THE VISIONS OF THE SOUL Before it comes into the BODY In Several DIALOGUES Written by a MEMBER OF THE Athenian Society There 's an innumerable Company of Pre-existent Souls those that transgress are sent down into Bodies so as being purify'd by such Discipline they may return again to their own Places Pythagoras LONDON Printed for Iohn Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey 1692. The PREFACE to the Reader THE Occasion of this following Treatise was the extravagant Doctrine of Pre-existence which of laie hath been so warmly manag'd that it wants but a lâ—ttle more to be made a 13th Article in the Creed of some persons I have pursu'd the humour but yet as Comoedians do when they dress up an Ape to make it appear more ridiculous The Ingenious will discern it at first sight To such as enquire the real Design of this Publication I answer the graver Conferences carry their meaning in their Frontispiece and the more jocose are not without their most solid Morals which perhaps may be more taking to some Readers than if they had appear'd in a common Dress In the whole Discourse I have advanc'd many things wholly new and unblown upon more especially in the 14 th Dialogue where the Nature Conceptions and Actions of unbody'd Spirits are distinctly treated of If I am ask'd for my Authorities I answer What appears reasonable wants no other Recommendation than being so and as to what appears over strange Let the Reader consider that Philosophy had never been improv'd had it not been for new Opinions which afterwards were rectify'd by abler Pens and so the first Notions were lost and nameless under new Superstructures but such a Fate is too agreeable for my Iudgment to repine at or my Vanity to hope for Perhaps I have more reason to beg pardon of my Brethren the Members of the Athenian Society than of the World in that I have only â—â—â—tion'd the Subject to them without taking theâ—â— advice in the Composure but my Impatient Book-Seller alledging the nearness of the Term occasion'd the hurrying it into the Press some of our Members being just now gone out of Town some retir'd at present to their Estates in the Countrey However to make amends for any thing of Errors which have happen'd by haste and want of review which are many I think fit to promise the World Two more Pieces which shall have the inspection of the whole Society As this only pretends to Uisions of the Soul before it comes into the Body so the other two will treat of the Sentiments of the Soul when in the Body viz. in Infancy Dreams Trances Dotage c. and the manner of its Existence in a separate state till it is joyn'd again to the Body The First Treatise is Matter of Ridicule and a Dream see the last Dialogue The Two following will bear more grave Discourses being certain Truths and perhaps the deepest Mysteries that Revelation or Natural Philosophy can treat of and we hope they may be so manag'd as not to be a little welcome to the world both as to removing many false Notions and advancing something new One thing more I have to offer that whereever the Reader meets with such Terms as Time Place or Matter attributed 〈◊〉 Spirits he take 'em not according to the common acceptation but as something that bears such proportion to Spirits as Time Place and Matter do to Bodies I have done and doubt not but to meet with both Applauses and Hissing and in both Parties from such as think themselves sufficient Iudges But I beg their Pardon if I 'm conâ—ern'd at neither being resolv'd to continue as secret and invisible as the Bâ—iâ—gs of Pre existent Spirits The Contents of the Several DIALOGUES A Prefatory Dialogue between the Secretary of Fate and the Author's Soul 1. Between the Spirits of a Poet and a Drunkard 2. Between the Spirits of a Jacobite and a Williamite about the Royal Congress 3. Between the Spirits of a Bastard and a Necromancer 4. Between the Militia of Rational Souls 5. Between the Two Orders Rational and Vegitable 6. Between Mercury a Pre-existent Spirit a Dead Man Charon and Hobbs 7. Between Two Spirits upon the Ramble and the Spirit of an Usurer that had strangl'd himself and walk'd in a Church-yard about his own Tomb. 8. Between Two Spirits the Order of Vegitable Souls and Cupid 9. Between an Astrologer and a Mountebank 10. Between Two Spirits about the Retrogradation of the Dragon's-Head and Tail 11. Between a Spirit and his Friend lately Imbody'd in an Infant 12. Between the whole Order of Rational Souls and Two Intelligencers from the other World 13. Between the Spirits of an Emperor and a Beggar 14. Between Two Spirits that made a Contract to keep a Correspondence whoever came to be Embodied first 15. Betwixt Two Spirits about the Musick of the Spheres 16. Between The Spirits of a poor Doctor and his Friend and a modern Philosopher alias Sharper 17. Between Two Spirits on the Ramble and a Flight of Witches with their Guides 18. Between Two Spirits that are to be Mayor and Mayoress of a certain Corporation when they come into their Bodies 19. Between the Parcae viz. Clotho Lachesis and Atropos and a Book-Seller 20. Between a Transmigrated Soul and an Unbodied Spirit 21. Between the whole Consistory of Spirits examining a Heretick Soul about some new Doctrines held forth in opposition to the common receiv'd Opinions of the Aetherial Fraternity 22. Between the whole Consistory of Spirits being a Discovery of Vulgar Errors receiv'd by that suppos'd Heretick Spirit yet a Prisoner 23. Between the Spirit of one that is to be a Member of the ATHFNIAN SOCIETY a Correspondent and of some that are to be Querists 24. Between the Spirits of a General a Midwife and an Executioner 25. Between the Spirits of Two Projectors 26. Between Two Travelling Spirits 27. Between the Spirit that is to be last Embodied and the Spirit that is to be first re-united to its Body at the Day of Judgment 28. Betwixt Two Spirits one that pretends to dedeny Pre-existence and the other to prove it PROPOSALS For Printing a Book Entituled The young Students LIBRARY Containing Extracts and Abridgments of all the most Valuable Books Printed either in England or in the Foreign Iournals from the Year 65 to this present Time To which will be added an Introduction to the Use of Books in A New Essay upon all sorts of Learning Written by the Athenian Society The Proposals are as follows I. THat this Volume will contain as is supposed about One Hundred and Twenty Sheets Printed in a very fair Letter and of the same size with our several Mercuries and Supplements that it may bind up with them or be sold single to those who desire it II. The Subscribers to give 10 s. for each Book in Quires whereof 5 s. to be paid at the Time of Subscription and 5 s. at the Delivery of the Book which considering
is as ordinary a thing for Spirits to converse one with another at the most protracted distances as 't is face to face but this is only to your Capacity for there 's no such a thing as distance amongst Spirits for they are as near one another when the whole Coelum Empyreum is betwixt 'em as they are when both together and yet they are not like God every where at once or omnipresent Body'd Sp. This is strange Doctrine to Mortals pray' how do Spiris move whether locally by a Medium or in an instant or in Time or how Unbody'd Sp. None of all this for what is impartible is not moveable for according to Humane Philosophy which holds in this Case any thing that is moving whilst it is moving is partly in termino a quo and partly in termino ad quem which is inconsistent with Impartibility Nor can a Spirit move so as to pass through a Medium As for Instance To go from London to Rome or Constantinople without passing over the distance or places betwixt 'em Now every thing that passes passes through a place equal to it self as suppose through Air Water c. the place that the Body is in is equal to the Body which fills it But the place equal to an Indivisible Spirit speaking ad Humanum Captum is a Point and therefore if an Angel or Spirit by his Motion passes through a Medium he must necessarily pass through or number many Points in termino ad quem which is impossible To speak yet nearer the Common Apprehension of Mortals a Man may in his Mind think of France and then immediately of Syria without thinking of Italy which is the Medium betwixt both And this comes nearest the Motion of Spirits now whether this Motion is effected in Time or in an Instant As thus When God Almighty commissionated an Angel to go and appear to Manoah whether in coming from Heaven he might be a Day an Hour or a Minute or whether he was there in the same unsuccessive Moment wherein he receiv'd the Commission To this we answer in respect of Men who are ty'd up to the gross Rules of Time Place Matter c. There was a Flux of Time betwixt the Receipt of the Commission and the Execution of it But in respect of the Nature of Angels the Receipt of their Commission the Execution of it and a Thousand Years after the Execution of it were all included in one Unsuccessive Now The Reason of it is this If there were a Time for the Beginning of an Action and another Time for the Ending of it then there wou'd be Succession and by consequence Partibility but that 's inconsistent as above with the Nature of an Indivisible Being as an Angel or a Spirit are Body'd Spirit But supposing Motion Time Place c. to be attributed to Angels and Spirits in respect to Mankind as really they are As it may be said A Spirit is in such a Place now and was not two Hours since Supposing I say such a way of speaking in reference to Mankind how is it feasible for a Spirit a Witch c. to be so orto go through the Key-hole of a Door Unbody'd Spirit Well allowing such a Condescention ad Humanum Captum yet 't is a vulgar Errour First As to Witches They never do it 't is their Spirits and theyâ— I mean â—heir Bodies and Animal Life are all the while â—n an Examinated Trance wherein the Devil â—oes make use of their Fancy to inform them of what passes at a distance in those Aerial Boâ—ies that resemble them and in which their â—pirits really are As Mankind want not maâ—y Instances of such Truths A Spirit 's pasâ—â—ng through a Key-hole is absurdly ridiculous or since Matter is not determinative on Spiâ—â—ts 't is all one to them to pass through Gold â—lass or the most Continuous Solidities in Naâ—â—re as to pass through Air only So that â—hen a Spirit assumes an Aerial Body since 〈◊〉 it self is Matter or a Body and since â—ere can't be Penetration of Bodies it follows at a Spirit which is to go through Glass one c. leaves the Aerial Body which it 〈◊〉 and only passes through the Glass Stone c. in its own Nature and assumes a newâ— Body of Air on the other side and here also may be a Solution of those strange Riddles for so they are to some Mortals how a Witch receives the Wound in the same Part in which the Aerial Representation of her receiv'd it As for Instance A Fallen Angel prompts a Witch to afflict such a Person She consents and being under this Angel's power he makes use of natural Methods so as to invert the ordinary Operation of her Animal Powers as above that she falls into a Trance insensible of Burns Cuts c. Now this wicked Angel having a permissive Possession of her Spirit forms a Body of Air for it organiz'd and fit for Perception in which it assaults and afflicts thâ— Person design'd But in all the Instances that Mankind can bring of such Aerial Representations that have been struck at whether in Humane or Brutal Shape the Persons that struck never felt that they hit any thing but Air which is a certain Evidence that 't was not the true Body of what it represented Now this wicked Angel being present with the Witch's Spirit and taking notice where and what the Wound wou'd have been had it been a real Body amongst other the Occurrences that he represents to the Witch's Fancy he insinuates the Wound and at the same time inflicts it himself upon the real Part of the Body which was representatively cut or wounded in the Phantasm the Witch all the time believing the whole to be a real Truth and acted personally Body'd Spirit Possibly 't is so But Pray is there a Number of Spirits or different Species amongst ' em Unbody'd Spirit Humanely speaking there 's Thousands of Thousands but in the Language of Spirits there 's no such a gross Term as Number for Number is a discrete Quantity caus'd by a Division of Continuity But this is inconsistent with the Nature of Spirits And as to Difference of Species to which we might add Equality or Inequality they are Terms adapted to Matter and therefore amongst Immaterial Beings 't is the most egregious Nonsence that can be imagin'd Body'd Spirit What 's the difference betwixt a Spirit 's Perception and ours Unbody'd Spirit A great deal Men think by means of the Senses Suppose the Eye First There must be an Union betwixt the Sight and the thing seen for Vision is not in Act except the thing seen is after a certain manner in the thing seeing and this not by an Assumption of the Substance but of the Similitude of the thing seen into the Eye Now this Visive Power having assum'd a Similitude of the thing seen into the Eye the Intellect abstracts Universals from it which Act is call'd the Perception and according to this
rambling or other Extravagancies To prove which you need only to consult the Records of our Honourable Court of Equity and you 'll find the Decrees generally run thus That having upon the humble Suit of the Plantiff A impartially weigh'd and consider'd the Defendant B's Charge wherein is proved that besides bilking his Lodging he never paid for the cleansing his Wings nor whitening his Wand be it therefore Enacted by the Prerogative of this Honourable Court of Spirits That the said B be forthwith transported into the other World and be kept close Prisoner in a Humane Body for Seventy two Years or some other Number proportioned to the nature of the Debt And this is farther prov'd by my Correspondents in the other World who tell me they often get into the Ear to listen if there be any subject of dissolution and sometimes mount up into the Eye and take a view of the Skies their old Lodgings and when the Eye that is to say the Wicket door or rather the Grate of the Prison is clos'd up 't is more terrible to 'em then Garnishing or double Irons to a Criminal and thus much for Incorpation Penalties Eighth Cannon 'T is as easie a thing for Ships to sail in the Clouds of the Air as in the Sea and 't is an Invention that will be found out when Mankind shall discover the way into the World of the Moon This Cannon consists of two parts viz. Hypothetick and Prophetick to prove the Hypothesis Clouds are form'd in the Air either ordinarily or extraordinarily ordinarily by the Exhalations of thin and moist Vapours just as the steam of a boiling Caldron ascends which meeting together and justling in the air by little and little are condens'd into thick Clouds or airy Rivers which by degrees empty themselves again into the Sea as all other Rivers do upon the Earth Extraordinarily when several Winds meet together as 't is frequent in some Seas the equal strife causes a whirling violent ascention of fighting Particles which form a Vacuum in the shape of a leaden Pipe or Pump as high as the Clouds but Nature abhorring a Vacuum fills that vast Pipe with Water by way of Suction or drawing up So that presently there are formed Clouds of many Millions of Tuns of Water which can easily enough bear up a Ship for water looses not its nature in being less as is evident by a Ship swimming as well in Twenty Fathom deep as Twenty thousand Nor has it less power in the Air than on the Earth for a Tub of Water upon the top of a House will bear up a Hat Stick c. as easily as the Well in the Ground from whence that water was taken But though we have prov'd that Ships may sail in the Air we shan't promise prosperous Voyages which brings me to the Prophetick part of my Cannon viz. That Mankind shall discover the way into the World of the Moon when they find out the way of Sailing in the Air I could prove this also but that it wou'd lessen the Credit of Prophesies which admit of no demonstration but matter of fact Therefore I shall wave it not desiring to be believed till it be fulfill'd Consist That 's reasonable enough What else have you to offer Pr. Ninth Cannon That Saturn is neither Base nor Tenâ—r but Counter-Tenor in the Musick of the Spheres I have my own reasons for this Negative and I expect the same liberty that the Philosophers have in the World below that is Not to prove Negatives Let all the Musical Souls amongst ye prove the affirmative and I 'll not only yield the Cause but give 'em both my Ears for a demonstration so soon as I have ' em But to proceed if I may speak without offence or particular Reflections on this Honourable Consistory who are now my Judges I have a great many more Negatives to offer in opposition to as many received Opinions amongst you which ye have taken upon Trust without examining the reasonableness of 'em in which provided I may be freed from my Confinement and the Calumny of it I shall oblige all our Fraternity with my farther Discoveries Consist We 'll do you justice and upon performance of your promise you shall have your Liberty DIALOGUE XXII Between the whole Consistory of Spirits being a discovery of Vulgar Errors received in that Society by the late suppos'd Heretick Spirit yet a Prisoner Prisoner THE Goodness of my Cause is to me instead of Questions therefore I shall immediately begin to discover the vulgar Errors of our Society The Condition of my Releasment Secretary of Fate Hold a little here 's the Man in the Moon come now let 's hear what he can say about the Pickl'd Leviathan if upon Oath he confirms not your Testimony already deliver'd how shall we believe what you shall offer hereafter Swear him there and Administer the Interrogatories already drawn up to that end Notary Publick 'T is done Imprimis do you know the Prisoner at the Bar Have you ever held Correspondence with him And if so how long Man in the Moon Yes I do know the Prisoner at the Bar and have held a particular Correspondence with him ever since 35 Years before the Flood Not. Pub. Item Was you the Boston of Noah 's Ark Did the Moon suck a Whale and you up with a bundle of Cables at your Back at full Tide in the Universal Deluge declare the truth and nothing but the truth You are upon your Oath Man in the Moon The affirmative of every particular of this second Interrogatory is truth Not. Pub. Item Are you now Valet de Chamber to the Moon Man in the Moon I am Consist He 's very positive pray examine about his Humanity Sustenance c. this looks very suspicious Not. Pub. Item Were you a Man or a Spirit when you were Boston of the Ark If the first How come you to live so long without putting â—ff the Body If the last was there any more Spirits with you there at the same time Remember you are upon your Oath and therefore speak the whole truth and nothing but truth Man in the Moon I was then and yet am of Humane Race and possibly shall continue lively and well till the day of Judgment by reason of the agreeableness of that Aethar to my Stomach I am never Sick Hungry Thirsty nor Weary for there 's no crude Vapours or gross matter to turn into Diseases Nor is it at all strange since the lower World tells you of one Epimendies Viridiar Lib. 4. prob 24. that slept Seventy Five Years without Meat and Drink and of a whole Nation in India that lives upon pleasing Odors Nat. Hist. lib. 7. c. 3. and of Democritus that was fed divers days with the smell of hot Bread Diog. Laert. lib. 1. cap. 9. why shou'd it seem strange to you that pure Aether shou'd afford such a Nourishment when your common gross vaporous Air nourishes Vegitables Onions and the
to its Body it must be pretty broad at least some 100000 Miles So that the Eyes must stand a great distance one from another nay the Inhabitants of the lower World grant as much in effect when they say the Sun is in an Orb vastly higher than the Moon now taking their Opinion for granted the Sun may be totally Eclipsed according to their own Principles as in the Figure annext for when the Face of the world stands side-way to the Earth so that the Moon is betwixt the Earth and the Sun 't is plain the Moon does not only Eclipse the whole Body of the Sun but as far about as the Circle B the Body of the Sun although bigger than the Moon extending no farther than A. Another Vulgar Error wich I have met with is this That there are no more Worlds habitable by Men than the Earth Moon Sun and the rest of the Planets with a few fix'd Stars Now this I know by my own Experience to be a falshood for coming home late one Night by the Seven Stars I peep'd into the least amongst 'em which you know is seldom visible to the lower world and I saw Thousands of Little Men and Women going to a Fair but they were no bigger than Rats I cou'd not forbear Philosophizing upon it and at last I satisfy'd my self with this Conclusion that all Stars were Worlds and the People in 'em were proportion'd according to the bigness of 'em and I was confirm'd in my Opinion when I consider'd that the Inhabitants of the Earth were about two Yards high that those in the Moon were as high as the largest Steeples and that the People in the Sun wou'd make nothing of stepping Seven Miles at a step in their common walking had that an ordinary sucking Flea had a Trunk as big as an Elephant now Gentlemen that you may be satisfied as well as I that the least Star is an Habitable World 't is but taking a little more notice of 'em in your Rambles Another Vulgar Error amongst us is That there are some new Stars since the Creation or at least old ones mended as that in Cassopeia that in Sagitarius and many others For First as introductive to what follows I shall prove that Stars don't borrow their Light from the Sun but have their own innate light as Fish Scales Rotten Wood c. notwithstanding all the plausible pretences of Earthly Philosophers because if they borrow'd their Light from the Sun or by Reflection they would not always have the same appearance since the World moves its face sometimes so that both its Eyes are hinder'd from looking upon such and such Stars and sometimes by reason of the Interposition of one anhther but such and such Stars have always the same Lustre provided the Clouds don't interpose or hinder the light from making a right Judgment Secondly They are not matter solid and compact as the Earth is for 't is evident to every bodies experience that motion wou'd in time wear 'em away but they are only Globulous formations out of the first light which finisht the Circumrotation of Heaven and Earth e're the Sun Moon or themselves were created and if so Light is not subject to attrition or wearing away no more than Darkness which in some sense is a quality rather than a body Hence no Stars grow old or wear away and if so no need either of mending 'em or making new ones for a convenient perfect number was at first created besides if they should be mended what would have become of their Inhabitants the same time or where must they have dwelt till their World had been new Rigg'd Those Stars talk'd on in Cassopeia Sagitarius c. were nothing else but Meteors or Evaporations from the bodies of other Planets caus'd by the Sun and as the matter whereby they were â—ed ceased they disappear'd and the truth of all this is well known by many of our Society who were at the same time upon the Ramble in those Quarters The next vulgar Error I observe is this That in a few Ages the People in the World below us will teach the Rucks in Madacassar to fly with 'em into the World in the Moon and steal some of those Inhabitants to show 'em at Bartholomew Fair. By what wild Notion this Opinion came to be propogated I know not but the Authors of it do also tell us that a Ruck is a Bird with wings twelve foot long and that they make no more of sooping up a Horse and his Rider than a Kite does of a Mouse so that they can easily carry a Man any whither between their Pinions or in their Talons But tho' I grant this to be truth yet the Voyage is too long to undertake for according to my last Calculation the distance between the Earth and the Moon is one hundred seventy nine Thousand seven hundred and twelve Miles so that supposing it possible for a man and his winged Courser to fly half a year together it would be 980 miles a day too violent a motion for breathing before he cou'd get to the Moon which wou'd be a very hard Task without Meat Drink or Sleep And lastly for I 'll mention but one more at present 't is an Erronious Opinion That a Spirit can't carry away the whole Universe at once if he might be permitted to do it If a Spirit can heave a Chair a Stool a Man c. he can also remove the World The reason is matter is not determinative upon Spirits first not as to place for if a Spirit cannot be circumscrib'd it follows that all Places are the same to him and that if a Spirit moves a Chair from its first Station he can also move it ten thousand Miles further all the labour being only willing such a motion Nor is it the Quality of matter that can hinder this motion all matter being the same to him we have daily instances of Spirits passing thro' Glass and the most continuous matter as easily as through Air which is a more extended Body Nor is it Quantity that can hinder this motion for 't is granted that a Spirit can as easily move a man as a flea and if so he can as easily run away with a Star as a man but this he is not permitted to do since such a motion would spoil the harmonious and regular position of the Heavens but to prove it possible to remove Sun Moon Stars Earth Sea nay and the whole Coelum Empyreum at once I shall offer That a Spirit moves not matter by application of matter to the thing moving as when a man moves his Hatt off his Head he moves it with his hand which is another body but by a vertual Contact or Application of the Will just as a man moves his own Body which is only by willing a motion to it just so when a man moves his hand he moves it not by help of the other hand but by the immediate act of his will
Now the Spirit in a man is limited by Incorporation and can move nothing but only its members or what it applys its members to which also being matter are confin'd to Proportions in respect of that other matter which they are apply'd to yet an unbodied Spirit being confin'd to no particular Matter can will a motion to any matter which is effective upon matter as greater Powers command lesser Nay I might yet further offer that a spirit might more all the Universe at once I mean the Coelum Empyreum and all the Globes within it without displacing the particular parts as the Wheels Weights c. of a Clock when the whole Clock is mov'd away at once for a Clock will follow its regular motions in Italy as well as in England so that Gentlemen Spirits if you have a mind to examine matter of fact there 's no more to do than to make a tryal only I have this to tell you that you cannot tell whether you move the whole or no because you carry all matter and place with you so that there will be left no place behind to measure from and if so no distance and consequently no motion to be judg'd of nor can we who are within the Globe perceive it since we shall be always at the same distances just as a fly wou'd be in a house if the house were removed This is all I have to offer at present by which I hope I may have not only performed the Conditions of my Liberty but deserve a Philosophers body in the other World Consistory Very well be it Enacted forthwith that he supply the first vacancy in the Aâ—henian Society DIALOGUE XXIII Between the Spirit of one that is to be a Member of the ATHENIAN SOCIETY a Correspondent and of some that are to be Querists Athenian Member HOW a Member of the Athenian Society a privy Counsellor of the Stars a Resolver of all Questions very well Have at ye Phisicks and Metaphisicks Methinks I long to begin the search Nature lays open her hidden stores the vegitable world courts my Inspection the Spirits of animate Beings crowd to be treated on and the Caelestal bodies stoop to my Embraces as Luna did to her Endymion Though other Spirits tremble at the thoughts of Incorporation 't is a great part of my happiness to think on 't and I 'am uneasie in nothing but delays of â—â—â—mencement Pray Gentlemen Spirits if ye have any kind resentment of my expectations begin and ask me some Questions that I may try my faculty A Querist Very well I shall be one of your humble Querists in the other World and to save us both some labour pray answer beforehand whether the Longitude at Sea can be found out so as to be made practicable and also the reason of the flux and reflux of that unquiet Element Athe. Mem. Yes 't is possible to find out a Practicable Longitude but I shan't discover the Method how till I come into the other World and am secure of the thousand pounds Legacy the promis'd reward so that I shall intreat you and all other my loving Querists to let me take my own time for resolving Questions of Interest but as to the flux and reflux of the Sea I 'll impart the discovery Know then that the whole mass of the Creation is one great vegitable Being and that Water and Air are to it as sap is to Trees or as blood and serum are to animate Bodies and that the universal Spirit which is disperst through every individual Particle of Nature and more eminently gather'd together in the midst of that vast frame is the Sun which being plac'd in the Centre of the Earth resembles the spirit of man which is also more particularly seated in the heart this premis'd I further add That the Sun wou'd expire if there were not an Element of Air to oppose and fight with which I prove thus particulars are of the same nature as their Generals and a small fire clos'd up so that it can have no Air to oppose it immediately grows unactive and expires And thus when a man ceases to breath the vital heat or spirit within having nothing to sight with grows idle and dyes To which I shall yet add as a resolution to the Question That the strife betwixt the Sun and the Air thins and subtilizes the Sea and causes the flux and swelling of the Tides as a small fire affects the bubling water that is near it and thus the strife betwixt the vital heat and the respiring Air in bodies rarifies and stirs up the blood to a pulsation or a diastole and systole agreeable to the flux and reflux of the Sea and as the pulse is easier discern'd in the Arms and other extream parts than in the main bulk of the body So Tides are most remarkable at the shores Thus Life is maintain'd by opposition and thus all compounded Existences are preserv'd by unnatural Wars One difficulty more is to be resolv'd and I 've done some Seas have their Titles every two hours some every four and some every six which periods are caus'd by the different humors of the Sea as some are more terrenâ— and heavy than other some more salt and sulphureous some more thin and vaporous and accordingly their respective qualities encrease to such and such a degree before they are proper subjects for the Sun and Air to work upon which being destroy'd by agitation they are so long before they 〈◊〉 to a proper head again and this also 〈◊〉 with the Crisis or fits of fevers in humane bodies which also differ aecording of the body the 〈◊〉 humowr mereases three days the 〈…〉 and so the rest before they can come to 〈◊〉 a degree or Crisis of the distempâ—r and thus I have consider'd the resemblance 〈…〉 great and little World by way of answer to this Question And now propose your next Querist Here 's the Correspondent come from your Incorporate Brethren the Athenian Society in the other World perhaps they may be puzled by their Querists and have therefore desir'd you and the rest of their Successors Assistance Correspondent Your Imbodied Brethren below greet ye well wishing ye all good organiz'd bodies patient Querists intreat a continuance of Correspondence They have by me sent you six Questions desering you wou'd communicate your thoughts upon 'em and if ye will send to them what difficulties you meet with amongst your Etherial Querists they 'll impart their Opinions to you The following Questions are according to the quality of the several Members Divine Whether the Pope be Antichrist or no Mathematician Whether there may be found out a Cannon to measure a spherical Convoid Logician What 's the proper difinition of glorify'd matter Civilian What reasonable answer we can make when we are ask'd Why upon Divorces we take penal Security that the Innocent party marrys not again during the Divorceds Life when the forfeiture and payment of such penal security â—ill
Circuition by a Principle of Self-Motion which Nature at first communicated to it but 't is an Errour for the Moon is a Lifeless inanimate Mass and can no more move of it self than a Pewter-Dish can nor is it as some have concluded bowl'd along by Spirits amongst the rest of the Stars for then a swinging Gigantick Spirit wou'd sometimes throw it out of its due Cariere and make it rob or fall soul upon some of the other Planets No no such Caprices in Nature are not to be met with 'T is continually carry'd along by half a dozen Spirits in a large Lanthorn half of it transparent and the other half dark and these half dozen Spirits are reliev'd by another half dozen once in four and twenty hours The reason of its seeming Increase and Decrease is nothing else but the turning of the darker or brighter side of its Lanthorn more or less directly or obliquely towards the Globe of the Earth I can also assure you that there 's not one Star in the Heavens that moves of it self but what are carry'd along by Spirits plain Spirits not Intelligences as some Philosophers dream for there 's no such Beings There are many strange Opinions amongst Mankind about the Motion of the Heavenly Orbs A Spirit that left its Body in a Dream just when I came into the world of the Moon gave us some merry Tenets about it as that the Elements were divided into Spheres like the Films of an Onion and that such and such Stars mov'd in such and such Films Some again held That Stars were put upon Strings like Beads and push'd on by â—egions of Spirits Some wou'd have 'em half under and half over their Films and Chanels cut for 'em to roul along Some believe that the Film is transparent and that Stars are bowl'd along up em Some that they hang under their Films and that there 's a kind of a mucous Matter which makes 'em stick like Flies with the feet upwards to a Cieling but some believe there 's no such things as Spheres Films or Divisions of Elements but that they hang in the Air upon their own Centre whirling about like Boys Tops at Shrovetide Thus far the humane Spirit discover'd the wild Opinions of his Brethren 1 Sp. This is pleasant indeed but I believe I light on some Passages as remarkable You know that every Globe has its particular Aether which moves along with it and that there are indefinite Spaces Vacuums or Interstitiums betwixt the Planets if not the vertiginous motion of one Aether would justle with another You are also satisfy'd that the Globes of Mercury and Luna have either of 'em a Republick of Philosophical Souls that left their Bodies and yet retain their old Notions It was my chance to travel that way when there was a publick Dispute betwixt some late deceased Cartesians and some Peripateticks every Soul was arm'd Cap-a-pe with Dilemaes Propositions Objections c But the Dispute about Motion and innate Idea's was manag'd so warmly that they forgot their Footing which was upon the extremity of the Vortex and down they came sluttering into the indefinite Space or Vacuum I was telling you of Very well says a Peripatetick Soul this Fall is no Motion because there 's no Continuity of Matter to measure by and therefore I delie you all to prove a possibility of getting out again A Carteâ—ian Soul fell a laughing at such a Challenge and told him he ought to get a new Body and make Experiments and afterwards consider the Theory No says the Peripatetick it can't be done and therefore I 'll not offer to budge till I see a Demonstration of a possibility in Mood and Figure And as they were examining a certain Minor which was propos'd comes a Comet and with a Brush of its Tail scowr'd the Vacuum and dash'd the Disputants upon the Vortex again 2 Sp. And what became o' th' Cause then 1 Sp. It was put by till another Conference by reason of a black deformed Spirit that had had the Misfortune to leave its Body for a worse Place which came roaring and howling into the midst of the Cartesian Souls crying out Where 's the Spirit of Des-Cartes that pretended to prove a Deity by Innate Ideas when he shou'd have prov'd such Idea to be the Idea of a real Being 't was the weakness of this Argument that damn'd me Besides I 'm continually chous'd and hunted about by a company of snearing Devils that stigmatize me with the scandalous Character of a Cartesian Spirit pointing at me with their sooty Paws as I pass along Do ye see says one yonder Inhabitant of the Cartesian World See says another the Artist that preaches of a subtle Matter which forms the Liquidity of Bodies Pray says a Third will you go ask your Master what he means by the Sun 's forming a great Vertex of sluid Matter for the Stars to swim in And whether the Sun is both Agent and Patient in such a Formation If not of what pre-existent Matter he forms this fluid Matter Or whether he pretends to an immediate Creation of it out of nothing with a thousand sand more such puzzling Questions which doubles my damnation to solve ' em Now Mr. Des Cartes if you can keep up your Credit and mollifie my Plagues do it quickly Don't trouble me yet reply'd the Philosophical Spirit lest you spoil a new Notion that I left unfinished upon my Death-bed O says the Black Disciple that my Master shou'd study to damn People when they are dead I 'll warrant you 't is to find out the reason why Mercury is sometimes nearer the Earth than the Sun But pray by the way what 's the Use of this and a thousand more such Phaenomena's if Vertue be the proper Task of the Intellect if the business of a wise Man be not Talking but living Thus the poor Spirit troop'd off again without his Errand raâ—ling his invisible Chains and calling Philosophy Beelzebubism 1 Sp. This was a very strange Passage indeed and puts me in mind of half a dozen Philosophical Spirits which were huddled together and ty'd Muzzle to Muzzle in the Bastile of Mercury for pretending to find out a way to appear visible to Mortals without the assumption of Aerial Bodies or any other Vehicle as I pass'd by 'em there was one that had his Notion too setled to remove it by such a Treatment Courage said he Comrades I 'll procure a speedy Manumission from this Cage by appearing in this posture to the Inhabitants of every Globe and making 'em send Ambassadors to our Judges about us Say you so says one of 'em I pray make a Demonstration to us first how it may be done Thus reply'd the other The Representation of Things is not always confin'd to the ordinary Method of assuming the similitude of the thing seen into the Eye which necessarily supposes a Subject to be assumed but the visive power may exercise Ideas and Similitudes of
things that are not by indisposition or illusion Thus by beating up the interior Organs and acting briskly upon the Fancy I can make the Patient to believe a resemblance of what I please or I can deceive the Eye by indisposing it through the annoyance of internal Fumes Vapours c. Thus have I made Experiments on Persons who whilst they have been lying in Bed wou'd look upon the Windows and see Curious Globes and Figures of all shapes and colours which wou'd move before the Eye iâ—â— the Eye follows 'em or wou'd pursue the motion of the Eye if it drew from ' em I might add the possibility of accomplishing my end by â—alse Refractions of Light Interpositions of Bodies c. But I 'll let that alone till I come into a Body when I 'll take some pains to undeceive the World below about Apparitions of ill Spirits which are as commonly form'd in the Eye as inclos'd in Aery Vehicles Hold not a word more of their Customs reply'd the other lest we shou'd be over-heard and so receive double Punishment for Correspondence with Apostates Thus the poor muzzled wretches were confin'd for some time but at their Trial they upon urging some such Arguments as I have now offer'd convinc'd their Judges and were again set at Liberty 2. Sp. I remember I was there at the same time and there came in a Messenger Post-haste saying There are just now arriv'd a great number of Separate Souls upon the Confines of the Moon that pretend to bring in Remonstrances against the whole Philosophical Academy of Souls at which the Spirit of Aristotle who was always good at Subterfuges and By-holes complain'd of Indisposition and that he wanted to converse with the Spirit of Galen but he was no sooner clear of the Crowd but he mounts up through the Coelum Empyreum and gets out of the Wicket into that vast indefinite Space to be free'd from the importunate clamour of his thousand thousand Disciples fluttering about him I cou'd not forbear following him to see the humour on 't and amongst other things I overheard him crying out Oh that I had been Alexander's Horse instead of he being my Pupil then I had liv'd quietly in History and had been only Curyetting Pawing or Neighing in the Fancy of the Learned But now Wretch that I am I 've div'd so deep that I have not only lost my self but am also accessary to the Destruction of my Proselytes Methinks I see my self catching at Impâ—ssibilities and instead of 'em grasp some strange bewitching Dream that has either Blasphemy against the Gods in 't or is a sacrilegious Story of their Secrets belying what I cou'd not discover Methinks I also see that in quisitive Race of Mankind listning to partake of the â—orbidden Notions and rather than fail they turn â—ver my Works so oft till they find something in 'em that I my self never thought of nor design'd Hereupon they begin to explain Incomprehensibles till they are serv'd by succeeding Ages as they serv'd me but the whole Blame and Punishment retorts upon me because I â—et 'em first at work Oh that I had defin'd 〈◊〉 to have been Vertue and Uice to have been Vice I 'd scap'd the scowring of so many duplicated Damnations and might have walk'd quietly in the Battlements of the Moon without Noise and Disurbance But as I was intent upon the Philosopher's Expostulations I saw at a distance three Millions of separated Spirits all Females they had been ridicul'd and chas'd out of all the Globes for their awkward Dresses and brought along with 'em the Fashons of Two and Fifty Languages into the Indefinite Space above the Heavens Some had got Ruffs about their Necks as big as Cart-wheels some Head Dresses as large as the Tail of a Comet some were in one Dress and some in another a few were rubbing and scowring the outside of Heaven to make it transparent that they might see to dress their whole Body by it some were doing some were uning some were pleas'd some in a Passion some lik'd their own Mode the best and some prefer'd that of another and some were quarrelling with every particular Dress and made up a Iargon of all Dresses together But to see the different Figures Postures Courtsies Complements and Tittle-tattle amongst 'em made me believe that they were some Generation of Spirits which I had never heard of Whereupon I apply'd my self to the Aristotelian Soul I told you of to desire his Opinion who told me he had done Opinioning but if I wou'd ask the Spirit behind me I might be inform'd Upon which I turn'd me round saw a Thing all hung with Clouds and Vapours in an Aery Humane Shape wringing his Hands and sighing at a wretched Rate as I made up to him I cou'd hear him say Poor Heraclitus Whither now Hast thou searched the whole Universe and every particular Globe of the Creation to retire from new Objects of thy Over-pity and all this to find the greatest behind in this Indefinite Space Alas now I am desperate in my Search and will give o'er since Female Spirits are so wedded to Impertinencies as not to leave 'em when dead Upon the mention of the Word Female Spirits I troop'd off with all the speed imaginable for fear of being caught up for a Foot-Boyâ—Spirit by one Madam C in Exchange-Alley who I well knew was as proud of a Livery-Boy as Paint and Fucus I had no sooner got within the heavenly Wicket again but I stumbled upon a Disputation that was held upon the Verge of Saturn But I came a little too late and cou'd only hear the latter part of the Conference which by Plurality of Voices fix'd a Liberty of Conscience and that the Spirits of Iews Pagans and Christians should all be free to believe themselves Children of Philosophy and of the Number of the Elect. I pass'd on from thence without taking any Leave for there are no 〈◊〉 among the Stars that use Ceremonies but European Female Spirits and they were most of them chas'd out of the Universe as I noted before and coming near the Globe of Iupiter there was a great Concourse of Spirits about a Chalenge between a Heathen and Christian Philosophick Soul concerning the Burning up of the World Here might Humanity if they 'd had Eyes and Prospective Glasses strong enough have seen their old Maxime confuted which says There 's no penetration of Bodies for here were at least ten Millons of Spirits got together all into one Body to hear the Dispute but there was such a fluttering Hubbub that the Orators were fain to leave off a while to see if the Noise would cease tho' in vain for every little Auditor wou'd pretend to dictate and give his Opinion I cou'd hear one something louder than the rest crying out Alas alas if the World is to be burnt up and all the Stars consum'd what shall I do for a Lodging I shall ne'er away with the Converse of
night when the Body has little need of my Attendance that I may give you an Account what an ambitious restless Lump it is that I animate Pray says another come see me when my Body's asleep that I may have some vent to my Sorrows by telling you the vast difference betwixt a Body'd and an unbody'd Spirit No says a Third but if you 'l come and see me I 'll preach the Doctrine of Humanity to you possibly it may have such an effect upon you as you may escape the first Damnation for three or four hundred Years longer Suppose you hear five Thousand more beginning to make their Complaints and the Body like a Tip-staff or Serjeant hurrying 'em away into new experiments of Horror before they can tell their Story out 1 Sp. Hold pray no more I' have enough of Humanity Let 's be gone iâ— your way lies towards the World in Saturn â—'ll bear you Company 2 Sp. I 'm oblig'd to you March then DIALOGUE XXVII Between the Spirit that is to be last imbody'd and the Spirit that is to be first re-united to the Body at the Day of Judgment 1 Spirit HOld hold Brother don't leave me yet Alas he 's gone and with him all the whole Society of Spiris What have I to converse with now but inanimate Globes aud senseless Constellations What signifies it that I am Lord of all when I have no Subjects to reign over no agreeable Mate I mean of the same Species to accompany me Unkind Fate to imbody all the Thousand Thousands of my Brethren and to leave me to wander up and down the Universe by my self The World is to me a sort of Prison not by Diminution but by Deprivation for a Prison is not properly call'd a Prison for being so great or so little but being a Confinement from such and such Enjoyments Oh that I cou'd cease to be or transmigrate into any other Classis of Creatures For what state is more unhappy than that which gives a power of enjoying Good and denies a Subject to exercise his power upon But stay why do I repine Some Spirit must necessarily have been the last and tho' it is I yet it cannot be long but my Turn will quickly come 2 Sp. Nine hundred ninety nine Millions of Millions Let me see again possibly my Calculation may be false Suppose once more that everry Man computing one Man with another is compos'd of a handful of pure Earth all the Particles of the other Elements being separated from it then it follows that just so many Handfuls of Earth as the Globe contains in it may be made into Men but no more unless the God of Nature will make more Earthly Globes for when every Man rises at the Day of Judgment and assumes his own particular handful of Earth if there shou'd be more Men than Earth Ha Some Souls must go without Bodies which is very absurd Nor is it very reasonable that the Earth shou'd not every Bit of it be made into Men that when they come to take every one their own there may be no Earth left and then 't is an easie thing for the last Fire to consume the other Elements No that won't do neither for I 'd forgot that Man is made of all the Elements and therefore when all the Earth is spent in making Men the Elements must be spent likewise that is the whole Earth Air Fire and Water will when every one takes their own be equally divided and march up and down an Eternal Indefinite Space or Vacuum in living Glorify'd Humanity Very well now I have it There were at first 9999999999 Spirits and there 's just so many handful of Dust in the Earth Now if I cou'd tell how many Spirits are yet unbody'd 't is but subtracting the Remainder from the first Number and the difference is the Handfuls of Earth that are yet to be made into Men and when I know this I shall know how long it will be before I shall be re-united again to my Body which I was separated from about 3000 Years since Methinks I long to renew the old Acquaintance 1 Sp. What Mathematical Soul is this that's computing the Day of Iudgment It has always been too deep a Secret for Humanity to pry into 2 Sp. I have laid by that dull heavy Lump a great while since 1 Sp. But 't is said that Angels themselves are ignorant of that Day 2 Sp. Yes they were so at that time when such Words were spoken because they knew not how fast Spirits wou'd be unbodied or how the Age of Man might shorten nor consequently how long it wou'd be before the World was made into Men but if you can give me an Account how many Spirits are yet unbody'd I will tell you just now how long it is till the Day of Iudgment 1 Sp. None of 'em but my self 2 Sp. How are all the 999999999 Souls which were made upon the same day that the Angels were sent into Bodies except you 1 Sp. Yes all but my self I 've just now parted with my last Companion 2 Sp. If so the date of your pre-existence is just at an end perhaps within this quarter of a Minute for there 's always some young Body or other gaping for a Soul to actuate it 1 Sp. I shall be very glad of it for 't is afflicting to be the only remaining Creature of one Species 2 Sp. 'T is so But 1 Sp. Farewel I am call'd away too and with me the whole Race of unbodied Souls lose their Name and change their very Nature 2 Sp. Is he gone I knew it cou'd not be long that he had to tarry Let me see No That won't do That 's right upon a modest computation the World must expire within these 70 Years for it 's great odds this last unbodied Soul will be separated again before that Period Besides there must be some left alive which will undergo the same change without dying as the Body and Soul will do at their Re-union therefore perhaps within these 70 all will be over Now methinks I see that little share of Dust that belongs to me receive its first Impression and beckon to me to renew our old Acquaintance and Union Methinks I see my self as eager in my Embraces of my old Comrade and as busie in exercising my Offices of Perception c. as ever But I 'm at a loss as to the manner how because of the inexpressible Change that my Organs must undergo But I 'll let that Thought alone sincâ— I 'm satisfy'd Experience will teach me that and every thing else within a very small Revolution of Time DIALOGUE XXIX Betwixt Two Spirits one that pretends to deny Pre-existence and the other to prove it 1 Spirit WHat am I Whence is my Original And to what end am I design'd 2 Sp. You are a pre-existent Spirit made upon the Day of the Creation Your Original is Nothingness as to the Subject but as to the Cause it
the excessive Dearness of Paper and Charge of procuring the Foreign Iournals is not dear III. To encourage all Persons that shall concontribute to the procuring of Subscriptions he or they that shall procure Subscriptions for 6 Books shall not only have a 7 th gratis which will reduce it to about 8 s. 7 d. per Book but shall also have given 'em in the New Essay upon Learning and an Emblem of the whole Athenian Society Drawn in a Folio Pâ—ate IV. That for a farther Encouragement to all Subscribers and to render our Undertaking the more compleat there shall also be a large Alphabetical Table given in to all those that subscribe which shall comprehend the Contents of this Volume and of all the Athenian Mercuries and Supplements Printed in the Year 1691. V. All who intend to assist in the Advancement of this Useful Work are desired to send in their Subscriptions and Money with all speed unto the Person hereunder named where Receipts will be given them And if they arise to any Competent Number the Book shall be finish'd by next Lady-Day that so it may be added as an Appendix to the Athenian Mercury for the Year 91 and be bound up with it we designing an Appendix at the End of every Year that shall comprehend all Books wanting in our several Supplements or otherwise the Design must be let fall by the Undertaker VI. If any Obstruction for want of sufficient Subscriptions or otherwise should happen to hinder the Printing of this Work the Money so received shall be paid back upon giving up the Receipts The Undertaker is Iohn Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey where Proposals are to be had and of most Book-Sellers in London and in the Countrey A Prefatory Dialogue BETWEEN The Secretary of Fate and the Author's Soul Author's Soul PRay look over the Minutes of the Parcae and amongst those Eternal Volumes see when I am fated to commence Temporality Secret Fate In Iune Anno Dominl 1664. according to Humane Computation in that part of the Globe which you are designed for A. S. Well and what Fortune what Post hath the Lottery of Fate assigned me What Entertainment am I to expect in a new Material Mansion S. F. Your Curiosity seems to argue a Desire of fixing there but you 'll be of another Mind when I tell you that Incorporation is a Penalty inflicted upon Souls for their Extravagances in this World That the Body is a Prison a Clog the most officious Enemy you can meet with in betraying you to false Perceptions and irregular Conclusions In short you 'll find no agreeable Object but at such times as you withdraw and converse with Beings as simply immaterial as yourself Now you are an unconfin'd Agent a Stranger to those grosser Terms of Body Place and Time As yet you know nothing of Magnitude Quantity or Motion and those innumerable Errours that result from them by false Notions of their Nature And when you come into the other World you 'll be as great a Stranger to the Nature of Angels Spirits and Immaterial Beings as now you are of those material ones A. S. What surprizing Relations are these Shall I ever forget this inorganical way of Converse These immediate Conceptions without the Assistance of Sense This simple Particularity of Perception without Composition or Division In short this Nature that I carry about me If so dear Minister of Fate lay down some Rules for me to take along with me which after I am imbodied may restore this Knowledge to me and the unhappy Tribe of Humanity 'T will be a great Office of Charity if possible to be accomplished S. F. 'T is utterly impossible A. S. Why so S. F. Because that a finite Power and an infinite Subject are incompatible A. S. How far then is it possible for Humanity to conceive S. F. When the Infinite Eternal Mind was pleas'd to create Matter Time and Place he extended the 〈◊〉 Empyreum to confine 'em in Whatever is beyond this vast Convex this spacious 〈◊〉 is what has been from Eternity Shou'd I say really what that is Mankind cou'd not understand it because of an Incongruity as urged before betwixt the Power and Subject I might as well enjoyn 'em to smell with their Eyes or tune an Instrument by their Taste But however to speak as near as I can to their Capacities Quantity and Place beyond the Coelum Empyreum are swallowed up as Time is in Eternity Before this Coelum Empyreum and its material Inclosures were created all was as now is beyond it and when the last Fire a part of that material Fabrick shall burn up all the rest of Matter and by the Fiat of its awful Creator consume it self there shall be no more Matter Time or Place but all return to the first Eternal Constitution Not so much as Bodies immortalliz'd shall be Matter according to the Definition now made of it but a new inexpressible Something which cannot be translated out of the Language of Spirits into that of Men Matter is not so perfect as Immateriality Time as Eternity Place as Incircumscriptability And whatever Humane Philosophers wou'd be at I can expâ—rimentally assure 'em that they come as near an Adequate Conception of these things when they think not at all of them as they do in their most Elevated Contemplations However not to leave 'em altogether in the dark a Collection of what you now do in this pre-existent State will if deliver'd according to their Capacities not make 'em less ignorant especially when they are put in mind of the Method of their own Living before they came into their Bodies A. S. Perhaps they will not believe they ever acted such things but look upon all as a Dream or Fiction What think you of Pythagoras his Collections before he went into his Body A Copy of such an Original must be authentick upon your Subscription and consequently useful to Mankind S. F. I must attend the Destinies who are now Sitting in Council but when I return I 'll bring you the Original out of the Registry which you may translate as near as the Language of Spirits can be adapted to the Language of Men. DIALOGUE I. Between the Spirits of a Poet and a Drunkard D. WEll met Brother Which way is your Flight design'd P. I have just left the Bosom of Causes to take a Prospect of the lower World to see if there be any Preparation for my Reception there And yet I 'm much troubl'd at the Apprehension of being clogg'd with that uneasie restless Lump of Humanity and the attending Consequences make me very impatient D. Why so What Conjectures have ye P. 'T is the want of reasonable Conjectures for by all the Observations I can make of my Temper I cannot resolve my self whether I 'm a Male or a Female Spirit But why do I thus busie my self about Sexes Certainly 't is ominous and argues my Imbodying near at hand But if after Six Thousand Years
Expectation I shou'd be ty'd to a Poet I shall reckon it a Fore-stalling my Damnation and had e'en as good commence Devil without any more adoe and take up with one Hell See you not that Wretch in yonder Grove with his Hat over his Eyes scratching his Head tearing his Nails and sending his poor Hackney-Soul about like a Spaniel Dog to fetch and carry Similitudes Rhimes Composition c. I remember about Thirty Years since when he was our Companion he wou'd sometimes break off in the midst of a Discourse without bidding God b'w'ye and away to the Brooks Groves and Fountains which made me suspect the nearness of a Poetick Preferment But hark The Humour of our late Companion in his new Lodging When formless and inanimate I lay Sleeping in Chaos with my Fellow-Clay Or e'er those teâ—ming Particles had met To make this wretched Composition so compleat Without my Knowledge or Concurrence thou Bidst me awake and live Well and what then Why the Sense is out before the Rhime Now 't wou'd be charitable to assume an Airy Organ and help him out viz. I know not how Poor Wretch He knows not what to do unless he unâ—oes all and begins again which he 'd as lieve be hang'd as attempt having taken so much pains about it already Oh for Sysiphus's restless Stone or Belides's leaking Tun They are minute and pettite Tasks to his Not Ixion's Wheel has half the Torture of an over-hasty Period But this is not all When he has undergone the bitter Throws and Pains of Rhimeship then the Darling Off-spring of his Brain turns prostitute to the Abuses of all the World The Praises of wise Men are so few that their Voice is lost in so large a Theatre and the numerous Applauses of Fools are too loud a Scandal And after all this Is 't not pity the poor Rogue shou'd take such pains to be damned For there 's not one Poet in Five Thousand that escapes It had gone hard with Ouldham himself if it had not been for the Penance of his own Satyrs Say Fellow-Immateriality What shall I do I can never look down upon a Couple of Lovers but I 'm afraid their Toying will end in making an Heliconian Prison for me especially if the Innamorato is for Balls Masquerading and Love-Sonnets D. Alas Brother I 'm all Resentment and Pity Little do Mortals think what Plague we are at about the Lodging and Entertainment we expect at their Hands But for my part your Apprehensions of Incorporation are all Charms and Sweetness to the dismal Reception I look for P. VVhy what 's the matter with you D. I can never loave our happier Regions to visit the lower Elements but before I am aware I find my self amongst Sea Fowl hovering over Rivers Ponds and Marshes admiring the Scaly Sholes and envying the Pastime of those ever thirsty Revellers Now VVhat can this mean but that I 'm ordain'd to actuate a Drunkard And if so Hell is a Toy to such a Confinement This Moment wou'd I plunge into the boundless Depths to be secur'd from such a Companion But why that rash Thought Is not Hell also crowded with ' em And are not its Horrours doubled by their Confession Yet if Hell cou'd be Hell without 'em 't wou'd be a happy Place and nothing in 't of the Beast Antick or Nonsense but a rational Complaint of Despair VVonder not dear Brother at my deeper Reflections till you 've consider'd yonder Figure at the Old D l Tavern VVhat think you of their Motions Converse and Passions Suppose all their Discourse were taken in Short-hand and the weakest Person amongst 'em shou'd have a View of the whole when he 's in a Mood of Thinking VVould not he blush at such Follies at such an unaccountable Expence of Time especially if he thought an Hour so spent was of equal length with any other Hour in the Line of Life and must be equally accounted for Alas VVho wou'd suppose that Souls cloyster'd up in these sensualizd unthinking Statues were ever our Companions Come let 's retire towards our peaceful Regions and not be VVitnesses of what a Mid-night Scene produces A Poet's Structure afraid of a Poetick Mansion 'T is a Paradise to what I dread Nor is there any Spirit in all our Order that can be afraid of such a Body but I must meet with it in this Epitome of all Plagues A Drunkard can be Poet Beggar Cully Buffoon or any thing So that I am like to meet with the most abject Slavery in Nature DIALOGUE II. Between the Spirits of a Jacobite and a Williamite about the Royal Congress W. UP ye lazy Dog Are not ye asham'd to kennel and snore in that Star till it smells again of Drowsiness I. VVho 's there Now are not you a spiteful Spirit to disturb my Rest when you have taken yours You are just crept out of some fix'd idle Luminary where you have had no jolting nor disturbance and come to perplex me who am already Topsie-turvy with the swift Motion of my Erratick Mansion which moves at least a Hundred Miles a Minute If I am out in my Computation 't is because I 'm scarce awake W. Arise prating and let 's away to the Assignation I. VVhat Assignation VVhat d' ye dream of Have ye call'd in at Aquarius for a Dram o' the Pitcher W. No no A Royal Congress of all the Princes in Christendom are met together and Thousand Thousands of naked Souls are crowding for Commissions to inspire the succeeding Generation of that illustrious Convention I. VVell I do'nt care I wait for new Revolutions but if I did not I wou'd not budge one Foot for I 'm sure we can't all speed and 't wou'd vex me to the Heart to put in for a Prince's Off-spring and afterwards ride the Wooden Horse in St. James ' Park or turn Cobler W. VVell I 'm loth to spoil the old Tenet in the other VVorld that All Souls are equal and are only diversify'd by the Dispositions of their Organs or I 'd proclaim thee a mean little Soul scarce fit to animate Plants and Minerals I. Pray be gone about your Business I tell you once more I 'm for a broad Sword and a Centry-Box at the End of the Canoll And for your Proclamations 't is not good I catch ye transgressing upon the Grass left I take the Forfeiture and give you a Strapado or two into the bargain W. I believe you are a Iacobite-Soul or you wou'd not absent from the Congress I. Perhaps I am and it may be I shall have a greater Commission than I tell you of But this I can assure you there are many Iacobites that will come in for Commissions with private Lewid'ores in their Fobs in spight of all the Care and Diligence that can be us'd to the contrary W. 'T is possible But what 's the Issue of it You see Iove has taken a particular Care of the British Monarch's Person and Concerns and every
my Counsels and Reasonings yet it was my other Part and as before Incorporation I found my self imperfect but half an Entity now I am so again and shall be till I am re-united to my old Companion But this is all Râ—ddle to you who have â—ot yet known how Souls act in Bodies how the Intellect conceives Ideas of Material Objects by the Senses Did you but know how the Visive Power conveys the Similitude of the Thing seen to the Soul you 'd wish to be incorporate tho' it were in one single Eye How much more when you 'd have all the Senses to command When you 'd have a whole Microcosin to rule in like a Deity Now after all this Which of you wou'd not love the Remembrance of such an Union and imitate it till the time of Re-union renders ye a perfect compleat Being again Quest. But what was the Reason of your sudden Separation from the Body Answ. The Body being part of my self I was willing to gratifie it as far as I cou'd even to a Weakness which I continu'd so long till it grew habitual and I lost my Command fixing my Happiness upon wrong Objects viz. the little Concerns of the World which bearing no Analogy or Proportion to the Greatness of a Soul caus'd an Uneasiness 'T is incongruous to try Sounds by the Taste they being the only proper Objects of the Ear. There is no Object for the Soul but God aâ— appears by its Rest when fix'd on him and Uneasiness every where else And thus I by the Importunity of my Body and the Defectibility of just Perception expecting Happiness where it was not to be had grew impatient under the Disappointment even to Strangling to be rid of the Burden 2. Spirit Alas unfortunate Brother We can do no more than pity thee and own our Obligations for these Discoveries Farewell DIALOGUE VIII Between Two Spirits the Order of Vegitable Souls and Cupid 1. Sp. WEll What News Brother 2. Sp. The strangest Adventure you ever heard of Cupid having Commission to distract some body in the other World as he fled down he miss'd his Way and rambl'd into our Regions where the Order of Vegitables are pillaging the little Wag of his Bow and Quiver and pretend to cure him of his Blindness 1. Sp. Let 's away to see the Humour on 't I believe the arch Knave will put a Trick upon 'em all and come off with flying Colours Cupid Nay but Gentlemen Spirits pray be civil What 's the meaning of this Vegit. The meaning on 't is that since you have found the way into our Quarters we have a Mind to hinder your Pranks here we have no need to be fool'd and plagu'd as the Inhabitants are both in Heaven and Earth if we may believe the Poets Cupid By me Vegit. Yes by you And what can we expect from one that bewitches his own Mother with Adenis Anchises c. You know nothing I 'll warrant you of Endymion Hyacinthus the Adulterâ—us Net and a Thousand more such things Do you Nor can Iupiter himself escape you but down goes his Target and Thunderbolts and away to Taw and Push-Pin with Ganynede Sometimes he 's Metaphoriz'd into Gold now a Swan then a Bull anon a Shepherd and so on according as your Whimseys dictate whilst the Government of the World lies at Sixes and Sevens and he that has the longest Nails and Teeth is the best Entity And when your Caprices and Magots are surfeited with Aetherial Amours away ye troop to the Earth where you â—ye a Prince to a Stage-player and a Princess to a â—oot-boy or else plague Equality by Desparation of Enjoyment laughing at the poor Wretches to see 'em covetous of their Misfortunes Wherefore we conclude it necessary for our own Peace and out of pity to our Neighbouring Worlds to dis-arm you of your Power and cure that Blindness which makes you shoot thus at all Adventures Cupid 'T is a strange thing Gentlemen Souls why I having a Bow and Quiver as if no Body else us'd neither must upon necessity be the God of Love and sentenc'd so to be by those who confess they never saw me before A great Rashness certainly for the Wisdom of your Order to be guilty of But to put you out of all doubt assure your selves I am a Spirit as ye are only with this disference I have suffer'd a Dissolution from a Body and ye are yet unbodied Time was I actuated that famous Scythian Pomaxathres that slew the great Roman Marcus Crassus and was accounted the best Archer that Scythia ever boasted of Now hearing that one Sagittarius a Resident of these Regions was fam'd in that Art I came on purpose to create a Correspondence and try the Skill of the Heavenly Archer Vegit. Well is this be so and you are that Pomaxathres we beg your Pardon for our Errour and think our selves happy in the Mistake Sagitâ—ariâ—s sur passes in this Art never making his Butts less than ten Degrees distant Do ye see that Milky Way there so much talk'd on by the Poets His Shafts have scour'd that Road by their frequent Motion and have kept that part of the Sky clear from dark Matter and Excrements of Stars which is the reason of its Albitude But the Lower World like Fools not knowing so much do fancy it to be the Way for the Souls of the Blessed to mount to Paradice Come let 's be gone we 'll quickly introduce ye into Sagitarius's Acquaintance Cupid I long to meet the Artist that we might give you some Divertisement by our Skill But pray which is the Way to the Lower World Vegit. You must leave Venus on the Left and so to 19 Degrees 30 Minutes of Capricorn afterwards the Coast is clear and divided into Right Lines to all parts of the Globe Cup. Farewell Gentlemen I 'm in haste now I 'll call again some other time Vegit. And is the Impostor gone Certainly he was Cupid Why were we so bewitch'd as to believe him Cou'd we think the God of Love cou'd speak Truth when all his Subjects are given to Lying DIALOGUE IX Between an Astrologer and a Mountebank Mount WHich way with your Circumferences Compasses Figures c. Ha! What Project 's on foot now Astr. To survey the Stars and take a Note on the Influences written on their Foreheads Mount Why so Astr. I 'm sure I shall be an Astrologer and 't is good to make Collections against I have need of 'em I have a strong Fancy that I shall be the Prophet of Europe If I 'd been imbody'd but Twenty or Thirty Years since I had been the Second Lilly or at least his Successor But if after all I shou'd forget what I now do in this Pre existent State I shall be hardly put to it about the Fate of Great People the Change of Wind and Weather Sweet-hearts Losses Travels Life Death and every thing else unless you 'll keep Correspondence with me Mount Ay indeed such
exchanging selling and Slavery Methinks it is unaccountable since all are out of the same Dust stamp'd with the same Impression equal in their Nothingness both à parte ante and à parte post Nay their very Souls which animate these grosser Vehicles are also equal only acting differently by a more or less aptitude of Organs or inequality of Education Emperor Tho' we Spirits fell not when the Angels did yet we have certainly the same defectibility of Judgment for two things especially Opposites cannot be both best Call you a Beggar 's Condition despicable and slavish 'T is certainly the happiest Post in the Creation and were it possible for Fate to be guilty of a Caprice and cast Lots once more about the Disposals of Emperors and Beggars I 'd petition to renew my Chance possibly I might the second time alter my Condition and come out a happy Beggar Beggar Why so Emperor Becasue there appears to me a greater happiness in an unenvied Cottage than in the Noisie Crowds of Flatterers Little does the Plebeian know how heavy a Crown weighs how great the Trust is and how hard to be managed 'T is the Court that 's full of Treachery Ambition Pride Bribes and such a dreadful Catlaogue of Vices that 't is impossible for the best of Men to arrive to a greater degree of Goodness there than a Negation of Evil. The Watch must be kept so strictly that there 's no time to act virtuously But in the retir'd Solitudes of Poverty one Third of our Temptations are lost the uneasiness of the Sense causes a search after the quiet of the Mind We have nothing to resist in Solitude but a few stragling Thoughts nor nothing to seek after but to be happy There we are free from publick Calamities and private Enemies unenvy'd in every thing but Happiness and 't is impossible to steal that from us when we have nothing else to do but to keep it Nay if we shou'd communicate it we lose nothing but have more by giving I cou'd reckon up Augustus Dioclesian Maximinian Vatius Empedâ—cles c. who laid by their Scepters for Spades and cou'd also mention how happy the Change was but the remembrance wou'd make my Crown too uneasie which now I must bear as well as I can Beggar 'T is in vain to wish on either side what can't be avoided But say Brother won't the Case be strangely alter'd by our different Stations in the other World Methinks I see you sometimes royally seated amongst the Representatives of your Kingdom sometimes in private Council turning over the Cabala or darker Mysteries of State but always look'd upon as more than mortal Methinks I also see my self injur'd and over-pow'rd by the Mint of Damnation and my Addresses to your Highness by Friends or Petition in agitation Methinks I see my cold reception the Meanness of my Concerns lost amongst Matters of greater Moment and my Importunity for a Dispatch answer'd by the Insolences of a hundred subordinate Officers one denies me admittance another turns me out and every one looks upon me an impertinent worthless Thing because I left all my Nobility and Attendance behind me among the Stars Emperor By this you may in some measure judge of the distracted Cares of a Crown how amongst these numerous Complaints Petitions c. 't is impossible to hear and redress all time won't permit and Omnipresence is not confer'd to Earthly Scepters to act every where and every thing at once Thinkâ—y ' it not afflicting to a Father to see many of his Children strugling under Unhappinesses and whilst he relieves some others perish and also that he has many more under the same Circumstances that he knows not of Beggar Enough let 's not think so much on the Evils of Humanity as to lose the sense of that little Good of which it is capable Not to be happy in some things because we can't in every thing is an unkind Theft to our selves Compare the Distractions of other Crowns to yours whilst I examine whose Cottage is meaner than mine and this with other like Inferences will divert the black Reflections we have made An earthly Philosopher could say Nemo Miser nisi comparatus Come let 's not learn of the World below us but give them Examples We can't miss if we retire to our Region for there being nothing but Equality 't is impossible any one shou'd pretend to be more happy or miserable than another DIALOGUE XIV Between Two Spirits that made a Contract to keep a Correspondence whoever came to be Embodied first The Unbodied Spirit CErtainly he can understand now I have assum'd this Body of Air. Holo Brother I have been calling these two hours to no purpose Do you hear me now Bodyed Spirit Hear ye Yes who are ye And what 's your Business Unbody'd Sp. What Have you forgot me your old Comrade and your Contract Has this Lump of Humanity spoil'd all your Faculties or are you ungrateful or over-proud of your new Lodging Body'd Sp. I don't know what you mean by Forgetfulness or Contract Unbody'd Sp. That 's very strange I 'm certain This is the Body you were to animate and by consequence â—ou must be the same Individual that agreed with me to keep a Correspondence when you came into this Body I had forgot my self and have been all this time speaking to you in the Language of Spirits not knowing it was too fine for the Perceptions of an Organiz'd Body Body'd Sp. By this you 'd make me believe a Pre-existent State of Souls before they come into the Body But if there be such a State I have wholly forgot it only I have some dark Ideas of things when they are mention'd that I never saw nor heard of before which probably may proceed from the Cognizance I took of 'em before I was imbody'd Unbody'd Sp. That 's no Argument at all since that Idea gives you nâ—ither the Species nor the Form of the Thing spoken of if neither be mention'd as for Instance If I shou'd tell you in general Terms That at the West-end of the Vatican at Rome there 's a curious Picture you wou'd presently form an Idea of it in your Mind but perhaps it may be a Saint instead of a Land-skip but to pass over that have you any Idea of the Language of Spirits Body'd Sp. None but such as is Organical Unbody'd Sp. By this you may see your Errour again for Spirits speak one to another as Man does when he speaks to God in his Mind Again Man's Voice is limited I mean when he speaks he is not heard but at such a distance but when one Spirit speaks all the Thousand Millions of Spirits where-ever dispers'd throughout the Creation have a diâ—stinct perception of such Speech if directed to them all at once or if directed to any one Spirit be he never so far off he only hears and not one of all those that are betwixt him and the Speaker so that 't
Perception we judge and act But 't is not so with Spirits they have no Perception from divisible or sensible Objects for what by our Senses we know of Material Objects that they know from the Efâ—luviums of the Deity As for Instance God is the Cause of every Substance both as to its Matter and Form therefore God according to his Essence which is the Cause of all things is the Similitude of all things Hence Angels and Spirits when they look upon God do as in a Glass see and know all Material and Immaterial Objects and Things whatever when he pleases to communicate a Knowledge And thus it is that Departed Souls have Knowledge of things happening in this Life Body'd Spirit What 's the difference betwixt a Spirit 's Thoughts and Language since you say that their Language is like our Thoughts Vnbody'd Spirit I have already told you that as Men have their Perceptions by means of their Senses so Spirits have theirs from the immediate Emanations and Ideas of all things which they see originally in God This is the manner of their Perception and the making known this Perception by directing the Result of it to one another as Men do their Minds to themselves when they speak to themselves internally without Lip or Voice This I say is the Language of Spirits which is as different from their Perceptions as the Act of Receiving and Communicating is amongst Men. Body'd Spirit Whether do Spirits and Angels love 〈◊〉 are angry or pleas'd c. as Men are Unbâ—dy'd Spirit Not at all 't is inconsistent with their Nature these being Acts adapted to the Powers of the Sensitive Soul So that when Speech Love Hate Fear Courage Temperâ—nce c. are attributed to Angels or Spirits 't is an 〈◊〉 or a Condescention adapted to Humane Dialect To Love amongst Spirits is to wish Good to one another To rejâ—yce is to rest the Will in some good Habit Temperance is a Moderation of the Will according to the Rule of the Divine Will Fortitude is a firm and resolute Execution of the Divine Will And so of all other Concupiscible Powers Body'd Spirit Whether can several Spirits be in one placâ— at the same time Unbody'd Spirit I have already told you that Spirits know no such a thing as Place 't is as incongruous a Term to their Nature as Time is So that what you call Place is the same thing to them as no place and if so Spirits according to that Notion you have of Place may be Five Millions together in a Quartâ— Bottle and yet never a one fe there but 't is impossible to make you understand the munner how farther than by a dark Similitude Suppose Five Millions of Persons shou'd all desire at the same time to be upon the Top of the mâ—nument erected in Remembrance of the 〈◊〉 of the Fire of London Now thâ—se Five Millions to be there at the 〈…〉 without justling one another for â—oomâ— but thus only by Virtual Application of themselves thither I must be gone there 's a General Assâ—gnation of our Order to meet at the Musick of the Spheres and if my Place be found empty my Name will be dash'd out of the Catalogue upon a Suppâ—sition that â— am imbody'd Body'd Spirit Well I acknowledge my Obligations for this Favour Pray let me converse with you as oft as you can It won't be long but I shall put off this Clog and change Circumstances with you and then I 'll be as kind in informing you of such things as you will also forget when you come into a Body DIALOGUE XV. Betwixt Two Spirits about the Musick of the Spheres 1. Sp. I 'M weary with that drumming sort of Noise there 's nothing but an Eternal Din of one Tune o'er and o'er There 's better Musick ten to one every Bartholomew-Fair 2. Sp. Pray let me ask you one Question Is there any Musick better than the Original of all Musick 1. Sp. No. 2. Sp. Very well Then since these Musical Diastems and these harmonious Motions which proceed from the different Positions and Heighths of the Planets and the Correspondent Symmetry of the Heavens are the first Original of Musick all other Harmony which the lower World pretends to are but Imitations of this great Original So that those little tickling Fancies of Ionick Dorick Phrygian and other Measures are but a different way of Trial to come the nearest ours and if Mortality cou'd find out the true Spherical Musick they wou'd never seek farther nor alter it for any other because 't is impossible to desire or chuse an Imperfection when Perfection stands by But 't is no wonder the World below us think the Musick of the Spheres a Fable when one of our own Order shou'd undervalue it at such a rate But perhaps you are of the same Opinion as Mankind and these are only Words of Course because you have a mind to be upon the Ramble 1. Sp. Truly I am not very well satisfied whether I hear any thing or no. 2. Sp. Yes you hear but without Concern which makes me believe that you belong not to ours but to the Animal Order and in that Order you are design'd to animate an Ass which amongst all Creatures never heeds Musick You and all Mankind must grant that the Planets move and that Sound necessarily proceeds from Motion and that this Sound must either be sweet or harsh Now if a fix'd Observation of Numbers moderate the Motion it effects a Symphonous Harmony consonant to such a Motion but if it be not govern'd by Measures there proceeds an unpleasant Noise But in this admirable Structure of the Heavens there is nothing but setled Rules and Proportions curious Differences of Magnitude Celerity and Local Distances which are constantly circumagitated through the Etherial Orbs as in the following Figure 'T is this Systeme that all Musicians imitate and those that come the nearest it have made their Calculations from Arithmâ—tical Proportions in which this last Age has exceeded all former ones having now laid down Rules to reduce all Audibles into Visibles or Visibles into Audibles that is can give Directions for Building a House agreeable to the Measures of a Musical Câ—mpoâ—â—re or can play the Proportions of any â—ouse now built upon a Musical Instrument If Mankind â—earches a little deeper in the Musicâ—l 〈◊〉 they will find out a Device to imiâ—â—â—â— our 〈◊〉 Musick by a voluntary Self-Motion or frame Instruments that shall play themselves 1. Sp. Say you so Indeed the Novelty of that wou'd cost me many a Ramble 2. Sp. But why love Musick on Earth more than here 1. Sp. Because I find by my Heaviness I am grown so like a Body that I shall soon have such a Relation and you know 't is natural for all Beings to be affected with something like themselves However I 'll be sure if I can remember to inform the Lower World of the Reasonableness of Spherical Musick and what Measures they ought
to take to come as near it as possible In the mean time Farewell 2. Sp. Hold If you design to visit the Lower World you may be serviceable to 'em if you put 'em in mind of using less Physick and more Musick since it alters all the Passions of the Mind and is the readiest way to correct Grief Anger Pity Love Fears Desires and all other Passions of the Mind And if the Mind may be thus regulated their Physicians need not to be told how great an Influence it has upon the Body Another Remark you may add if you are like to find Credit that 't is only the Musick of the Spheres that keeps Angels and Spirits in a perpetual Health DIALOGUE XVI Between Two Spirits of a poor Doctor his Friend and a modern Philosopher alias Sharper Debtor BAnkrupâ—y Oh the dreadful Sound is sufficiently confoundative without the thing it self a Dun to my Breakfast every Morning and to play at Hide all day long for fear of the Counter-Vermâ—n and all this too if Fare knows what 's what by the Prodigality of a hopeful Son who with Cocks Houses and half a dozen Misses cou'd thrust a dozen such Estates as mine into the narrow Compass of a few Bonds Bills Mortgages c. Oh these unwelcome Lights of Heaven how fast they number out Use-Mony-Days Alas what an unhappy Spirit am I How gladly wou'd I change Conditions with a Vegitable Soul tho' it were to animate an humble Shrub Friend How Brother animate Shrubs and sleep in such a glorious Star as this where you can have no disâ—urbance at all pray lie a little farther and take the other Nap and you 'll be well Debt I cannot sleep for the Serivener he bites me so and if by chance I fall into a Slumber I dream of the poor Man's Box and the Quarter-day or else that I see my Son on Horseback riding into Quagmires Friend Why do you rave of Son Quarter-day c. and are not yet got into the other world Debt But I 'm a going and my Misfortunes will be such there as I have just now told you Friend Alas Poor wretch and don 't you know how to prevent all this Arise and follow me there 's a Company of Wits that inhabit the Planet Mercury will certainly put you into some way to avoid your Misfortunes nay tho' they are such are inevitably fated to you Debt Alas my Son's Horses have eaten me into a Consumption that I can scarce get up but however I 'll try since you talk of Remedies Come let 's be going Friend Holo Mercurial Philosophers open the Wicket there Philoph Who 's that His Bawling has made my Brain miscarry of a hopeful Notion However come in Debt I 'm sorry for that I wish I cou'd miscarry of mine too Bur where 's the Philosopher I can't see him Philosopher Look up Friend D' ye expect a Wit to lie grov'ling upon Thresholds Debt Bless me he 's hang'd up in a Basket yonder Pray Mr. Philosopher why so high Philosoph I walk i' th' Air and gaze upon the Sun and if my Intellect were not thus suspended I shou'd think as little Thoughts as you do But what 's the occasion of your Visit Debt I 'm going into the other World where I shall be torn â—n pieces with Debts and Usury which to avoid I wou'd either paâ— in current Money or Words The first I shan't be able to raise and the last I 'm not Maâ—â—er of therefore I 'm come to ask your Counâ—â—l about it Philosoph There 's no need of the first if your 〈◊〉 were double I 'll teach you presently how to come off Stay a little Ay that 's right Oh happy Art This it is not to 〈◊〉 Thoughts to a Threshold but lâ—ke a â—ird â—etter'd in a â—â—â—ing to allow 'em Liberty to play and 〈◊〉 in the Air. In the first place you must 〈◊〉 the Moon and keep it undeâ— Lock and Kâ—y Thirty days before your Day of Payment comes Debt Why so Philosoph If you pay Use by the Months and there be no Moon to measure out these Months then no Use can be demanded Debt I don't know how to effect such a Task I think 't is far better to hang my self before the Day of Payment and then my Creditors will never prosecute me Philosoph No no Rou talk like one that was never hang'd up in a Basket Don't you know the Law provides two days one for Citation or Demand of Payment and the other for Payment Debt Well and what then Philos. 'T is impossible they shou'd come both at a time so that one day is a warning to get ready and run away the next But this is not half you are to learn the all-convincing Speech beside Debt Pray what 's that Philos. You must learn to Banter where you find your Creditor a little soft As for instance When they ask you for Money fetch 'em out a Talisman or any other thing and ask 'em what it is If they say they can't tell reply Do you ask Money and are so very a Dunce If they ask you for the Interest ask 'em what they mean or what kind of Creature that is They 'll answer 'T is an Encrease of Money by Months Days c. Ask whether the Sea grows bigger by an encrease of all the Rivers that run into it If they say No Ask 'em With what a Conscience they can expect their Money shou'd increase and so you may treat 'em all to the End of the Chapter Debt I don't know what to say to 't for I believe these Shams won't take especially since I have to deal with a Shole of Horse-Leeches call'd Scriveners Bankers 't will pass with Tailers Baâ—bers and a few Drapers but I must be going Farewel Mr. Basketteer Philosopher Pray as you go along Remember the poor Prisoners DIALOGUE XVII Between Two Spirits on the Ramble and a Flight of Witches with their Guides 1. Sp. HEY day What 's the meaning of this Yonder 's Materiality flying in the Air What can be the Supporter 2. Sp. Necromancy perhaps or Sorcery or Witchcraft Come Shall we put a Stop to 't I 'm sure none of the Creation has any Business there with Tubs Caldrons c. 1. Sp. There 's a Colt and a Calf too Perhaps they are the People of the World in the Moon and are going to some Fair. 2. Sp. What! Going to a Fair out of their Globes No. Come let 's attack 'em at the worst it can but be the Devil and we are as strong as he and less innocent 1. Sp. Right Let 's look big and speak boldly Stand there What Commission have ye in these Quarters you Tub-man What! Have ye young ones with ye Ye sha'nt wag an Ace farther till we know upon what Eâ—rand ye are posting 1. Fallen Sp. Why ye Etherial Stragglers Are we bound to give you an Account 1. Sp. Ye must do 't or disoblige your Hags to defend your selves 2. Fallen Sp.
Feminine Spirits in the indefinite Space Oh says another for my Master Aristotle how gladly wou'd I learn o'er again the Lesson of the World's Eternity that I might be able to confute this Litigious Spirit that pleads for an untenanting of the Stars Another was for Bantering and said the Universe wou'd make a prodigal Burnt-Offering Thus one cries out one thing and another another so that the whole Assembly began to vote it penal to name such a Topick and that there shou'd be no more such Challenges for fear of a Tumult You know I was always a mortal hater of Tumults and Quarrels so that being in haste to get away I made but one flight to the World in Venus where I light upon a very high Mountain but I had not tarry'd long there but the Mountain was surrounded with Myriads of Female Spirits Arm'd Cap a-pe with immaterial Javelins Bows Darts and Colours of War and one amongst the rest comes up to me giving me to understand in short that I must either quit that Globe or prepare to encounter all the Inhabitants which were mostly Amazonians and Stoicesses and had a Charter from the Secretary of Fate to make that Globe their Retreat to secure 'em from the Insolencies of Male Spirits and also that they had the Privilege to chastise all intruding Male Spirits as they pleas'd by a Court Martial and therefore believing me to be a Traveller and a Stranger to their Customs were so courteous as to give me time and opportunity to dispose of my self as I pleas'd I view'd the soft Herald from Top to Toe and considering her Air and Features I remember that in my last Search in the Registry of Fate I had seen her Character with this Signature over against it I had no need to ask Questions upon this Reflexion knowing the Riddle would be resolv'd in another Globe Anno Dom. 1691. and so without any acknowledgment of the Obligation or other complement than in thought I stood off again and in about two Seconds of a Minute got to the Boundaries of the World in Mars There I was up to the Ears at first dash amongst Male-Spirits forgive the Expression I 'm to be embody'd shortly and found 'em generally calling Councels of War which put me upon the Curiosity of enquiring what Religion they were of and I was inform'd they were mostly Christian Spirits and upon asking what their General was I presently concluded Nothing at all A strange kind of Exression Brother is not it But 't is not strange when I add That it was farther told me they were to fight against and destroy one another for such mean Interests as when examin'd are not worth the exercising any Passion but Hate Indeed this amaz'd me above whatever I met with in all my Rambles altho' the next Encounter was not altogether unworthy my Reflexions 'T was thus A little farther was a Nunnery of Spirits wherein a certain Fault had been committed but I dare not say what for fear of prosecution the next time I travel that way since the Law was satisfy'd in giving up the Criminal to the Mob of Spirits which handled her severely enough and afterwards away they hurry'd her to a certain Meeting of Dissenting Spirits and having pull'd the Non-resisting Preacher off his Pedestal for they use neither Chairs nor Pulpits in that Globe one of the Ring-leaders mounts and begins as follows Liberty Boys Liberty away with these dull Canting Spirits who under pretence of being good only meet to plot against our Freedom Why do they tell us of hard Names and thinking and not preach up Liberty or something else that 's new For my part I 'm for Toleration of nothing but what suits my Humour No matter who 's uppermost or what the last ot next Council decrees 't is all one to Mob and whoever is of my Opinion let him hold up the dirty end of his Wand and cry Cluck Hereupon they all cluckâ—d so loud that the Spirits which carry'd that Globe ran away from their Commission and down it fell betwixt Mercury and the Sun and spoil'd the Ptolomaick Systeme of the Heavens for my part I got out of it as soon as I cou'd and left the Rabble who were going to pull a Pedant out of his School for Tyrannizing over one of their Brethren I was no sooner got safe out of the Whirligigg-Planet but I met with Charles's wain laden with twenty dozen of Souls bundled up close and laid neatly upon Pillows of Snow as I came near to ask the meaning up starts one of them and call'd me Impertinent and Saucy for not making my Honours before I ask'd Questions whereupon I made a very humble Grin and call'd 'em worshipful Dons thinking 'em to be Spanish Souls upon which one of 'em condescended to tell me in answer to my first Question That they were Gentlemen Souls and scorning the Drudgery of walking into their Bodies were accommodated with that Heavenly Calash to ride in cautioning me for the future to be more exact in my Distinctions and to observe a due Deference to the Honourable It growing late I step'd into the next Star where the Inhabitants were very small yet very courteous and entertain'd me handsomely that night The next Morning I set out upon my Ramble again and met the Caravan alias Charles's wain the second time laden with a new Shoal of Spirits and bound for the other world at which I began to make my Honours as precaution'd but was laugh'd at by the Waggoner who told me they were a Company of Pick-Pocket High-way and Clipping-Spirits that is design'd for Bodies of such Professions and foreknowing the unkind Treatment they were to meet with in the other World wou'd not go into their Bodies but were forc'd to be carry'd I was a little vex'd at the Mistake but you know Brother that Travellers must comply with Customs and put up Indignities on all hands 1 Sp. â—Tis very right and without such compliance 't is better to tarry in ones own native Star where there 's freedom both to speak and act without constraint But amongst all your Rambles did you never make a Visit to the Globe of the Earth 2 Sp. Don't mention that Place if you have any respect to my Ease for as it is the very Setling and Dreg of the Creation so have its Inhabitants proportionable Qualifications 1 Sp. Pray pardon my Inquisitiveness and give me one Instance I know not by what Fatality it comes about but a new Theory of Pain is as bewitching to me as a small Practick in Pleasure 2 Sp. Is it so Why then Imagine your self amongst a numerous Crowd of Mortals every one a Bastile or Vatican to your old dear Acquaintance Suppose you saw your Relations looking out of Mortal Eyes as the Grates of Prisons and now and then stealing a Glance at the Skies the place of their old habitation Suppose you also hear one calling out to you Pray pay me a Visit at
is the Eternal Mind who when he sees fitting will provide you a Body to act in 1 Sp. What do you mean For my part I believe you and I are both of us just now created but if you are pre-existent and it now is 5000 Years and more since the beginning of your Existence pray answer me How many Sons Adam had what part of the Year the World was made in but don't answer after the old Evasion viz. at all times of the Year but in what Sign the Sun was first placed 2 Sp. I have forgot now 't is so long since 1 Sp. I thought Reminiscence had been co-essential with or a part of the Nature of Spirits for according to the best Definitions the Soul is a Cogitative Faoulty Now if Thinking Disposing Meditating Examining Compounding Dividing Apprehending Joyning the Subject and the Attribute Affirming Denying Suspending c be the Function and Natural Acts of the Soul it is necessary that Memory be an essential Attribute of it for how is it possible to compare two things together unless we remember the First after we have examin'd the Second for to think of two Things at once is impossible and it is so granted by all that make a due distinction between a Finite and an Infinite Being being what comes nearest this Act is the quick distinction of Letters in Reading or the swift yet regular Motion of the Fingers in Musick Now since Reminiscence is co-essential with Souls an Argument may be drawn from hence to prove you degenerate if not a Non Existent 2 Sp. That I have a Being I 'm certain and this Converse with you demonstrates it 1 Sp. Come I 'll grant you for once that you are pre-existent if you 'll grant me that my Body which I 'm just now going into is also pre-existent and was created before Adam had a Being but I 'll ask for no Concessions which I 'll not first deserve by demonstration For I may prove my Body contemporary with Adam's altho' not visible till above 5000 Years after he was created 2 Sp. Pray how can that be 1 Sp. When Matter was created 't was a great Store-house of all other Beings that were to be created from it all which lay confusedly sleeping in their Chaos but of this Lump was Adam created and if so he himself was potentially in it before he had a specifick Being After his Creation he was maintain'd from the productions of Earth and Water by a destruction of or more properly through a conversion of their Natures into his Hence Adam's Children were only a Transmutation of other material Bodies or the Effect of Meat and Drink in new Figures which lay once in such and such Creatures and before that in the material Chaos we first spoke of Now since the Mechanism of Nature is order'd that it cannot be destroy'd unless by its Author but only transmuted or chang'd into other Matter as a Fire that burns part of it goes to Ashes part into Soot part into Air but yet is always somewhere or in some thing so that all the visible Changes we see are nothing else but a conversion of one Element into another backwards and forwards according to the adaptness and modifications of Agents and Patients This consider'd it will plainly appear that that Body which I am just now going into was the last year part of it growing in such a Crop of Corn part of it in such an Appleâ—tree part of it in such a River part of it in such an Ox Sheep Fowl c. and only by a proper Revolution of Particles under different Species so adaptly disposited that Nature found the Composition to fit one new distinct Species by it self and according to its Commission or first Settled Chain of Causes produc'd a humane Body fit for the Actuation and Conjunction of a Spirit Hence 't is manifest my Body was as soon in the Bosom of its Causes as Adam's and the last Body that shall be created as soon as mine Nay to go farther since from Eternity the great Creator did design to make a World from which my Body was to be produced I might say that my Body was from all Eternity designedly and potentially tho' actually in time which is the utmost that can be said of the Pre existence of Spirits And I defie every Spirit in the Universe to prove the least difference in Time betwixt the actual Commencement of the Existence of its Body and its self or that the Potentiality of both is not equal to wit eternal 1 Sp. This Argument wou'd hold if it cou'd be prov'd That the Soul is not so clogg'd and incapacitated in its Act of Reminiscence by coming into the Body but that it might easily recollect what has happen'd in its pre existent state For we have innumerable Instances of the Soul's being more incapacitated in its Functions one time than another in the same Body and this by Fits Distractions Diseases c. Which to me appears demonstrative that if the Indispositions of the Body which are only accidental hinder a regular operation of the Soul much more may the Body it self when first ty'd to and made coessential with it 2 Sp. We 'll grant much depends on the Body as to the Mode of Perception and action but not so very much as is suppos'd To mention that leisure time of Dreams When perhaps the Body and Soul have the least actual dependance one of another we shall find the habit of Reminiscence fresh at awaking again but to shew for once that the Soul does not forget what it acts when separate from the Body by reason of the Body's indisposition Consider the Cases of Trances Examinations of Witches c. what think ye of a Soul that has rambled out of the Body for two or three days together and when it has return'd and the Body reviv'd it has told of infallible Truths some hundred Miles distance where it self actually was This we have hundreds of creditable Instances to prove which consider'd does fully from the first presuppos'd consequence of Reminiscence destroy the Doctrine of Pre-existence 1 Sp Well I shall consider of it as soon as I have any leisure in the mean time Farewel 2 Sp. Farewel FINIS