THat we are to believe nothing, but what we have seen, is a rule so false, that we dare not call our selves rational Crea­tures, and avouch it; yet as irrational as the Maxim is, 'tis become modish with some Men, and those no very mean Wits neither, to make use of it; and though they will hardly own it in its full Lati­tude, yet when it comes to Particulars, let the Rea­sons to the contrary be never so pregnant or convin­cing, they'll hugg it as their sacred Anchor, and laugh at all those credulous Wretches, that without [Page] seeing, are so easily chous'd into an imprudent Con­fidence. And this pitiful Stratagem we find practi­sed in no affair so much, as that of Spirits and Witches, and Apparitions, which must all be Fan­cies, and Hypocondriack Dreams, and the effects of distempered Brains, because their own are so dull as not to be able to pierce into those Mysteries. I do not deny but the Imagination may be, and is some­time deluded; and melancholy People may fancy they hear Voices, and see very strange things, which have no other foundation but their own weakness, and like Bubbles break into Air, and nothing, by their own vanity.

Yet as no man doth therefore take unpolisht Dia­monds to be Pebbles, because they do look like them, so neither must all passages of this nature, we hear or read of, be traduced as self-conceit, or derided as Old Wives Fables, because some smell strong of Imposture and Sophistication. We believe men of Reason and Experience, and free from Fumes, when a person of ordinary Intellectuals finds no great cre­dit with us; and if we think our selves wise for so doing, why should any Man so much forget him­self, as to be an Infidel in point of such Phaenome­na's, when even the most judicious men have had experience of such passages? It seems to me no less than madness to contradict what both wise and un­wise Men do unanimously agree in; and how Jews, Heathens, Mahometans, and Christians, both learn­ed and unlearned, should come to conspire into this Cheat, as yet seems to me unaccountable. If some [Page] few melancholy Monks, or old Women had seen such Ghosts and Apparitions, we might then suspect, that what they pretend to have seen might be nothing, but the effect of a disordered Imagination; but when the whole World, as it were, and Men of all Religions, Men of all Ages too, have been forced by strong evidences, to acknowledge the truth of such occurrences, I know not what strength there can be in the Argument, drawn from the consent of Nations in things of a sublimer nature, if here it be of no efficacy. Men that have attempted to evade the places of Scripture, which speak of Ghosts and Witches; we see, how they are forced to turn and wind the Texts, and make in a manner Noses of Wax of them, and rather squeeze than gather the sence, as if the holy Writers had spoke like Sophisters, and not like Men, who made it their business to con­descend to the capacity of the Common people. Let a man put no force at all on those passages of holy Writ, and then try what sence they are like to yield. It's strange to see, how some Men have endeavoured to elude the Story of the Witch of Endor; and as far as I can judge, play more Hocus-pocus tricks in the explication of that passage, than the Witch herself did in raising the deceased Samuel. To those Straits is Falshood driven, while Truth loves Plain, and undisguised Expressions; and Errour will seek out Holes and Labyrinths to hide it self, while Truth plays above-board, and scorns the subterfuges of the Sceptick Interpreter. Men and Brethren, why should it seem a thing incredible with you, that God should permit Spirits to appear, [Page] and the Devil to exert his Power among Men on Earth? Hath God ever engaged his Word to the contrary? Or is it against the nature of Spirits to form themselves new Vehicles and visible shapes, or to animate grosser substances to shew themselves to Mortals upon certain occasions?

I am so much a Prophet, as to foresee what will be the fate of the ensuing story, nor can I suppose that upon the reading of it, Mens verdicts will be much changed from what they were, if they have set up this resolution, to believe nothing that looks like the shadow of an Apparition, though the things mentioned here, cannot be unknown to any that have been conversant with foreign Affairs of late years. And though there cannot be a greater evidence, than the testimony of a whole Kingdom, yet your nicer Men will think it a disparagement to them to believe it; nor will it ever extort As­sent from any, that build the reputation of their wit upon contradicting what hath been received by the vulgar.

The passages here related wrought so great a Con­sternation, not onely on the Natives, but Stran­gers too, that the Heer Christian Rumpf, then Resident for the States General at Stockholm, thought himself obliged to send away his little Son for Holland, lest he should be endangered by those villanous practices, which seem'd to threaten all the Inhabitants of the Kingdom. And be that doubts of it, may be satisfied at Dr. Harrel's in St. James's Park, to whom the Letter was written. And a friend of mine in Town, being then in Holstein, re­members [Page] very well that the Duke of Holstein sent an Express to the King of Sweden to know the truth of this famous Witchcraft: To whom the King modestly replied, That his Judges and Com­missioners had caused divers Men, Women, and Children to be Burnt and Executed upon such preg­nant Evidences, as were brought before them; but whether the Actions they confessed, and which were proved against them, were real, or onely effects of strong Imagination, he was not as yet able to deter­mine.

Add to all this, that the Circumstances mentioned in the ensuing Narrative, as I am informed, are at this day to be seen in the Royal Chancery at Stockholm; and a person of my acquaintance offered me to procure Copy of them under the hands of publick Registers, if I desired it: Not to mention that in the year 72. Baron Sparr, who was sent Embassador from the Crown of Sweden to the Court of England, did upon his word aver the matter of Fact recorded here, to be undoubtedly true, to several persons of Note and Eminency, with other particulars, stranger than those set down in these Papers. And to this purpose divers Letters were sent from Swe­den and Hamburgh to several persons here in London; insomuch, that should a Man born in, or acquainted with those parts, hear any person dis­pute the truth of it, he would wonder where people have lived, or what sullen humour doth possess them, to disbelieve that, which so many thousands in that Kingdom have felt the sad effect of.

[Page]Since the first Edition, it hath been my fortune to be acquainted with the Lord Leyonberg, Envoy Ex­traordinary from the King of Sweden, living in York Buildings, with whom discoursing about these Affairs, I found that the Account he gave, agreed for the most part with what is mentioned in the Nar­rative; and because his Testimony, being a publick Person, may be of some moment in a thing relating to that Kingdom, I have here set it down in his own words.

[Page]I do not take upon me to justifie the Truth of what the Witches said, for dealing with the Father of Lies, it's probable, Veracity is not a Vertue, that they greatly study, yet that the Devil speaks truth sometimes, is a thing so far from being impossible, that if we give credit to the Sacred History, we must grant that all, he saith, is not False, or Erroneous. All, I design at this time, is only to suggest, that it is not altogether irrational to con­ceive, that he or his Emissaries are capable of such Actions and Pranks, as are related in these Papers.

That a Spirit can lift up Men and Women, and grosser Substances, and convey them through the Air, I question no more, than I doubt that the Wind can overthrow Houses, or drive Stones, and other heavy Bodies upward from their Centre. And were I to make a person of a dull understanding, appre­hend the nature of a Spirit, I would represent it to him under the Notion of an Intelligent Wind, or a strong Wind, informed by a highly Rational Soul; as a Man may be called an intelligent piece of Earth. And this Notion David seemed to favour, when speaking of these Creatures, Psal. 104.4. he tells us, that God makes his Angels Wind, for in the original it's [...] and most certainly, if they be so, they must be reasonable windy substances; nor doth the expression, which immediately follows in that Verse, cross this exposition, viz. That he makes his Ministers a flaming Fire; for it's no new opinion, that some of those invisible Substances are of a Fiery, and others of an Airy Nature; and as we see, God gives Rational Creatures here on Earth, Bodies composed of grosser Matter, why should it seem incou­gruous [Page] for him to give Rational Creatures above us, Bodies of a subtiler and thinner Matter, or such Matter, as those higher Regions do afford? and if Wind breaking forth from the Cavernes of Hills, and Mountains have such force, as makes us very often stand amazed at the effects, what Energy might we suppose to be in Wind, were it inform'd by Rea­son, or a Reasonable Being?

And though I cannot comprehend the Philosophy of the Devils committing Venereal Acts, and ha­ving Children, and those Children upon their Copu­lation bringing forth Toads and Serpents, yet I can very rationally conceive, that having more than or­dinary power over Matter, he can either animate dead Bodies, and by the help of them commit those Villanies, which modesty bids us to conceal; or some other way compound, and thicken Atomes into what shape he pleases, especially if he meet with no hin­derance from a higher power. And he that was per­mitted, as we see in the Gospel, to possess and actuate living Men, and do with them almost what he pleased, why may not he commit wickedness by such Instru­ments, and cast Mists before the Witches eyes, that they may not know who they are? And he that could in Aegypt produce Frogs, either real or counterfeit ones, Why may not he be supposed to be able to pro­duce such Toads and Serpents out of any mishapen Creatures, and lumps of Matter, of his own com­pounding, at least represent the shapes of them to the deluded Witches, that they shall imagine them to be really such things, as they seem to be. Nor is this to be admired in the Devil more than Tricks are in Juglers, who by slight of Art [Page] can represent things to the ignorant Spectator, which he shall be ready to swear to be real, though they are nothing less, and I suppose we may allow the the Devill a greater degree of cunning, than an or­dinary Jugler.

However, Spirits that know the nature of mate­rial things better than the deepest Philosophers, and understand better, how things are joyned and com­pounded, and what the Ingredients of terrestrial Productions are, and see things (grosser things at least) in their first principles, and have power over the Air, and other Elements, and have a thou­sand ways of shaping things and representing them to the external Senses of vicious Men, what may not they be supposed to be able to do, (if they have but Gods permission to exert their power) and that God doth sometimes permit such things, we have rea­son to believe, who read what signs and wonders Simon Magus, and Apollonius Tyanaeus wrought by the power of darkness, and how not a few men sin to that degree, that God suffers them to be led Captive by the Devil, and dooms them to that slavery we read of in the Revelation, He that is filthy, let him be filthy still.

Spirits by being Devils do not lose their nature; and let any man in sober sadness consider, what Spirits are said to be able to do in Scripture, and what they have done, and compare those passages with what is said in the following Relation, and he will not think those things, the Witches confessed, altogether impossible.

Yet still, as I said before, I do not pretend to be their Advocate, but shall leave it to the Reader to judge of the truth, or untruth of their Confessions, as [Page] he sees occasion, only beg of him not to condemn eve­ry thing as a falshood, before due consideration of what Spirits are capable of doing.

That in so great a multitude as were Accused, Condemned, and Executed for Witches, there might be some who suffered unjustly, and owed their death more to the Malice of their Neighbours, than to their skill in the Black Art, I will readily grant; nor will I deny, that when the News of these Transactions, and how the Children bewitched, fell into Fits, and strange unusual Postures, spread abroad in the Kingdom, some fearful and credulous people, if they saw their Children any way disordered, might think they were bewitched, or ready to be carried away by Imps; This happens in all consternations, and our fears make us see that, which unbyassed Eyes cannot perceive; and of this a Gentleman who was an Ear-witness, gave me this instance, of a Ministers Child of his acquaintance not far from Stockholm, who being told, and assured by his Wife, that the Child was carried to Blockula every night, and convey'd back into his bed again, resol­ved to sit up with the Boy, and see whether any Devil durst be so bold as to snatch him out of his arms. The Child went to Bed, and between twelve and one of the Clock at night, began to groan in his sleep, and seemed to shiver a little, at the sight whereof the Mother began to weep and mourn, thinking that the Child was just going to be snatcht away, but her Husband smiling at the Conceit, and pleading with her, that the Childs laying his arms out of Bed might be the cause of these symptomes, took the Child in his arms, and there kept him till towards two or three of the Clock, but no Spirit came or medled with him, [Page] yet was his Wife so possessed with the conceit, or fear of transportation, that his strongest Arguments could scarce make her believe the contrary; and the same person, (a near Relation of the aforesaid Envoy) added, how much malice and ill nature was able to effect, whereof he gave this example, which himself saw, and could testifie the truth of, viz. how in the year, 1676. at Stockholme, a young Woman accu­sed her own Mother of being a Witch, and swore positively, that she had carried her away at night; whereupon both the Judges and Ministers of the Town exhorted her to Confession and Repentance; But she stifly denied the Allegations, pleaded Inno­cence, and though they burnt another Witch before her face, and lighted the fire, she her self was to burn in, before her, yet she still justified her self, and continued to do so to the last, and continuing so, was burnt. She had indeed been a very bad Wo­man, but it seems this crime she was free from, for within a fortnight, or three weeks after, her Daugh­ter which had accused her, came to the Judges in open Court (weeping and howling) and confessed that she had wronged her Mother, and unjustly out of a spleen, she had against her for not gratifying her in a thing, she desired, had charged her with that Crime which she was as innocent of, as the Child unborn; whereupon the Judges gave order for her execution too.

There is no publick Calamity, but some ill people will serve themselves of the sad Providence, and make use of it for their own ends, as Thieves, when a House or Town is on fire, will steal and filch what they can; yet as there is no Fable, but hath some [Page] Foundation in History, so when wicked people make use of such Arguments against the persons they hate, it's a sign there was such a thing, that gave them occasion to fix the calumny; and had not such things been done before, they could not have any colour for their Villany.

I could add a known passage, that happen'd in the year 1659. at Crossen in Silesia, of an Apothe­cary's Servant. The chief Magistrate of that Town at that time was the Princess Elizabeth Charlotta, a person famous in her generation. In the Spring of the year one Christopher Monigk, a Native of Serbest, a Town belonging to the Prin­ces of Anhalt, Servant to an Apothecary, died and was buried with the usual Ceremonies of the Lutheran Church. A few days after his decease, a Shape exactly like him in face, clothes, stature, meen, &c. appeared in the Apothecaries Shop, where he would set himself down, and walk sometimes, and take the Boxes, Pots, Glasses off of the Shelves, and set them again in their pla­ces, and sometimes try, and examine the goodness of the Medicines, weigh them in a pair of Scales, pound the Drugs with a mighty noise in a Mortar, nay, serve the people, that came with their Bills to the Shop, take their Money, and lay it up safe in the Counter; in a word, do all things that a Journey­man in such cases uses to do. He looked very ghastly upon those, that had been his fellow Servants, who were afraid to say any thing to him; and his Ma­ster being sick at that time of the Gout, he was of­ten very troublesome to him, would take the Bills that were brought him, out of his hand, snatch away the Candle sometimes, and put it behind the Stove; At [Page] last, he took a Cloak that hung in the Shop, put it on and walked abroad, but minding no body in the Streets, went along, entred into some of the Ci­tizens Houses, and thrust himself into company, especially of such as he had formerly known, yet sa­luted no body, nor spoke to any one but to a Maid servant, whom he met hard by the Church-yard, and desired to go home to his Masters house, and dig in a Ground-chamber, where she would find an inestima­ble Treasure; but the Maid amazed at the sight of him, sounded; whereupon he lift her up, but left such a mark upon her Flesh with lifting her, that it was to be seen for some time after. The Maid ha­ving recovered her self, went home, but fell despe­rately sick upon't, and in her sickness discovered what Monigk had said to her; and accordingly they digged in the place, she had named, but found nothing but an old decayed Pot, with a Haematites or Blood-Stone in it. The Princess hereupon caused the young Mans body to be digged up, which they found putrified with purulent Matter, flowing from it; and the Master being advised to remove the young Mans Goods, Linnen, Clothes, and things, he left be­hind him when he died, out of the House, the Spirit thereupon left the House, and was heard of no more. And this some people now living will take their Oath upon, who very well remember they saw him after his decease, and the thing being so no­torius, there was instituted a publick Disputation about it in the Academy of Leipsig By reason of my absence from the Press, there was a mistake in the for­mer Edition where it is Wit­temberg. by one Henry Conrad, who disputed for his Doctors De­gree in the University. And this [Page] puts me in mind of an Apothecary at Reichenbach in Silesia, about fifteen years ago (I had it from a very credible Witness) who after his death appeared to divers of his acquaintance, and cryed out, that in his life time he had poisoned several Men with his Drugs. Whereupon the Magistrates of the Town after consultation, took up his Body, and burnt it; which being done, the Spirit disappeared, and was seen no more. But if the Stories related in the pre­ceding Book are not sufficient to convince Men, I am sure an example from beyond Sea, will gain no credit. It's enough that I have shewn Reasons which may induce my Reader to believe that he is not imposed upon by the following Narrative; and that it is not in the nature of those Pamphlets, they cry about the Streets, containing very dreadful News from the Country, of Armies fighting in the Air.