Page:An Examen of Witches.pdf/102

said that the night Satan appeared to her as a gigantic man, black-bearded and clothed in black, he carried her to the Sabbat; and that at other times he used to come and take her on his back, and carried her like a cold wind, gripping her by the hair. It would take too long to write down all that other witches have said on this subject. But a fact which even more strongly inclines me to believe in the transvection of witches is that Jesus Christ Himself was carried by the Devil to the pinnacle of the temple of Jerusalem, and then to the top of a mountain; for if this could happen to our Lord, why should it not happen to witches? Acts 8.
Ezek. 8.
Philostr. Vair, Incant. II. 13.
Spin. de strigib. c. 5.I pass over the transportations of St. Philip, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Elijah, Enoch, St. Antide Archbishop of Besançon, St. Ambrose, Pythagoras, the Philosopher of Tyana, and countless others. But I cannot omit Simon Magus, who, in defiance of St. Peter, undertook to fly from the Capitol to the Aventine Hill, and was carried through the air with the help of Satan. It is true that at the end he fell and broke his legs; and this was by divine ordinance that God might be glorified in St. Peter. Exod. 7.Similarly He was purposely glorified in Moses, when his rod was turned into a serpent and devoured those of Pharaoh’s magicians. For it is in this manner that God raises up His enemies to cast them down, to their great confusion and His own honour.

Wier, de praestig. II. 29.Neither shall I forget that, when the sons of France were hostages in Spain, there appeared a German magician who promised to convey these Princes home through the air, but that they would not trust themselves to him. For it was to be feared that, when the royal children were passing over some sea, the same fate might over-