Book I.

Therefore, original fin was effectively bred from the concupifcence of the flefh, but occafioned only by the apple being eaten, and the admonition defpifed : but the ftimulative to concupifcence was placed in the diffuaded tree, and that occult luftful property radically inferted and implanted in it. But when Satan (befides his and the deflowering of the virgin, nothing
hindering of it) faw that man was not taken out of the way, according to the forewarning, (for he knew not that the Son of God had conftituted himfelf a furety, before the* Father, for man) he, indeed, looked at the vile, corrupted, and degenerated nature of man, and faw that a power was withdrawn from him of uniting himfelf to the God of infinite majefty, and began greatly to rejoice. That joy was of fhort duration, for, by and by, he likewife knew that marriage was ratified by Heaven — that the divine goodnefs yet inclined to man — and that Satan’s own fallacies and deceits were thus deceived : hence conjecturing that the Son of God was to reftore every defeCt of contagion, and, therefore, perhaps, to be incarnated. He then put himfelf to work how, or in what manner, he fliould defile the flock that was to be raifed up by matrimony with a mortal foul, fo that he might render every conception of God in vain : there- fore he ftirred up not only his fratricides, and notorioufly wicked perfons, that there might be evil abounding at all times ; but he procured that Atheifm might arife, and that, together with Heathenifm, it might daily increafe, whereby indeed, if he could not hinder the co-knitting of the immortal mind with the fenfitive foul, he might, at leaft, by deftroying the law of Nature, bring man unto a level with himfelf under infernal puniftiment : but his fpecial care and defire was to expunge totally the immortal mind out of the flock of poflerity.
Therefore he f the Devil ) ftirs up, to this day, deteftable copulations in Atheiftical libertines : but he faw from thence, that nothing but brutifh or favage monfters proceeded, to be abhorred by the very parents themfelves ; and that the copulation with women was far more plaufible to men ; and that by this method the generation of men fhould conftantly continue ; for he en- deavoured to prevent the hope of reftoring a remnant, that is, to hinder the incarnation of the Son of God ; therefore he attempted, by an application of
aCtive
2
Chap. I. NATURAL MAGre. 23
active things, to frame the feed of man according1 to his own accurfed defire ; which, when he had found vain and impoflible for him to do, he tried again whether an imp or witch might not be fru&ified by fodomy and when this did not fully anfwer his intentions every way, and he faw that of an afs and a horfe a mule was bred, which was nearer a-kin to his mother than his father j likewife that of a coney and dormoufe being the father, a true coney was bred, being diftintft from his mother, only having a tail like the dormoufe ; he de- clined thefe feats, and betook himfelf to others worthy, indeed, only of the fubtile craft of the Prince of Darhnefs.
Therefore Satan inftituted a connexion of the feed of man with the feed and in the womb of a junior witch, or forcerefs, that he might exclude the difpofitions unto an immortal mind from fuch a new, polifhed conception : and afterwards came forth an adulterous and lafcivious generation of Faunii, Satyrs, Gnomes, Nymphs, Sylphs, Driades, Hamodriades, Neriads, Mermaids, Syrens, Sphynxes, Monfters, &c., uling the conftellations, and difpofing the feed of man for fuch like monftrous prodigious generations.
And, feeing the Faunii and Nymphs of the woods were preferred before the others in beauty, they afterwards generated their offspring amongfl themfelves, and at length began wedlocks with men, feigning that, by thefe copulations, they fhould obtain an immortal foul for them and their offspring ; but this happened through the perfuafions and delufions of Satan to admit thefe mon- fters to carnal copulation, which the ignorant were eafily perfuaded to ; and therefore thefe Nymphs are called Succubii : although Satan afterwards com- mitted worfe, frequently tranfchanging himfelf, by affuming the perfons of both Incubii and Succubii, in both fexes j but they conceived not a true young by the males, except the Nymphs alone. The which, indeed, feeing the fons of’ God (that is, men) had now, without diftinCtion, and in many places, taken to be their wives, God was determined to blot out the whole race begotten by thefe infernal and deteftable marriages, through a deluge of waters, that the intent of the evil fpirit might be rendered fruftrate.
Of which monfters before mentioned, I will here give a ftriking example from Helmont : for he fays, a merchant of iEgina, a countryman of his,
24 NATURAL llAGIC, Book I.
failing- various times unto the Canaries, was atked by Helmont for his ferious judgment about certain creatures, which the mariners frequently brought home from the mountains, as often as they went, and called them Tude-fquils ;* for they were dried dead carcaffes, almofl: three-footed, and fo fmall that a boy might eafily carry one of them upon the palm of his hand, and they were of an exa6t human thape ; but their whole dead carcafs was clear or tranfparent as any parchment, and their bones flexible like griftles ; againfi: the fun, alfo, their bowels and inteftine were plainly to be feen ; which thing I, by Spa- niards there born, knew to be true. I confidered that, to this day, the defiroy- ed race of the Pygmies were there ; for the Almighty would render the ex- peHations of the evil fpirit, fupported by the abominable actions of mankind, void and vain ; and he has, therefore, manifoldly faved us from the craft and fubtilty of the Devil, unto whom eternal punilhments are due, to his extreme and perpetual coufufion, unto the everlalting fanftifying of the Divine Name.
CHAP. II.
OF THE WONDERS OF NATURAL MAGIC, DISPLAYED IN A VARIETY OF SYMPATHETIC AND OCCULT OPERATIONS THROUGHOUT THE FAMILIES OF ANIMALS, PLANTS, METALS, AND STONES, TREATED OF MISCELLANEOUSLY.
THE wonders of Animal Magic we mean fully to difplay under the title of Magnetifm.- But here we haften to inveftigate by what means, inftruments, and effects, we muft apply aftives to paflives, to the producing of rare and un- common effects ; whether by a St ions , amulets, alligations and fufpenjions — or rings , papers, un 61 ions, fuffumigations , allurements, forceries, enchant- ments, images, lights , founds, or the like. Therefore, to begin with things more Ample : — If any one (hall, with an entire new knife, cut afunder a lemon, ufing words expreflive of hatred, contumely, or diflike, againfi any individual.
* Stude-quills, or Stew’d quills.
the
Chap. II. NATURAL MAGIC. 25
N
the abfent party, though, at an unlimited diflance, feels a certain inexpref- fible and cutting anguifh of the heart, together with a cold chillinefs and failure throughout the body ; — likewife of living animals, if a live pigeon be cut through the heart, it caufes the heart of the party intended to affefit with a fudden failure ; — likewife fear is induced by fufpending the magical image of a man by a tingle thread ; — alfo death and definition by means fimilar to thefe ; and all thefe from a fatal and magical fympathy.
Likewife of the virtues of timple animals, as well as manual operations, of which we fhall fpeak more anon : — The application of hare’s fat pulls out a thorn ; — likewife any one may cure the tooth-ache with the tlone that is in the head of the toad — alfo, if any one fhall catch a living frog before fun-rife, and he or fhe fpits in the mouth of the frog, will be cured of an aflhmatic confumption — likewife the right or left eye of the fame animal cures blind- nefs ; and the fat of a viper cures a bite of the fame. Black hellebore eafeth the head-ache, being applied to the head, or the powder fnuffed up the nofe in a moderate quantity. Coral is a well-known prefervative againfl witchcraft and poifons, which if worn now, in this time, as much round children’s necks as ufual, would enable them to combat many difeafes which- their tender years are fubje6led to, and to which, with fafeinations, they often fall a vi6lim. I know how to compofe coral amulets, or talifmans, which, if fufpended even by a thread, fhall (God aflifling) prevent all harms and accidents of violence from fire, or water, or witchcraft, and help them to withfland all their difeafes.
Paracelfus and Helmont both agree, that in the toad, although fo irreverent to the fight of man, and fo noxious to the touch, and of fuch flrong violent antipathy to the blood of man, I fay, out of this hatred Divine Providence hath prepared us a remedy againfl manifold difeafes moll inimical to man’s nature. The toad hath a natural averfion to man ; and this fealed image, or idea of hatred, he carries in his head, eyes, and mofl powerfully throughout his whole body : now that the toad may be highly prepared for a fympathetic remedy againfl the plague or other diforders, fuch as the ague, falling, fickneffes, and various others ; and that the terror of us, and natural inbred, hatred may the more flrongly be imprinted and higher afeend in the toad, we mull hang him up aloft