Automaton that is any kind of Machine that moves of it self wound up having of it self the corporeal principle of those Motions for which it was instituted with all things requisite for its action and the same Watch or other Engine when it is broken and the principle of its Motion ceases to act From hence it will appear that there is no impossibility in the thing nor any such inextricable difficulty in conceiving how the Soul may actually separate from the Body for some time without ensuing Death For the further clearing of which there are these two things required 1. To shew how the necessary Functions of life may be conserved and kept up while the Soul is separate from the Body 2. To consider what those things are which may cause a Temporaneous disunion and disjunction of the Soul from the Body First then it will not seem at all strange that the principal Functions of life should be performed for some time without the presence of the Soul to them who will admit of the principles of the Cartesian Philosophy which supposes that the Soul contributes nothing to any of those Motions in the Body which depond not upon actual Will and Cogitation And if withal we suppose Brutes to be but Machines or Automata it will be very clear that all those Motions which we call Vital in the Body may be performed without the actual presence of the Soul But if this seem harsh and irrational to them who imagine bare Mechanism to be an incompetent cause for the production of such effects and that the Systole and Diastole of the Heart which later Anatomists have found to be a Muscular Constriction and Relaxation and the Circulation of the Bloud through all parts of the Body must proceed not from a Mechanical but Vital principle They may be pleased to consider that in Nature there is a certain Vis Plastica or rather Nature it self is it a Plastick Power or Inconscious Incorporeal life which passing through the Universe governs all the Motions of Matter every where according to such laws fatally imprest upon it and reconciles the enmities and contrarieties of particular things bringing them into one general Harmony in the whole and strikes the first and Rudimental lineaments in the formation of the Bodies of Animals and lastly may be particular Souls or Spirits be so far rapt and drawn into consent as to work strange effects not only upon their own but upon separate and distant Bodies Now by this Hylarchical principle or Plastick nature so many of the vital motions of the Body may be kept in play as shall render it as fit and convenient for the Inhabitation of the Soul at its return as it was when she dislodged and separated from it In answer to the second particular it may be said that it is possible the Soul may be rapt from this Terrestrial Body and carried to remote and distant places from whence she may make a Postliminiar return by either of these two ways 1. From a vehement affection or deep imagination piercing into the very lowest of her Powers 2. By the assistance and activity of a more potent Spirit While a House is standing whole and entire the occupier of it may go out and in and still keep the possession but when it is either thrown down and broken by an external violence or falls to pieces through the rottenness and consumption of its parts he must lye in the streets if he cannot get another dwelling Such is the condition of the Soul in respect of the Body whose principal parts in which consist the safety of the whole being corrupted she hastes away never to return till it be rebuilt But while they remain firm and safe she may be carried out by strong and powerful affections and re-enter and dwell there as before Nor is any Desire or Velleity whereby many will say they would fain go out of their Bodies to some distant place though without any more potent affection than to try the experiment enough to cause a separation but it must be so strong and vehement and so far imprint it self upon the imagination as to reach that Plastick Faculty by which the Soul is connected to the Body and these cords being loosened and untied she may without any difficulty pass into the open Air. And he that considers the strange and wonderful effects of Imagination even upon these our Earthly Tenements will have no reason to doubt but the same Power may extend to a Temporary disjunction of the Soul from the Body Common experience shows how the Pica or longing of a pregnant Woman will by a keen Fancy stamp and impress the character of the thing so passionately desired upon the Child in her womb I will not take upon me to maintain the truth of all those strange effects attributed to the strength of Imagination by Fienus Cornelius Agrippa and others though I must confess so much is said by them as to matter of Fact as may satisfie a free and unprejudicated mind that the power of Imagination even upon these gross and unwieldy Bodies is much greater and more notable than is by many supposed But if any one shall so far distrust the truth of such stories as to rank them among Legendary Fables let him consider what other could be Iacobs intent in that device of his in placing pilled and straked Rods before the flocks at the watring-places but only to heighten and invigorate the Imaginative Faculty of the Ews at the time of Conception Now that this hath actually hapned namely that the Soul hath been carried from the Body and after some time returned again the relations of disinterested persons would induce us to believe And it is very probable that upon a due search into the Causes and Natures of things it may not seem incredible what Cardan relates of himself that he could when he pleased fall into this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disjunction or Abreption of his Soul from his Body A thing which is credibly reported of the Lappians who lying as it were in a Trance for some hours will give a perfect account of affairs at three hundred miles distance and by some evident token give assurance of their being in such places To which if we should add the story of Phaereus Pamphylius recorded by Plato of Hermotimus Clazomenius by Pliny and of Soleus by Plutarch it will at least assure us that grave and wise Persons did not think such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is here contended for to be altogether a thing so monstrous and incredible The other way whereby a Soul may be withdrawn from the Body and brought back again is by the efficiency and activity of a more powerful Spirit And hitherto some learned men refer that of Ezek. 37.1 The hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley And though S. Paul deliver it doubtfully as
too great and exorbitant a power over mankind in that it supposes that these wicked Daemons may afflict the Bodies of others with divers diseases and torments that they may raise Thunders Storms and Tempests killing Cattel and spoiling the Fruits of the Earth and many such like pernicious and destructive things and all this at the desire and request of a Magician or Witch pag. 88. OBJECTION V. That it is very Ridiculous to imagine that Devils though never so foul and unclean should delight in sucking the Bloud of these Accursed Hags pag. 99. CHAP. VIII Inferences drawn from the foregoing Discourse pag. 103. The Introduction IT was observed long ago by Epictetus that there were some Persons that would deny the plainest and most evident Truths and this state and condition he terms an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Petrification or Mortification of the Mind which when it happens to men of a blameless and sober conversation is nothing but the confusion of their Intellectuals which are so miserably distracted that they are not able to apprehend the force and strength of the plainest demonstration But there are others that are bedeaded and stupified as to their Morals and then they lose that natural shame that belongs to a man affirming or denying with the greatest confidence that which an Innate shame and reverence of the inscriptions of our own Minds will not suffer others to assert or contradict and this is really no better than an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher calls it a mere Brutishness or Bestiality Under one of these heads I must needs comprehend all those who boggle and startle so much at the Notion of an Incorporeal Being For my own part I cannot but think that great Wit Des-Cartes delivered a most certain Truth when he said that the Notion or Conception of the Soul is much more plain and evident than that of the Body But when men are either so monstrously confounded in their Intellects so as not to be wrought upon or convinced by the force and strength of Argument and Reason or wholly given over to the gratification of their Lusts and Passions I do not much wonder that they should have such dull Hallucinations about the clearest things or that they should entertain such cross and untoward Opinions and so disagreeing with all those that ever had a sober and right use of their Reasons and Understandings This Age hath produced too many over-confident Exploders of Immaterial Substances and he that shall talk of the Existence of Devils and evil Spirits their Possessions of the Bodies of men of Ghosts and Apparitions and the feats and practices of Witches shall be confuted with a loud laughter or a supercilious look as if these things were only the delusions of a distempered Imagination and owed all their Being and Reality to the dreams and fancies of melancholick persons Or if the matters of fact be too notorious to be gainsaid then these Corporealists will not stick to affirm with a late Author that they believe there are many thousands of Spirits made of an Incorporeal matter too fine to be perceived by the Senses of men and that these Spirits may play mad pranks amongst us A thing much more worthy of laughter and the character of folly and all one as if a man should go about to perswade that the little Motes or Atoms that fridge and play in the Beams of the Sun shining through a Crany should by a common consent unite themselves into a living heap and speak and act either ludicrously or mischievously with the standers by This is really nothing else but a disease of the Mind and I have endeavoured in this small Treatise so far to discourse of the Existence of the Dark Kingdom and the mysteries thereof and have laid down such Arguments as being well weighed and considered may be subservient to the releasing and setting free such heavy and dull Constitutions from the distemper they labour under A DISCOURSE OF THE POLITY AND Kingdom of Darkness CHAP. 1. That the Lapse and Revolt of the Angels from the Blessed life of God consists mainly in debasing their higher and nobler Faculties by enslaving and subjugating them to their Inferior and more material Powers HE that will speak of the Angels like a Philosopher looks upon their Souls like those of men to be of an Heterogeneous nature including within the latitude and comprehension of their Essences an Intellectual and Plastical life The Perceptive part is indeed the flower of the Soul discriminating all Impressions made in the common Sensorium by the various objects of Sense and being Life and Activity in a very high degree contains in it the principles and seeds of all manner of Wisdom and Knowledge But the Plastick part or Formative Power is wholly employed in the modification of matter conserving the vital motions and faithfully transmitting the Impressions of External Objects upon the Instruments of Sense to the seat of Perception And that this holds good in Angels their vital union with matter sufficiently demonstrates For although we should fancy the Vehicles or Bodies of Angels to lie in a lax and diffuse manner without any particular Organization or Characteristical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet it is most probable that the seat of Perception is restrained to some particular place in that heap of living Air. Wherefore God creating no Power or Faculty in vain but that at some time or other it should be called forth into Act did graciously allow to these embodied Spirits their Perige's or Conversion to the Placid Motions of their Congenit Bodies in due measures and proportions as well as their Apoge's or Recessions from matter Which innocent delight was in a sort necessary to their condition and the circumstances of their Natures For the most Intellectual and resined operations of their Minds depending somewhat upon the motions of the Matter of their Vehicles it is impossible they should always attend with an equal Intensenefs and Vigour upon those high and remote speculations without any the least lassitude or dulness partly because profound Contemplations do very much exhaust and debilitate the Spirits or Ethereal matter which is the most immediate Instrument of Sense and Cogitation both in the Souls of men and Angels and partly from the necessary imperfection of their Natures which are made with respect and regard to the Plastick as well as Perceptive powers of life which require an abatement and relaxation of the superior Faculties as well for the supply and recruit of their Vehicles as to be a pleasant repast after which the Intellectual life becomes more ardent sublime and vigorous in the exercise of all its most perfect operations Wherefore this being the state of things the Defection and Eclipse of those once bright and glorious morning Stars must be attributed to the luxuriant growth of the Plastick life which taking deeper root by a fond carelesness and indulgency diffuses every way such
Glories To which it may be said that the Devil may properly be looked upon as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Dignity though his Glory be pale and wan and those once bright and orient colours faded and darkned in his Robes and the Scriptures represent him as a Prince though it be of Devils 2. Of other Dominions their Contempt was set down before both in S. Peter and S. Iude by the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 setting at nought making nothing of and despising scornfully behaving themselves towards their Superiors and so need not be repeated again in these words 3. That it is to be understood of a contumelious or contemptuous behaviour towards Angels is evident from the instance the Apostle brings of the contention between Michael and the Devil who though now his Superior yet durst not carry himself insolently contemptuously or reproachfully against him All this is sufficient to let us understand that these mighty Principalities are not to be reproached or railed at but to be left to the just and righteous rebukes of Heaven in our contests and conflicts with them Thirdly We are fully assured that he who hath God propitious to him need not fear the malice of evil Spirits When the servant of the Prophet Elisha was in a great fear and consternation of mind by reason of the Armies of the Syrians that had surrounded his Masters dwelling he no sooner saw those invisible Chariots and Horses of fire but his fear abated and his Spirits returned And if we had but a firm Faith in the Divine Goodness and made it our business to propitiate God and assert our selves under a benigne and favourable Providence by the holiness of our lives we need not fear the numerous Armies and Troops of Syrians those evil Daemons that assemble and unite themselves for our Ruine and Destruction For he that loves God has presently the Invisible Guards of Heaven to pitch their Tents about him For as Arnobius excellently discourses against the Pagans the first and only God is a sufficient Object of Divine veneration that God I say who is the Father and Lord the Maker and Governour of all things and in worshipping him we worship all that is to be worshipped and adore all that is fit to be adored and pay our obsequious Venerations to all that require them of us For since we hold us fast to the Head of Divinity it self from whom all the Divinity of the most exalted Beings is derived it were a vain thing to disperse our worship upon many and single persons especially when we are in great measure ignorant both of their natures and names and can have no clear knowledge of their numbers But as in Earthly Kingdoms when we pay our worship and service to the King himself there is no need of offering the same by name to all who are attendants in the Royal Family for asmuch as whatever Honour belongs to them is tacitly acknowledged to be comprehended in that done to the King after the same manner the holy Angels being a Royal Progeny and deriving their Beings from the first and principal Head of all things although they receive no worship from us by name yet know well enough that they are honoured likewise in common with their King So that when by a strong Faith and the Holiness of our lives we have made God our Friend the Heavenly Hosts are at the same time reconciled to us and we are acknowledged by them as members of their society and they lend us their kind and friendly assistance in countermining the designs of the Dark Kingdom against us Neither is there any Christian that is ever left to his own naked and solitary Effort in this War with the powers of Hell but is attended and succoured with a mighty strength even the Bright Armies and Legions of Heavens Almighty King This this is the Power that will at last prevail and subdue all things to it self and the whole Kingdom of Darkness with all its rebellious Associates shall be plunged into an Everlasting pit of Horror and Confusion Fourthly It concerns us carefully to avoid and mortifie those more refined and Intellectual Vices such as Pride Malice Faction c. which link and conjoyn men fast to the Dark Kingdom For though these sublimated Iniquities and spiritual Wickednesses are not so much nor frequently taken notice of as the grosser pollutions of the Body yet are they no less dangerous than the other as being near a kin to the Diabolical nature Hell it self is as well a state of Life and Being as a Place and when the Soul is overrun with hatred and envy with deep anxiety and cruel despight she is then really drawn into a living Hell and the Devils nature perfectly formed in her There is a certain Magical Sympathy running through this Inferior World which powerfully attracts every thing like it self and strives to assimilate and convert it into its own nature thus every pitiful Vice seeks the enlargement of it self by a contagious Affriction of all capable Subjects and the Dark or Worldly Spirit is diffused far and wide and pulls and draws by hidden strings all those Beings that are predisposed to a Cognation and Afsinity with it and thus are mens Souls often suck'd in by this Infernal and Powerful Nature before ever they think they are in any danger Awake then O man from this drowzy and deadly state and prepare and purge thy heart from all such poisonous and hellish Passions Let that universal Goodness which hath distilled its fruitful nature upon all the capacities of things enlarge and widen thy Soul for a due reception of a Sacred Influence from above that the holy life of God may revive within thee which being of a Heavenly Birth and Extraction will infallibly carry up the Mind and Spirit to its own Fountain and Original Fifthly A true survey of the Dark Kingdom and the Powerfulness thereof cannot but beget in the hearts of all sincere Christians a great chearfulness and firm trust in God's Providence There are some that think God is best served with a demure look and melancholick countenance as if the heart and life of Devotion lay in being dull and mopish and as it were ever despairing of good whereas this is only an artificial and mechanical thing or at best a Religion that men have framed and patched together out of their own distempered Constitutions The Iews say that the Spirit of Prophecy will not rest upon a Melancholick man and the Sacred Writings inform us that David's Harp did sometimes dispossess Saul of his dull and Melancholick Devil intimating surely to us that God takes the greatest pleasure in a composed and serene Mind that goes on in a chearful dependence upon that Almighty Providence that encircles all things both in Heaven and Earth There are some Tempers and Constitutions of Bodies more adapted and disposed to the Temptations and Assaults of the Devil than others and consequently have more need of a due care and inspection over them Thus though the most lucid Discoveries in Arts and Sciences owe a great deal to a moderate Tincture of Melancholy whence Aristotle observes that such Persons have in some measure been Divinely affected in the Prediction of Future Events yet when this Humour shall become ungovernable and exceed the bounds of Reason clouding all the Intellectual powers of the Soul in this Dark and horrid Confusion there is no doubt but evil and degenerate Spirits may insinuate themselves and taking the advantage of this Distemper may produce such effects as no natural account can be given for But I would not be mistaken for it is not for a light and fantastick Spirit that I plead since the devoutest Christian in the highest and most enravishing chearfulness and joy of his Mind is then most composed grave and serious I would only promote the Exhortation of S. Paul that men should rejoyce in the Lord always notwithstanding all the discouragements thrown in their way by the Powers of Darkness For this Divine joy and serenity of Mind is the state of Angels and an Emblem of Heaven whose bright and clear Mansions are never overspread by any black and dismal Clouds but a perpetual and youthful Spring an inexhausted source of pure Joy and Pleasure abides there for ever FINIS Arrian l. 1. c. 5. Enchir. Ethic. c. 2. In Epiclet c 10. Lib. 8. contr Celsum See Revel 1.4 See Ezra 7.14 In lib. de Mundo Varen Descript Regni Iapon Lib. 2. de Abst. Psal. 106.37 C.D.l. 2. c. 5. De Verit. Rel. l. 4. Sect. 3. Rev. 2.10 1 Pet. 5.8 Phil. 2.10 1 Iob. 3.8 Luk. 10.18 Rev. 12.8 9. Lib. 2. de Verit. Relig C.D. l. 7. c. 33. Eccles. Hist. l. 8. c. 1. 2 Thes. 2 11. C.Dl. 10. c. 9. See Doctor Hammond upon Acts 16.16 Cited by Mountague Diatr against Selden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 C. D. l. 8. c. 24. De Passion Par. 1. Ar. 6. Cornel. Agrip de Occult Phil. l. 1. c. 64. Del-Rio Disquisit Magick Gader Doctr. Ari. Plat. Aeneid 4. Metam 1.7 C.D. l. 8. c. 18. Apolog. Nat. Quaest. l. 4. L. 18. L. 2. L. 3. In Vit. Camilli Contr. Celsum l. 8. p. 398. Annot. in 1 Cor. 5.5 L. 2. c. 15. Contr. Cels. l. 8. p. 398. De Opisic Dei c 20. De Vit. Plot. L. 2. c. 16. Psell. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. l 8. L. 7. P. 334 Ibid. C.D. l. 11. c. 15. Chap. 14. Chap. 28 Lib. 3.