Devil appeared to her in her House in the likeness of a white Dog and that she called this Imp or Familiar Spirit Elimanzer and that she often fed it and that the Spirit spoke to her very audibly and bid her deny Jesus Christ which she did then assent to but denied that she killed the young maid She was Executed at Mannintree Apr. 15. 1645. 4. Anne West and Rebecca her Daughter were likewise of this black Society against whom Prudence the VVife of Thomas Hart of Lawford in Essex deposed upon Oath that about Eight weeks before going on Sunday to the Parish-Church about half a mile from her House being about Twenty weeks gone with Child and to her thinking very well and healthy upon a sudden she was taken with great Pains and miscarried before she came Home And about Two months after one Night when she was in Bed something fell down upon her Right Side but being dark she could not discover its shapes and that she was presently taken lame on that side with extraordinary Pains and burning and was certainly perswaded that Anne and Rebecca West were the cause of her Pains having expressed much Malice toward her and counted her their greatest Enemy Mr. John Edes a Minister deposed That Rebecca West confessed to him that about Seven Years before she began to have familiarity with the Devil by the instigation of her Mother Anne West and that he appeared in several Shapes As once like a proper young man who desired to have familiarity with her promising that he would then do what she desired and avenge her on her Enemies requiring her also to deny God and put her faith and trust in him which being agreed to she order'd him to avenge her on one Thomas Hart of Lawford by killing his Son who was soon after taken sick and died VVhereupon Rebecca told the Minister she thought the Devil could do like God in destroying whom he pleased After which she gave him Entertainment and he lay with her as a man She likewise confest to him that when she lived at Riverhall in Essex her Mother came and told her The Barley Corn was picked up meaning that the Son of one George Francis a chief Inhabitant of that Town was Dead and his Father very much suspected he was bewitched to Death and her Mother hearing of it said Be it unto him according to his Faith Mr. Matthew Hopkins deposed upon Oath that going to the Prison where Rebecca West and five others were he asked her how she first came to be a Witch who told him that her Mother and she going one Evening after Sunset toward Mannintree her Mother charged her to keep secret whatever she saw which she promising to do they went both to the House of Elizabeth Clark where they found her together with Ana Leach Elizabeth Gooding and Hellen Clark and that Instantly the devil appeared in the shape of a Dog then came two Kitlins and after them two Dogs more who all seemed to reverence Elizabeth Clark skipping into her lap and kissing her and then Kist all in the Room except her self Whereupon one of the Witches askt her Mother if her Daughter were Acquainted with the Business who assuring them of her secrecy Ann Leach pulled out a Book and Swore her not to reveal any thing she saw or heard and if she did she should endure more torments than there could be in Hell Whereupon she again ingaged to be silent They told her she must never confess any thing tho the Rope were about her Neck and she ready to be Hanged To which after she had given her absolute Ingagement the Devil leapt up into her Lap and Kissed her promising to perform whatever she would desire About halt a year after the Devil appeared as she was going to Bed and said he would marry her which she could not refuse whereupon he Kissed her but was as cold as Clay and then took her by the Hand Leading her about the room and promised to be her Loving Husband till Death and to avenge her of all her enemies She likewise obliging her self to be his Obedient Wife till Death and to deny God and Christ Jesus She confest that after this she sent him to kill the Son of Thomas Hart who died within a Fortnight and thereupon she took the Devil for her God and thought he could as God Rebecca West being likewise Examined before the Justices at Mannintree confessed that all was true concerning their Meeting at Elizabeth Clarks where they spent some time in Praying to their Familiar Spirits and then every one made their desires known to them Elizabeth Clark requested her Spirit that Mr. Edwards might be met withal at a Bridge near her House and that his Horse might be frighted and he thrown down and never rise again Mr. Edwards deposed that at the same place his Horse started and greatly indangered him and he heard something about the House Cry Ah Ah much like a Polecat and that with great difficulty he saved himself from being thrown off his Horse Elizabeth Gooding desired her Imp to kill Robert Jaylors Horse for suspecting her to be a Witch which was done accordingly Hellen Clark required to kill some Hogs of a Neighbours Ann Leach that a Cow might be Lamed and Ann West her Mother desired her Spirit to free her from all her enemies and to have no trouble And she her self desired that Thomas Harts Wife might be taken Lame of her right side after which they departed appointing the next Meeting at Elizabeth Goodings House for these and several other Notorious Crimes Ann West was Sentenced and Executed at Mannintree Elizabeth Gooding at Chelmsford and the Bill found against Rebecca West by the Grand Jury but was acquitted by the Jury of Life and Death Ibid p. 14. 5. Rose Hallybread was another of this black Regiment against whom Robert Turner of St. Osyth in Essex deposed that about eight days before his Servant was taken Sick shaking shrieking and crying out of Rose Hallybread that she had bewitched him and that he sometimes Crowed like a Cock sometimes barked like a Dog and sometimes Groaned violently beyond the ordinary course of Nature and tho but a youth struggl'd with so much strength that four or five lusty Men were not able to hold him down in his Bed and sometimes he would Sing several strange Songs and Tunes his Mouth not being opened nor his Lips so much as stirring all the time of his Singing She being examined confest That about sixteen years before one Goody Hagtree brought an Imp to her House which she entertained and fed it with Oat-Meal and Suckled it on her Body a Year and a half and then lost it She confessed likewise that about half a year before one Joyce Boanes brought to her another Imp in the likeness of a small gray Bird which she received and carried to the House of one Thomas Toakly of St. Osyths and put it under his Door after which
is at best fickle and subject to change We are short sighted and cannot see at first what the Effects of such Love will be And therefore what more ordinary than for Lovers to grow cold and indifferent If the Person be loved for Beauty the Small-Pox or Feaver may put an end to that Love If for good Humour Age and Sickness often alters it if for Money Riches may make themselves Wings and fly away or else any Vnkindness or unsuitable Carriage from the Person loved often alters the Affections Yet with what delight can they talk of these they love 't is hard to put them off with other Discourse Lovers think not the time long they are together Yet O my Soul I am infinitely obliged to God his Love is beyond all Expression I have ever since I was born offended him and brought Sin enough into the World with me to set me at an eternal Distance from him Yet God's great Love was such that he thought nothing too much for fallen Man He knew before ever he fixt his Love on me what I should prove how I should carry it towards him yet that could not hinder his Thoughts of Love O my Soul thou canst never do enough to testify thy Love to God There 's no fear of the Decay of his Love to thee if thou dost but carry it ingenuously towards him There can be no Defect in God all that is is on my part I have cause to bewail my former Miscarriages and now to resolve to walk more holily and humbly before God Christ he is altogether lovely there is nothing in him but what if considered may inflame my Heart with Love to him I may wonder at my self that I do no more love to talk of this lovely Jesus that I do so seldom think of him Well now let me learn something from this Reflection to fill my Soul with Love to him and to set me a longing after Communion with him O that I may for ever have him in my Thoughts whose Thoughts I was never out of from Eternity if I am not mistaken but am truly his REFLECTION III. On her Brother H 's telling her Mother that she lay at Mrs. B 's and her Mother discoursing what her Landlord said of her Febr. 2. 1679. Her Reflections on this were these viz. OH my Soul What use should I make of all this I may see how vain it is to expect Satisfaction in the Creatures when they do in so small a matter disappoint me and prove false Sure the use God would have me to make of all the Disappointments I have ever yet met with is to expect more from God and less from the Creature I see and find by Experience this I may soon expect more from them than is to be had But I never yet expected that from God that is to be had in him I find I may soon loose my good Name and Credit in the World I should from hence learn to make it my business to keep a Conscience void of offence towards God and Man that so whatever the World says or thinks of me I may still be able to approve my Heart to God and to carry it so towards all I converse with as not willingly to give them any just cause to speak Evil of me I see 't is a vain thing nay I shall be the most inexcusable of any one in the World if ever I should expect Satisfaction in the Creature For my Experience tells me it is not there to be had I no sooner promise my self Comfort in any Earthly Enjoyment but some way or other it is imbittered to me I promised my self a great deal of Comfort in Mrs. B 's Acquaintance and now I cannot go to see her without hazarding my good name Well I will now retreat back again to my former SOLITVDE and converse more with God and my own Soul I have found enough of the Vanity of Acquaintance But I never yet had cause to complain of my God The more I acquaint my self with him the better it is I should be so ingenuous in all cases to make a Spiritual Improvement of an Earthly Disappointment that so I may reap real Benefit by outward Vexations REFLECTION IV. Upon her being taken ill in the Night and thinking she was struck with Death OH my Soul thou seest what need I have to be always prepared for Death How soon can God take away Health and Life I am but Tenant at Will to my Maker and therefore I need to be ready I then began to call my self to account to see with what Comfort I could appear before God I find upon Examination and some sight of Eternity here is abundance of Sin to be repented of I dare not think of appearing before God without an Assurance of an Interest in Christ Well O my Soul what use should I make of this Providence I know not how soon I may die Death is a serious thing it is a solemn thing to appear before the Heart-searching God there to be accountable for all I have done in the body and for ever to be doomed to endless Happiness or Misery What a mad Body and Fool am I then to be so negligent in working â—â—t of my Salvation when I am sure I cannot live long The Pain I felt was great but nothing to what the Damned feel I did then bless God that it was not eternal I thought if my Pain was so sad what is it to be tormented in Body and Soul and that for ever I then considered what Sin it was that most disturbed my Peace and find it is trifling with God Well O my Soul it is time for thee now to resolve to be more serious and always prepared because in such an hour as I think not the Son of Man comes REFLECTION V. Upon her Mother's and Sister T 's saying to her She would neither make a fond Wife nor Mother OH my Soul What use should I make of all the Opinions People have of me and of their thinking I shall never be fond of any Relation Sure God hath some end in it that notwithstanding my Willingness to please all manner of Persons I cannot yet have their good word Let me now more than ever endeavour to please God I have great cause to love my Parents for under God I am beholding to them for my Being But I am not only beholden to God for my Creation but I hope for Redemption and a whole Life of Mercies that be hath continually followed me with I have great cause to love Relations but that is nothing if compared with what cause I have to love God Their greatest Love is Hatred when compared with God's Love Well then the use I should make of all this is to consider my Obligations to God I would not willingly displease an Earthly friend sure then had not Sin basely besotted me I should abhor the Thoughts of doing any thing that might displease God I should endeavour
of destroying herself and have had oftentimes a Knife put into her Hand to do it so that she durst not be left by herself alone and when she had considered what the Cause of it might be her Conscience did hint most her neglecting of Duties to have performed they being the Ordinances of God Thus she continued 'till two Years ago she buried her Child the which was a very great trouble to her to part with and then was she more convinced of Sin which caused her Burthen to be the greater so that she could seldom have any other Thoughts but of Desperation but the Lord keeping her by his great Mercy so that sometimes she could pray with Devotion and discerning the Lord to remove this great Trouble from her she did plainly find that those great Temptations were very much lessened the which is a great Comfort unto her Spirit Believers Experiences p. 25. CHAP. XCI Satan Hurting by Dreams That God hath made use of Dreams and Visions of the Night to awaken Men to their Duty and a Sence of the Dangers they were in is demonstrated already and it is not unreasonable to believe that the Devil can in this Case too transform himself into an Angel of Light and impose upon the Imaginations of Men by strange deluding Fancies and Idea's formed on purpose to trick their Minds into a Snare and to allure them into some Trap of either Sin or Misery that he hath laid for them 1. King James the Fifth of Scotland was a great Enemy to the Light of the Gospel which in his Days broke forth in that Kingdom viz. about the Year 1541 and out of a blind and bloody Zeal was heard to say That none of that Sort should expect any Favour at his Hands no not his own Sons if they proved guilty But not long after Sir James Hamilton being suspected to incline that way was falsly accused of a Practice against the King's Life and being Condemned was Executed Shortly after the King being at Linlithgow on a Night as he slept it seemed to him That Thomas Scot Justice-Clerk came unto him with a Company of Devils crying Wo-worth the Day that ever I knew thee or thy Service for serving thee against God and against his Servants I am now adjudged to Hell torments Hereupon the King awaking called for Lights and causing his Servants to arise told them what he had heard and seen The next Morning by Day-light Advertisement was brought him of this Scot's Death which fell out just at the time when the King found himself so troubled and almost in the same manner for he died in great extremity often uttering these words Justo Dei Judicio comdemnatus sum by the righteous Judgment of God I am condemned Which being related to the King made the Dream more terrible 2. Another Vision he had in the same place not many Nights after which did more affright him Whilst he lay sleeping he thought He saw Sir James Hamilton whom he had caused to be Executed come with a Sword drawn in his Hand wherewith he cut off both his Arms threatning also to return within a short time and deprive him of his Life With this he awaked and as he lay musing what this might import News was brought him of the Death of his two Sons James and Arthur who died at St. Andrews and Strinling at one and the same Hour The next Year viz. 1542 being overcome with Grief and Passion himself died at Faulkland in the Thirty second Year of his Age. Arch-bishop Spoteswood 's History of the Church of Scotland Clark's Mirrour Ch. 7. p. 34 35. I am not sure that these particular Instances are properly placed under this Head I leave it to my wise and judicious Reader to consider whether or no these were Divine Admonitions or Satanical Illusions Mr. Clark hath accounted them as Satanical But 't is certain the Vulgar sort of People are so fond of observing their Dreams and some pretended wise Men and Women of a superstitious Kidney do promote this Fancy extreamly and undertake to prescribe Rules for the making a Judgment upon them and by that means do no small hurt to some weak hypochondriacal and melancholick Spirits How often shall we hear them whining out their Complaints upon the Account of some late Dream in expectation of some sad Disaster or Malady that they believe with much Confidence will befall them And sometimes fretting and pining to that extremity that no Comfort will down with them 'till the Date of their Dream be fully expired And I doubt not but Comfort will down with in promoting these silly and troublesome Conceits CHAP. XCII Satan Hurting by Witchcraft ATheism and Sadducism have got such Ground in the World of late Ages that 't is no vain Vndertaking to write of Devils and the Mischief done by them to Mankind by the Mediation of a sort of People that have Familiar Communion with them To transcribe all has been writ upon this Subject by Dr. More Mr. Glanvil Mr. Baxter Scheggius Remigius Delrio Mather c. would make up a large Volume enough to confute any whose Faces are not harder than Brass and their Hearts than Iron it shall be enough to say so much as shall suffice to convince those who are industrious enough to read patient enough to deliberate and have humility and honesty enough to be serious and impartial And as for the rest Qui vult Decipi decipiatur 1. In Pinola there were some who were much given to Witchcraft and by the Power of the Devil did act strange Things Amongst the rest there was one Old Woman named Martha de Carillo who had been by some of the Town formerly accused for Bewitching many but the Spanish Justices quitted her finding no sure Evidence against her with this grew worse and worse and did much harm when I was there two or three died withering away declaring at their Death That this Carillo had killed them and that they saw her often about their Beds threatning them with a frowning and angry Look the Indians for fear of her durst not complain against her nor meddle with her Whereupon I sent saith my Author unto Don Juan de Guzman the Lord of that Town that if he took not Order with her she would destroy the Town He hearing of it got for me a Commission from the Bishop and another Officer of the inquisition to make diligent and private Enquiry after her Life and Actions Which I did and found among the Indians many and grievous Complaints against her most of the Town affirming that she was certainly a most notorious Witch and that before her former Accusation she was wont to go as she had occasion about the Town with a Duck following her which when she came to the Church would stay at the Door 'till she came out again and then would return with her which Duck they imagined was her beloved Devil and Familiar Spirit for that they had often set Dogs at
pass by an Instance I have from a very honest Man in the next Parish who told me it himself That his Wife being big with Child near her Delivery he buys half a Dozen of Boards to make her a Bed against the time she lay in The Boards lying at the Door of his House there comes an old Fisher-woman yet alive and asked him whose were those Boards He told her they were his own She asked him again For what use he had them He replied For a Bed She again said Intend them for what you please she saw a dead Corps lying on them and that they would be a Coffin which struck the honest Man to the Heart fearing the death of his Wife But when the old Woman went off he calls presently for a Carpenter to make the Bed which was accordingly done but shortly after the honest Man had a Child died whose Coffin was made of the ends of those Boards 27. I shall tell you what I have had from one of the Masters of our College here a North-Country-man both by Birth and Education in his younger Years who made a Journey in the Harvest-time into the Shire of Ross and at my Desire made some Enquiry there concerning the Second-sight He reports That there they told him many Instances of this Knowledge which he had forgotten except two The first one of his Sisters a young Gentlewoman staying with a Friend at some 30 Miles distance from her Father's House and the ordinary place of her Residence One who had the Second-sight in the Family where she was saw a young Man attending her as she went up and down the House and this was about Three Months before her Marriage The second is a Woman in that Country who is reputed to have the Second-sight and declared that eight Days before the Death of a Gentleman there she saw a Bier or Coffin cover'd with a Cloth she knew carried as it were to the place of Burial and attended with a great Company one of which told her it was the Corps of such a Person naming that Gentleman who died Eight Days after Those that have this Faculty of the Second-sight see only things to come which are to happen shortly thereafter and sometimes foretel things which fall out Three or Four Years after For instance 28. One told his Master that he saw an Arrow in such a Man thorough his Body and yet no Blood came out His Master told him that it was impossible an Arrow should stick in a Man's body and no blood come out and if that came to pass he would be deem'd an Impostor But about five or six Years after the Man died and being brought to his Burial-place there arose a Debate anent his Grave and it came to such a height that they drew Arms and bended their Bows and one letting off an Arrow shot thro' the dead Body upon the Bier-trees and so no Blood could issue out at a dead Man's Wound Part of a Letter written to Mr. Aubrey by a Gentleman's Son in Straths-pey being a Student in Divinity Sir I am more willing than able to satisfie your Desire As for Instances I could furnish many I shall only insert some few attested by several of good Credit yet alive 29. And first Andrew Mackpherson of Clunie in Badenoch being in sute of the Laird of Gareloch's Daughter as he was upon a day going to Garloch the Lady Garloch was going somewhere from her House within kenning to the Road which Clunie was coming the Lady perceiving him said to her Attendants that yonder was Clunie going to see his Mistress One in her Company replied and said If you be he unless he marry within six Months he 'll never marry The Lady asked how did he know that He said very well for I see him saith he all inclosed in his Winding-Sheet except his Nostrils and his Mouth which will also close up within Six Months which happened even as he foretold within the said space he died and his Brother Duncan Mackpherson this present Clunic succeeded I have heard of a Gentleman whose Son had gone abroad and being Anxious to know how he was he went to consult one who told him that that same day 5 a Clock in the Afternoon his Son had married a Woman in France with whom he had got so many Thousand Crowns and within Two Years he should come to see Eather and Friends leaving his Wife with Child of a Daughter and a Son of six Months of Age behind him which accordingly was true About the same time two Years he came home and verified all that was soretold 30. One Archibald Mackeanyers alias Mackdonald living in Ardinmurch within 10 or 20 Miles or thereby of Glencoe and I was present my self where he foretold something which accordingly fell out In 1683 this Man being in Strathspey in John Mackdonald of Glencoe his Company told in Balachastell before the Laird of Grant his Lady and several others and also in my Father's House that Argyle few or none knew then where he was or at least there was no word of him then here should within two Twelvemonths thereafter come to the West-Highlands and raie a Rebellious Faction wh ich would be divided among themselves and disperse and he unfortunately be taken and Beheaded at Edinburgh and his Head set upon the Talbooth where his Father's Head was before him Which proved as true as he foretold it in 1685. thereafter 31. There as a young Lady of great Birth whom a Rich Knight fancied and came in sute of the Lady but she could not endure to fancy him being a harsh and unpleasant Man But her Friends importuning her daily she turned melancholy and lean Fasting and Weeping continually A common Fellow about the House meeting her one Day in the Fields asked her saying Mrs. Kate What is that that troubles you and makes you look so ill She replied That the Cause is known to many for my Friends would have me marry such a Man by Name but I cannot fancy him Nay says the Fellow give over these Niceties for he will be your first Husband and will not live long and besure he will leave you a rich Dowry which will procure you a great Match for I see a Lord upon each Shoulder of you All which came to pass in every Circumstance as Eye and Ear can witness 32. Near 40 Years ago Macklend and his Lady Sister to my Lord Seaforth were walking about their own House and in their Return both came into the Nurses Chamber where their young Child as on the Breast At their coming in the Nurse falls a weeping they asked the cause dreading the Child was sick or that she was scarce of Milk The Nurse replied the Child was well and she had abundance of Milk yet she still wept and being pressed to tell what ailed her she at last said Macklend would die and the Lady would shortly marry another Man Being enquired how she knew that Event she told
On the Lord's Day Octob. 6. she said thus Here is nothing here but sin I am willing to die but either to live or to die which the Lord pleaseth his Will be done and so it will whether I will or no On Tuesday at Night Octob. 8. seeing her Mother weeping she said Mother do not weep for me but leave me to the Lord and let him do with me what he pleaseth And then clasping her Arms about her Mother's Neck her Mother said Thou embracest me but I trust thou art going to the Embracings of the Lord Jesus She answered Mother I know it that when I go from hence I shall go into Health and Happiness or else I should not undergo all my Pains with so much patience More Expressions of Mary Warren Pray you Mother take off these Plaisters for I would not have them I would have no Doctors or Apothecaries for God shall be my Physician and he will heal me I do not value the Things of this World no more than Dirt. Her Mother had told one That she thought her Daughter had Assaults of Satan she once looked very ghastly and now her Daughter said thus Once I think I looked ghastly and turned my Head on one side and on the other Satan stood upon my left side and God was upon my right side and opened the Gates of Heaven for me and he told me Satan should not hurt me though he sought to devour me like a roaring Lyon I am very sore from the Crown of my Head to the Sole of my Foot but I am so full of Comfort and Joy that I do feel but little of my Pain I do not know whether I shall live or die but whether I live or die it will be well for me I am not in trouble for my sins God is satisfied with his Son Jesus Christ for he hath wash'd them away with his Blood Then her Sister standing by she said Sister Betty and Sister Anne be sure your first Work be in the Morning to seek the Lord by Prayer and likewise in the Evening and give Thanks for your Food for you cannot pray too ofen to the Lord and though you cannot speak such Words as others have yet the Lord will accept of the Heart for you do not know how soon your Speech may be taken away as mine was She desired her Mother thus Do not let too much Company be here late at Night lest it should hinder them from seeking the Lord in Duty at home I know not whether I shall live or die but if I die and if you will have a Sermon I desire this may be the Text the Place I do not know but the Words may be comfortable to you That David when his Child was sick he cloathed himself in Sackcloth and wept but when his Child was dead he washed and eat Bread For you have wept much while I have been sick and if I die you have cause to rejoyce My Comfort is in the Lord there is Comfort indeed Though we may seek Comfort here and the Glory of this World yet what is all that All will be nothing when we come to lie upon a Death-bed then we would fain have the Love of God and cannot get it I am full of Comfort and Joy Though my Pains are very great yet I am full of Joy and Comfort I was very full of Comfort before but I am fuller of Joy this Hour than I have been yet It is better to live Lazarus's Life and to die Lazarus's Death than to live Dives's Life he had his Delicates and afterwards would have been glad to have had Lazarus dip his Finger in Water and cool his Tongue The last Night I could not stir my Head Hand nor Foot but by and by the Lord did help me to move my Head a little and at length my Body O what a good God have I that can cast down and raise up in a moment 29. Of the Expressions of an hopeful Child the Daughter of Mr. Edward Scarfield that was but Eleven Years of Age in March 1661 Gathered from a Letter written by one fearing God that lived in the House with the Child In August last this Child was sick of a Fever in which time she said to her Father who is a holy humble precious Man I am afraid I am not prepared to die and fell under much trouble of Spirit being sensible not only of actual Sins but of her lost Estate without Christ in Unbelief as Ephes 2.12 John 16.8 9. and she wept bitterly crying out thus My sins are greater than I can bear I doubt God will not forgive them telling her Father I am in unbelief and I cannot believe Yet she was drawn out to pray many times in those words of Psal 25. For thy Name 's sake O Lord pardon my sin for it is great Thus she lay oft mourning for sin and said I had rather have Christ than Health She would repeat many Promises of God's Mercy and Grace but said she could not believe But whilst her Father was praying the Lord raised her Soul up to believe as she told her Father when Prayer was ended Now I believe in Christ and I am not afraid of Death After this she said I had rather die than sin against God Since that time she hath continued quiet in mind as one that hath Peace with God Her Father saith that since she was Five Years old he remembred not that either a Lye or an Oath hath ever come out of her Mouth neither would she have wronged any to the value of a Pin. For these two last Relations I 'm beholding to Mr. Henry Jessey Next follows a Narrative of the Conversions and happy Deaths of several young Children extracted from Mr. White 's and Mr. Janeway's Treatises upon that Subject to which the Reader is refer'd for a much larger Account 1. THere was a Child of whom many things which I here relate I was an Ear-witness of and other things which I shall speak of him I am fully satisfied of This little Child when he died was in Coats somewhat above eight years old of singular Knowledge Affections and Duties for his Age of whom that I may give a more full Account For his Knowledge 1. He asked how the Angels could sin since there were none to tempt them and they were with God 2. It being told him that all Sins and Duties were commanded in the Ten Commandments and forbid I asked him what Commandment forbad Drunkenness He said Thou shalt not kill for they quartelled and killed one another His Father asked him who bid you learn your Book and there is no Commandment saith Thou shalt learn thy Book The Child answered in these words or to this purpose It is said Thou shalt honour thy Father and thy Mother you bid me learn my Book He asked his Father when he was at Dinner what became of Children that died before Baptism he made a little stop that he might answer him
an idle Person walking in the Streets but their Doors and Windows close shut the People within exercised in serious and grave Discourses reading of the Scriptures Repetition of Sermons Catechising Praying Singing of Psalms c. In the other the Doors open the Streets too much frequented with idle Company and licentious Exercises And even in Whitchurch where the Plague first and afterwards a Fire had the greatest Influence the Rector or Minister of the Parish did often enough and very plainly admonish them Inhabitants of that particular Street called the New-Town of their careless observance of the Lord's-Day as if that in his Judgment were the distinguishing Sin of that Street above any others in the Town 4. I have taken Notice elsewhere of Ministers and others who have been delighted and expended themselves in Sabbatical Devotions have been called to their Rest upon that Day As for instance 1. The Divine Poet nad Preacher Mr. Herbert 2. Mr. Edw. Deering 3. Theodore Beza 4. Arch-Bishop Abbot soon after he came out of the Pulpit fell sick and shortly after died 5. Dr. Rob. Harris died between Twelve and One a Clock on Saturday Night 6. Dr. Preston at Five a Clock on the Lord's-day Morning 7. Dr. Thomas Tailour of Aldermanbury Mr. Edward West the Lord's-Day-Night after having Preach'd there 8. Mr. Julius Herrings 9. Mr. Thomas Wadsworth and Mr. Richard Vines 10. Sir Matthew Hale upon Christmas-Day a Day which he used to Celebrate with great Devotion and much Spiritual Joy leaving behind him no less than Seventeen Poems which he had Composed upon that Day to the Honour of his Saviour Cum multis aliis c. On the same Day died Mr. Sam. Crook Minister See the Head of Sudden Death for more Relations of this nature 5. Mr. H. Burton after his Sufferings and Exile having an Order sent him from the Parliament for his Enlargement and his Return for England makes this Observation and in these Words Blessed Tidings indeed and the more because it comes from a Parliament and the more because it comes from a Parliament's Handsel presenting much Good but promising more The News filled Guernsey Castle with Joy and so the Island The First Observation I made of it was of the Day on which this Tidings came First I noted it was the Lord's-Day which Day I had mightily propugned and defended both by Preaching and Writing against the Malignant and Prophane Adversaries of the Sanctification thereof and of its Morality And when the Book for Dispensations and Allowance of Sports on that Day came with an Injunction to be publickly read in my Church upon the Lord's-Day that ery Day instead of Reading of it I turned my Afternoon Preaching into an opening of the Fourth Commandment therein proving the Lord's-Day both for Sabbath and Sanctification under the Gospel now the Order for my Liberty came on that Day See his Life p. 38. CHAP. LXXV Present Retribution to them that have been Obedient to Parents HOnour thy Father and Mother saith the Apostle which is the first Commandment with Promise And the particular Promise annexed to it is Length of Days viz. That thy Days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee And the Reason is obvious and natural and plain to any Man of Common Sence for besides that the Dutifulness of Children is the likeliest may to engage the Favour of God and the Divine Conduct and Blessing on their sides it obligeth the Children who are temselves green in Years and unexperienced in the World and obnoxious to many Temptations and Snares of Ill Company Idleness Rashness Licentiousness c. to keep close to wiser Counsels and the grave Instructions of their faithful aged and experienced Parents by which means they oftentimes fare better than such rash and refractory Phaetons who throw off the Yoke of Parental Discipline and are left like Sons of Belial to do whatsoever seems good in their own eyes How many in the World have escaped the Stings of Poverty and the Ignominy of the Gallows and a violent Death and other Dangers by this means 1. Tho' Lamech had several other Children as Jabal Jubal Tubal-Cain c. yet none that we read of trod in the Steps and proved so dutiful and comfortable to his Parents as Noah Gen. 5.29 And he was remarkably blessed and rewarded for it for when all the rest of the World was destroyed He found Grace in the sight of the Lord Gen. 6.8 2. Noah had Three Sons Shem Ham Japhet but Ham dishonoured his Father and made a Scorn of his Nakedness and therefore was accursed by him Shem and Japhet joyned together and took a Garment to cover their Father's Infirmity and therefore Blessed saith Noah be the Lord God of Shem c. Gen. 9.26 3. Abraham had Two Sons Ishmael and Isaac the one scornful and disinherited and turned out of the House the other dutiful and his Father's Favourite and Heir 4. Isaac had Two Sons Esau and Jacob the one a cunning Hunter a profane Fellow that made light of his Birth-right and therefore forfeited his Blessing the other a plain Man and pious and according procured the Blessing 5. Jacob had many Children but Reuben the First-born unstable as Water went up to his Father's Bed and defiled it and therefore Gen. 49.4 Thou shalt not excel Simeon and Levi had Instruments of Cruelty in their Habitations in their Anger they slew a Man and in their Self-will digg'd down a Wall and therefore ver 7. Cursed be their Anger for it was fierce c. They were to be divided and scattered in Israel Judah to save Joseph's Life who was his Father's Fondling and the Son of his Old Age advised his Brethren to sell him and afterwards offered himself to be Joseph's Bondman for his Brother Benjamin out of Tenderness to his Aged Father Gen. 44.34 For how shall I go up saith he to my Father and the Lad be not with me lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my Father And therefore see how this Piety of Judah and Dutifulness to his Father was at last rewarded chap. 49.8 9 10. Judah thou art he that thy Brethren shall praise thy Hand shall be in the Neck of thy Enemies thy Father's Children shall bow down before thee Judah is a Lion's Whelp c. The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah c. 6. I have read saith my Author of a young Man hang'd at Four and twenty Years whose curled Black Locks upon the Gallows instantly turned White many enquiring into the Cause of such a strange Event a grave Divine assigned this Reason Had this young Man saith he been dutiful to his Parents obedient to his Superiours he might have lived so long 'till that in the Course of Nature his Black Hairs had become White Mr. Quick in his relation of the Poisoning of a whole Family in Plimouth c. p. 87. 7. Mr. Paul Baines of Christ's-College in Cambridge was at first very
their Prescriptions wrought kindly but removed not his Disease he desired divers Christians to pray for him on a Day prefixed and promised to joyn with them as well as he could with some others that should be with him assuring them That he was confident that Disease would not be removed but by Prayer and Fasting The Morning of that Day he had a Fit continued four Hours together upon him and the Devil set upon all that while with most dreadful Temptations telling him he would make him the Scorn of Religion and every Man should reproach it for his sake that had before by his means looked towards it that he should never preach more but should blaspheme the Name of God he had preached with many like Suggestions God gave him Courage Comfort and Victory over them all The Devil told him if he did fast and pray that Day he would torment and hinder him c. We met at the time appointed and Master Rothwel would needs have me to perform the Duty which through God's Goodness I did and the Devil was not permitted to hinder or interrupt him or us and God heard our Prayers so that he had never a Fit after that and the Sabbath-sevennight following he preached but after many Wrestlings with Satan who told him he would make him mad and before all the People in the Pulpit make him a Scorn if he did adventure to preach Nevertheless his Faith in Christ overcame his Fear of Stan and he preached with great Assistance and Comfort upon that Text Psal 116.9 I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living Nevertheless that Sickness did so weaken his Brain that ever after he was inclining to some Infirmities which Love must cover See his Life 3. I have spoke elsewhere of Mr. Charles Langford in his Book to which I refer my Reader only take Notice of the Complaint which he makes concerning his own Case in his own Words If by Fever Melancholly or other Bodily Distempers the Natural Spirits which are the Cursitors between the Body and the Soul are made uncapable of performing their Office aright then is Satan sure to be up and doing every Affliction is an Hour of Temptation the Dark is his Delight now is the time for him to lay his Delusions upon the Fantasie and to charge Sin upon the Soul when he finds it most unable to resist and ready to embrace end believe it Langford's God's Wonderful Mercy in the Mount of Woful Extremity Preface See more in the next Chapter and in the Chapter of Discontentedness c. CHAP. XC Satan Hurting by Temptations Injections c. As for ordinary Temptations to ordinary Sins in the common way they are too obvious to every sensible Christian than to need a particular Discourse all that I intend here is to make a Remark upon some that are more strange and unusual either as to the Greatness of the Sins the Temptations direct to or the Season or the Conveyance For Satan doth not always keep the same Road nor the same Pace but sometimes spurs on with more violence and changeth his Path and varies his Methods sometimes he roars like a Lyon and drives on like Jehu Furiously as if he would drive Souls to Hell without fear of any Opposition or possibility of Remedy 1. Anthony Wildgoose being visited An. 1634 with a violent burning Fever upon Recovery being visited by some Friends who prayed with him and sung a Psalm or two viz. Psal 15. and Psal 13. when they came to the last Verse I will give thanks unto the Lord c. Satan standing at his Right-hand to use his own words tempted him to blaspheme the great and dreadful Name of God with the words of Job's Wife To curse God and die c. And this he forced so vehemently into his Mind that he had no power to resist him insomuch that he thought verily he had done it indeed which occasioned much Trouble of Mind to him so that he had very little Sleep Night or Day and was verily perswaded the Devil would carry away suddenly Body and Soul into Hell and so he continued crying out That he had committed the unpardonable Sin despairing of God's Mercy 'till upon a Minister's Vifit and Instructions he recovered a little but by and by fell into worse Torment of Mind than before as if he had been fallen into the very Depths of Hell and in a Trance of some Hours continuance after he had seemed to converse a-while with Devils who tormented him with Whips on a Bed of Iron he though he was restored from thence and stood upon the Earth and that all the Sky was on a Light-fire and that Jesus was come to judge the Earth and was set upon his Throne and he to appear before him immediately And then looking on himself as a most vile black deformed ugly Creature Oh! thought he if I were but like such and such Afterwards recovering from his Trance and Illness of Body he continued in ill State of Mind a long time sometimes ready to make away himself living melancholly and discontented once putting a Knife to his Throat and drawing Blood but upon better Thoughts he withdrew escaping as a Bird out of the Snare c. Miracles of Mercies p. 2 3 4. 2. While Mr. Eliot was preaching of Christ to the Indians a Demon appeared to a Prince of the Eastern Indians in a shape that somewhat resembled the Person of Mr. Eliot or of an English Minister pretending to be the English-man's God The Spectre commanded him To forbear the Drinking of Rum to observe the Sabbath-day and to deal justly with his Neighbours all which had been inculcated in Mr. Eliot's Ministry promising withal unto him That if he did so at his Death he 'd ascend unto a happy place otherwise descend unto Miseries But the Apparition all the while never said one word about Christ which was the main Subject of Mr. Eliot's Ministry The Sachim received such an Impression from the Apparition that he dealt justly with all Men except in the bloody Tragedies and Cruelties he afterwards committed on the English in our Wars he kept the Sabbath-Day like a Fast frequently attending in our Congregations he would not meddle with any Rum tho' usually his Country-men had rather die than to deny themselves At last and not long since this Demon appeared again unto the Pagan requiring him to kill himself and assuring him That he should revive in a Day or two never to die any more He thereupon divers times attempted it but his Friends very carefully prevented it however at length he found a fair Opportunity for this foul Business and hang'd himself you may be sure without his expected Resurrection But 't is easie to see saith my Author what a Stumbling-block was here laid before the miscrable Indians Mather in Mr. Eliot's Life 3. Mr. Powel speaking concerning a Woman by Name E. C. who at the Birth of a Child she had very great Temptations
for Bewitching Elizabeth Durent Anne Durent Jane Booking Susan Chandler William Durent Elizabeth and Deborah Pacy and the Evidences whereon they were convicted stood upon divers particular Circumstances II. Anne Durent Susan Chandler and Elizabeth Pacy when they came into the Hall to give Instructions for the drawing the Bills of Indictment they fell into strange and violent Fits so that they were unable to give in their Depositions not only then but also during the whole Assizes William Durent being an Infant his Mother swore That Amy Duny looking after her Child one Day in her absence did at her return confess That she had given Suck to the Child tho' she were an Old Woman Whereat when Durent expressed her Displeasure Duny went away with Discontents and Menaces The Night after the Child fell into strange and sad Fits wherein it continued for divers Weeks One Dr. Jacob advised her to hang up the Child's Blanket in the Chimney-corner all Day and at Night when she went to put the Child into it if the found any thing in it then to through it without fear into the Fire Accordingly at Night there fell a great Toad out of the Blanker which ran up and down the Hearth A Boy catch'd it and held it in the Fire with the Tongs where it made an horrible Noise and flash'd like to Gunpowder with a Report like that of a Pistol whereupon the Toad was no more to be seen The next Day a Kinswoman of Duny's told the Deponent That her Aunt was all grievously scorch'd with the Fire and the Deponent going to her House found her in such a Condition Duny told her She might thank her for it but she should live to see some of her Children dead and herself upon Crutches But after the burning of the Toad this Child recovered This Deponent further testified That her Daughter Elizabeth being about the Age of ten Years was taken in like manner as her first Child was and in her Fits complained much of Amy Duny and said That she did appear to her and afflict her in such manner as the former One Day she found Amy Duny in her House and thrusting her out of Doors Duny said You need not be so angry your Child won't live long and within three Days the Child died The Deponent added That she herself not long after was taken with such a Lameness in both her Legs that she was forced to go upon Crutches and she was now in Court upon them It was remarkable that immediately upon the Jury's bringing in Duny Guilty Durent was restored unto the Use of her Limbs and went home without her Crutches III. As for Elizabeth and Deborah Pacy and aged Eleven Years the other Nine the Elder being in Court was made utterly sensless during all the time of the Trial or at least speechless by the Direction of the Judge Duny was privately brought to Elizabeth Pacy and she touched her Hand whereupon the Child without so much as seeing her suddenly leap'd up and flew upon the Prisoner the Younger was too ill to be brought into the Assizes But Samuel Pacy their Father testified That his Daughter Deborah was taken with a sudden Lameness and upon the Grumbling of Amy Duny for being denied something where this Child was then sitting the Child was taken with an extream Pain in her Stomach like the pricking of Pins and shrieking at a dreadful manner like a Whelp rather than a Rational Creature The Physitians could not conjecture the Cause of the Distemper but Amy Duny being a Woman of ill Fame and the Child in Fits crying out of Amy Duny as affrighting her with the Apparition of her Person the Deponent suspected her and procured her to be set in the Stocks While she was there she said in the hearing of two Witnesses Mr. Pacy keeps a great stir about his Child but let him stay 'till he has done as much by his Children as I have done by mine And being asked what she had done to her Children she answered She had been fain to open her Childs Mouth with a Tap to give it Victuals The Deponent added That within two Days the Fits of his Daughters were such that they could not preserve either Life or Breath without the help of Tap and that the Children cry'd out of Amy Duny and of Rose Cullender as afflicting them with her Apparition IV. The Fits of the Children were various They would sometimes be lame on one side sometimes on â—other Sometimes very sore sometimes restored unto their Limbs and then Deaf or Blind or Dumb for a long while together Upon the Recovery of their Speech they would Cough extreamly and with much Flegm they would bring up crooked Pins and at one time a Two-penny Nail with a very broad Head Commonly at the end of every Fit they would cast up a Pin. When the Children read they could not pronouce the Name of Lord or Jesus or Christ but would fall into Fits and say Amy Duny says I must not use that Name When they came to the Name of Satan or Devil they would clap their Fingers upon the Book crying out This bites but it makes me speak right well The Children in their Fits would often cry out There stands Amy Duny or Rose Cullender And they would afterwards relate That these Witches appearing before them threatned them that if they told of what they saw or heard they would torment them more than ever they did before V. Margaret Arnold the Sister to Mr. Pacy testifi'd unto the like Sufferings being upon the Children at her House whether her Brother had removed them And that sometimes the Children only would see things like Mice run about the House and one of them suddenly snap'd one with the Tongs and threw it into the Fire where it screeched out like a Rat. At another time a thing like a Bee flew at the Face of the younger Child the Child fell into a Fit and at last Vomited up a Two-penny Nail with a broad Head affirming That the Bee brought this Nail and forced it into her Mouth The Child would in like manner be assauted with Flies which brought crooked Pins unto her and made her first swallow them and then vomit them She one Day caught an invisible Mouse and throwing it into the Fire it flash'd like to Gunpowder None besides the Child saw the Mouse but every one saw the Flash She also declared out of her Fits That in them Amy Duny much tempted her to destroy herself VI. As for Anne Durent her Father testified That upon a Discontent of Rose Cullender his Daughter was taken with much Illness in her Stomach and great and sore Pains like the pricking of Pins and then Swooning Fits from which recovering she declared She had seen the Apparition of Rose Cullender threatning to torment her She likewise Vomited up divers Pins The Maid was present at Court but when Cullender looked upon her she fell into such Fits as made her
his Cloak and never so secret he would run upon him and use great violence to get it from him and when he could get any he rent them in pieces Sometimes he would lie along as if stark Dead his Colour gone and Mouth so wide open that he would on a sudden thrust both his Hands into it And notwithstanding his great weakness he would Leap and Skip from his Bed to the Window from thence to the Table and so to Bed again with that nimbleness and agility as no Tumbler could do the like and yet all this while his Legs grown up close to his Buttocks so that he could not use them Sometimes we saw his Chin drawn up to his Nose that his Mouth could scarce be seen sometimes his Chin and Forehead drawn almost together like a bended Bow his Countenance fearful by yawning making mowes c. The Bishop hearing of the strange Torments of this poor Child sent for him His Parents brought him and once the Bishop pray'd with him but the Boy was so outragious that he flew out of his Bed and so frighted the Bishop's Men that one of them fell into a Swoon and the Bishop was glad to lay hold on the Boy who ramped at the Window to have got out hereupon this Bishop granted a License for a private Fast in the Child's Father's House for his Help and Release and that in these Words Having seen the bodily affliction of this Child and observed in sundry Fits very strange Effects and Operations either proceeding from some Natural and unknown Causes or some Diabolical Practices we think it fit and convenient for the Ease and Deliverance of the said Child from his sad grievous Affliction that Prayer be made publickly for him by the Minister of the Parish c. and that certain Preachers namely these following Mr. Gerrard Mr. Harvey Mr. Pierson c. these and none other to repair to the said Child by turns as their Leisure will serve and to use their Discretion by private Prayer and Fasting for the Ease and Comfort of the Afflicted Richard Cestrens Griffith Vaughan David Yale Hugh Barcly Which accordingly was performed by two Godly Ministers and by Mr. Bruen with divers others yet God gave not Deliverance at that time When he was in his Fits without either understanding or knowledge of what he did or said he would often say Jesus saith for so he began all his Speeches the Devil when he comes takes away my Hearing Seeing Vnderstanding Hands Legs that I should have no Senses nor Limbs to Glorifie God withal Jesus saith if they would have cast out the Evil Spirit they should have come better provided Jesus saith some Men did think that he that Prayed had a better Faith than the other but he had not Jesus saith I have but three Devils it is like one of the Spirits will go out of me and take Counsel of a great number of foul Spirits and come again and trouble me worse Jesus saith that some Folk will say that the Witch will not look one in the face but she will look here-away and there-away c. Mr. William Hind in the Life of Mr. Bruen CHAP. XCVI Satan Hurting by Storms c. ST Paul calls Satan the Prince of the Power of the Air Eph. 2.2 And it is certain that by Divine permission he is allowed a considerable Range in that Aetherial Region for we find in the Câ—se of Job when the Lord had given him Power over all that he had 't is presently added that Satan went forth from the Presence of the Lord and in the subsequent verses we are told that the Fire of God fell from Heaven and burnt up the Sheep and the Servants and consumed them Which is by Expositors taken for Thunder and Lightning and at last there came a great Wind from the Wilderness and smote the four Corners of the House and it fell upon his Sons so that they died Job 2.13 c. Consider seriously these Stories following and believe them so far as they deserve 1. That certain Words or Ceremonies do seem at least to cause an Alteration in the Air and to raise Tempests Remigius writes That he had it witnessed to him by the free Confession of near Two hundred Men that he Examined Where he adds a Story or two in which there being neither Fraud nor Melancholy to be suspected I think them worth the mentioning The one is of a Witch who to satisfie the Curiosity of them that had power to Punish her was set free that she might give a proof of that Power she professed she had to raise Tempests She therefore being let go presently betakes her self to a place thick set with Trees scrapes a hole with her Hands fills it with Urine and stirs it about so long that she caused at last a thick Cloud charged with Thunder and Lightning to the Terror and Affrightment of the Beholders But she bad them be of good Courage for the would cmmand the Cloud to discharge upon what place they would appoint her which she made good in the sight of the Spectators 2. The other Story is of a young Girl who to pleasure her Father complaining of a drought by the guidance and help of that ill Master her Mother had Devoted and Consecrated her unto raised a Cloud and water'd her Father's Ground only all the rest continuing dry as before H. More 's Antidnote against Atheism c. 3. l. 3. 3. Let us add says the same Author to these that of Cuinus and Margaret Warine Whilst this Cuinus was busie at his Hay-making there arose suddenly great Thunder and Lightning which made him run homeward and forsake his Work for he saw six Oaks hard by him overturned from the very Roots and a seventh also shattered and torn in pieces He was forced to lose his Hat and leave his Fork or Rake for haste which was not so fast but another crack overtakes him and rattles about his ears Upon which Thunder-clap he presently espied this Margaret Warine a reputed Witch upon the top of an Oak whom he began to chide She desired his Secresie and she would promise that never any injury or harm should come to him from her at any time 4. This Cuinus deposed upon Oath before the Magistrate and Margaret Warine acknowledged the Truth of it without any force done unto her several times before her death and at her Death See Remigius Daemonolatr lib 1. cap. 29. Remigius conceives she was discharged upon the top of the Oak at that last Thunder Clap and there hung amongst the Boughs which he is induced to believe from two Stories he tells afterwards The one is of a Tempest of Thunder and Lightning That the Herdsmen tending their Cattle on the brow of the Hill Alman in the Field of Guicuria were Frighted with who running into the Woods for shelter suddenly saw two Countrey-men on the top of the Trees which were next them so Dirty and in such a Pickle and so
over-looked by their Creator with more Contempt as being more Vile than their Neighbours Our Savioar gave a Check to this Humour when he vindicated the Blind Man in the Gospel and told his Auditory the Cause was neither his Sins nor his Parents 1. Martial who was a notable Scoffer makes a Mockery at Coelius in his Epigrams who counterfeiting to be Gouty anointed himself with Oils and other things wrapping and binding up his Joints because he would have nothing to do at the Court either by Night or by Day or attend as Courtiers do upon any Great Person But in the end his Fortune so fell out that he happened to have the Gout indeed Treasur of Anc. and Mod. Times 2. Appianus Alexandrinus reporteth also of another Roman who to escape the Proscriptions of the Roman Triumviri and not to be known for what he was by such as might take notice of him kept himself close and wore an Emplaster of Velvet upon one of his Eyes which he continued for a long time After all such Search and Pursuit was passed over the Man took off his Plaister and found the utter Loss of the Eye indeed Ibid. p. 272. 3. During those Troubles of the Union or League in France it chanced that near unto a Castle certain honest Men were set upon by Thieves and robb'd in such sort that they had nothing left them but their Shirts When they perceived the Castle they went presently thither and entreated the Lord thereof that he would lend them some Assistance for the Apprehension of the Thieves in regard that he had a certain Knowledge of them and was armed with such Authority as might at least help them to their Garments again But the uncharitable Gentleman would afford them no Favour no not so much as to see them but feign'd that he had the Cholick and was unable to stir out of his Bed or to attend upon any Business whatsoever It was then the coldest Season of the Year and the Servants albeit unknown to their Master lodged these despised poor Men for that Night in a Stable whence they departed homeward the next Morning without drawing the least Courtesie that could be from that ungenteel Gentleman Now I know not whether it happened by just Vengeance of Heaven or by some natural Occasion thereto leading but he fell into the Cholick indeed and was forced to keep his Chamber for the space of Twenty Days and at last died by the violent Extremity thereof Ibid. p. 273. 4. An Abbot of Guyenne and Archdeacon in a Bishoprick was cited by the Bishop and Chapter to appear at a Visitation for Assessing of each Benefice in the Diocess according to their Faculties for the Relief of poor Parishes from whence they derived Demesnes and Rents The Abbot made Excuse saying he had a Pleurisie which was meerly false and therefore he could not be there present But within few Days after he was taken with such a grievous Pain in his Side that he kept his Bed a whole Year together and was glad to have his Side cauterized in two Places Notwithstanding which he could not recover Health while he lived Ibid. c. 14. p. 273. 5. Suibdager King of Swecia being very Covetous counterscited Deafness to the end be might hear to Requests made to him for bestowing of any Gifts For in that Country he negotiated his whole Reign by Conference with the People and not by Writing or Petition as they do to this Day But in a short time the King became both Deaf and Blind indeed Ibid. 6. I knew a young Scholar descended of good Parentage in the Franche-Comtè who was a very facetious Scoffer and Mocker and continually used to counterfeit the Gate Gesture and Behaviour of his Sister the Wife of his elder Brother descended of a very Worthy and Vertuous Family and who had brought great Estates and Means for her Portion who was Lame and as she halted so in scorn he would do the like But undoubtly by God's Judgments he chanced to break one of his Legs which could never after be recovered or brought to any Form so that he halted downright to his Dying-day Ibid. CHAP. CIII Divine Judgments upon Atheism ATheism and the Effects of it are bidding an open Defiance to all the Powers of Heaven so that 't is no Wonder if the Almighty who resides there and governs here resents the Crime with a mere than ordinary Indignation The most Renowned for Professed Ungodliness saith Bishop Fotherby are these In Holy Writings King Pharach and Antiâ—â—hus the King of Tyre and the Two Herâ—ds in Ecclesiastical History Caligula Domitian Maximinus and Julian in Profane History Prâ—tagoras Diagoras Theodoras Socrates Epicurus Bion Pherecides and Dionysius Of all whom there was not one that cited in his Nest of a fair and kindly Death saving only this last whose Damnation yet slept not but all the rest of them ended their Lives by the Stroke of God's Justice 1. Julius Caesar suffered as an Atheist Dr. Tenison 2. There are a Sect of Atheists in Turkey sprung up of late Years called Muserin i. e. The True Secrâ—t is with us Which Secret is no other than the absolute Denial of a Deity that Nature or the Intrinsical Principle in every individual Thing directs the ordinary Course which we see and admire and that the Heavens Sun Moon and Stars have thence their Original and Motion and that Man himself riseth and fades like the Grass and Flower It is strange to consider what Quantities there are of Men that maintain this Principle in Constantinople most of which are Cadi's and Learned Men in the Arabian Legends and others are Renegado's from the Christian Faith who conscious of their Sin of Apostacy and therefore desirous all Things may conclude with this World are the more apt to entertain those Opinions which come nearest to their Wishes One of this Sect called Mahomet Effendi a Rich Man educated in the Knowledge of the Eastern Learning I remember was in my Time executed for impudently proclaiming his Blasphemies against the Being of a Deity making it in his ordinary Discourse an Argument against the Being of a God for that either there was none at all or else not so wise as the Doctors preached he was in suffering Him to live that was the greatest Enemy and Scorner of a Divine Essence that ever came into the World And it is observable saith my Author That this Man might notwithstanding his Accusation have saved his Life would he but have confessed his Error and promised for the future an Assent to the Principles of a better But he persisted still in his Blasphemies saying That tho' there were no Reward yet the Love of Truth obliged him to die a Martyr Mr. Ricaut's History of the Present State of the Ottoman Empire Book II. c. 12. p. 246. A great Raja a Gentile a notorious Atheist glorying to profess That he knew no other God than the King nor believing nor fearing any other Deity fitting
the Earls of Worcester Pembrook and Montgomery with a numerous Train of the Nobility and Gentry where at the Entry they were accosted with a Gratualtory Speech and Musick and afterwards the Feast served up by the choicest Citizens and after Supper with a Wassail two pleasant Masques a Play and Dancing And after all the Bride and Bridegroom invited to a noble Banquet with all the noble Train and at Three in the Morning returned to White-hall And before this Surfeit of Pleasure was well digested the Gentlemen of Grey's Inn invited them to a Masque But before the end of the Year who would think it for this was in the Christmas-Holidays and lasted till a few Days after all this Joy was turned into Sharp and Sowre For afterward the Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury was discovered some of the chief Instruments employed to Poyson him were hanged the Earl of Somerset and his Countess imprisoned their Persons convicted and Estate seized except only four Thousand Pound per Annum allowed him for Life only by the King's Favour after some time he was set at Liberty but never more returned into Favour at Court Detection of the Court and State of England during the Four last Reigns p. 39 40 c. 6. In the Reign of Charles the V. a young Gentleman of noble Parentage in the Court of that Emperor for deflowering a young Gentlewoman whom he greatly loved was committed to Prison where expecting nothing but the Rigour of the Law he took on with such Grief of Mind that the next Morning his Face appeared very wan his Beard drivelled his Hair turned perfectly gray and all his fresh and youthful Vigour was quite vanished which coming to the Emperor's Ears he sent for him and for the strangeness of the thing pardon'd him accounting the great Fear he had undergone and the Effects of it a sufficient Punishment Doom warning to the Judgment p. 346. out of Levin Lemn 7. In Germany a Gentleman of note finding his Wife in Bed with another Man slew first the Adulterer and then his own Wife Luth. Coll. 8. A nobleman of Thuringia being taken in Adultery the Husband of the Adultress bound him Hand and Foot cast him into Prison kept him fasting only causing daily hot Dishes of Meat to be set before him to tantalize him with the Smell In this Torture the Letcher continued till he gnawed off the Flesh from his own Shoulders and on the 11th Day he died Clark out of Luther 9. Mary of Arragon Wife to the Emperor Otho the III. carry'd a young Fornicator along with her in Woman's Habit but he being discovered was burnt to Death Afterwards solliciting the Count of Mutina and not able to draw him to her Lure she accused him to the Emperor of attempting a Rape upon her for which he was beheaded But the Emperor at last finding out his Wife's Wickedness caused her to be burnt at a Stake Clark's Examp. Vol. I. chap. 2. 10. Luther tells us of a Great Man in his Country so besotted with the Sin of Whoredome that he was not ashamed to say That if he might live for ever here and be carried from one Whore-house to another there to satisfie his Lusts he would never desire any other Heaven This vile Fellow afterwards breathed out his wretched Soul betwixt two notorious Harlots Ibid. 11. Venery was the Destruction of Alexander the Great Of Otho the Emperor called for his good Parts otherwise Miraculum Mundi Of Pope Sixtus the IV. who died of a wicked Wast Of Peope Paul the IV. of whom it passed for a Proverb Eum per eandem partem animam profudisse per quam acceperat Ibid. So true it is which Solomon saith many strong Men have been slain by her 12. 'T is notoriously known how far this Sin prevailed in England amongst the Lazy Monks and Nuns what Skulls of Infants were found near their Religious Houses before the Dissolution of them in Henry the VIII's Days And much about the same time viz. at the beginning of the Reformation as I have read in a Letter writ by the Pope's Notary to a Gentleman in Germany there was a Nunnery visited in the outer Skirts of Italy and Thirteen of the Nuns found with Child at the same time all by the Confessor for which Cause by order of the Pope it was put down 13. Thomas Savage frequenting the House of Hannah Blay a noted Bawdy-house spending upon her such Money as he could get to satisfie his own Lust and her craving Appetite is tempted first to stealing and purloining from his Master and at last to the murdering of a Maid his Fellow-Servant For which he was afterwards brought to the Gallows See the Printed Narrative 14. Mr. Robert Foulks of Stanton-Lacy first an Adulterer and then a Murderer of his Bastard Child ended his Days very ignominiously at Tiburn tho' penitently See the Narrative or the Abbreviation in the Compleat History of Dying Penitents 15. John Allerton Bishop of Waterford in Ireland for unnatural Concupiscence came to a very disgraceful End being Arraigned and Executed at Dublin It were endless to enumerate all the sad Examples of Divine Judgment that might be brought under this Head CHAP. CXXV Divine Judgments upon Voluptuousness and Luxury THE Love of sensual Pleasure is to this Day a Blot upon the Memory of Epicurus tho' he were but a Heathen Philosopher How much more Disgraceful is it for Christians whose Profession it is to deny themselves and take up the Cross and be mortified to the World and crucifie the Flesh which the Affections and Lusts And the Reason why God hath laid such a Restrain upon our Appetites is because Voluptuousness is a Thief of our Time and Affections It steals the Heart from God and so debaucheth the Mind of Man that it cannot relish spiritual Delights and the Sweets of a Holy and Devout Life and therefore no wonder if God Almighly doth so resent this Alienation of the Mind from him that he punish it often with some Remarkable Judgments to shew his Detestation of it and to Detert others from it 1. Charles the II. King of Spain having wasted his Spirits with Voluptuousness and Luxury in his old Age fell into a Lethargy and therefore to comfort his benummed Joints he was by the Advice of his Physicians sowed up in a Sheet steeped in Aqua-vitae The Chirurgeon having made an end of sowing the Sheet wanted a Knife to cut off the Thread whereupon he took the Wax-Tapor that stood by to burn it off But the Flame running by the Thread caught hold of the Sheet in an instant which according to the nature of Aqua-vitae burned so violently that the old King ended his Days in the Flame Clark's Mirr Vol. I. p. 492. 2. Petrus Crinitus a great Clerk in the Days of our Grandfathers thought it fit forsooth when he was old to do as Socrates did under colour of Free Teaching to converse with Youths in the Streets in the Tennis-Courts in the Taverns
back from a Miller Anno 1667 fasted a Twelve Month is no Wonder in comparison with the former Stories nor that of the Shropshire Maid whose Mother I was acquainted with who fasted as â—ong mentioned in the former part of this Book CHAP. XXII Children Petrified in the Womb. THE Story of Niobe turned into a Marble Statue is a Fable Children are often converted into Stones in the Womb and I would to God Men were not so in their ripe Age at least in a Metaphorical Sense but as to the Petrification of Infants it is not much more strange that a Juyce fit for Concretion should be carried to the Womb than to the Reins or Bladder or that a Spiritus Lapidificus should prevail in the one and never in the other 1. Columba Chatry of Sens in Burgundy Wise to Ludovicus Chatry by the report of Mr. John Alibaux an Eminent Physicians and who also was present at the Dissection of her went 28 years with a Dead Child in her Womb When she was dead and her Belly opened there was found a Stone having all the Limbs and exact proportion of a Child of 9 Months old This happened Anno 1582. Sennertus confesses this accident so rare that he never met with the like instance in the whole History of Physick Sennert Prax. Med. l. 4. par 2. Sect. 4. c. 7. p. 311. 2. Horstius tells of a Woman aged 37. at the time of his Writing whose Womb was all turned to Stone to the weight of 7 pound Her Spleen Globular her Bladder Stony and her Peritonaeum so very hard that it could scarce be cut with a Knife and yet this Woman lived without any manifest sign of Sickness all her life time Addit ad Donat. per Greg. Horst l. 7. c. 2. p. 663. 3. Hearnius affirms That he saw at Padua a Woman whose Breast was turn'd into Stone by this means as she lay dead that Breast of hers lay covered in the Water of a certain Spring there Ibid. p. 664. 4. Pompilius Placentinus tells of a Venetian Woman who being Poisoned by an Apple when Dead she grew so stiff and congealed that she seemed to be transformed into a Statute of Stone nor could they cut open her Belly by Knife or Sword Zacch qu. Medico-Legal c. 4. Tit. 1. p. 235. 5. The Body of a Man that was killed and cast into the River Anien having lain some time at the Root of a Tree that grew upon the Bank-side when it was found and taken up it was turn'd into Stone Titus Celsus a Patrician of Rome affirmed that he had seen it Cornman de Mir. Morc par 3. cap. 36. p. 18. 6. I my self saw a Maid born in Ireland exposed to view at Arundel in Sussex a few years ago who besides strange Moles upon her Body had a great Excressence growing between her Legs hard as Stone very bulky and weighty so that was not able to carry it about without a Truss CHAP. XXIII Accidents upon Persons Birth-Days c. I Am not sure that the Matter of Fact in all the Cases hearafter mentioned was in right Judgment so remarkable as is pretended Perhaps Persons may sometimes be too fond in the Observation of such Days out of a peculiar respect to them and at the same time pass over a hundred Accidents more worthy of Note upon other days of their Life See what follows in the end of the Chapter 1. The Poet Antipater Sidonius every year upon his Birth-day was seized with a Fever and when he had liv'd to a great Age he Died upon his Birth-Day Schenck Obs Med. 1.6 Obs 1. p. 721. 2. The like befel Johan Architectus who spent with Age Died upon his Birth-Day Ibid. 3. Elizabeth Wife of King Henry VII Died in Child-Bed the 11th of February the very day of her Birth Bak. Chron. 4. Amatuâ— Lisitanus tells of one who every year on his Birth-Day was seized with a Fit of a Fever Thom. a Veiga of another who every year had a Fever for three days and no longer Schenck Ibid. p. 721. 5. Alexander the Great was Born upon the 6th day of February and Died on the 6th day of February Alex. l. 4. c. 20 fol. 233. 6. Attalus King of Pergamum and Pompeins the Great both Died on their Birth-Days Plut. in Camilo p. 135. 7. Julius Caesar was Born and Slain on the Ides of March. Sabel l. 9. c. 4. Zuin. Thaat p. 561. 8. Antonius Caracalla the Emperor was Slain at Carris on the 6th of the Ides of April being his Birth-Day Zuin. Ibid. 9. Pope Gregory the Great was Born and Died on the 4th of the Ides of March. Zuin. Theat Ibid. 10. Garsias Great Grand-Father to Petrarch having lived 104 years died as also did Plato on his Birth-Day and in the same Chamber where he was Born Zuin. Theat vol. 2. l. 7. p. 561. 11. The Emperor Charles the Great was Buried at Aquisgrane on his Birth-Day Anno 810. Ibid. 12. Ph. Melancthon Died Anno 1560. in the 63th year of his Age and on his Birth-Day being 13 Cal. May. Ibid. 13. The Emperor Charles V. was Born on St. Matthias's Day on which day also in the course of his Life was King Francis taken by him in Battel and the Victory likewise won at Bicâ—â—que he was also Elected and Crowned Emperor on the same day and many other great Fortunes befel him still on that day Treasury of Ancient and Modern times l. 4. c. 12. p. 330. 14. Augustus had certain Anniversary Sicknesses which did return at a stated and certain time He commonly languished at the time of his Birth which was the 9th of the Calends of October a little before Sun-rise Sweton in August p. 55. 105. 15. Timoleon obtained most of his Victories on his Birth-Day which was therefore Celebrated Annually by the Syracusans Alex. ab Alex de Gen. l. 4. c. 20. 16. Philip King of Macedon had a Triplicity of Good Tidings on his Birth-Day That he was Victor in the Olympicks that Parmenio his General had gain'd a Conquest and that his Queen was Delivered of Alexander Ibid. 17. Baudinus an Abbot and Citizen of Florence Died upon his Birth-Day Coman de Mir. Mort. 18. On Wednesday Pope Sixtus V. was Born made Monk General of his Order Cardinal Pope and Inaugurated Heyl. Geogr. 19. On Thursday Henry VIII Died Edward VI. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth 20. Friday was observed to be fortunate to the Great Captain Gonsalvo and Saturday to Henry VII c. CHAP. XXIV Children mark'd in the Womb. WHEN we read the Story in Genesis of Jacob 's Success in his Pastoral Office by the help of his straked striped hazels and poplars c. we wonder at the effects and are puzzled in quest of the Cause Certainly tho' there was a special Providence concerned in the Fact yet there seems too a concurrence of inferior Nature in the Agency Imagination is strong and operative even in Bruits but much more in Mankind where Reason gives a
vigour and energy to it beyond common Sense 1. Marinus Barlâ—tins reports of Scanderberg That he brought with him into the World a notable mark of Warlike Glory for he had upon his Right Arm a Sword so well set on as if it had been drawn with the Pencil of the most curious and skillful Painter in the World Camer Hor. Subscis l. 1. c. 60. p. 308. 2. Camerarius saith that he always heard it reported That the Counts of Habsburg have each of them from the Womb a Golden Cross upon his Back viz. certain Hairs after a wonderful manner formed into the Figure of a Cross Ibid. l. 3. c. 42. p. 145. 3. M. Venetus in his 45 years Itinerary in Asia reports That the Kings of Corzani boast of a Nobility beyond that of all other Kings of the Earth upon this account that they are Born into the World with the Impress of a Black Eagle upon their Shoulder which continues with them to their Deaths Ibid. 4. Camerarius saith that it was related That King James I. brought with him from his Mother's Womb certain Royal Signatures for at his Birth there was beheld imprinted on his Body a Lion and Crown and some also add a Sword Ibid. 5. Abraham Buckoltzerus saith That John Frederick Elector of Saxony who was Born June 30. Anno 1503. brought with him from his Mother's Womb an Omen of his future State For he was Born with a Cross of a splendid and golden Colour on his Back upon the sight of which a pious and ancient Priest was sent for by the Ladies of the Court who thereupon said This Child shall carry a Cross conspicuous to all the World the Emblem of which is thus apparent in his Birth The Event did declare and confirm the Truth of the Presage Camerur Ibid. p. 146. 6. Gaffarel tells of his Sister born with a Fish on her Leg caused by the desire of his Mother when Pregnant that it was drawn with so much perfection and rarity as if drawn by some excellent Master and the wonder was that when the Girl eat Fish that on her Leg put her to sensible pain Gaff Curiosities c. 5. p. 143. 7. The Hostess of the Inn in the Suburbs of St. Mich. at Bois de Vicenne had a Mulberry growing upon her Nether Lip which was smooth till the time that Mulberries began to ripen at which time hers began to be red and to swell observin the Season and Nature of other Mulberries till it came to their just bigness and redness Ibid. p. 144. 8. A Woman in the seventh Month of her Pregnancy longed to Eat Rosebuds which being difficult to be procured at last a Bough of them was found she greedily devoured the green Buds of two Roses and kept the rest in her Bosom In the ninth Month being delivered of a Boy upon his Ribs there appeared the likeness of three Roses very red upon his Forehead and either Cheek he had also he resemblances of a red Rose He was therefore commonly called the Rose-Boy Zasut Lusit adm l. 2. Obs 133. CHAP. XXV Childen abiding in the Womb beyond their time THere is not one of the Actions of Nature that I can think of which is not subject to Anomaly and Disorder Sometimes our Tongue stammers our Eyes fail us our Memory is deficient our Feet stumble Sometimes there is a fault in Conception sometimes in Parturition One while the Infant comes too soon before its Natural time into the World another while it is detain'd a prisoner too long and cannot be set at liberty for many years and it may be the Soul go into another World before the Body can be admitted into this and sometimes the Womb that bore it must be the Grave to bury it a miserable case and unhappy for Mother and infant both 1. Catherine the Wife of Michael de Menne a poor Conntryman for 12 years together carried a dead Child or rather the Skeleton of one in her Womb. It was manifest to the touch saith Aegidius de Hertoge who with many other both Men and illustrious Women are witnesses hereof Henricus Cornelius Mathisius Domestick Physician to the Emperor Charle V. who having handled the Woman both standing and lying by touch easily distinguished all the Bones of the Dead Infant in a great Amazement cried out nothing is impossible to God and Nature She Conceived of this Child Anno 1549. Schenck Obs l. 4. p. 575. 2. In the Town of Sindelfingen a Woman of 30 years or thereabouts being with Child 6 or 7 weeks before her expected Delivery upon occasion of a fall on the Ice never afterwards felt her Child to stir After which she Conceived twice or thrice and hath been as often Delivered yet still the usual bigness of her Belly continued and the Dead Child was supposed to continue in her Womb. Ibid. p. 577. 3. Anno 1545. Margarita Carlinia Wife of Geo. Volzerus of Vienna in her Travel perceiving somewhat to Crack within her and never after feeling her Child to stir for four years afterwards she lived with much pain till at length Anno 1549. an Ulcer appearing about her Navel and the Bone of the Child's Elbow at the Orifice she was by Incision Delivered of a Male Child half Putrid which was drawn out thence piece-meal and afterwards happily Cured Zuing. Theat vol. 2. l. 4. p. 357. Donat. Hist Med. Mir. l. 2. c. 22. p. 239. 4. Zacutus Lusitanus hath set down the History of a Woman of mean Fortune and 16 years of Age who being with Child and the time of her Travail come could not be delivered by reason of the narrowness of her Womb the Chirurgions advised Section which they said was ordinary in such Cases but she refused it the Dead Child therefore Putrified in her Womb After three years the smaller Bones of it came from her and so by little and little for ten years together there came forth pieces of corrupted Flesh and Fragments of the Skull At last in the twelfth year there issued forth piecemeal the greater Bones and then her Belly fell and after some years she Conceived again and was happily delivered of a living Boy Zacut. Lusit praxis Med. Admir lib. 2. Obs 357. p. 276. 5. Donatus tells of one Paula the Wife of Mr. Naso an Innkeeper in the Street of Pont Merlian in Mantua who voided by way of Siege a Dead Child with a great deal of Pain the Bones coming forth by piecemeal for several months and years together Donat. Hist Med. Mir. l. 2. c. 22. p. 241. For this the Author cites the Testimony of Hippolitus Genifortus a Chirurgeon and Joseph Arancus a Physician CHAP. XXVI Children Born Preternaturally THAT the Births of Children are sometimes attended with strange either precedent or concomitant or consequent Symptoms or Accidents may be attributed to variety of infetiour and natural Causes as in the following Examples But surely there is a Finger of Omnipotence that over-rules Nature in these and all other