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 Rule or 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 in _Cain_, 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 in _David_;
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 in _James_ i. 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 of_ evil _Knowledge, 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. _Paul_ saith,
_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 Seed of 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.