[85] “The Copy of a Letter describing the Wonderful Worke of God in delyviring a maydene within the city of Chester from a horrible kind of torment or sicknesse, 16 February anno 1564.” Imprinted at London for John Judely, dwelling in Little Britayne Street beyond Aldersgate, 23 March 1564. [86] “A Briefe and True Discourse, contayning the certayne possession and dispossession of seven persons in one familie, in Lancashire.” By George More, Minister and Preacher of the Word, and now (for bearing witness unto this, and for justifying the rest,) a prisoner at the Clinks, where he hath continued almost for two yeares. A.D. 1600. [87] It is asserted by several authorities that no less than three thousand persons were executed for Witchcraft during that dark period of heretical pravity, the Great Rebellion. Now, as “Rebellion,” according to the express assurance of the Prophet Samuel (1 Sam. xv. 23) “is as the sin of Witchcraft,” no hearty believer in God’s revelation can be at all surprised to find that both Witchcraft and Rebellion in an atmosphere of heresy flourished together, under that odious tyrant and hypocritical fanatic, Oliver Cromwell: when the altar was thrown down and both King and Archbishop were murdered. [88] “An Antidote against Atheism: or an Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Mind of Man.” By Henry More, Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge. 1655. [89] “Cases of Conscience concerning Evil Spirits personating Men.” By Increase Mather. Printed at Boston, and reprinted in London for John Dutton at the Raven in the Poultry, 1693. [90] “Sadducismus Triumphatus: a Full and Plain Evidence concerning Witches and Apparitions.” By Joseph Glanville, Chaplain in Ordinary to King Charles II. London: 1726. [91] A careful deposition as to the above facts was made before the Justices of the Peace mentioned, who added the following formal attestation: “The aforesaid passages [_i.e._ occurrences] were some of them seen by us, and some other remarkable ones, not here set down, were upon the examination of several witnesses taken on oath before us. “(Signed) Robert Hunt. John Carey.” [92] “The Surey Demoniack; or, an Account of Satan’s Strange and Dreadful Actings in and about the Body of Richard Dugdale of Surey, near Whalley in Lancashire.” London: 1697. [93] The following curious extract from a “Coventry News-Letter,” dated Nov. 2, 1672, certainly tells a wonderful story, in some respects not unlike that recorded in the text. It serves at all events to show what were the popular notions concerning occurrences which, to say the least, were very remarkable; and it is reprinted here _verbatim_:--