Daimonomageia a small treatise of sicknesses and diseases from witchcraft, and supernatural causes : never before, at least in this comprised order, and general manner, was the like published : being useful to others besides physicians, in that it confutes atheistical, sadducistical, and sceptical principles and imaginations.

DAIMONOMAGEIA: A SMALL TREATISE OF Sicknesses and Diseases FROM Witchcraft.

DEFINITION.

A Disease of Witchcraft is a Sickness that ari∣ses from strange and preternatural Causes, and from Diabolical Power in the use of strange and ridiculous Ceremonies by Wit∣ches or Necromancers, afflicting with strange and unaccustomed Symptoms, and common∣ly preternaturally violent, very seldom or not at all curable by Ordinary and Natural Remedies.

SIGNS DIAGNOSTICAL.

I. If the Sick voids things that naturally cannot be bred in the Body,

nor put therein from without, distrust Witchcraft: If they void Rose-Bryars an hand length, Sticks, Thorns, and Bones by Stool; as Thomas Bromhall of strange Apparitions, testifies, page 122.

If after, and with violent and preternatural pains, the Sick vomits gallons of Blood, or the like goes by Urine, and so continues day by day, and void 1200 Worms at a time, or several hundreds, and so con∣tinues, judge it Fascination: That there have been such, see Tho. Bar∣tholin, Historiae Anatomicae, and Sebastianus Brand.

A Physician of my Acquaintance told me he examined strictly Eye-Witnesses, in one Town where he was, and where it was a report, that a Maid bewitched, vomited Wool, Hair, Needles, Pins, &c. and they assured him of the Truth, that it was so; and the like have I heard of some tried formerly at some Assizes of this Kingdom.

One vomited Thorns of the Sloe-Tree, and Hooks, as Christoph. Rum∣baus in Obs. testifies.

Another vomited Cloth, pieces of Iron, Stones, and Bones; and a Maid voided downwards Pitch and Soap, Stones, and pieces of Bones, which also she cast up by vomiting, being much pained at Stomach, and made very lean, died at last, Forestus, Obs. Med. Lib. 18. Schol. ad Observ. 26.

But, One Swallow (as the Proverb is) makes no Summer: Vis unita fortior, & quae non prosunt singula juncta juvant; In the multitude of Wit∣nesses there is sure Testimony; specially they not allured by Gain, or obliged by Interest, or superstitionated by Education, or forced by rigour of Authority, but one writ in one place, another in another; one in one Country, another in another; one in one Age, another in another; one the Judge, the other the Physician: so that they held no confederacy to cheat future Ages, but writ their clear Experience; which Experience induced them to believe such things; as indeed what can any man know truly, but by Experience? for else it is but Imagination, Conceit, or Phansie, which onely casually, and by chance is true: And if our Coun∣try and Age did not witness to what Authors have writ in other Coun∣tries and Ages, it might be suspected; yet we have not one Witch to one hundred that be in other Countreys, and fewer than formerly; and therefore the fewer are bewitched: But there are many bewitched which are not thought so, and consequently not cured, that otherwise might; and there are divers thought so, that are not, but their Sickness is refer∣able to natural Causes, and found by the Scrutinous in the legitimate Order of Nature. We will draw up all Observations to this first Diag∣nostick Sign briefly.

Those that vomit, or void by stool, with greater or less torments,

Knives, Scissars, Bryars, whole Eggs, Dogs Tails, crooked Nails, Pins, Needles, sometimes threaded, and sometimes with Hair, Bundles of Hair, pieces of Wax, pieces of Silk, live Eels, large pieces of Flesh, Bones and Stones, and pieces of Wood, Hooks, and pieces of Salpeter; conclude they are bewitched; and that such have been vomited, or voi∣ded by stool, and that from Witchcraft. See Alexander Benedictus, Lib. 7. Cap. 25. of his Practice, Tho. Bartholinus, in Histor. Anatomicis, An∣tonius Benivenius, Obs. Med. Cap. 8. Cardanus de varietate Rerum, Lib. 15. Vierus, de praestig. Daemonum, Nicolas Remigius de Daemonolatreia, Forestus in Obs. Med. Lib. 18. Langius, Lib. 1. Epist. 38. Cornelius Gem∣ma, Lib. 2. de Divinis Naturae Characterisimis, Cap. 4. Laurentius Scholt∣zius in Epistolis, Greg. Horstius in Epist. Iacobus Deidetius in Epistolis, and others, Witnesses enough, and men of credit enough.

The Reader is here to be advertised, that he mistake not; He must in∣quire what went before, what was eaten, and if a suspected Witch was offended: Secondly, He must consider whether such might not be ge∣nerated in the Body: Thirdly, He must see how many such strange things they vomit or egest; none vomited all the aforesaid things, and all vo∣mited some of them; commonly they vomited three or four kinds; one vomited Glass, Nails, and Hair together; another vomited often Gob∣bets of Flesh, Brass Pins, with Wax and Hair folded up together, and crooked Nails. Guess at the rest, by these.

Some died, and cold not get up nor down these things: as Alexander Benedictus shews; some were opened, as Ulricus Newsesser, as Iohannes Langius, and Vierus affirm; there were found in his Stomach four Iron Knives, partly sharp, and partly like Saws, long and smooth pieces of Wood, such as possibly could not be swallowed or vomited forth; two rough Iron Tools, each a span long, and a bundle of Hair: If Ulcers, Boiles, or Apostems, have in them any of these preternatural things that were never swallowed, if other things correspond therewith, suspect Witchcraft. See Ioh. Langius of a Woman of Bononia, Epist. 38. Lib. 1. and Vierus, Lib. 3. Cap. 12.

Object. There are those that go up and down, that swallow Pebbles, Coals, Pieces of Iron, Bones, &c. and these may by use so facilitate their Stomach, that they may vomit them when they will, and so be either admired, or pittied and relieved.

Answ. Such have been: But, 1. Abundance of these things for their sharpness, roughness, and largeness, could never be swal∣lowed.

2. The Persons that voided them, and in whom such were found be∣ing dissected, were silly Men, Women, and Maids; and then they would

not have been so sick, and vomited them so difficultly, and so long to∣gether, and have lain so long miserably tormented, yea, and to die at last.

II. Strange and wonderful Convulsions, indomitable and inexpressi∣ble Torments, with other things preceding, or supervening, gives suspi∣cion of Witchcraft: One Iudith, a religious Maid, was bewitched, as Vierus, Lib. 3. Cap. 13. relates; Her Jaws were contorted, and clave together, and sometimes her Gullet, that she could not swallow, and sometimes her Tongue was so convulsed that she could not speak.

A convulsion of the whole Body by intervals, shaking of the Head, pains in all the Joynts and Limbs most vehement, stoppings of the Ears, blaring out of the Tongue, with hideous clamours adjoyned, with noise therein, like barking of Dogs, supervened with vomiting of Chesnuts, Balls of Hair, large pieces of raw Flesh, and Bones, or like to this, which Iacobus Seildelius in his Observations experienced, you may be sure there is Fascination.

Whosoever after long and violent pains vomits or ejects things pre∣ternatural to be bred in the Body, or unlikely to be received thereinto, suspect Witchcraft.

III. If the Sick complaineth of such a Woman or Man suspected for a Witch, and faith, There he (or she) stands; or, Now he (or she) comes, though no Body else see any thing; for such is the power and cunning of the Devil, and consequently of his Agents (as Bodinus, Vierus, Grillan∣dus, Remigius, Peter de Loier, now rendered in English, and Others, do demonstrate) that some may see a Spirit, others in the same Room, at the same time, shall not; and some that had very good skill in Magick would undertake by the Physiognomy to tell who should see Visions of Spirits, or Angels, which are onely distinguished from other Spirits by their Office; for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 comes from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to declare, or be sent on a Message; so that one Spirit may be an Angel at one time, and another at another; also they will undertake to discover who shall never see Ap∣paritions, though they be in the Room with others that see them: If as soon as the sick Party cryeth out of such a one, like a Mouse, or Fly, or any other Creature, entereth into the Mouth, or goeth to the Body of the Sick, which sometimes onely the Sick seeth, and the Sick is raised, and hoven up in his Body, and Brest moves high and laboriously, and some∣what seems to rise up to suffocate him, with or without, the noise of Dogs barking, Cats mewing, Hogs grunting, Cows lowing, or their like, heard in him; for these are more common to one peculiarly possessed of the Devil, as also is the long lying in a trance thereupon, as if the party was dead, and then with leaping and raving the fit may go off; Judge this

certainly to be by the power of the Devil, and commonly to be admi∣nistred by Witches through malice, by the performance of foolish Ce∣remonies.

These things I have gathered from information of our own Countrey People as well as Authors.

IV. A fourth sign of Witchcraft is, if the sick Prophesy, and foretel truly things that afterward come to pass, and speak beyond the course of Nature (Gods Law, beyond which no man lawfully can go) things they never heard, felt, saw, or understood, and Languages they never learned; as divers chiefly in some sickness that have spoke Latin that they never learned, or other Nations Tongues they never were taught, and afterward, for the most part, they forget all again, if with these, or without these, for there is difference in all; the Sick fly, or run up the Walls with their Feet uppermost, or leap from one place to another, strongly and fiercely, at a great distance: Be sure it is not naturally; if not naturally, preternaturally; if preternaturally, either by God or the Devil; if of the Devil, they tend to advance his Interest or King∣dom, and so do these Practices.

1. That several have spoke strange Tongues they never learned, we shall endeavour to satisfie the Reader, and also that some Pro∣phesy.

Cordanus de Rerum variet. Lib. 8. Cap. 43. Relates how Phliarius Poletanus, an Italian, distempered in Body, spoke the Dutch Tongue perfectly that he never learned; he by Physick voided many Worms, and could afterward speak only his Native Language.

Sigeberti Continuator, saith, Norbert of Nigella, from the Devil, did repeat the Canticles from one end to another, in the Latin and Germane Tongue, and afterward being cured, his new speaking strange Langua∣ges was took away.

Cedrenus and Zonarus, Tomo. 3. Report a Servant of Michael Curo∣palates, at an Eclipse, or, Conjunctionem Soli cum Luna, was struck with Madness, and would Prophesy things they found to come to pass, and in strange Tongues.

Manlius relates of a Maid, that never learnt Latin, that being asked which was the best Verse in all Virgil, said,

Discite justitiam monite & non temnere divos.

She was apparently by other things possessed by the Devil.

Perrus Apponensis, Com. ad Problema. 1. Sect. 3. of Aristotle, Ob∣served a Woman in a melancholly sickness to speak Latine, which she

never learned, and as soon as her sickness was gon, she could not speak one word.

See Laevinus Hemnius, Lib. 2. Cap. 2. de Occult. Natur. Mir. and Guainerius, Tract. 15. de Cap. dol. c. 4. & Gentilis, how many bewitch∣ed may foretel things to come, Alexander and Rhasis mention it; but Witches leave the Body, and their Souls go into far Countries for two or three or more dayes, and then they return to their Body again, which lay all this while as dead or in a trance; and then they make re∣port of what is done, or to be done, before any news can come, a week or fortnight perhaps, the way is so far for Post, or ordinary Messengers to bring a Relation; and so they are thought to foresee or foreknow many times, when they are not. Nic. Remigius, Peter de Loier, An History of Naples, and Bodinus in Daemonomaniae, Lib. 2. Cap. 4. con∣firm it by many Histories and Examples; and our Countrey Witches have testified the same: It is preternatural indeed, and done by the Devil, to have their Souls at last to live in Vassalage with him.

2. That Witches, or the bewitched, can fly from House to House, or leap many yards, which naturally they cannot, nor in health could not, and run up the Walls with their Feet uppermost, without hold∣ing, by Diabolical power, we shall bring several Testimonies. It would be too tedious to write fully all the Examinations and Informati∣ons I have took concerning our own Countrey Witches: and also the Reader may suspect either my true Information, or Sophistication of my delivering it; therefore I shall rather desire to satisfie by the Authori∣ty of Authors Experience chiefly. Their Adversaries contradict their Experience only by their Incredulity: and how slight an evincement that is, let all judge. I would be loth to give just occasion to the Rea∣der, to suspect me desirous of gaining Proselites by the imposition of Lies and fained Fables; for I have heard many Relations from sober People touching these things, that I shall here omit describing, lest I should be charged with too great Credulity towards the one, and a de∣lusive Imposition towards the other.

Vierus lib. 3. cap. 9. brings several Examples of the Nunns of Ven∣tetus in the County of Horn, how they were molested with evil Spirits, and were sometimes lift up above a mans height from the ground, they climbed to us like Cats, and were sometimes carried over mens heads, and sometimes fell down again headlong; they would sometimes goe on the tips of their toes, as well as others on their feet.

Sylvula de Historiis Mirabilibus, writes of a Woman called the Lady Rose, that would of a suddain by Diabolical Power be snatch'd away,

and bound to a bed, a tree; sometimes an hair or a little flax was seen to hold her.

Magdalena Crucia, a famous Witch, whom Dr. Henry More in his Antidote against Atheism mentions, an Abbess, in such estimation she was for her miracles, she would sometimes in a pomp on a Festival Day, be lift up several Cubits above ground, so staying her self, holding in her arms the Image of the Child Jesus, her eyes pouring out tears, and her mouth counterfeiting Devotion.

But some may object, This shews not exactly, that Witches can make others fly, or subsist in the ambient Air.

Dr. Henry More only mentions Mr. Phrockmortons Children nigh Huntington, I suppose he meant, as I have heard, how they would fly, and run up walls, being bewitched: Even as Elizabeth Day, (whom I well knew, as her Kindred with whom she lived inform'd me) did, She would run up the walls with her feet, laying no hand, and on the Seiling with her head downwards, which she could never do before nor since; like a Mouse leap'd from her, with a Suffumigation, a Physician made, and some Ceremonies.

The Boy of Northwich twelve years old, that Mr. Bruen, a pious man, of Bruen Stapleford, recorded, would fly from Bed to Table, and from Table to Window, at a great distance, and yet his legs grown up to his Buttocks.

The carrying of Mr. Silk from his Companion, Mr. Marshall, in the Fens, on his Horse back in the Air diverse miles, till he lighted into Sr. Oliver Cromwels Yard, leaping over one wall, and then another, leaving here a Glove, and there another, and elsewhere his Hat, could be no Delusion. I had it from a sober Gentleman, who took it from their mouths. Doubtless some Witch did it.

I since heard, the last Spring at New-Market, a Noble Man's Horse ran away with a Lad, leaped an immense way each step, ran by steep Hill sides, and then ran his head against a bank and killed himself. The Spectators never saw Horse do so before. And some say Stakes were to be set at each leap for commemoration.

So do Pigs and Hens when bewitched, often leap and dance.

V. A fifth Sign of Witchcraft is, If the Sick is twisten, contorted, and his Chin drawn to his Forehead, and neck turned behind him, or face rather, though the common expression is the other, and lye long, as if dead, and the like. But these may more particularly be termed, Possessed; Of which anon.

VI. A great Sign is, If any thing that comes from the Sick be burnt or harmed, and the suspected Woman suffers in such manner, or comes to

the House; or if after she is so served, or scratch'd till blood comes, or threatened, the Sick is eased much and clearly, suspect her for a Witch, and the Disease to be from her, Consideratis considerandis.

Besides the many Testimonies of our own Country, Sprangerus and Nicol. Remigius in his Daemonalatry, and Tho. Barthol in his Anatom. Histories mention the same.

VII. All Diseases that are caused by Nature, may be caused by Witchcraft; But all that are caused by Witchcraft, cannot be caused by Nature.

Barrenness, Lameness, Madness, Sterrility, and Impotentia Coeun∣di, Cholicks, Fainting and Sweating, &c. we shall relate in the De∣scription of Causes, how Witches cause them.

DIFFERENCE.

Now here it remains that we make Distinction, if any is to be made, betwixt the obsessed or possessed with evil Spirits, and the bewitched by Ceremonies.

Betwixt the extream of Greatness in one, and the extream of Smal∣ness in the other, there is little difference, even in all other Diseases; also betwixt some kind of Obsession, and some kind of Incantation is less difference, then betwixt some Obsession and other Obsession, or betwixt some Incantation or Witchcraft, and other Incantation; but the Causes betwixt Possession and Bewitching, do commonly clearly differ in Manner and Nature, the Witches using idle Similitudes, foo∣lish Ceremonies, and sensless Words to Inchant the devilish Spirits, to enter the Body in shape of a Fly; yet sometimes the Witches send their Imps, which do so; and I question whether any Evil Spirit can enter any man, without command from some man; but with that not alwayes, for God gives not leave, but that is secret; sometimes on a worse man they have no power, and yet bewitch a better, or possess the Religious.

These are more peculiar to Possession, Flying, Leaping at at huge distance, Speaking, the Tongue of the Sick being held; and sometime they use his Tongue; also speaking Blasphemy, Raving, and Lying, and telling things done far off at the moment, and what will be by Va∣ticination; also the sick Roar like Bears, Bark like Dogs, Mew like Cats, Grunt like Hogs, &c. They sometime lie as if dead, stiff, their Head wreathed backward, Chin and Nose drawn together, or whole Face drawn up like a Purse, with foaming and frothing, and raging most, and tormenting the sick Party exceedingly when any pray or speak of God.

A young Gentlewoman told me at Ipswich, she was in Prison with a Witch, who was exhorted to repent, and did endeavour it, and then the Devil made her fume and sweat, and stopped her breath almost; and after half an hour she came to her self, and being asked if the Devil did not possesse her, to diverts her from Repenting, she an∣swered, Yea.

So Ramigius the Judge of Lotharingia observed, that at the Bench, or in Prison, or at their Liberty, (as we have also heard Relations there∣of) the Devil would come and stop their Ears, or almost choak them, or anoy them like a swarm of Flies, or throw them along, when they had good Counsel given, or intended to lay hold on God's Mercy, whom they had at their Witch-making-covenant so solemnly renounced, toge∣ther with all Faith in him, and Religion towards him. See the Story of Ann Bodenham, of the Maid she made a Witch, that repented, in Henry More his Antidote.

Concerning the Nature of Possession, to be as we have writ, see Master Clark, in the second part of the Marrow of Ecclesiastical History, and Life of Master Bruen, a Pious Man, it is his relation; also the Ob∣servation of Felix Platerus, a wise and sober Physitian, which he saw, and the Relation is to be seen in his Observations, page 20. de mentis consternatione. Also the Story of a Smiths Daughter in the Valley Ioachim, possessed in, 1559. by Iobus Fincelius, lib. 3. de Micaculis: See also Vierus, lib. 3. cap. 10. de praestigiis Damonum. Also Fornelius, de abditis morborum causis, lib. 2.

DIFFERENCE.

Also we must make distinction betwixt those that are possessed and be∣witched, and those that are killed by evil spirits; I know not, but most kind of spirits that appear will harm us, if we resist them; and it is to be doubted that God will give them permission, if we affront them on bad grounds. A sober learned Man, told me, His father lying at an Inn, heard some body in the Chamber, though it a Thief, and rose to resist the Spirit, as it proved, gave him a blow, small, but of force enough to cause Sickness, and his death. A sober and learned, Esquire of Northampton-shire, told me his man was coming early over New Market Heath, it was light when he felt somewhat strike him on the back, no body there, he came home, sickened and died; they never looked to see if the mark of the blow might be seen in his flesh.

Doctor More, lib. 3. cap. 2. of his Antidote against Atheisme, saith, That Mistris Dark of Westminster told him, that her Husband very well

went through some Streets in London, and was strook on the thigh with an invisible hand; he came home to Dinner, was sick, and dyed within three dayes, being dead; on the place, he said, the Spiri∣tual hand struck him, was clearly seen the Figure of a Mans hand, with the four Fingers, Thumb, and Palm, looking black, and impres∣sed deep in the Flesh.

So Histories mention, and Doctor More quotes them, that Phillip Melanctons Kinswomans Husband, being dead, in a few dayes appeared to her, being Solitary and grief-ful, and took her by the hand and comforted her, but her hand, was black alwayes after.

The Barbers Boy, about 1660. that was killed in Cambridge by a Spectral woman that haunted him, sometimes alone, and sometimes with a Man in Trunk Breeches, adds to these; He had the exact mark in his forehead, being dead, where that Spiritual Woman did hit him alive; he came from the Isle of Ely on purpose to be forsaken by the Spectral woman, several Scholars took Notes in writing thereof; but we write all as short as may be, so that some may object and except against the Concordance and Dependance of one thing with another.

The Devil, upon some affront, dashes out the Brains: those that read conjuring Books, or otherwayes call him to jeer him; are some∣times so served.

Some that are hurt by Spirits, look strangely, their Hair stands up∣right, Mouth or Cheek drawn awry, or Eye-lid down to the Mouth; as the Minister of a Neighbour Town lately told me of one of his Parish, strook by a Spirit in the night, upon no occasion given; some are dumb, some Rave, and all almost differing: but we shall not insist on these, though we could bring many considerable Observations.

Of the Cause of Witchcraft.

THe first and movent Cause is, the Witch some way offended, and she doth ill by Revenging her self; but sometimes their Imps force and perswade-them, as Sarah Boatman of Mourden confessed.

We will first relate some, ridiculous Ceremonies we have heard from learned men, and other sober People, of Witches confession and con∣viction, about the way they bewitch men and cattel.

Some take a Beast Skin or Hide, and stick it full of Thornes, or Pins, and call it such an ones Skin, and that party is wonderfully pricked and pained in the Superficies of his Body, but it is very like they mutter some Diabolical words in the doing it.

Some take a wooden bowl and a knife, and dagg the knife point into the bottom of the bowl, and it becomes full of blood, and such an Horse as they name, pisseth blood, until he dyes, or as they please, with consent of the Devil, and Limitation of God, the first, the greatest, and the best, to be praised for evermore.

Others to annoy Houses with Flies, or to choak People, take a Seive and put dust in it, and sift it, and throw up this dust, with some Dia∣bolical Sentences, and it turns to Flies.

One bewitched her Neighbours Cows Bags to rankle, and to be knorted and to gangrene; she sent her Child into the Field for some Bryars and made like the form of a Cow, and called it such an ones Cow, and struck the Bagg diverse times with those Bryars, and their Neighbours Cows Bagg swelled, and rankled.

But it is the Devil that doth these things; for such Ceremonies do nothing, or at least most of them, in other Peoples hands; the Devil and they make a Bargain, he to help them to Money, or Revenge, and they to give him their Souls at last, to live in servitude and Vassalage eternally with him.

We read how Moses and the Egyptian Magicians did many preternatu∣ral things, by that Magick that is called Rabdomantia, or Rod-magick, and the Ceremonies both used were much alike; so did Ieremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah, many Ceremonies or Similitudes, as eating of Books, set∣ting on Pots, making like Seige, and Leaguers, going barefoot, and the like; all Causes are Gods, and are good, but the Devil knows them and abuses them.

The blind man in Matthew, cured with Clay and Spittle; Ezekiah cured with Figgs of his dangerous Sickness; Naaman, washing in Iordan, cured of his Leprosie, were but Ceremonies; but used in the Power of God, which can effect all things.

Neither do all natural Causes produce onely natural Effects; nor do all Preternatural Effects, arise only from Preternatural Causes.

Natural Causes used by Spirits, may produce effects above the Power, merely of those natural Causes; indeed Witches use such things but as Obsignatories.

Now let us see what Authors have set-down briefly, how Witches cause sickness, and bring death, and what kinds of sickness.

I. First most chiefly and familiarly they use certain Ceremonies, foolish Superstitions, and senceless words; sometimes calling on the Devil.

Duffus King of the Scots, was pined away and wasted with a sweating sickness; by fits he sweat hugely and languished, & by fits he was cooled,

and refreshed. The Governour of Moravia, his enemy set Witches to hurt him; they made his Image of Wax, and did roast it on a Spit; and as that began to melt, so the King melted; removed from the fire, the King was refreshed. See Hector Boetius, Histor. Scotorum, lib. 11. I have heard such a thing by a waxen Image done in England, both from a Physitian, and Divine; but much according to Hector Boetius his Story.

To take away virility, and that a man and his wife should not copulate, and though they had erection, and provocation, they could not eject Semen; or if so, not into their own Veins, Witches use certain words, which they mumble, and tie a knot, whiles the parties are married; or take a Lock, and assoon as the parties are married, shoot it; they tie this knot many wayes, and sometimes hinder copulation; sometimes give leave to copulation, but hinder generation: One was so bound by an earthen Pot, threw by a Witch into his Well, with some Cere∣monies. See of these things Tho. Barthol. hist. Anatom. the Book called Malleus Veneficarum. cap. 7. pag. 2. also Bodinus, lib. 2. cap. 1. Sometimes the Genitals are shrunk up, and scarce to be found, as Baptista Codron∣chius, lib. 3. cap. 6. de morbis veneficis ac veneficijs, and Bodinus testifie, with others; Wierus, lib. 3. cap. 18. de Dam. Praestig. shews more, and Alex∣ander Benedictus, lib. 24. cap. 14. de medendis morbis, hath an example of one made unable by a Charm in verse, others by Characters.

A Woman of Onipontus, wonderfully tortured, was freed by taking away a waxen Image an hands length, laid under the threshold of the door by a Witch; the Image was bored through, and two pins stuck in each side, which so tormented this Woman. Another laid a beast like a Toad, under the threshold of a door, and made Barrenness to all the house.

Remigius saith, The Devil gave one Woman a little Hay, which she was to put into her Neighbours Thatch; and the house would be soon on Fire.

Their Ceremonies for raising Winds, Thunder and Lightening, Storms and Hail, Earthquakes, and Fires, were as ridiculous and in∣significant, as those whereby they caused sickness; the Devil wished them to perform such Ceremonies, and such effects should come to passe.

In the fifth Book of Inquisition of Witches, it is recorded, that Anna de Mindelon and Ague went into the Field, digged an hole, put water therein, stirred it about, and using some words, calling on the Devil-huge Storms arose, and Thunder.

Pontanus, lib. 5. Relates of great Rains caused by Witches, by draw∣ing

about the Crucifix in the Streets, with great Railings, and Blasphe∣mies, and giving the consecrated Host to an Asse, and leading him to the Church Porch.

Towards the end of the History of Iohn Leo of Africa, of the Reli∣gion of the Gentiles of Africa, mention is made of the Portugalls in Angolu, desirous to see the Gaughe, or Priests, raise Storms and Thunder; In 1587. One with little Bells, Skipps, and Trinkets, and Superstitions words, in half an hour raised Thunder, and many black Clouds.

Henry More, chap. 3. lib. 3 saith, What is casting of Flint Stones be∣hind their backs toward the West, or flinging a little Sand in the Air, or striking a River with a Besome, or Rod, sprinkling the water towards Heaven, the stirring of Urine, or water, with their finger in an hole in the ground, or boiling of Hoggs bristles in a pot? what are these fooleries available of themselves to gather Clouds, and cover the Air with darkness, and then to make the ground smoak with peales of Hail and Rain, and to make the Air terrible, with frequent Lightenings and Thunders.

II. We shall shew, that the Witches send their Imps, or young Spi∣rits, into some, sometimes in form of Mice, sometimes of Flies, or sometimes give the party a piece of bread to eat, or the like; But in our differencing Possession from Effascination we have hinted some things hereof, which need not be repeated; it will be needful to add, how many spirits may be in one: whether they are alwayes commissionated, or sent by Witches, we cannot Determine; sometimes they are, as we have received information of the Maid Mary Hall, now possessed, as the Spirits say, with two; and she said she saw two Flies come down the Chimny to her, before she was distempered; she lives at, or nigh Gadsden, nigh Dunstable: Elizabeth Day, who lived once in this Town, that I knew, had one that leaped forth like a Mouse, upon suffumiga∣tion; she was bewitched: So one at Harborough, divers years since, Master Gibbons cured; so another in the Isle of Ely, that a sober Antient Man of this place well knows, being bewitched, had a Mous like Spirit entred him. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Iohn, testifie that there may be more evil spirits then one, at once, in one; out of Mary Magdalene was seven Devils cast; one was called Legion, because he had so many in him; now a Legion is ten thousand or many thousands: the Boy that Master Bruen wrote of, said he hadthree evil Spirits in him.

But whether these be, or so alwayes, the Imps of Witches that suck their Teats, found in several parts of their bodies, is questionable, or whether all Witches have such Imps, and consequently Teats to be

sucked by them, is questionable; perhaps some that deny there to be any Witches, and consequently any to be bewitched, deny onely the suckling of Imps, or infernal Spirits, acknowledging and allowing that there be Necromancers, Sorcerers, and those that have familiar Spirits, or familiarity with Spirits; and that these act by, and have covenanted with Diabolical Spirits, by oath to the Devil, Renuntiation of GOD, and Bond writ in their blood, or otherwise; onely denying that any have Teats, and cann̄ot sink, and give suck to Spirits, and do mis∣chief: The chief thing that makes a Witch, is a solemn Bargain and Covenant with infernal Spirits; and we know, Denominatio sumitur a majori, et pars pro toto. Let but any allow me the Thing, and they must of necessity allow the Variety and Degrees thereof.

These Imps that the Devil commands some Witches to nourish, do instigate them to give them command to do evil, and they have some two, some three, and possibly some more, some fewer; one is to bewitch Cattel, another Men, a third Plants and Fruits of the Earth; and they call them by several names: it is most probable that Witches send these in form of Flies, or Mice, into those they Envy, and wish Revenge. But, as Remigius well observed, they must at their Nocturnal Conventicles acquaint the Devil, and he bids them do thus, and so; and they boast of their wickedness there, as we do of our goodness here; Paulus Grillandus de Sortilegiis, Bodinus, and Vierus, testifie the same things; as how also Witches are punished and jeered, when they come to the Debolical Assemblies, if they have done no mischief.

III. Tertium causarum genus: a third kind of Cause is, how by their voyce and eyes some do bewitch; this seems strange, but some of the aforementioned Authors testifie it; some have two Pupils, and look crosse; others by praise inchant; we know some charming words will do much, not as they are words, but Charms.

Greg. Horstius. Epist. Med. sect. 7. saith, If the look will do it, in all reason much more the touch; but that I do not know, Reason is not Reason, that follows not Experience; for matter of doing, the Con∣science is Reason; but Experience only, for matter of knowing, is Rea∣son; otherwise Reason is but a pleasing phansie, which one man thinks Reason, and another not; Biermannus, and Vierus, by their experience find neither Aspect nor Contact to bewitch; this I do believe, many women may bewitch those they have not seen, but it is rarely seen; sometimes they intend (as the two Spirits in Mary Hall in August 1664. about Gadsden did expresse; they were sent to her father, but had not power, given of God,) to bewitch one, and cannot, and so bewitch

another of the family. So I have been told of a Child so bewitched for another, in these parts.

IV. A Fourth kind of Cause is, a casual advantage that Witches take upon Men nigh to some danger; as a sober Divine told me, his Brother was in a Scots ship, when a Witch transformed her self into a Crow, and was in the Air to raise a Wind to cast it away, out of Envy she bore to the Mariners; but her mother, a Witch, withstood it. So Remigius relates how Witches from their own confession, being brought afore him, did intimate that they took advantage on mens nearness to danger, as one being on a Cart, they made fall, and break his Limbs; another going amongst Trees, they caused a rotten bough to break off, and with a wind directed it to his Eye, and so put it out.

V. They kill some by anointing them; what these Oyntments be, I know not; there be, I suppose, no such in a Apothecaryes shops, the force is from the Devil; nor do they use these to kill, so much as to flie withall; and whom they anoint with this oyntment, they will make to flie; indeed, as Remigius well observed, whom they say it shall kill, but especīally their powder, it kills; and whom they say it shall hurt so, it hurts in such a manner and measure: they do often ••••tter some words, when they anoint themselves with it to flie. That we do not speak these things onely of our self, the Reader may see by reading Remigius his Daemonolatry, Bodinus his Daemonomany, Vierus de Praestigiis, Grillandus de Sortilegiis, Iohn Meyerus in Historia Flandriae, and Iac. Sprangerus.

VI. A Sixth way they have to cause sickness, and bring death, to destroy Cattel, and fruits of the Earth, is a Powder; this they some∣times strew on men in bed, or Children; or if they sprinkle it, they that go over it are subject to that mischief the Witch appoints that scat∣ters it; or they bury it in ground, and Beasts that go over it are hurt; if they sprinkle it on fruits, they die: they receive it of their evil spirits, and, as Remigius well observes, it never hurts them, let them touch it how they will; and it hurts others onely as they do appoint it; Bodinus saith, On the 11. of January, 1577. a Witch was sentenced to die, that confessed she had killed three men, by casting a Powder wrapped in Paper, in the way they were to travell; saying, IN THE NAME OF ALL DEVILS.

At Pictavium in the year 1564. were three men and one woman con∣demned to be burned; they confessed they old dust under thresholds, and Sheep-Coats, whereby they hurt men and Beasts; that the Devil gave them this Powder thus; After they had all anointed themselves, or flyen on Goats, Besoms, or the like, enchanted by their Diabolical Arts to carry them either high or low, that is, on the ground, or aloft in

the Air, exceeding swift, they came into huge meetings, where one Devil in shape of a Goat sat on a Throne, to which all did Homage and kissed his filthiness; then they danced, had carnal Copulation with other Devils, feasted, and last of all, the principal Devil did burn his body to Ashes, of which every Witch took some, that she might de∣stroy withall; the Devils uttering these words, Revenge your selves, and stay: They did all renounce God, and deny all Faith in him, and Obe∣dience towards him; and if any did not observe the Devils commands, and do mischief, they were punished; nor durst they abstain from their Nocturnal Coventicles. Many Histories confirm these things; we make but a brief Abstract of them, the foresaid Authors may satisfie the Reader fully therein.

VII. Sometimes they make natural Remedies to produce preternatural Effects; as by giving the party somewhat to eat, but that that is eaten hath no power to raise such strange Symptomes, but rather gives power to the Witch, by giving any to, or receiving any thing from the party that is to be bewitched; and until then, some Witches have confessed that they could not have their minds, or power to bewitch; so a Neighbour of mine tells me concerning his Sister, long intended to be bewitched by a Witch; and of one in the Isle of Ely, I heard the like, who could not be bewitched until the Witch had got him to eat meat with her: The Proverb is, It is ill medling with edged Tooles; or Bad daring to catch a Bear by the Tooth; it is worse daring, to have to do with the De-Dil.

VIII. Witches have another way, when these will not do, or at least so suitably as the occasion stands, that is, to Metamorphose or transform themselves into Cats, Rats, Flyes, Bees, Wolves, &c. and sometime they lie in lurking holes (as Remigius pathetically de∣scribes) seeking our ruine and mischief, while we sleep securely, little distrusting any thing when we lie down; Therefore (faith he) it is best for us to commit and commend our selves to God in our Prayers when we lie down, and desire his Protection; for there have been of all sorts of men, both for goodness and greatness, harmed by them: He relates of one that confessed she transformed her self into the shape of a Cat, and the People of the house let her run up and down, not thinking any thing; and when they were gone out of the house with a Powder she had in the bottom or claw of her foot, she sprinkled the face of the Child in the Cradle, and it died.

A Lawyer told me, at an Assizes of this County, ••he heard a Witch say at Bench, before the Judge and her Accusers; She was sure not to die yet: for all the mischief she had done, was in transforming her self into the

shape of a Bumble Boe; and biting the Maids thread often is pieces as she spun; which Maid came in against her. It would be too tedious here to descry how Witches can thus alter their bodies, on in a manner annihi∣late them. This world was made of nothing, by Spiritual Power, and may be resolved into nothing again by the same Power; and we can resolve dense Bodies into Air, and coagulate Air into Water; and the Devil, quatenus a Spirit, can do that, that a Spirit can do; but as being the worse, and weaker then God, he varies; but by Gods permission he is able to do much.

Lest any should doubt of the Transformation of Witches, and how they are sensible in the shapes of Wolves, Cats, Mice, Dogs, Hoggs, &c. and act the parts of sensitive Creatures therein, and copulate with the Creatures of the shape they assume, and eat sometime such meat, and devour Children in the shape of Wolves, let them read Remigius his proper chapter, Peter de Loyer, Iohn Tritemius, Bodinus, Herodotus, Pompolius Mela, Solinus, Master Gage of the VVest Indies, and others; as Sprangerus, Vierus, and Vincentius, witnesses enough; who also testifie the ability of VVitches, through Diabolical Power given them, to transform and metamorphose any men or women they have power to hurt into what shape they please, commonly holding similitude with some of Gods created Animals.

And in the shape of VVolves have divers VVitches lacerated and eaten those they thirsted to be revenged of, or those that casually fell into their hands, I should rather say their Clawes; which when Michael Verdunus, and Peter Burgotus (as Vierus lib. 6. cap. 13. testifies) first saw, they were afraid of their new form they had brought themselves into, thus destroying Men and Cattel, they thought not to be found out by the secular Authority, and so to raign securely in their Homicide.

Of the Cure of Diseases Caused by Witchcraft.

1. Of the Cure of possession, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; some are cast out by Prayers, some by Necromancy; one Daemon commands another; there be several Charms and Rites to which spirits are subject, and by which they are bound; as the conjuring down those that walk into such a ground, or Sea, for such a term of years; and the Devils are forced to live under Laws, and to be commanded by those Men that without the Extraordinary Mercy of GOD, must serve them in Vassalage and slavery for ever hereafter.

Herbs are boiled in a Pot, over which the bewitched do hold their heads, when the fit approaches; Master Gibbons of Hathorough cured one so; and like a Mouse leaped forth of her mouth, and she was ab∣solutely freed; a Gentleman living nigh Huntingdon, who told me, was Spectatour.

Others were with some stinking Suffumige cast on Coals; so was a Maid I knew cured, a Mouse in similitude, leaped from her Mouth, held open when the fit approached.

A sober Antient Gentleman told me, he intimately knew one in the Isle of Ely, whose name he told, but now I have forgot it; he was be∣witched, and before strange fits he had like a Mouse came to him, which none could hinder; he sent to a white Witch, or Necromancer, Sorcerer, Magician, or what you please to call him; he gave him an Amulet or Charm to hang about his neck, and so long as he wore that, he was freed; he durst not leave it off: this Wizard asked if they were wicked People, else, he said, he could not, or would not help them.

Anne Bodenham, we read in Henry More, when she raised Spirits, made a stinking perfume on Coals, after her Circle was drawn, and conjuring Charmes in her Book read; the Devil loves, it seems, evil base Odours, and Sluttishness is commanded, as Regmigius was told by them.

2. Of the Cure of plain Witchcraft, wherein nothing palpably enters the Sick, or is alive within them; and first of preservation.

Divers things are traditionally delivered, as Preservatives against Witchcraft, wore about us, and offensive to Devils; therefore I be∣lieve came Rosemary, Misselto, and Jvy, to be hung up in Houses, because the Antients judged those to defend Houses from evil Spirits; Laevinus Lemnius, in one of his last Chapters of his Book of the Wonders of Nature, hath divers such, as he and others, wish to wear Corral, Lapis Amianthes, Graines of Paris, Piony, and Rhue, to defend from Witchcraft; one of London, a German Physitian, highly ex∣tolls Corral, and told a friend of mine he cured one bewitched with it.

Our best way is to desire GOD's Protection, and pray to him, and keep our selves from wickedness; and to have nothing to do with those that have reason to be suspected for Witches, or to do preternatural Acts; though indeed the stupid and superstionated Vulgar, judge onely that honest, many times, that is within the reach of their Capacity and Experience onely.

2ly. Concerning the Cure of Witchcraft, we shall divide it into these

seven heads, because Experience hath shewen they have been helped so many several wayes.

• 1. To punish the Witch, and that two wayes, 1. Either her own Body, or 2. The thing bewitched.
• 2. Call upon GOD.
• 3. Use Specifical Medicines, antipathetical to Daemons, if there be any such.
• 4. Use, or make the Witch use the Ceremonies of ridding the Sick∣ness.
• 5. Make her, if the other fail, either to take the Disease her self, or transfer it to some Dog, or Brute.
• 6. Search, if there be no Charmes, or things resembling the Sick, laid about the house.
• 7. If the Witch is imprisoned, she is void of hurt, and Satan leaves her.

First, Briefly to demonstrate all these, the afore named Authors can justifie all these, which we need not here reiterate.

If any is troubled, as our Diagnostick Signs Demonstrate, one thing being compared with another, and the subsequents with the Prece∣dents,

1. Punish the Witch, threaten to hang her if she helps not the Sick: scratch her, and fetch blood, for so, saith Thomas Bartholinus, Witch∣craft is held to be dissolved; and so I heard from a sober Physitian, a Child bewitched by Magaret Bell, nigh Lutterworth in Leicestershire, was delivered.

2. Punish the thing bewitched; putting red hot Iron in the Churm. when Butter would not come, hath burned her in the Guts; burning the Excrements of one bewitched, hath made her Anus sore; tying the Fat or Cauldren of Drink hard with Cords, that hath boiled over when scarce any Fire was under, hath made the Witch be sore girt and pained; stopping up Bottles of that Drink that hath been bewitched, hath made the Witch able neither to urine or deject, until they were opened; if an Horse or Hen, &c. be bewitched to death, if they are burnt alive, and in the fit, the Witch comes, and complains: These are all Ex∣amples that I, by my diligent Inquisition into these things, have been informed of; But Authors in other Ages, and other Countryes, will bear me out in the truth hereof.

2ly. Call upon GOD; pray earnestly & uncossantly; we are in no case to throw away Faith, and not in any to take Presumption: let none think, I am better then such an one, and GOD ought to defend me, and I am sure I shall not be hurt if I go amongst Witches or Spirits, this is Pre∣sumption;

better than thee have suffered worse: for matter of driving out Devils, Prayer avails more than in ordinary Witchcraft, yet some cannot be cured at all; and Remigius saith, In one the Devil answered, Because the Sick had never prayed to God for restouration; but the Witches gave other Reasons, why they could not cure others; such things are secret to us, yet common in the Councels of Spirits; and Witches cannot cure, nor cure by any other way, than that their Fiends or Fa∣miliar Spirits order and command, or at least this is most common.

Thirdly, Use Specifical Medicines, antipathetical to Daemons, if any be so qualified, and effectually so: Corral, Aetites, Emerods, Rhue, Piony, Rosemary, Misselto, and Birch, were used by the Antients: some of the Antients thought all Convulsions and Epileptick passions, Vertigoes, and Hystericks, to arise from Daemons and Spirits; and ty∣ing these about their necks, and giving them inwardly, they were helped; so that false Foundations must needs have rotten Super∣structures.

Pliny, lib. 30. cap. 2. Relates that Cynocephalaea, an Hearb that is called in Egypt Osirites, prevails against all Witchcraft; and that the Gram∣marian Appion raised the Ghost of Homtr by it, to tell him what Country man he was, but received no answer, as he durst relate.

Matthiolus saith, The Seed of the Hearb True-love, ʒi at a time drunk for twenty dayes, cures Diseases caused by Fascination.

Lobelius, pag. 87. saith, the Herb Priamis, with white Pepper and Wines, looses Witchcraft.

Thomas Bartholin, for such as cannot copulate and eject sperme, with their own Wives through Witchcraft, praises from others Birch Tree.

For Love-Enchantment, Skenkius, Observ. Medecinal: pag. 515. en∣joyns to take of Unious Stones, and Saint Iohn's-wort; called Fuge Dae∣monum, equal parts, and a little Balm, give them in drink, and hang the Loadstone, Amulet-like, about their necks.

P. Droetus cap. 8. Consilii novi de pestilentia, saith, An Amulet of Quick∣silver prevails against Plague and Witchcraft: An ignorant Physitian I know, layes it under the Pillow in a quill.

Marcellus Donatus in Medica Historia Mirabilis, hath discussed many things concerning Witches and Daemons: amongst the rest he questions whether Galen did believe there were any Daemons or no, and he brings this Sentence in his Book of Medicines easie to be prepared, to prove he did, Caridion, et latum cuminum, et zochii radicem ad tertiam partem de∣coque, et ex vino veter, potui da, gestet et glaneum offa, haec enim suffita Dae∣mones abigunt. See lib. 2. cap. 1.

Greg. Horstius: Sect. 7. quaest. et Epistol. Med. writing to Hector Schlan∣hovius in Answer to his, disputes the Case, Whether Natural Remedies may cure a Disease from a Preternatural Cause, and it may sometime; Ulcers have been cured, so writes Schlanhovius, Petrus Pomyonatius lib de Incantationibus; and Horstius reckons two, one that had a sore Breast, out of which came a long piece of Glasse; another of an Ophthal∣my, voided pieces of the Besome, and they lost the Besomes they had newly bought, the Witch used them; but it is but sometimes, and most in outward Ails, that common Medicines will cure.

Fourthly, Use lawful, and make the Witch use those Ceremonies she knows to Cure the Sick. Master Culpeper relates how one tied in Pu∣dendis Virilibus so that he could not joyn with his wife, was freed by making Urine through his Wives Wedding Ring, Barthol. mentions the like of pissing through a Birch Besome.

One white Witch is recorded to Cure by the heads of Crows and Braines of Cats: And if Natural Remedies can have a Preternatural force given by VVitches, to cause Diseases; why not as well, when they please, to Cure Sicknesses? As Mrs. Bodenham of Salisbury, 1653. sent five ragged Boyes (Spirits) (it seems the Devil is poor, he can keep his servants no better cloathed) with Mris. Goddards Maid, together in Wilton-Meadow, Dill and Vervain, together with which, she gave the paring of her Nails; some were to give in broath to rot then Guts, the other to rub about the Pot sides, to make their Teeth fall out; these spiritual ragged Boyes were also so hungry, that Mrs. Bodenham threw them some bread, and they eat it, and danced; they could not tell where the Hearbs in the Meadow were, till they removed the Snow, and looked about as others may do; young Daemons! from all such, and par∣ticipating in their actions, the Lord deliver us and defend; for, it is He that worketh in us both to will and to do, even of his good pleasure; and it is not in man to direct his wayes; for, in him we live, move, and have our being.

Some use writ Charms, Verses, and Characters: Paracelsus had some knowledge in such, VVitches do nothing by the Stars, they are GOD's Creatures, of noble use, and for mans use.

Fifthly, The VVitch is sometimes forced to take the Disease her self, and sometimes is sick, as the party she afflicted was; sometimes dies; when she is cast into Prison the Sick are sometime delivered; sometime he or she (they are most Females, most old women, and most poor) must transfer the Disease to other persons, sometimes to a Dog or Horse, or Cow, &c. Threaten her, and beat her, to remove it. For the verifica∣tion of these, read Authors.

Search and see if under the threshold of the Door, in the Thatch, or in the dust of the house, as Witches Powder is laid, whether there be no Charmes, Images, writ Characters, or other Telesms; for these took away and destroyed, the Effascination ceases; Master Lilly in his Iudgement upon the twelve Astrologieal Houses, in his Introduction to Astrologie, hath set down diverse Natural Remedyes against Witch∣craft.

Seventhly, Get the Witch, put her in Prison, her Power then ceases, Satan leaves her; sometimes she then acquits those she hath be∣witched, if Satan will give leave; however, her bewitching of others is prevented.

I have been brief, otherwise things might have been described more cleerly, and fully: Zoilus and Momus may carp.

Velle sum cui{que} est nec voto vivitur uno.

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