I Have been desired by several Friends, to set forth the Interpretation
concerning the Witch of _Endor_ and King _Saul_; how it may be
understood how she raised _Samuel_, and how Familiar Spirits came to be
procured, and with what Power they do such strange Things. Many Enemies
also have objected this Place, to prove that Spirits may be raised
without Bodies, and that Spirits may walk, or be happy or miserable
without Bodies: Though I have given an Answer in Discourse to these
Doubts and Questions, but few can retain in their Memory what is spoken
in Discourse; therefore I thought it convenient and necessary to set it
forth in Print, for the Information and Satisfaction of many Friends who
desire it, and for the Convincement of all Gain-sayers. And let them
seriously read it over without Prejudice, and they may see this Point
clearly opened, which hath laid hid this many Hundred Years, with other
Places of Scriptures opened, which many have objected against this
Interpretation, and all those Places of Scripture that is commonly
brought, or doth most seem to hold forth, that Spirits may be without
Bodies, are likewise opened and expounded in short in this Treatise, as
followeth.
CHAP. I.
1 SAM. XXVIII. _from the 11th to the 18th Verse_.
I Shall give the Interpretation, what is meant by that Familiar Spirit
the Witch of _Endor_ which did raise _Samuel_, so much spoken of in the
Book of _Samuel_, and other Places of Scripture; and so much objected by
many to prove that Spirits may be raised without Bodies, and may appear
unto People in what Shape they please.
The Belief of this lying Principle, it did proceed out of the
Imagination of Reason, the Devil----The Imagination that doth arise or
proceed from the Seed of Reason in Man, is that Familiar Spirit that
Witches deal with, and that Familiar Spirit it proceedeth from no Spirit
or Devil without a Man, but from the Seed of Reason within Man; for look
what evil Thoughts doth arise out of the Heart of Man, it proceedeth out
of the Seed of Reason in Man, and not from any thing without Man; for
the Imagination of the Heart, it is plac'd in the Seed of Reason,
therefore it is said in Scripture, _That the Imaginations of Man's Heart
was evil, and that every Imagination of 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 over-power'd by the Knowledge, and the Power
of Faith in other Men, then the Familiar Spirit centers in the
Imagination again, it being over-powered 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
it came 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 Woman 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 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 aloud 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 mayst make known unto me
what I shall do_. Verse 16. _Then said_ Samuel, _Wherefore then dost
thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become
thine Enemy?_ Verse 17. _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 18. _Because thou obeyest not
the Voice of the Lord, nor executed his fierce Wrath upon_ Amalek;
_therefore hath the Lord done this Thing unto thee this Day_.