Of The Tools The Devil Works With Witches Wizards Or Warlocks Conjurers Magicians Divines Astrologers Interpreters Of Dreams Te
Of the Tools the Devil works with, (viz.) Witches, Wizards or
Warlocks, Conjurers, Magicians, Divines, Astrologers, Interpreters
of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes;
and above all the rest, his
particular modern Privy-Counsellors call'd Wits and Fools.
Tho', as I have advanc'd in the foregoing Chapter, the Devil has very
much chang'd Hands in his modern Management of the World
and that
instead of the Rabble and long Train of Implements reckoned up above, he
now walks about in Beaus, Beauties, Wits and Fools; yet I must not omit
to tell you that he has not dismiss'd his former Regiments, but like
Officers in Time of Peace, he keeps them all in half Pay, or like
Extraordinary Men at the Custom-House, they are kept at a Call, to be
ready to fill up Vacancies, or to employ when he is more than ordinarily
full of Business; and therefore it may not be amiss to give some brief
Account of them, from Satan's own Memoirs, their Performance being no
inconsiderable Part of his History.
Nor will it be an unprofitable Digression to go back a little to the
primitive Institution of all these Orders, for they are very antient,
and I assure you, it requires great Knowledge of Antiquity, to give a
Particular of their Original; I shall be very brief in it.
In order then to this Enquiry, you must know that it was not for want of
Servants, that Satan took this Sort of People into his Pay; he had, as I
have observ'd in its Place, Millions of diligent Devils at his Call,
whatever Business, and however difficult, he had for them to do; but as
I have said above, that our modern People are forwarder than even the
Devil himself can desire them to be; and that they come before they
are call'd, run before they are sent, and crowd themselves into his
Service; so it seems it was in those early Days, when the World was one
universal Monarchy under his Dominion, as I have at large describ'd in
its Place.
In those Days the Wickedness of the World keeping a just Pace with their
Ignorance, this inferior Sort of low priz'd Instruments did the
Devil's work mighty well; they drudg'd on in his Black-Art so
laboriously, and with such good Success, that he found it was better to
employ them as Tools to delude and draw in Mankind, than to send his
invisible Implements about, and oblige them to take such Shapes and
Dresses as were necessary upon every trifling Occasion; which, perhaps,
was more Cost than Worship, more Pains than Pay.
Having then a Set of these Voluntiers in his Service, the true Devil
had nothing to do but to keep an exact Correspondence with them, and
communicate some needful Powers to them, to make them be and do
something extraordinary, and give them a Reputation in their Business;
and these, in a Word, did a great Part of, nay almost all the Devil's
Business in the World.
To this Purpose gave he them Power, if we may believe old Glanville,
Baxter, Hicks, and other learn'd Consultors of Oracles, to walk
invisible, to fly in the Air, ride upon Broom-sticks, and other Wooden
Gear, to interpret Dreams, answer Questions, betray Secrets, to talk
(Gibberish) the universal Language, to raise Storms, sell Winds, bring
up Spirits, disturb the Dead, and torment the Living, with a thousand
other needful Tricks to amuse the World, keep themselves in Veneration,
and carry on the Devil's Empire in the World.
The first Nations among whom these infernal Practices were found, were
the Chaldeans; and that I may do Justice in earnest, as well as in
jest, it must be allow'd that the Chaldeans, or those of them so
call'd, were not Conjurers or Magicians, only Philosophers and Studiers
of Nature, wise, sober and studious Men at first, and we have an
extraordinary Account of them; and if we may believe some of our best
Writers of Fame, Abraham was himself famous among them for such
Magick, as Sir Walter Raleigh expresses it, Qui Contemplatione
Creaturarum Cognovit Creatorem.
Now granting this, it is all to my Purpose, namely, that the Devil drew
these wise Men in, to search after more Knowledge than Nature could
instruct them in; and the Knowledge of the true God being at that Time
sunk very low, he debauch'd them all with Dreams, Apparitions,
Conjurers, &c. till he ruin'd the just Notions they had, and made
Devils of them all, like himself.
The learned Senensis, speaking of this Chaldean Kind of Learning,
gives us an Account of five Sorts of them; you will pardon me for being
so grave as to go this Length back.
1. Chascedin or Chaldeans, properly so call'd, being
Astronomers.
2. Asaphim or Magicians, such was Zoroastres and Balaam the
Son of Beor.
3. Chatumim or Interpreters of Dreams and hard Speeches,
Inchanters, &c.
4. Mecasphim or Witches, call'd at first Prophets, afterwards
Malefici or Venefici, Poisoners.
5. Gazarim or Auruspices, and Diviners, such as divin'd by the
Entrails of Beasts, the Liver in particular; mention'd in Ezek.
or as others, call'd Augurs.
Now, as to all these, I suppose, I may do them no wrong, if I say,
however justifiable they were in the Beginning, the Devil got them all
into his Service at last, and that brings me to my Text again, from
which the rest was a Digression.
1. The Chascedin or Chaldean Astronomers turned Astrologers,
Fortune-Tellers, Calculators of Nativities, and vile Deluders of
the People, as if the Wisdom of the holy God was in them, as
Nebuchadnezzar said of Daniel on that very Account.
2. The Asaphim or Magi, or Magicians; Sixtus Senensis says,
they were such as wrought by Covenants with Devils, but turn'd to
it from their Wisdom, which was to study the practical Part of
Natural Philosophy, working admirable Effects by the mutual
Application of Natural Causes.
3. The Chartumim from being Reasoners or Disputers upon difficult
Points in Philosophy, became Enchanters and Conjurers. So,
4. The Mecasphim or Prophets, they turn'd to be Sorcerers,
Raisers of Spirits, such as wounded by an evil Eye, and by bitter
Curses, and were afterwards fam'd for having familiar Converse with
the Devil, and were called Witches.
5. The Gazarim, from the bare observing of the good and bad
Omens, by the Entrails of Beasts, flying of Birds, &c. were
turn'd to Sacrists or Priests of the Heathen Idols and Sacrificers.
Thus, I say, first or last the Devil engross'd all the Wise-Men of the
East, for so they are call'd; made them all his own, and by them he
work'd Wonders, that is, he fill'd the World with lying Wonders, as if
wrought by these Men, when indeed it was all his own, from Beginning to
the End, and set on Foot meerly to propagate Delusion, impose upon
blinded and ignorant Men; the God of this World blinded their Minds, and
they were led away by the Subtilty of the Devil, to say no worse of
it, till they became Devils themselves, as to Mankind; for they
carried on the Devil's Work upon all Occasions, and the Race of them
still continue in other Nations, and some of them among our selves, as
we shall see presently.
The Arabians follow'd the Chaldeans in this Study, while it was kept
within its due Bounds, and after them the Egyptians; and among the
Latter we find that Jannes and Jambres were famous for their leading
Pharaoh by their pretended magic Performances, to reject the real
Miracles of Moses; and History tells us of strange Pranks the
Wise-Men, the Magicians and the Southsayers plaid to delude the People
in the most early Ages of the World.
But, as I say, now, the Devil has improv'd himself, so he did then;
for the Grecian and Roman Heathen Rites coming on, they outdid all
the Magicians and Southsayers, by establishing the Devil's lying
Oracles, which, as a Master-Piece of Hell, did the Devil more Honour,
and brought more Homage to him, than ever he had before, or could arrive
to since.
Again, as by the setting up the Oracles, all the Magicians and
Southsayers grew out of Credit; so at the ceasing of those Oracles, the
Devil was fain to go back to the old Game again, and take up with the
Agency of Witches, Divinations, Inchantments and Conjurings, as I hinted
before, answerable to the four Sorts mention'd in the Story of
Nebuchadnezzar, (viz.) Magicians, Astrologers, the Chaldeans and
the Southsayers: How these began to be out of Request, I have
mention'd already; but as the Devil has not quite given them over,
only laid them aside a little for the present, we may venture to ask
what they were, and what Use he made of them when he did employ them.
The Truth is, I think, as it was a very mean Employment for any thing
that wears a human Countenance to take up, so I must acknowledge, I
think, 'twas a mean low priz'd Business for Satan to take up with;
below the very Devil; below his Dignity as an Angelic, tho' condemn'd
Creature; below him even as a Devil; to go to talk to a parcel of
ugly, deform'd, spiteful, malicious old Women; to give them Power to do
Mischief, who never had a Will, after they enter'd into the State of
old Woman-Hood, to do any thing else: Why the Devil always chose the
ugliest old Women he could find; whether Wizardism made them ugly,
that were not so before, and whether the Ugliness, as it was a Beauty in
Witchcraft, did not encrease according to the meritorious Performance in
the Black-Trade? These are all Questions of Moment to be decided, (if
human Learning can arrive to so much Perfection) in Ages to come.
Some say the evil Eye and the wicked Look were Parts of the Enchantment,
and that the Witches, when they were in the height of their Business,
had a powerful Influence with both; that by looking upon any Person they
could bewitch them, and make the Devil, as the Scots express it,
ride through them booted and spurr'd; and that hence came that very
significant Saying, to look like a Witch.
The strange Work which the Devil has made in the World, by this Sort
of his Agents call'd Witches, is such, and so extravagantly wild, that
except our Hope that most of those Tales happen not to be true, I know
not how any one could be easy to live near a Widow after she was five
and fifty.
All the other Sorts of Emissaries which Satan employs, come short of
these Ghosts; and Apparitions sometimes come and shew themselves, on
particular Accounts, and some of those Particulars respect doing
Justice, repairing Wrongs, preventing Mischief; sometimes in Matters
very considerable, and on Things so necessary to publick Benefit, that
we are tempted to believe they proceed from some vigilant Spirit who
wishes us well; but on the other Hand, these Witches are never concern'd
in any thing but Mischief; nay, if what they do portends good to one, it
issues in hurt to many; the whole Tenour of their Life, their Design in
general, is to do Mischief, and they are only employ'd in Mischief, and
nothing else: How far they are furnish'd with Ability suitable to the
horrid Will they are vested with, remains to be describ'd.
These Witches, 'tis said, are furnish'd with Power suitable to the
Occasion that is before them, and particularly that which deserves to be
consider'd, as Prediction, and foretelling Events, which I insist the
Author of Witchcraft is not accomplish'd with himself, nor can he
communicate it to any other: How then Witches come to be able to
foretel Things to come, which, 'tis said, the Devil himself cannot
know, and which, as I have shewn, 'tis evident he does not know himself,
is yet to be determin'd; that Witches do foretel, is certain, from the
Witch of Endor, who foretold Things to Saul, which he knew not
before, namely, that he should be slain in Battle the next Day, which
accordingly came to pass.
There are, however, and notwithstanding this particular Case, many
Instances wherein the Devil has not been able to foretel approaching
Events, and that in Things of the utmost Consequence, and he has given
certain foolish or false Answers in such Cases; the DEVIL's Priests,
which were summon'd in by the Prophet Elija, to decide the Dispute
between God and Baal, had the Devil been able to have inform'd them
of it, would certainly have receiv'd Notice from him, of what was
intended against them by Elija; that is to say, that they would be all
cut in pieces; for Satan was not such a Fool as not to know that Baal
was a Non-Entity, a Nothing, at best a dead Man, perish'd and rotting in
his Grave; for Baal was Bell or Belus, an ancient King of the
Assyrian Monarchy, and he could no more answer by Fire to consume the
Sacrifice, than he could raise himself from the dead.
But the Priests of Baal were left of their Master to their just Fate,
namely, to be a Sacrifice to the Fury of a deluded People; hence I infer
his Inability, for it would have been very unkind and ungrateful in him
not to have answer'd them, if he had been able. There is another
Argument raised here most justly against the Devil, with Relation to
his being under Restraint, and that of greater Eminence than we imagine,
and it is drawn from this very Passage, thus; 'tis not to be doubted but
that Satan, who has much of the Element put into his Hands, as Prince
of the Air, had a Power, or was able potentially speaking, to have
answer'd Baal's Priests by Fire; Fire being in Vertue of his airy
Principality a Part of his Dominion; but he was certainly withheld by
the Superior Hand, which gave him that Dominion, I mean withheld for
the Occasion only: So in another Case, it was plain that Balaam, who
was one of those Sorts of Chaldeans mention'd above, who dealt in
Divinations and Inchantments, was withheld from cursing Israel.
Some are of Opinion that Balaam was not a Witch or a Dealer with the
Devil because 'tis said of him, or rather he says it of himself, that
he saw the Visions of God, Numb. xxiv. 16. He hath said, who heard
the Words of GOD, and knew the Knowledge of the most High, which saw
the Visions of the Almighty, falling into a TRANCE, but having his
Eyes open: Hence they alledge he was one of those Magi, which St.
Augustin speaks of, de Divinatione, who by the Study of Nature, and
by the Contemplation of created Beings came to the Knowledge of the
Creature; and that Balaam's Fault was, that being tempted by the
Rewards and Honours that the King promised him, he intended to have
curs'd Israel; but when his Eyes were open'd, and that he saw they
were God's own People, he durst not do it; they will have it therefore,
that except, as above, Balaam was a good Man, or at least that he
had the Knowledge of the true God, and the Fear of that God upon him,
and that he honestly declares this, Numb. xxii. 18. If Balak would
give me his House full of Silver and Gold, I cannot go beyond the Word
of the Lord MY GOD: Where tho' he is call'd a false Prophet by some, he
evidently owns God, and assumes a Property in him, as other Prophets
did; MY GOD, and I cannot go beyond his Orders; but that which gives me
a better Opinion of Balaam than all this is, his plain Prophesy of
Christ, Chap. xxiv. 17. where he calls him the Star of Jacob, and
declares, I shall see him, but not now, I shall behold him, but not
nigh; there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise
out of Israel, and shall smite the Corners of Moab, and destroy all
the Children of Seth, all which express not a Knowledge only, but a
Faith in Christ; but I have done preaching, this is all by the by, I
return to my Business, which is the History.
There is another Piece of dark Practice here, which lies between Satan
and his particular Agents, and which they must give us an Answer to,
when they can, which I think will not be in haste; and that is about the
obsequious Devil submitting to be call'd up into Visibility, whenever
an old Woman has her Hand cross'd with a white Six-pence, as they Call
it: One would think that instead of these vile Things call'd Witches,
being sold to the Devil, the Devil was really sold for a Slave to
them; for how far soever Satan's Residence is off of this State of Life,
they have Power, it seems, to fetch him from home, and oblige him to
come at their Call.
I can give little Account of this, only that indeed so it is; nor is the
Thing so strange in its self, as the Methods to do it are mean, foolish,
and ridiculous; as making a Circle and dancing in it, pronouncing such
and such Words, saying the Lord's Prayer backward, and the like; now is
this agreeable to the Dignity of the Prince of the Air or Atmosphere,
that he should be commanded forth with no more Pomp or Ceremony than
that of muttering a few Words, such as the old Witches and he agree
about? or is there something else in it, which none of us or themselves
understand?
Perhaps, indeed, he is always with those People call'd Witches and
Conjurers, or at least some of his Camp Volant are always present, and
so upon the least call of the Wizard, it is but putting off the misty
Cloak and showing themselves.
Then we have a Piece of mock Pageantry in bringing those Things call'd
witches or Conjurers to Justice, that is, first to know if a Woman be a
Witch, throw her into a Pond, and if she be a Witch, she will swim, and
it is not in her own Power to prevent it; if she does all she can to
sink her self, it will not do, she will swim like a Cork. Then that a
Rope will not hang a Witch, but you must get a With, a green Osyer; that
if you nail a Horse-Shoe on the Sill of the Door, she cannot come into
the House, or go out, if she be in; these and a thousand more, too
simple to be believ'd, are yet so vouch'd, so taken for granted, and so
universally receiv'd for Truth, that there is no resisting them without
being thought atheistical.
What Methods to take to know, who are Witches, I really know not; but
on the other Side, I think there are variety of Methods to be used to
know who are not; W--- G---, Esq; is a Man of Fame, his Parts are
great, because his Estate is so; he has threescore and eight Lines of
Virgil by rote, and they take up many of the Intervals of his merry
Discourses; he has just as many witty Stories to please Society; when
they are well told, once over, he begins again, and so he lives in a
round of Wit and Learning; he is a Man of great Simplicity and
Sincerity; you must be careful not to mistake my Meaning, as to the Word
Simplicity; some take it to mean Honesty, and so do I, only that it has
a Negative attending it, in his particular Case; in a Word, W----
G---- is an honest Man, and no Conjurer; a good Character, I think,
and without Impeachment to his Understanding, he may be a Man of Worth
for all that; take the other Sex, there is the Lady H---- is another
Discovery; bless us! what Charms in that Face! How bright those Eyes!
How flowing white her Breasts! How sweet her Voice? add to all, how
heavenly, divinely good her Temper! How inimitable her Behaviour! How
spotless her Virtue! How perfect her Innocence! and to sum up her
Character, we may add, the Lady H---- is no Witch; sure none of our
Beau Critics will be so unkind now as to censure me in those honest
Descriptions, as if I meant that my good Friend W---- G---- Esq; or my
ador'd Angel, the bright, the charming Lady H---- were Fools; but what
will not those Savages, call'd Critics, do, whose barbarous Nature
enclines them to trample on the brightest Characters, and to cavil on
the clearest Expressions?
It might be expected of me, however, in justice to my Friends, and to
the bright Characters of abundance of Gentlemen of this Age, who, by the
Depth of their Politics, and the Height of their Elevations might be
suspected, and might give us Room to charge them with Subterranean
Intelligence; I say, it might be expected that I should clear up their
Fame, and assure the World concerning them, even by Name, that they are
no Conjurers, that they do not deal with the Devil, at least, not by
the Way Witchcraft and Divination, such as Sir T---k, E--- B---,
Esq; my Lord Homily, Coll. Swagger, Jeoffry Well with, Esq; Capt.
Harry Go Deeper, Mr. Wellcome Woollen, Citizen and Merchant Taylor
of London, Henry Cadaver, Esq; the D---- of Caerfilly, the
Marquess of Sillyhoo, Sir Edward Thro' and Thro' Bart. and a World
of fine Gentlemen more, whose great Heads and Weighty Understandings
have given the World such Occasion to challenge them with being at least
descended from the Magi, and perhaps engaged with old Satan in his
Politics and Experiments; but I, that have such good Intelligence among
Satan's Ministers of State, as is necessary to the present
Undertaking, am thereby well able to clear up their Characters: and I
doubt not, but they will value themselves upon it, and acknowledge
their Obligation to me, for letting the World know the Devil does not
pretend to have had any Business with them, or to have enroll'd them in
the List of his Operators; in a Word, that none of them are
Conjurers: Upon which Testimony of mine, I expect they be no longer
charg'd with, or so much as suspected of having an unlawful Quantity of
Wit, or having any Sorts of it about them, that are contraband or
prohibited, but that for the future they pass unmolested, and be taken
for nothing but what they are, (viz.) very honest worthy Gentlemen.