Therefore for you to repose your Trust upon such Promises as was given to other Men in their Commissions, that Peace will not endure to the End, but will vanish like Smoke in the Fire.
In the next Place, I shall give you some Answers to those Doubts, which you spake of concerning that Devil which doth appear to Witches and Conjurers, and how those lying Wonders were acted by John Robins.
Answer, There is a twofold Witchcraft, the one is Natural, the other is Spiritual.
Now this natural Witchcraft is acted by such as are called Witches and Conjurers. Now as for those ignorant Women which are Witches, their Witchcraft lies in their wicked Nature, by giving themselves up to believe, that there is no God at all but Nature only, and so by that strong Faith that they have in Nature, they have Power over those whose Understandings are of a lower Capacity than themselves, and so People being ignorant and fearful of them, doth many times disturb and search their Blood with Extremity of Fear, which they have of one that is suspected for a Witch, and so by their own Fear and Imagination, they come to be bewitched. As a Man being overcharged with extream Grief, or being prevented by one that he loves, he goes Distracted or runneth Mad, which is no other but his being bewitched. And so it is with all those that are ignorant, and over charged with Fear: and as for those Children and Cattle that are bewitched, it is by some other Sorcery which they do use with Herbs and Plants, and some other things of Nature, they having some small Knowledge of that Sympathy, and Influence the Stars have over those Bodies and Herbs, and so mix their Faith and Experience together, pretending to do all Manner of Good, but intendeth nothing but Evil. So that there is no such thing as People do vainly imagine as for Spirits to suck Witches, but all the Devil that is, is their own dark Reason; and that Spirit that doth bewitch any Creature, it doth arise out of their own Imagination: And as for Conjurers and Magicians, their Reason is more enlightened than the others is, because they do go altogether by the Figure, which is an Art by which the Reason of Man hath produced Characters and Figures for the several Stars and Planets, and so they came to imagine the Influence of those Stars and Planets upon the Bodies of Men, and many times they do hit rightly, yet it is still but Witchcraft. For it is nothing else but the Imagination of Reason, that doth pry into the Secrets of Nature. And the first Witchcraft that ever was, it was produced by learning of Numbers and Figures; I say, it was first from the Egyptians Arts, and from thence came Conjuration, and the Knowledge of the Influence of the Stars and Planets and the Knowledge of Physick, which are no other in the Original but Witches, only this their Witchcraft is more tolerated by the Power of the Nations; but I am confident that there is more People in the World bewitched with them, than there is with the other Sort of Witches, that is, they are deceived both in Body, and in Mind, and Estate. For when a Man is deceived in his Expectations and Faith which he had in that Art, he may very well be said to be bewitched: But as for raising Spirits without Bodies, there is no Witch, no Conjurer, or Magician, nor the greatest Artist in the World can do; neither can any Spirit assume any Body but its own. So much for natural Witches.
And for those lying Signs and Wonders which John Robins did act, it was by a more Spiritual Witchcraft; his was not by the Knowledge of the Stars, though he had some Skill in that too, but the Power of his Witchcraft did lye in the assuming and taking upon him the Title of the Great God, as you may read in our Books: And so that his Reason being more exercised in the Scriptures upon Spiritual Matters, because the whole Body of the Scriptures doth consist of Spiritual and Heavenly Matter; and he having more Knowledge in the Mystery of the Scriptures at that time than all Men in the World, therefore he had many that did fall down and worship him; because his Knowledge in the Scriptures, did surpass other Men, and so produced Voices in himself, and could present lying Signs and Wonders, unto all those that were deceived by him, or that where afraid of him; yet he did not deal with Spirits that, had not Bodies; but all that Wisdom and Witchcraft that he did shewn it came or arose out of his own Spirit of Reason, which was inclosed in his own Body.
And there is the Influence of the same Spirit of Witchcraft doth now remain upon those People called Quakers, notwithstanding there seeming Holiness, for they have many Times such fleshly Fits falling upon them, which doth seem as if they had the Falling-Sickness, and be as Men dumb, and will not speak a Word for three or four Hours together, and upon a Sudden they will break forth into strong Language, as if the Spirit did immediately move them to speak. This I say, it is nothing else but an Influence of John Robins's Spiritual Witchcraft, which is produced out of their own Spirit within them, and not from any Spirit which hath no Body without them. And all this is, they have no Knowledge of the true God or the right Devil.
Therefore it is that the greatest Part of the World doth lie under Witchcraft, either a Natural Witchcraft or a Spiritual Witchcraft, there is a very few that is delivered from being under one or both of them; there is none delivered but those that are come to have Faith in this Spiritual Commission, which is now extant in the World; for Faith in it doth lead Men to the Knowledge of the true God and the right Devil, with all those deep Mysteries which doth depend on them, the Knowledge of which doth free a Man from all Witchcraft whatsoever.
Therefore I would advise you to read the Books of ours called the Divine-Looking-Glass, for that you may see there, that there can be no Spirits without a Body, neither can any Witch or Conjurer raise any Spirit without a Body: But these Conjurers may do through the Ignorance and Darkness of Man's Reason, and that Fear and Belief that is in the Ignorant, they may by their ignorant Power raise a Shadow of things, as if they were real Bodies, or Spirits in the Shape of Bodies; as the Egyptians did before Pharaoh King of Egypt, they did seem to raise Frogs and Grashoppers in the Sight of Pharaoh King of Egypt; but I say, they were not real Frogs and Grashoppers, but Shadows of such things, which as soon as ever the Witchcraft Power or Art was over, their Frogs and Grashoppers were gone also, else would the King and his People been as much troubled at those Frogs which the Magicians did bring upon their Land, as they were with those which Moses brought up, which went into their Houses. And now if Moses had not raised Bodies as well as Spirits, or if he had raised Spirits without Bodies, they would have been as little troubled at those things which Moses did, as they were at those Shadows or seeming things, which the Magicians of Egypt did. There is something more in your Letter you sent to me, but I have not time at present to answer; So resteth your Friend,
Lodowicke Muggleton.