But in this our Rude and Blind Age instead of complaining for want of the presence of the Lord and his holy powers most people make a Laughing-stock and Derision of Dreams and all things of that nature so great is the Degeneration of Mankind from all sublime Truths and heavenly Converse of good Spirits just as though there were no Angels or Genij or that the blessed God of Truth had not granted any of them to be our Guardians and Assistants in our Necessities and under his supream providence to protect and desend mankind from the many shares and inventions of evil Spirits which continually seek how they may devour and destroy man and lead him captive into perdition But the Word of Truth assures us That the God of all Power and Glory has made his Angels great and powerful ministring Spirits to aid and assist those that fear his Name and advance the Kingdom of Innocency So in former Ages we read That he sent his good Angels as Messengers of his favour and to defend his people from incursions of the evil ones for they do continually fight against the Malicious degraded Legions Thence Abraham when he sent forth his Servant to Mesopotamia to fetch a wife for his Son Isaac did by Faith assure him The Lord should send his Angel before him and prosper what he went about Gen. 24. 7. and 14. So the Lord promises the Children of Israel Exod. 23. 20. Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared Beware of him and obey his Voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your Transgressions for my Name is in him But if thou shalt indeed obey his Voice and do all that I shall speak then I will be an Enemy to thine Enemies and an Adversary to thine Adversaries for mine Angel shall go before thee in unto the Amorites c. Chapter 23. 24. Therefore now go lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee Behold mine Angel shall go before thee which is repeated again Chap. 33. 2. I will send an Angel before thee and I will drive out the Canaanite the Amorite c. When Balaam went with the Princes of Moab to Curse the Israel of God 't is said The Angel of the Lord stood in the way for an Adversary against him and the Ass saw him and turned away several times but the Prophet could not see him till his Eyes were opened and then he reverenced him and received his message Numb 22. 23. and 31. An Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim to accuse the Israelites of their disobedience and trangression whereupon they repented and humbled themselves Iudges 2. 1. Another Angel appeared to Gideon and encouraged him to deliver the people of Israel out of the hands of the Midianites Chap. 6. 11. So likewise to Manoah the Mother of Samson promising her a Child and directing her how he should be Educated in Abstemiousness and Temperance that he night be fit for those mighty Aâ—chiefments of delivering his people which the Lord had designed him for Iudges 13. 3. As Elijah was in the wilderness and ready to starve an Angel of the Lord brought him provisions and said to him once and again Arise and eat in the strength of which he travelled forty days and forty nights 1 Kings 19. 5. David also teacheth us That the Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them Psalm 34. 7. And again Psalm 91. 9 10 11. Because thou hast made the Lord my Refuge even the most high thy Habitation there shall no evil befall thee neither shall any Plague come nigh thy dwelling for he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou daish thy Foot against a Stone When the Prophet Zachariah had a vision by night from God there was an Angel that talked with him and declared to him the things which he saw The Angel Gabriel was sent to the Virgin Mary to acquaint her with the joyful Tydings of her being overshadowed with the holy Ghost and bringing forth a Saviour Luke 1. 26. The pool of Bethesda had its Senative Vertue communicated to it by the ministry or an Angel for so the Text expressly tellâ— us Jâ—hn 5. 4. An Angel went down at a certain â—eason and troubled the water whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever Disease he had When the â—postles were committed to Prison for preaching the Gosple Acts 5. 1â— The Angel of the Lord by Night opened the Prison Door and brought them forth So an Angel of God appeared in a Vision to Cornelius the devout Centurion requiring him to send to Ioppa for Peter who should teach him what he should do Acts 10. 3. And when afterwards tâ—e same Peter was imprisoned by Herod the King behold the Angel of the Lord came upon him and a Light shined in the Prison and he smote Peter on his side and raised him up saying Arise quickly and his Chains fell off from his hands and the Angel said unto him Gird thy self and bind on thy Sandals and so he did And he said unto him Cast thy Garment about thee and follow me and he went out and followed him and wist not that it was true that was done by the Angel but thought he saw a Vision When they were past the first and second ward they came unto the Iron Gate that leadeth unto the City which opened unto them of its own accord and forthwith the Angel departed from him And when Peter was come to himself he said Now I know of a surety That the Lord hath sent his Angel and delivered me Acts 12. 7 8 9 10 11. And when Paul in his Voyage to Italy was in danger of shipwrack and Angel visited him and assured him That none belonging to the Ship should be drowned for said he There stood by me this Night the Angel of God whose I am and whom I serve saying Fear not Paul Thou must be brought before Caesar And lo God hath given thee all them that sail with thee Acts 27. 23. Thus manifest it is that good Angels both by the appointment of the Soveraign Creator and the excellency of their own Natures are alwayes Sedulous ready and diligent to serve assist succour and illuminate good and vertuous men especially in their distresses or when they are in danger by the malice and subtilty of wicked men And it is the Doctrine of the wise Antients that not only every person man or woman from his or her first coming into this world hath in an especial manner a particular good Angel deputed which therefore is called his or her Guardian Angel or good Genius and that another evil Angel also of a direct contrary nature and property is always attending us thence called
of good Spirits Angels in Dreams and Visions to pious and holy men in times past instructing and admonishing them and revealing divine mysteries unto them the same will be of little advantage or incouragement to us if that vulgar opinion be true that although they were so usual and frequent in former Ages yet now they are wholely ceased and no such spiritual assistances or converse to be expected but as this opinion is not founded on holy Scripture so there are divers reasons which sway with me not to imbrace the same its true the Text saith That if an Angel from Heaven shall preach any other Doctrine that is contrary or derogatory unto the Gospel of Jesus Christ he ought to be rejected and accursed for thereby it would plainly appear that he was an evil Angel since God in any of his manifestations is never contrary unto himself yet this hinders not but good Spirits may afford us good Offices and give us notice of impending Dangers and defend us from the assaults and incurrances of evil Doemons and be the Ministers of God whereby he may be pleased to make more clearer revelations of his Secrets to those that fear him for the blessed Creator is the same as ever he was and as near unto mankind as he was in former Ages whence the Apostle Paul saith the divine Word or holy Principle of Gods eternal Light and Love is near thee in thy Mouth and in the Center of thy Heart and therefore whatsoever was by divine appointment or permission of this nature common to the Prophets and holy men in former Ages its reasonable to believe that the same should not only be continued in these later times but increased and far more illustrated since the great work of redemption and divine manifestation in the flesh who was welcomed unto the humane nature by the holy Quires of Angles It s under this Gospel dispensation that the holy Prophets have foretold should be far more glorious irradications and discoveries of divine knowledge that all should be taught of God. That their Sons and their Daughters should Prophecy their young Men see Visions and their old Men dream Dreams The current of the Scripture bears Testimony to a greater Light to break forth in the latter dayes wherein the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the Earth as the Water cover the Sea and why then should we abridg or reject any of those ways wherein God hath formerly vouchsafed most usually to discover his will in the mysteries of his Kingdom to the Sons of men The good Spirits are inflamed with the same Zeal for spreading the Glory of their Creator now as in former times they have still the same ardent Charity and Good-will towards men that persue and seek after Vertue and Piety as heretofore and we have as much need of their aid and assistance as any of the Ancients why then should we think all entercourse out off between us and those blessed Spirits why should we with a stupid neglect lose the benefit of such powerful Auxiliaries That evil Angels are dayly contriving our temporal and eternal ruin that they do by various ways and means cast stumbling blocks before us in the Paths of 〈◊〉 and endeavour to seduce us by multitudes of temptations is generally agreed by all professors of the Christian Religion and if so I desire to know why we should not believe the good Angels to be as diligent to protect or instruct us as ready to encounrage us in well doing as the other are busie to circumvent and debauch us and prompt us on to sin and mischiefs and misery It s evident the ever blessed Creator has since the woful fall and degeneration of mankind readily heard the prayers of those that in sincerity have called upon his Name and live in obedience to his holy Law and that he hath in various manners appeared to them in Visions Calls Voyces Dreams and the like which was continued and encreased in an extraordinary manner after the great Light appeared viz. Christ Jesus cloathed with the humane nature as appears by the authority of the Scriptures before mentioned and if the same be now discontinued as some people would have us believe of which as there is no mention in Scripture so 't is against the Principles of God in nature to suppose any such Chasm or interruption of communication between superiours and inferiours in the state of created beeings and beside what a miserable and deplorable state must man then now be in for amongst the Ancients if the Spirits of the Lord did withdraw and cease from communicating and manifesting the secrets of the great Creator by some of the forementioned wayes they looked on themselves in a sad and deplorable condition as we may see in the case of Saul and others Whereas now according to these opinions we are not only debarred of all those celestial interviens and communications but also exposed to all the rage and subtilty of evil Spirits without any assistance from the good Angels which our Fore-fathers so plentifully enjoyed But the Truth is if we by vertuous lives prepare and fit our selves for the converse of holy Angels we have no more reason to dispair of their aid for the Lord doth never with-draw his holy Spirit from man except man do first by sin and disobedience separate himself from his Maker but on the contrary the divine Principle of love doth continually strive with man against the evil as our Saviour said I would have gathered you even as a Hen gathereth her Chickins under her Wings and in another place I came to seek 〈…〉 save that which was lost And elsewhere the Scripture saith As many as received the glorious Light of his Gospel became the sons of God or of Light and the great Apostle Paul who was illuminated by divine Vision saith Whatsoever may or can be known of God is implanted and manifested in man. For God made him in his own Image that is containing a breviate of the nature of all things divine and humane which is since his fall enlightened or again re-invested with the divine Seed of the woman and holy Principle of Light even to the Center of his Soul which the wise Man calls the voice of Wisdom always crying in the Gate of the microcosmical City calling man out of Sin and the Babyloniâ—al confusion into the glorious Light and Liberty of the Sons of God in which state the inward eye of divine sight is opened which sees into the secret mysteries of Gods â—â—ture But some will say that these divine sights and visions like miracles were only to â—llustrate and confirm the Gospel or glorious manifestation of Christ in the human nature and to convince and call the Heathen to repentance and to the knowledge and saith of the universal Salvation But to this I answer First The Objection is not true for as these secret Communications were before under the Mosaical Dispensation so in fact they have been
269. to p. 274. Section 10. The humours of Drunkenness and Phrensie compared from Pag. 274. to p. 279. Section 11. Why Mad people are stronger and can endure more Cold and Hunger then when in their Sences from Pag. 279. to p. 284. Section 12. Of the Original Seat or Spring of Madness in the Body that it is the Spleen which first disorders the Brain Pag. 284 245 286. Section 13. Of External Causes of Madness as by the bite of a mad Dog eating Jarantula Hanbane and the like Pag. 286 287 288. Section 14. Of the Cure of Madness why no more succesfuls Humble Advice to the Governors of Bethlem to restrain their Officers from admitting swarms of people to come in and prate with the poor distracted people showing the several mischiefs thence arising and intimation of the right method of Cure. from P. 288. to p. 296. Section 15. A fine Experiment of Curing such as are bitten by a mad Dog recommended to Tryal in all other sorts of inveterate Madness And Concludes with advice for preventing disorders of mind Pag. 296 297 298 299. A DISCOURSE OF Dreams AND Uisions c. The INTRODUCTION Shewing the Difficulty and yet Vsefulness of this Subject and how Imperfectly the same has hitherto been Handled by Others THE matters we propose to handle in this Treatise are abstruce various profound and mysterious since man has so far Eclipsed those glorious Intellâ—ctual Beams planted in his nature by the Father of Lights since he has interposed such a Chaos of gross Imaginations and Earthly Affections and Clouds of Bituminous Smoke fetcht from the Infernal pit so that he seems altogether inveloped with a pithy Darkness Dismal as that of Egypt which might be felt and is forced as the Prophet speaks to grope even at noonday being become almost an utter stranger to himself and all the marvellous Works of his Creator insomuch that the most Towering Mortals that call themselves Philosophers feed their halffamisht Intellectuals with Airy Notions instead of Solid Speculations blunder on Hoodwinckt by Tradition in a constant flesh-pleasing Road of Error and a Contentious Sophistry of Words whilst in Truth they know nothing as they ought to know of Themselves or their Maker of the principals themselves are composed of or what makes them Men much less are they acquainted with the Sympathetical Harmony of the Vniverse that true Musick of the Sphears that Golden Chain which unites Heaven and Earth nor indeed do they ken the Reason of the most obvious operations of Nature Now 't is no wonder if a Discourse of such sublime Subjects as the Entertainments of our Souls during the Body's Noctural Repose when they having shaken off for a time the Fetters of the Senses are upon the Wing in the Suburbs of Eternity of the secret Intercourses of Spirits with Humanity and the wonderful Communications of the divine Goodness to his Servants in Dreams and Uisions 'T is nothing strange I say if such discourses seem very uncouth and extravagant to their unprepared Apprehensions nor is it unlikely that as pride is always a Companion of Self Conceited Ignorance they should scoff at and deride the very mention of such things with the highest Contempt But as we write not to such Spirits that like the deaf Adder will not hear the Voice of the Charmer charm he never so wisely people full of themselves that is of Noise and Vanity so â—o the meek and modest souls that in humility daily wait at the Gates of Wisdom's Temple have some hopes thâ—â— this discourse may be boâ—â— acceptable and in some kind useful I acknowledge 't is very difficult and 〈◊〉 to be undertaken by such a â—â—ak unlearned 〈◊〉 by Worm 't is 〈◊〉 therefore 〈…〉 Confidence of Self-Strength Wisdom or Knowledge 〈◊〉 by through and under the Assistance of that illuminating Spirit whicâ— reveals Secrets to Babes and giveth both the will and the deed thaâ— I with fear and trembling begin thâ— dâ—quisition according to the proportion of Light he hath or shall be pleased to grant unto me and therefore as the wise and holy Aâ—â—ients commend every important Enterprize with Humble Praâ—ers for the fear of the Lord is alwayes the beginning of Wisdom so with an inâ—ire Resignation on the benâ—â—â— knees of my soul at his adorable Fooâ—stool I beseech His All-suffiâ—iency to supply my Weakness His Truth to sustain my Error His Wisdom to enlighten my Dulness and Ignorance that I may in some measure comprehend and explain those condite Misteries and the knowledge thereof encreasing be serviceable to his Glory and the profit of those that fear his name and desire to live unto him and be partakers of his blessed Kingdom of Love and Glory Yet it is not unlikly that som good and very well-meaning pâ—rsons being sway'd with popular opinions and possessed with certain narrow principles which they have long imbâ—b'd without ever throughly examining or so much as inquiring into nay never in their Lives haying deliberately thought upon the nature of the things here treated of may think our pains very superfluous and that the whole subject of Dreams is altogether Vanity or perhaps as some may conceive Superstitious and unlawful to be taken notice of But if these honest souls will be pleased but to consider First That Physitians generally agree that the natural temperament or complexion and consequently many times the secret Diseases of persons are as soon or better found out by their Dreams than by any outward signs Secondly That since the Heart of man is deceitful above all things therefore for him that would truly know himself it has by wise Doctors of Morality been always advised to take notice amongst other things of his usual Dreams there being scarce any thing that more discovers the secret bent of our minds and inclinations to Vertue or Vice or this or that particular Evil as Pride Covetousness Sensuality or the like then these nocturnal sallies and reaches of the Soul which are more free undisguis'd with less reserve than such as are manifested when we are awake Thirdly If they shall call to mind which I more especially advise them to do that as Dreams are one of the clearest natural Arguments of the Immortality of our Souls so they were one of the usual wayes whereby God vouchsafed of old to Reveal his commands and secrets to the Prophets and holy men and that it is one of his gracious promises touching the Glory and fuller manifestations of the Gospel dispensation that then their young men should See Visions and their old men Dream Dreams And if withall they shall without prejudice read over what we have candidly written touching all these Considerations and many other Remarkable matters relating thereunto in the following Treatise When I saâ— in a true Light they have seriously laid to heart all this I am apt to think they may find cause to entertain other Conceptions and more favourable Sentiments and judge this hitherto too much neglected
the bed then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction Job 33. 14 15 16. And as those Dreams and Visions are sometimes matter of joy and comfort so at other times they are terrible and frightful and therefore the same pious Author complains Iob. 7. 14. When I say my bed shall comfort me my couch shall ease me then thou scarest me with Drâ—ams and terrifiest me through Visions 'T is the duty of the Prophets and Servants of God to have a due regard to their Dreams and though some pretended Dreams when they had none or made use of them to seduce the People to Idolatry yet still the true Prophets were not to slight Visions and Dreams because of Idolatrous Impostures and such as were guilty of the latter were by Mose's Law to be put to death Deut. 8. 1. If there arise amongst you a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder came to pass whereof he speakes unto thee saying Let us go after other Gods and let us serve them thou shall not hearken unto the voice of that Prophet or that Dreamer of Dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you Love the Lord your God with all your Heart and with all your Soul And that Prophet or that Dreamer of Dreams shall be put to Death So the Prophet Zachariah chap. 10. 2. complains The Idols have spoken Vanity and the Diviners have spoken a Lye and have told false Dreams they comfort in vain And so Ieremiah chap. 23. 25. I have heard what the Prophet said that Prophecy lyes in my Name saying I have Dreamed I have Dreamed How long shall this be in the Heart of the Prâ—phets that Prophecy Lyes Yea they are Prophets of the deceit of their own hearts which think to cause my People to forget my Name by their Dreams which they tell every man to his Neighbour as their Fathers have forgot my Name for Baal All these Texts against the Abuse of Dreams when they are forged wickedly made use of to promote Idolatry but make nothing against the lawful humble pious and most profitable use of Dreams as appears by what follows in the 28 th verse of the same chapter viz. The Prophet thou hath a 〈◊〉 let him tell the Dream and 〈…〉 hath my Word let 〈…〉 faithfully what is 〈…〉 Wheat saith the Lord The knowledge 〈…〉 and Dreams is reckon◠〈…〉 principal Gifts and Graces 〈◊〉 bestowed by the Lord on them that fear him So 't is said of Daniel and his three Companions That God gave them knowledge and skill in all Learning and Wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all Visions and Dreams Dan. 1. 1â— And therefore when King Nebuchadnezzar had Dreamed Dreams and his spirit was troubled because the thing was gone from him that is he had forgot what he had seen but only retain'd a general remembrance that he had a strange and wonderful Dream when all the Magicians and Astrologers and Sorcerers and Chaldeans were so far from being able to recall his Dream that they told him There was not a man upon the Earth could do it This holy Prophet Daniel not only shewed the King the Dream but also the Interpretation thereof the same being revealed unto him in a Night Vision Dan. 2. 19. whereupon he acquaints the King that there is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the Latter dayes As for thee O King thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy Bed what should came to pass hereafter and he that revealeth secrets maketh known unto thee what shall come to pass and so proceeds to tell him the particulars of his Dream and the meaning thereof being a Declaration of the most eminent Empires and Monarchies that should succeed in the Earth and their Qualities Splendor and Conditions The same King Nebuchadnezzar was premonished in a Dream of the Judgement that was coming upon him for his presumption and forgetfulness of God he was driven out of his Kingdom and from amongst men and did eat Grass with Oxen c. Also in the 7th of Daniel we read how the Lord by his Angel shewed that holy Prophet the things that should come to pass in the world in the Latter days Nor was this Method of God's whereby he revealed his secrets by Dreams peculiar to the legal Dispensation but seems more especially to be extended unto and enlarged under the Gospel according to that prophesie of Ioel chap. 2. 28. And afterwards saith the Lord I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and my Sons and my Daughters shall Prophecy your young men shall see Visions and your old men shall dream Dreams which is repeated and applied to the Illumination of the holy spirit by the Apostle Peter Acts 2. 17. So in the new Testament we read That when Ioseph thought to put away the Virgin Mary whom he had espoused because he perceived her to be with Child The Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a Dream saying Joseph thou son of David fear not to take Mary to thy Wife for that which is conceived in her is of the holy Ghost and she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt â—all his Name Iesus for he shall save his people from their Sins Mat. 1. 20. And in the second Chapter when the wise men came out of the East to visit him that was born King of the Iews and were sent by Herod to Bethlem bidding them when they had found him to bring him word that he also might worship him they were warned of God in a Dream that they should not go again to him and therefore returned into their own Country another way After whose departure vers 13. Behold the Angel of the Lord appeared again unto Joseph in a Dream saying Arise and take the Babe and his Mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there till I bring thee word for Herod will seek the Babe to destroy him And in the same Chapter vers 19. When Herod was dead behold an Angel of the Lord once more appeared to Joseph in Egypt saying Arise and take the Babe and his Mother and go into the Land of â—srael for they are dead that sought the Child's Life CHAP. IX Of Angels Guardian of Countries and particular Persons and their Offices towards men mentioned in Scripture BY the numerous Examples mentioned in the foregoing Chapter we see how common and frequent it was in former Ages for the Lord to appear unto his people in nightly Visions and by Dreams and in that secret way of Comunication to reveal unto them many wonderful things insomuch that they did account themselves as it were abandoned or separated from the presence of the Lord and his holy Spirits and Angels when the Lord did withâ— draw or supercede this method of Nocturnal Illuminations as is evident by the forementioned Complaint of King Saul
further exciting of the hellish poysonous properties whence are generated Filthy Swearings Lying obscene words and Actions and all kind of abominable Discourses and Actions with a thousand horrid thoughts and vile immaginations frequent amongst the multitude so that if a mans inward Eyes of his Soul were but opened he might easily see Legions of those accursed Demons fluttering in and about such People egging them on to all evil Communication and practices it being a certain and undoubtable truth that all filthy vain thoughts words and works do arise and proceed from the Hellish center and do all carry the power of their own principle with them and so incorporate with their Similes whereever they are received and thence pass back again into their own dark original Source and totally captivate the soul therein where they are recorded and shall stand forever as Witnesses of Condemnation against them if men Live and Dye in that deplorable state and do not Repent and turn from them by Regeneration and Newness of Life Now from those infernal Legions which beset us on all sides both inwardly and outwardly no man is safe any longer then he fears the Lord and has his mind fixed on Sobriety and Temperance in Meats and Drinks Exercises and Communications for nothing as we have already said and cannot say too often does so much disarm weaken prevent and frustrate all evil suggestions and ingections of the evil Angels both within and without as those sublime vertues with convenient Fasting and continual servent Prayers For as our Lord and Saviour Christ saith some sorts of evil Spirits are not cast out or chased away but with Fasting and Prayer and therefore the Kingly Prophet saith wherewith shall a young man cleanse and defend himself from evil Angels and other Enormities but only by keeping thy Word and being obedient to thy Commandements alwayes having a regard to that most excellent saying of Christ First seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and all other good things shall be added or given unto you in due season For as every man does govern himself and into what property he suffers his soul to enter such an Angel or Spirit he allureth be it either good or evil there being Spirits of all Orders Complexions and Natures for which should we think the Intellectual world less peopled then the Material which always are ready and officious to exert their power as we read in the Scriptures of Truth The Lord said who will be a Lying Spirit in the mouths of Ababs prophets and presently steps forth one and said I will and far be it but we should believe that the benign Spirits are as ready to secure and defend mankind from evil when they incline to well-doing and Innocency as the malignant Ones are to precipitate them into Error Guilt and Misery If men did but believe those things and diligently observe and weigh them they would certainly be much more careful in moderating their thoughts and affections neither would many so much dote upon or be perpetually vexed with for or about the Spirits of golden mountains of Ethiopia the Dust of Guinea the Rubish of Peru which do give great advantage to and powerfully attract the evil Demons who by many of the Antients are thought to have some kind of rule over or affinity with those hidden Mines and Treasures in the bowels and dark Cavetns of the Earth which are the Idols whom most people now adore and over whom the evil spirit Mammon is said to be Lord president For whatsoever man does violently taste and set his mind and affections upon presently the evil Spirits that are of that quality do present themselves and are busie to allure the Soul and captivate it with more passionate desires after it For this cause it proves hard and very difficult for men too be temperate to moderate their affections in any thing wherein they have once run out into or contracted an habit of Excess so many Enemies there are to circomvent and inveigle them on every side whose power is great but 't is by reason of the greatness of mans sins which give them the Advantages whereby they lead multitudes into perdition On the other side the good Angels and Spirits are as easily attracted by vertue as the Evil are by vice that is so say they are delighted and conciliated by their own fair Resemblaâ—ces Purity Love Truth Temperance Order firm Belief cleanness in Meats Drinks Innocency and Silence these are powerful Loadstones or Magneticks that will attract good Spirits and Angels even from the furthest parts of the World. It is also further to be considered that true Dreams and Nocturnal Converse with good Angels and Spirits does afford great delight and true pleasure to the mind and soul the very thoughts of those secret visits chears and irradiates the intellectual Faculties even in the day and causeth a desire and longing for the night and the more fixed any man is and the more he lays them up in a Reserved and Religious Breast with serious Thoughts and Meditations on such sublime Mysteries the nearer he approaches unto their Beeings and powerfully invites those holy and material Essences and so by degrees even whilst he is in the Body becomes as it were incorporated with or endenizon'd amongst those Coelestial Quires of blessed Angels and Spirits of the Just made perfect and to have their Names Registred in the Book of Life as in the Revelations in promised For nothing comes so near those glorious Beeings or so effectually engages them as a constant thoughtfulness temperance and sobriety but more especially Innocency and the Child like nature which does in the highest degree imitate the nature Angelical whence our Saviour Christ Mat. 10. 10. admonishes his Disciples to take heed not to despise Innocency and the simple harmless nature which he calls one of thâ—se little Ones such as have through the vertue and power of the divine friendly innocent Principle disarmed the fierce wrathful properties and as it were cut off the members of evil that is their thoughts words and works and have as much as in them lies â—mitated and lived in the innocent nature of Christs Spirit and good â—ngels for of such he saith Their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven But such as live in Uncleanness and Riot in Chambering and Wantonness in Oppression and Cruelty are subect to the Tyranny and Punishment of evil Angels as executioners of the divine Vengeance which hence are called destroying Angels Thus two Angels came to Soym and having secured Lot and his too Daughters consumed those wicked Cities whose Inhabitants burning with unnatural Lusts were justly destroyed with a shower of Fire and Brinstone the Lord by the Angels of his vengeance raigning down as it were Hell out of Heaven upon them such was his Abhorance of their Abominations When David had provoked the Lord by numbering the People and thereby shewing his Inclinations
the intellectual powers of nature so that the Soul can neither Communicate with good Angels or separated Spirits nor of herself see or penetrate into any Celestial thing But Wisdom which is derived from and joyned to Sobriety Cleanness and Temperance in that which rightly fitteth and disposeth both the Body and Soul and Spirit and advances them to a divine purity for Abstinence and cleanness in Meats Drinks Imployments and Communications have a wonderful power to fortifie all the Observers thereof against all sorts of Vices and Temptations of the Devil who continually goeth about seeking whom he may invegle to Drunkenness Gluttony Lying Coveteousness Pride and the like to all which enormities Excesses opens the Doors and Windows and so it is easie for him to enter finding abundance of prepared matter for his Suggestions and Temptations to work upon whereby many Thousands of Poor Souls are destroyed The contrary is to be Understood of good Angels and Spirit who by Temperance Chastity and Purity are drawn and conciliated to our Assistance therefore let all that would have their Souls and Intellects adopted for such divine converse keep their Bodies and Spirits pure and unincumbered and not overwhelmed in the commerce and affairs of this World and the flesh to which purpose nothing does more contribute then a strict observation of the rules of Temperance both in quality and quantity words and works avoiding all irregular Passions Violence and Oppression both of men and beasts and to bound their desires to the necessities of nature for the things that polute and encumber mens Souls and enslave their Bodies are not needful our ever Blessed Creator having in his infinite mercy given us all needful things in abundance which are also neer us and easily attainable but those that are not needful nor of use to us are hard to come at and mens so eager pursuit after them do but shew and manifest his depravation and fall from his first innocent Estate for the more things man fancies himself to need the more is his Turba that is the more strongly he awakens the wrathful powers of his Soul or first principle and the less he needeth the more like he becomes to his Creator who giveth all things and receiveth nothing 'T is certain mans soul is a Mystery breathed out of the grand Mystery or Abyssal Fountain or Eye outof the All-seeing a Ray of the eternal Sun and therefore when it becomes purified through Cleanness Sobriety Temperance and the Fear of the Lord which includes them all that is when separated from the gross fumes and polutions of the Flesh then is it capable of ascending receiving and communicating with good Angels and Spirits and attaining unto wonderful things in a moment even as David was of a Shepherd made a Prophet and expert in divine things or as Soloman in the dream of one night was filled with the knowledg of all things in the Created World so Isaiah Ezekiel Daniel and other holy Prophets and Apostles were taught and the truth is the Soul when purified and united by Faith and Charity to its divine original can without long tedious studiing or seeking without the toil of Logical demonstration or perplexity of Syllogisms and Problems see into and apprehend as far as is convenient all divine and natural mysteries nor is there any thing that does more contribute to the good Complexion and Tranquility both of body and mind then these abstaining vertues which we have always celebrated but can never two much recommend But besides clean innocent Meats and Drinks such as may extenuate all superfluous matter and prevent Crudities there ought to be observed a due natural Fasting for that not a little conduces to the making of the intellect sound and vigorous and mostly preserves the Spirit from cloudy thickness and suffocation as all the holy Seers and sage Phylosophers of old have observed who keeping an abstemious and sober Table did protract there lives in all sobriety temperance whereby they prevented the Generation of all superfluous matters that might dull the phantasie for none can obtain the high illuminated state nor understand the divine and holy mysteries of God and live in his innocent Law but only such as do by abstinency prudently moderate every extravagant motion of the Mind and Body Hence some of the wise Antients would not admit any into their society but such as were abstinent from strong drink flesh and common Vices saying That none could know themselves or their Creator but such as do fervently and constantly endeavour to imitate him by a divine conversation and that the cleanness and purity of a mind devoted to God does make such a mans Soul a perpetual Temple for the divine Majesty It is also highly requisit for such as would be capable of this excellent Gift of true Dreams to withdraw from the multitude and from the variety of the gross outward Sences Affections Imaginations Opinions and Passions which are the torturing Distempers and Sicknesses of peoples minds for the simple Truth cannot be understood nor witnessed except a man first live in the opperation and practice of the divine power and innocent Spirit of Gods Love and Light principle these sublime Gifts and nocturnal Communications are to joyn unto Abstinency Sobriety and Solitude for by Lonesomeness Retirement and Silence the mind is made fine and as it were loosened from the cords perturbations of worldly affairs and is thereby the better prepared and the more at leisure to receive the spiritual Gifts and free Communications of the good Angels of God. So Moses the Law-Giver and grand Prophet abstracted himself after he was learned in all the knowledge or Phylosophy of the Egyptians from the voluptuous charms of Pharaâ—h's Court and hurry of the World and went into the vast Wilderness of Midian or Ethiopia when keeping of Sheep an emblem both of innocency and of his further conduct of the people of God he applyed himself to the sole contemplation of divine things which pleased the Lord so well that he suffered him to see him as it were Face to Face and endued him with a wonderful power of miracles as the Scriptures of Truth do testifie Many other wise men and Phylosophers have by Solitude and Abstinency obtained many wonderful gifts the true knowledge of divine and natural things We ought also avoid the haunt or scrutiny after all such kind of curious abstruse Arts or Knowledge as is apt any way to distract or deceive us or amuse us more then profit us as credulous Niceness in judicial Astrology Criticisms in Grammar Derivations and vain Genealogies Squaring the Circle contriving a perpetual motion and such kind of impertinent Curiosities or other Phylosophical 〈…〉 super-intellectual and 〈◊〉 Unity cannot be known or understood except a man doth absolutely withdraw himself from the multitude and the noise of the confused World where little but Violence and Wrath is practised Charity is absolutly necessary to a Christian Life for it
upon their Breast and as it were stiffling them occasioned by means the free penetration of the Spirits to the Nerves is hindred the passages being stopt by a surcharge of the aforesaid Humors This happens most to such as use to lie upon their Backs and whilst it is upon them they are in great Agony being unable to speak but strive to do it with imperfect groans but if any person speak to hem and call them by name the animal spirits being excited force their way and the oppression ceases or if they can move or turn the body on one side and especially if the Brest be rubbed to dâ—â—â—pate the Humor The Cure is to be effected by a regular diet and such as may generate good spirits and prevent the increase of Mâ—lancholy and Phlegm avoid full Suppers and excess in Liquors which oft occasion the Disease use convenient purging and sometimes breathing a Vein may be expedient especially in Women in certain obstructions peculiar to that Sex the black Seeds of the Male Piony are much commended in this Distemper Thus much though it be a digression from our main Subject I thought fit having this opportunity to say of these two Nocturnal disturbances conceiving it might be of use and satisfaction to some Readers CHAP. III. Of the General Cause of Dreams or Radix whence they are derived in Nature IT is a Truth generally acknowledged but seldom so well considered as it ought to be that Man is the compleat Image of God and Nature and contains the Principles and Properties of all things Corporial and Incorporeal that he is endued with an Elemental or Palpable body actuated enliven'd or informed by an etherial spirit and so answers to the great Body of the World from whence the same is taken and is an Abridgment or Epitome thereof or if you please its Son or Off-Spring and as it doth contain all the true Properties of the gross Elements viz. Earth Air and Water which are as it were the Mothers of the Body that nourish and sustain it So he has also the Principle of Fire and Light that is Soul and Spirit which gives Life and Motion to the Body of Flesh and answers to the Soul of the great World or that mighty Spirit which is moving vivifying and most wonderfull creative and conservative Power in this vast Systime of things which we call the World and which does preserve and sustain it and every part thereof in Beauty Splendor and Harmony which living and creating power does never stand still or cease from generating and operating for if it should the whole Systime or Body of this Wâ—rld would immediately â—ail and perish as the Apostle Paul saith without the Spirit the Body is dead and profiteth nothing The like is to be understood in the little World 〈…〉 all lively Motion strength vigour and beauty resides in the Spirit or Soul in which there is no standing still Idleness or Cessation no more than there is in the great world and as the universal spirit or power of the Lord is always forming shaping and bringing to manifestation the hidden mysteries of Eternity and cloathing the various Spirits with Elemental Bodies the like does the Soul and Spirit in Min it is always in motion and generating and as the Scripture saith of the wonderful and ever-blessed Creator That he slumbereth not nor sleepeth for sleep does truly signifie death and weakness and nothing sleepeth but what is mortal and finite So the soul and spirit in man sleepeth not as being the Breath of God and Eternal for in God there is no Time nor Seasons or divisions of Time as nights days years or the like nor any use as to himself of Sun or Moon but they are Creatures made by him for the Accomodation of this lower World and the Inhabitants thereof as St. Iohn in the Revelations doth declare speaking of the new Ierusalem or Super-Caelestial Paradise There was there neither days nor nights nor Light of the Sun or Moon but the divine Power and Spirit of the Lamb was the Glory and Light thereof And this Glympse of the ineffable Splendor he saw upon the Lords-day when he was in the spirit not in the operations of the senses of the external Nature or Body of this world unto which the properties of the natural sleep do belong but the Soul or Spirit cannot sleep for then it could not be eternal but when the Body and Senses lie lock't up fast in the Arms of Merpheus then is the soul or spirit as it were unchain'd or unbound as being free'd from the continual Interruption of the senses and Earthly dispositions which whilst they are waking and in full strength and vigour do captivate the soul and hinder its generating and progress in that manner as it doth when the body is a sleep or dead for the soul of man hath so great Power when freed â—orm the Earthly Quality and heavy sensual power that it can make something where nothing is and from the Representations of Swords or Guns Fire or Water as real when and where there is indeed no such palpable substance but it is real and substantial in the spirit even as the good and evil words and works of men shall be unto them in Eternity their works do follow them not after the manner of this world but in the Spirit yet real and essential Now it is from the Soul or Spirit in man which is the mage of the divine Eternal Spirit and never standeth still Sleepeth or Slumbereth whence Dreams and all Nocturnal Visions do arise and proceed for whilst the Senses and Powers and Faculties of the outward Nature do sleep rest or cease from their Functions the Soul and Spirit ceaseth not from its operation but goeth on forming figureing and Representing of things as real and substantial for in truth though ofttimes we perceive it not and more often cannot remember particulars yet when ever we sleep we dream for you may as well imagine Fire without heat Sun without Light as to conceit that an Intellectual Immortal Soul can for one moment cease from Actions suitable to its Nature But here some will be apt to object and say This is a strange Paradox for if we always Dream in some kind or other as often as we sleep how is it that we but seldom perceive or are sensible of it Sure if the Soul and Spirit be as you teach evermore busie in framing and representing of things we should remember somewhat of the matter whereas we sleep soundly for several nights together sometimes and cannot remember that we had any Dreams at all To this I answer That the thoughts of worldly Affairs and the intemperances most men commit in Meats Drinks Labours Exercises and Passions do not only becloud the Soul and Intellect and over-whelm their powers and operation so that they cannot see or perceive any Coelestial things with Clearness as Experience daiâ—y proves they do the same things when we are awake
Tabernacles were not here to be built or rested in though Moses Elias and our Lord Jesus Christ himself by a wonderful Transfiguration had imparted a peculiar Glimps of Glory they must still zealously press or else their estate would become degenerate and so they have need to enter into or lay again their first principles or outward Forms whence it appears there was still as much need of Self-denial Seperation and progression as there was the very first day on which they inclined or hearkned to the Voice of Wisdom for want of which many after 20 or 30 years Seperation from the world as they call it conâ—enting themselves with their first beloved Fâ—rms which in their time were gâ—odâ— are not half so good Christâ—â—ns as they were the first monâ—â—h they entred into such or such a Religious Profession or Society The Reason whereof is because as men by Abstinâ—ncy Sâ—peration self-denial and pressing forwards after Vertue do by degrees obtain Strength Wâ—sdom Vnderstanding and Clearer Sight as every one is obedient and capable so on the other side such as give way to Evil are by degrees and the continual workings of the Spirit of Error made more strong in Evil and Wickedness And as the former by Vertue and Purity give advantges to the good Angels and Spirits to have communications with them who are always ready to unfold the Misteries of their Kingdom to the sober and clean of Heart so the latter do by their Voices powerfully attract the bad Angels and Spirits which do â—each and strengthen them in Evil. And therefore those that would have the company of the good Spirits and Angels by day and their Commumications by night in Dreams and Visions and desire to retain the Forms and Figures represented with the Interpretations thereof and not to be subject to forgetfulness and stupidity let them observe the Rules of Cleanness self-denial and Sepâ—ration and contially even as at the first dawning of the day press on towards perfection having always a well-prepared Temple to receive the sweet influence of Gods Spirit and company of good Angels or their Communications after a Spiritual way for as those blessed Intelligencers are administrating Spirits to God primarily so in the second place their delight is to do good Officers to all the faithful Servants of God thereby advancing the praise and glory of the great and Alcreating Jehovah Aelohim Blessed forever This is a Lesson which every one ought to be sensible of and endeavour to learn and which if duly regarded then most people whose faces are looking Sion wards would have more serious thoughts and greater esteem for the Visions of the Night and the most wonderful and hidden Conversations thereof for if mankind were sensible of these sublime Truths and the wonderful power of their own souls in such cases it would beget an awful Dread or sober and Tremendous Considerations and Contemplations which would not only invite the Courteous Communications of Benevolent Spirits but so still and prepare the inward Man and all the noble Faculties of Nature as to render them capable of retaining such abstracted sights and Manifestations whereby they would take some Root in the understanding and so make Impressions on the Spirits and thence blossom forth and grow up to very happy fruits both for encreasing good and eschewing Evil. So great is the power of Sobriety Temperance Cleanness and Self-denial as being most sublime and elevating Vertues and a great help to make men happy both in this World and that which is to come Therefore it is highly convenient for every one that applyes his Thoughts to this Science of Dreames orindeed to any sort of Knowledge that is truly Philosophical and Divine to be serious and sober and to learn first the mysteries of his own World before he lets his Eyes and Imaginations ramble into or gaze after the Wonders or Vanities of the great External World being certain of this That if he do not in some competent measure know himself and continually endeavour the Advancement and Encrease of that Knowledge he will never come to understand any thing without himself as he ought to do much less enjoy the participation of those Misteries of which we treat in this Discourse CHAP. IV. Of the particular Causes of Dreams how they proceed from a Threefold Radix Of the several Kindes of Astral and Complexional Dreams IN the former Chapter I acquainted you with the General or Universal Reason of Dreams viz. Because the Soul or Spirit of Man being the Image of the Immense Creator and Epitome of the whole created Bulk of Nature it so far resembles Him that never slumbereth or sleepeth as to be always active for in the adoreable divine Architype though there be no variation or shadow of change yet there are perpetual Emanutions of Beneficence and reflected Ideas of Love and Complacency But now from this prime procatartick or original first Moving Cause we must descend to others more particular and Immediate which influence the Soul this or that way in its Formative Activity and individuate its operations And these occasional Impressions as they Cause very different Representations to us in our sleep so they are in themselves very various For 1. Some Dreams proceed from the Constitution or Complection of each particular person 2. Others from his profession or course of Living those things which he is most earnestly intent upon or concern'd about in the day time 3. Others are occasion'd by the influx of the Planets predominate in his Nativity or at such or such times by Direction Transit or the like if we may believe the notions of Astrologers whose science as far as modeâ—â—â—y it contains its self within the Bounds of Nature with a Resignation always to the over-ruling Pleasure of Omnipotency seems not altogether to be contemned 4. Other Confused Dreams may arise from unfit Diet or Medicines which sending up abundance of Vapours to the Brain the Throne of the Understanding and beclouding the Spirits the proper Vehicles of the Soul it follows that abundance of vain Images must be represented but these are alwayes disorderly and without Connexion as is experienced by drunken and gluttonous persons and men in Feavers and the like 5. Others are injected by Evil Spirits who as they are malitious and envious to highest degreâ— so being Angles of Darkness where they meet with Darkness both internal and external that is a Body clogg'd with superfluity and a Soul contaminated with Vices and Enormous Affections as with Lust Covetousness Revenge c. they are thereby strengthened to an advantage of inâ—tilling their suitable Temptations 6. Some Dreams are by courteous Visits of good Aâ—gels who that way most suitable â—o their Spâ—â—â—uous Nature and agreeable 〈…〉 Neighbours human Souls who 〈…〉 differ from them gradually rather then Specifically chuse to Communicaâ—e with us thereby often forewarning us of impending dangers or instructing us to some eminent advantage if we have the discretion to make use
sensible of those wonderful things and mysterious Impartments for a strong Faith firm desire and belief viz. when the Spirit or Soul is delighted in the Consideration of this spiritual discourse and converse does naturally attract and draw the internal powers Souls and good Angels and causeth them to delight to accompany men both sleeping and waking deâ—ending them from various dangers and troubles and ready at all times to reveal and foretel them of future things but on the contrary Incredulity with vain despising Discourses do potently drive them away and causes as it were a total separations so that there seems to the outward senses and Reason of most men that there is no such thing but all idle vain Conceits so greatly is mankind depraved having by vanity and carnal apprehensions put out the inward Eyes of his intellectuals so that they are to him but as idle immaginations But the Records of sacred Truth do assure us that most of the Sober inlightned men in former Ages were sensible of this secret converse of Angels and Souls and had mysteries revealed to them from God and his ministring Spirits in Dreams and Visions as appears in the holy Scriptures of which we shall take a particular survey in a Chapter by it self But now mankind's frowardness intemperance and incredulity have so estranged those holy powers good Angels and Spirits that they cannot come near man to reveal unto him the secret mysteries of their Beeings and Conditions on foretel him either Good or Evil that shall happen unto him for a firm Faith in God and frequent meditation on those sublime things have a wonderful power sympathetical inclination and attraction on good Angels and Spirits of all offices and kinds for all things both in the material immaterial worlds have that secret communication and opperation by likenesses for the nearer we resemble and become like the good Angels they are the more ready and prone to serve us this being the simpathetical drawing which is the way of God in nature for every thing doth incorporate with its likeness and by a secret agreeable power each thing is ready to strengthen its own Property having the Key in its self that can open the Gates of its own Principle in all other things both Heavenly and Earthly for they all flow from the two grand principles viz. Good and Evil and which soever of these two a man suffers his will to enter into that property or principle gets the dominion and chief goverment in the Soul and if it be in the evil or fierce wrathfull principle then the Spirit and Soul by way of desires and imaginations penetrates all Elements and things both extertnal and internal and wheresoever it finds matter capable or disposed to receive them it incorporates and with highest diligence indeavours to destroy its contrary viz. all Goodness and Vertue And thus men are rendred fit and capable to be the companions of and have society or secret communication with evil Angels and spirits there being often internal agreement and compacts bewteen the Souls of men and evil Angels by way of Imagination and desires in the very center of their lives which very few persons are sensible of though subject unto and consequently cannot comprehend from whence those multitudes of evil suggestions desires and vain imaginations where-with they find themselves incombred do proceed for whosoever suffers his will and strong desires to enter into the fierce violent envious wrathfull original spirit or property has unity with and becomes a Companion of all evil angels and spirits whence do proceed those wonderfull troops and numberless swarms of vain thoughts imaginations desires words and actions being the very dictates of Devils And from the same black Stygian fountain do arise that wonderful subtilty and cunning and those strange unimaginable inventions of evil words acts and vain plays so various a sober man would think it impossible for men to be so strong ready and cunning in the doing of evil hence the old deceiving Serpent is said to have been more subtil then any beast of the field Gen. 3. 1. And our Lord Christ tells us that the Children of this world the race of Cain and sons of Belial are wiser that is more crafty and full of inventions in their Generation then the Children of Light and so the Apostle Paul calls Elinas the Sorcerer O thou full of all Subtilty and all Mischief thou Son of the Devil and Enemy of all Righteousness Acts 13. 10. for as man is various in his central ground as to inclinations dispositions love hate and the like so various also are the evil angels and spirits whence we read their name is said to be Legion because they are many so that whatsoever a man inclines to or awakens in his will and desires whether good or evil there is presently a spirit or angels of the same property ready and prompt to execute and put into practice such his imaginations and to incline and urge him forward in the thing But these sublime Matters are understood or considered but by very few and therefore I would intreat my Friends and all that are of humane Race seriously to ponder in their Minds from what Fountain Principle and Ground that great Variety of Dark Vain and Evil Thoughts Imaginations Words and Actions do proceed of which some few I shall set down for an Example or Looking-glass to the considerate Reader As first in Child-hood for to wish to be Kings and Emperors to have brave Houses and costly Furniture to have gay Clothes and think that whoever meets one does or at least ought to admire an Ass for his golden trappings to desire to live idlely and spend all ones time in eating drinking sleeping and playing And as people attain to maturer Years to wish and desire a great deal of Mony and Liberty to have Variety of Women to exceed all others in Evil Mischievous Arts and Sciences to Hurt Kill and Murder all such as shall Offend them For a Man secretly to wish his Wife dead that He might have â—nother with more Mony to contrive how to Circumvent another in a Bargin or Defraud him of his Inheritance or Right by colour of law and then to boast of our Wit and Cunning in doing it for a man to design himself an Universal Empire or the Government of the whole world as some Princes have done and sacrificed millions of mens lives to that conceit These and the like strange Evil and most abominable Thoughts Imaginations and Desires bubble up in and have possession of most mens Minds even to the day of death which do all arise and proceed from the poysonous Root by the Promptings Instigations and Ingections of the evil Genij which are like swarms of Bees in and about man if he suffer his will and desires to enter into their Principle and Property which is to do Evil and only Evil and that continually Others there are whose desires are not so far engaged
Visits and Communications which are alwayes ready to reveal the Secrets of Time and Eternity to such as believe and imitate them For no man can open the Gate of that holy and friendly principle in which they live but those only who have obtained the right Key through obedience to the heavenly voice of Wisdom in themselves for this is the strait Gate and the narrow Way that leadeth into the holy City all things are moved by Concord and Equality which all the Prophets and renowned Law-givers were truly sensible of from the beginning of the world being wonderful for their strict observance of Sobriety and Temperance as Moses Elias c. who were so given to fasting that their Faces are said to have shined that is the divine principle and voice of Wisdom was so resplendent in them that they had and held the measure and reins of Goverment over the Body as if they had been a Spirit indeed all holy men endued with divine understanding and such as obtained of the Lord the great Blessing of Intelligences and the free Communication of good Spirits and Angels have been remarkable for Sobriety Temperance and innocent Living for mens minds cannot be any otherways preserved free and potent The Prophet Daniel was highly sensible of this when he and his Companions were both courted and threatned with the displeasure of the King and his Servants touching eating of the unclean Superfluities both of Flesh and Fâ—sh that came from the Kings luxurious Table which he and his fellows refused to defile themselves with chusing rather to adhere to wisdom's voice than suffer themselves to be seduced out of natures pure simple and innocent way by either the Flatteries or Menaces of the Court and therefore according to the Law of their God and the Dictates of his Hand-maid Nature contented themselves with clean and harmless Foods and Drinks viz. Herbs Fâ—uits Seeds and Grains for those things had not only a real Affinity with the innocent Principle in man but also they could be procured without Violence Oppression or Dying Groans and likewise without any trouble or hazard to Body or Minde Properties which the Kings royal Delicacies could not boast of Were not the Rachabites ennobled by the Recommendation even of the Blessed Creator Himself to all Posterity for their Abstinence and Temperence The truth is none can preserve their Spirits Clean and Pure but such as Extenuate the Gross Superfluous Humours by Purity and a Spare Frugal Innocent Diet by which the Body becomes more easily Penetrable it being a Maxime that may pass amongst the things undoubtable that if the Body be not fitly preserved and ordered the Spirit whilst it is linkt there-unto and as it acts so it suffers by it too cannot conveniently Exert its Functions for Abstinence and Temperance do dignifie men and render them fit for the Exercise of all Vertue being the Root of Strength and Fortitude For this cause the Mother of Sampson was commanded in Vision on or Dream by the Angel of the Lord to abstain from Wine and Strong Drinks and so was Samson her Son who was endued with wonderfull Strength for wheresoever the Vertues of Temperance and Cleanness are Practised other Holy Vertues may be expected to follow because by its power no superfluous Matter is Generated that may dull or indispose the Phantasie or other intellectual Power of the mind and so the Soul being freed from burthensom Vapours becomes watchful and soberly active both in Words and Works for the Body and inferiour Earthy Spirits being kept under the Soul is thereby adopted to the Superior Powers and their sweet influences Did not our Forefathers live to great Ages in perfect Health and Strength of Body and Mind enjoying many heavenly Priviledges by Vertâ—e of their temperate and innocent Course of Life Now the Reason why Cleanness Temperance and Sobriety have been so much praised by all good men is because they proceed and are streams that â—low from the benigne and everâ— blessed Fountain of true Light and Love and all that espouse them in good earnest are powerfully drawn into the same Principle strengthening and defending the observers thereof against all Kinds of Superfluity and Madness of Riot Hence it was that the Wise Seers of old abstain'd from unclean Foods and the Flesh and Blood especially of such Animals whose predominant Quality and Ascendent chiefly stood in or proceeded from the wrathful and defiled Nature they being throughly sensible what a base depraved thing it was that the noble Faculties of the Soul and Humane Nature should mix joyn and incorporate with the Bruitish Nature and unclean wrathful properties of Beasts especially such as by Natural inclinations desire to eat the Flesh and Blood of others their Fellow Creatures it being concluded on all sides that such Carnivorous Blood-sucking Creatures are Radically unclean and not fit to be eaten which being a known Truth that scarce any will deny I do thence further demand by parity of Reason how then Mankind can be clean either in Soul Body or Spirit that now are so far generally degenerated as greedily to desire and devour the Flesh of all the Inhabitants of the four Worlds or Elements What great Matters or Heroick Acts or spiritual performances can be expected from such as defile themselves both in Quantity and Quality of Foods which renders them uncapable of seeing judging or understanding any thing as they ought to do Therefore whoever would know God and the wonderful Faculties of his own Soul must be conformable to the wholsome Rules of Sobriety Temperance and Cleanness in Meats Drinks and Communications For all the great Seers and holy Prophets every one according to his respective Gift and Manifestation was an immitator of God by living in the practice of those good Vertues which fitted and prepared them for every Good Work. Temperance being the Captain of the Guard and chief watchman that suffereth not the Soul to sleep or be overcome with the sensual pleasures of Gluttony and Uncleanness but frees it from burthensom dulness aâ—d indisposed Dispositions and makes it see things even as they are in their Naked essential Verities and attracting the Coelestial Quires for such Manifestations both sleeping and waking as their Companions that delight to communicate with the undefiled in Mind and Body But on the Contrary Uncleanness and Intemperance defiles both the Body and Soul depraves and stupifies all the intellectual Powers and renders them uncapable of having any Convers with good Spirits or Angels for Disorders do as Naturally drive away and dissipate them as vertue and sobriety do attract their happy Company But Superfluity and Debauchery have a powerful inclination and sympathetical force over evil Doemons and causes a near affinity between the soul and them whence do proceed such a multitude of vain Thoughts Dreams Words and Works And therefore the Scripture saith of the evil Angel That be goes about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom be may devour being a great Prince of
the wrathful evil part of the world but not in the humane friendly or good part for that is separated from his Principle beyond the Sphear of his Activity so that he hath there no power And although nothing can be more prompt and ready than these dark spiritual Beeings to assist and carry on all evil designs in the hearts of men that incline to do the works of their principle yet still they cannot annoy nor injure any but only such as draw near unto or a waken their fierce wrathful Fountain by means of Uncleanness Superfluity and Intemperance which are the grand Inletts of the Devil that give him power over the Soul and Spirit whence arise innumerable vain Thoughts Imaginations corrupt Words and Works and all kind of Violences and Oppression Nay further a secret Compact or Confederacy between the evil Genius and mans Soul in an insensible way so that many are Drown'd and as it were totally captivated into this dead Sea or Fountain of wrathâ—ul Darkness and they knew it notthemselves but others who have adhered unto the voice of Wisdom in themselves and live in the power and Vertue of Temperance do clearly perceive and know it for those that are afflicted and inslaved do make demonstrations of their wretched condition and what Angels or Spirits are their Guardians by their Vile and Blasphemous Words Wicked Works Cruel Violences and Oppressions to those of their own kind and also to all the inferiour Creatures which does sufficiently manifest whose Children they are and what Angel is their Captain and Conductor to wit he who in the Scripture is stiled Abbadon or Apolyon the Serpent the Enemy of all Goodness and Righteousness the False Accuser and the Destroyer And as their daily practises are so also suitable are their nightly Visions that is to say Vain Turbulent Lascivious Hideous or Frightful For the Thoughts Imaginations Ideas Figures Shapes Forms and the like that proceed or are generated from the dark Centre or wrathful Kingdom are Impertinent Lewd or Monstrous For this cause some Saturnine and Martial people are Afflicted with Hideous Frightful Malancholy Dolorous Dreams especially if they do not vigorously Endeavour through the Vertue and Power of Wisdom and Temperance to moderate the Inequality of those Astreal Forms which hath had the chief Government in the Complection The like is to be understood of the Shapes or Forms wherein deceased Souls appear or represent themselves for the same are either hideous and frightful or pleasant and humane according to what Property or Principle they are fallen into or captivated under Therefore those that have precipitated themselves into the divided Forms into Beastiallity and the savage Nature having cast off and abondon'd the humane Property and grown Hardhearted Cruel and Sordid without Mercy Compassion and Innocency such I say as live and dye in this Savage Brutish State do fall into the dark Fierce Hellish Principle which had already in their Life time captivated the Soul as may be understood by the unclean Words and Works that Proceeded from them Now according to what Property or Form has gotten the chief dominion in the Soul such a Shape and Form is the Soul and Spirit Cloathed with For in the Dark Wrathful or Hellish Fountain there is as great a Variety of Shapes Forms and Figures as there is in the Paradisical or Divine Principle of the Light-Kingdom of Love for every Soul shall be capable to reinvest and attract matter out of all things of the nature of the property that carries the upper dominion in the Spirits for such seed as men do sow such a Body Viz. of that Nature is generated and of a suitable Shape and Form for so the great and illuminated Apostle speaks of the Resurrection God giveth to every Seed it s own Body Wherefore if men sow hellish Seeds in their Lives no wonder if they be cloathed with sutable shapes in the next World But on the contrary those that in earthly Pilgrimage have freed their Souls and Spirits from Oppression Violence Uncleanness and Intemperance and seperated themselves from the giddy Croud and vain Wayes of the Multitude and introduced their Wills and Desires into the Friendly Principle of Gods Eternal Love and Light and have been guided by its Counsel their Souls shall after Death arise and be cloathed with a more Perfect Beautiful and Glorious Humane Shape and Form of whom our Lord Jesus Christ was the first For after He had Vanquisht Death by his Resurrection He Appear'd in the same Shape Form and Body as he had before in his Life Likewise the good Angels and all separated Souls of Saints have in all Ages appeared to the Prophets and holy men in humane Shapes and Forms exceeding beautious For it is not to be doubted but that in the beginning the blessed Creator made Man in this very Form and Shape as to his Body which he does retain though not now altogether so beautifull by reason of his Degeneration and sordid Intemperances which have in some degree defaced the lovely Majesty of his Body and Countenance for though Man through Transgression and giving way to vain Imaginations hath lost the Government of the divine Principle and so is faln from his first illustrious and innocent Estate yet nevertheless he has in some measure preserved still his outward original shape or form of Body for the Lord endued every Body with a Seed in it self to beget and produce its own Species in all particulars and if it had not been for this great and undefeazable Law of the Creator Man by his great Lusts Intemperances Violence Oppression Cruelty Vanities and other evil Courses would long since have destroyed and lost his beautifull humane shape and form as well as that Angelical form of his Soul But it was not in the power of his will to alter Shapes and change one Form into another so long as his Soul is cloathed with Humane Nature for the truth is he hath done what he could to be a Beast outwardly as well as inwardly nay he is become far worse than any of the savages of the Desert internally in the Spirit and therefore the illuminated Prophets called men by the names of the worser sort of Beasts in whom the fierce cruel wrathful nature is most predominant as Generation of Vipers Lions Foxes Wolves c. and also the evil separated Spirits or Souls of Men as well as faln Angels have always been resembled and likened unto savage Beasts and sented accordingly when ever they appeared in brutish or fierce hideous forms Therefore when departed Souls shall appear to their surviving Friends either cloathed with sideral thin Bodies or in Dreams in beastial shapes and hideous frightfull forms it is but a bad sign or token of their Condition and State in the other World and that they have not retained the humane property in the time of the Souls being in the Body for according to what property of the wrathfull Principle man has suffered
Sense which judgeth rightly thereof the other being but the Organs to bring the representations of things thither to be censured and judged of whence properly all their Objects and Offices may be said to be his 2dly The Phantasie doth more fully examine the species perceived by the common Sense whether of things present or absent keeping them longer and thence making new and compounded Images or Conceits of its own Its Objects are all the species communicated thereunto by the common Sense whereby especially in the Melancholy People it fancies many other things as Centaurs Chimaera's and a thousand odd Forms which never really had beeing in the Nature of Things yet it is to be noted that the parts thereof must alwayes consist of such thing of which we have seen read or heard of it is or ought to be in men Govern'd or regulated by Reason but in Beasts â—t seems to be the highest Faculty â—â—eir nature is endued with 3. Iudgment or Reason is a Superious Faculty in man appointed to Rule over all the rest the Guide of Actions or judge of the little world to approve of what is good and reject what is Evil. 4. Memory is a Retentive Faculty of the Soul whose Office is to Register up all the species which the other senses have introduced that they may be forth-comming or ready when occasion shall serve or they are called for by the Phantacy or Reason whence some to illustrate the use of all these powers have compared them to a Court of Iudicature the outward Senses being as Solicitors that bring the Causes the Common Sense as the Master of Requests who receives all their Informations the Phantacy like the Lawyers and Advocates that bandy the business to and fro in severâ—l forms with a deal of noise and bâ—ffle Reason as the Iudge that having calmly heard each parties Pretentions pronounces an upright Sentence and Memory as the Clark records the whole proceedings Whether these several Faculties have distinct Seats or Cells in the Brain has been much disputed by Anatomists Physitians and Philosophers The great Argument of thosâ— that would have it so is that 't is certain by Experience which they confirm by many Instances that sometimes one of these may be hurt and the other remain found as that the Phantacy may be impared yet both Iudgment and Memory remain unhurt The Iudgment cract yet Phantacy and Memory active and the Memory Spoilt yet Phantacy and Iudgment as to things present good But as in the Stomach by several distempers several Faculties are hurt as by moist diseases the Retentive by dry the digestive and yet it will not thereupon follow the digestive and Retentive have distinct Organs or Seats So it may possibly happen in these Faculties of fle Brain without assigning to each a distinct Cell though the common Opinion and for ought I know it may be true is that the Phantasie resides in the formost the Judgment in the middle and the Memory in the hindermost Ventricle of the Brain But to reduce what has been said of these internal Senses to our present Subject you are to note that the Imagination is ever busie and as far as I can perceive never Sleeps the Iudgment or Reason for the most part is impedited from acting especially after its common way or outward Fashion when a man sleeps The Memory sometimes is more and sometimes less clouded and obstructed according to the nature of the fumes sent up and hence it comes to pass that we have sometimes a clearer sometimes a more confused and sometimes scarce any Apprehension or Remembrance of our Dreams when we awake But of this we shall have occasion to speak further in the following Discourseâ— And in the mean time shall conclude this Chapter of Sleep with a brief Account of two strange accidents that are wont to happen to some people therein that is to say of such as walk in their Sleep and of such as are troubled with that which is commonly called the Incubus or Night-Mare As touching of the first that some people there are who whilest they are fast asleep leap our of their Beds unlock Doors go into the Streets and sometimes on Tops of Houses or other dangerous places where they would not go waking and if not interruped will again return to their Beds The matter of Fact I say is so notorious that I need not spend time to prove it by instances since I think there are few but know or have been most credibly inform'd thereof among some of their Acquaintance But the Cause or Reason of all this is more occult which I shall endeavour to discover as it occurs to my present thoughts 'T is observable those that have these Vagaries are generally and I think I may say always young people in the flower of their years and strength of Sanguine Complections active sprightly and full of Blood I am therefore of opinion that this comes to pass by that abundance of Blood swelling and as it were â—rothing out boyling and active spirits which ascending to the Brain stirs up and stimulates its Faculties whereby it performs its actions to these strange motions and effects so that the Body by the impulse of the animal spirits which contains in the Brain the strength of the Nerves and Muscles that is the Instruments of Motion is carried forth and even in Sleep excited to those actions For persons of this condition are of a thin and eurious contexture small bulk but of great agility and a fervent mind whence if they can but take hold of any thing with their Fingers and Toes being then void of all fear because mâ—ensible of any danger they sustain themselves thereupon and accomplish such things as waking they would dread to attempt But if in such Bodies the Humors shall be fermented to a lesser degree and a smaller ardor and agitation of the spirits then they only talk cry out move and fling themselves about as if they would jump out but yet still contain themselves in their Beds because the spirits are not strong and violent enough to raise the body and the proper Cure of this I conceive will be to use a spare diet and perhaps in some Cases Blood-letting and especially to endeavour to keep their minds in a cool temper without inflaming it with passions As for the other sort Viz. those that in their sleep are troubled with the Inâ—ubus or Night-Mare they seem to be of a temper contrary to the former Melancholy of few gross spirits and abounding with Phlegm and in children and young people through Fear and sleeping supine and lying on their backs And tho the Vulgar when they are thus affected conceit it some external thing comes and lies upon them which they fancy to be some Ghost or Hob-Goblin yet the truth is it proceeds from inward Causes This Discease being an obstruction on of Motion or an interception especially of Breathing and Speech with a false apprehension of some heavy thing lying