The displaying of supposed witchcraft

by John Webster

6. Though the Devils be said to be reserved in everlasting chains of darkness, yet are they said sometimes to be loosed, and to go to and fro in the earth, and to walk up and down in it, and that Satan doth like a roaring lion walk about seeking whom he may devour. Which must be understood (as we have shewed before) that in respect of his evil will, malice and envy, he seeketh and desireth the overthrow of all mankind, but yet is so restrained that he doth but act, what, where, when and so far only as God doth limit and order him. For though it be usually said that God doth permit him, yet it cannot be understood as a bare and nude permission, as though God should suffer him to go so loose and at liberty, that he may exert and exercise his power to the uttermost, for then all the godly should be destroyed both in Souls and Bodies, and God should only sit by as a bare spectator, not as an Orderer, Ruler and Governour, even as though an hungry fierce Lion that had been chained up in a grate, should be let loose to rage and run where he would, and to kill and devour what he could, and thus the Witchmongers do suppose of him, which is false and contrary to the testimony of Gods word. But when the Almighty maketh use of Satan or his Angels, they are only so let loose that he hath a hook in their Nostrils, and their Necks in a chain, that they can act no more nor no further than he ordereth, and gives them leave to accomplish, and thus are they limited not only by his irresistible will and decree, but they are also watched over and ruled by the good Angels that are as it were their keepers and overseers. So when the Devil is used as an instrument to afflict Holy Job, he is first let loose to afflict him in his Children and Goods, but not to touch his Body; and the second time he hath leave and power given him to lay his hand upon Jobs Body, but not to take away his life: which do plainly shew, that he is not only and barely suffered to do what he will, but hath his limits set how far he shall act, and no farther. And when God maketh use of him for the punishment of the wicked, he giveth him power, and ordereth him how far to act or prevail. As in the case of the lying spirit in the mouth of Ahabs Prophets, the evil spirit is sent forth with this commission, And God said thou shalt perswade him and prevail also: go forth and do so. By which it is manifest that he prevaileth more by the virtue of Gods command and commission, than by his own proper created power.

Vid. Lambert. Dan. Isagog. c. 24. p. 68.

1 Cor. 10. 13.

Exages. Aphor. 14. p. 133.

7. It is manifest that as the good Angels are the Ministers of God for the Salvation of mankind, so the evil Angels are ministring spirits only seeking the destruction and damnation of Men; and though God doth use the Ministry of these that are evil and have an evil will, yet he useth them well, and to good ends, that is, as the executioners of his justice to chasten the godly, and to restrain, or destroy the wicked. Therefore God and the Devil do not afflict, tempt or do any other thing for the same ends; for God acteth to prove, preserve, and stir up to goodness, but the Devil acteth to bring into sin and evil, to destroy and to bring to despair, as is manifest in the History of Job. And therefore here we may consider the several ways wherein God useth the evil Angels as his instruments, and that is in these particulars. 1. God useth him generally for temptation both of the good and the bad; so he tempted David, Christ and the Disciples, for Satan had desired to sift them as wheat, and therefore he is called ὁ πειρόζων, the tempter: and these temptations are internal and spiritual, for we fight not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places. And in these as far as concerneth the faithful, he acteth but only as God permitteth or ordereth him, as is plain in the case of David, where one Text saith, Jehovah moved David to number the people, and in another place, and Satan stood up, and moved David to number the people: where it is to be noted that God did it as the director and orderer, and Satan performed it as his instrument and servant. And the Apostle telleth us; that God is faithful, and would not suffer the believing Corinthians to be tempted above what they were able, but would with the temptation also make a way to escape, that they might be able to bear it. 2. God maketh use of him for the chastisement and affliction of the godly, as is most manifest in that of Job; but this only so far as he is limited, ordered and commanded from God and no further. 3. When Satan as a tormenting or punishing instrument is used of God, he hath his commission given him how far only he shall act and proceed, beyond which he cannot go one hairs breadth, as is manifest in the case of Ahab and the Gadarens Swine, so that we may conclude this with the learned Aphorism of Piscator in these words: Etsi autem Satan seu Diabolus cum suis Angelis Deo et filiis Dei adversatur quantum in ipso est, nimirùm voluntate et conatu: non tamen effectu; ita nimirum ut vel fidelibus perniciem afferre, vel quicquam efficere possit quod Deus nolit. Deus enim illum potentiæ suæ fræno vinctum constrictumq tenet: ut ea modò exequatur quæ ei divinitùs mandata, aut concessa fuerint.

8. Lastly, we shall now examine the particulars wherein learned Zanchy doth acknowledge the faln Angels to have power over our and other sublunary bodies, and they are principally these.

De oper. Dei. l. 4. c. 10. p. 186.

Acts 8. 39, 40.

1. Upon the supposition granted that the faln Angels have permission, he holdeth that by their own proper created natural power, they can as they please move in place: as to lift a Body up from the earth on high, and then to let it fall or throw it down to the earth; that they can transfer or carry a body from one City to another in a very short space of time: Lastly, that they can move and agitate bodies with every kind of local motion that none can resist them. And that therefore all those strange transportations of Witches in the air into forraign and far distant places (he holdeth) need not be thought strange or impossible, and that they may be done with great celerity, and in a short time. And this he thinketh he proveth by the example of Philip, who when he had instructed the Eunuch in the faith and baptized him, was caught away by the spirit of the Lord, that the Eunuch saw him no more, and that he was found at Azotus. Upon which we must make these animadversions. 1. That upon the supposition or ground that faln Angels are simply and meerly incorporeal, this must be false, for then they cannot move in place, nor agitate any bodies, as we have sufficiently proved before. 2. And though upon the supposition that they are corporeal, they may move in place, and may move and agitate other bodies, yet that must be understood in a proportionable measure, according to their power and strength, and not in an infinite, or indefinite respect; for though one Devil may be supposed to move or lift up that which would load an Horse, yet it will not follow that he can move or lift up as much as would load a Ship of a thousand Tun; and though one Devil might remove a Millstone by his own created power, yet it will not follow that he can remove the greatest mountain that is to be found. 3. And whatsoever motion Devils may have here in the air, or power to remove and agitate bodies, yet the least of these cannot be performed but by licence and permission from God, which licence and permission is always for ends agreeable to his Wisdom and Justice; but for God to license or permit Devils to appear to Witches in the shape of Cats, Dogs, Squirrels or the like, to the end to suck upon their bodies or to have carnal copulation with them, or to transport them in the air to places far distant, to dance, revel, feast and to do homage to the Devil (as the Witchmongers alledge) is for so impure, filthy, horrid and abominable ends, as can no way agree with the Wisdom or Justice of the Almighty, and therefore must needs be false and frivolous. 4. And that which the faln Angels are in the Scriptures recorded to have performed, may be considered, whether they accomplished those things by their own created power, or by the power of God granted to them when they are sent forth to perform such or such an act: For as it may not be rationally granted that the two Angels that were instruments for the destroying of Sodom and Gomorrha did bring down fire and brimstone from Heaven by their own created power, nor that the destroying Angel in Egypt did in one night kill all the first-born by his own power, but by the power of the Almighty granted unto him in that mission, so it is not rational to suppose, that although Satan might by internal motions and spiritual temptations prevail with the Sabæans and Chaldæans who were his Vassals, wherein he could work what he would, to take away the Oxen, Asses and Camels of Job, and to slay his Servants: though (I say) he might do this by his created power; yet that he should bring fire from Heaven to destroy the sheep, or that he by his created power could raise such a wind, as could blow down the house in which the Sons and Daughters of Job were, and slay them, is not probable, but that it was performed by that assisting power that was granted him of God, to effect that affliction upon Job, that God had determined for the trial and manifestation of his Faith and Patience, which cannot in any reason be said to be done by Devils in their transactions with Witches, and therefore must needs be Fables and Chimeras. 5. And whereas he addeth that the Devils can perform all kind of motions with natural bodies, and that none can resist them, it is too large by far; for by that rule they might shake and remove the earth, which they cannot do, for it abideth firm according to Gods appointment in the creation: And it is absurd to think that the superior and good Angels cannot resist them, who have far greater force and might than the faln Angels have. 6. And whereas he would prove the power of Devils by that of the spirit of the Lord conveying of Philip from the Ethiopian Eunuch, which supposing it to be a good Angel, it must likewise be granted to be furnished from God to have that power to carry him away, and doth not necessarily conclude that the Angel did it by its proper created power: neither is the consequence good, to argue that what a good Angel may do, that therefore a bad one may do the same or the like, for their powers and strength are not equal, the one retaining what he had by creation, the other losing much by reason of his rebellion and fall; as an outlawed person hath not in a civil respect the same power that another person hath that is under a legal capacity, and as a prisoner that is loaden with chains, gives and fetters, can neither walk, leap, or run so fast, as he that hath none, no more can the fettered Devils move with that agility and celerity that the good Angels can do that have no fetters nor chains at all.

Apoc. 7. 2.