power and dominion of the Prince of the powers of the Ayr extends and how far he is able to ape a Miracle by those wonderfull impressions he can make upon natural bodies We read of his doing great wonders causing fire to come down from heaven Rev. 13. 13. The two ways whereby God hath advanc'd his kingdom are Oracles and Miracles and we shall finde Lucifer his ambition of being Similis Altissimo exprest in his though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lying Oracles and miracles For we read of the deliverers of false prophecies and the doers of false miracles foretold as immediately subsequent to our B. Saviours a scension Mat. 24. 24. and some expound those two horns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like to the Lamb which the Dragon is said to have of those two powers of giving forth though tinsell Prophecies and Miracles whereby the Devil in his emissaries did heretofore ape and resemble the Lamb and his followers And so fair a stamp and appearance had he set upon them that the World was deceived with them Nay Hierocles which yet had the touchstone of Philosophy to discover them by was so far abus'd and cheated by those lying wonders wrought by that Arch Magician Apollonius that as appears from what Eusebius wrote against him he durst vie them with those mighty miracles wrought by our B. Saviour himself To assert therefore the foremention'd or the like extraordinary works to be transcendent to the powers and abilities of the infernal kingdome or that evil spirits can serve no ends of imposture in any of them is an assertion which seems to me to have more of heat then light therein 3. We finde all along that God reserv'd his miracles onely to attend some great and excellent ends and occasions so great that the person and service of Iohn the Baptist seem'd not great enough to receive the honour of a Miracle We read of but three Ages of Miracles â— When the law was to be given and the â—ewish Oeconomy to be settled and that amongst a people too dull and heavy to be wrought upon by arguments and discourses 2. When the law was to be restor'd to its just reverence and regard amongst that Apostate people the ten Tribes who were fallen into so lethargick a sleep that there was no awakening of them into a sense of God and duty but by the loud voyce of some mighty signs and wonders 3. When that Oeconomy which was founded in signs and wonders was now to expire and to give place to the kingdom of the Messiah It would speak us therefore greatly ignorant of the sacredness of a miracle to give the honour thereof to every strange relation of which our philosophy can give no very smooth and consistent an account The laws of Nature proceed upon a more excellent counsel and wisdom then that we may presume them rescinded upon any little or unknown occasions 4. God's miracles came forth heretofore attended generally with instruction being wrought by those men of God who were able to point to their intended ends and declare the meaning of God in them Miracles are Gods seal and therefore some writing and evidence they must be affixt unto for as the writing without the seal wants authority so the seal without the writing certainty and significancy Gods miraculous works have been generally level'd to some humane benefit either the confirmation of men in some important truth or the curing of some desperate disease or the supplying of them in some urgent strait or the affrighting of them from some destructive practise never solely to the advancement of his own power and greatness sufficiently reported as the Apostle tells us by the things which are made and therefore t is but necessary that we understand what errand this or that supposed miracle comes forth upon and upon what account we are concern'd therein Where men understand not the meaning of Gods voice he speaks but into the ayr Now what prophet have we able to lead us to the true meaning of any such great wonder if it be Gods Embassadour where is the Interpreter that can expound its language Upon a consideration of the premises I understand not how any hasty conclusions now concerning the miraculousness of any strange event can reconcile themselves to counsel and sobriety Secondly Two of the foremention'd occurrences may probably be admitted the intended signs of an approaching judgement viz. First That dreadfull eruption of fire from mount Vesuvius in Campania first hapning in the second year of Titus after the destruction of Hierusalem by the Romane souldiers under his command which was attended with such tragedies that the reverend D. Iackson doth more then incline to believe that the foremention'd places in Ioel and S. Luke had at least their first accomplishment in that prodigious event A conjecture which will bid fair for a probability if we take but a little pains to compare Gods Text and the Historians comment both together Ioel 2. 30. I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth Ita veròres acta Viri multi magni omnem naturam humanam excedentes quales exprimuntur Gygantes partim in ipso monte partim in agro circumjacente ac in Oppidis interdiu noctuque terram obire ac aera permeare visebantur Posthac consecuta est maxima siccitas ac repente ita graves terraemotus facti c. Dio. Hist. l. 66. Bloud and fire Audires ubulatus foeminarum infantûm quiritatus clamores virorum alii parentes alii liberos alii conjuges requirebant Plin. de eodem Vesuv Epist. l. 6. ep 20. And pillars of smoke Nubes ex ardente Vesuvio oriebatur cujus similitudinem formam non alia magis arbor quà m pinus expresserat A tree much imitating a pillar in its shape and figure Idem l. 6. Ep. 16. The Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into bloud Iam dies alibi illîc nox omnibus noâ—tibus nigrior densiórque quam tamen faces multae variáque lumina solvebant ep 16. Mox dies verus Sol etiam effulsit luridus tamen qualis esse cùm deficit sâ—let Nox non qualis illunis nebula sed qualis in locis clausis lumine extincto c. ep 20. And there shall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon upon earth distress of nations Luk. 21. 25. Tantus fuit cinis ut indè pervenerit in Africam Syriam AEgyptum introieritque Romam ejúsque aerem compleverit Solem obscuraverit nec mediocris etiam Romae trepidatio complures ad dies accidit c. putare coeperunt omnia sursum deorsum ferri Solémque in terram cadere ac terram in coelum ascendere Dion lib. 66. The sea and the waves roaring Mare in se resorberi tremore terrae quasi repelli videbatur Plin. ep 20. Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after the things which are coming on the earth Erant qui
signs were generally great and mighty transcendent to the powers and possibilites of Natural Agents that it might appear his power was greatly concern'd in them and that they came forth upon a greater purpose then the bare service of the laws of Nature and the powers of some second Causes Fourthly The condition and temper of the Oeconomy we are now Under admits not our expectation of any signs from heaven either to witness against the practices or opinions of any party of men or to give notice of an approaching mercy or judgement to all which purposes they ministred heretofore God was pleas'd heretofore suitably to the non-age of the Church to address himself very much to the lower faculties of the Soul Phancy and imagination accordingly we finde Prophecies deliver'd in vehement and unusual schemes of speech such as are apt greatly to strike and affect upon imagination Christ was promis'd os one speaks sub magnificis admirationem facientibus ideis the mysteries of the Gospel were held forth in most splendid types and symbols and the law of God forc't upon the spirits of men heretofore by the terrours of a thundering heaven and a burning mountain and a speedy Vengeance upon the despisers thereof the spirits of good men carried out to actions and tempers beyond their natural capacities by the pregnant and vigorous impresses of the divine Spirit and the fears of the Church excited and her faith assisted by mighty signs and wonders the withdrawing whereof the Church bewayls they all vanishing as the light of divine Revelation prevail'd as stars doe upon the approaches of day-light But they which talk of and look for any such vehement expressions of Divinity now mistake the temper condition of that Oeconomy which the appearance of our Saviour hath now put us under wherein all things are to be managed in a more sedate cool and silent manner in a way suited to and expressive of the temper our Saviour discover'd in the world Who caused not his voice to be heard in the streets and to the condition of a Reasonable Being made to be manag'd by steady and calm arguments and the words of Wisdom heard in quiet in a smooth and serene temper the mysteries of the Gospel come forth cloth'd in sedate and intelligible forms of speech the minds of men are not now drawn into ecstasie by any such vehement and great examples of Divine Power and Justice as attended the lower and more servile state of the World The miracles our Saoiour wrought were of a calm and gentle nature curing the blinde restoring the sicke and lame not causing of thunder and storms as Samuel but appeasing them none of them such as the Jews call'd for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signs from heaven such prodigious and affrighting thunders and fires which attended the delivery of the law and the spirit of Elijah Indeed the Veil of the Temple was rent the Sun dreadfully eclypst the Earth terribly shaken at his death but these astonishing wonders were made use of as his last reserve to conquer the prejudices of an obdurate people upon whom his more gentle and obliging instances of Divine Majesty made no impression and perhaps these prodigious changes in Nature were intended as prophetick emblems of the great change shortly to ensue in heaven the way of worship and religion and Earth the powers and Kingdoms of the World by the power and Doctrine of that Person who then died upon the Cross. That mighty rushing Wind at Pentecost which was issu'd in a soft and lambent fire upon the heads of the first Preachers of the Gospel was possibly a figure of that more vehement and terrible State of the law which usher'd the way for and determin'd in the more sedate and gentle dispensation of the Gospel God hath now in a great measure left frighting of men to heaven by visible terrours the law of the Messias was deliver'd upon the mount in the small and still voice and is set home upon the hearts of men by the terrour onely of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more heavy vengeance in another World then what overtook the despisers of Moses law God expects now that we should be judiciously religious and acted to his service by a Spirit of love and of a sound minde to fear his threatnings more then the burnings of Sinai to look upon a bad man since the appearance of Christ to take away sin as the greatest Prodigy and to expect the signs of an approaching judgment non in Erratis Naturae sed seculi Thus have I endeavour'd the proof of the Thesis propos'd by some general Reasons and Arguments Others there are of as great moment which that I overlay not the Readers patience shall be reserv'd as so many nerves and sinews to run through and hold together the main body of the ensuing Discourse SECT II. Some Particular Prodigies prov'd no signs of ensuing Evils Comets commonly thought presages of evils and why A difference between comets and some luminous bodies in the Heavens like them Prov'd not to be signa operantia of any evils in Earth The difficulty of determining the specifick Nature of a Comet prov'd no incenst exhalation by a Considerations further evinc't no effective cause of evil from the dimension and the acknowledg'd altitude thereof Three Arguments to prove them not to be Signa indicantia of any evils The difficulty of reprehending any errour which bottomes in phancy and imagination The Omission of a particular discourse concerning some other Prodigies excus'd THat which the law of our intended method lays next before us is the proof of the Thesis propos'd by a particular Induction I shall therefore direct my thoughts upon some t were to overvalue the Argument to speak to many Prodigies which have been thought the most plausible pretenders to the honour of being Symbola Prophetica Amongst which Comets are of more especial regard and have been receiv'd by the faith or fears of most times as a kind of Beacon fir'd from Heaven to alarm the World and to give intimation of an approaching evil The Cauda Cometae especially seems to the eye of ignorance the emblem of a Flaming sword or fiery rod and to carry the dreadfull images of some mighty scourge prepar'd to correct a froward world withall With the Poet it passeth as a rul'd case Nunquam coelo spectatum impunè Cometam A comet never shone from Heaven to give the world any pannick fears The Astrologers as confident of the final as the Peripateticks of the formal cause of any such unusual lights take themselves upon the appearance of them to be the Filii coenaculi which are to expound to the world these mystick characters of Heaven Indeed any alteration and unwonted wrinckle in the face of heaven is thought like a frown a presage of anger and some intended evil partly because Heaven is conceiv'd the throne of justice whence 't is most proper to
Virgil said he did when reading of Ennius to gather the gold of devout fears and Christian foresights from the dung and dross of all the Ethnick Ostenta and auspicious observations where-ever occurring For my own part were I under the Religion of any such perswasion that all strange accidents are the warnings of heaven I should conclude it a great service to God and the good of men to exhort as opportunity invited the Christian Magistrate to institute some such Colledges as the Romanes had who received them all ut monita deorum which should profess themselves Prodigiorum Interpretes and should be ready to offer to the world the most trusty rules and Principles I were master of to manage their interpretations so that we might with some assurance conclude the intent and meaning of God in them As for that good use the Heathens made of these things where in they are recommended to our imitation what was it did they not receive any strange accidents as the indications whence to proceed to a crisis of times and to put a difference between lucky or inauspicious hours and days as if any times were delivered out of the thoughts and regards of heaven Did they not use upon any prodigious event to consult the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devils Oracles a matter pardonable to their hypothests to understand the intent and meaning of the gods in them Did they not approach the altars of their angry deities in a nicer observation of all the criticisms of superstition and the arbitrary injunctions of their religion Did they not increase to such a body and bulk at last as to disturb the peace of common life where observed and retained and to bring some men to a discarding of all thoughts of religion and a Deity as a kinde of Furies perpetually haunting their inward house and bereaving them of all true generousness peace and freedom of spirit But where do we ever finde that there pretended alarms from heaven did awaken men out of that profound sleep which in the darker times of Gentilism they were fallen into and perswade them or any others into a correction of their lives and manners To return 3. Because such signs as these are supposed to be appear greatly unworthy the. Majesty and Wisdom of God That Scripture might appear to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the language of Moses the Writing of God he hath been pleased to imprint such characters of Divinity both upon the matter and style thereof that those weak prenotions we have of infinite Wisdom Goodness Majesty do attest and bear witness to it as worthy and befitting God And surely were these Prodigies intended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heralds of heaven there would appear to severe and knowing persons somewhat able to fill out their name and title somewhat correspondent to those anticipations which the soul of man hath of what is becoming the Wisdom Majestie and Holiness of God As God cannot be loved but by appearing before the soul big with what-ever he hath framed it to embrace and open it self unto so neither can he be reverenced and observed but by such displays of himself which he knows the soul apt to receive with the most a wfull expressions of observance and regard Now then what man that hath any great thoughts of the Majestie of heaven can once imagine he ever intended any base and deformed monsters the interpreters of any of his great counsels and purposes Did God generally under the weak and worldy state of the Je wish Church send forth those Prophets whose learning education holy lives great works admirable gifts commanded even profane men to a reverence of their Persons and message and doth he now make use of Monsters Comets Meteors or the apparitions of unclean spirits as his Praecones publici Can we ever think that the wise God would have men understand his meaning when speaking to them by signs which like pictures look to any way speak to any sense and purpose the differing fancies of men please All the signs God ever spake to men by gave forth either by their own nature or his own exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a significant speech the wonders in Egypt the rites of the Pass-over the elements in the Sacrament are all Signa vocalia and the signs and wonders which as commonly thought were Gods trumpets before he fell upon Hierusalem were all to speak with Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wonders big with energy and clearly significative of the approaching desolation Besides can it be imagined that infinite Goodness having appointed us a Religion pregnant with contemplations fit to entertain an Angel levelled to the lifting up of the spirits of men to that way of life which is above that comes forth to give us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 freedom of speech and approach unto God and to chase before it all those pale fears and jealousies of himself the dreadfull apparitions which astonish'd men heretofore while fitting in darkness and the shadow of death should now task us to a devout observation of the familiar miscarriages of Nature in one kinde or other and to debase our selves to the bondage of some blinde and confused fears of his vengeance upon the news of a monster some ludicrous pranks of vile spirits or a fiery exhalation Upon an account of the Premises were I inclined to an observation of Omens and Prodigies I should as Prodigies use to be differently interpreted make an inverted use of the Reverend Publisher of this Great Authours works Reader write this a Prodigy that this Treatise alone concerning Prodigies should be lost and that in the Authours life-time and conclude that God in favour to the understandings of men provided that like the dead body of Moses it should lie buried none knowing where that so it might not be made an Ido◠of which perhaps the Reverence of so great a name might have inclined some to do I should not have spoken so much not to his but my own prejudice of so Reverend a Person but that I am desirous to cut off all the locks wherein I can but conceive the strength of this superstitious perswasion may lie which as weeds do by good ground tends but to eat out the heart and strength of that devout fear from which it seems to spring◠SECT V. An Answer to the Objection fetcht from Experience The Objection proceeding upon expecience proposed further confirmed from Lucan Plinie others That plea evinc'd Unsafe False Fallacious Men prone to conclude general maxims from a few examples and why Some Prodigies mentioned in History originally Apologues Super stition oft brings the evil it feareth and Atheism the evit it slights THirdly It is further opposed that common Experience the surest correctour of all Idol notrons and hastie reasonings seems to support this perswasion concerning Prodigies They have always been known succeeded by great evils and those generally such as they seemed the most natural Symbols and
forth Mazzaroth in his season or canst thou guide Arctiorus with his sons Knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth In Arithmetick who can number the clouds in wisdom In Natural History knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth c. God will have some things in Nature unsearchable to hide pride from man and to discover himself to him for it must needs be presumed that all these mysteries came forth from and are comprehended by some First Mind and mighty Wisdom We are urg'd next with the words of the Prophet Ioel. chap. 2. 30 31. I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the Earth bloud and fire and pillars of smoak The sun shall be turned into darkness and the â—oon into bloud before the great and terrible day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is near the Sun and the Moon shall be darkned and the Stars shall withâ—raw their shineing From which words those Act. 2. 19 20. are borrowed To which may be added because of a likeness of expression that place Luk. 21. 25 26. And there shall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon upon Earth distress of Nations with perplexity the sea and the waves roaring Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken In which former scripture by the Day of the Lord we are to understand some special day of vengeance it being usual in sacred Writ as some of the Hebrew Doctours observe to intitle days eminent for any unusual expressions of Divine favour or displeasure Days of the Lord whereas we find this day prefac'd and foretold by such prodigious occurrences as easily resolve themselves into causes natural I answer First Learned expositors generally understand those places not in any literal sense but receive them all as so many prophetical schemes of speech instances whereof are of most familiar occurrence in the Prophets expressive of some wonderfull evils shortly to afflict the world as they do also on the contrary the promises of a new heaven and a new earth the increase of the light of the sun and of the moon c. but as so many figurative expressions of some white and gladsom days shortly to succeed Particularly the learned Grotius is so secure of a figurative sense of such places that he tells us they are never to be expounded in all scripture to any other And indeed should we expound them literally we should soon honour the falls of great men or destruction of cities with greater or as great wonders as attended the crucifixion of our blessed Saviour Besides what Histories ever mention any such astonishing alterations in the frame of Nature as the literal sense of these places would introduce a faith of Now the Prophets chose thus to deliver themselves for some or all of these Reasons 1. Because it was the custom of the Eastern Nations to describe great and mighty storms and troubles in a state in such phrases as these the darkning of the heavens falling of the stars shaking of the earth flying away of the Mountains c. 2. Because these being the most remarkable and glorious bodies in the world terrible alterations in them seem the most proper representatives of mighty changes and alterations in kingdoms 3. Because the terrible judgements of God upon the Babylonians Egyptians Iews and obstinate Gentiles set forth in such expressions were but supremi judicii specimina little images and types of the last and dreadfull judgement and therefore not unfitly character'd by the terrours and horrours which shall usher that last and great Day 4. Because these are expressions mighty and vehement and so very expressive of and sutable unto that hot and vigorous impression which the Spirit of Prophecy made upon the minds and imaginations of those holy men which were acted by it 5. Because that anxiety and perplexity of mind which should attend the plagues coming on men should be as great almost as if they saw the eye of heaven the sun put out and the earth to tremble under them c. Now in this figurative sense the words were accomplished in their first and original intention when that great misery was brought upon the earth by Nabuchodonosor and they receiv'd a further degree of accomplishment as S. Peter intimates Act. 2. 19. under the Romanes when the land which was but shaven before by Gods hired Razor had an utter baldness brought upon it to use the expression of the Prophet and it shall have its fulfilling in the outmost latitude of its sense at the day of judgment of which some Interpreters solely understand it Propecies have their Gradus Scalus compleâ—enti as the Lord Bacon speaks the last day only is that true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fulness of time wherein they shall be completely fulfilled God often draws similar and parallel lines of confusion over different times and places whips many stubborn children with the same rod and therefore prophesies of the same vengeance may have their repeated accomplishments Secondly Some learned men understand in these places a real and literal darkning of these great bodies of light though arising not from any common and natural but an extraordinary and supernatural cause The reasons of which exposition I shall remit to their proper place which if they appear satisfactory nothing can be thence concluded in favour of presages by these Prodigies which are but some more unusual effects lying hid in the powers of natural Agents and sometimes exerting themselves There is one place of Scripture more which may seem to some to require perhaps to refuse an answer viz. that Luke 21. 11. where our Blessed Saviour foretelling that large line of confusion to be stretched out upon the Holy City and whole nation of the Jews as as a precedent signe thereof tells his Disciples Great earthquakes shall be in divers places and famines and pestilences c. now earthquakes have been numbred with Prodigies natural I answer First When God hath once sealed them by his sanction and institution Prodigies natural may be regarded as the signs of events arbitrary and supernatural Gods bow without a string in the heavens is to us a signe that the world need never fear perishing by any such fatal arrow as once was shot out of the clouds A universal deluge although it be owing to a natural and necessary cause as being by Gods institution advanc'd to the dignity of a signe of grace and favour Thus when God had told the people that as an expression of his great displeasure against them for asking of a king He would send thunder and rain things in themselves natural except it be said that the peculiar condition of that season and climate made them approach to a miracle it was a religious fear with which the people
hath had peaceable possession of the common faith for so many ages for to say no more 't is in many regards an example extraordinary and 't is a good maxime examples extraordinary neither break a rule nor make one Upon which account alone I have no great fear that the other instance wil much prejudice our cause though I allow both a truth and a significancy to that apparition though perhaps I should not have judg'd so much in favour thereof had I not been brib'd by the authority which the suffrages of so many wise men and the antiquity of the Authour seem to drive upon that Apocryphal writing wherein it is found Thirdly There appears not now any ground at all to receive any such apparitions in the ayr as the certain signs and monitours of any calamities to ensue upon a Nation and that First Because we have no warrant from the Book of God so to regard them having no precept at all to oblige us nor yet any example therein to encourage us The signs of future events which we sometimes find God making use of were such as out of their institution were no way apt to foreshew any any such event they were most commonly signa ad placitum such as carried no similitudes of the things whereof they were signs as the apparitions of armies in the air seem to do of some succeeding battel that so none might be encouraged afterward to regard them as Omens when again occurring and fancy that they ministred at all to the vanity of any such observations Now a negative argument from Scripture seems conclusive enough in a matter wherein the faith of a Divine prescience and providence and mans dutifull observance of God in the way of his judgements appear so much concerned and assisted as we are told they are in the religious observation of such things as these Secondly Such kinde of signs would lay men naked and exposed to perpetual delusions and impostures for how often do the antick shapes of the clouds serve the imaginations of dragons and armies in the air That word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zech. 10. 1. which we render clouds the LXX by a verbal mistake of the radix translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apparitiones and a melancholy fancy is as subject to this real mistake the translating of clouds into apparitions of Churches or castles or armies Can any serious Person then believe that God would have us apply our selves to such a Proteus as a cloud is for a solution of any doubt de futuro which can shift into any shapes and forms of things Hath he not all along appear'd to value our understandings at a higher rate then to require them to a regard of things so exposed to suspicion and the conceit of some imposture Thirdly Such kinde of apparitions in the air have been known not succeeded by any black and tragical Event The truth is Wisdom which useth to draw her lines by the steady and even rule of some well assumed principles hath not appear'd so critical an observer of such accidents and their Events as folly hath been and therefore we are not so well provided of examples to reprehend this vanity as otherwise we might be I must therefore satisfie my self with a single instance which occurrs in a learned and sober Writer who delivers it as a matter reported to him by Persons of good credit how that in the year before he recorded that relation there were seen two opposite Battalions in the air lancing out their spears and discharging as it were their muskets victory now reeling and in the end one side giving chase to the other Whereas all these things proved but è vitro fulgura being followed onely with jubilees and the voice of joy and peace in our dwellings for many years Nor can they be with any colour of reason presumed to foreshew our succeeding civil wars being removed by the distance of so many years Now one negative instance in such cases is of more force to unfix and discredit a pretending rule then two affirmatives to establish it because the latter the world being so full of evils may fall out by a kinde of chance or the agency of seducing Spirits whereas the former seem to proclaim some necessity of the Event in nature and the no purpose at all of God to give notice of any of his counsels by any such emergencies as these Fourthly I doubt not but many of these aery apparitions might be solved by a natural cause To let pass the conceit of real armies somewhere fighting on earth reflected in the clouds as in a glass as at best but an ingenuous vanity the supposed firing of Ordinance and muskets is I believe generally nothing but the coruscation of some incensed exhalations breaking forth by pauses and intervals from the clouds and as thunder doth with the noises and terrours of those military engines The running to and fro of hors-men and companies may be represented to an active fancy by the clouds carried by the unconstant force of the winds to very giddy and unequal figures and motions The stands of pikes and spears may be but the ragged and deformed protuberances of the disturbed clouds Onely I am apt to believe that Nature draws the images of these things in such rude and imperfect figures that men are forced much to assist and quicken the dulness and defectiveness of the type by the fictions of imagination Fifthly Some of these aery apparitions and noises are managed with that method and artifice come forth in such chosen seasons if we credit relations that I doubt not to intitle them to the power and operation of the Aery Principality Impure Spirits like juglers may oft do strange tricks to call upon themselves the regards of the world and when they see causes big with their effects may by such signs foreshew them to derive upon themselves either the Opinion of prescience or of some great affection to men whom they awaken though indeed it be but as Delilah did Samson when the Philistines some great evils are just upon them or else as S. Austin speaks noxiae curiositatis retibus implicare to fly-blow the minds of men with curious and impertinent enquiries into times to come Sure I am we finde the Appearances of armies and the noise of arms and trumpets in the air found among such bad company so many hatefull Omens and Prodigies observed by the Heathen as is sufficient to blemish them and to give suspicion that the observation and production of both was owing to the same Father of lies Ovid having mentioned the noise of armies and trumpets heard in the clouds relates as presages of equal place and repute the weeping of Statues the wandring of Ghosts the odd figures and colour of the Sacrifice and the like doth Virgil in that place so often cited The Devil well knew that without the maintaining of some Opinion of his foresight in the minds of men the
te comitabuntur Which counsel he neglecting himself most of his Nobles and army fell in that fatal battel Hardly discovered For how easily may the Devil impose upon our simplicity in the livery of an Angel of light Though I think this negative signe of such an apparition faithfull enough viz. That these Sons of God never debase themselves to such antick shapes Iudicrous postures and actions monstrous forms weak rites which evil spirits designing to get to themselves the homage of a great fear from some men or to abuse their imaginations or to dishonour the image and figure of man whom they so much hate or to appear rather ridiculous then abominable usually doe Never to be expected because never promised besides converse with Angels is a blessing which our state of infirmity could not bear and our follies cannot well admit And this I suppose may suffice to tender concerning these second kind of Prodigies signal Stil'd so ex communi fide because vulgar faith hath prefer'd them to the repute of divine signs and intimations which I thought fit again to intimate to excuse the indecorum of my applying of the term without the reason thereof so frequently unto them CHAP. IV. Concerning Prodigies in appearance Supernatural Some Prodigies instanâ—'d in which seem Supernatural the truth in reference to them deliver'd in 4 Propositions Lying Oracles and Miracles of especial use to advance the Devils kingdome Strange events not to be easily judg'd miraculous and why The first fiery eruption of Vesuvius probably concluded a signe of judgement and the reasons of that assertion What to be thought of that fiery sword which hung over Hierusalem No prodigies in appearance Supernatural to be received now as signs and why THere are some events which the history of times presents us with of so peculiar and strange a make and character that they stand alone in Nature and their causes stand so much in the dark that they seem to enter a very fair and plausible plea for the repute of a miracle Such as are the turning of Ponds and lakes in appearance into bloud swords as of fire seen to hang over cities for several days together the removal of mountains or other parts of the Earth for several furlongs from their natural places some strange alterations observed in the motions and tempers of the birds and beasts or figures and colours of any of the heavenly bodies With these I reckon some suddain intercsions of the light of the sun occasioned not by the veil of an eclipse cast before it but some unaccountable passion of the luminous body it self Such a deliquium we read of immediately subsequent to the death of Caesar concluded by the Ethnick Poet a kinde of prodigious shrinking of the eye of heaven from the view of so black a wickedness as the assassination of so excellent a person who upon occasion thereof thus expresseth himself Ille etiam extincto miseratus Caesare Romam Cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine tinxit Impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem An example parallel whereunto is related by Lavater who reports that in the year 1585. Mar. 12. such a darkness suddainly cover'd the earth that the birds went to roost at noon and the guilty fears of men antedated the day of judgment A like instance whereunto in another kinde is the suddain torpor and standing still of great currents and the parting of their waters in so wonderfull a manner that they seem to carry some figures and imitations of those miraculous divisions of waters recorded in sacred Writ Such was that mention'd in our Chronicles which hapned Anno. 1399 when the river of Ouse in Bedfordshire parted asunder near Harold in that County the waters from the fountain standing stil and those towards the Sea giving way so that it was passable over on foot for 3 miles together To which I add that unparllel eruption of fire from the mountain Vesuvius first hapning in the second year of Titus of which it may be truly said that if all the characters of horrour enumerated by Historians were duly weighed it would be hard to finde its pattern but in Scripture where we read of a Mountain which quaked greatly and that burnt with fire to the midst of heaven with darkness clouds and thick darkness Now though I am far from giving to all these effects the repute of a miracle as may appear by my marshalling of some of them under other heads much less of a signe yet because Nature seems not in these as in other Prodigies to err by any known law and some of them at least are so wonderfull that to speak truth they stand in confinio miraculi I thought good to discourse them apart and as inclos'd under another name and notion And the rather because if our Adversaries should chance to call a knub a horn to stile these or some other of the foremention'd prodigies supernatural and miraculous they might seem like Proteus to avoyd all the knots they cannot unloose reasons they cannot answer by shifting forms and that event which they cannot advance a signe of the time sub nomine prodigii they may possibly assay to doe sub specie miraculi All therefore that I shall offer concerning Prodigies Supernatural whether in truth or pretence I shall not much enquire shall be coucht in these few ensuing propositions First It is a great example of rashness easily to intitle any strange effect whose cause stands not in a good light supernatural and miraculous and that upon a four-fold account 1. We understand not the just extent and compass of that sphear of activity assigned to bare natural powers nor how far they may in some circumstances exceed the lines of common and ordinary operation How many works of Art are there scarce the wonder of our days the performance whereof in the rudeness of former times would have prefer'd a man to the repute of Simon Magus the great power of God who would not two or three hundred years agoe have voucht the breaking down of mighty walls by the force and powers of a little black dust as great an impossibility as the Indians did the communicating by letters at so great a distance we understand not fully how far our notions of possible and impossible when we are amongst Agents natural are fixt and faithfull As for the miracles wrought by our Saviour least any shadow of natural power might seem to assist and so to disparage them he usually exerted his Divinity in raysing of the dead restoring of a man born blinde to sight in curing the woman whom Art had given for desperate Luk. 8. 43. in commanding the wave and storms into rest and silence with a word and such like works which evidently appear'd to lie extra vias naturae such whereof no magician ever attempted the counterfeit otherwise his miracles had left open a wide door for infidelity to break out at 2. We understand not fully how far the
timerous imagination moulds them into such antick figures that they seem a kinde of visible parables and dreadfull images of some approaching vengeance There is scarce a night passeth them wherein they have not some terrible dreams which tell them the fortune of no less then a kingdom the souls of some persons scarce seem to come out of the same limbus with those of other men so different the rules and measures by which their opinions and practices are layd out In matters of a more sacred and religious reference Revelation strong impressions of spirit ecstacies pretty allegories parallels Cabalisms in matters civil some old prophecy mystick passages in Daniel and the Apocalyâ—s new and impracticable Ideas of government strange omens and prâ—digies which like bladders shew bigger or less according as an aery fancy swells and blows them up are the great compass by which they steer their judgements But with what mean regards shall scriptures laws sober counsels and a prudential Understanding of the times and what is sit to be done be entertained if the light of knowledge in matters sacred or civil be once thought to shine most clearly into such crackt and crasy brains as are not seldom the most curious attenders to such things as these the true fears of religion would be ready to flie away like the spirits of over-heated liquours if overacted by such strong and continued jealousies of heaven as the observation of Prodigies in the latitude contended for would certainly subdue the minds of men unto Besides no man that believes himself shall ever be able to possess himself in peace while his inward house is haunted by such spirits of fear as a superstitious perswasion of prodigies will be alway raising up within him I shall therefore in order to a more perfect cure of so common and dangerous a distemper of minde advise these ensuing remedies First The discarding of all sowre jealousies concerning God Synesius hath observ'd that howsoever the nations were distanc'd from each other like the lines in the circumference 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by very different Opinions and Sentiments in reference to God and religion in other matters yet still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet all center'd and met in this great doctrine both wise and unwise that God was a good bountifull and benign Being the greater wonder to me it is that so many Doctrines among the Heathens and Christians too which I am not hear to take notice of should be receiv'd with a non obstante to this native and easy sense of the Divine Goodness and Philanthropy lodg'd in their minds That which my present argument leads me to observe is how apt the minds of men are to be leaven'd wâ—th that sowre conceit which cannot dwell with a belief of Gods goodness which Plutarch justly challengeth in Herodotus that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Deity is of an envious and troublesom disposition that God is onely ingeniosus in malis that his counsels are especially taken up with the contrivances of new plagues and miseries for the hated world then which did never a more pestilential air breath from the bottomless pit ceazeing the very vitals of religion and corrupting the first and earliest notions rising up in the Soul when conceiving of a God Hence grows this easy conclusion that all Prodigies are a kinde of Van-guard to give notice of the many troops of furies and miseries marching after so that hated man may not have so much as the aery hopes of good times to refresh his weary spirts with nor be able to deceive his present pains so much as with a dream Sure I am that the observation and expiation of all manner of Oâ—ens and prodigies among the Heathens was a sowre fruit growing from this evil root especially perpetual fears and unworthy jealousies of God Whereas if men did not measure the Nature of God by that froward and envious spirit which commands themselves they might easily understand all the evils sometimes sent down upon the world to be in the language of the Moralist onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a divine testimony given in against sin and intended but to discipline the mad world into some sober and wise thoughts and they would believe the fairer reports which scripture makes of God which tells us He doth not willingly grieve the children of men that fury dwells not with him that judgement is his strange work c. And then would be easily perswaded that prodigies come forth upon some other errand then to let them understand they must look to be speedily miserable Did they once believe the Patience and long-suffering of God they could not think he lets his creatures as Moses did the tables fall out of his hand and break into disorder as a discovery of his frequent anger and displeasure Secondly The avoiding of any great fears or hopes in reference to things future Lucian well notes that to a man big with any huge fears or hopes a foreknowledge of events appears greatly necessary and desireable because this brings his distracted thoughts to a point and therefore he is easily perswaded to attend to any prophecy or prodigie that offers him a promise of satisfaction and resolution Besides where the soul is under the power of some great affection as it alway is when sollicitous about the issue of things any odd accident is apt to make a great impression upon it Fear like a crackt glâ—ss represents every strange event in monstrous and frightfull figures to the minde and will create its object where it cannot really finde it Moreover when men will usurp upon Gods province and curare futura he justly makes their sin their punishment by delivering them to that anxiety which the observation of omens and prodigies tends to bring them in 'T is a great wisdom to attend the business of the day and to leave the issue of affairs with infinite wisdom aâ—d goodness and the rather because if the event shall be prosperous there will be time enough to enjoy our happiness when it shall be present we need not deflowr it by a precocious joy before we are espous'd unto it If adverse what need we chew pils and feel our evils twice over once in fear and again in presence sufficient to each day is the present evil thereof it need not borrow from tomorrow Thirâ—ly The study of natural philosophy It s the nature of all knowledge to give a kinde of strength and presence of minde to a man but especially of Philosophy this will secure us as from the rocks of Atheism because leading us into a notice of some First cause into which all the second doe gradually ascend and finally resolve so also from the shelves of superstition because acquainting us with the second causes for fancy is apt to suggest very monstrous and superstitious notions of those things of whose causes and natures we are unresolv'd all which flie like the shadows of the twilight before the
drawn from those fearfull sights and great signs from heaven mentioned Luke 21. 11. precedent to the destruction of Ierusalem and the Jewish polity to encourage the expectation of any such signs of times now or the advancement of Prodigies into the repute of any divine Monitors they will appear to be greatly inconsequent if we consider 1. All those accidents were foretold and particularly appointed by God as signs Particularly the opening of the gates of the temple some time before its desolation of their own accord though of such massy brass that they could not be shut or opened if we credit Iosephus without the twisted strength of twenty men and though secured with great bars of iron is thought by some learned Jewish and Christian Expositours the accomplishment of the prophecy of Zechariah chap. 11. vers 1. Openâ—thy doors O Lebanon that the fire may devour thy cedars Where by Lebanon they understand the Temple built especially of the cedars there growing as it is elsewhere in the Prophets used to signifie And Munster upon the place tells us that one of the Jewish Doctours upon occasion thereof thus rebukes the Temple Ego cognosco imminere tui desolationem juxta vatiâ—inium Zechariae qui dixit Aperi Libane portas tuas But what pattent can be shewed from the Book of God whereby any much less all the forementioned Prodigies hold the place and honour of Divine signs 2. The miseries foretold by those signs were great without example Iosephus calls them evils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worthy of some signs They came not forth as the Heraulds of some petty war or to precede the funerals of some great Personage but as it is called a great tribulation such as was not since the world began nor ever shall be Exemplóque carens nulli cognitus aevo Luctus erat 3. The destruction of Ierusalem was a type and picture of the final destruction of the world And therefore fit it was that the terrours of the latter should be a little pattern'd and shadowed out in the fearfull sights and Prodigies attending the former besides the consternations of soul and failings of heart which these foregoing signs wrought in some men before the decree brake forth made the destruction of Ierusalem in all the circumstances thereof the more lively type not onely of the terrours of the last judgement but of those horrours and sinkings of spirit in bad men which shall go before it 4. Our Blessed Saviours extraordinary prediction of those Prodigies as his signs to that generation seems rather to assure them not intended the common fore-runners of any great plagues and wars and that no good crisis can be ordinarily made of the future condition of a state by a regard to any such in themselves doubtfull and unfaithfull indications For what need of predictions if these signs were to fall out by a kind of common rule and law of providence and how unnecessary had it been to appoint such accidents for signs of evil which draw after them a series of evils with so great a constancy that they seem without a Prophet to appoint themselves the signs of the times 5. The condition of those times seem'd especially to require some such signs For 1. They serv'd then as mercifull warnings to Christs followers to hasten their escape from that house that City which was ready to fall upon them and involve them in its ruins 2. The Jews requir'd signs from heaven and God would not be wanting to any probable means and motives of their repentance 3. The Jewish oeconomy commenc'd in fearfull sights at mount Sinai and great signs from heaven and fit it was its conclusion should somewhat resemble the solemnity of its beginning 4. The many signs given by our Saviour serv'd gradually to wean the hearts of his followers from Hierusalem once the light of their eyes of whose determin'd desolation these gave them such full and repeated assurances Secondly We cannot receive any Signa Operantia as the faithfull and unquestionable intelligencers of the condition of succeeding times as the unquestionable intelligencers I say and that 1. Because God often acts secondary Agents to secret and unknown ends He acts sometimes without but usually beyond them and hath oftentimes ends to serve upon their motions and counsels which they reach no more then a beast doth the intention of its Rider 2. Because God often accomplisheth his biggest ends by means unpromiseing and almost invisible He frequently rows his purposes to harbour while the means seem to look quite another way what is observ'd of the methods of God in Nature holds true generally in the methods of his Providence The greatest works are perform'd by the least and most insensible Agents We shall finde great kingdoms in History commencing like a great snow-ball from a handfull increasing to a greatness in the eye of fense immoveable and at last concluding in soyl and dirt But especially observable is this usage of Providence in the management of the affairs of the Church which like Christ the head thereof springs as a root out of a dry ground and was never any great gainer by the wars and arms of Princes 3. God sometimes makes use of means great and pompous to some ends weak and little in the eye of sense To what great actions all on the suddein did he strengthen the hands of the King of Sweden his victories drew the eyes of the world upon him and 't was concluded by some that Providence design'd him the Apocalyptick Angel which should pour out one of the Vials upon the Beast when behold unexpectedly the current of his successes runs under ground and men engag'd to conclude God had ends more secret and spiritual to accomplish by him then they imagin'd 4. God usually advanceth his great works and ends by pauses and periods Providence in the advancement of the church hath usually its fines abruptos God in the works of Nature doth compendium facere goe the nearest way to his ends but in the works of providence he doth circulum describere goe about and his work advanceth by such slow and silent progresses that in the issue it seems to any but a prudent and severe observer the issue of time and chance rather then any steady and well advis'd understanding 5. God hath an unknown variety of means and methods to accomplish his purposes by He works by any means by weak by contrary by none He sometimes brings his greatest ends to birth by the midwifry of seeming casualties and little emergencies which taken asunder are weak and common but viewed in consort speak excellent art and counsel the observation whereof drew forth that Christian speech of Machiavel in an Ethnick dress Fatorum viae rationes producendorum effectuum obscuriores sunt quà m ut à nobis intelligi queant Upon these and many more accounts out of the lines of our present Argument the fairest promises of these active signs may
the conclusion without tasking them to a tedious consideration of the value of the premises and lift them up into the Tree of knowledge without any industrious climbing of their own But certainly God who bade us buy the truth never intended it should be got upon such cheap and easy terms men may suspect their wares to be nought if they cost no more then an idle attendance to such fantastical measures as these generally are 4. Gods particular judgements as to the special ends and intendments of them are generally inscrutable We commonly set so high a price upon our causes parties and opinions that we easily imagine the biggest end Gods judgements can be directed to is the bearing witness to the truth and righteousness of them By which fancy we become a kinde of spiritual Anthropomorphits shaping out a God like our selves and laying out the counsels of heaven by the poor short and often peevish thoughts and models of a man If we consult Scripture we shall seldom or never finde a person onely of a corrupt judgement in reference to some Doctrine of religion if otherwise of a blameless life smitten with any great plague from heaven but often persons of corrupt and depraved manners because all the laws of righteousness carry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a demonstration within themselves and stand in so full a light that like the Sun beams they bear testimony to themselves Whereas matters of faith and doctrine appear not before the minde in so great an evidence Men indeed are apt to follow a little difference of Opinion from themselves in religion especially with thick Anathemas and quickly to blow it out into a schism or heresy because such differences seem to dispute the strength of their Arguments but are easily inclin'd to look upon even a great miscarriage in life through the other end of the prospective and to shrink it to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bâ—â—e humane infirmity Gods honour onely being concerned in that Whereas on the other side Divine goodness makes a large allowance for a well-meant errour because the understanding like the eye cannot so easily see its own blemishes but is severe against even a little crime men being more enabled for a discovery of that To say therefore that Aâ—ius who in the manner of his death seem'd the Antitype of Iudas his bowels gushing out when he went to serve the necessities of Nature proclaim'd the displeasure of God against his doctrine or that that house in Black-Fryers which sunk down under the weight of those many Papists there assembled with their Priest to attend the offices of their Religion and buried them in its ruines was Gods warning against Popery or that the births though granted monstrous beyond the possibilities of Nature which Mrs Hutchinson and Mrs Dyer the two great Prophetesses Leaders to the Anabaptistical faction in New-England were delivered of singled out their Opinion and were visible reproofs from heaven of Anabaptism it self is to interpret the voice of Gods rods by blinde and uncertain ghesses and to repeat the vanity of that Emperour who would fetter the sea for we hereby determine the large and deep thoughts of infinite Wisdom by those little maxims short thoughts and ends our selves usually attend unto God never menac'd any such reproachfull judgement against any such errours as these in Scripture and if he had if found in conjunction with great crimes it may be more reasonably presum'd that it was directed rather against the wickedness of the heart then the weakness of the head If I would advise with my eyes in the choice of my party or Opinion I should rather observe as I could what parties of men are most delivered to the judgement of a cruel and unquiet spirit to a giddy motion from one fond notion to another who they are which seem most forsaken of vertue and true goodness For these are spiritual judgements and so more suitable to the condition of that spiritual Oeconomy the appearance of our Saviour hath now put us under Besides the Spirit of truth may nay usually doth dwell with great sufferings but great sins give suspicion of its departure But even this also upon trial will approve it self but the beâ—â— of bad rules to proceed by in the trial of causes for the enormity of mens lives like dirty hands may soyl and blemish the jewel of a good cause not lessen and sink its intrin sick worth and value and indifferent men will be ready to conclude it a falling cause which catcheth at such weak and unfaithfull holds A good cause like a souldier not well appointed receives more hurt from the reggs of its own rotten armour then the bullet of an Adversary is more disparag'd I mean by a weak and insufficient defence then a strong and subtile argument which is often thought to hold more of the pregnancy of the disputant then the cause Secondly Iudgements extraordinary overtaking persons evidently guilty of extraordinary crimes are to be regarded as the evidences of Gods providence and high displeasure against those sins God generally commits all spiritual judgement to his Son and all temporal judgement to the Magistrate who therefore hath Gods title and is said to judge in his stead But sometimes as Kings who yet have their Vice-gerents he is pleased to sit as it were in open judicature himself and to correct a high and daring crime with his own immediate stroke Which he doth either when the sword of justice is permitted to rust in its scabbard and the Magistrate neglects to put open wickedness to shame or when perhaps he is unable through a want of knowledge or power to reach the criminal or in his total absence thus in the primitive times when the Magistrate being Heathen thought not any sin against the Gospel to be fori sui he invested his publick Ministers with a power which reach'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the affliction or destruction of the flesh upon bold and hopeless offenders Now these judgements extraordinary are Vocal and Emphatical and call for our more serious notices in three cases especially 1. When the judgement bears upon it the evident pour traitures and figures of the sin The cross men bear like that of our Saviour often carries the inscription of the crime in such plain and legible characters that he that runs may read it There are some herbs which bear upon them Naturae signaturas certain signatures and marks stamp'd upon them by the hand of Nature serving as a kinde of native labels to tell us what vertues they contain and whereby it may be known even upon sight to what diseases or parts of the body ill affected they are proper and usefull because bearing some figures or colours analogous to them thus punishment sometimes carries signaturas peccati and proclaims by its very make and fashion what sin it is intended to discover and cure in us And this it doth either when there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉