intend or mean the Person truely and indeed had a real Devil within him but that he was distracted frantick or mad Joh. 10.20 He hath a devil and is mad 7.20 Thou hast a Devil who goeth about to kill thee or thou art mad to think so John 8.48 Say we not well thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil Why a Samaritan but because they thought him mad The Samaritans held odd wild mad opinions concerning God his Worship and Religion the Jews therefore thought them mad as the Samaritans did the Jews upon the account of dissonancy in Religion and Tenents Wherefore came this mad fellow to thee Kings 2.9 19. And so the Jews thought of John Baptist because of his strange food raiment life and doctrine That he was mad or had a Devil They say he hath a Devil Mat. 11.18 It is very improbable That the Jews who so generally frequented Johns Preaching and heard him so gladly thought him to be possessed with a Devil and yet some of them might think him to be a little crazed in his intellectuals Nay generally it seems the Gentiles as well as the Jews thought all these men that held any new strange or unheard of Doctrines in Religion to be mad And hence Festus to St. Paul Thou art besides thy self too much learning hath made thee mad Act. 25.24 It was the strangeness of Pauls Doctrine that made Festus think him mad so did the Jews think the Samaritans to be mad and possessed with Devils yea and Christ also upon the same account for the newness strangeness or madness of his Doctrine as they accounted it Demonium habere or Demoniacum esse in Scripture-phrase is to be mad And indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deriving its pedegree from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can hardly signifie any thing else properly but some such great extraordinary and unusual affliction from God such as is madness And so indeed is the Word used by Polybius concerning Antiochus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was mad and Plutarch useth it in the same sense and why should we not in Scripture interpret it so too when both the word and sence of the Text will bear it Besides did ever any of these Demoniacks mentioned in Scripture ever do any thing or things act or acts feat or feats that a meer madman without a real Devil doth not may not do and often doth Is there any such act any such feat recorded of them by any of the Evangelists They cryed they roared they talkt foolishly ran into mountains and desarts and tombs cutting themselves with stones brake their fetters were mischievous to Passengers but have not may not do not Madmen do all these things By their works ye shall know them saith Christ why how wherefore then may they not be Madmen and Madmen meerly that are meant by Demonium habentes or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I add this Christ himself confesseth that what he cast out that the Children of the Pharisees cast out too Mat. 12.27 And argues largely from it to justify himself and actings But never did or could the Pharisees Children cast out real Devils otherwise Men should be stronger than Devils Flesh than Spirits And yet a stronger than he must come upon him to dispossess him without doubt And is Man stronger than the Devil Can Tom Thumb with his Rushen Spear dismount King Arthur and all his Knights No more can meer Man dispossess the Devil especially if he be so omnipotently powerful as Demonologers predicate him Devils in Scripture are set out as powers in the abstract Men as the abstracts of weakness Now that weakness in the abstract should dispossess power in the abstract is I think altogether inconceivable by any humane intellect Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a fish hook said God to Job or can a Crismer a Child of a span long bind Behemoth with a rushen cord In short thus all that the Children of the Pharisees cast out were Diseases not Devils all that Christ cast out was but what the Children of the Pharisees cast out therefore all that Christ cast out were but Diseases and not Devils And is it not now then a most monstrous Apostacy and most intolerable Idolatry and that even to the Devil himself to attribute such an excellency of operation to the Devil which was never exerted by Christ himself indeed could not because there was never occasion for it Well this is one result of the doctrine of Devils it is an Apostacy from that fundamental Truth God manifested in the flesh This was almost but it must not be forgotten here That though Christ cast not out any real Devil properly so called yet curing Diseases in such a manner as he did He manifested forth his Glory and Godhead as fully and as much as if he had indeed cast out real Devils but of this in another place I have spoken fully enough I shall only add this here If they had been indeed real Devils or infernal fiends that Christ cast out there might peradventure have been possibly some probable ground of that stupend blasphemy of the Pharisees viz. He casteth out Devils by Beelzebub In some sort it might be credible either by some favour connivance complyance complotment or else envy hatred opposition of Devils so that it had been no miracle or argument at all to prove his Godhead That he cast out Devils a Simon Magus an Apollonius yea an ordinary Witch have done as much But there could be no complyance compact envy hatred between Christ and Diseases The curing therefore of Diseases in such a manner as he cured them was more for Christs Honour and the proof of his Godhead than if per impossibile there could be any such thing the casting out of Devils or infernal fiends could have been CHAP. IX Christs Works prove his Godhead I Proceed to a Second The doctrine of Devils detracts and apostates from another special excellency of Christ Justified in the Spirit in or by the Spirit Where by the Spirit no doubt is meant the might power or excellency of Christ to do great wonders and stupend miracles as Mat. 12.27 But if I by the spirit of God cast out Justified in or by the Spirit as the Apostle phraseth it is declared to be the Son of God by Power Rom. 1.4 A Man approved of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by powers or miracles Acts 2.22 And God anointed him with power which is here called Spirit Acts 10.38 Virtus potentiaque regis Messiae nomine spiritus intelligitur justificatus spiritu hoc est virtute sua qua miracula edidit Zanchy and all others upon the place Well then Justified in or by the Spirit is declared manifested and proved to be the Son of God by his works miracles and wonders By these he proved what he pretended to be viz. That he was the Saviour Messias and the Son of God And this truely is the ground of our hope the foundation of our joy the corner-stone of
done any such Miraculous VVorks it can be no argument at all That Christs Miracles alone were no sure or sussicient Argument of his God-Head I fear the Learned Man was so bewitched with that most Monstrous but most Absurd and Ridiculous Legend of Doctor Dee's Conversing with Spirits because he had retrived it from Dust and Rottenness where it ought to have perish'd Everlastingly unless in Providence it be reserv'd as a Monument of the Impudent Knavery some Desperate Varlets will venter on or of the Monstrous Credulity some besorted Melancholicoes may be inveigled into That he Strains or Tuggs might and main Hook and Nail to make his Devil if possible Aequipollent to Christ our Saviour if not Superexcellent for Power of Miracles and most stupend Operations above Him CHAP. XXX A Reply to the Objection against the Book called The Case of Witchcraft Debated THat it is Passion or Prepossession That engageth the Learned Man to be so earnest for the Power of Devils seemeth clear to me from the petty Cavils he hath against that Judicious Book called The Question of VVitchcraft Debated Debated not Stated but with Modesty enough if not too much Debated a Book that contains more good Reason true Religion and right Christianity than all those Lumps and Cart-Loads of Luggage that hath been Fardled up by all the Faggeters of Demonologistical VVinter-Tales and Witcheraftical Legendaries since they first begun to foul clean Paper His first Attempt is To prove against that Ingenious Author that Casaph signifies in Scripture Witches i. e. such Persons as acted by a Power derived to them from the Devil and not mock-Miraclers Impostors or Juglers because most if not all Translaetors and he reckons up many names so interpret it but he leaves-out Josephus and the Septuagint who being Natural Jews and Great Scholars to boot counterballance all the other great Names Especially since they were Persons that lived long before this Doctrine of Devils was hatch'd and so more likely to be more Vnbyassed Interpreters than those who lived after the World was bewitched with that monstruous Opinion Josephus without doubt was as Antient as any of his Interpreters nay they meer Youngsters in respect of him all And for the Septuagint they were at least 350. Years Elder than his Eldest Interpreters who yet by his own Confession pag. 180. interpret Casaph by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Veneficus Besides what-ever his Interpreters were they had but the word Casaph the Etymon and the use of that Word or the Coherence of the Text To guide them into the Interpretation of it And all these have we now as well as they 1. For the Word we may say it boldly It doth not in of or by it self signifie a Witch i. e. One that is in Compact with the Devil for neither is Compact nor Devil included in the Notion of it But only a Covering Changing or Altering the outward Face or Appearance of things which may be done many wayes without the Intervention of Devils Yea cannot be done by any Assistance from them 2. For the use of the word Josephus and the Septuagint interpreting it Poysoner it is more than probable that this was the most usual Sense of it 3. For the Coherence of the Text it is never any where used in Scripture where the sense of the Context doth not plainly Determine it to Impostor Spiritual Poysoner Jugler or Deceiver rather than to Witch in the Demonologist's Sense all the Scripture over as is plain if any man do but unbyassedly consider the several places where the word is used as I have intimated afore Yea when the Learned man comes to give the Words of the Interpreters they are but these Magus Maleficus or Veneficus for that 's the Word he proceeds on in his Descant and Praestigiator c. which are so far from intimating his Witches as Latro in Latin is from signifying a Regicide or to use his own Terms as far as Lapis is from signifying a pumice or Panis a Wafer-Cake The Words not any of them in any sort intimating the Thing they are produc'd for First Magus is properly a great Naturalist or a Person well skil'd in the Courses and Operations of Nature improperly and by Abuse a Fellow that pretending to do great things in cheat Supernaturally with much Artifice and Cunning makes use only of some Natural Operations that be somewhat unusual and not ordinarily known to deceive the Simple 2. Venesicus is a Poysoner and cannot well be hal'd in to signifie any thing else at least not one that by a power derived from the Devil can or doth do strange things No more than Beneficus or Salvificus can signifie a Person that by Influence from an Angel can work Miracles It is true because some of these Villains with so much Cunning and Artifice exercised this their Wickedness That ordinarily it was not conceived how they could effect their Mischiefs without the Intervention of some Supernatural Assistance Veneficus might abusively be usurped for one that dealt with Evil Spirits But as there nor are now nor ever were any such Persons So nor did doth nor can that Word properly signifie any such thing and therefore the Poets themselves the first Finders Makers and Fathers of Witches Virgil Horace Ovid Lucan Tibullsu Homer c. bring them in still as gathering mixing and compounding Poysonous Herbs and such deleterious stuffe by which they acted their strangest and most stupend Mischiefs And because vulgarly it was not known how their strange Effects were produced It was thought generally especially by the Rabble and possibly by some others who were look't upon by themselves and others too as Wise-men as the Effects wrought now by the Magnetick Powder and the Weapon-Salve are by some who reckon themselves no mean Sciolists that they acted altogether by the Assistance of some Daemons when they wrought any unusual Feats But Poysoner is the signification of the word Veneficus and the Practise of those that were so called was Poysoning as I could instance in all the fore-named Poets and others besides these But I will here only make use of Lucan as he is Translated into English that it may the better be understood by the vulgar Sextus Pompeius comes to that notorious Cheat or Witch Erichtho to understand the fatal Issue of the Pharsalian Battail which she in some sort cheatingly undertakes to discover and having found a Carcass fit for the purpose you must permit Poets to fancy what Fooleries they please especially when they speak of Witches she falls to her Witchcraft but how Mark Pectora cùm primùm ferventi sanguine supplet Vulneribus laxata suis taboque medullas Alluit et virus largè lunare ministrat Huc quicquid fato genuit Natura sinistro Miscetur non spuma Canum quibus unda timori est Viscera non Lyncis non dirae nodus Hyenae Defuit Cervi pasti serpente medulla Non puppim retinens Euro tendente rudentes In
form figure or color these Ejected Devils were or what kind of sound tone noyse smell touch or taste at their Ejection they yielded or at what hole or passage before or behind they came out Then I say it had been unlikely very unlikely and most improbable if not altogether impossible That the Sadduces being such Wise men some of them and such a considerable number that they might amount to a third or at least to a fourth part of the People among the Jews at most times for many successive Generations should have disbelieved the being of Witches or Devils though they did deny the Existency of Angels Of which they had not half so many or half so good Convincing Arguments It is almost impossible to conceive That there should be in England a great number as at least the third part of the Kingdome wise discreet and intelligent Persons in every other thing yea and they Magistrates and Officers of Justice some of them very often if not at all times and that for many Generations past successively still and at this present too who should notwithstanding they knew the Laws Customes and Statutes of the Nation all written in plain English and Intelligible Termes against Whores and Thieves had heard the Proofs and those upon Oath by honest and sober men brought against and had been present at the Voluntary Confessions made by such Varlets of such their Villanies had been informed by men of unquestionable Credit That there were not only some base People but also Persons Eminent in Authority who practised themselves invited and countenanced others to and in these Villanies nay had seen as much with their own Eyes as could be sworne against or confest by such Varlets and had seen their Execution c I say is it possible to conceive That there should be such a Race of men for so many Generations together who being fully informed thus of the Practices of such Rogues should believe That there nor are nor ever were nor can be any such Persons as Thieves or Whores in England Is it possible to conceive this Suppose we That there was once one Anaxagoras a singular Self-conceited Fanciful Wilful and Paradoxical Fellow in the World who would not or could not believe That the Snow was White as he pretended yet That there should be a Race a Generation an Innumerable Company of Men that for many Ages one after another Successively should disbelieve matters of Fact so openly notoriously convincingly attested to them by Oath Confession Judicial Sentences by their own Ocular Vision auricular Hearing and by the Attestation and Detestation of their God whom they think it a piacle to disbelieve is not at all in any sort to be thought Credible Men cannot believe or disbelieve what they please especially in such things as come under Sense When the Sun shines men especially men in their Wits and that have as clear Eyes and Ingenies as any other men cannot but believe that it shineth And truly it was as evident as that the Sun shines at Noon-day That there were Witches and evil Spirits that enabled those Witches if it be true what the Demonologers say of Witches among the Jews And therefore either the Sadduces did not yea could not possibly disbelieve Witchcraft which is absolutely false or else Demonologers invent suggest and obtrude many gross groundless monstrous and incredible Lies upon the People which is undoubtedly a Truth The Argument drawn from the Opinion of the Sadduces is unanswerable by all the Demonologers in Christendome and I think there are very few without the Compass of that Circle if they will stand ingenuously to their own Positions to their Principles Comments or Interpretations and not use Witchcraft indeed that is Tergiversations Subterfuges and Cheating Evasions 5. To that which is said by the Debater That the Scripture-Witches acted openly our Supposed-Witches but in the dark It is remooted indeed There was a Law among the Jews by which Witches i. e. Persons that acted by the Devil were to be punished with Death Answ But this rests yet to be proved 2. That that Law was repeated more than once that is often Answ This is not at all made to appear nor can it appear The Law meant no doubt is that Ex. 22.18 but much mistaken in the Interpretation and never any where else at all repeated that I can find There is indeed Lev. 20.27 another Law for the putting to death of the Shoel Ob. and the Iddeoni that is as our Translation Those that have Familiar Spirits and Wizzards But that doth no more prove That the Law against the Cashaphim is more than once repeated than if a man should say Because there is one Law in England and no more but one and that one but once mentioned That the Capuchins should be put to death but another That the Jesuites should be put to death too That therefore there be more Laws in England than one and that one twice at least repeated for the destroying of the Capuchins The Capuchins no more deserting from the Jesuites than the Cashaphim did from the Shoel Ob. and the Iddeoni 3. Many were put to death by that Law for acting against it Answ But it will never be proved this of many nay nor that so much as one man ever acted or was destroyed among the Jews for acting by a Power derived from the Devil upon Compact What-ever besotted Rabbins and Rabbinistical men prate I know not I pass not I care not There is no Text for it 4. They acted this Villainy closely then as now as 't is said of some of them An. 1. But this is not prov'd except it be by a confident Question Who can believe otherwise Kings Queens Princes Priests Philosophers c. acted it openly there could therefore doubtless have been no great danger then at least when those so openly acted it had the Inferiours acted it so too 2. If they acted it so closely How were they then found out or discovered There was no Inquisition then establish'd There were no Witch-finders nor muchless Witch-makers among the People then as there are now and some of them sage Philosophers learned Criticks and great Divines 6. The Argument That the Opinion of Witchcraft is Derogatory to God's Honour as setting up many Gods is slubber'd over with that weak silly if not blasphemous Evasion viz. God's Permission in respect of Devils and the Passage in Job brought in to Countenance it But to reply to this in short The Devil with all his Devilship though God give him Rope enough as much as he can wish cannot possibly do those Works which he Attributes to him as being Acts properly belonging to God as God and for the Interpretation that he brings viz. That the Messengers were Incarnate Devils The Sabaeans and the Chaldaans were men Possessed with Devils or so many Devils in the shape of men it is doubtless so gross a Wildness that the most blindly-Obedient Papists or Paynims besottedly credulous