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 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 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 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. Whether God doth make use of this kind of Revelation by Dreams now under the Dispensation of the Gospel 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 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 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 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 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
Imprimatur Ab. Campion R mo D no Arch. Car. Ã Sacris Domest Feb. 12 ' 167â— Ex AEdib Lamb. A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE Divine Dreams MENTION'D IN SCRIPTURE TOGETHER With the Marks and Characters by which they might be distinguish'd from vain Delusions In a Letter to Monsieur Gaches by Moses Amyraldus Translated out of French by Ia. Lowde Fellow of Clare-Hall in Cambridge LONDON Printed by A. C. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-head in S t Paul's Church-Yard 1676. TO THE Right HONOURABLE JOHN Earl of Bridgewater Viscount Brackley Baron of Elsemere Lord Lieutenant of the County of Bucks and one of His Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council MY LORD THE first Fruits by the Law of Moses were due to God yet is it no violation now of the Laws of heaven in some proportion to shew our just esteem of those who are so much like it here on earth Hence it is that I presume to Dedicate these my first endeavors of this kind to Your Lordships Patronage and Protection and I could wish that the first productions of Art and Study were like those of Nature that is the best and most perfect in their kind that so the Present might more resemble it's Patron I do not present this to Your Honor as if you stood in need of Translations for in this respect You perhaps are the most improper Person in the Kingdom to make such Dedications to being Your self so Great a Master not only of the French but also of the more Ancient and Learned Languages But I look upon my self under some obligation of justice to return that to Your acceptance which was the result of some few hours which I should have counted stoln from Your Lordships Service but that such is your Candour and benign Temper such Your great love and affection to all commendable Studies that You and they seem to have the same Ends and the same Interests thus what ever time is employ'd in them You are pleas'd to look upon it as spent in Your own Service But this is not all the right You may justly challenge to this Translation Your Title to it seems yet more particular wherein such was your Favour and Condescension that as it would be Ingratitude to conceal so would it be almost Arrogance to acknowledge them wherein pardon the pride of the expression I had the Honour to be instructed by Your Lordship in the French Tongue You being pleas'd not only to peruse but in many places to Correct it so that I cannot now so properly challenge any thing therein my own as the Imperfections And now I hope you will pardon this my innocent Ambition if I desire to publish my Gratitude and that sense of my Obligations which is too big to be confin'd in a private breast How acceptable this Treatise may be to the World I know not yet this I know that I should have sufficiently oblig'd the Age if in the Dedication I had given it Your Lordship's just Character this being the most probable way to provoke men to the love and imitation of Vertue not to represent it in Idea and Speculation only but as it appears both more amiable in it self and more prevalent on others when thus incorporated in the lives and practices of Noble Persons But this though a true and just Relation would be as uneasie for You to hear as it would be difficult yea above the power of my Pen to perform Thus among other things Your own Temper concurs in this to make You Heroically Vertuous that is a follower of Vertue merely for Vertues sake since Your modesty will not endure the common cheap Reward of a due Praise and just Commendation But yet I could wish that I had not so much to plead for the seasonableness of the Discourse in an Age where Infidelity on the one hand Fanatical Enthusiasm on the other seem to divide the greater part of the World where some men look upon all Divine Revelations to be mere Dreams others mistake their mere Dreams for Divine Revelations Now what more proper and seasonable in these circumstances then that which is the design of this Discourse that is to evidence the Grounds and Reasons why we receive those that are truly Divine and reject the vain pretences of others And to whom could the Dedication be more suitable then to one whose Principles and Practices at once confirm and adorn the Religion you profess whose well-settled judgment and understanding of Your Religion in general and Your great affection to the Church of England in particular render You equally distant from the Superstition of the Romanists and the Novelties of later Enthusiasts My Lord I shall not any further by a tedious address misemploy those precious minutes which are usually spent either in Your serious and private Studies or in more publick Employments I shall only beg that God would long continue You amongst us and bless Your endeavours in settling and securing the Kingdom by Your Counsel and supporting the Church by Your constant Affection which is the hearty Prayer of Your Humbly Devoted Servant Ja. Lowde THE PREFACE TO THE READER I Shall not go about to make any tedious Apologies for the publication of this Treatise being conscious to my self of the innocence of my intentions that however I may be mistaken in my apprehensions or have fail'd in my design yet I did intend herein not to offend but to serve thee for I am not of the temper of those who would rather commit a deliberate crime then want an occasion of Apologizing the reasons then inducing me hereunto were principally these two 1. Because those who have not stock enough of their own to trade withall are not altogether unserviceable to the Commonwealth by becoming Carriers and conveyers of other men's goods and Translations I conceive bear some resemblance hereunto and if it be for the benefit and advantage of a Kingdom to bring in the Riches of Forreign Countries then certainly can it not be disserviceable to the Commonwealth of Learning to make the works of other Nations intelligible to our own and whatever Law there may be in particular against other things of the French Nation yet there is none against the Importation of their Learning 2. This Treatise if we consider the whole Series and Method of it's mannagement seems a sufficient vindication of the sober use of Reason in matters of Religion if we reflect upon those natural and necessary deductions which the Learned Author makes from certain and undoubted Principles and those other rational motives of credibility which he makes use of to prove those dreams he there treats of to be truly Divine Yet not so as to exclude that secret sense and inward consciousness which was the immediate result of the Divine Impression made upon their minds by the Spirit of God especially in those dreams and visions where particular and personal commands were convey'd to any of his Servants as to Joseph to convey our
perfectly just and perfectly merciful and being just he must condemn all mankind because sinful but this would be repugnant to his mercy which must also be perfect with effect now seeing the perfection of these two attributes of justice and mercy may consist in God together and since this cannot be unless God doth satisfie and Man do suffer therefore Reason dictates such a Mediator as is both God and Man But this is a Post-nate way of arguing found out since Gods Revelation of his Will in this matter for where did ever appear any such way of reasoning amongst the Heathen Philosophers or any others before Gods declaration of it so that all that can follow hence is only an agreeableness of the Divine Methods of Salvation here made use of to Reason not any ability in Reason to prove that the things ought to be so Antecedent to the Revelation 2. This Argument doth suppose or endeavours to prove the Incarnation of Christ knowable by the Light of Nature which is so far from being true that it is not fully and clearly conceiveable how it could be done even now when it is reveal'd there are indeed some instances in nature which seem to facilitate the belief of the Incarnation thus what is man but as it were a previous Essay to the Incarnation being compounded of Principles as far distant as Heaven and Earth of Soul and Body but then this is only an illustration of a truth already reveal'd not any Antecedent Argument to prove it I might easily enlarge further on this subject but I am very sensible that I have already transgress'd the due limits of a Preface the ensuing Treatise will be a sufficient demonstration of the other particular viz. That Divine Revelation is no ways contrary to the free determination of the Divine Will it being that which God hath promis'd in general and particularly by this way of Dreams and Visions Errata in the Preface b PAge 7. for might or might read may or may c p. 3. line 10 after particular insert actions d p. 6. l. 15. read consistent pag. 7. for Biles r. Boyls p. 3. l. 13. for seems r. is Errata in the Book PAge 17. l. 5. for leave r. bear p. 17. l. 16. for your r. the. p. 20. l. 19. for that r. the. p. 25. l. 3. for that r. their p. 41. l. 17. insert the. p. 44. l. 23. for it and its r. their p. 58. l. 10. insert and. p. 118. l. 11. r. phrensies A DISCOURSE CONCERNING Divine Dreams THE INTRODVCTION Doubt not but you remember the conference we had as we went to Councellor Amproux his lodgings one of our Discourses was concerning the Nature of those Dreams which God sometimes sent unto his Servants and particularly concerning the marks and characters by which they might know them to be truly Divine For as much as you found a great deal of difficulty in that matter I should have been glad if we had discours'd further upon it But the night came on and obliged you to retire to your lodgings and Madamoiselle de la Suze who staid for me in another place and I went also to ours we had some discourse in our return concerning it and she desir'd me according to my ability to illustrate and explain what did seem more obscure and difficult in that subject which she thought worthy of a more attentive consideration I bestow'd some thoughts upon it in my journey and if other affairs had not prevented me I had e're this committed them to Paper But if my occasions which are at present so urgent and importunate do permit I will do it and I here begin this little work in midst of their disturbance on purpose to engage my self to a necessity of finishing it that so I may send it as a testimony of that respect which I bear you and of that singular esteem which I have of your rare qualities and of the Honour of your Friendship CHAP. I. Of natural Dreams and their several Causes 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 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 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 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
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 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 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 re-establish 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 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 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 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 't is 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 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 't is 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 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