Chapter XXI: Part 21

I confess I have heard strange stories of things that have been revealed by these supposed apparitions, from persons both of great worth and learning; but seeking more narrowly into the matter I found them all to be superstitious delusions, fancies, mistakes, cheats and impostures. For the most part the child tells any thing that comes into his fancy, or doth frame and invent things upon purpose, that he never seeth at all, and the inquirers do presently assimilate them to their own thoughts and suspicions. Some that pretended to shew and foretel strange things thereby to get money, have been discovered to have had confederates, that conveied away mens goods into secret places, and gave the cunning Man notice where they were hid, and then was the child taught a straight framed tale, to describe what a like Man took them away, and where they were, which being found brought credit enough to the couzeners, and this I knew was practised by one _Brooke_ and _Bolton_. Some have had artificial glasses, whereinto they would convey little pictures, as Dr. _Lambe_ had.

It being manifest by what we have laid down that there are apparitions and some such other strange effects, whereby murthers are often made known and discovered, and also having mentioned that it may be most rationally probable that they are caused by the Astral or Sydereal Spirit, it will be necessary to open and explain that point, and to shew what grounds it hath, upon which it may be settled, which we shall do in this order.

[Sidenote: Immort. of the Soul. _c._ 16. _sect._ 8. _p._ 296.]

[Sidenote: _De verb. Apost._ _lib. Serm._ 18.]

[Sidenote: _Idem contr. Pelag._]

_c._ 28. _Tom._ 7.

1. There are many (especially Popish Authors thereby to uphold their Doctrine of Purgatory) that maintain that they are the Souls of the persons murthered and deceased, and this opinion, though unanswerably confuted by the whole company of reformed Divines, is notwithstanding revived by Dr. _Henry Moore_, but by no arguments either brought from Scripture, or grounded upon any solid reasons, but only some weak conjectures, seeming absurdities, and Platonick whimsies, which (indeed) merit no responsion. And we have by positive and unwrested Scriptures, in this Treatise afore proved, that the Souls of the righteous are in _Abrahams_ bosom with Christ at peace and rest, and that the Souls of the wicked are in Hell in torments, so that neither of them do wander here, or make any apparitions; for as S. _Augustine_ taught us: _Duo sunt habitacula, unum in igne æterno, alterum in regno æterno_. And in another place: _Nec est ulli ullus medius locus, ut possit esse nisi cum Diabolo, qui non est cum Christo_. And _Tertullian_ and _Justin Martyr_, two most ancient writers do tell us: “That Souls being separated from their Bodies, do not stay or linger upon the earth: And after they be descended into the infernal pit, they do neither wander here upon their own accord, nor by the power and command of others; But that wicked spirits may counterfeit by craft that they are the Souls of the dead, _Vid. Lavaterum de Spectris secunda parte_ _c._ 5.”

2. We have also shewed that these apparitions that discover murther and murtherers and brings them to condign punishment, cannot be the evil Angels, because they are only Ministers of torture, sin, horror and punishment, but are not Authors of any good either Corporeal or Spiritual, apparent or real. So that it must of necessity be left either to be acted by a Divine Power, and that either by the immediate power of the Almighty, for which we have no proof, but only may acknowledge the possibility of it; or mediate by the ministery of good Angels, which is hard to prove, there being no one instance, or the least intimation of any such matter in all the Scriptures, and therefore in most rational probability, either relations of matters of fact of this nature are utterly false, or they are effected by the Astral spirit.

[Sidenote: _Vid. lib. Sagac. Philos. passim._]

3. Concerning the description of this Astral Spirit or Sydereal Body, (for though it be as a spirit, or the image in the looking-glass, yet it is truly corporeal) we shall give the sum of it, as _Paracelsus_ in his magisterial way, without proof doth lay down. “He positively holdeth that there are three essential parts in Man, which he calleth the three great substances, and that at death every one of these being separated, doth return into, or unto the Womb from whence it came; as The Soul that was breathed in by God, doth at death return unto God that gave it: And that the Body, that is to say, that gross part that seems to be composed of the two inferior Elements of Earth and Water, doth return unto the Earth, and there in time consume away, some bodies in a longer time, some in a shorter: But the third part which he calleth the Astral Spirit, or Sydereal Body, as being firmamental, and consisting of the two superior Elements of Air and Fire, it (he saith) returneth into its Sepulcher of the Air, where in time it is also consumed, but requireth a longer time than the body, in regard it consisteth of more pure Elements than the other, and that one of these Astral Spirits or Bodies doth consume sooner than another, as they are more impure, or pure. And that it is this spirit that carrieth along with it the thoughts, cogitations, desires and imaginations that were impressed upon the mind at the time of death, with the sensitive faculties of concupiscibility and irascibility. And that it is this spirit or body (and not the Soul that resteth in the hands of the Lord) that appeareth, and is most usually conversant in those places, and those negotiations that the mind of the person living (whose spirit it was) did most earnestly follow, and especially those things that at the very point of death, were most strongly impressed upon this spirit, as in the case of the person murthered, whose mind in the very minute of the murther, receiveth a most deep impression of detestation and revenge against the murtherer, which this spirit bearing with it, doth by all means possible seek the accomplishment of that revenge, and therefore doth cause dreams of discovery, bleedings and strange motions of the body murthered, and sometimes plain apparitions of the persons murthered, in their usual shape and habit, and doth vocally and audibly reveal the murther with all the circumstances,” as is apparent in the two forementioned Histories of the apparition of _Fletcher_ to _Raynard_, and of the Woman murthered by _Mark Sharp_, to the Miller _Grimes_.

[Sidenote: _De Anim. Brut._ _c._ 1, 2.]

4. And this Astral Spirit is no more than that part in Man that is commonly called the sensitive Soul, and by the Schools is commonly defined thus: “_Anima sentiens est vis, quæ apprehendit & percipit ea quæ extra ipsam sunt_. And this is corporeal, and (as Dr. _Willis_ holdeth) mortal and coextended with the Body, and that it hath the power of imagination, appetite, desire, and aversion and the like, and in a manner, a sensitive way of ratiocination, and yet is distinct from the rational Soul or _Mens_ that is incorporeal, immortal, and far more excellent.” And perspicacious _Helmont_ holding this sensitive Soul to be distinct from the _mens_ or immortal and rational Soul, saith thus: _Est ergo anima sensitiva, caduca, mortalis, mera lux vitalis data à patre luminum, nec alio modo verboq; explicabilis_. But of the rational Soul he saith: _Ipsa autem mens immortalis, est substantia lucida, incorporea, immediate Dei sui imaginem referens, quia eandem in creando, sive in ipso Empsychosis instanti, sibi insculptam suscepit_. So that both these late and learned Authors hold, that in every Man there are two distinct Souls, the sensitive that is mortal, corporeal, and coextended with the Body, and the rational, that is immortal and absolutely incorporeal: so that though in words and terms they seem to differ, yet in substance they agree. For the Hermetick School, the Platonists, _Paracelsus_, _Jacob Behemen_, and others do hold three parts in Man which they call, Soul, Spirit and Body, and these two last Authors do hold the body to be one part in Man, and two Souls besides, the sensitive and rational that are two distinct parts, the one corporeal and mortal, and the other incorporeal and immortal, and so they do but nominally differ. And now our task must be to prove, that first there are such three parts in Man, and that after death they do separately exist, which we shall attempt in this order.

[Sidenote: Gen. 1. 30.]

[Sidenote: Eccles. 3. 21.]

[Sidenote: _Ibid._ 12. 7.]

[Sidenote: Matth. 10. 28.]

[Sidenote: Acts 20. 10.]

[Sidenote: Luke 23. 46.]

1. Though arguments taken _à notatione nominis_, do not necessarily prove, yet they illustrate, and render the case plain and intelligible; and we shall find that the _Hebrews_ have three distinct appellations for these three parts. As for the Soul, either rational or sensitive, or vital spirit, they use _Nephesh_ which is common to brutes and reptiles as well as to Man, as saith the Text: _And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth in which there is a living soul, Nephesh-Haiah_. And therefore to distinguish the rational and immortal Soul, from this which is sensitive, mortal and common with brutes, the Text saith: _And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul_. Upon which _Tremellius_ gives us this note: _Ut clarius appareret discrimen quod est inter animam hominis, & reliquorum animantium: Horum enim animæ ex eadem materia provenerunt, unde corpora habebant, illius verò anima spiritale quiddam est & Divinum_. And upon the words; _Sic fuit homo. Id est (ait) hac ratione factum est, ut terrea illa statua animata viveret_. Another word they use, which is _Ruah_, and this is also generally attributed to Men and Beasts, as the words of _Solomon_ do witness. _Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upwards, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?_ And in both these, touching both Man and Beast, the word _Ruah_ is used as common to them both; and sometimes it is taken specially for the rational immortal Soul, as, _And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it_. Also they have the word _Niblah_, and _Basar_, that is, _corpus_, _caro_, or _cadaver_, and by these three they set forth, or distinguish these three parts. And the Grecians have likewise their three several names for these parts, as ψυχὴ, _anima_, _vita_, which is taken promiscuously sometimes for the rational and immortal Soul, as in this place; _And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell_. And it is taken for the life in that of the _Acts_: _And Paul said, Trouble not your selves, his life is in him_. Also they have the word Πνεῦμα, _Spiritus, ventus_, _spiritus vitæ_, being variously taken, yet sometimes for the rational and immortal Soul, as _Father into thy hands I commend my spirit_. So they have the word Σῶμα, _Corpus_, the body or gross and fleshly part. And to these accord the three Latine terms for these three distinct parts; _Anima_, _Spiritus_ and _Corpus_.

[Sidenote: _Mens ad Herm._ _p._ 21.]

[Sidenote: _Pimand._ _c._ 12. _p. mihi_ 451.]

[Sidenote: _Comment. in Conviv. Platon._ _p._ 400.]

[Sidenote: _Vid. De Anim. Brutor._ _c._ 7. _p._ 73.]

2. This opinion of these three parts in Man, to wit Body, Soul and Spirit, is neither new, nor wants Authors of sufficient credit and learning to be its Patrons. For _Hermes Trismegistus_ an Author almost of the greatest Antiquity saith thus: καὶ ὁ μὲν Θεὸς ἐν τῷ νῷ, ὁ δὲ νοῦς ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ ἐν τῇ ὕλη. That is, _God is in the mind, the mind in the soul, and the soul in matter_. But _Marsilius Ficinus_ gives it thus: _Beatus Deus, Dæmon bonus, animam esse in corpore, mentem in anima, in mente verbum pronunciavit_. And further addeth: _Deus verò circa omnia, simul atq; per omnia, mens circa animam, anima circa aërem, aër circa materiam_. And some give it more fully thus. _God is in the mind, the mind in the Soul, the Soul in the Spirit, the Spirit in the blood, and the blood in the Body._ But besides this ancient testimony, it is apparent that the whole School of the Platonists, both the elder and later were of this opinion, and also the most of the Cabalists: For _Ficinus_ from the Doctrine of _Plato_ tells us this: _Humanæ cogitationis domicilium anima ipsa est. Animæ domicilium spiritus. Domicilium spiritus hujus est corpus._ But omitting multitudes of others that are strong Champions for this Tenent, we think for authorities to acquiesce in that of our most learned Physician and Anatomist Dr. _Willis_, and in those that he hath quoted, which we shall give in the English: First he saith: “Lest I be tedious in rehearsing many, it pleaseth me here only to cite two Authors (but either of which is a Troop) for the confutation of the contrary opinion. The one (he saith) is the most famous Philosopher _Petrus Gassendus_, who _Physic. Sect._ 3. _lib._ 9. _c._ 11. doth divide, _toto Cœlo_, (as is said) the mind of man, from the other sensitive power, as much as is possible to be done, by many and most signal notes of discrimination, yea disjoining of them (as it is said in the Schools) by specific differences: Because when he had shewed this to be corporeal, extended, nascible and corruptible, he saith the other is an incorporeal substance, and therefore immortal, which is immediately created, and infused into the body by God; to which opinion he sheweth _Pythagoras_, _Plato_, _Aristotle_, and for the most part all the ancient Philosophers, except _Epicurus_, did much agree; excepting notwithstanding that they did hold, as not knowing the origin of the Soul, which they judged to be immortal, that it being cropt off from the soul of the world, did slide into the body, and that it was poured again into the Soul of the world either immediately, or at the last mediately, after its transmigration into other bodies.”

[Sidenote: _Ibid._ _p._ 74.]

The other suffrage (he saith) upon this matter, is of the most learned Divine Dr. _Hamond_, our Countryman, who opening the Text _Epist. Thessalo._ 1. _c._ 5. _v._ 23. to wit, _your whole spirit and soul and body &c._ “He saith that Man is divided into three parts. 1. To wit, into the body, by which is denoted the flesh and the members. 2. Into the vital soul, which in like manner being animal and sensitive is common to man with the bruits. 3. Into the spirit, by which the rational soul, that was first created of God, is signified, which also being immortal doth return unto God. _Annot. in Nov. Testam._ _lib. p._ 711.” This his exposition he confirmeth by Testimonies brought from Ethnick Authors, and also from the ancient Fathers. From all which the learned Dr. doth make this conclusion: “And from the things above (he saith) it is most evidently manifest, that man being as it were an Amphibious animal, or of a middle nature and order betwixt the Angels and bruits, with these he doth communicate by a corporeal soul, framed of the vital blood and the stock of animal spirit, joyned likewise in one; and with the other he communicates by an intelligent soul immaterial and immortal.” And thus much for arguments brought from humane authority, which are prevalent, if they be brought affirmatively (as these are) from learned men or Artificers, and so we shall proceed to further kind of proofs.

[Sidenote: 1 Thes. 5. 23.]

[Sidenote: Ephes. 4. 17.]

3. But an argument arising from Divine Authority is of the most force of all, and therefore let us a little survey the Text it self, which in our English Translation is thus: _And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly: And I pray God your whole Spirit, and Soul, and Body be preserved blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ_. The Apostle having given the believing _Thessalonians_ all the spiritual counsel that could be necessary, to bring them to the perfection of sanctification, doth pray for them, that the God of peace would sanctifie them wholly, or as the word ὁλοτελοῖς signifieth (as _Arias Montanus_ hath rendered it) _omninòperfectos_, altogether perfect, And that the whole, ὁλόκληρον, that is the whole part, portion or lot (for so the word properly signifieth) which he nameth by _Spirit, Soul and Body, to be preserved blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ_. And therefore to this doth learned _Beza_ add this note: “_Tum demùm igitur (ait) homo integer sanctificatus fuerit, quum nihil cogitabit spiritus, nihil appetet anima, nihil exequetur corpus, quod cum Dei voluntate non consentiat_.” And before he had said: “Therefore _Paul_ by the appellation of spirit doth signifie the mind, in which the principal stain lieth: and by the Soul the rest of the inferior faculties, and by the body the domicile of the Soul.” And in another place he saith: “The mind is become vain, the cogitation obscured, the appetite hardened.” And to the same purpose doth learned _Rollock_ upon the place say thus much: “Sanctification, or transformation is not of any one part, but of all the parts, and of the whole man. For there is no part or particle in man, which was not deformed in that first fall, and made as it were monstrous. Therefore μεταμόρφωσις, or transformation ought to be of the whole man and of every singular part of him. And further he saith: For the whole man the Apostle hath here the enumeration of his principal parts. And they are three in number, Spirit, Soul and Body. By the spirit (he saith) I understand the mind, which the Apostle _Eph._ 4. 24. calleth _the spirit of the mind_, and this is no other thing than the faculty of the rational mind, which is discerned in invention, and in judging of things found out. By the name of soul (he saith) I understand all those inferior faculties of the mind, as are the animal which are also called natural. The body doth follow these parts, to wit that gross part which is the instrument by which the spirit and soul do exert their functions and operations.” By all which it is most clear, that though they call them faculties, yet they are distinct essential parts of the whole man, which is most manifest, in that the body, though one of these three, cannot be a faculty, but a meer instrument, and yet is one of the essential parts, that doth integrate the whole man. But whosoever shall seriously consider, how little satisfaction the definition of a faculty given by either Philosophers or Physicians, will bring to a clear understanding, may easily perceive, that distinct parts are commonly taken to be faculties.

[Sidenote: _Ut supra_ _c._ 7. _p._ 74.]

4. The first argument that this learned Physician urgeth, to prove that there are two Souls in man, the one sensitive and corporeal, the other rational, immortal and incorporeal, is in this order. “But (he saith) whereas it is said that the rational soul doth by it self exercise every of the animal faculties, it is most of all improbable, because the actions and passions of all the animal senses and motions are corporeal, divided and extended to various parts, to perform which immediately the incorporeal and indivisible soul (if so be it be finite) seemeth unfit or unable. Further (he saith) what belongeth unto that vulgar opinion, that the sensitive soul is subordinate to the rational, and as it were swallowed up of it, that that which is the soul in brutes, in man becomes a meer power; these are the trifles of the Schools. For how should the sensitive soul of man, which before hath been in act a subsistent, material and extended substance, losing its essence, at the advent of the rational soul, degenerate into a meer qualitie? But if it be asserted that the rational soul, by its advent also doth introduce life and sensation, then man doth not generate an animated man, but only a formless body, or a rude heap of flesh.”

5. Another argument he useth to prove these two souls in man is this: “Therefore (he saith) it being supposed that the rational soul doth come to the body before animated of the other corporeal soul, we may inquire, by what band or tye, seeing it is a pure spirit, can it be united to this, seeing it hath not parts, by which it might be tied, or adhere to the whole or any of the parts? And therefore he thinketh that concerning this point it is to be said with most learned _Gassendus_: That the corporeal soul is the immediate subject of the rational soul, of which seeing it is the act, perfection, complement and form, also by it the rational soul is made or becometh the form and act of the humane body. But seeing that it doth scarce seem like or necessary, that the whole corporeal soul should be possessed of the whole rational soul; Therefore it is lawful to determine that this rational soul, being purely spiritual, should reside as in its Throne, in the principal part or faculty of it, to wit in the imagination, framed of a small portion of the animal spirits, being most subtile, and seated in the very middle or center of the brain.”

6. Another chief argument that he useth to prove these two souls in man, is the strife and disagreements that are within man: “Because (he saith) the intellect and imagination are not wont to agree in so many things, but that also the sensitive appetite doth dissent in more things: From whose litigations moreover it shall be lawful to argue, that the moodes of the aforesaid souls, both in respect of subsisting and operating, are distinct. For as there is in man a double cognitive power, to wit the intellect and imagination, so there is a double appetite, the Will proceeding from the Intellect, which is the Page or servant of the rational soul, and the sensitive Appetite, which cohering to the imagination, is said to be the hands, or procuratrix of the corporeal soul.”

[Sidenote: Ephes. 4. 18.]

7. To these we shall add, that when the understanding is truly enlightened with the spirit of God, and led by the true light of the Gospel, in the ways of Christ, then is man said to be spiritual, because the carnal mind and the sensitive appetite are subdued and brought under to the obedience of Christ by his grace. So also when the understanding is darkned, as saith the Apostle; _Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God thorow the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts_. Then man becomes wholly led with the carnal and sensual appetite, and is therefore called ψυχικὸς ἄνθρωπος, the natural, animal or soully man: And in both these conditions the organical body is led and acted according to the ruling power, either of the Spirit of God, and so it is yielded up a living sacrifice to God, or of the spirit of darkness, corruption, and the sensitive appetite, and so is an instrument of all unrighteousness. By all which it is most manifest that there are in man these three parts, of Body, Soul, and Spirit, which was the thing undertaken to be proved.

8. Lastly as to this point, it is a certain truth that two extreams cannot be joined or coupled together, but by some middle thing that participated or cometh near to the nature of both. So the Soul which (by the unanimous consent of all men) is a spiritual and pure, immaterial and incorporeal substance cannot be united to the body, which is a most gross, thick and corporeal substance, without the intervention of some middle nature, fit to conjoin and unite those extreams together, which is this sensitive and corporeal Soul or Astral Spirit, which in respect of the one extream incorporeal, yet of the most pure sort of bodies that are in nature, and that which approacheth most near to a spiritual and immaterial substance, and therefore most fit to be the immediate receptacle of the incorporeal Soul: And also it being truly body doth easily join with the gross body, as indeed being congenerate with it, and so becomes _vinculum & nexus_ of the immaterial Soul and the more gross body, that without it could not be united.

Now having (as we conceive) sufficiently proved that there are in man these three distinct parts of Body, Soul, and Spirit, in the next place we are to shew that these three may, and do separately exist, and that we shall endeavour by these reasons.

[Sidenote: _Reas. 1._]

[Sidenote: Eccl. 12. 7.]

[Sidenote: 2 Cor. 5. 1.]

1. It is manifest by Divine Authority that _the spirit_, that is the rational, immortal and incorporeal _soul_, _doth return to God that gave it_. That is not to be annihilated or to vanish into nothing, but to abide and remain forever or eviternally. For the Apostle saith: _For we know, that if our earthly tabernacle or house were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens_. By which it is manifest that the immaterial Soul doth exist eternally _ex parte post_, as the Schools say, and also the gross body being separated from the immortal Soul, doth by it self exist until it be consumed in the grave, or by corruption be changed into earth, or some other things, or that the Atomes be dispersed, and joined unto, or figurated into some other bodies. So it is most highly rational that this sensitive Soul, or Astral Spirit, which is corporeal, should also exist by it self for some time, until it be dissipated and wasted, in which time it may (and doubtlesly doth) make these apparitions, motions and bleedings of the murthered bodies.

[Sidenote: _Reas. 2._]

2. Upon the supposition that the rational Soul be not _ex traduce_, but be infused after the bodily organs be fitted and prepared, which is the firm Tenent of all Divines Ancient, middle and Modern, and must upon the granting of it to be simply, and absolutely immaterial and incorporeal (which is indisputable) of necessity be infused, because no immaterial substance can be produced or generated by the motion of any agent, that is meerly material, or forth of any material substance whatsoever. And therefore I say that the Soul being infused, it must of necessity follow the organized body, that could not exist (except as a lump of flesh) without the corporeal sensitive soul; which must of necessity demonstrate, that as they did separately exist before the union of the Soul and Body, so they also do exist distinctly after their separation by death, and so the Astral Spirit may effect the things we have asserted.

[Sidenote: _Reas. 3._]

[Sidenote: _Histor. rarior. Obs._ 62. _p._ 325, 326.]

3. And if the experiment be certainly true that is averred by _Borellus_, _Kircher_, _Gaffarel_, and others (who might be ashamed to affirm it as their own trial, or as ocular witnesses, if not true) that the figures and colours of a plant may be perfectly represented, and seen in glasses, being by a little heat raised forth of the ashes. Then (if this be true) it is not only possible, but rational, that animals as well as plants, have their Ideas or Figures existing after the gross body or parts be destroyed, and so these apparitions are but only those Astral shapes and figures. But also there are shapes and apparitions of Men, that must of necessity prove that these corporeal Souls or Astral Spirits do exist apart, and attend upon or are near the blood, or bodies; of which _Borellus_ Physician to the King of _France_, gives us these two relations.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 1._]

1. _N. de Richier_ a Soap-maker (he saith) and _Bernardus Germanus_ from the relation of the Lord of _Gerzan_, and others, distilling mans blood at _Paris_, which they thought to be the true matter of the Philosophers-stone; they saw in the cucurbit or glass body, the Phantasm, or shape of a Man, from whom bloody rayes did seem to proceed, and the glass being broken they found the figure as though of a skull, in the remaining fæces.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 2._]

2. There were three curious persons also at _Paris_, that taking the Church earth-mould from S. _Innocents_ Church, supposing it to be the matter of the stone, did distill it and work upon it, and in the glasses they did perceive certain Phantasms or Shapes of Men, of which they were no little afraid.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 3._]

[Sidenote: _De Myst. Sang. Anatom._ _c._ 6. _p._ 233.]

3. Our Countryman Dr. _Flud_ a person of much learning and great sincerity, doth tell us this well attested story: “That a certain Chymical Operator, by name _La Pierre_, near that place in _Paris_ called _Le Temple_, received blood from the hands of a certain Bishop to operate upon. Which he setting to work upon the _Saturday_, did continue it for a week with divers degrees of fire, and that about midnight the _Friday_ following, this Artificer lying in a Chamber next to his Laboratory, betwixt sleeping and waking, heard an horrible noise, like unto the lowing of Kine, or the roaring of a Lion; and continuing quiet, after the ceasing of the sound in the Laboratory, the Moon being at the full by shining enlightening the Chamber, suddenly betwixt himself and the Window he saw a thick little cloud, condensed into an oval form, which after by little and little did seem compleatly to put on the shape of a Man, and making another and a sharp clamour, did suddenly vanish. And that not only some Noble Persons in the next Chambers, but also the Host with his Wife, lying in a lower room of the house, and also the neighbors dwelling in the opposite side of the street, did distinctly hear as well the bellowing as the voice, and some of them were awaked with the vehemency thereof. But the Artificer said that in this he found solace, because the Bishop of whom he had it, did admonish him, that if any of them from whom the blood was extracted, should die in the time of its putrefaction, his Spirit was wont often to appear to the sight of the Artificer, with perturbation. Also forthwith upon _Saturday_ following he took the retort from the Furnace and broke it with the light stroak of a little key, and there in the remaining blood found the perfect representation of an humane head, agreeable in face, eyes, nostrils, mouth and hairs, that were somewhat thin and of a golden colour. And of this last there were many ocular witnesses, as the Noble person Lord of _Bourdalone_, the Chief Secretary to the Duke of _Guise_, and that he had this relation from the Lord of _Menanton_ living in that house at the same time, from a certain Doctor of Physick, from the owner of the house, and many others.”

So that it is most evident that there are not only three essential, and distinct parts in Man, as the gross body, consisting of Earth and Water, which at death returns to the earth again, the sensitive and corporeal Soul, or Astral Spirit, consisting of Fire and Air, that at death wandereth in the air, or near the body, and the immortal and incorporeal Soul that immediately returns to God that gave it: But also that after death they all three exist separately; the Soul in immortality, and the body in the earth, though soon consuming; and the Astral spirit that wanders in the air, and without doubt doth make these strange apparitions, motions, and bleedings; and so we conclude this tedious discourse with the Chapter.

CHAP. XVII.

_Of the force and efficacy of Words or Charms, whether they effect any
thing at all or not, and if they do, whether it be by Natural or
Diabolical virtue and force._

There is nothing almost so common not only in the Poets (who have been the chief disseminators of many such things) but in most of other Authors, as the mention of the force of Charms and Incantations: And yet if we narrowly search into the bottom of the matter, there is nothing more difficult than to find out any truth of the effects of them, in matters of fact; and therefore that we may more clearly manifest what we have proposed in this Chapter, we shall first premise these few things.

1. Those that take the effects of them to be great, as many Divines, Philosophers, and Physicians do, suppose no efficacy in them solely, holding that _quantitates rerum nullius sunt efficaciæ_, but that they are only signs from the Devil to delude the minds of those that use them, and in the mean time that the Devil doth produce the effects. But it had been well, if those that are of this opinion, had shewed us the ways and means how the Devil doth operate such things, seeing he can do nothing in corporeal matter but by natural means: So that either we must confess that there is no force at all in Charms, or that the effects produced are by natural means.

[Sidenote: _Syl. Syl._ _Cent._ 10. _p._ 583.]

2. Neither can we assent fully to those that hold, that the force of imagination can work strange things upon other bodies, distinct and separate from the body imaginant, upon which it is not denied to have power to operate very wonderful things; and that for the reason given by the most learned Lord _Verulam_, which is this: _Experimenta quæ vim imaginationis in corpora aliena solidè probent, pauca aut nulla prorsus sunt; cum fascini exempla huc non faciant, quod Dæmonum interventu fortasse non careant_.

[Sidenote: _Ibid._ _p._ 554.]

[Sidenote: _Medicina Magnetica_, _p._ 14, 17, 19.]

3. I said _not assent fully_, because there are some reasons that incline me to believe the possibility of it, though there be hardly found any experiments that solidly prove it. For as the said Lord Verulam saith again: _Movendi sunt homines, ne fidem detrahant operationibus ex transmissione spirituum, & vi imaginationis, quia eventus quandoq; fallit_. And there are so many learned Authors (though Dr. _Casaubon_ according to his scurrilous manner stiles them Enthusiastical _Arabs_) of all sorts, that do stifly maintain the power of the imagination upon extraneous bodies, with such strength of argument, that I much stagger concerning the point, and therefore dare not say my assent is fully to either. For learned Dr. _Willis_ having (as we conceive) unanswerably proved that there is a twofold Soul in Man, and that the one which is the sensitive, is corporeal, though much approaching to the nature of spirit, how far the force of imagination, which is its instrument, may reach, or what it may work at distance, is not easy to determine. And if the Soul, as _Helmont_ laboureth to prove, by the Prerogative of its creation can when suscitated by strong desire and exalted phantasie operate _per nutum_, then it must needs follow, that it may work upon other bodies than its own, and so using Words, Charms, Characters and Images may bring to pass strange things. But if these three conclusions be certain and true, written by the pen of a most learned, though less vulgarly known Author, to wit: “1. The Soul is not only in its proper visible body, but also without it; neither is it circumscribed in an organical body. 2. The Soul worketh without, or beyond its proper body commonly so called. 3. From every body flow corporeal beams, by which the Soul worketh by its presence, and giveth them energie and power of working: And these beams are not only corporeal, but of divers parts also:” If these (I say) be certain, then doth the imagination work at distance by means of those beams, and consequently Words and Charms, and such like may be the means and instruments, by which the imagination (being the principal power of the sensitive Soul) may operate strange things at distance, and so that not be vain which learned _Agrippa_ tells us.

_Nos habitat, non Tartara, sed nec sydera Cœli:
Spiritus in nobis qui viget, illa facit._

And we have before sufficiently proved, that the species of bodies are corporeal, and it is plain, that these operate upon our eyes at a vast distance, and do intersect one another in the air without confusion. And we must in all reason acknowledge that the sensitive Soul, must needs be of as much purity, and energie as those that we call the sensible, or visible species of things, and then it must necessarily follow, that it by the means of the imagination may operate at a great distance, and so words and charms may from thence have power and operation. For learned _Agrippa_ that great Philosopher, and master of lawful and natural Magick and not of that which is accounted diabolical (as the wretched pen of _Paulus Jovius_ hath painted him) holds this: _Quod unicuiq; homini impressus est Character Divinus, cujus vigore potest pertingere ad operandum mirabilia_. Which if so, then many words, charms and the like, have a natural efficacy to work wonderful things, and that at a great distance also.

[Sidenote: _Vt supra_ _p._ 555, 556.]

4. I cannot likewise but take notice of another caution, very pertinent to our present purpose, given us also by the said Lord _Verulam_, and in English is this: “Again men are to be holden back from the peril of credulity, lest here they too much rashly incline with an easy faith, because they often see the event to answer to the operations. For the cause of the success is to be referred often to the forces of the affections and imaginations in the body that is the agent, which by a certain secondary reason may act in a diverse body. As for example: If any one carry about the figure of a Planet or a Ring or a part of some beast, being certainly perswaded, that it will prove helpful unto him in promoting his love, or that he may be preserved from danger or wound in battel, or in strife that he may overcome &c. it may render his wit more stirring, or may add spurs to his industry, or may cherish confidence and hold up constancie, from which perchancie he might have slided. Now who is ignorant what industry and a mind tenacious of its purpose, may design and bring to pass in civil affairs? Therefore (he concludeth) he should err and deceive and be deceived, who should ascribe these things to the force of imagination upon the body of another, which his own imagination worketh in his own body.” And therefore this may caution all that would judge aright of the force and effects of words and charms that they may perhaps neither flow from the nature or efficacy of the words, nor from the force of the imagination of him or her that pronounceth, writeth, giveth or applieth the charm, but from the imagination and belief of the person to whom they are applied, and for whom they are intended. For it is manifest by common experience (and we our selves have known it to be certain) that these charms either pronounced, or written and hung about the patients neck, have produced the greatest effects, upon such as are of the weakest judgment and reason, as Women, Children, and ignorant and superstitious persons, who have great confidence in such vain and inefficacious trifles; and that they seldom or never produce any effects at all, upon such as are obstinate Infidels in the belief of their operations, and I fear we shall not (or very hardly) find any instance to make this good, that they effectively work upon such as are utterly diffident of their force or power.

[Sidenote: _Cent. Problem._ _Decad._ 2. _p._ 38.]

[Sidenote: _De Fascino_ _lib._ 1. _c._ 5. _p._ 22.]

5. It hath sometimes been a question, Whether a rational Physician in the curing of melancholy persons, or others in some odd diseases, ought to grant the use of Characters or Charms, and such ridiculous administrations? Which is decided in the affirmative, that it is lawful and necessary to use them, by that able and learned Physician _Gregorius Horstius_, by eight strong and convincing arguments. And we our selves having practised the art of medicine in all its parts in the North of _England_, where Ignorance, Popery, and superstition doth much abound, and where for the most part the common people, if they chance to have any sort of the Epilepsie, Palsie, Convulsions or the like, do presently perswade themselves that they are bewitched, fore-spoken, blasted, fairy-taken, or haunted with some evil spirit, and the like; and if you should by plain reasons shew them, that they are deceived, and that there is no such matter, but that it is a natural disease, say what you can they shall not believe you, but account you a Physician of small or no value, and whatsoever you do to them, it shall hardly do them any good at all, because of the fixedness of their depraved and prepossessed imagination. But if you indulge their fancy, and seem to concur in opinion with them, and hang any insignificant thing about their necks, assuring them that it is a most efficacious and powerful charm, you may then easily settle their imaginations, and then give them that which is proper to eradicate the cause of their disease, and so you may cure them, as we have done great numbers. Here it is most manifest that the charm or appension hath no efficacy at all, and yet accidentally, it conduces to settle their fancies and confidences, which conduceth much to their cures. And from hence it comes to pass that by reason of the fixed belief of the party to whom the charm is applied, there are many helped, when the causality and efficiency is solely in the person imaginant and confident of receiving help by the means of the charm, and no efficacy at all in the charm it self, nor no diabolical concurrence, besides what obliquity may be in the minds of the actors, nor no agency in the imagination of the charmer, to produce the effect: yet because often people are cured thereby, the common people (and sometimes the learned also) do attribute the whole effect unto the charm, when indeed it effecteth nothing at all. And to this purpose _Varius_ doth quote a passage from Galen, which is this: _Sunt quidam natura læti, qui quando ægrotant, si eos sanos futuros medicus confirmet, convalescunt; quorum spes sanitatis est causa: & medicus si animi desiderium incantatione, aut alicujus rei ad collum appensione adjuverit, citius ad valetudinem perducet_.

But we now come to examine if we can find any convincing examples, from Authors of credit, that in words, characters and charms there is any force or efficacy; and this we shall endeavour from the best and most punctual Authors, that have come within the compass of our knowledge, or reading, and that in this order, to which we shall add some observations.

[Sidenote: _De abdit. rer. caus._ _l._ 1. _c._ 11. _p._ 65.]

[Sidenote: _Hist. 1._]

1. I think there are few that have been, or are Students or Practitioners in the Art of Medicine, that have not either heard, or read the writing of that most able and learned person _Johannes Fernelius_ who was Physician to the most Christian King of _France_ _Henry_ the second, who in that most profound piece that he writ, _De abditis rerum causis_, gives us as an ocular witness this relation. “I have (he saith) seen a certain Man, who by the virtue or force of words did brings various Specters, or Apparitions into a looking-glass, which did there so clearly express forthwith either in writing or in true images, whatsoever he commanded, that all things were readily and easily known to those that were by.”

[Sidenote: _Observ. 1._]

1. From hence we may observe, that _Fernelius_ seeing this (as he saith) with his eyes, cannot (being so great a Scholar, and a circumspect person) be imagined to have been deceived, or imposed upon; though as much as he relates might have been brought to pass by the artificial placing of the glass, and having several images and things written moved by a confederate placed in some secret corner, where the images might fitly be reflected from the glass to the sight of the by-standers, or by some other means performed by the optical science and confederacy. And it is no sure ground to introduce a Demon to act the business, when artificial means may rationally solve the matter, neither was it impossible but he might mistake in the conjecture of the cause of those Phenomena.

[Sidenote: _Observ. 2._]

2. And though he seems by his preceeding discourse, to believe it to have been caused but by a league and compact betwixt the person that shewed it, and some Cacodæmon: yet he bringeth no better proof for it, than the rotten authority of _Porphyrius_ and _Proclus_, and no convincing argument that Demons can perform any such strange matters. And however if they were the meer apparitions of evil spirits, it is much to be wondered that _Fernelius_ would be present at any such sinful and dangerous sights, or have such familiar conversation with any of that damned crew, seeing he there saith: _Quæ omnes prorsus vanæ & captiosæ sunt artes_.

[Sidenote: _Observ. 3._]

3. If these Apparitions were caused by Cacodæmons, then there was no efficacy in the words at all, they were nothing but the sign of the league betwixt the evil spirit, and the person that represented them; and then he need not have said, that they were derived into the glass _vi verborum_, and so this will not prove that it was effected by force of the words. But if all this that he relates, did proceed but from lawful and natural causes, as _Paracelsus_ strongly holds (the glass being but made as that which he saw in _Spain_, of the _Electrum_ that he mentions) then the words might be efficacious, and so it is a punctual instance to prove that words are operative, which is the thing _de facto_, that we here seek after.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 2._]

[Sidenote: _De Medic. Histor. mirab._ _lib._ 2 _c._ 1. _p._ 26.]

[Sidenote: Of Credul. and Incred. _p._ 85.]

2. The next History to this purpose we shall take from _Antonius Benevenius_, as we find him quoted by that learned person _Marcellus Donatus_, and likewise Dr. _Casaubon_ (for I have not the book by me) who renders it thus. “A Souldier had an arrow shot through the left part of his breast, so that the iron of it stuck to the very bone of the right shoulder. Great endeavours were used to get it out, but to no purpose. _Benevenius_ doth shew, that it was not feasible without present death. The Man seeing himself forsaken by Physicians and Chirurgeons, sends for a noted _Ariolus_ or Conjurer: who setting his two fingers upon the wound, with some Charms he used, commanded the iron to come out, which presently without any pain of the patient, came forth, and the Man was presently healed: And this the Doctor, who I presume had the book, saith, that _Benevenius_ saith _vidimus_ we have seen it, which _Marcellus Donatus_ saith, the Author ascribed to the virtue of the words, and others to the force of imagination.”

[Sidenote: _Observ. 1._]

1. Here we may observe, that this may either be brought to pass by the efficacy of the words or charms that he muttered, and then we must needs confess that charms are of great and stupendious force: or that it might be effected by the imagination of the Charmer, and then we must suppose (which the most do deny) that the imagination of the person imaginant, hath power to operate upon extraneous bodies, if it had power to cause the iron to come without harm forth of the wounded Souldiers body, or it may be caused (and that in most probability) by the imagination of the party wounded being excited and roused up by the uttering of the charm, in which the patient (in all likelihood) had no small confidence. And so however the charm was an accidental cause, or (as they use to say) _causa sine qua non_, of the bringing forth of the iron.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 3._]

[Sidenote: _Lection. in Fen. 2. Avicen._]

3. Another History we must borrow from the aforesaid two Authors _Donatus_ and Dr. _Casaubon_, which they have transcribed forth of _Johannes Baptista Montanus_, because I have not the Author by me, and is this: “My self with mine eyes, you may (he saith) believe me, have seen it: A certain man who when he had made a circle and drawn some characters about it, and uttered some words, he did call together above a hundred Serpents. And further saith, that though he did murmur certain words, yet he holdeth, that the bringing of the Serpents together was not performed by the force of the words, but by the power of a strong imagination, and that some by the strength of imagination, not of words, are said to draw forth darts, and to cure wounds.”

[Sidenote: _Observ. 1._]

1. And here we may take notice that this is a punctual and positive History, plainly declaring the matter of fact, in calling together above an hundred Serpents, and this must be done either by the force of the words, or by the strength of the persons imagination, or both, unless we must admit the Devil to perform it, which may vainly be supposed, but cannot be proved, by what natural means he should bring it to pass. But however the relation is very credible, _Montanus_ being a famous Physician and Professor at _Padua_, and affirms it as seen with his own eyes.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 4._]

[Sidenote: _Wier. de mag. Infant._ _p._ 92.]

4. To these we may add one of sufficient credit from the learned _Masius_, as it is cited by _Wierus_, and Dr. _Casaubon_ (which may be we have related before, but not to this purpose) and is this: “I also (he saith) have seen them who with words (or charms) could stop wild beasts, and force them to await the stroak of the dart: who also could force that Domestick beastly creature, which we call a Rat, as soon as seen, amazed and astonished to stand still, as it were immoveable, until not by any deceit or ambushes, but only stretching their hands, they had taken them and strangled them.” This is from his own sight, and he a Man of undoubted veracity.

[Sidenote: _Hist. 5._]

5. Another take from the credit of Dr. _Casaubon_ who fathers it upon _Remigius_, but confesseth that at the time of his writing the story he could not find it in _Remigius_ his Book, and is this. “I have seen a Man (saith he) who from all the neighbourhood (or confines) would draw Serpents into the fire, which was inclosed within a magical circle; and when one of them, bigger than the rest, would not be brought in, upon repetition of the charms before used, he was forced, and so into the fire he did yield himself with the rest, and with it was compassed.”

[Sidenote: _Hist. 6._]

[Sidenote: Antidot. against Atheism. _c._ 2. _p._ 166.]

6. To these we shall adjoin another story written from Wierus by Dr. _Moore_ thus: “And (he saith) _Wierus_ tells us this story of a Charmer at _Saltzburg_, that when in the sight of the people he had charmed all the Serpents into a ditch and killed them, at last there came one huge one far bigger than the rest, that leapt upon him and winded about his waste like a girdle, and pulled him into the ditch, and so killed the Charmer himself in the conclusion.” And this great Serpent the Doctor taketh (in his Appendix) to be a Devil, or a Serpent actuated and guided by him, but upon what grounds of reason I can no way understand.

[Sidenote: _Archidox. Magic._ _l._ 1. _p._ 695.]