had the gift of prophecy though their eye sight failen them as did with Jacob yet they were called Seers because they foresaw future things they were so old that for their Age and gravity they were sometimes upbraided so Elisha by the Children was mocked who undoubtedly were so taught by their ungodly Fathers to say of him go up thou baldhead Neither doth a melancholy constitution as some have imagined make men prophetical either in sleeping or waking but on the contrary renders them uncapable as is evident by the examples of Jacob and Elisha the first of whom being in deep sadness which is the inseparable Companion of melancholy for the loss of his Son Joseph was at the same disabled from prophecy or otherwise he could have told what Fortune had befallen his Son who was not dead but sold by his Brethren Hence Mercer tells us it was an ordinary saying among the Rabbines Maeror prophetiam impedit In like manner the Prophet Elisha for the sorrow of Elijah his Master taken away from him and the anger he had conceived against Jehoram that wicked Prince whilst these two passions were predominant over him he could not prophesie till the Minstrel played with her Musical Instrument to drive away his melancholy sadness and then the hand of the Lord its said came upon him and he prophesied saying Thus saith the Lord c. By all which I hope it is evident that hypocondriacal persons who are grievously afflicted with melancholy are not thereby disposed to prophesie and then by necessary consequence it followeth that Dreams arising from the same natural cause cannot be said prophetical no more then that of Albertus magnus who dream'd that hot Scalding Pitch was poured upon his Brest aâ—…d so soon as he awakned from his sleep he vomited up abundance of adust Chollar Such Dreams certainly arise from the ill habitude of the Body through fullness of bad humors But there is another sort of Dreams which may be called divine or supernatural which are imprinted on the mind of man either by God himself or his holy Angels from which necessarily follows prophecy because such extraordinary impressions are usual for those ends And this I take to be the Reverend Doctors Dream who was a man of so great Piety as well as Study that I cannot think otherwise but that he was able to discern the different motions of his Soul whether they were natural or supernatural of which last he was so firmly assured by his own reason and great Learning that no arguments could disswade him to the contrary St. Austiine saith Animam habere quandam vim divinationis in seipsa That the Soul of man hath a certain power of Divination in it self when it is abstracted from bodily actions I confess then it must needs be drawn up to higher Communion with God than ordinary but more immediately I rather think with Tertullian a little before death about the time of its separation from the Body because many dying persons have wonderfully foretold things which afterward came to pass the reason of which that good Father giveth and therein I judge he was no Montanist when he saith Quia Anima in ipso divertio penitus agitari enunciet quae vidit quae audit quae incipit nosseâ—… Because the Soul then acts most vigorously at the last Broath declares what things it seeth it heareth and what it begins to know now entring into Eternity So the heavenly and pious Doctor according to the prenotions of his Death forseeing his time was short gave his Wife strict charge again that very night as he was going to Bed and in appearance well that she should bury him according to his Dream she affrighted with this dreadful charge sate by him while he fell into a Sleep out of which he soon awaked in a Feverish distemper and violent Hick-up which she taking notice of said I fear Mr. Heylyn you have got cold with going abroad to day but he answered very readily no it was Deathâ—… Hick-up and so it proved for he grew worse and worse till he dyed Now some I hear impute the cause of his sickness to the eating of a Tansey but this is false for I heard the contrary relation from her own mouth his Dream was on the Saturday night his Surplice happened to be burnt on Sunday morning all which day he pass'd in private mediatation in his Study and on the Monday what time he had to spare he spent in providing a Settlement for his Wife as aforesaid But to return again to his good mans sickness of which the true cause as his Physician said was the reliques of his long quartane Ague not purged out by Physick to which he was alwaies averse threw him into a malignant Feverâ—… in which â—…he remained insensible till some few hours before he dyed but when it pleased God to restore unto him his Senses again he most zealously glorified his Name with praises and thanksgivings for his mercies towards himself and Family earnestly praying for them and often commending them to Gods Heaveuly care and protection at the same time he left â—… little Book of Prayers with his dear Wife for her devotion which she shewed afterward to me being a Collection of many Collects out of the Common Prayer to every one of which he had added a most fervent Prayer of his own composure that little Book she said should be the Prayer-Book of her Devotion while she lived Finally as his time grew shorter and shorter he prayed with more vehemency of Spirit sometimes to God sometimes to his Saviour and to the blessed Comforter of his Soul rejoycing exceedingly that he should live to Ascension day uttering forth most heavenly expressions to the sweet Comfoâ—…t of others aud principally of his own Soul with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or full assurance of his Salvation through Christ Jesus which last unspeakable joy and consolation above all other God is pleased to be bestow upon the faithful and seal it to them with the earnest of his Spirit at the hour of Death At which time his Soul now ready to depart and be with Christ his Saviour one Mr. Merrol a Verger of the Church coming into his Chamber to see him he presently called him to his Bed side saying to him I know it is Church time with you and I know this is Ascenfion day I am ascending to the Church Triumphant I go to my God and Saviour unto joyes Caeleftial and to Halleluja's eternal with which and other like expressions he dyed upon Holy Thursday An. Dom. 1663. in the Climacterial year of his Life threescore and three in 〈◊〉 number the Sevenths and ninths do often fatally concurre He was afterward buried under his Sub-Deans Seat according to his Dream and desire His Death lamented by all good men because there was a Pillar though not a Bishop falln in the Church of whom I may say in the Poets words Quando ullum invenient parem
practise as his Elders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How many Breakers are there of Colledge Statutes besides Doctor Heylyn I beleive very few Fellows but they are faulty in some kind or other Yet I will not go about to accuse or condemn them nor Apologise for him further than the rule of Rhetorick will allow and that is Quod negari non queat responsione voculari eludas rem facias risu magis dignam quam crimine that which cannot really be denyed must be put off with a Jest and so it will seem a laughing matter rather than a Crime for which we have the Example of Cicero when he was accused about Money And so it was the Doctors case about Matrimony the whole affair and management of it was a most pleasant humour which he he was resolved to carry on dramatically under a disguise and yet the same was real Mrs. Bride placed at the the head of the Table the Town Musick playing himself waiting most part of the Dinner and no formality wanting all which circumstances were contrived Fallacies and yet most undeniable truths Notwithstanding the Writer of his Life is most greivously offended with any one that is not of his opinion about the Doctors Marriage and the Colledge dividend which he received betwixt that time and the Resignation of his Fellowship Saith he most Davidically But what shall be given to thee or what shall be done unto thee thou false tongue I think still it was a Clandestine Marriage and the Doctor was after bound to restore all emoluments from that time but the Colledge did easily forgive him and in testimony of their Love and extraordinary respect many years after his Marriage did accommodate him for some time of the War with convenient Lodgings for himself Wife and Family when they were driven out of all House and harbour from his two Livings Alsford and Southwarn-borough Why then the Writer should be so rugged as to fall into uncivil terms with that noble Foundation I see no cause for it much less to charge them with odious things to which they themselves can best answer if he will hearken to any reason But he seems to me for a time deprived and as it were in a fit of Quakerism while he Canteth so dolefully saying They take Bread out of the mouths of Young Students and send them to wander in solitary wayes being hungry and thirsty and their Souls ready to faint in them Notwithstanding I cannot but commend his hâ—…arty zeal and affection toward my Father-in-law if he knew how to guide these two good passions with reason and common discretion But for the most part he is a high flyer into hyperbolical comparisons and never observeth a mediocrity betwixt too extreems for one while he likens the Doctor to Joseph the Patriarch another while to Moses the Prophet and afterward sets him down in the office of Mercurius Aulicus or the Kings Diurnal-maker in which last though he endeavours to bring him off again as well as he can I 'le warrant the cutting of Alcibiades Dogs tail could not cause more talk in Athens then this will among our Fanatiques And what was the ground work of those comparisons The Doctor is like unto Joseph because he lost a tryal at Law by a Jury of Taly-men It was not the first time saith he that a poor man was oppressed and a righteous cause miscarriâ—…d but Joseph had never met those signal honours and dignities in Pharoahs Court had he not been first sold by his Brethren for a bondslave into Egypt The good Doctor was like unto Moses for getting a Prebendary in Westminster because saith he when Moses was deserted by his Parents which was never the Doctors case no more than the other of a bondslave for fear of Pharaohs fury God was pleased to provide him a Savior and a Nurse when he was taken out of the bulrushes Again the issue of the Doctors brain because Books and Children are issues was far more numerous than that of his Body Methinks that also is no sweet nor savory comparison Nay himself is like the Doctor for who should give an account of the actions of Doctor Heylyn besides Doctor Heylyn or at least such an one who inherits his natural if not his acquired accomplishments The man hath a strange opinion of himself that he is Doctor Heylyn because he writes his Life that he hath his natural parts if not acquired The Soul of St. Augustine say the Schools was Pythagorically transfused into the corps of Aquin. So the Soul of Doctor Heylyn into a narrow Soul Who can beleive it the more for his saying that an equal if not a double portion of his Spirit is imparted to him I know there is a question in Philosophy An Animae sint aequales Whether Souls be alike But their 's as much difference betwixt those two as between the Spirits of Elijah and Elisha I stand amazed at his similitudes and dissimilitudes his presumption and high conceit of himself that so small a Prophet should go hand in hand with Doctor Heylyn who is not worthy to hold water to the hands of so great an Elijah He hath other examples of most wide comparison I could instance in which there ought to be Comparatio aequalitatis vel similitudinis ' but I can find no anological matter in them but what is strangly hooked in or fetch'd as far as the Antipodes But he is both an Astrologer and a Divine that he undertakes to calculate the Doctors Nativity and give his Judgement thereupon although he knows Judicial Astrology is not well approved of among Divines and that such Astrologers are no more to be beleived than Gypsies and Fortune-tellers whose art is impudence and lying As the Chaldeans affirmeth that the world hath continued above forty thousand years Lactantius therefore saith of them Se quia posse argui non putabant liberum sibi crediderunt mentiri because they think none can contradict them they took the liberty to lye and now let us see his art and wonderful skill in Figure flinging The Birth of Doctor Peter Heylyn saith he according to the rules of our Astrologers which I supwhich I suppose he means the Almanack-makers presaged firm constitution of body and prosperous success in the civil affairs of humane Life For it was November 29. 1599. at Burford in the County of Oxon between eight and nine in the morning A most excellent Astrologist Quem mea non totum Bibliotheca capit Who hit the hour so exactly on which depended all the Doctors good Fortune between eight and nine a clock in the morning only he forgets the rapid motions of the Heavens in that time which might cause great alterations I expect he will be more satisfactory in the next horary question he publishes for in this the rule and the example does not agree because the Doctor had not firm Constitution of body but many ill fits of Sickness
such a predetermined Term of every mans Life which is immutable but the great God of Heaven from whom we derive our Being can lengthen or shorten our days as his Wisdom pleaseth and on the other side this is a Decree most absolute and irrevocable Statutum est omnibus ut semel moriantur It is appointed for all men once to die In reverence of which Decree such a heavenly man as the Doctor was could not but be prepared as every religious Soul is for to dye or put off his mortal Body Before which time two Accidents happened to him one suddenly after the other which he looked upon as presaging Providences of his Death for he was a man very critical in his observation of unusual things and I may say in this particular prophetical For on the Saturday Night before he sickned he dreamed that he was in an extraordinary pleasant and delightful Place where standing and admiring the beauty and glory of it he saw the late King his Master who said to him Peter I will have you buried under your Seat at Church for you are rarely seen but there or at your Study Which Dream he told his Wife the next Morning saying it was a significant one giving her charge when he dyed there to bury him A few hours after his Maid holding his Surplice against the Fire to air it one of the Billets upon the fire tumbled down the Flame of which catched hold of the Surplice and burned it at which Accident so soon following his Dream he said That was ominous and he should never wear Surplice more as indeed he did not like Aaâ—…on the high Priest when he was stripped of his priestly Garments by Gods own appointment he must certainly dye These two Accidents falling out together made such a strong impression upon his mind that on the same day though he was seemingly well as he used to be he did not go to Church but on the Munday following went forth in the Morning stayed out all the Day in which time he bought a House of one Mrs. Floyd in the Almonry payed his Mony for it renewed the Lease of it and brought home the Writings and then told his Wife the reason of his being from home all that time which was an unusual thing with him was because he had bought her a House to live in near the Abby that she might serve God in that Church as he had done All which she not knowing before seemed strange and terrifying to her not thinking the precedent Accidents of the Dream and Surplice could have wrought such an indelible impression on his fancy she urged all the arguments and perswasions she possibly could to drive away this Melancholy humor but all in vain for he still persisted in his opinion which proved too sad a truth Because he was a man who rarely dreamed in his Life and when he did he could remember no circumstances of it which puts me in mind what Pliny hath writen to this purpose that there be some persons of so curious and excellent temper who are seldom or never disturbed with Dreams but if it so happen to them at any time it is a deadly sign Quibus mortiferum fuisse signum saith he contra consuetudinem somniorum in venimus exempla That there is a truth in some Dreams I do not question though I would not have men too credulous of them Because this is not now Gods oeconomy or his ordinary way of dispensation under the Gospel to manifest his mind to us as he did to the Patriarchs before the Law and afterward to the holy Prophets to whom he made known himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at sundry times and in divers manners and particularly in this way and manner of Dreams yet as God cannot be limited in his Will and Power at any time when he hath a mind to do an extraordinary thing I would therefore not too rigidly condemn all Dreams for delusions that are ascertained to us by the Testimony of wise and credible Persons whom we know are no way enclined to be either fanciful or fanatick Omiting what Artemidorus hath written in his Oneirocriticks I take Caelius Rhodoginus for a most learned and faithful Author who reports of himself that when he could not explain a hard passage he met with in Pliny that puzled his Brain it was made known and revealed to him in a Dream if he did look in such a Book he should find it Librum arripui saith he sicut somniaveram sic comperui ` I took up the Book and `found the same accordingly as I `dreamed Neither was that less wonderful which Joseph Scaliger tells us of his Fathers Dream who in his Sleep read an Epitaph which he never saw with his Eyes or ever heard of before yet proved most true whence he inferreth by this Example the prodigy and yet certainty of some Dreams Prodigiosa etiam usque ad miraculum ex somniis vaticinatio We may believe his Relation for he was a man of that Integrity and great Spirit as he would scorn to tell a Lye I cannot omit what Dr. Heylyn himself hath written of Arch-Bishop Laud That he was much given to take notice of Dreams and commit them to writing Amongst which I find this for one that on Friday Night the 24th of January 1639. his Fathâ—…r who died six and forty years before came to him and that to his thinking he was as well and as cheerful as evel he saw him that his Father asked him what he did there and that after some speecâ—… he demanded of his Father how long he would stay there And his Father made this Answer that he should stay till he had him along with him A Dream which made such impression on him as to add this Note to it in his Breviate that though he was not moved with Dreams yet he thought to remember this I know many impute those Dreams in our Sleep to a melancholy temper which the Doctor was never subject to either in time of Sickness or Health but was a Man always of most cheerful Spirit I confess that black humor presenteth strange things to the Imagination and Phantasie of some Persons that Aristotle in his Problems ascribes the Prophesie of the Sybil Women thereto and Cardanus the Revelations of Hermites because living in solitude and on bad diet Quantum poterat saith he in illis humor melancholicus The old Philosophers also were of opinion that all Prophesie did proceed from the strength of Imagination by the conjunction of the Understanding which they call Intellectus possibilis with the other faculty of the Intellectus agens whereby they concluded contrary to the holy Scripture that old men were not capable of prophecying by reason of the weakness of their imagination and other natural faculties decayed in them through Age but the quite contrary appeareth in Scripture Examples that that they were generally aged men or well stricken in years who