Part 17

1. That there were and are almost innumerable ways, whereby men have undertaken to Divine and foretel things to come, some of which were by lawful means and ways, as all prudent, sagacious, and experienced men have done, and may do. Some by vain, trivial, foolish, and groundless ways, as by the flying of birds, their noise and motion, and so of beasts, by casting lots, dice, and the like, which have no causality or efficiency in them at all to declare things to come, but were meerly vain and superstitious, with which the Heathen World doth still abound, and they are not yet totally eradicated from amongst Christians. The most foolish of which was this, That when the Philistins had kept the Ark of the Lord seven months, they called the Priests and the Diviners, to know what to do with it, and they advised them not to send it away empty, but to send five golden Emerods and five golden Mice, and to take a new Cart and two Milch-kine, upon which there had com’d no yoke, and to tye them to the Cart, and to bring their Calves home from them, and to lay the Ark in the Cart, and the Jewels of Gold to be put in a Coffer by, thinking that if they went up towards _Beth-shemesh_ that was the Israelites Coast, that if they did so, then it was he that smote them, otherwise that it was but a chance that happened unto them. And this in respect of the Priests and Diviners was only a casual conjecture at Random, though God in his Providence did order it according to his Divine Wisdom for the best. Like unto this was that mentioned by the Prophet, a _Consulter with his staff_, as also that of _Ezekiel_: _For the King of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, (Teraphim) he looked in the liver_. And besides these there were others that pretended Visions and Revelations from their Gods or Idols; but how far either Idols, or Devils, or their Priests could truly foretel things to come, is very doubtful and hard to determine, of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.

2. We are to note, that though there were never so many ways of Divination used, and whether the means used to predict by, were natural or supernatural, lawful or unlawful, frivolous and superstitious, or taken upon sound and rational grounds, yet were they all wicked and abominable, because they were used to withdraw the people from those Ordinances that God had appointed to give answers by, and to lead the people to inquire of vain and lying Idols, and their Priests, and thereby to commit Idolatry; and so whatsoever the means were, the end was wicked and damnable.

[Sidenote: Psal. 115. 4, &c.]

[Sidenote: Jer. 14. 14.]

[Sidenote: 1 Cor. 8. 4.]

[Sidenote: _Vid. Dr. Hammond. in loc._]

[Sidenote: Isa. 41. 23.]

[Sidenote: Jer. 10. 5.]

3. Moreover, what answers soever the Priests forged and gave (for it is manifest, that the Idols gave none at all; _for they had mouths and spake not, ears and heard not, eyes and saw not, feet and walked not, neither was there breath in their nostrils_) were nothing but lyes and conjectures of their own devising, and there an Idol in the Hebrew is sometimes styled ‏אֱלִיל‎ _nihilum_, and therefore saith the Prophet: _The Prophets prophesie lyes in my Name, I sent them not, neither have I commanded them. They prophesie unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart._ Unto which the Apostle alludeth, when he saith: _We know that an Idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one._ That is, that an Idol taken abstractively, without regard to the matter of which it was made, as gold, silver, stone, wood, or the like, which were natural substances, or respect to the figure or shape which was artificial, and the work of the Work-man, it was plainly nothing, and had no real existence as a God or Idol, but only in the Phantasies and minds of the blinded Worshippers; for it neither could truly foretel, nor act any thing of it self, but all that was done, was the lyes and inventions of the Priests that served them, and got their living by that villanous and lying trade. For God by the mouth of his Prophet doth set down the true difference of the true God, that could infallibly foretel and declare things that were to come, from the false Gods and Idols, and doth challenge them in this manner: _Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are Gods: yea do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together_. From whence it is plain, that the only κριτήριον to distinguish betwixt the Divinations that are given forth by the Spirit of God in his Prophets or Apostles is, that they are plain, certain, and infallible, and the event never faileth to answer the Prediction, but those that are given forth by Satan and his juggling and lying Ministers, are always ambiguous, doubtful, and perplex, and evermore deceive such as trust in them, as was manifest in Ahab, when all the false Prophets bade him go up to _Ramoth Gilead_, and prosper, yet there was he slain. And as they never truly foretel things to come, so neither can the Idols do good or evil: all that is, or ever was done, was performed only by the cunning, confederacy, and juggling of the knavish and deceitful Priests; and therefore the Prophet admonisheth Gods people not to be afraid of them; _For they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good_.

[Sidenote: Deut. 13. 1, 2, 3.]

4. We are to note, that if a Sign or Wonder foretold do come to pass, we have no Warrant to ascribe the bringing of it to pass either to Devil or Witch, for the Lord telleth us this: _If there arise among you a Prophet or a Dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder. And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee, saying; Let us go after other Gods (which thou hast not known) and let us serve them: Thou shalt not hearken to the words of that Prophet or that Dreamer of dreams: For the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul._ So that what Divinations or Predictions soever be foretold by any, or what signs or wonders soever be brought to pass, if the persons that work or foretel them, perswade us to serve other Gods, or go to seduce us to Idolatry, we are not to follow them, but are to know that by them the Lord doth prove us, to try if we love him with all our heart, or not. And if there were no other means to distinguish a true Miracle from a false, yet were this infallibly sufficient to instruct and direct us.

5. We may note, that of all the several sorts of Divinations pretended, and of all the acceptations of this Hebrew word in all the Bible, there is nothing that doth imply any such kind of killing Witch, as is commonly imagined, nor none such as make a visible League with the Devil, nor upon whose bodies he sucketh, or hath carnal copulation with them, nor no such as are really changed into Cats, Hares, Wolves, or Dogs; which was the thing we undertook to prove.

3. The next word we are to consider, is ‏עֹנֵן‎, which _Avenarius_, _Schindlerus_, _Buxtorsius_, and Mr. _Goodwin_ do derive from ‏עֹנֵן‎ _obnubilavit, nubem obduxit, item præstigiis usus est_. From whence we may note these things.

[Sidenote: _Vid. Polyglot. in loc._]

1. That the most of all the Translators do some render it by one word, and some by another, that no certainty can be gathered from them at all, as though it did signifie divers and many sorts of these kinds of Augury, Divinations, or juggling Feats, when in reason we cannot but suppose that it only comprehended some one sort, and not so many as the Translators do ascribe to it. The Septuagint render it for the most part κληδονιζόμενος, sometimes αποφθεγγόμενος, and sometimes ὀρνιθοσκοπήσεθε, which are all of different derivations and significations; some others render it other ways, as, _neq; auspicabimini, neq; observabitis horas, ne vaticinemini, ne ominemini, nec observet somnia & auguria, nec qui exercet Astrologiam, &c._ Now from such a diversity no man is able to draw a positive certainty.

2. They do not keep to one word appropriate to the Hebrew, which if they had not forgotten themselves, they would have done, and not left it uncertain. For _Arias Montanus_ in the 19. of _Leviticus_, _vers._ 26. renders it, _neq; præstigiabamini_, and in the 2. of _Isaiah_, _vers._ 6. translates it, _augures sicut Philistim_. In _Isa._ 57. 3. he calleth them _Filii Auguratricis_. And in the 27. of _Jeremiah_, _v._ 9. _Et ad Augures vestros._ Also _Micah_ 5. 11. he renders it _Præstigiatores_. Now what great difference there is betwixt any sort of Augury, and Juggling, or Leger-de-main, is known to any of indifferent reading. And the rest of the Translators are far more wild, and more wide. And _Junius_ and _Tremellius_, who of all others, one might have thought would have been more circumspect, yet fall into the same incertitude; for in Deut. 18. 10. he renders it _Planetarius_, but in the place before-cited in _Leviticus_, they render it, _neq; utemini præstigiis_, though in the Margent they mend it, with this note, _neq; ex nubibus conjicite, vel ne temporis observationi plus æquo tribuite_. And _Isa._ 2. 6. _Et præstigiatores sunt ut Polischtæi._

[Sidenote: _Vid._ _Jo. Wier. de mag. Jus._ _c._ 1. _p._ 91.]

[Sidenote: Of Divin. _lib._ 4. _cap._ 10. _p._ 183.]

3. But if there be any certainty in adhering to the primitive signification of the Hebrew root, that plainly intendeth _obnubilavit_, that it is without question most safe and genuine to translate it Planetarius, to which the most learned _Andreas Masius_ (as he is quoted by _Wierus_) doth incline in these words: _Veteres Hebræorum dicunt id verbum ad eos propriè pertinere, qui temporum momenta superstitiosè observant, atq; alia fausta rebus gerendis, alia infausta præscribunt_. To which agreeth Mr. _Thomas Goodwin_, saying: “But of all I approve those who derive it from ‏עִנֵּן‎ a Cloud, as if the Original signified properly a Planetary, or Stargazer.”

4. But however thus far there is no word found, that signifieth a Witch in the sense we have laid down, nor any such person that hath a real familiar Spirit, either in them, or attending upon them, ready visibly to appear at their beck, this is not yet to be found out.

5. The next is ‏וּמְנַחֵשׁ‎ from the root ‏נִחֵשׁ‎, _nichesch, auguratus est, observavit, augurium fecit_, which our English Translators have erroneously rendred an Inchanter, which it no way signifieth, nor hath any relation unto, having in the next verse named a Charmer, as though Enchanter and Charmer were not all one, when the word plainly (as Mr. _Goodwin_ and the learned _Masius_ do confess) importeth an Augur or Sooth-sayer: That is, such an one, who out of his own experience draweth observations of good or evil to come: of which we may note these things.

1. The most of all the Translations given us in the _Polyglot_, do render the Hebrew word by _auguratus est_, and so understand it to be an Augur or Sooth-sayer, a Conjecturer, or an Observer, from whatsoever it be that he taketh his observations, as from the flying noise or motion of birds or beasts, looking into their entrails, and the like, and from thence taking upon them to foretel good or evil to come, or what was hidden and secret.

2. The Hebrew word, is by the Septuagint rendred οἰώνισμα, _Augurium, Auspicium_, that is, an Augur, an Observer, or a Conjecturer, which _Luther_ translateth: =eyn de vp Voegell geschrey achte=. And in the Low Dutch Bible it is rendred agreeable thereto; and the French render it _aux Oiseaux_, from the word _Oiseau_, _Avis, Volucris_; and the Italians render it _Auguropista_, which are all to one purpose, and no difference at all, and so the gross mistake of our English Translators is most apparent, that make it to be an Inchanter or Charmer, to which it hath no relation at all.

[Sidenote: Gen. 30. 27.]

[Sidenote: Gen. 44. 5, 15.]

3. This Hebrew word is taken _in bonam partem_, heedfully to consider, mark, or observe, as _Laban_ said, when he laboured to stay _Jacob_ from going from him: _I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake_. So that though _Laban_’s heart was not upright toward _Jacob_, nor he a sincere Worshipper of the God of the Jews; yet so far had the Lord convinced him, by the faithful and industrious service of _Jacob_ that he had experienced, and by tryal found that the Lord had blessed him for _Jacob_’s sake. And the same word is used, when _Joseph_ said: _Is not this the cup wherein my Lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth, or maketh tryal?_ And again: _Know ye not, that such a man as I can certainly divine, or make tryal?_ And though _Pererius_ hath made a large Dispute about this matter, and reciteth the Opinions of many Authors concerning it; yet it is manifest, that _Joseph_ knew his Brethren before, and had caused the Cup to be put into _Benjamins_ Sack, and that all this was but done in a just and prudent way, the better to prepare his Brethren for his revealing of himself unto them, and so had reference to no unlawful conjecturing at all, though it was plain, that he had the special gift from God of interpreting of Dreams, and foretelling of things that were to come.

4. It is too hard a task to enumerate all the several ways that the Heathens used, by observation to foretel things to come, and more difficult so declare all the subjects from whence they gathered the signs of their Predictions. The chiefest that the old _Romans_ used, were _Augurium quasi Avigerium dictum, vel Avigarium, ab avium scilicet garritu quem auspicantes observabant_: And so _Auspicium, quasi Avispecium, ab avibus spectandis_. And these observations were taken, either from the feeding, flying, or noise of the birds. So they had their _Haruspices_, _Harioli_, and _Haruspicina_, which was derived _ab haruga, hostia, ab hara in qua concluditur & servatur_.

[Sidenote: Matth. 16. 2, 3.]

[Sidenote: Luke 12. 54.]

5. But all these sorts of Observations, Guessings, and Conjectures may be considered these three ways. 1. Some of them are natural, rational, and legal; as is the Prognostick part of the Art of Medicine, Political Predictions of the change, fall, and ruine of Kingdoms, States, and Empires. Some Civil taken from the course and carriage of men, as when one seeth a rich young Heir that followeth nothing but vice, luxury, and all sorts of debauchery, it is easie to foretel that his end will be beggery and misery. Some from the due observation of beasts and fowls, which live _sub dio_, may easily conjecture the alteration of the weather. And so by observing the change, or colour of the Stars and Planets, the Clouds and Elements, may easily foretel the change of weather. And we find that these predictions from the Signs gathered from natural causes, are not condemned by our Blessed Saviour, who saith: _When it is evening, ye say it will be fair weather, for the skie is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather to day, for the skie is red, and lowring._ And again: _When ye see a cloud rise out of the West, straightway ye say, there cometh a showre, and so it is. And when ye see the South wind blow, ye say, there will be heat, and it cometh to pass._ 2. There are some conjectures that are false, groundless, and superstitious, as were, and are all the predictions taken from the feeding, flying or noise of Fowls, or the signs appearing in the intrails of Beasts; for in all such like, there is no connexion betwixt the cause and effect, and they therefore are false and vain, and this was one of the reasons why they were forbidden amongst the Jews. 3. There were some that in regard of their use and end were wicked and Idolatrous, and in this respect all divinations and predictions are wicked and unlawful, if they be used (as was and is yet among the Heathen) to lead the people unto, or confirm them in, the worship of Idols, and false Gods. And from all this it appeareth, that yet we can find no proper or fit word for such a kind of Witch whose existence we have denied and are disproving.

5. The next word in this place of _Deuteronomy_ is ‏וּמְכַשֵּׁף‎ _Umechascheph_, which our Translators render a Witch, but in what sense or propriety, I think few can conjecture, for it comes from the Hebrew root, ‏כֹּשֵּׁף‎ _Coscheph_, which _Avenarius_ rendreth, _Fascinavit, effascinavit_, but _Schindlerus_ translates it, _Præstigias, maleficia aut magiam exercuit, mutavit aliquid naturale ad aspectum oculi, ut aliud appareat quàm est_. And by _Buxtorsius_ it is rendred, _Præstigiæ_, and the derivations from it through the whole Old Testament, which is the most certain propriety of the word, as these following considerations will make manifest.

[Sidenote: Chap. 7. 11, 22.]

[Sidenote: Chron. 2. 33. 6.]

[Sidenote: 2 Kings 9. 22.]

1. That the most of the Translators in rendering this word whether in this place, or in others, have been very inconstant, and one place not agreeing with another, as _Arias Montanus_ in this place gives it _maleficus_, but in _Exodus_ he makes it, _Præstigiatores_, and in the 22 and 16 of the same Book he makes it _Præstigiatricem_; and in another place where the very same word is used in the Hebrew, he saith of _Manásseh, & Præstigiis vacabat_. And yet in another place, he rendereth the very same word _veneficia_. So uncertain was this learned Man, and so inconsiderate in his versions, wherein he ought to have had a more special care. Now _Tremellius_ in all the places named before, doth use the words _Præstigiatorem_, and the words from the same derivation in the Latine, which sheweth certainty and constancy.

2. The most of all the translations in the Polyglott, do render this word doubtful and various: As _maleficus_, _magus_, _præstigias faciens_, _Incantator_, and the like, which are all dubious, and various, and no certainty can be produced from them. Only those we call the _Septuagint_ do keep close to words of the same signification, deducted all from φάρμακον, which properly doth signifie no more than _venenum_, poison, though the circumstances do manifest that they were but Jugling and Imposture. And the High-Dutch, Low-Dutch, French and Italian translations do all render it with the same uncertainty, so that nothing sure can be drawn from them.

[Sidenote: Moses and Aaron _l._ 4. _c._ 10. _p._ 191.]

[Sidenote: Com. upon Exod. _c._ 7. _p._ 72.]

3. But to leave these uncertainties, it is manifest that this word doth signifie as _Buxtorsius_ and _Schindlerus_ do render it, for they are best to be trusted, because they are not guilty of contradiction as the most of the others are; That is, a Jugler, or one that by himself, or the help of his Confederates, doth by sleight of hand, and such like conveyances perform strange things to the astonishment of the beholders. “And therefore doth Mr. _Goodwyn_ tell us this: A Witch, properly a Jugler. The original (he saith) signifieth such a kind of Sorcerer, who bewitcheth the senses and minds of men, by changing the forms of things, making them appear otherwise than indeed they are. And these Dr. _Willet_ saith (speaking of _Pharaohs_ Magicians) were _Præstigiatores_, whom we call Juglers, which deceived mens senses. And though learned _Masius_ (speaking of those that _Nebuchadnezzar_ called to interpret his dream) doth make this objection, that if this word be translated _Præstigiatores_, he doth not see, _quid illi ad explicandum somnium adferre suâ arte potuissent, quæ tota fallax & delusoria est_:” Yet is this of little or no force at all, for the rest that were called, were as well Impostors as these if not more, and the King and those with him knew not certainly (as the event shewed) that they could perform any such matter, but was ignorant of the manner of their delusions and cheats, and was only led by common rumour and belief, grounded upon the vain and lying boasts that such sort of people are apt to give out of themselves, and the wonders they pretend to perform. So that from his and his Courtiers opinions of either the matter, or manner, of what they pretended to do, will no consequence be drawn, from what they truly could do, because belief and action are two different things as might be manifested by the vain credulity of the vulgar, that those kind of deceivers can do strange things, but in trial and experiment they are found to be Cheaters and Impostors.

[Sidenote: Chap. 7. 11.]

4. But that this word doth bear this signification is manifest from the things they performed, for in _Exodus_ they are called ‏כַשְּׁפִים‎, _and they in like manner cast down every man his rod and they became serpents_: not that their rods were really transubstantiated into true serpents as _Aarons_ was, for that could not be done but by an Omnipotent and Divine power, which they had not; It was only done as Juglers, do seemingly, by sleight and cunning, and so had an appearance of true serpents, but were not so indeed; or else in making a shew to throw down their rods, they secretly conveyed them away and threw down serpents in their stead, as might easily be done by sleight of hand, as we shall shew more fully hereafter.

[Sidenote: 2 Kings 9. 22.]

[Sidenote: Chap. 21. 8. 22. 51. 9. 21. 18. 23.]

[Sidenote: Chap. 5. 20.]