CHAP. I.

THere are three kinds of facul­ties in man, which are sub­servient to him, both in ac­quiring and preserving knowledge, viz. the External Senses, which are as it were, at the one extream; the Understanding at the other; and the Internal Senses in the middle be­twixt these two. The impression of external objects made upon the Corporeal senses is not call'd by the name of Dreams, seeing it is made upon us waking; neither are the ratiocinations of the understand­ing call'd Dreams, because Dreams are form'd in some of those faculties, which are common to us with beasts, to whom also, as to dogs and horses belongs the power of dreaming: so that it necessarily fol­lows, [Page 4] that that impression, wherein the nature of dreams doth consist, must be made in the internal senses. Now these are commonly accounted three, the Common Sense, the Phan­tasie, and the Memory: all which three, some do think to be but one and the same faculty, but diversly considered according to its divers modes of acting upon its respective objects: others do distinguish them as different faculties in themselves, and not only in their operations. I I shall here follow this latter opini­on, both as more universally re­ceiv'd, and more fit and proper for the explication of that which I here undertake, and shall assert, that dreams are not made in the common sense or sensus communis, be­cause that doth not act, but when the external senses are awake: nor to speak properly, are they made in the memory, because the Idea's of things there are only in Potentiâ, and when they are reduc'd into Act, do then pass into the imagination or [Page 5] phansie. But the images whereof dreams are form'd, are in Act, as we say, and therefore must necessarily be in that part which we call the Phansie; to which all the world do more generally agree. That impres­sion then (which is the cause of dreams) must be refer'd to one of these three causes, Nature, Angels or God; and accordingly there can be but three kinds of dreams, natural and supernatural; and these, such as proceed either from the operation of Angels, or such as are more purely Divine.

As for natural dreams, they may be divided into four Classes, (1.) there are some which are to be imputed to the mere temperament of the bo­dy, or to the Constitution wherein the person that dreams, chances to be, when he has such or such visions. For Example, those who are of an hot or Cholerick constitution, or at that time have their Stomachs over-charged with Choler, they com­monly dream of fire; those who [Page 6] are naturally Phlegmatick, or who then chance to abound with Phlegm, do dream of ponds and rivers, and inundation of waters: and it is pro­portionably the same with others, according to the diversity of their constitutions. And although expe­rience shews this to be true, and that Physicians do take indications from dreams, whereby to judge of the temperature of the body, yet the reason, why it is so, doth not so easily appear. I shall briefly offer something, as a reason hereof, as I pass along, though my design doth not at all oblige me hereunto: it is this, I think we may truly assert that the operations of our outward senses do convey into our memory the Idea's of all sensible things, which are there preserv'd upon all occasions; and that it is from thence that the subject matter of natural dreams is taken. For if we could imagine a man to have liv'd to the age of twenty five years without any use of his senses, we must also [Page 7] imagine him to have liv'd so long without ever dreaming, in as much as he had not the Idea of any sensible thing in his memory; since also it is certain that in sleep the natural heat is more intense in the inward parts, as the liver, the heart, the diaphragm, and in all those parts that surround the Stomach: Hence it causes vapors to arise into the brain, which on the one hand are hot by the heat they draw from their cause, that rais'd them; and on the other hand retain something of that humour, which is more universally predominant in the temperature of the body, or more particularly in the stomach, whether it be Choler, or Phlegm, or Blood, or Melancholy, which are the four usually here ta­ken into consideration; according therefore to the heat of these va­pors, so they put the Idea's in the memory into motion, and reduce them into Act in the imagination; and as they retain something of such or such an humor, so they affect the [Page 8] brain, & particularly that part which is the seat of the phansie, with the quality of that humor from which they proceed. Now that which pro­duceth the effect, is, that the organ being thus affected, doth better re­ceive the images of those things which do suit with its present con­stitution, and doth better retain them; whereas those others which do not at all agree therewith are di­spersed and fly away: so that if these vapors do arise from a Phlegmatick humour, then the phansie is apt to represent to it self waters and inun­dations, if from Bile and Choler, then fire and burnings; and those other forms of things of a differ­ent nature, which the heat had rais'd and drawn from the memory into the imagination, slip away and make no abode there. But however it be, that we decide this question, the dreams that proceed from such a cause, can have no other power of signification. but only from the ef­fect to give some knowledge of the [Page 9] cause: The reason hereof is this, be­cause that which produceth them be­ing altogether void of all under­standing (for neither the heat, that is in the inward parts, hath any; nor the memory, nor the imagina­tion, and as for the understanding, it is not at all concern'd herein) therefore these cannot be design'd to any particular end.

2. But there are others (which is the second kind of dreams) where­in the temperament, and the dispo­sition of humours have no place, and these proceed from no other cause then the heat, which arising from the lower parts to the brain, doth put the Idea's and images of things in the memory into motion, and re­presents them to the phansie, but in a confus'd and disturb'd manner, in proportion to the greatness of the heat, and according as the vapors, which arise from the stomach are gross or subtle, and as they are more or less abundant, and so accordingly fill the vessels of the brain; for [Page 10] when they are gross and in great plenty, the images of things re­call'd from the memory, are there so swallowed up, that either it pre­sents none to the fansie, that it can take any notice of, which is the cause that we then dream not at all; or if it do, yet it is attended with so much weakness and obscurity, that when we awake, we remember no­thing of what we dream'd; and hence it is, that some, though very few, never dream at all; because the vapors that arise in their sleep, are always thick and darksome; and hence also it is, that ordinarily we do not dream immediately after meals, for as much as the stomach being then full, doth send up to the brain vapours in too great abun­dance; but if the vapours be more thin and subtle, if they be in less abundance and more calm, then the images of things do present them­selves to the phansie with more di­stinction, and yet not without a great deal of disorder, for let us [Page 11] suppose the images of themselves or­derly plac'd in the memory, yet there are two things that may cause confusion; the one, that the heat that moves them, doth also disturb them, as we see small pieces of mat­ter in a vessel full of water, remain each in its proper place, so long as the water is calm and unmov'd: but if you put fire under it, the water by boiling is put into motion, and the several substances are jumbled together by its agitation: the other, that while the external senses are awake and in action, they govern and fix the phansie by their influ­ence, but when they are laid asleep and the phansie thus more at liber­ty, there is a great deal of irregula­rity in all its actions; from hence it comes, that the images, (where­with the memory, agitated by the heat, hath fill'd the phansie) do joyn themselves one to another fortui­tously and without order, from whence is form'd an infinite number of phantastical and extravagant [Page 12] compositions: we see the experi­ence hereof in a feaver, when the violence of the heat and the cho­lerick vapours do disturb the imagi­nation; and we see it also in fools, who though they neither sleep nor are in a feaver, yet have their ima­gination disturb'd by reason of the distemper of their brain; which makes them conceive so many Chi­maera's and utter such strange in­consistencies, and divers kinds of things, which have no natural con­nexion among themselves, passing into the phansie and joyning them­selves one to another with a great deal of irregularity; for the imagi­nation is a faculty, which of it self is able to receive the impression of those Idea's, and also joyn them to­gether; but because it is corporeal and by consequent void of under­standing, it can neither perceive their agreement nor their disagree­ment, nor conveniently dispose of them according to reason: So that it acts here, as a blind man would do, [Page 13] who being among a great number of broken and mutilated statues, should go about rightly to reassem­ble their parts by groping: for it would frequently happen without doubt, that he would, for example, set Marius his head upon Cleopatra's body, and put the thighs of a Brasen­horse under the trunk of Epami­nondas.

And these dreams have yet less power of signifying things to come, then the former; for as much as the composition of the images is altoge­ther fortuitous, and by consequent incapable either to represent any thing, as in an allegorical Emblem, or nakedly and without any such re­presentation to foretel it; for eve­ry Emblem and Symbolical repre­sentation is the work of an intelli­gent agent, and the foreseeing things to come requires still more light of reason. 'Tis true indeed, that the understanding sometimes makes some reflexions upon the things thus presented to the phansie [Page 14] in sleep; for there is this difference betwixt our dreams, and those of Dogs and Horses: those of such ani­mals do not reach any higher facul­ty, then the imagination, for as much as they have none higher, whereas ours do sometimes affect the understanding; so that we do some­times make rational reflexions upon those phantasms, and sometimes long discourses, as it frequently hap­pens to those who are accustomed to speak in publick. But then in the first place, it is not the understanding that forms these Idea's, it only acts upon them, as they are represented by the imagination, so that it can­not give them the least power of sig­nifying things to come; and further how can that which cannot foresee things future, when awake, do it when asleep, and be able to repre­sent them in those different shapes which then concur in the fansie? so far is it from doing any thing of this, that it cannot pass any rational judgment either of the past or pre­sent, [Page 15] of which yet it hath much more knowledge then of things to come, and indeed no extravagance is able then to check or set bounds to our understanding; we raise our friends whom we know to be dead, and discourse with them, as if yet li­ving, we set Paris in Quercy and Lon­don in Germany, and this without any great wonder to us, we become Beg­gars and Kings in a moment, nor doth this so strange an alteration any ways amuse us, and there is nothing so phantastical or disagreeable, which doth not thus seem reasonable to us.

3. The third sort of natural dreams are such as proceed from those employments of our life, to which we apply our selves with great in­tention of mind; for studious men dream of books, covetous men of money, Souldiers imagine they see battalions of foot and squadrons of horse, and generally those who are delighted in any employment dream of things relating thereunto: And [Page 16] it is not difficult to render a reason hereof, for the images of these things are most familiar to them, and do most frequently occur; so that it is no wonder, if when the in­ward heat, which is much more in­tense in sleep, doth move and agi­tate this store-house of sensible Idea's; no wonder, I say, if these do first and more frequently offer them­selves, but yet always, almost with the same phantasticalness, as the former, so that we may make the same judgment of both, and be­lieve that they have no more power to signifie things to come, then they had.

4. The fourth kind of natural dreams is that which arises upon oc­casion of some passion which has ei­ther possess'd us, whilst yet waking, and upon which we now reflect be­ing asleep, or such as takes its first rise in our sleep by the motion of the irascible or concupiscible appe­tite; and here it fares with us al­most in the same manner as in those, [Page 17] which proceed from the tempera­ment of the body and the constitu­tion of the humours, for thus it presents to our imagination objects, which leave some resemblance to our passions. Those who are hungry imagine they see feasts, and those who are thirsty believe they drink at fountains. The amorous see their inclinations; and the cho­lerick the objects of their anger, and run to meet their enemies, who pre­sent themselves in arms before them. But as these dreams have without doubt a cause antecedent in your passion, so it is certain that ordinarily they are no less extrava­gant, then the former, nor more capable to give any certain know­ledge of things to come, nor of those very things which already exist, if they be altogether un­known to us before our dream; for the sensitive part of our soul is in­deed able to submit to reason, but in it self doth no ways partake of it: so that it being in its own nature [Page 18] irrational, it is impossible it should produce any thing, which as we said before, requires an intelligent agent for its cause. 'Tis true, sometimes it happens that some of these dreams do come to pass, which makes us think, there is some resemblance or agreement betwixt the dream and the event, and by consequence, that some Angel or Spirit is con­cern'd therein: But as Aristotle has observ'd, this happens by meer chance, as he that without any aim should shoot a thousand arrows, may at last by chance hit the mark: so in our dreams such an infinite num­ber of visions do pass into our ima­gination, that it is not only no won­der, if one should sometimes chance to be true, but it would be much more strange if once or twice in our life it did not so happen; but if any of our dreams do not only come to pass, but there also be a remark­able agreement betwixt it and the event, and such as that we ought necessarily to suppose the opera­tion [Page 19] of an intelligent agent to inter­vene, we ought not then to reckon this among natural dreams, but to re­fer it either to God or to some action of Angels.

CHAP. II.

THere are two sorts of dreams which we may impute to cre­ated Intelligences, the one where the things signifi'd are contained in Symbolical and Mysterious Re­presentations; the other where they are propos'd naked without any such resemblances; as for the first, those who undertake to give rules of their interpretation, do it in two different ways, for they tell us that we ought sometimes to take the di­rect contrary to the dream for it's interpretation: as if one dream of [Page 20] marriages, they say, it is a sign of death; and on the contrary, if we imagine in our sleep that we see Mourning-weeds and Funeral-attire, we shall then suddenly hear of a Marriage; but one may dream of such things without Angels any ways concerning themselves here­in, for that the images of those things may remain in the memory, and by the meer force of nature re­turn into the Phansie, when we are asleep; but when any such dream shall happen and it be imprinted in the imagination by the operation of an Angel, we may assure our selves that it is not a good one that doth it, for they are the Ministers of God, who is never that Author of those dreams, whose signification is thus to be read backward, much less hath he established any such rule to interpret them by, and there is not the least footstep hereof either in Scripture or Nature, and there is too much of uncertainty in these in­terpretations to entitle them to [Page 21] Divine Revelation. And this makes me call to mind that which they re­port of Buchanan, who every year inter-leaf'd his Almanack with white paper, and where the Almanack fore­told Fair-weather, he writ over against it Fowl, and where it said it should be Rain or Cloudy, he set op­posite to it, a Fair and Clear Skie, and that after he had observ'd it fifty or sixty years, he said, he al­ways came nearer the truth, then the Almanack, but hence it follows not, that those who made Alma­nacks, did design by the contrary predictions those events, which Buchanan did thus prognostick, but that the Astrologers making for the most part their Prognostications at an adventure, and some of them not having the least knowledge of the stars, it might very well happen that Buchanan, thus by chance might foretel fair or foul weather, by ta­king always the contrary to their Predictions.

But the more common rule of In­terpreting [Page 22] of dreams is to observe the agreement and resemblances which are betwixt the dreams and their events; thus they tell us, that he that dreams he hath lost a tooth, shall loose a friend, and he that dreams that a rib is taken out of his side, shall ere long see the death of his wife. I shall not here stay to relate examples of this nature, which have been verifi'd by the event. Cicero among others relates this, a certain man dream'd that there was an Egg hid under his bed, the Sooth-sayer to whom he apply'd himself for the interpretation of the dream, told him that in the same place where he imagin'd to see the Egg, there was treasure hid: where­upon he caus'd the place to be dig­ged up, and there accordingly he found Silver, and in the midst of it a good quantity of Gold, and to give the interpreter some testimony of his acknowledgement, he brought him some pieces of the Silver, which he had found; but the Sooth-sayer [Page 23] hoping also to have some of the Gold, said, and will you not give me some of the yolk too? Now these dreams, which we cannot reasonably impute either to natural causes, or to meer chance, yet do they not ex­ceed the power of Angels to con­vey; for an Angel either good or bad (for I shall not now examine the question, which of the two it is) I say, it is not impossible for an Angel to know that there was trea­sure hid there. An Angel might also imprint such a dream upon the mans imagination, whilst he was asleep, and also reveal to the Sooth-sayer, that the Egg did signifie a treasure, where there was Gold and Silver hid, or might furnish him with occasions to conje­cture so.

There are also some of this nature, which respect the future, which may proceed from the operation of Angels. The Poets say that Hecuba, the wife of Priamus being with child of Paris, dream'd that she brought [Page 24] forth a burning torch; upon occasion whereof the Soothsayers did presage, that the Child should be the cause of the ruine of Troy and of its con­flagration. The Ancient Histori­ans tell us, that the Mother of Pha­laris dream'd that among the Sta­tues which she consecrated in the house of her Son, she saw that of Mercury, who from a bowl, that he had in his hand, pour'd out blood upon the Earth, which boil'd out in so great plenty, that it overflow'd the whole house, which was inter­preted and confirm'd by the cruelties of Phalaris the most bloody man up­on Earth. Cyrus in a dream fansi'd he saw the Sun at his feet, and that he thrice attempted to catch it in his hand, but that it always rowling away escap'd him: which the Ma­gicians thus interpreted; his at­tempt thrice to catch the Sun si­gnify'd that he should reign thirty years, which the event confirmed. These dreams, I say, may proceed from the operation of Angels, for as [Page 25] much as the impression of these images in the fansie is not above the Sphere of that Activity; the Idea of the Sun is in all mens memorys; and that of burning torches, of Statues and of blood; so that there was nothing wanting in these occa­sions but to reduce them into the fansie, and there to put them into a due place and motion.

And as for the prevision of things to come, which Angels would signi­fie hereby, this they can do partly of themselves and their own proper Conjectures, partly by a certain kind of revelation from God. The Devil who seeks all opportunities of doing mischief to the world, had re­solv'd to promote and carry on the barbarous humour of Phalaris to all manner of cruelties, and seeing the house of Priamus flourishing and his state great and potent, he propounded to himself to do all he possibly could to ruine it, and to that purpose to make use of all occasions that pre­sented themselves, and to make [Page 26] Priamus his very children instru­mental thereunto. And although these were but meer designs, of the event whereof, he could have no certainty, for as much as the will of God and his providence super­intends all things, yet he doth not forbear to hope, and to foretel the manner of that thing which he him­self designs to do, which God, for reasons best known to himself, would not hinder the ratification of by the event. As for that of Cyrus, it was impossible for Angels to Divine how long he should reign, but God suffers sometimes some of his more secret Counsels to appear to the view of created intelligences, and from these radiations which pro­ceed from the Cabinet of the Di­vine Counsels, they either certain­ly foresee some things to come, or at least form such reasonings and conjectures as come very near the truth.

Those other dreams which pro­pose things nakedly, as they are in [Page 27] themselves have no need of an inter­preter to understand them, but when the event confirms them, they are not therefore the less wonderful. I shall produce two or three exam­ples which seem very remarkable. Two Arcadian friends travel'd toge­ther and lay one night in the City Megara, where the one lodged in a publique Inn, the other in a private friends house, as was usual in those days. After Supper, he in the pri­vate house being gone to bed, and asleep, the other appear'd to him in a dream, and prayed him to come to his assistance, for as much as the Master of the Inn design'd to mur­ther him: the affright of the dream having wakened him, he rose up, but being come to himself he took it for a meer dream and idle vision, and went to sleep again. In his se­cond sleep, the image of his friend came again into his phansie, and he imagin'd that he pray'd him, that since he would not help him whilst living, yet at least he would not let [Page 28] his death go unpunish'd: for that the Master of the house had murther'd him and had cast his body into a Cart full of dung, and desir'd him to go early in the Morning to the Gate of the City before the Cart went out, the man being very much mov'd by his dream rose up, and go­ing to that Gate, there stop'd the Cart loaden with dung ready to pass, whereupon the Carter being frighted fled away, and the body being there found, the crime was by this means discover'd, the Host punish'd, and all the City struck with admiration at the wonderfulness of the dream.

Cicero relates this in the book al­ready cited: See also another taken out of the life of Monsieur Peiresc, Councellor of the Parliament of Provence. This excellent Personage going from Montpellier to Nismes lay all night in an Inn, which is the Mid-way betwixt those two places; he had in his company one Iames Rainier, Citizen of Aix, who in [Page 29] that journey lodged in the same Chamber with him: as that great man slept, Rainier observ'd that he talk'd and mutter'd something in his sleep, otherwise then was usual with him, whereupon he wakened him, and ask'd him what was the matter; Oh! said he, you have made me lose a most excellent and pleasant dream; for I was dream­ing, that I was at Nismes, and that a Goldsmith shew'd me a golden Medal of Iulius Caesar, which he would sell me for four Crowns, and as I was ready to give him them, both my Goldsmith and my Medal vanish'd away together by your awakening of me. Being arriv'd at Nismes and having not forgot his dream, he went to walk in the City, till such time as dinner was ready, and passing up and down he went in­to a Goldsmiths shop, to ask him whether he had any rarity to show him, whereupon the Goldsmith an­swer'd that he had a Iulius Caesar of Gold; Monsieur de Peiresc asking the [Page 30] price of it, he answer'd, four Crowns, which thing did fill the mind of that great person, both with joy and admiration, as well for that he had found a Rarity, which he had long very much sought for; As also for the surprising, and strange manner whereby it came to his hands.

A third shall be another out of the same book of Cicero. Hannibal having taken Sagunta, dream'd that Iupiter call'd him to a Council of the Gods, where Iupiter commanded him to carry the war into Italy, and that one of that Assembly should march in the head of his Army, and having begun his March under the Conduct of him, who was ap­pointed to be his guide, the guide forbad him to look behind him, but he could not prevail so far with him­self, being transported with a de­sire to know what that was, which came behind him, where he saw a great and terrible beast all com­pass'd with Serpents, which did [Page 31] wind themselves about it, and where ere it pass'd, it turn'd all up­side down, houses and trees, and shrubs, and generally all that ever came in its way: being astonish'd at the sight, he demanded of the god that conducted him, what that Monster signify'd, whereupon he told him that was the ruine and de­solation of Italy, but as for the rest, that he should not trouble him­self with what should come after, but march on without losing of time.

This last dream did certainly pro­ceed from some evil Angel, for a good one would never have sent into his imagination the Idea of a Coun­cil of false gods. But an evil one made use of the Images of the false Deities, which their Statues, had left in the Memory of this Heathen Ge­neral, and joyn'd other things neces­sary thereunto for the perfect consti­tution of the dream. As for what was foretold of the desolation of Italy, it was easie for an evil Angel [Page 32] to Divine, viz. That if this Cartha­ginian Captain did follow the Coun­sel given him, and enter into Italy with a Splendid and Victorious Ar­my, that he would there make very great Desolations. And if the event was answerable and exceeded even what the Devil was able to conje­cture, it therefore so happen'd, be­cause God had so ordain'd it in the Counsel of his Providence. The first of these Examples, as it is recited by Cicero, may be refer'd to good or bad Angels, (1.) To bad ones, as they had a great Empire among the Heathens, and having had a great part in the design of him who com­mitted the Murther, they then by the discovery drew two Signal Ad­vantages: the one, that after they had caus'd an innocent man to be slain, they then caus'd also the guil­ty to die, this being a great pleasure to the enemy of mankind, whose destruction he delights in, and if he were permitted, he would unpeople the whole earth. The other, that [Page 33] hereby they gave some Credit and Authority to Dreams of this nature, which passing for Extraordinary and Divine, did further confirm some men in the respect they bare those Deities, to which they were attri­buted.

2. It may also be attributed to good ones, for as much as, although, God hath left the Heathen Na­tions in a great measure to walk in their own ways, yet notwithstand­ing, he has not cast off all care of them in respect of his Universal Providence, of which the Angels are his Instruments, and the Execu­tors of his Will and Pleasure. And although for good reasons he might suffer the poor Arcadian to be slain, it was yet an effect of his Provi­dence to punish the Murtherer: for this is one great means, by which he preserves Humane Societies, for the subsistence whereof God always takes a particular care. As for the Se­cond, I should without any great dif­ficulty attribute it to a good Angel, [Page 34] who would thus testifie, that though they be invisible, yet they do not only converse here below with men, but also that they have a kindness for great Persons, who are lovers of Learning and Vertue; for to im­pute this Dream to meer chance, I think it can no more reasonably be done, then to those natural causes, of which I spoke before. The Au­thor of Peiresc his life, has indeed reason to say, that considering all the parts of that Story separately, there is not any one singly that seems to be very wonderful. The City of Nismes, saith he, might come into the Imagination of this great man, as he slept, seeing he had a Design to go thither, and was al­most arriv'd at it: he might also dream of Iulius Caesar's Medal, be­ing very curious of those Antiqui­ties; Although the Medals of that kind were very rare, yet it was no strange thing to meet with one there, seeing that Nismes was a City which had been very much fre­quented [Page 35] by the Romans. It was more probable to find one in the hands of a Goldsmith, then elsewhere, for they into whose hands such pieces of Antiquity do sometimes come, do often desire rather Currant Mo­ney, and find better opportunities of putting them off at Goldsmiths, then elsewhere. It might easily come to pass, both that Peiresc should dream that he bought it for so reasonable a price, and that a Goldsmith should be content with four Crowns for a piece, which those that are curious would without any difficulty buy at a far greater rate. But that so many circumstances should meet together in one and the same Dream, and that they should all exactly answer the particulari­ties of the event, is that which far surpasses both the accidental hits of meer chance, and all natural cau­ses, so that we must necessari­ly attribute it to some intelligent cause.

And every one may see that this [Page 36] is no ways above the power of An­gels; they then certainly knowing that at Nismes, in the hands of a Goldsmith, there was a Iulius Caesar, which they had seen and heard va­lued at four Crowns, they might hereupon go and make this impressi­on in the Imagination of this great Person. However I do not see in this Dream any the least Character, which doth necessarily oblige us to refer it to evil Angels: no more then (briefly to mention it) that of Calpurnia, the wife of Caesar, who the night immediately before the death of her husband, dream'd that she saw one run him through with a Sword in the Senate: though the relation which she made, and the prayers by which she endeavour'd to divert him from the Senate that day, prov'd all ineffectual: but good Angels may give us good advertise­ments, though we do not follow their advice, and this is a testimony of the care they have for the conser­vation of the life of Princes; as [Page 37] the neglect thereof is a proof of the imprudence of those who are con­cern'd therein. It is not related to us in Scripture, what was the dream of Pilate's wife, when she sent to pray him not to have any thing to do in the death of our Lord Christ: how­ever it was, it seems to have come from the impression of a good An­gel, though Pilate did not submit thereunto: However it was suffici­ent for the Angel in this case, to have caus'd his wife thus to give te­stimony to the Innocence of our Sa­viour; However, I say, it was (for I would not make it an Article of Faith) and every one here may use the liberty of his own judg­ment; perhaps this was done to di­stinguish betwixt those Dreams which Angels cause in our Imagina­tions by the express Command of God, and those which proceed from their operation by bare permission: those ought to be more powerful and efficacious, for as much as they are intended for the execution of [Page 38] some Design, which God hath pur­posed with himself, and therefore 'tis necessary that he so far di­spose the understanding of those, whom these visions concern, that they defer so much to them, as is necessary to bring a­bout the Design; but these co­ming only from the good Inclina­tions of Angels, which God suffers them to follow and to discover on such and such occasions, it is of no great importance, though they do not produce the effect, which their Authors design'd; and it is suffici­ent satisfaction to them, that they have shown that good will, which they have for men, and especially for those who are eminent in vertue or dignity.

CHAP. III.

AS for Divine Dreams, they are also of two sorts, the one con­tains future things under AEnigma­tical and Mysterious Representati­ons, the other are much more plain and naked; there are very remark­able Examples of the first sort in the History of Ioseph, as well in those, which concern'd himself, to foretel his own grandeur, as in those of Pharaoh, to forewarn him of the se­ven years of plenty, and seven others of dearth.

The Image of Nabuchodonosor is yet more remarkable, as the stone cut without hands, which from small beginnings came to be a great mountain and fill'd all the World; There are Examples of the other kind in the History of the birth of our Saviour; as well those which [Page 40] were sent to the wise men, to warn them to return some other way, then where Herod did expect them, as in those by which Ioseph was command­ed to carry Christ into Egypt, and to bring him back again in due time. As for Iacob's vision which was convey'd to him in a Dream, when he went into Padan-Aram, it was compound­ed of both the sorts, for the Ladder upon which the Angels did ascend and descend, had without doubt a mysterious signification, which re­lated to Christ, but the words which he heard, contain'd the promises, plain and intelligible, which were not wrap'd up in the vail of dark and mysterious repre­sentations. Now concerning these and all other Divine Dreams in general, we may make these three Enquiries:

• 1. Why God hath sometimes reveal'd himself in Dreams to his Ser­vants?
• [Page 41]2. How they could certainly know, that those Dreams had God for their Author, and that they were not vain delusions?
• 3. Whether this way of Revelation by Dreams, be yet practis'd, and whe­ther God doth still make use of it under the Dispensation of the Go­spel.

As for the first of these questions, the Apostle tells us, That God at di­vers times, and in sundry manners spoke of old to the fathers by the Pro­phets, but hath now in these last days spoke unto us by his Son; where he op­poses the dispensation of the Son to the former of Law, in three things,

• 1. That God formerly spoke to the Fathers by the Prophets, but hath now spoke to us by his Son.
• 2. This he did at divers times, that is, he reveal'd the knowledge of himself by degrees, and as it were by parcels, adding one light [Page 42] to another successively, whereas he has now reveal'd to us all at once so much of his truth, as he design'd us to know even to the end of the world.
• 3. He now only reveals himself in one way, viz. By the preaching of the Gospel, whereas then he did it in divers manners.

And these divers manners may refer to those several kinds of fa­culties, which, as I said before, we make use of for the getting and pre­serving of knowledge, viz. The Ex­ternal Senses, the Internal, and the Vnderstanding.

As for the External, God makes little use of three of them for this end, viz. Touching, Smelling and Tasting, but doth frequently em­ploy the other two: for he hath been presented visibly to our eyes, as well in humane appearance, as to Abraham and Manoe and to some others, as in other shapes, as to Mo­ses in the burning Bush: And as for hearing, he hath often caus'd voices [Page 43] to be heard from heaven, as by Abraham, and also by Moses, in the Bush, and in many other instances. As for the Internal Senses, he em­ploys them both waking and sleep­ing.

1. Waking, by Extasies which he hath sometimes sent to his Ser­vants: for then he acted in such manner upon their Imagination by that Power and Vertue which he there display'd, and made so great and so powerful an abstraction of their souls from their External Sen­ses, that their functions did altoge­ther cease, though they were not then asleep: and yet in the mean time he Imprinted in their phansie the Images of Extraordinary and Admirable things, and made them inwardly to understand the voice, which gave them, either some In­struction or Command:

We see a famous Example hereof in S. Peter, when he saw the sheet descending from heaven, and heard the voice, Kill and eat, for he was [Page 44] then in an Extasie or Trance, and the things which S. Iohn relates to us in his Revelation, were thus con­vey'd to him.

2. In sleep, by dreams, such as I have already mention'd, and others of the like nature; and there is little difference betwixt Extasies and Dreams, only that, though in both there was a Cessation of the Fun­ctions of the bodily senses, yet in an Extasie, it was not altogether so entire and absolute, as in sleep, nor did it proceed from the same cause; for in sleep this cessation proceeded from natural causes, from whence it usually comes; but in an Extasie, it was caus'd by the extraordinary and miraculous power of the Spirit of God, which drew a way the Souls of his Servants from the Organs of their External Senses, and hinder'd it from displaying its power and ef­ficacy.

As to the understanding, the Spi­rit of God in this case acted in these two ways upon it.

• [Page 45]1. That, whereas ordinarily the knowledge which we have in the understanding, enters by the Mini­stery of the senses, which conveys the Images of sensible things, and by these sensible objects furnishes us with the occasions of ratiocination; yet here God did immediately im­print in the spirit of his Prophets the understanding of those things, which he would reveal to them, thus making them to understand without the help of ratiocination: and he reveal'd many things thus to Moses and others.
• 2. That whereas we are not or­dinarily induc'd to great actions, but after an attentive consultation upon the end, which we propound to our selves, upon the motives that induce us, and upon the means by which we may attain them, God did sometimes inspire his servants with miraculous and heroick motions, by which they were carried to extra­ordinary things without such a deli­beration, only, because they were [Page 46] inwardly sensible to themselves, that it was God that thus excited them, such was that of Ehud when he kill'd Eglon, King of Moab; such was that of Phineas when he slew the Israelite and the Madianite at one blow; such that of David when he resolv'd to fight Goliah with a sling; and if there were any other ways, which God sometimes made use of to reveal himself by, under the le­gal dispensation, as the voice that was heard in the Tabernacle, and the lights of Vrim and Thummim, they may be referr'd some way to that which I now come briefly to speak unto, and my design doth not oblige me to enlarge my discourse further upon this matter.

I shall only shew in general, why God made use of all these divers ways, and particularly, why this of dreams. For the first, we must know, that the Church, as S. Paul tells us, was then in its infancy, and there is a great deal of differ­ence betwixt the way whereby we [Page 47] instruct Infants, and that by which we teach Arts and Sciences, to those who are of riper years; To these we only make use of words, or if there be occasion, to make Demon­strations to the eye, we only make them in lines and Mathematical Fi­gures, or at the most content our selves to propose to view the ob­jects and the experiments of sensi­ble things, as those of the Vacuum or the Loadstone; and all this doth only give occasion to the understanding, to form its own reasonings; but as for Infants, for as much as their fa­culty of reason is yet weak and im­perfect, we make use of Medals, Em­blems, Representations, Hierogly­phicks and other such like Artifi­ces, so that we have of late years seen painted Chards, full of Emble­matical Figures, whereby to im­print the Rules of Logick in the minds of the younger sort by play, and the reason hereof is, that be­sides that men have no need of those helps to make them understand these [Page 48] Sciences, the Maxims and Theo­rems whereof they easily conceive at their first proposal, they also have no need of those allurements to invite them to learn, for as much as the beauty of the things them­selves is a sufficient invitation here­unto: whereas children have both need to be taught for Example, by the Figure of an Ox, what is meant by a Real or Substantial Being, as we see in some Philosophical tables, as also they must be entic'd by these pretty devices, for the difficulty of the things would discourage them, if we went about otherwise to instruct them.

The Jewish Church being then in this condition of Infancy, these divers ways, which God made use of to instruct it by, have con­tributed something to the easier un­derstanding of that which he design'd it should know, and had more power to prevail upon their minds, by affording matter of admiration by rare and miraculous events, then [Page 49] if the things had been deliver'd more plain and naked.

I say expresly, that which God design'd they should know, because sometimes the same things have been made use of for different purposes; For the Institution of Types, Sym­bolical Representations of things to come and those Admirable Prophe­tical visions have been often made use of, as a veil to cover and hinder the understanding of those things which ought not otherwise to be in­terpreted, then by the events.

2. For the Second, since it plea­sed God to make use of all these means to reveal himself to the Pro­phets, and by them to others also, there is no reason why he should have excluded that of dreams: and indeed there is yet this further rea­son in particular for them above others, that although there is a great deal of vanity in ordinary dreams, and that those which pro­ceed from Angels have very often much of uncertainty and ambigui­ty, [Page 50] and that some Philosophers, as Aristotle among others, did suppose that there ought to be no regard had to that way of Divination, yet it hath always been almost the univer­sal opinion of all Nations, that the Divinity did principally Communi­cate it self to Men by Dreams. Ho­mer hath attributed some to his Iu­piter: The Stoicks held that there were some altogether Divine: Plato said the same in some respects, and generally in the Eastern Nations, this opinion had a very great repu­tation: So that it was principally in those Nations that they have re­duc'd the interpretation of dreams into an Art, and have laid down Rules concerning it; and now be­cause the people of Israel were also of the same opinion, God therefore chose to send them such dreams, as were truly Divine; thus firmly to fix them to these, and to divert them from that vanity, to which other Nations suffer'd themselves to be carried by those others; and fur­ther [Page 51] 'tis true, that the most natural way of conveying the knowledge of any thing whatever, even of the Deity it self, to men, is either by the presentation of some visible things, which furnish them with the means, and occasions of reasoning, and thus to rise from the considera­tion of the effect to the understand­ing the nature of the Cause, as is done in the dispensation of nature; or by way of speech, and to make known truths to them by vocal instruction, as under the dispensation of the Go­spel; thus S. Paul joyns these two dispensations together, when he says, that since in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach­ing to save those that believe: But to be thus instructed, there is need of more clearness and strength of un­derstanding then we ordinarily have in our Infancy, so that the Church being then in that estate, it ought to be instructed some other way: Now among all the ways and methods [Page 52] made use of for this purpose, there was none more proper nor sutable, then that of dreams; for as Plato saith, when a man, whose stomack is full of wine and victuals, comes to sleep, 'tis certain that such an one is very unfit to receive the commu­nication of the Deity, and the vi­sions fram'd in such an ones fansy would be very obscure, confus'd and turbulent.

But when an honest man, one who is sober and temperate, when such an one dreams, and that after a per­fect concoction of his meat, there now rises no more vapours to his head, but is in a profound sleep, his humours calm and sedate, his imagi­nation still and clear, as the smooth surface of a mirrour or looking-glass, being then sequestred from all the things of this present life and the commerce of sense, he is thus a very proper subject to receive the impression of Divine things, there­fore God himself declaring the way by which he would reveal him­self [Page 53] amongst the Prophets, which he rais'd to his people Israel, he said, that he would do it by visions and dreams.

CHAP. IV.

BEfore I come to decide the se­cond question, I must briefly premise this, that when I did di­stinguish dreams into three kinds, and plac'd those that proceed from the operation of Angels in the se­cond, and Divine Dreams in the third rank, I understood the distin­ction thus; among those that pro­ceed from the operation of Angels, there may also be found Divine ones, in as much as God doth not only permit, but also may command the impression of them: but those, I call Angelical Dreams, are meerly [Page 54] such as those, which I have given Examples of, in as much as neither the formation of the images of which they consist, doth exceed their power, nor is the knowledge of the thing, which these Images represent, above their natural in­telligence, nor above the quickness of their conjectures and divina­tion; for their Spiritual Nature, their long experience of things, the knowledge they have of the secrets of nature and of the inclinations of men, with divers other assistan­ces, which we have not, do enable them to reach much further, then we can, into the knowledge of future things.

Among those I call'd Divine Dreams, there are also some which consist of certain Images, the for­mation whereof is not above the power of Angels; and yet I call them Divine, because that, whe­ther it was God that employ'd these Angels to convey them, or whether they were immediately caus'd by [Page 55] himself, nevertheless the things signify'd by them did so far exceed the natural ability of an Angels understanding, that it was absolute­ly impossible they should ever at­tain to the knowledge of them, but by a particular Revelation; for though their knowledge, if com­par'd with ours, be much greater, and their fore-sight of things reaches much further, yet it is limi­ted, and that so, that they neither see things to come either long before, or with any great certainty.

Those then may be reputed to come from God, which by what messenger soever they be convey'd, yet contain such things, as God only is able to know and to reveal.

To return then to my purpose, we may boldly affirm, both that those dreams had some marks by which they might be known to be Divine, and also, that is was necessary, that they should have so; although we do not now cer­tainly know, wherein those marks did consist.

[Page 56]First, that they had such, for all those other ways, by which God is reveal'd to men, of which we have spoken before, have been distinguish­ed, each by it's particular mark and character, by which it might be discern'd from all other things, where the resemblance or similitude they bare to each other, might cause any doubt, whether these might come from God or no. The voice which Abraham heard had something in it, whereby to distin­guish it from other voices, which might be made by the ministery of evil Angels, and especially that where God commanded him to sa­crifice his Son; This command being so contrary to his natural affections, and having the appearance of a barbarous and unparallel'd cruelty, How should this holy man be perswaded to execute it, if he had not had some mark, to know God to be the Author of it; and that so certain, that it could not be impu­ted to any other cause. Moses his [Page 57] vision in the bush, to perswade him to undertake the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, and his Intro­duction of it into the Land of Ca­naan, ought likewise to have some such signal character upon it; for how could he resolve upon so great an enterprise, accompanied with so great difficulties, if he had not been well perswaded, that it was God, who promis'd that he should over­come them all? S. Peter's vision could not be less remarkable, which prevail'd with him, to begin the preaching of the Gospel among the Gentiles, being a thing which the Jews had a great aversion against. The impression of those things in the understandings of Moses, of David, and Solomon, and divers others, ought also to have some signs, by which they might be ac­knowledged for Divine truths, otherwise these great Persons would never have related them with so great confidence to others, and as to themselves, could never have re­ceiv'd [Page 58] so great satisfaction therein. Lastly, Those Heroick transporta­tions of Ehud and Phineas to those actions related in Scripture, ought to be very distinct, clear and evi­dent, otherwise they would not have suffer'd themselves to be car­ry'd to those actions, which had been truly punishable, and even in some sort horrible both before God man, if they had not proceeded from a Divine command. Dreams then without doubt have likewise had their certain marks, whereby to distinguish them from the Noctur­nal illusions that proceed either from the impression of evil Angels, or from natural causes, as I intima­ted before.

2. And it is also necessary that they should have such marks, for the same reasons which I alledged before upon former occasions; For when God commanded Ioseph in a dream to carry Iesus into Egypt; Such thoughts as these might have come into his mind. This dream [Page 59] perhaps may be only a vain imagina­tion, and a meer phantasm of my own brain, which hath no foundation of truth in it: Perhaps the great solicitude I am always in for the preservation of this miraculous Infant, hath sent into my soul this Idea or opinion, that they now seek his life, though perhaps they ne­ver so much as think of any such thing: Perhaps it is some evil spirit which ei­ther takes pleasure to give me needless fears, or would incite me to remove this Infant from hence, that so upon the way he might more easily lay and exe­cute his treacherous designs; in a word, divers such like things might come into his thoughts, and cause a great uncertainty of resolution, what he had best to do upon the command. And nevertheless it appears by the history, that he did not at all hesitate upon it, which shews that he had a powerful perswasion of the truth of the dream. Now though we cannot at present certainly know, wherein this full perswasion did consist, and upon what it did depend, yet not­withstanding [Page 60] we ought not at all to question, but that this and the like perswasions were founded on some­thing that was both in it self suffici­ent, and to them a sufficiently evi­dent ground of their assent.

But we must enquire what that was, and this is the proper subject of this Meditation; since there are but three sorts of dreams, those which are produc'd by natural cau­ses, those which proceed from the operation of Angels, and those, which I call Divine. The readiest way to come to the knowledge of the truth in this case, will be to shew that these can neither belong to the first nor the second rank, and thence it will necessarily follow, that they must belong to the third. As for natural dreams, I suppose, that 'tis easie to distinguish those from such as proceed from a Divine impression: these natural dreams, I said, were of four sorts; the first depends upon the temperament and constitution of the body, others ac­knowledge [Page 61] no other cause, then the meer motion of the Idea's of the brain by the natural heat in the time of sleep; the others come from a very attentive application of our minds to some things when we were awake; and the last from the passions of the sensitive soul, which is, as it were, awaken'd and acts more vi­gorously during the repose of our senses. But now, for Example, to which of these causes can we refer the dreams of Ioseph or Pharaoh? What mark do they bear of the tem­perament of their bodies, or the con­stitution of their humors? What Idea's of things could remain in their memory, which could be able so regularly to proportion these dreams, as to see in the one, the number of the sheaves, and of the Stars, the Sun and the Moon, and their prostrations before him; in the other, the number of the Ears of Corn, both the empty and the full ones, of the Kine, the fat and the lean ones, and their action in de­vouring [Page 62] one another? What so great attention of mind could be upon any worldly care or employment as to cause any such representations in their sleep? What passion could move either their concupiscible or their irascible appetite, as thereby to form such phantasms? And fur­ther, the dreams that come from any of these causes are always irre­gular and composed of parts not con­sistent with one another, so that no­thing is commonly more phantastick and extravagant then they: but those of Ioseph and Pharaoh and the Image of Nabuchodonosor, and if there be any other of the same nature mentioned in Scripture, they are so admirably well composed, that they seem to be the result of a very intel­ligent Cause. The dreams which proceed from natural causes are ob­scure and always presented to our minds with a great deal of confusion, so that we observe nothing distinct in them, or if one part have some­thing of clearness and perspicuity [Page 63] in it, the others are commonly per­plex'd and intricate. Whereas those dreams related in Scripture, are not only clear, but full of light, whether we consider them in the whole, or in their parts; natural dreams do make so little impression upon our Spirits, that for the most part, we do not remember them when we are awake; whereas the Divine are firmly fix'd in our me­mory: for as for what is reported of Nabuchodonosor, that he had for­got his dream, and that he stood in need of Daniel, to recal it again into his mind, this happen'd by the par­ticular dispensation of the Divine Power and Providence which re­mov'd out of his mind the Idea's of his vision, thereby to render the wisdom of Daniel more remarkable: besides this Prince very well remem­bred that he had dream'd, and the perplexity which his dream caus'd in him, the passionate desire he had to recal it, the manner of his beha­viour to the Sooth-sayers and all [Page 64] the rest which pass'd upon this occa­sion, fully shew'd that this vision did very nearly concern him, and that also in his dream he had observ'd something that was singular and ex­traordinary in it: if in the morning we remember our natural dreams, yet we disregard them and count them but meer trifles; whereas those to whom God sent those Di­vine Dreams, did not only distinct­ly remember them, but had them still firmly represented to them when they were awake, and did look upon them as Divine adver­tisements, and were very solicitous about the interpretation, or the event of them. When dreams pro­ceeding from natural causes have made any impression upon our Spi­rits, so that they hold us in some suspense in the morning, as it some­times happens, we commonly do these two things: First, We make an attentive reflexion thereupon, and carefully examine and consider them in all their circumstances, and [Page 65] at last find them to be meer vanities, and produc'd by some of those na­tural causes before mention'd, and so we free our selves from that dis­quietness they had before caus'd in us. Secondly, If we cannot thus wholly free our selves, then we com­pare them with those true and real operations, which our senses pro­duce in us waking, and by thus comparing them, all those impres­sions which these dreams had made upon our spirits, do altogether va­nish. For it is here almost as in the comparison of things represent­ed upon a Theatre, with those that are really done. Whilst we see a Tragedy acted, we feel a concern­ment and passion in us, sometimes even to the effusion of tears. But this only touches, as it were, the surface of the soul, and is not of any long continuance, or if this emotion of the mind do continue longer, yet it is as good as nothing in respect of that which the real view of these actions and passions, [Page 66] and murthers actually committed in our sight, do cause in us; but in Divine Dreams it was directly con­trary, for if those, to whom they were sent, did in the least doubt of their Divinity, and did set them­selves seriously to examine them, the more they consider'd them, the less reason they found to doubt of them; and when they compar'd them with the operation of their senses, they found, to their great astonishment and admiration, that even those of sense were less true and real, then they; these Divine Dreams, I say, made a more strong and firm impression upon the Spirits of those that receiv'd them, and they were more fully perswaded of their Divinity, then we are of the reality of the operation of our sen­ses, when waking they exercise themselves upon their respective objects, and it is no difficult thing to give a reason for it. That which causes sensation, and makes us be­lieve the truth and reality of the [Page 67] actions of sense, is, that those sen­sible species, which affect the out­ward senses do also pass into the Common-sense, which is a faculty superior to them, so that it can judge of their actions and of the things imprinted thereupon. It can also compare the action of one sense with the operation of another, and laying them together confer their respective properties and qua­lities; and the judgment that re­sults from hence, depends as well upon the impression, which the ob­ject makes upon the external organ, according as it is more or less in­tense, as upon the nature of the In­ternal and Common-sense, which is a corporeal faculty, and that which belongs to the sensitive part of the soul, of which Dogs and Horses and other animals do also partake. As for Divine Dreams, the impres­sion was indeed make in the fansy, which is also a corporeal faculty, it being one of the internal senses; but the reflexion which the servants [Page 68] of God made thereupon, when wa­king, was the work of the under­standing, which is more clear and exact in its operations, and which in the Prophets and those other faithful men, to whom these dreams were con­vey'd, was further enlightned by the Spirit of God, to judge aright of the object which it had so attentively consi­der'd. The impression then of these dreams being more profoundly im­printed upon the phansy, for as much as it came from a supernatural cause, then that which the sensible objects make upon our outward sen­ses; and the faculty, which did consider and reflect upon them (both as to the whole and the parts and the circumstances that attended them) being more excel­lent and more exact in its judg­ments then tis possible for the com­mon sense to be, consequently the result thereof ought to be propor­tionably more perfect, and the per­swasion of the divinity of these dreams more certain and more un­doubted.

[Page 69]As for the dreams which proceed from the operation of Angels, it must be acknowledged they are more difficultly distinguish'd from those that are Divine: for they are capa­ble of a more regular formation, then those that are produc'd by na­tural causes; they may be more strongly imprinted upon the imagi­nation, and so may be of longer con­tinuance, so that we may more ea­sily remember them, when we do awake; in a word, they are of greater force to perswade us, that they proceed from a Divine prin­ciple. For the understanding of an Angel doth manifestly shew it self, as well in the methodical placing of the parts of the dream, from whence it draws its symmetry and propor­tion, as in the resemblance which they bear to the things, which they are designed to represent; as we have seen before in the dream of the Egg and the Treasure, to which we might add many others of the like sort: Yet here we must call to mind [Page 70] what was before said of this matter, that there is a great deal of dif­ference betwixt the dreams which may have been caus'd by Angels only, for as much as that which they contain'd and whereof they did consist, was not above either, the understanding or the activity of Angels; and betwixt those of which they were only the Instruments to form the Images in the phansy of Gods servants, according to the Command, and according to the Revelation which he had given them, of his Will: As for the first, the comparing the actions of good and bad Angels would easily show the difference, and it might more especially be made in this double re­spect: (1.) The Images that good Angels did imprint upon the phansy, did never contain any thing of Ido­latry or Pagan superstition, whereas those, which proceeded from evil ones, were commonly full of it: for in these there was always either some representation of false gods, [Page 71] or something which concern'd their worship, or some other vision of that nature, which denoted the author of the dream to be willing to authorize Idolatry or Super­stition, from which the Inclination of good Angels was always very di­stant.

(2.) The dreams caus'd by evil An­gels did always, or at least for the most part induce to some evil acti­ons, which the good ones never do, who as they are free from temptati­on to evil themselves, so do they never tempt others to it. That which might render the discerning betwixt these two more doubtful or more difficult, is, that upon this, as upon other occasions, these An­gels of darkness might transform themselves into Angels of light, and endeavour to impose upon the credulity of the faithful, by causing them to have such dreams which should not seem to contain any thing of that vice, we before men­tion'd, and which should tend to [Page 72] actions indifferent in themselves, or such as perhaps might have the appearance of good, but yet such as they might make use of for some evil design. And the dream sent to Ioseph, to command him to carry Christ into Egypt may serve for an Example; for, as I have already said, Ioseph might perhaps think that this was a meer illusion of the devil, who design'd hereby to lie in wait for him to destroy him.

Here we may lay down these se­veral considerations. First, That how great a cheat soever the Devil is, yet he can never counterfeit so well, but something will happen whereby he may be discovered: they say, that when he visibly appears in humane shape, what ever care he takes to disguise himself, yet there is always something in the appari­tion, by which he may be known, either by the horror of his Claws, or some stinking smell or some such like thing which presently appears [Page 73] and renders the vision terrible and frightful.

Whether it be so, or no, I know not, I will not affirm it, though it be not without some appearance of reason. But as for what concerns his actions and the means he makes use of, whereby to deceive men, whether by dreams or by voice, or any other illusion, neither is his own malice able, nor will the Di­vine Providence suffer him so per­fectly to resemble the actions of good Angels, but there will be some mark by which to discern them. And what I said before upon occasion of the dream of the Arcadian, is found­ed only upon the relation that Cicero makes of it.

If we had had a perfect and en­tire account thereof, with all its circumstances, one might certainly have found something in it, where­by we might easily have known, whether it proceeded from a good or bad Angel. Hence I dare boldly affirm, that if the dream sent to Io­seph [Page 74] had come from an evil spirit, there would have been something more in it, then what is related of it, whereby this holy man would ea­sily have known, that it was not of a Divine Inspiration.

Secondly, Not only dreams pro­ceeding from the Devil have some character, from whence we may conclude their original, but also those that come from good Angels have something on the contrary, whence we may conclude their Au­thor truly good, for naturally every effect retains some mark of its cause; Fire leaves something of it self, where it exercises its power; and Water, where it passes; Beasts do imprint something upon their pro­per operations; and Men and other intelligent agents, on theirs, and generally all manner of productions bear some indications of the na­ture of their cause. And the more excellent the causes are, the more knowable they are in their effects, unless on set purpose they corrupt [Page 75] their action and designedly disguise it, as when David counterfeited the fool, which yet Angels never do. From whence I conclude, that since it was a good Angel, which by the command of God, convey'd this dream to Ioseph (for the Scripture doth openly attest it) it was with­out doubt accompanied with very evident arguments of the nature of its cause.

First it is absolutely said, that an Angel of the Lord appeared to Io­seph in a dream, and afterwards that he spake to him, saying, Rise and take the little Infant and his Mother, and fly into Egypt and stay there, until I bring thee word, for Herod seeks the Infant, to put him to death.

Where we have the Apparition, after that the Command, lastly, the Reason which he there alledges; as for the Apparition, that could not be, but in some Image, which must appear visible, which might sym­bolically represent the Angelical Nature, for that being spiritual and [Page 76] immaterial, it could not otherwise be represented to this holy man: For who can doubt but that Image had something so splendid and glorious, that Ioseph seeing it in his sleep, and after remembring it, when awake, was in both equally struck with admiration of its Magnificence? and what essay made by an Angel of darkness to imitate the splendour of such a vision, could come near the glory of the appearance of a Di­vine Messenger, who brought the Commands of God to men and for that purpose was adorn'd with a ray of the Divine Majesty?

As for the Command, that could not be given but by the mediation of a voice, which Ioseph in his sleep imagin'd to hear, as he apprehended he saw the Angel encompass'd with light. I do not here say, that mens voices have such different marks of distinction one from another, as that blind men, as Historians do testify, have distinguish'd them in a multi­tude, by the meer characters of [Page 77] their voices, although they have but once heard them speak; Since perhaps it might be reply'd that blind men having often heard other men speak, are thus better enabled to make the distinction; whereas 'tis possible that Ioseph never heard the voice of any, either good or bad Angels before, and upon this ac­count could not compare them toge­ther: to which may be added; that the natural voice of men is of one kind, and that which Angels form only by representation in the imagi­nation of a man asleep, of another. I shall here only return, that as the Image or apparition of the Angel had something particular in its lustre and Majesty, so the voice had some­thing in the tone, and in the nature of its articulation extraordinarily Majestick. So that as the Devil could never be able to frame an ap­parition of himself which might come in competition with the Ma­gnificence of that vision, so neither could he counterfeit a voice, which [Page 78] might equal the Majesty and Au­thority of that of a good An­gel.

Lastly, the Reason of the com­mand is very remarkable, for it would have been very strange, if the Devil should have been careful for the preservation of the life of an Infant, from whose birth, if we do consider the miracles that did ac­company it, he could expect nothing, but the ruine of his Empire: he is a murtherer from the beginning, and if it were in his power, would de­stroy all the Infants that come into the world from the very Cradle, but that he foresees some, who come for the ruine of mankind, as Nero's and Caligula's. And since if this In­fant was in any danger, it was cer­tainly under the dominion of Herod, who of his own nature was cruel, who had more reason of fear from the birth of Christ, then any other Potentate whatever, and who had an absolute power in those Coun­tries, if the Devil had had a design [Page 79] to impose upon Ioseph by his delusi­ons, would he ever have induc'd him to have left the place, where he was, to have gone to another? Where could he have laid his de­signs against Christ with greater hopes of success then where he was, being, as it were, in the Paws of a Lion, or in the den of a wild beast?

Thirdly, It plainly appears that Ioseph was fully perswaded of the Divinity of the vision, seeing that without any deliberation, as soon as he awoke, he arose and took the In­fant and fled into Egypt; now the dreams which come from natural causes, do not carry us to any acti­on, and we think we should be ta­ken for fools, if we undertook any thing, though of never so little im­portance upon the meer solicitation of a dream. And those very dreams which yet have something more of life and vigour in them, then natural ones have, and upon this account may be attributed to some [Page 80] Spirit; these indeed may cause a great deal of disquiet, of hope or apprehension, but they do not in­duce us to undertake any resolution in things of Consequence, unless it be those of Melancholy tempers or unsound brains: Since then Ioseph, who was a wise and sober man, be­took himself so readily to the exe­cution of the command, it is cer­tain that he was fully perswaded of the Divinity of the Revelation: for since Jesus was his Son, we cannot think that he would have rashly taken up such a resolution; much less certainly would he have done it, the question being then of him, of whom he had the honour to be ap­pointed Guardian.

Now this perswasion must neces­sarily come from one of these two things,

• 1. He either found in the object it self such irrefragable arguments of its truth, that there remain'd no place for deliberation, but his un­derstanding immediately determin'd it self:

  [Page 81]Or, Secondly, if the Arguments were not altogether so strong and evident as to force his judgment to embrace the object, then God by the incomprehensible power of his Spirit did so effectually determine it on this side, that it could not possibly resist.

  This latter is the less usual me­thod of Gods proceedings; but when it doth so come to pass, then it is an undoubted proof that the ob­ject is truly Divine. For it is only God, who doth so rule in the under­standing of wise and vertuous men, and who so powerfully inclines it to such a belief and resolution, al­though it doth not see in the object reasons altogether proportionable to the effect it feels in the soul: So that if Ioseph was thus perswaded to the execution of the command, he then had in his own private sen­timents and in the extraordinary determination of his understanding, an evident proof of the Divinity of his dream.

  [Page 82]The first of these is without doubt the more common and natu­ral: for what the Loadstone is to Iron, that is truth to the under­standing, which doth greedily em­brace it, and inseparably joyns it self to it, when once by evident de­monstrations it clearly apprehends it: If then Ioseph by this means was perswaded, then his understanding saw such marks of the truth and Di­vinity of the dream, that he did more certainly believe it, then he either did or could do those corpo­real objects, which represented them­selves to his sense.

  As for those dreams whereof An­gels may have been the instruments, but not the Authors, they were easie to be distinguish'd from all others: For besides, as I said be­fore, that every effect draws some­thing from the nature of the cause, and causes the more excellent they are, the greater impression they make upon their effects, whether God did mediately or immediately [Page 83] convey those dreams; so far it was necessary they should bear some undoubted mark and character of his power: this only thing was enough to distinguish them from all others, that they contain'd in them things which pass'd the reach of the understanding both of Men and Angels; for how could it enter into the understanding of either of them, that Ioseph should come to that grandeur which his dreams pro­mis'd? What created intelligence could Divine, that there should be in Egypt seven years of plenty and abundance, and after them seven others of dearth and barrenness, as Pharaoh saw in his? For grant that Angels have very much of the knowledge of natural causes, yet two such admirable events, so re­gular and constant, each for the space of seven years, how could they be searched into, being so closely and obscurely hid in the se­cret foldings of a particular provi­dence? What humane understand­ing, or what foresight of Angels [Page 84] could discover both the succession and the disagreement, the duration and the end of all those Empires, which were represented one after another in the image of Nabuchodo­nosor? What conjecture could di­vine that, which the stone cut without hands did presage, and what it was to do and to become, as the same vision of Nabuchodonosor doth represent it? And if it were necessary here to speak of Iacob's vision, none, I say, not only of men, but none of those Angels themselves, which he saw ascend­ing and descending upon the lad­der, were able to foretel (if God had not extraordinarily reveal'd it) that that did represent the Mes­sias to come, who should make peace between heaven and earth, and re­establish a communication betwixt God and men by the intermission of Angels; and as for the promises, which God, who was at the top of the ladder in heaven, made to the Patriarch, they were plain and clear according to the truth of things, [Page 85] without any shadow of Allego­ry or mysterious Symbol, but they were of things so far re­mote, that it was only God who could foresee or foretel the event, so that that vision was altogether Divine.

  This is well indeed, will some here object, these dreams appear to be Divine when they are under­stood, or when they are confirmed by the events; but let us here en­quire, how they could be judged so, by those to whom they were sent, before the interpretation, and by the meer consideration of the dreams themselves. We must then distin­guish betwixt the dreams themselves and their interpretations, (which were sometimes made by the ser­vants of God, as Ioseph and Daniel) and their events. And to begin with the consideration of their events, it is certain that when they were once come to pass, they did then fully evidence the Divinity of those visions, that did represent [Page 86] them; For not to speak of the Image of Nabuchodonosor, which did prefigure things at such a distance, that all the Angels together were never able to foretel them; I shall only speak of those of Ioseph and Pharaoh, and the Officers of his house, who were in prison with Io­seph; who, having seen the things so punctually accomplish'd, could in the least doubt, but that they were of Divine Revelation? But this is not that which we here principally intend.

• 2. As for their interpretations, it is certain that those admirable resemblances, that are betwixt them and the visions themselves, must needs be matter of great wonder to those, who heard them, even be­fore the event: for these resemblan­ces could not come by meer chance: since there did appear in every par­ticular so exact a relation between them, and we see that Nabuchodono­sor was ravish'd with admiration of them, and Pharaoh was so fully per­swaded, [Page 87] that without any further consultation he preferr'd Ioseph to the highest dignity, with an abso­lute power to dispose of the affairs, particularly of the revenues, of Egypt, according to his own plea­sure, to provide himself by the pro­vision of the plenty of the seven first years, against the desolation which should be caus'd by the seven years dearth: but 'tis true, that this also doth not reach to a full and proper answer to the objection: since the divinity of the dreams ought to appear in themselves.

Thirdly, Here then we ought to observe the difference betwixt those dreams which brought with them matter of express commands, as those which were sent to Ioseph and to the wise men, which came to wor­ship our Saviour, and those which consisted simply in Symbolical and Allegorical representations of things to come. Those of the first sort ought to contain in them evident and undoubted characters of their [Page 88] Divinity, otherwise they could ne­ver have powerfully enough per­swaded the servants of God to obey them: those of the latter did not absolutely require so great a force and evidence, and yet 'tis certain, that these have been able to make such a powerful impression upon the minds of those that receiv'd them, that they certainly believ'd them to proceed from a supernatural and Divine Cause. Ioseph sufficiently testifies this by the earnestness he shows to relate his, for that was in­deed to acknowledge that he had seen something that had made very sensible impressions on him. The Officers of Pharaohs house did the same in theirs, and testify'd that they did not take them for rash and vain delusions: and Pharaoh did yet appear more lively and deeply mov'd by his, in regard of that pain and uneasiness he was in, till he had obtain'd the understanding and in­terpretation of it.

Not to repeat what I have al­ready [Page 89] said concerning the means by which the divinity of dreams sent from above might be discerned from the vanity of those that proceed from natural causes (though it be also necessary to remember all those characters which do distinguish them) I say, there was never any of that kind which did not cause a great astonishment in those that re­ceiv'd them. I shall begin with the consideration of those which are less remarkable and by degrees pro­ceed to those that are more famous. Pharaoh's Cup-bearer dream'd that he saw a vine, which had three branches, from whence sprang cer­tain buds, which increas'd and blos­som'd: that at the same time the bunches of grapes blossom'd and brought their fruit to maturiy; That he had Pharaoh's Cup in his hand, and that he took the grapes and press'd and strain'd them into the Cup, and then gave it into Pharaoh's hand, now I pray, the dreams which proceed from our bo­dily [Page 90] temper and constitution, or from the motion of the Idea's in our memory caus'd by natural heat, or from the application of our minds to the cares and businesses of life, or from the motion of our passions, are they either so emblematical on the one side, or so regular on the other, as to present, in their ve­ry constitutions, Symbols consisting of so many parts, which answer one another with so great proportion? To which if you add that this em­blem, as it was distinct and articu­late, so was it also lively, clear, deeply impress'd upon the imagina­tion, you will not find it any way strange if it pass'd in the apprehen­sion of the Cup-bearer for a Di­vine and extraordinary dream: but he had yet more reason to be of that opinion, when his Companion, the Baker, told him in the morning that he had also dream'd the same night, that there were three white baskets upon his head, and that in the uppermost there was all manner [Page 91] of provisions relating to the Bakers trade for Pharaoh, and that the Birds did eat them out of the Basket, as it was upon his head: for this cir­cumstance, that they both dream'd at the same time, and saw visions rare in their compositions, propor­tionable in their parts, Symbolical, without doubt, in their significa­tion, sutable each to the Office of the dreamer; which agreed both in the number three, although they did otherwise differ in some re­markable circumstances; lastly, which had made very great impres­sions upon them both; all this, I say, could not be brought about but by an intelligent and heavenly cause; so that, 'tis no wonder if the perplexity which these visions caus'd in their minds did equally ap­pear in the Morning by the change of their countenances: The dreams of Pharaoh had yet something of more exactness in the just proportion and symmetry of their parts; seven young kine on the one hand, and [Page 92] seven more on the other; the good and strong constitution of the one seven, and the leanness of the other; the beauty of the fat ones, and the gastly ugliness of the other; the action of the one, which devoured and swallowed up the other, and all this without any mix­ture of any thing that was phanta­stical or extravagant, as it common­ly happens in dreams, and without any circumstance from whence Pha­raoh might infer that there was any thing in it, which might in the least argue any tincture, either of his cares or passions, either of the con­stitution of his humours or the temperament of his body, this was sufficient even at first to cause ad­miration and perplexity in his thoughts. And indeed, in that it is said, he wakened upon his dream, this shows that he was very sensibly touch'd with it, for those dreams that make any great impres­sion upon us do awaken us. Never­theless Pharaoh was not much fright­ed [Page 93] at his first dream, and went again to sleep as before; but when another vision answerable to the first represented to him on the one hand seven fair and full ears of Corn, and on the other seven small ones, bla­sted with the East wind, and that the small and withered ones devour­ed the fair and full ones; then he did not at all doubt, but it was God that spake to him by these repre­sentations, so that his very soul was terrified. And indeed these two visions thus presented one upon the neck of another, were too clearly and visibly mysterious, not to cause something of astonishment. Those of Ioseph appear to me yet more admi­rable.

He first saw the sheaves of his bre­thren which did encompass his sheaf and prostrate themselves before it; which had so clear and plain a signifi­cation, that his brethren understood it at the very first: a little after in another dream he saw the Sun and Moon and Eleven Stars, which also [Page 94] fell down before him; which still contain'd the same thing in such an illustrious and glorious Emblem, that when he came to recite it, his father did not only understand it, but was offended at it and chid him for it: Whether then we suppose, that Iacob and his other children did really believe that Ioseph had thus dream'd, or that they suspected that he had contriv'd it, yet it ma­nifestly appears that they ac­knowledged, that that could not proceed but from the operation of an intelligent agent. For meer chance could never have adjusted the parts of these visions singly, much less could it so well have joyn'd them both together: This then was enough to make them be­lieve these dreams were supernatu­ral. But yet there was another thing that might perswade Ioseph, that they were truly Divine, his conscience bare him witness that he was void of ambition, and if per­haps he had had some kind of in­clination [Page 95] or tendency that way, yet however it would not have been to desire dominion over his bre­thren, much less would he have de­sir'd it over those who begat him, for this is a monstrous desire, and such as is altogether unnatural. But grant he had such strange elevations of Spirit as to desire to become so great, as that his father and mother should prostrate themselves before him, whence was it that his imagi­nation set it self to find out the Sun and Moon and Eleven Stars precise­ly, whereby to presage this Empire? It is a very rare thing, if in a meer natural dream, any one imagines that he sees the Sun, for there is al­ways something that is black and dark in these nocturnal visions: But though that should happen much oftner, yet to see it in such a state of humiliation, and the Moon and Eleven Stars to represent that, which this dream prefigured, is a thing so far above that which na­tural causes are accustomed to do, [Page 96] that it would be too great an imper­tinence to impute it to them.

Lastly, the dreams of Nabuchodo­nosor are yet in my opinion some­what more magnificent: for there a great Image was represented to the imagination of this Prince, the splendor whereof was excellent, and it's appearance terrible: the head thereof was of fine gold, the breast and arms of Silver, its belly and hinder parts of Brass, its legs of Iron, its feet partly of Iron, partly of Clay; after that appear'd to him a Stone, which of it self fell from a Mountain without being cut with hands, which rowling down struck against the feet of the image, and bruised them to pieces, after­wards the Iron, the Clay, the Brass, the Silver, the Gold were all equal­ly bruis'd to pieces, and became like chaff in the air in Summer, blown up and down, and driven to and fro with a strong wind; so that all the materials, whereof the Im­age was composed, did vanish and [Page 97] wholly disappear. But as for the Stone that broke the Image, it be­came a great mountain, and fill'd all the universe: let us a little lay aside the interpretation of this vi­sion, and not at all consider the things design'd thereby; let us only consider the vision in it self, and see if ever any thing, like unto it, did enter into a humane understand­ing: Certainly the Idea of such an Image, is so fair, the variety of the Metals and Materials, that compo­sed it, so remarkable; the conti­nued series of them so admirably succeeding each other; the stone which broke and dash'd it in pieces and the manner of its coming so extraordinary and surprising; its increase so miraculous, and in gene­ral the whole series of this repre­sentation so majestick, that it could never enter into the imagination of man, if it had not been sent from above: for certainly humane under­standing was too little to serve for a mould, where so great and magni­ficent [Page 98] a work should be framed. And the effect, which it produced in the Spirit of Nabuchodonosor, is very considerable: he was a Prince, and those of that birth and dignity are not easily mov'd by extraordi­nary things; He was a great Mo­narch and Conquerour, and such Princes have commonly more ele­vated thoughts, then others: and of Monarchs and Conquerours, he was one who was puffed up with the opinion of his own grandeur, and this would be apt to make him in all conditions either sleeping or waking, to think most things either Ordinary or Common; and further, when he awakened, he did not at all remember his vision. Now when our dreams are vanish'd from our minds, the motion and impression, which they then made upon us, do usually cease and vanish with them: and though there did not remain the least footstep of his dream in his me­mory, but only thus far, to remem­ber that he had dreamed, yet [Page 99] when he came to acquaint his Soothsayers, Astrologers and Magi­cians herewith, he told them, that his Spirit did remain astonish'd, and the passion which he had to retrieve what was fled from him, that so he might have the interpretation of it, caused him to denounce threat­nings and terrible punishments to them, in case they did not acquaint him with it; so that it must neces­sarily be, that he was inwardly sensible of something of divinity in the dream, that produc'd in him such a passionate desire to know the in­terpretation.

I shall not here speak any thing of Iacob's vision, for that speaks enough of it self; for certainly the words he there heard did pro­mise such great things, so far a­bove either the power or know­ledge of humane understanding, the voice of the speaker was so Maje­stick, the image of a Ladder which reach'd from earth to heaven, upon which the Angels did ascend and [Page 100] descend, upon the top whereof God himself did seem to sit in a visible and humane shape and figure, as a presage of the future Incarnation of Christ; all this, I say, had so great, so glorious an aspect, and Iacob him­self was so struck with Reverence, Admiration and Amazement, that he was forc'd to cry out that the very place was terrible, and that in seeing this vision, he was set, as it were, in the threshold of the house God, and in the very porch of heaven. And this shows that this dream had made an impression in him quite different from those which proceed from na­tural causes. I suppose I have al­ready sufficiently discuss'd this que­stion, it only now remains to resolve the last.

CHAP. V.

JOel hath thus prophesy'd con­cerning the time of the coming of the Messias, It shall come to pass in those days, saith God, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall pro­phesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And in those days I will surely pour out of my spirit upon my servants, and upon my handmaids, so that they shall pro­phesy: And I will do wonders in hea­ven above and signs on earth beneath, blood and vapour of smoke; the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come. It is clear from these very words of the Pro­phet, without any need of produ­cing [Page 102] others, that at the coming of the Messias, God would pour out a great abundance of his Spirit upon his Church, which should render the extraordinary and miraculous gifts of prophesy, of visions and of dreams almost common to all the faithful, which God before did but sparingly communicate to some par­ticular persons: and indeed, the A­postles have apply'd this passage to the sending of the holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and the expe­rience of things at that time did very authentically testify the truth of this Prophesy; for the abun­dance and variety of gifts, which God poured upon Christians, at the first establishment of Christianity, is a thing much to be wondered at; in as much as he did not only inspire the Apostles, and Prophets & Evangelists, the Pastors, Doctors and Deacons, and generally all those who had any publick Office or charge in the Chruch, but also many particular persons without any difference of [Page 103] Age, Sex or Condition. And the History of the Acts of the Apostles, with that which we have yet re­maining of the succeeding Age, doth give us a very sufficient testimony hereof.

But here are yet further two things very remarkable; the first, that the fulfilling of this prophesy, if we regard the Emphasis of the terms, wherein it is express'd, is not limited to the Infancy of the Church or an hundred or sixscore years af­ter, but extends to all the ages of Christianity, even to the end of the world. For here is an opposition of the times of the Gospel to the times of the Law, and by conse­quence of all the duration of the one dispensation, to all the duration of the other.

The second, that notwithstand­ing this, we see by experience that those miraculous gifts of the Spirit of God are ceased long ago, so that it is now many Ages since we saw the least footsteps of them in the [Page 104] Christian Church: for all that hath been either spoke or written these twelve hundred years concerning those miraculous gifts, is either very much suspected, or altogether false and supposititious, and full of va­nity and imposture; how then shall we reconcile our experience with this Prophesy?

In Order to do it, and to clear the way for the solution of the pre­sent question, I think it convenient to lay down certain previous consi­derations.

First, It is certain, That which God promised by his Prophets, to give a great measure of his Spirit in the time of the Revelation of the Messias, must have its accomplish­ment from the first coming of Christ even unto his second; but in what manner it shall be done, is a thing that deserves a more attentive con­sideration: for though the words of Ioel seem only to design the ex­traordinary [Page 105] and miraculous gifts of the Spirit, yet under them are also compris'd, those more ordinary ones, which consist in the illumina­tion of the understanding of the faithful, in knowledge of the Di­vine truth, in consolation, in sancti­fication, in hope, in patience un­der temptations and afflictions, and in all Christian vertues; for it would have been a small thing for God to have promis'd abun­dance of those gifts, which are truly miraculous, but such as of themselves are not effectual for the procurement of Salvation, and have kept back those which only are necessary and sufficient there­unto: And indeed, we ought to understand that Prophesy of Isaiah in the same manner, Your God shall come himself, and shall de­liver you: then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, then shall the lame leap, as the Hart, and the [Page 106] tongue of the dumb shall sing in tri­umph, for the waters shall spring in the desart and torrents in solitary pla­ces. It is very true, that those words have a proper and literal sense, which was accomplished at the coming of our Saviour, but they have also an Allegorical and Figurative one, which respects the saving graces of the Spirit, which have their accomplishment all along in all Ages of the Church.

Secondly, It is further certain, that the reason for which these mi­raculous gifts are expresly men­tion'd in this prophesy, and not the more ordinary and saving ones, is, because these promises are con­ceiv'd in terms more accommo­dated to the legal dispensation, for under that oeconomy, the faithful very well knew, that all the good, that was in them, did come from God, and according­ly [Page 107] return'd him thanks; Moses himself hath thus taught, and the Psalms of David are full of such acknowledgments, yet neverthe­less they did not distinctly know, that it came from a particular o­peration of the third Person in the Deity: the Spirit of Faith, the Spirit of Consolation, the Spirit of Adoption, the Spirit of San­ctification being terms unknown to the Faithful of the Ancient Church; So that until David, who began to speak something of the Spirit of God, in matters rela­ting to Sanctification, no one be­fore spake any thing of it, and after him these Expressions, were very rare. Whereas there is no­thing more ordinary in the Books of the Old Testament, then to attribute the Visions and Revela­tions of the Prophets, their ex­traordinary and miraculous gifts, which did both enlighten and asto­nish the World, to the Spirit of [Page 108] God; in so much that the particu­lar skill which was bestowed on Be­zaleel and Aholiab to work in all man­ner of carved work for the building of the Tabernacle of the Congrega­tion is particularly attributed to the Efficacy of the Spirit of God, in the Books of Moses: It is true, the ordinary gifts of the Spirit of God are much less resplendent and cause less of admiration, then the extraordinary: for those are so in­ternal, that they do not show themselves, but in Actions of Piety, Charity and Sanctifica­tion, which are commonly ve­ry Moderate and Regular, and which unless we take a more close and exact view of them, do not seem to proceed from any other Prin­ciple, then that of right reason; Whereas the other do so dazle the eyes of all beholders with their lustre, that no one who sees their effects, can judge them to proceed from any thing less [Page 109] then a Divine and Supernatural Cause.

And this difference was so much greater under the Law, as the or­dinary gifts were there less libe­rally bestow'd, and the vertues which they produc'd were more obscure and less frequent then they are now: and on the contrary, the extraordinary and miraculous gifts were then more common and agreed better with the genius of that Dispensation, in that it did pre­vail upon the minds of men, not so much by the knowledge of the truth, as this doth now, as by the admiration of the power of God, and by the astonishment which those surprising and prodigious passages did produce.

From hence, for a third conside­ration, results the knowledge of the manner how this promise of Ioel, and such like, were to be ful­fill'd, [Page 110] for it was very agreeable to the truth, that at the beginning of Christianity our Saviour should plentifully bestow upon his Church those miraculous gifts, which were there especially design'd. And two reasons among others invited him thereunto:

The one, that the expressions which the Prophets had made use of, had fill'd the minds of men with expectation of these gifts: with expectation of theirs, if it had been frustrated in this respect, it would have given an occasion of scandal; therefore that men might not have any thing to object about the accomplishment of those promi­ses, God was willing to signalize the beginning of the Preaching of the Gospel by those marvellous in­stances.

The other, which is the Princi­pal, is, that the first establishment [Page 111] of the Gospel had need of such a manifestation of the Spirit by the gift of miracles; because other­wise it could never have destroy'd the dominion of Satan, as it did, and have vanquish'd the resistance it met with in the Roman Empire, and in all other nations of the earth: for the Preaching of the Gospel, the working of miracles the distribution of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit have been the wings upon which the Church hath been carried through all the Nati­ons of the World. Therefore the Apostle joyns these two together in the Epistle to the Hebrews, when he says, That salvation being first begun to be Preach'd by our Lord, it hath been confirmed to us, by those who heard it; God besides bearing witness by signs and miracles and di­vers powers and distributions of the spirit according to his pleasure. But when the Gospel was once well planted in the world, so that the [Page 112] Preaching thereof alone was suffi­cient to preserve and continue it, the necessity of miracles being now ceased, the use of them ceased likewise, and these extra­ordinary gifts of the Spirit there­fore disappear'd, because they were no longer necessary; thus the performance of this promise of Ioel, as far as it was to be ex­tended to all the times of the Christian Church, even to the con­summation of the world, hath been restrain'd to the ordinary gifts of the Spirit of Faith, of Consola­tion, of Sanctification, which are indeed much more plentifully pour­ed out under this dispensation of the Gospel, then ever they were under that of the Law.

To come therefore to a particu­lar solution of this question, I think, we ought carefully to di­stinguish betwixt Divine, Angeli­cal and Natural Dreams: for as [Page 113] for those Divine Dreams, which are design'd to foretel things to come under the Emblem of an Al­legorical Representation, or to con­vey some new commands to men in order to some great and extra­ordinary design, for which there is need of Divine Authority for the undertaking and executing of it: I conceive that time is now wholly expir'd, and those who pre­tend to and boast of any such, they are either impostors, who would abuse the world by their feigned visions, to serve their own pri­vate interest; or else fools, who have their brains disturb'd by Hy­pocondriack vapours: for we are no longer now under the legal dispensation, which was, as it were, the proper place for such things, nor under the Infancy of the Church, where such were necessary for its establishment. And if I may here speak my own thoughts of a certain kind of peo­ple [Page 114] of both Sexes, who both in Poland and Germany have pretended to Divine visions in these latter days; I will not accuse them of imposture, for that they have given sufficient testimony of their Piety; but I dare be bold to say, that in their actions they had some transport of the understanding, which proceeded from some other cause then what was truly Divine. They were persons who partly out of devotion, partly out of great cu­riosity, did extraordinarily give themselves to the reading of the Apocalypse and the other Pro­phesies: the constancy they us'd herein, and the great affection they did it with, imprinted in their memories the Idea's of those things they there saw; and the Copies of those fair tables, where future events were represented, having given a tincture to their Spirits, two or three things have hereupon superven'd, which have [Page 115] contributed to their perswasion, that their very dreams and the things they imagin'd they saw in their extasies, they sometimes fell into, were real and Divine vi­sions.

First, they suffer'd themselves to be carried away by the hopes of those, who expect in due time a great prosperity of the Church of God on earth, and a terrible sub­version of all those States and Powers, which now oppose the establishing the kingdom of Christ, and since they desir'd this with a great deal of zeal and passion, they hereupon easily imagin'd it to be certain and indubitable. For on the one hand divers Texts of Scripture have some seeming ap­pearance of some such promises made to the Church of Christ: and on the other hand, it is one of the frailties of Humane Nature easily to believe what we desire [Page 116] should be true. Besides the me­lancholy humour, which was na­turally predominant in them, the afflictions, hardships and anxie­ties they underwent, as well from the publick affairs, which did not go well to their satisfaction, as from their own private con­cerns, which did not much more please them; all these concurring to­gether, made them very ready to re­ceive all impressions of phansy, which might show them either any hope of deliverance, or of any mitigation of their troubles.

To conclude, their bodies were so affected with the passions of their souls and with the quality of the humours, which were predo­minant in them, that they fell into some black melancholy indi­spositions, which all the world knows to be capable of very strange accidents. Be it then, that they either meerly dream'd, or that wa­king [Page 117] they were surpris'd with some transport of phansy, in which their soul was perfectly abstracted and separated from their body, and from all commerce with the senses (for that doth sometimes happen in Hypocondriack distempers) these Apocalyptical Images were thus put into a violent motion, and fram'd in their imaginations these pretend­ed visions, which they have since related to us. To which might be added the operation of some evil Angels, who seek all imaginable oc­casions to deceive both the sound and the sick, and who help'd to joyn together and to paint these re­presentations in the brains of those poor people: And we have seen in a great part by experience, that those images, which they saw in their pretended Enthusiasms, did either signifie nothing at all, or if they did, yet their vanity and falseness have been confuted by the events.

[Page 118]As for those people beyond the Sea, which now boast of Visions, Revelations, Divine Inspirations, the extraordinary gifts of the holy Spirit, of extasies, and strange tran­sportations, who by their tremblings and quakings would represent the motions of the Enthusiasts and Pro­phets; I should very much wonder if honest and understanding men should favour their frenfies: The Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of under­standing and prudence, and of so­ber and well setled sense, and not a smoak which fills empty brains with dark and phantastick imaginations; the grace of the Gospel puts the fa­culties of the soul into a grave and sober constitution, which gives both joy within to it self, and edification to others without, and doth not ex­pose the true Religion to the laugh­ter of its enemies and to the scandal of sober and intelligent men, by its indecent and unnatural motions.

[Page 119]As for those dreams which may proceed meerly from the impression and operation of Angels, I will not deny but that there may be yet some examples of that nature to be seen; for as for evil Angels, they may concern themselves in those illu­sions which happen to men sleep­ing, whether it be to imprint upon them some false opinions in mat­ters of Religion, and to incline them to Superstition; or thus more to excite and inflame their passi­ons, and to put them into more disorder. And as for good ones, although the dispensation of the Law, under which they were more especially employ'd in things rela­ting to Religion, be now pass'd; yet they still continue to be Mini­sters and Instruments of Divine Providence in what relates to civil life, and humane society, and espe­cially the protection of the faith­ful and the defense of the Church [Page 120] of Christ. And as then it is not impossible, but that they may some­times appear to men waking, so is it not incredible, but that God may make use of them, from time to time to convey the notices of some things by dreams; there are many exam­ples of both kinds in the books of those who have made collections of such memorable instances, to which I shall refer the Reader. I have heard the late Monsieur Cameron, a Person whose memory will be ever blessed in our Churches, say, that he had from the mouth of Monsieur Calig­non, Chancellor of Navarre, a man of singular vertue, a memorable passage that befel him in Bearne: He went into a certain Town in the Country, either for diversion, or for some reason, relating to his health; for he did not acquaint me either with the place or the occasion of the journey; one night as he was asleep, he heard a voice which call'd him by his name, Calignon; [Page 121] hereupon waking and hearing no more of it, he imagin'd that he had dream'd, and fell asleep again; a little after he heard the same voice, calling him in the same manner, which made a greater impression up­on him, then before; so that be­ing awaken'd he call'd his wife, who was with him, and told her what had happen'd, so that they both lay waking for some time, ex­pecting whether they might hear the voice again, and whether it would say any thing more to them; At last the voice awaken'd him the third time, calling him by his name, and advis'd him to retire presently out of the Town, and to remove his family, for that the plague would rage horribly in that place within few days; to which he added, that it was very well that he followed this direction, for as much as within few days after the plague began in the Town, and destroy'd a great number of people. [Page 122] This was certainly an Angel that spake to him, who by the favour­able and benign providence of God drew him out of that danger, which otherwise had been unavoid­able. For whether the plague came by the infection of the air, or by the Communication of some infecti­ous persons, or whether some Sor­cerers and Witches (as they say, they sometimes do) had resolv'd to diffuse their infectious poisons in that place, it was that which did not exceed the knowledge of an Angel. Now if these blessed Spirits, which are appointed as a guard to pious men in obedience to God's Command, do sometimes by speaking give them such ad­vertisements, they also by the same command may convey the same notices to them by dreams. The history of the last age doth so fully attest the truth of that of Lewis of Bourbon, Prince of Conde, that we cannot reasonably doubt thereof. [Page 123] A little before his journey from Dreux, he dream'd that he had fought three battels, successive­ly one after another, wherein he had got the victory, and where his three great Enemies were slain. But that at last he also was mortally wounded, and that after they were laid one upon an­other, he also was laid upon their dead bodies. The event was remarkable: for the Mareshal de S ^t André was kill'd at Dreux, the Duke of Guise, Francis of Lorrain, at Orleans, the Connestable of Montmorency at S ^t Dennis, and this was the Triumvirate, which, they say, had sworn the ruine of those of the Religion, and the destru­ction of that Prince. At last, he himself was slain at Bassac, as if there had been a continuation of deaths and Funerals.

Although there were some Cir­cumstances in the dream which did [Page 124] not exactly agree with their ac­complishment, as that he imagi­ned that his Enemies died in three battels; for the Duke of Guise di­ed otherwise, being assassinated by Poltrot, and that he conceiv'd in his dream, that he always came off victorious, for he himself was taken at Dreux, and the glory of the victory at S ^t Dennis was dispu­ted, and 'tis believ'd, that at Bassac, he did not only lose his life, but the Battel too. Yet notwithstanding upon the whole, this vision did not cease to be very admirable, and it hath been look­ed upon as such by reason of the greatness of the events: But there might be something natural in it, in respect of the formation of the images in the phansie of the Prince. For he having the tem­perature of a Lion, and being brought up in War, and Com­manding an Army, might easily dream of Battels, the evening [Page 125] before so great a Combat. And he himself seem'd sufficiently to ac­knowledge this when repeating the dream he us'd this Preface; I know very well that we must not give any credit to dreams, but yet I must relate to you what I dream'd last night, and in truth one who thus speaks sufficiently testifies, on the one side, that his dream appear'd to him extraordinary, and that it had made a great impression upon his mind: and on the other, that he did not look upon it as absolutely su­pernatural, seeing he somewhat doubted whether he should make any relation of it: But neverthe­less, an Angel, to whom God had given some little foresight of the success of these Civil Wars, and of the end of these Captains, might very well concern himself herein by his permission, with de­sign to give the Prince some ad­vertisement; for he might draw this advantage from hence, either [Page 126] not to continue the War any lon­ger if he had a mind to escape death, or seriously to prepare himself, as he should see his ene­mies to depart this life: and both these things were worthy of a good Angel, who had a care of the life of this great Prince and also of his Salvation. There are also several memorable things of such who were saved from the Massacre, by the advertisement of dreams, which if true, as I see no reasonable cause to doubt of them, they could proceed from nothing else, but Angels, as the truth of the things, and the punctual accomplishment did sufficiently evidence.

But my intention here is not to report histories, but to make Theo­logical and Rational Reflexions upon this matter. And the con­clusion I draw hence is, that God has not now tied his hands; but that he may still give such notices [Page 127] to men, although this be done ve­ry rarely: However we may here make this observation, that as, when the question is concerning such miracles as may be done by the Ministery of Angels (for every one knows that there are some, which cannot be done but only by the power of God) we ought carefully to examine whether they be done by good or bad ones, that so we suffer not our selves to be abused by the seducement of lies and error; so here there is need of a great circumspection, to judge of these nocturnal visions. All the actions of men are either good in themselves, or evil in their own nature, or indifferent and inter­mediate betwixt these; if then any such dream induce us to a good action, and from whence there can follow no bad event, such a dream ought not to be su­spected by us, but if it incline us to any evil, we ought abso­lutely [Page 128] to condemn and reject it, as a delusion of the Devil; and as for indifferent actions, the cir­cumstances, that accompany them, usually determining their nature, I would here rather be guided by Prudence and Charity, which are the general Rules of our conversa­tion, then by the inducement and perswasion of dreams. And ne­vertheless where Prudence and Charity should both agree with an extraordinary vision, I do de­clare that such an inducement to me would be very consider­able.

Lastly, as for dreams that pro­ceed from natural causes. I sup­pose that where I have spoken of their causes from whence they proceed, I have sufficiently di­scover'd their vanity. It is cer­tainly a great weakness of mind or a superstition very unworthy of Christians in the least to rely on [Page 129] them, either for the conjectu­ring of that which is come, or for founding our resolutions of least importance upon them. I shall only here give two adver­tisements, the one whereof re­spects the health of the Body, the other the safety of the Soul. First, then we ought to have a regard to our dreams, when they may furnish us with some indications concerning the constitution of our own bodies; that if they mark out any fault in our tempers, or any disorder in the humours of our body, and so threaten us with some disease or sickness, that then we may provide against it by the Course of Physick.

As for the second, if the fre­quency of certain dreams, and their evil quality, do inform us that we are inclin'd to some vi­cious passions (although this may be better known by our actions [Page 130] waking, then by our dreams) that we then endeavour to cor­rect them by Christian Morality, Lastly, since as Philosophers have observ'd, the quality of dreams is a sign and token not only of the constitution of our bodies, but also of our minds, that the most vertuous have always the most so­ber and temperate dreams, every one therefore ought carefully, to give himself to the exercise of Vertue, Temperance and Sobrie­ty, that so he be not importun'd and molested with turbulent ima­ginations.

Thus, most Honoured Brother, you have the results of my thoughts when at certain spare hours in my journey I set my self to me­ditate on this subject: if other affairs had not deny'd me further leisure, and if I had not been upon other designs, which I both promised, and which have been [Page 131] long expected from me, I had bestow'd more care and study in this little Work. All that I was able to do, was to finish it, which I partly doubted whether I could or no, when I first set Pen to Paper: Such as it is, I heartily present it to you, and shall esteem it happy, if it receive your Approbation; for as much as that which you receive from the publick ought to render your testimony beyond exception. Sir, I beg the assistance of your good Prayers to God for me, not only that he would give me grace and strength to finish, what he hath put into my mind to undertake, for the clearing of his truth, but principally that, notwithstanding the many hindrances I meet withal, he would strengthen me with his good Spirit, that I may finish my course to his glory, and the edifica­tion of his people. And I also do heartily pray, that he would [Page 132] heap upon you the choisest of his blessings, and am assuredly,