Gleanings of antiquities / By John Beaumont, Gent.

  • John Beaumont
Date:
1724
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gleanings of antiquities / By John Beaumont, Gent. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    were accufed of Witchcraft, and about twenty exe¬ cuted ; the like having happen’d in many other1 Countries. Indeed all Perfons are not infeded with this extatick Contagion, tho5 much ufing with thofe that are in thofe waking Extafies, but only fuch as are difpofed lor it, as it happens in contagious Difeafes* T he late Mr. Ernes, famous for his Aifu- ranee ol his Refurredion, when he went among the Prophets firft, little thought of his becoming one ; but had not been long with them, when he found himfelf feizM with the lame Spirit: and I have been prefent when, upon a young Woman’s falling into a Convulfion Fit, to which (he was much fubjed, pre- fently another young Woman, who chanced to be prefent, and who never had a Fit, nor feen any one in a Fit, fell into the like Fit, after a more fevere manner than the other. I (hall farther give you here my Thoughts con¬ cerning thole People in Scotland, who are faid to have the Gift of the Second-Sight by Inheritance from Father to Son ; and it is my Opinion, that thofe who firft: had this Gift by Defcent, w7ere be¬ gotten when one of their Parents were in an extatick State : and I recommend this Notion to a farther' Confideration. I know fome of the Ancients tell us what Methods have been ufed to bring; Men to a Converfe with Genii ; but I fhall not enlarge upon this here *. and I hope and believe the Explication I have given of thefe Matters, may, and will prove of good ufe to fome Perfons, who may not eafily find the like in their common Reading. As for thofe who laugh at all Apparitions, as only imaginary, I Fhall give them two or three Inftances, and leave them to their Confideration. The learned Nicholaus Selneccerus, in Anal eel, I. 4. k writes thus: It’s true that many Spirits walka¬ bout, and are often feen ; and w e do not only read 01 Inftances, but I my fell have known Inftances, and C c have
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