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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19798	A dialogue of witches, in foretime named lot-tellers, and novv commonly called sorcerers VVherein is declared breefely and effectually, vvhat soueuer may be required, touching that argument. A treatise very profitable ... and right necessary for iudges to vnderstande, which sit vpon lyfe and death. Written in Latin by Lambertus Danæus. And now translated into English.; De venificis quos olim sortilegos, nunc autem vulgo sortarios vocant, dialogus. English	Daneau, Lambert, ca. 1530-1595?; Twyne, Thomas, 1543-1613, attributed name.	1575 (1575)	STC 6226; ESTC S109219	58,911	164

trust in him and wonder at him and worship him in respect of his great power when as in déed it is he that caryeth them and beareth them on his shoulders whither as they should goe Anthony But let him that list Theophilus get him such a seruant for my part surely I refuse him and with all my hart I renounce him Theophil And so doo I also Anthony but are you persuaded in that which I haue tolde you Anthony Almost truely But I pray you answere mée to my third obiection and this doubt which troubleth my mynde Theophil What is that Anthony It séemeth vnto mée that Sorcerers can not intoxicate any vnlesse they cast in minister poyson vnto them For it séemeth vnto mee incredible that they cā hurt only by meere enchaūtments figures wordes hallowinges curfinges or charecters vnlesse they mingle poison therwith But if Satan geue them the poyson which they mingle or teach them how to mingle it then doo I not doubt but that they may easily intoxicate And I doo not deny but that Satan is passing skilfull in such kinde of witchcraft and Sorcery For hee knoweth excellent well the nature and properties of all thinges created which S. Augustine witnesseth in the third booke De Diuinatione Daemonum But surely I can not persuade my self that hee can intoxicate or hurt any man without poyson powder or roote For as for wordes numbers figures a certen fourme of woordes with certen peculiar mumblinges of prayers in prescribed order of wordes with charecters were not deuised to inuenim men but plainly vnto other maner purposes lyke as father Irenaeus plainly prooueth in the second booke the xl xliij chapters which vaine opinion of some not only that good Christian father but also Aristotle an Ethnick writer in some place laugheth at much lesse ought wee Christians allow it Moreouer this matter is ruled ouer by most certen demonstrations of naturall Philosophie namely that there can no action be done without a meane comming betwéene and applied to the extreame and outwarde partes of the thing suffering As for example If you shoue mée your hande toucheth me when I waxe warme against the fyre first the fyre warmeth the ayre then the ayre warmeth mée which commeth not to passe that any meane cōmeth betwéene when there is any intoxication or inchaunting committed by wordes or charecters or figures or any fourme or order of wordes And therefore Pliny a writer well séene in all kinde of learning in the xxviij booke ij chapter of the history of nature plainly denieth with mee that there can no such thing be done Theophil You séeme vnto mee Anthony to be now a great deale better learned then before in the beginning of our communicatiō where you made mencion only of your knowledge which you gathered out of the grammer schoole but now you declare your self to be a profound natural Philosopher by reasō wherof I haue the harder conflict with you yet will I answere vnto your question will you deny that Anthony which is written in the 58. Psalme the v. vi verse of the Serpent which is thus expressed In them the poyson and the breath of Serpentes doo appeare Yea like the Adder that is deafe and fast doth stoppe her eare Bicause shee wil not heare the voice of one that charmeth well No though he were the chief of choice and did therin excell Anthony No not so Theophil Then can you not deny but that Magitians and Sorcerers doo worke their feates doo hurt by soundes wordes and enchauntmentes Anthony But they can not doo so but by some meane Theophil That is true which you say For there commeth betwéene some meane and middle apt agréeable to the execution of these bewitchinges which meane is only knowne vnto Satan not vnto vs nor vnto the Sorcerers themselues So that in the end Satan bringeth that to passe which I prooue vnto you either by mingling poisō or some otherway wonderful not able to be perceiued by vs whatsoeuer it is which vnto vs semeth to be wrought only bi those figures fourmes of words and charecters Anthony After what sort is it done so I pray you Theophil First by vertue of their league and couenant Satan commeth vnto them when they coniure and call him accomplishing their requestes perfourming whatsoeuer hee promised should be done by vertue and force of those figures wordes or charecters to the end hee may séeme true and mightie and to beare them in hand that the thinges which he hath shewed them are of great power and effect By which meanes he both maketh these vayne people more beholding vnto him and enforceth them to worship him with more deuotion And thus hee manifestly transporteth vnto creatures the office and duetie of the maiestie and power of God whereby men may more willingly forsake God and amazedly cleaue vnto creatures that is to say become perfect Idolaters Moreouer hee endeuoreth by this meanes after the maner of an Ape to counterfeit and imitate the true sacramentes which God hath geuen to his church and to bring them in contempt and to make his counterfeites match vnto them finally hee turneth the force effect of the thinges which are signified vnto the signes which doo signifie them Anthony These thinges then are not wrought by woordes alone or by certen fourmes of Charecters only but by mediation of certen poysons priuely and secretly vsed by Satan him self after an vnknowne maner which he hath not taught the Sorcerers Theophil You say well Anthony For there is in Satan great craft and cunning to couer his wickednesse mischief wherfore the couenant which hee maketh with them séemeth vnto mée to be like the bargaine which twoo théeues make when they goe forth into the woddes to thintent to rob for that they may the better hide thēselues and the more easily and warely lay wayte for such as trauaile by the way Thus doo they and thus agrée they that one of them shall euermore be séene in the way the other lye hid in the woodes who notwithstanding at a certen whistle ▪ watchword whereupon they haue agréed starteth forth and murthereth the traueiler howbeit the other his fellowe who is also priuie of the fact for the most part neither séeth ne knoweth with what weapon the other doth the déede The same also may be declared vnto you by another example Noble men which beare any great hatred or malice against other are woont to retaine bold and desperate Ruffians into seruice and to haue them alwayes attending vpon them vnto whom when they shall geue a signe by some priuie meanes which none know but themselues then doo they sodeinly flye vpon those whom their Maister and Lord is fallen out withall yea many tymes though their Maisters be absent or not séeing them who notwithstanding willed thē to doo so In like maner at the signes and tokens appointed Satan is immediately present fulfilling whatsoeuer the Sorcerers will him to doo that he may

néedefull to geue vnto the thing new vertues and properties which he can by no meanes doe For the true God is onely aucthour and creatour of the properties which are in thinges Thirdly that a true miracle is such a worke which surpasseth the vertue and power of all thinges created be they neuer so excellent Wherefore Sainct Peter the Apostle in the third of the Actes the .xij. verse when he had healed the lame man and had wrought a true miracle sayde thus Yee men of Israëll vvhy doe you wonder at this or vvhy doe you looke vpon vs so earnestly as though vve had vvrought it by our owne power or godlynesse that this man should vvalke The God of Abraham the God of Isaac c. By which wordes it is signified as you sée that the power to worke miracles is proper vnto God onely Anthony But the blessed Angels Apostles and many other holy men haue wrought miracles Theoph. Truely they haue wrought miracles by the working of God in them For the power which worketh them is in God onely and in him onely resident and neuer transported to any creature for as it is written in Esay God will neuer geue away his peculiar glory to another Wherefore they whom you haue last recyted Good Angells Apostles Prophets and holy men in woorking of those miracles which they are reported to haue done were onely gods instruments in working of them that meere passiue not actiue as they terme them and yet notwithstanding it followeth not that if God vsed the ministrie of those his seruauntes he doth also vse Satan likewyse woorking miracles by him also For God of his iustice wyll not communicate his glory in such measure vnto Satan and Diuells as hée geueth it vnto the blessed Angells and holy men Which is euidently confirmed by this onely example in as much as Moses and Aaron the seruauntes of God wrought true miracles which Pharaos Magicians although they were schollars very well practized in the artes of Satan and his most excellent mynisters could neuer doe the lyke acknowledging the true effect thereof to be wrought by the finger of God onely and confessing that the thinges which they did farre surmounted the course of nature as it is wrytten in the eight Chapter of Exodus the eightenth verse And the cause of this diuersitie betwéene Satan and the true seruauntes of God and the diuersitie of his counsell and prouidence is this in that Satan in woorking of miracles séeketh not the glory of God but the good Angells and holy men haue onely regarde and respect to that So that many tymes these men are the instrumentes of God but he neuer is And although this bée true that Satan of himselfe can doe nothing but how much and when it pleaseth God to geue him leaue so lykewise neither can hée destroy nor chaunge the order of thinges determyned by God neither hath God geuen him such power neither that he may woorke by any other thinges then naturall although sometymes they be hid from vs finally he enforceth them with such celeritie that the whole woorke séemeth vnto vs to be a miracle For he quickly gathereth the meanes and causes whereby he worketh As for example he soone gathereth cloudes together to cause rayne he soone driueth together thickneth the Ayre that thereby he may represent vnto our sight some shape or thickened visible body and in a momēt he can compound poysons to do hurt withall immediatly he can resemble or driue away whatsoeuer is of him required or demaūded Moreouer he worketh all these thinges with such swiftnes that the expedition thereof seemeth straunge vnto vs which notwithstanding he worketh al by naturall causes Wherefore as I haue sayde before figures drawing of lines and circles noyses enchauntments breefly superstitious mumbling of certen prayers are not the causes of such thinges as the Sorcerers doe worke but rather pleadges and tokens onely of Satans promises vnto them So then Satan himselfe worketh those thinges which they thinke thē selues to haue done by vertue of those meanes For he hath instituted these tokens which he will not haue seeme either vnprofitable either impossible or friuolous Wherfore all those thinges are done by meanes of Satan onely Wherein the opinion of Saint Ierome onely who doubteth thereof ought not to moue vs For he wauereth therein and Iohn Chrisostome is flatly against him in his homilies vpon the Epistle of Sainct Paule to the Galathians the iii. Chapter and seconde verse and others also of no lesse aucthoritie And among later wryters what Peter Martyr an excellent well learned Deuine wryteth vpon the .xxviij. Chapter of the first booke of Samuel all men doe well knowe Wherefore to conclude in fewe woordes Satan woorketh all those thinges vpon couenaūt By the same meanes it commeth to passe that Sorcerers doe coniure exorcize as they call it the Diuell or call him foorth or call him vp or speake with him face to face hauing apointed and agreeed vppon such couenauntes that at sometimes he should appeare and at other tymes depart away ▪ After this maner Numa Pompilius the seconde king of the Romanes a great Magician Sorcerer if euer there were any communed and talked oftentymes with Diuells as Plutarch a graue authour wryteth in his lyfe And now Anthony that I haue answered vnto your thrée questions what remayneth there more Anthony I aske you this question whether all the poysons which Sorcerers doe vse be mortall and bring men into perill of death Theophilus Why would you learne this of mée which they them selues doe not knowe God onely knoweth that in whose hande lyeth our death and lyfe not in the power of the Sorcerer no not of the Diuell him selfe as it is wrytten in the eight Chapter and ninth Uerse of ●cclesiasticus For the mynde and desyer of the Sorcerer is varyable in that poinct many times to doe hurt onely for a tyme they caste theyr poysons vppon men and oftentymes theyr poysons bée mortall and deadly And therefore when they bée threatned they seeke meanes to vndooe and take away theyr poysons from those whome they haue bewitched and poysoned and therein they requyre healpe of the Diuell howbeit sometimes they cannot vndooe it whatsoeuer they attempt forasmuch as God hath otherwyse determined of vs For he hath appointed the tearme of our lyfe which we can not passe as it is written in Iob the fouretenth Chapter and fift verse Anthony Ouer and besides this Theophilus after they bée come intoo the Iudges handes and caste intoo Prison can they then vse those their poysons and doe any harme Theophilus If I shall saye what I thinke I wyll aunswere that they can if so bée they haue any conference with theyr maister Satan But if you aske mee what the common people think thereof surely that they can not So that if they can by anye meanes fréely and commodiously come by those theyr Diuellishe poysons and conferre wyth Satan as otherwyse they myght if they