Cases of conscience concerning evil spirits personating men, witchcrafts, infallible proofs of guilt in…

When the Amalekite confessed that he killed Saul, whom he he had no legal Authority to meddle with, although 'tis probable that he belied himself, David gave order for his Execution, and said to, him, Thy Blood be upon thy head, for thy Mouth hath Testified against thee. 2. Sam. 1. 16. But as for the Testimony of Confessing Witches against others, the case is not so clear as against themselves. They are not such Credible Witnesses, as in a Case of Life and Death is to be desired. It is beyond dispute, that the Devil makes his Witches to dream strange things of themselves and others which are not so. There was (as Authors beyond Exception relate) in appearance a sumptuous feast prepared, the wine & meat set forth in Vessels of Gold.A certain person whom an amorous young man had fallen in Love with was represented and supposed to be really there, but Apollonius Tyanoeus ^(o)discovered the Witchery of the Business, and in an instant all vanished, and nothing but dirty Coals were to be seen. The like to this is mentioned in the Arausican Council. There were certain women that Imagined, they road upon Beasts in the night, and that they had Diana and ⟨p. 63⟩Herod•as in Company with them, besides a Troop of other persons. The Council giveth this sentence on it, Satanas qui se trans•igurat in Angelum Lucis, transformat see in divers•rum pers•narum species, et mentem quam captivam tenet, in somnis deludi•. Satan transforms himself into the likeness of diverse persons, and deludes the Souls that are his Captives with Dreams and Fancies. See Dr. Willet on 1 Sam. 28. page 165. What Credit can be given to those that say they can turn men into Horses? If so, they can as well turn Horses into men. But all the Witches on earth in Conjunction with all the Devils in Hell, can never make or unmake a rational Soul; and then they cannot transform a Brute into a man, nor a man into a Brute. So that this Transmutation is Fantastical. The Devil may, and often does impose on the Imaginations of his Witches and Vassals, that they believe themselves to be Converted into Beasts, and reverted into men again. As Nebuchadnezzar whilst under the Power of a Demon really imagined himself to be an Ox, and would lye out of Doors and eat Grass. The Devil has inflicted on many a man the Disease called Lycanthropia, from whence they have made Lamentable Complaints of their being Wolves.