largely and punctually insist upon it both by reasons and by examples But before we enter upon it I must premit some cautions to prevent offence upon mistake First whereas by our inscription or indication at the beginning we professe to treat in this Chapter of Contemplative philosophical Enthusiasme by Philosophical we do not intend such as is proper to contemplative Philosophers only of which kind somewhat hath already and much more remaineth in the conclusion of all to be spoken but all kind of Enthusiasme having any dependance from the intention or contemplation of the mind which because most proper unto Philosophers is therefore designed by that name though incidental unto some who never had to do with any more then natural unto all that are naturally rational Philosophy If this do not satisfie I desire that my general title Of Enthusiasme proceeding from natural causes c. may be remembred beyond which not to excurre but where I give an account in some petty digression is my chiefest care Secondly whilst we endeavour to reduce divers ecstasies to natural causes the ignorance of which causes we shall shew to have been the cause of many evils we would not be suspected by any to question the truth and reality of supernatural not only of such for which having the authority of the Holy Scriptures no man can denie or question them except he first deny or question the truth and reality of these as divine but also of many others which either good though not infallible authority or sound reason upon due examination of circumstances hath commended unto us for such Except a man will argue because we do not believe all dreams that are dreamed by all manner of people in any part of the world which some have maintained to be prophetical that therefore none are from God or because precious stones may be counterfeited so that the most skilfull as is noted by some may sometimes be deceived therefore there is no such thing in the world as true Sapphires or Diamonds Thirdly and lastly when in matter of diseases we oppose natural causes to supernatural whether divine or diabolical as we do not exclude the general will of God without which nothing can be so neither the general ministerie and intervention of the Devil who for ought I know may have a hand in all or most diseases to which mortal man through sin is naturally liable But whether it be so or no and by what kind of operation is a speculation not proper to us here No man doth sin but he is possest in some degree it is good Divinity and best Philosophers have maintained that there was no vice but was the fruit of madnesse and I believe that too to be good Philosophy especially since I have Hippocrates too his authority for it However we make a difference between personal immediate possession or operation which we oppose to natural causes and that general concurrence or intervention of the Devil which may be supposed in all that is evil whether in a moral or natural sense So much to prevent mistakes Now we proceed Not to insist upon the several acceptions of the word ecstasis which are not to our purpose I shall only observe that it is used by ancient Greek Physicians and others in a much different from the now common use and notion As used by ancient Authors it doth import a distraction of the senses a violent alienation of the mind nay violent but not fixed or settled madnesse by which onely it doth differ from it Such distraction of the senses and such alienation of mind as may be seen in some passionate men in a fit of Anger As we read of one of the Kings of England a Prince otherwise of excellent parts and in his ordinary conversation very meek but in his anger so furious that he would not onely fling and tear whatsoever was in his way as many others but sit upon the ground pick straws and do other such acts of a perfect Bedlam As therefore of Anger it hath been said anciently that Ira furor brevis est so do I find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Author of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Physical Definitions supposed by many to be Galen's defined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 However that the word is alwaies so taken by ancient Heathens for a violent Distraction is more then I can say For where Aristotle in De Divin por insomnia upon his former position of unsensible emanations from natural objects of which in the former Chapter gives a reason why some that fall into Ecstasies do prophesie to wit because their senses being discharged from their own proper operations they are the more exposed to external impressions I do not see how he could mean it of any such extasie where there is a violent distraction such as was in the Pythiae and other whether men or women by whom Oracles anciently were issued as he is interpreted by some Latin Commentators neither was it so agreeable to his subject of divination by dreams to treat of alienation of mind incidental unto men perfectly waking but very proper and pertinent to say somewhat of Ecstasies as the word is now taken commonly which have great affinity with Sleep though from causes very different I take notice of it the rather to vindicate a place of Scripture from a wrong interpretation at which many godly men being scandalized some have studied evasions for which their good will hath been commended by others more then their good luck or judgement It is Mark 3.21 where the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is translated in our English For they said he is besides himself Neither is it in the vulgar Latin better rather worse The Syriack doubtful What interpretations or evasions rather have been devised may be found in Maldonat and others The Arabick translation of all others hath been thought by many learned men to have lighted upon the right sense For which also it hath found great commendations among Translations It interprets the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather not of madnesse but of fainting which as it is most proper to the Story so not improper to the word For first it appears by the ninth verse that Christ himself as man feared that he should suffer by excessive throng and by verse 20. that they had not time to eat And what more likely in a hot Countrey to cause fainting then a great crowd and an empty stomach And besides that it was ordinary enough in those Countreys for people when they travailed fasting to faint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used of trances and ecstasies sometimes by the way may probably be gathered by Matth. 15.32 except we shall conceit with some that the people there spoken of had been three dayes without eating enough to cause faintnesse in any place which as of it self it is improbable so neither can it be collected by any necessary consequence
sect 30.1 hath a long discourse of the several effects of the atra bilis according to its different 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or temperature that is as it is mixed either with heat or cold Among other things he hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that is They to whom this melancholick temperament is natural it presently shews it self in the varietie of their nature and dispositions according to the diversity of the temperament or mixture They that have superfluity of it and cold they are naturally sluggish and stupid but they that abound with it joyned with heat they are wildish good natur'd or witty prone to love quickly moved to passions and concupiscences and some also very talkative or discoursive And some again because of the nearnesse of this heat to the seat of reason are liable to distempers of madnesse and enthusiasticknesse Hence also are proceeded the Sibyls and the Bacchicks and all that are truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called and accounted that is divinely possessed and inspired when it doth not happen through sicknesse but by natural temper Aristotle doth seem to contradict himself in those last words in that having made enthusiasticknesse a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a distemper or sicknesse he doth afterwards affirm that the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be so by their natural temper which perchance made Budeus to leave out those last words in the Greek where he cites them in his Annotations upon the Pandects But it must be remembred which was noted before that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes taken for a bodily disease and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commonly confounded are distinct Aristotles purpose being to say that both the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through disease and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naturally proceed from this kind of mixture of the atra bilis But again If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may some say so really how naturally Except we shall say that Aristotle intended to assign a double cause the one natural in preparing the bodie without which preparation nothing would be done the other supernatural the formal and immediate cause of the operation And if this were his meaning then he is much wronged by them who lay to his charge as though he made Melancholy the only cause whereas themselves also allow of some previous preparation and disposition in such cases as necessary I have heard some learned men make a question whether those Problems were truly Aristotles because they have observed some things in them not worthy they think so grave and solid a Philosopher I have thought so my self sometimes I must confesse and it is not impossible but that something might be foysted in here and there that is of another stamp But for the generality of the book there is authority enough from ancient Authors by whom it is often quoted and for this part and parcel of it we are now upon there is too much of Aristotles stile and genius in it to leave it doubtful and questionable And besides that we have Cicero's testimony in his first of Divination Aristoteles quidem eos etiam qui valetudinis vitio furerent melancholici dicerentur censebat habere aliquid in animis praesagiens atque divinum Except Aristotle should treat of it somewhere else too as I think he doth though this be the place most taken notice of For my part I confesse that I adscribe much to this discourse of the Philosopher concerning the effects of atra bilis I wish some few lines had been left out that the whole might have been read or interpreted in offensively However because I would not be over-long upon this subject I shall content my self with what hath been said upon it hastening to the consideration of another opinion of the same Aristotle which few take notice of that have written of this subject concerning the causes of Divination upon which I purpose to ground my conclusion But first of all to make it the more intelligible to all men I must begin with some general grounds First That there is nothing without a cause but God Secondly That some things are by Gods immediate will without any subordination of secondary means and some things though by the will of God yet through means which he hath appointed known to us under the name and notion of natural causes Thirdly Of things that happen by natural causes some things happen according to the ordinary course of nature having their limited times and seasons c. other things extraordinarily as to the ordinary course of nature though not lesse naturally Fourthly Nothing that happens according to the ordinary course of nature whereof the cause is known though it be foretold long before comes within the compasse of true Divination For example An Astrologer can foretel what Eclipses of either Sun or Moon will be a hundred or two hundred years hence at what Day of the Moneth and what Hour of the Day they will happen I know what can be said against it that some have been deceived in the hour as in the Eclipse that happened 1605. April 3. about which some very able Artists are noted to have mistaken and the reason is given by Astronomers how such a mistake might happen However it is very seldome that such a chance doth happen and when it doth it is but a mistake of the hour not of the day In such predictions though wonderful to ignorant people and to some that make a trade of cheating people that are ignorant there is nothing supernatural nothing that really can be accounted Divination Fifthly That many things happen according to the constant course of nature the causes whereof are not known For example the Flux and Reflux of the Sea the inundation of the river Nilus and the like Sixthly That many natural things before they come to that passe as to be generally known or visible have some kind of obscure beginnings by which they be known by some long before Or thus That many natural things by some natural foregoing signes may be known felt or discerned by those men or creatures that have a natural disposition or sympathy whether constant or temporary to those things or their signes though unto others that have not they be altogether unknown So for example many dumb creatures are sensible of future changes and alterations of air of imminent storms and tempests They foresee them not by any ratiocination or consideration of the causes but feel some effects of the agitation of causes and foregoing symptomes which in very truth are part of the being of the things themselves not yet so discernable as afterwards And not dumb creatures only but men also by the natural temper of their heads or by some accidental distemper in some member can foretel some times a long time before such alterations and Tempests Frost or Snow wet or drie weather and the
such as we must have before we come to miracles from the words of the Text but this rather as by learned Maldonat is well observed that having been three dayes already with Christ and spent what small provision they had brought with them or could procure in that place they must have gone away fasting which unto them especially that had far to go which therefore as a considerable circumstance is well supplied by S. Mark ch 8. v. 3. for divers of them came from far would have been of dangerous consequence And as for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence the word ecstasis is taken if ecstasis be commonly taken as at this day for a Trance and was so anciently too I pray what is the difference between a Trance and a fainting or swooning otherwise called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or deliquium or syncope I do not say that there is no difference but that there is so much affinity that the words may probably be confounded sometimes as divers are upon lesse I omit what is added by Grotius and some others I should have thought that lesse would have served to have perswaded them that are not very contentious But I will judge no man I wish heartily that that Translation were corrected in all Bibles I would not have it believed since there is no need that Christs kindred did believe or suspect at any time that he was ecstatical They might I know believe it or make as though they believed it and yet upon no real ground But why should we give ground to any man in these Anabaptistical times especially to dispute it where the Scripture doth not If it be objected that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not found in this sense elsewhere in the Old or New Testament the weaknesse of this objection may appear if it be remembred as by divers upon several occasions is observed that even in the New Testament not to speak of other ancient Authors and writers of all kind there be divers words found which in some one place and but one are taken and so commonly expounded in a very different sense from the more known and usual We could shew divers examples if need were As for those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I wonder any man should find ground of an argument upon an Accusative and not a Genitive here used whereas it is well known that the construction is promiscuous enough whereof we have an example Mark 7.3 and Hebr. 4.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the other as by learned men hath been observed The words therefore will afford either but I make no great matter of it whether we translate they went out to hold him up or they went out to lay hold on him They that are in a swoon or ready to drop down through faintnesse had need both of outward and inward support to either of which the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very proper But again 2 Kings chap. 4. v. 8. we have this very phrase and construction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and she laid hold on him to eat bread There Elisha resisted till the woman used some kind of force to make him eat here the pressing multitude verse 20. hindred some force must be used to get him out of it that he might be at liberty to eat It is not improbable but neither is it necessary that we should fly to this I have been the longer upon it because of the consequence as I apprehended it and that I thought this a very proper place Scaliger's definition of an Ecstasie as we take it commonly allowed by Sennertus is Privatio officiorum animae sentientis moventis intelligentis very different from the true supernatural and divine properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they define Animae abstractionem à potentiis sensitivis aliquando etiam intellectualibus c. Such ecstasies defined by Scaliger to be incidentall to natural diseases of the bodie as Epilepsies and the like is generally granted by all Physicians As this also That they are commonly accompanied in the fit with strange sights and visions sometimes without any further effect which for distinctions sake we may call ordinary but sometimes leaving impressions in the brain which have their operation out of the fit so that the partie after he is come to himself again as to his senses and other natural functions yet is fully perswaded that his visions which he had in the fit were not the natural effects of a bodily disease but true and real By which impressions if strong and fixed as in some the party becomes often subject unto relapses into ecstasies or ecstatical fits though the original cause the epilepsie or whatever it was be either cured or for the present at least removed So that what before was the symptome of a more general distēper becomes now the proper distemper of the brain which kind we shall call as well we may extraordinary ecstasies Besides a man through mere melancholy may become ecstatical and without any direct ecstasie yet liable to the effects of it ecstatical impressions and illusions in the brain And Physicians and Philosophers observe that there is a double Melancholy the one that proceeds originally from general diseases vitio corporis the other vitio solius animi ut fit in iis qui ex nimia devotione studio aut amore melancholici evadunt to use learned Fyenus his words Now whether with ecstasies or without them as many as are subject to visions whether internal or external proceeding from natural causes with a real apprehēsion of certainty reality where there is no real ground for either but mere imagination so many we take into the number of ecstatical men But I will come now to particular examples by which all that I have said will better be understood I will begin with an example out of Tertullian There is a sister with us saith he that is in that particular Church and Congregation which he used whether at Carthage his own Countrey or rather at Rome where he was made priest lived and wrote a long time till his errors drove him out of it at this day which hath obteined the gift or grace of revelations which in ecstasies of the spirit happen unto herin the Church at the ordinary time of divine Service She doth in her fits converse with Angels sometimes with the Lord himself She doth both hear and see things secret and mystical beholds the hearts of some or discovers the secrets of some mens hearts doth some cures also upon some that come to her Now according as either Scriptures are read or Psalms sung or Exhortations made or Prayers uttered so do different visions offer themselves unto her It happened at a time that I had discoursed of the soul when this our sister was in the spirit After publick Service the people being dismissed when she is wont to relate
case related out of him is of one Theophilus who did phansie to himself that he both saw and heard some Minstrels in a corner of his Chamber and could not rest for them otherwise it seems both before and after his recovery very rational in all other things Hereupon it is determined that it was an error of his imagination only and not of his understanding I would not contend about words If their meaning be that the Imagination and the Intellect being different faculties really different by place and proprieties and liable to particular symptomes and distempers that in such cases the distemper originally and inherently is in the imaginative not intellective faculty though the error by reason of that relation or subordination which is between the two be communicated to the understanding though I know there is matter enough of dispute about the differences and proprieties of each faculty yet I shall not oppose any thing To some other purposes the difference may be very observable It may satisfie a man how it comes to passe that the understanding should be so right in all others though so wrong in one particular object whereas if the distemper were in the ratiocinative it self the distraction would be general Neither is every error of the imagination an error of the understanding For we phansie many things awaked as in the water or in the clouds which our reason doth oppose therefore we believe not Nay sometimes in our very dreams reason doth oppose phansy and informes us that what we wonder at or fear is but a dream because impossible or absurd when yet that very information is part of our dream But if once any particular imagination be so strong violent as to force assent from the understanding so that no power of ratiocination that is left in us is strong enough to make us believe that it is otherwise then we imagine is not this a depravation of the Understanding as well as of the Imagination Or what if the Imagination be altogether depraved and a man not out of any proper distemper of understanding for that is as possible as the other but of the imagination in every thing that he saith or doth both speak and do like a mad man shall not he be accounted mad I will believe that Galen intended it not otherwise then as I have explained it untill I have better cōsidered of his words in himself which now I have not the opportunity to do or that I meet with further reason to satisfie me that it is so as some make him to say then any I have yet met with As for the muliercula or simple woman the cause of this mans infatuation whether she were really possest or a counterfeit or whether ecstatical from some natural cause because we find so little of her in the relation to help our inquisition I must let her alone It is certain that many that fall into those fits naturally or to speak more plainly from natural causes phansie to themselves heavens and angels and revelations of mysteries very really and are in a better capacity through the agitation of the brain and purest spirits as in Fevers many after their fits to speak and discourse of many things then they were before It is not so in all I know some become more stupid but in some it is so and whether it were this womans case particularly I know not But I leave her and before I proceed to new matter I must insert a caveat In the case of Witches in general there is much dispute among learned men as whether corporally transported from place to place c. of the power of the imagination I would not have any thing that hath been said by me to be drawn to that case which I apprehend to be a quite different case For it is certain if any thing be certain in the world that most Witches though they may suffer depravation or illusion rather of phansie in some other things wittingly and willingly in perfect use of sense and reason and upon apparent grounds of envie malice revenge and the like do many mischiefs But if any supposed Witch being accused by others or any that should acknowledge her self to be such should not or cannot be convicted legally to do or to have done any thing worthy of death such a one though she should tell many strange things of her self which may be thought to deserve death yet I should not think it very safe to condemn her without better evidence then her own confession or testimony After so much of Ecstasies which are the proper passion of the Mind or Understanding and so most naturally the effects of Contemplation which is the proper and supreme operation of the understanding we shall now proceed to the consideration of two notable controversies which will much conduce to the further clearing of these hidden mysteries and lead us to the main businesse of this Chapter The first is Whether it may be conceived possible in nature for any man whether by the advantage of some idiosyncrisia more commonly but not so truly written idiosyncratia that is some peculiar natural property some secret sympathy or antipathy or the like of which kind of idiosyncrisiae there be so many rare examples in Physicians and Philosophers as may seem in point of crediblenesse to surpasse the greatest wonders in the world whether then by some such help or advantage if it may be so called of nature or by some contracted propriety by long use and endeavour it may be thought possible in nature without the concurrence of any supernatural cause for any one man or woman to put themselves into a Trance or Ecstasie when they will The second Whether in any Trance or Ecstasie of the mind whether voluntary or involuntary a true and real separation of the Soul from the Body for a time be a thing possible in nature For the first question I find Avicenne an ancient Arab of great credit among all by some preferred above all other Philosophers or Physicians quoted by some concerning one who besides some other extraordinary properties nothing to our purpose could put himself into a fit of Palsie when he would And if that were granted there would be no great question of the possibility of voluntary Trances it being a thing in ordinary judgement of equall facility in point of nature to fill the Ventricles of the Brain with pituitous or whatever Physicians will make them humours and to empty them at pleasure and to command certain humours into the chine of the back and nerves to be recalled again at will So that if the one may be arbitrary in some one or other by some propriety of temper c. the other may as probably But I will not much insist upon this example because of the uncertainty I think there is no body almost that pretends to learning or curiosity in any kind of nature and Philosophy but hath heard or read of Restitutus an
African Priest in S. Augustine who with the help of a mournfull tone or lamenting voice whether real or counterfeit would presently fall into a perfect ecstasie so that he would not stirre at all for any punching or pricking though to a considerable wound no nor at the applying of fire except perchance a man had applied so much as to have endangered his life So much perchance might be thought somewhat to make faith of a real Trance We heard before out of Thuanus what a mighty matter was made of it that a Maid should endure patiently without any sign of sense I mean the driving of pins or needles into some fleshy parts But S. Augustine had more experience in the world then so Besides that common president of the Lacedemonian Boys and Girls he had observed with many Philosophers yea and Civilians how far man or womans resolute obstinacy could go in point of suffering That his reader therefore might be fully satisfied that it was no juggling businesse but a true real perfect ecstasie he addeth Non autem obnitendo sed non sentiendo non movere corpus eo probatur quod tanquam in defuncto nullus inveniebatur anhelitus hominum tamen voces si clarius loquerentur c. that is but I must let the Reader know by the way that the Edition of S. Augustine the onely I have at this time is very ancient almost as ancient as printing is being the Venice edition of Petrus de Tarvisio 1475. for which I like it not the worse I confesse yet thought good to give the Reader notice in case as oftentimes there should be found any thing different in later Editions though commonly for the worst Now that this his not stirring of his body at all those things happened not through a resolute obstinacy such as by ancient Heathens was commonly objected to Christian Martyrs but very impertinently it being both in regard of the number and divers other circumstances a quite different case or opposition of the mind but merely because he did not feel was certainly known because all this while no breath was found in him no more then if he had been quite dead Yet the same man if any body with a very loud voice had spoken or called unto him he would acknowledge afterwards when come to himself that he had heard some kind of noise as if it were afar off But this indeed S. Augustine doth not relate as a thing that himself had seen no but yet as a thing of very fresh memory a verred unto him by many that had seen it and whom he doth professe experti sunt as of a thing that he made no question to believe And truly I for my part must acknowledge that I give more credit to this relation of S. Augustine then to Cardan his testimony concerning either himself or his Father though Bodinus is well content to believe it and partly grounds upon it as unquestionable It was in their power he saith to abstract their souls from their bodies when they would The possibility whereof except he meant it of an absolute separation although I do not absolutely deny yet that such a thing should be believed upon his bare testimony hominis ventosi ingenii as Scaliger of him somewhere a man ever ambitious to tell strange things to be admired by others I see no just ground Well but experientia fallax It is his caveat who of a wise man and much the wiser for it certainly adscribed as much to experience as ever man did and therefore so earnestly exhorteth all young Physicians not to neglect the experiments advises grounded upon experiments even of the most illiterate of the world I doubt therefore whether we may build so much upon two or three examples though attested by very good authority as to make an absolute inference without some further reasoning I find that Tho. Fyenus a very learned Physician who hath published a very rational and scholastical Treatise Concerning the power of the Imagination doth expresse himself peremptorily upon the point on the negative Ea of this very instance out of S. Aug. vel arte Diabolica vel fallacia aliqua cōtigisse vel alias impossibilia esse But I profess to wonder much at this his determination and whether without cause I shall make the reader judge For first the question is not whether the bare Imagination can do it immediately which is contrary to the course of nature as is well shewed by him throughout his Treatise but whether the Imagination or any other Power depending on the Will by the subordination of other Faculties as by stirring up some Passion and the like And so himself doth grant that many Diseases be caused by the Imagination as particularly the Plague which though it be particularly acknowledged by him yet for the Readers further satisfaction I will here adde another learned Physician his words who is generally thought to have written of all contagious diseases as learnedly solidly as any man His words are very expresse Ex animi perturbationibus iracundia c. that is As we have said that among the Passions of the mind Anger Terror and Grief are not without danger so do we now declare that fear of the Plague and intent cogitation about it do often bring it and bear witnesse that many perfectly sound before being struck with a suddain fright and fear of it were presently taken and little after died upon no other ground or cause as my opinion is but this that vehement and intent cogitation of the mind and continued imagination whilst they do strongly affect the heart they do at the same time imprint and ingrave in it that very thing which is so much feared and thought upon And to this purpose I remember very well that I did once when very young hear that worthy Raphael Thorius mentioned before who continued in London all the Plague-time 1603. hear him I say with great admiration tell of many particulars of men and women to his knowledge and in his sight walking sitting talking in perfect health at some outward sight or unseasonable relation or the like suddainly taken Some might except that their fear was not the cause of the Plague but the unsensible grudgings or beginnings of the Plague in their bodies rather cause of their fear as when a man dreameth of some smart pain not the dream often is the cause of the pain but the pain of the dream No that cannot be by divers instances which he did alledge For then their fear proceeding from an inward cause would have been without any externall provocation whereas in all those examples some external provocations were the first and only apparent cause Yet I will not deny but that probably there might be a concurrence of both in some of those many instances But now to Fyenus again Some can weep when they will that he doth not deny no man indeed can deny it I know what Poets and
our mind so farre carry us out of our bodies that God after a more then ordinary manner possesse our souls and if we cannot so much as say Abbae Father without the Spirit how much lesse can we pour out our Souls or spirits unto God in prayer but by the spirit of God But yet for all this Christ himself hath taught us that Heathens were wont to pray too not by the spirit of God certainly when they prayed unto Idols nor yet with a right faith without any warrant from Scripture though with a strong confidence upon their own presumptions that they should be heard because of their long prayers Matth. 6.7 But we may go farther though this be enough to justifie our title Not Heathens only but Christians also may erre in their Prayers unto the true God else not Christians but by a false spirit an erroneous Zeal as Christs own disciples were once about to do Luke 9.54 55. As therefore there is a true religious supernatural Enthusiasme that belongeth unto Prayers and a false diabolical supernatural directly opposite unto the former neither of which we desire to meddle with more then of necessity for distinction sake and where the matter is doubtfull which in so abstruse a businesse cannot be avoided so there is a natural between both and different from both these the proper subject of this Chapter I know there is no errour in matter of Religion no false Worship and Idolatry I am sure without some intervention of the Devil But if our distinction which we have in the Chapter of Contemplative Enthusiasme between a general concurrence and immediate inspiration or possession be remembred we shall be the better understood The cause of natural Enthusiasme in point of Prayer may be referred either to a vehement and continued intention of the mind or to the power of the language or to the natural temper of the person For the first that vehement intention of the mind is naturally apt to breed an ecstatical passion that is transport a man besides himself to make him believe that he either heareth or seeth things which no man else can either hear or see and upon this illusion of the imagination to frame in his understanding strange opinions and strange confidences both by reason and by Examples in the chapter of Philosophical Enthusiasme hath been treated of and fully discussed Of the power of Language in general we have treated in the chapter of Rhetorical Enthusiasme And that it hath the same power to raise the same passions and affections upon the speakers or bare utterers as it hath upon the Auditors as there is the same reason so there be so many instances and testimonies out of ancient Authors that no question of it can be made All writers of Rhetorick insist upon it largely and conclude generally that he can never be a perfect Orator whose speech hath not the same or greater power upon himself as he would have it to have upon others Ipsa enim natura orationis ejus quae suscipitur ad aliorum animos permovendos oratorem ipsum magis etiam quam quenquam corum qui audiunt permovet that is Such is the nature of speech that though it be intended and undertaken to move others yet it worketh upon the speaker himself no lesse if not more then it doth upon any that hear it as a grand master of that Art in point of speculation and no lesse a practitioner both concurring to make him a perfect Orator delivers it It was very good counsel that the same Cicero gave his brother when Governor of Greece a man naturally passionate that when he was provoked to anger he would forbear to speak lest his words should be a farther incentive Ancient heathens in their solemn prayers affected a dithyrambical composition as we learn by those collections out of Proclus his Chrestomathia made by Photius in his Bibliotheca set out also by learned Sylburgius at the end of Apollonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the propriety of that composition as is observed by the said Proclus being to stirre up enthusiasticall passions Even a man that is not very fluent or rhetorical in his ordinary discourse may by long practice attain to a great facility in point of prayer which though it be a subject of so much latitude as will admit of good variety of Rhetorick yet is not so ample but that a very ordinary man with some labour and a good measure of confidence may attain to an extemporary faculty He that believeth what hath been written in the former chapter of the extemporary faculty of the ancient Sophistae and Orators which he that believeth not upon those evidences may as well question whether ever any such men were truly as Demosthenes and Cicero will make no great wonder of it But that which giveth most advantage as to all Rhetorick in general so to prayer particularly is that natural ardor or fervency wherewith nature hath endowed some men above others I said endowed Some may quarrel at the word my meaning is where it is poised with equal discretion then it is a gift not otherwise What that ardor is besides what hath been already said of it whereof see in the Chapter of Rhetorical Enthusiasme shall be further enquired in its proper place It comes often to be mentioned which we cannot avoid having so near relation unto all kinds almost of Enthusiasme The ignorance of this advantage of nature being unhappily mistaken for true Christian Zeal hath been the occasion of much mischief in the world and a great stumbling-block to simple people to draw them into the contagion of pernicious Heresies Swenckfield a notorious arch-Heretick in Germany the father of many Sects who among other extravagancies held blasphemous opinions concerning the Scriptures Abraham Scultetus a man of precious memory among all Protestants in his Annales Ecclesiasticae recordeth of him that he was wont ardentes ad Deum preces creberrime fundere But of blasphemous Hacket who was executed in Queen Elizabeth her dayes it is observed by many that he was so ardent in his devotions that he would ravish all that heard him whereof some also he infected with the venome of his opinions with no other engine but that very charm of his ardent praying I have read it in more then one if I be not mistaken I must now content my self with a passage out of the writings of a learned man who though dead many years ago yet was the memory of his exemplary piety very fresh among many when I lived at Canterbury Hadrianus Saravia whose words are Fertur hic Hacketus in concipiendis extempore precibus adeo excelluisse ut Det spiritu eum totum ardere ab eo ipsius regi linguam isti duo crederent adeo in sui rapuit admirationem ut nihil eum precibus non posse crederent à Deo obtinere proinde quidvis ab eo posse perfici that is This Hacket is reported to have excelled