Answ. THat the Poets of old have ascribed strange and incredible things to the power of Magick and Sorcery is plain Virgil introduces Dido speaking thus to her Sister Anna Hinc mihi Massylae Gentis monstrata Sacerdos Haec se carminibus promittit solvere Mentes Sistere aquam fluviis flumina vertere retrò Nocturnosque ciet manes mugire videbis Sub pedibus terram descendere montibus ornos And the Witch in Ovid boasts that she can perform as much Cùm volui ripis ipsis mirantibus amnes In fontes rediêre suos concussaque sisto Stantia concutio cantu freta nubila pello Nubiláque induco ventos abigóque vocóque Vipereas rumpo verbis carmine fauces Viváque saxa suâ convulsáque robora terrâ Et silvas moveo jubeoque tremiscere montes Et mugire solum manesque exire sepulchris But notwithstanding the extravagant fancies of Poets S. Austin a grave and learned writer gives so much credit to that of Virgil Eclog. 8. Atque satas aliò vidi traducere messes of the transportation of whole fields of Corn by the power of Witchcraft that from the Authority of Tully he says it was recorded in the twelve Tables of Rome's ancient Laws and a punishment proclaimed for all such as used it And Apuleius when accused of Magick before Claudius Maximus Prefect of Africa seriously urges the Laws of the twelve Tables against Witchcraft in his defence and says that Magick was there forbid propter incredundas frugum illecebras by reason of the incredible bewitching of Corn. And whereas a late Author brings in Seneca reproving the credulous simplicity of elder Times in the framing those Laws in these words of his Et apud nos in lege Duodecim Tabularum cavetur ne quis alienas fruges excantasset rudis adhuc Antiquitas credebat attrahi imbres cantibus repelli quorum nihil posse fieri tam palam est ut ejus rei causâ nullius Philosophi Schola intranda sit It is certain that the opinion of Seneca signifies little in this case he being no better than a Cosmo-plastick Atheist i.e. he made a certain Plastick or Spermatick nature devoid of all Animality or conscious Intellectuality to be the highest Principle in the Universe And though Pliny were alike Atheistical yet he relates as matter of Fact that Vectius Marcellus Nero's Harbinger had an Olive-yard in the Marucine fields that removed quite over the high-way and that whole Farms went out of their places and seated themselves elsewhere Now though I am as far from giving credit to Poetical fictions as any and do as little believe that a Magician can cause the Moon to descend from Heaven as that Mahomet once brought her into his sleeve or that the charms of a Sorceress can make the world torpid benumm'd stop the motion of the Earth bring a paleness over the Stars or turn Day into Night yet I see no reason that should move me to think that a Magician or Sorcerer by the assistance of wicked Daemons cannot work a real Miracle but that all those supernatural effects which they are at any time the causes of should be mere Juggles and Impostures For certainly the Miracles wrought by the Egyptian Sorcerers were as really such as to the truth of them as those wrought by Moses here only lies the difference that Moses his Rod devoured theirs and the Miracles produced by him were greater and of a higher nature as well as more numerous than theirs which was a sufficient evidence that they proceeded from God and were not done by the Powers of Darkness And the Magicians themselves confessed as much for when they saw their power transcended they freely acknowledged the Presence of God in the Miracles of Moses And if it be alledged here that by this means there will be no way left to discriminate between Divine and Demoniacal Miracles and that we are as much obliged to believe the Miracles of that Archimago Apollonius Tyanaeus as those of our Saviour and his Apostles it may be replied that That pious and learned Father Origen in his Book against Celsus gives us a double Test to try and examine Miracles by 1. From the life and manners of the person that performs them As if he be of an innocent and virtuous life and conversation and that his behaviour and deportment do not contradict any of the plain principles of Morality which are legibly engraven in the breasts of all mankind 2. From the effects of the Miracles themselves whether they be for the good and advantage of men and tend to the suppression of Iniquity and Vice and begetting a true faith in God Therefore the Father arguing against the fabulous Miracles of Aristeus he tells Celsus that he cannot produce any profit or good that ever came to mankind by those supposed Miracles Whereas the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles were not only for the good and advantage of particular persons but of the whole world God thereby recommending an Heavenly Doctrine which should heal the disordered and distempered minds of men and correct and amend their manners restoring decayed Righteousness and bringing them from the Tyrannous Kingdom of Satan to the meek and holy Government of his Son Iesus Which gives us not only security enough from being imposed upon by the false Miracles of Magicians that are wrought for corrupt ends and designs but likewise sets us in a mean between Atheistical Incredulity that believes nothing and the over-fond Credulity of others that give credit to every thing that is reported of Necromantick Sorcerers Following herein the singular modesty of Plutarch who speaking of miraculous things related by many concludes that for such matters it is dangerous to give too much credit to them as also to discredit them too much OBJECTION IV. That it gives evil Spirits and Witches too great and exorbitant a power over mankind in that it supposes that these wicked Daemons may afflict the Bodies of others with divers diseases and torments that they may raise Thunders Storms and Tempests killing Cattel and spoiling the Fruits of the Earth and many such like pernicious and destructive things and all this at the desire and request of a Magician or Witch Answ. THis Objection to weak and impotent minds may seem to carry a great force with it but to a Judgment devoid of Prepossession and Prejudice it will appear but like an ill planted Ordnance that makes indeed a great noise but never hits the Fort its murtherous load aimed at as will be very manifest by these several and distinct replies 1. That there is a superior Providence that keeps evil Spirits within certain bounds and limits till men by such wicked practices tamper with them and call them to a nearer familiarity and society For notwithstanding this Daemonarches the Head and Prince of Devils seem to have the Aerial Regions assigned to him as his Kingdom whence he
poisonous and noxious Ferments as choak the Emanations of a Divine life till at last they become wholly dead to that better principle whose actings and inspirations so long as they heeded they remained perfectly happy The experiment is every where obvious in the world and we see men by letting themselves loose to all manner of wretchedness and debauchery through the potent and enormous lasciviency of the bodily life quite lose the relish and grateful sense of true Goodness and Nobility and the edge and acuteness of their Criteria is so far taken off that they have no right discrimination between Virtue and Vice Good and Evil. And though it be true that the Angels by sinking into the brutish life have not bereaved themselves of their Reason and natural Sagacity sith that That is a kind of middle principle and always follows the prevailing part indifferently either purveying for the satisfaction of a petulant Lust or slavish Passion or else acting under the conduct and guidance of a more Celestial Nature yet have they totally extinguished that noble Faculty the flower and summity of the Souls of men and Angels which a learned person calls Boniformem animae facultatem i. e. that power in them which feels the pleasure of Righteousness and Virtue and has a natural relish and gust of true and essential goodness and being once united and conjoyned with so beautiful an object diffuses an ineffable joy and pleasure through all the capacities of the Soul Nor do we by this make God the cause and Author of sin for though it be true that the Animal faculties in Angels and men together with their respective objects be a part of God's Creation yet their sin proceeded from themselves through an undue and disharmonious connection of those principles and consists in the abuse of his Fatherly indulgence by a wilful immoderation and excess Nor will this seem strange to any that will but consider what S. Peter and S. Iude speak of the fallen Angels to give some light to which places I shall set them down in the Original 2 Pet. 2.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For if God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved into Iudgment And S. Iude after the same manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day v. 6. In which we have a plain Indication both of the sin and punishment of these lapsed Angels Their sin in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translation renders kept not their first estate but the vulgar Latin Principatum suum non servaverunt that is kept not their Principality Rule or Dominion which Interpretation says Beza is not to be rejected So that the most genuine and natural signification of the words refers to that Government or Dominion which the superior Faculties ought to have over the inferior For as in men so likewise in the Angels there is a double nature the one Intellectual and the other Animal The former of these Simplicius calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Schoolmaster or that part which is to govern and rule the other is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the boy that is to be kept under discipline and strict government within us The irrational or Animal power he says is intent only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon that which is sweet and pleasant but the Rational and Intellectual respects chiefly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is best and most profitable When therefore the Angels suffered their Despotick and Lordly Powers to be enslaved and subjected to their Animal or Brutish Faculties when instead of keeping close to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is simply and absolutely the best they pursued without bounds or measures the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the luscious pleasures resulting from Body or Matter then did they truly relinquish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Principality which God had given them and insensibly deserted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Celestial bodies for so S. Paul uses the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 5.2 where those Spiritual Bodies which we hope for at the Resurrection are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our house that is from Heaven which is all one with S. Iude's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the proper house building or habitation of Angels viz. their Heavenly Bodies And upon this foul revolt and Apostasie of theirs from their Primeval Glory followed their punishment which was their dejection and detrusion into the Caliginous Regions of the Air. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies nothing else but to cast down and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that which is lowest whether in Earth or Air as may be seen in Homer's description of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chains of darkness are nothing but the Fetters of this thick and clammy Air within the Atmosphere of the Earth into which by the just judgment of God these rebellious Spirits are precipitated For the Air is of it self a Terrestrial stubborn and dark Element To this purpose is that of Plutarch in his Book de Homericâ Poesi where he says that Hades is the Air adding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this their confinement is very consentaneously expressed by chains and bands being fotter'd here by the irrevocable Decrees of Heaven and are no more able to ascend out of the noxious Fumes of this lower World than we can flye in the spacious Tracts of Aether for those Eternal Laws which God hath placed in the Universe are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Homer speaks of Tartarus those iron gates and brazen walls that prohibit all ascent to higher and better Regions CHAP. II. That these lapsed Angels have formed themselves into a Polity or Kingdom of Darkness OUR Saviour in the Gospel makes mention of the Kingdom of Satan which supposes a Polity Society or Corporation among those wicked Spirits And this Kingdom or Government of theirs took its beginning and rise from their lapse and revolt from God at the Creation of the World when 't is most probable that some mighty Leader or Chieftain among the Orders of Angels inspired the breasts of Myriads with pernicious and rebellious counsels against God attempting to frame and erect a Principality of his own in opposition to the Soveraignty and Dominion of the Almighty and being cast out of the Mansions of Light and Happiness with all his wicked adherents for this their bold and audacious attempt of invading Heaven it self he hath notwithstanding kept so much of his ancient Grandeur as to be the Head and Prince of all those whom he drew into that Traiterous confederacy Nor is Reason wanting in her suffrage here For 1. They
that which is related of Kings and Princes of Generals Tribunes and Centurions in the Book of Numbers and of the Kings he knew was an Image or Embleme of other Kings and Princes namely that in the Heavenly Hosts there are Principalities Powers Dominions and Thrones and other names of Offices which we can neither name nor I suppose Paul himself while in this earthly Body would enumerate Now if there be Thrones and Dominions Principalities and Powers they must of necessity have Subjects and those that fear and serve them and such as may be protected by their strength Which distributions of Offices are not only at present but shall be in the world to come that through several advancements and Honours and Ascensions and Descensions Beings may proportionably arise or decline and may be under sometimes one Dominion Principality or Power and sometimes another We mortals that are quickly to be dissolved into dust and ashes if by the consent of men we should be made Kings we have presently as many diversities and multitudes of attendants as may more easily be conceived than spoken and shall we think that God the Lord of Lords and King of Kings is contented only with one single kind of Ministry Thus far the Father in a Platonical strain Mr. Mede somewhere speaks of an ancient Tradition among the Iews that there are seven principal Angels which minister before the Throne of God and are therefore called Archangels some of them we read of Michael Gabriel Raphael and 2 Esdr. 4.36 Ieremiel Which seven principal Spirits are mentioned in Zech. 4.10 where they are described to be the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole Earth And perhaps Daniel instituted the seven chief Princes of Persia that the Persian Court might resemble that of Heaven for 't is very probable says that learned Author that Daniel had a great influence in moulding the Persian Government A notable place to this purpose and which may indeed serve as a Commentary upon the forementioned Text in the Prophecy of Zechary is that which Apuleius relates of the Persian Court Sed inter eos Aures Regiae Imperatoris Oculi quidam homines vocabantur Per quae officiorum genera Rex ille ab hominibus Deus esse credebatur cùm omnia quaecunque ibi gererentur ille Otacustarum relatione dicebat i.e. But among them there were certain men which were called the eyes and ears of the Prince By which distribution of offices that King was thought by his subjects to be a God for as much as all things that were done within his Empire he had knowledge of from the relation of the Otacustae The same Tradition of the Government of the World by seven chief Spirits under God the great Monarch is yet retained by the Persians inhabiting the borders of India The summ of all amounts to this That since there is a subordinacy among the good Angels and that they are not all of the same Power and Authority it follows that even among the bad there was the like difference in their Order and Quality before their lapse and that there can be no reason given why this distinction should not hold good amongst them now as well as before CHAP. III. That these wicked Spirits being supposed Rational Creatures must needs be studious in diffusing their own sinful Nature upon all capable subjects and thereby of enlarging the bounds of their usurped Dominions THE grand Prince of the Infernal Kingdom having so far successfully advanced his rebellious design in the seduction of infinite numbers of Spirits of whom in the Ethereal Regions under God he might probably be the great Hierarchal head and finding himself cast down from those happy Mansions together with all his wicked Associates must needs cast an envious eye upon the Kingdom of Light and those bright Legions who yet stood firm in their native innocence And it cannot be thought but that those principles of Pride and Malice and an immoderate thirst after Rule and Revenge being so fully awakened in him would likewise edge him with a keen desire of making further attempts upon the Kingdom of Light and waging 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eternal war with all those powers he saw adverse and cross to his designs No sooner was Man created and as the beloved off-spring of God placed in Paradise but that crooked Serpent winds in himself and by his subtle wiles and gilded flatteries despoils him of his beautiful Robe of Innocence and throws his Honour to the ground Of which Sacred story the Pagans had gotten some knowledge as appears from what Pherecydes writes That the great Daemon who wasted the Earth was a Serpent and hence calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a Serpentine kind and generation setting mankind as it were in battel aray against God And what mischief he all along designed and still carries on against the race and posterity of Adam the Histories of former Ages and the present state of the World will easily inform us So mightily did this grand deceiver who abode not himself in the Truth disseminate and diffuse his own wicked nature amongst men that God the good and gracious maker of all things designed to destroy the works of his own hands and by an universal deluge wash away that poison wherewith this old Serpent had infected the Earth But notwithstanding this the Tyrant kept still his hold and with the increase of the world increased likewise his own strength and dominion making whole Nations to become his Vassals and do him service For what else can we think when we read of whole Countries over-spread with wickedness and vice barbarity and lust being adopted into their Laws and practised in their most solemn Religions Porphyry tells us that these airy Goblins delight in nothing more nor contend more eagerly than to be accounted Gods and their Prince that he may usurp the place of the most high God And this assertion of his is sufficiently made good in that they constantly commanded Sacrifices to be offered to them throughout the whole Pagan world Nor did their boundless Pride think this a sufficient insultation over the calamitous state of mankind unless they offered up likewise to them their own bloud Thus we read in Histories of Children young Virgins and Men offered up in Sacrifice to these bloud-thirsty Deities Nay even the more civilized Romans admitted the shedding of humane bloud to Iupiter Latialis which barbarous custom continued to the time of Iustin Martyr and Tatian I need not insist longer upon this since the Sacred writings acquaint us that God's own people were sometimes so miserably depraved and Paganized as to sacrifice their Sons and Daughters unto Devils Nor is the uncleanness and filthiness practised among the Pagans in their Religious Worship less notorious Insomuch that those very Festival days which were consecrated to the honour of the Gods were celebrated with
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