to one World but said withal that this was a small Particle only of the Universe But Democritus and Epicurus were of Opinion That there were Innumerable worlds whom Metrodorus their Disciple follows saying That there are Innumerable Worlds being that the Causes of them are Innumerable neither was it less absurd to think that there should be one World in the Universe than to imagine one Ear of Corn in a whole Field But as to the Continuance of the World Aristotle Averroes Cicero Xenophon make it Aeternal and void of all Corruption For when that they could not understand whether the Egg or the Bird were first Generated since no Bird could be without the Egg Hence they imagin'd that this World and the Beginning of every begotten thing together with the End thereof was by perpetual Revolution sempiternal Pythagoras and the Stoicks said That the World was of God yet as far as its Divine Nature could permit should be corrupted in time with whom Anaxagoras Thales Herocles Avicen Algasel Alcmeus and Philo the Jew concur in Opinion But Plato affirming that it was Created by God after his own likeness denies that it shall ever be destroy'd Democritus saith That the World was once Created shall once be Destroyed and never more be renewed Empedocles and Heraclitus the Ephesian were of Opinion That the World doth every day renew and every day perish or decay Let us discourse of any thing which they say proceeds from a Natural Cause as for Example let it be an Earthquake yet are they at no certainty therein but wander in Extravagancies while Anaxagoras makes the Cause thereof to be the Air Empedocles Fire Thales Milesius Water Aristotle Theophrastus and Albertus Subterraneal Wind or Vapour Asclepiades great Mischances or Devastations Possidonius Calisthenes and Metrodorus the Destinies Seneca and others variously dissenting seem to have labour'd in vain in the search thereof And therefore the Ancient Romans when they either felt or heard of shaking or trembling of the Earth commanded Holy-days but never did Enact to which of the Gods they should be Dedicated because it was uncertain what force or which of the Gods was the Cause thereof CHAP. LII Of the Soul IF you desire to know any thing from them concerning the Soul there is far less of certainty among them For Crates the Theban affirm'd that there was no Soul but that the Body was mov'd by Nature Those who grant that there is a Soul suppos'd it to be the most thin and subtile of all bodies infus'd into this thick and earthy body Others there be that affirm it to be of a fiery nature of which number were Hipparchus and Leucippus with whom the Stoicks for the most part agree who define the Soul to be a hot Spirit together with Democritus who calls it a moveable and fierce Spirit mix'd and infus'd into Atomes Others said it was the Air as Anaximines and Anaxagoras Diogenes the Cynick and Critias with whom Varro concurs where he says that The Soul is Air receiv'd into the Mouth heated in the Lungs temper'd in the Heart and diffus'd over the whole Body Others will have it of a watery substance as Hippias Others of an earthy substance as Heliodorus and Pronopides to whose opinion Anaximander and Thales willingly agree both fellow-Citizens with Thales Others will have it to be a Spirit compos'd partly of Fire and partly of Air as Boetes and Epicurus Others compos'd of Earth and water as Zenophantes Others of earth and fire as Parmenides Others affirm'd the Soul to be the blood as Empedocles and Circias Some would have it be a thin Spirit diffus'd through the body as Hippocrates the Physitian Others flesh exercis'd by the senses as Asclepiades But many others have been of opinion that the Soul is not that little body but a certain quality or complexion thereof infus'd through all the particles of the same as Zeno the Cithick and Dicearchus defining the Soul to be the complexion of the four Elements Cleanthes also Antipater and Possidonius affirming the same to be a certain heat or complexion of heat drew Calenus the Pergamenian into the same opinion Others there are that uphold that the Soul is not that quality or complexion but something residing in some part of the body as the heart or brain as it were in its proper point or center and from thence governing the whole body Amongst the number of these are Chrysippus Archelaus and Heraclitus Ponticus who thought the Soul to be Light There are others who have thought more freely believing the Soul to be a certain unfix'd Point ty'd to no part of the Body but separated from any determinated Situation being totally present in every part of the Body which whether it were begot by Complexion or Created by God yet was first hatch'd and form'd in the bosome of Matter Of this Opinion were Zenophanes Colophonius Aristoxenus and Asclepiades the Physitian who held the Soul to be the Exercise of the Sences and Cretolaus the Peripatetick who call'd it the Fifth Essence as also Thales who held That the Soul is an unquiet Nature moving it self and Zenocrates would have it to be a Number moving it self whom the Aegyptians follow asserting the Soul to be a certain Force or Vertue passing through all Bodies The Caldaeaus were of Opinion That it was a Force or Vertue without a determinate Form but receiving all Forms that are External So that they altogether agree That the Soul is a certain Vertue fit to cause Motion or that it is else a Sublime Harmony of all the Corporeal Parts depending however upon the Nature of the Body The Footsteps of these Men are followed by that Daemoniack Aristotle who by a new-invented Name of his own calls the Soul Entelechia that is to say the Perfection of a Corporal Organ Potentially having life from which the same Body receives the Principles of Understanding Perceiving and Moving And this is the most receiv'd though most impâ—rtinent Definition of a Soul found out by that great Philosopher which doth not however declare or make manifest the Nature or Original but only the Affections of the Soul There are others that soare somewhat higher than these men who affirm the Soul to be a certain Divine Substance whole and individual diffus'd through the whole and every part of the Body produc'd in such manner from the Incorporeal Author as that it depends upon the force of the Agent not on the Generative Faculty of the Matter Of this Opinion were Zoroastes Hermes Trismegistus Pythagoras Euminius Hammonius Plutarch Porphyrius Timaeus Locrus and Divine Plata himself who defin'd the Soul to be an Essence moving it self endu'd with Understanding Eunomius the Bishop consenting partly to Plato partly to Aristotle affirms the Soul to be an Incorporeal substance made in the Body upon which definition he lay'd the Foundation of all his Opinions Cicero Seneca and Lactantius affirm That it is impossible to define what the Soul should be Thus it is
said to have made a Brazen Heaven in such sort that it shew'd all the Motions of the Planets and Sphears the like whereof we have seen brought to pass in our time From this Art also proceed the several varieties of Guns and Fire-vomiting Engines of which lately my self have Written a special Treatise Entituled Pyrographie which I now Repent me to have done seeing that it only Teaches a most pernicious and destructive Art Lastly Painting Measuring of Land Agriculture Founders Statuaries Smiths Carpenters â—nd all that make use of Wood or Metals all borrow â—heir Experience from Geometry CHAP. XXIII Of Optick and Perspective NEarest of kin to Geometry is the Art Perspective Now Perspective is an Art that teaches a Threefold way of seeing Direct Reflex'd and Broken as also the difference of Light Shadows and Spaces how Visibles appear through false Intervals how the beams of the Sun are receiv'd through one or more perspicuous Bodies and how they play upon several figures of Bodies the several accidents of Object Sight and Medium and how the Object and the Sight are affected according to the variety of the Medium Now as concerning the reason of Seeing there are sundry and different Opinions Plato thinks that the sight proceeds from an equal clearness in the Eye and the Object the clearness from the Eye being caus'd by the flowing of the Light to one extrinsick Air that which proceeds from the Body being caus'd by a reverberation of the Sight to the Eye the middle clearness about the Air being easily fluid and apt to receive shape according to the force of the Sight that always extends it self in a firy Form Galen agrees with Plato But Hipparchus saith that the Beams extended from the Eyes to the Bodies themselves touching them as it were with a certain Palpitation returns back the apprehension thereof to the Sight Aristotle is of Opinion that the Images of things pass from the Object to the Sight according to their quality through the alteration of the middle Air. Porphyrius believes neither Beams nor Images nor any thing else to be the Cause of Sight but that the Soul knowing her self apprehends and sees her own self in all visible beings But the Geometricians and Opticks coming near to Hipparchus have invented certain Cones made by the co-incidence or falling together of the Beams which are emitted through the Eyes so that the Eye apprehends many visibles at one time but those most certainly where the Beams meet together But Alchinduâ— teaches another thing which St. Austin thinks to be most true That the Power of the Soul doth act something in the Eye which is above humane Wisdome to find out This Art therefore much conduces to the understanding the variety of Coelestial Bodies their Distance Magnitude Motions and Reflections and is also a great help to Architecture in the measuring adorning and perfecting great Buildings But in the Art of Painting and making of Landskips is of so great use that neither can be done without it For it shews us how to make Figures seem undeformed and in Symmetry at whatsoever height or distance they are to be seen CHAP. XXIV Of Painting PAinting is a wonderful Art imitating the shapes of Natural things by an accurate description of the Lineaments and apt choice of Colours This was once in such high esteem that it was accompted the chief of all the Liberal Sciences Not less Liberal than Poetry in the Opinion of Horace Painters and Poets have free leave With equal power to dare and to deceive For Painting is nothing else but mute Poetry and Poetry a speaking Picture so neer akin they be to each other for as Poets so Painters feign Histories and Fables and representations of all things expressing and figuring Light Splendor Shades Heights and Depths This moreover it borrows from Opticks to deceive the sight and in one Picture the scituation being varied to represent various shapes to the sight and what the Statuary cannot reach this attains to it represents in lively colours fire beams light thunder lightning evening morning dawn clouds passions of Men the senses of the Mind and even almost the Voice it self and by falsifying measures and dimensions makes these things appear to be which are not and those things which are not to appear to be As is related of Zeuxis and Parrhasius Painters who contending both for Excellency the first shewed painted Grapes so like that the Birds flew to feed upon them The other shew'd a Coverlet only Painted which was so rarely done that when the First went to put it aside that he might see the Workmanship that was under and found his Error he was forc'd to yield the Victory to the Latter whereas he had only deceiv'd the Birds but Parrasius an Artist And Pliny relates That in the Plays of Claudius there was such excellent Painting that the Crows have flown to the representation of Tiles mistaking them for the tops of Houses And the same Pliny relates How it had been found by experience that the singing of Birds has been stinted by the sight of a painted Dragon This moreover is always attributed to Painting That in all her Works there is more to be understood and judged of than is to be seen as Plutarch has diligently found out in his Icons so that though the Art be extraordinary yet the Ingenuity thereof is beyond the Art CHAP. XXV Of Statuary and Plastick PAinting is accompanied with the Arts Statuary Plastick Casting and Engraving the Inventions of Laborious Wit which may notwithstanding be all comprehended in Architecture The Statuary makes the likeness of things either in Stone Wood or Ivory the Plaster performs the same in Earth the like Images the Caster performs by casting melted Brass and other metals in Moulds The Graver expresses the same things in Stones and Gems Of all which Pomponius Gauricus among Modern Writers hath chiefly Treated But all these Arts together with Painting were meerly invented by the Devil for the nourishment of Pride Lust and Superstition the Authors were those who first according to the words of St. Paul Chang'd the Glory of the Incorruptible God into the likeness of Corruptible man of Birds of Beasts and of Serpents the first who contrary to Divine Command that forbids the Graven Image or the likness of any thing either in heaven above or in the earth beneath introduc'd Idolatry so detested of God Of whom the wise man saith The Idol is curs'd and be that made the same together with the thing made shall suffer Torments For the Vanity of Men as the same Author saith invented these Arts to tempt the Soul of Man and to deceive the Ignorant And the Invention it self is the Corruption of Life However we Christians above all other People are so mad and carried so headlong into this corruption of Life and Manners that in all our Courts Houses and Chambers we are not asham'd to keep and admire these wicked Ornaments thereby to invite Women and Virgins
both toward Religion toward Men and God himself affirming That the secrets of Conscience may be discovered from such a part of the Sun being in the ninth third eleventh houses of the Heaven and many have prescrib'd Rules whereby they pretend to disclose the very thoughts and intentions of Men. Exalting the Coelestial Constellations above the Miraculous Works of God as the superintendant Causes of the Universal Flood the Law given by Moses and the Child-bearing of a Virgin and vainly attributing to Mars the occasion and necessary cause of Christs All-redeeming death Yea they do affirm That Christ himself did make choice of his hours wherein to work his Miracles and when he rode in Triumph into Jerusalem what times he knew the Jews could have no power to hurt him which was the reason he chid his Disciples in these words Are there not Twelve hours of the day They say moreover That if any one were happily placed under Mars being in the Ninth House such a one shall be able to cast out Devils with his presence only But he that shall Pray to God Luna and Jupiter being in Conjunction in the Mid-Heaven with the Dragons-head shall obtain all his desires and that Saturn and Jupiter do promise future prosperity of Life Moreover that he who hath Saturn happily constituted with Leo at his Nativity shall when he departs this Life immediately return to Heaven again Now who could think it as silly and as idle as these Heresies are yet want they not abettors Petrus Aponensis Roger Bacon Guido Bonatus Arnoldus de Villa Nova Philosophers Alyacensis Cardinal and Divine and many other famous Christian Doctors who have not without great Infamy given their Assent to the same and more than that have been so bold as to testifie and defend the truth thereof Against these Astrologers of later years Johannes Picus Mirandula wrote Twelve Books so fully that he hath scarce omitted one Argument but with such a force of Eloquence that neither Lucius Balantius a most strenuous Champion of Astrology nor any other Hector of this Art could ever defend it from the ruine of those Arguments that Mirandula hath brought against it For he makes it out by most strong Arguments That Astrology is an Invention not of Men but of the Devil which Firmianus confirms by which he endeavours to exterminate and abolish all Philosophy Physick Law and Religion to the general mischief of Mankind for first it takes away the use of Faith in Religion lessens the reverence of Miracles takes away Divine Providence while it teaches That all things happen by force and vertue of the Stars and from the Influences of the Constellations by a kind of fatal Necessity It patronizes Sin excusing Vice as descending from Heaven it defiles and subverts all good Arts in the first place Philosophy translating the Causes of things from right Reason to Fables translating the practice of Physick from the application of Natural and Efficacious Remedies to vain Observations and idle Superstitions deadly both to Body and Soul Abrogating all Laws Customes and Rules of humane Prudence when Astrology must be only consulted at what time how and by what means to Act as if she only held the Scepter that governs humane Life and Manners together with all Affairs publick and private deriving an uncontrolable Authority from Heaven and accompting all things else vain and ridiculous that will not submit to her jurisdiction A most worthy Art which the Devils heretofore Professed in contempt of God and to the deceipt of Men. Neither can we think that the Heresie of the Manicheans which takes away all liberty of Free-will had any other Original than the false Opinions and Doctrines of Astrology From the same Fountain sprang that Heresie of Basilides who believed that there were Three hundred sixty five Heavens all made successively and in the same likeness according to the number of the days of the year and assigning to every one of them certain Qualities Principles and Angels and also giving them names he calls the supreme Ruler of them all Abraxas which name according to the Greek Letters contains the Numerals of Three hundred sixty five to answer the Number of Heavens which he had invented These things I have therefore set forth that ye may understand Astrology to be the Mother of Heresie Besides this same Fortune-telling Astrology not only the best of Moral Philosophers explode but also Moses Isaias Job Jeremiah and all the other Prophets of the Ancient Law and among the Catholick Writers St. Austin condemns it to be utterly expell'd and banish'd out of the Territories of Christianity St. Hierome argues the same to be a kind of of Idolatry Basil and Cyprian laught at it as most contemptible Chrysostome Eusebius and Lactantius utterly condemn it Gregory Ambrose and Severianus inveigh against it The Council of Toledo utterly abandon and prohibit it In the Synod of Martinus and by Gregory the younger and Alexander the third it was Anathematiz'd and punish'd by the Civil Laws of the Emperours Among the Ancient Romans it was prohibited by Tiberius Vitellius Dioclesian Constantine Gratian Valentinian and Theodosius Ejected also and Punish'd by Justinian made a Capital Crime as may appear in his Codex CHAP. XXXII Of Divinination in general IT willnot be amiss here to bring in those other sorts of Divination drawing predictions not so much from the observation of heavenly bodies but of inferiour things that retain a kinde of shadow and resemblance of heavenly things that those things being understood ye may the better understand this Astrological Tree that yields such trashie Fruit and from whence as from a Lernaean Hydra the Beast of so many Heads is generated Among the Arts therefore of Fortune-telling Vulgarly professed in hope of gain are Physiognomy Metoposcopie Chiromancy Soothsaying Speculatory and Interpretation of Dreams to which we may adde the mad Oracles of former times All which have not the least of solid Learning in them nor have any ground of Reason to fix on but depend upon Chance familiarity with Spirits or some apparent Conjectures which are gathered from ancient Traditions or long Observations For all these prodigious Arts of Divination defend themselves with the Buckler of Experience and to dis-entangle themselves out of the bonds of hampring Objections by suggesting to work beyond Faith and Reason of all which the Law takes notice thus Commanding Let none be found among you that maketh his Son go through the fiâ—e or that useth Witchcraft or a regarder of times or a marker of the flying of fowls or a Sorcerer or a Charmer or that councelleth with Spirits or a Soothsayer for all that do those things are an abomination unto the Lord. CHAP. XXXIII Of Physiognomy PHysiognomy taking Nature for her Guide upon an inspection and well observing the outward parts of the Body presumes to conjecture by probable tokens at the qualities of the Mind and Fortune of the Person making one Man to be Saturnal another a
Jovist this man to be born under Mars another under Sol some under Venus some under Mercury some under Luna and from the Habits of the Body collects their Horoscopes gliding by little and little from Affections to Astrological Causes upon which Foundations they Erect what idle Structures they themselves please CHAP. XXXIV Of Metoposcopie MEtoposcopie to know all things from the sole Observation of the Forehead prying even into the very beginnings progress and end of a Mans Life with a most Acute Judgment and Learned Experience making herself to be likewise a Foster-Child of Astrology CHAP. XXXV Of Chiromancy CHiromancy fancies Seven Mountains in the Palm of a Mans Hand according to the number of the Seven Planets and by the Lines which are there to be seen judges of the Complection Condition and Fortune of the Person imagining the harmonious disposition of the Lines to be as it were certain Coelestial Characters stampt upon us by God and Nature and which as Job saith God imprinted or put in the hands of men that so every one might know his works though it be plain that the Divine Author doth not there Treat of vain Chiromancy but of the Liberty of the Will These Fortune-tellers have this to say for themselves That though they judge not of the Events or Effects of things by the Causes of things yet they judge thereof by such Signs as are taken like Impressions from the same or like Causes which to the same things continue still the same and to things alike continue still alike They farther say That Pythagoras made use of this Art who made his Conjectures of the Nature Conditions and Ingenuity of Children by the lineaments and features of the Face and Body and received none into his School but such as he judged capable of Learning Which was also the practice of Pharaotes King of India as Philostratus relates But there is no need to bring any other reason to make manifest the Errors of this Arts Professors than only that one that they have no Reason in ' um Many grave and ancient Authors have Written concerning the same as Hermes Alchindus Pythagoras Pharaotes the Indian Zophirus Helenus Ptolomeus Aristoteles Alpharabius besides these Galen Avicen Rasis Julianus Maternus Loxius Philemon Palamon Constantine and Africanus among the Latines Lucius Sylla and Caesar were mightily addicted to this Art Of later years Peter of Appo Albert the Teutonick Michael Scotus Antiochus Bartholomeus Coclitis Michael Savonarola Antonius Cermisonus Petrus de arca Andreas Corvus Tricassus Mantuanus Johannes de Indagine and many other famous Physicians but none of them have been able to make any farther progress than Conjecture and observation of Experience Now that there is no certainty in these Conjectures and Observations is manifest from thence because they are Figments grounded upon the Will and about which the Masters thereof of equal Learning and Authority do very much differ Therefore are they most certainly mad and drowned in Error that will undertake to foretel by such Signes as these not only the Complexion of the Body and Disposition Natural but also the very Affections of the Mind and Chances of Fortune evident in the judgment of Zopyrus concerning Socrates Nor must we believe what Appion the Grammarian hath left behind him in writing that one Alexander did so discerningly paint or express the likenesses of resemblance that from thence he could tell the certain years of past or future death which that they can be known by those Arts is not so much incredible as it is impossible But it is given to these idle sort of people thus to dote and frame Chimaeras to themselves by the instinct of the Devil who by that means leads them from Error into Superstition and from Superstition into Infidelity CHAP. XXXVI Of Geomancy GEomancy of which we have spoken before in the Chapter of Arithmetick is an Art that by certain Points separated either by Chance or by Force out of which it composes certain Figures by Numbers Even and Odd likened to those in the Heavens makes a kind of Divination and therefore by all Writers call'd the Daughter of Astrology There is another sort of Geomancy which Almadal the Arabian introduc'd which by conjectuâ—es taken from sound or appearance as Noise in the Earth motion cleaving swelling of the same as also by the sounds of Thunder raises a kind of Divination or Fortune-telling leaning intirely upon the Prop of Astrology as very observant of hours of Lunations as also of the Rising Setting and Figures of the Stars CHAP. XXXVII Of Augurie AVgurie or marking the Entrails of Fowls of which there are many sorts is an Art which was held in great Veneration in Ancient times even so great was the esteem thereof that nothing of those things that belong'd either to publick or private Affairs was acted before the Entrails of Beasts were inspected This most ancient Art as Pomponius Laetus testifies was receiv'd by the Greeks from the Caldees the first among whom Amphiateus Tyresias Mopsus Aphilotes and Calchas were accompted the chief from the Graecians it passed to the Hetrurians and from them to the Latines Romulus himself was a Soothsayer who first Ordain'd that the choice of Magistrates should be confirm'd by Augury and Dionysius tells us That the Art of Soothsaying was most ancient even in the time of the Aborigines and Ascanius before he put his Battle in Array against Mezentius made an Inspection into the Fowl and seeing the Augury answered his expectation he Fought and overcame The Phrygians also Pisidians Cilicians Arabians Vmbrians Tuscans and many others observed the Ceremonies of Soothsaying The Lacedemonians always had an Augur to attend upon their Kings whom they appointed to be always attending in Publick Councils and among the Romans there was a Colledge of Augurs They who first brought this Art in request were those that taught how that there were certain Lights of discovery and Revelation that descended from the Heavenly Bodies upon the Inferiour as it were certain Signes constituted and setled in their Motion Lying Resting Gesture Walking Flying Voice and Feeding in their Colour and Working wherein by a certain occult Force and silent Harmony they do so far sympathize with the Celestial Bodies with whose qualities they are affected that thereby they are enabled to foretel whatever those Celestial Bodies intend to act From whence it is apparent that this sort of Divination depends only upon Conjecture grounded partly upon the Influences of the Stars partly taken from parabolical Similitudes than which there is nothing more deceitful Therefore Panaetius and Carneades Cicero Chrysippus Diogenes Antipater Josephus and Philo held it very â—idiculous besides the Law and the Church condemn it Of this sort are those Mysteries of the Caldaeans and Aegyptians which the Hetrurians of old then the Romans and now the vulgar sort of Superstitious Heathens adore CHAP. XXXVIII Of Speculatory Divination UPon the same Grounds the Art of Speculatory Divination is founded which
makes interpretations of Thunder and Lightning and other Airy Meteors as also of Monsters and Prodigies but no otherwise than by Conjecture and Comparison which how false and erronious it is is notoriously manifest CHAP. XXXIX Of Interpretation of Dreams HEre we may usher in the Interpretation of Dreams call'd Onirocritica whose Interpreters are properly call'd Conjecturers according to that Verse in Euripides He that Conjectures least amiss Of all the best of Prophets is To this Delusion not a few great Philosophers have given not a little credit especially Democritus Aristotle and his follower Themistius Sinesius also the Platonick so far building upon Examples of Dreams which some accident hath made to be true that thence they endeavour to perswade Men that there are no Dreams but what are real For say they as the Celestial Influences produce divers Forms in Corporeal Matter so out of certain Influences predominating over the power of the Fancy the impression of Visions is made being Consentaneous through the disposition of the Heavens to the Effect which is to be produc'd more especially in Dreams because the mind being then at liberty from all corporeal Cares and Exercises more freely receives the Divine Influences therefore it happens that many things are reveal'd in Dreams to them that are asleep which are conceal'd from them that wake With these reasons they pretend to beget a good Opinion of the Truth of Dreams But as to the Causes of Dreams both External and Internal they do not all agree in one judgment For the Platonicks reckon them among the specifick and concrete Notions of the Soul Avicen makes the Cause of Dreams to be an Vltimate Intelligence moving the Moon in the middle of that Light with which the Fancies of men are Illuminate while they sleep Aristotle refers the Cause thereof to Common Sence but plac'd in the Fancy Averroes places the Cause in the Imagination Democritus ascribes it to little Images or Representatives separated from the things themselves Albertus to the Superior Influences which continually flow from the Skie through many Specifick Mediums The Physicians impute the Cause thereof to Vapours and Humours others to the affections and cares predominant in persons when awake Others joyn the powers of the Soul Celestial Influences and Images together all making but one Cause Arthemidorus and Daldianus have written of the Interpretation of Dreams and certain Books go about under Abrahams Name whom Philo in his Book of the Gyants and of Civil Life asserts to have been the first Practiser thereof Other Treatises there are falsified under the Names of David and Solomon wherein are to be read nothing but meer Dreams concerning Dreams But Marcus Cicero in his Book of Divination hath given sufficient Reasons against the vanity and folly of those that give Credit to Dreams which I purposely here omit CHAP. XL. Of Madness BUT though I had almost forgot it let us with these Dreamers number those that give a kind of sacred Credit to the Prophesies of Mad-folks who themselves have lost all knowledge of things present memory of past and indeed all humane sense fondly imagining them to have the gift of Foreknowledg as if what the wise and waking know not Mad-folks and Dreamers should see as if God were nearer at hand to them than to the vigilant watchful intelligible and those that are full of premeditation Unhappy men that believe such Vanity that give obedience to such Impostures that cherish such Deluders submitting their own Faith and Discretion to their Bellies For what can we imagine Madness to be but a departure of Reason persecuted by evil Spirits convey'd through the Stars or through the Inferiour Bodies by the bad Angels which Lucan seems to intimate when he brings in Arvus the Thuscan Prophet In Thunders motion skill'd and Lightnings bright And in the downy Feathers airy flight Then after the City-Procession after the Offering slain after the Entrails inspected he brings in a Potter thus delivering his judgment What rage ye Gods what wâ—es do ye preparâ— If Saturn's baneful Star in topmost Air Should kindle his dull Fires we then should moan To see Aquarius pour whole Rivers down And all the World in total deluge drown If Sol should mount the Nemaean Lions back In Flame would all the Worlds whole Fabrick crack And all the Skie with Sol's burnt Chariot blaze These Aspects cease but thou that burntst the claws And firk'st the Tail of threatning Scorpion What great thing breed'st thou Mars milde Jove goes down Oppressed in his fall and in the Skies The wholsome Star of Venus dulled is Mercury looses his swift motion And fiery Mars rules in the Skie alone Why do the Stars their Course forsaking glide Obscurely through the Air why does the side Of Sword-breaking Orion shine too bright Wars rage is threatned the Swords power all right Confounds by force Impiety shall bear The name of Vertue and for many a year This fury lasts Therefore all these delusions of Divination have their root and foundation from Astrology For whether the Lineaments of the Body Countenance or Hand be inspected whether Dream or Vision be seen whethe marking of Entrails or mad Inspiration be consulted there must be a Celestial Figure first erected by the means of whose indications together with the conjectures of Signes and Similitudes they endeavour to finde out the truth of what is desired So requisite is the use of Astrology to the Arts of Divination as if it were the Key that opens the door of all their Mysteries Therefore how much all these Arts are distant from Truth is evident from this that they make use of principles so absolutely false and feigned which being such as neither are ever were or will be and yet they will have to be the causes of future Events what can appear to be more contrary to all Truth CHAP. XLI Of Magick in general IT is requisite that we should here say something of Magick which is so linkt to Astrology as being her neer Kinswoman that whoever professes Magick without Astrology does nothing but is altogether out of the way Suidas is of opinion that Magick took its Original and Name from the Magusaei The common opinion is that it is a Persian name with whom Porphyrius and Apuleius consent and that Magos signifies in that Language no more than a Wise man or a Philosopher so that Magick containing both Natural Philosophy and the Mathematicks takes into the same Society the forces and bands of all Religions joyning to its self Goetia and Theurgy which is the reason that Magick is generally divided into Natural and Ceremonial CHAP. XLII Of Natural Magick NAtural Magick is taken to be nothing else but the chief power of all the natural Sciences which therefore they call the top and perfection of Natural Philosophy and which is indeed the active part of the same which by the assistance of natural force and faculties through their mutual opportune application performs those things that are
So Orpheus asswag'd the Tempest of the Argonauts with a Song and Homer relates how the course of Vlysses blood was stopt by the power of words Moreover in the Law of the Twelve Tables there is a Law against those that did inchant the standing Corn whereby it is apparent that Witches have a power by the force of words to produce strange Effects not onely upon themselves but also upon outward things All which things that is to say to separate the hidden force of things and either draw them to themselves and repel them from themselves they credibly believe themselves to effect no other way than as the Loadstone draws Iron or Amber or Jet draws Chaff and as Onions again destroys the Magnetick Power So that by this Gradual and Concatenated Sympathy not only Natural and Celestial Gifts but also Intellectual and Divine may be receiv'd into humane Souls as Iamblicus Proculus and Sinesius gather from the Opinions of Great Men and that by this Consent and Harmony of things Magicians do call up the very Spirits For some of them are arriv'd at such a height of Madness that they believe that upon the right Observation of such and such Constellations at such intervals of time and by such reason of Proportions an Image being made would receive Life and Motion which upon counsel desired should be able to give Answers and Reveal the hidden Secrets of Truth Hence it is manifest That this Natural Magick inclining toward Conjuring and Necromancy is often entangled in the Snares and Delusions of Evil Spirits CHAP. XLV Of Conjuring and Necromancy THE Ceremonial Parts of Magick Conjuring and Necromancy Geocie or Conjuring curs'd for being familiar with unclean Spirits ceremonies of wicked curiosity compos'd of Prayers and Inchantments is held Abominable and wholly Condemn'd by the Decrees of all Lawgivers Men hateful to the Gods that stain the Skie And blot the Stars though Natures Progenie The setled course of things they can confound Can fix the Poles send Lightnings on the ground Pull down the Heavens and Hills eradicate These are those that Invoke the Souls of dead Bodies who Inchant Children and cause them to give the Answer of the Oracle and as we read of Socrates carry about with them certain Pocket Daemons and who as they say nourish little Spirits in Glasses by which they pretend to Foretel and Prophesie All these proceed in a twofold manner For some of them make it their business to adjure and compel Evil Spirits to appearance by the Efficacy and Power of sacred Names because seeing that every Creature doth fear and reverence the Name of its Creator no wonder if Conjurors and other Infidels Pagans Jews Saracens or prophane Persons do think to force the Devils Obedience by the Terrour of his Creators Name Others more to be detested than they and worthy the utmost punishment of Fire submitting themselves to the Devils sacrifice to them and Worship them become guilty of the vilest subjection and Idolatry that may be to which Crimes though the former are not quite so obnoxious yet they expose themselves to manifest dangers For the Devils are always watchful to intrap Men in the Errors they heedlesly run into From this insipid crowd of Conjurors have flow'd all those Books of Darkness which Vlpian the Civilian calls by the name of forbidden Writings Of which one of the first Authors is said to be Zabulus a man wholly inclin'd to unlawful Arts. Then Barnabas 〈◊〉 Cyprian and now frequently other Books are Published up and down under the feigned Titles and Names of Adam Abel Enoch Abraham and Solomon others under the Names of Paulus Honorius Cyprian Albertus Thomas Hierome and one Eboracensis to whose silly trifles Alphonsus King of Castile Robert the Englishman Bacon Apponus and many other of deprav'd Fancies have adher'd But besides this they have not only made the holy Patriarchs and Angels Authors and Upholders of their detestable Studies but also shew several Books which they pretend were written and delivered by Razial and Raphael tutelar Angels of Adam and Tobias Which Books notwithstanding to any one that narrowly considers the Rules of the Masters the Customes and Ordinances of their Ceremonies the Nature and Choice of their Words and Characters their insipid and barbarous Pharases sufficiently betray themselves to contain nothing but meer Toys and Geugaws and that they were in far later Ages contriv'd by such as were utterly ignorant of that Magick Profess'd by the Ancients being â—ounded only upon certain prophane Observations mixt with the Ceremonies of our Religion with an addition of many unknown Names and Characters to terrifie ignorant and silly people and to amuse those that are void of sence and understanding Neither doth it therefore follow that these Delusions are Fables for unless there were something of reality in them and that many mischievous and wicked things were accomplish'd thereby both Divine and Humane Laws had not so strictly provided for the punishment thereof and Ordain'd them to be quite extirpated from the Earth Now why these Conjurers make use only of evil Spirits the reason is because the Good Angels seldome appear being only attendant on the Commands of God and not vouchsafing to be known but only to upright and holy Men. But evil Spirits submit themselves more willingly to their Invocations falsely assuming to themselves and counterfeiting Divinity always ready to deceive and delighting to be ador'd and worship'd and because Women are more covetous of the Knowledge of Secrets and not less cautious and prone to Superstition and more easily Deluded therefore to them the Devils show themselves more familiar and make them the performers of many Miracles as are related of Circe and Medaea of many others the Stories of the Poets are full and Cicero Pliny Seneca St. Austin and many others both Philosophers Doctors and Historians as also Sacred Writ bring many Testimonies For in the Book of Samuel we read of a certain Woman-Witch that liv'd in Endor that rais'd the Soul of Samuel though most Interpreters agree that it was not the soul of Samuel but an Evil spirit that took upon him the shape of the Prophet Yet some of the Hebrew Doctors aver neither doth St. Austin to Simplician deny the possibility thereof that it was the true Soul of Samuel which before a compleat Year after its departure from the Body might be easily call'd up according to the rule of Necromancy The Necromantick Magicians believe that the same may be performed by certain Natural tyes and Obligations which was the reason that the Ancient Fathers well-read in Spirituals not without good cause ordain'd that the Bodies of the Dead might be buried in Holy-ground should be assisted with Lights and sprinkled with Holy-water be perfumed with Incense and pray'd for by the Living so long as they were above Ground For say the Hebrew Doctors All our Carnal Body remains as Food for the Serpent which they call Arazel which is Lord of the Flesh and the Blood
after he had overcome the Saxons and Lombards honour'd them as follows My fellow-Souldiers said he ye shall be call'd Heroes Companions of Kings and Judges of Crimes Live henceforward free from Labour consult and advise with Kings for the Publick good reprehend soul Actions be kinde to Women and be tender over Orphans encompass Princes with your counsels From them demand your Food Apparel and Wages whoever denies ye let him be dishonourable and infamous He that offers ye injury let him confess himself guilty of High Treason And for your parts take you heed that so great Honours so great Priviledges acquir'd by the labours of War that ye stain them not nor defile them with Drunkenness or any other Vice that what we give for your Glory may not redound to your Punishment the infliction whereof if ye exceed your bounds we reserve to our selves and our Successors Kings of the Romans And this is the magnificent Degree of Heraldry for which by ancient Custom they esteem themselves so great CHAP. LXXXII Of Physick in general FRom War and Nobility let us hasten to Physick which is it self a kinde of Art of Killing altogether Mechanick though she pretend to be shadow'd with the Title of Philosophy and sits above the Law next to Divinity in degree and place which hath caus'd great contention between the Civilian and the Physitians For thus the Physitians argue Seeing say they there are three sorts of Goods the Goods of the Soul the Goods of the Body the Goods of Fortune of the first the Divine takes care of the second the Physitian the third onely belongs to the Lawyer Hence it is that the Physitians claim the next pre-eminence to the Divines forasmuch as the strength and health of the Body is to be preferr'd far before the Riches of Fortune But this strife was once determin'd by a witty Question For some one of these Contenders desiring to know what order and method was observ'd in leading Criminals to Exâ—cution which follow'd and which should precede the Thief or the Haâ—gman and when one answer'd that the Thief went before and the Hangman follow'd the other presently gave judgment that the Lawyers should go before the Physitians follow denoting the remarkable Robbery of the one the rash Murther of the other But let us return to Physick of which there are many sorts of Heresies For there is one which they call Rational Sophistical and Dogmatical which was practised by Hippocrates Diocles Chrysippus Caristinus Paraxagoras and Herosistratus approved also a long while after by Galen who above all the rest following Hippocrates brought all the Art of Physick to be comprehended in the knowledge of the Causes judgments upon Signes and Symptoms qualities of things and the several habits and ages of Bodies But this Heresie contending more for substance than shadow I confess to be the meaner part of Philosophy but toward the cure of the Sick not at all necessary if not altogether destructive as that which rather sends us for Health and Cure to screw'd and forc'd Maximes than to any sincere and real Medicines and being employ'd in Scholastick Syllogisms unacquainted with Woods and Fields becomes altogether ignorant of Herbs and good Remedies And therefore Serapion was of opinion that this Rational Method of Physick did nothing at all avail to the Cure of diseases Therefore there is another Faction of Physicians altogether Mercenary and Mechanick which is therefore termed Operative and is divided into Empirick and Methodical of which we are now to treat They call it Empirical because of the Experiments which it makes whose chief Professors were Serapion Heraclides and both the Apollonii Among the Latines Marcus Cato C. Valgius Pomponius Leneus Cassius Felix Aruntius Cornelius Celsus Pliny and many others Out of this Hierophilus the Calcedonian constituted his Methodical Physick and by the help of long Experience the Mistress of all things fixed it to certain Rules which afterwards Asclepiades Themistion and Archigenes confirm'd by most strong arguments and afterwards Thesillus the Italian compleated who as Varro affirms set aside all the Opinions of his predecessors madly raging against all the Physicians of the former Age. After these many Barbarous Physicians of forraign Nations ventured abroad in Writing among which the Arabians became so famous that they seemed by many to have been the Inventors of this Art and might have easily made it good but for the Original Greek and Latine words which they used betraying another original of the Science This made the Volumes of Avicen Rhasis and Averroes to have equal Authority with the Books of Galen and Hippocrates so that if any one presume the Cure of a person without their Rules he seemed to throw away the life of the Patient Now these Factions among Physicians be not many yet is the Contention and Combate of Opinions not less among them than among the Philosophers For observe how idly they contend about the substance of the Seed Pythagoras will have it to be the spume or froth of the most useful part of the Bloud or the most useful part of the excrement of the meat Plato affirms it to be a deflux of the Back-bone-marrow seeing that the Back and Reins are pained by the over-much use of Copulation Alcmaeon asserts it to be part of the Brain for that Copulation weakens the Eyes which are nourished by the Brain Democritus will have it to be derived from all parts of the body and Epicurus to be as it were forcibly strain'd from body and soul together Aristotle affirms it to be the excrement of the Sanguineous nourishment which is last digested in the body Others believe it to be bloud ripened and made white by the heat of the Stones for this reason That they who copulate too often do eject drops of bloud Adde to all this that Aristotle and Democritus are of opinion that a Womans seed doth not at all contribute to Generation neither that she does emit any seed at all but onely a kinde of Sweat Galen affirms that they eject seed but more imperfect and that the seed of both sexes assists in generation Though Hippocrates is of a contrary judgement affirming that the bodies of all Animals are coagulated out of the four Humours Yet Aristotle maintains that the Bloud is the next cause of Generation and that the seed is generated out of the Blood Many of the Arabians are of opinion that perfect Animals might be generated without the mixture of Male and Female and be produced without the help of seed and therefore did aver that there was no necessity of the Matrix but by accident Now speaking of the Original Causes of Diseases Hippocrates places them in the Spirits Hierophilus in the Humours Erasistratus in the bloud of the Arteries Asclepiades makes them to be certain Atomes entring in thorow the invisible pores of the body Alcmaeon believes all diseases to proceed from the exuberance or scarcity of the Corporeal faculties Diocles from the inequality of the
of his Life The Rhetorician will rather deny the manifest Truth than yield to his Opposer in the least Syllogistical Conclusion Arithmeticians and Geometricians number and measure all things but neglect the Measures and Numbers of their lives and souls The Musicians are all for Sounds and Songs not minding the Discords of corrupt Manners Therefore Diogenes the Sinopian was wont to reprove them that they would fitly make the Harmony and Strings agree but that there was neither measure nor harmony in their customs of living Astrologers behold the Heavens and the Stars and foretel others what shall happen in this world but they never minde the evil which every moment hangs over their own heads Cosmographers describe the situations of Countries the forms of Mountains the course of Rivers and limits of distinct Regions but they make a man never the wiser nor better Philosophers with great vaunting dive into the Causes and Beginnings of things while they neglect perhaps not so much as know God the Creator of all things There is no Peace among Princes and Magistrates being easily drawn for small advantages to seek the destruction one of another Physicians cure the bodies of the sick and neglect the health of their souls Lawyers diligent in observing the Laws of Men however transgress the Commands of God whence it is grown to be a Proverb Neither physicians live well nor Lawyers die well Physicians being the most disorderly sort of men and Lawyers the most dishonest Divines make a great noise while they preach to us the observation of the Commands of God and holy Doctrine but their words and conversations differ very much being such as had rather seem to know than love God Now then he which knows all things to speak and write well he who understands the nature of Verse the course of Times the ways of Reasoning the ornaments of Speech the colours of Rhetorick he that remembers all things the proportions and sums of Numbers the harmony of Sounds the measures of Dancing the measures of all Quantities the inflexions and reflexions of the Sun-beams the situation of the Earth and Sea the various ways of rearing all sorts of Edifices and Engines the ordering of Battels the tilling of Ground the taking feeding fatting of Beasts Birds and Fish every kinde of Country-trade every species of Mechanick Industry Painting Graving Founding Hammering Hewing Factoring Sayling the course of the Stars their Influences upon inferiour Bodies the forebodings of Destiny Divinations of all sorts the hidden monstrosities of Magick Art the secrets of the Cabalists the causes of all Natural things the reformation of Manners the Governments of Commonwealths Family-order Remedies for Diseases vertues of Medicines and skill in mixture the delicate Dressing of Meats Let him know both Laws all the Pleadings of the most learned Doctors and Council the wrangling of the Sorbonnists the hypocrisie of the Monks with all the Learning of the holy Fathers he I say who knoweth all this and more if there be any thing yet remaining yet he knoweth nothing unless he know the will of Gods Word and perform the same He that hath learned all things and hath not learned this hath learn'd in vain and all his Knowledge is in vain In the Word of God is the Way there is the Rule there is the Gole or Mark whither he ought to bend his Course that will not go astray but drives to reach the Truth All other Sciences are subject to Time and Forgetfulness and not onely these Sciences and Arts but also the Letters Characters and Languages which we use shall perish and others rise in their places and peradventure they have more than once been already lost and have as often come to light again Neither has there been one manner of Orthography in one Age nor alike with all men Nor is the true Pronunciation of the Latine Tongue at this day any where to be found The ancient Characters of the Hebrew are quite lost they which are now in use being found out by Esdras for the Hebrew Language was corrupted by the Caldeans a Misfortune that has happened well-near to all the Languages of the world so that there is hardly one at this day which understands its own Antiquity new words growing into use and the old ones decaying So that there is nothing fixt or durable Finally the opinion of Terence is That nothing is now spoken which has not been spoken before And many there are among whom Volaterrane is one that would have it that the Gun which is by most accounted a New Invention of the Germans was used in ancient time and this they endeavour to prove out of Virgil. There Salmon lay in cruel torments bound Curs'd Imitator of th' Olympick Sound He born by four fleet Steeds his Flambean shaking Through Greece and Elis Towns his journey taking Triumphing went and call'd himself a God Mad as he was still thundring as he rode Thunder and Tempests seem'd to fill the skie With so much noise his speedy Coursers flie Much to this purpose hath Ecclesiastes spoken when he saith There is nothing new under the sun nor can any man say Behold this is new for it hath been in times past before us There is no remembrance of things past neither they which shall be in the later days shall remember the things which shall be hereafter And in another place he saith The learned and the ignorant also shall die What then shall we here say but that all Sciences and Arts are subject to death and forgetfulness neither shall they for ever remain alive but together with death shall pass to death forasmuch as Christ himself saith That every plant which the heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out and cast into everlasting fire So far are we to be from believing that Knowledge availeth to Immortality but that the Word of God alone endures for ever The knowledge whereof is so needful to us that he that despiseth it that esteems it not and is not a hearer thereof as the Word it self testifies in the holy Scripture God will send upon him a Curse Damnation and everlasting Judgement Ye are not therefore to think that it belongeth onely to Divines but to every one man and woman old and young so that every one according to the grace and capacity given to them is bound to have the knowledge thereof and not of dissent a hairs breadth from the true sence and meaning of it For this cause the Old Testament commands us in this manner These words shall be in thy heart all the days of thy life and thou shalt declare them to thy children and grandchildren and command them to keep and observe them Thou shalt ponder them sitting in thy house and going thorow the street sleeping and waking and shalt binde them as a token to thy hand they shall always be and move before thy eyes and thou shalt write them over the doors of thy house Thus Josiah read all the words and