The Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits and Immortality of the Soul, Treatise · Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. Of good Angels, and some doubtful Spirits, and their notable Actions.
THis sort of Operations is of more pleasant Consideration than the Diabolical, and as convincing of the Agency of Superior Spirits on things below; but so many have written of it, as maketh my farther Labour needless. Let them that would see more, read Mr. Isaac Ambrose of our Communion with Angels, the Lord Lawrence, Mr. Samuel Clark's Mirrour, Zanchy de Angelis, &c.
Bodin tells us of one of his Acquaintance, that had a good Genius that would always give him notice when he did ill, by a stroke; and what he should do when he omitted it. I pass by old Writers.
I will mention now but these few.
I. That of Mr. Tate in Ireland, mentioned by Mr. Clark, and Mr. Ambrose, and confirmed to me by his near Relations that knew of it. Dr. Tate, with his Wife and Children, being stripp'd, and forced to flee for their Lives, by the Irish, when they were murdering Thousands in their Rebellion in 1641. They were wandering in unknown places upon Commons covered with Snow; and having no Food, and she carrying a Sucking Child, and having no Milk, she went to lay down the Child to die; and on the Brow of a Bank she found a Suck-bottle with sweet Milk in it, no Foot-steps appearing in the Snow of any that should bring it thither, and far from any Habitation; which preserved the Child's Life, who after became a Blessing to the Church.
II. When Prince Rupert march'd with his Army through Lancashire, to York-Fight, where he was overthrown, the Town of Bolton made some Resistance in his Passage, and he gave them no Quarter, but killed Men and Women. When he was gone, those that escaped came out from the places where they lurked, and an old Woman found in the Streets a Woman killed, and a Child by her not dead: The old Woman took up the Child, and to still its crying, put her own Breast to the Child, which had not given Suck, as I remember, of above twenty Years: The Child being quieted, she presently perceived Milk to come; and continued to give the Child sufficient Milk, till it was provided for. I had the full Assurance of this from my worthy Friend, Mrs. Hunt, Wife to Mr. Rowland Hunt, of Harrow on the Hill; who told me, that she her self was one that was appointed by the Committee to make Trial of the Case, and she found it true, and the old VVoman's Breasts to give the Child Milk, as was reported. And she told me in 1665, that the said Child was at that time alive, a Servant-woman in London.
III. Though I lay no great stress on the Reports of those Papists who corrupt Church-History by Fabulous Mixtures, yet many Histories of the Ministry of Angels, cited by them out of the Fathers, are credible. Those that have purged their Legends, retain a great number. Baronius, and De la Cerda and many others, are worth the reading by the Judicious, that can discern the different Probabilities. But to deny all the Ejecting of Devils, and the VVonders mentioned by Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, Chrysostom, Augustine, Sulpitius, Severas, those of Gregory Thaumaturgus, Martin, &c. (tho' some may be over-aggravated;) besides those in Historians, Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Victor Vticensis, Procopius, Nicephorus, Theodoret, &c. would be unreasonable, and unchristian Incredulity. I have formerly mentioned the African Bishops or Preachers, who all spake well when their Tongues were cut out by the Command of the Arrian King: And Victor, AEnaeas Gazaeus and Procopius (as I remember, all three) said, they saw them, and heard them speak after. But one of them saith, that one of the Bishops was after drawn into the Sin of Fornication, and his Speech went away again.
'Tis strange if all the Stories in Caesarius should be false.
IV. De la Cerda saith, that Albertine a Jesuit told him, that a young Man came hastily to him to confess; and told him: O Sir, saith he, I could not stay, so strange a thing hath befallen me! I and my Companion were resolved, in Revenge against one that had wronged me, to go after him, into the Fields, and kill him: And while I was setting my Pistol in order, that I might not miss, a beautiful young Man stood by me, and asked me what I was about? And when I denied to tell him, he told me, that he knew my purpose, and dissuaded me; and, in short, did so open the Sufferings of Christ for his E… mies, and what Sins he had forgiven us, and bound us to forgive one another, that I was melted into Tears, and my Mind changed; and the young Man vanished away. (An Angel, if true.)
V. I'll make no Application of it to th… Cause in our late VVar; but I knew … many strange Preservations. One credib… Person had a Bullet shot through the fe… of his Hat, and stopp'd at the Lining, and hurt him not. Another had a small Bible in his Pocket, and a Musket-Bullet shot into his Bible, which saved his Life.
The Story of Sir Richard Greenvile's Executions is printed already by Mr. Clark, and others. To confirm it, Mr. Kettleby Woodhouse, (Sister's Son to Justice Kettleby, and to Walter Kettleby the Bookseller's Father,) a sober, credible Man, then living in Bewdeley, oft told me, that he was one of the Five (or Seven) whose Lives were saved: Being Soldiers for the Parliament, and taken Prisoners, Sir Richard Greenvile commanded them all to be hanged. The first Man being turned off the Ladder, a new Hempen Rope brake: They sent for another, and hang'd him again, and that brake; and, as I remember, a third. Whereupon Sir R. G. saved them all. And Mr. Woodhouse all the while stood by the Gallows, expecting his Turn, and by this escap'd. 'Tis like it was by an invisible Power.
VI. In 1662. came out divers Books of new Prodigies, most of them as Executions on notorious Sinners, and some as Deliverances of better Men. I read them, and enquired after the Matter of Fact; and I found by what Policy Satan hath perverted History, and obscured the Honour of God's Works, by causing weak-headed, factious Persons to over do. I found many of the Strange, things there mentioned, had sufficient Proof: But the Writers dropp'd in many Circumstances and Stories, by partial Credibility, that were not true. And this frustrated the Books, and the Prodigies, by spoiling the Credit of all the rest.
VII. I know not what to impute it to, that Lightnings and Thunder-bolts fall more upon Churches, than upon Castles and City Stone Walls, or any such Buildings. Iersey Castle indeed was torn with the Gun-powder, set on fire by Lightning, (as Heydelberg had terribly been as a Presage of the greater Evil following:) And what was it but an invisible Power, that there caused the Lord's Child, that was Governor, to be blown up, and cast down again on the Leads, without Hurt? Angels have a special Care of Infants.
The Church that my Grandmother w… bo… near, had a Ball of Fire, by Ligh… ning, came in at the Belfrey-window, an… turn'd up the Grave-stones, and went out a… the Chancel-window.
The Church that I was baptized in (Hig… Ercall, close to the Lord Newport's Hous… had, in such a Storm, the Leads … and cast on the back-side of the … (land in the War, was levelled … Ground.)
The Church of Anthony in Cornwall, near Plimouth, was torn by Lightning at the time of Worship, on Whit-Sunday, 1640. and People hurt, and ones Brains struck up to a Pillar. (It is in Print.)
So was used much like, the Church of Withicombe in Devonshire, near the same time.
The Church where the present Lord Chamberlain, Earl of Dorset and Middlesex, his Ancestors Monuments were, was torn by Lightning that came in at the Steeple, melted the Bells, and went up to the Chancel, and there tore the Monuments in pieces. I saw pieces of the Monuments, that had some of the Golden Letters, which a truly worthy Lady brought home, that went from Tunbridge Waters, to see the Church.
Many and many Churches have been thus torn, proportionably so much beyond all other Buildings, especially of Stone, that I cannot but think there is some knowing Agent that maketh the Choice, though I know not who, nor why.
Except a few Hay-Ricks, I remember not that till this Seventy sixth Year of my Age, I have known Lightenings to have had Hurting Power on any Buildings but Churches, save very rarely, and small, as this last Year, at Islington, it entred a House, and kill'd a Woman and Child:) Nor to have torn any Wood but Oak, (which in Trees and Buildings I have seen torn where I dwelt.) But divers persons have been killed and scorch'd by it. An Eminent Knight, that I knew, is commonly said to have been struck dead by it in his Garden.
VIII. Though Hurricanes and Whirlwinds have Natural Causes, yet I have great cause to think, that they are managed by some Spirits (as I said before of Storms) Gunpowder worketh in Guns according to its nature; but if some Rational Agent did not invent, make, and manage it, all its Power, would be of little use. I have marvelled to see my own small Linnen spred out by Servants to dry, to be suddenly catcht up, and carried over the Town and Steeple away, and never more heard of. Near the time when some Reapers in the Vale of Evesham were hurt, writhen, and one killed with a Whirlwind, I was walking in a Gravelly Way in a Corn-field, there being a Lane besides me, between two Hedges; suddenly a Whirlwind came up the Cart-way, casting up the Gravelly Sand directly to meet me; when it came within Ten or Twelve Yards of me, I was about stepping out of the way into the Corn, to escape it, but it suddenly turned out of the way to the Right-hand, into the Lane from me, so as perswaded me, that it was a voluntary Motion, directed by a friendly Power; for it went straight on up the Lane, and tore the Hedges and Branches of the Trees on the side of the Lane… But these are small effects to what other see, especially of the great Hurricanes at Sea in the West-Indies. The Spirits that Rule in the Air have great Power of the Airy Motions.
IX. Though Porphyry, and Proclus, and Iamblicus, tell us, that bad Demons will oft speak for good Actions and against bad, in Pride and Subtilty to be thought good; yet it is hard to think that it is not rather a good Spirit, that speaks for some notable good Work, where no by-End is discernable. As that mentioned by Mr. Glanvil and Dr. More of Dr. Britton's Wife, whose likeness appeared after Death to her Servant-Maid, and shewed her a parcel of Land that was as part of her Brothers, and told her▪ it belonged to the Poor, and was unjustly alienated from them; and bid her tell the Possessor, that he must restore it; and gave her a Secret to tell him if he refused: And upon the angry refusal, when he heard the Secret, he yielded and restored the Land to the Poor, who now possess it.
X. The said Heathen Philosophers say, that they are all bad Spirits that seek to be worshiped, and that to procure it, they will seem to be Religious, but will tell many Lies for one Truth, and that lying is a chief mark to know them by. By this I suspect that there are bad Spirits that come to speak for the getting so many Masses to be said for them to deliver them from Purgatory, and such Pilgrimages to be performed: And those that tempt the People to Pray to them and to Honour them; for their Services and Prayers for them, of which their Legends abound with Instances: De la Cerda concludeth his Book of Angels with Forms of such Prayers: And what Office hath not such? De la Cerda, lib. 23. citeth Miraculous Appearances of the Cross, and so do many others, which I leave to the Readers Judgment. As also the Lady of Lauretto's Miracles, and others such, which many write of.
XI. I think some Rational Spirit was probably the Agent of what was written by our great Pious Credible Surgeon and Physician, Fabricius Hildanus, Obser. Cent. 3. obs. 26. [A Noble and Virtuous Lord, Iob. a Rosle, going for his Studies to Friburg, with two Servants, on the way, rose a great Storm, with Thunder, Lightening, and Rain: His Servant perswaded him to let him ride close to him, and cover him with his Cloak; so joining their Horses they rode under one Cloak: A great stroke of a Thunderbolt struck down the Master, the Servant, and both the Horses; the Servant and two Horses immediately were dead: The Nobleman, by God's keeping, scaped safe and sound, yet no hurt was seen on the Horses, nor on the Servant, save on his Hat, which had a great Hole; and the Head after swelled and turned black: But on the Nobleman himself were all these Marvels; 1. The Thunderbolt struck him about the Left-Arm, and there made a hole through the Sleeve of his Doublet and Shirt, and made a black mark on the Skin which remained, but without hurt. The hole in the Sleeve was small without and great within. 2. Thence it descended, and broke in pieces some Coral Beads of a Bracelet which he wore on his Arm, but broke not the String. 3. Then on his Left-side, his Sword Sheath being tyed, it melted the point of his Sword as if it had been Lead; and by melting the gilded Iron, it made a hole in the Band for its passage out. 4. And on both his Ancles were black spots like Pitch, and are yet visible.
Another riding a Stones cast before him, his Horse and he were cast down, but without hurt, save the loss of his Hearing.] Hildanus saw the Cloaths, Boots, and Sword, and had all from the Man himself.