being all embodied Spirits that is vitally united to Matter they must of necessity be capable both of pain and pleasure the sense of which is more or less acute and vigorous according to either the Tenuity or Grossness of their Bodies and by consequence they are liable and obnoxious to harm and injury from those of their own Society which considering the mischievousness of their natures and dispositions each ones particular Lusts being the grand rule and measure of his Actions would certainly breed an infinite Ataxy and confusion amongst them and at last the ruine and destruction of their Kingdom if not prevented by some external restraint and discipline Wherefore they being all so deeply lapsed into the Animal life whose very foundation is self-love and preservation of the irregular Exertions of their sensual Appetites their Reason which though perfectly subservient to their brutish Faculties yet is no whit abated or diminished by their degeneracy would not fail of moulding them into a Body Politick and enacting by their general consent and approbation for the maintenance and security of their usurped Dominions all such Laws and necessary Provisions as might both secure themselves from outrages and villanies committed upon one another and the more advantageously and successfully drive on the general trade of wickedness throughout the whole kingdom of Hell and Darkness 2. But besides this there is another cogent reason and inducement to believe there is an Order and Government among the dark Fiends in that they are not all of the same rank and quality but may probably have as many divisions among them as there are diversities of Animals upon Earth though they all agree in the common Angelick nature which if so that thirst and desire of Rule and Authority which is so largly spread and diffused through their natures and capacities and so great a branch of the sensual life to which they are wholly addicted will undoubtedly stir up the more powerful and politick among them to take the reins of Government and Authority into their hands and prescribe Laws to the rest such as may both establish and preserve the Empire and Kingdom of Darkness from domestick and intestine broils and dissentions and uphold it when assaulted by forein Invasions And there seems to be an admirable consent between what Reason suggests and the Holy Scriptures in which mention is made of the Prince of Devils who is likewise called the Prince of the aiery Powers or Spirits And to quicken us up to a studious watchfulness and diligence against the latent frauds and machinations of those Infernal hunters we are assured that our contest is against Principalities and Powers and against the Aerial wicked Spirits under their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prince And the learned Dr. Hammond in his Notes upon that place of S. Paul supposes the Apostle by those several expressions to denote several sorts of Devils either in respect of their Mansions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Ignatius ad Ephes. Aerial or Earthly Spirits or else of the inclinations which they suggest The Earthly Devils suggesting grosser carnal appetites filthiness of the flesh c. the Aerial pride vain-glory malice c. the filthiness of the Spirit And Drusius upon Ephes. 2.2 6.12 cites two Iewish Authors who speak after this manner Debet homo scire intelligere à terrâ usque ad firmamentum omnium plena esse turmis praefectis c. i.e. A man is to know and understand that all from the Earth to the firmament is full and no place empty of troops of Spirits with their Chieftains and such as are Praepositi all which have their residence and flye up and down in the Air some of them incite to peace others to war some to goodness and life others to wickedness and death And that there are great diversities among the evil Daemons some being more Aiery and Spiritual transacting the affairs of the kingdom of Hell by subordinate Instruments and others more gross and feculent employed in the basest and most slavish actions some sportful and ludicrous others savage and cruel the Sacred Writings give us likewise some further intimation of In Mar. ix 25. we read that our Saviour cast out a dumb and deaf Spirit which certainly denotes a distinct kind of Devil it being not so probable that he was called so from the effects wrought in the possessed for when the Disciples asked our Blessed Lord the reason why they could not cast out that Devil whose dispossession they had attempted he seems to tell them that it was a peculiar kind of Devil that could only be ejected by Prayer and Fasting Others sport themselves in ratling among their chains and fetters and whirling round storms and tempests in their Aiery Regions and Dominions to the destruction of Men and Beasts and the Fruits of the Earth as they did with Iob. And the Psalmist affirms the evil Angels to be the executioners of the sadder sentences of God the Judge of the world Psal. 78.49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger wrath and indignation and trouble by sending evil Angels among them where the Septuagint read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And these are the grim Serjeants and inexorable Officers who carry the Souls of wicked men to their places of punishment which therefore Origen calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the publick Executioners and the Author of the golden Verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subterranean Daemons Now this diversity of Devils must needs cast them into a Political Government 3. Nor is it to be thought but they would retain the same Order and Government in this their dark Empire in which they were instated while they continued faithful subjects of the kingdom of Light Now it is most certain that there are different degrees of Dignity and Order among the good Angels and S. Paul gives us an account of some of them Col. i. 16. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers And here it will not be amiss to give the Reader a short discourse of S. Ierome as a Commentary upon these words of S. Paul produced by Zanchy if he have not miscited him in his Treatise of Angels Nunc quaerendum est ubi Apostolus haec quatuor nomina c. i. e. Now let us search where the Apostle found these four names written Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers and whence he had them For it is not just to think that he who was so well read in the Scriptures should speak any thing that was not contained in those sacred Volumes I suppose therefore that he either brought to light some secret Tradition of the Jews or at least that he understanding the Law to be Spiritual put a more sublime sence upon those things which were written as it were according to the History and Letter And
Glories To which it may be said that the Devil may properly be looked upon as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Dignity though his Glory be pale and wan and those once bright and orient colours faded and darkned in his Robes and the Scriptures represent him as a Prince though it be of Devils 2. Of other Dominions their Contempt was set down before both in S. Peter and S. Iude by the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 setting at nought making nothing of and despising scornfully behaving themselves towards their Superiors and so need not be repeated again in these words 3. That it is to be understood of a contumelious or contemptuous behaviour towards Angels is evident from the instance the Apostle brings of the contention between Michael and the Devil who though now his Superior yet durst not carry himself insolently contemptuously or reproachfully against him All this is sufficient to let us understand that these mighty Principalities are not to be reproached or railed at but to be left to the just and righteous rebukes of Heaven in our contests and conflicts with them Thirdly We are fully assured that he who hath God propitious to him need not fear the malice of evil Spirits When the servant of the Prophet Elisha was in a great fear and consternation of mind by reason of the Armies of the Syrians that had surrounded his Masters dwelling he no sooner saw those invisible Chariots and Horses of fire but his fear abated and his Spirits returned And if we had but a firm Faith in the Divine Goodness and made it our business to propitiate God and assert our selves under a benigne and favourable Providence by the holiness of our lives we need not fear the numerous Armies and Troops of Syrians those evil Daemons that assemble and unite themselves for our Ruine and Destruction For he that loves God has presently the Invisible Guards of Heaven to pitch their Tents about him For as Arnobius excellently discourses against the Pagans the first and only God is a sufficient Object of Divine veneration that God I say who is the Father and Lord the Maker and Governour of all things and in worshipping him we worship all that is to be worshipped and adore all that is fit to be adored and pay our obsequious Venerations to all that require them of us For since we hold us fast to the Head of Divinity it self from whom all the Divinity of the most exalted Beings is derived it were a vain thing to disperse our worship upon many and single persons especially when we are in great measure ignorant both of their natures and names and can have no clear knowledge of their numbers But as in Earthly Kingdoms when we pay our worship and service to the King himself there is no need of offering the same by name to all who are attendants in the Royal Family for asmuch as whatever Honour belongs to them is tacitly acknowledged to be comprehended in that done to the King after the same manner the holy Angels being a Royal Progeny and deriving their Beings from the first and principal Head of all things although they receive no worship from us by name yet know well enough that they are honoured likewise in common with their King So that when by a strong Faith and the Holiness of our lives we have made God our Friend the Heavenly Hosts are at the same time reconciled to us and we are acknowledged by them as members of their society and they lend us their kind and friendly assistance in countermining the designs of the Dark Kingdom against us Neither is there any Christian that is ever left to his own naked and solitary Effort in this War with the powers of Hell but is attended and succoured with a mighty strength even the Bright Armies and Legions of Heavens Almighty King This this is the Power that will at last prevail and subdue all things to it self and the whole Kingdom of Darkness with all its rebellious Associates shall be plunged into an Everlasting pit of Horror and Confusion Fourthly It concerns us carefully to avoid and mortifie those more refined and Intellectual Vices such as Pride Malice Faction c. which link and conjoyn men fast to the Dark Kingdom For though these sublimated Iniquities and spiritual Wickednesses are not so much nor frequently taken notice of as the grosser pollutions of the Body yet are they no less dangerous than the other as being near a kin to the Diabolical nature Hell it self is as well a state of Life and Being as a Place and when the Soul is overrun with hatred and envy with deep anxiety and cruel despight she is then really drawn into a living Hell and the Devils nature perfectly formed in her There is a certain Magical Sympathy running through this Inferior World which powerfully attracts every thing like it self and strives to assimilate and convert it into its own nature thus every pitiful Vice seeks the enlargement of it self by a contagious Affriction of all capable Subjects and the Dark or Worldly Spirit is diffused far and wide and pulls and draws by hidden strings all those Beings that are predisposed to a Cognation and Afsinity with it and thus are mens Souls often suck'd in by this Infernal and Powerful Nature before ever they think they are in any danger Awake then O man from this drowzy and deadly state and prepare and purge thy heart from all such poisonous and hellish Passions Let that universal Goodness which hath distilled its fruitful nature upon all the capacities of things enlarge and widen thy Soul for a due reception of a Sacred Influence from above that the holy life of God may revive within thee which being of a Heavenly Birth and Extraction will infallibly carry up the Mind and Spirit to its own Fountain and Original Fifthly A true survey of the Dark Kingdom and the Powerfulness thereof cannot but beget in the hearts of all sincere Christians a great chearfulness and firm trust in God's Providence There are some that think God is best served with a demure look and melancholick countenance as if the heart and life of Devotion lay in being dull and mopish and as it were ever despairing of good whereas this is only an artificial and mechanical thing or at best a Religion that men have framed and patched together out of their own distempered Constitutions The Iews say that the Spirit of Prophecy will not rest upon a Melancholick man and the Sacred Writings inform us that David's Harp did sometimes dispossess Saul of his dull and Melancholick Devil intimating surely to us that God takes the greatest pleasure in a composed and serene Mind that goes on in a chearful dependence upon that Almighty Providence that encircles all things both in Heaven and Earth There are some Tempers and Constitutions of Bodies more adapted and disposed to the Temptations and Assaults of the Devil than others and consequently have more need of a due care and inspection over them Thus though the most lucid Discoveries in Arts and Sciences owe a great deal to a moderate Tincture of Melancholy whence Aristotle observes that such Persons have in some measure been Divinely affected in the Prediction of Future Events yet when this Humour shall become ungovernable and exceed the bounds of Reason clouding all the Intellectual powers of the Soul in this Dark and horrid Confusion there is no doubt but evil and degenerate Spirits may insinuate themselves and taking the advantage of this Distemper may produce such effects as no natural account can be given for But I would not be mistaken for it is not for a light and fantastick Spirit that I plead since the devoutest Christian in the highest and most enravishing chearfulness and joy of his Mind is then most composed grave and serious I would only promote the Exhortation of S. Paul that men should rejoyce in the Lord always notwithstanding all the discouragements thrown in their way by the Powers of Darkness For this Divine joy and serenity of Mind is the state of Angels and an Emblem of Heaven whose bright and clear Mansions are never overspread by any black and dismal Clouds but a perpetual and youthful Spring an inexhausted source of pure Joy and Pleasure abides there for ever FINIS Arrian l. 1. c. 5. Enchir. Ethic. c. 2. In Epiclet c 10. Lib. 8. contr Celsum See Revel 1.4 See Ezra 7.14 In lib. de Mundo Varen Descript Regni Iapon Lib. 2. de Abst. Psal. 106.37 C.D.l. 2. c. 5. De Verit. Rel. l. 4. Sect. 3. Rev. 2.10 1 Pet. 5.8 Phil. 2.10 1 Iob. 3.8 Luk. 10.18 Rev. 12.8 9. Lib. 2. de Verit. Relig C.D. l. 7. c. 33. Eccles. Hist. l. 8. c. 1. 2 Thes. 2 11. C.Dl. 10. c. 9. See Doctor Hammond upon Acts 16.16 Cited by Mountague Diatr against Selden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 C. D. l. 8. c. 24. De Passion Par. 1. Ar. 6. Cornel. Agrip de Occult Phil. l. 1. c. 64. Del-Rio Disquisit Magick Gader Doctr. Ari. Plat. Aeneid 4. Metam 1.7 C.D. l. 8. c. 18. Apolog. Nat. Quaest. l. 4. L. 18. L. 2. L. 3. In Vit. Camilli Contr. Celsum l. 8. p. 398. Annot. in 1 Cor. 5.5 L. 2. c. 15. Contr. Cels. l. 8. p. 398. De Opisic Dei c 20. De Vit. Plot. L. 2. c. 16. Psell. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. l 8. L. 7. P. 334 Ibid. C.D. l. 11. c. 15. Chap. 14. Chap. 28 Lib. 3.
such spectacles that grave Cato was ashamed to be present at them It would be too tedious to recite the many obscenities acted in the Pagan Worship and recorded in their own Authors I shall therefore-content my self with what S. Austin observes from the filthiness used in the Sacrifices offered to Cybele the mother of the Gods where he supposes that Scipio if his Mother were a Goddess and he were asked whether he would have such silthy spectacles as were used in the Worship of Cybele to be part likewise of his mothers honour he would certainly avow that he had rather have his Mother lye dead and senseless than to live a Goddess to hear and allow such Ribaldry and that the worst man would be ashamed to have a Mother like that Mother of the Gods But you will say to what purpose is all this Surely only to shew the intolerable Pride and Insolence of the Dark Kingdom and what delight they take not only in the gratification of their own Lusts and Passions but in rendring mankind the unhappy and miserable subjects of their contempt and scorn And he that doubts whether their envy at the practice of true goodness or their hatred of us be so great as is supposed let him but consider what Grotius speaks concerning them That they procured all the mischief they could to the worshippers of the one most high God by provoking both Magistrates and People to inflict punishments upon them For when it was lawful for Poets to sing of the Murders and Adulteries committed by their Gods and for the Epicures to take away all Divine Providence and any other Religion though never so different in Rites was allowed as the Egyptian the Phrygian the Grecian the Thuscan and the Sacred Rites of Rome even then generally the Jews alone were made ridiculous as appears by Satyrs and Epigrams written upon them and sometimes also suffered banishment And as for Christians they were afflicted with most cruel punishments No other cause whereof can be given than that both these Sects did worship one God whose honour was impeached by the multitude of such Gods as the Heathen adored who did not so much vye one with another as with him Which is evidently confirmed by that expression of our Saviour Christ in his Epistle to the Smyrnian Church Behold The Devil shall cast some of you into prison i.e. the Pagans incensed and stirred up by the old Serpent the Devil And S. Peter describes him not only by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that brings as it were an Indictment or accusation against Men before God but sets out the terribleness and destructiveness of his Nature by that of a roaring Lion walking about seeking whom he may devour CHAP. IV. That the great end of our Saviour's coming into the World was to rescue men from the Tyranny Slavery and Oppression of the Dark Kingdom THat the Apostate Prince of the Aiery Legions had miserably enslaved the World is already demonstrated nor is it at all inconsistent with the Righteous Oeconomy of Providence to suffer those to fall under his Dominion whose treacherous counsels and inspirations they so willingly hearkned to in their more happy state of life For what more warrantable piece of justice can there be than that men should taste the fruits of their own doings And since by choice and affection they listed themselves under the Government of the Devil that now they should suffer his barbarous Tyranny and Domination whether with or against their wills And I remember that Origen somewhere tells Celsus that it is no more incongruous for God to let the Devil Rule over whole Nations for some time than to suffer a Tyrant to preside over them as some of the Roman Emperors were But though this grand Usurper thought himself secure in thus Lording and Domineering over the greatest part of the World at his pleasure yet in the fulness of time a conspicuous and most remarkable Providence appeared for the rescue of mankind and the meek Lamb of God came down to break in pieces the Kingdom of Darkness to dismantle all the strong holds to reduce revolted Man to his former Fealty and Allegiance and to take into his hands the Government of the whole world That as the Apostle speaks to the Scepter of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth And that this was the design of the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour S. Iohn assures us For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil For such an effectual Engine is the Gospel where it is believed and entertained in the simplicity of it to wind off men from their adherence to the Prince of Darkness and to dethrone him from his unlimited power in the world that upon the Preaching of the Seventy Disciples whom our Lord sent forth he tells them at their return that the success they had was a Praeludium of the utter subversion of the Kingdom of Satan which should at last as perfectly vanish and disappear as lightning that leaves no print or footsteps of it self in the spacious Tracts of Heaven And the event showed the truth of things For after many cruel oppositions made by the Dark Principality Christianity so far prevailed as to become the Religion of the Roman Empire and the great Dragon that old Serpent called the Devil and Satan was cast out with his Angels neither was there place found any more in Heaven i.e. Paganism or that whole Religious worship whereby the Devil had for so many Ages abused and enthralled mankind was abolished and destroyed the Emperors becoming Christians To this purpose Grotius discourses admirably where he proves that the Miracles of our Saviour proceeded not from any evil Spirit because that the Doctrine of Christ was quite opposite and contrary to bad Spirits For it prohibits the worshipping of evil Angels and disswades men from all uncleanness of affections and manners wherein such Spirits are much delighted And this is also plain for that wheresoever the doctrine of the Gospel was received and established there followed the downfal of the worship of Daemons and of Magical Arts and one God was worshipped with a detestation of Daemons whose Power and Authority Porphyry acknowledges was broken by the coming of Christ. In a word our most Holy Iesus in all things opposed and walked exactly contrary to the Powers of Darkness chastising by his humility the pride of that great Lucifer confronting by his innocency and purity the iniquity and uncleanness of the Black Society and withdrawing abused mortals from the madness of Polytheism and Idolatry and converting their hearts to the worship of the One only true God who made Heaven and Earth So that by the coming of Christ and the propagation of his most holy Doctrine throughout the world men are brought from bondage and slavery to true liberty and
is called the Prince of the Power of the Air yet is not this Power infinite and unlimited but restrained and curbed by the Kingdom of Light that is by those Holy Angels who never revolted from the Government of Heaven and whom God has made to preside over those Apostate Legions Now though the malice of these accursed Spirits be infinite and their thirst and desire to deface and spoil the fair and irreprehensible beauty of the works of Gods hands unlimited yet are they perpetually under the inspection of higher and nobler Beings who carefully preserve those severe Laws and restraints Divine Providence hath put upon them at which though their untamed hearts swell with disdain and rage yet can they not flye from And so much was confessed by the Oracle of Apollo that the Daemons who with an unwearied diligence range over Earth and Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are subdued and conquered by a Divine scourge But when men either through a fond curiosity or to gratifie their wicked Lusts and Passions shall hanker after a more intimate Familiarity and begin to tamper with these Daemons they willingly and readily offer themselves for no other end but to beguile and ensnare and at last ruine and destroy those who deserting Divine Providence had their recourse to them 2. That this Providence secures mankind from general outrages and devastations by evil Spirits So that it is not in the power of the Kingdom of Darkness to depopulate the Earth by offering violence to the inhabitants of it nor can they deluge the world thereby to destroy Man and Beast they cannot alter the fixed and established Laws of the Universe nor invert the seasons of the year For there is a chain of Government that runs down from God the Supreme Monarch whose bright and piercing eyes look through all that he has made to the lowest degree of the Creation and there are Presidential Angels of Empires and Kingdoms and such as under them have the Tutelage of private Families and lastly every mans particular Guardian Genius Nor is the inanimate or material world left to blind Chance or Fortune but there are likewise mighty and potent Spirits to whom is committed the guidance and care of the fluctuating and uncertain motions of it and by their ministry Fire and Vapour Storms and Tempests Snow and Hail Heat and Cold are all kept within such bounds and limits as are most serviceable to the ends of Providence They take care of the variety of seasons and superintend the Tillage and Fruits of the Earth upon which account Origen calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 invisible Husbandmen So that all affairs and things being under the inspection and government of these Incorporeal Beings the power of the Dark Kingdom and its Agents is under a strict confinement and restraint and they cannot bring a general mischief upon the world without a special permission of a superior Providence 3. That the exploits of wicked Spirits upon particular persons may be permitted for diverse good causes and reasons As 1. To humble them for some sin as in the case of those grievous and notorious sinners in the Apostolical time who were delivered up to Satan it is said they were vexed and tormented by bodily pains and diseases inflicted by those evil Spirits and that to bring them to a sincere repentance and reformation of their Errors But without any such judicial proceeding this envious Explorator or searcher for faults when in his walk or ranging to and fro upon the Earth he meets with a Christian professor or pious person fallen into sin then he is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the case of S. Peter Luke 22. 31. to require him of God demands to have him delivered up to him for every sin gives the Devil a more or less right and claim as to a Lictor or Executioner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sift and shake him terribly sometimes by real possessions or otherwise bodily infestations and the crafty Spirit may at the same time gratifie the impotent revenge of an accursed Hag. To this purpose it is observable what Doctor Hammond recites out of the Hierusalem Targum on Gen. 2.14 supposed to be said to the Serpent by God Cùm silii mulieris praecepta legis deserverint nec mandata observaverint tu i.e. the Serpent firmus cris percutiens eos in calcaneo eorum aegritudine afficies When the children of the woman shall for sake the commandments of the law thou shalt be strong and shalt strike them on the heel and inflict sickness upon them 2. To try their faith and patience as in the case of Iob upon whom the envious Tempter laid fore afflictions to battle if he could his faith in the Divine Goodness And Lactantius notes that these impure Daemons insinuant se corporibus hominum occultè in visceribus operti valetudinem vitiant morbos citant somniis animos terrent mentes furoribus quatiunt ut homines his malis cogant ad eorum auxilia decurrere i. e. insinuate themselves into the bodies of men and lying hid in their bowels annoy their health raise diseases terrifie their minds with dreams and shake them with madness that they may compel them by these mischiefs to flye to them for help But Origen says expresly that there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certain Daemons which may be called the publick Lictors or Officers which have at certain times a power committed to them to inflict Famines Droughts and Pestilences either for the conversion of men from sin and vice or for the trial of their Faith Patience and Constancy And how consistent it is with Divine Providence and agreeable with the wisdom and goodness of God to suffer these fallacious Spirits to vex and disquiet mankind is elegantly pursued by the forecited Lactantius viz. That this diversity contains the Grand secret of the world For this is it that makes Virtue which without this would be so far from being that it would not so much as appear forasmuch as Virtue cannot be unless there be some Rival in the overcoming of whom it may exert and shew its strength For as victory cannot be gained without a fight neither can Virtue consist without an Enemy Since then God has given Virtue to man he hath likewise on the contrary appointed him an Enemy lest Virtue languishing in idleness should lose its Nature Whose very Reason lies in this That it may be confirmed and strengthened by being shaken and enfeebled nor can it any other way arrive to the highest pitch unless being always tost by a detruding hand it found its safety in a constant course of contending For God would not have man attain Immortal Blessedness by easiness and softness He therefore being about to give Virtue gave an Enemy first who should instil Lusts and Vices into the minds of men who should be the Author of errors and the contriver of all mischiefs that where as God
freedom from tyrannical and cruel Taskmasters to the obedience of a mild and gentle Prince and from the lowest dregs of misery to the height of happiness and felicity This only true Religion saith S. Austin is of power to discover that the Gods of the Gentiles are most unclean Spirits desiring upon the occasion of some departed Souls or under the shapes of some earthly Creatures to be accounted Gods and in their proud impurity taking pleasure in Obscenities as in Divine Honours maligning the conversion of mens Souls unto the true God From whose beastly and abominable Tyranny a man then gets free when he lays his belief upon Him who by his rare example of humility declared from what height and for what pride those wicked Fiends had their fall Perhaps it may not be unpleasant now to the Reader to refresh his mind with part of a Hymn written by Synesius in honour of Iesus and thus Paraphrased upon by a learned person O lovely Child with Glory great array'd Sweet off-spring of the Solymeian maid Thee would I sing and thy renowned Acts For thou didst rid the boundless flowry Tracts Of thy dear Fathers Garden from the spoils Of the false Serpent and his treacherous toils When thou hadst once descended to this Earth A stranger wight 'mongst us of humane Birth After some stay new voyage thou didst take Crossing cold Lethe and the Stygian Lake Arriv'st at the low fields of Tartara There where innumerable flocks do stray Of captive Souls whom pale-fac'd Death doth feed Forc'd under his stiff Rod and churlish Reed Streight at thy sight how did that surly sire Old Orcus quake and greedy Dog retire From 's usual watch whilst thou from slavish chain Whole swarms of Souls to freedom dost regain Then ' ginst thou with thy Immortal Quire to praise Thy Father and his strength to Heaven to raise Ascending thus with joy as thou dost fare Through the thin skie the Legions of the Air Accursed Fiends do tremble at thy sight And Starry troops wax pale at thy pure Light CHAP. V. That though men by the Gospel are freed from that slavery under the Prince of Darkness that yet he strives to countermine the Kingdom of Light and when men will so far reject and despise the admonitions and assistances that God affords them he may justly suffer them to be acted and guided by evil Spirits THough this mighty Antagonist of Heaven be in a great measure dispossest and cast out of his Usurped Dominions by that Illustrious Heros sitting upon the white Horse as the Son of God is represented Revel 19. and his victorious Armies yet is his proud and haughty stomach no whit quelled but rather exasperated with a setled and confirmed revenge and therefore reassembling his dispersed Troops and reuniting his broken and shatter'd Forces he resolves to regain that by policy which he could no longer maintain and keep by open strength Wherefore casting and revolving in his mind many deep and direful Machinations he finds nothing offering greater plausibilities of success than to turn those Engines that so sorely batter'd his strongest holds against the possessors of them and to make the Gospel which was intended for the utter ruine and extirpation of his Kingdom to be subservient to the erecting and raising him a new Empire over mankind And now the great Prince of Darkness walks in Masquerade and puts on the beautiful Robes of an Angel of Light and appears amongst the Sons of God and raises up the depths of the accursed policies of Hell to make fruitless and of none effect the grand intent and purpose of our Lord and Saviour in the propagation of the Gospel And this he endeavours by instigating and stirring up men of bad principles and worse lives to disseminate Heresies and raise Schisms and divisions among Christians labouring to extinguish that mutual love and charity which our Lord made the badge and character of his Disciples and by degrees to bring on a general depravation and corruption in manners These are some of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the subtle machinations the thoughts and counsels of the heart of Satan And with what successfulness he hath managed these artisices let the Histories of the Christian Church in all Ages even to this very day bear witness For no sooner were the storms of persecution a little allay'd and the Sun of peace and tranquillity shone with gentle beams upon the professors of the Gospel but this Arch-enemy and deceiver was busie in sowing Tares which too soon became fruitful and grew up to a plentiful crop of Iniquity and licentious disorder It is a sad face of things that Eusebius describes speaking of the times immediately preceeding Dioclesian the last persecutor When the lives of Christians degenerated through too much liberty into softness and sloth and Christians hated and reproached one another and with those weapons of the tongue invaded and fought with one another when Bishops set upon Bishops and people raised seditions against people when hypocrisie and shews of piety filled all places then by little and little the judgments of God as they are wont began to visit us and when we used no means to appease God but multiplied sin upon sin as if God did not respect or consider our sins and so there was nothing left among Christians but contentions emulations hatred enmity ambition tyranny then c. And the succeeding times were no whit better till at length the Man of sin arose by whom the Infernal King wrought an effectual depravation of the Christian Church and revived the lively Image of Pagan Superstition and Idolatry And though Reformed Christendom have cast off that yoke of Superstition and Idolatry yet they labour under Intestine Dissentions and crumble into to Schisms and Factions and which is to be lamented even with tears of bloud provoke and exasperate nay and frequently persecute one another through a bitter and intemperate zeal for those things which all parties agree are no way essential to the Salvation of a Christian. Here one crying out zealously for Paul there another for Apollos and yonder a third for Cephas and in the mean time condemning all others that will not follow their cry as Reprobates persons only sit like unprofitable burdens to be sent out of this World to try their fortunes in the next as if there were no other way to Heaven but by joyning with this or that particular Sect and Society of men Now what are all these evils but various devices and stratagems of the Dark Kingdom to undermine the Gospel and to defeat our Lord if it were possible of the success of all the pains he took in the Redemption of the World How prosperously does the Cause of Darkness thrive when men shall damn one another for opinions and bite and devour one another for trifles When they shall profess Christianity and yet live like Heathens Now when God looks down from Heaven and beholds all those Sacred methods
and ways of recovering men out of the hands of the Devil undervalued and despised when he sees men wilfully shut their eyes against those bright rays of Truth that encircle them then in a just judgment he suffers them to fall under the power of Satan and to be led away as the Apostle speaks with strong delusions to the occecation and blinding their very Reasons and Judgments And this insensate condition can never arrive to its full maturity and perfection without the potent Energy and Activity of the Devil CHAP. VI. That nothing hinders but having full Possession of the Minds of Men these Evil Spirits may likewise enslave their Bodies FOR the Possession of the Mind by such strong falshoods as shall lead to all Impurity of life and actions may be as real a work of the Devil though not so visible as his inacting their Bodies And if it might as well conduce to the interest and advantage of his Kingdom to make such visible discoveries of himself by acting in the Bodies of men there is no question but such Possessions would be infinitely more frequent than they are For the frame and temper of the Mind being the peculiar object of Divine Providence it is certain that a man may lapse so far into wickedness and vice as to forfeit this Care and to turn himself out of her Protection and then he comes into the dominion of and becomes a prey to the invisible Harpyes And though these bodily vexations and infestations by evil Daemons may sometimes befal others yet they are more infrequent and permitted by Providence for ends and purposes not readily discoverable by us But when they are exercised upon deplorably wicked and profligate persons those Daemons seise upon and use but what is their own Now that there have been such real Possessions of men by Devils hath been so fully attested by unprejudic'd persons in all Ages that he cannot escape the suspicion of having imbibed some Atheistical principles that shall have the confidence to deny them But because there are many so staggering fluctuating and uncertain in their Religion that they can hardly be perswaded to believe the existence of such Spirits or the association and confederation of men with these foul and unclean Daemons and that the Scriptures speak of Wizards Witches and Magicians by which we understand persons that combine with and are confederate with impure Spirits I shall endeavour to take off this grand Objection against those Sacred Writings by shewing the possibility of the thing that there have been in all Ages of the World such as have practised and entred into Familiarity with wicked Daemons and that the Scriptures are not therefore to be derided and exposed by profane Wits when they speak of these things as matters of Fact and Reality since true and genuine Philosophy asserts the same and the wisest and most learned persons among the Heathens believed it and that the Arguments and Objections against it are weak and frivolous and betray the ignorance and unskilfulness of their Authors CHAP. VII Of Witchcraft THE Devil is not contented to abuse mankind at a distance as it were by all those ways and arts and illusions in offering temptations from without and thereby seducing them from their obedience to God but in all Ages those impure Spirits have made use of capable subjects with whom they have entred into a nearer union and stricter confederation being first initiated into those hellish mysteries by some External solemnities by which they surrender themselves to the will and power of those Aiery tyrants and by seeming for a time to command render themselves Vassals to the mockery cruelty and unbridled lusts and passions of those malicious Goblins for ever And such persons are properly called Magicians Wizards and Witches Nevertheless it must here be acknowledged that there have been and doubtless are a kind of Necromancers or Magicians who are not like the common sort not only grosly sunk and debauched in their lives but also knowingly do homage to evil Spirits as such for the gratification of their Lusts but more refined Ones who call themselves Theurgists such as being in some measure freed from the grosser Vices and thinking to have to do only with good Spirits yet being proud and vain-glorious and affecting wonders and to transcend the generality of mankind are by a Divine Nemesis justly exposed to the illusions of the Devil or evil Spirits cunningly insinuating here and aptly accommodating themselves to them Now such as these may have the assistance of wicked Spirits though they know them not to be so in the performance of many strange and wonderful things without any such solemn compacts as those fouler and grosser Sorcerers enter into And though Porphyry and some others did distinguish these two sorts so as to condemn indeed the grosser which they called Magick or Goety but allowed the other which they termed Theurgie as laudable and honourable and as an art by which they received Angels and had communication with the Gods Yet S. Austin assures us they are both damnable and bound to the observation of false and silthy Devils instead of Angels which he further proves by relating a memorable story out of Porphyry of a certain Chaldean who good man complained that all his endeavour to purge his Soul by these Theurgick consecrations was frustrate by reason a great Artist envying him this happiness adjured the powers he was to deal with by holy Invocations and bound them from granting him any of his requests Of this sort were probably Zoroaster Apollonius Tyanaeus Apuleius and some others of later times For a more distinct and orderly procedure in this Chapter I shall consider these three things 1. First the account which the Scriptures give of Magick or Witchcraft In the Law of Moses a severe punishment no less than Death it self is ordained for Necromancers Wizards and Witches and such as have commerce with familiar Spirits Levit. 20.27 And the people of Israel are expresly forbid to consult with any such Levit. 19.31 Deut. 18.10 11. Now it seems very dilute and insipid to direct the intention of these Laws only against Juglers Miracle-mongers or Impostors as if it were impossible in the nature of the thing that there should be any confederation of men with evil Spirits and that all those strange effects performed by Necromantick Arts and truly supposed to be brought to pass by the assistance of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 malicious and deceitful Daemons with whom the Magicians are confederate are only Prestigious delusions and tricks as it were of Leger du maine For first the reason of the Law it self shews it to be of a higher and greater importance Deut. 18.12 For all that do these things are an abomination to the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee And surely nothing can be a greater and more hainous wickedness than for a man to forsake the