come to particular observation the proper object and pleasure of the Eare the other of the Eyes and so opposed to purely rational and intellectual yet so sensual as that both presuppose reason and understanding without which they are not pleasures Brute beasts take no pleasure in Musick except it be some great chance as in the case of Dolphins and the like and upon some particular consideration much lesse in Pictures and curious imagery And again as we say commonly that the eye seeth the eare heareth of which in the former chapter so we say that the eye is delighted and the eare pleased though in very truth neither eie nor eare properly know what belongs unto pleasure but the soul only The consideration of this hath bred many doubts and curious speculations amongst Philosophers and learned Fracastorius himself professeth it is much put to it to find out what it is that makes good musick and harmony to please Nothing easier to be understood till a man think of it rationally nothing that affords more doubts and scruples if you come to treat of it philosophically We shall begin with musick and shew how it is applyable or incidental unto speech and that by authority first before we come to reason And though we meddle not here with any thing that is properly called a Scripture businesse yâ—â— why may not we make use of the Scriptures from which some would have us to fetch all good Arts and Sciences as well as all sound Divinity I am not of their opinion I confesse nor any sober man I hope yet that many things in all Arts and Sciences by sober and well-grounded men in humane literature may be learned and some deep questions of philosophy resolved by the Scriptures though given us for a greater good and a more sublime use I my self make no question I shall therefore here set down the words of the Prophet Ezekiel observable unto many uses but not intending to presse their Authority as Sacred as to this particular use and purpose further then any man shall think fit in his own reason and judgement I called them the words of Ezekiel but indeed they are the immediate words of God himself by the Prophet Ezekiel Also thou son of man c. And they come unto thee as the people cometh c. And so thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument for they hear thy words but they do them not Ezek. 33.31 32 and 33 verses I question nothing in the translation of the words but that in the first verse where it is here the children of thy people still are talking against thee not only Junius but other Interpreters of best account translate of thee not against thee by way of commendation not of crimination vicatim ostiatim c. that is at every door and in every street every where commending thee as Junius there in his Notes This similitude of the power of Speech to please the eare with Musick whether vocal or instrumental is very frequent in ancient Authors upon divers occasions It is in Plato Cicero Seneca Dio Chrys and divers others and much to the same purpose as here in Ezekiel in some of them as in Musonius the Greek Philosopher whose words as translated by Aulius Gellius were Cum philosophus hortatur monet â—â—adet objurgat c. that is When a Philosopher doth exhort admonish advise reprove or any thing in that kind tending to reformation or instruction if they that hear him out of their open and superficial breasts bring forth obvious and vulgar praises nay if they break out into loud acclamations if with his choice language sweet cadency and collocation of words and his warbling voice frequentamentis of which learned Budeus and others they be affected inflamed and even transported then may we certainly know that both speaker and hearer have lost their labour and that he was not heard as a Philosopher but as a skilful Harper or player on the Lute Musonius goes on in his discourse how a true hearer that hath a right aime should be affected I wish there were no worse Doctrine ever heard out of our Pulpits but it is out of our purpose here and therefore I leave him there But from these bare similitudes we can inferre no great matter to our present aime and businesse because there may be a likenesse of effects upon which a comparison may be grounded though not affinity of nature or perchance a direct contrariety as for example extreme cold and extreme heat sometimes produce the same effects in the causes To proceed therefore to some more direct proofs Amongst other secrets and mysteries of the art of good speaking one is that which is commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the placing or collocation of words in a sentence or period There is not any part of Rhetorick more subject to scorn and contempt and not without cause For what apparently can be more contrary either to solidity of reason or sharpnesse of wit or vigour of spirit then for a man to busie himself about the placing and ordering of words and syllables when in a serious matter either to write or to speak And in very deed as the matter is coÌ„monly handled both by ignorant practitioners and by unskilfull masters of that Art it proveth but a ridiculous businesse far more likely to bring all Rhetorick out of request then to gain that credit to that one part at the hands of any truly sober and wise to which some Ancients of best account have endeavoured to raise it to be accounted the choicest and most usefull part of all Rhetorick Not without great cause therefore some Ancients that have written of it with equal both diligence and dexterity make this profession about it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that as these things must needs sound unto many as mere mysteries or incredible paradoxes so neither are they for the knowledge of many and that it cannot be expected otherwise but that they that have no experience in such things should judge otherwise of them then as ridiculous trifles But however men may judge before they understand because they will not take pains as most or because they have taken pains and cannot understand because non omnia possumus omnes and that non ex quovis ligno c. as many yet certain it is that not only the most famous Artists and Orators that ancient times have produced as Demosthenes Aeschines Cicero Dion Halicarn Quintilian Longinus and the like have adscribed unto it as much as unto any other power or faculty which belongeth unto Rhetorick and accordingly treated of it some of them with all exactnesse and diligence but also divers Philosophers as Aristotle Theophrastus and others have taken it into their consideration and said enough of it they that say least of it as Aristotle to make it
farre hath that pompous dresse of words joyned with the sublimity of the subject bewitched many besides what advantage is made by some of this pretended antiquity in some controverted points of religion However the Author is ancient we grant and good enough too for some uses to deserve respect at the hands of all learned men In the Treatise De mystica Theologia he teacheth a new kind of practical Divinity by renouncing not to the Senses only but to the Understanding also and to all intellectual powers faculties and operations that are natural by which in time we may attain through elevation of mind to an union not expressible nor understood yet felt and in an hidden manner operative with God in this union as the perfection of man and the height of mortal exaltation to rest when attained without passion without affection without knowledge I will give a short description of this mystery in the words of Carolus Hersentius one that hath commented upon that book and hath collected out of other Authors men and women whatever he could meet with to commend it and the doctrine of it unto the world Cum ad hunc amoris contemplationis gradum per venit saith he ut nihil eorum qua intellectu c. miro incognito modo à Deo rapitur à Deo in Deo suscipitur tota Deo plena fit tota in Deum transfunditur ita ut essentia Dei ejus essentiae substantiae intime absque ullo modo creato uniatur Deus autem in raptu hujusmodi adventu suo seu illapsu rationem mentem obscurat stupefacâ—â— suspenditque ita ut pro eo temporis intervallo nullius aâ—â—â—onis capax sit We shall have the English of all this also the substance of it at least when I come to that application of it which I aim at But I would gladly know of whom this Dionysius learned this strange Divinity It is somewhat that Hersentius doth acknowledge Dionysius in this his doctrine Platonicorum dogmatum sectatorem p. 101. and Platonis sectatorem accuratissimum p. 91. And p. 93. c. he bringeth passages out of Iamblichus Porphyrius Proclus noted Platonists teaching in a manner the same thing Insomuch that p. 43. he dares adventure upon so much truth as to say Ego equidem dum Procli philosophi Platonici in Theologiam Platonis axiomata animadverto firmiter mihi persuadeo out Dionysium Procli scripta legisse a terrible businesse to be supposed which would prove no lesse then heresie and losse of goods and life For then what must this Dionysius prove but an impostor seeing Proclus lived all men know some centuries of yeares since the true Dionysius aut quod vero similius yea by all means it concerns him to say so Proclum libris Dionysii operam navasse But let the sober Reader consider Here is a strange kind of Divinity as some call it or Philosophy of which much hath been written in many volumes by some of them by Platonick Philosophers grounding all upon expresse passages though drawn much further by the Arabs especially then he ever intended perchance of their master Plato insomuch that Hersentius himself as observed before is forced to call Dionysius a Platonist for teaching this doctrine We find nothing of it except we draw things obtorto collo as we say in the Gospel of Christ nothing in ancient Fathers of greatest antiquity and yet likely after all this that Proclus learned it from Dionysius But what if we find other Philosophers also besides Plato that lived some hundred of years before the true Dionysius teach the same doctrine more clearly then Plato himself as clearly almost as either Proclus or Dionysius It cannot be unpleasing to them that are Scholars if I take some pains to discover some mysteries of this mystery of darknesse which for ought I know have not yet been brought to light by any man Who is the true Author of those Metaphysicks or rather fragments of Metaphysicks that go under Theophrastus his name certainly I cannot tell We find them adscribed to divers Authors by ancient Greek Philosophers yet by some very ancient though not found in the Catalogue of his books set out by Diogenes Laertius where divers books of his are missing as well as this to Theophrastus himself learned Sylburgius leaves it doubtfull Theophrastus was one of Aristotles own disciples and succeeded him in his School much commended by him an excellent Philosopher certainly by those works of his not the twentieth part of what he had written that remain unto this day Those Fragments of Metaphysicks whoever be the Author who must have lived long before Christ are a choice piece but very imperfect end therefore the more obscure In the eighth Chapter of these Fragments as divided in Sylburgius his edition for in Aldus long before that I find none after a long discourse of the speculation of principles we find these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All that know any thing of Philosophy be it never so little cannot but have heard of Aristotles opinion so much disputed in the schools of Philosophers that the understanding whilst joyned with the body can do nothing without the senses of which we also have had occasion to consider at large in another work De origine Idolotriae not yet printed Theophrastus therefore here saith That to some degree or measure we may contemplate and know the first causes scientifically that is by their causes from things sensible or by the help of the same senses But when once ascended to the Summities or Original Firsts we can go no further either because they have no cause or partly because of our weaknesse as in matter of sight he had this similitude upon the like occasion from his master Aristotle when we would look upon that to wit the Sun which is most bright and splendid And in this case it may be true indeed by which words Theophrastus doth seem to referre to the speech of some former noted Philosopher whether Aristotle or Plato that all knowledge and contemplation of the first causes must be by very touching and feeling that is union or conjunction as in the former testimonies of the mind or intellect Whence it is that such knowledge grounded upon a kind of feeling of all senses the most certain in man by which also he doth sometimes correct the errors of his eyes or rather because immediately from God is not liable to error however the comprehension of this very thing and the certainty of it or though that degree of knowledge necessary before a man can attain to this as of confidence also be a thing of great difficulty So Theophrastus there And now I would desire the Reader that hath so much curiosity for the truth to read over that Discourse it is very short and will take but little time of this pretended Dionysius and tell himself when he hath done some common things concerning
Divination most properly from God Opinions of Heathens about the causes of Divination Plutarch corrected Divination in a more general sense Some kinds of it merely natural or physicall Our question here of enthusiastick Divination particularly whether any such from Natural Causes But first of all whether any such among Heathens anciently truly and really The grounds of the contrary opinion discovered and refuted Pythones or Pythonici in the Scriptures and ancient Histories Pomponatius and Tho. Leonicus noted The Question rightly stated First of all a concurrence of naturall causes in some cases generally granted Some Enthusiasts not only foretell things future but also speak strange Languages through mere natural distemper according to the opinion of some Physicians But the contrary more probable and why That some things of like nature in some respects as Enthusiastick Divination and not lesse to be wondred at are certainly known to proceed from causes that are natural though unknown unto men and some things also though from causes that are known not lesse wonderfull in their nature Instances in both kinds The power of smelling in Dogs An Example out of an Author of good credit of a man who being blind was a guide unto many that had eyes by his smell only through vast Deserts The power and nature of the Memorie in man how incomprehensible and how much admired by both Divines and Philosophers The invention of conveying secret thoughts at any distance whether of place or of time by writing how admirable a thing Their opinion that fetch Divination from the nature of the Intellectus agens in every man The opinion of Aristotle in his Problems some question about the Author of the effects of atra bilis or melancholy a probable ground of some naturall divination But after some general grounds and propositions the continual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or emanations of bodies according to Aristotle and others and the partuâ—itions of causes or foregoing naturall signes of strange events and alterations discernable to some tempers as also the concatenation of natural Causes according to the Stoicks a more probable ground The Divination of dying men A notable observation of Aretaeus an ancient Greek Physician to this purpose Enthusiasme by vast prospects and other natural objects IT is acknowledged as well by Heathens as by Christians that absolutely infallibly to foretell things future doth belong unto Him only to whom all things passed present and future are equally present Men therefore as many as have taken upon themselves or have been believed to prophesy a word used as ordinarily by Heathen as by Christian Authors or to foretell they have been generally deemed and termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like all which signifie men inspired by God And although 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Enthusiasme be used to many purposes as will appear throughout this whole Discourse yet it is most properly used to imply Divination such as is by inspiration And because such Divination among Heathens was not usually without a temporary alienation of the mind and distraction of the senses hence it is that both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek and Vaticinari in Latin is taken sometimes for deliration and idle speaking Of the causes of Divination many Ancients have written very largely and variously All make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or divine inspiration to be the chief and principal Tullie's first Book De Divinatione is altogether of that Subject But that is not my businesse here Neverthelesse for their sakes that love and read Greek books which in very deed if any after the Sacred are best able to make a man wise and learned I will produce a place of Plutarch to this purpose not only because it conteineth much in few words but also because in all editions of Plutarch which I have seen as that of H. Stephen in 6 vol. in 8o. which I account the best and that of Paris in Greek and Latine of later yeares it is corruptly exhibited and marvelously both by the French and Latin interpreters mistaken who hardly make sense of those which they have and leave out part of Plutarch's words and sense Plato saith Plutarch and the Stoicks bring in or assert Divination either as from God immediately ordinarily called enthusiastick or from the Divinity or divine nature of the Soul which Plato calleth ecthusiastick or by dreams I will forbear to say more of it Of Divination in general that is as the word though not so properly is often taken for any foretelling of things future that there be many kinds which are merely natural and physical some usual and ordinary some more rare and remote from vulgar knowledge some proceeding from hidden though naturall causes and grounded upon experience only others known to the learned at least by their causes as well as by experience they that have written De Divinatione as Cicero anciently Peucérus lately besides divers others will afford store of examples and arguments if any desire further satisfaction in that point That which doth here lie upon me to enquire into is whether any kind of enthusiastical Divination properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by Tully furor either now known or formerly practiced may be accounted natural Of such kind of Divination there were among ancient Heathens many sorts cum furore and alienation of mind all such as I intend here at least but in other circumstances as in the carriage of the party possest in the manner of the utterance in the Place Rites and Ceremonies belonging to it very different But here I must stop a while to remove an Objection For what if all these pretended enthusiastical Divinations by Oracles or otherwayes were but mere Gulleries and Impostures to get money as is daily practised to this day though not in the same kind in all parts of the world to amaze credulous and superstitious people Or at the best the subtle devices and artifices of well-meaning Politicians to compasse great matters for the good of the people as must alwaies be presupposed and their own good content That this hath been the opinion of some Ancients even Heathens and is at this day of many learned Christians it cannot be denied But upon some further enquiry into the businesse I hope I shall be allowed to deliver mine own opinion without offence which is this I take it to be a very partial or very illiterate account or come off in a matter as to the cause of such both consequence and obscurity First I call it a partial account Amongst Heathens there were divers Sects for which there was as much strife and emulation as is now amongst Christians of different opinions The two grand Sects were of those that maintained the being of a God whether one or more and his Providence over the world on the one side on the other those that either absolutely denied the very being of any Deity which few durst or granting that there is a God yet
like not by the help of their reason but by some proper antecedent effects of such changes and chances which they feel in themselves And this hath brought us to the main businesse which we are to consider of and so to come to a conclusion The ancient Stoick Philosophers who did adscribe all things unto Fate or Destiny did enlarge themselves very much upon this subject alledging first that as nothing did happen in the world but by an eternal concatenation of causes so secondly that there is such dependance of these causes of the one upon the other that nothing can truly be said to happen suddenly because nothing but had in and of it self an aptitude to be foreseen long before in its Causes Nay some went further that all things that should be had a kind of present being in the generality of nature though no actual visible existence Upon all which they inferred the possibility of Divination by the knowledge of nature But leaving them to their opinions as too general and remote Democritus will bring us nearer to our aim who maintained that out of all things that happened by natural causes there proceeded certain species 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he called them and emanations not from the things themselves only when actually existent though then indeed most strong and apparent but from their Causes also It will be hard to make them that have no philosophical knowledge of nature at all to comprehend this I do not say to believe it that is another thing but to comprehend what is intended whether true or false But they that have so much philosophy in them as to be able to give some account more then every child can because he hath eyes how they see especially if ever they have been spectators of the species of objects gathered through a little hole and piece of glasse before it in a dark chamber upon a white wall or sheet of paper as most I suppose that have any curiosity have seen at some time or other such may the better conceive what is intended Not that I make those species that issue out of objects by the intromission whereof the sight is accomplished to be the very same as those emanations he maintained but only to have some kind of resemblance whereby those may the better be understood Now this was Aristotles opinion and the opinion of Synesius too a very learned Philosopher of later times that these emanations were the natural cause of Divination by Dreams when and where there was a disposition in the subject for reception or impression which was when and where reason had least force as in Sleep and Trances and in such persons where reason naturally was weakest and the phansie strongest as in Women weak men Idiots and the like Aristotle indeed doth not there mention neither doth Synesius other Divination then that which is by Dreams but there being the same reason I take it as generally intended by him or at least appliable to any other kind whereof question may be made whether natural or supernatural I make the more of this opinion though I propose it but as an opinion because I am very confident that greatest secrets of nature do depend from such kind of natural unsensible emanations as might appear by the consideration of many particulars and the examination of several opinions if it were part of my task Now from all that hath been said and observed hitherto that which I would inferre is First from those general instances not lesse to be wondered at though certainly known and acknowledged to proceed from causes that are natural whether known or unknown That it is possible if not probable that some Enthusiastick Divination may proceed from naturall causes Secondly That such Divination as is concerning natural events grounded upon natural causes whether known or unknown may possibly proceed from some such unsensible emanations as have been spoken of those emanations at least as probable a cause of Divination in Fools and Idiots as any other that hath been given as Melancholy may be of some kind of Divination in a different temper and disposition What else may be said in this point agreeable to Aristotles doctrine delivered by him in many places shall be shewed when we shall treat of the causes of Enthusiasme in general Most that have written of Divination to prove that it proceeds of natural causes insist upon the divination of some dying men upon which they inferre a natural aptitude of the Soul to it when loose and free from the body That holy men when near to death have often prophesied by immediate divine Inspiration is not a thing to be disputed among Christians But what should make some ordinary men sometimes to foresee not the day and hour of their own Departure only but to foretel the period of some other mens lives also whereof there be divers examples both ancient and late and not to foretell things only that belong to life and death but sometimes more generally many future things which have proved true by the event of this question may be made without offence whether natural or supernatural First for emanations it cannot be doubted but that long sicknesse in general but especially such and such as may have more particular operation and sympathy may so affect the body as to dispose it for the reception or dijudication of such emanations if the thing foreseen and foretold be such as may be adscribed to natural causes But secondly I remember an observation in the Author of the History of the Council of Trent that it is natural unto many dying out of some hidden and supernatural cause to fall into a great contempt and loathing of all worldly things and humane affairs But I know not how far I may trust my memory For I have not the book at this time The words the best satisfaction I can give to the Reader in which I have entred it many yeares ago when I first read it into my Adversaria are these P. 758. that refers to the Latin Translation printed in Germany in 4o. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solemne in confinio mortis positis res humanas ex ignota quadam supernaturali causa fastidire Now such a fastidium we know is an effect as of greatest wisdome and religion often so sometimes of pure melancholy which would bring us to Aristotles opinion of the effects of atra bilis before spoken of But I have met with an observation of Aretaeus an ancient Physician long before Galen which I think very considerable in this place Aretaeus doth affirme that they that are sick in the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a very general word but more particularly intended of those that labour of a syncope have their external senses more quick that they see better and hear better that their mind is better settled and their hearts more pure and not only so but that the same do foretell many future things also with great certainty
English-man or Nor-man as he makes himself but a very learned man for those times in his Description of Wales chapter 16. tels us of a certain company frequent in those dayes in Wales commonly called awenyd hion that is ecstatical or mente ducti according to Giraldus his interpretation These men it seems according to his relation could put themselves into a trance when they would that is as often as any came to them to consult them as Prophets Two things especially Giraldus would have us to take notice of the one that they did not use to come to themselves again except some kind of violence were used to recall and awaken them as it were and then secondly that after they were come to themselves they remembred nothing at all they had either said or done in their fits He makes them to have been a race of the Trojan Soothsayers among whom and their posterity the Britons only he would have us to believe such Prophets have been Yet again he doth argue and would have us to believe that they prophesied by the spirit too and to that end instances in divers who though Infidels though lewd in their conversations have had the gift of prophesie And such also he maketh the Merlins to have been I can easily be perswaded that Giraldus wrote as himself believed not out of any designe as many have done to abuse his Reader It appeareth by the many Miracles wherewith he hath stuffed his Itinerarium that he was a man of very easie belief which was the epidemical disease of those times of Ignorance when all Piety almost consisted in telling and making of Miracles And what might not he believe who did believe that Alexander of Macedon though long before those miraculous times had removed the Caspian mountains and inclosed within them as within walls the ten tribes of Israel not to be removed from thence till the coming of Enoch and Elias I do not say that he was the Author of this pretty Fable but that he had credulity enough to believe it and by consequent not to be wondered at if he believed many other things that may probably be supposed as true But truly I think we are much beholding to his fidelity For had he been of the temper of some others he would have added somewhat of his own to make his story more strange which might have troubled us But now as he describeth them we may believe him so farre as he speaks of himself and yet know them be it spoken without any disparagement to that ancient noble people since there is no nation in the world but hath store of such know them I say for arrant Jugglers and Impostors For there is not any thing in the whole relation but might easily be performed by any ordinary Gypsie And the like we may as probably conclude of those dancing Enthusiasts by him elsewhere mentioned and described in his ItinerariuÌ„ As for his Merlins if they were no others then the Merlins of our dayes it will require no long deliberation to determine what they were But we know ours that now are well enough but as for them that were I leave them to them that know more of them then I do to judge of them Neither shall I need to say any thing of the Turkish Enthusiasts the Darvisei or Torlaces who as I find them described in some Turkish Histories have some of them much resemblance with those in Giraldus as to their pretended Fits and Raptures but such lewd abominable Rascals otherwise that were it not that we see among Christians also how inclinable the common sort of people are to be carried with any pretence of Religion though the actions be never so irreligious and contrarie to that which is pretended it would be incredible that such monsters should be suffered in a Commonwealth much more incredible that with so much zeal and devotion as men of God and holy Prophets they should be worshipped and adored as they are there by many Strange stories may be read in Leo Africanus in his 3. book of the Description of Africk Diversae regulae ac sectae c. p. 135. to this purpose whereof he professeth himself to have been eye-witnesse but nothing more strange then what Germany hath seen and any other Countrey may where Anabaptisticall Enthusiasts are tolerated and from toleration come in time to prevail and rule I will not make a question of it to dispute it for I have but little to say for it but I desire only to propose it that learned Naturalists and Physicians may if they please consider of it Whether it be probable or possible that naturall Ecstasies and Enthusiasms such as proceed from naturall causes merely should be contagious though not contagious in the same manner as the Plague or the Pox is yet contagious in their kind Neither indeed are all contagious diseases contagious in one kind A mad Dogge is not contagious with his Breath Fraâ—astorius that hath written of that subject saith with his Teeth only and not except some bloud be drawn But it is not my purpose to inquire into the truth of that now I would only suppose that all diseases that are contagious are not contagious in the same manner The chiefest ground of my suspicion is the history of those ancient Hereticks who were commonly known under the name for they had many others besides as Enthusiasts c. of Messaliani a Syriack word that is Euchites or Prayers because they were wont to pray themselves into raptures and ecstasies of which we shall speak more in its proper place But that I have here to say of them is that whereas this strange Sect as most others began by a few it did in time so spread and prevail that whole Monasteries whole Townes and almost Countries were infected with it Neither could any other cure be found but absolute destruction Which may seem strange that that wherein the happinesse and perfection of a Christian being well used doth chiefly consist as being that which bringeth man nearest unto God through abuse and excesse should become liable to the punishment of highest crimes But in this quaere we go upon a wrong ground I know if it be conceived that those men were really possest as some have thought anciently For my part I see no cause to believe it but I leave every man free I propose it to them that shall be of my opinion as I doubt not but some will be and we shall say more afterwards of it in due place II. Our second question which we proposed is Whether through any Naturall Ecstasie the Soul may really quit the Bodie and then return I shall begin with the consideration of what some Ancients have thought and written But before that I must professe that I do not in such high points adscribe so much unto ancient Heathens except it be some of the most solid and rationall among them as to think their opinion in a serious discourse a sufficient
African Priest in S. Augustine who with the help of a mournfull tone or lamenting voice whether real or counterfeit would presently fall into a perfect ecstasie so that he would not stirre at all for any punching or pricking though to a considerable wound no nor at the applying of fire except perchance a man had applied so much as to have endangered his life So much perchance might be thought somewhat to make faith of a real Trance We heard before out of Thuanus what a mighty matter was made of it that a Maid should endure patiently without any sign of sense I mean the driving of pins or needles into some fleshy parts But S. Augustine had more experience in the world then so Besides that common president of the Lacedemonian Boys and Girls he had observed with many Philosophers yea and Civilians how far man or womans resolute obstinacy could go in point of suffering That his reader therefore might be fully satisfied that it was no juggling businesse but a true real perfect ecstasie he addeth Non autem obnitendo sed non sentiendo non movere corpus eo probatur quod tanquam in defuncto nullus inveniebatur anhelitus hominum tamen voces si clarius loquerentur c. that is but I must let the Reader know by the way that the Edition of S. Augustine the onely I have at this time is very ancient almost as ancient as printing is being the Venice edition of Petrus de Tarvisio 1475. for which I like it not the worse I confesse yet thought good to give the Reader notice in case as oftentimes there should be found any thing different in later Editions though commonly for the worst Now that this his not stirring of his body at all those things happened not through a resolute obstinacy such as by ancient Heathens was commonly objected to Christian Martyrs but very impertinently it being both in regard of the number and divers other circumstances a quite different case or opposition of the mind but merely because he did not feel was certainly known because all this while no breath was found in him no more then if he had been quite dead Yet the same man if any body with a very loud voice had spoken or called unto him he would acknowledge afterwards when come to himself that he had heard some kind of noise as if it were afar off But this indeed S. Augustine doth not relate as a thing that himself had seen no but yet as a thing of very fresh memory a verred unto him by many that had seen it and whom he doth professe experti sunt as of a thing that he made no question to believe And truly I for my part must acknowledge that I give more credit to this relation of S. Augustine then to Cardan his testimony concerning either himself or his Father though Bodinus is well content to believe it and partly grounds upon it as unquestionable It was in their power he saith to abstract their souls from their bodies when they would The possibility whereof except he meant it of an absolute separation although I do not absolutely deny yet that such a thing should be believed upon his bare testimony hominis ventosi ingenii as Scaliger of him somewhere a man ever ambitious to tell strange things to be admired by others I see no just ground Well but experientia fallax It is his caveat who of a wise man and much the wiser for it certainly adscribed as much to experience as ever man did and therefore so earnestly exhorteth all young Physicians not to neglect the experiments advises grounded upon experiments even of the most illiterate of the world I doubt therefore whether we may build so much upon two or three examples though attested by very good authority as to make an absolute inference without some further reasoning I find that Tho. Fyenus a very learned Physician who hath published a very rational and scholastical Treatise Concerning the power of the Imagination doth expresse himself peremptorily upon the point on the negative Ea of this very instance out of S. Aug. vel arte Diabolica vel fallacia aliqua cōtigisse vel alias impossibilia esse But I profess to wonder much at this his determination and whether without cause I shall make the reader judge For first the question is not whether the bare Imagination can do it immediately which is contrary to the course of nature as is well shewed by him throughout his Treatise but whether the Imagination or any other Power depending on the Will by the subordination of other Faculties as by stirring up some Passion and the like And so himself doth grant that many Diseases be caused by the Imagination as particularly the Plague which though it be particularly acknowledged by him yet for the Readers further satisfaction I will here adde another learned Physician his words who is generally thought to have written of all contagious diseases as learnedly solidly as any man His words are very expresse Ex animi perturbationibus iracundia c. that is As we have said that among the Passions of the mind Anger Terror and Grief are not without danger so do we now declare that fear of the Plague and intent cogitation about it do often bring it and bear witnesse that many perfectly sound before being struck with a suddain fright and fear of it were presently taken and little after died upon no other ground or cause as my opinion is but this that vehement and intent cogitation of the mind and continued imagination whilst they do strongly affect the heart they do at the same time imprint and ingrave in it that very thing which is so much feared and thought upon And to this purpose I remember very well that I did once when very young hear that worthy Raphael Thorius mentioned before who continued in London all the Plague-time 1603. hear him I say with great admiration tell of many particulars of men and women to his knowledge and in his sight walking sitting talking in perfect health at some outward sight or unseasonable relation or the like suddainly taken Some might except that their fear was not the cause of the Plague but the unsensible grudgings or beginnings of the Plague in their bodies rather cause of their fear as when a man dreameth of some smart pain not the dream often is the cause of the pain but the pain of the dream No that cannot be by divers instances which he did alledge For then their fear proceeding from an inward cause would have been without any externall provocation whereas in all those examples some external provocations were the first and only apparent cause Yet I will not deny but that probably there might be a concurrence of both in some of those many instances But now to Fyenus again Some can weep when they will that he doth not deny no man indeed can deny it I know what Poets and
Comicks do write of all women in general but I will not make use of their authority neither do I believe it true But they that have read of Burials and Funerals in ancient Authors cannot but take some notice of the mulieres praeficae among the Romans and such there were among other nations as among the Jews particularly who though they were but hired with money to weep and did without all doubt rejoyce more or lesse in their hearts for the occasion it being their profession by which they maintained their own life would neverthelesse so mightily and so naturally weep that many that saw them though they knew well enough that they did it merely for their hire and forcedly and had otherwise no mind nor occasion themselves yet could not forbear to do as they did Now were it so as Fyenus seems elsewhere to determine that a voluntary ecstasie were nothing else but humoris pituitosi in cerebri ventriculos substantiam intromissio inductio as he defineth arbitrary weeping by Seri pro imperio motio truly I should think it might easily be inferred that the one as to natural possibility might be as well as the other so that the one being granted by him the other could not in reason be affirmed impossible But I will dispute against my self in this for the truth as I apprehend it For as I conceive every true natural and perfect ecstasie to be a degree or species of epilepsie so I subscribe to Sennertus and other Physicians who besides ordinarily known humors maintain that there is a different specifick epileptical humor or quality as yet unknown unto men which is the immediate cause of Epilepsies But lastly Fyenus seemes to me in some degree if not to contradict yet to be inconstant unto himself For whereas he doth there so peremptorily determine it as impossible in this his second Question Concl. 11. where he hath the same instances at large he proposeth them there as things that might happen indeed but praeter communem cursum naturae besides the ordinary course of nature not as supernatural lest any should mistake but ex particulari aliquorum hominum proprietate singulari corporis conformatione though indeed even there at the last he concludes with a doubt sed forte etiam aliqua corum arte magica c. aliqua forte etiam non sunt vera which I take to be a farre more discreet and judicious determination then his impossible afterwards Which to make yet more probable unto my Reader since it is granted that strange things may be done by some through peculiar natural properties my course would be as I take it to look into those many examples of idiosyncrisiae which I find in good Authors whether among them we might not find divers things which might seem every whit as strange as those controverted Ecstasies But because I desire not to be over-long and that I would not glut the Reader with strange stories among whom some will be found perchance of Lucian's temper who not valuing the authority of most credible Authors will account all fabulous that themselves have not seen or known I shall forbear Yet for their sakes that may be more candid and curious I shall mention two books which I read but lately for which I was beholding as for divers others to a worthy Friend a Doctor and Professor of Physick in Chichester the one Henrici à Heer 's his Observationes medicae the other Dan. Sennerti lib. 6. de morbis à fascino incantatione c. published long after his other works which two books if my memory deceive me not will competently furnish them with such examples But to let that passe and the advantage that we might make of it That some can bring themselves to that as to weep when they will as we said before is granted and S. Augustine in the same chapter professeth himself to have seen one that could sweat without any motion or any other ordinary means when he would and this also by Fyenus is granted as possible and Julius Scaliger in his Exercitations against Cardan writes of one as very well known unto him that could not hold his water if he heard any play upon a Lute or Harp and I have it from persons of credit that professed to have seen a woman that could make her self blush when she would That a man may by intent imagination or cogitation bring himself to a vertigo as will make him fall to the ground and trouble his brain very much best Physicians do affirm nay that a great fright in tender bodies as women with child and intent imagination is enough to beget 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epilepticam is observed by Guil. Fabricius Cent. 3. Observ 3. to whom Sennertus doth assent Have there not been men or women boys or girls children in the world who at the very remembrance of some very sad or terrible thing that had happened unto them in their life would fall into a swoon whether they would or no How much more if they affected it and after some two or three unvoluntary fits finding some disposition in themselves to it and aiming at some advantage by it or proposing to themselves some other end used means by intent cogitation or otherwise to bring themselves into a habit of it Is there any thing in this impossible If I should rub up mine own memory I could tell of many things that I have known in my time in that kind But why should not I in things so ordinary leave all men to their own experience This is somewhat rare that I remember to have read in Benevenius De abditis morborum causis c. a book for the bignesse as full of choice Observations as any I have seen of whom and of his Observations we shall have occasion to say more in some other Chapter of a Boy who having been frighted by some strange apparition whether real or cōceited was wont from that very day almost hour every 8 th day to fall into the same horrors outcries which he had then suffered and used from which he could never be cured as long as he lived but it seems it brought him into a speedy consumption so that he did not live very long after it More I know may be found to the same purpose but I think I have said enough to conclude that granting what must be granted and doth often happen in the world besides the ordinary course of nature yet by causes that are natural as such and such an idiosyncrisia and the like a voluntary ecstasie is not a thing impossible in nature But I have not yet done There is somewhat else to be said that may seem to conduce very much to this our present inquiry and though I my self shall make no great matter of it yet some body else may and think it would have stood me in great stead Giraldus Cambrensis a Briton by birth though by descent rather an