The Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits and Immortality of the Soul, Treatise · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Mr. Jo. Lewis, a Learned Iustice of Peace in Cardigan-shire, with the Testimony of Dr. Ellis, and Mr. John Davis, about the Dead Mens Lights, the Knockers and Apparitions.
MR. I. Lewis being a Justice of Peace, and a Man of Learning, at the time, when under Cromwell and Harrison the Reading and weak Parsons were cast out, and Itinerant Preachers set up, that turned four or five Parishes into one of their Circuits, and did little but Preach, and shut up the Doors where they came not, and by ignorant decrying Superstition, Forms and Ceremonies, set up Error, Anabaptistry and unjust Separations: He being greatly grieved for these Confusions wrote largely to me about them, whereupon, and on more such Instances I wrote my five Disputations of Church Government, Liturgy, and Ceremonies. And Mr. Lewis joined with me in a design to have begg'd Money in Pity to Wales, to have set up a Welch Colledge at Shrewsbury; and his Notices about Apparitions came in but on the by, at my request: But tho' I dismember his Letters with regret, by casting away the main part that was well worth the reading, (and all my Answers to them) yet it would be so unsuitable to insert such Matters in a History of Spirits, that if any of his acquaintance blame me for it, they must accept of this Excuse: He is known by published Books of his own.
Part of Mr. John Lewis's First Letter, relating to Spirits and Witches.
Most Worthy Sir,
I Have now another Motion to you, as to that passage in your Vureasonablenese of Infidelity, where you shew the meaning of the Spirit, as to Humane Learning, &c. and those 29 Considerations (for the page I cannot cite, because I have not the Book at this very instant) because it is in the midst of the Book, and not so discernable to all Readers; I could humbly beg of you, to get your Printer and Stationer to print them apart in a few small Leaves, for there is nothing generally that is more mistaken among us than that, and I see the publishing here but so much of them in this kind would do infinite good here; and I would my self be at charge of buying and dispersing many scores of them. And because of that Copious Satisfaction you give of Spirits, than which there cannot be greater convincements against Infidelity and Atheism, I could afford you several strange Instances from these parts, but I shall trouble you only with two. Since the time I received your Letter, there happened in my Neighbourhood this following; A Man and his Family being all in Bed, about after Midnight, awake in Bed, he could perceive a Light entring a little Room, where he lay, and one after another, of some a Dozen in the shape of Men, and two or three Women with small Children in their Arms entring in, and they seemed to Dance, and the Room to be far lighter and wider than formerly; they did seem to eat Bread and Cheese all about a kind of a Tick upon the Ground; they offered him Meat, and would smile upon him; he could perceive no Voice, but he once calling to God to bless him, he could perceive the whisper of a Voice in Welch, bidding him hold his peace, being about four Hours thus, he did what he could to awake his Wife, and could not … they went out into another Room, and after some Dancing departed, and then he arose; yet being but a very small Room he could not find the Door, nor the way to Bed, until crying out, his Wife and Family awaked. Being within about two Miles of me, I sent for the Man, who is an honest poor Husbandman, and of good Report: And I made him believe I would put him to his Oath for the truth of this Relation, who was very ready to take it.
2. The Second (if you have not formerly heard) the strange and usual appearance of Lights (called in Welch, Dead Mens Candles) before Mortality: This is ordinary in most of our Counties, that I never scarce heard of any sort, Young or Old, but this is seen before Death, and often observed to part from the very Bodies of the persons all along the way to the place of Burial▪ and infallibly Death will ensue. Now, Sir, it is worth your Resolution, whether this may proceed from God or no; it is commonly imputed to the Igneous Air of the Counties: But that Evil Spirits can come by so much Knowledge, as to be always so Infallible (though herein I confess them very vast) and be so favourable and officious unto Man, as to be such seasonable Monitors of his Dissolution, and to give so much discovery of Spiritual Essences, and the Immortality; I doubt whether they mind us so much good as this: Some Wiles I confess they may have by such Appearances, but it carries the Benefits mentioned with it, whereas their Disappearance makes more for Infidelity and Atheism: But this I leave to your Judgment, begging Pardon for this Boldness in diverting you from your far better Thoughts; and seeing it is my Happiness to have this little Invisible Acquaintance with you, I shall omit no Opportunity of troubling you with such poor Thoughts as the Lord shall give unto me of the best Things, humbly wishing (as for the making up the sad Differences of Religion among us) the Lord would give those in Authority to weigh that Pious and Wise Course you have proposed, as to those four great Parties in the Dedication of your Saints Rest, with my unfeigned Prayers for your Health and Happiness,
Sir, Your very thankful Friend and Servant in Christ, John Lewis. Glaskerigg near …laubadarnevour or Aberystwith in Gardiganshire, Octob. 20. 1656.
Mr. John Lewis's Second Letter.
AS for Apparitions, I am stored with so many Instances, that require rather a Volume: There is that Evidence for the Candles, that scarce I know any of Age, but hath seen them, and will depose it: There is here a talk, whereof yet I have not certainty, that a Daughter of the Man mentioned in the last, fetching Water at a Well, had a blow given her, and a Boy coming towards her, she charged him with the blow, who denyed he was so near her; but bid her look upon her Father, that stood not far off, and with that, he could see her Father fling a Stone at her, which passed with a mighty Violence by her Face, and the Stone was found with prints of Fingers in it; but no such thing is the Father there, neither was he at home …ince the Night before; but certain it is, that Living Men's Ghosts, are Ordinarily seen in these parts, and unawares to the parties. We have in this County, several …ilver and Leaden Mines, and nothing more …rdinary than some Subterranean Spirits, …alled Knockers (where a good Vein is) …oth heard, and after seen, little Statured, …bout half a yard long; this very instant, …ere are Miners upon a Discovery of a Vein upon my own Lands, upon this score, and two offered Oath, they heard them in the Day-time. Lieutenant Colonel Bowen I hear, is upon Discovery, that what you heard, was Witchcraft; but he holds canting Tenents, all which minds us the more to admire the King of Spirits, our Lord God Almighty, and that our Eyes behold but the least part of his Secrets, and Marvels; to whose Arms and Blessings, I commit and leave you.
Sir, I pray Pardon this Trouble of Your very Thankful Servant, John Lewis. Glaskerigg the 28 of November. 1656.
Mr. John Lewis Third Letter.
AS for the Candles, all the parts I know of Wales, as our Neighbouring Counties (as I hear) have Experience of them; but whether so frequently as here, I will learn. I scarce know any Gentleman or Minister of any standing; but hath seen them, and a Neighbour of mine, will shortly be at Worcester abiding (who hath seen them often, and I will direct some to acquaint you, and upon Oath, if need be) a very Credible Aged person: For my part, I never saw the Candles; but those of my House have, and on a Time, some years past, it was told me by them, that two Candles was seen, one little, and a great one passing the Church way, under my House, my Wife was then great with Child, and near her time, and she feared of it, and it begot some fear in us about her; but just about a week after, her self first came to me (as something joyed that the fear might be over) and said (as true it was) an old Man, and a Child of the Neighbour-hood passed that same way to be Buried: This she and I can depose, and truly my self especially, heard some uncouth warning, before my first Childs Death, new Born, which is too large to relate: Such warnings and noises, are also here very common, and I do think there is scarce any (and I know it by my self) but before some Remarkable Occurrences of Life, will have some warnings, at least by Dreams; of which there is a kind that may be ranked with these Apparitions, and it was not for nought, that the Stoicks of old held Sleep, familiare & domesticum or aculum: You shall learn more of me hereafter about the certainty of Candles and the Knockers.
Sir, I put you to your Penance, by these under Lines, they shew I can hardly part with you, I pray God continue, and grant you Health and Happiness answerable to the use you are of, for his Glory among us.
Sir, Your very Thankful Servant. John Lewis. The 14 of Feb. 1656.
Mr. Davis's Letter, concerning the Corps-Candles in Wales.
Venerable Sir,
FOr your Worth, hath purchased you that Stile. With all due Respects, you shall hereby understand that I am one, who sincerely blesseth himself, to have been much Edified by you, as being Confirm'd in some points, and informed in others, by a piece of your Learned and Judicious Works, Termed by your self a Supplement, which proved to me a Complement, and which was Communicated to be by my Worthy Friend, and special Encourager, Iohn Lewis Esq, at whose Request, I am to give you the best Satisfaction I can, touching those fiery Apparitions, which do as it were, mark out the way for Corpses to their foreign, and that sometimes before the parties themselves fall sick, and sometimes in their sickness of these, I could never hear in England, they are common in these three Counties, Cardigan, Caermarthen and Pembrook, and as I hear, in some other part of Wales.
These foreign in our Language, we call Canhwyllau Cyrth (i) Corps-Candles; and Candles we call them, not that we do see any thing else besides the Light: But because that Light doth as much Resemble a Material Candle-light, as Eggs do Eggs, saving, that in their Journey, these Candles be modo apparentes, modo disparentes, especially, when one comes near them; and if one come on the way against them, unto him they vanish; but presently appear behind him, and hold on their Course. If it be a little Candle, pale or blewish, then follows the Corps either of an Abortive, or some Infant, if a big one, then the Corps of some one come to Age, if there be seen two or three, or more, some big, some small together, then so many, and such Corpses together. If two Candles come from Diverse places, and be seen to meet, the Corpses will the like, if any of these Candles be seen to turn sometimes a little out of the way, or Path, that leadeth unto the Church, the following Corps will be found to turn in that very place, for the avoiding of some dirty Lane, or Plash, &c. Now let us fall to Evidence; Being about the Age of fifteen, dwelling at Lanylar, late at Night, some Neighbours saw one of these Candles hovering up and down along the River bank, until they were weary in beholding, at last they left it so, and went to Bed, a few Weeks after came a proper Damsel from Montgomery Shire, to see her Friends, who dwelleth on the other side of that River …twyth, and thought to Ford the River at that very place, where the Light was seen; but being disswaded by some lookers on, (some it's most like of those that saw the Light) to adventure on the Water, which was high, by reason of a Flood: She walked up and down along the River Bank, even where, and even as the foresaid Candle did, waiting for the falling of the Water, which at last she took; but too soon for her, for she was drown'd therein.
Of late, my Sextons Wife, an Aged Understanding Woman, saw from her Bed, a little blewish Candle upon her Tables end: Within two or three days after, comes a fellow in, enquiring for her Husband, and taking something from under his Cloak, claps it down directly upon the Tables end, where she had seen the Candle, and what was it, but a Dead-born Child? Another time, the same Woman, saw such another Candle upon the other end of the self same Table, within few days after, a weak Child by my self, newly Christned, was brought into the Sextons House, where presently he died: And when the Sextons Wife, who was then abroad, came home, she found the Woman shrouding of the Child, on that other end of the Table, where she had seen the Candle. On a time my self, and a Kinsman coming from our School in England, and being three or four hours benighted, ere we could reach home, were first of all Saluted by such a Light, or Candle, which coming from a House, which we well knew, held his Course (but not directly) the High-way to Church; shortly after, the Eldest Son in that House Deceased, and Steered the same Course. My self, and my Wife in an Evening, saw such a Light, or Candle coming to the Church, from her Mid-Wifes House, and within a Month, she her self did follow: At which time, my Wife did tell me a Story of her own Mother, Mrs. Catharine Wyat, an Eminent Woman in the Town of Tenby, that in an Evening, being in her Bed-Chamber, she saw two little Lights just upon her Belly, which she assayed to strike off with her Hand, but could not; within a while they vanished of themselves. Not long after, she was Delivered of two Dead-born Children: Long sithence there happened, the like in mine own House; but to a Neighbours Wife, whom my Wife did sometimes call for, to do some work or other and (as I credibly heard within these three days) to some good Gentlewoman also in this very Parish; where also not long since, a Neighbours Wife of mine, being great with Child, and coming in at her own Door, met two Candles, a little, and a bigg one, and within a little after, falling in Labour, she and her Child both dyed.
Somethirty four, or thirty five years bygone, one Iane Wyat my Wifes Sister, being Nurse to Baronet Rudds three Eldest Children, and (the Lady Mistris being Deceased) the Lady Controuler of that House, going late into a Chamber where the Maid-Servants lay, saw there no less then five of these Lights together. It happened a while after, the Chamber being newly Plaistered, and a great grate of Coalfire therein, kindled to hasten the drying up of the Plaistering: That five of the Maid-Servants went there to Bed, as they were wont; but (as it fell out) too soon, for in the Morning, they were all dead, being Suffocated (I conceive) in their Sleep with the Steem of the New-tempered Lime and Coal. This was at Llangathen in Carmarthenshire.
Some thirty three, or thirty four years ago, upon a Tuesday coming towards home from Cardigan, where I had been injoyn'd to Preach the Session Sermon: Incipiente adhuc crepusculo, and as Light as Noon, and having as yet, nine long Miles to Ride, there seemd twice or thrice from behind me, on my Right side, and between my Shoulder and my Hat, to fly a little whitish thing, about the bigness of a Walnut, and that per intervalla, once in seventy or eighty Paces: At first I took no notice of it, thinking it had been but the glimpsing of my little Ruff; for such then I wore, by Degrees it waxed reddish, and as the Night drew on, redder and redder, at last not ignis fatuus, (for that I partly knew) but purus putus ignis, both for Light and Colour. At length I turned my Horse twice or thrice, to see from whence it came, and whether it would flash into my Face, then nothing I could see; but when I turned homewards, it flashed as before, until I came to a Village called Llanrislid, where as yet I did not intend to Lodge, though there were four Lodgings, and one of them (save one) the next House in my way, which, when I passed by close, being just against the Door, my Fire did flash again upon, or very near the Threshold, and there I think it lodged; for I saw it no more. Home still I would go, but bethinking my self, that so I might tempt God, and meet a worse Companion than my former: I turned to the furthest Lodging in the Town, and there after a little Rest, in a brown Study (because mine Host was an understanding Man, and Literate, and such as could, and had but lately read his Neck-Verse in pure Roman Language) I could not contain, but needs must tell him of the Vision, he the next day to some going to the Sessions, they to others there, at last it came to the Judges Ears, insomuch, that the greatest News, and wonder at the then Assises was the Preachers Vision. To come at length unto the Pitch, or Kernel, (for I have been too long about the Husk and Shell) at that very Sessions, one Iohn William Lloyd, a Gentleman, who dwelt, and whose Son yet dwells within a Mile of Glasterig, fell Sick, and in his coming homewards, was taken with such a violent Paroxism, that he could Ride no further than the House, where I left my Fire to entertain him, and there he lighted and Lodged, died about four Days after. Ex abundanti, you shall understand that some Candles have been seen to come to my Church, within these three weeks, and the Corpses not long after. Hactenus de Candelis nostris.
Another kind of Apparition we have, which commonly we call Tan-we, or Tanwed, because it seemeth Firy. This appeareth to our seeming in the lower Region of the Air, straight and long, not much unlike a Glaive, Mours or Shoots directly, and level (as who would say I'll hit) but far more showly, than Stellae cadentes, or Star shot lighteneth all the Air, and Ground where it passeth, lasteth three or four Miles, and more for ought is known; because no Man seeth the Rising or Beginning of it; when it falls to Ground, it sparkleth, and lightneth all about. These before their Decease, do fall upon Free-Holders Lands, and you shall scarce bury any such with us, be he but a Lord of a House and Garden, but you shall find some one at his Burial, at least Wise in his Neighbour-hood, that hath seen this Fire to fall on some part of his Lands. Two of these at several times I have seen my self, since I Studied Meteors, and since I was a Minister, and narrowly observed, even till they were in the foreign, and began to fall; but the Interposition of Grounds, marred the Conclusion; for where, and how they fell, I saw not; but where I did guess, they fell, there died in the one place an aged Gentleman, in the other, a Free-Holder too, though of a Meaner Rank. To come nearer home,
My Mothers first Husband (for my Father Marryed her a Widdow) walking about his Ground, saw one of these Darts, or Piles aloft, which fell down hard by him, shone far, and sparkled round about his Body, he took it for a Warning-Piece, made his Will, and having lived in good Health, some four or five Months after, dyed.
A little before the Decease of mine own Father, Aged Ninety six, a Son in Law of his, who dwelled two Miles off. (but upon higher Ground) saw such another fall in a Close behind the old Mans House, which gave such a Light, that by it, he did clearly see the House, the Hedges, and the Oaks in the Wood adjoyning.
Sir, So many of these Evidences, as I saw not my self, I received from Understanding and Credible Persons, and such as would not lye, no, not for a Benefice; and your self may receive the same from me, as from one that was never too Credulous, nothing Supperstitious, and as little Ceremonious. These Secrets, I dare not Father upon Satan, I will not Honour him so much, so much as to Ascribe to him the Knowledge of Contingent Futures. I presume that of himself, he cannot certainly know whether, or when a Healthy Man shall Sicken, nor whether, or when he shall dye of his Sickness, nor whether he shall dye by Sickness or by Fire or Water, &c. nor (in an open Country especially) which way of two, three, or more, the Corps shall be brought to Church, whether it shall meet another Corps in the way, whether it shall pass a River by the Ford, or Bridg, how many stops, turnings, and windings it shall make, Satan can have no certain fore-knowledge of all such Circumstances, and more, but this Candlemaker and Director of them too foresees, and foreknows them all; and therefore must needs be the Creator, who, as according to the good pleasure of his Will, he hath Determined, and allotted to several Nations, their several Habitations, Dispositions and Conditions, even so (as I suppose) hath he vouchsafed to each of them some peculiar signs and tokens, if none to some, which I cannot believe, and if to some more, and more wonderful than to other some, for my part, I can give no other Reason for it, but his Will. This with my hearty Prayers for your self, your Pious and Learned Brethren of the Association.
I Rest, Your Friend in all kind Offices that lye in my Power. John Davis. Generglyn the 19. March 1656.