things by setting them forth in publick Our Lord Christ himself whilest he lived in the humane Nature spake after that manner and fashion that only the more intimate Disciples should understand the mysteries of the Word of God but to others he spake onely in Parables he also commands that holy things should not be given to Dogs nor Pearls cast before Swine Therefore saith the Prophet I have hid thy Word in my Heart that I might not sin against Thee And Mary the blessed amongst women when the Angel Saluted her and told her what glorious things should happen unto her it is said that she laid up the sayings in her heart and pondered them in her religious mind which reverence and serious meditation on these wonderful things which the Angel communicated unto her was well pleasing to the blessed Creator whence every good and perfect gift proceeds For all celestical vertues are wonderfully strengthened by secrecy and the holy powers attracted who detest publick and profane things and vain bablings Now Dreams are no other then certain discourses and incorporeal Sights of the Soul being in sleep loosed from the heavy Fetters of the Body and sences whereby it hath an near affinity with the matereal beeings and according to what property of the sevensold Nature she is subjected unto such and such Phansies Representations or Dreams she apprehends which appears as real as if they were corporeal qualities and the Soul is thereby either tormented and full of perplexity or on the other side filled with Joy and Delight apprehended in the Divine Vision somewhat to this purpose is imitated by Iohn the Divine in the Revelations where 't is said Blessed are they that dye in the Lord for their Works do follow them For the Manners Habbits Temperance Sobriety Innocency of Life doing unto all as they would be done unto and the true illuminated understanding of the Mysteries of God and his great Divine Law in nature are works that may be said to follow a pious Soul after death which then calls to mind those things that it did in its life and still more intently meditates and thinks on them and endeavors to do them again for they being the Souls chief delight in the time of its continuation with the Body it still takes Pleasure in them but in a more perfect and exalted degree For after Death the Soul being deprived and wholy destitute of all the Faculties and Functions of humaâ—…e Life as Nourishing Growing Generating and various Occupations of the Senses all the delights of the Body must needs cease and be terminated but their works follow them in the Mystery and become substantial for all things then appear in their real Figures Forms and Shapes as they do in this World but in the greatest Perfection and most Sublime The truth of this St Iohn in the Revelations does demonstrate where the Gate of the Heavenly Paradisical Kingdom of Eternal Happiness being opened and shewed unto him it appeared in most beautiful curious Fâ—…ms Shapes and Figures of the things of this external World but in a far higher degree of perfection for the Furniture of this World viz. the innumerable and vast variety of Creatures in the Animal Vegative and Mineral Kingdoms are gross and as it were half dead in comparison of the Heavenly and Spiritual for all these lower things are but faint dull imperfect corporal Figures and Forms af the Spiritual Kingdom whence they had their original It is therefore to be noted that no man ever dreamed that he saw any Thing Figure or Shape of the Animal Vegative and Mineral Kingdoms which he never saw thought or heard of before at least in the parts if not in the whole for though many times things are magnified or diminished and made better or worse or Heterogeneous things conjoyned in a representation that never were in nature yet still there is nothing that hath not before been seen heard or though of The like is to be understood of the contrary or dark Kingdom of Wrath or Hell such as have by transgression precipitated their souls thereinto their work do also follow them and all Figures Forms Shapes or what ever else is represented unto them is Fearful and Hideous according to what degree they have with their wills entered into the wrathful fierce unclean Principle Their Conditions is like men in terible Dreams who are afraid of Swords killing falling from high places drownings Rocks falling on them or being torn to peices with wild Beasts and the like strange fierce or malancholy imaginations and representations which are all real and most essential and yet no danger of death near them nor any period to their woful condition And therefore the state of the damned is called Eternal death and a worm that never dyeth and therefore no end of their sorrow and misery These strange â—…hansies and yet real apprehensions do follow each Spirit or Soul according to that property which carried the upper dominion in the time of the Body from which predominating property do arise and are generated most frightful hideous representations whiâ—…h put the captivated Soul into unexpressible fears agonies make it desious to die cannot but continuing forevermore in this doleful torture perplexity yea the predominating quality gives the form to the new Body viz. of a Dog Cat Bear Lion Fox Tyger Bull Goat or other savage Beasts according to what degree such persons in their life time entered into any of their respective natures by Cruelty Lust Subtilty or the like for this very cause as was before intimated all the evil Angels Souls that have at any time appeared in Dreams or Visions have been clothed with beastial Shapes Figures Forms but good Angels and blessed Spirits in human Form and cloathed with the product of clean innocent vegetation as fine Linning and the like for which reason some of the Philosophical Ancients would not wear any other cloathing or garment then what had an innocent original as pure Linning and the like of their Foods whereby immitating the good Angels they attracted their benevolent Influences Thus every persons Joys or Sorrows in the Worlds to come are of that nature as where the predominant properties and inclinations the will entered into in the time of its corporeal pilgrimage for from the two internal or immaterial Worlds viz. the Good Heavenly and Paradisical and the Hellish Wrathful does proceed is generated this good evil or material World of which external beeings are but a platform or figure Which may afford a very sublime and Philosophical Speculation and he that would truely know the great adorable and ever blessed Creator must with fear and earnestness pray unto him to teach him the knowledg of himself and of the things that are every one of which does in its respective degree contain the true nature and property of the whole for the wonderful all forming Creator is in the midst of his own works and does sustain and
PYTHAGORAS HIS Mystick Philosophy REVIV'D OR THE Mystery of DREAMS UNFOLDED Wherein the Causes Natures and Uses of Nocturnal Representations and the Communications both of Good and Evil Angels and also departed Souls to Mankind are Theosophically Unfolded that is According to the Word of GOD and the Harmony of Created Beings Night unto Night sheweth Wisdom Psal. 19. 2. To which is added A Discourse of the Causes Natures and Cure of Phrensie Madness or Distraction By THO. TRYON Student in Physick and Author of The Way to long Life Health and Happiness London Printed for Tho. Salusbury at the Sign of the Temple near Temple-Bar in Fleet-street 1691. THE CONTENTS OR CHIEF HEADS of the Two Ensuing Treatises Of Dreams Chapter 1. IS by Way of Introduction shewing the Difficulty of this Work it s Usefulness both in Physick morral Phylosophy and Divinity Objections against the Observations of Dreams Distinguish'd and Answered Those that have hitherto Treated of this Subject have done it imperfectly because they understood not the true Radix of Dreams The Vain or Superstitious Conceits of many People about their Dreams no Argument but a Wise and Good man may still regard his with great profit to himself from Page 1. to p. 11. Chapter 2. Gives a Definition of Sleep and shews its Causes Natures and End The Mischief when 't is too long Also a plain Description of the Nature and Uses of the inward Sence's Faculties of man Viz. the common Sence Phantasie Iudgment Memory and where each of them Reside Why we sometimes remember our Dreams and sometimes not Of those that Talk Rise Walk c. iâ—… their sleep the Causes thereof and hoâ—… to prevent it as also of those that arâ—… troubled with the Night-Mare itâ—… Causes and Cure from Pag. 11. to 26â—… Chapter 3. Layes open the general Cause or Radix of Dreams whence they are derived viz. from the ever active proerty of the Soul that really we never sleep without Dreaming and the reasons why we do not sometimes perceive it That there is no standing still in the ways of God or Nature whence occasionally is discoursed why young Converts very zealous at first do afterwards decay in Grace and Knowledge the Advantages of being sober and serious and pressing on after greater Acquisitions and Attainments from Pag. 26. to p. 47. Chapter 4. Treats of the Causes of Dreams more particularly where seven Causes are assigned viz. 1st The Constitution 2dly The Profession or Course of Life 3dly The influx of the Planets 4thly Diet or Medicine 5thly Evil Spirits 6thly Good Spirits and Angels 7thly and lastly Extraordinary Visions from God all which are severally handled and the whole reduced into a threefold Radix viz. either 1. from the outward Principle of this World or 2. from the dark wrath or 3. from the friendly Divine Principle of Gods Love and Light and how by your Dreams you may know which of these three Principles do predominate in your Souls with a distinction of the several kinds of Dreams arising from each Complexion Sanguine Cholerick Melancholy and Phlegmatick as also of those that flow from each of the seven Planets from Pag. 47. to p. 58. Chapter 5. Contains a deep and serious Discourse proving that Dreams are a Figure or Resem blance of the Condition of Souls after Death The representations in Dreams are real to the Soul whilst we sleep tho they seem fantastick to us after we wake by reason of the vast difference between the material and immaterial Worlds from Pag. 58. to p. 68. Chapter 6. Shows how departed Souls Communicate with persons living in Dreams and sometimes in Apparitions What kind of Bodies such Apparitions have and whence taken How long such Bodies can endure Burning of dead Bodies a means to prevent the appearing of their Spirits and why A necessary Note for Midwives That it is easier for departed Souls to communicate with us in Dreams then by Apparitions Here is likewise discoursed of the Communications of Angels with men How Spirits either good or evil are attracted by sympathy or simile and their effects whence the vanity of mens imaginations and desires do in a great measure proceed from Pag. 68. to p. 89. Chapter 7. Treats particularly of the Offices rendred to men by good Angels The Ground of mixt Thoughts Actions The Shapes wherein good and bad Angels appear and the Reasons thereof from Pag 89. to p. 125. Chapter 8. Rehearses in order several Scripture-Examples and Testimonies touching Dreams and discants thereon illustrating thereby many difficult Texts from Pag. 125. to p. 143. Chapter 9. Discourses of Angels-Guardians of Countries and particular Persons and their Offices towards men mentioned in Scripture and how men do conciliate their assistance not by invocation or worship which is not due to them but by simile as they increase in Faith Holiness and Innocency from Pag. 143. to p. 176. Chapter 10. Why man cannot communicate with Spirits in his outward Sences but in Dreams and Extasies It also treats of strange material Figures represented Calls heard Blows received and the like before Death Of middle Spirits Against telling of Dreams Why Dreams are always represented in coopereal Forms and in what sence mens Works are said to follow them after death from Pag. 176. to p. 202. Chapter 11. Offers reasons why we are not to think that these Communications from good Angels by Dreams and the like so frequent in former times are not now wholly ceased Together with the Reasons why the same are so Rare and Seldom from Pag. 202. to p. 219. Chapter 12. The causes why Dreams are always represented actually present As also of the means tending to promote intellectual Communications the Excellency of Temperance and a regular Diet and sober vertuous course of Life and that it doth mightly advance true significant and profitable Dreams and helps to make an honest useful Emprovement thereof Also a Conclusion of the whole exhorting to Piety Holiness and Innocency from Pag. 219. to p. 249. Of Madness Section 1. DEfines the several sorts of Distraction that the same ariseth not so much from Excess of any of the Humors as from irregular Passions of the mind and poysonous Ferments Pag. 249 250 251. Section 2. The particular Passions most apt to cause it Pag. 251 252 253. Section 3. The maner how they disorder the Soul Pag. 253 254 255 256. Section 4. Pride the general cause of several sorts of Madness Pag. 256 257 258. Section 5. Madness is a bringing forth of all conceptions or imaginations as fast as they arise without any choice from Pag. 258. to p. 261. Section 6. They have no Vail to cover or disguise themselves with Pag. 261 262. Section 7. Most of the actions of men are worse and more mischievous and silly then those of common Madmen proved by particular instances from Pag. 262 to p. 267. Section 8. The several species of Madness and hoâ—… by their Carriage you may know whaâ—… Principle is most
unbelief and contempt doth drive away and cause a seperation of the Souls of the deceased as also of all good Spirits and Angels which otherwise would be more prompt and ready to such Communications as being forward to serve help and enlighten those that are sober and well-minded and such as believe and are sensible of those wonderful things and mysterious Impartments for a strong Faith firm desire and belief viz. when the Spirit or Soul is delighted in the Consideration of this spiritual discourse and converse does naturally attract and draw the internal powers Souls and good Angels and causeth them to delight to accompany men both sleeping and waking defending them from various dangers and troubles and ready at all times to reveal and foretel them of future things but on the contrary Incredulity with vain despising Discourses do potently drive them away and causes as it were a total separations so that there seems to thâ—… outward senses and Reason of most men that there is no such thing but all idle vain Conceits so greatly is mankind depraved having by vanity and carnal apprehensions put out the inward Eyes of his intellectuals so that they are to him but as idle immaginations But the Records of sacred Truth do assure us that most of the Sober inlightned men in former Ages were sensible of this secret converse of Angels and Souls and had mysteries revealed to them from God and his ministring Spirits in Dreams and Visions as appears in the holy Scriptures of which we shall take a particular survey in a Chapter by it self But now mankind's frowardness intemperance and incredulity have so estranged those holy powers good Angels and Spirits that they cannot come near man to reveal unto him the secret mysteries of their Beeings and Conditions oâ—… foretel him either Good or Evil that shall happen unto him for a firm Faith in God and frequent meditation on those sublime things have a wonderful power sympathetical inclination and attraction on good Angels and Spirits of all offices and kinds for all things both in the material immaterial worlds haâ—… that secret communiction and opperation by likenesses for the nearer we resemble and become like the good Angels they are the more ready and prone to serve us this being the simpathetical drawing which is the way of God in nature for every thing doth incorporate with its likeness and by a secret agreeable power each thing is ready to strengthen its own Property having the Key in its self that can open the Gates of its own Principle in all other things both Heavenly and Earthly for they all flow from the two grand principles viz. Good and Evil and which soever of these two a man suffers his will to enter into that property or principle gets the dominion and chief goverment in the Soul and if it be in the evil or fierce wrathfull principle then the Spirit and Soul by way of desires and imaginations penetrates all Elements and things both external and internal and wheresoever it finds matter capable or disposed to receive them it incorporates and with highest diligence indeavours to destroy its contrary viz. all Goodness and Vertue And thus men are rendred fit and capable to be the companions of and have society or secret communication with evil Angels and spirits there being often internal agreement and compacts bewteen the Souls of men and evil Angels by way of Imagination and desires in the very center of their lives which very few persons are sensible of though subject unto and consequently cannot comprehend from whence those multitudes of evil suggestions desires and vain imaginations where-with they find themselves incombred do proceed for whosoever suffers his will and strong desires to enter into the fierce violent envious wrathfull original spirit or property has unity with and becomes a Companion of all evil angels and spirits whence do proceed those wonderfull troops and numberless swarms of vain thoughts imaginations desires words and actions being the very dictates of Devils And from the same black Stygian fountain do arise that wonderful subtilty and cunning and those strange unimaginable inventions of evil words acts and vain plays so various a sober man would think it impossible for men to be so strong ready and cunning in the doing of evil hence the old deceiving Serpent is said to have been more subtil then any beast of the field Gen. 3. 1. And our Lord Christ tells us that the Children of this world the race of Cain and sons of Belial are wiser that is more crafty and full of inventions in their Generation then the Children of Light and so the Apostle Paul calls Elinas the Sorcerer O thou full of all Subtilty and all Mischief thou Son of the Devil and Enemy of all Righteousness Acts 13. 10. for as man is various in his central ground as to inclinations dispositions love hate and the like so various also are the evil angels and spirits whence we read their name is said to be Legion because they are many so that whatsoever a man inclines to or awakens in his will and desires whether good or evil there is presently a spirit or angels of the same property ready and prompt to execute and put into practice such his imaginations and to incline and urge him forward in the thing But these sublime Matters are understood or considered but by very few and therefore I would intreat my Friends and all that are of humane Race seriously to ponder in their Minds from what Fountain Principle and Ground that great Variety of Dark Vain and Evil Thoughts Imaginations Words and Actions do proceed of which some few I shall set down for an Example or Looking-glass to the considerate Reader As first in Child-hood for to wish to be Kings and Emperors to have brave Houses and costly Furniture to have gay Clothes and think that whoever meets one does or at least ought to admire an Ass foâ—… his golden trappings to desirâ—… f live idlely and spend all ones time in eating drinking sleeping and playing And as people attain to maturer Years to wish and desire a great deal of Mony and Liberty to have Variety of Women to exceed all others in Evil Mischievous Arts and Sciences to Hurt Kill and Murder all such as shall Offend them For a Man secretly to wish his Wife dead that He might have another with more Mony to contrive how to Circumvent another in a Bargin or Defraud him of his Inheritance or Right by colour of Law and then to boast of our Wit and Cunning in doing it for a man to design himself an Universal Empire or the Government of the whole world as some Princes have done and sacrificed millions of mens lives to that conceit These and the like strange Evil â—…nd most abominable Thoughts â—…inations and Desires bubble up in and have possession of most mens Minds even to the day of death which do all arise and proceed from the poysonous
Root by the Promptings Instigations and Ingections of the evil Genij which are like swarms of Pees in and about man if he suffer his will and desires to enter into their Principle and Property which is to do Evil and only Evil and that continually Others there are whose desires are not so far engaged upon Notorious Wicked Objects but rather amuse themselves with Vanities and Things which they conceit to be Innocent and Indiferent as an over care of being well spoken of in the World and therefore studying Complements and Civilities to procure Esteem pleasing themselves with fine Buildings and dilicate Walks and Gardens doting upon a brave Horse or a Dog or placing all their Affections Delight and Joy in some one particular Child or the like Now when any one doth thus inordinately take pleasure in such things he or she will continually be incouraged and prompted forward by evil Angels and Genij of a middle Nature that are indued both with the property of the inward and outward Principles having as it were an equal mixture of both which diligently attend the Motions Actions and Inclinations of each people incouraging and making them strong and fixed in their way of Vanity and when ever they go about to do an Action that in it self is good they suggest something that may mar and spoil it by circomstances As when they give an Almes they tickle them with a conceit of Glory and so they do it not for Godâ—… sake that hath commanded it but to be seen and praised if men if they are abstemious these ill spirits recommend it not as a necessary Vertue but as it saves their money or preserves their credit and so in all other like cases Others by Complection or Education devout having entertain'd and suffered their desires to enter into Superstitions or limmited sowr harsh forms of Religion immediately they are attended with an evil Genius or Angel that increaseth their peevish mistakes under a notion of Zeal so that at length for a Lye and vain superstitious idle Fancy of another mans they will both suffer death themselves and when they most cruelly murder their Brethren that will not nor cannot believe as they do they think they do God good service witness the daily Practises of many Turks and others So Great Strong and Wonderfull are the simpathetical opperations of evil Angels and Spirits on the souls of men that whatsoever any person inclines to or what Principle or Property soever is awakened or gets the Government in the center of his Life or that the same does naturally invite or attract a Genius or Angel of a sutable property which does diligently wait upon him or her so long as they shall continue in that state But if the will which indeed is the Primum mobile in man turn it self away from that and enter into another thing then the Government of that Genius or Angel grows weak and another takes his place according to the nature of that thing the man is inclined unto for no sooner can a man fix his thoughts and desires strongly upon any thing but a genius is presently at his Elbow and ready to suggest an increase of the same longing and prompt him to put his Imaginations into Action CHAP. VII Treats particularly of the Offices rendred to men by good Angels the grounds of mixt Thoughts and Actions the Shapes wherein Good and Evil Angels appear or represent themselves and the Reasons thereof VVHat we said of the Evil Genij is likewise to be understood of good Spirits and Angels in a contrary manner for they are no less ready and diligent to attend all people that are soberly and innocently inclined and do dictate to them Vertuous Things and Ways and do mightily strive for and defend all the Children of Vertue and Piety against the assaults and stratagems of evil Angels not only in an incorporeal way but also outwardly as to the Body preserving them from being Drounded falling from High Places being Killed Robbed Beaten Mislead and an hundred such like Mischances Also it is to be noted that there do arise great Tempest and Troubles in mens Souls and Minds through the strife and Contending of the good and evil Genij and Angels for Superiority or Government whence do proceed that strange and otherwise unaccountable Variety of mixed thoughts and imaginations of both good and evil so that sometimes when a man has as it were just concluded to do an evil action the good Genius or Angle comes in with a powerful admonishment but with a gentle soft and as it were still voice saying Do not this evil thing and this doth prevent many great outrages and cruel mischiefs amongst men for all men that are not as it were seared up and as it were captivated in the fierce Wrath poysonous Principle when they incline or attempt to commit evil do find some checks or reluctances and experience the effects of a struggling or counter ballancâ—… in their Souls between the good or evil Genij or Angels and which soever of the two the will gives up its assent and consent unto that carries the day and proceeds as in tryumph to the Action whether good or evil Thus sometimes a man going about his occasions shall have strange and most wicked thoughts and imaginations injected or darted as it were into his mind without any premeditation consideration or sensible occasion and then presently he shall have an opposite thought beam'd in from the good genius which does Moderate Allay and put a stop to the evil Ones and thus a multitude of surprising imaginations both in good and evil attend mankind by the dictates Gleams Rayes and Influences of Genij or Spirits which are of very wonderful consideration and moment But although those restless Spirits always busie yet the most dangerous time of all and that wherein evil Angels most certainly accomplish their mischievous designs to the destruction of men is when men give themselves up to any Intemperance or Disorder as Passion Drunkenness Gluttonny Swearing Lying Cheating Envy Debauchery Violence Oppression and the like for by these Evils men do secretly awaken their own Fountain or Principle and give the evil Spirits great Power and Authority over their Souls so that they are led into Captivity and Bondage and ensnared in a Thousand Evils and Miseries and from this impure Fountain which men awaken by their Intemperance and Uncleanness proceed the multitude of vain Dreams and lying Visions for according as the more central parts are awakened and sutable to that Principle that governs in the life's-Spirit such are the Dreams Yet it must be understood that no man's dream is wholely and altogether evil and vain for that cannot be except men were meer Devils which also cannot be so long as we live in the humane Nuture for mans fall was not like the fall of the evil Angels for these latter fell into the dark Abiss or original Wrathful Principle without or beyond Nature and Creature and
therefore there was for them no help nor recovery but on the contrary men fell into the knowledge of Good and Evil that is into Nature and Creature which is his inexpressible happiness as being not left destitute or uncapable of the Blessing or Regenerating Seed of the woman for there does centrally dwell in the humane Nature that which the wise man calls The Voice of Wisdom that continually calls man to Repentance and Reproves him for his evil Wayes This is the Genius Optimus the Soul of the Soul and the Eye of the Mind that has power and is alwayes willing to defend man from all the Assaults of evâ—…l Angels and unto this holy Principle and friendly Fountain the Dictates and Voices of all good Angels and Spirits do concur it being a great part of their work and business to assist man and preserve him from the inward incursions of the multitude of malignant Spirits And as mens Thoughts Imaginations Words and Works are mixed viz. Good and Evil but generally the evil does much over-ballance the good the very same is to be understood of their Dreams and night Visions whence it comes to pass that the far greater part of mens Dreams proving so false frivilous vain and impertinent they are become infamous and a Reproach is unjustly brought upon Dreams in general whereas indeed the fault is in themselves that their Dreams are no more certain for the streams cannot asord good pure water if the Fountain be defiled neither can any expect true delightful and pleasurable Dreams and night Visions when the unequal Forms and Properties of nature have gotten the upper dominion in the heart and soul Or who can hope for the friendly Visits and Communications of good Angels when both Soul and Spirit are captivated in evil and lives as it were in another Country or Region which is as opposite to that wherein they delight as Light is to Darkness or the Zenith to the Nadar And therefore they cannot come there for Angels and Genij have power only in their own respective principles and mankind cannot draw neer nor have any Communication with them not they with him except he immerseth his will and desires into their principle This is clearly manifested by all things in this external world which is a real and true Figure of the internal from whence it proceeded for here we see how every thing desires to accompany its own kind as proceeding from the same Matter and Element and when the same properties have the chief dominion in the Centre of Life And therefore those men whose predomnant Qualities are alike have a great affinity with each other in their Dispositions and Inclinations and and do often heartily love and desire each others company and the same is to be understood in many other things where they agree in number weight and measure there they powerfully incorporate and rejoyce together and with united Forces endeavour to cast out their Contraries A pregnant Example of this we have in sounds If two Instruments of Musick of one sort be Tun'd to an equal pitch strike one of the strings and the same string on the other Instrument will Shake or Tremble as I my self have experienced The very same attractive and sympathetical Inclinations have all other things though in some it be more occult what man in the world would believe the Attractive Vertue and Power which the Loadstone has upon Iron if it did not appear to his Eye For the wise and wonderfull Creator has endued all things with an influential vertue and attractive Inclination and Certainly if Nature hath such Great Power and Secret Energy in inanimate Things much more there is in the Living Power or Highest Graduated Spiritual and Immortal Beeings of which these Outward Things are but Figures if man did but know or were but sensible how Wonderfully he is Made and Excellency of his own Composition and that in him is Contained the True and Real Principle both of Time and Eternity then would he be ashamed of his condition and ever Praise and Admire and Serve his Blessed Creator in Fear and endeavour to immitate Him and all Good Angels in Innocency and Well-doing which would more powerfully attract the Sweet and Blessed Influences of all Good Spirits and the Intrinsick Vertue of every other Thing whereas Discord and Evil do as Powerfully drive away all Good Intelligences and make men altogether incapable of Divine Visions so that he being Defiled and Polluted with Violence cannot soresee any Celestial Thing but becomes as it were wholy Blinde as to those Sublime Misteries and Holy Vertues which is a Wofull Condition and very Deplorable for then they call Evil Good and Good Evil not being Capable to make any Distinction of their Properties or the Principles of their own Nature On the other side a firm Faith and a continued Contemplation or Meditation on the wonderfull variety of Seperated Beeings and the Immortal World whence all material things take their Birth the inward Beeing the Life and the outward but as the Body for men I say to be sensible of these Sublime Opperations does Facilitate forward and promote true Visions more especially if Temperence Cleanness Innocency be observed in Meats Drinks Exercise Words Works and Communications for these Vertues are Divine Gifts he that obtaineth the Knowledg and Government of himself is endued with a Glimps or Ray of Divine and Universal Understanding both of the Material and Immaterial Creatures together with the Fear of the Lord and the inward Workings of his Holy Spirit and Divine Power therefore it is said That the Spiritual man discerneth all things even the deep things of God that is both things Internal as well as External wherewith agreeth the Apostle teaching That what ever may be known of God is manifest in man who is the only Creature in this Visible Material World that is capable of all Spiritual and Natural Learning and as he shall give way and be obedient to the inward voice of Wisdom that continually cries in the Gates of his Microcosmical City so shall he be endued by degrees with a True Sight and Spiritual Apprehension according to the use he makes of and the Advantages he puts his intrusted Talents unto For the Foundation of all Wisdom and Right Knowing is within in our own Apartments therefore there is a Necessity for every Man first to know himself in some Measure before he Think or Presume to Know or Understand any other Thing Truly be it either Natural or Spiritual and those that with an Holy Humility do Aspire to this Sublime Knowledge Viz. of God Nature and Themselves ought by all means to be in good earnest and Zealous for Cleanness and Innocent Living for Abstinence Sobriety and Temperence do wonderfully fortifie the Observers thereof against the Assaults and Temptations of Evil Spirits and Angels and make the Body Lightsom Pleasant and Healthy thereby enlarging all its Functions and also Prepares the Soul for Celestial
in beastial shapes and hideous frightfull forms it is but a bad sign or token of their Condition and State in the other World and that they have not retained the humane property in the time of the Souls being in the Body for according to what property of the wrathfull Principle man has suffered his Will and Desires to enter into that same Quality or Property gets the Dominion and chief Government in the Centre of the Soul and if men live and dye in the power and strength of that predominating wrathful Nature and do not weaken or change it by Repentance and Regeneration then from that very property is generated a new Body and fealed with its proper Signiture for every Spirit has and is endued with an innate power by which it can attract suitable matter out of all things for a Covering or Body suitable or of a proportionable form and nature to its self for as at the beginning when the eternal sole Self-Existent Essence moved Himself to the Creation or Manifestation of all external Beeings and Creatures then according to the qualification of the seven Fountain-Spirits and what property degree and nature of the Spirit such matter was capable to attract out of all things for a Covering or Body such was the external nature form or shape proportionable to the inward Life or Spirit Therefore the outward Signatures or Forms Shapes and Complections of each Creature both in the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms doth clearly manifest what form or property in the seven fold â—…ture carries the uppermost Govâ—…ent therein But none can rigâ—… distingush this but only the unâ—…led Eye though every one may more or less perceive it since in Animates 'tis most clearly manifested by the eyes of each Creature For the Eyes are the open Gates and Light of all the natural Faculties through which continually pass the most subtle spirits of life and have there their free egress and regress For which Reason the disorders of nature and the strength weakness liveliness and dull heavy indispositions both of Man and Beast may easiest be perceived by the eyes and face And hence also it comes to pass that the wishful looks of some saturnine people whose souls are captivated in the astringent bitter wrathful nature do sometimes wound the pure spirits and health of those they wish evil unto which the Ancient called Fassination and our Vulger say of such as they conceive to be injured that they are bespoke Yet it is to be noted that the wishes of those bad people without their fight or looking upon one hath not that power to hurt the health or any thing of that nature as seeing and wishing both together nor yet can either of them or both conjoyn'd hurt or wound the health of any but only such as are under the dominion of their Spirits and live under the government of the same evil Properties though in a lower degree for those that are higher exalted then themselves in the Wrathful Bitter Saturnine Nature they cannot injure much less can they touch or hurt others who live in any degree of Regeneration and acknowledge the holy Fountain and eternal Light and Love of Jesus Christ to be Guide and Governour of their Souls there being a wonderful difference and vast Gulf between the Principles they live in the one being Light and the other Utter Darkness Now as the extern Signature of all material Bodies is an intelligible Character or Index of the internal Spirit or Vertue so separated Souls when they assume aierial Bodies or represent themselves in Dreams do it in Shapes and Figures Analogous to the state they are in and that Principle which bears sway over them I shall conclude this Chapter with two observations delivered by two learned men The first Trythemius who asserts that never any good Angel appeared in the shape of a woman The other Van Helmon who in his ninty third Chapter has these words If an Angel appear Bearded let him be accounted an evil one for a good Angel hath never appeared with a Beard The truth is a woman is the weaker vessel and was first in the Transgression so that Sex is an emblem of weakness and therefore there is no reason why the good Angels amongst a â—…om there is no difference of Sex shâ—…d chuse to appear as a fem â—…e but â—…tue being of a spâ—… aâ—…ove 〈◊〉 â—…d assumes the shaâ—… of the â—…t excellent of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the same reason they maâ—… appear without beards both because hair is an excrement and verges somewhat in resemblance to the brutish Nature as also more especially thereby to denote their perpetual Youth Beauty and Vigour wherein those intellectual beeings which keep their First Glorious and Happy estate do alwayes remain And the contrary in all those particulars is to be understood of the evil Genij who by their fall rendred themselves lyable to weakness imperfection and continual Transgression and consequently allyed to the savage nature which they often resemble in being all over hairy as is storied of the Satires and Fawns a sort of corporial Demons mentioned by the Ancients and one of which the great Augustine testified that himself saw CHAP. VIII Scripture Examples and Testimonies touching Dreams HOw highly Dreams were esteemed by the holy Ancients and Prophets appears by many Testimonies of Sacred Writ The ever blessed Creator frequently sending his Angels and good Spirits to tell and reveal unto his People and Sons of Wisdom his Divine Pleasure sometimes to admonish them of future things and sometimes of their own evils and at other times to avoid and prevent the evils that evil men threatned them with as Genesis 20. 3. God came to Abimeleck in a dream by night and said unto him Behold thou art but a dead man sor the woman which thou hast taken for she is a mans wife This Angelical admonishion and reproof proved very profitable to Abimelech for hereby he repented of his evil which otherwise he would ignorantly have committed and saved himself and his people unviolated and safe from the severe Judgments so near impending and threatned so Gen. 31. 10 11. The Angel of the Lord appeared to Iacob in a dream and bad him return into his own Land and when in obedience to that Vision he had stolen away unawares from Laban and Laban with his Brethren persued him seven days Journey designing as it seems to fall upon him with Violence 't is said in the 24th verse that the Lord came to Laban the Assyrian in a Dream by Night and said unto him Take heed that thou speak not to Iacob either good or bad that is offer not any Violence to him as appears verse 29. By which means the rage of Laban was restrained and Iacob preserved from danger Did not Ioseph whilst yet but a Child receive intimation of his future advancement in a Dream Gensis 37. 9. Which Dream was repeated or doubled unto him for the greater assurance of the truth
is the Doctrine of the wise Antients that not only every person man or woman from his or her first coming into this world hath in an especial manner a particular good Angel deputed which therefore is called his or her Guardian Angel or good Genius and that another evil Angel also of a direct contrary nature and property is always attending us thence called Catademon or a mans evil Genius but also that Communities Nations and Countries have also particular Angels assigned to their government or super-intendency And therefore in some Translations that eighth verse of the thirty second chapter of Deuteronomy is thus read when the most high divided to the Nations their Inheritance when he separated the Sons of Adam when he set the Bounds of the People according to the number of the Sons of God that is allotted to all the several Nations distinct Rulers and Supervisors amongst the Holy Angels here called the Sons of God Thus as all Contention Hate Malice Strife Oppression Violence Fighting Killing Murders and Wars both Private and Publick are first conceived in the Spirit and have their Foundation from the Wrathful Poysonous Principle so when men by their sinful vanity have awaked or kindled this direful Principle which threatens destruction and Ruin to both private Families and publick Societies States or Governments then there begins a great Combat and as it were open Wars between the Guardian Angels of each person or Country and which soever of them gets the Victory that King Country or People succeedeth in its Wars here below and subdueth the other This I conceive is plain and undeniably evident from the 10th chapter of the Prophet Daniel where an Angel comes to Daniel who had spent three weeks in mourning fasting praying said unto him O Daniel greatly beloved understand the words I speak unto thee for unto thee am I now sent for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand and to chasten thy self before thy God thy words were heard and I am come for thy word sake but the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty dayes but lo Michael one of the chief Princes came to help me and I remained there with the Kings of Persia now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy People in the latter days for the Vision is for many days And having strengthened the Prophet proceeded thus knowst thou wherefore I come unto thee I will return to fight with the Prince of Persia and when I am gone forth lo the Prince of Grecia shall come but I will shew thee that which is noted in the Scripture of Truth of Michael your Prince thereby to understand the several respective Angel Guardians or Titular Intelligences of those Nations and that every particular person as well as Nation or Country hath a peculiar Angel Guardian seems to me very plain from the Scripture especially those two undeniable Texts Mat. 18. 10. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels alwayes behold the Face of my Father And Acts 12. 15. when the Maid came and told the Brethren that Peter whom they supposed to be in Prison was at the Door they not believing her said It is his Angel which plainly argues what a firm opinion and belief the faithful Christians of old had in this matter The like stirvings and oppositions are to be apprehended of the Guardian Angels and chief Princes of other Countries Places and People there is frequent struggling between the Internal Princes but still the prime occasions or first motives are generally given to them by mens sinful vanities which do move the inward wrathful Principle of nature whence all those judgments and cruel Miseries do proceed and which do give oppertunity and advantage to the evil Angels to insnare man in a thousand Mischiefs unheard of Debaucheries Idle Dreams and Lying Visions For the Lord who is a God of Holiness and Purity and loveth Truth in the inward parts doth not visit any with heavenly Dreams or Visions but such as call uâ—…on fear and believe in his sacred Name such whose Temples are undefiled with Blood and Uncleanness and their Hands unstained with Oppression or Violence such in all Ages he hath admitted into his holy presence and granted unto them his good Angels to Teach Guard and Defend them from Sin and Evil but we do not read that in former times the Lord did ever so visit the froward and perverse of heart or granted them the help of these noble illuminated Companions viz. the blessed Angels and good Genij for alas tho these blessed and good-natured Intelligencers were ready to attend them they instead of accepting and attracting such their assistance do by wicked practises and intemperate lewd habit of Life and continual Violence drive the good Spirit away and on the contrary conciliate to themselves evil Genij whose work it is to suggest and dictate Lyes in a spiritual way both night and day and such persons Dreams and Visions are generally Lying Phantasies according to the nature of their attendance For every man in the world hath either a good or evil Internal Companion or Genius that he adheres unto of the nature of that property that he has the chief Govenrment in the Life and this Genius does mightily prompt froward all such things as his principle quality or Complexion inclines him unto and as men alter in inclination either to good or evil so their Genius grows either stronger or weaker according as they shall enter with their wills into good or evil and became strong therein it may also be noted that what Imployment Art or Science soever a man strongly inclines unto if he continues therein and becomes fixed he shall obtain a proper Genius which will mightily assist him in that Art and the very same is to be understood in both vertue and vice for as any one becomes wedded unto or practises either with strong inclinations so his Genius or good or evil Attendant becomes strong and powerful and if it be vertue than such a person becomes great in the mysteries of Goodness Vertue Wisdom and the secret knowledge both of God and of himself and of universal nature according as his Temper and Complexion is capable For constancy giveth strength and great power both to the Genius and all the faculties of the Soul And the like is to be said of vice as is most apparant in such as continue long in the practice of Evil they every day grow much worse the Custom takes away the Conscience of sinning and they become Seared as with an hot Iron as the Apostle fitly phraiseth it that is lockt up as it were or wholly captivated in sordid Vanities and Impieties whereby they become cruel and violent in all things and work wickedness with Greediness and draw Iniquity as with Cart-ropes for they have opened the gate of original
Poysons the Bitter Wrathful Astringent Spirits which compose the inwardmost Kingdom of sierceness wherein Devils dwell being destitute both of divine and eternal Light this evil center many men have so terribly awakned as shortly they have by way of simile att racted the evil Spirit and Angels for their Companions who do diligently wait upon and continually prompt them to wickedness and further exciting of the hellish poysonous properties whence are generated Filthy Swearings Lying obscene words and Actions and all kind of abominable Discourses and Actions with a thousand horrid thoughts and vile immaginations frequent amongst the multitude so that if a mans inward Eyes of his Soul were but opened he might easily see Legions of those accursed Demons fluttering in and about such People egging them on to all evil Communication and pâ—…actices it being a certain and undoubtable truth that all filthy vain thoughts words and works do arise and proceed from the Hellish centen and do all carry the power of their own principle with them and so incorporate with their Similes whereever they are received and thence pass back again into their own dark original Source and totally captivate the soul therein where they are recorded and shall stand forever as Witnesses of Condemnation against them if men Live and Dye in that deplorable state and do not Repent and turn from them by Regeneration and Newness of Life Now from those infernal Legions which beset us on all sides both inwardly and outwardly no man is safe any longer then he fears the Lord and has his mind fixed on Sobriety and Temperance in Meats and Drinks Exercises and Communications for nothing as we have already said and cannot say too often does so much disarm weaken prevent and frustrate all evil suggestions and ingections of the evil Angels both within and without as those sublime vertues with convenient Fasting and continual servent Prayers For as our Lord and Saviour Christ saith some sorts of evil Spirits are not cast out or chased away but with Fasting and Prayer and therefore the Kingly Prophet saith wherewith shall a young man cleanse and defend himself from evil Angels and other Enormities but only by keeping thy Word and being obedient to thy Commandements alwayes having a regard to that most excellent saying of Christ First seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and all other good things shall be added or given unto you in due season For as every man does govern himself and into what property he suffers his soul to enter such an Angel or Spirit he allureth be it either good or evil there being Spirits of all Orders Complexions and Natures for which should we think the Intellectual world less peopled then the Material which always are ready and officious to exert their power as we read in the Scriptures of Truth The Lord said who will be a Lying Spirit in the mouths of Ababs prophets and presently steps forth one and said I will and far be it but we should believe that the benign Spirits are as ready to secure and defend mankind from evil when they incline to well-doing and Innocency as the malignant Ones are to precipitate them into Error Guilt and Misery If men did but believe those things and diligently observe and weigh them they would certainly be much more careful in moderating their thoughts and affections neither would many so much dote upon or be perpetually vexed with for or about the Spirits of golden mountains of Ethiopia the Dust of Guinea the Rubish of Peru which do give great advantage to and powerfully attract the evil Demons who by many of the Antients are thought to have some kind of rule over or affinity with those hidden Mines and Treasures in the bowels and dark Cavetns of the Earth which are the Idols whom most people now adore and over whom the evil spirit Mammon is said to be Lord president For whatsoever man does violently taste and set his mind and affections upon presently the evil Spirits that are of that quality do present themselves and are busie to allure the Soul and captivate it with more passionate desires after it For this cause it proves hard and very difficult for men too be temperate to moderate their affections in any thing wherein they have once run out into or contracted an habit of Excess so many Enemies there are to circomvent and inveigle them on every side whose power is great but 't is by reason of the greatness of mans sins which give them the Advantages whereby they lead multitudes into perdition On the other side the good Angels and Spirits are as easily attracted by vertue as the Evil are by vice that is so say they are delighted and conciliated by their own fair Resemblances Purity Love Truth Temperance Order firm Belief cleanness in Meats Drinks Innocency and Silence these are powerful Loadstones or Magneticks that will attract good Spirits and Angels even from the furthest parts of the World It is also further to be considered that true Dreams and Nocturnal Converse with good Angels and Spirits does afford great delight and true pleasure to the mind and soul the very thoughts of those secret visits chears and irradiates the intellectual Faculties even in the day and causeth a desire and longing for the night and the more fixed any man is and the more he lays them up in a Reserved and Religious Breast with serious Thoughts and Meditations on such sublime Mysteries the nearer he approaches unto their Beeings and powerfully invites those holy and material Essences and so by degrees even whilst he is in the Body becomes as it were incorporated with or endenizon'd amongst those Coelestial Quires of blessed Angels and Spirits of the Just made perfect and to have their Names Registred in the Book of Life as in the Revelations is promised For nothing comes so near those glorious Beeings or so effectually engages them as a constant thoughtfulness temperance and sobriety but more especially Innocency and the Child like nature which does in the highest degree imitate the nature Angelical whence our Saviour Christ Mat. 18. 10. admonishes his Disciples to take heed not to despise Innocency and the simple harmless nature which he calls one of these little Ones such as have through the vertue and power of the divine friendly innocent Principle disarmed the fierce wrathful properties and as it were cut off the members of evil that is their thoughts words and works and have as much as in them lies imitated and lived in the innocent nature of Christs Spirit and good Angels for of such he saith Their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven But such as live in Uncleanness and Riot in Chambering and Wantonness in Oppression and Cruelty are subect to the Tyranny and Punishment of evil Angels as executioners of the divine Vengeance which hence are called destroying Angels Thus two Angels came to Sodom and having secured Lot
estranged and degenerated from their principle and precipitated into wrath and Violence But the Inhabitants of the infernal World have the nearest Affinity to such and do by their secret sympathitical Communications suggest and dart into the Soul many Lying Fantasies and Mischevious Dreams and teach them sundry vile pranks and evils For there is as great a variety of Spiritual Creatures and Beeings good and evil clean and unclean Spirits viz. respectively in the two grand Fountains or Principles of good and evil as there are material Inhabitants in this internal or visible principle or Elementary Quaternion of Earth Air Water and Fire and of as various and different shapes formes and natures and complexions if we may in an Analogous way apply those words to Spiritual which commonly are only predicated of gross Palpable Creatures and things for all this wonderful variety of the Animal Vegetative and Mineral Kingdoms are but a Figure and Similitude of what is in the internal Spiritual World whence all those proceeded and the internal Spirit and Power is still the true cause of all motion growth and increase and Life in all Creatures and things contained in the said three Kingdoms and no internal Intelligence Power Spirit Angel or Genius whatever can affect us otherwise than as we draw near them in Spirit and so by degrees awaken their predominant property or principle by which they have power to influence us either in good or evil But for the most part it happens in the Evil because most men live under the dominion of the evil principle and properties of Nature For a man hath both inward outward helps in whatsoever he inclines to more especially if his propensions desires be fixed and strong his inward helps towards vertue are the good Angels and Spirits who readily meet embrace and rejoyce at the drawing near of men to their principle whence it is said that there is Joy in Heaven at the Conversion of a Sinner and to encourage them in well-doing they by almost imperceptible wayes afford them assistances and reveal many wonderful secrets to them both by day and nightly Visions and his outward Helps are innocent Living Temperance and Cleanness in Meats Drinks Exercises and Communications with good sober men and those latter helps being practised to conciliate and promote the former On the contrary men evilly â—…nclined have also two Spurs to wickedness viz. inwardly by the suggestions of bad Doemons whose work it is to prompt men to viâ—…iousness and outwardly by Covetousness Pride Drunkneness Vain-Glory Uncleanness Intemperance evil Words Works and Communications with evil men Likewise as every man is endued Radically with the two grand Fountains or Principles of good and evil which every one in the World is more or less sensible of by their inward operations and that continual Strife and as it were open wars there is between them in the Centre of his Soul so every man thence comes to have two Genij or Spirits that alwayes wait upon and attend him viz. one good which answers to the good friendly principle of Light and Love The other evil refering to the fierce wrathful Principle which two do continually and fiercely contend for Victory and oft-times cause great trouble perplexity in the Soul but when the good overcomes then there is Joy Concord and Pleasure or an intire Satisfaction of Mind It is further to be noted that there are great numbers of Elemental Spirits which are of a middle nature some of which do dart and gleam into some persons whose understandings are not exalted above their Principles or Elements These only busie themselves in foolish unluckey ridiculous prankes and doing of pretty mischiefs whereby they often promote idle jesting vain laughter wanton love stories and the like but they generally attend those people that have poor low beggerly genius whose understandings are very little elevated above Bruits for this Infantry of Spirits or lower graduated Spectrums have no communication either with men of vertue or prudence nor yet with those that are Exalted in the highest degrees of evil for these Lemures or Terrestrial or Watery Spirits are as they chiefly inhabit woods Mountains or unfrequented Valleys Rivers and Lakes so they come nearer to the nature of some sorts of Beasts then of man unless of such men only who have base low beastial complexions for with such they have a simile of this sort The Prophet Isaiah seems to speak Chap. 13. 21. where he mentions Ziim and Ob and Iim and the Satyrs which should dance in the ruins of Babilon they are unclean sorts of inferiour Spirits and their conversation does ill become the Noble Race of Mankind But for the good Superiour Angels their converse is very advantageous and therefore ought by all lawful means to be courted and conciliated and the discoveries made by them to be highly regarded and concealed for its a great and mischievous error for People to tell abroad their Dream and the secret communication of their Souls with Angels and good Genij and so highly to prostitute them to every lewd and vain Companion as though they were of no worth or value this is very common amongst most people but it is a greater evil then most do imagine for some who have had good Angels granted to them for day and night Companions that taught and revealed unto them many excellent things both present and to come have by their divulging and foolish talking of them lost such their Guardians and all the conversation of their good genij which too late they have been sensible of but found them as hard to be regained as Esau's Birth-right was when by evil courses and sin he had fooled it away and then sought it in vain with tears for there is nothing more offends the good Angels then mens light behaviour and vaiâ—… talking of them as on the other side nothing doth more please and allure them then for men to lock up their secrets in religious and thoughtful Brests and to abscond them from the vulger and profain as we read in Ezra Thou shalt deliver these books that contain the secret Law of the Hebrews unto the wise men of thy people whose hearts thou knowest can comprehend them and keep these secrets Therefore it was usual amongst the Philosophical Ancients to hide their great secrets and vail holy mysteries in abscure Characters and Hieroglyphicks because they should not be known to and profaned by the wicked So we read of Theodorus the Tragick Poet when he would have referred something of the mysteries of Jewish Scriptures to a certain fable he was depraved of his sight T is also reported of Theopompus when he began to translate something of the divine Law into the Greek tongue he was smitten with a kind of Phrensie or extraordinary trouble of mind and desired of God to make him sensible wherefore that calamity was fallen upon him received answer in a Dream that it was because he had basely polluted Divine
great 3d Remember to let your quality be sutable and agreable to your Nature and Constitution 4th Let none of your food be attended with the dying Groans of of the innocent Creatures 5th Consider the first state of man and what Foods were ordained for him viz. none but innocent Herbs Seeds Fruits and Grains 6th Bethink your self and understanding from what Principle Killing and Eating of Flesh did first arise and do proceed 7th Consider also the Nature Shapes and Forms of these Creatures that by Nature incline to eat Flesh. 8th Note that all the Wilde Savages of the Desart in whom the Principle of the fierce Wrath does predominant are formed by the same Principle which the fierce Spirits are formed and look also with Teeth and Claws like so many terrible Weapons of War to Prev upon and Tear their Fellow Creatures to pieces and all their Actions and Inclinations do â—…fficiently declare what property has the dominion in the Center of their Lives 9th Consider further Man the finest and most innocent and noble of all others and Governor of the whole Terrestial Orb view and mark well his Form Shape and intire Symmetry how Curiously and yet withal how innocently he is made and particularly that his all wise Creator has not furnished him with any Weapons of Violence so that he is thereby rendered almost uncapable of tearing Flesh off his Fellow Creatures and if he were not by the seeking out of many Inventions faln from his original State and Furnisht by the â—…evil with the Weapons of Mars he would scarce be able to kill and feed upon the inferiour Graduates of the Creation who are his equals in all the outward Elements for would it not be hard for a man to kill a Cow an Hog or a Sheep and Tear it to pieces and eat it as Dogs and Wolves do but what the fierce savage Creatures can do with the Wrathful Weapons of nature that most men do by invention and the helps of the dark fiery Art whereby almost as many humane lives have been destroyed as by the common course of nature or diseases Therefore upon the whole matter such as would have the free undisturbed converse of Good Angels and Spirits and the advantage of real Dreams let them endeavour and with equal constancy and earnestness pursue after purity both of mind and body to avoid all excess of foods or drinks either in quantity or quality to eschew things derived from violence and therefore to be considerate in eating of Flesh or Fish or any thing not procurable but by the death of some of our fellow Creatures rather let them content themselves with the Delicacies of the Vegetables which are full as nourishing much more wholsome and indisputablely innocent particularly avoiding all Gluttony and intoxicating Liquors as strong Drink Brandy-wine and the like and fumes as those of Tobacca Opium and the like Poysons let them make little or light Suppers viz. of Bread and Water Bread and Raisins or the like for the fewer the Body is from supperfluities and the Head from vapours and the mind from perturbations the brisker are the natural Spirits and the finer and consequently the Soul has a clearer Light and is more near the divine Power by Affinity and more susceptible of their influences and communications but above all let them at their going to Bed divest themselves of all worldly Cares as well as of their Cloathes and with an ardent Faith and intire Charity commend themselves to God the Giver of every Good and Perfect Gift and the Revealer as well as Auther of all divine Secrets and then if it be convenient for thee doubt not but thou shalt have such Discoveries as thou art capable of AN APPENDIX Shewing The Cause of Madness AND Several Observables relating thereunto § 1. THere being an Affinity or Analogy between Dreams and Madness so that the understanding of one will somewhat illustrate the other for Madness seems to be a Watching or Waking Dream I have therefore thought it might not be unfit to subjoyn here certain Considerations touching Phrensie and Distraction its Causes Nature and Effects the rather because the same has very barrenly been handled as far as I can learn by those that have undertaken to treat thereof I shall not insist upon the several sorts reckoned up by Authors as Phrensie which they define to be An Inflamation of the Brain and its members with a continual raving and sharp constant Feaver caused by cholerick Blood to which is joyned also excrementious Choler Mania or Madness which is a loss of the wits with raging and fury but without a Feaver being a cold and dry Distemper which they say arises from adust or burnt-black Choler And Melancholy which is a doting or Delirium without a Feaver and so different from a Phrensie but with fear and sadness whereby it differs from madness which is accompanied with boldness and Fury As all those and others varying in Symptoms are but several Species of Distraction so though Galen having constituted four Humors in the Body laid it down for a Principle that from the excess of some or one of them all Diseases do proceed and consequently was bound to assign these as causes for such Distempers yet more narrow Searchers into the Mysteries of Nature have long since discarded that Doctrine which seems to consist meerly in Forms and Words rather then Reallities and do conclude that most Diseases arise either from Irregular passions of the mind or poysonous ferments occasioned by ill Dyet or inproper Physick in the Body § 2. The truth is Madness and Phrensie do generally and for the most part for some other few particular causes we shall give an account of by and by arise and proceed from various Passions and extream Inclinations as Love Hate Grief Covetousness Dispair and the like which do too violently awaken or stir up the Central Fires or four first Forms of the original of Nature which thereupon do break forth violate and destroy the five inward Senses of the Soul whence the outward Senses do arise So that the Soul loseth its distinguishing property and then the Imaginative property and Soul's Power becomes rampant unbounded or as it were without a Guide and consequently such a Soul is unchain'd or let at liberty from the dark Confinements of the grosser Senses and Reason even as men in Dreams for whatsoever in this state is represented unto the Soul by the uncontrolable and unbounded Imagination is essential unto them whether it be good or evil For it is evident that in Madness persons are not deprived of their grosser Senses of the outward Nature As Seeing Hearing Tasting Smelling and Feeling for those they retain as well as before but they are bereft of the inward Senses or distinguishments and whensoever this happeneth to any then the Soul is unclothed and all its Fantasies and Imaginations become as it were substantial unto them as material things are to those that are in
their prefect Senses and under the Goverment of Reason § 3. For when any shall forsake and slight the counsel of the voice of Wisdom and suffer their wills and desires too violently to entertain and enter into any of the fore-mentioned passions then presently the Saturnine and Martial Poysonous Fires are awakened whence does arise such an Hurley-burley Confusion Strife and In-equality between the properties in the Seven-fold Wbeel of Nature as will in a moments time subvert the government of the inward Senses and Spirit of Wisdom and puts Reason under Hatches and all its Faculties into a Tempest and Confusion so that the Soul is left either without Pilot or Rudder in this outward sensible World And being thus deprived of its true Senses and friendly Guide or Moderator viz. The divine implanted Light then the first Forms of the Original nature mutiny and make War one upon the other a sullen wrathful property being exasperated powerfully attracts and endeavours to compass all with a certain in-drawing Power and this is called the first Form or Saturnine Property which gives a Body or Covering to all Spirits according to the nature of each Thing or Creature The second Form is called Mars viz. The high lofty out-going bitter fierce fiery Property which cannot endure to be much holden or captivated by the attractions and in-drawing Property of Saturn whence does arise in the Soul a most terrible Contest and annoying Heat for the Saturnine Property does most powerfully draw inward and endeavour to encompass and captivate all but this the fierce high lofty property and martial bitter Fire cannot endure it being contrary to its Nature so that in this intestine Civil War or Agonous State there is a terrible dark brimstony or sulpherous fire generated which does so disturb all the inward parts as if Nature were all on Fire even in the Center The Heart akes the inward Body seems to swell and becomes too little for the Soul which in this Combustion is so terribly afflicted that it will no longer be confined to the Body and outward Senses but either withdraws it self and flings up the Reins of Government and lets Reason like a wilde Horse that hath cast off Bit and Bridle and thrown his Rider ramble confusedly whithersoever the Imagination shall hurry it or else sometimes breaks off wholly all Commerce with the Body and separates its self in Indignation and so the Life its self is destroyed this being the great and immediate cause both of Distraction and of Hanging Drowning and various other sorts of Self-Murder which are too frequently commited in the World § 4. The truth is Pride may justly be said to be the chief Procatarick or remote original cause of Madness for an abusive Self flattering Perswasion Credulity or Esteem of Falshood do at first Seduce a person into Presumption and a despising of others or into an Indignation of Self-Love Anger Hatred or Wrathfulness towards his Neighbour from whence proceeds Irreligion Unbelief Superstition impenitent Arrogancy drunken Disparation and sottish Carelesness For as Faith is the Gate unto Humility which is the Truth of the Intelector Understanding so a credulous esteem or judgment of Falshood is the entrance of Presumption and Arrogancy and the first madness of the Soul But other Disturbances as Love Desire Sorrow Fear Terror c. are especially stirred up by extrinsical occasion and therefore they do produce their effects not only in the Soul but in the Body For all passions do in their beginning take away sleep weaken the Appetite and Digestive Faculties and impress dark Idea's upon the spirits and at length through a long immoderate strong or sudden inordinacy those Idaea's do infatuate the Archeus subvert the Iudgment and the Soul is as it were shaken out of its place § 5. Now when the five inward senses of the Soul are weakened or destroyed then they can no longer present before the Judge the Thoughts Imaginations or Conceptions but they are all formed into words as fast as they are generated there being no controul or room for Judgment to censure what are fit and what are unfit to be coyn'd into Expressions For this cause Mad People and innocent Children do speak forth whatever ariseth in their Phantasies but on the contrary all those that attain to Maturity of Years and the knowledge of good and evil their inward Senses of the Soul being unviolated especially such as adhere to the counsel of the Voice of Wisdom they let no Conception or Imagination be formed into words before it be presented by the five Counsellors of the Soul before the Judge which keeps its Court and Seat of Justice in the Center of Life for if this were not more or less observed would not every man in the world seem to be Mad or Distracted For what wild incoherent absurd ridiculous notions should we hear from the most serious people if they should continually Speak and form into words the various Imaginations and Conceptions that do continually arise from the Magie or Generating Wheel of the seven Forms of Nature which never standeth still or ceaseth from working and generating the Soul of man and all the Faculties thereof being a compleat Image of its Creator who slumbereth not nor sleepeth but his generativo and wonderful creating power is always active for never hath any man ceased from Imaginations one quarter an hour in his whole Life or indeed one moment no not even when the Body Sences are asleep For though man can cease from speaking and may attain the Gift of Silence as any shall give their wills thereunto yet they cannot cease from thoughts and Conceptions either good or evil according to what property or principle has obtained the government in the Soul for if a man could or should cease from Imagination then also he must of necessity cease from all Motion and Action and become an eternal Stilness or Nihilation in which state nothing can be brought into Manifestation but it must be done through Motion Strife and Contention of the Properties for all Material and Immaterial were and are brought into Manifestation first by Imagination Desire and Motion For the Imagination and the Desire have a most wonderful deep and hidden Original and if its mighty property were not captivated darkned and as it were chained in the Clouds of gross flesh and dark Powers of the outward and corporeal Nature it would do wonders § 6. Therefore it is not perhaps alwayes so very deplorable an estate as some suppose to be deprived of common Sense and Reason as they call it especially to be a mad Innocent that is if the property of Friendliness have dominion in the Soul For when men are so divested of their Rational Faculties then they appear naked having no Covering Vail or Figg-leaves before them to hide themselves in and therefore they no longer remain under a Mask or Disguise but appear even as they are which is very rare to be known in any that
retain their Senses and Reason for those two serve to cover and hide the Conceptions Thoughts and Imaginations which continually are generated from the various Properties and Centers in man which in innocent Children as soon as they have the use of their Tongues and in mad people is not done but all Conceptions are promiscuously formed into words as they are generated there being no Judge nor Councellors to advise or determine whether they are fit to be divulged and Coin'd into Language or to be stiffled and suppressed § 7. The truth is as the knowledge of evil is mans fall so if this sort of Madness were practised amongst all men that have the use of Reason and their Senses it would be more like Innocency and Christianity then most mens general practises are now-a-days I mean if every man laying aside all subtilty and hypocrisie would speak his mind freely to his Neighbour without Cover or mental Reservations and leave off speaking of one thing to their neighbour or Friends faces and quite other and contrary things behind their backs To complement persons present with a thousand Flatteries and Lyes and revile the same persons as soon as they are absent with as many Calumnies Slanders and unjust Reproaches which is one of the worst kinds of Madness and indeed a Devilish one because they know they do not as they ought being at that very time accused and condemned by the Voice of Wisdom or divine Principle nor is there scarce one thing in Ten that men in the World do act but is far greater Madness and Evil than those things which persons do that are deprived of their Sences For Example Is it not a greater Extravagance for an Ambitious man to sell his Liberty and became a slave to the Lusts and Capricio's of Grandees to spend whole years in supple Attendances Crouching Cringing Fawning or Dissembling only in hopes of being one day made a great man or having an airey Title added like a Rattle to his name and seeing people stand Cap in hand to him whom he imagines to admire him though in truth as many of them as are wise deride and pitty his egregious Folly For a Lascivious man to waste his Wealth his Strength and expose both Body and Soul for the filthy imbraces of a loathsom Strumpet And hazard his Life and honour in attempting the Chastity of some virtuous Woman and be ready to dye for the Love of her whom as soon as he has debaucht he will scorn and hate For men to swallow down vast Estates at their Throats and Piss away the Labours of their Ancestors against the Wall To load their Table with variety of Dishes and be at any charge for poinant Sawces to provoke the Appetite beyond the power as well as necessities of Nature that their Bodies may be filled with Diseases That they may roar under the Stone and the Illiaac Passion and live Tormented Lives and dye an Immature Death For Parents to cark and care and vex and torment themselves with unreasonable Toils and many times hazard their Souls for unjust Gain meerly to heap up Estates for their Children who all ready wish them dead or to leave Riches amongst strangers who in their frolicks laugh at the memory of the old Miser and make themselves and their Companions merry with telling ridiculous Stories of him who for their sakes and for the getting those very Houses and those Bowls they carouze in lies perhaps broyling in the hottest Caverns of the Everlasting Tophet These and an hundred the like things which are the main business and the daily imployment of many that would be counted the shrewdest and most notable part of Mankind Are not I say all these far greater and more mischievous Phrensies than for a man to pull of his Garments and sit naked and spend time in weaving of Sraws or Building with Chalk upon the Walls innumerable Cities whereof he fancies himself to be Emperor To speak Truth the World is but a great Bedlam where those that are more mad lock up those that are loss the first presumptuously and knowingly committing Evils both against God their Neighbours and themselves but the last not knowing what they do are as it were next door to innocency especially when the Evil Properties were not awakened nor predominant in the Complexion in the time of their Senses Tell me I pray Are not all these Intemperances Violence Oppression Murder and savage Evils and Superfluities deservedly to be accounted the worst Effects of Madness As also Lying Swearing vain Imaginations and living in and under the power of evil Spirits more to be dreaded than the condition of those that want the use of Senses and Reason and therefore are esteemed Mad § 8. As for the Species of Madness they are as various as men are in their Complexions for according to what Principle and property whether good or evil does govern the Life in the time of their retaining their Reason and Senses such a property does more clearly manifest it self when the Reason and Senses are broken to pieces for this cause some who have seemed very Religious and soberly inclined as long as they retain'd their Senses and outward Reason as soon as they become deprived thereof the bitter envious fierce wrathful proud Spirit appears in its own form and has its operation without let or hindrance which was before by the cunning Reason and sensual subtilty kept in that it could not manifest it self for some men have obtain'd so much outward government over this bitter Spirit that they can at one and the same time cry Hosanna and Crucifie say God bless you and in their hearts wish your destruction But when such people who hide their Woolvish and Bearish Natures in the external sheeps cloathing of a dissembled Innocency happen to be Mad or deprived of outward Sense and natural Reason then they discover the Savage Nature that ruled before in the Center of their Souls But others who in the time of their sound Senses were accounted harsh and moross or severe their Tongues not so smoothly plain'd or Tipt with Complements but yet their words and works more agreeable to their insides that is they speak as they think and do not play the Hypocrites by retaining subtil Reservations or saying one thing and at the same time resolving on another such I say though many of them did not seem to be so fair and good men as the former yet they are really more innocent and have far better Principles within than the others who made use of their Natural Faculties to hide and cover the subtil bitter Spirit and therefore when these latter plain sort of people happen to be distracted they appear more calm and friendly than the former because the good property had a greater dominion in the Soul § 9. Every person when disturbed in his Senses and Reason then the distinguishing Faculties of Nature does variously appear in properties and Qualities differing according to which of the