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
Heathens and others who were only led by Humane Reason did absolutely despise as seeming foolishness unto them nor could they by any Study of their own come to the knowledge of them for they were only to be had by understanding the prophesies of Scripture and other such means as depend upon Divine Revelation so that the Christian doth receive and believe the Gospel and the things therein contained by arguments drawn from the Scriptures themselves by prophesies and miracles and other evidences of Divine Revelation afforded therein and by the assistances of the Spirit of God deriv'd therefrom but then this doth not exclude but include Reason for grace is not a super addition of a new faculty but a new power and principle to the old Now I see no reason why those who are Baptis'd into the same Faith and live in the same Christian Communion and give all due obedience to the Laws of God and Man according to their power why any such should be suppos'd to act from a Principle of meer Natural Reason and not also from that of a truly Divine and in its own nature Saving Grace and that for no other Reason but only because some few men who are highly conceited of themselves and censorious of others who pretend to a monopoly of the Spirit and as it were to a Commission from Heaven to pass sentence on all who differ from them only because these men are pleas'd to vote whomsoever they will Formal Moral and meer Rational Men. But indeed those who are thus particular in describing how far a meer Rational Man may go in matters of Religion what sins he may avoid and what duties he may perform and yet have nothing of the true Spirit of God and Saving Grace these men however they may pretend and perhaps really are great enemies to Pelagianism yet they seem herein to be too great exalters of the power of Nature and in all probability too uncharitable censurers of Divine Grace whilst they attribute all the good works perform'd by those meer Rational Men either to the Power of Nature or to Common Grace as they call it which according to their interpretation and explication of it is little better seeing it is neither in it's own nature sufficient nor by Gods appointment intended to bring any one to Salvation that distinction therefore betwixt Common and Saving Grace as Grace doth signifie those inward motions of the Divine Spirit by which we are enabled to believe and practise aright according to this acceptation it hath no foundation in Scripture for all such Grace is in its own nature sufficient and by Gods appointment design'd to bring Salvation if we by our own fault do not hinder the event though it be granted that this also may differ in degrees Among other grounds and reasons of this their mistake this seems not the least that they entertain too mean apprehensions of that Covenant which God hath made with Christians and their Children and also of the Sacrament of Baptism by which they are admitted members of Christs Church Yet notwithstanding both these they look upon a man before a certain critical moment of conversion as they suppose it little better then an heathen and that all the good works that they have or can perform before it stand them in little or no stead in order to their Conversion and that after this all the wickedness that they do or can commit shall do them no prejudice in reference to their Salvation which opinion is of very bad consequence to the concernments of a Christian Life But here we must also know that there is need of a continued course of Sanctification throughout our whole lives both to compleat and perfect that holiness first begun in us and also by reason of those many sins and infirmities which we are all subject to which are to be turned from by repentance and reformation And as this opposition betwixt the Spiritual and meer Rational Man is without any warrant from Scripture so is it very difficult if at all possible to assign the exact limits betwixt Grace and Reason in our selves and then much more in others 1. In our selves it is very hard to say that this was an Action of our Reason only that an Act of the more immediate assistance of the Divine Spirit Joh. 3.8 the wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whether it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit thus he that is born anew is discernably another kind of man then he was before thus his new birth is seen by the fruits though the beginnings and the modes of procedure and the means of conveying this to him be undiscernable Mark 4. 26. 27. so is the kingdom of God that is the kingdom of Grace as if a man should cast feed into the ground and should sleep and rise night and day and the seed should spring and grow up he knoweth not how These are the more ordinary methods of the Divine Spirit but then when God calls out some particular persons on some great and eminent employments either to do or suffer in his service he frequently confers more sensible influences of his Grace and Spirit on such Neither is this spoken in the least to oppose the joys and consolations of the Holy Ghost nor the sober and well-grounded experiences of Pious Men. And as we cannot distinguish betwixt these in our selves much less can we do it in others for if a man be outwardly pious and give no just occasion of suspecting his real honesty and sincerity whether such an one be notwithstanding an hypocrite this is best known to God and his own conscience yet we by the Laws of Charity are to judge the best but if such an one under all this be an hypocrite this is that which a man may also be under the highest pretences to the Spirit so that it is only the event that must determine the truth and sincerity of men's professions The sum of what I here intend is this that provided we become new men if we cease to sin and learn to do well if we turn from wickedness and perform real and sincere obedience to the Laws of God as the Divine Spirit indeed is so must it be acknowledg'd to be the principal cause of this change in us yet we need not here trouble our selves too nicely to determine the exact limits how far our Reason as a less principal cause either might or might not be instrumental herein But the proper use and just extent of Reason will further appear by considering it's object which is the knowledge of God and the Divine Will the knowledge of our selves and the nature of things so far as these or any of these come under humane cognisance so far as they are either our perfection to know or our duty to practise so that nothing but either the impossibility or the unlawfulness of the
in sleep nor did it proceed from the same cause for in sleep this cessation proceeded from natural causes from whence it usually comes but in an Extasie it was caus'd by the extraordinary and miraculous power of the Spirit of God which drew a way the Souls of his Servants from the Organs of their External Senses and hinder'd it from displaying its power and efficacy As to the understanding the Spirit of God in this case acted in these two ways upon it 1. That whereas ordinarily the knowledge which we have in the understanding enters by the Ministery of the senses which conveys the Images of sensible things and by these sensible objects furnishes us with the occasions of ratiocination yet here God did immediately imprint in the spirit of his Prophets the understanding of those things which he would reveal to them thus making them to understand without the help of ratiocination and he reveal'd many things thus to Moses and others 2. That whereas we are not ordinarily induc'd to great actions but after an attentive consultation upon the end which we propound to our selves upon the motives that induce us and upon the means by which we may attain them God did sometimes inspire his servants with miraculous and heroick motions by which they were carried to extraordinary things without such a deliberation only because they were inwardly sensible to themselves that it was God that thus excited them such was that of Ehud when he kill'd Eglon King of Moab such was that of Phineas when he slew the Israelite and the Madianite at one blow such that of David when he resolv'd to fight Goliah with a sling and if there were any other ways which God sometimes made use of to reveal himself by under the legal dispensation as the voice that was heard in the Tabernacle and the lights of Vrim and Thummim they may be referr'd some way to that which I now come briefly to speak unto and my design doth not oblige me to enlarge my discourse further upon this matter I shall only shew in general why God made use of all these divers ways and particularly why this of dreams For the first we must know that the Church as S. Paul tells us was then in its infancy and there is a great deal of difference betwixt the way whereby we instruct Infants and that by which we teach Arts and Sciences to those who are of riper years To these we only make use of words or if there be occasion to make Demonstrations to the eye we only make them in lines and Mathematical Figures or at the most content our selves to propose to view the objects and the experiments of sensible things as those of the Vacuum or the Loadstone and all this doth only give occasion to the understanding to form its own reasonings but as for Infants for as much as their faculty of reason is yet weak and imperfect we make use of Medals Emblems Representations Hieroglyphicks and other such like Artifices so that we have of late years seen painted Chards full of Emblematical Figures whereby to imprint the Rules of Logick in the minds of the younger sort by play and the reason hereof is that besides that men have no need of those helps to make them understand these Sciences the Maxims and Theorems whereof they easily conceive at their first proposal they also have no need of those allurements to invite them to learn for as much as the beauty of the things themselves is a sufficient invitation hereunto whereas children have both need to be taught for Example by the Figure of an Ox what is meant by a Real or Substantial Being as we see in some Philosophical tables as also they must be entic'd by these pretty devices for the difficulty of the things would discourage them if we went about otherwise to instruct them The Jewish Church being then in this condition of Infancy these divers ways which God made use of to instruct it by have contributed something to the easier understanding of that which he design'd it should know and had more power to prevail upon their minds by affording matter of admiration by rare and miraculous events then if the things had been deliver'd more plain and naked I say expresly that which God design'd they should know because sometimes the same things have been made use of for different purposes For the Institution of Types Symbolical Representations of things to come and those Admirable Prophetical visions have been often made use of as a veil to cover and hinder the understanding of those things which ought not otherwise to be interpreted then by the events 2. For the Second since it pleased God to make use of all these means to reveal himself to the Prophets and by them to others also there is no reason why he should have excluded that of dreams and indeed there is yet this further reason in particular for them above others that although there is a great deal of vanity in ordinary dreams and that those which proceed from Angels have very often much of uncertainty and ambiguity and that some Philosophers as Aristotle among others did suppose that there ought to be no regard had to that way of Divination yet it hath always been almost the universal opinion of all Nations that the Divinity did principally Communicate it self to Men by Dreams Homer hath attributed some to his Iupiter The Stoicks held that there were some altogether Divine Plato said the same in some respects and generally in the Eastern Nations this opinion had a very great reputation So that it was principally in those Nations that they have reduc'd the interpretation of dreams into an Art and have laid down Rules concerning it and now because the people of Israel were also of the same opinion God therefore chose to send them such dreams as were truly Divine thus firmly to fix them to these and to divert them from that vanity to which other Nations suffer'd themselves to be carried by those others and further 't is true that the most natural way of conveying the knowledge of any thing whatever even of the Deity it self to men is either by the presentation of some visible things which furnish them with the means and occasions of reasoning and thus to rise from the consideration of the effect to the understanding the nature of the Cause as is done in the dispensation of nature or by way of speech and to make known truths to them by vocal instruction as under the dispensation of the Gospel thus S. Paul joyns these two dispensations together when he says that since in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe But to be thus instructed there is need of more clearness and strength of understanding then we ordinarily have in our Infancy so that the Church being then in that estate it ought to be instructed some
evident demonstrations it clearly apprehends it If then Ioseph by this means was perswaded then his understanding saw such marks of the truth and Divinity of the dream that he did more certainly believe it then he either did or could do those corporeal objects which represented themselves to his sense As for those dreams whereof Angels may have been the instruments but not the Authors they were easie to be distinguish'd from all others For besides as I said before that every effect draws something from the nature of the cause and causes the more excellent they are the greater impression they make upon their effects whether God did mediately or immediately convey those dreams so far it was necessary they should bear some undoubted mark and character of his power this only thing was enough to distinguish them from all others that they contain'd in them things which pass'd the reach of the understanding both of Men and Angels for how could it enter into the understanding of either of them that Ioseph should come to that grandeur which his dreams promis'd What created intelligence could Divine that there should be in Egypt seven years of plenty and abundance and after them seven others of dearth and barrenness as Pharaoh saw in his For grant that Angels have very much of the knowledge of natural causes yet two such admirable events so regular and constant each for the space of seven years how could they be searched into being so closely and obscurely hid in the secret foldings of a particular providence What humane understanding or what foresight of Angels could discover both the succession and the disagreement the duration and the end of all those Empires which were represented one after another in the image of Nabuchodonosor What conjecture could divine that which the stone cut without hands did presage and what it was to do and to become as the same vision of Nabuchodonosor doth represent it And if it were necessary here to speak of Iacob's vision none I say not only of men but none of those Angels themselves which he saw ascending and descending upon the ladder were able to foretel if God had not extraordinarily reveal'd it that that did represent the Messias to come who should make peace between heaven and earth and re-establish a communication betwixt God and men by the intermission of Angels and as for the promises which God who was at the top of the ladder in heaven made to the Patriarch they were plain and clear according to the truth of things without any shadow of Allegory or mysterious Symbol but they were of things so far remote that it was only God who could foresee or foretel the event so that that vision was altogether Divine This is well indeed will some here object these dreams appear to be Divine when they are understood or when they are confirmed by the events but let us here enquire how they could be judged so by those to whom they were sent before the interpretation and by the meer consideration of the dreams themselves We must then distinguish betwixt the dreams themselves and their interpretations which were sometimes made by the servants of God as Ioseph and Daniel and their events And to begin with the consideration of their events it is certain that when they were once come to pass they did then fully evidence the Divinity of those visions that did represent them For not to speak of the Image of Nabuchodonosor which did prefigure things at such a distance that all the Angels together were never able to foretel them I shall only speak of those of Ioseph and Pharaoh and the Officers of his house who were in prison with Ioseph who having seen the things so punctually accomplish'd could in the least doubt but that they were of Divine Revelation But this is not that which we here principally intend 2. As for their interpretations it is certain that those admirable resemblances that are betwixt them and the visions themselves must needs be matter of great wonder to those who heard them even before the event for these resemblances could not come by meer chance since there did appear in every particular so exact a relation between them and we see that Nabuchodonosor was ravish'd with admiration of them and Pharaoh was so fully perswaded that without any further consultation he preferr'd Ioseph to the highest dignity with an absolute power to dispose of the affairs particularly of the revenues of Egypt according to his own pleasure to provide himself by the provision of the plenty of the seven first years against the desolation which should be caus'd by the seven years dearth but 't is true that this also doth not reach to a full and proper answer to the objection since the divinity of the dreams ought to appear in themselves Thirdly Here then we ought to observe the difference betwixt those dreams which brought with them matter of express commands as those which were sent to Ioseph and to the wise men which came to worship our Saviour and those which consisted simply in Symbolical and Allegorical representations of things to come Those of the first sort ought to contain in them evident and undoubted characters of their Divinity otherwise they could never have powerfully enough perswaded the servants of God to obey them those of the latter did not absolutely require so great a force and evidence and yet 't is certain that these have been able to make such a powerful impression upon the minds of those that receiv'd them that they certainly believ'd them to proceed from a supernatural and Divine Cause Ioseph sufficiently testifies this by the earnestness he shows to relate his for that was indeed to acknowledge that he had seen something that had made very sensible impressions on him The Officers of Pharaohs house did the same in theirs and testify'd that they did not take them for rash and vain delusions and Pharaoh did yet appear more lively and deeply mov'd by his in regard of that pain and uneasiness he was in till he had obtain'd the understanding and interpretation of it Not to repeat what I have already said concerning the means by which the divinity of dreams sent from above might be discerned from the vanity of those that proceed from natural causes though it be also necessary to remember all those characters which do distinguish them I say there was never any of that kind which did not cause a great astonishment in those that receiv'd them I shall begin with the consideration of those which are less remarkable and by degrees proceed to those that are more famous Pharaoh's Cup-bearer dream'd that he saw a vine which had three branches from whence sprang certain buds which increas'd and blossom'd that at the same time the bunches of grapes blossom'd and brought their fruit to maturiy That he had Pharaoh's Cup in his hand and that he took the grapes and press'd and strain'd them into the Cup and then
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
morality seem to understand not only this but also include in it all the assistances and encouragements that attend Christianity Whether is the properer acceptation of the word I shall not here enquire yet however those who take it in this latter sense cannot be thought to ascribe too much to the power of nature only they include more in the sense and meaning of the word so taken then perhaps can properly belong to it I shall here only add one consideration which refers to Reason in matters of Speculation and so put an end to this digression 'T is this that it no ways reflects dishonourably upon Reason that it is not in its power to convince a Sceptick Scepticus nec potest alium redarguere nec ipse redargui and the Reason of both is because he neither asserts nor grants any Principles whereby he may either prevail upon others or he himself be confuted Scepticism is a capricious phrensie of the mind and it tends no more to the disreputation of Reason that it cannot cure it then it doth to the dishonor of Grace that it doth not always captivate the perverse wills of wicked men But there are degrees in this Sceptical humor and we then seem to retain some Tincture of it when we unreasonably and immoderately undervalue and enervate those Arguments which natural Reason brings for the proof of some of the Articles of our natural Religion viz. The being of God and the Immortality of the Soul Revelation indeed hath advanc'd these to higher degrees of certainty then before they had but I see not how it tends to the advancement of the Honor of Divine Revelation by too rigid if not Sceptical denials to invalidate all those Arguments that Reason may suggest in proof or confirmation hereof Reason me-thinks here should not be treated as an enemy but rather help'd and incourag'd then discountenanc'd in so good a design we should rather procure and maintain a certain rational tenderness and modesty of mind whereby we should be asham'd either to assert or deny any thing upon unjust grounds and this temper of mind is equally distant from a vain credulity on the one hand and an unreasonable demanding of demonstrations in matters uncapable of them on the other it assents not to things on weaker grounds then Reason may justly require nor doth it require more evidence then the nature of things and the nature of men are capable of But I must remember that I write a Preface not a Treatise I shall now only premise something concerning the Nature of Prophesie and Divine Revelation in general and so refer thee to the following discourse for further satisfaction An operose attempt to prove that which no sober and considerate man ever went about to deny would rather weaken then add any strength to the thing design'd yet I could wish that either the affectation of singularity or a more pernicious design of some in this present age had not render'd the proving the truth of Divine Revelation in opposition to those who would ascribe all prophesie to some lower principle not altogether unnecessary It is indeed both unjust and uncharitable to suggest unreasonable surmises of the possible intentions of an Author contrary to his express words only here give me leave to shew the Reasons why it may be suspected that the Author of Tractatus Theologico-Politicus notwithstanding what he there speaks of it yet may indeed assert no other Prophesie or Revelation then what is within the power of nature to perform 1. In his sixth Chapter he absolutely denies all miracles in general then it is very inconsistent with and naturally consequent upon this his principle to deny this of prophesie in particular The opinion of miracles according to him is founded in the ignorance of natural causes since nature never goes out of her fix'd order and settled course whatever we may weakly or ignorantly conceive of it now according to this way of arguing prophesie may as well be the result either of blind chance or natural causes though such as are not commonly known as other miracles Now the nature and notion of a miracle doth as well belong to the certain Prediction of future contingencies and the declaring and revealing things naturally unknowable as it doth to those things which leave more immediate and sensible effects behind them and if God by such an eternal decree hath so fix'd the course of nature that it can no ways now be alter'd then prophesie must run the same fate with miracles and he that denies one if he be consistent with himself must deny both 2. He tells us that God may reveal by way of prophesie such things as we already know by the light of nature that which I here take notice of is not the falsness of the assertion but only that he doth no where plainly and clearly tell us whether the prophesies contain'd in Scripture be above the power of nature or no or whether they may not naturally follow from such a System of the world as he supposes 3. He himself doth sufficiently explain his own opinion herein towards the end of his first Chapter Denique Prophetae Dei spiritum habere dicebantur quia homines causas Propheticae cognitionis ignorabant eandemque admirabantur propterea ut reliqua portenta ipsam ad Deum referre Deique cognitionem vocare solebant wherein he positively resolves prophesie as well as other miracles into natural causes though such as are unknown to us My design here will not give me leave fully to examine his opinion either concerning miracles or prophesie only I shall observe in general that it is but a very weak way of arguing which he there uses viz. That because God sometimes makes use of natural causes or the accidental ministery of some other means in working of miracles therefore to ascribe the whole causality or efficiency to those things which God for other Reasons thought fit to employ on those occasions thus he asserts Moses his throwing Ashes into the Air to be the natural cause of the Biles that thereupon befel the Egyptians Thus also because God makes use of the phansy in the conveying of prophesy therefore must it wholly be subjected here and reach no farther therefore he concludes that the Prophets prophesy'd according to the various temperaments and complexion of their bodies and some Prophets were more obscure in their prophesies then others because their phansy was not so good nor their imagination so strong as the rest But this kind of Reasoning seems much what like that of the man who speaking of the miracle of Christs feeding five thousand with five Barly-loaves and two fishes Joh. 6. 10. gave this account of it that what they wanted in meat they made up with grass because it is there occasionally said that there was much grass in the place Prophesy in the notion of it may include those two things 1. A prediction of future contingencies a foretelling not only
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
other way Now among all the ways and methods made use of for this purpose there was none more proper nor sutable then that of dreams for as Plato saith when a man whose stomack is full of wine and victuals comes to sleep 't is certain that such an one is very unfit to receive the communication of the Deity and the visions fram'd in such an ones fansy would be very obscure confus'd and turbulent But when an honest man one who is sober and temperate when such an one dreams and that after a perfect concoction of his meat there now rises no more vapours to his head but is in a profound sleep his humours calm and sedate his imagination still and clear as the smooth surface of a mirrour or looking-glass being then sequestred from all the things of this present life and the commerce of sense he is thus a very proper subject to receive the impression of Divine things therefore God himself declaring the way by which he would reveal himself amongst the Prophets which he rais'd to his people Israel he said that he would do it by visions and dreams CHAP. IV. The Characters by which they might know that those Dreams were truly Divine and not vain Delusions BEfore I come to decide the second question I must briefly premise this that when I did distinguish dreams into three kinds and plac'd those that proceed from the operation of Angels in the second and Divine Dreams in the third rank I understood the distinction thus among those that proceed from the operation of Angels there may also be found Divine ones in as much as God doth not only permit but also may command the impression of them but those I call Angelical Dreams are meerly such as those which I have given Examples of in as much as neither the formation of the images of which they consist doth exceed their power nor is the knowledge of the thing which these Images represent above their natural intelligence nor above the quickness of their conjectures and divination for their Spiritual Nature their long experience of things the knowledge they have of the secrets of nature and of the inclinations of men with divers other assistances which we have not do enable them to reach much further then we can into the knowledge of future things Among those I call'd Divine Dreams there are also some which consist of certain Images the formation whereof is not above the power of Angels and yet I call them Divine because that whether it was God that employ'd these Angels to convey them or whether they were immediately caus'd by himself nevertheless the things signify'd by them did so far exceed the natural ability of an Angels understanding that it was absolutely impossible they should ever attain to the knowledge of them but by a particular Revelation for though their knowledge if compar'd with ours be much greater and their fore-sight of things reaches much further yet it is limited and that so that they neither see things to come either long before or with any great certainty Those then may be reputed to come from God which by what messenger soever they be convey'd yet contain such things as God only is able to know and to reveal To return then to my purpose we may boldly affirm both that those dreams had some marks by which they might be known to be Divine and also that is was necessary that they should have so although we do not now certainly know wherein those marks did consist First that they had such for all those other ways by which God is reveal'd to men of which we have spoken before have been distinguished each by it's particular mark and character by which it might be discern'd from all other things where the resemblance or similitude they bare to each other might cause any doubt whether these might come from God or no. The voice which Abraham heard had something in it whereby to distinguish it from other voices which might be made by the ministery of evil Angels and especially that where God commanded him to sacrifice his Son This command being so contrary to his natural affections and having the appearance of a barbarous and unparallel'd cruelty How should this holy man be perswaded to execute it if he had not had some mark to know God to be the Author of it and that so certain that it could not be imputed to any other cause Moses his vision in the bush to perswade him to undertake the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt and his Introduction of it into the Land of Canaan ought likewise to have some such signal character upon it for how could he resolve upon so great an enterprise accompanied with so great difficulties if he had not been well perswaded that it was God who promis'd that he should overcome them all S. Peter's vision could not be less remarkable which prevail'd with him to begin the preaching of the Gospel among the Gentiles being a thing which the Jews had a great aversion against The impression of those things in the understandings of Moses of David and Solomon and divers others ought also to have some signs by which they might be acknowledged for Divine truths otherwise these great Persons would never have related them with so great confidence to others and as to themselves could never have receiv'd so great satisfaction therein Lastly Those Heroick transportations of Ehud and Phineas to those actions related in Scripture ought to be very distinct clear and evident otherwise they would not have suffer'd themselves to be carry'd to those actions which had been truly punishable and even in some sort horrible both before God man if they had not proceeded from a Divine command Dreams then without doubt have likewise had their certain marks whereby to distinguish them from the Nocturnal illusions that proceed either from the impression of evil Angels or from natural causes as I intimated before 2. And it is also necessary that they should have such marks for the same reasons which I alledged before upon former occasions For when God commanded Ioseph in a dream to carry Iesus into Egypt Such thoughts as these might have come into his mind This dream perhaps may be only a vain imagination and a meer phantasm of my own brain which hath no foundation of truth in it Perhaps the great solicitude I am always in for the preservation of this miraculous Infant hath sent into my soul this Idea or opinion that they now seek his life though perhaps they never so much as think of any such thing Perhaps it is some evil spirit which either takes pleasure to give me needless fears or would incite me to remove this Infant from hence that so upon the way he might more easily lay and execute his treacherous designs in a word divers such like things might come into his thoughts and cause a great uncertainty of resolution what he had best to do upon the command
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
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
and other intelligent agents on theirs and generally all manner of productions bear some indications of the nature of their cause And the more excellent the causes are the more knowable they are in their effects unless on set purpose they corrupt their action and designedly disguise it as when David counterfeited the fool which yet Angels never do From whence I conclude that since it was a good Angel which by the command of God convey'd this dream to Ioseph for the Scripture doth openly attest it it was without doubt accompanied with very evident arguments of the nature of its cause First it is absolutely said that an Angel of the Lord appeared to Ioseph in a dream and afterwards that he spake to him saying Rise and take the little Infant and his Mother and fly into Egypt and stay there until I bring thee word for Herod seeks the Infant to put him to death Where we have the Apparition after that the Command lastly the Reason which he there alledges as for the Apparition that could not be but in some Image which must appear visible which might symbolically represent the Angelical Nature for that being spiritual and immaterial it could not otherwise be represented to this holy man For who can doubt but that Image had something so splendid and glorious that Ioseph seeing it in his sleep and after remembring it when awake was in both equally struck with admiration of its Magnificence and what essay made by an Angel of darkness to imitate the splendour of such a vision could come near the glory of the appearance of a Divine Messenger who brought the Commands of God to men and for that purpose was adorn'd with a ray of the Divine Majesty As for the Command that could not be given but by the mediation of a voice which Ioseph in his sleep imagin'd to hear as he apprehended he saw the Angel encompass'd with light I do not here say that mens voices have such different marks of distinction one from another as that blind men as Historians do testify have distinguish'd them in a multitude by the meer characters of their voices although they have but once heard them speak Since perhaps it might be reply'd that blind men having often heard other men speak are thus better enabled to make the distinction whereas 't is possible that Ioseph never heard the voice of any either good or bad Angels before and upon this account could not compare them together to which may be added that the natural voice of men is of one kind and that which Angels form only by representation in the imagination of a man asleep of another I shall here only return that as the Image or apparition of the Angel had something particular in its lustre and Majesty so the voice had something in the tone and in the nature of its articulation extraordinarily Majestick So that as the Devil could never be able to frame an apparition of himself which might come in competition with the Magnificence of that vision so neither could he counterfeit a voice which might equal the Majesty and Authority of that of a good Angel Lastly the Reason of the command is very remarkable for it would have been very strange if the Devil should have been careful for the preservation of the life of an Infant from whose birth if we do consider the miracles that did accompany it he could expect nothing but the ruine of his Empire he is a murtherer from the beginning and if it were in his power would destroy all the Infants that come into the world from the very Cradle but that he foresees some who come for the ruine of mankind as Nero's and Caligula's And since if this Infant was in any danger it was certainly under the dominion of Herod who of his own nature was cruel who had more reason of fear from the birth of Christ then any other Potentate whatever and who had an absolute power in those Countries if the Devil had had a design to impose upon Ioseph by his delusions would he ever have induc'd him to have left the place where he was to have gone to another Where could he have laid his designs against Christ with greater hopes of success then where he was being as it were in the Paws of a Lion or in the den of a wild beast Thirdly It plainly appears that Ioseph was fully perswaded of the Divinity of the vision seeing that without any deliberation as soon as he awoke he arose and took the Infant and fled into Egypt now the dreams which come from natural causes do not carry us to any action and we think we should be taken for fools if we undertook any thing though of never so little importance upon the meer solicitation of a dream And those very dreams which yet have something more of life and vigour in them then natural ones have and upon this account may be attributed to some Spirit these indeed may cause a great deal of disquiet of hope or apprehension but they do not induce us to undertake any resolution in things of Consequence unless it be those of Melancholy tempers or unsound brains Since then Ioseph who was a wise and sober man betook himself so readily to the execution of the command it is certain that he was fully perswaded of the Divinity of the Revelation for since Jesus was his Son we cannot think that he would have rashly taken up such a resolution much less certainly would he have done it the question being then of him of whom he had the honour to be appointed Guardian Now this perswasion must necessarily come from one of these two things 1. He either found in the object it self such irrefragable arguments of its truth that there remain'd no place for deliberation but his understanding immediately determin'd it self Or Secondly if the Arguments were not altogether so strong and evident as to force his judgment to embrace the object then God by the incomprehensible power of his Spirit did so effectually determine it on this side that it could not possibly resist This latter is the less usual method of Gods proceedings but when it doth so come to pass then it is an undoubted proof that the object is truly Divine For it is only God who doth so rule in the understanding of wise and vertuous men and who so powerfully inclines it to such a belief and resolution although it doth not see in the object reasons altogether proportionable to the effect it feels in the soul So that if Ioseph was thus perswaded to the execution of the command he then had in his own private sentiments and in the extraordinary determination of his understanding an evident proof of the Divinity of his dream The first of these is without doubt the more common and natural for what the Loadstone is to Iron that is truth to the understanding which doth greedily embrace it and inseparably joyns it self to it when once by
in sanctification in hope in patience under temptations and afflictions and in all Christian vertues for it would have been a small thing for God to have promis'd abundance of those gifts which are truly miraculous but such as of themselves are not effectual for the procurement of Salvation and have kept back those which only are necessary and sufficient thereunto And indeed we ought to understand that Prophesy of Isaiah in the same manner Your God shall come himself and shall deliver you then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped then shall the lame leap as the Hart and the tongue of the dumb shall sing in triumph for the waters shall spring in the desart and torrents in solitary places It is very true that those words have a proper and literal sense which was accomplished at the coming of our Saviour but they have also an Allegorical and Figurative one which respects the saving graces of the Spirit which have their accomplishment all along in all Ages of the Church Secondly It is further certain that the reason for which these miraculous gifts are expresly mention'd in this prophesy and not the more ordinary and saving ones is because these promises are conceiv'd in terms more accommodated to the legal dispensation for under that oeconomy the faithful very well knew that all the good that was in them did come from God and accordingly return'd him thanks Moses himself hath thus taught and the Psalms of David are full of such acknowledgments yet nevertheless they did not distinctly know that it came from a particular operation of the third Person in the Deity the Spirit of Faith the Spirit of Consolation the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of Sanctification being terms unknown to the Faithful of the Ancient Church So that until David who began to speak something of the Spirit of God in matters relating to Sanctification no one before spake any thing of it and after him these Expressions were very rare Whereas there is nothing more ordinary in the Books of the Old Testament then to attribute the Visions and Revelations of the Prophets their extraordinary and miraculous gifts which did both enlighten and astonish the World to the Spirit of God in so much that the particular skill which was bestowed on Bezaleel and Aholiab to work in all manner of carved work for the building of the Tabernacle of the Congregation is particularly attributed to the Efficacy of the Spirit of God in the Books of Moses It is true the ordinary gifts of the Spirit of God are much less resplendent and cause less of admiration then the extraordinary for those are so internal that they do not show themselves but in Actions of Piety Charity and Sanctification which are commonly very Moderate and Regular and which unless we take a more close and exact view of them do not seem to proceed from any other Principle then that of right reason Whereas the other do so dazle the eyes of all beholders with their lustre that no one who sees their effects can judge them to proceed from any thing less then a Divine and Supernatural Cause And this difference was so much greater under the Law as the ordinary gifts were there less liberally bestow'd and the vertues which they produc'd were more obscure and less frequent then they are now and on the contrary the extraordinary and miraculous gifts were then more common and agreed better with the genius of that Dispensation in that it did prevail upon the minds of men not so much by the knowledge of the truth as this doth now as by the admiration of the power of God and by the astonishment which those surprising and prodigious passages did produce From hence for a third consideration results the knowledge of the manner how this promise of Ioel and such like were to be fulfill'd for it was very agreeable to the truth that at the beginning of Christianity our Saviour should plentifully bestow upon his Church those miraculous gifts which were there especially design'd And two reasons among others invited him thereunto The one that the expressions which the Prophets had made use of had fill'd the minds of men with expectation of these gifts with expectation of theirs if it had been frustrated in this respect it would have given an occasion of scandal therefore that men might not have any thing to object about the accomplishment of those promises God was willing to signalize the beginning of the Preaching of the Gospel by those marvellous instances The other which is the Principal is that the first establishment of the Gospel had need of such a manifestation of the Spirit by the gift of miracles because otherwise it could never have destroy'd the dominion of Satan as it did and have vanquish'd the resistance it met with in the Roman Empire and in all other nations of the earth for the Preaching of the Gospel the working of miracles the distribution of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit have been the wings upon which the Church hath been carried through all the Nations of the World Therefore the Apostle joyns these two together in the Epistle to the Hebrews when he says That salvation being first begun to be Preach'd by our Lord it hath been confirmed to us by those who heard it God besides bearing witness by signs and miracles and divers powers and distributions of the spirit according to his pleasure But when the Gospel was once well planted in the world so that the Preaching thereof alone was sufficient to preserve and continue it the necessity of miracles being now ceased the use of them ceased likewise and these extraordinary gifts of the Spirit therefore disappear'd because they were no longer necessary thus the performance of this promise of Ioel as far as it was to be extended to all the times of the Christian Church even to the consummation of the world hath been restrain'd to the ordinary gifts of the Spirit of Faith of Consolation of Sanctification which are indeed much more plentifully poured out under this dispensation of the Gospel then ever they were under that of the Law To come therefore to a particular solution of this question I think we ought carefully to distinguish betwixt Divine Angelical and Natural Dreams for as for those Divine Dreams which are design'd to foretel things to come under the Emblem of an Allegorical Representation or to convey some new commands to men in order to some great and extraordinary design for which there is need of Divine Authority for the undertaking and executing of it I conceive that time is now wholly expir'd and those who pretend to and boast of any such they are either impostors who would abuse the world by their feigned visions to serve their own private interest or else fools who have their brains disturb'd by Hypocondriack vapours for we are no longer now under the legal dispensation which was as it were