"terious word, to which the superstitious in "former times attributed a magical power to 66\ 66 expel diseases, especially the tertian-ague, worn about their neck, runs in this manner. "Some think, that Basilides, the inventor, "intends the name of GOD by it.* The method "of the cure was prescribed in these verses. 66 "Inscribes Chartæ quod dicitur Abracadabra "Abracadabra, strange mysterious word, Mr. Schoot, a German, hath an excellent "book of magic: it is prohibited in that country. * Serenus Samonicus who has so seriously recommended this word as an antidote to evil, states, that Abracadabra is the name of a Syrian God. "Three spells, which are much approved, are "here set down. "To cure an Ague. "Write this following spell on parchment, and "wear it about your neck. It must be writ triangularly. ABRACADABRA ABRACADABR ABRACADAB ABRACADA ABRACAD ABRACA ABRAC ABRA ABR AB A "With this spell, one of Wells, hath cured "above a hundred of the ague. "To cure the biting of a Mad-Dog, write these "words on paper, viz. "Rebus Rubus Epitepscum, and give it to the "party, or beast bit, to eat in bread, &c. A gentleman of good quality, and a sober grave person, did affirm, that this receipt never fails. "To cure the Tooth-Ach: out of Mr. Ashmole's manuscript writ with his own hand. 66 ་ "Write the words three times; and as you say the words, let the party burn one paper, then "another, and then the last. He says, he saw it experimented, and the party immediately "cured. "Mr. Ashmole told me, that a woman made use of a spell to cure an ague, by the advice "of Dr. Nepier; a minister came to her, and "severely repremanded her, for making use of a diabolical help, and told her, she was in danger of damnation for it, and commanded "her to burn it. She did so, and her distemper "returned severely; insomuch that she was im A portunate with the Doctor to use the same "again; she used it, and had ease. But the parson hearing of it, came to her again, and "thundered hell and damnation, and frighted "her so, that she burnt it again. Whereupon "she fell extremely ill, and would have had it a "third time; but the Doctor refused, saying, "that she had contemned and slighted the power " and goodness of the blessed spirits (or angels), " and so she died. The cause of the Lady "Honywood's Desperation, was that she had "used a spell to cure her. "Jamblicus de Mysteriis de nominibus Divinis. "Porphyrius querit, cur Sacerdotes utantur "nominibus quibusdam nihil significantibus? Jam"blicus respondet, omnia ejusmodi nomina significare aliquid apud deos: quamvis in quibusdam D 66 significata nobis sint ignota, esse tamen nota “quædam, quorum interpretationem divinitus accepimus, omnino verò modum ineis significandi ineffabilem esse. Neque secundum imaginationes humanas, sed secundum intellectum qui in nobis "est, divinus, vel potius simpliciore præstantiorieque modo secundum intellectum diis unitum. Auferendum igitur omnes excogitationes et ra"tionales discursus, atque assimulationes natura"lis vocis ipsius congenitas, ad res positas inna<< tum. Et quemadmodum character symbolicus "divinæ similitudinis in se intellectualis est, atque "divinus, ita hunc ipsum in omnibus supponnere, accipereque debemus, &c. ઠંડ "Jamblicus, concerning the mysteries relating to "divine names. "Porphyrius asks the question why priests "make use of certain names which carry with "them no known import or signification? Jam"blicus replies, that all and every of those sort "of names have their respective significations among the Gods, and that though the things "signified by some of them remain to us unknown, yet there are some which have come "to our knowledge, the interpretation of which "we have received from above. But that the "manner of signifying by them, is altogether "ineffable. Not according to human imagina❝tions, but according to that divine intellect "which reigns within us, or rather according 66 gods, in a more simple and excellent manner. "And whereas the symbolical character of the "divine likeness is in itself intellectual and "divine, so are we to take and suppose it to be, " in all, &c. to "To cure an Ague, Tertian or Quartan. "Gather cinquefoil in a good aspect of "the D, and let the Moon be in the Mid-Heaven, "if you can, and take-of the powder of it "in white wine: if it be not thus gathered ac"cording to the rules of astrology, it hath little " or no virtue in it. With this receipt-one Bradley, a quaker, at Kingston-Wick-upon"Thames, (near the bridge end) hath cured "above an hundred *. 66 In these supposed portentous days, i. e. upon the first propagation of this mummery, men were neither Pagans or Christians, but a mixture of both; for, though the pure doctrines of that new system had been preached by the apostles, and their successors, Polycarp, Ignatius, (surnamed Theophrastus), Irenæus, and several others, and though they affected to be called Catechumens, at least to a religion so much at variance with their former profession, the pollutions and horrid usages of their obscene idols were by no means effaced, or the foul contamination washed See Appendix, No. II. |