And nevertheless it appears by the history that he did not at all hesitate upon it which shews that he had a powerful perswasion of the truth of the dream Now though we cannot at present certainly know wherein this full perswasion did consist and upon what it did depend yet notwithstanding we ought not at all to question but that this and the like perswasions were founded on something that was both in it self sufficient and to them a sufficiently evident ground of their assent But we must enquire what that was and this is the proper subject of this Meditation since there are but three sorts of dreams those which are produc'd by natural causes those which proceed from the operation of Angels and those which I call Divine The readiest way to come to the knowledge of the truth in this case will be to shew that these can neither belong to the first nor the second rank and thence it will necessarily follow that they must belong to the third As for natural dreams I suppose that 't is easie to distinguish those from such as proceed from a Divine impression these natural dreams I said were of four sorts the first depends upon the temperament and constitution of the body others acknowledge no other cause then the meer motion of the Idea's of the brain by the natural heat in the time of sleep the others come from a very attentive application of our minds to some things when we were awake and the last from the passions of the sensitive soul which is as it were awaken'd and acts more vigorously during the repose of our senses But now for Example to which of these causes can we refer the dreams of Ioseph or Pharaoh What mark do they bear of the temperament of their bodies or the constitution of their humors What Idea's of things could remain in their memory which could be able so regularly to proportion these dreams as to see in the one the number of the sheaves and of the Stars the Sun and the Moon and their prostrations before him in the other the number of the Ears of Corn both the empty and the full ones of the Kine the fat and the lean ones and their action in devouring one another What so great attention of mind could be upon any worldly care or employment as to cause any such representations in their sleep What passion could move either their concupiscible or their irascible appetite as thereby to form such phantasms And further the dreams that come from any of these causes are always irregular and composed of parts not consistent with one another so that nothing is commonly more phantastick and extravagant then they but those of Ioseph and Pharaoh and the Image of Nabuchodonosor and if there be any other of the same nature mentioned in Scripture they are so admirably well composed that they seem to be the result of a very intelligent Cause The dreams which proceed from natural causes are obscure and always presented to our minds with a great deal of confusion so that we observe nothing distinct in them or if one part have something of clearness and perspicuity in it the others are commonly perplex'd and intricate Whereas those dreams related in Scripture are not only clear but full of light whether we consider them in the whole or in their parts natural dreams do make so little impression upon our Spirits that for the most part we do not remember them when we are awake whereas the Divine are firmly fix'd in our memory for as for what is reported of Nabuchodonosor that he had forgot his dream and that he stood in need of Daniel to recal it again into his mind this happen'd by the particular dispensation of the Divine Power and Providence which remov'd out of his mind the Idea's of his vision thereby to render the wisdom of Daniel more remarkable besides this Prince very well remembred that he had dream'd and the perplexity which his dream caus'd in him the passionate desire he had to recal it the manner of his behaviour to the Sooth-sayers and all the rest which pass'd upon this occasion fully shew'd that this vision did very nearly concern him and that also in his dream he had observ'd something that was singular and extraordinary in it if in the morning we remember our natural dreams yet we disregard them and count them but meer trifles whereas those to whom God sent those Divine Dreams did not only distinctly remember them but had them still firmly represented to them when they were awake and did look upon them as Divine advertisements and were very solicitous about the interpretation or the event of them When dreams proceeding from natural causes have made any impression upon our Spirits so that they hold us in some suspense in the morning as it sometimes happens we commonly do these two things First We make an attentive reflexion thereupon and carefully examine and consider them in all their circumstances and at last find them to be meer vanities and produc'd by some of those natural causes before mention'd and so we free our selves from that disquietness they had before caus'd in us Secondly If we cannot thus wholly free our selves then we compare them with those true and real operations which our senses produce in us waking and by thus comparing them all those impressions which these dreams had made upon our spirits do altogether vanish For it is here almost as in the comparison of things represented upon a Theatre with those that are really done Whilst we see a Tragedy acted we feel a concernment and passion in us sometimes even to the effusion of tears But this only touches as it were the surface of the soul and is not of any long continuance or if this emotion of the mind do continue longer yet it is as good as nothing in respect of that which the real view of these actions and passions and murthers actually committed in our sight do cause in us but in Divine Dreams it was directly contrary for if those to whom they were sent did in the least doubt of their Divinity and did set themselves seriously to examine them the more they consider'd them the less reason they found to doubt of them and when they compar'd them with the operation of their senses they found to their great astonishment and admiration that even those of sense were less true and real then they these Divine Dreams I say made a more strong and firm impression upon the Spirits of those that receiv'd them and they were more fully perswaded of their Divinity then we are of the reality of the operation of our senses when waking they exercise themselves upon their respective objects and it is no difficult thing to give a reason for it That which causes sensation and makes us believe the truth and reality of the actions of sense is that those sensible species which affect the outward senses do also pass into the
offer something as a reason hereof as I pass along though my design doth not at all oblige me hereunto it is this I think we may truly assert that the operations of our outward senses do convey into our memory the Idea's of all sensible things which are there preserv'd upon all occasions and that it is from thence that the subject matter of natural dreams is taken For if we could imagine a man to have liv'd to the age of twenty five years without any use of his senses we must also imagine him to have liv'd so long without ever dreaming in as much as he had not the Idea of any sensible thing in his memory since also it is certain that in sleep the natural heat is more intense in the inward parts as the liver the heart the diaphragm and in all those parts that surround the Stomach Hence it causes vapors to arise into the brain which on the one hand are hot by the heat they draw from their cause that rais'd them and on the other hand retain something of that humour which is more universally predominant in the temperature of the body or more particularly in the stomach whether it be Choler or Phlegm or Blood or Melancholy which are the four usually here taken into consideration according therefore to the heat of these vapors so they put the Idea's in the memory into motion and reduce them into Act in the imagination and as they retain something of such or such an humor so they affect the brain particularly that part which is the seat of the phansie with the quality of that humor from which they proceed Now that which produceth the effect is that the organ being thus affected doth better receive the images of those things which do suit with its present constitution and doth better retain them whereas those others which do not at all agree therewith are dispersed and fly away so that if these vapors do arise from a Phlegmatick humour then the phansie is apt to represent to it self waters and inundations if from Bile and Choler then fire and burnings and those other forms of things of a different nature which the heat had rais'd and drawn from the memory into the imagination slip away and make no abode there But however it be that we decide this question the dreams that proceed from such a cause can have no other power of signification but only from the effect to give some knowledge of the cause The reason hereof is this because that which produceth them being altogether void of all understanding for neither the heat that is in the inward parts hath any nor the memory nor the imagination and as for the understanding it is not at all concern'd herein therefore these cannot be design'd to any particular end 2. But there are others which is the second kind of dreams wherein the temperament and the disposition of humours have no place and these proceed from no other cause then the heat which arising from the lower parts to the brain doth put the Idea's and images of things in the memory into motion and represents them to the phansie but in a confus'd and disturb'd manner in proportion to the greatness of the heat and according as the vapors which arise from the stomach are gross or subtle and as they are more or less abundant and so accordingly fill the vessels of the brain for when they are gross and in great plenty the images of things recall'd from the memory are there so swallowed up that either it presents none to the fansie that it can take any notice of which is the cause that we then dream not at all or if it do yet it is attended with so much weakness and obscurity that when we awake we remember nothing of what we dream'd and hence it is that some though very few never dream at all because the vapors that arise in their sleep are always thick and darksome and hence also it is that ordinarily we do not dream immediately after meals for as much as the stomach being then full doth send up to the brain vapours in too great abundance but if the vapours be more thin and subtle if they be in less abundance and more calm then the images of things do present themselves to the phansie with more distinction and yet not without a great deal of disorder for let us suppose the images of themselves orderly plac'd in the memory yet there are two things that may cause confusion the one that the heat that moves them doth also disturb them as we see small pieces of matter in a vessel full of water remain each in its proper place so long as the water is calm and unmov'd but if you put fire under it the water by boiling is put into motion and the several substances are jumbled together by its agitation the other that while the external senses are awake and in action they govern and fix the phansie by their influence but when they are laid asleep and the phansie thus more at liberty there is a great deal of irregularity in all its actions from hence it comes that the images wherewith the memory agitated by the heat hath fill'd the phansie do joyn themselves one to another fortuitously and without order from whence is form'd an infinite number of phantastical and extravagant compositions we see the experience hereof in a feaver when the violence of the heat and the cholerick vapours do disturb the imagination and we see it also in fools who though they neither sleep nor are in a feaver yet have their imagination disturb'd by reason of the distemper of their brain which makes them conceive so many Chimaera's and utter such strange inconsistencies and divers kinds of things which have no natural connexion among themselves passing into the phansie and joyning themselves one to another with a great deal of irregularity for the imagination is a faculty which of it self is able to receive the impression of those Idea's and also joyn them together but because it is corporeal and by consequent void of understanding it can neither perceive their agreement nor their disagreement nor conveniently dispose of them according to reason So that it acts here as a blind man would do who being among a great number of broken and mutilated statues should go about rightly to reassemble their parts by groping for it would frequently happen without doubt that he would for example set Marius his head upon Cleopatra's body and put the thighs of a Brasenhorse under the trunk of Epaminondas And these dreams have yet less power of signifying things to come then the former for as much as the composition of the images is altogether fortuitous and by consequent incapable either to represent any thing as in an allegorical Emblem or nakedly and without any such representation to foretel it for every Emblem and Symbolical representation is the work of an intelligent agent and the foreseeing things
Parliament of Provence This excellent Personage going from Montpellier to Nismes lay all night in an Inn which is the Mid-way betwixt those two places he had in his company one Iames Rainier Citizen of Aix who in that journey lodged in the same Chamber with him as that great man slept Rainier observ'd that he talk'd and mutter'd something in his sleep otherwise then was usual with him whereupon he wakened him and ask'd him what was the matter Oh! said he you have made me lose a most excellent and pleasant dream for I was dreaming that I was at Nismes and that a Goldsmith shew'd me a golden Medal of Iulius Caesar which he would sell me for four Crowns and as I was ready to give him them both my Goldsmith and my Medal vanish'd away together by your awakening of me Being arriv'd at Nismes and having not forgot his dream he went to walk in the City till such time as dinner was ready and passing up and down he went into a Goldsmiths shop to ask him whether he had any rarity to show him whereupon the Goldsmith answer'd that he had a Iulius Caesar of Gold Monsieur de Peiresc asking the price of it he answer'd four Crowns which thing did fill the mind of that great person both with joy and admiration as well for that he had found a Rarity which he had long very much sought for As also for the surprising and strange manner whereby it came to his hands A third shall be another out of the same book of Cicero Hannibal having taken Sagunta dream'd that Iupiter call'd him to a Council of the Gods where Iupiter commanded him to carry the war into Italy and that one of that Assembly should march in the head of his Army and having begun his March under the Conduct of him who was appointed to be his guide the guide forbad him to look behind him but he could not prevail so far with himself being transported with a desire to know what that was which came behind him where he saw a great and terrible beast all compass'd with Serpents which did wind themselves about it and where ere it pass'd it turn'd all upside down houses and trees and shrubs and generally all that ever came in its way being astonish'd at the sight he demanded of the god that conducted him what that Monster signify'd whereupon he told him that was the ruine and desolation of Italy but as for the rest that he should not trouble himself with what should come after but march on without losing of time This last dream did certainly proceed from some evil Angel for a good one would never have sent into his imagination the Idea of a Council of false gods But an evil one made use of the Images of the false Deities which their Statues had left in the Memory of this Heathen General and joyn'd other things necessary thereunto for the perfect constitution of the dream As for what was foretold of the desolation of Italy it was easie for an evil Angel to Divine viz. That if this Carthaginian Captain did follow the Counsel given him and enter into Italy with a Splendid and Victorious Army that he would there make very great Desolations And if the event was answerable and exceeded even what the Devil was able to conjecture it therefore so happen'd because God had so ordain'd it in the Counsel of his Providence The first of these Examples as it is recited by Cicero may be refer'd to good or bad Angels 1. To bad ones as they had a great Empire among the Heathens and having had a great part in the design of him who committed the Murther they then by the discovery drew two Signal Advantages the one that after they had caus'd an innocent man to be slain they then caus'd also the guilty to die this being a great pleasure to the enemy of mankind whose destruction he delights in and if he were permitted he would unpeople the whole earth The other that hereby they gave some Credit and Authority to Dreams of this nature which passing for Extraordinary and Divine did further confirm some men in the respect they bare those Deities to which they were attributed 2. It may also be attributed to good ones for as much as although God hath left the Heathen Nations in a great measure to walk in their own ways yet notwithstanding he has not cast off all care of them in respect of his Universal Providence of which the Angels are his Instruments and the Executors of his Will and Pleasure And although for good reasons he might suffer the poor Arcadian to be slain it was yet an effect of his Providence to punish the Murtherer for this is one great means by which he preserves Humane Societies for the subsistence whereof God always takes a particular care As for the Second I should without any great difficulty attribute it to a good Angel who would thus testifie that though they be invisible yet they do not only converse here below with men but also that they have a kindness for great Persons who are lovers of Learning and Vertue for to impute this Dream to meer chance I think it can no more reasonably be done then to those natural causes of which I spoke before The Author of Peiresc his life has indeed reason to say that considering all the parts of that Story separately there is not any one singly that seems to be very wonderful The City of Nismes saith he might come into the Imagination of this great man as he slept seeing he had a Design to go thither and was almost arriv'd at it he might also dream of Iulius Caesar's Medal being very curious of those Antiquities Although the Medals of that kind were very rare yet it was no strange thing to meet with one there seeing that Nismes was a City which had been very much frequented by the Romans It was more probable to find one in the hands of a Goldsmith then elsewhere for they into whose hands such pieces of Antiquity do sometimes come do often desire rather Currant Money and find better opportunities of putting them off at Goldsmiths then elsewhere It might easily come to pass both that Peiresc should dream that he bought it for so reasonable a price and that a Goldsmith should be content with four Crowns for a piece which those that are curious would without any difficulty buy at a far greater rate But that so many circumstances should meet together in one and the same Dream and that they should all exactly answer the particularities of the event is that which far surpasses both the accidental hits of meer chance and all natural causes so that we must necessarily attribute it to some intelligent cause And every one may see that this is no ways above the power of Angels they then certainly knowing that at Nismes in the hands of a Goldsmith there was a Iulius Caesar which they had seen and heard valued at
Saviour into Egypt But here I am very sensible that this reason of its publication viz. the asserting the use of Reason in matters of Religion will by some be thought rather fit to have prevail'd with me to have let it laid still buried in its Native French lest by this means the contagion should still further prevail in the English Nation How far an extravagant opinion of the power extent of Reason may have possess'd some I know not yet this is certain that we must not therefore wholly reject it because others have overvalued it or by some other ways abus'd it we must not forbid our selves the use of fire water because some have employ'd both to their own ruine For by this way of arguing we must bid Adieu not only to Reason but Scripture too which has been abus'd not only by great pretenders to Reason but by ignorant and unstable men to their own destruction But then if we would either prevent the rise or stop the growth of any such opinions amongst us the way to do it I conceive is not to suspect our friends such who are not only free from errour herein but also very able and willing too to defend the true Ancient Catholick Faith in this particular not I say to suspect our friends but so to treat our open and profess'd enemies the Socinians in such a sound way and Method of proceeding as may be the most effectual to convince them or however to secure our selves that is First with strength of Reason Secondly with Candor and Ingenuity of Temper 1. With strength of Reason thus to baffle them at that weapon which they pretend to be so much their own though in deed and truth they cannot lay such a just claim undoubted title to it for in many things they perhaps are the weakest arguers of any sort of men whatever yet seeing they are such pretenders to it we must deal with them accordingly by the strictest and severest methods of reasoning for a good cause cannot suffer more then either by too violent an urging of weak arguments or an unskilful managing of good ones and a weak defence like a cold petition is its own answer and a kind of giving up the cause we pretend to plead for besides it brings a disreputation to truth to see its Patrons and Defenders worsted In order therefore to our more successful proceeding herein in all Personal disputes with these Adversaries they ought not to demand nor should we grant them any other part then that of an Opponent and the reason is because ours is the Ancient Truth which has been in the possession of the Church long before their opinion was ever thought of and therefore we must be suppos'd in rightful possession of it till the contrary be prov'd which they will be never able to do seeing their great Art and Policy consists rather in evading the force of our arguments then in trusting to any of their own I speak not this as if our Christian Religion was not as well able to confute its adversaries as to defend it self provided only that they would but acknowledge so much reason and ingenuity as not to look upon frivolous evasions for solid answers which if they do they then seem to labour of a certain weakness of mind something like that of Scepticism only the Scepticks they deny or doubt of every thing these by the like unreasonable principles do or may assert any thing and thus in stead of being what they so much pretend to be such Masters of Reason they hereby destroy the very foundations of all rational discourse 2. We should treat them with all Candour and Ingenuity of Behaviour for our Reasons and Arguments will be then the more likely to convince their understandings if withall we endeavour to oblige their affections however not provoke their passions Thus 't is verily thought that Arrius had never rais'd those tempestuous storms w ch we read he did If Alexander the first that oppos'd the Arrian Heresie had carried himself with more moderation and been less eager in so good a cause And having gone thus far in answer to the objection give me leave to enquire a little further into the merit of the cause what there is in Reason so destructive of Religion that the very name of the one should seem heretical in the other what is it wherein Reason hath so highly offended that it should be excluded the Temple and from having any thing to do in matters of Religion Doth that Religion which once commanded us to give a reason of the hope that is in us doth it require nothing now but blind obedience Was Reason requir'd as it were in the very infancy and first ages of the Church and is it now become useless nay dangerous in its riper years Is that which is the imperfection of old age viz. the weakness of our intellectuals is it now become the perfection of our faith The Heathens indeed they look'd upon a Prophetick fury and alienation of mind to be either a necessary concomitant or a certain effect of their inspiration The Turks they look upon mad men and fools as the only Prophets and men inspir'd and we know what Church it is that asserts ignorance to be the Mother of Devotion But we have not thus learned Christ for our Religion doth not go about to build the Christian upon the ruines of the Man nor do we then cease to be Rational when we become Religious Religion being founded and as it were grafted upon the stock of Reason Thus the Moral Law is either the same with or founded in the Light and Law of Nature and the Christian Law though it be above them both yet is it not contrary to either Thus Reason and Religion do friendlily agree and mutually conspire to support each other for Religion improves Reason and Reason thus improv'd and enlightned defends Religion and as on the one hand the mysterys of our Faith are so far from being any real ground of an objection against it that indeed they render it more Divine and Venerable for we might perhaps justly question the Divinity of that Religion wherein we see nothing above the power of a finite understanding either at first to find out or afterwards to comprehend so on the other hand the sutableness thereof to our rational faculties in other things is no less a commendation and confirmation of it for to say that God should institute an unreasonable Religion is such a foolish assertion as needs no confutation for certainly God would either have given us a Religion sutable to our Faculties or Faculties sutable to our Religion If it be here objected that God and Scripture condemns Reason and that it doth not become us to dispute against the express Commands of God To this I answer that Scripture doth no where condemn that Reason which I here plead for but all those places which they urge against it may and must be interpreted
to come requires still more light of reason 'T is true indeed that the understanding sometimes makes some reflexions upon the things thus presented to the phansie in sleep for there is this difference betwixt our dreams and those of Dogs and Horses those of such animals do not reach any higher faculty then the imagination for as much as they have none higher whereas ours do sometimes affect the understanding so that we do sometimes make rational reflexions upon those phantasms and sometimes long discourses as it frequently happens to those who are accustomed to speak in publick But then in the first place it is not the understanding that forms these Idea's it only acts upon them as they are represented by the imagination so that it cannot give them the least power of signifying things to come and further how can that which cannot foresee things future when awake do it when asleep and be able to represent them in those different shapes which then concur in the fansie so far is it from doing any thing of this that it cannot pass any rational judgment either of the past or present of which yet it hath much more knowledge then of things to come and indeed no extravagance is able then to check or set bounds to our understanding we raise our friends whom we know to be dead and discourse with them as if yet living we set Paris in Quercy and London in Germany and this without any great wonder to us we become Beggars and Kings in a moment nor doth this so strange an alteration any ways amuse us and there is nothing so phantastical or disagreeable which doth not thus seem reasonable to us 3. The third sort of natural dreams are such as proceed from those employments of our life to which we apply our selves with great intention of mind for studious men dream of books covetous men of money Souldiers imagine they see battalions of foot and squadrons of horse and generally those who are delighted in any employment dream of things relating thereunto And it is not difficult to render a reason hereof for the images of these things are most familiar to them and do most frequently occur so that it is no wonder if when the inward heat which is much more intense in sleep doth move and agitate this store-house of sensible Idea's no wonder I say if these do first and more frequently offer themselves but yet always almost with the same phantasticalness as the former so that we may make the same judgment of both and believe that they have no more power to signifie things to come then they had 4. The fourth kind of natural dreams is that which arises upon occasion of some passion which has either possess'd us whilst yet waking and upon which we now reflect being asleep or such as takes its first rise in our sleep by the motion of the irascible or concupiscible appetite and here it fares with us almost in the same manner as in those which proceed from the temperament of the body and the constitution of the humours for thus it presents to our imagination objects which leave some resemblance to our passions Those who are hungry imagine they see feasts and those who are thirsty believe they drink at fountains The amorous see their inclinations and the cholerick the objects of their anger and run to meet their enemies who present themselves in arms before them But as these dreams have without doubt a cause antecedent in your passion so it is certain that ordinarily they are no less extravagant then the former nor more capable to give any certain knowledge of things to come nor of those very things which already exist if they be altogether unknown to us before our dream for the sensitive part of our soul is indeed able to submit to reason but in it self doth no ways partake of it so that it being in its own nature irrational it is impossible it should produce any thing which as we said before requires an intelligent agent for its cause 'T is true sometimes it happens that some of these dreams do come to pass which makes us think there is some resemblance or agreement betwixt the dream and the event and by consequence that some Angel or Spirit is concern'd therein But as Aristotle has observ'd this happens by meer chance as he that without any aim should shoot a thousand arrows may at last by chance hit the mark so in our dreams such an infinite number of visions do pass into our imagination that it is not only no wonder if one should sometimes chance to be true but it would be much more strange if once or twice in our life it did not so happen but if any of our dreams do not only come to pass but there also be a remarkable agreement betwixt it and the event and such as that we ought necessarily to suppose the operation of an intelligent agent to intervene we ought not then to reckon this among natural dreams but to refer it either to God or to some action of Angels CHAP. II. Of Angelical Dreams in General and some rational reflexions on particular ones THere are two sorts of dreams which we may impute to created Intelligences the one where the things signifi'd are contained in Symbolical and Mysterious Representations the other where they are propos'd naked without any such resemblances as for the first those who undertake to give rules of their interpretation do it in two different ways for they tell us that we ought sometimes to take the direct contrary to the dream for it's interpretation as if one dream of marriages they say it is a sign of death and on the contrary if we imagine in our sleep that we see Mourning-weeds and Funeral-attire we shall then suddenly hear of a Marriage but one may dream of such things without Angels any ways concerning themselves herein for that the images of those things may remain in the memory and by the meer force of nature return into the Phansie when we are asleep but when any such dream shall happen and it be imprinted in the imagination by the operation of an Angel we may assure our selves that it is not a good one that doth it for they are the Ministers of God who is never that Author of those dreams whose signification is thus to be read backward much less hath he established any such rule to interpret them by and there is not the least footstep hereof either in Scripture or Nature and there is too much of uncertainty in these interpretations to entitle them to Divine Revelation And this makes me call to mind that which they report of Buchanan who every year inter-leaf'd his Almanack with white paper and where the Almanack foretold Fair-weather he writ over against it Fowl and where it said it should be Rain or Cloudy he set opposite to it a Fair and Clear Skie and that after he had observ'd it fifty or sixty years
four Crowns they might hereupon go and make this impression in the Imagination of this great Person However I do not see in this Dream any the least Character which doth necessarily oblige us to refer it to evil Angels no more then briefly to mention it that of Calpurnia the wife of Caesar who the night immediately before the death of her husband dream'd that she saw one run him through with a Sword in the Senate though the relation which she made and the prayers by which she endeavour'd to divert him from the Senate that day prov'd all ineffectual but good Angels may give us good advertisements though we do not follow their advice and this is a testimony of the care they have for the conservation of the life of Princes as the neglect thereof is a proof of the imprudence of those who are concern'd therein It is not related to us in Scripture what was the dream of Pilate's wife when she sent to pray him not to have any thing to do in the death of our Lord Christ however it was it seems to have come from the impression of a good Angel though Pilate did not submit thereunto However it was sufficient for the Angel in this case to have caus'd his wife thus to give testimony to the Innocence of our Saviour However I say it was for I would not make it an Article of Faith and every one here may use the liberty of his own judgment perhaps this was done to distinguish betwixt those Dreams which Angels cause in our Imaginations by the express Command of God and those which proceed from their operation by bare permission those ought to be more powerful and efficacious for as much as they are intended for the execution of some Design which God hath purposed with himself and therefore 't is necessary that he so far dispose the understanding of those whom these visions concern that they defer so much to them as is necessary to bring about the Design but these coming only from the good Inclinations of Angels which God suffers them to follow and to discover on such and such occasions it is of no great importance though they do not produce the effect which their Authors design'd and it is sufficient satisfaction to them that they have shown that good will which they have for men and especially for those who are eminent in vertue or dignity CHAP. III. Of Divine Dreams AS for Divine Dreams they are also of two sorts the one contains future things under AEnigmatical and Mysterious Representations the other are much more plain and naked there are very remarkable Examples of the first sort in the History of Ioseph as well in those which concern'd himself to foretel his own grandeur as in those of Pharaoh to forewarn him of the seven years of plenty and seven others of dearth The Image of Nabuchodonosor is yet more remarkable as the stone cut without hands which from small beginnings came to be a great mountain and fill'd all the World There are Examples of the other kind in the History of the birth of our Saviour as well those which were sent to the wise men to warn them to return some other way then where Herod did expect them as in those by which Ioseph was commanded to carry Christ into Egypt and to bring him back again in due time As for Iacob's vision which was convey'd to him in a Dream when he went into Padan-Aram it was compounded of both the sorts for the Ladder upon which the Angels did ascend and descend had without doubt a mysterious signification which related to Christ but the words which he heard contain'd the promises plain and intelligible which were not wrap'd up in the vail of dark and mysterious representations Now concerning these and all other Divine Dreams in general we may make these three Enquiries 1. Why God hath sometimes reveal'd himself in Dreams to his Servants 2. How they could certainly know that those Dreams had God for their Author and that they were not vain delusions 3. Whether this way of Revelation by Dreams be yet practis'd and whether God doth still make use of it under the Dispensation of the Gospel As for the first of these questions the Apostle tells us That God at divers times and in sundry manners spoke of old to the fathers by the Prophets but hath now in these last days spoke unto us by his Son where he opposes the dispensation of the Son to the former of Law in three things 1. That God formerly spoke to the Fathers by the Prophets but hath now spoke to us by his Son 2. This he did at divers times that is he reveal'd the knowledge of himself by degrees and as it were by parcels adding one light to another successively whereas he has now reveal'd to us all at once so much of his truth as he design'd us to know even to the end of the world 3. He now only reveals himself in one way viz. By the preaching of the Gospel whereas then he did it in divers manners And these divers manners may refer to those several kinds of faculties which as I said before we make use of for the getting and preserving of knowledge viz. The External Senses the Internal and the Vnderstanding As for the External God makes little use of three of them for this end viz. Touching Smelling and Tasting but doth frequently employ the other two for he hath been presented visibly to our eyes as well in humane appearance as to Abraham and Manoe and to some others as in other shapes as to Moses in the burning Bush And as for hearing he hath often caus'd voices to be heard from heaven as by Abraham and also by Moses in the Bush and in many other instances As for the Internal Senses he employs them both waking and sleeping 1. Waking by Extasies which he hath sometimes sent to his Servants for then he acted in such manner upon their Imagination by that Power and Vertue which he there display'd and made so great and so powerful an abstraction of their souls from their External Senses that their functions did altogether cease though they were not then asleep and yet in the mean time he Imprinted in their phansie the Images of Extraordinary and Admirable things and made them inwardly to understand the voice which gave them either some Instruction or Command We see a famous Example hereof in S. Peter when he saw the sheet descending from heaven and heard the voice Kill and eat for he was then in an Extasie or Trance and the things which S. Iohn relates to us in his Revelation were thus convey'd to him 2. In sleep by dreams such as I have already mention'd and others of the like nature and there is little difference betwixt Extasies and Dreams only that though in both there was a Cessation of the Functions of the bodily senses yet in an Extasie it was not altogether so entire and absolute as
Common-sense which is a faculty superior to them so that it can judge of their actions and of the things imprinted thereupon It can also compare the action of one sense with the operation of another and laying them together confer their respective properties and qualities and the judgment that results from hence depends as well upon the impression which the object makes upon the external organ according as it is more or less intense as upon the nature of the Internal and Common-sense which is a corporeal faculty and that which belongs to the sensitive part of the soul of which Dogs and Horses and other animals do also partake As for Divine Dreams the impression was indeed make in the fansy which is also a corporeal faculty it being one of the internal senses but the reflexion which the servants of God made thereupon when waking was the work of the understanding which is more clear and exact in its operations and which in the Prophets and those other faithful men to whom these dreams were convey'd was further enlightned by the Spirit of God to judge aright of the object which it had so attentively consider'd The impression then of these dreams being more profoundly imprinted upon the phansy for as much as it came from a supernatural cause then that which the sensible objects make upon our outward senses and the faculty which did consider and reflect upon them both as to the whole and the parts and the circumstances that attended them being more excellent and more exact in its judgments then t is possible for the common sense to be consequently the result thereof ought to be proportionably more perfect and the perswasion of the divinity of these dreams more certain and more undoubted As for the dreams which proceed from the operation of Angels it must be acknowledged they are more difficultly distinguish'd from those that are Divine for they are capable of a more regular formation then those that are produc'd by natural causes they may be more strongly imprinted upon the imagination and so may be of longer continuance so that we may more easily remember them when we do awake in a word they are of greater force to perswade us that they proceed from a Divine principle For the understanding of an Angel doth manifestly shew it self as well in the methodical placing of the parts of the dream from whence it draws its symmetry and proportion as in the resemblance which they bear to the things which they are designed to represent as we have seen before in the dream of the Egg and the Treasure to which we might add many others of the like sort Yet here we must call to mind what was before said of this matter that there is a great deal of difference betwixt the dreams which may have been caus'd by Angels only for as much as that which they contain'd and whereof they did consist was not above either the understanding or the activity of Angels and betwixt those of which they were only the Instruments to form the Images in the phansy of Gods servants according to the Command and according to the Revelation which he had given them of his Will As for the first the comparing the actions of good and bad Angels would easily show the difference and it might more especially be made in this double respect 1. The Images that good Angels did imprint upon the phansy did never contain any thing of Idolatry or Pagan superstition whereas those which proceeded from evil ones were commonly full of it for in these there was always either some representation of false gods or something which concern'd their worship or some other vision of that nature which denoted the author of the dream to be willing to authorize Idolatry or Superstition from which the Inclination of good Angels was always very distant 2. The dreams caus'd by evil Angels did always or at least for the most part induce to some evil actions which the good ones never do who as they are free from temptation to evil themselves so do they never tempt others to it That which might render the discerning betwixt these two more doubtful or more difficult is that upon this as upon other occasions these Angels of darkness might transform themselves into Angels of light and endeavour to impose upon the credulity of the faithful by causing them to have such dreams which should not seem to contain any thing of that vice we before mention'd and which should tend to actions indifferent in themselves or such as perhaps might have the appearance of good but yet such as they might make use of for some evil design And the dream sent to Ioseph to command him to carry Christ into Egypt may serve for an Example for as I have already said Ioseph might perhaps think that this was a meer illusion of the devil who design'd hereby to lie in wait for him to destroy him Here we may lay down these several considerations First That how great a cheat soever the Devil is yet he can never counterfeit so well but something will happen whereby he may be discovered they say that when he visibly appears in humane shape what ever care he takes to disguise himself yet there is always something in the apparition by which he may be known either by the horror of his Claws or some stinking smell or some such like thing which presently appears and renders the vision terrible and frightful Whether it be so or no I know not I will not affirm it though it be not without some appearance of reason But as for what concerns his actions and the means he makes use of whereby to deceive men whether by dreams or by voice or any other illusion neither is his own malice able nor will the Divine Providence suffer him so perfectly to resemble the actions of good Angels but there will be some mark by which to discern them And what I said before upon occasion of the dream of the Arcadian is founded only upon the relation that Cicero makes of it If we had had a perfect and entire account thereof with all its circumstances one might certainly have found something in it whereby we might easily have known whether it proceeded from a good or bad Angel Hence I dare boldly affirm that if the dream sent to Ioseph had come from an evil spirit there would have been something more in it then what is related of it whereby this holy man would easily have known that it was not of a Divine Inspiration Secondly Not only dreams proceeding from the Devil have some character from whence we may conclude their original but also those that come from good Angels have something on the contrary whence we may conclude their Author truly good for naturally every effect retains some mark of its cause Fire leaves something of it self where it exercises its power and Water where it passes Beasts do imprint something upon their proper operations and Men
gave it into Pharaoh's hand now I pray the dreams which proceed from our bodily temper and constitution or from the motion of the Idea's in our memory caus'd by natural heat or from the application of our minds to the cares and businesses of life or from the motion of our passions are they either so emblematical on the one side or so regular on the other as to present in their very constitutions Symbols consisting of so many parts which answer one another with so great proportion To which if you add that this emblem as it was distinct and articulate so was it also lively clear deeply impress'd upon the imagination you will not find it any way strange if it pass'd in the apprehension of the Cup-bearer for a Divine and extraordinary dream but he had yet more reason to be of that opinion when his Companion the Baker told him in the morning that he had also dream'd the same night that there were three white baskets upon his head and that in the uppermost there was all manner of provisions relating to the Bakers trade for Pharaoh and that the Birds did eat them out of the Basket as it was upon his head for this circumstance that they both dream'd at the same time and saw visions rare in their compositions proportionable in their parts Symbolical without doubt in their signification sutable each to the Office of the dreamer which agreed both in the number three although they did otherwise differ in some remarkable circumstances lastly which had made very great impressions upon them both all this I say could not be brought about but by an intelligent and heavenly cause so that 't is no wonder if the perplexity which these visions caus'd in their minds did equally appear in the Morning by the change of their countenances The dreams of Pharaoh had yet something of more exactness in the just proportion and symmetry of their parts seven young kine on the one hand and seven more on the other the good and strong constitution of the one seven and the leanness of the other the beauty of the fat ones and the gastly ugliness of the other the action of the one which devoured and swallowed up the other and all this without any mixture of any thing that was phantastical or extravagant as it commonly happens in dreams and without any circumstance from whence Pharaoh might infer that there was any thing in it which might in the least argue any tincture either of his cares or passions either of the constitution of his humours or the temperament of his body this was sufficient even at first to cause admiration and perplexity in his thoughts And indeed in that it is said he wakened upon his dream this shows that he was very sensibly touch'd with it for those dreams that make any great impression upon us do awaken us Nevertheless Pharaoh was not much frighted at his first dream and went again to sleep as before but when another vision answerable to the first represented to him on the one hand seven fair and full ears of Corn and on the other seven small ones blasted with the East wind and that the small and withered ones devoured the fair and full ones then he did not at all doubt but it was God that spake to him by these representations so that his very soul was terrified And indeed these two visions thus presented one upon the neck of another were too clearly and visibly mysterious not to cause something of astonishment Those of Ioseph appear to me yet more admirable He first saw the sheaves of his brethren which did encompass his sheaf and prostrate themselves before it which had so clear and plain a signification that his brethren understood it at the very first a little after in another dream he saw the Sun and Moon and Eleven Stars which also fell down before him which still contain'd the same thing in such an illustrious and glorious Emblem that when he came to recite it his father did not only understand it but was offended at it and chid him for it Whether then we suppose that Iacob and his other children did really believe that Ioseph had thus dream'd or that they suspected that he had contriv'd it yet it manifestly appears that they acknowledged that that could not proceed but from the operation of an intelligent agent For meer chance could never have adjusted the parts of these visions singly much less could it so well have joyn'd them both together This then was enough to make them believe these dreams were supernatural But yet there was another thing that might perswade Ioseph that they were truly Divine his conscience bare him witness that he was void of ambition and if perhaps he had had some kind of inclination or tendency that way yet however it would not have been to desire dominion over his brethren much less would he have desir'd it over those who begat him for this is a monstrous desire and such as is altogether unnatural But grant he had such strange elevations of Spirit as to desire to become so great as that his father and mother should prostrate themselves before him whence was it that his imagination set it self to find out the Sun and Moon and Eleven Stars precisely whereby to presage this Empire It is a very rare thing if in a meer natural dream any one imagines that he sees the Sun for there is always something that is black and dark in these nocturnal visions But though that should happen much oftner yet to see it in such a state of humiliation and the Moon and Eleven Stars to represent that which this dream prefigured is a thing so far above that which natural causes are accustomed to do that it would be too great an impertinence to impute it to them Lastly the dreams of Nabuchodonosor are yet in my opinion somewhat more magnificent for there a great Image was represented to the imagination of this Prince the splendor whereof was excellent and it's appearance terrible the head thereof was of fine gold the breast and arms of Silver its belly and hinder parts of Brass its legs of Iron its feet partly of Iron partly of Clay after that appear'd to him a Stone which of it self fell from a Mountain without being cut with hands which rowling down struck against the feet of the image and bruised them to pieces afterwards the Iron the Clay the Brass the Silver the Gold were all equally bruis'd to pieces and became like chaff in the air in Summer blown up and down and driven to and fro with a strong wind so that all the materials whereof the Image was composed did vanish and wholly disappear But as for the Stone that broke the Image it became a great mountain and fill'd all the universe let us a little lay aside the interpretation of this vision and not at all consider the things design'd thereby let us only consider the vision in it self