you if you will remember and imitate those whose life and carriage was much in your eye And let me tell you in the Copy our late faithful Brother set you there are remarkable for your imitation A prudent care to manage soul-concerns a constant unwearied diligence in Labours for their good an undaunted resolution for known duty to God and Man a tender and meek spirit gently dealing with the weak yet willing enquirers after God A ready and full-willing mind to minister on every occasion to the edifying of those he conversed with An even and steddy practice of what he commended as excellent or urged as necessary duty an acquaintedness with the importance of duty and reward A serious mindfulness of Death and Judgment on which he discoursed frequently and lively dying to the World but living to God and still valuing most what was so good God would not and men could not take from him which appear'd in his deportment and frame of spirit when loss of dying Children and uncertain riches raised his esteem and value of the Gospel and his and your hopes set before us in the Gospel a heart full of love and thoughtfulness for your good whence those last desires and requests in order to the promoting of your good which I am informed he left you to consider Prize a Guide that will be faithful to your souls keep the unity of the spirit into which you are called by the Gospel and seek God earnestly for both Now could we prevail with you who heard and with others who read this discourse to endeavour for such a frame of spirit and to act according to it I know there would be more faithfulness diligence and mutual hope among the Servants of the Lord and his Family would be more beautiful in sight of others and more comforted and edified in their own souls Read then and read again and be in your houses which should be little Families or Churches of God in directing and helping them to Heaven what he desired and labour'd to be amongst you all I do think he gave you the Copy of Faithfulness and Diligence or I would not have thus set it before you and I commend it to you as becomes both me and it viz. It is the Copy of one who whilst he was good was still a man but though I could wish you would excel him I will not flatter you with a hope you will do it Oh that you would equal him of whom allow me to say He could do as much as most of best Men Scholars Christians Husbands Fathers Brethren Ministers and his will was ever equal to his ability the Service of his Lord was his life though he lived not on it he would not he could not live without it by a gracious Master sitted for succeeded in carried through much work in a little time and I believe now rewarded with a Crown of Life and Righteousness which he knew he did not merit though he knew it should be his wages In brief he was such an one as friends who knew him desire they may be and now is such as they hope they shall be such an one as some enemies already as I am inform'd have wisht they might be and others will once at last wish they had been He had a worth known to himself and others but it did not puff him up Should I say all I could strangers would think I exceed Friends would know a better Orator might justifiably have spoken more Yet once for all If either Readers or Hearers carp at the Character I have given him I have two things to say First it will be easier to quarrel at the praises than to deserve them Next I would defraud none of the Commendation due to them nor do I prefer him above all there are some but too few superior in gifts and graces I hope there are many his equals I am sure the most are lower by head and shoulders who likeliest to misinterpret me shall have a good wish for them or rather a serious Prayer testimony of a hearty love to their persons and unfeigned desire of their own good comfort and welfare and of all these to theirs and the Church of God in this and after ages for them I say I will pray more days fewer troubles and that they may be in other things altogether such as he was FINIS only on particular Men Women and Children but even on whole Towns and Countries many of which have been miserably Afflicted and some even totally destroyed by Tempests Fires Pestilences and other strange Accidents whereof no cause in Nature could appear And this hath been Attested not by one or two private or Ignorant Men but Transmitted from one Generation to another as the Opinion of the most Authentick Historians Physicians and Divines grounded on the best and strictest Enquiries of such who have taken Indefatigable pains to sift and search out the truth of what they have Related Nor have we alone the Authority of such but the consent of whole Courts of Judicature and the most Learned Assemblies of States-Men and Divines who in all Ages by their Publick Solemn Sanctions have declared their belief Detestation of such Cursed Practices Besides the undeniable Testimony of the sacred Scriptures before mentioned to whose Unerring Suffrage we ought to submit our belief and not by our fidelity Contradict the Authority of the Almighty and take upon us to be the Patrons and Champions of those Hellish Practises we seem to disbelieve By Charmers in a strict sense may be understood such as by some spell or form of Words employ their Familiar Spirits to bring at their call such Creatures as they shall demand rendering Venomous Creatures disarmed of their Noxious Quality during their pleasure and the most Ferose and Wild Brutes to become Tractable and Couchant Such were they who could suscitate or call together great numbers of Snakes or Serpents and cause them to go of their own accord into the Fire which was inclosed within a Magical Circle of which Dr. Casaubon of Credulity and Incredulity gives an account at large page 103. some have Charmed Flyes and Grashoppers when the Fields have been Infested with them and the fruits of the Earth in danger And of this sort of Operators the Psalmist seems to speak Ps 58. v. 4. Which will not hearken to the voice of the Charmer Charming never so wisely So Ecclesiastes ch 10.11 v. surely the Serpent will bite without Enchantment and the 8. of the Prophet Jerem. 17. v. I will send Serpents Cockatrices amongst you which will not be Charmed and they shall bite you c. Southsayers were such as by Inspection into the Entrails of Beasts or the flying of Birds were wont to prognosticate of Weather what Tempests or other seasons were like to ensue they gave their Opinions too with relation to other Contingencies as Events of Battle the fatality of Seasons or Attempts This they foretold by some certain Omens
the Martyrs now to be running up and down to relieve all sorts of persons to cure a Jesuit with her Child whom she laid by him in his bed to cure whole Countries of purple Feavers and to free several Rogues that had well deserved hanging from the Gallows from Dungeons and from all imaginable sorts of dangers How comes this fancy to take her so late of bringing down out of Heaven Crosses Hoods Books Robes Holy Water and such other Utensils which the Fathers in former times never had nor expected from her The truth is these kind of Apparitions and Miracles were most advisedly reserved until such times as these latter are dark and confused and more propitious to Imposture and these strange new transactions have another reason besides which I wish Roman-Catholicks would seriously consider and it is this As long as the Blessed Virgin had no more honour in the Church then what became a Creature and was allowed to her by the Fathers to be Honoured not Adored no Antient Author will tell you that she ever appeared among men But as soon as the latter times brought in publick Services to pray with unto her and Images to pray to her by then she or rather some other Spirit under her name began first to bestir her self then she and a multitude of other Saints with her seem to come down and appear at the voice of these new Prayers just as the Soul of Samuel did or rather seemed to come up at the Mysteries of Endor Ever after the pretended Queen was seen in the Roman Church as in her Heavenly Palace and she had more Angels to wait on her in the least of her ordinary Progresses then our Blessed Saviour himself had in any of his most solemn appearings But as when the Devils will look like Angels you may still they say either perceive a Cloven Foot or smell a stinking vapour that betrays the pretended glorious appearance so Roman Miracles and Visions have commonly some black mark which may convince any sober man that they are not really what they seem to be Consider in the Holy Scriptures what the true Saints and Angels of God have done whenever they met with more Honour then was their due or ask St. Austin what those Spirits are who take it when it is given or call for it when it is not No Saint nor Angel says the good Father will take of others what they know to be due only to God as it appeared by Paul and Barnabas who tore their cloaths when the people offered to worship them to shew they were meer men And by that Angel who rejected Adoration They are unclean Spirits that are for Worship and tho they care little for flesh yet they pride themselves in Sacrifices because God under the Law appointed them for his own service And in another place he says Good Angels are for this one thing that with them we may serve God in whose contemplation they are happy but they who invite us to serve themselves are like proud men c. only the serving of proud Devils is more hurtful And in another place he says Coelestial and happy Spirits will have us Sacrifice not unto themselves but unto God whose Oblation they are as well as we and therefore all Revelations and Miracles that invite us to serve more than one God are such seductions of Devils as any pious and prudent men must needs throw off for this is their proud Malice who by that Token are noted neither to be good Angels themselves nor the Angels of a good God For the good Angels love us so well that they will not have us to serve them but the true God only This was the Opinion of St. Austin in his time by which it appears what his thoughts were of Saint and Idol-Adoration Let us now bring to these Christian Rules most of the Roman Miracles and Apparitions Let us see when ever this humble Spirit did with the good Angel reject one Worshipping or devout Adoration shew wherever she once tore her cloaths at the hearing of Te Deum and the whole Psalter of David sung and applied most Blasphemously from God to her Certain it is that for several Centuries of years the steps of another Spirit are to be found in her ways seeking continually for more honour We may behold one who strokes and kisses pious men because they both begin and end their best devotions with her praises who teaches in what godly form they must pray to her for all Blessings who calls them into brakes of Thorns and Nettles and sometimes into holes under ground to find and Adore her Images one who can put on the shape of a Stag or a Pigeon or a great Queen purposely to shew the place and stone where she must needs have an Altar or a Chappel or a great Church that there she may be served and Worshipped to the worlds end and there walk and delight her self one who in all these Churches brags among Men as if she were the Mother of Compassions the Lady of the House of Prayer and the Fountain of all Blessings Lastly one who spreads forth about her a great Mantle therewith to betoken the largeness of her Mercies and Favours which she says she denies to none that will come to her with faith And now let St Austin or any good Christian judge what kind of Creatures these Spirits are and what great difference there is between those which among the Pagans did perpetually labour for Sacrifices and these which now among the Papists are all for Masses and the greatest oblations that can be set on Romes Altars Mean while we may be confident that none but God alone can own Sacrifices Altars and Churches to be served with none but Devils ever owned Images to speak move or any wise to work in such Spirits as these may be the Authors of all the boasted Miracles Apparitions and Revelations among the Romanists and such appearances and delusive Operations are very fit for such Spirits and both foretold and reserved for the last times And so it may be guess'd what that Church is that hath her proper establishment both from such Wonders and such Saints For proof of what is spoken upon this third head relating to the timing of Popish Miracles see the following Authors Aug. in Joh. Trac 13. sub fin ibid. Specul Exemp Tit. Ros Exemp 1. Attich Cron. Ord. Minim an 1612. Chron. Diep an 1561. Oliver L. Mirac Mar. Montis Albert. de viris Illust Ord. Praedic Epiphan Contr. Haeres l. 3. adv Collyrid August contr Faust l. 20. c. 21 22. Idem de vera Relig. c. 25. Idem de Civit. l. 10. c. 7. Ibid. c. 16. Ibid. c. 7. item l. 9. c. 23. Caesarius l. 7. Hist c. 25. Leander de viris Illust Chron. Diep an 1372. Chron. Diep an 1178. Franc. Hierasc in vita Henr. Silice Odo Gisseus Hist virg Aniciensis In vita Manaveriap sur 5. Jun. Arch. Gian cent 3. Annal.
comforted himself in the prospect hereof 2 Sam. 23.5 though his house should not grow though severe corrections and rebukes should cause the Beauty of his house to wither yet God would give him the Covenant-salvation it should be well with him in case of such coming though the Text less intend it the Doctrine is both true and useful 3. Sometime the Lord cometh to search and try mens state and conscience is awakened to make enquiry and to discover them to themselves While God stands as at a distance men are secure but when he cometh by his Word and Spirit and commands an admission he sets up that light within the mans soul that discovers what he hath done what he may expect and what he farther must do The word is sharp as a two-edged sword and searcheth the reins Heb. 4.12 And thus the secrets of mens hearts are discovered when God cometh with his word 1 Cor. 14.25 among men When God heweth men by his prophets and maketh his judgments as the light Hos 6.5 then he cometh into the heart and conscience Now certainly the Faithful and Diligent are in a good condition when their hearts do not condemn them when they know God will not condemn them But oh the sad condition of those that dare not look themselves in themselves that are self-condemned and afraid to know what God discovereth at such coming The Kings of Judah who did not obey the Command of the Lord could not endure the Prophets or their word But Josiah who was faithful to God can bear such a searching word 2 Chron. 34.19 27. ver Who desire to be faithful to God they dare abide this coming it doth discover their sincerity and declare them happy In this case though not directly intended by the Text it holdeth true All Gods faithful Servants and Stewards are found in a good and happy state But next which is that coming intended chiefly in the words and Doctrine 4. When Death is the Messenger God sendeth to let us know he is coming to us when he fetcheth us from amidst men and cometh to take account of each of us each man by man thus visited is either more or less happy as he is found more or less faithful and diligent at this coming of the Lord this is that coming of which by concurrent vote of our Interpreters the Text doth speak as also doth its Parallels Matt. 24. ver 42 43. and Mark 13. ver 34 35 36. of which I say the less because it passing with so general consent needs not much proof But Fifthly and lastly The Lord cometh in his Glory and Majesty to raise the dead and to Judg all men They who now do shall not eternally sleep in the dust God will come and call them out of their beds The Lord Jesus will descend with the voice of the Trump and the dead shall hear and rise to the great general and last judgment Thus he cometh to judg the world Psal 96.13 and 98.9 with righteousness and the people with equity Places that speaking of the Kingdom of the Messiah do include this Royal procedure which shall consummate his ministerial Government When he cometh as Rev. 1.7 in view of every eye for every eye shall see him when he thus cometh or as 't is described 1 Cor. 15.23 24 25 At this coming the Faithful diligent Servant is in good state Briefly then Whether our Lord come sooner or later to try the heart by his word or families by his Rod or Nations as he did try the Jews by more publick calamities In these cases the most faithful of his Servants and Stewards are in the most safe and blessed state but when he cometh as the judg of all men to particular judgment calling each man by death and to the general judgment calling all men before him He and he only is in a good and blessed state who is found to have been faithful and diligent in his Stewardship and Service within the House and Family of God giving to each what portion of meat is due to them Which is In the third place now to be proved by the more general Testimony of the Scriptures Where we find all faithful and diligent Servants and Stewards especially pronounced blessed and happy in their attendance to the work of doing good to all as they are able and therein serving their Lord and waiting for his coming So Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord Death is the greatest as well as last Enemy to our life yet if that natural life be spent for the Lord and we dye in him we are blessed for such mens Works do follow them and they rest from their Labours Now certainly lesser troubles and lighter afflictions cannot render him or her unhappy whom Death found and left in a blessed state so that to work those works which we would have to follow us and to dye in the Lord as they prove our Fidelity so they do prove our Felicity and at once prove us good Christians and in good state Again Matth. 25.34 35 Come ye blessed of my father c. These are such who fed cloathed harboured visited and refreshed those in the Lords Family though the least of his Family vers 40 which was as much a Duty to them who could do it as it was useful to others for whom it was done Now they are declared happy ones who had thus according to their opportunity Ministred unto others And much more will they appear blessed who have faithfully directed thirsty Souls to the Fountain of living Waters hungry Souls to the Bread of Life naked Souls to the white Robes wandring Souls to the rest of Souls Again Matth. 7.21 Not he that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the Will of my heavenly Father c. not a fruitless profession but a faithful obedience not an unactive complement but a diligent fulfilling the Will of our Lord is at last a blessing to us he is in a good state indeed whose Lord doth reward his Service with an entrance into and enjoyment of eternal life in Heaven And nothing can alter it to him who altereth not his course of Faithfulness and Diligence Such an one is Jam. 1.22 Blessed in his deed now who is blessed in doing his work can never be in ill-state whilst he is doing it and he is in better state when the work done is rewarded whose work is his happiness cannot but be happy whilst he attends his work and this is the case of all diligent and sincere observers of Gods Commandments The keeping them is a great reward Christians consider it if glory honour immortality and eternal life can be a blessedness to us we are assured of this For every soul that doth good as God requireth whether Jew or Gentile Rom. 2.13 There is a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 for St. Paul who had fought a good fight c. Yea but if it were limited to his person none could
Hemisphere at millions of distant places at once as well as their privy Chambers as Loretto Compostella Canterbury c. They Solicit them for pardon of sin and Conferring the graces of the Spirit and to bring them into a State of Glory after this Life For all which they apply themselves to Saints and Angels as well as to God the Father which is plain by the words of their Prayers in their several Offices By all which it evidently appears that these Bigotted wretches seek unto Devils instead of God for the Saints cannot dare not hear them And they Worship they know not what nor can it be doubted that they who seek to the Devil in forbidden Images and Idols will be ready to entertain him in a stricter Confederacy and that Religion that teaches them to sense and smoak his Statues and Altars will Embolden if not lead them into nearer familiarities and Acquaintance Therefore I hope the Reader will Pardon me that I have been thus long exposing their Damnable Idolatry it being from thence as the fountain that all other their Delusions wicked practises naturally flow And those whom the Devil can draw away to the Worship of false Gods he may easily Impose upon to set up a Shrine to his Infernal Deity and enter into all the Mysteries of those Black and Diabolical Arts and Confederacies which are the subject of the ensuing Narrations Some of which will give an account of the Proficiency of Divers Popes and Fathers in that Hellish Science of Sorcery Necromancy and Witchcraft CHAP. IV. Considerations and Arguments Proving the being of Witchcraft and Witches with a Refutation of the Incredulity of some who deny the being of such IN an Age Productive of Prodigies and Wonders it doth not seem to be the least to men of sound Judgment and accurate Scrutiny That a sort of Witty and otherwise Ingenious Persons should openly and with great zeal profess a disbeleif of the Existence of Daemons and Witches As if thereby they intended to declare that the best and most Authentick Historians of former times the most Learned and strict Divines yea the unerring Wisdom of God himself had all conspired to impose upon them a belief of things purely fabulous and mere Chimerical Fantoms Thus whilst they assume to themselves an arrogant Confidence to deny the Divine Verity and the Power of the Omnipotent Arraigning the Equity of the Preceding Ages the Justice of the most Solemn Judicatories and that of all Times and Nations and deride the wisdom of the most learned Councils which hath still run counter to their fancies Themselves seem to be a proof of what they deny and are perfect demonstrations of the power of Fascination and a prevailing Daemon For 't is hardly to be supposed that any thing less should render men Impenetrable to the most convincing reasons and repeated proofs of that which they contend against Notwithstanding all which they oppose their simple Ipse dixit against the most unquestionable Testimonies of persons of the greatest Integrity and Generosity amongst whom they converse persons of that caution and candour that any disinterested and ingenuous man could not possibly imagin to have any design to impose upon others what themselves had not with the greatest investigation of circumstances been convinced to be beyond a possibility of Doubting Yet such was the bold confidence of some of these Witch Advocates that they durst Effront that Relation of the Daemon of Tedworth published by the Ingenious Mr. Glanvil and Attested by Mr. Mompesson a Gentleman and a Divine who to all that knew them were never over fond of crediting stories of that kind Yet I say had some of this sort of men the impudence to declare to the World that that whole Relation was but a Figment or Forgery and that Mr. Mompesson and Mr. Glanvill had retracted whatever they had published touching that Transaction This notorious falsity they had the misfortune to disperse when Mr. Glanvils sheets were scarce dry from the Press and the noise of the drum hardly out of the Ears of the Neigbourhood at Todworth So that we see in the second Edition of Saduceismus triumphatus both Mr. Glanvil and Mr. Mompesson again renew and confirm the Truth of their former Testimony thereby giving the world a just Occasion to detest the base Artifices of such bold Impostors Besides a peremptory and staring confidence which must Huff and swagger down all the most undeniable proofs I have not met with any Argument of theirs which hath not been sufficiently refuted and baffled by those Learned and Ingenious Pens who have still made it their business to Vindicate and Rescue substantial Truth from the Attacques of Atheists and Scepticks All that seems to remain unconquered of these Incredulous is a fleering sort of sham-stories and Mock-Relations in the recital of which it is pleasant to observe with what Elevation they make their foolish Triumphs over those Truths one of which is enough to vanquish a thousand of their little Figments These small Pickierers deserve commiseration haveing deluded themselves endeavouring to delude others into an opinion that because there is such a thing in the World as a Lye therefore it is impossible there should be any Truth They might with as much reason affirm that because there is a Night therefore there can be no Day or because there is such a Quality as heat therefore there can be no cold Another sort there are who having had their Education in a Christian Kingdom are loth to seem Incredulous of the Holy Scriptures which the Church in which they have been baptâ—zed Commands them Religiously to submit unto and not to dispute the Truth therein delivered These will acknowledg that they ought to believe whatsoever is therein contained and therefore will not question that there has been such a thing in the world as a Witch because in the sacred pages mention is made of the Witch of Endor whom they are bold to affirm to be the only Pythoness that ever was in being presuming to declare that she was raised up or permitted for that very end to delude the credulity of Saul and that besides her there hath been no other Which opinion if they will not allow it to proceed from incredulity appears to be the effect of rank ignorance For who that hath read the Holy Bible discerns not that Saul before this time had cut off those that had Familiar Spirits and the Wizzards out of the Land 1 Sam. 28. ch ver the 9. So that it appears there were many before the Witch of Endor even in the days of Saul besides what hath been mentâ—oned before of the King of Moab who sent his servants to Balaam with the Reward of Divination neither can any one that considereth the story of Saul at Endor imagine that the woman there was permitted but in the Case of Saul only For the servants of Saul knew her to have a Familiar Spirit before the Kings intention
in the Woods to invocate Devils and bewitch Women to follow them 24. Nicholaus the second a great contender for Transubstantiation 25. Innocent the third brought in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation 26. Sixtus the fourth brought in Beads into the Divine Worship 27. Alexander the sixth Incestuous with his own Daughter and gave himself to the Devil By this short yet dreadful List it may appear by what degrees first Superstition then Idolatry and after that Daemonolatry or a Correspondence if not a Confederacy with the Prince of Darkness crept into the world nay that part of it that claims the name of an Apostolick Church Tho nothing more contrary or rather Diametrically opposite to the Doctrine and Faith established by the Holy Jesus and his blessed Apostles The Heathen Oracles had been struck dumb by the coming of the Eternal Redeemer and the Divine Miracles wrought by him in Confirmation of the everlasting Gospel the Magicians and Sorcerers confounded by the Sacred Authority derived to the constituted Apostles as we find recorded in their Acts in the cases of Simon Magus and Elimas the Sorcerer with divers others of that kind But after the Christian Doctrine had been confirmed by so many and unquestionable Divine Miracles so that there wanted nothing that might assure the World of the mighty hand of God that accompanied his Ministers in their first planting the Gospel of Salvation Then again do we find the Arch-Enemy of our Souls unchained and we may well calculate his losing from the time of Stephen the third which was that fatal period that again spread the foul Contagion over the Apostate Church For now the mystery of Iniquity shewed itself in the Temple of God and the old Serpent began again to be Worshipped as God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Altars in the obnoxious Temâ—â—â—… And here I cannot omit that which is irrefragably urged upon this Argument by the learned Doctor Brevint in his Book intituled Saul and Samuel at Endor a Treatise that perhaps gives some of the clearest demonstrations of the defection of the Roman Church of any thing yet extant though many of our Reverend and Learned Divines have acquitted themselves with singular Honour upon that occasion to whose Memories Posterity will be obliged to pay the most grateful acknowledgments But this Gentleman had the opportunity of a long co-habitation amongst their Fathers beyond the Seas and the advantage of making such discoveries and observations as cannot fall under the cognizance of others I shall therefore make bold to cite some passages out of the fore-named book of that excellent Authors in refutation of the pretended Roman Miracles I shall begin with p. 45. where he makes a quotation out of St. August de Civit. l. 10. c. 16. There are some of the Devils Miracles saith St. Austin that as to the work itself seem to be no lesser then Gods are but their end must distinguish them And therefore he will have the Miracles of the latter times to be tryed by the true Church as we find it in the Scriptures and not the Church by these Miracles Bring Roman Miracles to this Rule you may divide them into three Ranks for some of them are but meer Tales some are counterfeit Impostures and Artificial tricks of Juglers others have a real Being but the Question is whence they have it As for the first sort of Miracles The Papists have by little and little heaped them to such an extravagancy that divers of their Communion who have some Modesty left them can scarce forbear blushing at the Relation Gregory of Tours and Gregory the first Bishop of Rome if the four Books of Dialogues be truly his did begin pretty well to tell stories but these are nothing to the advances made by other Prelates and great Roman Doctors in the following Ages And I may say confidently that these Romanists are not much short of the most extravagant Romancers There you shall read of Constantine the Great being a Leper and transferring his Roman Empire upon that Pope that made him clean of Wolves and Lyons bringing back Lambs and restoring them out of their Entrails after they had torn them to pieces of Birds flocking about to hear Sermons and of Asses becoming Roman Catholicks at least kneeling to adore the Mass-Sacrament c. They cannot conceive any great man to be a Saint unless he hath an extraordinary gift for the working of such Miracles How true they be you may best learn of the very Saints who deny them As for Example S. Bernard S. Chrysostom and St. Gregory and yet they are forced upon them And you can hardly pass for a true Catholick unless you believe that St. Bernard was saluted and suckled several times by our Lady in her Image that St. Chrysostom did Raise the dead did cure all sorts of incurable diseases and had every night St. Paul himself whispering in his Ear what he did write on his Epistles And as to St. Gregory the Great he had no meaner whisperer then the Holy Ghost in Person under the shape of a Pigeon sitting quietly upon his head and sometimes stretching down her Bill into his Mouth when he was Preaching And we know that the Grand Impostor Mahomet pretended somewhat the like about the same time Now you may be sure all these things are Fabulous since disowned by the very men who are pretended to have had them and who therefore knew best the truth of all these works and assistances Much like to these are the Miracles of Ignatius Loyola when he cures Women in their Travail if you but set his Seal or Signet on their Belly when he makes the house where he happens to be horribly shake and when himself grows as hot and as terrible as Mount Aetna by the fierce motion of that Spirit which from a debauch'd Soldier made him a holy Jesuit or when he sees the Soul of his dearest Friend Hosius mounting up into the Sky far more gorgeous then the Soul of any other or when he works greater Miracles with his own name in a little piece of paper Cum nomine suo Chartae inscripto then Moses and the Apostles did in Gods name We cannot deny says the Bishop of Canaries but sometimes very grave men write and leave to posterity such reports about Saints Miracles humouring hereby both themselves and the people whom they perceive both prone to believe and importunate to have them do so For the Authority of the above cited Fables that worthy Divine quotes their own various Authors citing the several Books and Pages where they are related for confirmation of which I must refer you to the 45 th p. of his Book before mentioned And is it not hereby evident to all that will not wilfully blind themselves to their own delusion that these Stories if true are no other than Diabolical Cheats being such as in no wise can be imagined to confirm the Evangelical Doctrine but rather the Superstitions and Orders by the Romanists imposed upon
they called him who lived about that Town she had given me so strange an account of him that I desired her I might see him the first opportunity which she promised and not long after passing that way she told me there was the Fairy-Boy but a little before I came by and casting her eye into the street said look you Sir yonder he is at play with those other Boys and designing him to me I went and by smooth words and a piece of money got him to come into the house with me where in the presence of divers people I demanded of him several Astrological Questions which he answered with great Subtility and through all his discourse carryed it with a cunning much above his years which seemed not to exceed ten or eleven He seemed to make a motion like drumming upon the Table with his Fingers upon which I ask'd him whether he could beat a drum To which he replied yes Sir as well as any man in Scotland for every Thursday Night I beat all points to a sort of people that use to meet under yonder Hill pointing to the great Hill between Edenborough and Leith how Boy quoth I What company have you there There are Sir said he a great company both of men and women and they are entertained with many sorts of Musick besides my drum they have besides plenty of variety of Meats and Wine and many times we are carried into France or Holland in a night and return again and whilst we are there we enjoy all the pleasures the Country doth afford I demanded of him how they got under that Hill To which he replied that there were a great pair of gates that opened to them though they were invisible to others and that within there were brave large rooms as well accommodated as most in Scotland I then asked him how I should know what he said to be true Upon which he told me he would read my fortune saying I should have two wives and that he saw the forms of them sitting on my Shoulders that both would be very handsom women as he was thus speaking a woman of the neighbour-hood coming into the room demanded of him what her fortune should be He told her that she had had two Bastards before she was married which put her in such a rage that she desired not to hear the rest The woman of the House told me that all the People in Scotland could not keep him from the Rendesvous on Thursday night upon which by promising him some more money I got a promise of him to meet me at the same place in the afternoon the Thursday following and so dismist him at that time The Boy came again at the place and time appointed and I had prevailed with some friends to continue with me if possible to prevent his moving that night he was placed between us and answered many questions without offering to go from us until about eleven of the clock he was got away unperceived of the company but I suddenly missing him hasted to the door and took hold of him and so returned him into the same room we all watched him and on a sudden he was again got out of the doors I follow'd him close and he made a noise in the street as if he had been set upon but from that time I could never see him George Burton Advertisment THis Gentleman is so well known to many worthy Persons Merchants and others upon the exchange in London that there can be no need of my justifying for the Integrity of the relation I will only say thus much that I have heard him very solemnly affirm the truth of what is here related Neither do I find any thing in it more then hath been reported by very unquestionable Pens to the same purpose What this manner of Transvection was which the boy spoke of whether it were corporeal or in a dream only I shall not dispute but I think there be some relations of this kind that prove it may be either way therefore that I leave to the reader to determine But the Captain hath told me that at that time he had a virtuous and a handsome wife who being dead he thinks himself in election of another such That too of the Womans having had two Children happened to be very true though hardly any of the neighbours knew it in that place His getting away in that manner was somewhat strange considering how they had planted him and that besides he had the Temptation of wine and mony to have detained him Arguments very powerful with lads of his Age and fortune The Fourth Relation Giving an account of the Daemon of Spraiton in the County of Devon Anno. 1682. THat which was published in May 1683. concerning the Daemon or Daemons of Spraiton was the extract of a letter from T. C. Esquire a near neighbour to the place though it needed little confirmation further then the credit that the Learning Quality of that Gentleman had stampt upon it yet was much of it likewise known to and related by the Reverend Minister of Barnstable of the vicinity to Spraiton Having likewise since had fresh Testimonials of the veracity of that Relation and it being at first designed to fill this place I have thought it not amiss for the strangeness of it to print it here a Second time exactly as I had transcribed it then About the month of November in the year 1682. In the Parish of Spraiton in the County of Devon one Francis Fey Servant to Mr. Philip Furze being in a Field near the dwelling house of his said Master there appeared unto him the resemblance of an Aged Gentleman like his masters Father with a Pole or Staff in his hand resembling that he was wont to carry when living to kill the moles withal The spectrum approached near the young man whom you may Imagin not a little surprized at the appearance of one that he knew to be dead but the spectrum bid him not be afraid of him but tell his Master who was his Son that several Legacies which by his Testament he had bequeathed were unpaid naming Ten Shillings to one and Ten Shillings to another both which persons he named to the young man who replyed that the party he last named was dead and so it could not be paid to him The Ghost answered He knew that but it must be paid to the next Relation whom he also named The spectrum likewise ordered him to carry Twenty Shillings to a Gentlewoman Sister to the deceased living near Totness in the said County and promised if these things were performed to trouble him no further but at the same time the spectrum speaking of his second wife who was also dead called her wicked woman though the Gentleman who writ the letter knew her and esteemed her a very good woman And having thus related him his mind the spectrum left the young man who according to the direction of the Spirit
drink to us Accordingly we kept a true Fast all the day yesterday unknown to any of the Family and at night having disposed of my Mistresses to Bed we fastened the stair door of their Rooms which came down into the Hall and locked all the doors of the Yard and whatever way besides led into the House except the door of the Kitchen which was left open to the Yard for the Sweet-hearts to enter it being then near twelve a Clock we laid a clean cloath on the Kitchen Table setting thereon a Loaf and Cheese and a Stone Jug of beer with a drinking glass seating our selves together in the inside of the Table with our faces towards the door We had been in this posture but a little while before we heard a mighty ratling at the great Gate of the Yard as if it would have shook the House down there was a jingling of Chains and something seemed to prance about the Yard like a Horse which put us into great terrour and affrightment so that we wisht we had never gone so far in it but now we knew not how to go back and therefore kept the place where we were my Masters Spaniel for the young Captain was then alive got against the door of the stair foot and there made so great a noise with houling and ratling the door that we feared they might have taken notice of the disturbance but presently came a young man into the Kitchen here one of the young Ladies interrupted her saying Housewife it was the Devil to which the Maid replied Madam I do not believe that but perhaps it might be the Spirit of a Man and making a bow to me he took up the Glass which was full of Beer on the Table and drank to me filling the Glass again and setting it on the Table as before then making another bow went out of the Room Immediately after which another came in the same manner and did the same to the other Maid whom she named but I have forgot and then all was quiet and after we had eaten some Bread and Cheese we went to Bed So the Maid ended what she had to say and left the Room but I must not forget that all this while the other Maid stood by her and acknowledged all she had said to be true Then I desired to know of the old Lady how they came to understand this of the Maids for I thought they did not care to have it divulged upon which she replied we saw in their faces the next morning something of an alteration as if they had been frighted and my eldest Daughter going into a Room where we use to set aside cold Meat saw part of an Apple-Pye which was appointed for their Dinners the day before to be there untoucht and marking some other little Circumstances began to be Inquisitive until she had sifted out the business The Ladies were very much troubled at what the Maids had done and threatned to put them away upon it but upon the intercession of Neighbours and their being penitent for what they had done it was passed by It was not long after before the tallest of the Maids was Married to him which she said had appeared unto her and as I remember he was a Drummer in Sir Philips's Regiment but I fear that Weddings sought into by such unwarrantable means can hardly expect a Blessing I wish it may prove otherwise for both their sakes The young Ladies after that would to mind the Maids of their indiscretion call them the Spirits of Men. Advertisement 1. I Have often been told of some that have fasted on Midsummer Eve and then gone into the Church Porch to see who should die in that Parish the subsequent year and that the Spirits of such would in the same order they were to die in come one after another and knock at the Church door I remember I was once told of one of these Watchers that fell fast asleep so that none of the company could awaken her during the time of which profound sleep the likeness of that party appeared and knocked at the Church door and that afterwards when she awaked she could give no account of any thing that had happened only that she had been asleep until the rest of the company acquainted her of it 2. Whether the Appearances here were the Spirits of the two young Men who taking them Napping at that time of night might make a visit to their Sweet-hearts or whether they were not some Spirits of another nature that assumed their likeness I must leave to the Learned to judge I must confess I am apt to believe the latter It seems to me by the ratling of the Gate the noise of the Chains the prancing of the Horse and the affrighting of the Spaniel which I knew and he was a stout Dog I say upon all these Circumstances I should imagine that these Spirits were not of so gentiel and smooth a Temper as they shewed themselves unto the Maids 3. What Charm there can be ascribed to fasting on Midsummer Eve and the after-Ceremonies more then to the like abstinence at another time is that which many doubt of But why may there not be Magical Days and Seasons as well as Planetary Hours The Devil is called the Prince of Darkness because he most familiarly shews himself in the depth of the night Conjurers and Magicians call upon him most in that Season he hath an aversion to the light as all evil Workers have Much discourse hath been about gathering of Fern-seed which is looked upon as a Magical Herb on the night of Midsummer Eve and I remember I was told of one that went to gather it and the Spirits whiskt by his Ears like Bullets and sometimes struck his Hat and other parts of his Body in fine though he apprehended that he had gotten a quantity of it and secured it in Papers and a Box besides when he came home he found all empty But most probable this appointing of times and hours is of the Devils own Institution as well as the Fast that having once ensnared people to an Obedience to his Rules he may with more facility oblige them to a stricter Vassallage The tenth Relation An Account of the death of the most Eminent of a certain Family presaged by Rats eating the Hangings of a Room AT Kitsford in Devonshire which is now the Seat of Thomas Wood Esq I very well remember dining in the Parlour there with the Lady the Mother of the above-named Gentleman she shewed me in the hangings of the Room near one of the Windows a great hole eaten as supposed by Rats it was almost at the top of the Room and this she said happened but a few weeks before the death of her Husband Some time after dining again in the same Room there was another hole eaten just under the former which the Gentlewoman was pleased to say did foreshew her death and truly in a very little time after she died