from sinne and damnation of the true déedes of christian charitie was dayly more and more impugned and oppressed So that when men by little and little forsooke holy Scripture and cast it asyde mens traditions and preceptes began streight way to be had in great price and estimation yea they were more regarded thaÌ„ gods owne worde A great offence was it taken to be if any would presume once to breake mens traditions On those apparitions of spirits as on a sure foundation their Purgatorie is chiefly builded For by talke hadde with them Popishe writers taught that men atteined vnto saluation by their owne and by other mens merits which opinion so blinded them that they became retchlesse secure and sluggishe For if any dyd so persuade him selfe that he coulde hyre one for mony which could worke one feate or other to deliuer the dead from torments then woulde he either delay the amendment of his life or vtterly neglect it Wherfore vnto suche fellowes that happened whiche chaunced vnto the fiue foolish virgins of whom mention is made in the â—5 of Matthew By these apparitions of spirits masses images satisfactioÌ„ pilgrimages for religion sake relikes of saints monasticall vowes holidaies auricular confession and other kinds of worshippings and rites and to be shorte al things whiche haue no grounde in holy scripture by little and little grewe into authoritie and estimation So that the matter came at the last to that extremitie and excesse that many deuoute and simple soules pinched and nipped their owne bellies that they might the better haue by these meanes wherwithall to finde and mainteine idle monks and priests and to offer vnto images They founded chappels alters monasteries perpetuall lights anniuersaries frieries and suche like to release their friends out of the torments of Purgatorie And this did the walking spirits will theÌ„ to do And sometyme also by their councell mens last willes and testaments were altered Hereby priests monks increased daily their parishes colleges monasteries with yerely reuenewes got into their hands the best farmes vineyards lands medowes pondes parkes bond meÌ„ iurisdictions great lordships and the authoritie of the sword For after that this opinioÌ„ once toke firme roote in meÌ„s harts the mens soules did walke after their death appeare on the earth the greatest part did whatsoeuer they commaunded theÌ„ And that it may more plainly be perceiued how much meÌ„ estemed those visioÌ„s such like pelfe how in memorial of theÌ„ they deuised framed to theÌ„selues new kinds of worshippings I will recite vnto you one or two histories Martinus Polonus Archebishop of Consentine and the Popes PeniteÌ„tiarie writeth in his Chronicles tha Pope Clement the fourth did canonize for a saint at Viterbe one Eduergia duchesse of Polonia a widdow of great holinesse who among many notable things that are written of hir when hir canonization had bin many yeares delayed at length appeared hir selfe in a vision to hir Proctour in the courte of Rome being heauie and pensiue about this matter and certified him both of the spedy dispatching of this businesse also of the day wherin it should be dispatched Canonization amongst the Ethniks from whence it toke his originall is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is deification or making of a God. Ioannes Triâ—enhemius Abbot of Spanheim a man of great authoritie in his booke of Chronicles teacheth that the memorie of all faithfull soules termed All soules day had his originall obseruation by this meanes that when a certeine Monke returned from Ierusalem and lodged in a certeine Hermits house in Sicill about the mount Aetna which flasheth forth fyre he learned of the saide Hermit that many soules of the dead were tormeÌ„ted there by fyre out of which again through the praiers of the faithful they were released as it was taught him by the testimonie euen of the spirites themselues Hereof also writeth Polydorâ— Virgill in his vj. booke and ix chapter De inuentione rerum that the feast of All hallowes had the very same originall whiche they shall finde in Petrus de natalibus his tenth booke and first chapter Wherby thou maist gather that Feastes were first ordeyned by the tales of spirites appearing vnto men The lyke fable is found in Damascene who writeth of Macharius thus When according to his maner he prayed for the dead and was desirous to vnderstande whether his prayers did profite them oughte and whether they receyued any comfort therby God willing to reueale so muche to his seruaunt inspired a drye scull with the worde of truth so that the deade scull brake foorth into these words When thou prayest for the dead we receyue comfort by thy prayers Of the like roote sproong the order of the Carthusian Monks which of the commoÌ„ sorte is iudged to be the most holiest and streightest order of the which the Monks them selues of this broode haue put foorth a booke For as Polydore Virgil recordeth they began vpon this occasion in the vniuersitie of Paris in the yeare of our Lord .1080 A certeine doctoure which for his learning and integritie of life was very famous chaunced to dye when he shoulde haue bin buried in a certaine Churche he cried out with an horrible voice I am by the iust iudgement of God accused Whervppon they lefte the coffin in the Churche by the space of thrée daies during which time the people flocked togither out of sundry places to behold this straunge sight The second day he cried againe By the iuste iudgement of God I am iudged The thirde day likewise he cried I am by the iust iudgement of god condemned And as Vincentius Bellonacensis saith some adde herevnto that he rose vp thrice vppon the béere which perchaunce they faine of their owne heads Now bycause no man suspected that so notable and famous a man was vtterly condemned for euer euery man was sore astonished thereat Wherfore Bruno a doctor of diuinitie borne in Coleine foorthwith forsooke all that he had and taking to him sixe other godly companions gat him into a desert called Carthusia in the diocesse of Gratianopolis where he erected the first monasterie of that order which drawing his name of the place was called the Carthusian order For this cause also or for the like many other monasteries at the firste beginning were bothe founded and indowed with greate liuelyhode CHAP. IIII. Testimonies out of the vvorde of God that neither the soules of the faithfull nor of infidels do vvalke vppon the earth after they are once parâ—ed from their bodies NOw that the soules neither of the faithful nor of infidels do waÌ„der any loÌ„ger on the earth wheÌ„ they be once seuered from the bodies I wil make it plain euident vnto you by these reasons folowing First certain it is that such as depart heÌ„ce either die in faith or in vnbeléef Touching those that go heÌ„ce in a right beléef their soules ar by by in
Christes witnesses shuld very wel vnderstand that both the Law the Prophets do bear record vnto our Sauiour Chryst that he shuld die for the world come again in the latter day to raise vp the dead bodies to glorifie them to carrie theÌ„ with him into eternal blisse And for this cause God wold haue these two excellent Prophets séene of the Apostles Lazarus soule did not only appeare but he came againe both in bodie soule as Iohn witnesseth in his 11. chap. he is as it were a sure token of our true resurrection which shall be in the last day as also others which our Sauiour Christ the Apostles in auncient time the Prophets haue raysed from the dead You shal neuer read that either Lazarus or any other haue told wher they were while they were deade or what kynde of being there is in the other world for these things are not to be learned and knowen of the dead but out of the word of God. The like may be said to that which is in the 27. chap. of S. Matthew that when Christ suffered on the Crosse the graues wer opened afterwards on the day of his resurrection many dead bodies did arise appeared to many at Hierusalem The soules of the dead did not only appeare neither did they warne the liuing or coÌ„maund them to do this or that for the deads sake to wit either to pray for theÌ„ or to go on pilgrimage to saints c. But the dead with their souls bodies togither came into the earth for héerby god would shew that he by his death hath ouercom destroyed death to the faithful that at the last day their soules bodies shall be knit togither and liue with God for euer Now what thâ—se holy men were that rose again whether they remained any time in this present life or died again or went with Christ into heauen loke the iudgement of S. Augustine in his .99 Epist. to Euodius his 3. booke De mirabilibus scrip ca. 13. To these we may ioyn that which Ruffinus writeth in his ecclesiastical historie .1 boke 5. chap. and which Socrates repeteth in his first boke 12. chap. touching Spiridion byshop of Cyprus He had a daughter called Irene with whoÌ„ a certaine friend of hirs left gorgeous apparel she being more wary than néeded hyd it in the ground within a while died Not long after coÌ„meth this man that owed the apparel hearing say the maideÌ„ was dead goeth to hir father whom somtimes he accuseth somtimes intreateth The old father supposing this maÌ„s losse to be his own calamitie coÌ„meth to his daughters graue ther calleth vpoÌ„ god beseching him that he would shew him before the time the resurrection which is promised And his hope was in vaine for the virgin being reuiued apeared to hir father shewed the place wher she had hid the aparel so departed again I will not deny this thing to be true For the like historie hath Augustine in his 137. epist. A certain yong man which had an euil name accused Boniface Augustines priest that he inticed him to filthinesse Now wheÌ„ the matter could neither be proued nor disproued by sufficient resons both of them were bid to goe to the graue of one Felix a Martyr that by a miracle the truth might be known They had not bin sent vnlesse before this time also some secrete matters had bin knowne by this meanes it may be well answeared that they were good or rather euill Angels which did appeare CHAP. XI VVhether the holy Apostles thought they savve a mans Soule vvhen Chryst sodenly appeared vnto them after his Resurrection WE reade in the 24. Chapter of S. Lukes Gospell that two Disciples which returned from Emaus to Hierusalem tolde the Apostles that they had séene Chryst aliue againe and whyles they yet spake the Lord stoode in the myddest of them and sayd vnto them peace be vnto you but they being amased and afrayd thought they sawe a spirit c. Out of this some go about to proue that the Apostles beléeued that spirits or soules did walke and appeare vnto men and that they themselues did thinke they sawe the spirite of Chryst as certaine of the olde Wryters doe expounde it or else some other mannes spirit This Argument may be answered two wayes First if they thought they sawe a Soule they thought a mysse But they were no lesse deceyued with the common sorte nowe than when they thought Chryst would rayse vppe an outward and earthly kingdome in which they shoulde be chiefe Secondly it may be that they supposed they sawe an euil or good Angell for there are more kyndes of spirites than one There is a spirit that created al thyngs to wit God the Father the Sonne and the Holie Ghost Agayne there be spirites that be created as good and euill Angels as also the soules of men which eyther are in the body or by death seuered from the body and abyde either in euerlasting lyfe or in eternal damnation As touching the state of Soules in Purgatorie where they are prepared to the Heauenly iourney and of Limbus puerorum there is nothing extant in holie Scripture It is manifest in scripture that God appeared vnto the holy patriarches to the prophets to kings and others in diuers visions and formes and that he shewed hym selfe vnto them and spake with them Iacob sawe a ladder reache from the earth vp to Heauen and God leaning on it Isaias sawe the Lord sitting vppon an high throne Daniell sawe an olde maÌ„ sitting and his sonne comming vnto him and receyuing all power of him TertulliaÌ„ and other holy fathers do teache that the sonne of God which at the appointed time shoulde take vppon him humaine fleshe didde appeare vnto the Patriarches in an angelicall shape When Iohn Baptist did baptise our sauioure in Iordan the Holy ghost was séene in the shape of a doue The holy scriptures in many places do testifie that good Angells haue oftentimes appeared to Gods ministers That euill spirits are often séene and that at this day they shewe themselues in diuers formes to inchaunters and coniurers and to other men also as well godly as wicked both histories and daily experience doth witnesse Truely we reade not that soules haue appered on this fashion By these we may easly gather that the Apostles when they thought they sawe a spirit did not beléeue they sawe a soule Could they not thinke I pray you they sawe an euill spirit Or rather that they sawe a good spirit or a good angel For it may be shewed by many examples that euen the faithfull haue bin troubled and feared at the appearing of good Angels In the eyght and tenth chapter of Daniel we read that the Prophet fel into a sicknesse at the sight of Angels The virgin Mary hirselfe was afrayde when she sawe the Angell Gabriel So was Zachary the priest
written thys my treatise in the vulgar tong and now bicause I trust it shal be also profitable to other men I haue translated it into latine adding certayne things thereto This my booke which I haue with greate laboure and study gathered out of many mens writings I present and offer vnto you most noble consul according to the ancient fashion and custome not for that I suppose you haue any néed of my teaching touching these things which are herein haÌ„dled For I am not ignoraunt vnder what teachers you haue attained vnto true learning and how you haue and do continually reade ouer sundry good authors with perfecte knowledge in many tongs But partely that I might purchase credite and authoritie vnto this my booke with those men vnto whome your goodnesse godlines and constancie whche you haue alwayes hitherto euermore shewed and yet do shewe in setting foorth true religion and mainteyning good lawes is throughly knowen and partly that I might shewe my selfe in some respecte thaÌ„kfull vnto you For your honour hath bestowed many benefits on me whom you only knowe by sight and vppon other ministers of the Church wherby ye haue so bouÌ„d me vnto you that I shall neuer be able to make any recoÌ„pence Wherefore I most earnestly beséech you not to refuse this signe and token of my good will be it neuer so simple but rather to voutchsafe when ye haue leisure from the laboure and toile of the common welth to reade ouer this my booke for I haue good hope it will not séeme vnpleasaunt vnto you and others in the reading as well for the playne order I vse therin as also for the sundry and manyfold histories in it recited Almightie God who hath so blessed you with his heauenly gifts that for them albeit very yong you haue aâ—pired vnto the highest degrée in your noble citie and dominioÌ„ of Berna voutchesafe to preserue you in health and increase and multiply his good gifts in you My Lords and brethreÌ„ the ministers of Tigurine and also your olde coÌ„panion master George Grebelius that excellent man in lerning vertue and nobilitie hartily salute your Lordship From Tigurine in the month of Ianuary the yeare of Christs Natiuitie 1570. A TABLE OF the Chapters of the three principall partes touchyng Spirites walking by nyght Of the fyrste parte COncerning certain words which are often vsed in this Treatise of Spirites and diuers other diuinations of things to come Chapter 1. Folio 1. Melancholike persones and madde men imagining things whiche in very deede are not Chapter 2. Folio 9. Fearefull menne imagine that they see and heare straunge things Chapter 3. Fol. 14. Men whiche are dull of seing and hearing imagine many things which in very dede are not so Chapter 4. Fol. 16. Many are so feared by other menne that they suppose they haue heard or seene Spirites Chapter 5. Fol. 21. Priests and Monkes fayned themselues to be Spirites also howe Mundus vnder this coloure defiled Paulina and Tyrannus abused many noble and honest matrons Cha. 6. Fo. 23. Timotheus Aelurus counterfeating himselfe to bee an Angell obteyned a Bishoprike foure Monks of the order of prechers made many vayn apparitions at Berna Cha. 7. Fol. 28. Of a counterfaite and deceyuing spirite at Orleaunce in Fraunce Chapter 8. Fol. 37. Of a certâ—ine parish priest at Clauenna which fayned him selfe to be our Lady and of an other that counterfaited himself to be a Soule as also of a certayne disguised Jesuite Fryer Chapter 9. Fol â–ª 41. That it is no maruell if vayne sights haue ben in olde tyme neyther yet that it is to be maruelled at yf there be any at this day Chapter 10. Fol. 45. That manye naturall thyngs are taken to bee ghostes Chapter 11. Fol 49. A proofe out of the Gentiles histories that ghostes doe oftentymes appeare Chapter 12. Fol. 53. A proofe oute of the histories of the auncient Churche and of the writings of holy Fathers that there are walking Spirites Chapter 13. Fol. 62. That in the Bookes set foorth by Monkes are many ridiculous and vaine apparitions Chapter 14. Fol. 65 A profe by other sufficient writers that Spirits do sometime appeare Chapter 15. Fol. 68. Daily experience teacheth vs that Spirites do appeare to men Chapter 16. Fol. 7â— That there happen straunge wonders and prognostications and that sodayne noises and cracks and suche like are hard before the death of men before battaile and before some notable altâ—rations and chaunges Chapter â–ª 17. Fol. 77. It is proued by testimonies of holy scripture that Spirits are sometime seene and heard and that other strange matters doâ— often chaunce Chapter 18. Fol. 85 To whome when where and after what sort Spirits do appeare and what they do worke Chapter 19. Fol. 88. The Chapters of the second parte The opinion or beleefe of the Gentiles Iewes and Turkes concerning the estate of soules seperated from their bodies Chapter 1. Fol. 92. The Papists doctrine touching the soules of dead men and the appearing of them Chapter 2. Fol. 102. What hath followed this doctrine of the Papists concerning the appering of mens soules Chapter 3. Fol. 110. Testimonies out of the word of God that neither the soules of the faithfull nor of infidels do walke vppon the earth after they are once parted from their bodies Chapter 4. Fol. 114. Testimonies of the auncient Fathers that dead mens soules parted from their bodies doe not wander here vppon earthe Chapter 5. 116 A confutation of those mennes arguments or reasons which affirme that dead mens soules doo appeare And first that is answeared whiche certaine doo alleage to wit that God is omnipotent and therfore that he can worke contrary to the ordinarie course of nature Chapter 6. Fol. 123. That the true Samuell did not appeare to the witche in Endor Chapter 7. Fol. 127. A confutation of their arguments which would haue Samuell himselfe to appeare Chapter 8. Fol. 133. Whether the Diuell haue power to appeare vnder the shape of a faithfull man Chapter 9. Fol. 140. Moses and Elias appeared in the Mount vnto Chryst our Lorde many haue ben raysed from the dead both in body and soule and therfore soules after they are departed may returne on earth againe Chapter 10. Fol. 145. Whether the holy Apostles thought they sawe a mans soule when Chryste sodeynlye appeared vnto them after his Resurrection Chapter 11. Fol. 148. Concerning the holy Fathers Councels Bishops and coÌ„mon people which say that soules do visibly appeare Cha. 12. Fo. 151. Whether soules do returne agayne out of Purgatorie and the place which they call Limbus puerorum Cha. 13. Fol. 155. What those things are whiche men see and heare and firste that good angels 〈◊〉 sometimes appeare Chap. 14. Fol. 159. That sometymes yea and for the moste part euill Angels doâ— appeare Chapter 15. Fol. 163. Of wondrous monsters and suche lyke Chap. 16. Fol. 164. That it is no harde thing for the diuell to appeare in diuers shapes and to bring
that he shuld not be able once to enter in at Hel gates Which example Tertullian aledgeth therwithal confuteth this vain opinion of the heathen Palinurus in Virgill besought Aeneas that he woulde cast earth on him when he was dead and erect vnto him an horsse for so did they call those Monuments of the deade in whiche albeit no man was layde yet were they vsed in the honour of the deceassed Vergill writeth that Deiphobus his Ghost wandred abroade vnto the whiche Aeneas erected an Horse For the Gentiles were of suche opinion in those dayes that they thoughte an emptie and counterfeyted buriall profited very much Moreouer the heathen were persuaded that the soules which dyed before their naturall time especially of those which perished by violent death whome they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as by hanging drowning or beheading c. dyd strap abroade so long time as they should haue liued if they had not ben slaine by violent death Which opinion Tertullian also confuteth Plato in his 9. booke De legibus writeth that the soules of those which are slayne do pursue their murtherers so far that they do hurt them the which except it be vnderstoode by way of a Metaphor is likewise to be reiected The Catholik faith amongst the Iewes was that the soules of the dead did not return into this erth but either were at rest which was when they dyed in the faythe of the promised Messias or were condemned if they departed hence in their sinnes withoute repentaunce For Iob in his 7. chapter sayth Euen as the cloude vanisheth and fadeth away so he that goeth downe to the graue shall come vp no more nor returne into his house c. But if thou wilt say that Iob was an Ethnick it may be alleaged of Dauid that when he was in very greate daunger and death euen present before his eyes he prayed in the 31. Psalm Into thy handes O Lord I commend my spirite The Preacher also in his 12. chapter sayth The spirit shall returne to God that giueth it In the boke of Wisedome which of old wryters is attributed to Philo Iudeus the third chapter therof it is written the soules of the righteous are in the hande of God and no torment shal touch them And on the other side the soules of the wicked go downe into hell In the 49. Psalm it is written of those welthy worldlings whiche for lucres sake departe from God and his commaundements They are layd as shéepe in Hel death shal consume them and Hell is their habitation c. If the Iewes had beléeued that the soules after this life were tormented in Purgatorie no doubt amongst so many diuers kyndes of sacrifices whiche they offered for the sinnes of the lyuing they woulde at laste haue some one kynd of sacrifice wherby to redéeme souls or in some part to assuage and mitigate their paines And that soules do returne after deathe do offer themselues to be séene and beheld of men and require ayde of them we find no wher in the old Testament but rather the contrary In the 2. of Samuel 12. Dauid speaketh this of his yong childe that he begat by Bersaba that he could not bring him into life againe that he would go to him and the chyld should neuer returne vnto him againe And Iesus the sonne of Syrach in his .38 chapter sayth there is no returning from death Of the vision whiche was shewed to Samuel we will straightway speake in his proper place And that in latter ages long after Christ came in flesh there were some amongest the Iewes who thought that the soules seperated from their bodies dyd straye and raunge a broade it may hereby be gathered for that certaine of the Rabbines write that the soule of Naboth which was slayne bycause he woulde not sell his Uyneyarde to Achab was that Spirite that promised his helpe to seduce Achab béeing as it were one that coueted his death The Turkes also beléeue that the soule is immortall and that assoone as they are loosed from the body they come eyther into a place of rest or of torment But whether that they dyd think that soules returned agayn into the earth and roue there too and fro I could find no playn mention thereof in their Alcaron CHAP. II. The Papistes doctrine touching the soules of dead men and the appearing of them THe Papists in former times haue publikely both taught written that those spirits which men somtime sée and hear be either good or bad angels or els the soules of those which either liue in euerlasting blisse or in Purgatorie or in the place of damned persons And that diuers of theÌ„ are those soules that craue ayde and deliueraunce of men But that this doctrine of theirs and the whole state therof may be the more euideÌ„tly perceiued we wil more largely repete the same out of their owne bokes Iacobus de Cusa a Carthusian Frier Doctor of diuinitie wrote a book of the Apparition of soules after they were seperated fro the bodies which work of his hath in it many supersticious toyes and was Printed in a town belonging to the dominion of Berna named Burgdroâ—e in the yeare of our Lorde 1475. Popish writers commenting on the 4. boke of the Maister of Sentences do appoint foure places to receyue soules after they are departed from the bodies Thrée of the which places they say are perpetuall one which lasteth but for a tyme already lymitted The first place or receptacle is Caelum Empireum the firie heauen so termed of his passing gret brightnesse and glorie which they say is the seate ordeined for the blyssed sort this place by an other in Scripture is called Paradise The second place is Hel vnder the earth being the Mansion of Deuils and Infidels departing hence in deadely sinne without repentance The third place they tearme Limbus puerorum whiche is prouided as wel for the Children of the faythful as of the vnfaythfull who they say shal continually abyde there without any sense of payne being only depriued from the fruition of Gods presence And therefore they say that after their death they ought not to be buried in holy buriall The fourth place is Purgatorie whiche is prepared for them that departe hence without deadly sin or if they committed any such sinnes dyd some penance for them but yet made full satisfaction for theÌ„ or else went hence only stayned with venial sinne Of this place to wit Purgatorie Popish writers teach maruellous things Some of them say that Purgatorie is also vnder the earth as Hel is Some say that Hell and Purgatorie are both one place albeit the paines be diuers according to the deserts of soules Furthermore they say that vnder the earth there are more places of punishment in which the soules of the dead may be purged For they say that this or that soule hath ben séene in this or that
learne by the riche mans words if we will wey and consider with our selues what he demaunded coulde not obteine For if after death mens soules might any longer haue their conuersation here on earth no doubte the riche man him selfe woulde haue retourned as his desire was and certified his friends of hell torments Out of which place of scripture it is most cleare that soules immediatly vpon their departure from their body are caried vnto a certein place whence they cannot of themselues returne but néeds must wait there for that terrible daye of iudgement Also in his secōd homily of Lazarus amōg other things he saith It is most playne not only by that we haue before rehearsed but also by this parable that soules parted from the body haue their abiding here no longer but are forthwith lead away For it came to passe saith he that he died and was caried away by the Angels And not only the soules of the iust but of the vniust and wicked are hence lead away caried to their proper places which doth euidently appeare by another rich man of which mētion is made in the 12. of Luke to whome the Lorde said Thou foole this night will they take thy soule from thée And in hys fourthe homily of Lazarus he plainly teacheth that we should giue more credite to holy Scripture than to one that came from the dead or an Angell from Heauen Herewithall he also sheweth that the dead do not only make no apperance vnto men liuing but yeldeth reasons wherfore they do not returne hither in these words If god had knowen that the dead being raised might haue profited the liuing he would neuer haue let passe so great a benefite who otherwise dothe giue and prouide vs all things profitable Furthermore he addeth that if it were requisite still to raise vp dead men to make relation vnto vs of such things as there are done this no doubt in continuaunce of time would haue bin neglected and so the Diuell very easily would haue broched and brought in damnable opinions into the world For he might often haue made counterfeit sights or suborne suche as should fayne their selues to be dead and buried and by by to present themselues before men as if they had bin in déede raised from death and by suche manner of persons might so haue bewitched simple soules that they would beleue whatsoeuer he would haue For if now when there is in déede no such thing the vayn dreames as it were of men decessed that haue bin shewed to mē in sleep haue deceyued peruerted destroyed many surely much sooner wold the same haue fallen out if it had bin a thing truly done this opiniō had preuailed in mens heads For if many dead persons had retourned backe again into this life the wicked spirit the diuell would easily haue deuised many sleights wiles brought in much deceit into the life of mā And therfore god hath cleane shut vp this dore of deceit not permitted any dead mā to returne hither shewe what things be done in the other life least the diuell might gredely catch this occasion to plant his fraudulēt policies For whē the prophets were he raised vp false prophets when the Apostles were he stirred vp false Apostles and whē Christ appeared in flesh he sent hither false Christs or Antechrists And when sincere sound doctrin was taught he brought into the world corrupt damnable opiniōs sowing tares whersoeuer he came And therfore although it had come to passe that dead mē shold return again yet wold he haue counterfeited the same also by his instruments by some fained raising of the dead through the blinding bewitching of mens eyes or otherwise by suborning of some whiche should feine themselues to be dead as I said before he would haue turned al things topsituruie and vtterly haue confounded them But god who knoweth all things hath stopped his way that he should not thus deceyue vs and of his great mercy towards vs hath not permitted that at any time any shold returne frō thēce tel vnto mē liuing such things as there are done héerby to instruct vs that we shold be of this opinion iudgemēt that the scriptures oughte to be beleued before other things whatsoeuer bycause that God in them hath most clerely taught vs the doctrine of the last resurrection Further by them he hath conuerted the whole world banished error brought in truth and cōpassed al these things by vile base fishers and finally in them hath giuē vs euery where plentifull argumentes of his diuine prouidence c. S. Cyril in his .xi. booke .36 chap. vpon S. Iohns gospell saith We ought to beleue that when the soules of holy men are gone away from the bodies they are commended vnto the goodnesse of God as into the handes of a most déere father that they do not abide in the earth as some of the heathens beleued vntil such time as they abhorred their graues neither that they are caried as the soules of wycked men vnto a place of excéeding tormēt which is hel Christ hauing first prepared this iorney for vs but that they rather mount vp aloft into their heauenly fathers hands c. And in the Popes canon law causa 13. quaest 2. Fatendū we read that many do beleue that some come from the dead to the liuing euen as on the other side holy Scripture doth witnesse that Paule was caught vp from the liuing into paradise Uppon these words the glose saith that some doe in dede so beleue but falsly sith they be but fansies vayne imaginations as it is in causa 26. quaestione 5. Episcopi What farther may be saide to those men that knowe these things and neuerthelesse do beleue that soules stray in the earth I knowe not yet that I may lay out al things plainly I wil here confute their chiefest arguments CHAP. VI. A confutation of those mennes argumentes or reasons vvhiche affirme that dead mens soules do appeare And firste that is aunsvvered vvhiche certaine doe alleage to vvitte that God is omnipotent and therfore that he can vvoorke contrary to the ordinary course of nature FIrst our aduersaries do lay against vs that by the vsual cōmon course of things the souls of the godly abide in heauē the soules of the wicked in hell vntil the last day do not walk at all but yet that god may dispence with them to appere here somtimes therby to instruct admonish vs And then Samuel did appere after his death vnto king Saule Moses also which forsooke this life many yeres before Likewise Elias who was taken vp into heauen in a fyrie charet appered vnto Christ our sauior his iij. disciples whō he toke with him at his transfiguratiō in the mount Lazarus also of Bethanie returned from death into the earth and many other also wer raysed from death by Christ his apostles and prophets Farther
they alledge this that Christs apostles beleued that the spirit or soule either of Christ as some of the fathers vnderstand it or of some other person did appere vnto thē Besides to proue this matter they alledge places out of the fathers decrées of councels the cōmon report that hath ben bruted of those that returned frō the dead To al these resons by Gods assistance we will briefly and orderly answere As touching y first obiection that al things are possible vnto God we denie it not We graunt then that God can bring soules out of heauen or hel vse their trauaile seruice to instruct cōfort admonish rebuke men But for that no text or example is found in holy scripture that euer any soules came from the dead which did so scoole warn men or that the faithful learned or sought to vnderstande any thing of the soules deceassed we cānot allow the sequele of their reason We may not of gods almightie power inferre cōclusions to our plesure For this is a principle holdē in scholes that the reson doth not truly folow that is set frō the power of doing to the dead done For God doth nothing against himself or his word writē to warrāt their reson they shold first haue proued that it was gods wil y soules shold return into the erth for so do holy fathers intreat of gods almighty power Tertulliā against Praxias saith Truly I neuer thought that any thing was hard to be done of God we may faine of God what wée liste as if he had done the same bicause he is able to doo it But we must not beléeue that God hathe therefore done all things because he is able to doo them But first we ought to make inquirie whether he hath done them S. Ambrose in his sixte booke of epistles and 37. epistle writeth vnto Cromatius in this wise Therefore what is there vnpossible vnto him Not that thing whiche is hard to his power but that which is contrary to his nature It is vnpossible for him to lye and this impossibilite in hym procedeth not of infirmitie but of vertue and maiestie For truth receyueth no lye neither doth the vertue of God enterteine the vanitie of errour Reade farther that whiche followeth in the same place Hierom writing to Eustochia of the preseruing of hir virginitie saith I will boldly auouch this one thing that though God can do all things yet can he not restore a virgin after hir fall Augustine in the tenth chapter of his fifth booke De ciuitate dei hath That God is saide to be omnipotent in doing that he will and not in doing that he will not Againe he addeth Gods power is not herby any whit diminished when we say that god cannot die or be deceyued And immediatly therefore he cannot do some things bycause he is omnipotent c. Thodoret also teacheth vs that it may not absolutely without exception be pronounced that all things are possible vnto god For who so doth precisely affirme thys dothe in effecte say this muche that all things both good and bad are possible vnto God c. Wherefore féeble is that obiection of theirs God can sende soules vnto men to teache and admonish them therefore these spirits that praye ayde be soules that come out of Heauen or Hell. In the meane time we do not denie the power of God as some do maliciously report of vs but we wold not haue the same made a denne or couert of errours Heare what the Lorde our God in the .18 of Deuteronomie speaketh When thou shalte come into the lande whiche the Lorde thy God giueth thée doo not thou learne to doo after their abhominable rites and vsages of those nations Let none bée founde among you that maketh hys sonne or his daughter to passe through the fire nor a diuiner that dooth forshew things to come nor a Sorcerer nor a witche nor a charmer nor one that consulteth with spirits nor an inchanter nor a Magitian nor one that raiseth vp the dead For the Lorde dothe abhorre all that doo such things and bicause of these abhominations the Lord thy God hath caste them out before thée Be thou therfore sound and perfecte before the Lorde thy God and by and by he promiseth to send them that great Prophet whome they shoulde heare In the .viij. of Esay it is written If they say vnto you inquire of them which haue a spirite of diuination whiche whisper and murmure softely in youre eares to deceyue you Should not euery people or nation enquire at their God what shall they go from the liuing to the dead Let them goe vnto the lawes testimonie suche as haue no light should they not speake according to this word which who so should contemne shal be hardened and hunger c. Héereby we do vnderstand that vnder a greate penaltie God hath precisely forbidden that we shoulde learne and searche out any thing of the dead He alone woulde be taken for our sufficient schoolemaster In the Gospell wée read They haue Moses and the Prophets let them heare them Unto these may be added testimonies out of the Apostles writings that God doth not send vs soules hither to informe vs The common and ordinarie way whereby it pleaseth God to deale with vs is his word Therwithal should we content our selues and not wayte for newe reuelations or receyue any thing that dooth not in all pointes agrée therwith But as touching this matter we wil speake more in his proper place CHAP. VII That the true Samuell did not appeare to the vvytche in Endor NOwe touching the examples by them commonly alleaged whiche do thinke that the soules of the dead do return again vnto the liuing vpon the earth I wil first intreat of Samuels apparition of which matter now adayes there is greate contention and reasoning And as I trust I shal proue by strong argumentes that very Samuell himselfe did not appeare in soule and body neither that his body was raised vp by the sorcerers which perchaunce then was rotten consumed vnto dust in the earth neither that his soule was called vp but rather some diuelish spirite First the author of the two bookes of Samuel sayeth that Saule did aske counsell of the Lord that he would not answer him neither by visions nor by Urim nor by his Prophets Wherfore if God disdayned by his Prophetes yet liuing and other ordinarie wayes to giue answer vnto him whom he had alredy reiected we may easily coniecture that he would much lesse haue raysed a dead prophet to make him answer And the rather for that as we haue a little before sayde the law of God hathe seuerely by a greate threatening forbidden to learne oughte of the deade and woulde not haue vs to searche for the truth of them nor that any manne should vse dyuination by spyrites and suche other diuelyshe Artes. Secondly yf very Samuell in deede appeared that muste
that soule He also confuteth the opinion of the Ethnikes prouing by the testimonie of the very Magitians whom they highly reuerenced that the soule was immortall These men affirmed and taught that they did call vp soules from the dead the which poynt euen those of the Gentiles beleeued who notwithstanding thought that the soule did streightway die with the bodie Iustine the Martyr in the seconde Apologie whiche he wrote in the defence of Christians hath these wordes I will sayth he say the truth In times past wicked angels through vayn visions deceyued women and children and with straunge and monstrous sightes made men afrayde by whiche meanes they often wroong that oute of foolishe and rude persons whiche by reason they coulde neuer get of them And therefore not knowyng that these were the Diuels engins and policies tendyng to delude them they by one consente termed the workers of these slye conueyances by the name of Gods assignyng to eache of them their propre names as best pleased themselues c. Afterwardes in the same Apologie hée exhorteth the heathens that they would not deny mens soules after this lyfe to be indued with sense but at the least way woulde giue credite to their owne Necromancers who teach that they call vp mens soules Also let them beléeue those that affirm they haue ben vexed with spirits of dead men which persons the coÌ„mon people term furious frantike bodies In Augustin de ciuitate dei many such things be coÌ„teined Now what dreadfull strange and maruellous ceremonies they vsed when they went aboute by their Magicall artes to call vp the soules of the deade a man may sée in the first booke of Lucan the Poet where he setteth foorth howe Erictho a famous Wytche in Thessalye reuiued and restored a souldioure to lyfe againe who was lately slayne before Whiche acte he did at the requeste of Sextus Pompeius that so he myght by him learne what wold be the issue of the battayle fought at Pharsalia This kind of Magike they proprely terme Necromancie or Psycomancie which is wrought by raising vp the spirites and soules of the dead Of whiche there were dyuerse sortes For sometyme appeared vnto menne the whole bodies of the dead but at an other time onely ghostes and spirites and often nothing was hearde sauyng onely a certayne obscure voyce Plutarche in the lyfe of Cimon as hée is translated by Ioachimus Camerarius in the Preface on Plutarches bookes De oraculis quae defecerint de conseruata figura Delphis writeth that Pausanias when he had taken the Citie of Bizance sente for Cleonice a mayden of noble parentage to haue vnhoneste companie with hir Whome hir parentes partely by necessitie and partely for feare sente vnto him But after that the Uirgin had once obtayned so muche of his wayghters in hys priuie chamber that they shoulde at hir fyrst entraunce put out the lyghtes shâ—e in the darke goyng softly towards Pausanias bedde by the waye stumbled on the candlesticke and ouerthrew it agaynste hir will as hée laye asléepe in his bedde who béeing troubled wyth the sodayne noyse drewe a swoorde that laye by hym and therewith slewe the virgin as she had bin his enimie whiche went priuily to sette vppon hym But shée béeing thus slayne wyth that deadly stroake woulde neuer after suffer Pausanias to take his quiet reste but in a vision appearing vnto him in the nyghte season denounced sentence of hatred against this noble captayn in these wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Answere to the lawe for wrong is an euill thing vntoo all men This heynous déede of Pausanias was very gréeuously taken of all his companions who therfore vnder the conduction of captayne Cymo â–ª sette on him and chased him out of Thracia And thus hauyng lost the citie of Bizâ—nce when as it is reported the sight continued in troubling him hée fledde vnto Necyomantium at Heraclea where the soule of Cleonices béeing called vp hée by intreatie pacified hir displeasure Shée didde there bothe present hir self vntoo hys syght and also told hym it shold shortly come to passe that the euill towards him shold cease as soone as he came to Sparta Héereby priuily intimating his death c. This Pausanias did at the first soberly and discreatly demeane him selfe but afterwardes béeing puffed vp with such victories as he had obteined he ruled and raigned lyke a very Tyraunt Wherefore when the Magistrates called Ephori would haue committed him to pryson he tooke Sanctuarie in a Temple where he was shutte vp vntill he famished through hunger I might héere heap togither many such like Hystories to proue euidently what this Samuel was In other matters also if God licence him the Deuill is not destitute of power and howe craftie and ready he is for all assayes experience doth well declare Furthermore graunt that wherein the pith strength of the question doth consist which can neuer be proued by Scripture that God did permit Samuel to return and to Prophesie of things to come after hys death yet will it not thereof followe that suche visions shoulde nowe be shewed also or that those thyngs shoulde be out of hande credited and done which they commaund God in tymes past did often in visible shape sende his Angels vnto men but nowe we heare not that many are sent vnto men neither in déed is the same necessarie WheÌ„ the Apostles lyued héere many notable miracles were doone but nowe for certaine good causes they cease and fal away for whatsoeuer is necessarie for our Saluation is expresly conteyned in the worde of god These notes touching Samuels appearing may suffise CHAP. X. Moyses and Elias appeared in the Mounte vnto Chryst our Lorde many haue ben raised from the dead both in body and soule and therefore Soules after they are departed may returne on earth againe IN like manner they obiecte vnto vs out of the 17. of Matthew that Moses and Helias were séene in the Mount whiche is called by the olde Wryters Tabor with our Lord Iesus by the Apostles whom he had chosen for the same purpose and that they dyd speake with him Luke telleth of what matters they coÌ„muned with him to wit of his deth that is the deth of the crosse Thereupon they gather that the soules of dead men may come againe into the earth appeare vnto men we haue grauÌ„ted before the God is able to send soules again into the earth but that it is his will so to do or that it is necessary especially at these days is not yet proued Moses Helias apered not to al the Apostles but only to thrée neither did they speake to those thrée they brought no new Doctrine they coÌ„maunded them not to build Churches in their honor or to do any such like thing whether that their soules came alone or their bodies also sure it is they were not sente to the Apostles but to Chryst only It was very necessarie that they which shuld be
Of ghostes and spirites walking by nyght and of strange noyses crackes and sundry forewarnynges whiche commonly happen before the death of menne great slaughters alterations of kyngdomes One Booke Written by Lewes Lauaterus of Tigurine And translated into Englyshe by R. H. Printed at London by Henry Benneyman for Richard VVatkyns 1572. To the Reader BEyng desirous gentle Reader to exercise my selfâ— with some translation at vacant tymes and seeyng that since the Gospel hath benne preached this one question touchyng the appearyng of spirites and soules departed hath not ben much handled amongst vs and therefore many otherwise wel affected in religion vtterly ignoraunt herein I thought it not amisse to take in hande some good and learned treatise concerning this matter VVherin as many haue both learnedly paynfully religiously traueyled so amongst others none in my iudgement hath more handsomely and eloquently with more iudgement and better methode discoursed the same then Lewes Lauaterus minister of Tigurine Others haue handled it in dede wel but yet nihil ad nostrum hunc beyng eyther to short or to long or to darke or to doubtful or otherwyse so confused that they leaue the reader more in suspeÌ„ce in the end then they founde hym in the begynnyng As for maister Lauaterus his discretion herein I wyll no otherwise commend it then to desire the reader to view iudge hym selfe For thus much at the first syght he shal see A cleare methode with a familier and easie style the matter throughly handled pro and con on both sides so that nothyng seemeth to be wantyng nor any thyng redoundyng And if it be true that Horace saith omne â—ulit punctum qui miscuit vtile dulci that is He wynneth the price that ioyneth pleasure with profite I thinke this author may also in this respect be pronounced victor adiudged to the best game For he so intreateth this serious and terrible matter of spitites that he now and then insertyng some strange story of Monkes Priestes Fryers such like counterfeyts doth both very lyuely display their falsehood and also not a litle recreate his reader and yet in the ende he so aptly concludeth to the purpose that his hystories seeme not idle tales or impertinent vagaries but very truethes naturally falling vnder the compasse of his matter And howe profitable this his work is those may best iudge which are most ignorant in this question some thinking euery small motion and noyse to be spirites and some so fondely perswaded that there are no spirites who being better enfourmed herein by this author I suppose wyl confesse his worke to haue done them some profite if knowledge be profitable and ignorance discommodious And agayne those which beyng hytherto borne in hande that mens soules returne agayne on earth crauyng helpe of the lyuyng and haue spent much of their substance on idle Monkes Fryers to relieue them wyll confesse the lyke For when they shall see they haue ben falsly taught that they were not the soules of men whiche appeared but eyther falsehood of Monkes or illusions of deuyls franticke imaginations or some other friuolous vaine perswasions they wil thinke it profitable to haue knowen the trueth aswel to auoyde error hereafter as to saue their money from such greedy caterpillers Some also whiche be otherwise well trayned vp in religion and yet not knowyng what to thynke of these matters wil not iudge their labour euyl imployed nor the worke vnprofitable wherby thei may be brought out of doubt and knowe certainly what to beleue There be many also euen nowe a dayes which are haunted and troubled with spirites and knowe not howe to vse them selues who when they shall learne howe a Christian man ought to gouerne hym selfe beyng vexed with euyl spirites wyl thynke it a very profitable poynt of doctrine that shal teache them to direct them selues Profitable therefore it is and shal be no doubt vnto many and disprofitable vnto none except perchaunce vnto popishe Monkes and Priestes who are like hereby to lose a great part of their gaynes which somtimes they gathered together in great abundance by their deceiptfull doctrine of the appearyng of dead mens soules But this their wicked and deuyllishe doctrine together with all the patches and appendices therto belongyng he so notably teareth and cutteth in peeces that I am well assured they shal neuer be hable to cobble and cloute them vp agayne And this doth he with suche a moderation of breuitie and tediousnes that I may rightly say He hath sayde well and not to much and written truely and not to litle Nowe as touchyng my translation although I haue not made hym speake with like grace in Englishe as he doth in Latine yet haue I nor changed his meanyng nor altered his matter endeuouring my selfe rather to make thee vnderstande what thou readest then to smoothe and pollishe it with fine and picked wordes which I graunt others myght haue done more exquisitely and perchaunce I my selfe also somewhat better yf I would haue made therof a study and labour and not a recreatioÌ„ exercise But howsoeuer I haue done herein verily good reader I trust thou wylt take it in good part which is al that I esteeme yf any man shal mislike therof let hym amende it I trust it be sufficient to testifie my good wil to do thee good and to let thee vnderstande the authors meanyng Fare well An aduertisement to the Reader GEntle Reader before thou enter any further I haue thought good to aduertise thee of certayne faultes escaped in the Printing whyche are sette forthe in the Page afore going desiring thee to beare with them and to pardon the Printer For thou knowest Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus Although some of our Printers be not Homers neyther seene in Greeke nor Latine nor sometime exactly in Englishe yet can they nod and take a nap as well as any Homer Howebeit in deede they are herein pardonable bycause the Copie was somewhat obscurely written as being the first originall Fare well Faultes escaped in the Print Note that the first number signifieth the Page â—he seconde the Line Pag. 2. Lin. 24. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 .6.23 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 .15.14 for austerne austere .32.25 for he sayde they sayde .37.33 for Atirebatensâ—â— Atrebatensis .49.6 for bitter read bittour .60.27 for wandring read wauering .61 â— for Campana Campania eadem .23 for common reade Romaine .67.15 for talke reade taske .68.6 for Alexandria Alexandro mergine Alexander ab Alexandro .70.35 for not that reade not .84.32 for â—aught by the wall Basill reade fast by the wals of Basil. eadem for general the reade the general .88 â–ª 23. for Auguries Angaries â–ª eadem vlt. for straunge reade slaunch .93.8 for companions companies .95.9 for Tiberius by Tiberius 99.7 for mortal read immortall eadem .29 for horse reade hearse eadem .33 for horse hearse .101.3 for
that Lemures are soules which tarrie about the bodies Porphyrius calleâ—h them the wandring soules of men departed before their tyme as it were Remures taking their name of Remus whose soule folowed his brother Romulus who to the intent he mighte pacifie them instituted feastes called Lemuria Seruius writeth that Vmbrae were called Laruae and they called dead mens soules by the name of Vmbrae Of Laruae men are called Laruatâ— that is to say frantike men and suche as are vexed with spirites Who also as Nonius witnesseth are called Ceriti Seruius sayeth that mennes soules are called Manes at suche tyme as departyng from their bodies they are not yet passed into other bodies And he iudgeth that they are so called by the fygure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche is when one speaketh by contraries of the olde adiectiue Manus that is good bicause they were nothing lesse than good For the auncient people supposed that Manes were infernall gods and therfore did they number them amongst theyr euil gods and pacified them with sacrifice least they should hurt them Some affirme that Manes are in déede infernall gods but yet good whereof commeth Mane whiche signifieth good and Dij Manes as if you would say good prosperous gods therof also is said Jmmanes for not good Some other suppose that soules separated from the bobodies were called after this name Whereby we sée the auncient monuments of tumbes haue ben dedicated to Dijs Manibuâ— to the infernal gods In the which opinion Apuleius was as we sayd a little before There are some that iudge Manes to be the very same that the olde people called Genij â–ª and that there were two of these Manes assigned vnto mens bodies euen immediatly after their begetting which forsake them not wheÌ„ they are dead but continue in the graues after the bodies are consumeâ— â—or the whiche cause those men who defaced Monumentes were thoughte to doo wrong vnto the gods called Manes The soothsayers called as well the celestiall as the infernall gods by the name of Manes and that bicause they beleued as Festus doth write that all things did manare that is were deriued from them Other thinke they were so called â— manandopunc of â—lowing bicause the places betwéene the circle of the Moone and the earth from whence they come are full of soules Maniâ— are deformed creatures as Festus saythe and also vgly shapes wherwith nursses make children afrayd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a woman with a face almost of a moÌ„strous fashion hereof it is taken for a heg as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie a terrible sight a spirit or an elfe Nicephorus sayeth in his Ecclesiasticall historie that a woman vsing to walke by night is called by the name of Gilo Lamiae were supposed of the aunciente people to be women hauing eyes to put out or in at their plesure or rather certaine shapes of diuels which taking on them the shew of beautifull women deuoured children and yong men allured vnto them with swéete inticementes Philostratus in his booke Appollonio writeth a maruellous historie or fable of one Menippus beloued of an heg The same authour writeth that Lamiae are called of some men Laruae spirites walkyng by nighte and Lemures nighte spirites of horrible shapes and of many Empusa ghosts of variable fashion and that nursses so named them to make their children afrayde Chrysostomus Dion writeth that in the inmost parte of Affrike are certayn wylde beasts hauing the countenance of a woman whiche in lyke maner are called Lamiae and he sayth that they haue their pappes and al the rest of their breast so fayre as any paynters witte can deuise which being vncouered they disceytfully allure men vnto them and when they haue taken them doo foorthwith deuoure them In the fourth chapter of the Lamentations of Hieremie it is sayde Lamiae nudauerunâ— mammas suas c. Apuleius writeth that Lamiae are things that make Children afrayde Lamiae are also called Striges Striges as they saye are vnluckie birdes whiche sucke out the bloud of infants lying in their cradles And hereof some men will haue witches take their name who also are called Volaticae as Festus writeth The name of Gorgon was inuented to make childreÌ„ afraid for they say these Gorgons are rauening spirites such as men faine Lamiae to be Ephialtae Hyphialtae that is Jncubi and Succubi which we cal Maares are night spirits or rather Diuells which leape vpon men in their sleepe The phisitians do affirme that these are nothing else but a disease Empusa is an apparition of the Diuel or a spirit which sheweth it selfe vnto such as are in misery chaunging hys shape into diuers formes and for the most parte appeareth at noone time Read more hereof in Suidas Dicelon is so called bicause it is sente to make men afraid those kinds of terrors the Grecians cal Hecataea as Apollonius writeth bicause Hecate or Proserpina is the cause of them who therfore is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of terrifying and that by reason that terrours by night were thought to be stirred vp by hir Plutarchus writeth that Acco and Alphito were monstrous women by naming of whome mothers kepte their children in awe and made them feare to do euill Cardanus calleth these Diuels whiche kepe vnder the earth many times kill men as they are vndermining by the name of Telchinnes Men vsing witchecrafte and such as are possessed with a Spirite and out of their wits are called amongst the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of these sorte are those monsters halfe lyke men and halfe like beastes which men saye are founde in woods and oftentimes haue appéered vnto men It is sayde that Panes and Faâ—ni are all one hauing their nether partes lyke vnto Gaotes féete And menne saye that Satyri are almoste lyke vntoo menne And those whiche are of full age are called Sileni Onocentaurus is a beaste of a straunge fashion whiche is reported to be lyke a man in the vpper parte and downwarde lyke an asse Onosceli as it is written in Plutarche are Diuels hauyng legges like vnto asses The olde people imagined that Hippocentauri were creatures who before were lyke to men but the hinder partes had the similitude of horses And they doo fayne that Sphinx is Animal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a beast of the similitude of a man. Scilla and Harpyae are rauening Dyuels with faces lyke vnto maydens As touchyng menne lyuing in the Sea as Tritones Nereides and Syrenes who as the auncient people affirmed had faces lyke vnto menne Reade Gesnerus in Historia Aquatilium where hée intreateth of them For he proueth oute of many authoures that there are founde Monsters in the sea hauyng shapes and countenaunces somewhat lyke vnto men Some of these monsters whiche are in déede bée of the kynde of Apes and
theyr feare was longer than they had cause to feare Upon this the house stoode desert and solitarie wholly leâ—te vnto the monster whiche haunted it yet was it proclaymed to bée solde if happily any man whiche was ignorant of this great mischiefe would eyther buy it or hire it Athenodorus chanced to come to Athens and there readeth the writing on the doore And when he had learned the price bycause he suspected the good cheapnesse thereof enquiryng further vnderstoode the whole matter and notwithstanding any thyng that he hearde he hired the house so muche the rather When it waxed nighte he commaundeth his seruauntes to make his bedde in the vtter partâ— of the house he taketh his writing tables his writing wier and a candle and sendeth all his seruantes into the inner part of the house He himselfe settleth his mynd his eyes and hand to write least his mind being vnoccupied should imagine it heard strange figures and should bréed vayne feare In the beginning of the night there was silence as is in all other places but not long after the iron began to ring and the chaines to moue but yet he would not looke vp nor let cease his writing but hardned his hart stopped his eares Then the noyse increaseth draweth néere and seemeth somtimes to be without the porche somtimes within Then he looketh back seeth and acknowledgeth the shape wherof he had heard before the image stood still beckned with his finger as though he had called him the philosopher on the other side signifieth with his hand that he should stay a while and falleth agayne to his writing The image shaketh his chaines ouer his head as he sate writing He looketh about again and séeth him becknyng as he did before And so rysyng vp without delaye taketh the candle in his hand and foloweth the image goeth before with a softely pase as though hée were heauily laden with chaines After hée had turned aside into the court of the house sodeinly vanishing away leaueth his walking mate alone He being forsaken layeth herbes and leaues gathered togither vpon the place The next day he goth to the rulers of the citie and willeth them to commaunde the place to bée digged vp whiche doone they fynde boanes wrapped and tyed in chaynes whyche the body béeing pâ—triâ—ied and consumed with long lying in the earth had lefte lying in bondes those boanes béeing gathered togither were buryed solemnely The house after they were orderly layde in the grounde was euer after cleare of all suche ghostes In these things I must beleue other mens reports but that which foloweth I can boldly affirme on myne owne knowledge I haue one with mée sometyme my bondeseruaunt but nowe enfraunchized and set at libertie a man not vtterly vnlerned with him my yonger brother lay togither in one bed He in his own imagination séemed that he saw a certain personage sitting vpon the bedde where he laâ—e putting kniues vnto his head and therwith polling off his heares When it was day light the â—eareâ— were found on the ground he being in very dede notted aboute the crownâ— of his head Shortly after the like happened vnto hym which made all men beléeue the firste was true The boy amongst a great many of his fâ—llowes chaunced to sléepe in the schole and being in sléepe there came certayne in at the windowes as he sayde clothed in white garments and shore of his heare as he lay and so departed agayne as they came This polling and also his haires scattered abroade were founde when it was day No notable matter ensued hereof except it were perchaunce that I was not accused of treason as I shoulde haue bin if Domitianus who died about this time had liued longer For there was a libell found in his coffers giuen vnto him agaynst me written by master Carus By whiche it may well be coniectured that in so much as those which are accused do vse to let their heare growe very long the cutting of my friends heare was a sure signe of escaping the great daunger which then hong ouer my head Wherfore I hartyly require you to strayne your learning The matter is worthy wherin ye may vse long and déepe consideration and I surely am vnworthy to whom ye shold opeÌ„ your knowlege You may therfore if it please you dispute the matter on both sids as ye are accustomed but yet I pray you haÌ„dle it more throughly on the one side least ye sende me away wandring and hanging in doubt whereas the cause of my séeking counsell is to the ende I might be quit out of doubt Fare ye well What answere master Sura who as it appereth was well learned made vnto master Pliny I do not finde But to say the truth what sound answer could he being a GeÌ„tile make herin The like history is to be red in the collections of Iohn Manlius coÌ„mon places who as Philip Melancthon reporteth dothe write that Theodorus Gaza had a lordship or manour place in Campana giuen him by Nicholas Pope of Rome In the manour wheÌ„ by chaunce one of his farmers had digged vp a coffin with dead mens bones in it there sodenly appeared a spirit vnto him commaunding him to burie the coffin againe or else his sonne should shortly after dye Which when the farmer refused to do shortly after his sonne was found slayne in the night A fewe dayes after the Spirit appeared agayne vnto the husbandman menacing and threatning him that in case he did not burie the aforesayde bones he would kill his other sonne also The man taking warning by his losse and séeing his other sonne fallen sicke goeth vnto master Theodorus and sheweth him all the matter He vnderstanding it goeth with him to the manour and there in the same place where the farmer had before digged vp the coffin casting a new graue they burie the coffin with the bones As soone as thâ—e bones were layde in the graue the husbandmans sonne immediatly recouered his health Dion writeth that the Emperour Traianus was lead out of the house where he hadde taken vp his Inne in the time of an earthquake into a more safer place Iulius Capitolinus which setteth out a fewe liues of the common Emperours reporteth that Pertinax for the space of thrée dayes before he was slayne by a thrust sawe a certayne shaddowe in one of his fishepondes whiche with a sword ready drawen threatned to slay him therby much disquieted him Flauius Vopiscus writeth that wheras Tacitus fathers graue opened it selfe the sides therof falling downe of their owne accord and that his mothers soule appeared bothe to him Florianus day and night as if she had bin liuing it was a most sure and infallible signe that he shoulde dye shortly after Ammianus Marcellinus writing of the signes or prognosticatioÌ„â— of Constantius death saith that he was troubled and terrified in the night season with shapes and figures The same author affirmeth in his 25. booke that a little before Iulianus
words when immediately there followed a great groning not of one man but of many being admiâ—t as it were with greate admiration And bicause many were present in the ship they said the same hereof was spéedely spred abroad at Rome Thamus sent for Tiberius the Emperor who gaue so much credite vnto the matter that he diligently enquired asked who that Pan was The learned men whome he had in great number about him supposed that Pan was he who was the Sonne of Mercuriâ— and Penelope â–ª c. These and such like things Eusebius who also reciteth this historie affirmeth to haue chaunced in that time of Tiberius in the which Chryst being conuersant amongst men expelled al maner of deuils from the societie of theÌ„ Other most Godly professours of our Religion affirme as namely Paulus Marsus in his Annotations vppon the first of Ouids Fasti that this voice was heard out of Paxe the very same night ensuing the day wherein our Lorde suffered in the â—9 yeare of Tiberius whiche was the same yeare that Chryst was crucifâ—ed in by the whiche voiâ—e being vttered in a wildernesse of solitarie rockes it was declared that our Lorde and God had suffred for vs For the word Pan in Géeke signifieth all and then the Lord of al the world was Crucified He addeth moreouer that Theodosius doth say that the Archadiâ—â—s do worship this God calling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning thereby to signifie a Lord Ruler not of woordes but of al manner of material substances whose power is suche that it is able to create the essence and substance of al bodies whether that they be heauenly or earthly And albeit he refer this vnto the Sunne yet if a man marke diligently his mysteries haue a higher meaning c. Héereunto belongeth those things which are reported touching the chasing or hunting of Diuels and also of the daunces of dead men which are of sundrie sortes I haue heard of some which haue auouched that they haue séene them No man is able to rehearse all the shapes wherein spirites haue appeared for the Diuell who for the moste part is the worker of these things can as the Poets faine of Proteus chaunge himselfe into all shapes and fashions These walking spirits sometimes stoppe the way before men as they trauel and leade them out of their way and put them in suche greate feare that sometimes they become grayheaded in one night I remember I haue heard the like historie of my olde friende Iohn VVilling a godly and learned man of one in the Countie of Hannâ—w who not many yeares ago méeting with a walking spirite in the night season was so much altred that at his returning home his owne Daughters knewe him not Spirits oftentimes awake men out of their sléepe and cause many to forsake their owne houses so that they can not hire them out to any other Sometymes they ouerthrowe somewhat or strike men or cast stones at them and hurt them either in their bodies or in their goodes yea and sometime God dothe suffer them to bereaue men of their liues It often chaunceth that those mens faces and heades do swell which haue séene or heard spirits or haue ben blasted with them and some are taken mad as we sée by experience I remember wel it hath hapned that some supposing they haue séene armed men who were readie to take them haue therefore assayed to slay themselues which thing may be by craft of the Deuil Spirits do also trouble cattell in the night time in the pastures Thus muche concerning the first part of this woorke wherin I trust I haue proued and made it euident that albeit there be many which vainely persuade themselues they haue séene wandring spirits or haue behelde one in stéed of an other yet notwithstanding that ther are walking spirits that other straunge things do sometime happen I haue also shewed vnto whom they appeare especiallie and where when after what sort or in what fourmes they shewe themselues and what things they worke and bring to passe Whosoeuer dare flatlie denie these manyfolde and agréeable testimonies of the olde and newe writers he séemeth vnworthie in my iudgement of any credite whatsoeuer he say For as it is a great token of lightnesse if one by and by beléeue euery man whiche saithe he hath séene spirits so on the other side it is great impudencie if a man rashely and impudâ—ntely contemne all things which are aduouched of so many and so credible Historiographers and aunciente fathers and other graue men of great authoritie ¶ The second part of this Booke doth shewe that those Spirits and other strange sights be not the Soules of Men but be either good or euill Angels or else some secret and hyd operations CHAP. I. The opinion or beleefe of the Gentiles Ievves and Turkes concerning the estate of Soules seperated from their bodies IN the second part of this book we haue to consider what those thyngs be which as we haue before shewed are bothe hearde and séene in the daytime and in the night whether they be the souls of deade men or no also what the olde Wryters haue iudged of them and what the Holie Scriptures do teach vs herein Plato doth thinke that Heroicall and excellent soules as being of the pure sorte do mount aloft but that other base and viler soules that are defiled with the pleasures and lustes of the body do wander belowe on the ground and the same he déemeth to be those spirites whiche are eftsones séene Also other heathen and prophane writers say they are héereby moued to thinke that the soules of men doe lyue after death for that it is most cleare euident that many spirites wander and raunge hither and thyther and are oft times heard and séene and founde to talke with men for they suppose that most of these are mens soules Tertullian a very auÌ„â—ient writer in his boke De anima saith that the wise Heathens whiche dyd define the soule to be mortall for some of them as namely the Epicures thought that the soules dyed with their bodies thought that the soules of the wise if they departed from their bodies hadde their abiding on hygh but the rest were throwne downe into Hel. Furthermore the Heathen thought the Soules should stray continually abroade before they founde rest vnlesse the bodies from which they were seuered were rightly buried in the earth Wherefore as we may reade in Poets it was a gréeuous crime to caste foorth any bodie vnburied Hector in Homere besoughte Achilles that he would not cast foorth his carcasse to bée deuoured of Dogs and birds but that he would deliuer the same to be enterred by olde Priamus his father and Hecuba his mother Patroclus appeared in a vision by night after his deathe vnto Achilles and requested him to bestowe vppon him all funeral solemnities For otherwise he sayde the soules of those that were buried woulde thrust him backe
possessioÌ„ of life euerlasting they that depart in vnbeléef do streight way becoÌ„ partakers of eternal damnation The souls do not vanish away die with the body as the Epicures opinion is neither yet be in euery place as som do imagin touching this matter I wil allege pithie manifold testimonies out of the holy scripture out of which alone this question may ought to be tried discussed Our sauior Christ Iesus which could well iudge of these misteries in the .3 of Iohn saith So God loued the world that he wold giue his only begotteÌ„ son that who so beleueth on him shold not perish but haue life euerlastiÌ„g For god seÌ„t not his son into the world to coÌ„demn the world but that the world by him might be saued He that beleueth in him is not coÌ„demned he that beleueth not is coÌ„demned alredy bicause he beleued not in the name of the only begotteÌ„ son of god And in the .5 of Iohn he saith Uerily verily I say vnto you he that heareth my word beleueth on him that sent me hath euerlasting life shal not come into iugemeÌ„t or coÌ„demnation but hath passed alredy froÌ„ deth to life he doth not say that his sins shold first be purged in purgatorie And in the .6 cha he saith This is the wil of him that sent me that euery one that séeth the son and beléeueth on him should haue life euerlasting and I will raise him vp at the last day againe verily I say vnto you he that beleueth on me hathe life euerlasting In the .14 of Iohn also our Lord sauior Christ Iesus saith that he wil take vs vp to himself that where he is there shuld we be also c. When Christe sent forth his disciples to publish his gospel in the .x. of Math. he said vnto theÌ„ Go ye into the whole world preach the gospel to euery creature he that beleueth is baptized shal be saued and he that beleueth not shal be coÌ„demned in the 5. ch of the 2. to the Corin. the apostle S. Paule saith we knowe that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed we haue a building of god that is a house not made with haÌ„ds but eternal in the heaueÌ„s c. By these places it may be euidently gathered that the soules of the faithfull are taken vp into eternall ioy the soules of the vnfaithfull assoone as they are departed froÌ„ their bodies are condeÌ„ned to perpetual tormeÌ„t And that this is done streightway after death may be perceyued by the words that Christ spake to the théefe on the crosse when he hoong on his right hand This day shalt thou be with me in paradise And in the 14 chap. of the apocalips it is writteÌ„ I hard a voice that said vnto me write blessed are the dead that dye in the lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 .i. amodo as the old traÌ„slatioÌ„ redeth that is by by out of haÌ„d without delay SteueÌ„ in the very point wheÌ„ he loked to be stoned cried lord Iesu receiue my spirit He douted nothing but was assuredly persuaded that his soul shold straightway be traÌ„slated to eternal ioy Paule in the .j. chap. of his epist. to the Philip. sayth I desire to be losed or I couet to depart hence to be with christ Here is no meÌ„tioÌ„ at al made of purgatory in which the soules shold be first purged If thou wilt here obiect that the persons afore aleged wer saints martirs we say farther the Paradyse was opened also to the théef assoone as he became repentant And that the soules both of the faithfull vnfaithful which presently after their death are translated to heaueÌ„ or hel do not returne thence into the earth before the day of the last iudgement may wel be perceiued by the parable of the rich man clothed in purple Lazarus as we read in the .xvj. of Luke For wheÌ„ the rich man prayed Abraham that he would sende Lazarus vnto him to cooâ—e his tong Abraham gaue him this aunswer Betwixt thée and vs there is a great gulfe set so that they which wold goe hence from Abrahams bosome to you in Hell can not neyther can they come from thence to vs And when he be sought him that he would sende Lazarus to his fathers house to admonishe his fiue brethren least they also should come into that place of torment he sayd vnto him They haue Moses and the Prophets let them hear them And again If they heare not Moyses the Prophets neither wil they beleue though one rose agayne froÌ„ the dead CHAP. V. Testimonies of the auncient fathers that deade mens soules parted from theyr bodyes dooe not vvander here vpon earth THis matter was also thus vnderstoode by the holy and auncient Fathers For Augustine in his .xviij. Sermon De verbis Apostoli hathe that there bée two mansions the one in euerlasting fyre the other in the euerlasting kyngdome And in his .xxviij. chapter of his first booke De peccatorum meriâ—is remissione contra Pelagianos in the seueÌ„th tome of his works he sayth Neyther can any man haue any middle or meane place so that he maye be any other where than with the diuell who is not with Christ. And in his notable worke de ciuitate Dei the .xiij. booke and .viij. chapter he sayth The soules of the godly so soone as they be seuered from their bodies be in rest the soules of the wicked in torment vntill the bodies of the one bée raysed vnto lyfe and the other vnto euerlastyng deathe which in scripture is called the second death Iustine also an auncient father writeth in Responsione ad Orthodoxos quest 75. that the difference of the iust vniust doth appeare euen as soone as the soule is departed from the body For they are caried by the angels into such places as are fit for them that is the soules of the iust are brought vnto Paradyse where they haue the fruition of the sighte and presence of Angels and Archangels and moreouer the â—ight of our sauior Christ as it is conteined in that saying whiles we are straungers from the body we are at home with god And the soules of the vnrighteous on the other side are caried to Hell as it is sayde of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon Hell is troubled vnder thée being ready to méete thée c. And so till the day of resurrection and rewarde are ethy reserued in suche places as are méetest for them Saint Hillarie in the ende of his exposition of the second Psalme writeth that mens soules are straight way after death made partakers of rewards or punishments And touching the soules of the old Patriarks that dyed before the natiuitie of Christ Austin Hierom Nazianzen and other holy Fathers teache that God in certain places by him chosen out for that purpose hath preserued the soules of all
those that are departed from this lyfe in the true faith of the Messias to come in suche sort that they feele no gréefe but yet are depriued of the sight of god This place they call Abrahams bosom and hell for Hell doth not always betoken a place of tormente but also generally the state that soules are in after this lyfe And that our lord Iesus Christ did visite and release them and when he ascended caried them with himselfe into heauen Albeit certain of the fathers as Ireneus Tertullian Hilarie others think that they shal at the last day ascend to heaueÌ„ Some also there be of our tyme which maintaine this fonde opinion that the soules sléep vntil the day of the last iudgement in which they shal be again coupled with their bodies but this assertion hath no grouÌ„d in holy scripture of the which point diuers haue entreated But especially Iohn Caluin that worthy seruaunt of God in a proper treatise that hée wrote of the same matter in which he doth learnedly confute their reasons that maintein the contrary opinion Wherfore sith holy scriptures as the Fathers vnderstand interprete them teache that the soules of men as soone as they departe from the bodies do ascende vp into heauen if they were godly descende into hell if they were wicked and faithlesse and that there is no thirde place in which soules should be deliuered as it were out of prison that soules caÌ„ neither â—e reclaimed out of heauen or hell Hereby it is made euident that they caÌ„not wander on the earth desire aide of meÌ„ For first the soules of the blyssed néed no aide or help y men caÌ„ giue them on the other side the damned sort can no way be releued the which S. Ciprian the martir in his oration against DemetriaÌ„ dothe plainly witnesse in these words wheÌ„ we be once departed out of this world ther is afterward no place left for repeÌ„taÌ„ce no way to make satisfactioÌ„ here life is either woon or lost so forth Albeit the testimonies alredy alleged on this point of doctrin may wel suffise those that loue the truth are desirous to come to the knowledge therof yet to increase the nuÌ„ber I wil recite other testimonies also out of the fathers to proue manifestly that the soules departed do not again return wander on the earth so that all they which haue not yet stopped their cares that the truth myght not pierce enter into them may euideÌ„tly perceiue that those ancient tymes taught a far better doctrine of those spirits ghosts than other later tymes vnder poperiâ— haue coÌ„mended allowed Tertullian a very auncient writer in the end of his booke De anima sayth the soules do not any longer abide on the earth after they be once loosed from their bodies that neither by their own accord nor other mens coÌ„mandement they do waÌ„der at all after they haue descended into hel but he sayth that euil spirits do vse this kinde of deceyt to fayne themselues to be the soules of suche as are deceassed And that Hell is not open to any soule that it should afterward at any time depart thence Christ our Lord in the parable of the poore man that was in rest and the riche glutton that was in torment doth playnely ratifie vnder the person of Abraham that there can be no maÌ„ sent back to shew or tel ought of the state of hell And albeit the fathers haue noted certain errors and scapes in Tertullian yet ther was neuer any that reproued him for this opinion Athanasius in his booke of questioÌ„s the .xiij. question doth giue a reason wherfore God wil not suffer y any soul decessed shuld return vnto vs declare what the state of things is in hel what great misery is there hereby saith he many errors wold easily spring vp among vs for many diuels might so take on them the shape of men be traÌ„sformed into the likenesse of the dead say that they arose froÌ„ the dead and so publish many lying tales false opinions of things there don therby to seduce and hurt vs Weigh these words of Athanasius I pray thée Sainct Chrysostome in his nynetéenth Homilie on the eight chapter of sainct Mathews Gospell hath in maner the same woordes for hée moueth thys question Why suche as were possessed with Spirites lyued in graues Therefore sayeth he they abode there to put this false opinion in mens heads that those persons soules whyche by violent death departed were turned into Dyuels so dyd seruice vnto witches and soothsayers The which opinion the diuell first broughte in thereby to diminishe the Martyrs prayse and glorie that so the Sorcerers mighte â—lea those persons whose wicked trauell help they vsed those matters saith he ar far from truth For he proueth by the Scripture that the spirites of the godly are not vnder the power of the Diuels nor yet do stray abroade after deathe then that they woulde retourne vnto theyr owne bodyes if they myghte wander whether they lusted And further if they dydde any seruice too theyr Murderers by that meanes they should at their handes receyue a reward for an yll déede and displeasure By natural reason also it can not come to passe that a maÌ„s body should be turned into an other body and therfore also the spirite of a man can not be chaunged into a deuill But among other things which proprely belong to our purpose he sayth If we heare a noyse that sayth I am suche a soule we muste thus thinke that thys talke procedeth of some sleight and subtiltie of the deuill and that it is not the soule of the dead body that speketh these things but the Deuill that deuiseth them to deceyue the hearers And by and by he sayeth that these are to be counted olde wiues words or rather doting fooles toyes to mocke children withall For the soule when it is parted from the body cannot walke any longer in these parties For the soules of the iust are in the hands of god And on the other side the soules of the wicked after their departure hence are straightway lead aside and withdrawne froÌ„ vs which may euidently be séene by Lazarus the rich man And in another place also the Lorde sayth This day will they take thy soule from thée wherefore the soule cannot here wander when it is departed from the body A little afterwarde he addeth that it may be proued out of many places of scripture that the soules of the iust doo not here wander after death For Steuen saide Lorde receiue my Spirit and Paule desired to be loosed and to departe hence and to be with Christ. Also the scripture as touching the patriarks death vseth this phrase he is layde vnto his fathers growen vp vnto a good olde age And that the soules of sinners and wicked men cannot after their departure here abide any longer we may
expedient for them to doe for their sake to wit that they should do sacrifices for their soules obserue their obsequies burie their bodies erect Temples make holydayes and such like stuffe Suetonius writeth that the Emperor Caligule his body was priuily coÌ„ueyed into the gardens called Lamiam and there with a hastie fire being but halfe consumed was cast into a pit and couered with a little earth But afterwards wheÌ„ his sisters returned froÌ„ exile it was taken vp thorowly burnt afterward solemnly buried But before they had so doon the gardeÌ„ kéepers were very much troubled with appearing of spirits And moreouer no man could passe any night in the same house where he was slayne without some great feare vntil such time as the house was vtterly destroyed with fire We read also in other writers that the ghostes of them which wer not orderly buried or whose accustomed rites and ceremonies in the time of warres were omitted dyd appeare eyther to their friendes or vnto others complayning intreating that their funerals all other ceremonies mighte be obserued for their sake whereof came the hearses wéekemyndes monthmindes and anniuersaries whereof we reade many things in the Ethnike writers and many things are recyted out of the olde Poets and in Lilius Giraldus in his booke De sepultura and also in Polid. Virgilius de Inuentione rerum lib. 6 cap. 10. We haue shewed before in the seconde parte and first Chapter that some haue desired others that they might be buried after that they were dead Cicero writeth in his 1. boke De legibus that Romulus the first founder of Rome walking after his death not farre from Atticus house appeared vnto Iulius Proculus and tolde him that hée was nowe a god and that his name was Quirinus and therewith commaunded that there shoulde be a Temple erected and dedicated vnto him in the same place Ouide writeth lib. 4. Fastorum that Remus apeared in the night time vnto Faustulus and to his wife Accia Laurentia somtime his Nurse complayning vnto them of his miserable death and desiring them to make laboure that the same day wherein he was slayne might be accounted amongst their holydayes The people of Rome as Ouide witnesseth lib. 2. Fastorum kept a feast in the moneth of Februarie called Feralia in the whiche they did sacrifice vnto the infernall Goddes and those whose duties it was to celebrate the funerals of their Auncesters carried dishes of meat to their sepulchers Wherof Festus and Varro called the same feast by the name of Feralia These dishes of meate were set vpon a stone at the time of these sacrifices for the which cause as Seruius sayth they were called Silicernium by the whiche worde some will haue a certaine feast signified which is bestowed vpon old men Donatus sayth that Silicernium is a supper which is made to the infernall Gods bycause Eam silentes cernant that is the deade soules do receyue it or bycause those that doe serue it do onely cernere see it and not tast thereof c. There were also certaine holie feastes called Parâ—ntalia in the which meate was caried to the Sepulchers for the soules of Parents and Auncestours before deceased And albeit they suppose that soules were pleased with small gyftes as of mylke wyne and suche like whereof mention is made in Ouid yet notwithstanding they also kylled sacrifices wherof some suppose that Feralia toke their name à feriendis pecudibus of killing shéepe Unto their sacrifices they also added prayers and kindled lights WheÌ„ in tymes past the Romains being troubled with warres had let passe the feast of Parentalia they therefore supposed that the infernall Goddes being for the same cause angrie there arose storms and pestilence and that soules rysing out of their graues did wander with pittifull complaintes about the graues and by the highway sides and in the fieldes This feaste endured by the space of fiftéene dayes in the whiche maried women lay not with their husbandes neyther those whiche were mariageable dyd marrie and the Images of their Goddes were couered The soules of them that were deade when they came too the meate they wandred about the graues and were fed as they thought with the banquet In the Moneth of May there was holden a feast in the night time which at the beginning they called Remuria and afterwardes Lemuria This did not differ much from the feast called Feralia whiche was instituted to pacifie soules Touching the originall of them and the rytes belonging therto looke Ouid in his lib. 5. fastorum One who tooke on him to pacifie the soules arose in the night verie late he went barefooted and washed himselfe ouer wyth fresh springing water and then taking beanes whiche he had rolled in his mouth he threw them behind his backe and saide that with them he dyd redéeme himselfe and after beating on a péece of brasse he prayed the soules to depart from thence which thing if they had done nine times they thought they hadde ended their holie seruice These were celebrated by the space of thrée dayes The sacrifices which are done for the infernall Gods are called Jnferiae We read in Lucan of the soules of Sylla and Marius which were purged by sacrifice We shewed before how Athanagoras coÌ„maunded the bones which wer digged vp in the entrie of his house at Athens to be orderly buried agayne c. The auncient Iewes had an expresse commaundemeÌ„t of God not to be any thing moued with the miracles of false Prophetes and God in plaine wordes forbad them not to seeke couÌ„cel of dead bodies Saule in the beginning of hys raigne while he yet gaue himself vnto godlinesse vtterly destroyed all coniurers and witches I doe not remember that I haue euer heard or read howe the Iewes behaued themselues when any spirits appeared vnto theÌ„ yet I doubt not but that they are supersticious aswell in these things as in all others CHAP. V. Hovv Christian men ought to behaue themselues vvhen they see spirites and first that they ought to haue a good courage and to be stedfast in fayth HOwe Christian men oughte to behaue themselues in this behalfe it is fully and amply declared in the holie Scriptures in like manner as all other things are which appertaine vnto our saluation To wit that first we ought to be of good courage without feare being assured constante in true faith For if they be good Angels which shew themselues vnto vs then are they sent vnto vs from God to a good ende and purpose But if they be wycked and euyll they can do vs no harme be they neuer so desirous excepte God giue them leaue thereto If it be nothing but a vayne imagination that we haue or an idle sight obiected vnto our eyes surely it is great follie to be any thing afraid In déed it is naturall vnto vs to be amazed with feare when we sée suche things for
of the resurrection of the dead into doubt and question Moreouer we reade that the olde Fathers haue caste Deuils out of menne and out of suche places wherein by their rumbling they haue put many in horrible feare Such an historie of S. Iohn is in Abdias Babylonius for the holy Apostles and many godly menne after them were indued with this grace from God that they coulde cast out vncleane spirites whiche gyft continued a long season in the Church to the great profite of the faythfull but afterwardes it ceased as other miracles dyd also It maketh vnto this purpose that Tertullian writeth hys Apologetico fol. 858. and 159. Thus we haue sufficiently séene after what sorte the holy fathers and auncient christians behaued themselues when any spirits appeared vnto them CHAP. X. That sundrie kyndes of superstition haue crept in vvhere by men haue attempted to driue avvay spirites IN proces of tyme Supersticions encreased more and more Paule complayneth that in his time Antechrist began to practise his misterie of iniquitie and that many opinions and sectes began to spring vp Saint Iohn writeth that in his time there were many Antechristes What maruel is it then if afterwards yea and that verie quickly diuers errours croape into the Churche and multiplyed excéedingly Sainte Augustine in his 22. booke De ciuitate Dei and eyghte Chapter after that he hadde recited certayne myracles which were therefore shewed that men might beleeue in Chryst he seâ—teth foorthe thys historie Hesperius a man of good worshippe and calling amongest vs hath a piece of land in the territorie of Fussalum called Cubedi in the whiche perceyuing by the languishing of his cattell and seruantes that his house was infected with the force and rage of euyll spirites he desired our fellow Priestes I being then absent that some one of them would take the paines to go thither that the spirit by his good prayers might giue place one of them went thither and there offred the sacrifice of the body of Chryst praying very earnestly that the same disquieting of spirites myght cease and by and by God had compassion and it ceased He had giuen him of a friende of his some parte of holie lande brought from Hierusalem where Chryste being buried rose againe the thirde daye that earth he hung vp in hys chamber least any euil might happeÌ„ vnto him But when his house was deliuered froÌ„ that trouble he deuised wyth himselfe what he might do with the saide earth which for reuerence sake he woulde not kéepe any longer in his chamber c. Héereby it is manyfest that superstition began immediatly and as it hapneth always grewe bigger with great increase as if one shoulde roll foorthe snowe clodded togyther or as when huge lumpes of snow begin to fal down from the Alpes â–ª al things on euery side are filled with snowe Shortly after menne began to praye and offer sacrifice for dead mennes soules yea and that wyth a good intention as it may euidently appeare in many of the auncient fathers Afterwards when Byshops parish Priestes did not onely not correct olde supersticions but also vppon a good meaning increase theÌ„ at the last they grew to an infinite number For when spirits appeared men called not vpon God through Chryst only but also vpon Saintes forgetting that which Saint Paule saithe to the Romaines the tenth For I will let passe at this tyme all other argumentes how shall they call vppon him in whome they haue not beléeued The Papistes themselues cannot deny but that we must beleeue onely in God and therefore he only is to be worshipped through his Sonne Some write that it is a soueraigne remedie to driue away deuils if we praye Aue Maria. Where by the way it is to be noted that the same salutation of the Angell is no prayer but onely a gréeting and hystoricall narration to wit howe the Archangell Gabriell tolde the Uirgin Marie before of the Incarnation of Chryst. But I praye thée weigh the sense of the words and whether thou wilt or no thou must néedes say that these wordes conteine in them neither asking nor thankesgiuing whiche are the partes of prayer WheÌ„ the Angell came vnto hir he saluted hir saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. salue that is God spéede or reioyce for as Festus sayth the Gréeke and the Latin word haue one signification Then he addeth further full of grace which is to be vnderstoode passiuely as they terme it in the scholes for bycause God bestowed his grace vpon hir for so the Angell himselfe expoundeth it when hee saythe afterwardes that she had found grace that is that God is mercifull and louing towardes hir Those words may not be so vnderstood as if she were the fountayne of grace as some haue expounded it and that she hath grace of hir selfe and bestoweth it vpon such as call vppon hir or speake vnto hir with the salutation of the Angel. For neyther the Gréeke worde nor any other places of the Scriptures admit this sense The Apostle saythe to the Ephesians the firste chapter that God hath made vs hys faithfull seruants deare by his grace through his beloued that is through Iesus christ In the whiche saying the same word is put whiche the Angell vsed in saluting the holy virgine It is written in the firste chapter of saincte Iohns Gospell in playne words that Iohn Baptiste bare witnesse of Christ with a loude voice and saide that we all haue receiued of his fulnesse grace for grace For the lawe was giuen by Moses but grace and truth sprang vp by christ Many other suche places I omitte for breuities sake The virgin Mary hir selfe saith the Lord hath done maruellous things vnto me She setteth foorth the grace of God giuen vnto hir from God without any of hir deserts For he neuer bestowed greater grace on any womaÌ„ And there is a very great difference betwene him that coÌ„ferreth grace and them whiche receiue or obteine grace Grace is only to be sought at his hands who giueth grace and not of them which them selues receiue grace A fewe yeares past all men besought the virgin for helpe hoping for more grace and succour of hir than of Christ him selfe The Angell addeth further Blessed art thou amoÌ„gst women that is God hathe conferred more grace vnto thee than vnto any other woman The words which are ioyned herevnto Blessed is the frute of thy wombe are not the words of the Angell but of hir cousin Elizabeth who also saluted hir Unto these words some religious men added Iesus Christ amen Therefore the Angell vttered not all those words of the Aue Marie as it may manifestly be gathered out of the very text of Saincte Luke chapter .1 not bycause we deny these words to be good and holy for the text saith of Elizabeth that she was full of the holy ghost but that which the Angell spake not is not to be attributed vnto hir You shall not finde in
For wryting of Alexander the great in his booke De vitis he saythe that there happened certaine prognostications before his death which sometimes Alexander â—ared not for but contemned them and contrariwise somtimes hée tooke smal and tryfling things as signes of euil lucke He addeth further howe daungerous a thing it is to dispise tokens and signes sente from God vnto men and on the other side howe pernitious and hurtfull it is to be afrayde of euery trifle for as in all other things so is ther a measure to be obserued herein The same opinion is he of touching other wonders and miracles For ye maye read in the life of Camillus that when he being Captaine had taken and destroyed the Veians he made a solemne vowe to translate the Image of Iuno vnto Rome And therefore hée commaunded certayne men to take vppe the Image he offred sacrifice vnto the Goddesse and besought hir that shée would voutsafe to followe him and to be fauorable vnto the Romaines as other Goddes were which nowe dwelt at Rome The Image made hym answere that she would go with him He also wryteth that those men which noted and recorded these things reporte other such straunge matters as that Images dyd sweat that they gaue great groanes that they turned away their faces or hanged downe their heades he sayth that men which lyued before his time gathered many suche examples togyther and that he himselfe hath heard many maruellous things of men lyuing in his time which were not by and by to be neglected and contemned and yet mannes infirmitie is suche that it cannot attribute eyther too muche or to little vnto those things without great daunger for men obserue no mesure but are either too supersticious and attribute ouer much to suche matters or else do vtterly reiect and contemne them And therefore the safest waye is to be aduised and to kéepe a meane in suche affaires Valerius Maximus confesseth in his firste booke that the verie Gentiles themselues hadde many miracles and wonders happening among them in great suspition and that not without iust cause True wonders ought to stirre vs vp from sléepe A couragious horsse goeth well inoughe of his owne accorde and yet if you doe but make signe vnto him with a wande or put spurre vnto him hée wil be more redyer quicker Euen so must we go in the way that leadeth vnto Heauen so long as we liue but in case we sée any foretokens or some great alteration sâ—eme to hang ouer vs we ought to be the more stirred vppe to giue our selues to prayer and to exercise godlynesse The Gentiles if at any tyme such forewarnings were shewed vnto them from Heauen dyd institute certayne solemne prayers and processions to pacifie their Gods howe much rather oughte all Christian Princes and Magistrates Doctoures and Preachers of our tyme to bende themselues wholly herein when so euer plagues hang ouer our heades that all men generally and particularly shew forth true repentance Hitherto I truste we haue sufficiently shewed what we maye thinke concerning visions and appearing of spirites and other straunge things which haue greate affinitie and likenesse vnto them And that in tymes past Doctours wrote and taught farre otherwise concerning them than the verie truth it selfe was we haue also shewed the causes thereof It might be also declared in many words that the like hath happened in other poyntes of Christian doctrine yea and many excellent learned and godly men haue at large opened the same in their bookes whiche are nowe extant concerning such matters And that I maye conclude this my booke I shall beséeche all those for the glorie of God that shall happen to reade it that in case they thinke I haue strayed from the rule of the worde of God they woulde fréely and friendly admonishe me thereof but if they knowe it be agreeable to the worde of God as I trust it is that then they suffer not themselues to be ruled and mocked of iugling Monkes and Priestes but rather gyue God thankes for that greate and vnspeakable benefite whereby he dothe dayly delyuer them out of greate errours and feares and dothe continually more and more bring his truthe to lyght leâ— them not so lose the raignes to their affections that they reiect the truth which they haue once acknowledged The Senate and people of Rome as stories witnesse graunted libertie to the people of Cappadocia when the stocke and issue of their Kings was vtterly extincte to be frée and Lordes of themselues for euer after But the Nobilitie consulting on the matter refusing libertie whiche they coulde in no wise disgest desired to haue a king The Romaines wondering heereat gaue them leaue to choose whome they would to be their king Let not vs bée suche fooles but rather let vs embrace the libertie of our soules whych God doth dayly offer vnto vs by hys worde Many Noble nations fighting couragiously haue put themselues in present daunger of life to obtayne and kéepe this sweete externall libertie Howe muche more ought we Christians to fight agaynst the suttletie and deceyt of the Deuill least the libertie of our soules whyche is muche more precious than the other shoulde be oppressed by diuers errours and supersticions Men setting in darkenesse desire the light verie earnestly Let not vs therefore cast away light fréely offered vnto vs by God in his Scriptures We haue nothing here in earth more deare vnto vs than the libertie of our soules and consciences Let vs not then as Paule sayth with holâ—â— truth in vnrighteousnesse lette euery man of what age soeuer he be weigh with hymselfe howe fraile and brittle this lyfe is which God hath giuen vnto vs and that we muste depart from hence sooner then wée thinke for and render an account to the iust Iudge of our fayth wâ—rdes and déedes Glorie and prayse be vnto Almightie God for euer and euer and I beséech him to voutsafe to stretche forthe hys hande to deliuer all suche as are still entangled in superstition and errours and to graunt those whome he hath delyuered hys Heauenly grace that they be always thankful for so great a benefite least they be wrapped againe in the same mischiefe FINIS The diuision or partes of this booke â–ª The dedicaâ—â—on Spectrum Visum Visio Terriculamenta Phantasma Matth. 24. Mark. 6. Phasma Pneuma Luk. 24. Lares Praestites Hostilij Genius Penates Vmbrâ—â— Lemures Laruae Ceriti Maneâ— Maniae Mormo Lamiae Lameâ— â–ª of Hieremie â–ª chap. 4. Striges Gorgones Incubi Succubi Empusa â–ª Dicelon Hecataea Acco Alphito Telchinnes Pan. Faunuâ— Satyri Sileni Onocentaurus Onosceli Hyppocentaurus Sphinx Scilla Harpyae Triton Nereides Syrenes Portentum Ostentum Prodigium Monstrum Some men denie there are Spirits Acts. 3â— Sundrie imaginations of malancholicke persons TheatruÌ„ a place to behold plaies and paâ—â—imes in Ioannes Sertorius * See Ludouiâ— Caeliu li. 17. câ— â— antiquitat Galen de lociâ— affectis Libro de Simtomatum diff chap.
3. Paulus Aegineta Lycanthropia Augustine vppon Genesis Hydrophobia Rufus Ephialtes the 〈◊〉 Madmen Tertullian â— Pâ—t 3. Plutarche Theodoricus imagining that he seeth Simmachus Matth. 14. Luke 24. Stout and curragious men seldome se any Spiritâ— Dronken men see straunge things Euripides Prouerb 23. Some see them selues Hearing deceueth The sensâ— of feeling is deceyued Weakenesse of the sight and feare Cominaeus Kings 4. Salomon pro. Daunsing spirits Iosephus dâ— antiquitatib Paulina and Mundus Ruffinuâ— Tyrannus a wicked priest Lippis tonsoribus noâ—um Theodorus Foure moncks of Berna loaÌ„nes Stumpfius Erasmus Spectrum Georgius Buchananus Ambition Couetousnesse â–ª Paulâ— â–ª Enuie Idlenesse Loue. Popes haue fayned visions â–ª Bruno Gregorius 7. Bartholomâ—us Platina Bonifacius Sometimes Laye men beguile the priests Men walking by night Fayries of the earth Olaus magnus Echo Cardanus Things shining by night Hector Boethius Burning lights Exhalations Glasses Triton appeared to Iulius Caesar. Theseus seene in the battaile of Maratho C. Cassius sawe I. Caesar. Drusus sawe a woman excelling all mortall creatures in maiestie Plinius secundus writing of spirits The spirit of Athens Manlius Lucan Sozomâ—nus Theodorus Nicephorus Ambrose Augustine Felix appeared at Nola. Gregorie Basiliscus appeared to Chrysostome S. Seuerine Byshop of Colein Alexander Alexandro Bâ—ptista Malancthona annie Ludouicus Viues Hieronimus Cardanus Olaus Spirites requiring helpe Builders heare spirits in the night Diuells are in Mines Agricola Which are people that eate and deuoure men Cicero Augustine Marsilius Matth. 1. 2. Acts. Acts. 16. Cardanus De animorum immortalitate li. 16. cap 5. Virgill Suetonius Cicero de diuinatione Liâ—ie Plinie Appianus Valerius Max. li. 1. cap. 6. Castor and Pollux Plutarch Iosephus Felix Malleolus Luke 24. â— Samuel 2. Samuel 1. Paral. 14. 2. Reg. 6.7 â— Samuel 7. Daniel 5. 2. Macha 3. 2. Macha 10. 2. Machab 11. Some men see things whiche other men see not Actes 9. Actes 22. Socrates familiar At what time spirits appeare Apocalips In what place spirits are sene Esay 13. Monsters of the desert Esay 34. After what sort spirits appeare Olaus Daunces of spirits Saxo. Pomponius Mela. Solinus Hierome A Fable ouâ— of Hierome of a Centaure â–ª A Monster hauing the forepart like a man the hinder like a horse â–ª Plutarch De preparatione Euang. li. 5. chap. 9. Paulus Marsus Hunting of Deuils Platos opinioÌ„ Tertullian Homeâ— Virgill Plato The Iewes opinion Iob. 7. Psal 31. Eccle. 12. Wisedo 3. â—sal 49. 2. Samu. 12. Eccle 38. The Tukes opinion Papistes Iacobus de Cusa 4. places for Soules Heauen Hell. Limbus puerorum whiche is a place wher the Papistes imagin the soules of yong children to be which departed without Baptisme Purgatorie â–ª By whome Soules are tormeÌ„ted in purgatorie Papistes feigne that soules reâ—o earth againe Whether we may wishe to see spirits Howe a man ought to vse him self when spirits appeare according to the Papists Daniel 10.11 1. Samuel 3. By what tokens good spirits may be discerned from euill Luke 1. How vve may helpe and succoure soules A notable deede to releue soules Monks by their doctilâ—â— of spirits haue heaped infinite riches Martinus Polonus All soules day whens it toke originall Polidorâ— The beginning of the order of Carthusians Polidorâ— Soules go either to hell or to heauen Iohn 3. Iohn 5. Iohn 6. Iohn 14. Matth. 1â— â— Cor. 5. Luke â—â— Apo. 14. August Idem Idem â–ª Iustine Hillarie Dormitantij Caluin Ciprian mar Soules do not walke Tertullian Athanasius Chrisostome Cyrilluâ— â–ª The Glosse of the canon law Deut. 18. The soules do returne to instruct men contrary to the common course of nature by the omnipotent power of God. How we ought to reason of the omnipâ—tent power of God. Ambrose Hierom. Augustine Theodoret. We must leaâ—ne nothing of the dead Deut. 18 Esay 8. Luke 2â— Matth. 8. Wordes of theÌ„selues haue no force Iupiter Elicius Plinie Apoc. 19.22 Rom 1â— Actes 10. Testimonies out of the Fathers touching Samuels appearing Turtullian Augustine The Popes decrees Lyra. Eccle. 46. 1. Cor. 1. 1. Cor. 10. Iere. 10. Psal. 96. Whether the deuil for know of things to come Iohn 8. Which being doubtfully spoken may be vnderstode either of subuerting other kingdomes or losing his own Iustinus Gregorius 2. Corin. 11. 1. Reg. 22. Tertullian Lactantius Idem Ephori amongest the Lacedemonians wâ—r magistrates â–ª who in certen cases were aboue Kings vnto whome appeales were made from Kings euen as amongest the Romaines thei appealed from the Consuls to the Tribunes Math. 17 Moses and Elias appeared Lazarus came agayne on earth John. â—1 Matth. 27. At the resurection of Christe many roase agayne Augustine Spiridion raised his daughter Ruffinus Luke 24. Christs Disciples supposed they saw a ghost Many kynd of spirites Daniel 8.10 Actes 12. Matth. 18. Psalme 19. The holy fathers say that soules appeare Ambrose Augustine Gregorie Many things fabulous in Gregories dialoges Counsells approue the appearing of Soules Counsailes may erre Matth. 24. Popes haue approued the appearing of soules Many affirme they haue sene soules 1. Thessa. 4. Dilemma is a kinde of argument or reasoning which euery way conuinceth him vnto whome it is spoken Limbus puerorum Angells appeare Matth. 18. Esay 63. Daniel 10. Psal. 34. Whole armies of Angels CoÌ„stantinople preserued by the appearing of angels Augustine Paule Plinie Ambrose Why the diuel doth sometimes tell truth Acts. 16. Maâ—ke 1. Luke 4. Causes why God suffereth spirits to apere Seing of spirits to the wicked is a punishment Deut. 13. Iohn 3. Iohn 5. 2. Thessa. 2. 2. Timoth. 4. Examples of the wicked punished by delusioÌ„s of spirits Pharao Exodus Samuel 1. Cor. 10. Achab. â— Reg. 22. Roma 1. Athanasius A storie of S. Benedict seing many diuels in a monastery and fewe in the market A burnt childe dreads fire What the Gentiles did when they savve spirite Suetonius Septimae Tricessimae Anniuersaria Lilius Giraldus Cicero Ouid. Feralia Parentalia â–ª Lemuria Ouid. Touching the Iewes behauiour Luke 24. Matth. 10. Christ hath coÌ„quered the Deuill Luke 11. Iohn 12 â–ª 16. 1. Iohn 3. The diuel is conuersant among men Ephe. 6. 1. Pet. 5. We must fighâ— against the diuel with good life Matth 1. God hath alwaies geuen vs teachers God hath preserued the scriptures God hath instituted the holy ministerie Psalme 119. Iohn 8. Acts. 10. S. Augustinâ—â— counâ—ell Scripture to be only beleued Chrisostomes aduise All things necessarie to saluation are conteined in the scriptures Hierom. Miracles are seales of the worde Mat. 10. Matth. â—4 1. Timo. 4. 2. Thes. 2. 1. Iohn 4. The holy Virgin did not by and by beleeue the appearing of the Angell The signe of the Crosse. Tertullian Hierom. Origen c. Athanasius Whether the bare signe of the Crosse haue any force Coniurations against deuils Tertullian â–ª 2. Thes. 2. 1. Iohn 4. Augustine The Aue Marie iâ— no praier Epes 1. Iohn â— 1. Timo. 2. Holy water The order of Cistertians Exorcists Roma 8. Plutarches Christian opinion Valerius Maximus The conclusioÌ„ ¶ Jmprinted at London by Richard Watkins Anno. 1572.