100 
MAGI C. 
td protefl himfelf againd the flat. 9 Geo. II. c._ 5. which 
provides imprifonment and the pillory for fuch impudent 
impodors. 
That magicians who could cure the lick, were likewife 
believed to have the power of inflidlirig difeafes, and of 
working miracles, by means of their fubfervient daemons, 
need not be doubted. Ancient writers of good credit 
are full of the wonders which they performed. We (hall 
mention a few of thofe which are bed atteded, and inquire 
whether they might not have been effected by other means 
than the interposition of daemons. The fird magicians of 
whom weread are thofe who in Egypt oppofed Mofes. And 
we are told, that, when Aaron cad down his rod, and it be¬ 
came a ferpent, they alfo did the like with their enchant¬ 
ments ; “ for they call: down every man his rod,and they be¬ 
came ferpents.” This was a phenomenon, which, it mud 
be confeffed, had a very miraculous appearance; and yet 
there feems to have been nothing in it which might not have 
been effected by flight of hand. The Egyptians, and per¬ 
haps the inhabitants of every country where ferpents 
abound, have the art of depriving them of their power to 
do mifchief, fo that they may be handled without danger. 
(See Pennant’s Hindooltan, vol. i. p. 198.) It was eafy 
for the magicians, who were favoured by the court, to 
pretend that they changed their rods into ferpents by dex- 
teroufly fubdituting one of thofe animals in place of the 
rod. In like manner they might pretend to change water 
into blood, and to produce frogs; for if Mofes gave in 
thefe indances, as we know he did in others, any previous 
information of the nature of the miracles which were to 
be wrought, the magicians might eafily provide themfelves 
with a quantity of blood and a number of frogs fufficient to 
anfwer their purpofe of deceiving the people. Beyond this, 
however, their power could not go. It (lopped where that 
of all workers in legerdemain mud have Hopped—at the 
failure of proper materials to work with. Egypt abounds 
with ferpents; blood could be eafily procured; and with¬ 
out difficulty they might have frogs from the river: but, 
when Mofes produced lice from the duft of the ground, 
the magicians, who had it not in their power to collect a 
fufficient quantity of thefe animals, were compelled to own 
this to be an effeftof divine agency. See Exod. vii. viii. 
The appearance of Samuel to Saul at Endor is the next 
miracle, feemingly performed by the power of magic, 
which we (hall confider. It was a common pretence of 
magicians, that they could raife up ghofts from below, or 
make dead perfons appear unto them to declare future 
events; and the manner of their incantation is thus de- 
fcribed by Horace: 
•- Pallor utrafque 
Fecerat horrendas afpeElu. Scalpere terram 
Unguibus, et pullam divellere mordicus agnam 
Ctzperunt: cruor in fojfam confitfus, lit inde 
Manes clkerent, animas refponfa daturas. 
With yellings dire they fill’d the place, 
And hideous pale was either’s face. 
Soon with their nails they fcrap’d the ground. 
And fill’d a magic trench profound 
With a black lamb’s thick-ftreaming gore, 
Whofe members with their teeth they tore; 
That they might charm the fprights to tell 
Some curious anecdotes from hell. Francis, 
Our king James, in his Daemonologia, has given a dif¬ 
ferent procefs: “Two principal things (fays he) cannot 
well in that errand be wanted ; holy water (whereby the 
devill mockes the papifts), and fome prefent of a living 
thing unto him. There are likewife certaine daies and 
lioures that they obferve in this purpofe. Thefe things 
being all ready and prepared, circles are made, triangular, 
quadrangular, round, double, or fingle, according to the 
forme of the apparition they crave. When the conjured 
jpirit appeares, which will not be while after many cir- 
tumftances, long prayers, and much muttering and mur- 
murings of the conjurors, like a papid pjrieit difpatdiing 
a hunting-made—how foone, I fay, he appeares, if thev 
have miffed one jote of all their rites ; or if any of their 
feete once (1yd over the circle, through terror of his fear¬ 
ful! apparition, he paies himfelf at that time, in his owne 
hand, of that due debt which they ought him, and other- 
wife would have delated longer to have paied him : I 
mean, he carries them with him, body and foule.” How~ 
the conjurors made triangular or quadrangular circles, 
his majedy has not informed us, nor does he l'eern to ima¬ 
gine there was any difficulty in the matter. We are there¬ 
fore led to fuppofe, that he learned his mathematics from 
the fame fyftem as Dr. Sacheverell, who, in one of his 
fpeeches or fermons, made ufe of the following (imile: 
“They concur like parallel lines, meeting in one'eommon 
centre.” 
Whether the witch of Endor made ufe of fuch charms 
as thefe, the facred hiltorian has not informed us ; but 
Saul addreffed her, as if he believed that by fome form of 
incantation (lie could recal from the (fate of departed fpirits 
the foul of the prophet who had been for fome time.dead. 
In the fubfequent apparition, however, which was pro¬ 
duced, fome have thought there was nothing more than a 
trick, by which a cunning woman impofed upon Saul’s 
credulity, making him believe that fome confidant of her 
own was the ghoft of Samuel. But, had that been the 
cafe, (lie would undoubtedly have made the pretended 
Samuel’s anfwer as plealing to the king as poffible, both 
to fave her own life, which appears from the context to 
have been in danger, and likewife to have procured the 
larger reward. She would never have told her fovereign, 
(lie durft not have told him, that he himfelf (hould be 
(hortly (lain, and his fons with him ; and that the hod of 
Ifrael (hould be delivered into the hands of the Philidines. 
For this reafon, many critics, both Jewi(h and Chridian, 
have fuppofed, that the apparition was really a daemon, or 
evil angel, by whofe aflldance the woman was accudomed 
to work wonders, and to foretel future events. But it is 
fnrely very incredible, that one of the apoftate fpirits of 
hell (hould have upbraided Saul for applying to a forcer- 
efs, or (hould have accoded him in fuch words as thefe- 
“ Why had thou difquieted me, to bring me up ? Where¬ 
fore dod thou a(k of me, feeing the Lord is departed from 
thee, and is become thine enemy ! For the Lord hath rent 
the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neigh¬ 
bour, even to David. Becaufe thou obey edit not the 
voice of the Lord , therefore the Lord hath done this thing 
to thee this day.” It is to be obferved farther, that what 
was here denounced againd Saul was really prophetic, and 
that the event anfwered to the prophecy in every parti¬ 
cular. Now, though we do not deny that there are cre¬ 
ated fpirits of penetration vaffly fuperior to that of the 
mod enlarged human underdanding; yet we dare main¬ 
tain, that no finite intelligence could by its own mere ca¬ 
pacity have ever found out the precife time of the two 
armies engaging, the fuccefs of the Philidines, the confe- 
quences of the victory, and the very names of the perfons 
that were to fall in battle. If to thefe circumdances we 
add the fuddennefs of Samuel’s appearance, with the ef¬ 
fect which it had upon the forcerefs herfelf, we (hall find 
reafon to believe, that the apparition was that of no evil 
daemon. There is not, we believe, upon record, another 
indance of any perfon’s pretending to raife a ghod from 
below, without previoudy uling fome magical rites or 
fome form of incantation. As nothing of that kind is 
mentioned in the cafe before us, it is probable that Sa¬ 
muel appeared before he was called. It is likewife evi¬ 
dent from the narrative, that the apparition was not vvliat 
the woman expefted ; for we are told, that, “ when (he 
faw Samuel, (lie cried out for fear.” And when the king 
exhorted her not to be afraid, and afked what (lie faw, 
“ the woman faid, I fee godsf elohim) al'cending out of the 
earth.” Now, had (lie been accudomed to do fuch feats, 
and known that what (lie faw was only her fubfervient 
daemon, it is not conceivable that die could have been fo 
frightened, or luve.midaken her familiar for elohim in any 
s . fenie 
