2. The Devil is in it, all Superstition is from him; and when Secret things, or latent Crimes, are discovered by superstitious Practices, some Compact and Communion with the Devil is the Cause of it, as _Austin_[76] has truly intimated; and so it is here; for if a Witch cannot be drowned, this must proceed either from some natural Cause, which it doth not, for it is against Nature for Humane Bodies, when Hands and Feet are tied, not to sink under the Water: Besides, they that plead for this Superstition, say that if Witches happen to be condemned for some other Crime and not for Witchcraft, they will not swim like a Cork above Water, which Cause sheweth that the Cause of this Natation is not _Physical_: And if not, then either it must proceed from a Divine Miracle to save a Witch from drowning; or lastly, it must be a diabolical Wonder: This superstitious Experiment is commonly known by the Name of, _The Vulgar Probation_, because it was never appointed by any lawful Authority, but from the Suggestion of the Devil taken up by the rude Rabble: And some [77]learned Men are of Opinion, that the first _Explorator_ (_being a white Witch_) did explicitely covenant with the Devil, that he should discover latent Crimes in this way: And that it is by Virtue of that first Contract that the Devil goeth to work to keep his Servants from sinking, when this Ceremony of his ordaining is used. Moreover, we know that _Diabolus est Dei Simia_, the Devil seeks to imitate Divine Miracles. We read in Ecclesiastical Story, that some of the Martyrs when they were by Persecutors ordered to be drowned, prov'd to be immersible: This Miracle would the Devil imitate in causing Witches, who are his Martyrs, not to sink when they are cast into the Waters.