the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,' as in Gen. vi. 5. So that there is no other devil, or spirit, or familiar spirit for witches to deal withal, or to work any enchantments by, but their own imagination: there the familiar spirit is produced from whence it came, and there it ceases to be when they are put to death, or overpowered by the knowledge and the power of faith in other men, then the familiar spirit centers in the imagination again, it being overpowered by the power of faith; so likewise the good thoughts that doth proceed out of the heart of man, they do arise or proceed from the seed of faith concerning the true God, or any heavenly secret, or temporal judgments, or temporal blessings; if the foreknowledge of these things doth arise or be foretold by the revelation of the seed of faith, they are and may be called the Spirit of God.

Because they were foretold and declared by the revelation of the seed of faith, which seed of faith is the seed of God, it being of God's own nature, therefore called the Spirit of God; and so foretold and declared by the Spirit of God, so likewise, what foreknowledge or declaration of things, that are above that which is common to the seed of reason, (as raising of spirits and such like;) I say they do proceed from the imagination of reason, the devil; and this strong imagination from the seed of reason is that familiar spirit by which witches do divine or foretel things, so that the strong imagination of reason being exercised about things that are beyond trades and sciences, that are necessary, needful and lawful; so it becomes a familiar spirit, because it proceeds from the imagination of reason, and the seed of reason being the devil, and the devil being the fallen angel; for the devil is man and woman; and the seed of reason is their seed. And that seed of reason is come from that serpent that beguiled Eve; and that serpent was an angel, and his seed was reason, and this reason in man is the devil; and the imagination of reason is

the father of that familiar spirit, by which a man or wo man doth divine, soothsay, raise shapes, or hear voices, or any such thing of that nature, they all proceed from the imagination of reason in man, and the original being of this seed of reason. It came from that serpent angel that was cast down from heaven unto this earth, who deceived our first parents, as I have abundantly shewed in Rev. xi. and in the interpretation of the whole book of the Revelation.

Now I have laid a foundation for the reader, that he may the better understand the foundation, from whence these familiar spirits that witches have do proceed, and how they are procured, and what power they have over the ignorant mind of man; therefore to satisfy the thoughts of many, who hath desired and requested of me, that I would interpret some chief sayings in the Scriptures, that speaketh of witchcraft, and familiar spirits, and such like; which sayings are very strange and hard to be understood; so that most people are very much unsatisfied in these things, though clear in their judgments, in many other things that are of more concernment and as I have given the interpretation of the whole book of the Revelation, with many other other places of Scripture to the great comfort and satisfaction of many, so I shall add the interpretation of this thing also.

The first place of Scripture I shall insist upon, is that in 1 Sam. xxviii. beginning at the 11th verse, concerning the Witch of Endor; this is commonly the place that most people fetch to prove, that spirits may be raised in what shape the witch please by their familiar spirits; therefore let the reader mind the discourse that followeth. The words are these, 'Then said the woman, whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said bring me up Samuel.' And in the 12th verse, 'And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud

voice, and the woman spake to Saul, saying, why hast thou deceived me, for thou art Saul? And in the 13th verse, And the king said unto her, be not afraid, for what sawest thou? and the woman said unto Saul, I saw Gods ascending out of the earth.' The 14th verse, 'And he said unto her, what form is he of? and she said an old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.' The 15th verse, 'And Samuel said to Saul, why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? and Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophet nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.' Verse 16th, 'Then said Samuel, wherefore then dost thou ask of me seeing the Lord is departed from thee and is become thine enemy? Verse 17th, And the Lord hath done to him as he spake by me; for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David.' Verse 18th, Because thou obeyest not the voice of the Lord, nor executed his fierce wrath upon Amelek; therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day.'

CHAP. II.

THIS familiar spirit the Witch of Endor and other witches have, whereby they do such things; it is the imagination of reason, the devil in themselves; that is, they set themselves apart with the thoughts of the imaginations of their hearts, to dive into the diabolical power; that is, that they might know the depths of satan, their imagination conceiving that the devil is a spirit flying in the air, and that this spirit can assume or take up any shape it please. So that the imagination of the heart hath produced an evil spirit in itself, so that this familiar spirit is begotten out of the womb of reason for the seed of reason in man is the womb or the mother, and the imagination of the heart is the father that begets this familiar spirit, and this familiar spirit is the son of imagination. So that all thoughts of the heart, and that wonderful knowledge declared by them it is revealed through this son the familiar spirit begotten in themselves by the seed of reason the mother, and imagination the father. So that there is no devil nor familiar spirit without them, as people do vainly imagine, but the devil and familiar spirit is always within them and no where else; yet all people fear a devil without them, but he is no where to be found but in man and woman, this I do certainly know to be true.

Again, these Witches doth suppose the true God to be an infinite spirit, without any body or substance, as all people almost do; and that the devil is a spirit that can assume bodies or what shape he pleaseth, or what shape or form the witch shall call for. This is the opinion of most people in the world as well as witches, yea, even of the most of the greatest learned men; darkness

hath overspread the minds of all learned men in the world, so that they cannot find out what the true God is, nor where he is; nor what the right devil is, nor where he is; yea, man himself is he that cannot find out himself; but no more of this now.

To the matter in hand, the witches they do not know any divine being, or power, or form of God, but what their imagination doth conceive to be God, for they have full faith in this knowledge of theirs to be the true knowledge of God; only the laws of men they fear, but no other God, but that familiar spirit which they have produced in themselves, by giving themselves either to fasting and prayer, unto an unknow divine Being or power; supposing this power to be a spirit that can appear in any shape they shall call for or desire. And all people being ignorant of the true God, and the right devil, as they themselves are, so that the people have a faith in these witches, being ignorant as aforesaid, what the true God and right devil is, and the witches faith and their faith being joined together, it becometh strong to atchieve such apparitions as their faith hath chose to be the object of their imagination for he that enquireth of a witch, his faith and the witch's faith is all one.

Also this is to be minded, that all witches have some rule by which they do perceive those apparitions, and hear those voices; for there is no wicked knowledge or wicked wisdom as the wisdom of the world, neither is there any good knowledge or good wisdom as the wisdom of God. I say there is no knowledge or wisdom good or bad, but those that have it they must go by some rule, else it is mere nonsense; as most of your Quaker's matters or principles are mere nonsense, that hath neither bottom nor top.