Discourse of the Subtle Practices of Devils, Chapter 11
What manner of persons are fittest for the deuill to make his instruments in witchcraft & sorceries, and who are subiect vntounto his harmes. Chapt. 11.
WHen Satan at the first enterprised the ruine and destruction of man, he did not vnaduisedly set vp on the worke, but in great subtilty chose him a fit instrument for the purpose, euen the serpent who was more subtill then any beast of the field. He is now an old serpent, & long practised, and hath increased his subtilty by much approoued experience. He doth not nowe attempt his wicked worke, but … all y• fittest waies & meanes that hée can: hée doth obserue time & place, with all other circumstances: and looke of what sort soeuer his worke shalbe, he séeketh cōuenient persons as matter to work vponupon; he chuseth out fit instruments to worke withall▪when he raiseth vp some heresie to destroy y• true faith, which is with subtill shew to be defended: he suggesteth not the same into the minde of a blunt vnlearned foole which is able to say litle: but if it be possible, he espieth out a subtil minde, which is also proud, vaine glorious, & stiffe to maintain any purpose. Likewise when he will séeme by witchcraft, he doth not hope to draw a godly man well instructed in Gods word into his net & to make him a witch: for he is not subiect vntounto his illusions: there is light in him which the darknes can not smother. What then: he séeketh for vngodly persons, which are blind, full of infidelity, & ouerwhelmed & drowned in dark ignorance. If there be aboue all these a melancholike constitution of body, his impressions print the déeper in the minde. If they be fell and giuen to anger, & ready to reuenge, they be so much the fitter: pouerty also will help in some respect. When such a person is mooued with furie, shee curseth & biddeth a vengeance light vponupon him with whom she is displeased: she biddeth the deuill & all the deuills in hell take him: the wicked spirit who inflamed her heart is ready at hand (and if he hauehave power to hurt y• party giuen him of God, or sée any probability that he shal hauehave, or know any disease ready to breake forth) & in some likenes or wt some voice, doth demaūd what he shall doo: it may the woman doth think it very strange at the first & is a fraid to heare a thing like a cat speak: but this feare in time is remooued. The cōiurer is one that hath a mind addicted vntounto curiosity & vaine estimation: he taketh him selfe by déep skill & power to rule ouer deuils, & therfore though he appeare fierce & terrible before him, it is not amisse: nay it confirmeth him y• more. Now for conuenient matter to work vponupon, I cōfesse y• the deuils are instrumēts which God vseth not only to be executioners of vengeance vponupon the reprobate, & to plague y• wicked: but also to assault, to tēpt, to vex & to chastise his déere children: and therefore they hauehave sometimes leaue to afflict some of these in body or substance: but y• is rare: & when it is so, Gods holy seruaunts doo looke vp vntounto him, & confesse their sinnes with humble hearts, séeking fauour and release at his hands, as Iob did: they turne not their eyes vntounto witches, they cry not out vponupon them, as if they were the cause: you heare not these wish they were rooted out, because they duplicate page duplicate page feare hurt by thē: but they abhor the sin, and in zeale of Gods glory, desire that due execution may be done vponupon them. The deuil then by his witches & coniurers preuaileth not amonge these: hee doth preuaile among an other sort of men greatly: he hath power giuen him to plague & to vex many of them: they hauehave no power of true & liuely faith to withstand him: they bee full of all darknes & ignorance, the heauenly light & power of Gods holy word is not abiding in them: marke it who will, & he shall finde this most true, that y• greatest part of those which cry out yt they are bewitched, that run vntounto witches for help, that vse their charmes, & séeke so many waies to vnwitch, are euen as ignorant, as far from zeale & louelove of y• gospel, & as full of vices as the very witches them selues: so that y• deuil doth euen with as much ease seduce & lead these men into errors by witches & coniurers, finding them in y• dark, as he doth allure the poore siley old woman to be a witch, and the Idolatro…s, & adulterous masse-priest to be a coniurer. Thus much may suffice to shew what persons y• deuil doth make choise of to be his instruments, and what maner of persons he deceiueth & hurteth by them.