tempting of him. Was it not a Miracle when Peter was kept from sinking under the Water by the Omnipotency of Christ? As for Satan, we know that his Ambition is to make his Servants believe that his Power is equal to God's, and that therefore he can preserve whom he pleaseth. I have read80 of certain Magicians, who were seen walking on the Water: If then guilty Persons shall float on the Waters, either it is the Devil that causes them to do so, (as no doubt it is) and what have Men to do to set the Devil on work; or else it is a Divine Miracle, like that of Peter's not sinking, or that of the Iron that swam at the Word of Elisha. And shall Men try whether God will work a Miracle to make a discovery? If a Crime cannot be found out but by Miracle, it is not for any Judge on Earth to usurp that Judgment which is reserved for the Divine Throne.
5. This pretended Gift of Immersibility attending Witches, is a most fallible deceitful thing; for many a Witch has sunk under the Water. Godelmannus81 giveth an account of six notorious and clearly convicted Witches, that when they were brought to their vulgar Probation, sunk down under the Water like other Persons; Althusius affirms the like concerning others; in the Bohemian History82 it is related, that Uratslaus the King of Bohemia, extirpated Witches out of his Kingdom, some of which he delivered to the Ax, others of them to the Fire, and others of them he caused to be drowned: If Witches are immersible, how came they to die by drowning in Bohemia? Besides, it has sometimes been known that Persons who have floated on the Water when the Hangman has made the Experiment on them, have sunk down like a Stone, when others have made the tryal.
6. The Reasons commonly alledged for this Superstition are of no moment: It is said they hate the Water; whereas they have many times desired that they might be cast on the Water in order to their purgation: It is alledged, that Water is used in Baptism, therefore Witches swim: A weak Phansie; all the Water in the World is not consecrated Water. Cannot Witches eat Bread or drink Wine, notwithstanding those Elements are made use of in the Blessed Sacrament: But (say some) the Devils by sucking of them make them so light that the Water bears them; whereas some Witches are twice as heavy as many an innocent Person: Well, but then they are possessed with the Devil: Suppose so; Is the Devil afraid if they should sink, that he should be drowned with them? But why then were the Gadarens Hogs drowned when the Devil was in them.
These things being premised, I answer the Question affirmatively; There are Proofs for the Conviction of Witches which Jurors may with a safe Conscience proceed upon, so as to bring them in guilty. The Scripture which saith, Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live, clearly implies, that some in the World may be known and proved to be Witches: For until they be so, they may and must be suffered to live. Moreover we find in Scripture, that some have been convicted and executed for Witches: For Saul cut off those that had familiar Spirits, and the Wizzards out of the Land, 1 Sam. 28.9.
It may be wondered that Saul who did like him that said, Flectere si nequeo Superos Acheronta Movebo, should cause the Wizzards in the Land to be put to death. The Jewish Rabbies say, the reason was, because those Wizzards foretold that David should be King. It is (as Mr. Gaul observes83) the Opinion of some learned Protestants, that Saul in his Zeal did over do: And that under the Pretext84 of Witches he slew the Gibeonites, for which that Judgment followed, 2 Sam. 21.1. Neither (saith Mr. Gaule) want we the storied Examples of God's Judgments upon those that defamed, prosecuted and executed them for Witches, that indeed were none. But we have in the Scripture the Example of a better Man than Saul to encourage us to make enquiry after Wizzards and Witches in order to their Conviction and Execution. This did the rarest King that ever lived caused to be done, viz. Josiah, 2 Kings 23.24. The Workers with familiar Spirits and the Wizzards, that were spied in the Land of Judah, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the Words of the Law. It seems there were some that sought to hide those Workers of Iniquity, but that incomparable King spied them out, and rid the Land and the World of them.
Q. But then the Enquiry is, What is sufficient Proof?
A. This Case has been with great Judgment answered by several Divines of our own, particularly by Mr. Perkins, and Mr. Bernard; also Mr. John Gaul a worthy Minister at Staughton, in the County of Huntington, has published a very Judicious Discourse, called, Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcrafts, Printed at London A.D. 1646. wherein he does with great Prudence and Evidence of Scripture light handle this and other Cases: Such Jurors as can obtain those Books, I would advise them to read, and seriously as in the fear of God to consider them, and so far as they keep to the Law and to the Testimony, and speak according to that Word, receive the Light which is in them. But the Books being now rare to be had, let me express my Concurrence with them in these two particulars.
1. That a free and voluntary Confession of the Crime made by the Person suspected and accused after Examination, is a sufficient Ground of Conviction.
Indeed, If Persons are Distracted, or under the Power of Phrenetick Melancholy, that alters the Case; but the Jurors that examine them, and their Neighbours that know them, may easily determine that Case; or if Confession be extorted,85 the Evidence is not so clear and convictive; but if any Persons out of Remorse of Conscience, or from a Touch of God in their Spirits, confess and shew their Deeds, as the Converted Magicians in Ephesus did, Acts 19.18, 19. nothing can be more clear. Suppose a Man to be suspected for Murder, or for committing a Rape, or the like nefandous Wickedness, if he does freely confess the Accusation, that's ground enough to Condemn him. The Scripture approveth of Judging the wicked Servant out of his own Mouth, Luke 19.22. It is by some objected, that Persons in Discontent may falsly accuse themselves. I say, if they do so, and it cannot be proved that they are false Accusers of themselves, they ought to dye for their Wickedness, and their Blood will be upon their own Heads; the Jury, the Judges, and the Land is Clear: I have read a very sad and amazing, and yet a true Story to this purpose.
There was in the Year 1649, in a Town called Lauder in Scotland, a certain woman accused and imprisoned on suspicion of Witchcraft, when others in the same Prison with her were Convicted, and their Execution ordered to be on the Monday following, she desired to speak with a Minister, to whom she declared freely that she was guilty of Witchcraft, acknowledging also many other Crimes committed by her, desiring that she might die with the rest: She said particularly that she had Covenanted with the Devil, and was become his Servant about twenty years before, and that he kissed her and gave her a Name, but that since he had never owned her. Several Ministers who were jealous that she accused herself untruly, charged it on her Conscience, telling her that they doubted she was under a Temptation of the Devil to destroy her own Body and Soul, and adjuring her in the Name of God to declare the Truth: Notwithstanding all this, she stifly adhered to what she had said, and was on Monday morning Condemned, and ordered to be Executed that day. When she came to the place of Execution, she was silent until the Prayers were ended, then going to the Stake where she was to be Burnt, she thus expressed herself, All you that see me this day! Know ye that I am to die as a Witch, by my own Confession! and I free all Men, especially the Ministers and Magistrates, from the guilt of my Blood, I take it wholly on my self, and as I must make answer to the God of Heaven, I declare I am as free from Witchcraft as any Child, but being accused by a Malicious Woman, and Imprisoned under the Name of a Witch, my Husband and Friends disowned me, and seeing no hope of ever being in Credit again, through the Temptation of the Devil, I made that Confession to destroy my own Life, being weary of it, and chusing rather to Die than to Live. This her lamentable Speech did astonish all the Spectators, few of whom could restrain from Tears. The Truth of this Relation (saith my Author86)
