Spirits as are the Ministers of God toward other Creatures But there is nothing discovered to us touching their Essence neither is their any thing in the History of the Creation as to their Original or the manner of their fall for which Reason part of them was from the beginning rejected from God notwithstanding the Scripture puts these two things for certain which is the subject of the eight and ninth Chapters I consider afterwards the properties and Operations that the Scripture attributes to them and I endeavour to know what is their proper nature their power upon other Creatures either spiritual or corporeal But the passages that speak of these things do not appear to me to have been understood otherwise than those that attribute also to certain Men that is to Prophets and Apostles the works that they have done in dispensing the miracles of God That which gives me occasion to say that as this dispensation surpasses the force of those to whom it was entrusted it cannot make us know what was their proper nature whence I take occasion to infer the same things touching Angels this is in the tenth and eleventh Chapters That which could not be discovered by the means of the name Original or Operation of those Spirits I endeavour to learn by the means of their orders of which is made an ample mention in the twelfth fifteenth and nineteenth Chapters of my first Book But I draw not any light from thence save that Angels as well good as bad have each their head that the Prince of good Angels is called Michael and that of the bad named Diabolus the Devil that is in the two and twentieth Chapter Yet I leave it not here I consider again that the Scripture attributes in many places some particular administration to Angels I examined to know what it is first as to the good Angels in general in the thirteenth Chapter whom the Scripture often makes appear and always for particular revelations to the faithful either to work extraordinary miracles or execute God's Judgments upon Men by punishments or by deliverances But I conceive not that what is said of this Ministry is different from what is related of that of those holy Men who have been employed in the works of God and his miracles that they in no wise operated by their own virtue by consequence I find nothing as yet which may give me a certain knowledge of the proper Angels their power or their Operations Afterwards I come to a more particular examination of the principle passages especially of the manner of speaking of these three persons which appeared to Abraham of the two others that appeared to Lot Genesis Chapter the eighteenth and nineteenth and in making reflection upon this History and comparing it with other instructions of the Holy
proof of his power being well examined in its whole extent attribute to him the least part in the evils which by the Providence of God happen'd to that Holy Man As to the Angel of Satan which tormented St. Paul I place him in the same rank with the fight against Michael that is in uncertainty there being no ground to pretend to a perfect understanding of this passage and therefore I look upon it as insufficient to prove any thing which is the matter of the 25th Chapter But as the Possest are universally alledg'd for a certain proof of the great power of the Devil and that we read so many times in Scripture that the evil Spirits have been cast out by our Saviour Jesus Christ I beslow five Chapters upon examining what is in it I see that the term of Diabolus which we Translate Devil is not found in any of the passages in which those Relations are contained but only that of Daemon which I illustrate in the 26th Chapter In the 27th I shew that the most dangerous diseases especially those of the Head were usually ascribed to Demons or even call'd by the name of Demons and in the 28th that our Saviour Jesus Christ has not changed the usual way of speaking but made use of them according to the custom of that time neither did he always immediately confute all the errors in the 29th and 30th Chapters so that the cure of Daemonia was not properly an expulsion of Devils but a miraculous cure of incurable Diseases I come after to other passages of Scripture where neither the names of Devil Satan or Demon are made use of but those of the Prince of the World Prince of the power of the air Prince of this Age of Lordships Powers Dominions and the like And I shew that there is not the least cause to apply them to the Devil but that the Stile of Scripture leads us of it self to understand by all these names a certain order of persons Having then examined all I could not conclude that the Scripture considered truely and without prejudice attributes to the Devil this power and these operations which the prevention of Commentators and Translators discovers in it I grant it has been very troublesom to me to be obliged to take this party and to confute and censure very famous Men and most approved interpreters It even seemed to me that I exposed my self very much because I know that a more advantageous opinion is had of those that are not known and that a Prophet is neither esteemed in his own time nor in his own Country For this Reason I did first resolve not to meddle with those of Scripture where I found my self constrain'd to go from the expositions ordinarily received But at last considering that my work would appear but imperfect and that they would not fail to object those famous passages to which I should be then obliged to answer I at last prevailed with my self to venture in the main Sea and to fly before none that came to attack me further I do not believe that any one can shew me that the interpretations that I make are founded upon the light of reason and humane understanding or upon any other particular proposition I should have asserted such as this is said to be that a Spirit cannot act upon a body nor upon other Spirits I have made use of for this effect but of the ordinary means that the knowledge of Languages afford us so there is no more unjust accusation then that which is raised against me upon this subject And therefore when I compare with the analogy of the whole Scripture with the grounds of our Divinity and with the rules of true Piety whatever is ordinarily published concerning the understanding of the Devil his power his operations his apparitions in divers places in the World his Dominion and the Kingdom which he raises against that of Jesus Christ I conclude not only that they are not grounded upon these three principles but also being considered with all the necessary attention they appear contrary to them In this place I begin to enter into dispute and to draw my conclusion from arguments which the Scripture and reason furnishes me with having by the means heretofore established upon those two principles searched after the ways how plainly and without equivocation to understand the state of the questions which properly and particularly cocern the Devil This is not then the point in question to dispute of the meaning of those passages which mention the fall of Man or speak of Angels some of whom appeared to Abraham and others wrestled with Jacob or of the tentation of Our Lord Christ in the desert nor of the sense of those that say David was tempted by Satan and that Job was tormented by him and the like places but the Chief point the scope of all this search is to know what to believe concerning the Devil Upon this I bestow the five last Chapters and in the three first of these five which are the 32th 33th and 34th I am not afraid of calling Reason to my assistance after having shewn that the Scripture is silent upon this subject for I presume to have made appear in the 32th Chapter that the apparitions of Evil Spirits are contrary to true Reason and that the Holy Scripture affords no proofs of it Afterwards in the 33th Chapter I show that the knowledge that the Devil may have as well of things Natural as Civil and above all of things Spiritual which concern our Salvation is nothing of what is believed I rest as yet upon the same foundation of Scripture and Reason to prove the Empire of the Devil is but a Chimera and that he has neither such a Power nor such an Administration as is ordinarily ascribed to him which is contained in the 34th Chapter At last after having treated of all those things with all possible exactness I come to the conclusion of my second Book where I shew the importance of this examination by reason of the great value the vulgar put upon the Devil and his Operations in the World My Opinion is that these sorts of Discourses shake the Grounds of the Doctrine of our Salvation and cause a great damage to Piety in divers occasions I demonstrate the first of these things in the 35th Chapter and the second in the 36th As to the Doctrine I prove in this place what I have asserted in the first Chapter of my Book viz. that the common Opinion concerning the Devil is opposite to the proofs that Jehova is God and that Jesus is the Messiah and that the Books of the Prophets and Apostles are the Word of God In what concerns Piety I shew that the Service of God is thereby greatly weakened that the Filial fear is very much diminished by that they have of the Devil that the esteem that the holy Angels deserve is almost destroyed that the glory and virtue of the miracles of
it was possible that whatever the Vulgar and the Learned say of Devils and whatever they ascribe to them were true I would not have spar'd so much time as to search into this matter had not I perceiv'd that the Opinions of most Men and perhaps of all the World are only grounded upon an unsure and wavering Foundation This has moved me impartially to examine several things which my Calling and common Conversation offered to me This examination forced my Mind to reject many Opinions which I had admitted at first only because they were common though grounded upon insufficient Reasons as I came by degrees to be sensible of so that I find that at present I know much less than I formerly imagined to do especially as to the subject in hand This however I do not say with a design to Censure or Destroy what others have Written I only intend to joyn my Thoughts to theirs for a fuller Instruction of such Readers as love Truth and are enquiring after it Sect. 2. I am not afraid to mistake if I say that whatever belongs to this matter has not been exhausted Those that have written upon it before having been somewhat retarded by Prejudices that stick to their Mind though they had freed themselves of many others for I own they have proceeded so far as to destroy most of the works of the Devil at least so far as 't was necessary to free Men from Superstition and frivolous Fears But as for me I would if it were possible altogether overthrow them and not leave one Stone upon another that should not be demolished And therefore I 'll try whether I can bring my Countrymen to my Opinion especially those of my Profession desiring them to read this Treatise with as little prejudice as I have written and not to suffer themselves to be persuaded by other Reasons but such as proceed from Natural Light from a clear Interpretation of the Holy Scripture and from certain Experiments I have right to require these Conditions from the Reader since they cannot be rejected by any Rational Person that they are a Law to which I submit my self and that the great consequence of the matter requires them Sect. 3. I am Confident and I hope that the Reader will more plainly perceive it hereafter that no point of the Christian Religion is more important than this and that no certain and sufficient proofs may be had of all the others than by rejecting the Opinion commonly receiv'd amongst the Vulgar concerning the Craft and Power of the Devil Can it be imagin'd a small Matter to know whether the Devil has a Kingdom upon Earth and what are the Limits that separate his Dominions from that of God Almighty Or is 〈◊〉 unserviceable to examine whether such a cursed and detestable Creature can do more wonderful things than God ever did and consequently whether the trust we repose in God and the fear we have of the Devil ought to be equal Such Thoughts ought never to enter into a Christian Heart yet they creep into it unawares at least I think so and can scarce doubt of it for the more I search into this matter the more it seems evident to me that whoever entirely believes all that it used to be ascrib'd to the Devils and his Angels and all that is commonly said of them both by the Learned and the Vulgar saving the bottom of the Doctrine publickly receiv'd and taught in our Church he can have no convincing proof that JESVS is the Messiah or that there is but one God And if in this Writing I do not make the Reader very sensible of it I grant that I have composed it to no purpose Sect. 4. But if I succeed it will at the same time plainly appear that it was altogether necessary to publish this Treatise because the Vulgar are still confirm'd in their Errors by Men of Letters and of great Name who being full themselves of those prejudices make use of their Tongue and Learning to lead others into the same Labyrinth To that end they wrest several Expressions and Histories of the Holy Scripture which being not accurately examined nor conferr'd with others give a great probability to the common Opinion concerning the Devil but if taken in the ordinary Sense they prove evidently oppos'd to other clear Expressions concerning the Fundamental Articles of our Faith It follows that such a Sense cannot subsist without overthrowing the grounds of our Salvation that I can hardly bear since a long time the nicety with which Points of small consequence or at least of little certainty use to be treated of since one cannot discuss them without getting into a suspicion of entertaining Erroneous Opinions whilst in the mean time we are not yet agreed upon Matters of the utmost consequence or if we are agreed upon them it 't is without any foundation And therefore since none was ever found fault with for defending an Article of Faith or giving out a new Explication of it so I persuade my self that I do well by publishing the Illustrations upon a matter on which the whole Edifice of our Salvation is grounded in order that whoever will carefully and impartially examine it may become Wiser and Learneder Sect. 5. As to what concerns this Book I will at first set down the subject matter of it before the Reader The design is to examine to the bottom what the Devil can do and what he really doth that is How far his Knowledge extends either in Natural or Supernatural Things Either as to the Presence as it is conceal'd from Men or as to the Future as it is contingent or possible and not necessary Moreover what Direction or Power he has to operate in Nature what Communication he has with Men with the Human Soul and with all sorts of Bodies That he should transmute himself into them or put on their various Forms That he should act upon the Soul or upon the Body That he should direct Thoughts Words Actions and Gestures What is his Power over the Beasts and Fruits of the Earth Over the Air and Winds What his help may contribute to the Knowledge of Man and his Actions Herein consist Auguries or Soothsaying Witchcraft the Art of Conjuring up Ghosts and of Divining Dreams All which things are methodically and in the same order that is mentioned here treated of in this Book Sect. 6. But because the perfect Knowledge of them depends upon another viz. which is the Nature of a Spirit wherein it consists and how it 's distinguished from that of the Body for Devils are undeniably Spirits and Man is composed of a Body and a Spirit so it will be necessary in this Treatise to proceed farther and to examine first the Nature of Spirits Good and Bad and then that of Man Besides God himself being a Spirit but infinite and independent we ought not to pay our selves with the conformity of the Name but by reason of the manifest difference betwixt
Romulus who frightfully imagined to see the Ghost of his Brother Remus after he had killed him If those Narrations were true such Spirits might be called terrifying Spirits Ovid in the Fifth Book of the Fasti plainly says what must be understood by that Name Mox etiam Lemures animas dixere silentum The Soul of the Dead had the Name of Lemures Sect. 16. The Lares or perhaps the Geniues are called by Macrobius in his Third Book of the Saturnalia Chap. 4. Penates that is Born together Quasi penes nos natos For as that Author pursues 't is by them that we breath by them that we have our Body and by them that our Soul subsists But 't is better to call them Gods and Governors of Countries to distinguish them from the Lares who were particular to each Family as they were both distinguished from the Geniuses and look'd upon as taking care of the exteriour of Man as the Geniuses did of the interior However it must be confess'd that there is but Confusion and Darkness to be met with in the Books of the Heathens concerning those Names and their pretended Signification they having not well known themselves what they Worshipped as Gods or as Spirits neither need we take much trouble in unravelling what they themselves knew not since the memory both of them and of their Daemons is long since extinguished upon Earth This being the Lot of the Heathens and of their Gods Jeremiah cap. 10. Sect. 17. Whether this last sort of Gods or Spirits were called Genii Manes Penates or Lemures it plainly appears that they believed the Immortality of the Soul which Opinion being confounded with that of Daemons gave occasion to contrive those sorts of Spirits Plato in his Book Of the Soul Entituled Phaedo induces Socrates speaking near his Death in these Words Above all the Soul must be immortal and unperishable and consequently it must go to live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in invisible places or as others pretend to infer from the Etymology of the Word in agreeable Places Marcilius Ficinus has Translated it in Latin apud Manes by the surviving Spirits as I have named them above but a little after he Translates apud Inferos in the Subterraneous Places which proceed from that they placed the Soul of the Deceased under the Earth Cicero in the first Book of the Tusculan Questions Sect. 26. shows both in these Words We believe that the Souls survive because all our Reasonings lead us to that Opinion Reason ought also to teach us where they are whence Ignorance has taken occasion to invent subterraneous places because Bodies being put into the Earth and cover'd with Earth humo whence comes humari to be Buried thereof it has been believed that the Dead still live under the Earth Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same word which the Interpreters of the New Testament sometimes Translate by that of Hell sometimes by that of Grave none of which agrees with the Sense of Socrates or that of Plato For at the end of the forementioned Book Socrates derides Crito who asked him how he would be buried He believes says he That I am that dead Body which he shall see anon signifying that they might indeed Bury his Dead Body but as to him that is his Soul he should pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the assur'd Felicity of the Blessed which very much differs from the Grave or Hell And therefore 't is certain that Socrates who spake so believed the Soul to be Immortal and that Plato who writ his Words was of the same persuasion Sect. 18. But there were others who tho' they were of the same opinion yet having not acquired so much insight into the State of Souls separated from their Bodies invented Transmigrations and Purifications The Druids so famous amongst the Ancient Gauls held together the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transmigration of Souls with their Immortality For they unanimously taught according to the Testimony of Caesar Book 8. Chap. 18. Non interire animas sed ab aliis post mortem transire ad alios Souls die not but that after Death they pass from one to another The antient Egyptians were of the same Opinion and Herodotus writes that they were the first who taught the Immortality of the Soul For says he their sentiment is that the Soul being deprived of the Body passes into another Body which is then born and after she has thus walked through all sorts of Bodies upon Earth in the Sea and in the Air she at last returns into a human Body Thence it was that Pythagoras had his Doctrine which he brought over into Greece whence it passed into Italy Lactantius explains the Opinions of that Philisopher in his Seventh Book de Proemio Chap. 8. In these words Pythagoras as foolishly asserted that the Souls passed into other Bodies from the Bodies of Men into those of Beasts and from those of Beasts into those of Men again and that his own had formerly been that of Euphorbius Plato and several others have partly followed him which we shall be obliged frequently to mention hereafter Sect. 19. But Socrates as Plato relates in the forementioned Treatise which contains his last Words leads the Souls to some places where they shall be Blessed or Tormented without Bodies He sends those who shall have done Good into the Upper and Aetherial Regions where he believes the most pure part of this Orb to be and where the Soul shall Eternally live without the Body in an unexpressible Felicity Whereas he condemns those of the Wicked to the Tartarus which is a deep and frightful Abyss where they shall be punish'd according to their Deserts From that Gulf of Torments he draws four Rivers to which he gives as many Names very fit to express his Notion viz. Oceanus a precipitate Torrent Acheron a Torrent of Torments Pyriphlegeton Conflagration and Cocytus Bemoaning Here Sinners who have not been altogether incorrigible are to be purged with many Pains and Vexations more or less longer or shorter according to their Deserts There you have the original of Purgatory or of that purging Fire still believed by the Roman Church However Socrates gives out that Narration but for a Chimaera For before he begins it he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pretty Fable worth hearing and at the end he says But no Man of Sense ought to maintain that Opinion so as I have related though I esteem it rational and just to show that it goes very near so in reference to our Souls and their Habitations since it plainly appears that the Soul is immortal These Words of a Dying Man who exhorts those that were present to be at all times ready for Death persuade me more and more of what I have already said that the Heathens express'd themselves variously upon these Matters and that they speak otherwise when they consider them in reference to Religion than when they conceive them in relation
it fall which gave occasion to the Diviners to foretell the happiness of Augustin's life if we may believe Suetonius To the 2d way or the Divination by Singing this Verse of Virgil may be applyed Saepe sinistra cava praedixit ab ilice Cornix Th' ominous Crow foretold it on an Oak For the 3d sort they used the Tripudia solstima which were a sort of Skipping and Dancing during which if the Chicken fell upon the Meat that was fall'n from his Bill on the ground called Solum and swallow'd it greedily it was a happy Omen whereas if he let it stand an ill success was to be feared Thus was foreseen the defeat of Hostilius Mancinus by the Numantines because the Chickens had refused to eat and were fled from their Coops Sect. 8. Sortilegium or Casting of lots was a disposition of some Letters mixed together and drawn at adventure by the first Child to be met with those Letters were engraven on the Bark of an Oak according to the antient Custom and disposed as many different ways as was possible to see whether they should render some Sense or none Whence the good or bad fortune of the Inquirer was inferr'd When Tiberius says Suetonius in his Life undertook a journey into Dalmatia and at Pavia consulted the Oracle of Geryon by Lots he was obliged to make use of another way for he was answered that he should cast Golden Dice in the Spring of the Fountain Apona which having done it was the greatest point that appeared to his Eye which is still to be seen under water at this day Sect. 9. There is yet another way of Divination famous even in the Holy Scripture viz. by expounding of Dreams I shall be obliged to speak of it more at large another time because the Omirocritici or expounders of Dreams are nor yet banish'd out of the World and that some especially of the French Court begin to revive that Art As to the Heathens as often as the Demons Geniuses and Larvae medled with their Dreams it was to offer them something particular by which according to the usual Rules of their Art they might know the good or bad success of future things Sect. 10. Our Ancestors in the time of Paganism had amongst them a Custom of that nature as Tacitus relates Divinations and casting of Lots says he are as much in fashion amongst them as any where else They cast their Lots in a very simple way for they cut the branch of a Fruit-tree in several little Lots on each of which they make a particular mark and then Confusedly throw them on a piece of white Cloth There the Priest if matters of State are treated of or the Father of the Family when it concerns him or his house looking to he Heavens lifts up thrice each little Lot and gives the explication of the marks printed on them if they disswade no farther consultation is made that day but if they allow to proceed they go to the Diviners for an Answer There is yet another particular way of predicting amongst that people by the means of white Horses that were never back'd and are kept together in a Forest at the Publick Cost They hunt them and the Priest King or Governor sitting on a consecrated Chariot observes their Neighing and Foam There is no Divination more esteemd than this not only by the People but even by the Great Men and the Priests the latter are look'd upon as the Ministers of the Gods and the Great Men as those that are nearer and better known to them Sect. 11. But 't is not sufficient to have explained ' the names of those 3 or 4 ways of making the Heathen Gods speak for tho' they be the chief yet I find that several others have been in use called by the Greeks â—egromancy Pyromancy Aeromancy Hydrâ—mancy Geomaâ—cy and Chiromancy the 1st relates to the dead the 2d to the Fire the 3d. to the Air the 4th to the Water the 5th to the Earth the 6th to the Hands Polydore Virgil gives us a description of each of these Arts in the 23 Chapter of his 1st Book Sect. 12. Necromancy or the Divination by dead Bodies is made by something perceived on a Corps which gives occasion to the foretelling The ignorance of the Greek Tongue has made some believe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies dead was derived from the Latine as tho' it had been Negros from Niger Black which mistake caused Necromancy to be called the Black Art which name is used at present to signifie all sorts of Witchcraft Inchantments and Diabolical Illusions Under this sort is comprehended Sciomancy or Divination by the shadows in which they conjured up the Ghosts or Shadows of the dead to foretell future things It would be a great proof of the power of this Art if what Lucan relate in his 6th Book were true that a Ghost conjured up foretold the whole success of the Battle of Pharsalia Sciomancy differed from Necromancy herein that the latter requires Blood and made the dead Bodies appear whereas the other conjured up only Ghosts Sect. 13. Pyromancy was according to Polydor a Divination by Fire when they supposed to know something by the means of Fire for which purpose Observations were made upon Lightning or some other extraordinary Fire Instances of it are to be read in Livy and in the First Book of Dionysius Halicarnass where 't is related that the Wise of Tarquinius the Ancient seeing a Flame surround the Head of Seruivs Tullius foretold that he should become King of Rome Sect. 14. Acromancy or the Divination by the Air consisted observing Tempests and extraordinary Clouds as when Pliny relates in his Second Book that there Rain'd Iron in Lucania which in his Opinion signified the Defeat of Ceassus by the Parthians He likewise relates in his First Book of the Second Punick War that their Rained Stones in Picenium which he takes for a forerunner of the Evils that Hanibal was bringing to Italy Those Divines are called in the Hebrew Bible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jidnoni Diviners by the Clouds amongst this sort may be ranck'd the Capnomancy which consisted in observing the motions of the Smoke of Sacrifices Sect. 15. Hydromancy or the Divination by Water arose from somthing particular which they fancyed to see in the Water Varro relates upon this occasion that a Youth saw in the Water the Image of Mercury who declared to him in 150 Verses the whole course and all the events of the War against Mithridates St. Austin in the 9th Book of the City of God says that Numa Pompilius the Second King of the Romans was the Inventer of that Art and that by the illusion of the Demons he made appear upon the Water the Images of the Gods who gave him Laws for governing his People with goodness and Justice Sect. 16. Geomancy or the Divination by the Earth was made by the Observation of the Clefts and Chasms of an Earth quake I
New house or to go a visiting 16. Good to lay the Foundation of Houses Villages or Towns 17. Unhappy Journeys 18. Good to pay Visits to the Great 19. Good for Erecting Statues in the Pagodas to the Honour of the Gods 20. Unhappy for all sorts of Undertaking 21. Nothing to be gotten 22. Who gives Battle shall loose the Day 23. Good to make Friends 24. Good for Fighting 25. Good for keeping Council 26. Unprofitable Trade 27. Who lies with a Woman shall get her with Child 28. Every Undertaking shall succeed 29. Shall not succeed 30. Good for Planting The Night is likewise distributed into several Hours as also the other Days and Nights of the Week Sect. 6. That Superstition has proceeded so far as to have stained an Art very commendable in it self and one of the liberal Arts. For according to the Relation of Daviti extracted from Osorius the Malabars who use to begin their Year with the Month of September have recourse to Superstitious Observations in Order to mark the First Day and Hour of it That Day all those that are above the Age of 15 cover their Eyes and Face that they may see nothing and cause themselves to be brought into the Pagodes of their Idols where they presently uncover their Faces and quickly cast their Eyes upon the First Object before them If it happens to be the Statute of some Idol for which they have a particular Veneration they fancy they shall pass the Year most happily Sect 7. Those that observe the cry of Birds have a very great relation with the Malabars and agree with them almost in the same things for Carolinus says after Rogerins that they observe what sort of Birds flie near them and to what part whence they draw a favourable or sinister Augury They say that when a Ash-coloured Crow whereof there are great numbers upon the Coast comes to touch some body in flying it forebodes very ill viz. that he that has been touched or some of his Friends shall Die within 6 Weeks Linschoten gives very near the same account of the Decanins and the Inhabitants of Gurusatte saying that if the First Object they see in the Morning is an Ash-coloured Crow they will not go out of their House for any thing Sect. 8. Daviti says after Mendoze that the Heathens of the Islands called by the Spaniards Philippines have some she Diviners named Holaoi whom they honour as Priests Who converse daily with the Demons at least in his Opinion and that they publickly before all the People make strange postures and a horrid noise during which the Spirit of Divination seizes upon them and gives by them answer to whatever is asked The same Author adds that they have a particular sort of Divination in which if they meet a Cayman in their way they return home Whence appears that they esteem that meeting unfortunate Sect. 9. Besides that all sorts of presages are in credit amongst those Nations who draw them from whatever offers it self to them If any body sneezes before them when they go out of their House they presently step in again for they esteem it a very bad Omen Peter Vandenbroek affirms the same of the Inhabitants of Narsinga and adds that when they go out in the Morning if they meet with some bad Augury they return back or stay till a more favourable offers it self We read in Carolinus which are according to them good or bad Signs which he has transcribed out of Tuisk and Vandenbroek Here they are Besides sneezing and flight of Birds there are several others ill pregages as an empty Cart a Dog who has nothing to Eat a Buffle an Ass a Guilded-he-Goat an Ape a loosen'd Hart a Goldsmith a Carpenter a Barber a Taylor a Cotton-Merchant a Farrier a Weaver a She-Widow a Dead body all People coming from a Burying before they be washed and having changed their Dress 'T is also an ill Augury to meet with one that carryes Butter Milk or brown Sugar or sour things as Apples and Lemmons or one that carries Fire and any thing used in War But 't is a good Omen to meet with an Elephant a Cammel either Loaden or Vnloaden a Horse better Vnloaden than Loaden a Cow an Ox a Buff Loaden with Water for Vnloaden it forebodes nothing but Ill a He-gcat a Dog Eating a Cat on the Right Hand likewise to meet one carrying Meat Curds or white-Sugar a Cock an Vnicorn running strait out in the way and a Hundred things of that Nature are esteemed so fortunate by them that they boldly pursue their way with hopes of a good Fortune Tereira adds that they believe it a very ill thing and even a Sin to Eat before Sun-set Sect 10. This is what I emended to relate as to Divination upon which point and especially upon Witchcraft I am surprized to find so little in the writings of so many Authors whom I have consulted with great exactness neither do I remember to have learned any thing more particular in the Conversations I have had with Gentlemen that have made long Journeys into the Eastern Countryes but I wonder most of all that Baldaeus whose chief scope in his writings is to treat of the Idolatry of the Eastern Countryes makes almost no mention of it The only thing I find in him concerns the Conjuration of Serpents The Inhabitants says he of the Coast of Coromandel and some of the Cingalese and Malabars know how to Enchant Serpents so that by their Songs they make them Dance which is strange and wonderful When they require the Oath of any Person they put his Hand in a Pot where there is a Serpent if he be not wounded they hold his Oath to be true but if he be bitten they believe him Perjur'd Peirard adds to this that they Conjure the greatest and most subtle Snakes not to be hurt by them and Baldaeus reports the same CHAP. IX That the Opinions and Practices of the African Heathens agree at bottom with the Sentiments and Customs of the other Pagans Sect. 1. THE Heathens of Africa being duller than the others because the Men of Letters are most or all Mahometans we can have little knowledge of their Opinions unless it be by their practices From them only we may infer their belief as to die matter in hand and thô Travellers have left us but few Observations I shall nevertheless examine them two ways to know what sort of Creatures are esteem'd and worshiped as Divine by those Nations and afterwards what sorts of Divination and Witchcraft are in use amongst them Amongst the best writers none have given more Information than Carolinus whom therefore I shall take for my leader but add to his Narration what I shall think convenient out of other Authors in proper places Sect. 2. Those Africans that without living under the Law of Christ or that of Mahomet having nevertheless some knowledge of God distribute the Deity amongst several Creatures as do all other Heathens
12 13 18. Third That conceiving not what difference there is betwixt the Soul of Man and that of Beasts Some are fall'n into that gross error as to ascribe to Men and Beasts a Soul of the same Nature Chap. 7. Sect. 14. Without which it had been impossible that the Opinion of Pythagoras concerning the Transmigration of Souls into the Bodies of other Men and Beasts indifferently should have taken so deep roots and have spread so far into the World Chap. 2. Sect. 17. Chap. 7 Sect. 14 15 16 17 18. Fourth That from the same source this Sentiment has visibly proceeded that the Spirits are wandring as well as the Souls of Men after their death Chap. 2. Sect. 15. Chap. 6. Sect. 2. Chap. 7. Sect. 19 20. Chap. 10. Sect. 11. Sect. 7. What contributes most to the vilifying of the Deity is that they deify even Men either during their Life or after their Death Witness the ancient Greeks and Romans who transformed the Passions of Men and the Motions of the Heart into so many Gods and Goddesses or as the modern Cannibals who are very near of the same mind as has been shewed Chap. 2. Sect. 14. Chap. 7. Sect. 5 6. Chap. 10. Sect. 14. which however is not commonly us'd but after death as appears by the Apotheosis of the Ancients Chap. 2. Sect. 13. and was no where brought to such a light as amongst the Cannibals as has been said Chap. 10. Sect. 12 16. That they believe the whole race of the Gods issued from their Ancestors and that they themselves are of Celestial Origin from the same spring is derived the Sentiment of the Existence of the Genii or Zemeans that is of helpful Spirits the description of whom may be seen in several Authors Sect. 8. It is now easy to conceive on what ground are founded the Divination and Magick of the Ancients that are the same with the predictions and Witchcraft of the modern Heathens for as to their foretelling or Divination it is grounded upon this First Every God has his People whom he favours and protects or his own property for which Reason they put questions to him concerning that which is to happen to his People and what is to be done on that occasion Second That every God has his Enemy for which Reason every one looks for help against the Gods of whom he is to receive damage and implores the assistance of such Gods as are esteem'd to be their most violent Enemies Third That every Man has his God or particular Spirit and therefore every one mistakes his own passions and whatever comes into his fancy for divine Inspirations and motions especially when Dreams supply him with the occasion of it not knowing that the employments or accidents that have preceeded the Dreams are the Origin of them or being hindered by his prejudices to make an exact enquiry after their possible cause Fourth That it is by confounding the Deity with the Creature that there have been introduced so many sorts of Divinations and Prognosticks drawn from the Stars from the Thunder from Birds Mountains Woods Waters and from all the things in which 't is believed that some Deity is discoverable Fifth That from the belief that the Souls of the Dead are wandering about their Corps it was easy to take occasion to conjure up Ghosts Sect. 9. Concerning the Witchcraft we shall only make the following Considerations First That it is not strange that distinguishing not only created Spirits but even the Gods into good and bad they should endeavour to set them one against another and to defend themselves by the help of the good or of some of the wicked against another or to avenge themselves by the power of one God of the wrong they suppose to have received from another Second That having forged to themselves so many sorts of Gods and Spirits superior and inferior 't is no wonder they should believe to destroy the power of the less by the assistance of the greater Third That having so base thoughts of the Gods whom they subject to the same passions as Men and thus Deify human passions themselves they act consequently by stirring them up against their Enemies as it comes into their fancy Fourth That putting some of their Gods so low and in so great a familiarity with the Spirits they seem to assume to themselves the quality of their Directors and to be able to make the Divine Operations even in the most hidden things subservient to what use they please Chap. 6. Sect. 4. Sect 10. There is yet somthing to be said upon Divination and Witchcraft together which partly concerns the thing it self and partly the gestures of the body used in it What concerns the thing it self comes to this First That the Opinion of the Heathens concerning the Genii or familiar Spirits and the Spirits wandring about Graves makes 'em believe that somthing may be operated by the means of Graves and Carcasses for which Reason they use the bones of the Dead in their Witchcraft and consult them in their Divinations in hopes of getting an answer from the Gods or Spirits which operate in them or abide near them Chap. 10. Sect. 11 15. Second That according to this their belief of the existence of so many sorts of Spirits whereof most part are wicked Spirits that walk and wander every where they are always ready in any unforeseen disease Mortality or sinister Accident to cast the suspicion upon their Enemies or Envious who have bewitchd them for believing that the inferior Gods or Spirits act according to the Will of the Men to whom they belong they must consequently believe that those Men will not fail to effect reciprocally the one against the other whatever the help and power of the Spirits will allow Now those suspitions that will surely move Men to seek by whom they have been bewitch'd or the cause matter and foundation of Divination Chap. 10. Sect. 8 16. Sect. 11. As to the postures used in Witchcraft First The Corpereal Ideas which they have of the Spirits and of the Gods themselves move them doubtless to use so many outward gestures in their Conjuration Chap. 10. Sect 16. But there is still another Reason of that Custom viz. That the Priests who are Impostors make use of them to impose so much the easier upon the simplicity of the Vulgar Second Considering how the Opinion of Pythagoras is become almost Universal it may be methinks conceived at the same time how it was possible that Men should place some Virtue in Letters and Numbers by gathering and disposing them in such or such a way and consequently in the pronunciation of some certain words for the same Pythagoras has believed that the Virtue of the Deity influenc'd the proportion and Harmony of Numbers Now the Letters of the Alphabet being employed to mark the numbers not only amongst the Greeks and Hebrews but by all the other Nations that have some knowledge of Letters it follows
thereby it may be easily understood that Marriages must be very happy and attended with great Sweetness and Tranquillity when one marries with his peculiar Soul that is with that which was created with her Whereas they cannot be but unhappy and turn to the punishment of Men when they are bound to a Body whose Soul was not created with the Soul of him that Espouses her We have to strive against that Vnhappiness until we be rid of it and that we may be united by a second Marriage to the Soul that was made our Partner in the Creation to lead a happier Life Manasse Ben Israel gives a more large account of that belief in several places as in his Conciliador Quest 6. Pag. 12. In his second Book of the Resurrection Chap. 13. as also in the third Book Chap. 9. and in his Treatise de Termino Vitae Sect. 8. pag. 207. which he more largely confirms after the Jewish manner in his third Question Sect. 19. As to the State of Souls after Death the Metempsychosis of Pythagoras is also received amongst the Jews which Transmigration they call Gilgul that is to say the Revolution of Souls for they imagine that after Death the Soul wanders for a year about the Body whence she is gone out and goes still rambling till she meets with another Body into which she may enter to be born again with it They fancy that this happens three times as it is observed in the Thisbi upon the word Gilgul in this manner The Opinion of the Cabbalists is that every Soul is created thrice to let us understand that she introduces her self successively into the Bodies of three Children or Men. This they hope in some manner to confirm from the Book of Job ch 23. v. 19. according to that they say That the Soul of the first Man enter'd into the Body of King David and is now to pass into that of the Messiah that Mystery being contained in the three Hebrew Letters of Adam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the initial Letter of the name of Adam the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the first of that of David and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the first of that of Messiah Their learned hold that the Souls of the wicked pass into the Bodies of Beasts each Soul according to the nature of the Sins she has committed Thus the Soul of a Man that has debauch'd his Neighbours Wife is to enter into a Camel And therefore says David I shall sing to the Lord ki gamal alaii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he has deliver'd me from the Camel as they interpret it using this Reason that when the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is punctuated it is read otherwise and pronounced Gamaal which signifies a Camel Sect. 20. There are some however who believe that the Souls of the wicked perish with their Bodies Josephus says of the Pharisees of his time that they asserted the Transmigration of the Souls of the good only but that they sent those of the impious to the eternal Torments in his second Book of the Wars of the Jews Chap. 7. The Sadducees according to the Testimony of the Holy Scripture believed neither Resurrection nor Angels nor Spirits in St. Matth. Chap. 22. v. 23. and in the Acts Ch. 23. v. 8. but now the Jews have invented a great many Chimaera's that powerfully confirmed them in their Magick and the practice of their Conjurations for as it has already been said the Soul separated from the Body must wander a whole year about her Corps during which the wicked Spirits that abide in the Air and are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Malachi Chabbalah or Devils of Torments and have yet several other Names find occasion to make them reenter into their Bodies as they have power to do when they are required to it by Conjurations Thence proceeds in their meaning That the Witch of Endor called again the Soul of Samuel into his Body because he had not been dead a whole year Manasse Ben Israel teaches the same Doctrine and assures us 't is that of the Ancients which he has extracted especially from Gemara Siabbas There are some however who have more rational Opinions as we shall see in the second Book when we have occasion to examine that instance CHAP. XIII That the Witchcraft anciently Practised and still in use amongst the Jews proceeds from the same Original Sect. 1. WE have examined the Opinions of the Jews upon that matter as much as they differ from the holy writ for as far as their belief is consonant to it we receive and approve of the same Let 's now see what they practise as to Witchcraft the Holy Scripture may fully convince us of the great inclination that People ever had for it which doubtless proceeded First from the practices they had seen in Egypt and of which perhaps they had not abstained but had seen the continuation of them in the Country they inhabited that was surrounded and intermixed with so many Nations addicted to that Art 'T is for that Reason the Law gives them such frequent warnings to beware of it Exodus 22 18. Levit. Chap. 18. v. 31. Cap. 5. v. 27. Deuter. Chap. 13 8 9 14. Isaiah Chap. 6. v. 12.20 And that he threatned them so severely because they could not resolve to forsake that impious exercise as may be seen especially in Manasseh King of Judah 2 Kings Chap. 21. v. 6. 2. Cron. Chap. 3. v. 6. That Sin became general in the midst of Israel or the Kingdom of the 10 Tribes so that the Scripture says that They used Divinations and observed the cry of Birds 2 Kings Chap. 17. v. 17. In the Apostles time there were Seven Sons of the same Father one of the high Priests who took upon them to be Exorcists and to conjure Devils Acts 19. v. 13 14. But all these things made no part of the contents of their Law and on the contrary were the effects of their Rebellion so that Judaism was not properly answerable for them until they were taught by the Rabbins themselves and at last introduced to make up part of their Religion Such are the Doctrines which I have represented in the preceeding Chapter to which the practices of the present Jews are perfectly agreeable Sect. 2. The inquisitive Lighfoot has shewed by many proofs that the Jews at their return from the Babylonian Captivity having entirely forsaken Idolatry and finding they were destitute of Prophets addicted themselves by degrees to Witchcraft and Divination about the time of our Saviours coming The writings of the Talmud that are full of Instructions for that purpose and are nevertheless in great credit among them give upon that subject a testimony not advantageous to them especially since in the following times they used the same Arts against Christianity Lightfoot assures us That after the Destruction of their City and Temple there were several Impostors amongst
Hearts And our promises in another sense to give us The Morning Star Revel 2.28 So that the name of Lucifer is so far from being that of the Prince of the Devils thâ—t it is the most Christian name to be read in the Bible Sect. 23. Let 's go back to Lactantius he says that Monsters were generated from that odious conjunction of Angels with Women that are half Angels or rather Half Demons or half Men thence he infers Duo genera daemonum unum caeleste alterum terrenum That there are 2 sorts of Demons one of Celestial Demons and another of Terrestrial by Celestial he seems to understand Aerial but after the word Terrenum there follows immediatly Hi sunt immunedi malorum quae geruntur auctores quorum idem diabolus est princeps These are unclean Spirits Authors of all the Evil that happens in the World the chief of whom is the Devil already mentioned From this passage may be clearly perceived that he takes for Demons those very same Spirits whom the Heathens made their Gods as has been seen Ch. 2. Sect. 9 to 13 which still confirms more and more what I have asserted Ch. 5. Sect. 4 5. That the Heathen never adored Demons but in as much as they believed them to be Gods Sect 24. The same Lactantius tells us that the Demons are indeed Spirits but Spiritus tenues incomprehensibiles Spirits of a thin subtle matter and imperceptible This we have heard before from Origen and Tertullian He explains himself very clearly as to the power he ascribe to their understanding saying That they know many future things but that it is not possible they should discover the depths of the secrets of God We have already heard Tertullian confirming this proposition by his Reasonings However Lactantius believes that Divinations by the Contemplation of the Stars by the Inspection of the intrals of Beasts and by the Observation of Birds of which mention has been made Ch. 3. Sect. 4 5 7. Are Diabolical Inspirations and therefore holds that they are still capable of discovering to Men many future things Sect. 25. St. Jerom as far as I can conceive constitutes not the same difference of places betwixt the Spirits Yet he believes Ex Pauli dictis ad Ephe Cap. 2. ver 2. 12. colligi Diabolos in aere vagari ac dominari That from what S. Paul writes to the Ephesians may be inferr'd That the Devils are wandering in the Air and â—â—igning there And writing upon the 6th Ch. v. 12. to the Ephesians he explains more at large that proposition as containing the common Opinion of the Christians of that Age. This is the Opinion of all the Doctors That the Air which is betwixt the Heavens and the Earth separating both from what it call'd the Vacuum is fil'd with powers contrary to each other We must yet examine hereafter whence the Principalities Powers and Dominions of this World have received their powert His Opinion upon this last Question is that they have it from God himself and that they exercise it more or less as a less and greater pain is inflicted upon 2 different Criminals according as 't is resolved to make their life more or less bitter he also supposes that the unclean Spirits as well as the Holy Angels are divided into certain Orders which Opinion of his may be seen in his Commentary on the 3 Ch. of Habakuk As Christ is the head of the Church and of every particular faithful Man so is Belzebub the chief of all the Demons who exercise so many cruelties in this World and each Troop of Demons has it's particular Chief and Captain under him Sect. 26. Lactantius must yet inform us what in his Opinion the Demons were able to Operate in reference to Men. We see Sect. 14. that his Opinion in general is That the Corrupted and Contagious Spirits wander'd through the World endeavouring to comfort themselves under their loss by procuring the ruin of Mankind Immediatly after he explains in particular how they hurt Soul and Body They attack says he The Souls by their craft devises and the snares they lay before them they seize upon them by their delusions and by leading them astray they stick to every private person and are always at his elbow creeping into every house from door to door And in relation to the bodies as those very Spirits are according to him partly corporeal and partly extraordinary sâ—â—tle and consequently imperceptible They insinuate into Human Bodies without being perceived act privately within their Bowels impair their Health cause Diseases cast terror into the mind by Dreams overturn it make it stray and force Men by such vexations to have recourse to them It seems however that he intends to ascribe that power to the Devil only over the Heathens because he disputes against them and that they were those that had recourse to the Demons as believing them to be Gods for over the Christians the Ancient Fathers attributed not so much power to them Sect. 27. We may learn from St. Athanasius what were the Opinions of his time as to the Souls separated from their Bodies after Death In the Book before quoted question 32. he asks Whether the Souls after their separation have knowledge of what is done amongst Men as the Holy Angels have he answers Yes at least as to the Souls of the Saints but not as to those of Sinners for their continual torments take them so much up that they have no leasure to think upon any other thing The 33th Question is What is the employment of the Souls departed from their Bodies Answer The Soul separated from the Body is uncapa ble of doing either good or evil However he says a little after That the Souls of the Saints animated by the Holy Ghost praise God and bless him in the Land of the Living He asserts Question 35. That after Death the Souls never come to bring news of the state of the Deceased which would give occasion to many cheats because wicked Spirits might feign that they are Souls of the Deceased that come back to discover somthing to the Living I desire the Reader to observe this very attentively for it will be convenient to reflect upon it hereafter Sect. 28. St. Austin gives us a more large information for thô he does not expresly reject Purgatory yet he confutes it every where as appears from several places of his Writings that have been quoted by one of my predecessors Andrew Landsman in his Book of the Apostasy of the Church of Rome yet this Father in the 69th Chapter of his Manual expresses himself thus 'T is not incredible but somthing like may happen after this life and it may reasonably be enquired whether it is so and what proof may be brought for or against this Opinion viz. that some of the faithful come sooner or later to the Eternal Felicity passing through a certain purging Fire in which they stay longer or shorter as they are more
or less enamour'd with corruptible things however in that number are not comprehended those of whom 't is said that they shall not possess the Kingdom of God unless by a convenient Repentance they obtain forgiveness of their Sins Sect. 29. We come down to the 5th Age in which we meet with Theodoret who sufficiently explains as to our design the Opinions of the Doctors of his time concerning good and bad Angels for he proposes to us what he thinks of the Angels properly so call'd as well in reference to their Nature as to their Understanding and Administration As to the first point he holds that though they are not Corporeal yet they are Circumscribed and contained in a certain determinate place as he asserts in his 3d Question upon Genesis The Reason of this Opinion is that he supposes every Angel has some proper Administration and is entrusted with the care either of a Nation or Person but he makes still a more particular distinction in his 10th Exposition upon Daniel putting a Man under the guard of a common Angel and a whole Nation under that of an Angel of a Superior Order As to their Understanding he briefly explains his Mind in these Words Let none be surprised at what I assert as to the Ignorance of the Heavenly Spirits for they neither know future nor other things it only belonging to the Divine Nature but as to Angels Archangels and other Coelestial Spirits they know no more than what they learn and therefore the Holy Apostle speaking of them in the the third Chapter to the Ephesians v. 10. says That to Principalities and Powers in the Heavenly Places c. See his Commentary on the 24th Psalm Sect. 30. Theodoret speaks afterwards of the Demons in the same manner for he holds them not capable of making true Predictions He says upon Ezekiel Sect. 8. That the Demons know nothing before it happens unless it be by guessing and yet they venture to foretell He nevertheless owns in his tenth Book of Oracles that the Spirits have foretold something true but by the Stars For says he whatever the Gods of the Heathens say if it happens that they speak agreeably to the Concatenation of things they must needs gather that knowledge from the Stars which undoubtedly was done by such Gods as declared some things that afterwards fell out 'T is evident that by Demons he understands in general wicked Spirits who cause themselves to be venerated as Gods and gave false Oracles to keep up their Authority and the Credit in which they were amongst the Heathens That Opinion was the most common amongst the Ancients and is in being even to this day as we shall show hereafter Sect. 31. The Opinion of that time upon the original of the wicked Race was that they issued from the Conversation of the Angels with Women Severus Sulpitius relates it not as a particular Belief or as received by some Doctors only but as a Story credited by all Christians for at the beginning of his Ecclesiastical History he presumes to assert it upon the Authority of Josephus as much as if he had been present His words are In that time that is after the Birth of Noah Mankind multiplying exceedingly the Angels whose abode was in Heaven being enamour'd with the Beauty of young Virgins plunged themselves in unlawful pleasures forsook the Supream Region whose Inhabitants they were and ally themselves by Marriages with mortal Women by that unhappy Cohabitation and their depraved Morals they corrupted Mankind by degrees and from thence the Giants are said to be born for the mixture of such different natures must needs produce Monsters Sect. 32. As to the state of Souls separated from their Body the Angels and wicked Spirits this Age affords nothing but what has been observed speaking of the foregoing Centuries Wherefore we descend to Gregory the Great who in the 7th Century joyn'd his particular Opinions to the former He was Bishop of Rome and his Memory is still in great Veneration in that Church tho' he took it very ill that John the Father Bishop of Constantinople and his Contemporary should have presumed to take upon him the Name of Vniversal Bishop to which he believed not that any Bishop had a right and even held it for a Mark of Antichrist Besides 't is not without Reason that the Roman Church makes so much of him For he has taken care to provide her with many Legends so suitable to her Humour and Palate and upon which she has put so great a value that she multiplies them every year And indeed St. Gregory was not contented with the Fables of Origen and other Doctors of which mention has been made but he admitted whatever had been proposed hitherto as Doubts and Questions which he passed into Determinations and Decrees And as tho' what had been maintained before had not been sufficient he thought fit to add something of his own So that since his time there were not only 9 Orders of Angels but they knew also the Degrees of each viz. Angels Archangels Virtue Powers Principalities Dominions Thrones Cherubims and Seraphims as is to be found in his 34th Homily upon the Gospels The Schoolmen that have followed him fail not to take much pains to treat of each of these Angelical orders and to break their head with them in which I intend not to imitate them Sect. 33. It must be observed that at that time the curiosity to know whither Souls went after Death gave occasion by degrees to invent Purgatory the discovery of which has been so far finished amongst the Papists that they go now thither by thousands Boetius a Roman Consul who lived about 63 years before the Pontificate of Gregory begun in his 4th Book Prosa 4. to give some Notion of that place by the Answer he makes to the following Question Does there in your Opinion remain no punishment for the Soul after her separation from the Body To which he Answers Yes doubtless and even 't is not a slight Pain for I hold that some Souls are very severely punished whereas others are purified by Grace As to Gregory himself who from a Souldier became Pope he blows heat and cold from the same Mouth with as much sickliness and levity as the Wind against the Custom of the Popes who use to decide so positively and boldly Upon the 7th Chapter of Job giving advice to a Sinner he saith That there is no human Eye that is no Grace of the Redeemer that casts looks upon the Soul after she has laid off the Flesh And farther he adds That when Holy or wicked Spirit receives at the point of Death a Soul departing from her bodily Prison she remains for ever and without hopes of any Change in the hands of him that has taken her so that when she 's once raised to Glory she can never fall again into Pain and Torments whereas when she is once cast down into the Eternal Abyss she can never come
out of it Upon the 10th Chapter he says again He that is Condemned and deliver'd to punishment by reason of his Sins and brought to the place of Execution has no longer hopes of Mercy or Forgiveness But this Pope does not always maintain this Thesis for he speaks thus in the 4th Book of his Dialogues Chap. 39. Sed samen de quibusdam levibus culpis esse Purgatorius Ignis credendus est However it must be believed that there is a Purging Fire for some small Faults Upon the Penitential Psalms he explains himself more at large Post mortem carnis alii aeternis deputantur suppliciis alii ad vitam per ignem transcunt Purgationis After the death of the Body some are condemned to endless Torments and others go to Life through a purging Fire CHAP. XVI That some of the first Christians derided the Conjurations of Spirits and others credited and practised them Sect. 1. WE are now to examine whether the practice of Divination and Witchcraft were in request in the first time of the Christian Church Both were equally rejected by those that were called Catholicks and Orthodox but we must enquire upon what ground for it was not so much because they believed 'em to he deceiving Arts the practice of which was impossible as that they judge 'em unlawful Besides they ackowledg'd so far the efficacy of Conjurations that they did not at most reject 'em but came in process of time to admit them in the Ceremony of Baptism which are still call'd Exorcisms generally us'd amongst the Papists and not entirely abolished amongst some Protestants Tho' this be not the place to treat at large of this matter yet it may be premisde that this is their most ancient Original as the Writings of some of their Doctors plainly testify But let us hear first how the Laws of the First Christians thunder'd against those that durst meddle with Exorcisms and Conjurations Sect. 2. Here is the Proclamation of the Emperor Constantine in the 9th Book of the Code Tit. 8. Book 5. De Divinatoribus Let no body presume to interrogate Diviners or to consult Mathematicians and Astrologers Silence is also enjoyn'd to Augurers and Fortune-tellers Caldees Magicians and those that are called Sorcerers because of the hainousness of their crime shall not be allowed to undertake or exercise their Art The curiosity of those that consult Oracles shall be repressed If any obey not our Orders he shall be punished by the Steel till he be dead Given at Milan January 25. 337. Here is another Proclamation of the Emperors Valentinianus Theodosius and Arcadius If any be found guilty of Magick he shall be arrested add deliver'd to Justice as an enemy of Mankind c. Given at Rome Aug. 17. 389. The rest may be seen in those Laws and is sufficiently known to Civilians Constantine in the beginning of his Reign in 312. had ordained the pain of Fire for such as should be convicted of that Crime and promised a Reward to the Informers Law the 3d. Tit. 8. de Maleficis comprehendendis ad publicum pertrahendis Sect. 3. In the mean while those pains were not inflicted upon that sort of people so much because of their Cheats as has been already said as especially by reason of their Crimes and the hurt they were believed to procure to Men and Beasts by mixing and perturbating the Elements by their Witchcraft which made them worthy of the most cruel punishments This plainly appears by the 6th Law made by Constantine and Julian Anno 357. There are several who are not afraid of confounding the Elements by Witchcraft and assaulting the Life of Man who cannot defend himself against them of conjuring up Ghosts and asking their advice to destroy their Enemies by wicked ways Whence it appears a double Power was attributed to Sorcerers and Inchanters First of confounding the Elements and Secondly of Conjuring up Ghosts making them appear and discoursing with them It was therefore believed that the Crime of that People consisted in their converse with the Spirits whose Power and malice they made use of to torment other Men. So that 't is no doubt but that Opinion was then general among the Christians and even amongst the Mob of the Heathens or at least of the greatest part amongst them who lived and conversed with the Christians so that either of them addicting themselves to that Converse whether they were perswaded of the Power of Spirits or not made themselves equally guilty and obnoxious to the severity of the Law Sest 4. The chief Doctors of that time teach us the same but I shall quote only a few that will afford us sufficient proofs I shall begin with Justin Martyr who lived in the 2d Age and shows in his 2d Apology that he acknowledged the efficacy and virtue of the Heathen Witchcraft In the new Edition of Cologne Pag. 65. The Predictions themselves that are made by the means of the dead by young innocent Children that see Objects in a mirror by the calling up of the Souls of the deceased and by those that are call'd by the Magicians Expounders of Dreams Paredri Assessores Assessors In short whatever is operated by those that are skilful in those practices must perswade you says he to the Heathens that the Souls have still some Sense after death What he writes in his Dialogue against Tripho the Jew differs not much from that First passage ib. Pag. 311. That the Demons may be overcome by Conjurations in the name of Jesus Christ but that no Jew can do the same in the name of any King Prophet or Patriarch not even perhaps in the name of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. He nevertheless believes that the Demons by means of that sort of Diviners that were called Ventriloqui gave real Oracles to those that Conjur'd them as may be gather'd from his 33th Question and from the Answer to it Sect. 5. Proceeding farther whatever is needful for our design is to learn the Sentiments of the Fathers as to the power and efficacy of the Conjurations that were practised both by the Heathens and Christians St. Cyprian in the 3d Century sufficiently Declares that in the Christian Religion Baptism has power by the Blessing of Christ to expel wicked Spirits which gives occasion to believe that they were possess'd of Men before their being cast out by that Holy Sacrament And indeed he writes in his 7th Letter of the 1st Book That as Pharaoh after much resistance was at last drowned in the water so the Devil is yet now a-days abused and tormented by the Exorcists whose voice is indeed only human but attended by the Virtue of God For a little farther he says when by the Saving water we receive the Sanctification of Baptism we may be sure that the power of the Devil is overcome and the person consecrated to God freed by his mercy It happens at the same time according to him that Scorpions and Serpents cannot abide water
so the infernal Dragon cannot endure the Water of Baptism Sect. 6. He ascribes the same Virtue to the name of Jesus when in his Sermon upon Baptism speaks of mercenary Exorcists de quaestuariis exorcistis Obediunt Daemonâ—s Exorcistis c. The Demons obey Exorcists saying we know who is Christ and who is Paul and being conjured in the name of that Jesus whom Paul Preaches we withdraw It seems to St Cyprian that things ought to be so by the same reason that Baptism was valid whether administred by Paul or Judas But he ought to have considered that we have not the same certainty that these Exorcists should have received their Office from God as we are sure that he had established Judas in his Apostleship Sect. 7. Lactantius in the 4th Century will yet give us some instructions And First as to Conjurations that we treat now of he believed that they have a great efficacy for he writes in his Second Book Sect. 15. That the Devils are afraid of the Just that worship God since being conjured by them in his Name they go out of Bodies and being compell'd by their words as by stripes they not only acknowledg'd that they are Demons but also declare their Names that are found to be the same under which they are adored in Temples So that he believes that the wicked Spirit how great a Lyer soever he is cannot lye when by Conjuration he is forced to speak because the Divine Power constrains him to say the Truth for that time Sect. 8. In the mean while he sticks not to that but agrees with St. Cyprian that the modern sorcerers were able to enchant wicked Spirits and by that argument pretends to prove to Epicure and his followers that there are Spirits in the World and that Human Souls are immortal To that end he expresses himself in these words Book the 7th Sect. 13. Certainly if Democritus Epicure or Dicearchus stood by a Magician they should not make bold to maintain by their Reasons that the Soul is Mortal what could they answer If the Magician by pronouncing some Verses call'd up the Souls ' from subterraneous places making them appear to Men speak to them and foretel future things for if they still presume to persist in their error they would be forced to yeild to such real proofs and such visible effects Sect. 9. However I cannot agree to what is read in his 2 Book Sect. 14. That the Art and Power of Magicians Magorum only consists in the Inspirations they receive from the Spirits that surprize Men and deceive their Eyes by Illusions hindering them from seeing what is and making them see what is not when 't is required from them by Magicians He seem'd before to believe that the Demons actually produce some effects and here he will perswade us that there is nothing but illusion whatever it be even that very illusion is still an Operation of the Demons and consequently approve of their existence and action In the mean while he agrees with himself in this that he believes sorcerers converse with the wicked Spirit and that the Conjurations of the former force the latter to say and do what is required from them but that all the effects of Witchcraft are to be ascribed to them and not to the Magicians Sect. 10. Lactantius was perswaded that bad Spirits had a share in all those Arts that made up the practices of the Ancient Heathens and of which mention has been made Ch. 3. He even believed that they were all invented by those Spirits as appears by his own words Book 2. Ch. 16. The things that they have invented viz. The Demons are predictions by the Stars by the inspection of Victims and by the cry of Birds these are the Oracles and Enchantments in use to consult the Dead by Magick Magia and all the other Evils to which Men addict themselves either privately or openly All these things have nothing solid nor true in themselves but are received for such by the credit they borrow from the presence of their Authors who know how to impose upon the credulity of Men affecting to make a divine power appear before them of which however no profit accrues to them I might quote here some Authors of the two following Centuries but observing no change in them that deserves to be related and fearing to insist too long upon this I come to the bottom of the matter lest I should weary the Reader with unprofitable trouble CHAP. XVII That it is necessary to compare all those various Doctrines and Practices of the Jews Mahometans and Christians and to examine wherein they differ and in what they agree together Sect. 1. THE 11th Chapter of this Book was designed to compare together the Opions and practices of the various Heathens concerning Spirits The natural light that remained in our understanding notwithstanding the darkness in which it has been involv'd by Sin has been able without the help of the Holy writ to discover whether those Opinion and practices were founded upon true or false grounds We have since heard those that acknowledge the Authority of the Holy writ speak very differently by which means the light of Reason may be encreased and it's corruption better'd Let us now see what they have done as to this and how far their endeavours have attained To that end we shall First consider wherein the latter differ from the Heathens what they have retain'd of Paganism and lastly in what points they differ from each other having always regard to that difference of Doctrines and Worship or Opinions and Practices that have been set down before Sect. 2. These 3 sorts of People Jews Christians and Mahometans rejecting the plurality of Gods that were believed and adored by the Heathens and Worshiping one Only God have overthrown whatever the others had invented concerning confederate inferior and mean Gods or familiar Spirits that were born with Men and outlive them and at the same time have destroyed whatever Conjurations and Witchcrafts were grounded upon such principles by which Men presume to acquire some certain knowledge and produce some certain effects We have found nothing like amongst the Jews and Mahometans for thô they may have somthing that appears like it yet 't is quite different as we shall show hereafter And as to the Christians we see that they unanimously reject all these things and look upon them as delusions and impieties and as to what the last together with the Jews and Mahometans have retained of the Opinions and practices of the Heathens it has been taken from the Philosophy of this last Sect and accommodated to the Holy Scripture or gather'd from it by false explications This I shall now briefly show concerning the Spirits in general and the Soul of Man in particular Sect. 3. As to the Spirits in general First That Opinion that they are partly corporeal received of old by the Jews Ch. 12. Sect. 5 11 to 15 By the Mahometans Ch.
other bad the Author of all Evil and the Prince of darkness That the first as they say is the God that has formed all things and that the other is Hyle that is the matter from which all things have been formed and which is esteem'd by them to be the Devil Some distinguish the Devil from the Prince of darkness and translate not as we do the last words of the 44th v. of the 8th Ch. of St. John He is the Father of lies but his Father is a lie namely the Father of the Devil Second As to the good God they say that his Essence is dispersed as by portions through all the Creatures and inherent to them which they explain by many wonderful Commentaries This is what they think of God and the Devil in relation to their Essence and Existence what follows concerns their Operations Sect. 4. Third The People of darkness formerly warr'd with the People of light The good God went himself to attack the Prince of darkness by some certain principal Spirits which he had produced of his own Essence who however being too weak were taken Prisoners but Christ came to repair that disorder having been begotten by some certain first Man who had been the promoter of this War and had begun it Fourth That in the mean while Christ himself is the Serpent that seduced Adam and Eve Fifth That Christ is now fixed amongst the Stars especially in the luminous Globe of the Sun in which sense they explain his Ascension to Heaven Sect. 5. Sixth They believe the Metempsychosis in this manner That the Souls shall pass into the bodies of such a kind of living Creatures as they have most loved or abused during their Life He that has killed a mouse or a fly shall pass in punishment into the body of a mouse or a fly the state in which he shall be put after death shall likewise be opposed to that in which he was during his Life He that is rich shall be poor and he that is poor shall be rich Seventh They also give two Souls to every Man one of which is always contrary to the other But enough of their Doctrines we leave the rest to Danaeus who ascribes to them 21 in all because what he and other Authors say belongs not to our subject Sect. 6. However I am not apt to assert that they have believed and taught such gross Doctrines as are imputed to them and have been now related For supposing the common Opinion concerning the Doctrine of the Manichees that they were chiefly extracted from the Philosophy of the Persians since Manes their First Author was undoubtedly a Persian and that they are strangely mingled with the Christian Divinity It is unreasonable to have the same Opinion of that People that we have of other Nations who never cultivated the study of Nature and Human learning such as those we have met with in the Northern parts of Africa and the Southern of America It may well be that the Manichees ascribe to the whole Vniverse a principle like that which is observed in it's parts viz. The active cause and the matter which Aristotle established to be eternal as well as the World and that afterwards matter considered as insensible by a misinterpretation of the words of Moses that spreads in the beginning darkness over the Abyss and the Spirit of God moving over it should have produced those monstrous thoughts of which we have given some instances Sect. 7. Supposing they have established two principal causes one of good and the other of evil but yet so as that the First is uncontestably superior to the Second as much as light is above darkness and the workman above the matter he works upon 't is probable that they had an Idea of God as a Soul infused through the whole Vniverse that consider'd by them as the body in which that First cause continually operates And as the contrary motions of corporeal passions rise against the Empire of Reason that ought to govern them so they might believe that the Animal Spirits proceeding from matter perpetually rebel against God the Fountain of all Reason Whence it would follow that God should not be more absolute master of the Vniverse than Man is of his body thence has proceeded that Idea of two different Gods one good and the other bad the latter being still inferior to the former who is indeed the workman but has not an arbitrary Government there being a power in the World so great that it is able to resist him Sect. 8. But whether I have made a just conjecture or whether the Manichees had other Opinions then those I imagine it seems nevertheless that I may reasonable suppose it upon this foundation that no Opinions so gross as those that are ascribed to them not only are not admitted but not so much as moved or propounded as we shall see very soon in the series of this work because the principal points of those sorts of belief with their dependencies have a great relation with my Second and Third Book as I hope to show at the end of the Second And therefore whether any one treats of the Devil and Spirits according to the Holy Scripture or whether he only follows his own sense and right it may 〈◊〉 assured that all his Reasonings will turn upon this notion of his that God and the Devil have each an Empire one contrary to the other and that thô the Devil be subject to the power of God yet his Empire is more apparent It is denyed that God now works any miracles but some are rashly ascribed to the Devil that surpass all those that are mentioned in the Holy writ We believe that there are Angels and gather from the Holy Scripture that they encamp about the faithful and the Devil likewise is incessantly active to do them hurt if possible he can but his abode is in Hell However it is very rare to hear any one say he has seen an Angel in a vision whereas the Devil appears almost continually If any thing has been either signified or foretold we never believe it to be the Operation of an Angel but of the Devil one is possest by him and another bewitch'd by his means unknown Tongues are spoken strange things are said others no less wonderful are perform'd and the most hidden secrets discover'd But you will scarce meet with any that has so good Opinion of the power of an Angel if we have any Holy thought or good inspiration how inconsiderable soever it may be we ascribe it to the Holy Ghost and seem not to believe that the Angels are so much as capable of contributing to it since it ne'er comes in our mind to think upon them But the Devil penetrates the most secret thoughts of Men overthrows their best designs and incessantly excites them to Evil if they are accused and convicted of any crime the excuse is always at hand for the Devil has done it or at least
Souls in whatsoever place they may be expect those that are entred into Heaven or into Hell appear to Men p. 253. We see that he will not much trouble us with Purgatory and instead of perplexing himself with a determin'd place he chooses rather to be at large in placeing Souls in loco dispensationis in a place of dispensation such as the Schoolmen have forged it whose Opinion some of ours find not condemnable in what place soever those Souls may be the Papists believe certainly that they appear often to Men to the ends that have been mentioned It is also the common Opinion that the greatest part of the Souls are not those that are in Paradise or in Hell but those that dwel between those two places or in Purgatory for frequent journeys from Heaven to Earth would too much disturb the repose of the Souls that are there and Hell keep its Captives too closely confin'd to give them so much liberty and if it be permitted me to divert the publick I shall say it would bring no profit to the Churches Coffers whose fire of Purgatory makes the pot boyl much better then all the flames of Hell do or all the heat of the Celestial fire Sect. 7. If one would know what all those fantoms do in the World Schottus will not fail to inform you and even to mark with a great deal of care and exactness many different manners in which they shew themselves p. 269 c. First They appear to the sight under divers figures as well of Men as of Beasts or frightful Monsters Second The Ears are often struck without seeing any thing and even sometimes in such an extraordinary manner that it causes astonishment and fear p. 271. Third The touch has it's share in it if what the Author says be true That they move them sometimes to touch Men without doing them any harm but at other times they push them so that they drive them with violence they make them fall down bruise them and beat them that they even trouble them and tempt them to Letchery p. 273. Sect. 8. It is likewise necessary to know that which is written Concerning the figure of bodies in which Phantasms appear he says p. 287. That the Abbot Trithemeus Thyreus Delrius and others whence it apperrs that it is the common Opinion relate Certain signs by which one may know if whether Spirits who present themselves in a corporeal form are Angels or Men good Angels or Devils Souls of the blessed or damned or Souls which are in Purgatory to be purified there However he affords not a very ample instruction upon this point for the chief matter that he says of it is That the Souls of the blessed appear with an Air of content and joy that the Souls which are in Purgatory have a more doleful countenance but that those of the damned have a more frightful aspect with signs of despair And thô it be the common Opinion that there are always some defects or something disfigured in the body in which the Devil presents himself notwithstanding neither our Jesuit nor Delrius holds it for certain see that which the first puts for certain and as generally believed p. 291. It is that when the Devil appears and speaks he always speaks the language of the Country where he is so that he must understand more languages than Mithridates or every Devil can appear but in his proper Country But the voice of a Specter is always perplex'd trembling weak and as muttering as thô it were understood through a Tub or through the cheft of an Earthen Vessel for says Schottus The Devil can speak no better See according to this Author and those of his belief a good mark to know him Sect. 9. We must not omit that which is given out as a thing certain that a Phantasm feels always cold when one touches it Cardan Alexander ab Alexandro are witnesses that affirm it and Cajetan gives a reason that he has learned from the Devil 's own mouth who being asked by a Witch concerning this subject answer'd that the thing must needs be so and that it could not be otherwise the Cardinal explained the words of the Devil in this sense that he will not communicate to a body he takes that moderate heat which is so agreeable or that God will not permit him The Witch was contented with that positive answer without putting the Question further Sect. 10. The Question now is to know who they are which oftenest see Specters our Author answers pertinently to this Question p. 292 and 293. And his words deserve very well to be reported as they are The Souls which are in Purgatory appear rather to the Faithful then to the Excommunicated or to Infidels and among these first they appear rather to their Parents to their Allies and to those which belong to them in any manner whatsoever then they do to Strangers because that they hope for succor from them which they cannot hope from others The Souls of the damned appear particularly to those which have been the cause of their loss and of the torments they suffer The apparitions of Devils are made also with reference to the ruins of those they persecute and their ill will for Mankind whom they take pleasure to torment On the first respect those who are charged with a greater number of Sins have most to suffer in the second the most Virtuous Men are the more exposed to their attacks Sect. 11. After the Specters let us come to the possessest refering the remedies against these two accidents to the following Chapter That which happens to the possest gives occasion to know more particularly what the Devil can act Possessing says Schottus is an inevitable torment to Man from the Devil which is in his body who acts there and keeps him in his power for a certain time p. 521. Which he unfolds more particularly afterwards but as there has been lately published an History of the Devils of Loudun and of a possession very famous said to have happened in the Town the circumstances of which give a great deal of light upon this point we will alledge that which will be proper for this subject referring a more strict examination to our 4th Book which we shall not be afraid to do nothwithstanding the Author appears to be a Protestant because that the most part of the stories this History contains are gathered from many Ecclesiastick Books where they are grounded upon Authentick publick acts and that the possession was declared true by a decree of the Bishop It was also confirm'd by the blood of a Priest who was executed for a Magician after having been condemn'd by an act made by a sentence of Judges Commissioner sent by the French King to examine this affair see then yet what Schottus says p. 533. c. First That a Man may be possest by all sorts of evil Spirits of what order soever they may be for it has been said in
the 19th Ch. Sect. 8. That the Devils are divided into different orders and the History of the Devils of Loudun shews us that one Elizabeth Blancheard said to be possest by six Devils by Astaroh and the coal of uncleanness by the order of Angels by Belzebub and the Lion of Hell of the order of Archangels by Perou and Marou of the order of Cherubins p. 255. Second That all persons of what Sex Age Condition or Religion soever they may be whatsoever kind of life they lead either good or bad may be possest by Devils Third Althô the most part are possest without their consent and in spight of them by evil Spirits it is believed sometimes that there are some which consent to it there are those to whom are attributed Spirits of Pithon who divine by means of the Devil Schottus p. 550. Sect. 12. This Author explains to us more precisely in what manner the Devil enters into Men and how he works First Granting he can cloath all sorts of bodies as he pleases and according as God permits him he can sometimes go and come enter into Man and come out invisibly and sometimes also visibly and under the figures of small Beasts or insects as Ants Flies Spiders or under those little birds This is the common Opinions of Popish writers althô Schottus is not very much for it p. 539. But he is in the wrong for here 's a proof at least as to his invisible going in and coming out in the History of the Devils of Loudun where it is said that a Devil called Bihemot being gone out to seek a new Covenant the guardian Angel of the Nun that he possest seized upon him and bound him for a Month under the Picture of St. Joseph in the Church p. 405. And that this Religious fancyed as tho I know not what should have gone out from her head which removed from her as the Devil retired farther and afterwards the Devil himself declared that after having been tied in his body not to part from it he had at present as well as his companions the liberty of coming too and fro p. 408. Second Schottus howevever agrees that evil Spirits give to the possest the faculty of speaking strange languages that they never learned and of revealing secrets which they could not know of themselves p. 540. So it is that the Nun of Loudun spoke Latin the best he could assuring that she had never learned it History of the Devils of Loudun And so it is that the Demons discovered to the Jesuit surin secret matters in his thought or in his person p. 273. or that they went to kiss the right hand of one of the exorcists for that the Duke of Orleance had so desired it and had declared his desire to another exorcist p. 297. Upon which one of them hath writ that the Devils answered often to interrogatories made to them by the exorcists without expressing them otherwise then by the inferior direction of their thoughts p. 104. See there the last effort of Divination to divine thoughts hidden and in no ways expressed Third Schottus says in other places that the principal operations of the Devil are made in the body of the possest and that they art little or nothing upon the Soul and that for this reason they cannot make a Man loose his Faith nor Hope nor Charity p. 534. But the Devil Isaacarum who knew more of it then our Author says that Behemet had not only vex'd Job in his body but that he had also troubled his Soul and that it is for this reason that he sinned not in all that he said History of the Devils of Loudun Pag. 374. Sect. 13. See what the Devil can do and what he does very often according to the opinions of the Roman Catholicks be it that he makes use of the Ministry of Men in these occasions or that he uses them nor those that he imployes in his Ministry are called Sorcerers Enchanters and Magicians 'T is stedfastly believed that those People have given themselves to the Devil and have covenanted with him and signed it with their own Blood That the Devil on his part is observed to do all they desire during the course of their life and that the Magicians on their part give themselves to the Devil and put themselves into his possession all their days or for a certain time that they have mutually agreed together If you would see an example very particular of such a contract you need but read the History of the Devils of Loudun Pag. 271. but you cannot read it without being amazed The Magicians in consequence of their Covenants are to enjoy a great deal of pleasure which will be procured to them by the Devil to do a great deal of mischief to others and cause a great deal of damage to their Cattle and to their other Goods Their pleasure consists in solemn Assemblies which are held in the night in places the Devil appoints and where he appears in all sorts of Figures there they dance drink and eat in excess and the Men and Women mix themselves carnally together and with the Devil himself who for that purpose sometimes transforms himself into a Man sometimes into a Woman The Wizards and Witches are transported thro the' Windows to places where they assemble by virtue of a certain Ointment they anoint themselves with they ride mounted upon the Devil as upon a Horse for he is obliged to serve them and for this purpose he transforms himself into a Goat or some other Animal Sometimes there are in those Assemblies strange Sacrifices for the History of the Devils of Loudun writes Pag. 153. That they force the Devil Leviathan to surrender a Contract written upon the flesh of the Heart of an Infant taken in a Sabbat held at Orleans and of the Ashes of a burnt Host Sect. 14. The disorders that they cause to Men are to mischief their persons or their Cattle to stir up Tempests to spoil the Corn of the field to breed Disputes to disturb the Society of Men by a thousand means some times they do good with an eye to proper advantage for some Money they discover things lost they declare if one is bewitch'd or if not and by whom it has been they teach what must be done to cure them that are so or they cure them themselves Of this Bodin in his Book intituled Daemonamania shall fully instruct the reader that will take the pains to read him For no Authors are more large upon that subject than he and Delrio In the mean while we will look into their Sentiments related by Schotus more plainly than in their own Books Sect. 15. He defines this unlawful Magick upon which subject the Reader will not forget the distinction heretofore made Chap. 4. Sect 2. 7. A Power by which Man works certain wonders which surpass ordinary Vnderstanding which is done not by any Art nor by the force of his proper Faculties nor by
Great Brittain which is King James the Sixth King of Scotland and First King of England of that name and the other to one of his Scotch Subjects a Scot by birth as by name being call'd Reynard Scot the King held the affirmative as to the popular Opinion of Witchcraft and Apparition of Spirits which his subject had already confuted John Wierus who lived in the begining of the Reformation made by means of Luther and Calvin had from that time published his Opinion upon the delusion of Spirits and upon the impostures of Witches and he had taken a part which held in the middle between those two Opinions so King James in his Book of Demonology contested with these two Authors according to his express Declaration in the Preface Sect. 8. What is most important in his Book comes very near to this In the sixth Chapter of the first Book there are descriptions so exact of leagues that Magicians make with the Devil that it seems as if the King himself had seen the Original or that they had been reported in the Council In the fourth Chapter of the second Book the King puts for certain that evil Spirits may carry Men through the Air or assume divers forms to visit the Magicians when they are in Prison In the seventh Chapter he says that in the time of Popery and Paganism there was a great many more Apparitions but that it was observed that since this last Reformation of the Christian Church there have been fewer Apparitions and a great many more Witchcrafts Concerning the apparitions of Hobgoblins and Phantoms of which he treats in the Third Book there are scarce any kind to which this Prince gives not credit even to Incubusses and Succubusses which are Spirits who as Men mix themselves carnally with Women and as Women with Men. In reference to the possest the King agrees that the Popish Priest may drive out the Devil but upon the proofs that he has to convince one of the crime of Magick he only says there must be no less than twelve witnesses amongst which may be admitted Infants infamous People and even those that are taken to be Magicians Sect. 9. Now althô the learned as I have already said extol not so much all these things nor teach them so expresly and that by consequence they credit not so much what is ordinarily believed and said touching the power and Operations of the Devil upon Men and concerning that which they effect by the means of Men we must however observe that they give so much extent to his power and actions that not only they help not to destroy the general Opinion that is had of him but also maintain it by different expressions they make use of and by the instructions they give It is what is seen especially in the works of two English Authors who explain themselves more plainly and precisely than all others upon this matter which they treat from the foundation whereas others keep the same language only by occasion and when treating of other subjects they are obliged to speak of them The first of these Authors is William Gurnal in his great Book upon the Ephesians 6.11.18 entituled The Christian in compleat Armour the first Edition is in the Year 1655. And since there has been Printed at London in folio in 1679. the sixth Edition He says That the Devil being a spiritual being extreamly evil these two considerations ought to cause a great deal of fear to a Christian p. 94. Because he is a great Prince who surpasses Man very much in power and craft that his craft is observed by his marvelous knowledge first in spying proper occasions to tempt Men p. 36. Secondly in his subtle and artificial conduct and in all the vices he makes use of for this effect p. 37. Thirdly in the care he takes to make all the preparations necessary to attack us to his advantage every time he finds opportunity to do it p. 43. Fourthly In the trouble that he stirs up in our Consciences in reproaching us with our Sins and in the artifices that he uses and the ambushes he lays p. 44. As to what concerns the power and Virtue of the Devil the Author holds in the first place That he has power not only on the Elements and corporeal senses but also upon spiritual substances of the World and upon the Souls of Men p. 74. Afterwards he declares what is the time and place of his Empire over his subjects viz. the time in this life over people of Darkness the place in the World for as much as it is plung'd into impiety p. 79. Sect. 10. The other English Author is Joseph Glanvill the title of which Book is Saducismus Triumphatus Saducism defeated a Book wherein he imploys a great deal of Learning to prove that Witchcrafts Inchantments Apparitions and Phantoms are possible and afterwards that they are things practised and which actually happen The first Edition of it has been also in English at London in 1661. after the death of the Author He pretends that what he establishes as a certain Truth is grounded upon Reasons and Examples And I grant that as to the force of Reasoning I do not know any Writer who has better succeeded than he has Here are his supposed Truths That among other effects which are attributed to Magicians of both Sexes First Being anointed with certain Magical Ointments they pass through the Chimney and are transported into very distant places Secondly That they are turned into Cats Hares and divers other Creatures and Figures Thirdly That they feel in their own Bodies the same wounds that are made in the Bodies they borrow Fourthly That in muttering certain unintelligible Words and in making certain Gestures extraordinary and ridiculous they raise Tempests Fifthly That they are sucked by familiar Spirits in the most secret parts of their Bodies The Author believes that the more these things are incredible and ridiculous the more certain they are I shall examine his Reasons in my second and third Book and his Instances in my last with more exactness than what other Authors have written upon this Subject for the consideration I have already alledged that he carries it above all others as to the force of his Reasoning Sect. 11. All that has hitherto been saâ—d respects first the Devil and afterwards Men that are believed to have Commerce with him considered distinctly and separately from him But an union must be made betwixt them For which effect the Leagues already mention'd were invented Sect 5. of this Chapter and heretofore Chap. 20. Sect. 13. Moreover the Opinions which have been reported having passed from Popery amongst us and been admitted by many Doctors of our Communion yet I know not any who has taken their part so much as Daneus which is chiefly observed in two Points in his Description of the Leagues and in the effects he attributes to Sorcerers and Witches for these two things are found very amply treated of in his
little Book De Sortiariis Of Witches but especially the first is described with more circumstances than I have read in any Popish Author So seeing this Doctor has been one of the most considerable among us and that having lived a little after the time of Calvin and Luther his Book which was written 116 years ago has not been attacked nor contradicted that I know of by any Protestant Writer but only by Schottus from thence may be inferr'd that these Doctrines are not unknown to us nor rejected by the Protestant Churches I am going to relate in short the contents of this Author's Writings Sect. 12. See what he sets down in his fourth Chapter Nullum non Sortiarum cum Satana foedus iniisse seque ei devovisse That there is no Sorcerer but he has made agreement with the Devil and devoted himself to him See the description he makes of these contracts First To secure the Person of the Magician the Devil imprints a mark either under the Eye-lids or between the Buttocks or the Pallat of the Mouth that it may not be perceived in those places The Author believes that there are none exempt from carrying it It is for this Reason that the Judges order the whole Body of those that are accused of this Crime to be shaved to know the place that is marked as I have told you Secondly The Conditions of these Contracts imply that they shall renounce God and acknowledge Satan and adore him for their God and in Recompence he shall assist them and shall come to their succour as oft as they apply themselves to him which he will never fail to do no more than the Witches on their part fail to obey all his Commands Thirdly After the Covenant has been thus mutually agreed upon the Magician the morrow after sacrifices to the Devil a Dog a Cat or a Hen that belongs to him by which means the Contract is confirmed a new Fourthly Afterwards the Devil causes in proper time and place all the Magicians to assemble where ever he prescribes there he makes every one of them give an account of the Mischiefs he has done by his Power and Means Fifthly He sometimes takes the trouble to get them together assuming a human shape for that purpose and making himself known to the Magicians only At other times he imploys some of them to go and Convene the Assembly shewing them the time and place This Assembly is not always general sometimes there are but a certain number which he has chosen to please himself Sixthly If there are some who through weakness of Body cannot go he gives them a Stick or a Horse of some Oyntment to anoint themselves by the virtue of which being become invisible he transports them through the Air. Seventhly He appears himself as Master of the Club in shape of a Man or in some ugly He-Goat or in whatever Form he pleases Eightly There they repeat their Oaths made to him after which they sing and dance in honour of their new God Ninthly Afterwards he furnishes them with such means as they desire to do mischief to such as they please He teaches them to make up their Poisons and promises them to continue his assistance to them and his service for their occasions Tenthly By virtue of these Agreements Satan fails not to work wonders in favour of his Magicians as oft as they make the sign that he has taught them and ordered them to do in which sign consists not the operative and active faculty as the Magicians believe but it resides in the Devil who operates when warned by the sign Sect. 13. There is already a great deal but however there are more things which the Author ascribes to the Devil and which may be gathered and inferred from divers places of this Book where they are expressly contained as First That he often appears in human shape Secondly That he sometimes troubles and casts such a Mist over the Senses of those that are ingaged with him that they fancy to have been in certain places and to have acted several things though there is no truth or reality in these Imaginations Thirdly But he really carries them through the Air whither he pleases Fourthly That by the Ministry of Wizzards and Witches he can Poison Men secretly from far without touching them Fifthly That the Devil or the Magicians by his means may raise Tempests and cause Rain Sixthly He rejects the Opinion of those who believe the power of the Devil has no longer any effect upon the Magicians nor can act in their behalf as soon as they are in the Hands and Power of Justice on the contrary he supposes that the virtue of Witchcraft may be exerted even in Prisons and that oftentimes the Devil breaks there the Necks of those who belong to him These are Daneus's his Doctrines Sect. 12. Furthermore the most common Opinion of the Doctors of our Communion is That the Devil does not know things to come but only of himself he forms conjectures that nevertheless the greatest part of Divines consult him for their Predictions That it is from him they learn what they discover to other Men of things present things hidden as when there has been something stoll'n or some body bewitch'd they declare the Thief or Magician They likewise ascribe to him some knowledge of the Thoughts of Men since they fancy that he disturbs and seduces them and that he incites them to mischief For that is properly what we understand when we pray in our Churches for those that are tempted and troubled in their Consciences There are no errors produced there arises no Heresies in the Church it is not afflicted with any persecution but the Devil has contributed thereto All the places of Scripture that speak of the Devil are understood with relation to these Ideas And it is upon these interpretations that these Opinions are grounded It is also by the same reason that not only the Protestants but almost all the Christian Writers assert That it is not allow'd to consult the Devil who is the enemy of God and of Men nor to seek his help They however agree that the Pagan Oracles have not always been given by the Devil but that often they have been the effect of the impostures of Priests which has so often appear'd that it is impossible not to know it Sect. 13. The power of the Devil is extreamlv boasted of for there are very few Doctors who doubt but he can assume a Body and possess the Bodies of Men and transport and torment them several ways as effectively as he had actually the impudence to do these things to our Saviour Jesus Christ himself and to a great many people of which the Gospel tell us that being possest by evil Spirits they were delivered by our Saviour They also suppose that the opinion of the apparitions of Specters is confirmed by Scripture and that it was theâ— Devil at least according to the opinion of some who appeared