tion may be possessed with
Cacodaemons:_ That bewitched Persons are many times really possessed with
evil Spirits, is most certain. And as Mr. _Perkins_ observes, no Man can
prove but that Witchcraft might be the Cause of many of those
Possessions, which we read of in the Gospel: And that Devils have been
immitted into the Bodies of miserable Creatures by Magicians and
Witches, Histories and Experience do abundantly testifie. _Hierom_[53]
relates concerning a certain Virgin, that a young Man, whose Amours she
despised, prevailed with a Magician to send an evil Spirit into her, by
means whereof she was strangely besotted. 'Tis reported[54] of _Simon
Magus_, that after he had used an Hellish Sacrifice, to be revenged of
some that had called him a great Witch, he caused infernal Spirits to
enter into them. Many confessing Witches have acknowledged, that they
were the Cause of such and such Persons being possessed of evil Angels,
as [55]_Thyraeus_ and others have observed: Now no Credit ought to be
given to what _Daemons_ in such as are by them obsessed shall say. Our
Saviour by his own unerring Example has taught us not to receive the
Devil's Testimony in any thing. The Papists are justly condemned for
bringing Diabolical Testimony to confirm the Principles of their
Religion. _Peter Cotton_ the Jesuite[56] enquired of the Devil in a
possessed Person, what was the clearest Scripture to prove Purgatory. At
the time when _Luther_ died, all the possessed People in the
_Netherlands_ were quiet: The Devils in them, said the Reason was,
because _Luther_[57] had been a great Friend of theirs, and they owed
him that respect as to go as far as _Germany_ to attend his Funeral.
Another time when there was a talk of some Ministers of the Reformed
Religion, the Devils in the Obsessed laughed and said, they were not at
all afraid of them, for the _Calvinists_ and they were very good
Friends. The Jesuits insult with these Testimonies as if they were
Divine Oracles: But the Father of Lyes is never to be believed: He will
utter twenty great truths to make way for one lye: He will accuse twenty
Witches, if he can but thereby bring one innocent Person into trouble:
He mixeth Truths with Lyes, that so those truths giving credit unto
lyes, Men may believe both, and so be deceived: And whereas some say,
that the Persons in question are only bewitched and not possessed, let
it be considered that possessed Persons are called _Energumens_ from
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