Part 2

But to the Matter in hand, we see the natural Astrologers they go by a Rule, and their Wisdom and Knowledge in Things of Nature, it is declared by them from and by a Rule, else that they say would be meer Nonsense and Foolishness.

Yet I say, your natural Astrologers they are Witches, and have their Figure to judge the Effects of the Stars; but this Witchcraft is allowed by the Powers of the Nations.

So I say, these Witches that doth do Things by a Familiar Spirit, they have a Rule to walk by as the other hath; for as the Imagination of the other hath by the Study of the Figure, attained to give some Judgment upon the Effects of the Stars, upon a particular Person or Nation. So likewise those Witches that hath a Familiar Spirit, they have attained to this Familiar Spirit out of their Imagination of Reason, as I said before.

And this Familiar Spirit being begotten in themselves by the Strength of Imagination their Father; now understand thus much, that this diabolical Wisdom that is begotten in Man and Woman by the Imagination of Reason, the Devil is that Familiar Spirit that Men and Women do act by.

And after this Familiar Spirit is begotten in Man or Woman by Imagination their father, as I said before, then this Familiar Spirit of the Witch will motion in the Mind too fast, and pray unto the Host of Heaven, the Sun, Moon and Planets, supposing that the good Spirit in some of them, and imagining the evil Spirit or Devil to be in other some of them.

Now observe, when this Familiar Spirit is produced in them, then they observe every Motion of the Mind, and their Faith being in every Motion of their Minds, it produceth either some farther Knowledge in their own Apprehension, or else some Visions are presented to their Phantasies; for they have dedicated some certain Words to be said in their Minds motional, to be used when they would do any Feats, besides their Fasting and Prayer. And this Thing they have dedicated to enquire of, is that which they divine with, or tell any Thing from it, is much like unto the Astrologers, their Figure is dedicated for that Purpose, that he may tell Things from, and without the Knowledge of the Figure. He can tell nothing except he were skilled in it before, but the Figure was the Thing he came to know more than others at the first; for wonderful Things may be accomplished through the Imagination of Reason, when it hath set it self apart on purpose to attain unto such Things.

For I find by Experience within this seventeen Years, what strange Things hath been atchieved by Man and Woman, who hath given themselves up to an unknown God upon a Religious Account. Some hath by their Fasting and Prayer unto an unknown God, attained unto Visions, Apparitions, Appearance of Angels, Voices, and many other strange Things; yet altogether ignorant of the true God and the right Devil, and what Angels are; so that these Things hath been all within them, and they thought that God had revealed these Things unto them; when as they did attain unto these Things aforesaid by their own Endeavours; as many Quakers and others can Witness at this Day, if they would, by hearkening to the Light within them, and Fasting, and such like. Neither did God present any Vision, or speak any Voice unto them, but they do produce those Things aforesaid by their own Imaginations.

So is it with Witches, they do raise Shapes and Voices out of themselves, and those Voices they hear, they are no other but motional Voices in themselves; and the ignorant People that believes them is Partakers of those motional Voices also with the Witch.

For their is no Spirit of the Devil without them, that doth assume any Shape, or speak any Voice unto the Witch, neither doth any Spirit without the Witch reveal any Knowledge unto them; it is all produced by their own wicked Imagination, who hath begotten within themselves that Familiar Spirit they deal with, and not from any Devil or Spirit without them.

But all cometh from the Imagination within, that is, the Devil and no other; yet this Familiar Spirit is produced from within them, to see Shapes, and hear motional Voices, meerly by watching the Motion of the Imagination that is placed in their Minds or Hearts, even as the Quakers do by hearkening to the Light within them, they do procure many strange Visions and motional Voices, but they being Groundless and Nonsensical they come to nothing.

CHAP. IV.

Let the Reader observe when King Saul asked the Witch of Endor, What Form the Gods was of, she had seen ascend out of the Earth; The Woman answered and said, An old Man with a Mantle, &c. But Saul saw nothing but as the Woman told him, and Saul believed her Words, and bowed himself to the Ground.----Now mind the 15th Verse, Samuel said to Saul, why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up; the Meaning is this, now the Witch had full Power over Saul, so that he did really believe the Witch, that she had indeed raised up Samuel, though he saw nothing----yet the Fear of being destroyed by the Philistines, and the Belief of the Woman's Words, Samuel began to speak in Saul's Conscience; there came into Saul's Mind the Words which Samuel had told him in his Life-time.----So that these was no speaking to Saul by Samuel, but the Reasonings of Saul's own Heart; and these Voices that Samuel spake to Saul, they were motional Voices that did arise in Saul's own Heart.----For an accusing Conscience will speak dreadful Voices in the Conscience; as the Blood of Abel cried for Vengeance in Cain's Conscience, and the Saints that were slain under the Altar; cried for Vengeance upon those that shed their Blood; so that a sinful Conscience will have Voices enough to torment him, though God himself, nor Prophet without him, doth never speak unto him. A guilty Conscience will speak with a motional Voice their great Terror and Torment, which is greater than can be born, as it was with Cain, Saul, and Judas. Yea, it was Fear, and the Remembrance of Saul's Disobedience to Samuel's Words in his Life-time, this did arise afresh in Saul's Mind, and spake with motional Voices in Saul's Conscience, accusing him for his Disobedience to Samuel's Words.

For the Remembrance of Samuel's Words, may be said to disquiet Samuel; for Samuel's Words were buried in Saul's Conscience.

But now, by his going to enquire of a Witch, Samuel is revived again in Saul's Mind, and there Samuel speaks Fear, Wrath, and Terror; for Samuel's Words spake in Saul's Conscience one motional Voice, and the Guilt of Saul's Disobedience spake Fear and Horror in Saul's Conscience, this was a motional Voice in Saul's Conscience also; for the Voice of Truth will speak, or the Voice of Obedience, and the Voice of Sin and Disobedience will speak in Man's Conscience, as if they were two distinct Spirits.

This many guilty Consciences can witness, as we may read by Cain that killed his Brother, and Judas that betrayed his Lord, and many others who hath been guilty of the like Crimes.

So that the Witch did raise no Samuel, nor Spirit, but a meer Shadow it was the Witch saw, which she could raise by her Art; neither was there any Samuel or Spirit not at all that did speak to Saul, but that motional Voice in Saul's Conscience as aforesaid.

And in this Sense Samuel may be said to be disquieted; for if Saul had never gone to the Witch to enquire of her, Samuel's Words had been quiet in Saul; neither would Saul have had such Reasonings in himself, nor have been so sensible of the Worm of his Conscience.

So that there was no Voice of Samuel spoke unto Saul, but a motional Voice in Saul's own Mind or Conscience; his Fear and his Disobedience, and what Samuel had told him before, these all speaking with Voices in his wounded Conscience. Samuel's Words spake one Voice, and his own Disobedience spake another; so that the Witch of Endor did neither raise Samuel, but only made the King believe she did, neither did Samuel speak to the King but as aforesaid.

For the Kingdom being rent out of his Hands, his Sons being destroyed, and all other Threatnings of Samuel, they came into Saul's Mind afresh with strong Motions, so that they became as Voices in Saul's Heart, as if Samuel had spake to the hearing of the Ear: For there was no Samuel raised, nor no Samuel spake, but what was motional in the Mind of Saul, and what did visionally appear unto the Witch, which was a meer Shadow which she could produce by her Witchcraft-Art, to all those that were more ignorant than her self, or had Faith in her Power.

CHAP. V.

For the Reader must mind, that Witches and all those that doth attain to the Visions, and hear Voices within them, they do use Means to attain unto it; also they have some standing Rule or Art, by which they come to enquire or to know Things, that are above that Knowledge which is common to other People, it is much like unto the Ways of God.

Therefore let the Reader mind the Ground work laid down at the first, that the Imagination of Reason had begotten a Son out of the Womb of the Seed of Reason in Man, which I call the Mother, and Imagination the Father, and the Son that is begotten in the Womb of Reason; by Imagination the Father is that great Wisdom, Knowledge and Power, by which they go beyond other People who are of a lower Capacity.

This Son is that Familiar Spirit Witches doth deal with; it is another Spirit begotten in them, which was not in their Birth, when they were born, but begotten in themselves since by Imagination as aforesaid; Neither is this Familiar Spirit produced, or doth come from any Thing, or any Devil without them, as People do vainly imagine; but the Familiar Spirit it is produced, and doth come from within, for out of the Heart cometh evil Thoughts, Murder, Adultery, &c. And all Familiar Spirits, they are all conceived in the Heart, and being conceived there, in its Season it bringeth forth such Spirits as are conceived in the Heart; if Envy and Murder be conceived, as it was in Cain, then it bringeth forth the Spirit or Deed of Murder; if Lust be conceived in the Heart, it bringeth forth the Spirit and Act of Adultery, as it did in David; and if a Familiar Spirit be conceived in the Heart, then it bringeth forth such a Spirit that shall speak motional Voices within them, as if some Spirits without them did appear without a Body, and speak to them, and reveal those Things unto them.

Many wicked Spirits more then is mentioned, are conceived in the Hearts of Men and Women, and acted by them, Spirits, I say, that were never of God's Creation, but hath been conceived in the Mind of Man since; for when Sin is conceived, as in James i. 15. When Lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth Sin; and Sin when it is finished, bringeth forth Death: so that there is a Conception of Sin first in the Heart; and if it doth not die before it quickens into Life, that is, into act; then it bringeth forth Death, which is the Punishment due to such Sins, that are alive in Man's Actions, after they were conceived in the Heart. And as the Evil of Murder, Adultery, and Theft is conceived first in the Heart, so is that Familiar Spirit Witches and Wizards have; they are first conceived in the Mind, and in a little Season it groweth alive in them, and speaketh unto them, as if it were without them: For this I say, that a Familiar Spirit is conceived and begotten in the Heart of Man and Woman, as the other Sins aforementioned are, and the Cause why God is more angry with those that deal with a Familiar Spirit, and hath commanded them to be put to Death, more than for other Sins conceived in the Mind is, because they imitate the Way of God. Or the Spirit of Prophecy, which causeth the People to believe in a meer Fiction or Shadow without any Substance, that a Spirit may be raised out of the Ground without a Body, and so they forsake the living God, who hath a Body of his own, and gave Life to every Creature, that hath a Body and doth believe a Lie, which hath been conceived in the Mind, and hath quickned into a Familiar Spirit, and this Spirit doth always live within the Witch, and not without her; and this Familiar Spirit thus conceived, first in the evil Mind, and afterward quickning in the evil Heart, it goeth from Strength to Strength, and from one Degree of Knowledge, to a farther Degree of evil Knowledge, and evil Wisdom, as all Things else doth that hath Life; for Sin hath Life in it, and the outward Law causeth Sin to revive in every one that doth evil, as St. Paul saith, Rom. vii. 9. Thus in some Measure the Reader may understand what a Familiar Spirit is, and how it comes to have a Being in Witches and Wizards, and how the ignorant are Partakers with the Familiar Spirit.

In the next Place, I shall shew how those that have a Familiar Spirit do imitate the way of God, or the way of true Prophets; observe the Way and Manner of true Prophets, High-Priests, and all other People, who are richly gifted with the Spirit of Prophecy, or Revelation; for the Seed of Faith planted in the Heart, is the Seed and Nature of God, as Reason is the Seed and Nature of the Serpent or Devil; and as the Seed of Reason is the Womb or Mother for Imagination to get a Son.

So likewise the Seed of Faith in Man, is the Womb or Mother for the Revelation of Faith, to beget a Son out of the Seed of Faith, answerable as the Imagination doth out of the Seed of Reason.

And this Son the Revelation hath begotten out of the Seed of Faith, is that heavenly Wisdom, discerning Knowledge and Power over the Spirits of others, and Knowledge of Things above the Stars, and knoweth the true God in Form and Nature, with many other heavenly Secrets, which none else can know but those that believe them.

So that the Revelation of Faith hath begotten this heavenly Wisdom, Power and Glory out of the Seed of Faith, which is the Seed of God, even of his Divine Nature; and this Wisdom, Power, and Glory, is that Son or Spirit, by which all Prophets, High Priests, Apostles and others that have it.