The displaying of supposed witchcraft

by John Webster

Transcriber’s Note:

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

Imprimatur,

July 29. 1676.

Jonas Moore Soc. Regiæ

Vice-Præses.

THE
DISPLAYING
OF SUPPOSED
WITCHCRAFT.
Wherein is affirmed that there are many sorts of
Deceivers and Impostors,
AND
Divers persons under a passive Delusion of
MELANCHOLY and FANCY.
But that there is a Corporeal League made betwixt the
DEVIL and the WITCH,
Or that he sucks on the Witches Body, has Carnal Copulation, or that Witches are turned into Cats, Dogs, raise Tempests, or the like, is utterly denied and disproved.
Wherein also is handled,
The Existence of Angels and Spirits, the truth of Apparitions, the Nature of Astral and Sydereal Spirits, the force of Charms, and Philters; with other abstruse matters.

By John Webster, Practitioner in Physick.

Falsæ et enim opiniones Hominum præoccupantes, non solùm surdos, sed & cæcos faciunt, it à ut videre nequeant, quæ aliis perspicua apparent. Galen. lib. 8. de Comp. Med.

LONDON,

Printed by J. M. and are to be sold by the Book-sellers in London. 1677.

To his Worshipful and honoured Friends Thomas Parker of Braisholme, John Asheton of the Lower-Hall, William Drake of Barnolaswick-coat, William Johnson of the Grange, Henry Marsden of Gisburne Esquires, and his Majesties Justices of Peace and Quorum in the West-riding of Yorkshire.

Worshipful Gentlemen and honoured Friends,

I Do not dedicate this piece of my Labours unto you, thereby to beg protection for it, as fearing either its weakness, or the malevolent censures of the ignorant; for I very well know, and have experienced, that it is the usual property of idle and pragmatical persons to please their own malignant humors, with the condemning and scoffing at the painful lucubrations of others. And I have ever judged that nothing ought to be published, that like a Noun Substantive cannot stand by it self, without being supported by any other adjoined help. Neither is this forth of a vain confidence or an over-weening of mine own abilities, though I very well know that some are as much in love with the brood of their own brains, as others are with the fruit of their loines: Because I have for many years been as wary and vigilant, as any could be, to watch over my self, that I might both know, and keep a clear distinction, betwixt flattering Phantasie, and true and sound judgment. But I shall in brief shew you the true reasons of my presenting of this poor piece to your reading and judgments.

1. The first reason is, because you have all been Gentlemen, not only well known unto me for many years, as being my near Neighbours, but also with whom I have been freely admitted to a Noble and Generous converse, and have been trusted, and honoured by you in your Domestick concerns, wherein by my Medical Profession, I might be serviceable to you, or your Families, far beyond my poor Merit and Desert. And having been for many years a due observer of your deportments in your places of trust as Magistrates, for being but as a stander by, and looking on, may (perhaps) have noted as much, as those that are Gamesters, I was moved to present this piece of my labours unto you, by reason of that knowledge and acquaintance, rather than to others, whose abilities and integrity I did not so well understand. And (I hope) I may without suspicion of flattery (of which I am sure both your selves, and others that know me, will acquit me, that if I be any way guilty, it is rather in being too plain and open) say, that you have been, and are true Patriots to your Countrey, and not only Justices of the Peace, but true conservers of it, and Peace-makers amongst all your Neighbours; and really this is one of the chief causes why I have dedicated this Treatise unto you.

2. Another reason is, you have all fully known me, and the most of the particulars of my life, both my follies and frailties, as also my other endowments and abilities, and therefore in reference to these, I thought none more fit than your selves, to whom I might tender this laborious piece. For it is not unknown unto you, that (excepting my Physical Practice, which age and infirmities will not suffer me very much to attend) I have for many years last past lived a solitary, and sedentary life, mihi & Musis, having had more converse with the dead than the living, that is, more with Books than with Men. And therefore I present this unto you, as being better able than most others to whom I am unknown, to judge what I am like or able to perform in such a subject as this is.

3. Also it is not unknown unto you, that I have had a large portion of Trouble and Persecution in this outward world, wherein you did not like many others stand aloof off, as though you had not known me, but like persons of Justice, and true Magnanimity, durst both look upon and assist wronged innocency, though besmeered over with the envious dirt of malicious scandals, and even in that very conjuncture of time, when the whole giddy Troop of barking Dogs, and ravenous Wolves, did labour to devour me. But then, even then did put to your helping hands, and were free to declare, what you knew of mine innocency: which was so Generous, Noble and Christian a kind of just commiseration, that I should for ever account my self a wretched person, if I should not have deeply impressed in my breast and memory, which no time, nor adversity can ever obliterate. But being in a condition that I may truly say with the Apostle S. Peter, Αργύειον κ χρυσίον ὐπάρχ μος, Silver and Gold have I none (which I know you expect not) and therefore the greatest power I have is my weak pen, thereby to testifie my thankfulness for your unparallel’d kindness. And therefore I offer this Treatise as a perpetual and monumental memorial to all Posterities, of my gratitude, and your goodness.

And further, to whom can a subject of this nature be more suitably and fitly presented than to such Magistrates as your selves, who have often occasion to be cumbred and troubled with the ignorant, envious, and sometimes knavish accusations against people suspected of Witchcraft, Sorcery, Charming and Inchantment? Wherein to free the guilty, and condemn the innocent, is equally abominable to the Lord: And therefore much judgment, caution, care and diligent inspection ought to be used in the examining and determining of these matters, wherein I have used as much perspicuity and plainness as was possible to distinguish betwixt those that are Impostors, Cheaters, and active Deceivers, and those that are but under a mere passive delusion through ignorant and superstitious education, a melancholy temper and constitution, or led by the vain credulity of inefficacious Charms, Pictures, Ceremonies and the like, traditionally taught them. The one sort of which deserves to be punished for couzening of the people, and taking upon them, and pretending to bring to pass things that they have neither skill nor power to perform; but the other sort rather merit pity and information, or the Physicians help than any punishment at all. And I make bold to mind you of this one thing especially that in things of this nature great heed ought to be taken of the conditions, qualities, ends and intentions of the Complainants and Informers, who are often more worthy of punishment, than the persons accused. For many forth of a meer deluded fancy, envious mind, ignorance and superstition do attribute natural diseases, distempers, and accidents to Witches and Witchcraft, when in truth there is no such matter at all. And sometimes they counterfeit strange fits and diseases, as vomiting of preternatural and strange things, which if narrowly lookt into and examined are but Juglings, and deceitful confederacies, and yet for malice, revenge or some other base ends, do accuse others to be causers of them.

And though you should find some confidently confessing that they have made a visible and corporeal league with the Devil, and that he hath carnal copulation with them, and that he doth suck upon some parts of their Bodies, and that they are Transubstantiated into Dogs, Cats, and the like, or that they fly in the air, and raise Tempests; yet (I hope) I have sufficiently proved by the word of God, the true grounds of Theologie and sound reason, that there never hath been any such ‘Witch’ existent in rerum natura, and so you may know what credit may be given to such Fables and impossibilities.

So wishing that you may long live in Health and Happiness, to do his Majesty and your Countrey service, which is, and shall be my faithful prayer for you, I take leave subscribing my self

Your Worships

most Faithful Friend,

and Devoted Servant.

John Webster.

THE
PREFACE or INTRODUCTION.

Readers,

Knowing certainly that all writings once published, do equally undergo one fate, as to stand or fall by the common censures, judgments and opinions of Men; therefore have I affixed, no Epithete, as foreseeing this Treatise (like a Man once at Sea that is forced to hold out against all weathers) must abide the censures of all sort of persons, how various soever their minds and principles be. And though mens fancies and opinions be commonly as different as their faces, yet I shall enumerate some few general sorts, that may be sufficiently comprehensive to comprise the most of other subordinate particulars, and that in this order.

1. First, that which a Man hath found true by experience in such like cases, may very reasonably induce him to expect the like again; as after I had printed my book of the History of Metals I met with some that were no more learned than Parrots, who could not write true English, and whose greatest skill was in the several ways of debauchery, and other poor Pedanticks that were hardly masters of Grammar, and yet this crew, and the like were rash and bold enough, to censure my painful endeavours, and to scoff at it as a mere collection. And therefore in publishing of this piece, which is a dark and mysterious subject, I may very probably meet with some troops of such rash ignorants, to whom only I shall return this sharp, but suitable responsion. It is an ordinary thing for many that never could shape a shoo, to reprove and find fault with the Shoomaker: but such wise men (fit only for Gotham) may learn these two Proverbs, There is none so bold as blind Bayard, and A Fools bolt is soon shot, and their heads may be fitter for Feathers, than the Laurel, and when any of them have made such a collection as my former Book, or publisht such a piece as this, then I shall give them a better answer, and not before, Lactucas non esse dandas hisce Afinis comedendas, cum illis sufficiant cardui.

Prov. 26. 12.

2. There are another generation that seem wise in their own eyes, whose brains are like blown Bladders filled with the wind of over-weening and self-conceitedness, and these usually do huff, snuff, and puff at every thing that agrees not with their Capricious Cockscombs, when their abilities for the most part lie in the scraps they have gathered from the Theaters, or from the discourses had in Taverns and Coffee-houses, and if they can but reach some pittiful pieces of Drollery and Raillery, they think themselves fit and able to censure any thing though never read nor seen, except the Title Page. To these I have little to say, as being but such airy and frothy Vaporoso’s, as the least blast of sound reason maketh them vanish into smoak and nothing; but only with them to take into serious consideration, the saying of the Wiseman: Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a Fool than of him. And the counsel of a learned Father is proper for such vain confidents: Expedit benè timere, quam malè fidere; & utilius est, ut infirmum se homo cognoscat, ut fortis existat, quàm fortis videri velit, & infirmus emergat.

3. There are another sort that are so critically envious, that they can allow of nothing that is not their own production, and beareth not the test of their approbation, and cannot but stigmatize the labours of others how good or beneficial soever they be, because they shadow their fame, and tend not to the advancement of their own reputation: even as divers sorts of insects do feed upon the excrements of other animals, so these feed their own humours, and please their own fancies by the calumniating, and blacking the labours of others. These being guilty of peevish morosity cannot look kindly at any thing of anothers, without frowning, distast, and censuring; but we have little to say unto such as these, but shall leave them to the gall of their own breasts, and the spleen of their own minds, having neither intended our labours for any such, nor valuing their censures how sharp and bitter soever they be. For nulla fœlicitas tam magna est, ut malignitatis dentes vitare possit. And therefore it is discretion to bear that patiently for which humane prudence can find no remedy.

1 Cor. 13. 11.

4. Others there are who are grown obstinate in their minds and wills, concerning Spirits, Apparitions, Witchcraft, Sorcery, Inchantment, and the like, and are grown pertinacious and resolute to stick to and hold those opinions that they have imbibed through ignorant education: not considering that perseverance in a good cause, and well grounded opinion is laudable and commendable, but pertinaciousness in a bad and ill grounded tenent, is as bad and hurtful. And it is every wise mans duty to study the cultivation and improvement of the goods of the mind, and never to be ashamed to learn that of which they were ignorant before. For the minds of men are not only darkned in the fall of Adam, but also much misled, by the sucking in of errors in their younger and more unwary years, from whence they ought to endeavour with might and main to extricate and deliver themselves. But he that is wilfully setled upon the lees and dregs of former opinions, though never so erroneous, hath shut forth all further light from shining into his understanding, and so is become wilfully blind. To such as these we shall only propose the example and practice of the Apostle, who saith: When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: But when I became a man, I put away childish things. And I advise them not to refuse the counsel of S. Augustine, who saith: Ad discendum quod opus est, nulla ætas sera videri potest: quia etsi senes magis decet, docere quam discere; magis tamen decet discere, quam ignorare. And they need not be ashamed to imitate Socrates, who did wax old every day learning something.

5. As we have not intended this Treatise, and Introduction for such conditioned persons as we have enumerated before, so there are others to whom we freely offer and present it, and shall shew the grounds and causes that moved us to undertake such a mysterious, and dangerous subject. And those are such as have an humble, lowly, and equal mind, that they commonly read Books to be informed, and to learn those truths of which they are ignorant, or to be confirmed in those things they partly knew before. It is to such as these only that we offer our labours, and therefore shall candidly declare unto them the causes and reasons of our undertaking which are these.

1. Though there be a numerous company of Authors that have written of Magick, Witchcraft, Sorcery, Inchantment, Spirits, and Apparitions, in sundry ages, of divers Countrys, and in various languages: yet have they for the most but borrowed one from another, or have transcribed what others had written before them. So that thereby there hath been no right progress made truly to discover the theory or ground of these dark and abstruse matters, nor no precise care taken to instance in matters of fact, that have been warrantably and sufficiently attested: But only rhapsodies, and confused heaps of stories and relations, shuffled together, when not one of an hundred of them bore the face either of verity, or truth-likeliness, whereby the understandings of Readers have remained unenlightened, their memories confounded, and their brains stuffed with Whimsies and Chimera’s. And though there be nothing more common than disputes of Witches, and Witchcraft, both in words and writing, yet not one of great multitudes that hath plainly told us, in what notion, or under what acceptation, they take the words, nor what description is agreed upon, of either of these, that their existence, or not being, their power and operations might be known and determined: But all the disputes as yet concerning them have been loose, wild, and in vagum. And therefore to remedie this, as far as such a subject would allow, and our abilities stretch, we were moved, and have attempted to clear those difficulties. And if we do not (which is epidemical to mankind) flatter and deceive ourselves, we have in some measure reasonably attained, as having plainly laid down the notion and acceptation of the words, Witches and Witchcraft, in which we grant them an existence, and in what sense and respect we grant them none, which is more (as we conceive) than yet hath been performed by any. And though our instances of matters of fact be neither, so punctual nor full as might be wished, for things of this nature are deep and hid; yet are they the best we could select or chuse; and this is one chief reason why I undertook to treat of this subject.

2. Though the gross, absurd, impious and Popish opinions of the too much magnified powers of Demons and Witches, in this Nation, were pretty well quashed and silenced by the writings of Wierus, Tandler, Mr. Scot, Mr. Ady, Mr. Wagstaff and others; and by the grave proceedings of many learned Judges, and other judicious Magistrates: yet finding that of late two persons of great learning and note, who are both (as I am informed) beneficed Ministers in the Church, to wit Dr. Casaubon, and Mr. Glanvil have afresh espoused so bad a cause, and taken the quarrel upon them; And to that purpose have newly furbished up the old Weapons, and raked up the old arguments, forth of the Popish Sink and Dunghills, and put them into a new dress, that they might appear with the greater luster, and so do with Tooth and Nail labour to maintain the old rotten assertions, the one in his Book called, A Treatise proving Spirits and Witches &c. the other in a Treatise called, A blow at modern Sadducism &c. Finding these (I say) as two new Champions giving defiance to all that are of a contrary judgment, I was stirred up to answer their supposed strong arguments, and invincible instances, which I have done (I confess) without fear, or any great regard to their Titles, Places, or Worldly Dignities, but only considering the strength or weakness of their arguments, proofs, and reason. For in this particular that I have to deal, it is not with the men, but their opinions and the grounds they would lay their foundations upon. And if I be censured for dealing too sharply and harshly with them, they must excuse me, for I profess I have no evil will at all against their persons, no more than against a non-Entity, but was justly zealous for the truth, and bitter against such opinions as they have vented, which to me seem dangerous, and in some respect impious, as (I suppose) I have fully proved. And this was another reason of my writing about this subject.

3. Another reason that made me undertake this subject, was the horrid absurdities the tenent of the common Witchmongers brings along with it, as not only tending to advance superstition and Popery, but also to be much derogatory to the Wisdom, Justice, and Providence of the Almighty, and to cry up the power of the Kingdom of darkness, to question the verity of the principal Article of the Christian Faith, concerning the Resurrection of Christ in his true numerical Body, and generally to tend to the obstruction of the practice of Godliness and Piety. These after I had seriously weighed and considered them, did move me to labour as far as the light of God’s word, the grounds of true Theology, and the clear strength of reason would guide, and direct me, to undertake the confutation of them as far as I was able, and if I have failed I humbly desire those that are more able to handle the matter more fully if possible.

If any be moved that I seem to maintain some things that are Paradoxes, I hope I may crave leave, as well to discede from the opinions of others, as others have done from those that went before them. And I desire them not so much to consider, either the novelty or strangeness of the opinions, as the weight and strength of the reasons that are laid down to support and statuminate them; for if the arguments be sound and valid, the Tenents built thereupon cannot be weak and tottering. And however I acknowledge my self to have humane frailties and so may err, yet I have no mind or will pertinaciously to persevere in an error, and these things that we have treated of lying so far from the ken of our senses, and experiments of this nature, either so rare, or uncertain, that we may rationally expect pardon, rather than reprehension.

But I shall say no more, but let the Book speak for it self, only desiring the Readers, first to peruse and seriously to consider, before they censure, that so I may have cause to bid them, Farewel.

Dated February

23. 1673.

THE
CONTENTS.

Chap. 1. Of the false, irrational, and unchristian censures, that have been, and yet are cast upon learned Men for writing of abstruse subjects: As also for treating of Apparitions and Witchcraft, especially if they crossed the common stream of vulgar opinion.	Page [1].
Chap. 2. Of the Notion, Conception, and Description of Witches and Witchcraft according to divers Authors, and in what sense they may be granted, and in what sense and respect they are denied.	p. [19].
Chap. 3. The denying of such a Witch as is last described in the foregoing Chapter doth not infer the denying of Angels, or Spirits. Apparitions no warrantable ground for a christian to believe the existence of Angels, or Devils by, but the word of God.	p. [37].
Chap. 4. That the Scriptures, and sound reason are the true and proper mediums to prove the actions attributed unto Witches by, and not other improper ways that many Authors have used. And of the requisites necessary truly to prove a matter of fact by.	p. [43].
Chap. 5. That these things now in question, are but barely supposed, and were yet never rationally nor sufficiently proved: And that the Allegations brought to prove them by are weak, frivolous, and absolutely invalid: with a full confutation of all the four particulars.	p. [63].
Chap. 6. That divers places in Scripture have been mis-translated thereby to uphold this horrid opinion of the Devils omnipotency, and the power of Witches, when there is not one word that signifieth a familiar Spirit, or a Witch in that sense that is vulgarly intended.	p. [106].
Chap. 7. Of divers places in the Old Testament, that are commonly wrested, and falsly expounded, thereby to prove Apparitions, and the power of the Devil, and Witches.	p. [136].
Chap. 8. Of the Woman of Endor that pretended to raise up Samuel, and of some other places in the Scriptures, not handled yet, and of some other objections.	p. [165].
Chap. 9. Of Divine permission, providence and prescience.	p. [183].
Chap. 10. Whether faln Angels be corporeal, or simply incorporeal, and the absurdity of the assuming of Bodies, and the like consequents.	p. [197].
Chap. 11. Of the knowledge, and power of faln Angels.	p. [215].
Chap. 12. If the Devils or Witches have power to perform strange things, whether they do not bring them to pass by mere natural means, or otherwise? And of Helmont’s opinion concerning the effects caused by Devils or Witches.	p. [241].
Chap. 13. That the ignorance of the power of Art and Nature, and such like things, hath much advanced these foolish and impious opinions.	p. [267].
Chap. 14. Of divers Impostures framed and invented to prove false and lying miracles by, and to accuse persons of Witchcraft, from late and undeniable authorities.	p. [270].
Chap. 15. Of divers creatures that have a real existence in nature, and yet by reason of their wonderous properties, or seldom being seen, have been taken for Spirits and Devils.	p. [279].
Chap. 16. Of Apparitions in general, and of some unquestionable stories, that seem to prove some such things. Of those Apparitions pretended to be made in Beryls and Crystals, and of the Astral or Sydereal Spirit.	p. [288].
Chap. 17. Of the force and efficacy of words or charms, whether they effect any thing at all, or not, and if they do, whether it be by natural or diabolical virtue and force.	p. [321].

THE

DISPLAYING

OF SUPPOSED

WITCHCRAFT.

CHAP. I.

Of the false, irrational, and unchristian Censures, that have been, and yet are, cast upon Learned men, for writing of abstruse Subjects: As also for treating of Apparitions and Witchcraft, especially if they crossed the common stream of vulgar Opinion.

Being about to treat of the mysterious and abstruse Subject of Witches and Witchcraft, I cannot but think it necessary (especially to make the things we handle more plain and evidential) to imitate Architectors, who when they intend to raise some fair Fabrick or Edifice, do not only provide themselves of good and lasting Materials, but above all take care to lay a firm and sure foundation, which they cannot well accomplish, unless the earth and rubbish be removed, that a firm ground for a foundation may be found out. So before I lay the foundation of what I intend in this Discourse, I shall labour to remove some censures and calumnies, that are usually cast upon those learned persons that labour to unmanacle imprisoned truth, and to adventure to cross the stream of vulgar Opinion, backt with seeming Authority, Antiquity, or universality of Votes, especially if they have intermeddled in Subjects occult and mysterious.

And these Censures (how unjust soever) have often deterred the most able and best learned from divulging their opinions, or publish their thoughts upon such difficult and intricate matters, which (I conceive) ought not to be done for these reasons.

Reas. 1.

1. Because the best part of a man, as naturally considered, is his Courage, Resolution, and Magnanimity, which should make him resolute and couragious to declare and maintain, what he upon sound and rational grounds apprehends to be truth, and not at all to fear the censure or judgment of others, who may have had no better means to inform themselves, or perhaps have been less diligent, and however are subject to the same errours and mistakes of Mankind, who must all confess the verity of that unerring Oracle, Humanum est errare. And therefore he must needs be a person of a poor, base, and low spirit, that doth conceal his own sentiments of the truth, for fear of the censure or calumnies of others.

Reas. 2.

August. de Agone Christi.

2. He that is afraid to declare his thoughts, for fear of censure or scandal, must of necessity be very weak in his Morals, as having little affection for verity, which is the chief object of the intellect, and consequently ought above all things to sway and lead the affections. And to be frighted from owning or declaring of the truth, for fear of the vain, aery, groundless, and erroneous censures of others, must needs speak a man weak in the grounds of Morality, and to have small affection for vertue, whole guide is verity. The Learned Father said exceeding well to this purpose: Qui veritatem occultat, & qui prodit mendacium, uterq; reus est. Ille quia prodesse non vult, ipse quia nocere desiderat.

Reas. 3.

Prov. 23. 23.

Gregor. Homil.

Chrysost. sup. Math.

3. He that conceals the truth that he knows, for fear of the censures of others, must needs have little of Christianity in him, for we are commanded to buy the truth, and not to sell it; but for a Christian to conceal the truth, and not to dare to declare and defend it, for fear of the vain and perishing censures of men, is to make absolute sale of the truth, and that for the worst of all prises that can be. For what a weightless and worthless prise are the judgments and opinions of vain man, whose breath is in his nostrils, and whose life is but a vapor, that a Christian should, for fear of such vain censures, be afraid to declare or defend the truth? Therefore let the subtil Politicians and Machiavillians of this Age, who have in a manner turned the truth of the Christian Religion, and the most certain Rules of Providence into Atheism, and becom’d vain Idolaters, to sacrifice to the falsely adored and deified fancies of their own craft and cunning, think or say what they please, yet the rule of pious Gregory will ever hold true: Ille veritatis defensor esse debet, qui quum rectè sentit, loqui non metuit, nec erubescit. And that of Chrysostom ought never to be forgotten by a good Christian, and one that fears God, who saith: Non solùm proditor est veritatis, qui mendacium pro veritate loquitur: sed qui non liberè pronuntiat veritatem, quam pronuntiare oportet, aut non liberè defendit veritatem, quam defendere oportet. But as there have been some that have been affrighted with the feigned Bugbears of malevolent mens censures and scandals; so there have been others, to whom Nature hath given greater Magnanimity, who were better principled in their Morals, and better rudimented in the Christian Religion, that have scorned and undervalued those censures as vanities and trifles, and these were those

——Quos Jupiter æquus amavit,

Et meliore luto finxit præcordia Titan.

These were those that for the advancement of Truth and Learning, and the benefit of Mankind durst undertake

Ire per excubias, & se committere Parcis.

And feared not the tempestuous storms of venemous tongues, or malicious minds, of which we shall here enumerate a competent Catalogue.

Præf. in Harvæi Exerc. Anat.

Pag. 3.

1. In the first place we need not travel far, either in regard of time or place, to find Precedents of such as have undergone no small censures and subsannations for vindicating Truth, and labouring the advancement of it, though against common and deep-rooted Opinion. So ill entertainment new Inventors and Inventions have always found amongst the present Masters of several Professions, and those that made the World believe, that they alone had gained the Monopoly of all Learning. Our learned Countryman Doctor Hackwell in his Preface to his Apology, hath sufficiently proved this particular: whose profound Piece of proving no decay in Nature (a truth now sufficiently known, and assented to) found no small opposition, both from the Learned in Theology, and other persons, and underwent many sharp censures, until men had more considerately weighed the strength and cogency of his Arguments, which carry sufficient evidence to confute rational persons. Our learned and most industrious Anatomist Dr. Harvey, who (notwithstanding the late Cavils of some) first found forth and evidenced to the World that rare and profitable discovery of the Circulation of the Blood, did undergo the like Fate: who for eighteen or twenty years together did groan under the heavy censure of all the Galenists and expert Anatomists almost in Europe, and was railed upon, and bitterly written against, not only by such as Alexander Rosse and Dr. Primrose, but by Riolanus and others, and not forborn by that famous Physician of Roterodam, Zacharias Sylvius, who ingenuously confesseth thus much: Primum mihi inventum hoc non placuit, quod & voce & scripto publicè testatus sum; sed dum postea ei resultando & explodendo vehementiùs incumbo, refutor & ipse & explodor: adeò sunt rationes ejus non persuadentes, sed cogentes: diligenter omnes examinavi, & in vivis aliquot canibus eum in finem à me dissectis, verissimum comperi. Which was a most candid and free retractation and confession of his own errours, and may be proposed as an example to all rash and unadvised Censurers. Neither could this most clear and evidential Verity (which falls under ocular Demonstration and manifest Experiments) find countenance in the World, until that Wallæus, Plempius, and divers other judicious and accurate Anatomists, had sound the truth of Harvey’s opinion, by their own tryals and ocular inspection: so difficult it is to overthrow an old radicated opinion. For I have known some years ago, that a person for owning or maintaining the Circulation of the blood, should have been censured and derided, as much by other Physicians, as one should be now for denying the same: so hard it is to root out an opinion (though never so false and groundless) if once setled in the brains of many, and hath had a long current of continued reputation and belief. And it is much more to consider the ignorance, stupidity, and perversness of those, that in this Age of Knowledge dare take upon them to censure (nay to condemn) that Society of persons, and their endeavours, who have a just, pious, merciful, and learned King for their Founder, and the greatest number of Nobility and Gentry, renowned both for divine and humane Knowledge, that can be chosen forth of the three Nations for their Members, and whose undertakings and level are the most high, noble, and excellent that ever yet the World was partaker of. And yet (which may be wondred at) I have not only met with many, that do censure and misjudge their vast and laudable enterprise, but even have been bold to appear in Print to censure and scandalize their proceedings, as is manifest in that Piece styled Plus ultra, written by Mr. Stubbs of Warwick, wherein he hath effected as much as Dogs do by barking at the Moon. But it is plain, that highness of place, or greatness of parts exempts no man from evil tongues, or bad censures. And to this purpose I cannot but add Dr. Casaubon, who as he had a long sickness of body, so doubtless he wanted not some distemper of mind, when in his Treatise of Credulity and Incredulity, he uttered this. “If I may speak my mind (he saith) without offence, this prodigious propensity to innovation in all kinds, but in matters of Learning particularly, which so many upon no ground, that I can see, or appearance of reason, are possessed with; I know not what we should more probably ascribe it unto, than to some sad Constellation or influence.” Alas! poor man, he was so blind, that he could see no ground or appearance of reason for the usefulness of Experimental Philosophy, nor for the Institution of the Royal Society, but must ascribe it to the Stars: it is a wonder why he ascribes it not to natural Melancholy, as he doth almost all strange Effects, in his Book of Enthusiasm or why not unto Demons or Witches, as he doth the most things in the Treatise quoted.

2. That learned and painful person Renatus des Cartes, who brought in, revived, and refined the old Doctrine of Atoms, ascribed to Democritus, and other of the Ancients, found for a long time much opposition; insomuch that when he lived at Utrecht in Holland, the Aristotelian Professors of that University became so inflamed with envy at him, that their Scholars raised the Rabble of the City at the sound of a Bell, to drive him out of Town. And yet this mans Philosophy hath had the luck to triumph in that University, where so much contempt was poured upon him; for Henricus Regius, the publick Professor of Physick there, hath published a Book of Natural Philosophy, agreeable to the Principles and design of Des Cartes: and is in a manner generally received and applauded; and by the honourable Mr. Boyle much made use of, and by him styled the Corpuscularian Philosophy. So was not that most learned and diligent Mathematician Galalæus imprisoned for seeing more than others could by the help of his Optick Glasses, losing (as one saith) his own liberty in Prison, for giving the Earth liberty to fetch a round about the Sun? And yet now to what great height of improvement are Telescopes arrived unto, and what credit is given to the Observations made with them? though in their birth their first Author and User so much opposed and punished; for all Inventions that are new (as well as Opinions) are in their beginnings opposed and censured, not considering, that all acquired Knowledge, and all Arts and Sciences were once new, and had their beginnings.

3. When Josephus Quercetanus and Sir Theodore Mayern did labour to introduce the practice of Chymical Physick into the City of Paris, what cruel censures and scandals did they undergo by all the rest of the Physicians of the Colledge, so that they were accounted illiterate and ignorant Fellows and dangerous Empiricks, not fit to practise in the King of France his Dominions, and so were sentenced by the Colledge, and prohibited to practise? So far did ignorance, self-interest, and blind malice prevail against these two persons, of so much Worth and Learning, insomuch that the former was made Physician to the King of France, and lived to see despised Chymistry to flourish, where it had been most contemned, himself to be honoured, and his Chymical Works to be published, and to be had in great and general esteem with all that were Lovers of Learning. The latter likewise out-lived the malice of all his enemies, and saw himself advanced to be Physician to two potent and renowned Kings of England, and to have the general practice of the most of the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom, and to live to a fair old age, and to dye vastly rich. So that even the bravest men, for their noble endeavors for the good of Mankind, have always found harsh usage.

Mund. subter. lib. 11. sect. 2. pag. 277.

Prov. 26. 12.

Hist. Magic. c. 14. p. 177.

De Arte Lullian. Præf.

Vide Relat. Paris. impres. Gallicè, 1631.

4. It hath fared no better with divers persons that have written of abstruse and mysterious Subjects, such as were Arnoldus de Villa Nova and Raimundus Lullius, who, because they handled that secret and sublime Art of the Transmutation of Metals, were by the ignorance and malice of Francis Pegna and the John Tredeschen of Rome, Athanasius Kircherus, with some others, branded with the name of Magicians, taken in the worst sense. Facile est reprehendere & maledicere, so apt are men through over-weening pride and self-conceitedness, as though they were ignorant of nothing, to take upon them to censure all things, when Artists only are fit to judge of those proper Arts, in which they are verst and bred in, and not others: For it is not sufficient for a man to be verst in many parts of Learning, but also in that very Science or Art, in which the Question is propounded: as for Example; Suppose a man to be well read in School Theology, Metaphysicks, Logick, Grammar, Rhetorick, Ethicks, and Physicks, yet for all this how unable were he to resolve one of the difficultest Propositions in Euclid? no more can any person, though never so generally learned, if he perfectly do not understand the method, terms, ground, matter, and end of the Writers in mystical Chymistry, be any competent Judge of their Art, nor of the nature of Transmutation. And this might justly have bridled Kircher, and many other rash and vain Censurers to hold back their judgment, until they perfectly understand the matter, about which they are to give judgment, and to have considered that Maxime of the wisest of men: Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him. But notwithstanding these groundless slanders against Arnoldus, that he was guilty of Diabolical Magick, from which the Pen of learned Nandæus hath totally discharged him, though he otherwise (according to his petulant humor and prejudiced opinion against the Art of Transmutation, of which he was no competent Judge, for the reason foregoing) cast some unworthy reflections both upon him, and Lully, yet he confesseth (which is but the bare truth, as every learned Physician doth sufficiently know, that have heedfully read his Writings of the Art of Medicine) in these words, “That it is certain, he was the learnedest Physician of his time, equally acquainted with the Latine, Greek, and Arabian Tongues, and one whose Writings sufficiently witness his abilities in the Mathematicks, Medicine, and Philosophy, the practice whereof gained him favour and imployment about Pope Clement, and Frederick King of Sicily, who certainly would never have made use of him, if he had thought him a Conjurer or Magician, such as many judged he was.” As for Lully (notwithstanding the malevolent froth of some rash, malicious, and ignorant Writers) he was guilty of no other Magick but what was natural, lawful, and laudable, as his profound and learned Works (if his blind Adversaries had ever taken pains to have perused them, who frequently censure and condemn those things they never saw, read, or understood) do witness beyond all exception, and is all justified by the testimonies of so many learned and judicious persons, that more cannot be said to his praise and vindication. The most of his learned Works being kept in the Library at Oxford, written in an ancient hand: which would never have been done, if they had not been highly esteemed and prised. For as Zetznerus the great Stationer of Stasburgh saith: “Tantæ suo fuisse ævo authoritatis atq; æstimationis legitur, ut justissimi Arragonum Reges eum in privilegiis eidem concessis, magnum in Philosophia magistrum, & mirandarum artium & scientiarum authorem nominârint.” Lastly, one Father Pacificus in his Journey from Persia 1628. came into the Isle of Majorca, where Lully was born, and to his great admiration found the Statue of Lully there in Wood curiously coloured, and he honoured as a Saint (whom he had before judged an Heretick) as also a Society of Professors following the Doctrine of Lully, and called Raymundines or Lullists, and that they affirmed, that by Divine illumination he had the perfect knowledge of Nature, by which he found out the universal Medicine, by a certain Aurum potabile, by which he prolonged his life to the 145. year of his age, in which year he suffered Martyrdom. This I have produced to shew how inconsiderately and ignorantly the best learned of an Age may be, and often are wrongfully and falsely traduced and slandered, which may be a warning to all persons to take heed how they pass their censures, until they understand perfectly all that is necessary to be known about the Subject they are to give judgment of, before they utter or declare their sentence.

Lib. 1. de Script. Anglic.

Cap. 1.

5. Roger Bacon our Countryman, who was a Franciscan Fryar, and Doctor of Divinity, the greatest Chymist, Astrologer, and Mathematician of his time, yet could not escape the injurious and unchristian censure of being a Conjurer, and so hard put to it, that as Pitts saith, he was twice cited to Rome by Clement the Fourth, to purge himself of that accusation, and was forced to send his Optical and Mathematical Instruments to Rome, to satisfie the Pope and the Conclave, which he amply performed, and came off with honor and applause. To vindicate whom I need say little, because it is already performed by the Pens of those learned persons, Pitts, Leland, Selden, and Nandæus, only I shall add one Sentence forth of that most learned Treatise, De mirabili potestate artis & naturæ, & de nullitate magiæ. Where he saith thus: Quicquid autem est præter operationem naturæ vel artis, aut non est humanum, aut est fictum & fraudibus occupatum. Another of our Country-men Dr. John Dee, the greatest and ablest Philosopher, Mathematician, and Chymist that his Age (or it may be ever since) produced, could not evade the censure of the Monster-headed multitude, but even in his life time was accounted a Conjurer, of which he most sadly (and not without cause) complaineth in his most learned Preface to Euclid, Englished by Mr. Billingsley, and there strongly apologizeth for himself, with that zeal and fervency, that may satisfie any rational Christian, that he was no such wicked person, as to have visible and familiar converse (if any such thing can be nowadays) with the Devil, the known Enemy of Mankind, of which take this short passage, where he saith: “O my unkind Country-men, O unnatural Country-men, O unthankful Country-men, O brain-sick, rash, spiteful, and disdainful Country-men, why oppress you me thus violently with your slandering of me contrary to verity, and contrary to your own consciences?” Yet notwithstanding this, and his known abilities in the most parts of abstruse Learning, the great respect that he had from divers Princes, Nobles, and the most Learned in all Europe, could not protect him from this harsh and unjust censure. For Dr. Casaubon near fifty years after Dr. Dees death, hath in the year 1659. published a large Book in Folio of Dees conversing for many years with Spirits (wicked ones he meaneth.) But how Christian-like this was done, to wound the mans reputation so many years after his death, and with that horrid and wicked slander of having familiarity with Devils for many years in his life time, which tends to the loss both of body and soul, and to register him amongst the damned, how Christian-like this is, I leave all Christians to judge? Besides, let all the World judge in this case, that Dr. Casaubon being a sworn Witchmonger, even to the credulity of the filthiest and most impossible of their actions, cannot but allow of the Law that doth punish them for digging up the bones of the dead, to use them to Superstition or Sorcery; what may he then think the World may judge him guilty of, for uncovering the Dormitories of the deceased, not to abuse their bones, but to throw their Souls into the deepest pit of Hell? A wickedness certainly beyond the greatest wickedness, that he can believe is committed by Witches. It is manifest, that he hath not published this meerly as a true relation of the matter of fact, and so to leave it to others to judge of; but that designedly he hath laboured to represent Dee as a most infamous and wicked person, as may be plainly seen in the whole drift of his tedious Preface. But his design to make Dee a Converser with evil Spirits was not all, he had another that concerned himself more nearly. He had before run in a manner (by labouring to make all that which he called Enthusiasm, to be nothing else but imposture or melancholy and depraved phantasie, arising from natural causes) into the censure of being a Sadducee or Atheist. To wash off which he thought nothing was so prevalent, as to leap into the other end of the balance (the mean is hard to be kept) to weigh the other down, by publishing some notorious Piece that might (as he thought) in an high degree manifest the existence of Spirits good and bad, and this he thought would effect it sufficiently, or at least wipe off the former imputation that he had contracted.

But that I may not be too tedious, I shall sum up briefly some others, by which it may be made clear, that those dauntless Spirits that have adventured to cross the current of common opinion, and those that have handled abstruse Subjects, have never wanted opposition and scandal, how true or profitable soever the things were that they treated or writ of. Trithemius that Honour and Ornament of Germany for all sorts of Literature, wanted not a Bouillus to calumniate and condemn him of unlawful Magick, from which all the Learned in Europe know he is absolved, by the able and elegant Pen of him that styles himself Gustavus Silenus, and others. Cornelius Agrippa run the same Fate, by the scribling of that ignorant and envious Monk Paulus Jovius, from whose malicious slander he is totally acquitted by the irrefragable evidence of Wierus, Melchior Adams, Nandæus, and others. Who almost have not read or heard of the horrid and abominable false scandals laid upon that totius Germaniæ decus, Paracelsus, by the malevolent Pen of Erastus, and after swallowed up with greediness by Libanius, Conringius, Sennertus, and many others? for not only labouring to bring in a new Theory and Practice into the Art of Medicine, but also for striving to purge and purifie the ancient, natural, laudable, and lawful Magick from the filth and dregs of Imposture, Deceit, Ceremonies, and Superstitions: yet hath not wanted most strong and invincible Champions to defend him, as Dorne, Petrus Severinus, Smetius, Crollius, Bitiscius, and many others. Our Countryman Dr. Fudd, a man acquainted with all kinds of Learning, and one of the most Christian Philosophers that ever writ, yet wanted not those snarling Animals, such as Marsennus, Lanovius, Foster, and Gassendus, as also our Casaubon (as mad as any) to accuse him vainly and falsely of Diabolical Magick, from which the strength of his own Pen and Arguments did discharge him without possibility of replies. We shall now come to those that have treated of Witchcraft, and strongly opposed and confuted the many wonderful and incredible actions and power ascribed unto Witches: and these crossing the vogue of the common opinion, have not wanted their loads of unworthy and unchristian scandals cast upon them, of which we shall only name these two, Wierus a learned person, a German, and in his time Physician to the Duke of Cleve; the other our Countryman Mr. Reginald Scot, a person of competent Learning, pious, and of a good Family: what is said against them in particular, I shall recite, and give a brief responsion unto it.

1. There is a little Treatise in Latine titled Dæmonologia, fathered upon King James (how truly we shall not dispute, for some ascribe it to others) where in the Preface these two persons are intimated to be Witches, and that they writ against the common opinion, concerning the Power of Witches, the better to shelter and conceal their Diabolical skill. But indeed this groundless accusation needs no confutation, but rather scorn and derision, as having no rational ground of probability at all, that they should be such cursed Hypocrites, or dissembling Politicians, the one being a very learned and able Physician, as both his Writings do witness, and that upright and unpartial Author Melchior Adams in his life hath most amply declared: the other known (as not living so very many years ago) to be a godly, learned, and an upright man, as his Book which he calleth, The Discovery of Witchcraft, doth most largely make it appear, if his Adversaries had ever taken the pains to peruse it. So that all rational persons may plainly see, that it is but a lying invention, a malicious device, and a meer forged accusation.

2. These persons are accused to have absolutely denied the existence of Witches, which we shall demonstrate to be notoriously false, by these following reasons.

Considerat. about Witchcraft, p. 76.

1. Could ever any rational man have thought or believed, that Mr. Glanvil, a person who pretends to such high parts, would have expressed so much weakness and impudence, as to have charged Mr. Scot with the flat denial of the existence of Witches; as he doth in these words speaking of him? and pretends this to be a Confutation of the being of Witches and Apparitions; and this he intimates in divers other places, but without any quotation, to shew where or in what words Scot doth simply deny the Being of Witches, which he doth no where maintain: so confident are many to charge others with that which they neither hold nor write.

2. Mr. Scot and Wierus do not state the Question, An sint, Whether there be Witches or not, but Quomodo sint, in what manner they act. So that their Question is only, What kind of power supposed Witches have, or do act by, and what the things are that they do or can perform: so that the state of the question is not simply of the Being of Witches, or de existentia, but only de modo existendi: wherein it is plain, that every Dispute de modo existendi, doth necessarily grant and suppose the certainty of the Existence, otherwise the Dispute of the manner of their Being, Properties, Power, or Acts would have no ground or foundation at all. As if I and another should dispute about the extent, buildings, and situation of the great City Peking in China, or about the length, breadth, and height of the great Wall dividing China from Tartary; we both do take for granted, that there is such a City, and such a Wall, otherwise our Dispute would be wild, vain, and groundless: like the two Wise-men of Gotham, who strove and argued about the driving of sheep over a bridge; the one affirming he would drive his sheep over the bridge, and the other protesting against it, and so begun, one as it were to drive, and the other to stay and stop them, when there were no sheep betwixt them. And this might be a sufficient document to Mr. Glanvil, to have been more sober, than to have charged Scot so falsely. And do not the ancient Fathers differ in their opinions circa Angelorum modum existendi, some of them holding them to be corporeal, and some incorporeal? yet both these parties did firmly hold their existence: so that this is a false and improper charge, and hath no basis to stand upon at all.

3. What man of reason and judgment could have believed, that Mr. Glanvil or Dr. Casaubon, being persons that pretend to a great share of Learning, and to be exact in their ways of arguing, would have committed so pitiful and gross a fault, as is fallacia consequentis? For if I deny that a Witch cannot flye in the air, nor be transformed or transsubstantiated into a Cat, a Dog, or an Hare, or that the Witch maketh any visible Covenant with the Devil, or that he sucketh on their bodies, or that the Devil hath carnal Copulation with them; I do not thereby deny either the Being of Witches, nor other properties that they may have, for which they may be so called: no more than if I deny that a Dog hath rugibility (which is only proper to a Lion) doth it follow that I deny the being of a Dog, or that he hath latrability? this is meer inconsequential, and hath no connexion. So if I deny that a man cannot flye by his natural abilities in the air like a Bird, nor live continually in the Sea as a fish, nor in the earth as a Worm or Mole, this doth not at all infer that I deny the existence of man, nor his other properties of risibility, rationality, or the like. But this is the learned Logick, and the clear ways of arguing that these men use.

Pag. 76.

Of Credul. and Incredul. p. 40.

3. A third scandal Mr. Glanvil throws upon him is this, where he saith thus: “For the Author doth little but tell odd tales and silly Legends, which he confutes and laughs at, and pretends this to be a confutation of the Being of Witches and Apparitions. In all which, his reasonings are trifling and childish; and when he ventures at Philosophy, he is little better than absurd. Dr. Casaubon, though he confesseth he had never read Scots Book, but as he had found it by chance in friends houses, or Book-sellers Shops, yet doth rank him amongst the number of his illiterate Wretches, and tells us how Dr. Reynolds did censure him and some others.” To these, though they be not much material, we shall give positive and convincing answers.

1. There is no greater sign of the weakness of a mans cause, nor his inability to defend it, than when he slips over the substance of the question in hand, and begins to fall foul upon the adverse party, to throw dirt and filth upon him, and to abuse and slander him: this is a thing very usual, but exceeding base, and plainly demonstrates the badness of their cause.

2. If Mr. Scot hath done little but told odd tales and silly Legends, Mr. Glanvil might very well have born with him; for I am sure his story of the Drummer, and his other of Witchcraft are as odd and silly, as any can be told or read, and are as futilous, incredible, ludicrous, and ridiculous as any can be. And if the tales that Scot tells be odd and silly, they are the most of them taken from those pitiful lying Witchmongers, such as Delrio, Bodinus, Springerus, Remigius, and the like, the Authors that are most esteemed with Dr. Casaubon, and other Witchmongers, of whom we shall say more hereafter.

3. For Mr. Glanvil to give general accusations without particular proofs, as to say Scots reasonings are trifling and childish, and when he ventures at Philosophy, he is little better than absurd, do plainly manifest the mans malice, and discover his weakness: For dolus versatur in universalibus, and no man ought to be condemned without particular and punctual proof, as to the time, place, and all other circumstances, which Mr. Glanvil could not do, and therefore he only gives general calumniations without ground; and if Scot were little better than absurd, then he the better agrees with Mr. Glanvil, whose Platonical Whimseys are as absurd as any, as we shall sufficiently prove hereafter.

4. Dr. Casaubon must needs have been highly elevated with the desire of censuring, when he would condemn a man without reading his Book, or serious weighing the force of his arguments, this concludes him of vast weakness, and of great perversness of mind, as all rational men may judge; for in effect it is this, Scot is an illiterate Wretch, and his Book full of errors, but I never read it, but as I have looked upon it at a friends house, or a Book-sellers Shop: is not this a wretched ground whereupon to build so wretched a foundation, as thereby to judge him an illiterate Wretch? And to censure him by the report of others, is as unjust, weak, and childish as the former; and though Dr. Reynolds were a learned man, it doth not appear for what particular point or errour he censured Scot, and therefore is but a general and groundless charge, sheltred under the colour of Dr. Reynolds reputation, an evidence, in Reason and Law, of no weight or validity.

5. For Dr. Casaubon to rank him amongst illiterate Wretches, is against the very Rule of the Law of Nature, that teaches all men, that they should not do that to another, which they would not have another to do unto them. And sure Dr. Casaubon would not have another to judge and condemn him for an illiterate Wretch, and therefore, he ought not to have condemned Mr. Scot to be so. And as it is against the Law of Nature, so it is contrary to the rules of modesty and morality to give a man such stigmatizing titles: nay it is even against the rules of good manners and civil education, but that some men think that it is lawful for them to say any thing, and that nothing what they say doth misbeseem them. And lastly, how far it is against the Rules of Christianity and Piety, let all good Christians judge.

6. The falsity of this foul scandal is manifest in both the particulars therein couched. 1. For Mr. Scot was a learned and diligent person, as the whole Treatise will bear witness; he understood the Latine Tongue, and something of the Greek, and for the Hebrew, if he knew nothing of it, yet he had procured very good helps, as appeareth in his expounding the several words that are used in the Scriptures for supposed Witches and Witchcraft; as also his quoting of divers of the Fathers, the reformed Ministers, and many other Authors besides, which sufficiently prove that he was not illiterate. 2. And that he was no wretched person, is apparent, being a man of a good Family, a considerable Estate, a man of a very commendable government, and a very godly and zealous Protestant, as I have been informed by persons of worth and credit, and is sufficiently proved by his Writing.

I have not been thus tedious to accumulate these instances of men that have been censured, for opposing vulgar opinions, or writing of abstruse Subjects, as circumstantial only, or for a flourish, but meerly as they are introductive, necessary, and pertinent to the purpose I intend in this Treatise, as I shall make manifest in these Rules or Observations following, and shall add sufficient reasons to confirm the same.

Rule 1.

1. That the generality of an opinion, or the numerousness of the persons that hold and maintain it, are not a safe and warrantable ground to receive it, or to adhere unto it: nor that it is safe or rational to reject an opinion, because they are but few that do hold it, or the number but small that maintain it. And this I shall labour to make good by these sure and firm arguments following.

Exod. 13. 2.

Mat. 24. 5.

Luke 6. 26.

Lib. de vit. beat. Lactant. Duimar. Instit. l. 2. c. 3.

1. Because the Scriptures tell us thus much: Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil. And that there are many deceivers: For many shall come in my Name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you: for so did their fathers to the false Prophets. From whence it is plain, that first we are to consider and be assured, that the matter be not evil; for if it be, we are not at all to be swayed with the multitudes that follow it, or that uphold it: so if the opinion be evil, erroneous, or false, we ought not to receive it, or adhere unto it, though never so many do hold or maintain it. So that in truth and substance, we are not at all to consider, whether there be few or many that hold it, but simply, whether it be true or not. For as Plato tells us: Neq; id considerandum quid dixerit, sed utrum verè dicatur nec ne. For the multitude have been by all good Authors and Learned men always esteemed the most erroneous, as Seneca saith: Quærendum non quod vulgo placet, pessimo veritatis interpreti. And Lactantius teaches us this: Vulgus indoctum pompis inanibus gaudet, animisq; puerilibus spectat omnia, oblectatur frivolis, nec ponderare secum unamquamq; rem potest. And our Saviour gives us a proof and instance of the errour of the multitude, and that in matter of fact. Did not almost all the Jews under divers Kings Raigns applaud and approve of the doctrine and opinions of the false Prophets, though utterly erroneous? insomuch that Elijah said, that he only was left of the true Prophets, though the false ones were many and numerous. So that the Rule is proved to be true, both by the precept and example of the Scriptures.

2. If we consider the generality of Mankind, either in respect of their inclinations and dispositions, or their breeding and education, we shall not find one of an hundred, either by nature inclined, or by education fitted and qualified to search forth and understand the truth. And then if there be an hundred to one drowned in ignorance and errors, and so few fitted to understand the truth of things either divine or natural, then it must needs follow, that it is not safe to embrace or adhere to an opinion, because of the great number of those that hold or maintain it, but rather to stick to the smaller number; though neither simply ought to be regarded, but truth it self.

3. Again, if we consider those numbers, that either by nature are inclined, or by education trained up in Learning, to enable them to judge rightly betwixt truth and truth-likeliness, how few of these that prove any thing excellent in those parts of Learning wherein they are bred, we may easily see the verity of this Rule sufficiently proved, that it is not safe to embrace or adhere to an opinion, because the numbers are great that hold or maintain it.

4. If the multitude that hold the opinions, whether of spiritual or natural things were to be followed, meerly because of the great numbers that hold them: then if we look and consider the Writings of the best Geographers, Travellers, and Navigators, we should either be of the opinions of the Pagans, who are the most numerous part of Mankind, or the Mahumetans, which are many in respect of the paucity of Christians. And then what horrid, blasphemous, idolatrous, impious, and diabolical opinions must we receive and hold, both concerning God, Angels, the Creation, and the most of the operations that are produced by Nature? So that the arguments of Dr. Casaubon and Mr. Glanvil, drawn from the universality of the opinion, and the great multitudes of those that hold it, are vain and groundless.

5. If the comparison I use be thought too large, and the rule be put only as to the greater part of the Learned that are in Europe, yet it will hold good, that the greatest part of the Learned are not to be adhered to, because of their numerousness; nor that the rest are to be rejected, because of their paucity. For it is known sufficiently, that a Bishop of Mentz was censured and excommunicated for holding that there were Antipodes, by some hundreds of those that were accounted learned and wise: so that it is plain, that the greater number may be in the errour, and those that are few be in the right. And did not the greatest number of the Physicians in Europe altogether adhere to the Doctrine of Galen, though now in Germany, France, England, and many other Nations the most have exploded it? And was not the Aristotelian Philosophy embraced by the greatest part of all the Learned in Europe? And have not the Cartesians and others sufficiently now manifested the errours and imperfections of it, and especially the endeavors of the honourable and learned Members of the Royal Society here in England, and the like Societies beyond Seas by their continual labour and vigilancy about Experiments, made the errours and defects of it obvious to all inquisitive persons? So that multitude, as multitude, ought not to lead or sway us, but truth it self.

6. If to all this we add, that truth in it self is but one; for unum and verum are convertibles, and that errour or falsity is various and manifold, and that there may be a thousand errours about one particular thing, and yet but one truth; it will necessarily follow, the greatest number holding an opinion, cannot be safe to be followed because of their multitude, and the reason is errour, is manifold, truth but one.

Rule 2.

2. It is not safe nor rational to receive or adhere to an opinion because of its Antiquity; nor to reject one because of its Novelty. And this we shall make good from and by these following reasons.

1. Because there is no opinion (especially about created things) but it hath once been new; and if an opinion should be rejected meerly because of novelty, then it will follow, that either all opinions might have been rejected for that very reason, or that novelty is no safe ground only, why an opinion should be opposed or rejected.

2. Antiquity and Novelty are but relations quoad nostrum intellectum, non quoad naturam; for the truth, as it is fundamentally in things extra intellectum, cannot be accounted either old or new. And an opinion, when first found out and divulged, is as much a truth then, as when the current of hundreds or thousands of years have passed since its discovery. For it was no less a truth, when in the infancy of Philosophy it was holden, that there was generation and corruption in Nature, in respect of Individuals, than it is now: so little doth Time, Antiquity, or Novelty alter, change, confirm, or overthrow truth; for veritas est temporis filia, in regard of its discovery to us or by us, who must draw it forth è puteo Democriti. And the existence of the West-Indies was as well before the discovery made by Columbus as since, and our ignorance of it did not impeach the truth of its being, neither did the novelty of its discovery make it less verity, nor the years since make it more: so that we ought simply to examine, whether an opinion be possible or impossible, probable or improbable, true or false; and if it be false, we ought to reject it, though it seem never so venerable by the white hairs of Antiquity; nor ought we to refuse it, though it seem never so young, or near its birth. For as St. Cyprian said: Error vetustatis est vetustas erroris.

Advanc. of Learn. l. 1. c. 5.

3. In regard of Natural Philosophy, and the knowledge of the properties of created things, and the knowledge of them, we preposterously reckon former Ages, and the men that lived in them, the Ancients; which in regard of production and generation of the Individuals of their own Species are so; but in respect of knowledge and experience, this Age is to be accounted the most ancient. For as the learned Lord Bacon saith: “Indeed to speak truly, Antiquitas seculi, juventus mundi,” Antiquity of time is the youth of the World. Certainly our times are the ancient times, when the World is now ancient, and not those which we count ancient, ordine retrogrado, by a computation backward from our own times; and yet so much credit hath been given to old Authors, as to invest them with the power of Dictators, that their words should stand, rather than admit them as Consuls to give advice.

Rule 3.

3. It is not safe nor rational to resolve to stick to our old imbibed opinions, nor wilfully to reject those that seem new, except we be fully satisfied, from indubitable grounds, that what we account old is certainly true, and what we reckon to be new is undoubtedly false. And this will appear to be a truth, partly from the weakness of their arguments, that seem utterly to condemn all recession from ancient opinions, as vain, foolish, and unnecessary; as also from other positive reasons.

1. Some give the reason why they will not recede from an opinion that their Predecessors held; for that their Forefathers were as wise, if not wiser than they. But this, if strictly considered, is very lame and defective; for their Predecessors were but men, and so were liable both to active and passive deception, and were not exempted from the common frailty of Mankind, who are all subject to errours. And therefore, unless they were assured that their Ancestors in former Ages, held the certain and undoubted grounds of truth, it is nothing of reason in them, but meer perversness of will, rather obstinately errare cum patribus, than to learn to follow the truth with those that are coetaneous with them, which is foolish and irrational. Further, there are more helps now, and means to attain the knowledge of Verity, than were in the days when their Ancestors lived, and it must be a kind of the greatest madness to shut their eyes, that the light of truth may not appear unto them.

2. This kind of reasoning hath no more of reason in it, than if one should say, that because his Grandfather and great Grandfather were blind or lame, therefore they will be so too: or that their Ancestors never learned the Greek or Latine Tongues, nor to write or read, neither will they learn any more than they did: or that their Predecessors were ill husbands and unthrifts, and that therefore they will continue the same courses: or that because their Forefathers followed drunkenness and luxury, therefore they will continue the same cariere of vices, as many of our debauched persons do now adays, having no better reasons to alledge for their exorbitant and vicious courses, but what the Prophet condemned, The fathers have eaten sowr grapes, and the childrens teeth are set on edge.

3. How far would they run back to state the beginning of their Ancestors? If as far as their first Originals, then they must all be Savages, Barbarians, and Heathens. And if they state it distant from their first Originals, then their Predecessors had the same reason to have continued, as those did that preceded them. But if their Ancestors varied from, and left the steps and opinions of those that went before them, then if they will do as their Ancestors did, they must leave their courses and opinions, as they had done of those that preceded them.

August. lib. de Liber. Arbitrio.

4. Some say they cannot recede from the opinions of their Predecessors, because it would be a shame and disgrace unto them. But that which we call shame and disgrace consists in the opinion of others, and we ought not to receive errour, or reject truth, by reason of the censures or opinions of others: Si de veritate scandalum sumitur, utilius permittitur nasci scandalum, quàm veritas relinquatur. And to leave an errour to entertain truth, is so far from being a shame and a disgrace, that there cannot be a greater honour or glory: for errare humanum est, sed in errore perseverare belluinum ac diabolicum est.

Rule 4.

4. Those effects that seem strange and wonderful, either in respect of Art or Nature, require much diligence truly to discover and find out their causes; and we ought not rashly to attribute those effects to the Devil, whose causes are latent or unknown unto us: and that for these grounds.

De Inject. mater. pag. 597.

Ibid. pag. 598.

1. It hath been common almost in all Ages, not only for the vulgar, but also for the whole rabble of Demonographers and Witchmongers to ascribe those strange and wonderful effects, whether arising from Art or Nature, unto the worst of Gods Creatures, if they did not themselves understand their causes, and to censure the Authors that writ of them, as Conjurers and Magicians, as I have made manifest in my former Instances, and might be further made good and illustrated by the effects of healing by the Weapon-salve, the Sympathetick Powder, the Curing of divers Diseases by Appensions, Amulets, or by Transplantation, and many other most admirable effects both of Art and Nature, which by these self-conceited Ignorants are all thrown upon the Devils back, and he made the Author and effector of them, as though he had a kind of omnipotent power: of which the learned Philosopher and Physician Van Helmont gives us this account: “Credo equidem cum pietate pugnare, si Diabolo tribuatur potestas naturam superans. Verum naturæ ignari præsumunt se naturæ secretarios per librorum lectionem: quicquid autem ipsos latet, vel adynaton, vel falsum, vel præstigiosum, atq; diabolicum esto.” And a little after he adds this: “Pigritiæ saltem enim immensæ inventum fuit, omnia in Diabolum retulisse quæ non capimus, nec velim Diabolum invocatum, ut nostris satisfaciat quæstionibus per temerariam potestatum attributionem.”

2. Whosoever shall read Pancirollus de rebus memoralibus noviter repertis, may easily be satisfied, what strange and stupendious things Art and the Inventions of men have produced in these latter Ages. And no man can rationally doubt, but that many more as strange or far more wonderful, may in Ages to come be found out and discovered; for there is a kind of bottomless depth in Arts, whether Liberal or Mechanical, that yet hath not been founded, but lye hid and unknown unto men. And if these for their wonderfulness should (as former Ages have ignorantly done) be ascribed unto the power of Satan, and their Authors accused of Conjuring and Diabolical Magick, no greater wrong could be done unto Art and Artists, and it would be a kind of blasphemy to attribute these stupendious effects (as the Vulgar and Witchmongers use to do) unto the Devil, the worst of Gods Creatures, and the Enemy of Mankind.

Pag. 103.

Rom. 1. 20.

De Civit. Dei lib. 10.

3. The third argument I shall take from Mr. Glanvil (which is the greatest piece of truth in all his Treatise) and convert and retort it against him: and is this (he saith) We are ignorant of the extent and bounds of Natures Sphere and Possibilities. Now if we be ignorant of the extent and bounds of Natures Sphere and Possibilities, then it must needs be folly, madness, and derogative against Gods power in Nature, to attribute those effects to wicked, fallen, and degenerated Demons, that we do not know but are produced by the course of Nature. And to ascribe the products of Nature to such wicked Instruments is blasphemous, in depriving Nature of the honour due unto her, and robbing God of the honour and glory belonging unto him, for the wonderful power wherewith he hath endowed his Creatures, who were all made to shew forth his power and Godhead, and the Heavens declare the glory of God, and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work: and as one said very well, Natura creatrix est quædam vis & potentia divinitùs insita, alia ex aliis in suo genere producens. So that the honour that is due unto the Creator, Conserver, and Orderer of Nature ought not to be ascribed unto the Devils; for in doing this, the Witchmongers become guilty of Idolatry, and are themselves such Witches as are mentioned in the Old Testament, who by their lying Divinations led the people after them to follow Idols; therefore the effects that belong unto Nature, are to be attributed to Nature, and the effects that Devils produce, are to be ascribed unto them, and not one confounded with another. And much to this purpose the learned Father hath a very considerable passage: “Quicquid igitur mirabile fit in hoc mundo, profectò minus est quàm totus hic mundus, i. e. cœlum & terra, & omnia quæ in eis sunt, quæ certè Deus fecit: nam & omni miraculo quod fit per hominem, majus miraculum est homo. Quamvis igitur miracula visibilium naturarum videndi assiduitate vilescunt, tamen ea quum sapienter intuemur, inusitatissimis rarísq; majora sunt.”

Job 1. 11. & 2. 5.

2 Pet. 2. 4.

August. super Psal.

4. Though these men should believe the power of the Devil to be great by his Creation, and not lessened by his Fall (which is doubtful or false) yet can he not exert, or put this power into execution, but when, where, as oft, and in what manner, as God doth send, order, direct, and command him: and could not enter into the herd of Swine, until that Christ had ordered and commanded him; nor to touch Job or afflict him either in his goods or body, until that God had given him licence and order with express limitation how far he should proceed, and no further. In all which there appeareth nothing at all of his power, but his malice and evil will; and what was effected, was the hand of the Lord, and he but the bare Instrument to execute and perform the command. Therefore to ascribe to the Devil the efficiency of those operations we do not clearly understand, is to allow him a kind of Omnipotency, and both to rob God and Nature of that which belongeth unto them; for the Almighty doth work whatsoever he pleases both in Heaven and Earth, and it is he that worketh all in all. And the Devil is but as Gods Executioner to fulfil his will in tempting men, and punishing the wicked, and can act nothing but as God commands him, except the acts of his wicked and depraved will; for he is with all his Angels delivered into chains of darkness to be reserved unto Judgment. To this purpose there is a very true and Christian saying of St. Augustine in these words: “Diabolus plerumq; vult nocere, & non potest, quia potestas ista est sub potestate: nam si tantum posset nocere Diabolus quantum vult, aliquis justorum non remaneret.”

Rule 5.

5. The last Rule I shall observe is, That men, if they mean to profit by reading Controversies of this nature, they must prudently and deliberately consider the design that Authors have had in writing. For though it be the general pretence of all, that they write to confute errours, and to maintain truth, yet very few in Disputes of this nature have sincerely performed this pretended end. For some have written (as we shall hereafter make manifest in due place) upon designed purpose, thereby to establish some points in their corrupted and superstitious Religion. Some because of their own lucre and profit arising by the upholding of these opinions of the great power and performances of Witches, as did all the Inquisitors and their Adherents, having a share in the condemned Witches goods. Others have written in these Subjects meerly for ostentation and vain-glory, to get a name that they were learned and able persons: of all which the judicious Readers ought to beware of, and to consider. There is another main scandal that Witchmongers usually (especially of late) cast upon those that oppose their gross, impious, and blasphemous opinions; but I cannot seasonably give answer unto it, untill I have laid down the state of the question, upon which the substance of this Treatise is grounded, and therefore shall proceed to its Explication.