Magnetismus Magnus OR Metaphysical and Divine CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE MAGNET OR LOADSTONE Written by Sir MATTHEW HALE Knight some time Lord Chief-Justice of the King 's Bench. LONDON Printed for William Shrowsbury at the Bible in Duck-lane 1695. The PREFACE THE Author of this hath written Three Tracts concerning the Subject of the Magnet or Magnetism whereof this is the last The First is of the Magnet it self which he calls Magnetismus Magneticus the next is concerning other Magnetisms observable in other Natural Bodies which he calls Magnetismus Physicus and the last is this which he calls Magnetismus Magnus for what Reason it is plain in the Book He had received very early a special Touch of the Divine Magnet and from his Youth had not only studied the Holy Scriptures but had moreover very industriously studied the Great Book of Nature in all its Particles and besides that that large Volume of Providence in the History and Chronology of the Actions and Occurrences of Mankind upon Earth from the beginning and all this for the very same end for which this little Tract was written He is well known to have been a most industrious Man in his own Profession of the Law and to have made himself a compleat Master of it and yet notwithstanding I am very well satisfied that the Industry and Time which he imployed in these Studies was nothing less if not much more as I verily believe than what he imployed in that laborious Study and Practice Hardly a Day passed over his Head in the Times of most pressing Business in his Profession even the Term and the Circuits wherein he did not rescue some portion of time more or less for those Studies which he imploy'd in Writing or in Reading of some Book or other in order to this end It was his Diversion and Recreation if he had no Company with him after his Labour and Pains in his Civil Employment The Effect of all he hath left behind him in divers Volumes in Folio besides many other small Tracts Whereof this may serve for a Specimen of his Physical Considerations or rather of the Use and Improvement which he makes of his Physical Observations which he here calls the Best and Noblest Part of True Philosophy and very truly though I doubt not but we have some Pretenders to Philosophy and to Divinity too who will be apt to censure him to have gone too far and to have given too much advantage to Enthusiasm in the latter part of this Tract And therefore I think fit to say something of that in this place We have here his Judgment and Belief of a Divine Efflux upon the Understandings and Wills of Men and that even among the Heathen those so famed for Wisdom Justice Piety and Knowledge were Illuminated and Guided by a Divine Influence And we have here also the Ground of this his Judgment 1. Observations in Nature 2. The Sentiments of Learned and Understanding Men Philosophers in all Ages 3. The Authority of the Sacred Scriptures to which he elsewhere adds his own Experience And whereas he had in some things changed his Opinion as he saw cause from what it was in his younger time this he received early as appears by some of his first Writings and retain'd constantly to the last as appears by his Tr. of Humility which he wrote upon my Motion not long before his last Sickness In his Tr. of Wisdom and the Fear of God after other Particulars of the Wisdom of the Fear of God he adds in the 10th place But besides all this there is yet a Secret but a most certain Truth that highly improveth that Wisdom which the Fear of the Lord bringeth and that is this That those that truly fear God have a Secret Guidance from a higher Wisdom than what is barely humane namely by the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom that doth really and truly but secretly prevent and direct them And let no Man think that this is a Piece of Fanaticism Any Man that sincerely and truly fears Almighty God relies upon him calls upon him for his Guidance and Direction hath it as really as the Son hath the Counsel and Direction of his Father and though the Voice be not audible nor the Direction always perceptible to Sense yet it is equally as real as if a Man heard the Voice saying This is the Way walk in it And this Secret Direction of Almighty God is principally seen in Matters relating to the Good of the Soul but it may also be found in the Great and Momentous Concerns of this Life which a Good Man that fears God and begs his Direction shall very often if not at all times find And in his Tr. of Humility speaking of this Guidance and Direction of Almighty God in relation to a double End 1. The Salvation and Happiness of the Soul 2. In all the Walk and Concern of this Life As to this latter he saith The Air doth not more naturally yield to our Attraction in Respiration or to insinuate it self into those spaces that are receptive of it than the Divine Assistance Guidance and Beneficence doth to the Desires Exigencies and Wants of an humble Soul sensible of its own Emptiness and Deficiency and imploring the Direction Guidance and Blessing of the most Wise and Bountiful God And then adds I can call my own Experience to Witness that even in the External Actions Occurrences and Incidences of my whole Life I was never disappointed of the best Guidance and Direction when in Humility and Sense of my own Deficiency and diffidence of my own Ability to direct my self or to grapple with the Difficulties of my Life I have with Humility and Sincerity implored the Secret Direction and Guidance of the Divine Wisdom and Providence This he speaks of the secret Guidance by the Spirit of Truth by Illumination of the Understanding and Inclination of the Will but there is another Secret Guidance by a Providential Disposal of Occurrences which he doth not here exclude yet seems more especially to intend when he afterward appeals to the Experience of others I have also observed as well from what he hath said upon several Occasions as from divers Passages in his Writings that he had from his younger time in all his Life not only a great respect to this secret Guidance of the Spirit of God but also so great a Sense of the Malice Subtlety and Energy of the Evil Spirits as made him very vigilant against them And I doubt not but his constant and reverend Attendance to that Holy Conduct and his Vigilance against the Wiles and Devices of those invisible Enemies were a principal Means whereby he became so Great and Good a Man as he was THE CONTENTS THE Reason and Order of this Tract Page 1 The Magnetical Manuduction unto the Sovereign Being in Ordine Causarum Efficientium Page 7 The Evidence of the Existence of the Glorious GOD from the Supposition of a Self-moving Principle in Nature
of Man than these Evangelical Precepts before-mentioned as might be made easily evident by Induction of Particulars 3. The Peace and Good of Mankind and of humane Societies is a thing justly valuable by all Wise and Good Men And what in the world is more conducible thereunto then Veracity and Truth Fidelity Righteousness Justice Temperance Sobriety Charity Beneficence Longanimity Goodness Forgiveness Meekness Humility Contentation and all this bound on to the Soul by the strictest Bond of the Love Fear and Duty we owe to the God of Heaven The greatest part of the Disorders in humane Society arise by those Vices that are contrary to those excellent Vertues as by Pride Ambition Covetousness Falseness Dissimulation Churlishness Injustice Unrighteousness These and the like Distempers of Soul fill the World with Rapine Violence Oppression Contention and Deceit which are cured and remedied by an Observance of the Evangelical Doctrine than which there cannot be any thing more conducible to the perfecting of the humane Nature and benefit of humane Societies 5. The Evangelical Doctrine evermore inculcates these two great Qualifications of the humane Soul namely the True Knowledge of God and the true Love of God the former is that which excites the latter and the latter is that great commanding Affection of the Soul that fully brings about the Soul to God and to a chearful and sincere Observance of him and his Will The Love of God is the First and great Commandment and draws along with it the Whole Duty of Man to God And this is most consonant to what Reason it self dictates and Experience evidenceth he that hath but the firm hold upon this Affection governs a Man as he pleaseth 6. The Evangelical Doctrine in order to bring about Man to love God gives us the highest most transcendent and obliging Instances of the Love of God the antecedent undeserved Love of God to Man especially in the admirable Oeconomy of our Redemption by Christ as hath been before-shewed And certainly this is the most rational way that can be imagined for the gaining of this great Affection and the Conversion of the Soul to God 1. It is in it self a most effectual Means to that end Love and Beneficence is the great Attractive of Love as hath been before shewn and that Great God that formed the humane Soul and placed it in its several Habitudes and Affections and therefore best knows what doth most vigorously strike upon those active Strings the Soul did therefore choose this effectual Magnetism to bring about the Soul to him 1 John 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us first Again 2. This Method of Attracting the Soul to God by the great and primitive Instances of his Love to Man is most sutable to the Frame and Mould of the Nature of the humane Soul and offers no Violence to it It is true the Glorious God is not necessarily bound to the Laws that he hath established in Nature they were Laws given to his Creatures and not to himself and he may and sometimes for great Ends derogates from those Laws by the Interposition of his own immediate Power as in Miracles And upon the same Account may or might if he please break in upon the Laws that he hath instituted in the humane Soul and might infringe the Liberty of his Will and turn him about to him by an irresistible over-powring Necessity But the Wise God hath settled and established the Rules and Laws of the Natures of things with so great Wisdom and Foresight that he rarely violates them but ordinarily proceeds in the way of his Providential Regiment of all things according to those Laws and Institutions which he hath fixed in the Natures of things in things simply Natural he usually proceeds by Natural Applications and in Rational Beings by Means sutable to a Rational Nature and therefore hath chosen this Means to draw the Soul of Man to him namely by the Cords of a Man and the Bonds of Love as most sutable to the Complexion Nature and Constitution settled by his own Ordination in the humane Soul Upon the whole Matter therefore I conclude that as the Apostle Rom. 12. stiles the Consecration of the Body and Soul to God a reasonable Service so I do with the same Evidence of Reason style the Doctrine of the Gospel the Christian Religion a reasonable Religion a Religion fitted and ordered with the most exquisite Reason and sutableness thereunto to bring the Soul to its due Position Respect and Habitude to Almighty God and thereby to have an Everlasting Happiness CHAP. XIV Concerning the Supernatural Means of retaining the Soul in its due Respect and Position to Almighty God and of the Reduction thereof unto it I Have hitherto considered of those two Means of Reduction of the Soul to its due Position and Respect to Almighty God which I have stiled Natural and Rational It now remains that I should consider the Third Means which I call Supernatural It appears in the consideration of the Natural Causes and Effects in the World that besides the Intrinsick Powers and Propensions of things there are certain Extrinsick common adjuvant Causes that have a great Influence in the Effects and Appearances in the World The Magnet hath not only its intrinsick active Principle its Form from which its Motions proceed but there is also a common Magnetism of the Earth and its Effluxes that greatly assist excite and direct its Motions Animals and Vegetables have not only their intrinsick specifical vital Principles of their specifical Motions and Operations but the Sun and its heat and influence is an universal adjuvant exciting Principle of all vital and sentient Operations And not only the ancient Philosophers as Aristotle and Plato and their several Commentators as Simplicius Themistius Alexander Aphrodiceus Avicen and Averroes but also the Jewish Doctors and the Christian Philosophers and Divines for some Ages after Christ did think that besides the individual intellectual Soul of every Man there was also a certain common intelligent Nature or Being substituted by Almighty God whose Office it was to illuminate the humane Soul to excite actual Intellection in it and to communicate unto it these common intellectual Principles which ordinarily and generally obtain in all Men and stood in relation to the humane Intellectual Soul as the Sun and its Light and Influence stands in relation to vital Natures in the Lower World And this they call Intellectus Agens which Averroes supposeth to be Vltima Intelligentiarum separatarum and deputed to the actuating and exciting of Intellection in Men. This Opinion hath been possibly upon Reasons probable enough laid aside for many Ages in the Christian Church the Use therefore that I make of it only is this that though this Opinion seems to be dark and obscure and not bottom'd upon a clear Evidence yet it carries with it and under it an Adumbration of a great and real Truth though they attained not a
full clear distinct discovery of it Therefore as the Apostle elsewhere in another Case told the Athenians that that God whom they ignorantly worshipped him declare I unto you Acts 17.23 so with some variation I may with humility say that secret unseen and spiritual Power which these ancient Philosophers did not distinctly understand but groped after it and celebrated by the Name of Intellectus Agens I am now endeavouring to declare Almighty God as he is every where by his Essential Presence so he is every where by his Powerful Influence and as he is the Universal Productive and Conserving Cause of all things in the World so he is more intimate unto and effective of every thing in the World by his Efficacious Influence than any second created Cause in the World for they are all but his Instruments and therefore their Causality is still but in and from the virtue and influence of the first Cause And this Influx of the First Cause the prime Efficient Almighty God is by him ordinarily communicated effused and proportioned according to the several Natures of Created Beings though according to his wise good Pleasure he sometimes is pleased to doe it in a different manner for excellent Ends pro imperio voluntatis And therefore in Matters that are simply natural this ordinary Efflux of the Divine Influence is suited to that common Law of Nature that he hath settled in the World and governs such things according to those instituted regular natural Laws But unto an Intellectual Nature such as is that of Man endued with Understanding and Will this Divine Efflux is communicated in a kind proportionable to those Faculties of the humane Soul and therefore these Effluxes of the Divine Influence are communicated in two kinds 1. By way of Illumination in relation to the Understanding Faculty 2. By way of Persuasion Inclination and Incitation in relation to the Will and Affections although there are many other kind of Effluxes of the Divine Spirit and Influence as the Gift of bodily strength as that of Sampson Judges 16.20 the Gift of curious Workmanship as that of Aholiab and Besaliel Exod. 36.1 the Spirit of Majesty and Government as that of Saul 1 Sam. 10.9 the Gifts of Prophesying Tongues Miracles 1 Cor. 12.4.9 for these were extraordinary Effluxes given out upon special Occasions and for special Ends though even in most of them and other extraordinary Gifts of the like nature the Understanding and Will were much concerned and wrought upon 1. As to the Illumination of the Vnderstanding certainly what the Sun is to the sentient Eye that and much more is Almighty God to the Mind of Man Psal 36.9 In thy Light shall we see Light John 1. 9. This is the true Light that enlightneth every man that cometh into the world 2. As to the Inclination and Bending of the Will it is true the Will is naturally free but yet it is essentially Subject unto the God that made it and the operation of the Divine Influence upon the Will ordinarily is but persuasive and therefore ordinarily resistable thus the old World resisted the merciful striving of the Divine Influence Gen. 6.3 My spirit shall not always strive with Man Acts 7.51 Ye always resist the holy Ghost but the Powerful God hath so great an Efficacy and hath so intimate an Access into the Minds of Men that he can when he pleaseth and doubtless sometimes doth irresistibly bend and incline the Will unto himself according to his good Pleasure Psal 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power It is an excellent Expression Prov. 21.1 The heart of the King is in the hands of the Lord as the rivers of water he turneth it whither soever he will A good Artist will guide a stream of water to what place and in what manner he pleaseth in the same Level and yet without any violence offered to the natural Motion of the Water which in all those Motions is kept entirely sutable to its Nature And with the same and much greater facility the God of Heaven can and often doth infallibly Guide the Hearts of Men yea of Kings and yet without Force or Violation of its natural Liberty There was never any Age nor People in the World that was wholly destitute of this Divine Efflux upon their Understandings and Wills it is as Universal and Common as the Light and Influence of the Heavens only upon some in all Ages it was more special and effectual than upon others even in the Gentile World I have always esteemed those Excellent Men among the Heathen famous for Wisdom Justice Piety and Knowledge as Men illuminated and guided by this Divine Influence though possibly communicated to them in a more signal manner than to other Men Such were Socrates Plato Zeno Citticus Solon Lycurgus Pythagoras Tully Seneca Aristotle and divers other excellent Philosophers Moralists and Law-givers among the Gentiles who were by the Influence of the Divine Spirit excited illuminated and instructed for the Benefit of themselves and the rest of Mankind and to prepare the Heathen World for the Reception of greater Light When it pleased God to select unto himself and his special Government the Family of Abraham and his Descendants the Jewish Nation he sets them in the middle of the Habitable World like a Beacon upon a Hill to be a kind of Common Instruction to the rest of Mankind and for that purpose made them signal to all the World by his special Government over them by Miracles Signs and Wonders by giving them Laws from Heaven in great Majesty and Terrour by committing to them the Divine Oracles by raising up Prophets and Men specially inspired by an Extraordinary Spirit and by effusing among them a greater Measure of the Influence of his Sacred Spirit For that I may say it once for all it hath been always the Method of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness when he sends out the greater Measure of this Influx whereof I speak the Divine Providence accompanies that Efflux with sutable external Means to render it the more effectual and the more agreeable to the manner of the Reception of the humane Understanding But when the Messias came into the World with the Message of the Glorious Gospel the Sun was as it were in its Meridian and as the means of Illumination and Conversion of the World unto God was more effectual and universal so was also the Efflux and Irradiation of the Divine Influence upon the Souls of Men more vigorous diffusive and universal And as the miraculous Gifts of the Spirit of God appeared in the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles the Gifts of Tongues of Healing Diseases of Prophecy and the like to confirm and establish Mens Minds in the Faith Belief and Obedience of the Gospel so neither was this all but the secret and effectual Influence of the same Blessed Spirit appeared in Illumination of the Minds of Men in persuading and mightily subduing their Wills to