within his compass is but Simia Miraculi and owes the wonder it meets with not to it s own real greatness but our Ignorance Now these wonders are either Ordinary or Extraordinary First There are some of his wonders of Ordinary and constant residence a kinde of more remarkable passages in the Book of Nature such as are 1. The Monadica Naturae By which I take leave to understand at present those works in Nature which are of so private and peculiar a make and character that they stand almost alone and hardly admit their pattern in the whole Systeme of the Creation such as are boyling springs flaming mountains petrifying waters vast chasms and hiatus in the Earth c. the instances whereof are so various that there is no countrey but hath its miranda which call upon it to pay the constant tribute of a deliberate and judicious admiration to him who seems to inscribe his own name Wonderfull upon all these works of his 2 The Lusus Naturae as I may style them the disports of Nature such works wherein the hand of Nature breaks and divides as it were the plain ground of some common nature into an elegant variety of Individuals different in shape and temper as is seen in dogs and roses c. as also those works wherein because delighted as much with consent as variety se sequiturque fugitque she seems to follow and fly from her self both at once aping and imitating her own works in one element by some similar figures or dispositions in different pieces of the creation in another which serve as a kinde of gratefull repeats in the harmony of the world 3. The Varietates Naturae elegant and copious varieties of Nature appearing in the various species of things which different countreys so entertain the curiosities of each other with that one appears a kinde of constant Prodigy to another All these have imployed the hours of other men and besides are more properly entred among the rarities then the Prodigies of Nature and so fall not within the lines of our present Argument Secondly There are Wonders Extraordinary such are they which happen but now and then and are a kinde of short and transient discords stepping in sometimes to recommend the general harmony and evenes in the motions of Nature and the Government of the world comprised under the general name of Prodigies Now that division of these which I shall premise to the eâ—suing discourse shall be such as the necessity and designe thereof rather then such as the laws of Logick do prompt me to which I conceive may be best serv'd by dividing them into Prodigies barely Signal and Penal For though I have no faith nor favour for the former yet while I indite them at the bar of Reason I am forc't to take notice of them under such names and titles as common opinion hath affixt upon them Those which are barely Signal such I mean in vulgar account are of three sorts 1. Prodigies Natural such I reckon all those of whose particular and immediate causes though rarely occurring we are sufficiently resolv'd such as are to speak with the people falling-stars Earthquakes Extraordinary Eclipses the appearance of two or three Suns at once some kinde of monstrous births With these I number all events besides the common road of Nature owing to some accidental though to us unknown assistance or interruption of Agents purely natural or some secret and reserved Law in Nature as Comets New-stars some extraordinary alteration in the heavenly bodies as that in the Planet Venus both as to colour and figure before the times of Christ often mentioned by Astronomers from Varro and S. Austin and the strange deliquium of light in the Sun about the death of Caesar Some unusual ebbings and flowings of the Sea These I reckon Prodigies Natural all being but Natures acting of its part in a different habit and giving us to know how it will exert it self when such Agents and such matter chance to meet 2. Prodigies praeternatural such I account all strange Events which hold of no steady causes but are to us solely casual and uncertain as the firing of a house by lightning the coming to shore of some strange kinde of fish the breaking off or standing still of Rivers messages delivered by spirits apparitions in the ayr which are effects above a natural and beneath a bare supernatural Agent 3. Supernatural such as are Events of which Reason is sufficiently resolved that they exceed the powers and sufficiencies of all Natural causes For look as in Religion there are quaedam juxta Rationem some things according to the common reason of all men viz. the doctrines of temperance righteousness obedience to God some things praeter rationem beside reason the discoveries of God which reason now apprehends and seals unto but could not Marte proprio of it self reach unto some things supra rationem the great Articles of Faith transcendent to the capacity as well as light of common reason in the modes and circumstances of them So in the compass of Divine Providence there are three sorts of works quaedam juxta Naturam some according to the common Laws of Natures working quaedam praeter Naturam some beside common Nature such are the Events we call Prodigies which though according to Nature as considered in such circumstances and co-incidence of causes yet are beside it considered in its more usual and familiar methods of action Quaedam supra Naturam such are those alterations in Nature which exceed the capacities of second causes In a Prodigy strictly taken Nature suffers from it self and is in a sort both victour and captive to it self but in a Miracle Nature is solely passive to that original Minde and Power which gave it its first Laws of motion These supernatural Prodigies though I know not to beleeve any such now happening yet must finde a place in this discourse not onely because some such have as Embassadours extraordinary been dispatcht heretofore upon some great errand as the fearfull Eclipse at our Saviours death the hailstones mentioned Iosh. 10. 11. so hugely exceeding the common standard of Nature and perhaps the fiery sword which hung over Hierusalem so long before its final desolation but because our Adversaries are so prone to over-value such occasions and to intitle an immediate hand of heaven to all such objects of wonder As for those stories with which the Ethnick Legends abound of the speaking of children out of their mothers wombs the raining of stones the speaking of oxen their being found without hearts or livers when brought to the Altars Fountains running with real bloud for a long time together which may seem to enter a fair plea for the honour of being marshalled under this head I reject them all with Tully as fables and impostures with which the world hath ever been abused Rome-Pagan was as good at inventing stories of Prodigies and Apparitions of the gods as Rome-Christian of Miracles
te comitabuntur Which counsel he neglecting himself most of his Nobles and army fell in that fatal battel Hardly discovered For how easily may the Devil impose upon our simplicity in the livery of an Angel of light Though I think this negative signe of such an apparition faithfull enough viz. That these Sons of God never debase themselves to such antick shapes Iudicrous postures and actions monstrous forms weak rites which evil spirits designing to get to themselves the homage of a great fear from some men or to abuse their imaginations or to dishonour the image and figure of man whom they so much hate or to appear rather ridiculous then abominable usually doe Never to be expected because never promised besides converse with Angels is a blessing which our state of infirmity could not bear and our follies cannot well admit And this I suppose may suffice to tender concerning these second kind of Prodigies signal Stil'd so ex communi fide because vulgar faith hath prefer'd them to the repute of divine signs and intimations which I thought fit again to intimate to excuse the indecorum of my applying of the term without the reason thereof so frequently unto them CHAP. IV. Concerning Prodigies in appearance Supernatural Some Prodigies instanâ—'d in which seem Supernatural the truth in reference to them deliver'd in 4 Propositions Lying Oracles and Miracles of especial use to advance the Devils kingdome Strange events not to be easily judg'd miraculous and why The first fiery eruption of Vesuvius probably concluded a signe of judgement and the reasons of that assertion What to be thought of that fiery sword which hung over Hierusalem No prodigies in appearance Supernatural to be received now as signs and why THere are some events which the history of times presents us with of so peculiar and strange a make and character that they stand alone in Nature and their causes stand so much in the dark that they seem to enter a very fair and plausible plea for the repute of a miracle Such as are the turning of Ponds and lakes in appearance into bloud swords as of fire seen to hang over cities for several days together the removal of mountains or other parts of the Earth for several furlongs from their natural places some strange alterations observed in the motions and tempers of the birds and beasts or figures and colours of any of the heavenly bodies With these I reckon some suddain intercsions of the light of the sun occasioned not by the veil of an eclipse cast before it but some unaccountable passion of the luminous body it self Such a deliquium we read of immediately subsequent to the death of Caesar concluded by the Ethnick Poet a kinde of prodigious shrinking of the eye of heaven from the view of so black a wickedness as the assassination of so excellent a person who upon occasion thereof thus expresseth himself Ille etiam extincto miseratus Caesare Romam Cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine tinxit Impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem An example parallel whereunto is related by Lavater who reports that in the year 1585. Mar. 12. such a darkness suddainly cover'd the earth that the birds went to roost at noon and the guilty fears of men antedated the day of judgment A like instance whereunto in another kinde is the suddain torpor and standing still of great currents and the parting of their waters in so wonderfull a manner that they seem to carry some figures and imitations of those miraculous divisions of waters recorded in sacred Writ Such was that mention'd in our Chronicles which hapned Anno. 1399 when the river of Ouse in Bedfordshire parted asunder near Harold in that County the waters from the fountain standing stil and those towards the Sea giving way so that it was passable over on foot for 3 miles together To which I add that unparllel eruption of fire from the mountain Vesuvius first hapning in the second year of Titus of which it may be truly said that if all the characters of horrour enumerated by Historians were duly weighed it would be hard to finde its pattern but in Scripture where we read of a Mountain which quaked greatly and that burnt with fire to the midst of heaven with darkness clouds and thick darkness Now though I am far from giving to all these effects the repute of a miracle as may appear by my marshalling of some of them under other heads much less of a signe yet because Nature seems not in these as in other Prodigies to err by any known law and some of them at least are so wonderfull that to speak truth they stand in confinio miraculi I thought good to discourse them apart and as inclos'd under another name and notion And the rather because if our Adversaries should chance to call a knub a horn to stile these or some other of the foremention'd prodigies supernatural and miraculous they might seem like Proteus to avoyd all the knots they cannot unloose reasons they cannot answer by shifting forms and that event which they cannot advance a signe of the time sub nomine prodigii they may possibly assay to doe sub specie miraculi All therefore that I shall offer concerning Prodigies Supernatural whether in truth or pretence I shall not much enquire shall be coucht in these few ensuing propositions First It is a great example of rashness easily to intitle any strange effect whose cause stands not in a good light supernatural and miraculous and that upon a four-fold account 1. We understand not the just extent and compass of that sphear of activity assigned to bare natural powers nor how far they may in some circumstances exceed the lines of common and ordinary operation How many works of Art are there scarce the wonder of our days the performance whereof in the rudeness of former times would have prefer'd a man to the repute of Simon Magus the great power of God who would not two or three hundred years agoe have voucht the breaking down of mighty walls by the force and powers of a little black dust as great an impossibility as the Indians did the communicating by letters at so great a distance we understand not fully how far our notions of possible and impossible when we are amongst Agents natural are fixt and faithfull As for the miracles wrought by our Saviour least any shadow of natural power might seem to assist and so to disparage them he usually exerted his Divinity in raysing of the dead restoring of a man born blinde to sight in curing the woman whom Art had given for desperate Luk. 8. 43. in commanding the wave and storms into rest and silence with a word and such like works which evidently appear'd to lie extra vias naturae such whereof no magician ever attempted the counterfeit otherwise his miracles had left open a wide door for infidelity to break out at 2. We understand not fully how far the
fires on his altars would quickly go out and therefore he appointed all the changes in the Exta in the face of heaven in the births of creatures in the flying of birds c. as a kinde of signs from the Gods of some great and strange effects which when he saw their causes to swell out withall and just ready to be delivered of them he could easily bring about all these little changes falling within the compass of his power that on which side soever the die of affairs fell were the success of an undertaking on this side or that he might still secure the repute of his prescience by holding his easie Votaries in hand that the preceding Prodigies were a warning of the things which fell out and therefore he served the ends of imposture much better upon these dumb and doubtfull then his speaking Oracles wherein he hazarded his credit greatly by returning doubtfull or false solutions to the questions proposed to him de futuro well therefore may the Devil be presumed upon an easie foresight of some great disaster to cause the entrails of the Sacrifice to put on a sad and unusual face and therefore the Poet upon such an accident spake more truth then he was aware caesique in viscera Tauri Inferni venêre Dei. So also upon his sight of an approaching battel he may easily give forth a prophetick emblem thereof in some such martial images and impressions upon the aery Region his proper province If all this satisfie not I shall readily deliver the Reader to the freedom of his own judgement in reference to such things For my self when I finde in the Book of God that holy and heavenly Host not called forth but to wait upon some great and important Services the protection of a Patriarch or a great Prophet the declaration of the Birth of the Son of God or perhaps to attend Gods great act of justice upon Ierusalem I know not to entertain any such cheap and little thoughts of them as once to imagine that the Angels are ever sent forth to run a tilt in the air to finde the vain world talk and to tell it news or that God would ever confer the honour of so solemn and great a presage upon a paultrey battel at sea or land which is generally intended but to serve the lusts and passions of men which have broken all those cords of love precepts of charity whereby they were bound one unto another Fourthly The Apparitions of evil Angels in what places forms companies and their premonitions by what voices and signs soever ought not to be attended unto as the prognosticks of any Events whatsoever Many relations there are current in writers and common converse of such apparitions in very terrible forms and that before some great plagues and wars and I shall not once attempt to build my cause upon the ruines of the credit of them all we finde in Scripture the fall of Saul and Ionathan foretold by the apparition of an evil Angel Such apparitions have happened though generally in times and places of greatest ignorance and superstition and that perhaps as was said that these lying Spirits may maintain an Opinion of their foresight of things though the matters signified by them be such as may easily be discovered in their natural or moral causes or to derive a suspicion upon the stories of Angelical apparitions in sacred Writ or to get such a stock of credit whereby they may set up cheaters with the less suspicion for the future or perhaps in a kinde of petty triumph over those men whose sins together with their temptations have betrayed them to such fearfull judgements or perhaps evil Angels being often the Executioners of his judgements God will have these Apollyons seen as it were upon the stage before execution that men may know and consider into whose hands in all likelihood their iniquities have betrayed them But admit the depths of God or the Devil in such apparitions past our fathoming sure I am we have no warrant at all to give any evil Spirit the honour of the least trust and regard by an observance of any word action or signe of his God would disown one of his Royal titles when once black'd and profaned by the Devils usurpation Hos. 2. 16 17. our Saviour refused a just and true testimony to his Divinity when given in by the Father of lies Mark 1. 24. Gods servants refuse his good creatures when once set upon the Devils table 1 Cor. 10. 21. We are allowed no fellowship with devils by whom truth is never told but to serve some delusion and imposture And therefore though we read Psal. 78. 49. that God sometimes made use of evil Angels as the Executioners of his judgements yet never that he commissionated any of them to be the Denouncers of them To receive therefore the apparitions voices drummings or antick noises of Spirits in any place whatsoever as presages of some approaching evils as if like some strange creatures in the sea they used to shew themselves and play in sight against a storm is to consult shame to our selves and our Religion To our selves because rendring our selves thereby to the suspicion of having a great credulity and curiosity pregnant arguments of a soft vain and unfurnished minde To our Religion deriving upon it an appearance of falshood in those many assurances it offers us of the treacheries and impostures of those forsaken Spirits Such apparitions report nothing to us with truth and faithfulness but what they tempt men least to believe the Being of a God and so as the Vipers flesh cures its own biting enable us to quote the Devil against Satan and to cast him out by himself It is therefore our wisdom not to invite the Devil so far to be our Oracle as to vouchsafe the least credit or regard to any of his prophetick speeches postures actions but to resolve to take the goodness and providence of God as security sufficient for the peace and composure of our minds and not to put our selves out of his keeping and so make way for the accomplishment of any of them by any distrustfull fears arising from any signs whatsoever given forth by so sworn an enemy to God truth and the peace of man Fifthly The appearances of good Angels are now rarely given hardly discovered never to be expected I say Rarely given I do not say never lest I speak without book To omit some very probable relations of this nature that Apparition is usually thought a Herauld from heaven which advised Iames the fourth of Scotland in whose counsels at that time the concerns of a Nation were wrapt up to forbear some vicious practices but especially the fighting of his intended battel with the English in those words Rex Ego ad te missus sum ut te admoneam ne quò instituisti progrediaris quam admonitionem si neglexeris non erit è re tua nec eorum qui