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 Ruleor 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 inCain, 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 inDavid; 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 inJamesi. 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 ofevilKnowledge, 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.Paulsaith,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 Seedof 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.
I say this is that by which they can truly divine by, in that they can foretel truly what shall come to pass, according to the Knowledge of the Revelation of Faith; and this Wisdom, and Knowledge being produced by Revelation out of the Womb of the Seed of Faith, it may and is called the Spirit of God in Man, that doth teach and shew the Wisdom of God to others, so that others cometh to be taught and subjected by it, to their great Peace here, and eternal Joy hereafter.