A compleat history of the most remarkable providences both of judgment and mercy, which have hapned in this present age extracted from the best writers, the author's own observations, and the numerous relations sent him from divers parts of the three kingdoms : to which is added, whatever is curious in the works of nature and art / the whole digested into one volume, under proper heads, being a work set on foot thirty years ago, by the Reverend Mr. Pool, author of the Synopsis criticorum ; and since undertaken and finish'd, by William Turner...

CHAP. XCVIII. Satan hurting by False Promises or Threatnings.

THAT the Devil hath been a Lyar, and grand Impostor, we have had the Experience of all Ages from the Beginning. He cheated our first Parents at his first Appearance in the World; and hath proceeded succes∣s••••ly to the present time, to dilude all subsequent Generations; and yet (which is the Mischief of it) Man∣kind is still so shallow, and of so dull Intellectuals, that upon the Prospect of a pleasant Bait, he 〈…〉〈…〉 a Surrender of his Heart, and Senses, and believes and acts as this great Juggler would have him. 'Tis 〈…〉〈…〉 ob∣serve, how miserably Men are deluded with his false Promises, or affrighted with his deceitful Menaces; and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 still the Tragedy is carried, on, and will be to the End of the World!

1. Bodin tells us of a French Baron, that confess'd, That he Worshipped the Devil, and prayed to him, and had sacrificed Nine Children to him, and intended to have sacific'd one of his own. And he ask'd him for what he did this? And he said, That he promised to make him Great, and yet that he never gave him any thing, but had told him more Lyes than Truths. This Promise of Knowledge was the old Temptation to Eve: And yet Knowledge is the great Gift of our great Comforter, the Holy Ghost; so that there is a true comforting Know∣ledge which God giveth, and a deceitful Shadow of it; and a useless hurtful Knowledge, by which Satan comforteth the Deluded. It's true, Needful Saving Knowledge, that is of God. Many Conjurers have, by the Desire of knowing what vain Curiosity is pleased with, become the Devil's Slaves.

2. Dr. Dee, of whom we make mention elsewhere, was allured by Satan with repeated Pro∣mises of the Philosopher's Stone; and in comfident Expectation thereof, he spent his Time, Study, and Estate, and boasted to the Emperor of Germany of it. But instead thereof, he had nothing performed, but a blind aenigmatical Recipe from his supposed Angels, for the finding out of the Stone; which was this,

Take common Audcal (i. e. Gold,) purge and work it by Rlodur of four divers Dige∣stions, continuing the last Digestion for Fourteen Days, in one swift Propottion, until it be Dlased, (i. e. Sulphur,) fixed in a most red and luminous Body, the Image of Resurrection. Take also Lulo (the Mother) of red Roxtan, (pure and simple Wine,) and work him through the four fiery Degrees, until thou have his Audcal, (his Mercury,) and there ga∣ther him.

Then double every Degree of your Rlodur, and by the Law of Coition and Mixture, work and continue them diligently together, notwithstanding backward, through every De∣gree, multiplying the lower and last Rlodur, his due Office finished by one degree more than the highest: So doth it become Darr, (the Angelical Name of the Stone, forsooth,) the Thing you seek for; a holy, most glorious Red, and dignified Dlased. But watch well, and gather him so at the highest; for in one Hour he descendeth or ascendeth from the Purpose.

This was communicated to the deluded Doctor, as appears by his own Writings, after earnest Prayer, and great Importunity used, and a serious Complaint of his Poverty; at Prague, A. D. 1585. And this was all he could obtain. See his Actions with Spirits, p. 387.

3. A. C. 1530. There was in Norimberg a Popish Priest, that studied the Black-Art, who coveting Riches, the Devil shewed him, through a Crystal, Treasures hidden in a part of the City. Thither therefore did the Priest go, with another Companion; and having digged an hollow Pit, he perceived at the bottom a Coffer, with a great black Dog lying by it; which whilst he beheld, the Earth fell upon him, and crushed him to death. Clark's Examp. Vol. 1. c. 8. out of Wierus.

4. Thomas Sawdie (mention'd in the Chapter of Satan restrain'd from Hurting) received some, and was promised more Money from the Devil, in the Shape first of a Man, then a Dog, but withal was possessed by him.

5. It wer not difficult to give more Instances of Diabolical IIIusions in this kind, as of Dr. Fanstus, of Cundligen, in Germany, who, after he had entertained others with deceitful Banquets, and cheated himself with false Hopes, at last was found dead in a certain Village, near Wirtemberg, with his Neck broke, and the House beaten down with a terrible Storm.

6. Wierus saith, Cornelius Agrippa, after his great Skill in Necromancy, and his great Learning in all the Sciences, and Expectations of great things in the World, upon the taking off an inchanted Collar from his Dog's Neck, died miserably. Witness P. Jovius.

I shall only take notice, That almost all Witches, and Conjurers, live contemptibly Poor, or Scandalous, and die accordingly.

7. But the Devil doth not always use these gross ways to impose upon Man; every body will not be taken with such Baits; some are of somewhat more fine Intellectuals, and these are ca∣joled by other Methods, and decoyed to their own Destruction by more plausible Devices and Temptation. The Highway-man, and Pyrate, are sometimes Agents in the Devils Cause, and Successful too; and, as Deputies and procurators under him, propund Golden Moun∣tains, Rich Purses, an easie and luxurious way of Living, for a Reward to them that will be of their Society: But what shameful and miserable Ends they come to, I appeal to the Golden Farmer, and Mr. Every the Pirate, lately taken into Custody, and a Thousand more, who, in our own Times, and Nations, have ascended the Gallows for their last Preferment, and look'd the World in the Face with the Inscription of Guilt and Ignominy in their Foreheads.

8. Yea, the Devil spins sometimes a finer Web than any of these. Tell but such a Lye, use such an Equivocation, turn with the Wind of the Age, and observe which way Wealth and Preferments are disposed by the Court-Party, and tack about accordingly, and you shall rise higher than your Fellows; live more bravely, plentifully, prosperously, than other sneaking Vertuoso's: And this Bait too often takes with Men of no solid Principle. Multitudes are caught in this Net, and for the time are mightily pleased with it, till some unexpected Occur∣rence, or Old Age, and sad Experience, convinces them, that it was but a Trick of the Devil to catch Fools with; and that they had better have stuck close to the Rules of a steady Piety, and trusted God, tho' he did not pay presently, but seem'd to be asleep, while he exercised their Faith and Patience. They that hast to be Rich, fall into Temptations, and the Snare of the Devil.

9. I have given no Instances of Satan's Hurting by Threatning Signs, or Apparitions, yet: But what doth he drive at, or propound to himself, by the frequent Noises and Disturbances which he makes in Peoples Houses? When I first began this Work, I heard a rapping at my Hall-door, as with a Horse-whip, twice; and my Maid heard it likewise at the same time, tho' she was in the Kitchen, and I in the Parlour, at that very Juncture. My Wife suspected it to be a Token of some Funeral out of the Family, within such a set time, as a Year, or so, &c. Many People have had the like, and yet no Harm followed: And I quere, Whether, by the Appearance of the Ghosts of Persons departed, he doth not design to promote the Doctrine of Purgatory, or some other superstitious Fancies? I am sure, many of the wild and fantastical Notions and Practices that have been adopted into Religion, by Jews, Greeks, Papists, and Pagans, have been fathered upon such Causes, viz. Visions and Revelations, Omi∣nous Signs and Apparitions.

10. Joan Williford, a Witch, confessed before the Mayor, and other Jurats of Feversham, 1645. That the Devil promised her, that she should not lack: But never brought her more than Eight Pence, or one Shilling at a time. See the Examination and Confession of the said Joan, and others, 1645.