enemies either bodily or ghostly neither shall be robbed or slaine of theeves pestilence thunder or lightning neither shall be hurt with fire or water not combred with spirits neither shall have displeasure of lords or ladies he shall not be condemned with false witnesse nor taken with fairies or any manner of axes nor yet with the falling evil Also if a woman be in travel lay this writing upon her belly she shall have easie deliverance and the child right shape and christendome and the mother purification of holy church and all through vertue of these holy names of Jesus Christ following ✚ Iesus ✚ Christus ✚ Messias ✚ Soter ✚ Emmanuel ✚ Sabbaoth ✚ Adonai ✚ Vnigenitus ✚ Majestas ✚ Paracleius ✚ Salvaâ—or noster ✚ Agiros iskiros ✚ Agios ✚ Adonaâ—os ✚ Gasper ✚ Melchior ✚ Balthasar ✚ Matthaeus ✚ Marcus ✚ Lucas ✚ Iohannes The epistle of S. Saviour which pope Leo sent to King Charles saying that whosoever carrieth the same about him or in what day soever he shall reade it or shall see it he shall not be killed with any iron toole nor be burned with fire nor be drowned with water neither any evill man or other creature may hurt him The crosse of Christ is a wonderfull defence ✚ the crosse of Christ be alwaies with me ✚ the crosse is it which I do alwaies worship ✚ the crosse of Christ is true health ✚ the crosse of Christ doth lose the bands of death ✚ the crosse of Christ is the truth and the way ✚ I take my journey upon the crosse of the Lord ✚ the crosse of Christ beateth down every evill ✚ the crosse of Christ giveth all good things ✚ the crosse of Christ taketh away paines everlasting ✚ the crosse of Christ save me ✚ O crosse of Christ be upon me before me and behind me ✚ because the ancient enemie cannot abide the sight of thee ✚ the crosse of Christ save me keep me governe me and direct me ✚ Thomas bearing this note of thy divine majesty ✚ Alpha ✚ Omega ✚ first ✚ and last ✚ middest ✚ and end ✚ beginning ✚ and first begotten ✚ wisdome ✚ vertue ✚ A popish periapt or charme which must never be said but carried about one against theeves I Do go and I do come unto you with the love of God with the humility of Christ with the holinesse of our blessed lady with the faith of Abraham with the justice of Isaac with the vertue of David with the might of Peter with the constancy of Paul with the word of God with the authority of Gregory with the prayer of Clement with the flood of Iordan p p p c g e g a q q est p t 1 k a b g l k 2 a x t g t b a m g 2 4 2 1 que p x c g k q a 9 9 p o q q r. Oh onely Father ✚ oh onely lord ✚ And Iesus ✚ passing through the middest of them ✚ went In ✚ the name of the father ✚ and of the Sonne ✚ and of the Holy Ghost ✚ Another amulet JOseph of Aâ—imathea did find this writing upon the wounds of the side of Iesus Christ written with Gods finger when the body was taken away from the crosse Whosoever shall carry this writing about him shall not dye any evill death if he beleeve in Christ and in all perplexities he shall soone be delivered neither let him fear any danger at all Fons alpha omega ✚ figa ✚ figalis ✚ Sabbaoth ✚ Emmanuel ✚ Adonai ✚ o ✚ Neray ✚ Elay ✚ â—he ✚ Rentone ✚ Neger ✚ Sahe ✚ Pangeton ✚ Commen ✚ a ✚ g ✚ l ✚ a ✚ Mattheus ✚ Marcus ✚ Lucas ✚ Iohannes ✚ ✚ ✚ titulus triumphalis ✚ Iesus Nasareuus rex Iudaeorum ✚ ecce dominicae crucis signnm ✚ fugite partes adversae vicit leo de tribu Iudae radix David aleluijah Kyrie eleeson Christe eleeson pater noster ave Maria ne nos veniat super nos salutare tuum Oremus c. I find in a Primer intituled The houres of our Lady after the use of the church of Yorke printed anno 1516. a charme with this titling in red letters To all them that afore this image of pity devoutly shall say five Pater nosters five Aves and one Credo pitiously beholding these armes of Christs passion are granted thirty two thousand seven hundred fifty five years of pardon It is to be thought that this pardon was granted in the time of pope Boniface the nineth for Platina saith that the pardons were sold so cheape that the apostolicall authority grew into contempt A papistical charme SIgnum sanctae crucis defendat me a malis praesentibus praeteritis futuris interioribus exterioribus That is The signe of the crosse defend me from evils present past and to come inward and outward A charme found in the canon of the masse ALso this charge is found in the canon of the masse Haec sacrosancta commixtio corporis sanguinis domini nostri Iesu Christi fiat mihi omnibusque sumentibus salus mentis corporis ad vitam promerendam capessendam praeparatio salutaris that is Let this holy mixture of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ be unto me and unto all receivers thereof health of mind and body and to the deserving and receiving of life an healthful preparative Other papisticall charmes Aqua benedicta sit mihi salus vita Let holy water be both health and life to me Adque nomen Martini omnis haereticus fugiat palladus When Martins name is sung or said Let hereticks flie as men dismaid But the papists have a harder charme than that to wit Fire and â—agot Fire and fagot A charme of the holy crosse Nulla salus est in domo Nisi cruce munit homo Superliminaria Neque sentit gladium Nec amisit filium Quisquis egit talia No health within the house doth dwell Except a man do crosse him well At every doore or frame He never feeleth the swords point Nor of his sonne shall lose a joint That doth performe the same Furthermore as followeth Ista suos fortiores Semper facit victores Morbos sanat languores Reprimit daemonia Dat captivis libertatem Vitae confert novitatem Ad antiquam dignitarem Crux reduxit omnia O Crux lignum triumphale Mundi vera salus vale Inter ligna nullum tale Frande flore germine Medicina Christiana Salva sanos aegros sana Quod non valet vis humana Fit in tuo nomine c. It makes her souldiers excellent And crowneâ—h them with victory Restores the lame and impotent and healeth every malady The devils of hell it conquereth releaseth from imprisonment Newnesse of life it offereth It hath all at commandement O crosse of wood incomparable To all the world most wholesome No wood is half so honourable In branch in bud or blossome O medicine which
with them if they had had them If you prick out a young swallowes eies the old swallow restoreth again their sight with the application they say of a little Celandine Xanthus the author of histories reporteth that a young dragon being dead was revived by her dam with an hearb called Balim And Iuba saith that a man in Arabia being dead was revived by the vertue of another hearb CHAP. IX The former matter proved by many examples of the living and the dead ANd as we see in stones hearbs c. strange operation and naturall love and dissention so do we read that in the body of a man there be as strange properties and vertues naturall I have heard by credible report and I have read many grave authors constantly affirme that the wound of a man murthered reneweth bleeding at the presence of a dear friend or of a mortall enemy Diverse also write that if one passe by a murthered body though unknowne he shall be stricken with fear and fell in him selfe some alteration by nature Also that a woman above the age of fifty years being bound hand and foot her clothes being upon her and laid down softly into the water sinketh not in a long time some say not at all By which experiment they were wont to try witches as well as by Ferrum candens which was to hold hot iron in their hands and by not burning to be tried Howbeit Plutarch saith that Pyâ—â—bus his great toe had in it such naturall or rather divine vertue that no fire could burne it And Albertus saith and many other also repeat the same storie saying that there were two such children borne in Germanie as if that one of them had been carryed by any house all the doores right against one of his sides would flie open and that vertue which the one had in the left side the other brother had in the right sides He saith further that many saw it and that it could be referred to nothing but to the propriety of their bodies Pompanatius writeth that the kings of France do cure the disease called now the Kings evill or Queens evill which hath been 〈◊〉 wayes thought and to this day is supposed to be a miraculous and a peculiar gift and a speciall grace given to the kings and queenes of England Which some referre to the propriety of their persons some to the peculiar gift of God and some to the efficacy of words But if the French king use it no worse then our Princesse doth God will not be offended 〈◊〉 for her Majesty only useth godly and divine prayer with some alâ—â—â— and referreth the cure to God and to the Physitian Plutarch writeth that there be certain men called Psilli which with their mouthes heal the bitings of serpents And I. Bap. Neap. saith that an olive being planted by the hand of a virgine prospereth which if a harlot do it withereth away Also if a serpent or viper lie in a hole it may easily be pulled 〈◊〉 with the left hand whereas with the right hand it cannot be removed Although this experiment and such like are like enough to be false 〈◊〉 are they not altogether so impious as the miracles said to be done by characters charmes c. For many strange properties remain in sundry parts of a living creature which is not universally dispersed and indiferently spread through the whole body as the eye smelleth not the nose seeth not the ear tasteth not c. CHAP. X. The bewitching venome contained in the body of an Harlot how her eye her tongue her beauty and behaviour bewitcheth some men of bones and hornes yeelding great vertue THe vertue contained within the body of an harlot or rather the venome proceeding out of the same may be beheld with great admiration For her eye infecteth enticeth and if I may so say bewitcheth them many times which think themselves well armed against such manner of people Her tongue her gesture her behaviour her beauty and other allureâ—â—â—â— poison and intoxicate the minde yea her company induceth impudency corrupteth virginity confoundeth and consumeth the bodies goods and the very souls of men And finally her body destroyeth and rotteth the very flesh and bones of mans body And this is common that we wonder not at all thereat nay we have not the course of the sunne the moone or the starres in so great admiration as the globe counterfeiting their order which is in respect but a boble made by an artificer So as I think if Christ himselfe had continued long in the execution of miracles and had left that power permanent and common in the Church they would have grown into contempt and not have been esteemed according to his owne saying A prophet is not regarded in his own countrey I might retire infinite properties wherwith God hath indued the body of man worthy of admiration and fit for this place As touching other living creatures God hath likewise for his glorie and our behoofe bestowed most excellent and miraculous gifts and vertues upon their bodies and members and that in severall and wonderfull wise We see that a bone taken out of a carps head stancheth bloud and so doth none other part besides of that fish The bone also in a hares foot mitigateth the cramp as none other bone nor part else of the hare doth How precious is the bone growing out of the forehead of a Unicorne if the horne which we see grow there which is doubted and of how small account are the residue of all his bones At the excellencie whereof as also at the noble and innumerable vertues of herbs we muse not at all because it hath pleased God to make them common unto us Which perchance might in some part assist Iannes and Iambre towards the hardning of Pharaohs heart But of such secret and strange operations read Albert. De mineral cap. 1 11 17. Also Marsilius Picinus cap. 1. lib. 4. Cardan de rerum verielate J. Bap. Neap. de magia naturali Peucet Wier Pompanatius Fernelius and others CHAP. XI Two notorious wonders and yet not marvelled at I Thought good here to insert two most miraculous matters of the one I am Testis oculatus an eie-witnesse of the other I am so credibly and certainly informed that I dare and do beleeve it to be very true When Master T. Randolph returned out of Russia after his ambassage dispatched a gentleman of his train brought home a monument of great accompt in nature and in property very wonderfull And because I am loath to be long in the description of circumstances I will first describe the thing it selfe which was a piece of earth of a good quantity and most excellently proportioned in nature having these qualities and vertues following If one had taken a piece of perfect steel forked and sharpned at the end and heated it red hot offering therewith to have touched it it would have fled with
dead All these things might be very wel perceived and known and also practised by Iannes and Iambres But the wondrous devices and miraculous sights and conceits made and contained in glasse doe far exceed all other whereto the art perspective is very necessary For it sheweth the illusions of them whose experiments be seen in divers sorts of glasses as in the hallow the plain the embossed the columnary the pyramidate or piked the turbinall the bounched the round the cornered the inversed the eversed the massie the regular the irregular the coloured and cleare glasses for you may have glasses so made as what image or favour soever you print in your imagination you shall thinke you see the same therein Others are so framed as therein one may see what others doe in places far distant others whereby you shall see men hanging in the air others whereby you may perceive men flying in the air others wherein you may see one comming and another going others where one image shall seem to be one hundred c. There be glasses also wherein one man may see another mans image and not his own others to make many similitudes others to make none at all Others contrary to the use of all glasses make the right side turn to the right and the left side to the left others that burn before and behinde others that represent not the Images received within them but cast them far off in the air appearing like airy images and by the collection of sun beams with great force setteth fire very far off in every thing that may be burned There be cleer glasses that make great things seem little things far oft to be at hand and that which is neer to be far off such things as are ever us to seem under us and those that are under us to be above us There are some glasses also that represent things in divers colours and them most gorgeous specially any white thing Finally the thing most worthy of admiration concerning these glasses is that the lesser glasse doth lessen the shape but how big so ever it be it maketh the shape no bigger than it is And therefore Augustine thinketh some hidden mystâ—ry to be therein Vitellius and I. Bap. Neap. write largely hereof These I have for the most part seene and have the receipt how to make them which if desire of brevity had not forbidden me I would here have set down But I think not but Pharaohs Magicians had better experience than I for those and such like devices And as Pompanacius saith it is most true that some for these feats have been accounted Saints some other witches And therefore I say that the Pope maketh rich witches saints and burneth the poor witches CHAP. XX. A comparison betwixt Pharaohs Magicians and our Witches and how their cunning consisted in juggling knacks THus you see that it hath pleased God to shew unto men that seek for knowledge such cunning in finding out compounding and framing of strange and secret things as thereby he seemeth to have bestowed upon man somepart of his Divinity Howbeit God of nothing with his word hath created all things and doth at his will beyond the power and also the reach of man accomplish whatsoever he list And such miracles in times past he wrought by the hands of his Prophets as here he did by Moses in the presence of Pharaoh which Iannes and Iambres apishly followed But to affirm that they by themselves or by all the devils in hell could doe indeed as Moses did by the power of the Holy Ghost is worse than infidelity If any object and say that our witches can doe such feats with words and charms as Pharaohs Magicians did by their art I deny it and all the world will never be able to shew it That which they did was openly done as our witches and conjurers never doe any thing so as these cannot doe as they did And yet as Calvine saith of them they were but Jugglers Neither could they doe as many suppose For as Clemens saith These Magicians did rather seem to doe these wonders than work them indeed And if they made but prestigious shews of things I say it was more than our witches can doe For witchcrafts as Erastus himselfe confesseth in drift of argument are but old wives tables If the Magicians Serpent had been a very Serpent it must needs have been transformed out of the rod. And therein had beene a double work of God to wit the qualifying and extinguishment of one substance and the creation of another Which are actions beyond the divels power for he can neither make a body to be no body nor yet no body to be a body as to make something nothing and nothing something and contrary things one nay they cannot make one hair either white or black If Phaâ—aâ—â—s Magicians had made very frogs upon a sodain why could they not drive them away again If they could not hurt the frogs why should we think that they could make them Or that our witches which cannot doe so much as counterfeit them can kill cattell and other creatures with words or wishes And therefore I say with Iamblichus Quae sascinati imaginamu â—â—ter imaginamenta nullam habent actionis essentiae veritatems Such things as we being bewitched doe imagine have no truth at all either of action or essence beside the bare imagination CHAP. XXI That the Serpents and Frogs were truly preseâ—ted and the water poisoned indeed by Jannes and Jambres of false prophets and of their miracles of Balams asse TRuly I think there were no inconvenience granted though I should admit that the serpent and frogs were truly presented and the water truely poisoned by Iames and Iambres not that they could execute such miracles of themselves or by their familiars or divels but that God by the hands of those counterfeit couseners contrary to their owne expectations overtook them and compelled them in their ridiculous wickednesse to bee instruments of his will and vengeance upon their master Pharaoh so as by their hands God shewed some miracles which he himself wrought as appeareth in Exodus For God did put the spirit of tenth into Baalams mouth who was hired to curse his people And although he were a corrupt and false prophet and went about a mischievous interprise yet God made him an instrument against his will to the confusion of the wicked Which if it pleased God to doe here as a speciall work whereby to shew his omnipotency to the confirmation of his peoples faith in the doctrine of their Messias delivered unto them by the Prophet Moses then was it miraculous and extraordinary and not to be looked for now And as some suppose there were then a consort or crew of false prophets which could also foretell things to come and work miracles I answer it was extraordinary and miraculous and that it pleased God so to try
yielded thereby of Gods will and pleasure Neverthelesse the Hebrewes write that there hath been ever since that time a divine voice heard among them which in Latine is called Filia vocis in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in English the Daughter of speech CHAP. VI. Of Prophesies conditionall whereof the Prophesies in the old testament do intreat and by whom they were published witchmongers answers to the objections against witches supernaturall actions CHrist and his Apostles prophesied of the calamities and afflictions which shall greeve and disturb the church of God in this life also of the last day and of the signes and tokens that shall be shewed before that day and finally of all things which are requisite for us to foreknow Howbeit such is the mercy of God that all prophesies threatnings plagues and punishments are annexed to conditions of repentance as on the other side corporall blessings are tied under the condition of the crosse and castigation So as by them the mysteries of our salvation being discovered unto us we are not to seek new signes and miracles but to attend to the doctrine of the Apostles who preached Christ exhibited and crucifyed for our sinnes his resurrection ascension and thereby the redemption of as many as believe c. The prophesies in the old testament treat of the contiâ—ance the government and the difference of estates of the distinction of the four Monarchies of their order decay and instauration of the changes and ruines of the Kingdomes of Juda Israel Aegypt Persia Graecia c. and specially of the comming of our Saviour Jesus Christ and how he should be borne of a Virgin and where of his Tribe passion resurrection c. These prophesies were published by Gods speciall and peculiar Prophets endued with his particular and excellent gifts according to his promise I will raise them up a Prophet out of the midst of their Brethren I will put my words in his mouth c. Which though it were specially spoken of Christ yet was it also spoken of those particular prophets which were placed among them by God to declare his will which were also figures of Christ the prophet himself Now if prophesie be an extraordinary gift of God and a thing peculiar to himself as withoâ—â— whose special assistance no creature can be a Prophet or shew what is to come why should we believe that those lewd persons can perform by divinations and miracles that which is not in humane but in Divine power to accomplish Howbeit when I deny that witches can ride in the aire and the miraculous circumstance thereof by and by it is objected to me that Enoch and Ely were rapt into the heaven bodily and Abacuck was carryed in the aire to feed Daniel and so falsly oppose a devils or a witches power against the vertue of the Holy Ghost If I â—eride the Poets opinions saying that witches cannot Coelo deducere lunam fetch the moon from heaven c. they tell me that at Joshua's battel the sunne stayed and at the passion of Christ there was palpable darknesse If I deny their cunning in the exposition of dreams advising them to remember Jeremie's counsel not to follow or credit the expositors of dreams they hit me in the teeth with Daniel and Joseph for that the one of them expounded Pharaoh the Persian Kings the other Nâ—buchadnâ—zzer the Aegyptian Kings dream If I say with Solomon that the dead know nothing and that the dead know us not neither are remooveable out of Abrahams bosome c. they produce the story of Samuel wherein I say they set the power 〈…〉 creature as high as the Creator If I say that these witches cannot transubstantiate themselves nor others into beasts c. they ciâ—e the story of Nebuchadnezzer as though indeed he were made a maâ—eâ—iall beast and that also by witch-craft and strengthen that their assertion with the fables of Circe and Ulysses his companions c. CHAP. VII What were the miracles expressed in the old Testament and what are they in the new testament and that we are not now to looke for any more miracles THe miracles expressed in the old Testament were many but the end of them all was one though they were divers and differing in shewâ— as where the sacrifices of Moses Elias and Solomon being abundantly wet were burnt with fire from heaven c. The variety of tongues at the building of Babylon Isaacs birth of Sarah being by nature past children the passage through the red sea Daniels foretelling of the four monarchies in the fourth whereof he apparently foresheweth the coming of the Lord. All these and many other which are expressed in the old testament were merciful instructions and notable miracles to strengthen the faith of Gods people in their Messias If you had gone to Delphos Apollo would have made you beleeve with his amphibological answers that he could have foretold you all these things The miracles wrought by Christ were the raising up of the dead which many would impute to the woman of Endor and also to our witches and conjurors the restoring of the lame to limbs the blinde to sight the dumb to speech and finally the healing of all diseases which many beleeve our witches can do yea and as they themselves will take it upon them As for casting out of devils which was another kind of miracles usual with Christ witches and conjurors are said to be as good thereat as ever he was and yet if you will beleeve Christs words it cannot be so For he saith Every kingdome divided against it selfe shall be brought to nought c. If Satan cast out Satan he is divided c. and his kingdome shall not endure c. Peters chaines fell off in prison so did Richard Gallisies fetters at Windsor marry the prison doores opened not to Richard as they did to Peter Helias by special grace obtained raine our witches can make it raine when they list c. Buâ— sithens Christ did these miracles and many more and all to confirme his truth and strengthen our faith and finally for the conversion of the people as appeareth in John 6.7 and 12. insomuch as he vehemently reproved such as upon the sight of them would not beleeve saying Wo be to thee Corazin wo be to thee Bethsaida If the miracles had been done in Tyre and Sidon which have been done in you they had a great while ago repented c. Let us setle and acquiet our faith in Christ and beleeving all his wonderous works let us reject these old wives fables as lying vanities whereof you may finde in the golden legend M. Mal. and specially in Bodin miraculous stuffe enough to checke all the miracles expressed in the old new testament which are of more credit with many bewitched people then the true miracles of Christ himselfe Insomuch as they stand in more awe of the menacies of a witch then of all
Succubus wiâ—h incantations charmes conjutations c. do destroy c. the births of women with child the young of all cattel the corne of the field the grapes of the vines the fruit of the trees Item men women and all kind of cattel and beasts of the field and with their said inchantments c. do utterly extinguish suffocate and spoile all vineyards orchards meadowes pastures grasse greene corne and ripe corne and all other podware yea men and women themselves are by their imprecations so afflicted with externall and inward paines and diseases that men cannot beget nor women bring forth any children nor yet accomplish the duty of wedlock denying the faith which they in baptisme prosessed to the destruction of their own soules c. Our pleasuâ—â— therefore is that all impediments that may hinder the inquisitors office be utterly removed from among the people lest this blot of heresie proceed to poison and defile them that be yet Innocent And therefore we do ordaine by vertue of the apostolical authority that our inquisitors of high Almanie may execute the office of inquisition by all tortures and afflictions in all places and upon all persons what and wheresoever as well in every place and diocesse as upon any person and that as freely as though they were named expressed or cited in this our commission CHAP. VII â—oeticall authorities commonly alleadged by witchmongers for the proof of witches miraculous actions and for confirmation of their supernaturall power HEre have I a place and opportunity to discover the whole art of witchcraft even all their charmes periapts characters amulets â—rayers blessings cursings hurtings helpings knaveries cosenages c. But first I will shew what authorities are produced to defend and maintain the same and that in serious sort by Bodin Spinaeus Hemingins Variâ—â—s Danaeus Hyperius M. Mal. and the rest Carmina vel caelpossunt de ducere lunam Carminibus Circe socios mutavit Vlyssis Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis Inchantments pluck out of the skie The moon though she be plac't one high Dame Circes with her charmes so fine Ulysses mates did turne to swine The snake with charmes is burst in twaine In meadows where she doth remain Againe out of the same poet they cite further matter Has berbas atque haec Ponto mihi lecta venena Ipsa dedit Maeris nascuntur plurima Ponto His ego saepè lupam fieri se condere sylvis Maerim saepè animas imis exirc sepulchris Atquesatas aliò vidi traducere messes These herbs did Meris give to me And poisons pluckt at Pontus For there they grow and multiply And do not so amongst us With these she made herself become A wolfe and hid her in the wood She fetcht up soules out of their tombe Removing corne from where it stood Furthermore out of Ovid they alleadge these following Nocte volant puerósque petunt nutricis egentes Et vitiant cunis corpora capta suis Carpere dicuntur lactentia viscera rostris Et plenum potu sanguine guttur habent To children they do fly by night And catch them while their nursses sleep And spoile their little bodies quite And home they bear them in their beake Again out of Virgil in form following Hinc mihi Massylae gentis monstrata sacerdos Hesperidum templi custos epulásque draconi Quae dabat sacros servabat in arbore ramos Spargens humida mella soporiferúmque papaver Haec se carminibus promittit solvere mentes Quas velit ast aliis duras immittere curas Sistere aquam fluviis vertere sidera retrò Nocturnósque ciet manes mugire videbis Sub pedibus terram descendere montibus ornos From thence a virgine Priest is come From out Massyla land Sometimes the Temple there she kept And from her heavenly hand The dragon meat did take she kept Also the fruit divine With herbs and liquors sweet that still To sleep did men incline The minds of men she saith from love With charmes she can unbind In whom she list but others can She cast to cares unkind The running streames do stand and from Their course the starres do wreath And souls she conjure can thou shalt See sister underneath The ground with roring gape and trees And mountaines turne upright c. Moreover out of Ovid they alledge as followeth Cùm volui ripis ipsis mirantibus amnes In fontes rediere suos concussáque sisto Stantia concuâ—io cantu freta nubila pesto Nubiláque induco ventos abigóque vocóque Vipereas rumpo verbis carmine fauces Viváque saxa suâ convulsáque robora terrâ Et sylvas inoveo jubeóque tremescere montes Et mugire solum manésque exire sepulchris Téque luna traho c. The rivers I can make retire Into the Fountains whence they flowe Whereat the bank themselves admire I can make standing waters go With charmes I drive both sea and cloud I make it calme and blowe aloud The vipers jawes the rocky stone With words and charmes I breake in twaine The force of earth congeal'd in one I move and shake both woods and plaine I make the souls of men arise I pull the moon out of the skies Also out of the same poet Verbáque ter dixit placidos facientia somnos Quae mare turbatum quae flumina concita sistant And thrice she spake the words that caus'd Sweet sleep and quiet rest She staid the raging of the sea And mighty flouds supprest Et miserum tenues in jecur urget acus She sticketh also needles fine In livers whereby men do pine Also out of other poets Carmine laesa Ceres sterilem vanescit in berbam Deficiunt laesi carmine fontis aquae Illicibus glandes cantantáqne vitibus uva Decidit nullo poma movente fluunt With charmes the corne is spoiled so As that it vades to barren grasse With charmes the Springs are dried lowe That none can see where watet was The grapes from vines the mast from okes And beats down fruit with charming strokes Quae sider a excantata voce Thessalâ Lunámque coelo diripit She plucks downe moon and starres from skie With chaunting voice of Thessaly Hanc ego de coelo ducentem sidera vidi Fluminis ac rapidi carmine vertititer Haec cantu findÃâ—que solum manésque sepulcbris Elicit tepido devorat ossa rego Cùm lubet haec tristi depellit lumina coelo Cùm lubet aestivo convocat orbe nives She plucks each starre out of his throne And turneth back the raging waves With charmes she makes the earth to cone And raiseth souls out of their graves She burns mens bones as with a fire And pulleth downe the lights from heaven And makes it snowe at her desire Even in the midst of summer-season Mens bausti nullâ sanie polluta veneni Incantata perit A man inchanted runneth mad That never any poison had Cessavere vices rerum
dilatáque longâ Haesit nocte dies legi non paruit aeâ—ber Torpuit praeceps audito carmine mundus The course of nature ceased quite The aire obeyed not his lawe The day delay'd by length of night Which made both day and night to yawe And all was through that charming geare Which caus'd the world to quake for feare Carmine Thessalidum dura in praecordia fluxit Non fatis adductus amor flaminÃsque severi Illicitis arsere ignes With Thessall charmes and not by fate Hot love is forced for to flowe Even where before hath been debate They cause affection for to grow Gens invisa diis maculandi callida coeli Quos genuit terra mali qui sidera mundi Iuráque fixarum possunt perverâ—ere rerum Nam nunc stare polos flumina mittere nôrunt Aethera sub terras adigunt montésque revellunt These witches hatefull unto God And cunning to defile the aire Which can disorder with a nod The course of nature every where Do cause the wandering starres to stay And drive the winds below the ground They send the streames another way And throw downe hills where they abound linguis dixere volucrum Consultare fibras rumpere vocibus angues Solicitare umbras ipsúmque Acheront a movere In noctémque dies in lucem vertere noctes Omnia conando docilis solertia vincit They talked with the tongues of birds Consulting with the salt sea coasts They burst the snakes with witching words Solliciting the spirituall ghosts They turne the night into the day And also drive the light away And what ' its that cannot be made By them that do apply this trade CHAP. VIII Poetry and popery compared is inchantments popish witchmongers have more advantage herein than protestants YOu see in these verses the poets whether in earnest or in jest I know not ascribe unto witches and to their charmes more than is to be found in humane or diabolical power I doubt not but the most part of the readers hereof will admit them to be fabulous although the most learned of mine adversaries for lack of scripture are â—aine to produce these poetries for proofes and for lack of judgement I am sure do think that Actaeons transformation was true And why not As well as the metamorphosis or transubstantiation of Ulysses his companions into swine which S. Augustine and so many great clerkes credit and report Neverthelesse popish writers I conâ—esse have advantage herein of our protestants for besides these poeticall proofes they have for advantage the word and authority of the pope himselfe and others of that holy crew whose charmes conjurations blessings cursings c. I mean in part for a taste to set down giving you to understand that poets are not altogether so impudent as papists herein neither seeme they so ignorant prophane or impious And therefore I will shew you how lowd also they lie and what they on the other side ascribe to their charmes and conjurations and together will set down with them all manner of witches charmes as conveniently as I may CHAP. IX Popish periapts amulets and charmes agnus Dei a wastecote of proofe a charme for the falling evill a writing brought to S. Leo from heaven by an angell the vertues of S. Saviours epistle a charme against theeves a writing found in Christs wounds of the crosse c. THese vertues under these verses written by pope Urbane the fifth to the emperour of the Grecians are contained in a periapt or tablet be continnally worne about one called Agnus Dei which is a little cake having the picture of a lambe carrying of a flag on the one side and Christs head on the other side and is hollow so as the gospel of Iohn written in fine paper is placed in the concavitie thereof and it is thus compounded or made even as they themselves report Balsamus munda cera cum chrismatis unda Conficiunt agnum quod munus do tibi magnum Fonte velut natum per mystica sanctificatum Fulgura de sur sum depellit omne malignum Peccatum frangit ut Christi sanguis angit Praegnans servatur simul partus liâ—eratur Dona refert dignis virtutem destruit ignis Portaâ—us mundè de fluctibus eripit undae Balme vigine wax and holy water An Agnus Dei make A gift than which none can be greater I send thee for to take From fountain clear the same hath issue In secret sanctified 'Gainst lightning it hath soveraigne vertue And thunder crackes beside Each hainous sinne it weares and wasteth Even as Christs precious blood And women whiles their travel lasteth It saves it is so good It doth bestowe great gifts and graces On such as well deserve And borne about in noisome places From peril doth preserve The force of fire whose heat destroyeth It breaks and bringeth down And he or she that this enjoyeth No water shall them drowne A Charme against shot or a wastecote of proof BEfore the coming up of these Agnus Dei's a holy garment called a wastecote for necessity was much used of our forefathers as a holy relique c. as given by the pope or some such arch-conjuror who promised thereby all manner of immunity to the wearer thereof insomuch as he could not be hurt with any shot or other violence And otherwise that woman that would weare it should have quick deliverance the composition thereof was in this order following On Christmas day at night a threed must be spunne of flax by a little virgine girle in the name of the devil and it must be by her woven and also wrought with the needle In the brest or fore-part thereof must be made with needle-worke two heads on the head at the right side must be a hat and a long beard the left head must have on a crowne and it must be so horrible that it may resemble Beelzebub and on each side of the wastecote must be made a crosse Against the falling evill MOreover this insuing is another counterfeit charme of theirs whereby the falling evill is presently remedied Gaspar fert myrrham thus Melchior Balthasar aurum Haec tria qui secum portabit nomina regum Solvitur à morbo Christi pietate caduco Gasper with his mirth beganne These presents to unfold Then Melchior brought in frankincense And Balthasar brought in gold Now he that of these holy kings The names about shall bear The falling ill by grace of Christ Shall never need to fear THis is as true a copy of the holy writing that was brought downe from heaven by an angell to S. Leo pope of Rome and he did bid him take it to king Charles when he went to the battel at Ronceval And the angell said that what man or woman beareth this writing about them with good devotion and saith every day three Pater nosters three Aves and one Creede shall not that day be overcome of his
holdeth and writeth that the bones which stick in ones throate are avoided and cast out with the violence of charmes and inchanting words yea and that thereby the stone the chollick the falling sicknesse and all feavers gowts fluxes fistula's issues of blood and finally whatsoever cure even beyond the skill of himselfe or any other foolish physician is cured and perfectly healed by words of inchantment Marry M. Ferrarius although he allowed and practised this kind of physick yet he protesteth that he thinketh it none otherwise effectuall than by the way of constant opinion so as he affirmeth that neither the character nor the charme nor the witch nor the devill accomplish the cure as saith he the experiment of the toothach will manifestly declare wherein the cure is wrought by the confidence or diffidence as well of the patient as of the agent according to the poets saying Nos habitat non tartara sed nec sider coeli Spiritus in nobis qui viget illa facit a Not hellish furies dwell in us Nor starres with influence heavenly The spirit that lives and rules in us Doth every thing ingeniously This saith he commeth to the unlearned through the opinion which they conceive of the characters and holy words but the learned that know the force of the mind and imagination worke miracles by miracles by means thereof so as the unlearned must have external helps to do that which the learned can do with a word onely He saith that this is called Homerica medicatio because Homer discovered the blood of the word suppressed and the infections healed by or in mysteries CHAP. XIII Of the effects of amulets the drift of Argerius Ferrarius in the commendation of charmes c. foure sorts of Homericall medicines and the choice thereof of imagination AS touching mine opinion of these amulets characters and such other bables I have sufficiently uttered it else-where and I will bewray the vanity of these superstitious trifles more largely hereafter And therefore at this time I onely say that those amulets which are to be hanged or carried about one if they consist of herbs rootes stones or some other metall they may have diverse medicinable operations and by the vertue given to them by God in their creation may worke strange effects and cures and to impute this vertue to any other matter is witchcraft And whereas A. Ferrarius commendeth certaine amulets that have no shew of physicall operation as a naile taketh from a crosse holy water and the very signe of the crosse with such like popish stuffe I think he laboureth thereby rather to draw men to popery than to teach or perswade them in the truth of physick or philosophie And I think thus the rather for that he himselfe seeth the fraud hereof confessing that where these magical physicians apply three seeds of three-leaved grass to a tertian ague and foure to a quartaine that the number is not material But to these Homerical medicines he saith there are foure sorts whereof amulets characters and charmes are three howbeit he commendeth and preferreth the fourth above the rest and that he saith consisteth in illusions which he more properly calleth stratagems Of which sort of illusions he alleadgeth for example how Philodotus did put a cap of lead upon ones head who imagined he was headlesse whereby the party was delivered from his disease or conceipt Item another cured a woman that imagined that a serpent or snake did continually gnaw and teare her entrailes and that was done onely by giving her a vomit and by foisting into the matter vomited a little serpent or snake like unto that which she imagined was in her belly Item another imagined that he alwaies burned in the fire under whose bed a fire was privily conveyed which being raken out before his face his fansie was satisfied and his heat allayed Hereunto pertaineth that the hickot is cured with sudden feare or strange newes yea by that meanes agues and many other strange and extreame diseases have been healed And some that have lien so sick and sore of the gowt that they could not remove a joint through sudden feare of fire or ruin of houses have forgotten their infirmities and greefs and have run away But in my tract upon melancholy and the effects of imagination and in the discourse of natural magick you shall see these matters largely touched CHAP. XIV Choice of Charmes against the falling evill the biting of a mad dog the stinging of a Scorpion the tooth-ach for a woman in travel for the kings evil to get a thorne out of any member or a bone out of ones throte charmes to be said fasting or at the gathering of hearbs for sore eyes to open locks against spirits for the bots in a horse and specially for the Duke of Alba's horse for sower Wines c. THere be innumerable charmes of conjurers bad physitians lewd Chirurgians melancholike witches and couseners for all diseases and griefs specially for such as bad Physitians and Chirurgians know not how to cure and in truth are good stuffe to shadow their ignorance wherof I will repeate some For the falling evill TAke the sick man by the hand and whisper these words softly in his ear I conjure thee by the sun and moon and by the gospel of this day delivered by God to Hubert Giles Cornelius and John that thou rise and fall no more Otherwise Drink in the night at a spring water out of a skull of one that hath been slaine Otherwise Eat a pig killed with a knife that flew a man Otherwise as followeth Ananizapta ferit mortem dum laedere quaerit Est mala mors capta dum dicitur Ananizapta Ananizapta Dei nunc miserere mei Ananizapta smiteth death Whiles harm intendeth he This word Ananizapta say And death shall captive be Ananizapta O of God Have mercy now on me Against the biting of a mad dog PUt a silver ring on the finger within the which these words are graven ✚ Habay ✚ habar ✚ hebar ✚ and say to the person bitten with a mad dog I am thy saviour lose not thy life and then prick him in the nose thrice that at each time he bleed Otherwise take pilles made of the skull of one that is hanged Otherwise write upon a peece of bread Irioni khiriora esser khuder ferâ—s and let it be eaten by the party bitten Otherwise O Rex gloriae Iesu Christe veni cum pace 〈◊〉 nomine patris max in nomine filii max in nomine spiritus sancti prax â— Gasper Melchior Balthasar ✚ prax ✚ max ✚ Deus I max ✚ But in troth this is very dangerous insomuch as if it be not speedily and cunningly prevented either death or frensie insueth through infection of the humour left in the wound bitten by a mad dog which because bad Chirurgians cannot cure they have therefore used foolish coâ—sening charms But Dodonaeus in his hearball saith that the hearb
into the said dike and there killed him You must think that this was a devil in a serpents likenesse which for the love he bare to the poore snakes killed the sorcerer to reach all other witches to beware of the like wicked practise And surely if this be not true there be a great number of lies contained in M. Mal. and I. Bodin And if this be well weighed and conceived it beateth downe to the ground all those witchmongers arguments that contend to wring witching miracles out of this place For they disagree notably some denying and some affirming that serpents may be bewitched Neverthelesse because in every point you shall see how popery agreeth with paganisme I will recite certaine charmes against vipers allowed for the most part in and by the church of Rome as followeth I conjure thee O serpent in this house by the five holy wounds of our Lord that thou remove not out of this place but here stay as certainly as God was borne of a pure virgine Otherwise I conjure thee serpent In nomine patris filii spiritus sancti I command thee serpent by our lady S. Mary that thou obey me as wax obeyeth the fire and as fire obeyeth water that thou neither hurt me nor any other christian as certainly as God was borne of an immaculate virgine in which respect I take thee up In nomine patris filii spiritus sancti Ely lash eiter ely lash eiter ely lash eiter Otherwise O vermine thou must come as God came unto the Iewes Otherwise L. Vairus saith that Serpens quernis frondibus contacta that a serpent touched with oake-leaves dieth and stayeth even in the beginning of his going if a feather of the bird Ibis be cast or thrown upon him and that a viper smitten or hot with a reed is astonied and touched with a beechen branch is presently numme and stiffe Here is to be remembered that many use to boast that they are of S. Pauls race and kindred shewing upon their bodies the prints of serpentâ— which as the papists affirme was incident to all them of S. Pauls stock Marry they say herewithall that all his kinsfolks can handle serpents or any poison without danger Others likewise have as they brag a Katharine-wheele upon their bodies and they say they are kinne to S. Katharine and that they can carry burning coales in their bare hands and dip their said hands in hot skalding liquor and also go into hot ovens Whereof though the last be but a bare jest and to be done by any that will prove as a bad fellow in London had used to do making no tarriancâ—e at all therein yet there is a shew made of the other as though it were certaine and undoubted by anointing the hands with the juice of mallowes mercury urine c. which for a little time are defensatives against these scalding liquors and scorching fires But they that take upon them to worke these mysteries and miracles do indeed after rehearsall of these and such like words and charmes take up even in their bare hands those snakes and vipers and sometimes pâ—â— them about their necks without receiving any hurt thereby to the terror and astonishment of the beholders which naturally both feare and abhorre all serpents But these charmers upon my word dare not trust to their charmes but use such an inchantment as every man may lawfully use and in the lawfull use thereof may bring to passe that they shall be in security and take no harme how much soever they handle them marry with a woollen rag they pull out their teeth before hand as some men say but as truth is they weary them and that is of certainty And surely this is a kind of witchcraft which I terme private confederacy Bodin saith that all the snakes in one countrey were by charmes and verses driven into another region perhaps he meaneth Ireland where S. Patrik is said to have done it with his holynesse c. James Sprenger and Henry Institor affirme that serpents and snakes and their skins exceed all other creatures for witchcraft insomuch as witches do use to bury them under mens thresholds either of the house or stalles whereby barrennesse is procured both to woman and beast yea and that the very earth and ashes of them continue to have force of fascination In respect whereof they wish all men now and then to dig away the earth under their thresholds and to sprinkle holy water in the place and also to hang boughes hallowed on midsummer day at the stall doore where the cattel stand and produce examples thereupon of witches lies or else their owne which I omit because I see my book groweth to be greater than I meant it should be CHAP. XVI Charmes to carry water in a sive to know what is spoken of us behind our backs for bleere eyes to make seeds to grow well of images made of wax to be rid of a witch to hang her up notable authorities against waxen images a story bewraying the knavery of waxen images LEonardus Vairus saith that there was a prayer extant whereby might be carried in a sive water or other liquor I think it was clam clay which a crow taught a maid that was promised a cake of so great quantity as might be kneaded of so much floure as she could wet with the water that she brought in a sive and by that meanes she clamd it with clay and brought in so much water as whereby she had a great cake and so beguiled her sisters c. And this tale I heard among my grandams maides whereby I can decipher this witchcraft Item by the tingling of the eare men heretofore could tell what was spoken of them If any see a scorpion and say this word Bud he shall not be stung or bitten therewith These two Greek letters Î and A written in a paper and hung about ones neck preserve the party from bleereyednesse Cummin or hempseed sowen with cursing and opprobrious words grow the faster and the better Berosus Anianus maketh witchcraft of great antiquity for he saith that C ham touching his fathers naked member uttered a charme whereby his father became emasculated or deprived of the powers generative A charme teaching how to hurt whom you list with images of wax c. MAke an image in his name whom you would hurt or kill of new virgine wax under the right arme-poke whereof place a swallows heart and the liver under the left then hang about the neck thereof a new thred in a new needle pricked into the member which you would have hurt with the rehearsall of certain words which for the avoiding of foolish superstition and credulity in this behalf is to be omitted And if they were inserted I dare undertake they would do no harme were it not to make fooles and catch gudgins Otherwise Sometimes these images are made of brasse and then the hand is placed where the
the weather is faire and cleer Cardanus derideth these and such like fables and setteth downe his judgement therein accordingly in the sixteenth booke De rerum ver These conjurors and coseners forsooth will shew you in a glasse the theefe that hath stolne any thing from you and this is their order They take a glasse-viall full of holy water and set it upon a linnen cloth which hath been purified not onely by washing but by sacrifice c. On the mouth of the viall or urinall two olive-leaves must be laid acrosse with a little conjuration said over it by a child to wit thus Angele bone angele candide per tuam sanctitatem meamque virginiteâ—em ostende mihi furem with â—hree Pater nosteâ—s three Aves and betwixt either of them a crosse made with the naile of the thombe upon the mouth of the viall and then shall be seen angels ascending and descending as it were motes in the sunne-beames The theefe all this while shall suffer great torments and his face shall be seen plainly even as plainly I beleeve as the man in the moone For in truth there are toies artificially conveyed into glasse which will make the water bubble and devises to make images appeare in the bubbles as also there be artificial glasses which will shew unto you that shall looke thereinto many images of divers formes and some so small and curious as they shall in favour resemble whomsoever you think upon Looke in John Bap. Neap for the confection of such glasses The subtilties hereof are so deâ—ected and the mysteries of the glasses so common now and their cosenage so well knowne c. that I need not stand upon the particular confutation hereof Cardanus in the place before cited reporteth how he tried with children these and divers circumstances the whole illusion and found it to be plaine knavery and cosenage Another way to find out a theefe that ahht stolne any thing from you GO to the sea-side and gather as many pebles as you suspect persons for that matter carry them home throw them into the fire bury them under the threshold where the parties are like to come over There let them lie three dayes and then before sun rising take them away Then set a porrenger full of water in a circle wherein must be made crosses every way as many as can stand in it upon the which must be written Christ overcometh Christ reigneth Christ commandeth The porrenger also must be signed with a crosse and a form of conjuration must be pronounced Then each stone must be thrown into the water in the name of the suspected And when you put in the stone of him that is guilty the stone will make the water boile as though glowing iron were put thereinto Which is a meere knack of legierdemaine and to be accomplished divers waies To put out the theeves eye Reade the seven psalmes with the Letany and then must be said a horrible prayer to Christ and God the father with a curse against the theefe Then in the middest of the step of your foote on the ground where you stand make a circle like an eye and write thereabout certain barbarous names and drive with a coopers hammer or addes into the middest thereof a brazen naile consecrated saying Iustus es Domine et justa judicia tua Then the thiefe shall be bewraied by his crying out Another way to find out a thiefe STick a paire of sheeres in the rind of a sive and let two persons set the top of each of their forefingers upon the upper part of the sheeres holding it with the sive up from the ground steddily and aske Peter and Paul whether A. B. or C. hath stolne the thing lost and at the nomination of the guilty person the sive will turne round This is a great practise in all countries and indeed a very bable For with the beating of the pulse some cause of that motion ariseth some other cause by slight of the fingers some other by the wind gathered in the â—ive to be staid c. at the pleasure of the holders Some cause may be the imagination which upon conceit at the naming of the party altereth the common course of the pulse As may well be conceived by a ring held steddily by a thred betwixt the finger and the thombe over or rather in a goblet or glasse which within short space will strike against the side thereof so many strokes as the holder thinketh it a clocke and then will stay the which who so proveth shall find true A Charme to find out or spoile a theefe OF thâ—s matter concerning the apprehension of theeves by wâ—â—ds I will ciâ—e one charme called S. Adelberts curse being both for length of words sufficient to wery the reader and for substantiall stuffe comprehending all that appertaineth unto blasphemous speech or cursing allowed in the church of Rome as an excommunication and inchantment Saint Adelberts curse or charme against theeves BY the authority of the omnipotent Father the Sonne and the holy ghost and by the holy virgine Mary mother of our Lord Jesu Christ and the holy angels and archangels and S. Michael and S. John Baptist and in the behalfe of S. Peter the apostle and the risidue of the apostles and of S. Stephen and of all the martyrs of S. Sylvester and of S. Adelbert and all the confessors and S. Alegand and all the holy virgins and of all the saints in heaven and earth unto whom there is given power to bind and loose we do excommunicate damne curse and bind with the knots and bands of excommunication and we do segregate from the bounds and lists of our holy mother the church all those theeves sacrilegious persons ravenous catchers doers counsellers coadjutors male or female that have committed this theft or mischiefe or have usurped any part thereof to their owne use Let their share be with Dathan and Abiran whom the earth swallowed up for their such and pride and let them have part with Iudas that betrayed Christ Amen and with Pontius Pilat and with them that said to the Lord Depart from us we will not understand thy wayes let their children be made orphanes Cursed be they in the field in the grove in the woods in their houses barnes chambers and beds and cursed be they in the court in the way in the towne in the castle in the water in the church in the churchyard in the tribunall place in battell in their abode in the market place in their talke in silence in eating in watching in sleeping in drinking in feeling in sitting in kneeling in standing in lying in idlenesse in all their worke in their body and soule in their five wits and in every place Cursed be the fruit of their wombâ— and cursed be the fruit of their lands and cursed be all that they haâ—e Cursed be their heads their mouthes their nostrels their noses their lips their jawes their teeth their eyes
agree but also how their ceremonies and their opinions are all one concerning witches and spirits For thus writeth Ovid touching that matter Térque senem flamma ter aquâ ter sulphure lustrat She purifies with fire thrice Old hoâ—y-headed Aeson With water thrice and sulphur thrice As she thought meete in reason Againe the same Ovid cometh in as before Advenient quae lustret anus lectumque locumque Deferat tremula sulphur ova manu Let some old woman hither come And purge both bed and place And bring in trembling hand new-egs And sulphur in like case And Virgill also harpeth upon the like string baccare frontem Cingiteine vati noceat mala ligua future Of berry-bearing baccar bowze A wreath or garland knit And round about his head and browze See decently it sit That of an ill talking tongue Our future poet be not stung Furthermore was it not in times of tempests the papists use or superstition to ring their bells against devils trusting rather to the tonging of their bells than to their owne cry unto God with fasting and prayer assigned by him in all adversities and dangers according to the order of the Thracian priests which would rore and cry with all the noise they could make in those tempests Olaus Gothus saith that his countreymen would shoote in the aire to assist their gods whom they thought to be then together by the eares with others and had consecrated arrowes called Sagittae Ioviales even as our papists had Also in stead of bells they had great hammers called Mallei Ioviales to make a noise in time of thunder In some countries they runne out of the doores in time of tempest blessing themselves with a cheese whereupon there was a crosse made with a ropes end upon ascension day Also three hailestones to be throwne into the fire in a tempest and thereupon to be said three Pater nosters and three Aves S. Iohns gospel and In fine fugiat tempestas is a present remedy Item to hang an eg laid on ascension day in the roof of the house preserveth the same from all hurts Item I conjure you haile and wind by the five wounds of Christ by the three miles which pearced his hands and his feet and by the foure evangelists Matthew Marke Luke and Iohn that thou come down dissolved into water Item it hath beene an usuall matter to carry out in tempests the sacraments and reliques c. Item against stormes and many dumme creatureâ— the popish church useth excommunication as a principal charme And now to be delivered from witches themselves they hang in their entries an herbe called pentaphyllon cinquefoile also an oliveb-ranch also â—rankincense myrrh valerian verven palme antirchmon c. also hay-â—horne otherwise white-thorne gathered on May-day also the smoake of â— lappoints feathers driveth spirits away There be innumerable popish exorcismes and conjurations for hearbs and other things to be thereby made wholsense both for the bodies and souls of men beasts and also or contagion of weather Memorandum that at the gathering of these magicall herbes the Credo is necessary to be said as Vairus affirmeth and also the Pater noster for that is not superstitious Also Sprenger saith that to throw up a black chicken in the aire will make all tempests to cease so it be done with the hand of a witch If a soule wander in the likenesse of a man or woman by night molesting men with bewailing their torments in purgatory by reason of tithes forgotten c. and neither masses nor conjurations can helpe the exorcist in his ceremoniall apparel must go to the tombe of that body and spurne thereat with his soot saying Vade ad gehennam Get thee packing to hell and by and by the soule goeth thither and there remaineth for ever Otherwise If there be no masses of purpose for this matter to unbewitch the bewitched Otherwise You must spet into the pisse-pot where you have made watter Otherwise Spet into the shoe of your right foot before you put it on and that Vairus saith is good and wholseme to do before you go into any dangerous place Otherwise that neither hunters nor their dogs may be bewitched they cleave an oaken branch and both they and their dogs passe over it Otherwise S. Agustine saith that to pacifie the God Liber whereby women might have fruite of the seeds they sowe and that their gardens and fields should not be bewitched some chiefe 〈◊〉 matrone used to put a crowne upon his genital member and that must be publiquely done To spoile a thiefe a witch or any other enemie and to be delivered from the evil VPon the sabbath day before sun-rising cut a hazel-wand saying I cut thee O bough of this summers growth in the name of him whom I meane to beate or maime Then cover the table and say ✚ In nomine patris ✚ filii ✚ spiritus sancti ✚ ter And striking theâ—â— on say as followeth english it he that can Drochs myroch esenaroth ✚ â—etu ✚ baroch ✚ ass ✚ maaroth ✚ and then say Holy trinity punish him that hath wrought this mischiefe and take it away by thy great justice Eson ✚ elion ✚ emaris ales age and strike the carpet with your wand A notable charme or medicine to pull out an arrow-head or any such thing that sticketh in the flesh or bones and cannot otherwise be had oâ—â— Say three severall times kneeling Oremus praeceptis salutaribus moniti Pater noster ave Maria. Then make a crosse saying The Hebrew knight strake our Lord Jesu Christ and I beseech thee O Lord Jesu Christ ✚ by the same iron speare blood and water to pull out this iron is nomine patris ✚ filii ✚ spiritus sancti ✚ Coarmes against a qu tidian ague CUt an apple in three peeces and write upon the one The father is uncreated upon the other The father is incomprehensible upon the third The father is eternall Otherwise Write upon a masse-cake cut in three peeces O ague to be worshipped on the second O sicknesse to be ascribed to health and joyes on the third Pax ✚ max ✚ fax ✚ and let it be eaten fasting Otherwise Paint upon three like pieces of a masse-cake Pater pax ✚ Adonai ✚ â—ilius vita ✚ sabbaoth ✚ spiritus sanctus ✚ Tetragrammaton ✚ and eate it as is aforesaid For all manner of agues intermittent JOyn two little sticks together in the middest being of one length and hang it about your neck in the forme of a crosse Otherwise For this disease the Turkes put within their doublet a ball of wood with another peece of wood and strike the same speaking certain frivolous words Otherwise Certain monkes hanged scrolles about the necks of such as were sick willing them to say certain prayers at each fit at the 3d. fit to hope well and made them believe that they should thereby receive cure
that is to do me pleasure and to fulfill my will without any deceit or tarrying nor yet that thou shalt have any power of my body or soul earthly or ghostly nor yet to perish so much of my body as one haire of my head I conjure thee Sibylia by all the riall words aforesaid and by their vertues and powers I charge and binde thee by the vertue thereof to be obedient unto me and to all the words aforesaid and this bond to stand between thee and me upon pain of everlasting condemnation Fiat fiat fiat Amen CHAP. IX A license for Sibylia to goe and come by at all times I Conjure thee Sibyliae which art come hither before me by the commandement of thy Lord and mine that thou shalt have no powers is thy going or comming unto me imagining any evill in any manner of wayes in the earth or under the earth of evill doings to any person or persons I conjure and command thee Sibylia by all the riall work and vertues that be written in this Book that thou shalt not goe to the place from whence thou camest but shalt remaine peaceably invisibly and look thou be ready to come unto me when thou are called by any conjuration of words that be written in this book to come I say at my commandement and to answer unto me truly and duly of all things my will quickly to be fulfilled Vade in pace in nomine patris filii spirtus sancti And the holy ✚ crosse ✚ be between thee and me or between us and you and the Lion of Iuda the root of Iesse the kindred of David be between thee and mee ✚ Christ commeth ✚ Christ commandeth ✚ Christ giveth power ✚ Christ defend me ✚ and his innocent bloud ✚ from all perils of body and soul sleeping or waking Fiat fiat Amen CHAP. X. To know of treasure hidden in the earth WRite in paper these characters following on the saturday in the 〈◊〉 of ☽ and lay it where thou thinkest treasure to be if there be any the paper will burn else not And these be the characters This is the way to goe invisible by these three sisters of Fairies In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost First goe to a fair parlor or chamber and an even ground and in no lost and from people nine dayes for it is the better and let all thy clothing be clean and sweet Then make a candle of Virgine wax and light it and make a faire fire of charcoles in a fair place in the midle of the parlour or chamber Then take fair clean water that runneth against the east and set it upon the fire and yet thou wathest thy selfe say these words going about the fire three times holding the candle in the right hand ✚ Panthon ✚ Craton ✚ Muriton ✚ Lisecognaton ✚ Seston ✚ Diaton ✚ Maton ✚ Tetâ—agrammaton ✚ Agla ✚ Agarion ✚ Tegra ✚ Pentessaron ✚ Tendicata ✚ Then rehearse these names ✚ So thie ✚ Sorthia ✚ Sortheos ✚ Milia ✚ Achilia ✚ Sibylia ✚ In nomine patris filii spiritus sancti Amen I conjure you three sisters of fairies Milia Achilia Sibylia by the Father by the Son and by the Holy Ghost and by their vertues and powers and by the most mercifull and living God that will command his angell to blow the trump at the day of Judgement and he shall say Come come come to judgement and by all angels archangels thrones dominations principats potestaâ—es virtutes cherubim and seraphim and by their vertues and powers I conjure you three sisters by the vertue of all the riall words aforesaid I charge you that you doe appeare before me visibly in form and shape of faire women in white vestures and to bring with you to me the ring of invisibility by the which I may goe invisible at mine owne will and pleasure and that in all houres and minutes In nomine patris filii spiritus sancti Amen * Being appeared say this bond following O blessed virgins ✚ Milia ✚ Achili◠✚ I conjure you in the name of the Father in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Ghost by their vertues I charge you to depart from me in peace for a time And Sibylia I conjure thee by the vertue of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the vertue of his flesh and pretious bloud that he took of our blessed Lady the Virgine and by all the holy company in heaven I charge thee Sibylia by all the vertues aforesaid that thou be obedient unto me in the name of God that when and in what time and place I shall call thee by this foresaid conjuration written in this book looke thou be ready to come unto me at all houres and minutes and to bring unto me the ring of invisibility whereby I may goe invisible at my will and pleasure and that at all houres and minutes Fiat fiat Amen And if he come not the first night then doe the same the second night and so the third night untill they doe come for doubtlesse they will come and lie thou in thy bed in the same parlor or chamber And lay thy right hand out of the bed and look thou have a faire silken kercher bound abound thy head and be not afraid they will doe thee no harm For there will come before thee three fair women and all in white clothing and one of them will put a ring upon thy finger wherewith thou shalt goe invisible Then with speed bind them with the bond aforesaid When thou hast this ring on thy finger looke in a glasse and thou shalt not see thy self And when thou wilt goe invisible put in on thy finger the same finger that they did put it on and every new ☽ renew it again For after the first time thou shalt ever have it and ever begin this work in the new of the ☽ and in the houre of ♃ and the ☽ in ♋ ♠♓ CHAP. XI An experiment following of Citrael c. angeli diei dominici Say first the prayers of the angels every day for the space of seaven dayes O Ye glorious angels written in this square be you my coadjutors and helpers in all qâ—estions and demands in all my businesse and other causes by him which shall â—ome to judge both the quick and the dead and the world by fire O angeli gloriosi in hac quadra scripti estote câ—adjutores auxiliatores in omnibus quaestionibus intervogationibus in omnibus negotiis caeterisque causis per eum qui venturus est judicare vivos mortuos mumdum per ignem Say this prayer fasting called Regina linguae ✚ Lemae ✚ solma ac ✚ elmay ✚ gezagra ✚ raamaasin ✚ ezierego ✚ mial ✚ egziephiaz Iosamin ✚ sabach ✚ ha ✚ aem ✚ re ✚ be ✚ esepha ✚ sephar ✚ â—â—mar ✚ semoit ✚ lemajo ✚ pheralon ✚ amic ✚
phin ✚ gergoin ✚ leâ—o◠✚ Amin ✚ amin ✚ In the name of the most pitifullest and and mercifullest God of Isâ—â—â—â— and of paradise of heaven and of earth of the seas and of the infernals by thine omnipotent help may perform this work which livest and reigâ—est over one God world without end Amen O most strongest and mightiest God without beginning or ending by thy clemency and knowledge I desire that my questions work and labour may be fully and truely accomplished through thy worthinesse good Lord which livest and reignest ever one God world without eâ—â— Amen O holy patient and mercifull great God and to be worshipped the Lord of all wisdome clear and just I most heartily desire thy holinesse and clemency to fulfill perform and accomplish this my whole work through thy worthynesse and blessed power which livest and reignest ever one God Per omnia saecula saeculorum Amen CHAP. XII How to inclose a spirit in a crystall stone THis operation following is to have a spirit inclosed into a crystall stone or beryll glasse or into any other like instrument c. First thou in the new of the ☽ being clothed with all new and fresh and clean aray and shaven and that day to fast with bread and water and being cleane confessed say the seven Psalmes and the Letany for the space of two days with this prayer following I desire thee O Lord God my mercifull and most loving God the giver of all graces the giver of all sciences grant that I thy wel-beloved N. although unworthy may know thy grace and power against all the deceipts and craftinesse of devils And grant to me thy power good Lord to constrain them by this art for thou art the true and lively and eternall God which livest and reignest ever one God through all worlds Amen Thou must doe this five dayes and the sixt day have in a readinesse five bright swords and in some secret place make one circle with one of the said swords And then write this name Sitrael which done standing in the circle thrust in thy sword into that name And write again Malanthon with another sword and Thamaor with another and Falaur with another and Sitrami with another and ode as ye did with the first All this done turn thee to Sitrael and kneeling say thus having the crystall stone in thine hands O Sitrael Malantha Thamaor Falaur and Sitrami Written in these circles appointed to this work I doe conjure and I doe exorcise you by the Father by the Sonne and by the Holy-Ghost by him which cast you out of Paradise and by him which spake the word and it was done and by him which shall come to judge the quick and the dead and the world by fire that all you five infernall masters and princes doe come unto mee to accomplish and to fulfill all my desire and request which I shall command you Also I conjure you divels and command you I bid you and appoint you by the Lord Jesus Christ the sonne of the most highest God and by the blessed and glorious Virgine Mary and by all the Saints both of men and women of God and by all the Angels Archangels Patriarches and prophets Apostles Evangelists martyrs and confessours virgins and widowes and all the elect of God Also I conjure you and every of you ye infernall Kings by the heaven by the starres by the ☉ and by the ☽ and by all the planets by the earth fire air and water and by the terrestriall paradise and by all things in them contained and by your hell and by all the divels in it and dwelling about it and by your vertue and power and by all whatsoever and with whatsoever it be which may constraine and binde you Therefore by all these foresaid vertues and powers I doe bind you and constrain you into my will and power that you being thus bound may come unto me in great humility and to appeare in your circles beforâ— me visibly in fair form and shape of mankind kings and to obey unto me all things whatsoever I shall desire and that you may not depart from me without my licence And if you doe against my precepts I will promise unto you that you shall descend into the profound deepâ—â—sse of the Sea except that you doe obey unto me in the part of the living son of God which liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost by all world of worlds Amen Say this true conjuration five courses and then shalt thou see coâ—e out of the Northpart five Kings with a marvellous company which whâ—â— they are come to the circle they will alight down off from their horsâ— and will kneel downe before thee saying Master command us wâ—â—â— thou wilt and we will out of hand be obedient unto thee Unto whom thou shalt say see that ye depart not from me without my licence and that which I will command you to doe let it be done truely suâ—ely faithfully and essentially And then they all will sweare unto thee to doe all thy will And after they have sworn say the conjuration immediately following I conjure charge and command you and every of you Sirrael Malâ—â—than Thamaar Falaur and Sitrami you infernal kings to put into the crystall stone one spirit learned â—â—d expert in all arts and sciences by the vertue of this name of God Tetragrammaton and by the crosse of our Loâ—â— Jesus Christ and by the bloud of the innocent lambe which redeemed all the world and by all their virtues and poweâ—s I charge you ye â—oble kings that the said spirit may teach shew and declare unto me and to my friends at all houres and minuts both night and day the mâ—â— of all things both bodily and ghostly in this world whatsoever I shall request or desire declaring also to me my very name And this I command in your part to doe and to obey thereunto as unto your owâ— Lord and Master That done they will call a certain spirit whom thâ—â— will command to enter into the centre of the circled or round crystal Tâ—â—â— put the crystall between the two circles and thou shalt see the crysâ—â—â—â— made black Then command them to command the spirit in the crystall not 〈◊〉 depart out of the stone till thou give him licence and to fulfill 〈◊〉 will for ever That done thou shalt see them goe upon the crystall both to answer your requests and to tarry your licence That done the spirits will crave licence and say Goe ye to your place appoinâ—â—â— of Almighty God in the name of the father c. And then take up 〈◊〉 crystall and look therein asking what thou wilt and it will shew it â—â—to thee Let all your circles be nine foot every way and made as foâ—loweth Work this work in ♋ â™ or ♓ in the houre of the ☽ or â— And when the spirit is inclosed if thou feare him binde him with some bond in such
to thee N. and to appeare to thee N. in any crystall stone glasse or other mirror and so to take it for my resting place And that so soone as my spirit is departed out of my body straightway to be at your commandements and that in and at all days nights houres and minutes to be obedient unto thee N. being called of the eâ—by the vertue of our Lord Jesuâ— Christ and our of hand to have common talke with thee at all times and in all houres and minutes to open and declare to thee N. the truth of all things present past and to come and how to worke the magick art and all other noble sciences under the throne of God If I do not performe this oath and promise to thee N. but doe flie from any part thereof then to be condemned for ever and ever Amen Also I N. do sweare to thee by God the Holy ghost and by the great wisedome that is in the divine Godhead and by their vertues and by all the holy angels archangels thrones dominations principats poteslaus virtutes cherubim and seraphim and by all their vertues do I N. sweare and promise thee to be obedient as is rehearsed And here for a witnesse do I N. give thee N. my right hand and do plight thee my faith and troth as God me helpe and holydome And by the holy contents in this booke do I N. sweare that my spirit shall be thy true servant all the dayes of thy life as is before rehearsed and here for a witnesse that my spirit shal be obedient unto thee N. and to those bonds of words that be written in this N. before the bonds of words shall be rehearsed thrise else to be damned for ever and thereto say all faithfull soules and spirits Amen Amen Then let him sweare this oath three times and at every time kisse the book and at every time make marks to the bond Then perceiving the time that he will depart get away the people from you and get or take your stone or glasse or other thing in your hand and say the Pater noster Ave and Credo and this prayer as followeth And in all the time of his departing rehearse the bonds of words and in the end of every bond say oftentimes Remember thine oath and promise And bind him strongly to thee and to thy stone and suffer him not to depart reading thy bond 24. times And every day when you do call him by your other bond bind him strongly by the first bond by the space of 24. dayes apply it and thou shalt be made a man for ever Now the Pater noster Ave and Credo must be said and then the prayer immediately following O God of Abraham God of Isaac God of Iacob God of Tobias â—he which diddest deliver the three children from the hot burning oven Sidrac Misac and Abednago and Susanna from the false crime and Daniel from the lions power even so O Lord omnipotent I beseech thee for thy great mercy sake to helpe me in these my works and to deliver me this spirit of N. that he may be a true subject unto me N. all the dayes of my life and to remaine with me and with this N. all the dayes of my life O glorious God Father Sonne and Holy ghost I beseech thee to help me at this time and to give me power by thy holy name merits and vertues wherby I may conjure and constraine this spirit of N. that he may be obedient unto me and may fulfill his oath and promise at all times by the power of all thine holinesse This grant O Lord God of hosts as thou art righteous and holy and as thou art the word and the word God the beginning and the end sitting in the thrones of thine everlasting kingdomes and in the divinity of thine everlasting Godhead to whom be all honour and glory now and for ever and ever Amen Amen CHAP. XVIII A bond to binde him to thee and to thy N. as followeth IN conjure and constraine the spirit of N. by the living God by the true God and by the holy God and by their vertues and powers I conjure and constraine the spirit of thee N. that thou shalt not ascend nor descend out of thy body to no place of rest but onely to take thy resting place with N. and with this N. all the dayes of my life according to thine oath and promise I conjure and constraine the spirit of N. by these holy names of God ✚ Tetragrammaton ✚ Adonay ✚ Agla ✚ Saday ✚ Sabaoth ✚ planabothe ✚ panthon ✚ craton ✚ vcupmaton ✚ Deus ✚ homo ✚ omnipotens ✚ sempiternus ✚ ysus ✚ terra ✚ unigenitus ✚ salvator ✚ via ✚ vila ✚ manus ✚ sons ✚ origo ✚ filius ✚ and by their vertues and powers I conjure and constraine the spirit of N. that thou shalt not remaine in the fire nor in the water in the aier nor in any privy plaâ—e of the earth but onely with me N. and with this N. all the dayes of my life I charge the spirit of N. upon paine of everlasting condemnation remember thine oath and promise Also I conjure the spirit of N. and constraine thee by the excellent name of Jesus Christ A and Ω the first and the last for this holy name of Jesus is above all names for unto it all knees doe bow and obey both of heavenly things earthly things and infernals Nor is there any other name given to man whereby we have any salvation but by the name of Iesus Therefore by the name and in the name of Jesus of Nazareth and by his nativity resurrection and ascension and by all that appertaineth to his passion and by their vertues and powers I do conjure and constraine the spirit of N. that thou shalt not take any resting place in the ☉ not in the ☽ nor in ♄ nor in ♃ nor in ♂ nor in ♀ nor in ☿ nor in any of the twelve signes nor in the concavity of the clouds nor in any other privie place to rest or stay in but onely with me N. or with this N. all the dayes of my life If thou be not obedient unto me according to thine oath and promise I N. do condemne the spirit of N. into the pit of bell for ever Amen I conjure and constraine the spirit of N. by the bloud of the innocent lambe Jesus Christ the which was shed upon the crosse for all those that do obey into it and beleeve in it shall be saved and by vertue thereof and by all the aforesaid riall names and words of the living God by me pronounced I do conjure and constraine the spirit of N. that thou do be obedient unto me according to thine oath and promise If thou refuse to do as is aforesaid I N by the holy Trinity and by his vertue and power do condemne the spirit of N. into the place whereas there is no
be and what be their names and by whom it was laid there and to shew me true visions of what sort and similitude they be and how long they have kept it and to know in what dayes and houres 〈◊〉 shall call such a spirit N. to bring unto us these treasures into such a plan N. upon paine of everlasting condemnation ✚ Also I constraine thee spirit N. by all angels archangels thrones dominations principats potestaâ—s virtutes cherubim seraphim that you do shew a true vision in this crystall stone who did convay or steale away such a N. and where it is and who hath it and how far off and what is his or her name and how and when to come unto it upon paine of eternall condemnation Fiat Amen Also I conjure thee spirit N. by the ☉ ☽ ♄ ♃ ♂ ♀ ☿ by all the characters in the firmament that thou do shew unto me a true vision in this crystall stone where such N. and in what state he is and how long â—e hath been there and what time he will be in such a place what day and houre and this and all other things to declare plainely in paine of hell fire Fiat Amen A licence to depart Depart out of the sight of this crystall stone in peace for a 〈◊〉 and ready to appeare therein againe at any time or times I shal call thee by the vertue of our Lord Iesus Christ and by the bonds of words which are written in this booke and to appeare â—â—sibly as the words be rehearsed I constraine thee spirit N. by the divinity of the Godhead to be obedient unto these words rehearsed upon paine of everlasting condemnation both in this world and in the worldâ— come Fiat fiat fiat Amen CHAP. XX. When to talk with spirits and to have true answers to find out a theife THe dayes and houres of ♄ ♂ ☿ and the ☽ is best to doe all crafts of necromancy and for to speak with spirits and for to find theft and to have true answer thereof or of any other such like And in the dayes and houres of ☉ ♃ ♀ is best to doe all experiments of love and to purchase grace and for to be invisible and to do any operations whatsoever it be for any thing the ☽ being in a convenient signe As when thou labourest for theft see the moon be in an earthy signe as ♉ ♠♑ or of the air as ♊ ♎ â™’ And if it be for love favour or grace let the ☽ be in a signe of the fire as ♈ ♌ â™ and for hatred in a signe of the water as ♋ ♠♓ For any other experiment let the ☽ be in ♈ And if thou findest the ☉ and the ☽ in one sign that is called in even number then thou mayst write consecrate conjure and make ready all manner of things that thou wilt doe c. To speak with spirits Call these names Orimoth Belimoth Lymâ—ck and say thus I conjure you up by the names of the angels Satur and Azimor that you intend to me in this houre and send unto a me spirit called Sagrigrit that he do fulfill my commandement and desire and that also can understand my words for one or two years or as long as I will c. CHAP. XXI A confutation of conjuration especially of the raising binding and dismissing of the divell of going invisible and other lewd practises THus far have we waded in shewing at large the vanity of necromancers conjurors and such as pretend to have reall conference and consultation with spirits and divels wherein I trust you see what notorious blasphemy committed besides other blind superstitious ceremonies a disordered heap which are so far from building up the endeavours of these black art practitioners that they doe altogether ruinate and overthrow them making them in their follies and falsehoods as bare and naked as an anatomy As for these ridiculous conjurations last rehearsed being of no small reputation among the ignorant they are for the most part made by T. R. for so much of his name he bewrayeth and Iohn Cokirs invented and deviced for the augmentation and maintenance of their living for the edifying of the poore and for the propagating and inlarging of Gods glory as in the beginning of their book of conjurations they protest which in this place for the further manifestation of their impiety and of the witchmongers follie and credulity I thought good to insert whereby the residue of their proceedings may be judged or rather detected For if we seriously behold the matter of conjuration and the drift of conjurors we shall finde them in mine opinion more faulty then such as take upon them to be witches as manifest offenders against the majesty of God and his holy law and as apparent violators of the laws and quietnesse of this realm although indeed they bring no such thing to passe as is surmised and urged by câ—edulous persons cousenors lyars and witchmongers For these are alwayes learned and rather abusers of others than they themselves by others abused But let us see what appearance of truth or possibility is wrapped withiâ— thesâ— mysteries and let us unfold the deceipt They have made choice of certaine words whereby they say they can work miracles c. And first of all that they call divels and soules out of hell though we find in the Scripture manifest proofs that all passages are stopped concerning the egresse out of hell so as they may goe thither but they shall never get out for Ab inferno nulla est redemptio out of hell there is no redemption Well when they have gotten them up they shut them in a circle made with chalk which is so strongly beset and invironed with crosses and names that they cannot for their lives get out which is a very probable matter Then can they bind them and loose them at their pleasures and make them that have been lyers from the beginning to tell the truth yea they can compell them to doe any thing And the divels are forced to be obedient unto them and yet cannot be brought to due obedience unto God their creator This done I say they can worke all manner of miracles saving blew miracles and this is beleeved of many to be true Tam credula mens hominis arrectae fabulis aures So light of beleef is the mind of man And attentive to tales his eares now and than But if Christ onely for a time left the power of working miracles among his Apostles and Disciples for the confirmation of his Gospell and the faith of his elect yet I deny altogether that hee left that power with these knaves which hide their cousening purposes under those lewd and foolish words according to that which Peter saith With faigned words they make merchandize of you And therefore the counsell is good that Paul giveth us when he biddeth us take heed that no man
they are the breath of living creatures some that one of them begat another some that they were created of the least part of the masse whereof the earth was made and some that they are substances betweene God and man and that of them some are terrestriall some celestiall some watery some airy some firy some starry and some of each and every part of the elements and that they know our thoughts and carry our good works and prayers to God and returne his benefits backe unto us and that they are to be worshipped wherein they meete and agree iumpe with the papists as if you read the notes upon the second chapter to the Colossians in the Seminaries testament printed at Rhemes you shall manifestly see though as contrary to the word of God as blacke to white as apppeareth in the Apocalypse where the angell expresly forbad Iohn to worship him Againe some say that they are meane betwixt terrestiall and celestiall bodies communicating part of each nature and that although they be eternall yet that they are moved with affections and as there are birds in the aire fishes in the water and wormes in the earth so in the fourth element which is the fire is the habitation of spirits and divels And lest we should thinke them idle they say they have charge over men and government in all countries and nations Some say that they are onely imaginations in the mind of man Tertullian saith they are birds and fly faster then any sowle of the aire Some say that divels are not but when they are sent and therefore are called evill angels Some thinke that the divell sendeth his angels abroad and â—e himselfe maketh his continuall abode in hell his mansion place CHAP. III. The opinion of Psellus touching spirits of their severall orders and a confutation of his errors therein PSellus being of authority in the church of Rome and not impugnable by any catholike being also instructed in these supernaturall or rather diabolicall matters by a monke called Marcus who had been familiarly conversant a long time as he said with a certaine divell reporteth upon the same divels owne word which must needs understand best the state of this question that the bodyes of angels and divels consist not now of all one element though perhaps it were otherwise before the fall of Lucifer and that the bodyes of spirits and divels can feele and be felt do hurt and be hurt in so much as they lamenâ— when they are stricken and being put to the fire are burnt and yet that they themselves burne continnually in such sort as they leave ashes behind them in places where they have beeâ—e as manifest tryall thereof hath been if he say truly in the borders of Italy He also saith upon like credit and assurance that divels and spirits do avoid and shed from out of their bodyes such seed or nature as whereby certaine vermine are ingendered and that they are nourished with food as we are saving that they receive it not into their mouthes but sucke it up into their bodies in such sort as sponges soke up water Also he saith they have names shapes and dwelling places as indeed they have though not in temporall and corporâ—â— sort Furthermore he saith that there are six princiall kind of divels which are not only corporall but temporall and worldly The first sort consist of fire wandering in the region neere to the moone but have no power to go into the moone The second sort consisting of aire have their habitation more low and neere unto us these saith he are proud and great boasters very wise and deceitfull and when they come downe are seene with streames of fire at their taile He saith that these are commonly conjured up to make images laugh and lamps burne of their owne accord and that in Assyria they use much to prophesie in a bason of water Which kinde of incantation is usuall among our conjurors but it is here commonly performed in a pitcher or pot of water or else in a viall of glasse filled with water wherein they say at the first a little sound is heard without a voice which is a token of the divels comming Anon the water seemeth to be troubled and then there are heard small voyces wherewith they give their answers speaking so softly as no man can well heare them because saith Cardane they would not be argued or rebuked of lies But this I have else-where more largely described and confuted The third sort of divels Psellus saith are earthly the fourth watery or of the sea the fift under the earth the sixt sort are Lucifugi that is such as delight in darkenes and are scant indued with sense and so dull as they can scarse be moved with charmes or conjurations The same man saith that some divels are worse than other but yet that they all hate God and are enemies to man But the worser moity of divels are Aquei Subterranei and Lucifugi that is watery under the earth and shunners of light because saith he these hurt not the soules of men but destroy mens bodies like mad and ravening beasts molesting both the inward and outward parts thereof Aquei are they that raise tempests and drowne seafaring men and do all other mischiefes on the water Subterranei and Lucifugi enter into the bowels of men and torment them that they possesse with the phrensie and the falling evill They also assault them that are miners or pioners which use to worke in deepe and darke holes under the earth Such divels as are earthy and aiery he saith enter by subtilty into the minds of men to deceive them provoking men to absurd and unlawfull affections But herein his philosophy is very unprobable for if the divell be earthy he must needs be palpable if he be palpable he must needs kill them into whose bodies he entereth Item if he be of 〈…〉 then must he also be visible and untransformable in that 〈…〉 God 's creation cannot be annihilated by the creature So as though it were granted that they might adde to their substance matter and forme c. yet it is most certaine that they cannot diminish or alter the substance whereof they consist as not to be when they liâ—t spirituall or to relinquish and leave earth water fire aire or this and that element whereof they are created But howsoever they imagine of water aire or fire I am sure earth must always be visible and palpable yea and aire must alwayes be invisible and fire must be hot add water must be moist And of these three latter bodies specially of water and aire no forme nor shape can be exhibited to mortall eye naturally or by the power of any creature CHAP. IIII. More absurd assertions of Psellus and such others concerning the actions and passions of spirits his definition of them and of his experience therein MOreover the same author saith that
or appeareth to any man either out of heaven hell or purgatory and not otherwise Nisroch signifieth a delicate tentation and was worshipped by Senacharib in Assyria Tarcat is in English fettered and was the divell or idoll of the Hevites Beelphegor otherwise called Priapus the gapâ—ng or naked god was worshipped among the Moabites Adramelech that is the cloke or power of the king was an idoll at Sâ—pharvais which was a city of the Assyrians Chamos that is feeling or departing was worshipped among the Moabites Dagon that is corn or grief was the idoll of the Philistines Asarte that is a fold or flock is the name of a shee idoll at Sydonia whom Salomon worshipped some think it was Venus Melchom that is a king was an idoll or divell which the sons of Ammoâ— worshipped Sometimes also we find in the scriptures that divels and spirits take their names of wicked men or of the houses or states of abominable persons as Astaroth which as Iosephus saith was the idoll of the Philistines whom the Iews took from them at Salomons commandment and was also worshipped of Salomon Which though it signifie riches flocks c. yet it was once a city belonging to Og the king of Basan where they say the giants dwelt In these respects Astaroth is one of the special divels named in Salomons conjuration greatly imployed by the conjurors I have sufficiently proved in these quotations that these idols are Dii gentium the gods of the Gentiles and then the prophet David may satisfie you that they are divels who saith Dii gentium daemonia sunt The gods of the gentiles are divels What a divell was the rood of grace to be thought but such a one as before is mentioned and described who took his name of his curteous and gratious behaviour towards his worshippers or rather those that offered unto him The idolatrous knavery whereof being now bewrayed it is among the godly reputed a divell rather than a god and so are diverse others of the same stamp CHAP. XX. Diverse names of the divell whereby his nature and disposition is manifested IT hath also pleased God to inform our weak capacities as it were by similitudes and examples or rather by comparisons to understand what manner of thing the divell is by the very names appropriated and attributed unto him in the scriptures wherein sometimes he is called by one name sometimes by another by metaphors according to his conditions Elephas is called in Iob Behemoth which is Bruta whereby the greatnesse and brutishnesse of the divell is figured Leviathan is not much different from Elephas whereby the divels great subtilty and power is shewed unto us Mammon is the covetous desire of mony wherewith the divell overcometh the reprobate c Daemon signifieth one that is cunning or crafty Cacodaemon is perversly knowing All those which in ancient times were worshipped as Gods were so called Diabolus is Calumniator an accuser or a slenderer Satan is Adversarius an adversary that troubleth and molesteth Abaddon a destroyer Legio because they are many Prince of the air Prince of the world A king of the sons of pride A roaring lion An homicide or manslayer a lyer and the father of lies The author of sin A spirit Yea sometimes he is called the spirit of the Lord as the executioner and minister of his displeasure c. Sometimes the spirit of fornication c. And many other like epithets or additions are given him for his name He is also called the angell of the Lord. The cruell angell of Satan The angell of hell The great dragon for his pride and force The red dragon for his bloudinesse A serpent An owl a kite a satyr a crow a pellican a hedghog a griph a stork c. CHAP. XXI That the idols or gods of the Gentiles are divels their divers names and in what affaires their labours and authorities are imployed wherein also the blind superstition of the heathen people is discovered ANd for so much as the idols of the Gentiles are called divels and are among the unlearned confounded and intermedled with the divels that are named in the Scriptures I thought it convenient here to give you â—a note of them to whom the Gentiles gave names according to the offices unto them assigned Penates are the domesticall gods or rather divels that were said to make men live quietly within doores But some think these rather to be such as the Gentiles thought to be set over kingdoms and that Lares are such as trouble private houses and are set to oversee crosse wayes and cities Larvae are said to be spirits that walk only by night Genii are the two angels which they supposed were appointed to wait upon each man Manes are the spirits which oppose themselves against men in the way Daemones were feigned gods by poets as Iupiter Iuno c. Virunculi terrei are such as was Robin Good-fellow that would supply the office of servants specially of maids as to make a fire in the morning sweep the house grind mustard and malt draw water c. these also rumble in houses draw latches goe up and down stairs c. Dii geniales are the gods that every man did sacrifice unto at the day of their birth Tetrici be they that make folk afraid and have such ugly shape which many of our Divines doe call Subterranei Cobali are they that follow men and delight to make them laugh with tumbling juggling and such like toies Virunculi are dwarfs about three handfuls long and doe no hurt but seem to dig in minerals and to be very busie and yet doe nothing Guteli or Trulli are spirits they say in the likenesse of women shewing great kindnesse to all men and hereof it is that we call light women truls Daemones montani are such as work in the minerals and further the worke of the labourers wonderfully who are nothing afraid of them Hudgin is a very familiar divell which will doe no body hurt except hee receive injury but he cannot abide that nor yet be mocked he talketh with men friendly sometimes visibly and sometimes invisibly There goe as many tales upon this Hudgin in some parts of Germany as there did in England of Robin Good-fellow But this Hudgin was so called because he alwayes ware a cap or a hood and therefore I think it was Robin Hood Fryar Rush was for all the world such another fellow as this Hudgin and brought up even in the same school to wit in a kitchen in so much as the selfe same tale is written of the one as of the other concerning the skullian which is said to have been flaih c. for the reading whereof I I referre you to Fryar Rush his story or else to Iohn Wier us De praestigiâ—â— daemonum There were also