A True Interpretation of the Witch of Endor

by Lodowick Muggleton

TO THE READER.

I Have been desired by several Friends, to set forth the Interpretation concerning the Witch of Endor and King Saul; how it may be understood how she raised Samuel, and how Familiar Spirits came to be procured, and with what Power they do such strange Things. Many Enemies also have objected this Place, to prove that Spirits may be raised without Bodies, and that Spirits may walk, or be happy or miserable without Bodies: Though I have given an Answer in Discourse to these Doubts and Questions, but few can retain in their Memory what is spoken in Discourse; therefore I thought it convenient and necessary to set it forth in Print, for the Information and Satisfaction of many Friends who desire it, and for the Convincement of all Gain-sayers. And let them seriously read it over without Prejudice, and they may see this Point clearly opened, which hath laid hid this many Hundred Years, with other Places of Scriptures opened, which many have objected against this Interpretation, and all those Places of Scripture that is commonly brought, or doth most seem to hold forth, that Spirits may be without Bodies, are likewise opened and expounded in short in this Treatise, as followeth.

CHAP. I.
1 Sam. XXVIII. from the 11th to the 18th Verse.

I Shall give the Interpretation, what is meant by that Familiar Spirit the Witch of Endor which did raise Samuel, so much spoken of in the Book of Samuel, and other Places of Scripture; and so much objected by many to prove that Spirits may be raised without Bodies, and may appear unto People in what Shape they please.

The Belief of this lying Principle, it did proceed out of the Imagination of Reason, the Devil——The Imagination that doth arise or proceed from the Seed of Reason in Man, is that Familiar Spirit that Witches deal with, and that Familiar Spirit it proceedeth from no Spirit or Devil without a Man, but from the Seed of Reason within Man; for look what evil Thoughts doth arise out of the Heart of Man, it proceedeth out of the Seed of Reason in Man, and not from any thing without Man; for the Imagination of the Heart, it is plac'd in the Seed of Reason, therefore it is said in Scripture, That the Imaginations of Man's Heart was evil, and that every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually, as in Gen. vi. 5. So that there is no other Devil, or Spirit, or Familiar Spirit for Witches to deal withal, or to work any Enchantments by, but their own Imagination; there the Familiar Spirit is produced from whence it came, and there it ceases to be when they are put to Death, or over-power'd by the Knowledge, and the Power of Faith in other Men, then the Familiar Spirit centers in the Imagination again, it being over-powered by the Power of Faith; so likewise, the good Thoughts that doth proceed out of the Heart of Man, they do arise or proceed from the Seed of Faith, concerning the true God, or any heavenly Secret, or temporal Judgments, or temporal Blessings; if the Foreknowledge of these Things doth arise, or be foretold by the Revelation of the Seed of Faith, they are and may be called the Spirit of God.

Because they were foretold and declared by the Revelation of the Seed of Faith, which Seed of Faith is the Seed of God, it being of God's own Nature, therefore called the Spirit of God, and so foretold and declared by the Spirit of God: So likewise, what Foreknowledge or Declaration of Things, that are above that which is common to the Seed of Reason, (as raising of Spirits and such like;) I say, they do proceed from the Imagination of Reason, the Devil; and this strong Imagination from the Seed of Reason, is that Familiar Spirit by which Witches do divine or foretel Things. So that the strong Imagination of Reason, being exercised about Things that are beyond Trades and Sciences, that are necessary, needful, and lawful; so it becomes a Familiar Spirit, because it proceeds from the imagination of Reason, and the Seed of Reason being the Devil, and the Devil being the fallen Angel; for the Devil is Man and Woman; and the Seed of Reason is their Seed. And that Seed of Reason it came from, that Serpent that beguiled Eve; and that Serpent was an Angel, and his Seed was Reason, and this Reason in Man is the Devil; and the Imagination of Reason is the Father of that Familiar Spirit, by which a Man or Woman doth Divine, Soothsay, raise Shapes, or hear Voices, or any such Thing of that Nature, they all proceed from the Imagination of Reason in Man, and the original Being of this Seed of Reason. It came from that Serpent-Angel, that was cast down from Heaven unto this Earth, who deceived our first Parents, as I have abundantly shewed in Rev. xi. and in the Interpretation of the whole Book of the Revelation.

Now I have laid a Foundation for the Reader, that he may the better understand the Foundation, from whence these Familiar Spirits that Witches have, do proceed, and how they are procured, and what Power they have over the ignorant Mind of Man; therefore to satisfy the Thoughts of many, who hath desired and requested of me, that I would interpret some chief Sayings in the Scriptures, that speaketh of Witchcraft, and Familiar Spirits, and such like; which Sayings are very strange and hard to be understood; so that most People are very much unsatisfied in these Things, though clear in their Judgments, in many other Things that are of more Concernment. And as I have given the Interpretation of the whole Book of the Revelation, with many other Places of Scripture, to the great Comfort and Satisfaction of many, so I shall add the Interpretation of this thing also.

The first Place of Scripture I shall insist upon, is that in 1 Sam. xxviii. beginning at the 11th Verse, concerning the Witch of Endor; this is commonly the Place that most People fetch to prove, that Spirits may be raised in what Shape the Witch please by their Familiar Spirits; therefore let the Reader mind the Discourse that followeth. The Words are these, Then said the Woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, bring me up Samuel. And in the 12th Verse, And when the Woman saw Samuel, she cried with aloud Voice, and the Woman spake to Saul, saying, why hast thou deceived me, for thou art Saul? And in the 13th Verse, And the King said unto her, be not afraid, for what sawest thou? And the Woman said unto Saul, I saw Gods ascending out of the Earth. The 14th Verse, And he said unto her, what Form is he of? And she said, an old Man cometh up, and he is covered with a Mantle. And Saul perceived it was Samuel, and he stooped with his Face to the Ground, and bowed himself. The 15th Verse, And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed: For the Philistines make War against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by Prophet, nor by Dreams: Therefore I have called thee, that thou mayst make known unto me what I shall do. Verse 16. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine Enemy? Verse 17. And the Lord hath done to him, as he spake by me; for the Lord hath rent the Kingdom out of thine Hand, and given it to thy Neighbour, even to David. Verse 18. Because thou obeyest not the Voice of the Lord, nor executed his fierce Wrath upon Amalek; therefore hath the Lord done this Thing unto thee this Day.