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1677 · The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft

John Webster · 1677

The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft

John Webster, a Yorkshire-born physician, nonconformist preacher and student of chemistry, wrote this book against Joseph Glanvill and Meric Casaubon; it was licensed in 1676 by Jonas Moore as vice-president of the Royal Society. Webster accepts that angels and spirits exist and that there are deceivers, impostors and people deluded by melancholy, but denies that witches make a bodily league with the Devil, are sucked by imps or are carried through the air, arguing that the Scriptures have been mistranslated and that wonders ascribed to witches have natural causes. He discusses the witch of Endor, apparitions, charms and sympathetic cures, and ends with the examination of the boy Edmund Robinson in the Lancashire case of 1634. The text follows the EEBO-TCP transcription.

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Contents

  1. 1.Title page and imprimatur160 w.
  2. 2.Dedication; the preface or introduction3,544 w.
  3. 3.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 1: Of the false, irrational, and unchristian Censures, that have been, and yet are (part 1 of 3)2,977 w.
  4. 4.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 1: Of the false, irrational, and unchristian Censures, that have been, and yet are (part 2 of 3)3,124 w.
  5. 5.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 1: Of the false, irrational, and unchristian Censures, that have been, and yet are (part 3 of 3)3,376 w.
  6. 6.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 2: Of the Notion, Conception, and Description of Witches and Witchcraft (part 1 of 3)3,136 w.
  7. 7.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 2: Of the Notion, Conception, and Description of Witches and Witchcraft (part 2 of 3)3,092 w.
  8. 8.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 2: Of the Notion, Conception, and Description of Witches and Witchcraft (part 3 of 3)2,800 w.
  9. 9.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 3: The denying of such a Witch as is last described in the foregoing Chapter3,252 w.
  10. 10.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 4: That the Scriptures and sound Reason are the true and proper Mediums to prove… (part 1 of 3)3,643 w.
  11. 11.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 4: That the Scriptures and sound Reason are the true and proper Mediums to prove… (part 2 of 3)3,859 w.
  12. 12.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 4: That the Scriptures and sound Reason are the true and proper Mediums to prove… (part 3 of 3)3,181 w.
  13. 13.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 5: That these things now in question are but barely supposed (part 1 of 7)2,557 w.
  14. 14.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 5: That these things now in question are but barely supposed (part 2 of 7)3,600 w.
  15. 15.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 5: That these things now in question are but barely supposed (part 3 of 7)3,504 w.
  16. 16.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 5: That these things now in question are but barely supposed (part 4 of 7)3,392 w.
  17. 17.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 5: That these things now in question are but barely supposed (part 5 of 7)3,481 w.
  18. 18.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 5: That these things now in question are but barely supposed (part 6 of 7)3,479 w.
  19. 19.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 5: That these things now in question are but barely supposed (part 7 of 7)3,336 w.
  20. 20.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 6: That divers places in Scripture have been mis-translated thereby to uphold this… (part 1 of 5)3,113 w.
  21. 21.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 6: That divers places in Scripture have been mis-translated thereby to uphold this… (part 2 of 5)3,098 w.
  22. 22.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 6: That divers places in Scripture have been mis-translated thereby to uphold this… (part 3 of 5)3,217 w.
  23. 23.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 6: That divers places in Scripture have been mis-translated thereby to uphold this… (part 4 of 5)3,349 w.
  24. 24.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 6: That divers places in Scripture have been mis-translated thereby to uphold this… (part 5 of 5)3,545 w.
  25. 25.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 7: Of divers places in the Old Testament that are commonly wrested (part 1 of 4)4,003 w.
  26. 26.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 7: Of divers places in the Old Testament that are commonly wrested (part 2 of 4)3,831 w.
  27. 27.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 7: Of divers places in the Old Testament that are commonly wrested (part 3 of 4)3,959 w.
  28. 28.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 7: Of divers places in the Old Testament that are commonly wrested (part 4 of 4)3,737 w.
  29. 29.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 8: Of the Woman of Endor that pretended to raise up Samuel (part 1 of 3)3,466 w.
  30. 30.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 8: Of the Woman of Endor that pretended to raise up Samuel (part 2 of 3)3,073 w.
  31. 31.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 8: Of the Woman of Endor that pretended to raise up Samuel (part 3 of 3)3,266 w.
  32. 32.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 9: Of Divine permission, providence and presciencé (part 1 of 2)3,925 w.
  33. 33.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 9: Of Divine permission, providence and presciencé (part 2 of 2)3,946 w.
  34. 34.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 10: Whether faln Angels be Corporeal or simply Incorporeal (part 1 of 3)3,020 w.
  35. 35.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 10: Whether faln Angels be Corporeal or simply Incorporeal (part 2 of 3)3,395 w.
  36. 36.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 10: Whether faln Angels be Corporeal or simply Incorporeal (part 3 of 3)3,318 w.
  37. 37.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 11: Of the Knowledge, and Power of faln Angels (part 1 of 4)3,149 w.
  38. 38.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 11: Of the Knowledge, and Power of faln Angels (part 2 of 4)3,776 w.
  39. 39.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 11: Of the Knowledge, and Power of faln Angels (part 3 of 4)3,464 w.
  40. 40.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 11: Of the Knowledge, and Power of faln Angels (part 4 of 4)3,606 w.
  41. 41.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 12: If the Devil, or Witches have power to perform strange things (part 1 of 4)3,242 w.
  42. 42.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 12: If the Devil, or Witches have power to perform strange things (part 2 of 4)3,307 w.
  43. 43.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 12: If the Devil, or Witches have power to perform strange things (part 3 of 4)3,523 w.
  44. 44.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 12: If the Devil, or Witches have power to perform strange things (part 4 of 4)3,592 w.
  45. 45.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 13: That the ignorance of the power of Art and Nature and such like things1,676 w.
  46. 46.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 14: Of diverse Impostures framed and invented to prove false and lying miracles by4,444 w.
  47. 47.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 15: Of divers Creatures that have a real existence in Nature4,755 w.
  48. 48.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 16: Of Apparitions in general, and of some unquestionable stories that seem to… (part 1 of 5)3,720 w.
  49. 49.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 16: Of Apparitions in general, and of some unquestionable stories that seem to… (part 2 of 5)3,436 w.
  50. 50.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 16: Of Apparitions in general, and of some unquestionable stories that seem to… (part 3 of 5)3,746 w.
  51. 51.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 16: Of Apparitions in general, and of some unquestionable stories that seem to… (part 4 of 5)3,642 w.
  52. 52.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 16: Of Apparitions in general, and of some unquestionable stories that seem to… (part 5 of 5)3,396 w.
  53. 53.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 17: Of the sorce and efficacy of Words or Charms (part 1 of 4)3,309 w.
  54. 54.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 17: Of the sorce and efficacy of Words or Charms (part 2 of 4)3,474 w.
  55. 55.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 17: Of the sorce and efficacy of Words or Charms (part 3 of 4)3,556 w.
  56. 56.The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, chapter 17: Of the sorce and efficacy of Words or Charms (part 4 of 4)4,514 w.