Author and what is his Method AS the two first Books of this work that I published at first have been differently received for Reasons alledg'd in the Preface It will not be amiss to represent to the Reader what has been properly my design in these four Books that I have Intituled The World Bewitch'd nor to shew what foundation I built upon and what way I take to find out the truth For althô I express my self clearly enough in the beginning of the work and in the Preface to the first part I know nevertheless that is not sufficient to destroy the prejudice wherewith the learned themselves appear more biassed than the Vulgar which I should never have thought but it seems at present I have found out the Reason which is that the most part of those which do not put themselves to the trouble to pass through all the Degrees of the Schools aspire to Sciences and sublime knowledge but for their particular pleasure they are the People that love liberty and to whom it matters not who is the Master that instructs them provided that they may learn something or if they are greedy of rarities they have not so much respect to the mode nor to that which is New or Antient as to the beauty of the matter and to that of the work On the contrary it is with those who pass through the Schools as with those who live in Shops where every one has his way every Master has his Method in the work he makes In one Town they make the same things after one fashion and in another after another when one is taken up with the mode he often rejects what is pleasing without any other Reason then because it is not as commonly used in the World And we have a strangeness for all novelties so long as they have not the common vogue althô otherwise we might approve them and have them cheap enough but as soon as Custom has introduced them one begins to seek them out and to be disgusted at the former Sciences are subject to the same inconveniencies Those that we send to the Schools continue in the road which has been mark'd out to them for their exercises they endeavour to form themselves upon the model of those which have most reputation or of those who are the nearest to their first prejudices so this is disapproving the part they have taken not to be apt to take any and to preserve our own liberty and thus we expose our selves very much but one runs a greater risk if willing to ascend higher and search things in their Fountains it happens at last that we find our selves out of the ordinary Road and that we are obliged to take another Hinc illae lachymae From thence proceeds all disorders The common Opinion of the Devil of his knowledge power and Operations and of People which are accused of having commerce with him began by little and little to become very suspitious by the help of natural light which I have common with others which was strengthened and purified by the Scripture so after I had well examined it I was in doubt whether I ought to maintain it any longer or abandon it not only by Reason of the truth but also because of the Piety which it seem'd to contradict My Conscience it self compel'd me to it for I was obliged to answer those that ask'd me and to take care of my Conduct because of the disposition I saw the People in It was the Duty of my charge and every Day occasions offer'd themselves my pain increased every moment by the continual necessity I found my self in to speak and act as others did or to oppose the publick with words or actions which agree not with my Character which is to be complaisant and to agree with all the World as much as is possible Besides I found not as yet foundation enough to act after an other manner which made me at first resolve to make an exact search after the Original of this common and general Opinion to know whether it was founded upon truth But because I make this examination à priore and not à posteriore as they in the Schools I have proposed the state of the Question but at the end of the first Book where I discovered in the 22th Chapter how many of the Opinions which I have related which are all those that ever were in the World upon this subject The Protestants have at last got together and formed those which they retain to this Day In the 23th Chapter I compare them with the Opinions of other Nations and in the 24th Chapter I shew by what means they have been introduced amongst us and what keeps us so strongly tyed to them So in the first Book I examine what is the rise of the Opinion concerning the Devil and in the following Books I discover what sentiments we ought to have of him An Abridgement of the First Book IN the First Book I run over all the World to find whence this Opinion has its Original And for this purpose I have omitted neither time nor place I observe that the subject ought to be examin'd in two Respects In respect of the Devil to find what is his Knowledge and Power and in respect of Men to see what they learn and effect by his means But because these things are preternatural or are so thought to be and that by consequence they are known only to God I have judg'd it necessary to know what are the Opinions of Men concerning the Divinity and Spirits in general either good or bad and of human Souls separated from their Bodies by death which are also Spirits I make a search of all these things First in the Books of the Ancients and afterwards in the Moderns of all Religions and amongst all Nations distinguishing them into Pagans Jews Mahometans and Christians in reference to the present state of the World I begin with the Ancient Pagans which are for the most part Greeks or Romans known to us by Greek and Latin Books they have lest us which I treat of in the 2d 3d and 4th Chapters for there are very few Histories of other Countries and other People which are come to our knowledge There you see what they believe touching Gods and Spirits which are neither Gods nor human Souls and as to the estate of the Souls after death You read there also what means they used to attain that knowledge and to operate things beyond the power of Nature by the means of those Spirits such as they believe them to be I come afterwards down to our time and examine all the Pagans in the World first in Europe in the 6th Chapter after in Asin in the 7th and 8th Chapters then in Africa in the 9th Chapter and at last in America in the 10th Chapter which gives me occasion to demonstrate in the 11th Chapter that the Pagans as well Ancient as Modern have had a notion of the Divinity
of created Spirits which I absolutely reject as a way which is used to lead us into error By consequence I cannot admit the arguments which are taken from the nature of God to demonstrate in what manner acts a Spirit which is his creature and has nothing common with him but the name After in the Third Chapter I prove by arguments drawn from the sovereign perfection of God that there are none of those sorts of Spirits that the Pagans esteem to be Gods and ediators of Men towards the supream Divinity because the Reasons of those that ground that belief upon the perfection of God are directly opposite to this perfection We then having taken off the imaginary Spirits I come to those which we certainly know to exist that is our Souls that are a part of our selves and which by consequence are better known to us by our own experience this is treated of in the fourth Chapter where I prove as much as is possible their immortality and that they subsist even out of the body I employ for this purpose Reason and Scripture because they are two ways that equally conduct us to the knowledge of the Soul the first by experience and by our own Consciousness and the second by the particular instructions God gives us of the estate of the Soul after this life but I quote not the Scripture in this part of my Treatise where I examine but what concerns nature only Neither do I judge it necessary to do it afterwards because it is a point that a Christian looks upon as already sufficiently established and supposes it when he will engage in a dispute upon this subject Besides I reject as superstitions and fables whatever proceeds from the invention of Men especially of the Heathens which is the matter of the fifth Chapter So we come to know with certainty that such a Spirit that is the Soul which truly exists has a body with which it lives and without which it may still live and to reject all the other Spirits of whom the greatest part of the World falsly believe the existence But besides those Pagan Opinions we hear every day mention made of Angels not only by Christians but also by Jews and Mahometans The Question is Whether Reason alone is capable to discover to us that there are such Spirits destitute of a proper and peculiar body Upon this point I shew in the sixth Chapter that our understanding without the help of Scripture cannot penetrate farther than to comprehend that it is possible but not certain that there are Spirits For this Reason I have not judg'd it necessary to examine the Operations of these Spirits upon bodies or upon the other Spirits because it seems to me ridiculous to trouble ones self with the examination of the Operations of Creatures the existence of which is not established as certain And therefore I have spoken in the first Edition but by the way in verse which is at present the seventh Sect. of the sixth Chapter And therefore it is manifest how wrongfully many People would perswade themselves that I have composed my work only To deny the Operations of Spirits upon bodies and upon other Spirits And besides that I ground upon this negative all my explications of the passages of Scripture but that I may avoid this persecution for the future I thought fit to insert in the new Edition that is made of my Book a whole Chapter between the sixth and seventh so that this new Chapter is at present the seventh and the seventh is the eight and so of the others following There I pretend clearly to shew that the proofs related upon that subject strike not at all to the end and cannot be considered as true proofs which I mean as to what concerns nature and as to what Human Reason may conceive of it self as destitute of help from the word of God After that I come to the word of God and then I employ Reason no more but keep to the Scripture only and I search in it what it will teach me touching Spirits which is now the question there I find that under the name of Angels it gives us to understand such Spirits as are the Ministers of God toward other Creatures But there is nothing discovered to us touching their Essence neither is their any thing in the History of the Creation as to their Original or the manner of their fall for which Reason part of them was from the beginning rejected from God notwithstanding the Scripture puts these two things for certain which is the subject of the eight and ninth Chapters I consider afterwards the properties and Operations that the Scripture attributes to them and I endeavour to know what is their proper nature their power upon other Creatures either spiritual or corporeal But the passages that speak of these things do not appear to me to have been understood otherwise than those that attribute also to certain Men that is to Prophets and Apostles the works that they have done in dispensing the miracles of God That which gives me occasion to say that as this dispensation surpasses the force of those to whom it was entrusted it cannot make us know what was their proper nature whence I take occasion to infer the same things touching Angels this is in the tenth and eleventh Chapters That which could not be discovered by the means of the name Original or Operation of those Spirits I endeavour to learn by the means of their orders of which is made an ample mention in the twelfth fifteenth and nineteenth Chapters of my first Book But I draw not any light from thence save that Angels as well good as bad have each their head that the Prince of good Angels is called Michael and that of the bad named Diabolus the Devil that is in the two and twentieth Chapter Yet I leave it not here I consider again that the Scripture attributes in many places some particular administration to Angels I examined to know what it is first as to the good Angels in general in the thirteenth Chapter whom the Scripture often makes appear and always for particular revelations to the faithful either to work extraordinary miracles or execute God's Judgments upon Men by punishments or by deliverances But I conceive not that what is said of this Ministry is different from what is related of that of those holy Men who have been employed in the works of God and his miracles that they in no wise operated by their own virtue by consequence I find nothing as yet which may give me a certain knowledge of the proper Angels their power or their Operations Afterwards I come to a more particular examination of the principle passages especially of the manner of speaking of these three persons which appeared to Abraham of the two others that appeared to Lot Genesis Chapter the eighteenth and nineteenth and in making reflection upon this History and comparing it with other instructions of the Holy
French Tongue it has lost it's Ancient name in remembrance of the Resurrection of our Lord and is called Dimanche from Dies Dominica Sect. 9. Let us proceed from the Gods to the Demons or Spirits of a meaner Order Thales of Milet taught if we believe Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the World is full of Spirits namely the Air which they inhabit and the Earth in which they converse amongst Men the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know as signifying one that is very Learned because they believed that those Demons knew whatever is important to Men either for their Happiness or Misery and that they were as the Mediators of Men towards the Gods And 't is observable that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 likewise signifies to Mediate so that the Demons import so much as Mediators And therefore they have also been called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mediators and Directors of Men and have been placed according to the Opinions of the Heathens betwixt the Heavens and the Earth viz. in the Air and consequently betwixt the Gods and Men. Sect. 10. Though the Opinions were divided as to their Nature yet they agreed in these principal points that they were Spirits that they were Mortal and however that they were no Gods as Plato writes in his Timoeus which explaining more at large in his Convivium he says that the Demons have a Nature which is the Mene betwixt God and Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what virtue have they That of explaining and declaring to Men what things belong to the Gods which are their Commands and how Sacrifices must be performed As also that of offering to the Gods what comes from Men viz. their Prayers and Sacrifices so that they being in the middle comprehend the Nature of both as binding and uniting the whole together Sect. 12. As to their Administration Plato explains it thus From them come to us Predictions Auguries the worship of Sacrifices Conjurations Orations and the whole Art of Magick The Deitie meddles not with Men but those Spirits are the Directors of all the communication and converse of the Gods with us either wakeing or sleeping The Demons therefore being by their Nature Mediators betwixt the Gods and Men and being besides Spirits and almost Gods could not be better called then Spirits of a middle Order in relation to their Nature or Mediating Gods in reference to their Functions in how great consideration those Spirits were and what was the Sentiment of the Antients concerning them may be learned from St. Chrysostome Tom. 6. Less 66. Entituled Against those that say that the Demons direct the Affairs of Men. Sect. 12. But what will be most useful to observe was that there were Demons of a Superiour and others of an Inferior Order and that some were esteemed Good and others Wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good and favourable whereas the other were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil Spirits or by a more particular explication of their Qualities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wicked dangerous Enemies Cruel However these Demons either good or bad were not believed of all Nations to be of the same Dignity There were some amongst whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imported as much as Deity and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine even in Plato the Soveraign God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest Demon. However the general use was to distinguish the Gods from the Demons as has been already observed and as Aeschines expresses it in his Clesias O Earth Gods Demons and Men whoever ye be that desire to know the Truth and therefore Plato in the place already quoted may rightly say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that those learned and middle Spirits are in great numbers and several kinds But 't is not necessary to speak more of it for perhaps it would only induce us into several errors there is so much uncertainty in Plato and others that have written upon it they are so much opposed against one another and even to themselves Sect. 13. As to the Heroes they were extraordinary Men and so far above the vulgar that every where especially amongst the Romans they used to consecrate and deifie them after their Death which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Canonization Herodian in his Fourth Book Chap 2. makes a particular Description of that Ceremony with all the Circumstances of it on occasion of the Death of the Emperor Severus Besides we generally find in the writing of the Ancients that they paraell'd them with the Demons Plutarch relates in his Opinions of the Philosophers Chap. 8. Book First That Thales Plato and the Stoicks believ'd that the Demons were Spiritual substances and that the Heroes were Souls separated from the Body which were good or bad as Men had been Virtuous or Vitious this was especially the Doctrine of Pythagoras who in all things that relate to Religion has had more Disciples then any of the Ancient Heathens and is yet the most followed by those that are not Christians He teaches that those Demons and Heroes brought in Dreams Diseases and Cure to Men and even to Cattle and labouring Beasts according to the Testimony of Diogenes Laertius confirm'd by Plato and not contradicted by Aristotle Sect 14. Apuleius in the Book formerly quoted more particularly demonstrates that the powers which put the natural passions of Men into motion which govern them and Lord it over them as also the Souls separated from the Body are called Gods and Demons or Spirits that the Soul born with the Body dies not however with it and that she bears the name of Genius when they are separated from each other This meaning cannot methinks be better express'd than by naming those Souls Associated Spirits or Spirits peculiar to one subject since every Man has one within himself The others that is those that are separated from the Body or the Souls of the Deceased are commonly called Manes as though remaining because they remain of â—â—â—â—â—st after the Body for Which reason I shall name them Surviving Spirits However as to the Latin word it seems rather to be derived from Manis an Ancient obsolete Term which signifies fine and good as immanis imports as much as Vgly and Cruel because the Manes were ordinarily taken for Benevolent Spirits Sect. 15. Some of this last sort remained in the House of the deceased to watch over his Successors and were called Lares or Domestick Gods but the others err'd at random and as Exiles according as they had deserved by their wicked Life They could cause but vain Fears to virtuous Persons but to the vitious a just Terrour and all sorts of Pains They were called Lares Night Phantasms and Spectra Diogenes writes that most of those things were taught in the School of Plato as it still appears by his Book Entituled Phoedo They had also the name of Lemures which is supposed to come from Remures and this from Remus Brother to
Romulus who frightfully imagined to see the Ghost of his Brother Remus after he had killed him If those Narrations were true such Spirits might be called terrifying Spirits Ovid in the Fifth Book of the Fasti plainly says what must be understood by that Name Mox etiam Lemures animas dixere silentum The Soul of the Dead had the Name of Lemures Sect. 16. The Lares or perhaps the Geniues are called by Macrobius in his Third Book of the Saturnalia Chap. 4. Penates that is Born together Quasi penes nos natos For as that Author pursues 't is by them that we breath by them that we have our Body and by them that our Soul subsists But 't is better to call them Gods and Governors of Countries to distinguish them from the Lares who were particular to each Family as they were both distinguished from the Geniuses and look'd upon as taking care of the exteriour of Man as the Geniuses did of the interior However it must be confess'd that there is but Confusion and Darkness to be met with in the Books of the Heathens concerning those Names and their pretended Signification they having not well known themselves what they Worshipped as Gods or as Spirits neither need we take much trouble in unravelling what they themselves knew not since the memory both of them and of their Daemons is long since extinguished upon Earth This being the Lot of the Heathens and of their Gods Jeremiah cap. 10. Sect. 17. Whether this last sort of Gods or Spirits were called Genii Manes Penates or Lemures it plainly appears that they believed the Immortality of the Soul which Opinion being confounded with that of Daemons gave occasion to contrive those sorts of Spirits Plato in his Book Of the Soul Entituled Phaedo induces Socrates speaking near his Death in these Words Above all the Soul must be immortal and unperishable and consequently it must go to live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in invisible places or as others pretend to infer from the Etymology of the Word in agreeable Places Marcilius Ficinus has Translated it in Latin apud Manes by the surviving Spirits as I have named them above but a little after he Translates apud Inferos in the Subterraneous Places which proceed from that they placed the Soul of the Deceased under the Earth Cicero in the first Book of the Tusculan Questions Sect. 26. shows both in these Words We believe that the Souls survive because all our Reasonings lead us to that Opinion Reason ought also to teach us where they are whence Ignorance has taken occasion to invent subterraneous places because Bodies being put into the Earth and cover'd with Earth humo whence comes humari to be Buried thereof it has been believed that the Dead still live under the Earth Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same word which the Interpreters of the New Testament sometimes Translate by that of Hell sometimes by that of Grave none of which agrees with the Sense of Socrates or that of Plato For at the end of the forementioned Book Socrates derides Crito who asked him how he would be buried He believes says he That I am that dead Body which he shall see anon signifying that they might indeed Bury his Dead Body but as to him that is his Soul he should pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the assur'd Felicity of the Blessed which very much differs from the Grave or Hell And therefore 't is certain that Socrates who spake so believed the Soul to be Immortal and that Plato who writ his Words was of the same persuasion Sect. 18. But there were others who tho' they were of the same opinion yet having not acquired so much insight into the State of Souls separated from their Bodies invented Transmigrations and Purifications The Druids so famous amongst the Ancient Gauls held together the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transmigration of Souls with their Immortality For they unanimously taught according to the Testimony of Caesar Book 8. Chap. 18. Non interire animas sed ab aliis post mortem transire ad alios Souls die not but that after Death they pass from one to another The antient Egyptians were of the same Opinion and Herodotus writes that they were the first who taught the Immortality of the Soul For says he their sentiment is that the Soul being deprived of the Body passes into another Body which is then born and after she has thus walked through all sorts of Bodies upon Earth in the Sea and in the Air she at last returns into a human Body Thence it was that Pythagoras had his Doctrine which he brought over into Greece whence it passed into Italy Lactantius explains the Opinions of that Philisopher in his Seventh Book de Proemio Chap. 8. In these words Pythagoras as foolishly asserted that the Souls passed into other Bodies from the Bodies of Men into those of Beasts and from those of Beasts into those of Men again and that his own had formerly been that of Euphorbius Plato and several others have partly followed him which we shall be obliged frequently to mention hereafter Sect. 19. But Socrates as Plato relates in the forementioned Treatise which contains his last Words leads the Souls to some places where they shall be Blessed or Tormented without Bodies He sends those who shall have done Good into the Upper and Aetherial Regions where he believes the most pure part of this Orb to be and where the Soul shall Eternally live without the Body in an unexpressible Felicity Whereas he condemns those of the Wicked to the Tartarus which is a deep and frightful Abyss where they shall be punish'd according to their Deserts From that Gulf of Torments he draws four Rivers to which he gives as many Names very fit to express his Notion viz. Oceanus a precipitate Torrent Acheron a Torrent of Torments Pyriphlegeton Conflagration and Cocytus Bemoaning Here Sinners who have not been altogether incorrigible are to be purged with many Pains and Vexations more or less longer or shorter according to their Deserts There you have the original of Purgatory or of that purging Fire still believed by the Roman Church However Socrates gives out that Narration but for a Chimaera For before he begins it he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pretty Fable worth hearing and at the end he says But no Man of Sense ought to maintain that Opinion so as I have related though I esteem it rational and just to show that it goes very near so in reference to our Souls and their Habitations since it plainly appears that the Soul is immortal These Words of a Dying Man who exhorts those that were present to be at all times ready for Death persuade me more and more of what I have already said that the Heathens express'd themselves variously upon these Matters and that they speak otherwise when they consider them in reference to Religion than when they conceive them in relation
upon this Most of the Bramines that are not engaged in any of these two Sects Schaaruakka and Pasenda admit the immortality of human Souls and say that there are some who being separated from the Bodies become Devils because of their sins and that the time of their first punishment being finished they must wander in the Air and there induce an intolerable Hunger it being impossible for them to draw so much as the Leaf of an Herb or to supply their wants with any other thing besides what Men bestow upon them in Charity I had mention'd that Opinion speaking of the Ratsiasias Sect. 21. In a word when we gather all the Observations made in this Chapter and before it to discover the Opinions of the Heathens we find that tho' all their Superstitions be grounded upon very different Causes yet they all tend in the main to the same scope that is to worship one sole Object as the Supream Deity and yet to associate Spirits to him I cannot better express that Thought than by the very words of Carolinus which are as a re-capitulation of what has hitherto been said Some esteem says he that the Souls are mortal others esteem them immortal some establish rhe transmigration of Souls others are not of that Opinion and how much differ those that assert the Metempsychosis between themselves some as those of Java believe that the Soul goes into the first Body she meets with others believe that she is sent into such or such Body according as she has merited by the good or evil she has done which is the Opinion of the Banjanes Some affirm that the Souls change their abode but once others three times and others teach a vast number of Transmigrations others make them pass only into Men who must also be strangers others again send them into Man and Beasts but others at last make them pass only in the Females of Men and Beasts which is the imagination of the Thearauachs others have yet quite different Opinions In a word it may be rightly said upon this subject Many Men many Minds for there are almost as many Opinions as Persons CHAP VIII That the Witchcraft practised amongst the People proceeds from the same source Sect. 8. AS the name of Withcraft is given to whatever is supposed to be done by the help of the Devil I cannot but judge that many persons are called Sorcerers and Witches who perhaps are not so and that this must be ascribed to the same prejudice which I have mentioned before speaking of the worship of Demons And therefore I intend to examine hereafter what these People really are It is sufficient to advertise here before hand that all the Heathens must not be taken for Magicians Sorcerers and Inchanters because many Writers have called them by such names giving them indifferently in their Writings to all the He and She Priests and to all those who discharge any Office Ministry or employment in their Religious Worship and in their Sacrifices But I design to insert in this present Chapter whatever is known to us of their practices or of their communications with any of the inferior Gods or Spirits good or bad Sect. 2. The veneration which that People have for the Sun Moon and Stars is sufficient to establish the choice of Days amongst them whence proceeds whaâ— Peteâ— Vaudenbrook has observed speaking of the Benjanes of Narsinga That as to happy and unhappy â—ours they judge of them by the course of the Stars wâ—â—câ—â—heâ— oâ—sâ—â—â—e with great nicety Trigaltius in 〈…〉 Chap. â—9 says that there is no Su◠〈…〉 in China as that of observing the Feast and Working days and that they rule the whole conduct of their Lives upon the disposition of Time To that end there are Printed every year two sorts of Almanacks made in the Emperor's name by his own Astrologers which contributes to set off this delusion for a Truth there is marked every day what is good to be done or not to be done and to what hour must be deferr'd what offers it self in the intervals of the fortunate or unlucky moments Sect. 2. Carolinus has methinks made a good Abridgment of what follows in Trigaltius which therefore I intend to make use of There are other Books says he besides those that more particularly treat of this matter and even there 's a sort of Teachers which only subsist from what they get in prescribing happy Days and Hours to the Querists thô they have but a small reward for it They are so much bewitcht with those predictions that they often deferr an importunate Affair or a long and dangerous Journey till they have found out a Day or Hour of good Omen And thô it sometimes happens that at that Day or Hour there falls a great Rain or a contrary Wind blows yet for all that they begin the undertaking or journey in their perfixed time should they only proceed 4 steps or dig out but a Basket full of Earth from the place where they intend to lay the Foundation of a House That was also the employment of those that were Anciently called Astrologers and Mathematicians of whom we have spoken before Sect. 4. They are no less superstitiously curious in observing the time of the Birth to foretel the condition of the whole course of ones Life Those calculators of ones Nativity are the same with the Ancient Genethliaci before mentioned Chap. 3. Sect. 4. There are many other Diviners who boast of foreteling future things by the Observation of the Stars by the inspection of the Face by the Dreams by the posture of the enquirer by his manner of sitting or standing and this sort of Men are in great esteem amongst the vulgar Sect 5. Rogerius gives a larger account of what has been said concerning the choice of Days amongst the Chinese which is likewise practised amongst other Nations as especially the Inhabitants of the Coast of Coromandel where they use Almanacks like those of China and call them Paniangam That Author says That they are two sorts one that shows what must be done and the other what must be laid aside at every Hour of the Day of the Week and what shall succeed or not For a Specimen of it he relates the predictions of Sunday from Hour to Hour They reckon in that Country 30 Hours betwixt the Rising and Setting of the Sun 1. Good for all Affairs of Council and Reasoning 2. Undertaking shall prosper 3. Shall not succeed 4. Who means to get an Advantage shall not get it but his Enemy 5. Good for Trading Profitably 6. Good for Rejoycing and Undertaking whatever concern Merriment and Science 7. The Courting of Women shall succeed at a pleasure 8. Trade without gain 9. As the 6th Hour 10. No Project happy 11. Physicks and things taken for Pleasure will not prosper 12. Who aspires after Victory shall obtain it 13. Good for buying Cows and other Beasts 14. Good to take a Servant 15. Bad to enter into a
thô in the Morning they find that he has not touched it Sect. 16. I shall yet give a more particular Relation of the Caraibes drawn from the description made by de la Borde who was sent by the French King with the Jesuit Simon to convert that People what he has in his Relation subservient to our design viz. to know their sentiments concerning the Deity and the Spirits and to be inform'd of their practices is as follows Louquo who was the First Man and Caraibe and consequently the Common-Father of all the others was not made by any but descended from Heaven here below where he liv'd very long He had a great Navel whence he brought out the First Man as well as out of his Thigh making there an Incision There happened many stories during his Life that would be shameful and infamous to be reported he made little Fishes from scraps and little bits of Manjou which he threw into the Sea but the great from great parcels of the same Root He rose again three days after his Death and returned to Heaven Terrestrial Animals are come since but they know not whence They believe that the Heavens have been from all Eternity but not the Earth nor the Sea that neither of them was in that fine disposition in which they now are their mover and first actor Louquo having first made the Earth soft smooth without Mountains but they know not whence he had the matter of it the Moon followed immediatly but eversince she saw the Sun she got away and hid her self for shame and ever since shewed her self but at Night they attribute the Eclipses to Mapoia the wicked Spirit who endeavours to kill them They more esteem the Mâ—on than the Sun and for that Reason rule the days by the Moon and not by the Sun never saying a Month but a Moon nor how many days shall you be on your journey but how many nights shall you sleep abroad Sect. 17. Their Opinion concerning the Demons Inferior Gods and Heroes may easily be learned They believe that all the Stars are Caraibes and that Racunnon was one of the First whom Louquo made he was changed into a great Snake that had a Man's Head and always stood upon a Cabalas which is a very thick hard high and straight Tree but he was since transmuted into a Star Savacon another Caraibe and since a Star is the Captain of the Hurricanes and of Thunder and 't is he that causes great Rains Achinaon a Caraibe and Star causes little Rains and great Winds the Star Couromon raises a Wind that makes the Sea ebb and flow They reckon and mark the Years by the Constellation Chirities which is by them the name of the Pleiades Cavalnia is the Captain of the Zemeans Limacani is a Comet sent by the Captain of the Zemeans to hurt when he is Angry Joalouca or the Rainbow is a Zemean too that makes the Caraibes sick when he finds no Victuals If it appear to them at Sea they take it as a good Omen and say that it comes to accompany them and procure them a good Voyage but if it appears at Land they hide themselves within their Cottages fancying that it is a Foreign Zemean that has no Master that is to say no Piaie and therefore can do nothing but hurt by his Evil Influencies and undoubtedly seeks to kill some body Sect. 18. There are several other things of which they make Zemeans especially such as cause some terrour or amazement as Bats Which they name Boulliri that flie by Night about the Houses they believe that they keep them and that such as kill those Creatures become Sick They have so many sorts of Boule Bonum that is to say bad Omens that I cannot resolve my self to relate all their Trifles and Dreams Sect. 19. Their Religious worship chiefly consists in such Divinations and Witchcrafts as are agreable to their strange notions Assoon as they fall into a Disease they fancy themselves to be bewitch'd and if they can catch the Woman they suspect they kill or cause her to be killed for they commonly assault Women not so freely daring make bold with Men But before they kill her they exercise an unheard of Crueltie upon the poor Wretch their Relations and Friends go to catch her and cause her to rake up the Ground in several places untill she has found what they suppose she has hidden and often that miserable Woman confesses an untruth to free her self from those Tortures When they have gotten that proof of her being a Witch they put her to Death in a most Cruel and Barbarous manner related by the Author who adds that the Caraibes fancy to have several other means to preserve themselves from Witchcraft for Instance They put in a great Gourd Hairs or some bones of their Deceased Relations which they keep in their Carbet for some Witchcraft and say that the Ghost of the Deceased speaks therein and advertises them of the designs of their Enemies Sect. 20. Divinations are made by the means of Zemeans that is to say familiar Spirits Each Picas or Boie having his own and ruling himself by the advices of his detestable Oracles Thus to know the event of their Diseases they cause a Piaice to come at Night who immediatly orders all the Fire of the Cottage to be put out and the suspected Persons to be gone then he withdraws into a Corner where he causes the Sick to be brought and having smoaked a little Tobacco he bruises it in his Hands and blows into the Air shaking and snaking his Fingers 'T is said that the Zemean fails not to come at the smell of that precious Incense and Perfume by the Ministry of the Boie who doubtless is in a compact with the Devil There being interrogated it answers with an audible Voice and as it were at a distance to the Queries put to it Afterwards he comes near the Sick Person strokes and gently handles several times the afflicted part still blowing upon it and sometimes drawing or feigning to draw out of it Thorns little parcels of Manioc Wood Bones or little Fish-bones which his Devil supplyes him with perswading the sick that it was that which caused his pain He often sucks the Aking part and immediatly goes out of the Cottage to spew up says he the Venom Thus the crazy distemper'd is cured rather by Imagination than reallity 'T is observable that he cures neither Agues nor Wounds as those of Arrows or a Knife Not a word is to be said in that Diabolical Assembly nor any noise to be made no not so much as to let a Fart otherwise the Zemean flies away The Caraibes believe that all the time the Piaie goes above and comes back only when the Zemean is gone As a Gratuity they present in their Cottages without other Ceremony the Zemean and the Piaie too for the trouble he has been at in calling out the Spirit some refreshment as some Ouicou and
Names which the Administring Angels seeing said among themselves Let us consult together how we shall do to make Adam Sin against his Creator otherwise he is like to become our Master Sammael who was a great Prince in Heaven she has been before mentioned Ch. 12. S. 8. was present at this Council with the Saints of the first Order and the Seraphins of six Troops Sammael chose some of the twelve Orders to accoâ—â—â—â—ny him and came down below to visit all the Creatures whom God eternally Blessed had created He found none so cunning and so proper to deceive as the Serpent The Author comes afterwards to the Seduction and Fall of Man upon which he tells as many Stories as he has already done So was the Seduction of Man the cause of the fall of the Devil Afterwards he relates how God punished Adam Eve and the Serpent and imposed on each of them his proper Pain He call'd them all three before him charged by his Sentence Adam with nine Curses and condemn'd him to Death but he precipitated Sammael and his whole Troop from the Heavens the abode of his Holiness He cut off the Feet of the Serpent for it had before the shape of a Camel and Sammael rode upon him and he cursed it above all other Beasts and living Creatures That 's the Fall of the Devil according to the Opinion of the Jews for we must not charge this Story upon Eliezer alone The Targums that contain the most ordinary and received explications of their best Doctors mention this Fable in several places Sect. 14. They give yet another original to the Demon feigning him to be issued from Lilis That 's saith Manasse the Name of the Wife of the Devil who according to the Opinion of some had been the Wife of Adam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lilit Is a word to be found in the Holy Scripture Isa 34 14. which our Interpreters translate Satyr the French Lutin and the Dutch Duyuell but we must hear Rabbi Elisha who in his Thisbi has set up the whole Legend We find in some Writings that for one hunderd and thirty years during which Adam abstained from his Wife there came she Devils to him who grew big with Child and brought forth Devils Spirits Hobgoblins and Night Phantasms I find again in other places that the Devils have been brought forth by four Mothers Lilis Naome Ogera and Macholas We likewise read in the Book of Ben Syra Quest 60. that Nebuchadnezar asking him why most Children died within the eighth day of their Birth he answer'd because Lilis kill'd them of which matter there is more largely treated in the same place but I shall not write more of it because I dont credit it By that Narration may be seen how gross the Fictions of the Jewish Doctors are since there are Men amongst 'em who cannot believe them how apt soever that Nation may be to be imposed upon Sect. 15. But as if those four she Devils had not been sufficient to People the World with wicked Spirits they have invented a third sort from what is mention'd Gen. 6.2 That the Sons of God seeing the Daughters of Men that they were fair took for Wives such as they liked From very ancient times the Jews by those Sons of God understand the Angels Wherefore Josephus says in his first Book of the Jewish Antiquities Chap. 4. That several Angels of God mixing themselves with Women begot a very insolent Generation He even knows the Names of those Angels that were carried to that excess of Letchery Aza and Azael were the chiefest amongst them being both enamour'd with the Beauty of Naema Cain's Daughter Thence proceeded the Giants mention'd in the same place of the Holy Writ who as we may infer from that Narration must have been half Devils and half Men. Asmodee the wicked Spirit of Sara Daughter to Raguel of whom mention is made in the Book of Tobit was likewise issued from that Marriage but others affirm him to be Sammael If it be asked how Spirits have the faculty of Generating Eliezer explains that difficulty in his 22th Chapter When they were thrown down from their Holy abode their strength and shape became like to that of Men. Sect. 16. But not to fill up this Book with Tales they had rather imagine as some Heathens have done Chap. 2. S. 12. that those wicked Spirits are half Angels and half Men. Whereupon Vorstius in his Notes upon Rabbi Eliezer relates the following words taken from Rabbi Scheem Toob in that place where Rabi Nitron speaks of Lilis The power of the Devils Night Phantasms and Wicked Spirits which we sometimes see in a human shape proceeds from the concourse of that Chief of theirs and as to their state the Opinion of the Learned is that they resemble Men as much as they do Angels because on the one side they are not such a subtle substance as those of the other Spirits and on the other they are not composed of such a gross matter as that of Men. If we desire to know why those cursed Creatures are called by the Jewish Doctors sometimes Spirits and sometimes Male and Female as tho' they were Men the same Toob will tell us in his 5th Chapter as Vorstius relates in the 22th Chapter of Rabi Eliezer where he speaks of a second Order of Spirits consider'd as distinguished into ten Orders From that Order proceeds in the Universe two sorts of Spirits of Error or Satyrs who behave themselves like Men who appear to them in their Dreams in the shape of handsome Women transforming themselves now into Men then Women Sect. 17 'T is now time to learn their Opinion concerning human Souls at least if they understand themselves distinctly enough to inform us of it For it already appears from what I have quoted out of Philo Sect. 12. that the most Learned do not stick to an accurate distinction betwixt Angels and Souls And Josephus that famous Historian almost as ancient as that other Author says in his seventh Book of the Wars of the Jews Chap. 25. That the Spirits called Daemons are those of the worst of Men who fall upon the living and kill them if not hindred from it Thence it appears that he ascribes something Corporeal to those Spirits so much the more that he fancies that they may be expell'd by the Root Baaras or by some other formerly shewed by Solomon as the same Author intimates in his eighth Book of the Jewish Antiquities But I am to make a large mention of that sort of Enchantment in the following Chapter Sect. 18. The Book which the learned Hoornbeck has written against the Jews contains in short their Opinions as to the Nature and Original of Souls Their Opinion says he Pag. 319. is that the Souls were all created together with the Light the first day of the Creation and not only that they were Created together but by Couples the Soul of a Man and that of a Woman so that
or less enamour'd with corruptible things however in that number are not comprehended those of whom 't is said that they shall not possess the Kingdom of God unless by a convenient Repentance they obtain forgiveness of their Sins Sect. 29. We come down to the 5th Age in which we meet with Theodoret who sufficiently explains as to our design the Opinions of the Doctors of his time concerning good and bad Angels for he proposes to us what he thinks of the Angels properly so call'd as well in reference to their Nature as to their Understanding and Administration As to the first point he holds that though they are not Corporeal yet they are Circumscribed and contained in a certain determinate place as he asserts in his 3d Question upon Genesis The Reason of this Opinion is that he supposes every Angel has some proper Administration and is entrusted with the care either of a Nation or Person but he makes still a more particular distinction in his 10th Exposition upon Daniel putting a Man under the guard of a common Angel and a whole Nation under that of an Angel of a Superior Order As to their Understanding he briefly explains his Mind in these Words Let none be surprised at what I assert as to the Ignorance of the Heavenly Spirits for they neither know future nor other things it only belonging to the Divine Nature but as to Angels Archangels and other Coelestial Spirits they know no more than what they learn and therefore the Holy Apostle speaking of them in the the third Chapter to the Ephesians v. 10. says That to Principalities and Powers in the Heavenly Places c. See his Commentary on the 24th Psalm Sect. 30. Theodoret speaks afterwards of the Demons in the same manner for he holds them not capable of making true Predictions He says upon Ezekiel Sect. 8. That the Demons know nothing before it happens unless it be by guessing and yet they venture to foretell He nevertheless owns in his tenth Book of Oracles that the Spirits have foretold something true but by the Stars For says he whatever the Gods of the Heathens say if it happens that they speak agreeably to the Concatenation of things they must needs gather that knowledge from the Stars which undoubtedly was done by such Gods as declared some things that afterwards fell out 'T is evident that by Demons he understands in general wicked Spirits who cause themselves to be venerated as Gods and gave false Oracles to keep up their Authority and the Credit in which they were amongst the Heathens That Opinion was the most common amongst the Ancients and is in being even to this day as we shall show hereafter Sect. 31. The Opinion of that time upon the original of the wicked Race was that they issued from the Conversation of the Angels with Women Severus Sulpitius relates it not as a particular Belief or as received by some Doctors only but as a Story credited by all Christians for at the beginning of his Ecclesiastical History he presumes to assert it upon the Authority of Josephus as much as if he had been present His words are In that time that is after the Birth of Noah Mankind multiplying exceedingly the Angels whose abode was in Heaven being enamour'd with the Beauty of young Virgins plunged themselves in unlawful pleasures forsook the Supream Region whose Inhabitants they were and ally themselves by Marriages with mortal Women by that unhappy Cohabitation and their depraved Morals they corrupted Mankind by degrees and from thence the Giants are said to be born for the mixture of such different natures must needs produce Monsters Sect. 32. As to the state of Souls separated from their Body the Angels and wicked Spirits this Age affords nothing but what has been observed speaking of the foregoing Centuries Wherefore we descend to Gregory the Great who in the 7th Century joyn'd his particular Opinions to the former He was Bishop of Rome and his Memory is still in great Veneration in that Church tho' he took it very ill that John the Father Bishop of Constantinople and his Contemporary should have presumed to take upon him the Name of Vniversal Bishop to which he believed not that any Bishop had a right and even held it for a Mark of Antichrist Besides 't is not without Reason that the Roman Church makes so much of him For he has taken care to provide her with many Legends so suitable to her Humour and Palate and upon which she has put so great a value that she multiplies them every year And indeed St. Gregory was not contented with the Fables of Origen and other Doctors of which mention has been made but he admitted whatever had been proposed hitherto as Doubts and Questions which he passed into Determinations and Decrees And as tho' what had been maintained before had not been sufficient he thought fit to add something of his own So that since his time there were not only 9 Orders of Angels but they knew also the Degrees of each viz. Angels Archangels Virtue Powers Principalities Dominions Thrones Cherubims and Seraphims as is to be found in his 34th Homily upon the Gospels The Schoolmen that have followed him fail not to take much pains to treat of each of these Angelical orders and to break their head with them in which I intend not to imitate them Sect. 33. It must be observed that at that time the curiosity to know whither Souls went after Death gave occasion by degrees to invent Purgatory the discovery of which has been so far finished amongst the Papists that they go now thither by thousands Boetius a Roman Consul who lived about 63 years before the Pontificate of Gregory begun in his 4th Book Prosa 4. to give some Notion of that place by the Answer he makes to the following Question Does there in your Opinion remain no punishment for the Soul after her separation from the Body To which he Answers Yes doubtless and even 't is not a slight Pain for I hold that some Souls are very severely punished whereas others are purified by Grace As to Gregory himself who from a Souldier became Pope he blows heat and cold from the same Mouth with as much sickliness and levity as the Wind against the Custom of the Popes who use to decide so positively and boldly Upon the 7th Chapter of Job giving advice to a Sinner he saith That there is no human Eye that is no Grace of the Redeemer that casts looks upon the Soul after she has laid off the Flesh And farther he adds That when Holy or wicked Spirit receives at the point of Death a Soul departing from her bodily Prison she remains for ever and without hopes of any Change in the hands of him that has taken her so that when she 's once raised to Glory she can never fall again into Pain and Torments whereas when she is once cast down into the Eternal Abyss she can never come
Souls in whatsoever place they may be expect those that are entred into Heaven or into Hell appear to Men p. 253. We see that he will not much trouble us with Purgatory and instead of perplexing himself with a determin'd place he chooses rather to be at large in placeing Souls in loco dispensationis in a place of dispensation such as the Schoolmen have forged it whose Opinion some of ours find not condemnable in what place soever those Souls may be the Papists believe certainly that they appear often to Men to the ends that have been mentioned It is also the common Opinion that the greatest part of the Souls are not those that are in Paradise or in Hell but those that dwel between those two places or in Purgatory for frequent journeys from Heaven to Earth would too much disturb the repose of the Souls that are there and Hell keep its Captives too closely confin'd to give them so much liberty and if it be permitted me to divert the publick I shall say it would bring no profit to the Churches Coffers whose fire of Purgatory makes the pot boyl much better then all the flames of Hell do or all the heat of the Celestial fire Sect. 7. If one would know what all those fantoms do in the World Schottus will not fail to inform you and even to mark with a great deal of care and exactness many different manners in which they shew themselves p. 269 c. First They appear to the sight under divers figures as well of Men as of Beasts or frightful Monsters Second The Ears are often struck without seeing any thing and even sometimes in such an extraordinary manner that it causes astonishment and fear p. 271. Third The touch has it's share in it if what the Author says be true That they move them sometimes to touch Men without doing them any harm but at other times they push them so that they drive them with violence they make them fall down bruise them and beat them that they even trouble them and tempt them to Letchery p. 273. Sect. 8. It is likewise necessary to know that which is written Concerning the figure of bodies in which Phantasms appear he says p. 287. That the Abbot Trithemeus Thyreus Delrius and others whence it apperrs that it is the common Opinion relate Certain signs by which one may know if whether Spirits who present themselves in a corporeal form are Angels or Men good Angels or Devils Souls of the blessed or damned or Souls which are in Purgatory to be purified there However he affords not a very ample instruction upon this point for the chief matter that he says of it is That the Souls of the blessed appear with an Air of content and joy that the Souls which are in Purgatory have a more doleful countenance but that those of the damned have a more frightful aspect with signs of despair And thô it be the common Opinion that there are always some defects or something disfigured in the body in which the Devil presents himself notwithstanding neither our Jesuit nor Delrius holds it for certain see that which the first puts for certain and as generally believed p. 291. It is that when the Devil appears and speaks he always speaks the language of the Country where he is so that he must understand more languages than Mithridates or every Devil can appear but in his proper Country But the voice of a Specter is always perplex'd trembling weak and as muttering as thô it were understood through a Tub or through the cheft of an Earthen Vessel for says Schottus The Devil can speak no better See according to this Author and those of his belief a good mark to know him Sect. 9. We must not omit that which is given out as a thing certain that a Phantasm feels always cold when one touches it Cardan Alexander ab Alexandro are witnesses that affirm it and Cajetan gives a reason that he has learned from the Devil 's own mouth who being asked by a Witch concerning this subject answer'd that the thing must needs be so and that it could not be otherwise the Cardinal explained the words of the Devil in this sense that he will not communicate to a body he takes that moderate heat which is so agreeable or that God will not permit him The Witch was contented with that positive answer without putting the Question further Sect. 10. The Question now is to know who they are which oftenest see Specters our Author answers pertinently to this Question p. 292 and 293. And his words deserve very well to be reported as they are The Souls which are in Purgatory appear rather to the Faithful then to the Excommunicated or to Infidels and among these first they appear rather to their Parents to their Allies and to those which belong to them in any manner whatsoever then they do to Strangers because that they hope for succor from them which they cannot hope from others The Souls of the damned appear particularly to those which have been the cause of their loss and of the torments they suffer The apparitions of Devils are made also with reference to the ruins of those they persecute and their ill will for Mankind whom they take pleasure to torment On the first respect those who are charged with a greater number of Sins have most to suffer in the second the most Virtuous Men are the more exposed to their attacks Sect. 11. After the Specters let us come to the possessest refering the remedies against these two accidents to the following Chapter That which happens to the possest gives occasion to know more particularly what the Devil can act Possessing says Schottus is an inevitable torment to Man from the Devil which is in his body who acts there and keeps him in his power for a certain time p. 521. Which he unfolds more particularly afterwards but as there has been lately published an History of the Devils of Loudun and of a possession very famous said to have happened in the Town the circumstances of which give a great deal of light upon this point we will alledge that which will be proper for this subject referring a more strict examination to our 4th Book which we shall not be afraid to do nothwithstanding the Author appears to be a Protestant because that the most part of the stories this History contains are gathered from many Ecclesiastick Books where they are grounded upon Authentick publick acts and that the possession was declared true by a decree of the Bishop It was also confirm'd by the blood of a Priest who was executed for a Magician after having been condemn'd by an act made by a sentence of Judges Commissioner sent by the French King to examine this affair see then yet what Schottus says p. 533. c. First That a Man may be possest by all sorts of evil Spirits of what order soever they may be for it has been said in
the Creator and the Creature we are obliged more particularly to examine how much the increated Spirit differs from those that are created and amongst these last how much those that are immaterial and those that are united with a Body differ from each other Sect. 7. However such a difficult piece of work cannot be undertaken without knowing the different Opinions and Practices upon this Subject and without special Considerations upon them Now whoever shall reflect upon what is said and practic'd as to this matter through all the World and withall upon the converse which Men may have with the Spirits and the Operations that may attend them he will undoubtedly desire to be well informed of all these things that he may distinguish betwixt the Truth and Falshood of those Opinions and what is lawful and unlawful in those Practices For these Reasons I describe all the Sentiments that have been receiv'd amongst Men in all Ages and Places whatsoever concerning God and the Spirits what means Men have made use of to conjure them up and down and what they may be able to operate by the help of those Spirits whence proceeds a sufficient matter for a more particular examination of what sound Reason and the Holy Scripture teach us as to this Point and what experience testifies of it Sect. 8. To treat of these things methodically I have divided this Treatise into four Books In the first I propose the Opinions and Customs of all Nations in all Ages Countries and Religions concerning the Deity and the good and bad Spirits I say the Opinions and Customs for in the matter we undertake to treat of we must take a special notice of these two things the Knowledge and the Action Since no Fruit can be perceived from the Knowledge but by putting it into Practice Besides we fee every where that the Behaviour of Men either in the Words or Actions has a relation to the Doctrines they have been taught For this Reason I have again divided in two parts the examination of what is contained in the first Book In the first part I enquire what Knowledge may be had or Spirits of their Power and Operations according to Reason and the Holy Scripture which Enquiry is the matter of the Second Book In the other part which is the subject of the Third Book I examine those Sciences that are said to be grounded thereupon as Witchcraft Divination Conjuring and the like Moreover as Men use to have recourse to experience not only in things which are not discover'd by Reason and of which the Holy Scripture is silent but also especially in this Case in which Reason and the Holy Writ are made to speak according to the certainty which we suppose to have acquired by Experience This Consideration has furnished me with the matter of the Fourth Book in which I examine all that Men testifie ever to have experienced in themselves or profess to have done CHAP. II. That the opinions of the Heathens concerning God and Spirits are to be found in Greek and Latin Authors Sect. 1. THat we may the better search into the bottom of this matter it will not methinks prove unserviceable First to examine the various Opinions of other Nations and then those that are receiv'd amongst us As to Foreign Nations we have to consider those that are not Christians and such Christians as may be called Spurious The First are the Heathens who never worshiped one true God or the Mahometans who keep as the mean betwixt them and us or the Jews who Worship one God only The others are Christians who are extreamly corrupted and plung'd into strange Errors both as to the belief and to their Worship such as those of the Roman Communion After we have observ'd the disposition of all these Nations she shall more easily examine what is believed and practised amongst us As to the Heathens we must distinguish betwixt the Customs that were formerly in use in those Countries in which Christianity is at present establish'd and betwixt those that are still practised amongst those Nations that have not yet been illuminated with the light of the Gospel We shall now proceed in that order Sect. 2. Europe which is now most or all Christians and those parts of Asia and Africa which are in the Turks possession and of which very near one half professes the Christian Faith were formerly buryed under the frightful Darkness of Paganism as are still most or all the rest of the World Formerly the Greeks who inhabited those Countries that are in the Grand Seignior's Dominions were the most famous People in the World by reason of their Learning and Religious Worship Next to them came the Romans and most of the Nations who still keep Communion with the Pope of Rome For proportionably as the Romans extended the limits of their Empire so they subjected the conquer'd Nations to the Worship of their Gods and to their Religion so that their Doctrine and Worship spread every where and drew to themselves an Universal Awe and Veneration From them therefore we must know the Customs of our Forefathers in the time of Heathenism but we cannot accurately discover what was their Belief concerning Spirits unless we know at least in general their Opinions and Practices concerning God and inferiour Deities Sect. 3. But the great difference and Divisions that were amongst the Heathens themselves upon this Account leave us extreamly in the Dark as to the Opinions that are to be ascribed to them However we may agree upon this viz. to take that stupendous number of differencies for an Uniformity so that it may he affirmed that in all Ages the Pagans have Unanimously believed that there is but one Sovereign God the First Universal cause of all things since the First Doctors of their most famous Schools and the heads of their principal Sects have generally taught this Doctrine to their Disciples The Opinion of Pythagoras that Old Father of the Pagan Religion may be seen in Lactantius who writing against the Heathens did doubtless not intend to spare them however he says that Pythagoras owned one God an immaterial Spirit diffused and extended through all Nature who gives Life and Sense to all beings Plato who has deserved the name of Wise by all the succeeding Ages agrees with him as to this point as appears by his discourse to the Athenians in his four Books of the Laws Gentlemen says he God in whom according to the Ancient Testimonies is the beginning the middle and the end of all things penetrates every where c. And Aristotle his great Disciple who for Two Thousand Years has been esteemed the Prince of Philosophers plainly sayes in his First Book of Metaphysicks Chap. the 7th that God is Eternal and perfectly good so that the Eternal and Infinite Life consists in him From this capital point they infer this other Belief that the good and evil which befal Men proceed from the First and Universal Deity as Plato
to produce effects by the power of Herbs Stones and other things of the same kind Moreover says again Agrippa for that Reason Natural Magick is that which penetrates the Virtues of all Natural things and which with a subtle discerning having exactly searched into their Indurations and Sympathies discovers so far their secret powers that by them it produces wonders which amaze Humane understanding not so much by Art as Nature to which as to its Soveraign Art submits it self and only lends her the helping Hand Thus we can by Natural ways produce ripe Fruits before their Season and even infects only by supplying the want of time by Natural means unknown to other Men as it is done thô in a less Degree of perfection by Gardners each of whom strives to be the first in getting early Fruits helping Nature by Art and still however by the means of Nature her self The difference only consists in this that a Magus who wholly gives up himself to his study penetrates much farther into the knowledge of the power of Nature than the Vulgar and even those learned who care not to take that trouble upon them But as all these things are done without the particular assistance and concourse of God and the Spirits they concern not the present question however we mention them that we may learn to distinguish them from the subject in Hand and all it's dependencies of which we intend to give a clear and undeniable notion Sect. 4. We have hitherto seen the Magick of the Pagans included within the bounds of Nature Now I desire the Reader to remember what I have said in my Commentary upon Daniel Sect. 26. viz. That to the Magick antiently in use Mathematicks Physick and Divinity were ordinarily conjoyned some giving up themselves to one of those Sciences and others to another whence proceeded a difference of Names betwixt the Students of Magick some of whom were called Mathematicians and others Physicians or by a more odious name Poisoners The former applyed themselve chiefly to perform wonderful things and the others to perpetrate Wickedness Amongst their Wonders may be counted the Wooden Dove of Architas that fly'd and the Statues of Mercury that spake but the imployment of Poisoners was to annoy Men their Goods and their Beasts by many things commonly unknown And having learned the Virtues and Properties of them by their Study they put them in use in such a concealed and imperceptible way that one could scatce belieye what he saw effected and this is what they really operated But as to what they boasted of besides or perhaps imagin'd themselves capable of it was that by the virtues of Simples and some other Drugs mixed together they could transform Men into Beasts Beasts into Men Beasts and Men into other Beasts and Men conjure up Ghosts or raise the Dead out of their Graves c. Sect. 5. Now we must speak of Magick meerly Artificial which may rightly be so called because Nature has no share in it but that is a work of Art alone which however presupposes Nature one may also very fitly give the names of Witchcraft Conjuration and Inchanting in general to all the various practises that are made of it for we call Witchcraft whatever is operated by the power of the Devil with the communication of Men which is never done without using some sort of Conjuration and Inchanting That Art which required of its Professors a particular way of living always consisted in the use of some certain Signs and Words that they utter'd or wrote and in extraordinary Gestures in consideration of which the Demons were ready at all times to discover to them hidden things and to operate in their behalf supernatural Wonders This was therefore the opinion of the Heathens that besides natural Magick they believed themselves capable of producing the most wonderful effects by the power of Demons whom they knew how to make comply by their Conjurations to whatever they desired Sect. 6. We must carefully observe this because natural Magick is not commonly accurately distinguished from the Artificial either by the Antients or by the Moderns and that which belongs to one is frequently attributed to the other even those that meddle with it having committed as many mistakes as the others For some of them says Agrippa are come to that heighth of Folly as to believe that by the different Concourse and Aspects of the Stars with the interposition of time and proportions duely observed they may in a certain instant acquire a sensible Idaea of Celestial things and a Spirit of Life and Understanding which being Interrogated by them will give them Answers and discover 'em hidden things On the other side they ascribe to Nature what is above her power which I cannot better express than by the very words of Agrippa who proceeds thus I desire you to take notice that those Magicians not only rake up into natural things but even in a manner remove Nature out of her place which they endeavour to do by Motions by Numbers by Gestures by Sounds by Voices by Congregations by Lights by the Inclinations of the Mind and by Words Thus it was that the Inhabitants of Psilli and Marsi conjured Serpents and put them to flight thus Orpheus by his singing allay'd the Tempests for the sake of the Argonauts Thus as Homer relates by some certain words the blood of Vlysses was stopp'd There was a punishment ordained by the Law of the 12 Tables to those that should use such sort of Inchantments against Corn. Sect. 7. It must not seem strange to us that things should be so in the Pagans time for Magick consider'd in general and in it self was esteemed because of its depth and honoured as Divine taking the word in the sense of the Heathens and as it may be attributed to their Deities which have been desâ—ribed before Besides Magick was reverenced because of Efficacy and Power beloved for its serviceableness in the good use of it but hated and detested by reason of its malignity and the disturbance it caused when it was abused The same Agrippa will tell us in the words of Porphyry which was the opinion of the most ingenious Heathens upon that subject Porphyry says he treating of Witchcraft and of the Magick of Divine things concludes at last that it may render the Souls of Men capable of receiving Spirits and Angels but he absolutely denies that one may approach God by that Art CHAP. V. That we see still amongst the present Pagans the same Doctrines and Practices WE have spoken as much as it was necessary for our subject of the Doctrines of the Antient Paganism which reigned in the Countries we inhabit We have also spoken of the Nations who introduced most of those Arts and Sciences of which we treat It is now fit to consider the Modern Heathens to know how far their Sentiments and Practises concerning Spirits can reach without the Light of the Holy Scripture which never shined upon them
for their Sins to wander in the World and to suffer Hunger and Thirst which they cannot satisfie but by the Alms that Men hand them Wherefore they often appear in a human shape to beg something from them but they have no power to hurt them Besides these there is another sort of Devils or Ratsiasias properly so called because they are the Children of Aditi and are very Malitious They have power to molest Men and even to cause much trouble and vexation to the Angels or Deuetas They may walk every where except save in the abode of Brama and in the Heavens They are described with huge frightful and stinking Bodies they are said to be Male and Female to procreate Children and to be subject to Death Sect. 14. There 's enough concerning the Demons of the Pagans of Asia but as most of those Nations are Pythagoreans and believe the Metempsychosis they also supply us with Heroes For says Baldaeius in his Book of the Idolatry of the East Indies the Modern Heathens believe that Man is happier in this Life than the Beasts by reason that he has a Body by which the Soul may exert her Operation but they agree not that a Man is more noble than a Beast nor that he has a Soul more excellent than it has And when they are ask'd why Beasts reason not they answer because they have not Bodies capable of exerting the qualities of a Soul as a Dumb Man who wants a proper Organ to utter Words and may be nevertheless very Wise or as some People who have a great deal of Knowledge and Learning but have no more readinesâ— to express themselves than Children who cannot do it He that shall Read this will be less surprised at what follows Sect. 15. Nothing certain can be said of the Japanders because the Jesuits who relate their Opinions agree not together It appears however that there are amongst that People three sorts of Opinions concerning human Souls and their Essence The first is That the Soul of Man differs not from that of Beasts The second That Men have a Soul of another Nature than that of Beasts but still Mortal The third That the Soul is Immortal They likewise believe the Metempsychosis and that the Soul going out of the Body is determined to enter into another Body either of Man or Beast by the conjunction that is then made of the Sun and Moon with other Stars Sect. 16. The Chinese are likewise Pythagoreans Martinius testifies it very plainly as to one of their Sects in these Words Chiquiao is a Sect which our People esteem to be the first introduced in China after the Birth of our Saviour They believe the exchanges of Souls inwardly and outwardly They Honour Images and imagine that the Soul after Death passes in punishment of her Sins from one body into another for which reason they abstain from what ever has had life That Narration is confirmed by Trigaltius who says That the Parents are not afraid of killing their Children to be discharged of them when they are incumbred with too many asserting that by that means they procure them a better Condition since instead of Poverty they afford them by Death the occasion of going into other Bodies and being Born again in the House of Richer People where they will live more at ease The Peguans seem to have the same Sentiment by the Relation Piuto when by the Tomb of their Rolym or High-Priest they let loose a great many Birds and Fishes which they kept Prisoners believing them to be as many human Souls who will keep company to their Rolym in his way to the other World Besides we read in Corolinus out of Artus in his Speculum Mundi That the Wise Men of China have invented three places for those that depart this Life Nachac is a place of Torment Schuum one of Delights such as the Paradise of Mahomet and Miba or Nibam signifies an entire privation of being or a full Destruction of Body and Soul All the Souls have their abode in the two first places or depart from thence to go to and fro through the World and often pass from one Body into another by new Birth until they deserve to enter into the Nibam that is to be annihilated Le Blanc speaks of it somewhat differently in a Relation extracted from a Franciscan Monk He says That the Chinese believe that Men become Gods at last after they have passed through the Bodies of several Beasts Birds and Fishes and that they imagine that the Souls after the course of many Ages having been well purified in some proper places and returned several times into new Worlds are at last introduced into Paradise cast down to Hell or reduced to nothing Sect. 18. As to the Opinion of the Siamese in this point we must learn it from the Relation of the Jesuits in their Journey to Siam in the years 1685. and 1686. because that Book is the newest and much credited Thus then writes Tachard p 297 298. Edit Amsteled Metempsychosis is one of the Fundamental Points of their Religion so that the Life of Man passes in continual Transmigrations untill he be sanctified and deserves to be God They admit of Spirits but such as are nothing else than Souls who always inform some Bodies until they have attained to Holiness or Deity Angels are Corporeal and of different Sexes and consequently may beget Sons and Daughters Those Angels are never Sanctified nor Deified but to them only belongs to watch over the Government of the World and the preservation of Men. They distribute them into seven Orders or Hierarchies some of which are more perfect and noble than the others all which they place in as many different Heavens Each part of the World has one of those Intelligences to preside over what is done there They likewise impart them to Stars to the Earth to Cities Mountains and Forests and even to the Winds and Rain And because they are perswaded that those Angels examine the conduct of Men and are witnesses of all their actions to reward those that are commendable by vertue of the merits of their God It is therefore to those Intelligences and not to their God that they use to apply themselves in their necessities and miseries and to thank them for the favours they suppose to have received from them Sect. 19. They acknowledge no other Demons but the Souls of the wicked who making their escape out of the Hell in which they were detained wander through the World a certain time and do as much hurt to Men as they can Amongst those unhappy Spirits they rank untimely Births Women dying in Childbed those that are killed in a Duel or guilty of some crime of that nature Sect. 20. The Heathens of Java believe likewise Metempsychosis as well as those of Sumatra the Malabars and the Inhabitants of the Coast of Cormandel All the Benjanes in the hither East-Indies agree upon no Article of Religion better than
of the first operating by the last and that they hold the Celestial Bodies for Gods because they act upon the sublunary which are of a particular and necessary use to Mankind Thus the Heathens endeavour each according to his fancy to acknowledge a Deity in Heaven and to adore it upon Earth Sect. 8. The immortality of the Soul the punishment of the wickâ—d and the rewards of pious Men after this Life are generally believed in Peru but not the Resurrection of the dead says Montanus pag. 307. However 't is strange that a People who have such a gross Religion and such material Gods should nevertheless believe that the Soul subsists tho' they hear nothing of it after the death of the Body and that they could not imagine that the Body which subsists still for some time before their Eyes though without Life can return to its first State as Trees Herbs and Plants which dye and revive Sect. 9. The Statues of their Gods that are of many strange Figures and some very frightful are used to utter Oracles in their Pagodes Some says Montanus give their Answers as formerly did the Diabolical Oracles of Delphos and Dodona he calls them Diabolical following the common Opinion that the Oracles of the Heathens were not pronounced by God but by the Devil But it may be seen in the Book of Anthony Vandale of Oracles how little ground that Opinion has and we shall also treat of it in its proper place Sect. 10. As to their practices no people is so much esteemed in Peru as those we call Exorcistâ— Magicians and Diviners because they discover private Robberies even such as are committed in very remote Countreys and foretell good or bad fortune which happâ—â—s saith Montanus by their converse with wicked Spirits in dark places They declared to the Spaniards the victories their Country-men obtained or the Battles they lost in the Low Countries the very same day that they were fought There are also in Peru many She Diviners who shut themselves in their Houses where they make themselves drunk with Chica mixed with the Herb Vilca till they fall down on the place and when they awake and come to themselves again they answer all the Questions that are proposed to them Sect. 11. The Cannibals who take the Name of Caraibes and dwell to the North of Southern America acknowledge the Sun for their Soveraign God but in the mean while each Bâ—ie or Priest has his own which he calls out to himself in the most frightful Nights by Songs or inchanted Verses in the midst of the smoak of Tobacco The Devil says Montanus but I would rather say the Spirit utters his Oracles by the means of dead bones wrap'd up in Cotton Those Heathens have at all times but especially in case of death much to endure from the Piais or Magicians but methinks Montanus had express'd himself better had he said Priests rather then Magicians One of the greatest disturbances they cause is that when they are consulted they persuade People that such or such has caused them to interrogate such a deceased which incites the nearest Relations of the deceased to avenge themselves of those that have disturbed his Rest by that action Sect. 12. Montanus adds to this also The Caraibes follow a most strange Opinion concerning the Soul every one believes to have as many Souls as beatings of the heart The chief of which is still the Heart it self which after the death goes to Icheiri or the God that is particular to him where he lives in the same condition that he has done upon Earth for which reason they kill the Servants upon the Tomb of their Masters to go and Minister to them in the other World The other Souls that consist in Beatings of the Heart have two sorts of abode The Maboias wander in Deserts and Woods and the Ormiceous keep along the Sea and overturn Vessels The Souls of warlike Heroes go into the fortunate Islands where the Arouages are their Slaves Bloâ—dy Cruel Mâ—n go out of this life eternally to wander in dry Wildernesses behind high Mountains to carry the Yoak of the Arouages a People that was expell'd out of its ancient abode if we believe the account that is given of their Destruction From all this it appears that this Nation acknowledges almost no other God but their own Souls of which they have very near the same Sentiments that the ancient Greeks had of their Demons and Heroes Sect. 13. Richard Blome an English Author has published of late in his America a large account of the Opinions and Practices of the Carabes where he speaks of the Isle of St Vincent They have says he some Natural Notion of a Deity or Supream Being but who is too much pleased with the enjoyment of the Soveraign Happiness to disturb himself with the Wicked Actions of Men and whose Goodness is so great that he is averse from avenging himself of his Enemies when they refuse to pay the Honour due to him They likewise believe that there are good and bad Spirits and that the Good are Gods each of whom has his particular Admistration but that the Vniverse was not created by them tho' every one of them may be the Creator of the Country where he is venerated and which he governs Sect. 14. They never call upon their Gods but to let them come to them which is done by the Ministry of the Priests and for the 4 following reasons First to be aveng'd for some injury received Secondly to be cured of their Diseases Thirdly to learn the success of the War Fourthly to expel the great Devil or rather the wicked God Mapoia whom they never adore Thence may be inferr'd that they believe good and bad Spirits besides they acknowledge the immortality of the Soul which Opinion is the Original of Demons and Heroes since as they suppose they are the Souls of the Deceased which they call to their assistance against their Enemies Sect. 15. The Description of their Witchcraft is to be found in the same place after this manner When their Priests call upon many of their Gods together they seem to dispute and quarrel with one another so far as to come to blows somtimes they hide themselves amongst Dead bones which they draw out of Graves and wrap up in Cotton whence they utter their Oracles They use that Witchcraft to bewitch their Enemies for which purpose the Witches must have somthing that has belong'd to the party to be bewitched the Spirit seizes sometimes upon the body of those Women whence they give formal answers to whatever is proposed to them They serve up Meat to those Spirits in places separated from the Commerce that is kept with them The Boy or Priest that has brought it being gone out they hear the Dish move and the Devil according to Blome or the God according to that People moves the Jaws and makes a great noise as if he chewed the Meat that has been served to him
Cassavies upon a Matouton or little Table having them there all the Night if in the Morning they find if untouch'd they nevertheless perswade themselves that the Zemean has fed upon it but has only Eaten and Drunken the Spiritual part whereas if all be consum'd for which the Priest never fails to provide as much as lies in his power 't is the Zemean that has Eaten it up They likewise never make a Feast but the Zemean has his portion Sect. 21. Going over into the Continent of Northern America we meet with the Mexicons the most considerable People of the Country Thomas Gage an Englishman who became a White-Fryar in Spain and is a judicious and credible Author saving in what concerns the superstitions of Popery says in the 20th Chap. of his First Book That there are above 2000 Gods in the Town of Mexico the chief of whom were called Visilopuchli and Tescatlipuca A little after the Author adds They believed that those two Idols were two Brothers that Tescatlipuca was the God of Providence and Visilopuchli that of the the War for which Reasons they worshiped and honoured them both above all the others He also mentions another God whom they extreamly venerated he had spoken in the foregoing Chapter of Quetavatlei the God of Light I know not whether this last is Quetsaolcoalt whom Montanus calls the Gods of Merchants Sect. 22. Going thence to Guatimale and Amatitlum under the Dominion of Spain The same Author speaks much of the Magick of the Inhabitants which they have neither forgotten nor forsaken thô they make an outward profession of Christianity to show that they meddle with Divination he relates that they observe whether they are the First that see the Beasts going before them in their way That they likewise observe the flight of Birds and whether they sing out of their season about their abode they also believe that their Life depends on that of some Beasts which they keep in their Houses as a Familiar Spirit so far that they are seized with terror and shake whence 't is pursued by Hunters and fall into a Swoon when 't is caught Sect. 23. Going over from New-Spain into New-England we shall be sufficiently inform'd by the Relation of Richard Blome who says that the Inhabitants of that Country thô the dulest and most Savage People in the World have nevertheless Gods Priests and a certain form of worship The First and most venerated of their Gods is that who does them most hurt whom they call Okea they converse with him and he transforms himself into their shape they likewise adore whatever they think able to cause them an unavoidable damage as Water Fire Thunder Lightning great and small Guns Horses the Hedghog at whose sight they were most frighted the First time the English brought one thither They believe it to be the God of Swines and that they had undoubtedly incens'd him When they design to make War they consult with the Priests and Diviners before they undertake it Sect. 24. The same Author relates almost the same things of New-York formerly call'd the New-Netherlands he especially reports the manner of their Inchantments and discovers their Cheat of which we shall speak in the last part of this work but we may put here what he says of the Marylanders They believe a Soveraign God who has made all things from all Eternity and even Inferior Gods of different dignities to make use of their Ministry such are the Sun the Moon and the Stars they believe that all things have been formed of Water but that Men had their Original from four Children whom the First Woman in the World conceived from one of these Gods Sect. 25. As to the Souls they believe that those of the Virtuous are taken up to the Gods to enjoy an Eternal happiness but that the Souls of those who have led a wicked Life go to burn for ever in the Popogusso or that extremity of the World where the Sun sets down Upon this subject they recite That they perceived a Man to move in his Grave a day after he had been Buryed whence at last he went out and came to Life again he declared to them that he had been almost precipitated into the Popogusso but that one of their Gods had preserved him from it and given him leave to return to the World to warn his Friends they should beware of that frightful place Another being likewise risen related That his Soul had remain'd alive whilst his Body was in the Coffin that she was gone into a spacious place planted on both sides with fine Trees cover'd with excellent Fruits that at last she was come to a place full of Magnificent Buildings where he had found his Father Deceased some time before who had enjoyned him to come back and tell his Friends what happiness was prepared for them if they put themselves in a State of obtaining it by a Virtuous Life whereupon he was come back into the World Thence we may plainly perceive the Opinion of that People upon the State of the Soul separated from the Body and that they are more polite and enlightened than those mentioned before Sect. 26. The Inhabitants of Virginia hold also Okea for the supream God thô they confess the God of the Christians to be above him because the Christians can do more Execution with their Guns than they with their Bows and Arrows for their Religion and that of the most part of the Neighboring Nations is all turned to the War and to obtain a happy success of it A Counsellor of one of their Kings being in England in King James the First time says That Okea often appears in his Pagode whereupon 4 Priests enter into it uttering strange Words and making Gestures and Postures no less surprizing These call others again whom they cause to come in after the same manner and the God declares his Will to them Vpon this Declaration they take their measures in all their Affairs either journey or any thing else If they desire to go a Hunting he precisely teaches them where the Beast will be found they receive his Advices with great satisfaction and never fail to follow them which often succeeds He appears to them in the shape of a comly Indian and after he has shewed himself for some time to his 12 Confederates he goes up into the Air whence he came Sect. 27. The same Author gives us the sentiments of the Inhabitants of Carolina which is part of Florida bordering upon Virginia as we have heard him before relating those of the Inhabitants of the Island St. Vincent They likewise hold Okea to be the Supream God Good and bad Spirits are look'd upon to be inferior Gods and they offer Sacrifices to the least as well as to the greatest Gods They also believe the Transmigration of Souls and when any body dies they bury with him sufficient provision for his maintenance and all sorts of Cloaths for his use when he shall
be in the Elysian Fields which they fancy to be beyond the Indian Sea The Author gives the name of Elysian Fields to the places he describes because of the Relation he has found betwixt them and those the Greeks have call'd by that name CHAP. XI Where all the Sentiments and Practices of so many different Heathens are usefully compared together Sect. 1 HItherto we have but gather'd the various Opinions of the Antient and Modern Pagans and related their Customs without passing any Judgment upon them neither is it time to do it as yet we must first see of what use it may prove to be informed of all these things to which end we must again consider together what has been hitherto related to see what will be the result of it On the one side we find that Nations that extreamly differ in the Opinions they have concerning the Gods and the Spirits yet on the other side they wonderfully agree upon the same subject They differ in the Names they give them which is not strange the Tongues being so different and all the Nations not ascribing the same properties to Spiritual Beings Thence proceeds a second difference that they make not their number equal nor distinguish them in the same manner as to their Dignity and Administration or as to their Operations as it has particularly been shewn in the 2 Chap. Sect. 21. concerning the Inhabitants of Asia But the difference to be found amongst them is not material and must be accounted as inconsiderable comparatively to the conformity that is betwixt them all that looks as a work to which they should unanimously have conspired Sect. 2. Whatever has been hitherto quoted is either collected from the Writings of the Pagans or taken from what passes amongst them and relates partly to their Sentiments partly to their Practices They agree in their Sentiments in two respects as their understanding is yet in some manner illuminated by the natural Light or as it is darkned by error I shall mark both these conformities and at the same time the places in which they have been before related where the instances are to be found because it would be too long and tedious to repeat them every time and that I may hope the Reader will take the trouble to look them over or being all fresh in his memory he will excuse me from an unnecessary trouble Sect. 3. As to the first conformity if we attentively reflect upon so many instances and testimonies as are contained in the 2d 5th 6th 8th 9th and 10th Chapt. We shall perceive that those that are least provided with human Light and Reason agree nevertheless upon the most important points referring the Reader to the places where the Instances are set down All the Heathens therefore whether Ancient or Modern Europeans Asiatick Africans North and South Americans agree in these five principal points which are of an undeniable Truth 1. That there is only a first Being or a Supream Divinity Chap. 2. Sect. 3. Chap. 7 Sect. 1 2 3 5 7. Chap. 10. Sect. 6 11 16 24 27. 2. That there are Spirits who have had a beginning and that they are distinguished from humane Souls Chap. 1. Sect. 2 9 10 11. Chap. 7. Sect. 2 9 12 18. Chap. 10. Sect. 3 13. 3. That those Spirits are either good or bad some Friends and others Enemies to Mankind Chap. 2. Sect. 11 15. Chap. 7. Sect. 9 10. Chap. 10. Sect. 5 13 14 27. 14. That humane Souls dye not with their Bodies Chap. 2. Sect. 15 16 17. Chap. 6. Sect. 3. Chap. 7. Sect. 2 3 5 6 12 20. Chap. 9. Sect. 4. Chap. 10. Sect. 8 12 14 22 25 27. 5. That the Good or evil we have done will be rewarded or punished after this Life Chap. 2 Sect. 18. Chap. 7. Sect. 2 5 6 8 16 17 18 19 20. Chap. 10. Sect. 3 12 25. for if in the Sentiments of Epicure there appear something contrary to this last proposition I shall speak of it and explain it in its proper place Sect. 4. But the proof of the obscurity that is spread over their understanding discovers it self in their other Opinions for 't is observable that in all their Reasonings even those in which they speak the Truth they must take two ways by compelling the Divine Majesty to descend from Heaven upon Earth and by raising the humbleness of Man from the Earth to the Heavens So that they have too high an Opinion of the Creature and too despicable of the Creator That mistake which proceeds from a confused Notion of what belongs to the Divine Nature and to that of Created Beings leaves them to gross errors and that are source of their Idolatry and Magick For 't is easie to perceive that none of those practices flow from those 5 Truths just now mention'd but only from a false and erroneous Idea as we shall see if we hear in few words the result of the preceding observations Sect. 5. Concerning the Divine Essence we see First that they conceive the Divine Greatness and Excellence only with relation to their Ideas of the Human Nature since they ascribe to the Gods both Superior and Inferior an Human Original Marriages begetting of Children c. Chap. 7. Sect. 5 6 17. Chap. 10. Sect. 16. Second That they have too vile and abject Thoughts of the perfections of God fancying that he would tire himself and impair his Glory and Felicity if he should take in his own hands the direction of all things Chap. 2. Sect. 4. Chap. 10. Sect. 13. For which reason they have associated with him inferior Gods as Governors under him Chap. 2. Sect. 7.12 Chap. 7. Sect. 2 8. Chap. 10. Sect. 6 7 12 13. Third That they fix not Goodness as a nccessary Idea to the Deity since they have almost all a wicked God as well as a good Chap. 2. Sect. 4.12 Chap. 7. Sect. 3. Chap. 10. Sect. 5. However with this difference that they always place the good above the bad thô some honour them most who fright them most as the Tapaians and the Inhabitants of New England Chap. 10. Sect. 5.23 Fourth That they easily confound the Creator with the Creature Chap. 4. Sect. 7. Chap. 6. Sect. 2 3. Chap. 10. Sect. 6 7 17 23 24. Sect. 6. Concerning Spirits it may be observed First That they make not a suitable distinction betwixt Spiritual and Corporeal substances Chap. 2. Sect 1 6. Whence proceeds that they have attributed not only to the Spirits but also to the Deity it self bodily motions and properties diversions affixed above in the Heavens in the Air upon Earth or under it Chap. 2. Sect. 14 16. Chap. 7. Sect. 6.14 18. Chap. 10. Sect. 12 25. Second That considering the Spirits or Demons as inferior Gods and Ministers of the great God they distinguish them into several Orders as into so many Degrees according to the administration they have been been entrusted with Chap. 2. Sect. 6 14. Chap. 2. Sect. 7 8 11
12 13 18. Third That conceiving not what difference there is betwixt the Soul of Man and that of Beasts Some are fall'n into that gross error as to ascribe to Men and Beasts a Soul of the same Nature Chap. 7. Sect. 14. Without which it had been impossible that the Opinion of Pythagoras concerning the Transmigration of Souls into the Bodies of other Men and Beasts indifferently should have taken so deep roots and have spread so far into the World Chap. 2. Sect. 17. Chap. 7 Sect. 14 15 16 17 18. Fourth That from the same source this Sentiment has visibly proceeded that the Spirits are wandring as well as the Souls of Men after their death Chap. 2. Sect. 15. Chap. 6. Sect. 2. Chap. 7. Sect. 19 20. Chap. 10. Sect. 11. Sect. 7. What contributes most to the vilifying of the Deity is that they deify even Men either during their Life or after their Death Witness the ancient Greeks and Romans who transformed the Passions of Men and the Motions of the Heart into so many Gods and Goddesses or as the modern Cannibals who are very near of the same mind as has been shewed Chap. 2. Sect. 14. Chap. 7. Sect. 5 6. Chap. 10. Sect. 14. which however is not commonly us'd but after death as appears by the Apotheosis of the Ancients Chap. 2. Sect. 13. and was no where brought to such a light as amongst the Cannibals as has been said Chap. 10. Sect. 12 16. That they believe the whole race of the Gods issued from their Ancestors and that they themselves are of Celestial Origin from the same spring is derived the Sentiment of the Existence of the Genii or Zemeans that is of helpful Spirits the description of whom may be seen in several Authors Sect. 8. It is now easy to conceive on what ground are founded the Divination and Magick of the Ancients that are the same with the predictions and Witchcraft of the modern Heathens for as to their foretelling or Divination it is grounded upon this First Every God has his People whom he favours and protects or his own property for which Reason they put questions to him concerning that which is to happen to his People and what is to be done on that occasion Second That every God has his Enemy for which Reason every one looks for help against the Gods of whom he is to receive damage and implores the assistance of such Gods as are esteem'd to be their most violent Enemies Third That every Man has his God or particular Spirit and therefore every one mistakes his own passions and whatever comes into his fancy for divine Inspirations and motions especially when Dreams supply him with the occasion of it not knowing that the employments or accidents that have preceeded the Dreams are the Origin of them or being hindered by his prejudices to make an exact enquiry after their possible cause Fourth That it is by confounding the Deity with the Creature that there have been introduced so many sorts of Divinations and Prognosticks drawn from the Stars from the Thunder from Birds Mountains Woods Waters and from all the things in which 't is believed that some Deity is discoverable Fifth That from the belief that the Souls of the Dead are wandering about their Corps it was easy to take occasion to conjure up Ghosts Sect. 9. Concerning the Witchcraft we shall only make the following Considerations First That it is not strange that distinguishing not only created Spirits but even the Gods into good and bad they should endeavour to set them one against another and to defend themselves by the help of the good or of some of the wicked against another or to avenge themselves by the power of one God of the wrong they suppose to have received from another Second That having forged to themselves so many sorts of Gods and Spirits superior and inferior 't is no wonder they should believe to destroy the power of the less by the assistance of the greater Third That having so base thoughts of the Gods whom they subject to the same passions as Men and thus Deify human passions themselves they act consequently by stirring them up against their Enemies as it comes into their fancy Fourth That putting some of their Gods so low and in so great a familiarity with the Spirits they seem to assume to themselves the quality of their Directors and to be able to make the Divine Operations even in the most hidden things subservient to what use they please Chap. 6. Sect. 4. Sect 10. There is yet somthing to be said upon Divination and Witchcraft together which partly concerns the thing it self and partly the gestures of the body used in it What concerns the thing it self comes to this First That the Opinion of the Heathens concerning the Genii or familiar Spirits and the Spirits wandring about Graves makes 'em believe that somthing may be operated by the means of Graves and Carcasses for which Reason they use the bones of the Dead in their Witchcraft and consult them in their Divinations in hopes of getting an answer from the Gods or Spirits which operate in them or abide near them Chap. 10. Sect. 11 15. Second That according to this their belief of the existence of so many sorts of Spirits whereof most part are wicked Spirits that walk and wander every where they are always ready in any unforeseen disease Mortality or sinister Accident to cast the suspicion upon their Enemies or Envious who have bewitchd them for believing that the inferior Gods or Spirits act according to the Will of the Men to whom they belong they must consequently believe that those Men will not fail to effect reciprocally the one against the other whatever the help and power of the Spirits will allow Now those suspitions that will surely move Men to seek by whom they have been bewitch'd or the cause matter and foundation of Divination Chap. 10. Sect. 8 16. Sect. 11. As to the postures used in Witchcraft First The Corpereal Ideas which they have of the Spirits and of the Gods themselves move them doubtless to use so many outward gestures in their Conjuration Chap. 10. Sect 16. But there is still another Reason of that Custom viz. That the Priests who are Impostors make use of them to impose so much the easier upon the simplicity of the Vulgar Second Considering how the Opinion of Pythagoras is become almost Universal it may be methinks conceived at the same time how it was possible that Men should place some Virtue in Letters and Numbers by gathering and disposing them in such or such a way and consequently in the pronunciation of some certain words for the same Pythagoras has believed that the Virtue of the Deity influenc'd the proportion and Harmony of Numbers Now the Letters of the Alphabet being employed to mark the numbers not only amongst the Greeks and Hebrews but by all the other Nations that have some knowledge of Letters it follows
that ther 's not one word but it can make up a number whence it may rationally be inferr'd that such or such a word composed in such or such a manner of such or such or such Letters more or less has according to their Opinion more or less power in Witchcraft Third Besides the ordinary numbers they use also Names and Characters as it is seen at this day especially amongst the Laplanders and Finlanders whose enchanted Drums are spotted with the like Characters Chap. 6. Sect. 5. Sect. 12. But I have nor yet spoken of what is most important in these Conjurations that are used as well for Divination as Witchcraft which consists in this that they are part of the Pagan Religion and even make it wholly up amongst some Nations especially in the West-Indies Chap. 9. Sect. 6. Chap. 10. Sect. 16. And 't is almost impossible it should be otherwise since their whole Religion turns upon their Opinion of the Gods or draws it 's Original from thence First They look by no means upon their practices nor the scope they aim at as things evil of their own nature but only by the bad use that is made of them wherefore anciently the Magi and Diviners were found amongst the King 's Attendants and in the Temples as are still at this day the Brainines in the East-Indies the Fetisseros in Guinea the Baivas or Piais in Peru and the Country of the Cannibals c. and several others of the same quality so that no body is acknowledg'd for Wise Doctor Priest Prophet nor becomes Councellor of State unless he be Diviner or Magician in the sense that has been set down The Holy Scripture shows the same in the persons Jannes Jambres Balaam Daniel and his Companions of which we have said something before Chap. 4. Sect. 1 4. And it may be observed in the general instances that have been alledg'd that the Heathens had publick Schools to teach those Arts that the Priests especially instructed the â—â—ople in that Ministry and trained them up from their Youth which is still practised amongst the bruitish and dull Laplanders Second We see at the same time for what Reason the entrails of sacrificed Beasts and some Meat and dress'd Herbs were imployed in their Witchcraft and Divinations viz. because in their Opinion something divine was mix'd with them Sect. 13. 'T is therefore certain that all their practices were grounded upon a certain knowledge and partly upon vain conjectures and very great errors for to seek the Deity and to fear it is an effect of the natural knowledge of God which Men keep in the midst of their greatest corruption But to admit so many sorts of Deities of such a low rank and such a contemptible Nature and to serve him in so many different ways is an effect of the corruption of the mind which let it be said in reference to those that acknowledge one God or Spirit and who believe the Immortality of the Soul to which believe the Opinion of the Epicures is not wholly opposite thô they seem to deny both or at least to call them in question for Epicure and his modern followers deny not so much the existence of a God and of Spirits as they are earnest to perswade such as believe both that their practices bely their Faith and are not agreeable to their principles and therefore 't is impossible that one should be both an Epicure and a Sorcerer or a Diviner And on the contrary no Heathen ever endeavoured to contradict the Hypotheses of Epicure without admitting those Arts and their effects Sect. 14. For a greater certainty it will be convenient to hear those Philosophers speak in their own words Gassendus has collected part of what they say Sect. 11. Chap 6. 'T is the same thing that God should govern the World by himself as some affirm or as others assert by Ministers generally call'd Genii or Demons for when all is done things go nevertheless their usual way in great part as thô there were no such Ministers And thô it were granted that there are some they could not be such as they are fancyed viz. of Human shape and conversing with us I will not say that being for the most part wicked they could not lead a long and happy life because malignity is joyned to Ignorance and tends to ruin That 's what they say concerning Spirits let us then speak of what is practised upon that Account They use to alledge Divination as a proof both of Providence and of the existence of Spirits but I look with sorrow upon that Human weakness which seeks for Oracles even in Dreams as thô God being set upon Stilts came by frightful visions to forewarn Men in their deepest Sleep of what is to happen to them as thô fortune and chance were not sufficient to produce such events without mixing God not only with the Sun and Moon and several other kinds of Annimals but also with all sorts of Stone and Brass Those that speak so make it evident that they rather have to deny the existence of God and Spirits than to acknowledge them such as the other Heathens believed them and to be obliged to own themselves Sorcerers and Diviners by granting that they exist So much for Paganism 't is time to proceed further CHAP. XII What are the Opinions of the Jews and how necessary it is to examine them Sect. 1. WE have hitherto only considered Paganism which has no other light but that of Nature now we shall enquire what those that are illuminated with the light of the Holy Scripture believe or practise upon that account In the mean while it must be observed that they are not all of one sense being divided into Jews Mahometans and Christians which difference proceeds from the inequality of the light they have received or made use of I shall begin with those that are at greatest distance from Christianity and consequently the nearest to Paganism It seems that the followers of Mahomet should have that place so much the more because we have favourable prejudices on behalf of the Jews as having Anciently been the People of God But notwithstanding what they have been they are now so much degenerated that the belief of the Mahometans may be said to have more conformity with ours then theirs hath both detest Idolatry and acknowledge one God and take his word for the rule of their Faith The Jews receive only the Old Testament but the Mahometans admit also of the New adding the Alcoran or Mahomet's Law to those of Moses and Christ in order to correct and perfect them both The Jews do almost the same as to the Law of Moses by the Addition of the Talmud which contains the traditions of the Ancient But if the Opinions of both parties were deeply searched into perhaps it would be found that those of the Mahometans favour more the infalibility of the Law and Gospel than those of the Jews that of the Law alone Add
to this that Christ is acknowledged by the Mahometans for a great Prophet and honoured in that quality whereas he is horribly blasphemed by the Jews For these reasons I say that the Mahometans are halfe nearer to us than the modern Jews But what need we any farther proof since as to this matter it is plain that the Jews are less from Paganism than the Mahometans as shall appear by the proof I shall produce Sect. 2. As long as we have had to do with Heathens only we needed but to make an inquiry after their Opinions concerning their Gods the Spirits and the Souls But here the Question is not concerning the plurality of Gods for thô formerly the Jews have been extraordinarily inclined to Idolatry they have now such a great aversion for Polytheism ever since 2300 years that they are returned from the Babylonian Captivity that they will acknowledge but one Person in the Divine Unity They believe by the light of the Holy Writ that this only God is Almighty and sufficient to himself and to all things which he has created of nothing and governs and maintains alone Amongst his Creatures they reckon Angels and Men and think that the last have a Soul more excellent than that of Bruits tho' far inferior to the Angelical Perfection Such has been in all times the belief of the Jews and so farr is more agreeable to the Christian Faith then that of the Mahometans as we shall say hereafter Sect. 3. But the state of the Jewish Religion whilst the first Temple stood must be well distinguished from that into which it is insensibly fall'n The Jews of that time were Orthodox save only those who suffer'd themselves to be carried into Idolatry and undoubtedly they had no other Opinion of the Angels Demons and Souls of Men but what the Holy Writings still teach us so that if we still look upon them as different from us it is because we consider those of latter times when their State was in its fall and Christianity in its growth But tho' they be now divided into two Sects that of the Carraijim who only follow the Holy Writ and that of the Rabbanim who adhere to the Traditions of their Doctors there is yet but the latter which deserves to come into consideration the number of the former being altogether inconsiderable they being a remainder of the Sadduces which are hardly known in Europe whereas the other may be called the posterity of the Pharisees Sect. 4. Tho' we design only to insist upon the latter yet a more particular difference may be observed betwixt the Ancient Jews and the Modern By the Ancient Jews I understand here those that lived in the time of our Saviour of his Apostles or a little after Philo who was the Learnedst and Wisest is of an Opinion not far from that of Plato when he says that the Stars are animated and that they move circularly by their own intelligence Ben Maimon is in that point of his Sentiment of which he has made an abridgement in these words All the Stars and Celestial Orbs have a Soul Knowledge Vnderstanding and a lasting Life knowing him by whose Word the Vniverse was made Each of those â—reatures according to his Excellency and Dignity praisâ—s and glorifies his Author following the example of the Angels but as they know God so they understand what they are themselves as well as the Angels who however are above them Their Knowledge being inferior to that of the Angels and superior to that of Men This is to be read in the Book of that Author Entituled Of the Grounds of Faith Sect. 5. If we come more particularly to examine their Opinions as to the Spirits whether Angels or Human Souls we shall not find the Ancient and Modern Writers agree well together Philo who is amongst the former believes That the Air is full of Spirits the most perfect of whom never assumed Bodies but go to and fro ascend and descend from Heaven upon Earth for the service of the Great God That there are others inferior in Dignity to the first who take on Bodies of which they are deprived by death and into which some of them return But others being wearied of this life go up higher and live there in peace But there are others the most pure and excellent of all who have a sublime and Divine Vnderstanding despise Terrestrial and perishing things are the Ministers of the Almighty and as the Ears and Eyes of the Great God those see and hear everything The Philosophers call them Genii and the Holy Writ names them most properly Angels that is to say Messengers for they are really Messengers who carry to Children the Orders of their Father and to the Father the Prayers of his Children wherefore it is said of them that they ascend and descend This is contained in the Book of Dreams written by Philo. Sect. 6. If you now desire to hear the Jews of the latter times and their Opinions upon the Nature of Angels Vorstius will tell you most truly in his Annotations upon the Grounds of the Faith written by Maimonides that they do not perfectly agree together For some believe That those Spirits have been created of the most subtile Elements as Rabbi Juda relates it in his Book Entituled Cusri Chap. 4. Sect. 4. Others as the Author of the Book Jezira hold as the same Rabbi Juda assures us that the Angels proceeded from the Holy Ghost We find also in the Book Chagiga fol. 14. That by the word of God administring Angels are created every day But Maimonides speaks of his own more wisely upon this subject and generally upon all others The Angels says he in Chap. 2. Sect. 4 Have an Essence that subsists without Matter not having Bodies but being Essences distinguished from one another Sect. 7. Upon this difference of the Angels in the opinion of the Jews I think it better to propose what has been said by the same Author than to quote any other because there is none amongst them that may be compar'd to him either for Learning or Judgment as not intending to impute to them more foolish Doctrines than those that are admitted by their most authentick Writers Thus then Maimonides expresses this Opinion When the Prophets say that they have seen the Angels as a fire and with wings they speak after the manner of the Prophets and by a simile designing only to shew that they are neither corporeal nor heavy In this sense it is that God himself is called a Consuming fire viz. improperly thus likewise this passage must be understood he makes the Winds his Angels or as it is in some Translations The Spirits for the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruach having those two significations of Spirits and of Winds And therefore the Angels being material are essentially distinguished betwixt themselves as by degrees the one being above the other to which the Author applies these words For a higher than that high takes
notice of it and there are yet higher than they are Not that they are placed one above the other as it is done amongst Men but as we ordinarily say of two wise persons that one is wiser than the other and that the Cause is more excellent than the Effect So that he pretends that God himself has produced those of the first Dignity who have brought for h those of the second and these those of the third and so forth Sect. 8. Jewish Authors ordinarily establish ten Degrees or Orders who are distinguished by their Names in the same Maimonides and in the Book Midrasch Bereshjit descending from the highest degree to the lowest 1. Chayos Hakkodesch 2. Ofanim 3 Oralim 4. Chasmalim 5. Seraphim 6. Malachim or Angels 7. Elohim 8. Bene Elohim 9. Cherubim 10. Yschim The signification of most of the Names is very uncertain and far fetcht However I shall translate them as briefly as I can and as I can best guess by the explications they have given of them 1. Living Holily 2. Quick 3. Powerful in strength 4. Flames of Fire 5. Gâ—owing Sparks 6. Messengers 7. Gods 8. Sons of God 9. Images of the Temple 10. Men. 'T is believed that the first are so called because they are originally Holy in a more excellent manner than Men and that by their influence they are the cause of the life of all the Creatures inferior to them which God has created by their Ministry The name of Men may have been given to the last because 't is supposed that they use sometimes to appear by the order of God in a human shape They only also saith Maimonides were those who spoke by the Prophets and are in the nearst degree to the human Knowledge Sect. 9. That 's the difference which is amongst them I shall yet set down in the words of the same Author how those ten Orders are distinguished from God and Men. All those living Beings says he know the Creator in an excellent degree of knowledge each in reference to his Order and not in relation to his Excellency For which reason the first Degree cannot conceive the Creator such as he is in himself because their Vnderstanding is too short to attain unto him However they approach nearer to him than the Beings of an inferior Order and each of these Orders unto the 10th knows the Creator more perfectly than Men who are composed of Matter and Form Sect. 10. The Cabbalists who have traced out the way to the Magick of the Jews are not contented with these Ten Orders but divide all the Creatures into four Circles The 1st is the Circle of the exhalations Avilos called otherwise Zephiros Lights so much exalted in all ages by the Jewish Doctors who will not have them called either Creatures or Essences of the Creator but perfections distinct from him as Manasse Ben-Israel explains it more particularly putting them into parallel with the Ideas of Platâ— and esteeming them to be the Principles of all things He counts 10 of this Order the Crown the Science Prudence Majesty Valour Beauty Victory Glory Foundation and Kingdom They name the second Circle that of the Creation in which are the Angels separated and distinct from all Corporality and divided into 10 Orders the names of which are set down Sect. 8. They place in the third Circle Jetzira that is the forms amongst which they reckon such Angels as have any communication with Bodies The 4th Circle contains all the other Creatures named Alchiia or compounded Beings Sect. 11. If I would relate more at large whatever the Jews have written of the Angels and the Opinion of each of their particular Doctors there would not be much agreement betwixt what I shoul say and what has already been said they differ so much from one another However here follow the Thoughts of some of their Ring-leaders They speak of three sorts of Angels the first is altogether free from Matter and there are four Troops of that sort which have each their Captain that stands at one of the corners of the Throne of God Michael is on the Right Gabriel on the Left Vriel before and Raphael behind This we learn from Rabbi Eliezer in his 4th Chapter Those Names have a very pregnant Sense Michael that is unless it be God Gabriel God is my Strength Vriel God is my Light Raphael God is my Physitian They never appear'd to the Eyes of Man nor in a human shape unless in a Vision and to the Prophets only The good Angels whom God employs in the Administration of the World are in the second Rank They have often appeared to the Prophets in an human shape they dwell above the Coelestial Orbs and are called the Army of Heaven But the Devils or Schediim that are the wicked Angels or as they use to speak Kacodaimones the Bad Demons of whom mention has been made Chap. 2. Sect. 12. have their abode under the Moon and are the Executioners of God's Wrath and Judgments But as to this last sort we must more particularly enquire after the Belief of the Jews Sect. 12. They call the Devils Angels of Destruction or Death Satanim Satans or Adversaries Philo that was Contemporary with the Apostles will best teach us what they think of it Thus he writes in his Book of the Giants Moses used to call Angels what the other Philosophers name Genii Here he takes the â—â—rd Genii in too large a Sense or he confines that of Angels to too strict a Signification according to that which has been observed before Chap. 2. S. 13 14. They are pursues that Author the Souls that fly into the Air which none ought to account a Fable and therefore it gives a more particular explication of it As we ordinarily say that there are good and bad Spirits and good and bad Souls it is the same with the Angels Some of them are called good and are Messengers that go to and fro from God to Men and from Men to God who are unreproachable and constant in their excellent Ministry but on the contrary there are others that are Prophane and Execrable and may well be call'd Damnable without fear of Lying Sect. 13. The Jews report very differently the originâ—l of Spirits Manasse Ben Israel asserts That they were produced by God himself on the second day of the Creation Prob. 23. Rabbi Eliezer relates their fall in these words Chap. 13. The Administring Angels say to God eternally Blessed O Lord God of the Vniverse What is Man that thou should'st put such value upon him What is he besides Vanity For he can but somewhat reason upon Terrestrial Things God answer'd do you pretend that I only desire to be Exalted and Glorified by you here above I am the same there below that I am here Who is it amongst you that can call all the Creatures by their Names There was not one amongst them that could do it Whereupon Adam rose and named all the Creatures by their
tbem who eagerly addicted themselves to Magick by which they got afterwards into great reputation and that the expounding of Dreams was a pretence they made use of to commit a vast number of Deceits and Villanies We see continues that learned Author in the Book Maarsar Shemi fol. 45. Col. 2 3. That Rabbi Joseph Ben Calpata Rabbi Ismael Ben. Jose Rabbi Lazarus and Akiba made it their whole business many of their expoundings are related in the place I have quoted out of Lightfoot and from several things contained therein it may be infer'd that they instructed their Disciples in those Arts. In the Book Shabbat fol. 3. Col. 2. mention is made of a Phantasm that appeared to one of their Bigots whilst he was meditating the Law and fol. 8. Col. 2. fol. 14. Col. 3. all sorts of Conjurations are treated of some to cure Wounds others against the sting of Serpents against Theft and even against Enchantments this I have Collected from the Second part of the works of Lightfoot page 147. where many other things of that nature are to be found but not necessary to relate and much less to extract out of the own Books of the Jews Sect. 3. However it will not be besides the purpose to add what the same Lightfoot has gather'd from several of their writings especially from the Book Sanhedrin concerning their Bathkol or the Daughter of the Voice which is the name the Jews gave to the Echo pretending it was an Oracle that under the Second Temple supplyed the want of the Vrim and Thummim with which the First Temple was honoured This is known by all that are but a little acquainted with the Jewish affairs and have read some of their writings but here are proofs that show they made use of Bathkool Divinations Rabbi Jochanan and Rabbi Simeon designing to consult Bathkool to go and see Rabbi Samuel the Babylonian they pass'd before the School and heard a Boy reading what is contained 1 Sam. Chap. 25. verse 1. Samuel is Dead They observ'd that and found that the Samuel they sought was Dead Here follows another story Rabbi Jonah and Rabbi Josah went to visit Rabbi Acha while he lay sick they said let us hear what Bathkool will say and immediatly they heard a Voice of a Woman that said to her Neighbor The Candle goes out to which the Neighbor answer'd Pray don't let it go out nor extinguish the light of Israel Lightfoot Tom. 2. p. 167. It is as sure that those words proceeded from Bathkool as it is certain that Elijah is present at the Circumcision of the Children of the Jews as 't is commonly believed among them and as all the learned know Sest 4. But besides those singularities we may take notice that all their Witchcraft is founded upon two grounds the influences of the Stars and thy apparitions of Spirits the reason of the former ground is that thô they esteem not the Celestial lights to be Gods yet they ascribe to them a particular virtue working upon and influencing Human Actions as well external as internal senses We have already heard Philo and Ben. Maimon upon that matter 'T is very usual with them to say The Planets make such a one Wise or Rich as Buxtorf relates it in his Lexicon Talmudicum out of the Books of the Sabbath these are happy influences or Constellations that are called Mazzal-toob but Mazzal-ra is a malignant Star under which one is born or whose virtue influences him all his Life Buxtorf says again upon the Authority of the same Book That the Planet of the Day of ones Birth influences him not but only that of the Hour And even we find in that Book which is the Genius of every Man according to the Planet under which he 's born He who is born under the Sun will be handsom free not dissembling but of an unconstant humour Under Venus he 'll be rich and letcherous Under Mercury skilful and of a good memory Under the Moon sickly and unstedfast Under Saturn unfortunate Under Jupiter just and Under Mars happy Which is the same with all the other Constellations In the mean while it is commonly said That there is no Planet in Israel because all the Jews seem to be born under one Planet being all of the same Genius and Conduct therefore we must conclude that those distinctions concern only strangers and that Israel has the skill of foretelling their good and bad Fortune However they are much disturb'd when the Moon is Eclipsed because they take that accident as an ill presage to them which is an evident proof of the unstedfastness of the Jewish Nation Sect. 5. As to the Spirits Manasse Ben Israel discovering the true ground of the Jewish Divinations leads us to the wicked Spirits saying That some of them are skilful and shrew'd and others foolish and dull The most skilful flying from one corner of the World to the other sometimes learn what is to happen For this Reason he acknowledges page 18. That several Conjure up those Spirits and do wonders by help of the black Art We read even in some Cabbalistical Books as in Pirke Chalos and Ratsiel and in some others the names of those Spirits and the form of the Conjurations used for that purpose There are also to be found all the presages that may be drawn from the various sorts of Apparitions If those Sprits appear to a Man alone they forebode nothing good if they appear to two persons together they presage nothing ill but it never happens that they shew themselves to three in a company Sect. 6. The ways and means they use for their Witchcraft and Divinations are to be observed in the Ceremonies of their Feasts and the whole course of their ordinary Life Every one knows that Marriage is the lawful way to beget Children which makes them believe one must needs know how to preserve himself in that occasion from the wicked Spirits There is none but has read the Book of Tobit how he expel'd the Devil Asmodee by the inspiration of the Angel Raphael and how they took together a Fish which as some suppose was a Pike as to the Heart and Liver says Raphael if the Demon or wicked Spirit disturbs any Person whether Man or Woman he needs but make a perfume before him and the party shall be no more vexed Chap. 6. v. 7. When he was marryed with Sara he remembred the words of Raphael and took the Ashes of the perfumes put the Heart and the Liver of the Fish thereupon and made a smoke with it which when the Evil Spirit had smelt he fled into the utmost parts of Egypt and the Angel bound him there Chap. 8. v. 23. Sect. 7. If that Narration is esteem'd Apochryphal by the Protestants that of Josephus deserves not a better name when in the Second Chap. of the 8th Book of his Jewish Antiquities he deduces the Original of Magick from Solomon and lays the foundation of it upon the wisdom
sufficiently known that amongst them as amongst other Nations their practices are answerable to their Doctrines for if their Witchcraft and Exorcisms proceed not all from their superstitions yet they are not inconsistent with them It is strange that such as ascribe a Soul and Life to the Celestial Lamps that acknowledge the Stars to influence Human Actions and search for Mysteries in numbers letters and names should be addicted to Witchcraft and Divinations and make them part of their religious worship neither is it surprising that not conceiving Angels as altogether immaterial they should fancy Apparitions either waking or dreaming 'T is yet less strange looking upon them as Creatures of a dignity inferior to their's since they establish great numbers of them for the guard of each Musulman they should invite and call them to their service by Witchcraft consisting in Characters in which they imagine a secret virtue for that purpose or if they should believe by the same means and Virtue to be able to expel wicked Angels their mortal Enemies But 't is time to come to the Christian World and to examine in what state things are at home CHAP. XV. That some of the Heathen Opinions upon this subject have in process of time crept in amongst the Christians Sect. 1. WE must not wonder that great part of the Doctrines above mentioned have not yet been banished by the light of the Gospel For what Man naturally conceives is not always darkness neither is the illumination which the Holy writ affords to the understanding always efficacious so that a Christian often better knows what he ought to know then he does what he ought to do This plainly appears in that Man is readier to search after the Truth by his reason than to put it in practice by his Virtue The cause of it is that our natural curiosity that has contributed to the fall of our first Parents has been since increased and strengthned by the effect of the fall it self and that it drives us on so much the more to desire to know much as our understanding is become less capable of true conceptions But the corruption of Man allows him not to make such Progresse And therefore we must imagine that whatever is practiced amongst such or such People especially as to Religion always and only proceeds from their belief and Doctrine This will quickly be known to us if we take the trouble of considering Christianity such as it formerly was and still is at this present Sect. 2. I shall name ancient Christianity the six first Centuries before the Pope and Mahomet arose However I shall not consider it as it was establish'd by our Lord and his Apostles which will be done more conveniently hereafter but with relation to the succession of times In the mean while a careful distinction must be made between the Opinions of the Church or of the Chief Doctors of her Communion and the Errors of those she has condemn'd We must afterwards take notice of what certainty may be had both of the Practices and particular Sense of those that have been branded for Hereticks For we pretend not to impute to Christians what has been rejected by the generality of them nor to charge the Hereticks with whatever is said of their Errours Now one may methinks take for Opinions generally received in the Church those that have been taught by their Chief Doctors without being contradicted by the others as far as it appears by any Writing though they must not for that be taken for Articles of Faith And likewise though the Hereticks should have been charged as to the Doctrine with some Opinions they owned not yet 't is not conceiveable that they should have been falsly accused of Acts of Magick the possibility of which they did not so much as believe After that Observation let 's see what the most famous Christians of the Primitive times have believed as to Spirits and their Operations and at the same time what they relate of other Sects and People Sect. 3. Following still the same Order I shall first speak of the Angels and then of the Souls separated from their Bodies I shall pass by the first Century in which the Apostles lived because in my second Book I take their Writings for the Rule of Faith and for the Fountain whence Truth must be drawn But we must examine those that have followed them from Age to Age and see what was their Opinion upon those two Points without presuming it was grounded upon Rule or Ecclesiastical Assemblies which appears not And though those two Points are of the highest consequence yet every one had still liberty to express his particular Opinions However for other Opinions of less consequence and I durst almost say of nothing Men have been dealt with as Hereticks and the whole Christian World must be call'd together to come to a conclusion And therefore I shall only make use here of such Explications of the chief Doctors as I have read my self which I shall endeavour to translate faithfully and word for word as much as possible Sect. 4. We shall first hear in the second Age Tatian Clement and Justin concerning the Nature of Angels Tatian indeed ascribes not a gross material Being to the Angels and yet he seems to attribute to them some Corporeal Being Here are his own Words that seem very strange All Demons are so as that indeed they have nothing Carnal but their Composition is Spiritual and as a Fire and Light The Nature of their Bodies can however be penetrated by none but such as are endued with the Spirit of God What he adds afterwards is more Consonant to Reason That the Demons are not the Souls of Men. He believes not however that Souls are simple Natures but that they are composed of parts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he believes they cannot be conceived as Corporeal without having a Body and that the material part cannot rise without the Soul Several Doctors of that time speak very near the Words tho' they explain not themselves so openly so that they must not be look'd upon as very far from that Opinion as will more plainly appear when we mention the fall of the Angels Sect. 5. Clemens Alexandrinus in his 6th Book of Miscellanies shows that he holds the Angels for the Inspectors of Men and those that inspire Wisdom into them that each Country and perhaps each Man has his own A little after he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God has distributed amongst Angels the Inspection and Care of each City and Nation He says also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Divine Power distributes good by the means of Angels whether they be visible or invisible Justin favours that suppposed visibility of the Angels or at least he tolerates it since he asserts in his 4th Apology That God entrusted the Angels with the Conduct of the other human Affairs under the Heavens some of whom fell off because of their Conversation with Women from
which issued the Demons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. mihi 44. St. Athanasius who was of the same mind explains those two things more at large in his Ambassy As to the first he says That God created the Angels to take care of the Affairs of Men that are under their direction so that God takes indeed a genâ—â—ral view of all things but as to the particular Inspection he has left it to the Angels constituted over them As to the second he speaks the same Language with the others that the love of Women made some Angels fall into Apostasie whence proceeded a sort of Demons Sect. 6. Justin that enters more into particulars as to what concerns Demons declares that he knows none that has that Divine Power of preserving and rewarding such as obey him and therefore that he knows none likewise that has the power to avenge himself upon the Disobedient and Rebels This he teaches in his 42th Question having said before in the 40th That a Wicked Spirit that has been once expell'd cannot torment him any more whom he had before possess'd In the aforesaid 42th Question he says That when a possess'd seems to break his Bands and Fetters it is the Demon that does it who has that strength himself but cannot communicate it to the Body of any Man This is very particular and it will be fit to call it to mind again in another place wherefore I desire the Reader to observe and remember it Sect. 7. Irenaeus explains himself but obscurely concerning the State of Souls after this Life when he says at the end of his Book That they go to an invisible place God has prepared for them But Justin in his second Apology pag. mihi 58. explaining himself more at large goes also more out of the common road for he affirms that the Souls of the Dead have some power over the living saying That Men being seized and cast down by the Souls of the deceased are ordinary call'd possest and furious It must be observ'd here that having spoken immediately before of human Souls separated from their Bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though the Latin Interpreter has used two different Words viz. first Animae the Souls and then Manes the Ghosts Mention iâ—â—ade of the latter in his second Chapter of this Book S. 14. But in my Opinion the same word cannot be taken in two different Senses at the end of one period and the beginning of the following He must therefore ascribe to the Soul of the deceased of whom he undoubtedly speaks in his first period all the Operations upon the living which the Heathens used to attribute to other Spirits call'd Demons for he there speaks of the Heathens Sect. 8. Origen who lived in the third Age had strange Notions concerning the Angels sometimes he gives them a Nature but equal to that of Men For Writing of the Light which St. John in his first Chapter says to be our Saviour he seems to believe that it was equally communicated to Man and Angels as may be seen more at large in his third Volume on St. John But in another place he makes so great a distinction betwixt Angels and Men that going from the first of Creatures endued with Reason to the last he puts the Angels as betwixt God and Men For he teaches on 1 Sam. 28. that the first Creatures are those which the Holy Writ names Gods The second those that we call'd Thrones and the third those that bear the name of Principalities Afterwards he calls in Question Whether Man is the last of rational Creatures or whether such Creatures as dwell upon Earth amongst which he ranks all the Demons or at least part of them are inferiour to Men that 's his Opinion in his first Vol. St. John Sect. 9. He again intimates elsewhere that as Men who have had the fear of God in this life become Angels after their Death as 't is read in St. Matth 22.30 though there it is not properly they become Angels but they shall be like Angels So that the present Angels might formerly have been Men Moreover he imagines that Angels and Men may dispute which are more perfect establisting betwixt the Nature of those two Subjects the same difference which our Saviour puts between the first and the last St. Matth. 19.30 and ch 20.16 he ascribes to Angels not only the Subregency of the World in his tenth Homil. upon Jeremiah and constitutes as well as other Doctors Guardian Angels upon that Principle but he persuades himself that their Virtues and Devotions may increase as those of Men proportionably to those of the Persons they keep Afterwards he destines some to watch over little Children and others over the Adult grounding his Opinion upon St. Matt. ch 18.10 where mention is made of the Angels of little Children that see the face of their Heavenly Father Sect. 10. He has this particular Opinion concerning the Stars that they may have Light and Intelligence and though he expresses not himself so plainly upon that yet 't is a necessary consequence of his Principles for upon the Words in the Hebrews 2.9 That Christ has tasted Death for all He says first that by that all must not simply be understood all Men but whatever is capable of Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and amongst those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rational Creatures he reckons the Stars a little after and upon that foundation he is not afraid of making our Lord not only the Redeemer of Men but also of Stars that have likewise sin'd because 't is said the Stars are not pure in his sight Job 25.5 he repeates the same at the end of his 2d Volume upon St. John denying however that their Influences should hurt Men notwithstanding what is read of Lunaticks Matth. 17.14 15. Writing upon Genesis he likewise rejects Astrology to which he believes that some Angels having forgotten their Duty have persuaded Men to addict themselves Sect. 11. Tertullian in his second Book against Marcion says as to the original of Devils He has made the Angels that are Spirits now in as much as the Devil was made by God he is an Angel and belongs to his Maker but inasmuch as he has not been made by God viz. as a Devil or a Slanderer it follows that he has made himself so by forsaking God and withall deceiving himself That Language is somewhat obscure Origen speaks not better for in his first part upon St. John he seems to recite a Riddle concerning the Dragon as having been one of the first created by God in a Bodily shape and before Man He strains the Words of God to Job ch 40 v. 15. for he takes them as they are now read in the Greek Bibles as though there was this or that Dragon whereas the Hebrew Text has Behemoth that signifies a great Beast Translating the Verse thus This is the beginning of what God formed which he mad for a matter of laughter to his Angels Sect.
12. Tertullian explains himself more plainly as to the knowledge he ascribes to the Devils when he in his fifth Book against Marcion speeks thus Servants cannot know the Resolutions of their Masters and therefore the Rebellious Angels and the Devil their leader can much less know the designs of God whence I would willingly take occasion to assert that the greater their Crime has been the more remote they are from the knowledge of their Creator So far only he goes as to the Secrets of God But as to those of Men we hear the Doctors of that Age giving to the Demons a power over Bodies and Souls St. Cyprian establishes both speaking of Idolatry Spirits says he deceive us they disturb our Life and our Sleep insinuating themselves into our Bodies raise terrour in our inward Thoughts bruise our Members impair our Healths and cause us Diseases Tertullian is of the same Opinion in his Book of Passions The Malice of that inveterate Enemy never leaves him quiet but it encreases his Rage when he sees Man fully deliver'd In his Apologetick Chap. 20. he gives a more particular explication of what he believes as to the Assaults made by Demons upon Soul and Body He thinks That having a very subtile and thin Essence they are so much the apter to act in an invisible and insensible manner He shows thereby that he conceives created Spirits as the thinest and subtilest of all Bodies and therefore explains his meaning by this Comparison As it happens that a flame invisible to us burns Corn and the Fruits of Trees when they are in flower or withers them whilst they blossom or corrupts them when the Flower falls off and they are formed or as an infected Air communicates it self in a manner unknown to us so the suggestions of the Devil by a secret contagion seduce the depraved understanding of Man Sect. 13. Origen believes that the Souls of Men existed together before they came to animate the Bodies which he establishes upon St. Matth. Chap. 20. from Ver. 1 to 16. and in his 6th Vol. upon St. John having before proposed in his 5th Chap. the common Opinion of the Christians of his age he asserts accoâ—â—â—â—â— to the sense he gives to the Holy Writ that 〈…〉 the Soul must be distinguished from 〈…〉 the Spirit of Man from the 〈…〉 â—â—ys that the Soul may appâ— her self 〈…〉 evil but that the Spirit â—f Man can 〈…〉 â—eâ—f only to evil In his 19th Chapter he dâ—â—â—â—â—es on occasion of the sepalation of the Soul at the point of death that he believes she is taken out of the Body by some Spirits ordained for that purpose and that the Spirits who have that imployment are of a more noble Nature than the Soul they fetch He puts a very ingenious sense upon the Words of our Saviour in St. Luke Chap. 10. v. 20. and John Chap. 10. v. 18. Sect 14. Tertullian's meaning as to the state of Souls after this life to the day of the Resurrection is that they are in a certain place known by the name of Abraham's Bosom and situated betwixt Heaven and Hell as he writes hi his 4th Book against Marcion That there is a certain and determined place call'd the Bosom of Abraham If you ask where that place lyes and how long the Souls are to stay there he will answer as to the First Question Sinum dico Abrahae regionem etsi non Caelestem superiorem tamen Inferis I call Abraham's Bosom a a Region superior to Hell tho' it properly belongs not to Heaven As to the other he will say Refrigerium praebiturum animabus justorum donec consummatio rerum resurrectionem omnium plenitudine Mercedis expungat The Latin phrase is somewhat obscure but it matters not to Translate the words so much as to give the Sense which is That it will be a place of refreshment for the Souls of the just until the consummation of all things comes and brings on the Resurrection in which every one shal1 be obliged to give account and then receive a full reward Sect. 15. He calls in this place the Subterraneous places Inferos Hell because he puts the place of Abode of the Damned under the Earth or in a great Gulf contained in the bottom of the Earth and believes that for their punishment they shall go to burn in a material Fire For about the end of his Book of Penitency he calls Hell Thesaurum Ignis aeterni The Treasure of Eternal Fire Through the Chimneys of that Fire come out sometimes frightful flames during Earthquakes and immediately after he calls that Abyss of Fire Magni alicujus inaestimabilis foci scintillas missilia exaercitoria jacula The sparks of a prodigious great and unexpressible Fire St. Cyprian speaks so obscurely about the end of his Letter against Demetrian upon that subject that it seems he threatens the Soul with corporeal punishments it being a consequent of the Series of his Reasoning Hell says he shall Eternally burn for the Damned and the punishment of a devouring fire and most glooing flames will neither supersede nor suspend their Torments there the Souls with their Bodies are destined to infinite pains He seems to mean thereby that the Souls and Bodies shall have one and the same share for otherwise he would have declared what peculiar sufferings the Soul is to undergo Sect. 16. In the 4th Age we shall first hear St. Athanasius he also believes that the Angels are not all of an equal Dignity of which he gives a formal explication according to his meaning on the 31st Question to Antiochus where having said something as to the Orders of the Angels he proceeds thus Because those Orders are called Legions and Armies we must thereby understand such Orders as are established to teach to defend provide administer help as also such Orders as receive the Souls and remain by them Now as the difference betwixt the Celestial Orders is known to us we must likewise know which is their State and what Knowledge they have The Thrones Cherubims and Seraphims are taught immediately by God himself as being the nearest to him and raised above the others These teach the inferior Orders and these again others that are under them The last of all are the Angels taking that Name in a particular signification and determin'd to a certain Order of Spirits distinguished from all others and these are the Teachers of Men. 'T is easie to perceive that St. Athanasius has taken this from the Writings of Philo and other Jews as 't is related above Chap. 12. Sect. 4 5 8 9 10. But whatever it be St. Athanasius being the Author of the Confession of Faith so much commended in our Churches and quoted in the 9th Article of the Low-Dutch Confession of Faith as a pattern of Orthodoxy we cannot but admit what he has written upon the present matter as the common Opinion approved of and received by the Principal Doctors of that Age Sect. 17. I grant
Hearts And our promises in another sense to give us The Morning Star Revel 2.28 So that the name of Lucifer is so far from being that of the Prince of the Devils thâ—t it is the most Christian name to be read in the Bible Sect. 23. Let 's go back to Lactantius he says that Monsters were generated from that odious conjunction of Angels with Women that are half Angels or rather Half Demons or half Men thence he infers Duo genera daemonum unum caeleste alterum terrenum That there are 2 sorts of Demons one of Celestial Demons and another of Terrestrial by Celestial he seems to understand Aerial but after the word Terrenum there follows immediatly Hi sunt immunedi malorum quae geruntur auctores quorum idem diabolus est princeps These are unclean Spirits Authors of all the Evil that happens in the World the chief of whom is the Devil already mentioned From this passage may be clearly perceived that he takes for Demons those very same Spirits whom the Heathens made their Gods as has been seen Ch. 2. Sect. 9 to 13 which still confirms more and more what I have asserted Ch. 5. Sect. 4 5. That the Heathen never adored Demons but in as much as they believed them to be Gods Sect 24. The same Lactantius tells us that the Demons are indeed Spirits but Spiritus tenues incomprehensibiles Spirits of a thin subtle matter and imperceptible This we have heard before from Origen and Tertullian He explains himself very clearly as to the power he ascribe to their understanding saying That they know many future things but that it is not possible they should discover the depths of the secrets of God We have already heard Tertullian confirming this proposition by his Reasonings However Lactantius believes that Divinations by the Contemplation of the Stars by the Inspection of the intrals of Beasts and by the Observation of Birds of which mention has been made Ch. 3. Sect. 4 5 7. Are Diabolical Inspirations and therefore holds that they are still capable of discovering to Men many future things Sect. 25. St. Jerom as far as I can conceive constitutes not the same difference of places betwixt the Spirits Yet he believes Ex Pauli dictis ad Ephe Cap. 2. ver 2. 12. colligi Diabolos in aere vagari ac dominari That from what S. Paul writes to the Ephesians may be inferr'd That the Devils are wandering in the Air and â—â—igning there And writing upon the 6th Ch. v. 12. to the Ephesians he explains more at large that proposition as containing the common Opinion of the Christians of that Age. This is the Opinion of all the Doctors That the Air which is betwixt the Heavens and the Earth separating both from what it call'd the Vacuum is fil'd with powers contrary to each other We must yet examine hereafter whence the Principalities Powers and Dominions of this World have received their powert His Opinion upon this last Question is that they have it from God himself and that they exercise it more or less as a less and greater pain is inflicted upon 2 different Criminals according as 't is resolved to make their life more or less bitter he also supposes that the unclean Spirits as well as the Holy Angels are divided into certain Orders which Opinion of his may be seen in his Commentary on the 3 Ch. of Habakuk As Christ is the head of the Church and of every particular faithful Man so is Belzebub the chief of all the Demons who exercise so many cruelties in this World and each Troop of Demons has it's particular Chief and Captain under him Sect. 26. Lactantius must yet inform us what in his Opinion the Demons were able to Operate in reference to Men. We see Sect. 14. that his Opinion in general is That the Corrupted and Contagious Spirits wander'd through the World endeavouring to comfort themselves under their loss by procuring the ruin of Mankind Immediatly after he explains in particular how they hurt Soul and Body They attack says he The Souls by their craft devises and the snares they lay before them they seize upon them by their delusions and by leading them astray they stick to every private person and are always at his elbow creeping into every house from door to door And in relation to the bodies as those very Spirits are according to him partly corporeal and partly extraordinary sâ—â—tle and consequently imperceptible They insinuate into Human Bodies without being perceived act privately within their Bowels impair their Health cause Diseases cast terror into the mind by Dreams overturn it make it stray and force Men by such vexations to have recourse to them It seems however that he intends to ascribe that power to the Devil only over the Heathens because he disputes against them and that they were those that had recourse to the Demons as believing them to be Gods for over the Christians the Ancient Fathers attributed not so much power to them Sect. 27. We may learn from St. Athanasius what were the Opinions of his time as to the Souls separated from their Bodies after Death In the Book before quoted question 32. he asks Whether the Souls after their separation have knowledge of what is done amongst Men as the Holy Angels have he answers Yes at least as to the Souls of the Saints but not as to those of Sinners for their continual torments take them so much up that they have no leasure to think upon any other thing The 33th Question is What is the employment of the Souls departed from their Bodies Answer The Soul separated from the Body is uncapa ble of doing either good or evil However he says a little after That the Souls of the Saints animated by the Holy Ghost praise God and bless him in the Land of the Living He asserts Question 35. That after Death the Souls never come to bring news of the state of the Deceased which would give occasion to many cheats because wicked Spirits might feign that they are Souls of the Deceased that come back to discover somthing to the Living I desire the Reader to observe this very attentively for it will be convenient to reflect upon it hereafter Sect. 28. St. Austin gives us a more large information for thô he does not expresly reject Purgatory yet he confutes it every where as appears from several places of his Writings that have been quoted by one of my predecessors Andrew Landsman in his Book of the Apostasy of the Church of Rome yet this Father in the 69th Chapter of his Manual expresses himself thus 'T is not incredible but somthing like may happen after this life and it may reasonably be enquired whether it is so and what proof may be brought for or against this Opinion viz. that some of the faithful come sooner or later to the Eternal Felicity passing through a certain purging Fire in which they stay longer or shorter as they are more
so the infernal Dragon cannot endure the Water of Baptism Sect. 6. He ascribes the same Virtue to the name of Jesus when in his Sermon upon Baptism speaks of mercenary Exorcists de quaestuariis exorcistis Obediunt Daemonâ—s Exorcistis c. The Demons obey Exorcists saying we know who is Christ and who is Paul and being conjured in the name of that Jesus whom Paul Preaches we withdraw It seems to St Cyprian that things ought to be so by the same reason that Baptism was valid whether administred by Paul or Judas But he ought to have considered that we have not the same certainty that these Exorcists should have received their Office from God as we are sure that he had established Judas in his Apostleship Sect. 7. Lactantius in the 4th Century will yet give us some instructions And First as to Conjurations that we treat now of he believed that they have a great efficacy for he writes in his Second Book Sect. 15. That the Devils are afraid of the Just that worship God since being conjured by them in his Name they go out of Bodies and being compell'd by their words as by stripes they not only acknowledg'd that they are Demons but also declare their Names that are found to be the same under which they are adored in Temples So that he believes that the wicked Spirit how great a Lyer soever he is cannot lye when by Conjuration he is forced to speak because the Divine Power constrains him to say the Truth for that time Sect. 8. In the mean while he sticks not to that but agrees with St. Cyprian that the modern sorcerers were able to enchant wicked Spirits and by that argument pretends to prove to Epicure and his followers that there are Spirits in the World and that Human Souls are immortal To that end he expresses himself in these words Book the 7th Sect. 13. Certainly if Democritus Epicure or Dicearchus stood by a Magician they should not make bold to maintain by their Reasons that the Soul is Mortal what could they answer If the Magician by pronouncing some Verses call'd up the Souls ' from subterraneous places making them appear to Men speak to them and foretel future things for if they still presume to persist in their error they would be forced to yeild to such real proofs and such visible effects Sect. 9. However I cannot agree to what is read in his 2 Book Sect. 14. That the Art and Power of Magicians Magorum only consists in the Inspirations they receive from the Spirits that surprize Men and deceive their Eyes by Illusions hindering them from seeing what is and making them see what is not when 't is required from them by Magicians He seem'd before to believe that the Demons actually produce some effects and here he will perswade us that there is nothing but illusion whatever it be even that very illusion is still an Operation of the Demons and consequently approve of their existence and action In the mean while he agrees with himself in this that he believes sorcerers converse with the wicked Spirit and that the Conjurations of the former force the latter to say and do what is required from them but that all the effects of Witchcraft are to be ascribed to them and not to the Magicians Sect. 10. Lactantius was perswaded that bad Spirits had a share in all those Arts that made up the practices of the Ancient Heathens and of which mention has been made Ch. 3. He even believed that they were all invented by those Spirits as appears by his own words Book 2. Ch. 16. The things that they have invented viz. The Demons are predictions by the Stars by the inspection of Victims and by the cry of Birds these are the Oracles and Enchantments in use to consult the Dead by Magick Magia and all the other Evils to which Men addict themselves either privately or openly All these things have nothing solid nor true in themselves but are received for such by the credit they borrow from the presence of their Authors who know how to impose upon the credulity of Men affecting to make a divine power appear before them of which however no profit accrues to them I might quote here some Authors of the two following Centuries but observing no change in them that deserves to be related and fearing to insist too long upon this I come to the bottom of the matter lest I should weary the Reader with unprofitable trouble CHAP. XVII That it is necessary to compare all those various Doctrines and Practices of the Jews Mahometans and Christians and to examine wherein they differ and in what they agree together Sect. 1. THE 11th Chapter of this Book was designed to compare together the Opions and practices of the various Heathens concerning Spirits The natural light that remained in our understanding notwithstanding the darkness in which it has been involv'd by Sin has been able without the help of the Holy writ to discover whether those Opinion and practices were founded upon true or false grounds We have since heard those that acknowledge the Authority of the Holy writ speak very differently by which means the light of Reason may be encreased and it's corruption better'd Let us now see what they have done as to this and how far their endeavours have attained To that end we shall First consider wherein the latter differ from the Heathens what they have retain'd of Paganism and lastly in what points they differ from each other having always regard to that difference of Doctrines and Worship or Opinions and Practices that have been set down before Sect. 2. These 3 sorts of People Jews Christians and Mahometans rejecting the plurality of Gods that were believed and adored by the Heathens and Worshiping one Only God have overthrown whatever the others had invented concerning confederate inferior and mean Gods or familiar Spirits that were born with Men and outlive them and at the same time have destroyed whatever Conjurations and Witchcrafts were grounded upon such principles by which Men presume to acquire some certain knowledge and produce some certain effects We have found nothing like amongst the Jews and Mahometans for thô they may have somthing that appears like it yet 't is quite different as we shall show hereafter And as to the Christians we see that they unanimously reject all these things and look upon them as delusions and impieties and as to what the last together with the Jews and Mahometans have retained of the Opinions and practices of the Heathens it has been taken from the Philosophy of this last Sect and accommodated to the Holy Scripture or gather'd from it by false explications This I shall now briefly show concerning the Spirits in general and the Soul of Man in particular Sect. 3. As to the Spirits in general First That Opinion that they are partly corporeal received of old by the Jews Ch. 12. Sect. 5 11 to 15 By the Mahometans Ch.
to reveal it to the Rector or other Priest commission'd by the Bishop never fail to fall into the possession of the Devil to whom the Monitory delivers them after it 's being thunder'd out and that the Devil transforms them most or all the Nights into Dogs Cats Wolves Goats and other Animals which is called to whurry as a Wolf If one meet in the night some Wild-Beast or a Domestick straying he fancies to have met the Wolf-man and is ready to swear it Some of the most thinking and less superstitious part at least believe that the Excommunication contained in those Monitories cuts off from the Communion of their Church and delivers to the Demons those that have not submitted to it by revealing such things as 't is often very convenient and useful to conceal Sect. 18. As all these things are said in general concerning the power of wicked Spirits so certain places are assigned to them where they usually produce their Effects The coâ—mon Opinion is that there are familiar Spirits Domestick and Mountanous Devils 1. The familiar Spirits Spiritus Familiares are those who always keep by a Man even when he calls not for them whether they do it of their own accord or that they have been hired very cheap for that purpose They serve him faithfully at least outwardly whether or no he calls for them They suffer themselves to be shut up in Rings Chrystals Chests and the like and to be carried away whither soever one pleases These are the very words of Schottus pag. 134. Those Demons in Glass or Rings are according to the common Opinion shut in or fastned to them with some certain ceremonies used in that case and not by the virtue of any Conjurations or Exorcisms nor by the power of him that carries them as 't is believed by some but they undergo this willingly or by the absolute order of the Prince of the Devils whom they blindly obey or lastly to deceive Men more easily When they are in those sorts of Prisons and have been carried through several places questions are put to them and sometimes they are forced to speak Then they discover to Men hidden Things and foretell those that are to come It is believed that in our days a great and victorious Prince carried one of these Spirits with him in his Ring and that he lost his sight in a Battle a little after the Stone that was in the Ring was broken into two pieces pag. 143. Sect. 19. Schottus and Dâ—â—â—io relate out of Meletius what is ordinarily said concerning Domestick Devils They withdraw into the most hidden places of the house upon piles of Wood where they are kept with the most delicious Meat because they carry to their Masters Corn that they have stolen from other People's Barns When those Spirits intend to settle in any House they make it known by leaping up sticks of Wood or throwing Dung into Pails of Milk If the Master of the House taking notice of it le ts alone those Sticks and the Dung in the Milk or even if he drinks of the Milk into which the Dung hat been thrown the Spirit appears to him and lives with him Those sorts of Spirits are called by the French Gobelins by the Dutch Guldelkens and Kabautermannekens and by the English Hobgoblins They appear in the shape of Men and Women as little as Dwarfs or such as Pigmies were formerly imagin'd to be Schottus says That it was usual in former times to see many of those Spirits in Houses where they did whatever was necessary They dr essed Horses they swept the House carried Wood and Water and did all sorts of Service pag. 145. he did well by saying 't was formerly done left he should be put to a proof in this curious Age. Sect. 20. He has taken from Georgius Agricola the description he makes of Mountanous Devils saying That they dwell in the Mines under the Mountains that they are cruel and frightful that they make uneasie and perpetually vex those that work in the Mines Some call them the little Hollanders because they ordinarily appear little scarce three foot high with an old wrinckled Face and in the same shape with the Miners clothed with a Wastecoat and Apron Nevertheless he says that they are not so wicked as they love to play Tricks and to be merrily Roguish especially when they will persuade that they do the greatest part of the work in the Mines When all 's done his Opinion comes at last to this that there are two sorts of that kind of Spirits some are good and the other bad The latter are feared and detested by the Workmen whereas they look with pleasure upon the former believing them to be of good Augury But Schottus being willing to grant that they are of a mean Order betwixt Men and Spirits holds them for bad Spirits what good soever they may do believing that when it happens so they are forced to it by God or that they do it Craftily to delude Men Pag. 114. and 149. Sect. 21. There is still more illusions made in relation to the shapes the Devils take on than in the other occasions above-mention'd I will not now speak of whole Armies that are believed frequently to appear in order of Battle of which Schottus treats at large in the addition to his second Book p. 336. but of those that are called Hobgoblins and Fairies Formally our People speak almost of nothing else Schottus writes thereupon p. 339. Delrio says That there is a sort of Spectres that appear as Women all in white in Woods and Meadows Some are seen in Stables with Wax Candles lighted some drops of which they let fall upon the Mains of Horses combing and twisting them very neatly those white Women are also call'd Sybils and 't is said that one of 'em named Haband is as the Queen of the others and commands them People believe their Apparitions to be of good Omen but the Doctors look on such presages as old Womens Tales acknowledging in the mean while that the thing is true or at least possible And Schottus relating p. 215. what Cornelius of Kempen says assures us that in the time of the Emperor Lotarius that is about 830. several of those Fairies were to be found in Friseland where they dwelt in Grotes or on the tops of Hills and Mountains whence they descended at night to carry away Shepherds from their Flocks Children from their Cradles and slip both into their Caverns CHAP. XX. What is the Doctrine of Popery concerning Apparitions of Spirits and how they torment Men either by themselves or by the Ministry of other Men. Sect. 1. IN speaking of this last kind of Demons we are descended by degrees even to Specters and Phantasms But First we have observed that there were yet two things to treat of touching Spirits that is their Apparitions to Men and their Operations in the same It is upon this subject of Apparitions that there is room to speak of
Phantasms which according to the opinion of the Papists are good and bad Angels or Souls of the deceased which become visible or which are understood without being seen either that they speak intelligibly or that they make only some sound and noise There is yet this difference in their Apparitions that there are some Souls which whether they manifest themselves visibly or whether they are only heard work some effects whereas there are others that operate nothing Schottus freely teaches us many things which relates to them that is First in what places Specters chiefly used to appear Secondly what Specters and Phantasms are Thirdly what they act Fourthly to whom they particularly appear Fifthly what means there are to avoid them and be rid of them Sect. 2. Those places where Phantoms appear Schottus persuades himself that there is no place in the World but that may happen However that there are some where it happens more frequently than elsewhere As 1. In Desarts and in solitary places he grounds his opinion upon Scripture Isai 33.14 Apoc. 18.2 Tob. 8.3 And confirms it by the consideration of that which hapned to our Saviour Jesus Christ himself St. Matthew Chap. 4. St. Luke Chap. 4. It is for this reason that the good St. Anthony was so hardly dealt with in the Desart by all sorts of Hobgoblings and Spirits Pag. 226. 2. If one were in the humor also to believe a sort of Water Demons our Author would very often make them appear in Ponds and Marshes Pag. 227. 3. If the Pagans have had since a long time Gods of the Groves the Christians will not deny but that there are such for they say that there are particular Phantoms in Woods and Meadows Pag. 229. 4. When they are to fight any bloody Battle or after it has been fought many Specters have often been seen in the field of Battle Pag. 230. 5. Phantasms often appear in Baths and Stoves Pag. 232. 6. Which happens also in Fortresses and Castles Pag. 234. 7. In Mines and Caverns as it has been said before concerning Mountain Gods Pag. 235. 8. There are seen more Apparitions in places where Murderers and Thieves haunt than in other places Pag. 235. 9. Holy Cloysters Churches and Temples of God's Worship are not also exempted Pag. 237. As for me I am very much perswaded that there is no place in the World where there are more Delusions and Apparitions made or rather deceitful Visions than in those places 10. So it is no marvel that the same happens to every particular person in his House Pag. 238. Sect. 3. If one asks what it is that appears or What these Fantomes are you will not fail to be immediately satisfied Sometimes they are good Angels but most frequently evil Spirits Souls of the deceased However in this occasion there is said touching Angels very little and that very uncertain fortassis etiam Angeli boni sometimes perhaps good Angels says Schotus Pag. 247. But concerning Demons he affirms very neatly and with a great assurance that they are not all alike wicked Because Phantasms are distinguished in mites tetricâ—s seu truculentos in good and cruel that which is found explained in the same place by these words taken out of Cassien touching some unpure Spirits as are ordinarily called Faunos Faunes Kabautermannakens or Hobgoblins it is notorious that they delude Men as by way of sport and pastime so that in certain places they post themselves ordinarily in the way and take them up however without tormenting the passengers they are contented to laugh at them and make raillery and play them some pleasant pranks And they seem rather to have a design to tire them than to give them any displeasure But it is also known there are others so evil and so cruel that it does not satisfie them to torment People and cruelly to tear them where they come this ought to be understood of the possessed But they will attack those who pass by altho' at the same time they are a great way off and horribly treat them See one that says he knows them very well himself and further that no body is ignorant of it he relyes upon his own perswasion and does applaud himself for it Would it not be more mischievous than the Will with a wisp himself that sets upon passengers to suspect and confute his belief However he is but a little while to be quiet for we cannot avoid troubling him and shewing his Error Fourth The Souls of the deceased are either saved or damned it is held for certain that those that are happy are often seen to appear to holy Men for their good and that they appear still The Legends contain an infinite number of examples which have been compiled from all sorts of Histories even of those which are the least worthy of credit and that are enriched with a great many new ornaments that have been lent them in compiling of the work But there are none which appear so worthy of remark as these apparitions of Souls which happen in consequence of Covenants that have been made betwixt Holy People in their life time that is when two or more have mutually promised that who should die first should appear to the other and come and tell him news of the estate he was in whether in Purgatory or in Heaven The Author makes no doubt but the thing happens as it is agreeds but he dares not decide whether such an agreement be lawful in which case he believes it must be made by a particular inspiration from God p. 333. Sect. 5. There is no more doubt of the apparitions of Souls that are damned and they are grounded upon proofs of the same certainty as the former Schottus reports an example drawn from Bencius and Delrio which appears so strong and convinceing that he expresses himself thus at the end It is a story which is confirmed by the belief generally given to it it is publickly in all places by many Books and by a great number of letters and the thing has happened in the time and place mentioned It is a Question to know if any thing may not be false or mixed with any falsity because it has been published a long time without being contradicted either in word or writing but it would be too long to treat upon this Question here it will be proper in another place However if this History be true it might confirm the sentiments of the Papists which say That the Souls of the damned appear here upon Earth to the living to present to them in a frightful manner the torments they suffer in Hell to the end they may bring them by that to repent and leave off Sinning Sect. 6. Our Jesuit is too wise to speak much himself of Purgatory he leaves that to others he held nevertheless with those of his Faith That the Souls of the deceased desire often of the living the help of their Prayers and good works and that by consequence the
which is nevertheless the common belief of all the Pagans which is received among the Jews and has not been confuted sufficiently by the primitive Christians among whom are found some who have expresly taught it Sect. 7. But the Pagans differ from the Mahometans and Christians chiefly in two points First That they mix and confound together the supream God with other superior and inferior Gods good and bad and also the Souls of Men with all those Gods in such a confused manner that it is impossible to comprehend any thing and that it is a Labyrinth from whence they cannot extricate themselves On the contrary the Jews and Mahometans agree with the Christians in this point that there is one only God and that all that is besides him has been created by him Second In that that not only they make no great difficulty to deify Men but that they make also the Gods return to the condition of Men and that they believe there are Men the issue of the Gods there are some of these errors which the Papists cannot boast of being entirely free from for they may reasonably be reproached that they have substituted their Saints to these imaginary Gods and to those Demons of the Pagans That they speak of Saints as the Pagans do of their Gods that they make them act in the same manner that these false Deities were supposed to act But pure Christianity such as has been in all times upon this point never make Gods a Man nor never raises Man to the dignity of God Sect. 8. There is notwithstanding some point upon which the Protestants are not agreed and upon which nevertheless the Papists the primitive Christians the Jews the Mahometans and all the Pagans agree viz. The Tutelary Gods of the Pagans who were the guardian Angels in the first Christianity We have lately seen they are admitted without contestation among the Papists the Protestants in general are not disposed to receive this Opinion those of the profession of France Holland and Swisserland reject it and nevertheless there are some but very few that admit it or at least believe not that there are sufficient reasons to oppose it we shall examine afterwards which is the soundest of these Opinions In the mean while we must take notice before hand that what the Papists teach upon this subject together with some of other Christians that are not of their Communion relates more to the light and knowledge which they suppose that those Spirits communicate to them than real help they can expect in their actions and in their manner of living for it is rarely seen or to say better it is never seen that the People ascribe a considerable deliverance or a great oppression that befal them to an Angel either their keeper or their enemy but they never fail to ascribe it immediatly to the providence of God or if they sometimes turn their Eyes to another side the Papists as to their particular refer all the good that happens to them to the protection of some great Saint especially to that of the Virgin Mary but the Protestants lest they should seem to favour the belief of the Popish Saints would rather say if occasion serves that the Devil was the Author of it Sect. 9. There is also a difference to be taken notice of betwixt the Heathens on one side the Jews and the Mahometans on the other and all the Christians on another it is chiefly in the practice of Witchcraft and Divination which according to the principles of the first is a laudable practice in it self althô often abused as a great many good things are according to the principles of the second it is only allow'd and useful in many occasions and according to the last it is directly opposite to Christianity The reason of it is that the Pagans hold for Gods or at least for Ministers and Ambassadors of the Gods Spirits which are lookt upon by Christians as unpure Spirits and that the Jews and the Mahometans cause to proceed from the Virtue of the Caballa and the influences of the Stars whatever the Christians take to be Magick Witchcraft or Enchantments It is true that in the time of Ancient Paganism the Mathematicians have been put into the rank of Poisoners and that both were treated as persons equally pernicious to whom it was forbidden to exercise their art as being unlawful But the occasion of these prohibitions was only founded upon the ill use that was made of this Art which had been before not only permitted but even much esteem'd At this time the Christians have no longer any aversion for the name of Mathematician but that of Poysoner never received any good interpretation no that words are here to be disputed for 't is of things that we treat and we are to examine them and not words Perhaps there will be occasion to have some regard to them in our third Book where without doubt it will be necessary to speak fully of these terms and of many others Sect. 10. Let 's now see what conformity is found among all these People together Pagans Jews Mahometans Christians both Ancient and Modern Roman Catholicks Protestants and others They all confess First That there are Spirits distinct from God and bodies for thô some contrive yet another kind of Spirits as we have said it is one of the points in dispute among them and now we are about to seek wherein they agree together Second That there natures are different some absolutely subsisting without body as Angels and others being united to a body as Souls Third That however both are mortal Fourth That of such Spirits as are united to a body some are good to Men and others bad Fifth That therefore Man has reason to seek the friendship of good Spirits that is the Angels and to take all possible care to divert from him evil Spirits which are Devils Sixth That an infinite happiness or misery attends Men after this life Seventh That likewise of the Souls of the deceased some are bad and some good and holy thô they seem not to explain themselves always in the same manner sometimes upon one of the points and sometimes upon the other it i◠nevertheless certain considering the bottom of the matter that their sentiments are agreeable see then in what consists the conformity of the Opinions in general of all Nations and in what they differ We have now to examine what is true or what not in all that has been related and it is for that purpose I design my second and third Book according to the division I have established before Chapter the first Sect. 8. However we shall yet see what cautions may be drawn from all that has been said CHAP. XXIV That all that has been related shews upon what foundation the Christians in general and the Protestants in particular say such extraordinary things of the Devil Sect. 1. BEfore I pass to my second Book where I shall examine what is purely
propositions they maintain rather than their true natural Sense such as 't is found in other Authors and in ordinary use of a Tongue that is so familiar to them Of these I might recite a thousand proofs if it were necessary and time would allow me Sect. 13. Besides as much as Man has taken pains to acquire uncertain and corrupted Sciences so much has he been negligent of informing himself in the best the finest and at the same time the smallest part of Sciences with which he is ordinarily less acquainted for as I have already said the Youth in the Schools run over all the Countries of the Ancient Heathens only to make a booty of Latin and Greek before they do so much as visit Christianity which is only shewn to them as at a distance they are yet of too tender a constitution to be loaden with such solid meat and too young to be mixed with such important Affairs so that they are taught almost nothing of that matter It is not thought convenient for them to know what Soul and Body are wherein consists the Essence of the Soul or that of the Angels and Devils and what knowledge and operations those Spirits are capable of and what share and administration they take here below in human Affairs No light is afforded to them that may dissipate the darkness that has been spread over their understandings in their youth nor blot out the impressions that have been made upon them as to this point by the means already mention'd so that this darkness and these impressions destitute of Antidotes do still penetrate farther Even those that follow the Principles of Descartes tho' they distinguish better than others the nature of Soul and Body as will be shown in my Second Book Chap. 1. Sect. 12 13 14. yet when they come to the operations of such Spirits as are not joyned to a Body either Angels or Devils and undertake to explain how they can act upon other Bodies either of Men or other matter they take as much freedom as they can and go as far as they can be carried by the prejudices they have imbibed with all others before they studied Scripture and Philosophy Sect. 14. That which may adorn the Human Mind with Light and form its Judgment is what is less intended to be acquired in Universities tho' they seem to be the place where such a rare thing should be gotten which most unhappily affords not the means to grow rich I mean Mathematicks and that part of natural Philosophy that discovers the nature and course of the Heavens not because they treat of our present subject but for two other reasons I shall add The first is that more certainty is to be found in Mathematicks than in all other Sciences because they are grounded upon infallible Principles such Students as are used to the certainty of these Principles will not acknowledge for truth such as are not attended with a full and entire conviction and put a little value upon such Sciences as have not the same certainty But the Second Reason is still more particular viz. That Mathematicks especially that part that treats of the knowledge of Stars manifestly discovers several things that undeniably shew the Sacred Writers accommodated themselves to the stile and capacity of the Vulgar and speak of the Heavens Earth Sun Moon and Stars not according to their own nature and as they are in themselves but according to the common notions of Men. And therefore those that are somewhat addicted to that Science credit not so easily the discourses of other Men and are not satisfied with probabilites They are not disposed to fill the Air with Spirits nor to fix them to Stars nor to confound Spirits and Stars together But the mischief is as I have already hinted that few Learned give up themselves to that part of the Sciences tho' it is the most useful and beautiful of all Sect. 15. All these prejudices with which we have been once fill'd which have been rooted in us more and more by the ways already alleag'd which have grown by the new nourishment they daily received and which have neither been banished nor weaken'd by the endeavours of a better informed Judgment all these prejudices I say are no where more sensible than in the subject we treat of And therefore we have destin'd this First Book to establish this Truth and make it very plain to the end it might be clearly perceived that all those Opinions concerning the Devils Divinations and Witchcraft draw their first Original from the Heathens who communicated them to the Jews during the Babilonian Captivity where they had more conversation with the Philosophers than in the Land of Canaan whilst they liv'd separated from all other Nations of the Earth There they insensibly took the tincture of the Heathen Doctrines and Practices at least of such as seem'd not directly opposed to their Law The first Christians springing from the middle of the Jews and Heathens kept likewise most part of the same Doctrines and intended to gain the Heathens by too great and easie a compliance with their Opinions Thus was insensibly laid the foundation on which the great aedifice of Popery is now founded and rais'd Sect. 16. Another Judgment may be pass'd upon that matter if Popery were put in parallel with Heathenism and not esteem'd the worse of these two For why should not they be held for Heathen Legends what the Pagans have published of their Miracles Oracles Gods Aërial Spectres Dreams and the like prodigies That is why do we not call 'em Lies as we rightly so name the Roman Legends Have we more reason to look upon as suspitious those wonders the relations of which are inserted almost in all the Books of the chief Roman writers and to look upon them as a branch of superstition then to deal in the same manner with those of the Heathens Whence comes it that we publickly laugh at both in our discourses and writings the sham miracles of the former as being meer delusions and trifles and that we approve both by our words and our Books the narrations that the latter make of the wonders seen amongst them and that we quote them as true thô they be of the same matter and weight with the others The antiquity of those Authors and of the times in which they have written has it so much power and efficacy and must we more easily credit stories because they are said to have happen'd a long while ago and in far remote Countries But what 's that to the main point Truth fits not it self in this manner to the inclinations of Men. Lies were anciently told as well as they are now and as well in Foreign Countries as in our own Sect. 17. It is methinks sufficiently proved by all the quotations of this Book that there are no Miracles Oracles purging Fires Apparitions of Hobgoblins or Souls Witchcraft by Letters and â—â—aracters or choice of Days either in
as he believes particularly happens some certain Nights Chap 96. Pag. 284. The Angels descend at night upon Earth by the leave of their Lord and visit the true faithful till the break of the day Chap. 12. Pag. 290. They will visit the faithful in the Garden of Eden they will salute them and say here is the reward of their perseverance here is the Eternal Grace Sect. 7. As he holds that the Angels are always ready to serve God on behalfe of the Faithful so he believed them no less forward in performing his Orders against the impious When says he Chap. 5. pag. 155. the wicked are at the point of death the Angels stretch out their hands to seize upon their Souls And further P. 172. The Angels of death shall kill those that blaspheme God and his Commandments Chap. 7. Pag. 203 204. Thou hast seen that the Angels have put to death the unfaithful and stricken them before and behind A great power for the executing of God's Judgments is ascribed to them for an Angel is sufficient to destroy all the Inhabitants of the World as Levinius Varnerius quotes it out of a Turkish Book Sect. 8. He forgets not the evils caused by the Devil for the seducing of Man The first was his having them banish'd from Paradise Chap. 1. Pag. 7. He caused Adam and his Wife to sin and to fall from the Grace in which they were Chap. 2. Pag. 8. God advertises Mahomet that the Devil would make hâ—m afraid of the unfaithful Pag. 150. The Devil will make them forget my Commandments Pag. 160. Think upon the day in which I shall gather all the Peopâ—e and say to the Devil O thou Prince of the Devils why hast thou rebelled against me Chap. 56. Pag. 608. For the Devil has puft up Man and made â—im revolt from the Commandments of God He seems even to believe that the malice of the Devil extends as far as the Stars with which he says God has adorned the Heavens and which he preserves against the attempts of the Devils Chap. 40. Pag. 534. Sect. 9. Such are his Opinions as to the Angels in general but as to their particular Ministry Thevenot relates That the Turks acknowledge Guardian Angels but in far greater number than we do for say they God has ordained 70 Angels for an invisible Guard to each Musulman and there happens nothing to any person but they attribute it to them Each has his particular Office one watches over one Member and th' other over another one is so subservient in this and the other in that Affair Amongst all those Angels there are two who preside over all the rest sitting one on the Right and th' other on the Left hand and being call'd Kerim Kiatib that is to say Merciful Writers That on the Right hand keeps account of the good Actions and that on the Left of the bad They are so merciful that they spare him if he commits any sin before he falls asleep hoping he shall repent if not they set it down but if he repents they write Estig fourillah God forgive They accompany him every where unless when he goes to the Necessary house whither they let him go alone waiting for him at the door where they again take possession of him For that reason when the Turks go to that place they go in with the Left Foot and when they come out they put the Right Foot foremost that the Angel who sets down their good Works should seize first upon them Mahomet himself confirms that Fable saying Chap. 52. Pag. 594. Think O Man on the day when thou shalt see near thee thy good Angel on thy Right hand and thy bad Angel on thy Left who have noted and written whatever thou hast done Sect. 10. 'T is observable that this Fable has its Original from the immortality of the Soul and the resurrection of the dead which the Turks believe and are plainly express'd in the foregoing words and else-where as Chap. 12. Pag. 280. The faithful shall go into the Garden of Eden but to the unfaithful he says Pag. 288. Hell is the place to which you are destin'd Chap. 52. Pag. 594. God takes up the Soul of Man as he thinks fit to send her into one of those places But first she returns into the Body after its burying to undergo the strict examination of two frightful Angels Munquir and Guauquir the Fable which Thevenot relates upon their account and that of the Beasts is so gross that I should be ashamed to recite it at large Sect. 11. In the mean while it will not be unserviceable to our subject to give a more particular instruction of their belief upon the state of the Dead I will not here speak of their Carnal Paradise because I treat not of all the points of the Mahometan Religion but only of what concerns the the Spirits they acknowledge that there are appointed two very different places one for the damned and the other for the saved that is to say there are Men who have done so many good works that at the very hour they expire they are admitted into the happiness of Paradise but there are others who having not a sufficient Faith are subjected to I pains for their Sins until they be all expiated after which they enjoy in Paradise the same felicity with the others that are gone in first But as to the unfaithful and wicked they go to burn forever in Hell where there bodies are as often repaired by God as they are reduced to Ashes that their torments may be Eternal That 's the substance of what Thevenot writes Chap. 20 and 31 of his journey and Ricaut says almost the same thing Chap. 2.6 and 12. Sect. 12. The transmigration of Souls from one body into another not only of Human Souls but likewise of those of Beasts is also believed by some Mahometans Ricaut testifies Book 2. Ch. 12. That one of their Sects called Munasichi holds that Opinion and takes occasion from thence to relate how one Roboroski a Polander was dealt with by a Drugist that was angry with him because he had kick'd his Dog for they believe That the Souls of Men after Death enter into the bodies of such Beasts with which the Nature and temper of the bodies that were animated by those Souls had most relation that the Soul of a Glutton passed into the body of a Hog that of a Letcherous into that of a He-goat that of a Generous person is destin'd to animate a Horse and that of a Watchful Man to quicken a Dog To this he adds several circumstances which the curious may see in his own Book He likewise asserts that the Sect Eschrakin that is illuminated is likewise Pythagorean but that it holds not much of the Doctrines of the Alcoran thô most of it's followers are the Schicks or the Preachers and chief Doctors of the Turks They have more rational Opinions than the others concerning the immateriality of Spirits
and the Heavenly happiness Sect. 13. For the Sahins or Sahis of whom mention is made before scarce believe that the Soul is immortal Delavalle in his 4th Book Ch. 23. describes some Persians that are like them they are calied elh eltabquid that is People of truth or certainty They constitute the Essence of the Soul in the mixture and union of the 4 Elements as far as I can observe by the explication he gives of their belief The Soul returns to God in the same manner as she proceeded from him for she proceeds from him in as much as he is the Author of that complication of the 4 Elements and she returns to him in as much as he separates them That Sect is very numerous thô look'd upon as Heretical by other Persians Sect. 14. Every one of those various Opinions is discoverable by the practices of it's followers Delavalle relates Ch. 17. that the Persians have a great veneration for the greatest and eldest Trees because they perswade themselves that they are the abode of the Souls of the blessed for which Reason they call them Pir that is An Ancient Man or Scheich the Eldest or Iman Priest supposing that the Souls of the Priests and Old Men dwell in such Trees There are others who having learned from Pythagoras to enquire afrer the Virtue and Mystery of numbers are addicted to all sorts of Witchcraft as the Inhabitants of the Coast of Coromandel Ch. 8 Sect. 5. They boast says Marmol Book 2. Chap. 3. pag. 131. That the Celestial Spirits appear to them and communicate to them an entire knowledge of the affairs of this World They are much feared and reverenced in Africa as being great sorcerers The rule they keep was composed by one Boni named by the Arabs The Father of Enchantments and Witchcrafts the last of the three Books he has written is called The secret of the Divine Attributes and treats of the Virtue of 90 Names of God But 't is fit to mention here a sort of Cabala in great request with part of those Nations and like that of the Jews save that it is not drawn from the Holy writ for they name it a natural Science but say that he must be an Astrologer who presumes to put it in use Sect 15. The same Author adds That in Great Cairo and the Towns of Barbary there is a vast number of People that runs up and down and pretend to three sorts of Divination some divine by the black Art with Draughts and Figures some with a glass Vessel full of Water into which they power a drop of Oyl that becomes very thin and clear wherein they pretend to see Troops of Devils marching in order of Battle some by Water and others by Land as soon as they stop Queries are put to them and they answer by signs with the Eyes and Hands But to that Witchcraft little Children are required for the great ones see nothing whereas the others look into the Oyl and being asked whether they see the signs which the Devils make they answer yes which gives them great credit and gets them plenty of Money The Catoptromancy of the Ancients was somthing like that Chap. 3. Sect 10. That sort of People are called in Mauritania Moralcimines that is Enchanters because they boast of bewitching the Devils by words The third sort of those rambling Diviners are Women that make People believe they converse with Devils some of whom are white and others red or black When they are about to Divine they besmoke themselves with Sulphur and other stinking drugs after which the Demon as they say seizes upon them and they change their Voice as thô be spake by their Mouth then the enquirers approach and ask with great humbleness what they desire and having received an Answer go away leaving a present in the Witches House Sect. 16. The Bumicils are doubtless great forcecers too These fight against the Devils as they say and go all bruised and cover'd with blows in a great fright often at Noon day they counterfeit a Skirmish before the People two or three hours long with Spears or Zagaies until they fall down all loaden with blows but having rested a while they come to themselves again and walk I could not hitherto discover what rule they follow thô they are held to be Monks There are others in Barbary maimed exorcists who boast of expelling Devils and when they cannot compass their end they say that the party is credulous or that it is a Celestial Spirit These draw Circles or write some Characters and make marks on the Hand or Face of the possessed then they besmoke him with stinking smels and make their Conjuration They ask the Spirit how he is entered into that body whence he comes what he is how he is call'd and at last order him to be gone Sect. 17. I must yet relate somthing out of Ricaut concerning the Turbes There is a sort of Dervis called Mevelevi who turn with great skill and swiftness at the sound of the Flute affirming that it is by devotion and the example of their Patron Mevelava who always turned in that manner without taking in any nourishment during a fortnight whilst his friend Haraze was playing on the instrument at the end of which he fell into an extasie wherein he received from Heaven the rules of his order with many wonderful revelations Now his successors who are inclin'd to Laziness and yet cannot be quiet follow his example in this manner Some learn Legerdemains to amuse People and apply themselves to Magick and Conjurations by the help of familiar Spirits From this place in which the Author speaks of his own Head it appears that he acknowledges some such Spirits and argues about them according to his Opinion Afterwards he makes some quotations out of Busbeek that are very pertitent to our subject Sect. 18. There is says he in Egypt a Cloyster consecrated to a Saint called Kederlei the Dervis that dwell in it boast that by the Virtue of Kederlei they bewitch Serpents and Vipers and handle them at boldly as innocent Beasts Others are not afraid of the stings of Vipers or Asps and put them with the Hand into bags as we do worms where they keep them Others enchant Snakes by certain words and make them stop on a sudden when they are creeping on the banks of the Nile some of them pretend that power to be Hereditary in their Family and to pass from Father to Son and others boast that it is a gift of God in reward of Virtue and Holiness I have heard some Travellers say there are Men in Persia and the Indies whom our People look'd upon as great sorcerers because they made Serpents dance and stand upright in a box at the sound of their Voice at the winding of a Pipe or the playing of some other Musical Instrument This will be matter of examination hereafter Sect. 19. Whatever has been hitherto said of the Mahometans makes it