A discourse concerning vulgar prophecies wherein the vanity of receiving them as the certain indications of any future event is discovered, and some characters of distinction between true and pretending prophets are laid down / by John Spencer.

A discourse concerning vulgar prophecies wherein the vanity of receiving them as the certain indications of any future event is discovered, and some characters of distinction between true and pretending prophets are laid down / by John Spencer.

Table of contents

Title page

THE PREFACE

A DISCOURSE Of the Vanity of VULGAR PROPHECIES.

CHAP. I. Some general accounts given of the Argument.

CHAP. II. The Vanity of Vulgar Prophecies detected from the unworthiness of the Pretenders to them.

CHAP. III. Vulgar Prophecies proved vain from the intrinsick circumstances of them.

CHAP. IV. The vanity of these Prophecies evinc'd by their coming unattended with Signs.

CHAP. V. The failing of Vulgar Prophecies an assurance of their Vanity.

CHAP. VI. Many Modern Prophecies proved to arise from Melancholy.

CHAP. VII. Probable Arguments to prove all divine Prophecy now ceast.

CHAP. VIII. The Conclusion.

The Contents of the Treatise of Vulgar PROPHECIES.

CHAP. 1. Some general accounts given of the Argument.

CHAP. II. The Vanity of Vulgar Prophecie: detected from the unworthiness of the Pretenders to them.

CHAP. III. Vulgar Prophecies proved vain from the intrinsick circumstances of them.

CHAP. IV. The vanity of these Prophecies evinc'd by their coming unattended with Signs.

CHAP. V. The failing of Vulgar Prophecies an assurance of their Vanity.

CHAP. VI. Many Modern Prophecies proved to arise from Melancholy.

CHAP. VII. Probable Arguments to prove all divine Prophecy now ceast.

CHAP. VIII. The Conclusion.

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A DISCOURSE Concerning Vulgar Prophecies.

WHEREIN The Vanity of receiving them as the certain Indications of any future Event is discovered; And some CHARACTERS of Distinction between true and pretending Prophets are laid down.

By JOHN SPENCER, B. D.

ISAI. 44. 24, 25.

I am the Lord, that stretcheth forth the Heavens alone,— that frustrateth the tokens of the Lyars, and maketh Diviners mad.

EZEK. 13. 9.

My hand shall be upon the Prophets that see Vanity, and that divine Lies; they shall not be in the Assembly of my People.

LONDON, Printed by I. Field for Timothy Garthwait at the Kings head in S. Pauls Church-yard, 1665. C

THE PREFACE

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THe Soul of Man was [...]de for intimacy and converse with God, and therefore; in a tacit sense thereof, is continually reaching and aspiring after it. But Lust and Pride having blinded its Eye, it is apt to affect and seek it in fond and fantastick ways. Whereas good men are (as Antoninus speaks) [...], become familiar with God by holy practices, by profound Humility, by abstractions from the World and Lust; Men have conceited it is procured and maintained by going off from Reason, by Raptures, Visions, Prophecies, Enthusiasms, hot and vigorous impressions of spirit; and have verily thought (as the Ancient Heathens by their Prophets) that they are scarce ever full of God, till they are half beside themselves. And therefore the Lives of the Romish Saints are stuffed [Page] out with perpetual Stories of such things as these, which do but render them [...]o the contempt of men that have a true and sober Notion of Religion.

In confidence of this conceit, such numbers of Devoto's in all Times have pretended Enthusiasm and extraordinary illapse from Heaven, though to different ends and purposes, according as a different habit of mind or body and some mutable circumstances of the Age or course of life might determine an hot Humor and busie Fancy (for it is little else) to [...]xert it self.

Among the many giddy Fancies and Errors of the late Times, bred, like the Worms in the Manna, out of the Body of our corrupted Government and Discipline, this was that [...], lea [...]ing imposture, That the true Seculum Spiritus Sancti was now coming on upon the World, wherein the immediate Teachings of God should antiquate the more dead an [...] obscure Teachings of the Gospel, as those did the more weak and cloudy Instructions of the Law; that the Minds of Holy Men should conceive (like the Virgin Mary) by the sole overshadowings of the Holy Ghost, without any Assistances from Man or Humane Literature. That Men should be autorized and assisted to the due performance [Page] of the Duties of publick Preaching and Praying by the incitements of God upon the place. That God was about no new Work, but his Secrets were still made known unto the Faithful. That the mighty impressions and propensions upon the spirits of the Faithful, was an interpretative Voice from Heaven, a kind of Bath-Col to supply the defect of Scripture-Prophecy in Dispensations more dark and aenigmatical. Whence it came to pass that every morbid heat of Passion and blind Zeal was christened by the name of an Ignis sacer, the sacred impress and discovery of the Holy Ghost, and every crazy Fancy and Dream dub'd a Prophetick Vision.

Now as Storms and Tempests at Sea, though they prove the Evils of many a private man, yet are the good things of Catholick Nature, because serving as a kind of natural Exercise to keep that vast Body of Waters from putrefaction: Thus howsoever the bold Pretences to Revelations, Prophecy, and a greater intimacy with the Divine Spirit, proved the great Evils of those particular Times, causing many (weaker vessels especially) to make shipwrack of Conscience and a sound Mind, and betrayed them to gross and shameful Notions in Religion and Policy; yet to the Church of God in general this hath proved [Page] the happy issue of this Ignis fatuus of Enthusiasm (in all the expresses thereof) even so effectual a Discovery of it, both i [...] its Effects, those bogs of Sedition, Blasphemy, Profaneness, Giddiness, it leads into, and in its Cause, onely a natural f [...]rvor and pregnancy of spirit i [...] some more refined, and an heated Melancholy in other grosser Enthusiasts, then hath been formerly made; and such as might effectually secure the Person that can do more then believe, from being easily abused by such shining Vanities as any pretended Enthusiasms make a proffer of. So that the present Undertaking to lay forth the impostures wrapt up in this most famo [...]us instance of Enthusiasm, supposed Prophecy, may seem to have nothing to justifie it but an honest intention: Especially considering tha [...] there are Penal Statutes provided to prevent the spreading of Seditious Prophecies, by the Severities of which those may be whipt into their wits, whom the Physick of an Argument cannot cure of their Prophetick Frenzies.

These Considerations would easily have perswaded me to have spared the Reader and my self a further trouble, but that I saw so great an affinity between the present and precedent Subject, that the Discourses upon both would (like both the [Page] feet) derive a mutual strength and assurance upon each other; and that the Prophecies which are the issues of an hot head and disturbed imagination, are but the one half of those which abuse the Faith of the People: I considered withal that Prophecy is the most obstinate piece of Enthusiasm, having our innate Curiosity and an Experience as great as Prodigies to make it considerable. Besides, while good Laws are the best Security of the Peace, sober Principles laid in the Minds of the People are the best Security of the Laws.

A DISCOURSE Of the Vanity of VULGAR PROPHECIES.

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CHAP. I.
Some general accounts given of the Argument.

Counterfeits in Art, Nature and Religion. False prophecy one instance of them. What kind of false Prophets the times of the New Testament are freed from. The miscarriage of States oft by occasions contemptible, noted. The present argument sutable to the age, because an age of action, of intellectual improvement, and yet, in many, of Enthusiasm. Several confident pretenders to prophecy of late, taken notice of. The affinity between Prodigies and Prophecies in the general [...]ends of both. Prophecies of evil consequence in States and why. Our Nation extremely inclined toward them in former times. The ancient Ethnick Statesmen how they secured themselves against the prophetick humor of the people. Judges of Prophecy in Plato, who. The Sibylline Oracles of what use among the Romans. The Opinions the ancients had of Prophecy, couched in the fable of Teresia. Religion a great sufferer by them in the Practise, Credit, Doctrine and Foundation thereof. These noted prejudicial to the mind, and why: And to common life. Two examples to evince that, taken notice of Prophecies as universally attended to as Prodigies, amongst Heathens, Jews, Christians, with a threefold account thereof.

THE hypocrisies of things are as familiar as those of men, for as there is a great deal of reprobate Silver which carries [Page] the image of the King and looks like Sterling, so there are in Art, in Nature, in Religion the many instances of things that do onlyGal. 6. 12. [...] carry a fair face, bear a title and garb beyond their true and real value▪ As there is a [...]ue Masculine Rhetorick wherein the golden aples of some rich conceptions are set in the silver pictures of some Eccles. 12. 10 [...] words of desire, expressions chosen and fitly set, so there is a [...], the charm of some soft and siren words and periods which (like a tinkling cimbal) make a pretty sound in the ear for a time, and rather inchant the mind then inform it. In Nature also there are the real Diamonds, and Angels of light, and others which by Sophistry2 Cor. 11. 14 [...], are only transformed into their likeness and usurp their title. Religion also (through the Arts of evil men) is forced to carry two differen [...] faces of things under the hood of one and the same name and outward appearance: in which we find lying wonders, Rev. 2. 24. [...] fan [...]astical depths, a knowledg falsly so called, a Spirit of error, and so false Prophecies disguised in the titles and images of the true.

It is indeed the great blessing promised to the times of the New Testament, that we should be delivered from all those [...] (as theZ [...]ch. 13. 2. 1 King. 18. 19. Targum stiles them) Prophets of the spirit of a ly, which should [Page] call men to the worship of Images: and God hath fulfilled the same unto us, there being now none of those lying Prophets among us that the minds of the Heathens were abused withall, who used to erect some Idols themselves had devised, telling the people Maimonid. de Idolat. c. 1. sect. 3. they were the Images of such a star or constellation [...] which was made known to them by Prophecy. Yet there are still left among us (that there may be an exercise of Christian prudence as well as of other Virtues) some Prophets of a ly, which call men to a reverence of the images of their own busy Fancy, some who [...]. (as Theodor. l. 4. c. 10. Theodoret of the Enthusiasts of his Age) call the idle phantasms of their dreams, prophetick visions.

Our present business therefore is, to rub off the gilt of these shining vanities Supposed Prophecies, and to discover the folly of that faith and affection with which they are so generally entertained; and in order thereunto to lay down some characters of dictinction between real and pretending Prophets, and to inquire (as we can) whether the Mic. 3. 6. Sun be quite gone down over the Prophets, and the minds of men never visited now with any beams of Prophetick light, so familiar in the former Ages of the World.

[Page] The Argument, I know, is as fruitful a field of imposture as the fo [...]egoing, and the persons to whom I oppose my self therein, are men of a more exe [...]cised faith then understanding, and there is nothing more reverenced by some, and e [...]ploded by others then Prophecying; and therefore I easily foresee that I shall (like the candle) praelucendo perire, suffer greatly my self in the prepossest thoughts of the most, while attempting to give light to others in so imposterous and litigious an Argument as this is. But when bodies Politick have been often choked (like Adrian) with g [...]ats, ruined by some occasions they despised and thought most beneath their caution, (Propheci [...]s and Enthusiasms among the rest) and because if all men of more improved intellectuals should value themselves so far, [...]s never to stoop to a notice of those contemptible errors which the people are abused withall, no body would be informed, (as no bodies sores cured if all should be nice:) I have the intentions and hopes of a publick service to ballance the prejudices of some severer persons.

But that which more effectually reconciled me to this attempt, was a regard to the special sutableness thereof to the present Age: and the great Affinity between this and the foregoing Argument.

[Page] The Age wherein our lot is fallen, is an Age of Action and Expectation, and in such times, prophecies generally take confidence to become publick, being then most grateful to men, usually very impatient of uncertainties where they are hugely concerned. Among the Jews we find Prophets and Oracles especially consulted in times of some publick distraction, and [...]. Polib. Hist. lib. 3. Polybius tells us that when the Armies of the Romans and Carthaginians were ready every day to joyn battel, every bodies mouth was full of Oracles and Prophecies. Men upon such occasions are apt to believe as they affect, and then to presage as they believe. Besides, 'tis a time of improvement in all humane and divine knowledg, and that happy day seems risen upon us to which God hath promised anDan. 12. 4. increase of Knowledg: Nature begins now to be studied more then Aristotle, and men are resolved upon a Philosophy that bottoms not upon phancy but experience, a Philosophy that they can prove and use, not that which commenceth in faith and concludes in talk. And considerate men are too much themselves now to be brought (like bees) to hive under any odd form of Opinion and party of men, by the confused noise and dinn of Carnal reason, the Spirit of God, Superstition, Reformation, and the coming in of Popery. Now while Wisdom [Page] seems thus to have hewn out her seven pillars and her house is going up so fast, it is [...] duty to assist her work by removing a [...]l the rubbish of Prodigies, Vulgar Prophecie [...], and what ever Doctrine makes the minds of men soft and easy (by teaching men to believe without evidence) and so, unfit to make a due judgment of things. More-over, 'Tis a time wherein (as 'tis usual) Folly is as busy as Wisdom. Never greater talk of terrible Signs, Revelations, new-lights, Prophecies and Visions in our own and other Kingdoms then now.Lu [...] in tenebris. edit. 1657 Histor. Revel. edit. per I. A. C. 1659. Revel. Divin. Epitom. Edit. 1663. We have had [...] Volumes of Prophecies and Visions lately tendred to the World, and that by men of no common name, and with a confidence, I think, beyond the examples of History. For as many amongst our selves, disbelieve the Writing of God though sealed with so many mighty signs, martyrdoms, accomplished predictions, a resurrection from the dead, and the attestation of millions of wise and good men; so they protest their visions in the face of the Sun, without any considerable signs, and notwithstanding the contempt of all sober Christians, and those contrary events whereby God hath frustrated the tokens of these lyars and made these Diviners mad. And some of them stic [...] not to tell the World, that by how much the [...]carer that Great day of the Lord is, the[Page]more evidently and familiarly doth he excite his Prophets; and that they understand the frequent possessions, Witchcrafts▪ and fanatical Enthusiasms of the Quakers; Histor. Rev. p. 189.Satanicas esse praestigias, quibus opera Dei obsuscare nituntur, ut olim Jannes & Jambres Mosi restitére, to be the delusions of the Devil, whereby they endeavor to obscure the works of God, as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses of old.

As for that Affinity noted between this Argument and the fore-going, it will appear in the correspondence observable between Prodigies and Prodigies in the General Nature, evil Consequents, and common acceptance of them both.

1. In their General Nature. For as Prodigies are received (as theQuia ostendunt, porte [...] dunt, monstrant, prae [...]icunt, ostenta, portenta, monstra, prodigi [...], dicuntur. Tull. de Divin. l. 1. reason of the name intimates) as a kind of Real prophecies, (predictions, as in a figure, of some great plague or change in State.) So Prophecies as a kind of Verbal Prodigies, wonderful indications of the fortunes of Kingdoms or private persons: both feed the curiosities of men by the pretended notices of the future; and have alwaies gone undivided in the Opinions and regards of easie men, both among Heathens and Christians. Having therefore imbittered, and dryed up that one breast, the Opinion of Prodigies, which used to suckle this childish humor of curiosity in [Page] men: I shall endeavour to do as much to that other of common Prophecies, that so the minds of men may be forced to take to some more substantial nourishment and may come the more entire and undisturbed to sober and wise thoughts.

2. In their evil consequents. These Vulgar Prophecies having as malign an influence upon the State, Religion, the Understanding, and Common life as Prodigies.

1. They are of very evil consequence in the State. The monuments of our own and forrein Nations assure us that there is not a more fruitful womb of seditions and confusions in States then the Opinion of such predictions is. He that shall read ur Histories (saith our greatSir Ed. Cooks Instit. p. 3. c. 55. Lawyer) shall find what lamentable and fatal events have fallen out upon vain prophecies, carried out of the inventions of wicked men; pretended to be ancient, but newly framed to deceive true men: and withall, how credulous and inclinable to them our Countrey-men in former times have been. The reason why the publication of any such evil prophecies (as he tells us) hath been made felony without clergy by some ancient Statutes in our Kingdom; and still interdicted under severe penalties both in our own andSee Le [...]d Howard Defensat. against Prophecies. c. 20. forrein Countries. What attempt will not take confidence [Page] from a perswasion that God will succeed it, and that it is the accomplishment of some divine prediction? and besides, how certainly will the best cause fall to the ground, where the hands which are to suport it, are weakned by an Opinion of some unpromising Omen or Prophecy?

The Ancient Ethnick States-men seem very sensible what a ready weapon of Sedition this sacred Opinion of Prophecies in the people was, and therefore being unable to wrest it from them, they endeavoured as much as they could to blunt its edg; by subtil maxims, such as these,Artemid. Oncirocrit. l. 1. c. 2. [...], Persons very simple or very poor, never saw any dreams in which the publick was concerned. And that none but a King or a General was [...] preferred by the Gods the Prophet of a City: Or by appointing some prudentdent Over-seers and interpreters of Prophecies. Their Doctrine (as we learn from Plat. in Tim. Plato) was [...], &c. It is not for the person acted by a pr [...]phetick fury, whether he continue in it still or no, of himself to judg his Prophetick Visions or Speeches: for (as it is commonly and truly said) to speak and do things becoming, belongs soly to a wise person. [...]. [Page] Wherefore the law provides that an order of Prophets be set Iudges over all Enthusiastick Divinations, which Prophets some by mistake call Diviners. Where indeed the Order of Prophets to whom He gives the preheminence, were none else but wise and prudent Men (as aMr Smith Disc. of Proph [...]y. p. 195. late Writer, truly) but whereas he adds, who by reason of the Sagacity of their Understandings were able to judg of those things which were uttered by this dull spirit of Divination, which resided only in faculties inferior to Reason, I conceive he misapprehends the end and office of these prudent Persons; who were indeed Iudges, but not to interpret but to moderate these prophetick furies. For if these Enthusiasms were really divine, no wise man would, and if really phrenetical, no wise man could judg them, so as to expound and interpret them; for can any man make any sober judgment of the phantasms and heats of distraction, or find any reason in that which never approached the faculty of Reason? These Wise Men therefore seem a [...]ind of Ethnick Sanhedrim to judg of pretended prophecy in an authoritative way, and to expunge or expound according as might best comport with the occasions of State. And the better to blanch over their Sentences [Page] and to make them look like Oracle, they were themselves reported and verily thought by the people, really prophetick persons. Answerable to which subtil men among the Graecians, the Romans had constantly chosen out of the City, their sole Keepers and Interpreters of the Sibylline prophecies, which serve [...] as a kind of Ethnick Alcoran, expounded alway by those Mufties according as the circumstances of State might require: and 'tis not unlikely that Caesar had been tampering with one of them, who told the Romans in open Senate, as from the Oracles, of Sibylla that Tull. de Div. l. 2. sub fin. he that they had now their King in reality, must have the title of King too, if they would be in a safe condition.

I incline to believe that this political Sophism in reference to Prophecy, was couched by the Poets in the fable of their Hermaphrodite-Prophet Teresia, whom they feign stricken with blindness by Iuno, but in recompense of that ill turn, blest by Iupiter with prophecy: and further that this [...], &c. Iust. Mart. Quaest. & Resp. ad Ort [...]o [...]. Q. 146. person had the forms of both Sexes, and was often instrumental to accord many differences and strifes among the God. Wherein they seem to intimate that prophecy (as found among them) was given only to persons bereft of the use of Wisdom, as in a dream, or in the eclypse of reason by a [...] [Page] [...] (as Plutarch calls it) Prophetick effiux, (in truth, a subtil vapor ascending the body of the Pythia from those hollow caverns over which she stood, and begetting a kind of dry drunkenness in her for a time, and so disposing her to an imitation of the Ecstacies and prophecies of an Enthusiast.) Or else of the very habit of wisdom; (and that by Iuno, a hand of Providence) as no men distracted, hypochondriacks, Epileptical persons, old women: and this by God, to compensate their great blindness and [...]. Plat. in Tim. folly in all other matters. Now these Prophecies seemed to carry the form of a Woman▪ as being delivered generally by that Sex, but constantly by persons extremely ignorant, credulous, talkative, and impotent both in mind and body; and of a Man, as being directed, expounded and over-look'd by the care and wisdom of some prudent Men. And the fable seems further to intimate of what singular Use in State, these pretended prophecies proved (when subtilly managed) to compound differences among the Gods, Men of minds or power too high to be set down by any Law but what pretends from God; and to conclude all pro and con in a Nation about matters referring to the Gods and Religion. Accordingly the ancient law-givers, Numa, Scipio, Lycurgus, Lysistratus, Sertorius, and the rest, called their laws Oracles, and the [Page] ten tables pretended from God as well as the two. Andlib. 2. de Divin. Tully advised the secret custody of the Sibylline Oracles, Valeantque (saith he) ad deponendas potius quam ad suscipiendas novas religiones; thus some subtil men among the Iews, to accord the fierce disputes between the School of Hillel and Schammai, invented the story of a Vid. Doctor Lightfoot, Hor. Habr. p. 156. Bath Kol (the lowest degree of prophecy, according to them) a voice from heaven, saying, Et horum & illorum verba sunt verba Dei viventis. But when the laws of God will not warrant us to tell a ly for his honor, much less for our interest, it is an instance of the piety and policy of the State to enact severe laws against persons of so prostitute a Conscience, as to encourage a sedition by any pretended prophecy: that so the just reverence of Divine prophecy may be secured, and Faction may not use those Arts to disturb, which Honesty dare not to secure the common peace.

2. Vulgar Prophecies have as malign an influence upon Religion. In the practice thereof: for in an Opinion of such things, the thoughts of some men are wholy entertained with enquiries where will God be next, and their great question is, Watchman, what of the night? what news of things as yet in the dark and out of view? the work of the day scarce ever aproacheth their [Page] thoughts: the great sign with them of a familiar acquaintance with God is, whe [...] he is continually whispering news in mens ears, and making them intimate to his secrets, and no man shall be thought a spiritual preacher by them, but he that can loose the seals of the Apocalyptick visions. In the interim by such fond thoughts and curiosities the minds of men are made vain and trifling▪ their spirits too subtil and airy to fix upon a serious thing, and while their eies are thus, at the ends of the Earth, they neglect to hee [...] their way, and become (like silly birds) but the fairer mark for the Fowler, by standing thus at gaze. And as great a sufferer by such things, is Religion in the Reputation thereof; for when subtil men shall see us (like the ancient Egyptians) inshrine every Ape, give reverence to every vain person and clouted rhime, which may ape the gestures and stile of a prophet or prophecy, they will be ready to conclude Religion a meer Systeme of phantasms, inexplicable impressions, and a tutoring of men to a faith of contrad [...]ctions or meer imaginations. And all the Devoto's in the world shall be thought a Society of easy men that can say much and prove nothing, and that (what was falsly [...]aid of the Iews of old) give worship to an Asses head, to the idle Visions of their own or other mens heads, as soft and ignorant as [Page] theirs. Besides, an easy faith of such Vulgar Prophecies as of divine impression, doth greatly prejudice Religion in the Doctrine thereof. For men will readily conclude him a Man of God, and that the Word of the Lord is with him (be his Doctrine what it will) that seems to tell them things to come, (the reason why the Seducers of greatest name in Story have pretended Prophecy.) The Church of Rome proves her self the Temple of the Living God, and Gods presence with her, by the Voice of his Oracles heard therein. She hath (she tells us) the Spirit of Prophecy (called the Testimony of Iesus) to bearVid. Bozium Eugub. de Signis Eccles. l. 6 c. 2. witness to her Doctrine, discipline and worship: and to this purpose gives us in a list of her Prophets (but most of them women) and of their wonderful predictions, and challengeth us to instance any such parallel examples. To whom we return,Dan. 3. 16. We are not careful to answer thee in this matter: while the house of God with us is built upon the foundation of the true Prophets and Apostles, it will not need daubing with any such untempered mortar as Vulgar Prophecies are, to give strength or beauty thereunto. But Religion is a far greater sufferer by such Spurious Visions, and Prophecies, in the foundation thereof, that Sure Word of Prophecy upon which it bottoms. There can hardly be a more subtil way [Page] invented to sink the value and credit of all divine prophecies and illapses, then the multitude of those tinsil Enthusiasms wh [...]h are in the World. Men will quickly grow coy, and loth to trust themselves w [...]th a Revelation, when they see so much imposture breaking in upon the world that usurps that name. The Ethnick world had been for many ages imposed upon by Enthusiasms, Dreams, Oracles, Prophecies, Apparitions of the Gods, till Socrates (in a discovery of the Vanity of them) called men to an use of judgment, and taught them to entertain no doctrine without or against apparent reason. And the many abuses formerly put upon them, made them no: only readily entertain his doctrine, but so prejudiced them against the very air of a Revelation, that as the Jewish masters were perpetually demanding of signs, so the Gentile Philosophers, Demonstrations, of the first preachers of the Gospel, and upbraiding them that their Doctrine wasIust. Martyr. in Dial. cum Tryph. p. 207. [...], a paradoxical doctrine, and altogether impossible to be demonstrated. And amongst our selves, while some must have an Enthusiasm in all the great turns of life, and must be fed, like the Patriarchs, with Visions and Prophecy, others (seeing the impos [...]ures wrapt up in them) hate such light meat, [Page] and begin to look upon a Revelation as a matter un-intelligible, both in the maner of conveyance, and the way of discovery and discrimination, and to think no man can answer the taking up of any Opinion upon the credit of a prophetick testimony, to his cool and advised thoughts. But if the more fortunate credulity and simplicity of the persons to whom these Visions and prophetick Raptures happen, make them impregnable by a temptation to any such subtil Atheism, yet still Scripture is disparaged while the affections of men are divided between an old Prophecy and a new, and that sickly humor in some men of longing after somewhat new in Religion, is fed, mens gadding Fancies are gratified, and Religion is exposed to the danger of being evaporated into air and rapture.

3. These pretended Prophecies do as much usurp upon the mind and understanding: because instructing both Deliverers and Receivers onely to a bold and forward Faith. For they that deliver them presume it were not to believe but to dispute, if they should (likeJudg. 6. 17. Gideon) desire a sign of God that it is he indeed that talketh with them: these impressions they conceive are both writing and seal to themselves, and proclaim by their own mighty force and vivacity that they are set on by a divine hand: the mind of [Page] man (say they) under the Divine Visitations, is onely [...], to attend▪ in an humble passiveness and silence, to God, while instructing it by the whispers of his Spirit. A Doctrine which is virtually an infinite imposture, and which brings a man into a [...] (as theMaimonid. Mor. Nevoc. P. 3. c. 50. Arabians call the Wilderness) a desert of wandering, wherein he may run for ever from one wild imagination to another; and contains as much Reason therein, as the conceit of that Mariner that should think his Ship ran a right course onely because driven with a fierce wind. And as much do these Prop [...]ecies usurp upon the Understandings of those to whom they are tendred; we must trust our Faith with these things, but never o [...]fer to demand first the security of some divine Sign; we must believe them of divine inspiration onely because we are told they are so: and if we demur, as thinking the condition unreasonable, we are bidden to have a care we be not found to fight against God, and so must become fools for fear we prove knaves. But when our Blessed Savio [...] himself would not so far controul the Law of reasonable Nature in Man, as to require him to a Faith of his Prophecies before sufficient assurance given of their Divinity; we know not to value our selves, if we suffer a Faith of these common Prophecies to be [Page] forc'd upon us, which offer nothing to assure them but solemn looks and Verily verily. The World swarms with pretended Prophecies and Revelations; we have not onely our monthly but our daily Prognosticators, and therefore the honest looks of the proposers are not sufficient grounds of trust in this business. That proposition, Intellectus patiens recipit phantasmata, is a truth also in Divinity; the soly passive intellect, that is impressive and easie, that doth not use it self to discourse and judg, receives Fantasms into it self, little besides the airy Visions of its own or other mens vain imaginations.

4. These Prophecies are of very evil consequence in common life: They give silly men to conceit they are never Gods favorites till they are half mad, and have constant intelligence from Heaven by some new Vision. They torture mens minds with infinite anxieties, and lay upon their thoughts the Evils of an Age to lament at once. They encourage them in very evil purposes, by the confidence they give them of success. They keep men from possessing themselves in peace by a secure repose on the wisdom and goodness of God. They tempt them to a neglect of those faithful and acknowledged Rules of life, Scripture, and the Maxims of Reason, to attend to measures fantastical and never [Page] proved. They cow mens spirits, and betray those succors which Reason affords and commands the use of. Thus theSenatus plurimumei tribuebat, & ipsius permoti concionibus, nihil sibi contra Regem suscipiendum esse putabant. Comin. de Bel. Neapolit. l. 3. Historian tells us the Senate of Florence would by no means make opposition to the French King Charls the eighth, because advised to the contrary by the reputed Prophecies of Savanarola. The Examples of men which have run themselves upon strange Precipices by following these foolish fires, are infinite. I shall instance but two, to stop, if it were possible, the mouths of my two Adversaries in this Argument, the Papist and the Enthusiast. The first shall be the strange Example of Pope Gregory the ninth, who was perswaded by the pretended Visions and Prophecies of Catharina de Senis to go from Avenion to Rome, against the Reasons and Perswasions of his Cardinals and Friends; whereby he became the occasion of that Schism which lasted for about forty years in that Church. Hic positus in extremis, habens in manibus sacrum Christi corpus, protestatus est coram omnibus ut caverent sive à viris sive à mulieribus sub specie religionis, loquentibus visiones sui capitis, quia per tales, &c. J. Gerson. de Exam. Doctrin. consid. 3.In an easie foresight whereof, a few hours before his death (which hapned within half a year after his coming thither) having the holy Eucharist in his hands, he protested before them all, that they should beware of either Men or Women delivering, under a s [...]ew of Religion, the Visions of their own hea [...]; because himself, being seduced by such, had, in a neglect of the sober counsels of his Friends, drawn himself and the whole Church into[Page]danger of imminent Schism, except the mercy of Christ interposed. The other Example toucheth closer upon our present Times; that of Comenius (a person whose other works praise him, so that I need say nothing) who was so inchanted by the simplicity of maners, solemn asseverations, frequent extasies, rapturous speeches, devout language, pompous visions, unaccountable passions, some casually accomplished Predictions of those three pretending Prophets, Christopherus Kotterus, Christina Poniatovia, Nicholaus Drabicius, as greatly to reverence their persons, to record and at last to publish their Visions and Prophecies under the specious title of Lux in tenebris, to write the History of their Lives and prophetick Raptures, to attempt to reconcile the contradictions in their Predictions: and where their deformity appeared through the finest colors he could dissemble it with, He ventures to bring himself off, thus;Histor. Dabric. p. 157. Sapientiam Dei varie nobiscum ludere, & lusisse hac in re, haec ostendunt, &c. And elswhere,ib. p. 234. Non invenio quid dicendum restet, nisi aut haec prophetica non esse divina, aut hypothesin Theologiae nostra (de omnimoda Immutabilitate Dei, etiam nostri & temporalium respectu) vacillare. Utrum potius suspicandum sit, quid si pronunciare ne festinemus? and the like: which is to make God a deceiver (I speak as a man) [Page] that so silly men may speak truth.

Thirdly, Prophecies and Prodigies touch and agree in the universal reception of them both. Prophecy never wanted Professors or Auditors in any Age or place in the World. It was the Opinion of some of the Iews, and most of the Gentile Philosophers of old, that the Soul came down into the Body, pregnant withPiutarc. de Defect. O [...]ac. [...], a prophetick power, [...], but it is muffled and blinded because of its commixture and confusion with this lump of Earth, whic [...] perpetually sends up such a thick mist of Fantasms before its Eyes, that it cannot now see afar off. A Doctrine, which the deport of the Soul, while a prisoner to its own house, seems a little to encourage: for as the Bush in the Fable, having sustained a great loss of cloth, is fancied to stand ever since by the high-way catching hold of every mans clothes, in hopes to recover its own lost goods; so the Souls of men seem to express a tacit sense of a great loss in regard of the knowledg of things future, in this embodied state, in that they stand (as it were) in triviis, and hastily catch at any pre [...]ending Prophecy and shadow of Divination: [...] indeed I have nothing (in this matter) [...] to accuse my own Nation then others [...] being an argument of the blindness of [Page] most Ages and Nations, that they readily swallow down such Flies as these when tendred to them.

What place and repute Prophecy held among the Gentiles of old, those words [...], and the like, and that vast rabble of Chaldeans, Astrologers, Soothsayers, Necromancers, Interpreters of Dreams and Prodigies, Diviners by the Smoke, the Exta, the Incense on the Altar, by a Staff, the chirping of Birds, all of familiar occurrence in their Writings, are a sufficient assurance. Particularly the Eastern Nations were so mad upon Divination, that Isai. 2. 6. [...] they are full of the East seems used proverbially by the Prophet, to set forth that mighty passion with which the Iews were carried after Divination and the knowledg of Futurities. And with how easie a Faith the Iews used to meet any pretenders to Prophecy, though calling them (to the most open defiance of Reason and Religion) Idolatry, the Writings of the Old Testament will sufficiently resolve us. And Christians (though these Vulgar Prophecies have been proved, by an infinite Experience, a dead catch, devoid of the life of truth and perspicuity) stoop as greedily to them, when ever thrown before them, as if they were all Oracle. For they easily [Page] believe no man to be so projectedly Atheistical, as to intitle God to the Visions of his own brain: not considering that the spirit of heated Melancholy may inspire these Prophets, and abuse them with some vigorous impressions as much as they do other men.

Now it cannot but seem strange to our first thoughts, that while all other Sects and impostures suited to the present gusto of the people, have had their peculiar times and places of acceptance, and the Wheel of Fortune (as it is called) hath gone over them all and crush'd them in the dust, Enthusiasts and pretences to Prophecy should prove an obstinate cheat which all Ages and Nations have been thus gull'd withal; especially considering that the hiding of Events from us is so great a security to the quiet of our minds, and felicities are always greater, and Evils (because they then afflict us but once) the lighter, which do surprize us. This so strange and catholick a Vanity must determine our Inquiries after some catholick and immutable Causes in humane Nature which may give us some probable account thereof. They are (I conceive) especially these three:

1. A catholick presumption of the singular readiness of God to communicate with Man, especially if a more refined person, [...] [Page] [...] and separate from all the ways of the people (as the Masters say a Prophet must be.) This perswasion may grow either from a kind of tacit sense in the Soul that it was made for converse with God, to refer to him, to derive light and law from him. A remembrance of which birthright of the Soul remained a while in the more simple and innocent years of the World, in that frequent intercourse between God and Man, by the mission of Angels, vouchsafing of divine Visions and Prophecies, immediate Oracles, and that administration of civil affairs in the Iewish Kingdom by the immediate direction of God himself. Or else (which is more explicable) it might possibly arise from a fantastical measure of goodness in God. Men have thought it could not stand with the goodness of God to suppose him reserved, and to leave them in the dark in some very doubtful and perplexed circumstances of life: and therefore si Dii sint, divinatio est was thought by Tully and others a very natural consequence. And a late Writer, to prove Prophecy not yet ceased, placeth this in the front of his demonstrations (so he calls them) the eternal duration of the Divine Goodness and Bounty; which will oblige him (saith he) to as free a communication of this prophetick light now, as in the years of old: and therefore [Page] concludes his Argument with a brand upon theInexcusabilis [...]rgò est hominum illorū malitia & temeritas, qui hunc divinae gratiae fontem exsic [...]atum hodic volunt: non minus peccādo quam malev [...]li Philisth [...]i, Gen. 26. 18, &c. Author. lib. cui tit. Probat. Vis. apud Comen. in Hist. Revel. p. 204. inexcusable wickedness and rashness of those men who would have this Fountain of Divine Grace dried up, while denying Prophecy. But who art thou, O vain man, that wilt thus mete out the Heavens with thy span? prefer thy short thoughts of what is fit and good the measures of infinite Bounty and Goodness? Doth not the Papist conclude an infallible spirit in the Church, from the same topick the Enthusiast doth a prophetical spirit therein, even because God's goodness will not permit him to withhold so great a Blessing? Certainly if God's goodness prove the spirit of Prophecy to be at all in the Church, it will prove it also as plentifully poured out now, as in the primitive Times, God being as rich in goodness now as then.

2. Opinions of this World vast and unmeasured, is another great support of the credit of Vulgar Prophecies. Men in all times have been apt to value the concerns of this World amiss, to think persons and affairs hold the same place in the thoughts of God as of a man, and could not imagine that what was a great reality to their inchanted minds, was but [...], a great Fancy in the account of Heaven: and therefore easily conceived that all Events of greater note came with observation, and [Page] had the harbinger of a Prodigy or Prophecy to run before and give notice when ever they are coming after. This Vulgar Judgment of things drew forth that speech from the Zosim. Histor. l. 2. Roman Historian, [...], &c. It hath often occurred to my thoughts as a Wonder, that when the City of Byzantium hath risen so exceedingly, that no City besides can vie fortunes or greatness with it, [...], no Prophecy was ever given our Ancestors from the Gods of its singular felicities and increase. And my thoughts (as he goes on) oft running upon this strange instance, [...], having turned over many Volumes of History and Collections of Oracles, scarce at last have I light upon an Oracle of Sibylla Erythrea which seems to carry some prophetick ayrs of the succeeding grandeur of this City. But yet after a full recital of the Oracle, he concludes (as he had reason, so loose and general the words are) If the Oracle shall seem to any one to speak a different sense, [...] let him take to it if he please.

3. There is in the minds of men an infinite thirst after the knowledg of Futurities. What purchase would be thought (by many men) too great for the knowledg of such things as these, How long such a King shall reign, who shall succeed to the Throne, when [Page]Antichrist shall fall, how long they shall live, whom they shall marry, what shall be the issue of such a War, when such a cloud of affliction shall go off from their Tabernacle: this thirst made the Religion of the Gentiles (that thought there was nothing beyond the Horizon of sense) almost nothing but a continued Divination, an unwearied pursuit of this knowledg, in Oracles, in Omens, in Prophecies, in Prodigies, in Auguries, in the Signs of Heaven, in the Guts of the Sacrifice, and the like; and so far befooled them that they oft preferred the ravings of a mad-man, the chirpings of a Bird, the babble of an Astrologer, and the Dreams of an old woman, to greater veneration then the words of the wise; and made the smoke of his house appear a better Oracle then the man of counsel that dwelt in it. And an impatience of the ignorance of things to come, fooled the Iews as well as the Gentiles out of their Reason and Religion both at once, tempting them toHos. 4. 12. ask counsel at their stocks, and to seek to their Staff to declare futurities unto them. Amongst our selves a like affection for this knowledg betrays so many men to such Opinions of Astrologers, Fortune-tellers, the predictions of Enthusiasts, and men upon a death-bed. Look as those gross vapors, which, while he [...]e below, are of no name and consideration, but [Page] as soon as they mount the Heavens, and carry light and fire with them, draw the eyes of men upon them, and are thought Divine presages. Thus those persons, whose grossness and dulness in all matters referring to Religion, Learning or common life, rendred them to the neglect or pity of sober men, as soon as that black humor in them takes fire, and the men seem to speak from Heaven, and to carry a prophetick light with them, they presently become considerable, are advanced the common Subjects of Discourse, their Prophecies are studied more then the Bible, and men wonder to see how little those fools-bolts mist of the mark they were level'd unto.

Now the teeth of men have thus water'd for this forbidden fruit, the knowledg of things to come, partly from a weakness and childishness of temper whereby they cannot relish and digest the strong meat of substantial Doctrine and solid argument; partly from some present uneasiness of condition, the duration whereof looks like an Eternity to their short spirits, while they know no end thereof; partly in a vain hope that according as a good or an evil is prophesied concerning them, so their diligence may be applied to promote it or prevent it.

In consideration of all the premises, I have applied my self with the greater seriousness [Page] to sink the reputation of those pretending Prophecies which so much ingross the studies and affections of many men, and to evince that pretenders to Predictions now, are, in all likelihood, Jer. 23. 26. Prophets onely of the deceit of their own heart, and that none of their Prophecies are to be attended to, as the certain indications of a future time.

CHAP. II.
The Vanity of Vulgar Prophecies detected from the unworthiness of the Pretenders to them.

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All things and Persons thought by the Heathens to partake somewhat of a Prophetick Power. Wisdom onely excluded by them from any share in that gift. The Perswasion too much abetted by some Christians. To reprehend which, the first Consideration is proposed. That Prophetick Maxim, That Prophecy rests not but upon a wise, a valiant and a rich man, how understood by the Modern Jews: A conjecture concerning the Reason of it, in their sense. How understood by the more Ancient Jews, shewn at large from their Writings. God's Prophets never mad in a Prophetick fit. Wise-men an ancient addition of the Prophets: the title usurped by the Ancient Philosophers and Magicians. Jews, Christians and Heathens required Sanctity in order to true Prophecy. None born Prophets of the Jews, and why. Our pretended Prophets largely proved devoid of all true Prophetical qualifications, and therefore not creditable. The Church of Rome why so fruitful in such Prophets.

HOw much a fond affection for Prophecy had blinded the Minds of the Ethnick World, appears by their conceiting the Prophetick light as much diffused as the natural; and that as every thing did, according to its measure, participate of the Sicut imago ipsius boni in omnibus Deum praefert, sic in cunctis est vestigium aliquod vaticinii. Jambl. de Myster. Aegyp. in. p. 89.Goodness, so of the Prescience of God. They regarded the whole World, and all theTanta est exuberantia Providentiae ad ostendenda nobis signa, ut etiam in calculis, virgis, lignis lapidibus, frumento, farin [...], indicia praebeat futurorum, &c. Id. ib. p. 76. parts thereof, but as so many softer [Page] Oracles: not a Star or Comet in the Firmament, not a Monster on Earth, not a Staff in the Wood, not a Gut in the Sacrifice, not a Line in the Hand, but was thought prophetical. The Earth was thought pregnant with aPlut. de Def. Orac. [...], a kind of Prophetick efflux and most Divine Spirit, able to inspire the Pythia which stood over it. The Souls of all men were thought continually uttering some softer voices of Prophecy, but could not be heard till a Dream, or an Ecstacy, or a Frenzy had hush'd the clamors of an obstreperous Reason; and therefore even persons which could not speak sense, yet were presumed able to speak a Prophecy. In short, every thing was thought pregnant with some Presage, but onely Reason and the Mind that had wisdom; for as to that, their Doctrine was Plut. de Def. Orac. [...], mortal wisdom (stylo novo, corrupt Reason) diverts and extinguisheth that Enthuusiasm which would otherwise rise upon the Soul. And I am sorry to see, that amidst all this light which falls upon us from Heaven, men should yet be so little awakened out of the Dreams of Gentilism, as to think Divination almost as familiar a thing as the Heathens did; an [...] that while we profess Miracles the Seal of Faith, and Prophecy the Rule, and Prophet the [Page] great title of the Lord thereof, we should be so lavish of these sacred names, as to throw them away upon every prodigy which our Philosophy cannot Salve; and should still conceit a monster, a Comet, a great wind, the falling of the salt, or the tingling of the ears as prophetical as they did; and profane the sacred title of prophecy by bestowing it upon the crazy fancies of every idle visionist; and be ready to call him a Prophet, that hath scarce reason or morality enough to intitle him Man.

That this is no scandal may in part appear from the fore-going Treatise, but will more fully by what time we dismiss our first Consideration to reprehend the vanity of receiving these Vulgar Prophecies as Gods signs of the condition of a future time; which is this,Consider. 1. The Prophets which deliver them are generally devoid of all the Prophetick qualifications necessary to conciliate reverence to their Persons and Prophecies. What these are we may best learn from the Jewish Masters; now with them, 'tis a ruling Maxim [...] Maimonid. Praef. in Sed. Zer. & de fund. leg. c. 7. sect. 5. Prophecy rests not but upon a wise, a valiant and a rich man: where by the Wise man, they understand a Man of prudence, and well practiced especially in their Cabbalistical and traditional learning, in great price with them: the other [Page] words they expound in the rigid an [...] usual sense and meaning of them; because observing in Scripture so much courage attending the prophetick Spirit, and generally great riches, excepting (Vid. Vorst. in Not. ad. Maim. p. 88. say they) in t [...]e instances of Moses, Samuel, Amos and Iona; who yet did not conflict with extreme necessities, nor yet (I think) any of the Prophets, except in a time of some common calamity, when their strai [...]s and indigencies were rather a2 Cor. 6. 2. Habac. 3. 17. testimony to their office then a scandal. But I think the most rational account that can be given of this Maxim thus expounded, is this▪ The greatest assurances which Faith can require in the Prophet himself, are these two: that he appear a person not apt to be deceived himself (by taking the impression; of a strong Fancy for the hand of God upon him) which therefore, that first requisite of wisdom secures him from the Suspicion of: and that he appear a person not apt to deceive others. Now all aptness to deceive others grows [...]. Artemid. On [...]iroc. l. 2. c. 74. either from a fear of cispleasing by some greivous, or hope of reward by some grateful prediction; and therefore that he may be proof against temptaion from fear or hope, they make him armed with valor and riches. And perhaps that [...]. Maxim we met with before among the heathens somewhat like this among the present Jews) [Page] might carry some respects to some such considerations as these.

But I conceive the more Ancient Rabbies intended some richer Sence in this Maxim, understanding [...] the Wise man, in a more lax and general signification: so as to comprehend a person furnished with all the kinds of wisdom: with Natural wisdom, that is, Soundness of mind both before and in the time of the prophetick afflatus. Accordingly,Vorst. ub. sup. Vorstius tells us from the writings of the Jews, that among many other preparatory requisites to prophecy, the first they lay donw is [...] a Natural disposition, an [...], a firm and sound constitution of body, that there appear no shew of a person crazy and sunk into phantasms. AndV. Blond [...]ll's Treat. of the Sibyls. l. 1. c. 25. fusè Sherlog. Antiq. Heb. l. 1. Dis. 4. all writers ancient and modern have been careful to secure the Divine Prophets in the Opinion of being sober and rational, even while acted by the Prophetick Spirit, fully able to conceive and express what was sealed upon their minds by the hand of God upon them. God sometimes sent his Servants (asL. 1. cont. Haer [...]s. 48. Epiphanius distinguisheth) [...], the Ecstacy of sleep (in the silence and composure whereof, the Soul might best attend the softer whisperings of the Spirit) [...], not an Ecstasy of mind, whereby the Understanding became useless, and [Page] the language confused and inconsequent: whereas the Ethnick Prophet was [...], the Organ of the Devil, sounding forth such discordant and rude airs as he inspired him with, of which the person scarce retained the remembrance when the fit was over. 'Tis noted of the Idol-Prophet, that he used not to prophecy [...] Mai [...]. Idolat. c. 6. sect. 1.till in the previous use of some extatical solemnities, he became frantick and epileptical.

To this Natural was superadded a Livine Widom, 1 Pet. 1. 10. great skill in the Law of God, and the mysteries relating to the person and Kingdom of the Messiah, in conjunction with a divine Philosophy, the knowledg of the works of Nature, with reference to piety and virtue, (the most valued learning of those whiter Ages of the World.) God did notRarò sub V. T. Prophetiae donum contingebat nisi iis qui diu in [...], i. [...], & in [...], i. [...] essent instituti. Cui rei inserviebant Prophetarum Scholae. Grot. in Sap. 7. 27. use to hazard the reputation of his Oracles by trusting them with such Prophets, whose rudeness would have rendered their persons and Message to the common scorn; but the prophetick Spirit found them or made them wise and understanding men: and that in so eminent a degree, that the title of [...] wise men Scripture seems to refer to these titles. Prov. 1. 6. Jer. 8. 8, 9, 10. Mat. 23. 34. 1 Cor. 1. 20. Hos. 9. 7. seems to have been anciently the peculiar addition of Prophets and used characteristically, as Scribe was originally the distinctive title of a Son of the Prophets, and an expectant of that [Page] sacred function: and therefore an ancient DoctorCited by M. Smith, Disc of Prophes. p. 269. of the Jewish Nation tells us [...] after 40 years (the time they assign to prophecy after the second Temple) all the Wise-men were called the Men of the great Synagogue: as conceiving that title now too August and sacred for them to wear, as the Primitive Bishops did the title of Apostles, to whose places but not to their measures of the Spirit they did succeed; and from hence it came to pass, that all the Devils prophets that assumed the skill, usurpt also the stile of God's Prophets, and were intitled Dan. 2. 12. 13. Exod. 7. 11. Wise men; and perhaps the more ancient Philosophers amongst the Gentiles, as they borrowed their Wisdom,Scld. dc. Iur Nat. & Gent. l. 1. c. 1. so also the stile of [...] or Wise men, from the prophetick Doctors of the Jewish church so eminent in all the parts of Wisdom.

By [...] the rich man there, they understand (asapud Cl. D. Pocock. Port. Mos. p. 227. Maimonides expounds the word) [...] the man that rejoyceth in his portion, of riches, honor, health, pleasure, which his father hath allotted to him, that is of a contented and chearful Spirit: for as that water which is not mudded with Earth nor ruffled with the wind, is most apt to receive and reflect an image, so that Minde which is not soyled with covetous [Page] desires as with earth, nor discomposed with anger or sorrow, as with wind, is most receptive of a prophetick image and impression. Accordingly we find none of Gods Prophets (nay none of his servants) blemished in Scripture for an inordinate love to this worlds goods; and so far did they stand from a morose and sowr humor, that we scarce read of any inspired persons but wereExod. 15. 21. 1 Sam. 10. 5. 1 Chron. 25. 1. 2 King. 3. 15. frequent in the use of the instruments of Musick, that by the soft and gent [...]e airs thereof they might allay all undue [...]eats, and charm their unquiet thoughts into stilness and silence.

By that third word [...] they understood (I conceive) these three excellencies: (1.) Great courage and presence of mind: that which we may find a [...]l the Prophets in Scripture eminent for: Upon which account perhaps, the title of [...], stout or valiant, became the almost distinctive Epithite of a Prophet. Our forementioned Maimon. d [...] Idolat. c. 1. sec. 6.Master, speaking of Abraham describes him by the character of [...], this stout one. And some of the R [...]bbins conjecture, that the Moneth Tisri o [...] September is stiled [...], 1 Kings 8. 2. the moneth of the Valiant, because (say they) three great Prophets were born therein. But thisMic. 3. 8. Isa. 50. 7. Ezek. 3. 9. Act. 4. 13. 31. singular presence of m [...]nd, I conceive rather an effect of then a disposition [Page] to the prophetick Spirit. (2.) Power over inordinate affections, for so Maimonides having asked (upon occasion of this Maxim) who is the strong man? makes answer [...], the man that subdues his concupiscence; for herein the true strength and vigor of the Soul reports it self, that it can maintain its supremacy, and give check to all its rebel-passions: and therefore [...] (a word used in Scripture for temperance) signifies a having somewhat in ones power, and holding it within the compass of ones strength. All inordinate passions the Iews used to stile the vails of the Prophets, which intercepted the light of Prophecy, ready otherwise to fall upon them; and therefore rightly judged, a power over the motions of the lower Soul essential to the Prophetick State. (3.) Singular gravity and severity of life and manners: for in such a sence the word occurs, 2 Sam. 22. 26. [...] with the strongly or heroically perfect, thou wilt shew thy self perfect. And a lateIacob. Bold. de Eccles. ante leg. l. 1. c. 9. P [...]. 18. 26. learned Papist conceives that the title of [...] Gen. 6. 4. was anciently the distinctive character of the Prophets, and that we are not there and in other places to understand (as we translate it) Gyants, sed homines virtute & sanctitate ad miraculum usque potentes, & quasi Gygantes: for [Page] which he gives several reasons. It hath been the acknowledged doctrine both of Iews, Christians, yea Heathens, that God never sets up a prophetick light but in golden candle-sticks, persons of most refined minds and maners. Amongst the Jews it obtained so much, thatHucusque nemo adhuc fuit, qui dicere voluerit, Deum Majestatem suam Divinam habitare facere in viro malo, sed tum demū si in melius ipsum prius converterit. Maimon. Mor. Nevoc. P. 2. c. 32. Maimonides tells us that hitherto there was never the man that would say that God did cause the Divine Majesty to dwell in a bad man, but then only when he had reformed his life: nay so ass [...]r'd were they in this Doctrine, that the same Master tells usDe fundam. leg. ch. 7. sec. 12 Vid. & Phil. Iud. Quis rer. div. haeres. elsewhere, that if a prophet arise and shew them a sign or a wonder, yet they believe him not, if not found to have walked [...], in the waies of prophecy, in holiness and separation from the world, in the study of Wisdom, &c And as much was this doctrine subscribed unto by the Christians. l. 7. cont. Cels. p. 336. Origen takes notice that the Prophets God ever spake by, were eminent [...], for the inimitable sanctity and incomparable settledness of life and maners; and many more besides himself cited by aChrist. à Ca stro de Vaticin. l. 3. c. 11. & 16. Modern writer concerning Prophecy. And the very Heathens thought the Divine Majesty did so hate to touch any unclean thing, that the prophetick illapses could never grace an impure Soul. Aristotle (speaking of prophetick dreams) tells [Page] us to suppose that they are ever sent from God, De Divin. per. Insom. c. 1. & Iamblic. de myst. Aegypt. cap. cui. tit. inspirat. vacat. &c. [...], and that he sends them not to the best and wisest of men, but indifferently and as it happens, is an absurd conceit: and therefore the wiser heathens prepared themselves for the reception of any divine communications by abstinencies, washings, some fantastical separations and sanctities; which proceeded upon a tacit sense of this truth, that the light of heaven cannot shine through dirt and filth, nor God ever make an unhallowed place or person, his Oracle. And if we consult Scripture, we shall find that howsoever the order of Kings by whom the Judicial, and of Priests by whom the Ceremonial law was administred, was maintained by a natural and hereditary succession of persons in the families of David and Aron; yet the order of Prophets (by whose care the Moral law was especially secured) was alwaies elective: never any born Prophet of the Iews, but the office was served by such persons as God found qualified, generally with wisdom, always with piety. And therefore our Savior tells us we may know fals-ProphetsMat. 7. 15, 16. by their fruits: by some evil maners, or some doctrine which directly tends to incourage them. As for the instances ofAmos 7. 14. Amos, Balaam and Caiaphas, which may be opposed [Page] to what hath been said, I shall return but this (for brevity's sake) that they are examples singular, and in their occasions extraordinary and therefore (like the jogging of young trees) do but more fully confirm and settle the rule they seem to shake.

Having thus fitted our prophetick ballance, if we proceed now to weigh our pretending Prophets therein they will be found greatly wanting. For the greater part of our little Prophets, appear devoid of that natural wisdom, and soundness of mind of which the true prophets of God gave such undoubted evidences. That word [...] Prophets (deriving from [...] madness) carries in the Original thereof a remembrance what kind of crack'd mettal, the Ethnick Prophets of old were generally made of: and it derives a great suspicion upon our modem Prophets of some such crazy temper, that soSee a book intit. Admirable and notable Prophecies uttered by 24 Roman Catholicks. by James Maxwel. cd. 1615. great a part of these ignes fatui have risen from the boggs of the Romish cells and hermitages, where the strict separations from Company and hones: business, the high applauses of an abstract and ecstatical devotion, the severe disciplines of the body by excessive fastings and scourgings, the strict forbidding of Marriage [...]o persons not capable of that doctrine, the common Opinion of the frequent visits of the V. Mary and other Saints vouchsaft to more [Page] severe livers, together with a strong opinion of meriting, by such devout singularities, the highest favors and intimacies with God, cannot easily fail of intoxicating, weaker heads especially, with the conceit of some extraordinary visions and prophetick inspirations. Accordingly such swarms of prophets and rapturists have flown out of those hives in some ages, that the Council of Constance, Anno 1415. was conven'd (as Tract. de Probat. Spir. Gerson tells us) especially to determine which should pass for Canonical and which for Apocryphal prophets in that Church: and the many gross fallacies put, even upon wise men, by such frequent Visionists, put him upon writing those learned and pious pieces extant in the collection of his works, De probatione Spirituum, De distinctione verarum visionam à falsis, De examine Doctrinarum, and that Epistle intituled Doctrinae ad quendam Eremitam, in all which he doth with great Sobriety and Christian zeal advise against the spreading infection of those more solemn and demurer frenzies, Visions and pretended Prophecies. Nor perhaps will that term be thought a bolt let fly without aim, if the Reader consider further how frequent such prophetick visions and illapses are with these persons; Revelations usually are as familiar with them as Arguments with other men, [Page] those threeVid. Revel. Div. Epitom. Prophets, Kotterus, Christina, and Drabicius, which of late years have made such a noise in Germany (as fruitful in Enthusiasts as Africa in monsters) had their weekly or dayly Visions, and heard from God almost every day: and the Visions of any one of them may compare numbers with all that the prophetick writings make mention of. A consideration that will give us a great jealousy that the most of them were but the visions of a disturbed Fancy, and the spurious issues of that inchanting humor of Melancholy which will present as many delusive images to a man as a conjurers glass. And perhaps, therefore did the holy Prophets record the year and the month when they received the divine illapses, that so their Visions and Prophecies might not be thought the fatal and therefore frequent workings of that black humor in them, but the arbitrary, and therefore oft interrupted, Visits of the true prophetick Spirit.

If we proceed next to make search into their acquired Wisdom, we shall soon perceive them greatly unworthy the title they assume: Is the hundredth part of them (as formerly) improved by any ingenuous education? are they not persons generally whose grosness and ignorance gives them a great confidence, credulity, and talkativeness, three gifts of singular use to men of [Page] their profession? are they not silly women, S. Brigit, S. Hildegardis, S. Catherin Senensis, S. Teresia, S. Matild, S. Elizabeth, which are of greatest name for Prophecy in the Romish Church? Who were the men in the late times that most affected the Opinion of Prophecy and inspiration, but they which (like the1 Kin. 13. 18 Lyon in sacred writ) would gladly tear God's learned Prophets in pieces, but had a kindness for the Ass? The Ebionites (a sort of ancient Enthusiasts) lib. 1. c. [...]. Eusebius tells took their name originally from the Hebrew word [...] signifying poor, [...], because of the poverty of their understanding: andc. 4. cont. Libertin. Calvin speaking of the Enthusiasts of his time, saith of them, ignari sunt supra quam dici possit; and as vast as that number of pretenders to revelation was in Germany, (even 40000) theSleid. Comment. l. 5. Historian relates, in tanta hominum colluvie, ne unus quidem inventus traditur qui literas didicerit: in such a rout of people, the followers of their Prophet Muncer, not a man was found that could read; and ofErat David ille homo exiguae quidem peritiae sed philautiae maximae. Ub. Em. l. de Spirit. David. Georg. p. 47. David George (that famous new New-light of Germany in the last Age) 'tis recorded, that He was a man of little Learning, but of an extraordinary self-love. 'Tis only because the men are in the dark, that every rotten imagination shines to them and looks like Prophecy. [Page] They are easily imposed upon by a busy fancy, because their undisciplin'd mind is unable to disabuse it self by an appeal to some sober and enduring principles.

And their Morals will appear as unworthy of the Prophetick dignity as their intellectuals. Are they not persons generally discontented with the present s [...]ate of things, and therefore clap the mantle of Samuel over the devil of Sedition, and disguize the wishes of or encouragements unto some sudden change, in the sacred livery of a Prophecy? are they not persons generally extremely indigent and therefore have their eies much upon the rewards of Divination? are they not persons commonly of a very morose and sowr humor, especially where they perceive themselves neglected? is there any shadow of that unforc'd gravity, real sanctity, contempt of the profits and applauses of this world which made the faces of God's Prophets to shine before men? What indifferency to the Opinions of men discovers it self in them? How much the notices of men affect them, appea [...]s from the many Ecce's and Selah's they affix to their prophetick Speeches if ever they chance to hit. Whereas we may observe that howsoever there be a very critical notice taken in the Gospels how all the lines both of typical and verbal prophecy centered [Page] in the person of our Savior, and how all were exactly fulfilled which referred to him (the more to assure our faith in so concerning an article as his being the true Messiah) yet there is so little intimation given when and how those other prophecies (in Daniel especially and the Revelations) of a more common and worldly reference, had their accomplishments, that there is scarce any argument wherein Divines more labor then in determining the places and seasons of them: and this, that God's Prophets might appear satisfied from themselves, and nothing sollicitous about the Opinion of a vain man. But especially notorious shall we find these pretending Prophets for Sensuallity and Sedition. The Gnosticks which arrogated such an intimacy with God stand branded with Sensuallity and opposition to Magistrates, inEp. S. Jud. ver. 10. 2 Pet. 2. 10. Sacred writ. Mahomet was a most unclean and turbulent Prophet, the chief Doctrines taught and practiced by the Muncerians in Germany, were Multiplicity of Wives, and No necessity of Magistracy: and that false prophetess (whether person or Society) in the Revelation is calledRev. 2. 2 [...]. Iezebel, who was a very turbulent and a very lascivious Woman. Whereas when the true Spirit of Prophecy was powred out upon men in the Primitive times, it made them famous especially for purity, and a perfect submission [Page] to the most inhumane Magistrates.

To think now that the prophetick Spirit (if yet found in the world) balks all the more lively images of God therein, all those persons whose singular lives and learning were most likely to derive a reputation upon their message, and dwells with those which have scarce any thing of man, besides speech and figure, is to approach very near the judgment of the old Heathens subscribed by [...]. Orig. cont. Cels. l. 4. p. 227. Celsus, that bruit beasts were not only wiser then Man-kind, but more dear to God a conceit easily pardonable to their hypothesis, that God conveyed the knowledg of futurities to man, through them. TheOrig. cont. Cels. l. 7. p. 337 [...]athers thought it sufficiently to reproach the faith of all the Ethnick Prophecies and Oracles, that they were delivered by persons notorious for nothing but the grossness of their minds or manners. It will here perhaps be opposed that very many modern Prophets have been persons of unstained lives, persons whose piety and prophecy reflected a mutual grace upon each other. To which I answer, That we scarce ever met with a false prophet inMic. 3. 5. 11. Ezec. 13. 22. 2 Pet. 2. 1, 2, 3. Mat. 7. 15. Scripture but challenged for some enormity of life or doctrine, and therefore the Spirits which came out of the mouth of the False Prophet are well emblem'd byRev. 16. 13. frogs, which as they can only croke and make a noise, so they live in the [Page] mud, and are impure creatures. And as it was then, so it is generally now. Paracelsus (several of whose Prophecies are extant) was a walking Dunghil (so offensive and corrupt his life) ifV. Hornbeck de Weigelian. story do not misreport him. Cominaeus de Bel. Neapol. l. 5. Savanarola (the Italian Prophet) was condemned, by the Senate of Florence, to the fire, for raising Seditions in the State.Vis. Drabic. Histor. per I. A. C. p. 131. Drabicius (so much the discourse of late) was excommunicate for his scandalous maners not long before he fell a prophesying. As for the Piety of the rest, it usually keeps pace with their Prophecy, being as fantastical as that, consisting in some pathetical Prayers, vehement expressions, bodily severities, affected anomalies and aversions from the innocent usages of men, not in a profound Humility and universal Charity. But if any of these persons were so really religious as it is pretended, I cannot weaken their title to Prophecy by this first Consideration, but may possibly effect it by some that shall succeed.

CHAP. III.
Vulgar Prophecies proved vain from the intrinsick circumstances of them.

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Several circumstances in the matter and stile of those Prophecies instanced in, which speak them unworthy of God. Their being generally delivered in numbers noted as a character of Vanity, and why. The Devil's Oracles of old delivered usually in Verse. Why afterward in more natural and familiar forms. Tully's exception against the pretended Oracles of the Sibyls justified. What appearance of Poetry in the Prophetick Writing [...]. These Prophecies noted to be delivered without any or a very long time prefixed for their accomplishment: useless upon that account to any good end. Why Scripture-Prophecies may be allowed a long time to be accomplished in, but not Vulgar. The Devil concluded to influence these Vulgar Prophecies, and therefore not to be credited.

OUr second Consideration, to evince the Vanity of these petty Oracles, is this:Considerat. 2. Their very shape and character speak them greatly unworthy of God, who alone is able to declare the things that are to come. For * they seem not at all level'd (what wasOrig. l. 7. cont. Cels. p. 335. noted of old of all the Devil's Predictions) [...], to [...]he bettering and correction of mens lives and maners, but rather to Curiosity and Sedition in the State. * God is seldom owned in them as the Author of the Evils foretold, nor Repentance as the remedy. * They frequently betray men (by some ambiguous [Page] expression) to the Evils they seem to warn them of. * They commonly come forth, and are most attended to in times of action and expectation, and therefore most likely to be then invented. * They are generally found (as lines drawn by no rule) to cross and thwart one another. * The stile they are delivered in, commonly wears the Devil's livery, being so full of darkness and perplexity, that it may serve to any interpretation. * The knowledg they pretend to give, is profitable to no great end, whereas all the gifts of the Spirit are bestowed1 Cor. 12. 7. [...], to some common benefit. * They are generally delivered in such affected barbarisms, halting meeter, fantastical pictures and emblems, which carry nothing of that grace and majesty which attends the breathings of the true Spirit of Prophecy in Scripture. * Events are oft foretold in them, without those circumstances of time, place, persons, and the like, which might assure the Events to be as well foreseen as foretold when they come to pass. * The matters foretold in them are cheap and trivial, and such as it were infinitely better for men not to know. * The pretended Visions, often monstrous beyond the fictions of Bedlam, the stile fluttering and uneven, like the heated spirits which conduct it. In short, Let but any wise man read over the Prophecies of Scripture, [Page] and then those of Merlin or Nostredame, and I believe he will scarce need an Argument to perswade him that they were never both inspired by the same Spirit.

But there are two things of more especial note in these Vulgar Prophecies, which are the Characters of Vanity: (1.) Those Poetical numbers in which they are frequently delivered: For whereas all the great Prophets of God delivered themselves in a natural and unforc'd order of words, the far greater part of these pretended Oracles of elder and later times are delivered in Verse, the better to inchant the fancies of the people, and to become observable; for an Oracle in Verse at once commands and courts the Soul to a regard thereof. The Devil's Oracles of old were so generally clothed in numbers, and those enamel'd with all the curiosities of art, that when they became about the times of Plutarch more familiar and simple, it was so much observed, that he wrote a D [...]scourse upon the occasion, intitled [...], Why the Pythia doth not now as heretofore use Poetry in her Oracular Speeches. To satisfie which Q [...]estion, among other things, he tells his Reader, That [...]. &c. God had now removed from his Oracles, Poetry, and variety of dialect, and circumlocution, and obscurity; and ordered them to speak to those which counsu [...]t them,[Page]as Kings to their People, and Masters to their Scholars, in language intelligible and perswasive. But this rather shews the knot then unties it. The true Reason of this change of language was (I conceive) either because men began to suspect that where there was so much of man appearing in the Oracle there could not be much of God, and that Inspiration is too hot and active a thing to move the sober and cool pace of a Poem: or else because the tempers of men were grown more sedate, their minds & discourses not so turgent and ecstatical as heretofore; or because he saw the clouds began to break, and God addrest him to men in more natural and familiar ways, and therefore the Devil (who would never be out of fashion) came nearer to the minds of men, and laid aside the state and solemnity he formerly spake to them with. Or perhaps because the true Oracles of God, delivered in more easie and neglected language, began to lie more exposed to the common view, and he would not have his to differ from them, but to imitate them. There is that coolness and curiousness in a Verse, which speaks it greatly unsuitable to the vehemence and seriousness of the Prophetick Spirit. It useth to beget transports of mind, which cannot bear the slowness and nicety of a Poem: for, as common and quotidian thoughts are beneath [Page] the grace of a Verse; so great and vehement are above the straits thereof; they are impatient of borrowing feet, that are fit to fly. And thereforeTull. de div. l. [...]. Tull [...] enters this judicious exception against the Cibylline Oracles of his time, that they we [...]e delivered in Verses, and many of those Acrosticks, and ca [...]ried the evident tokens of art and contrivance; and therefore (saith he) magis artis & diligentiae erant, quam incitationis & motus, they were rather the issue of Art and diligence, then Enthusiasm and divine motion. Nor is the Exception entred by aAmyrald. Dissertat. de Trinit. late learned Writer against this Exception of Tully, That the Book of Job is Poetical, and some of the Psalms Acrosticks, of any great moment; those writings being inspired by [...] the Holy Ghos [...] (as the Iews distinguish) a more gentle and easie afflatus, that was still and sedate, and approach'd very near to the more rational and divine actings of a wel-disposed mind. Whereas the motions of the Prophetick Spirit (strictly so called) are quick and vehement, and such as the slow feet of a Verse cannot hold pace withal. And as for the Poetry in those Books, it is rathe [...] in the phrase and matter of them then in the measure. For if there be any set numbe [...]s observed in them, they are generally so mysteriously couch'd that none of the learned have [Page] been able yet to make any certain report of them. And therefore, upon this score, I should make no great doubt to throw out the vast rabble of rhyming, clinching, versing Prophets, as persons that tell the worst lies in the best maner.

Another thing which proclaims the Vanity of these Vulgar Prophecies, is, the circumstance of time with which they are generally delivered: For either they prefix no time at all, or a very long period thereof to be accomplish'd in; whereby they can minister neither to the honor of God nor the good of man. For they can give no testimony to his Providence or Prescience, because they will be thought to be fulfilled by chance, or the Prophecy (because long ago delivered) will be forgotten, and the Event, when it comes, be thought to have stood in no relation at all to the Prophecy; and therefore it may perhaps, by the singularity thereof, beget wonder in men, but not piety. Nor can any man be warned by them to avoid an Evil, which may come (for ought he knows) not till his head be laid; nor can they give check to the sins of the time, for men will be ready to say, like the scorners in the Prophet, Ezek. 12. 22. The days are prolonged, and every Vision faileth. Nor (if the Prophecy fail) shall the Prophet be alive to bear the shame of his impostures. The condition of those Prophecies [Page] in sacred Writ, which take Ages to be accomplish'd in, is quite diffe [...]ent; for they stand perpetuated in Scrip [...]ure, and therefore fall under the daily notices of men; so that when the Events foretold come to pass, they may readily be compared with the Prophecies; which, the more ancient date they bear, the more wonderful will they appear when accomplish'd, and the more full reports will they make of their divine Original, and of the Scripture wherein they are found. For there is nothing doth so seal the Faith of the divine Inspiration of Scripture, as the various Predictions therein, delivered at such distant times and places, exactly accomplish'd in thei [...] seasons. But these Vulgar Prophecies are either not delivered to writing at all, or the writings forgotten, or look'd into but by a few curious persons, and therefore easily altered and varied (as the Prophecies of Me [...]lin have been) as might suit occasions, or mens humors. Besides, though even these Scripture-Prophecies, which are of a m [...]re catholick concern (as those relating to the Messiah and his Kingdom) received a slow accomplishment, yet the Prophecies of a more confined reference did not use to go long before they were delivered of the Evils they were pregnant with,See Ezek. 12. 22, 23, 24, 25. especially after men grew so wicked as to deride the patience [Page] of God, and to think they lived the longer for being threatned by his Prophets.

From all this it appears, in a great degree of probability, that the Father of Lies gave being to very many of these spurious Prophecies, that by these false he might derive a suspicion upon the true ones, or abuse the minds of men with vain hopes, panick fears, or curious impertinences. And will any man, that owns his Savior for his Prophet, receive the Devil for his Oracle? or when he is sick of things present, go to the God of Ekron (by attending to any Prophecy of his incitation) for quiet and resolution? Shall we value our Faith at so cheap a rate as to trust it with the Oracles of the Father of Lies? Can the Devil be presumedIsai. 41. 23. & chap. 44. 7. able to give us true resolutions to any questions concerning the future? (Did God ever make him of his Councel, or deliver Times and Seasons into his power?) or willing, if able, to do it with any fair and single intentions? Have the beams of the Sun of Righteousness put out all the fires on his Altars, the Glory and Power of the Divine Oracles and Miracles spoiled his great trade of lying Oracles and Wonders, and shall our easiness and vanity encourage him to drive this more secret and little trade of Prophecies and Prodigies? Certainly that man is strangely desirous of news that will go to the Devil for intelligence.

CHAP. IV.
The vanity of these Prophecies evinc'd by their coming unattended with Signs.

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The difference between a Sign and a wonder. Of what kind of Prophets no Sign was to be required. What method the Jews observed in the trial of Prophets. Miracles not a Sign required of all Prophets. Six P [...]ophetical Signs taken notice of. Our Savior's Prophecy confirmed by them all. Signs of the Prophet and of the Prophecy. None of these Vulgar Prophets give a Sign. Their pretended Sanctity no sufficient Sign. Their admired gift of Prayer of as little credit as that. Natural [...]rdor how effectual to enable the power of speaking freely o [...] the sudden: that confirmed by the example of the ancient Roman Orators. Quintilian. [...] of o [...]d, what. Why some men fluen [...] onely before company. The great efficacy of exalted imagination to assist an ex [...]emporary Rhetorick. Why vehement speeches so migh [...]ily move men. What kind of heats commendable in Religion. The powerful impression of these Prophecies [...]o sign of their Divinity. Divine impressions not distinguishable soly by their power and evidence, Asserted ag [...]inst some Jewish Rabbins. Artemidorus. Some accomplished Predictions, no safe Sign of the inspiration of ou [...] Modern Prophets.

THe Vanity of receiving these Prophecies as the certain indications of any future Event further appears from hence; The Deliverers of them shew neither Sign nor Wonder to derive authority upon their persons and prophecies. Consid. 3. Signs and Wonders so often coupled together, & somtimes used indifferently in the Writings of the Old and New Testament, are not alway the same thing; every [Page] Wonder or Miracle being indeed a Sign, and so often stiled; but every Sign is not (if we speak acc [...]rately) a Miracle. For [...] a Miracle, is some mighty work transcendent to the powers and capacities of natural Agents, butAnd so Eustathius seems to distinguish, saying, [...]. In 2. Iliad. [...] a Sign, is any extraordinary indication, besides, sufficient to make faith of the real inspiration of the person who pretends to speak from God.

Now all persons that pretended of old to speak immediately from God, came attested with some Sign or Wonder; except they onely called men to obedience to some acknowledged Precept in the Law of Moses: for then (asNotandum est hoc, ab eo Prophetâ qu [...] tantum hortatur ad implenda legis jussa, nulla signa requiri. Grot. Not. in Deut. 18. 22. Grot [...]us, I think, truly notes) no Sign or Wonder was required of them, because the condition of that Oeconomy, in which God had promised and the people more wanted such extraordinary Teachers, was a competent security to their Faith, that they were not imposed upon by any such pretender, especially if the forementioned prophetick qualifications were found about him. But if the inspired man required them to a faith of some Prediction or Doctrine, really or in appearance, new, he came always authorized by some divine Sign or Wonder. It is therefore a Maxim with the [Page] Masters, thatMaimonid. de Fundam. Leg. c. 7. sect. 11. when ever God sends a Prophet to a People, [...] he gives him a Sign or a Wo [...]der that the people may know God hath truly seat him. Accordingly we meet with the Iews Mat 12. 38. Luke 11. 29. Mat. 16. 1. Luke 23. 8. often demanding a Sign of our Savior as the Seal of his divine Mission and Prophecy; and what a singular respect they had to some Sign in the trial of Prophets, may appear, as from the sacred, so also, from the Iewish Singularem signi (quod [...] & [...] vocant) in Prophetis dijudicandis rationē haberi, apud Judaeos, tum è sacris literis tum è Magistrorum doctrinâ discimus. Selden. de Synedr. l. 3. c. 6.monuments. In consideration whereof, all the Impostors anciently, which usurp'd the title of Prophets, pretended toMat. 24. 24. Rev. 16. 13, 14 2 Thes. 2. 9. Deut. 13. 1. Act. 13. 6. Signs, without which counterfeit Seal they and their Doctrine could never have past unsuspected among the people: and the better to ape a Miracle, most of those pretenders to Enthusiasm among the Iews, Christians, and Heathens, were Magicians, as might be made appear were it here pertinent. He that was Truth it self was content to borrow credit and authority (before men) to his Prophecy, from Signs and Wonders, Act. 2. 22.

Now Miracles were generally reserved to seal the person and message of such inspired persons as were to introduce a way of Worship, in truth or common Opinion, new: and therefore were never wrought (fam [...]liarly at least) but by Moses the Deliverer▪ Elijah and Elisha the Restorers, and our Savior the Fulfiller and Finisher of the Law▪ and his [Page] D [...]sciples, the Preachers of a Gospel which was aAct. 17. 19. novel Doctrine in the opinion of me [...], at that time. Scarce any Prophet was [...], a worker of Paradoxes (as Iosephus saith of our Savior) but he that was a Preacher of them. But however, all the Heralds of Heaven had the badg of some divine Signs, whereby unpossest minds might easily distinguish them from Impostors. Of these, it will suffice to my present purpose briefly to point to some few, which the Ages, to which Prophecy was promised, seem to have made the greatest reckoning of.

As (1.) The discovery of some present matter, evidently out of the compass of all humane knowledg: as the secrets of the heart, the counsels of the bed-chamber, matters done at distance and with all possible secrecy, and the like. Such wonderful discoveries were ofJoh. 4. 17, 18, 19. 1 Cor. 14. 25. great consideration with the people (in that time to which God had promised Prophecy) to assure the divine Mission of the Prophets: accordingly our Savior wasMat. 21. 2. Luk. 22. 12, 13 11. 17. 24. 38. frequent in the use of such divine Signs, and so were the2 King. 6. 12. 2 Sam. 12▪ 12. other Prophets it is likely: and therefore the Iews, which looked upon our Savior but as a Mock-Prophet, required him to a discovery of a Luk. 22. 64.Mock-Secret, the person who smote him on the face while he was blindfolded; the [Page] revealing whereof they called Prophecy, [...] discovery of such kind of Secrets being received as the Seals of a Prophetick Spirit. (2.) The constant coming to pass of Eve [...]s foretold in very Non ex solo successu, verbis respondente, cognosci Propheta potest, nisi successui mult [...]s addiderit circumstantias quas nulla humana prudentia pro [...]picere possit. Grot. Not. in Deut. 18. 22. critical and contingent circumstances. Many things the Prophets foretold to fall out within the compass of a few months or days, that so their Prophecies of a longer time might have the greater credit, and men might quickly understand that they were established Prophets of the Lord. Thus it is said, they knew1 Sam. 3. 19, 20. and 9. 6. Samuel to be, when they saw none of his prophetick words to fall to the ground: andEzek. 33. 33 Jer. 28. 9. Ezekiel having delivered his Prediction, adds, And when this cometh to pass, then shall they know that a Prophet hath been among them. And God himself, in the trial of Prophets, appointed the Iews to look to the issues of their Predictions, Deut, 18. 21, 22. Upon which Text,Maimonid. Praefat. in Sed. Zer. è vers. D. Pocock, p. 19. Maimonides lets fall this gloss: Cum quis, ipsum munus propheticum sibi vendicaverit, dicemus ei, ede nobis promissi, & refer nobis aliqua eorum quae nota fecit tibi Dominus; quo referente, si vera evas [...]rint promissa ejus omnia, hinc prophetiae ejus veritatem percipiemus. Quod si in aliquo ipsorū, vel minutissimo, mendax fuerit, hinc nendacem cum esse cognoscemus. Atque haec est expressa legis de hujusmodi probatione sententia. So that it seems probable that the [...]ews required [Page] but the Sign of some accomplish'd Prediction (not always a Miracle) from the more common sort of Prophets: and therefore [...] Gerundensi [...] derivat ab [...] venit, quoniam v [...]nturum aliquod significat, ut si dixero, Ego sum Propheta verus à Deo missus, & hoc erit vobis signum, eras veniet locusta, asellus & bruchus. Drus. in Deut. 18.some derive the Hebrew word [...] a Sign, from [...] venit, because the most frequent Sign of Prophecy the Prophets 2 King. 7. 18 Jer. 28. 16, 17 Mat. 26. 34.gave, and the people required, was the coming to pass of some Prediction, delivered is such circumstances as no Eye of humane prudence could possibly foresee. (3.) Some gifts and abilities extraordinary gotten suddenly and without humane industry, and abiding with them, (for many possest persons have for some timeVid. Psel. [...]. & I. Voss. de Idol. l. 3. c. 44. p. 969. spoken languages, and made shew of singular abilities to discredit this prophetick Sign,) as to deliver himself ex tempore in very weighty sentences, to sing praises to God with singular art and dexterity upon the place, to interpret Scripture with great evidence of truth. All which were Raymund. Pud. Fid. p. 99.comprized by the Iewish Doctors, in that degree of Prophecy they stiled (for distinction's sake) Spiritus Sanctus. This prophetick Sign ourJo. 7. 15, 16. Savior and hisAct. 4. 13. 1 Cor. 12. 10. followers did seal the truth of their Enthusiasm withal, as other Ancient Prophets had done before them. It is God onely that can make his way to the Soul immediately, and seal it with the abiding characters of Wisdom. (4.) The attestation of some Person of whose Prophetick Spirit there is no question: According [Page] to that Maxim of theMaimonid. Fund. leg. c. 10. sect. 9. Masters, [...] The Prophet of whom some other undoubted Prophet witnesseth that he is a Prophet, is assuredly a Prophet. Accordingly they note that the testimony ofDeut. 31. 7. Josh. 1. 17. Moses to the divine Mission of Ioshua procured him the Faith of the People before his conduct was credited from Heaven by any Miracle. Which rule I take to have a truth therein, though I de [...]ur upon that other they sometimes superadd to it,Omnis vates qui surrexit locutus est de Prophetiis so cii sui. Vorst. in Maim. de [...]und. leg. c. 10. Every Prophet which arose; spake in testimony of his companion in Prophecy. It is likely some2 King. 3. 11, 12. did. And therefore perhaps would our Savior have his Prophecy attested byJoh. 5. 32. Iohn the Baptist (generally reputed aLuk. 20. 6. Prophet by the people) that so [...]his, as well as all other prophetick Signs, which ever singly and apart derived credit upon the person and message of any other inferior Prophet, might conspire in the Person and Prophecy of him the great Prophet of his Church. (5.) The immediate voice of God from Heaven to him, before witnesses, was another Sign of a ProphetPsa. 99. 6, 7. Job 38. 1. Exod. 24. 16. in ancient times; especially before the building of the Tabernacle: but when Prophecy became more common, God chose to speak to holy men Num. 12. 6.by Dreams and Visions: and perhaps the ceasing of that more usual way of divine Manifestation under the second Temple, [Page] might occasion some to think he might possibly return to the more ancient way of revealing himself, by a Bath Kol, a voice from heaven. However, with this also Sign God 2 Pet. 1. 17. Joh. 12. 2 [...].dignified our Savior. (6.) The general prevalency of their prayers, especially in matters of a more publick reference, was a very probable sign of true Prophets anciently. God assigns this as the Characteristick note between false and true Prophets, that one had great interest and power in the Court of heaven, and the other none at all.Jer. 27. 1 [...]. Ezek. 13. 4, [...]. But if they be Prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of Hosts, &c. This was a sign of a Prophet, because it was a sign he prayed by a special instinct from God, whereby he knew what blessings God was ready to bestow; and besides, it was a sign of that singular favor he had with God: and therefore we shall find an high value set upon the the prayers of a Prophet both by God and men,Gen. 20. 7. 1 Sam. 7. 5. Deut. 9. 18. 20 26. 2 King. 2. 12. Mat. 18. 19. in Scripture. And perhaps in confidence of theObservandū est Propheterū preces esse efficaces, plurimum conferre ad vitam, si pr [...] iliquo preces ad Deum fuderint. Procop. com. in Gen. 20. 7. prevalence of his prayers, some people that held our Savior for a great Prophet though not the Messiah, brought their young children to him that he might lay his hands upon them and pray, Matth. 19. 13. This prophetick sign also attested the Prophecy of our Bl. Savior, Ioh. 11. 42.

[Page] These were some of those more general signs which gave testimony to the Divine Mission of a Prophet: but besides these, there were also frequently added some particular signs of the truth of this or that extraordinay prediction; especially if of some matter of greater import, of the truth whereof it was somewhat necessary the people should have a full assurance: the instances whereof are of familiar occurrenceIs. 3 [...]. 7. Jer. 44. 29. 1 Sam. 2. 34. 1 King. 13. 2, 3 2 King. 20. 8. 1 Sam. 2. 1, 2, 3 in the Book of God, and therefore the Disciples, when our Savior had foretold an Event so great, as the destruction of Ierusalem and the Temple, demanded of him a sign both of the truth and time of the accomplishment of that Prophecy.Luke 21. 7. Master when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign when all these things shall come to pass? These particular and almost present signs, gave assurance that the Prophet did not deliver conjectures but Prophecies, and the doubling thus of his Prophecy was a sign that the thing was certain with God, and not foretold conditionally onely, (as judgments and blessings often were) and that the agreement between the Prediction and the Event when coming to pass, was not a chance but a Providence. So that these were more immediately the signs of the Prophecy, as the other six of the Prophet.

From all this, it seems more then probable, [Page] that all true Prophets came distinguished by some divine sign, although it appear not now from Scripture, what particular sign it was which gave credit to each Prophet therein mentioned; and that anciently Men were wiser then to let every prophecy pass currant, as soon as ever it had the image of the King of heaven stampt upon it, carryed the face of an inspiration from God. Men then understood Prophecy, upon many accounts, too much exposed to suspicion of imposture to be credited upon the single testimony of every zealous pretender thereunto: [...]and therefore all Prophets though they came not recommended by equal testimony (the occasions they were to serve not being of equal moment) yet still with what might suffice to place their divine Mission beyond a question. Some were attested by Wonders, some by signs, some by both. If then (to apply all this to the occasion) Men would once be so advised as to demand some such divine sign as used heretofore to credit the Prophetick function of these pretended Prophets, they would certainly all sneak away like Juglers when called to shew a Miracle. What have they generally beyond Ordinary besides ignorance and confidence? What Miracle or Sign doth God bear witness to their b Mission by? what have all the great Swelling words of [Page] Enthusiasts been at last delivered of, beside the crude air of some flatulent imagination? have they, after all the noise they have made, blest the world with the discovery of any useful secret in Philosophy or Divinity? are not Scripture prophecies as dark, diseases as desperate, nature vail'd as much now as in former Ages? do not all their books (like the barren fig-tree) bear leaves only, a few rampant Metaphors, and some higher straines of prophetick Scripture, jumbled together like the images of a dream? shall we then appear so unworthy of the title we carry as to think a few exstatical looks and Scripture phrases sufficient to intitle a man to the Opinion of [...] a Master of light? as the Iews use to stile a Prophet: It is not to be imagined that God would send Prophecy into the world, and not have it regarded, or that it can be regarded, if it come attended with nothing whereby it can be known. When the Apostles had such an extraordinary measure of the Spirit, there was [...], a manifestation of the Spirit; as the extraordinary Measure of the Spirit then poured out gaveGal. 3. 2. testimony to the Gospel, so the mighty signs and wonders which attended it gave testimony to the Spirit.

To all this, I know, it will be opposed that many of these modern Prophets come [Page] attended with signs sufficent to the man who is of an humble and teachable temper, whom alone God seeks to satisfie: viz. these four, Eminent Sanctity. A very liberal and powerful gift of Prayer. The mighty energy and impression of their Visions and Prophecies. The accomplishment of very many of their Predictions. To all which I shall return a few words.

First, We are told that they are persons of very eminent Sanctity, that are wholy abstract from the pleasures and honors of this world, and have no fleshly relishes appearing in them, and therefore 'tis most unlikely that they would deceive others or should be deceived themselves by a false Prophecy. To which I answer, There is nothing more misjudged then Sanctity, 'tis too commonly thought to stand in some more solemn looks at a Sacrament, in visiting of an holy shrine, in some extatical devotions, in the use of some interpreting garbs, faces and Phrases, in caressing of Christ by some pretty attributes, in declaiming with much zeal against some odious names, heresie, Antichrist and Superstition, in carrying it very morosely towards men of a different form from ones self, in some severer disciplines and neglects of the body: and therefore 'tis unsafe trusting our faith with a prophecy upon a report of the sanctity of the Prophet. Besides, no [Page] men more subject to such delusions, then men of devout affections, if of strong fancies, impressive tempers, and weak intell [...]ctuals: for in such persons; an indiscreet use of R [...] ligion by very pensive and solemn thoughts, affected retirements and Silences, [...]oo intense Meditations, continual fervors and endeavored heats, unreasonable fastings and watchings, the neglect of innocent diversions and relaxations, especially if joyn'd with the continual study of some dark prophecies and visions in Scripture (more proper entertainments for Men of great learning) cannot easily fail of intoxicating the mind with wild and extravagant imaginations. The overstraining of them by such intense devotions and perpetual fervors,De multis in religione & austeritate vitae constitutis, incredibilia [...]ere sunt quae idoneis testibus refrentibus audivi. Gers. de dist. Ver. Vis. à fals. hath produced so many crack'd brains, pretended Prophets and visionists in the Religio [...] houses of the Romish Church; who is yet so ill advised as to cite them as the proofs of that prophetick Spirit she laies claim unto. Moreover, It hath ever been the Policy of the Devil to do the Church the greatest Mischief by men of greatest name for Religion. He knows good men are soonest decoyed by those which seem of a feathe [...] with themselves, and that error will soo [...]er be entertained from a [...]pious then truth from a profane person. And therefore the Iews among the four things which they say destroy [Page] the world, number, A Religious man that is a Fool. God perhaps permits it thus to be, that men might learn to make him only Lord of their Faith; and not to give an absolute trust (his due alone) to the wisest or best of Men. Good men are no more exempt from mistakes and lunacies, then they are from a feaver or the infirmities of Age.

But we are further told that many of these prophetick Persons are sealed by the singular gift of praying in the Holy-Ghost. Their lips seem touch'd by a coal from the altar, so fervent and so Scripture-like are the expressions they bespeak God withall upon the suddain. Nature useth to be eloquent indeed in its own concerns, but lisps and is a child in the things of heaven, useth to speak to God in language of ic [...], words that freeze and even dy between the lips; and besides, where words come without forcing, and sit handsomely about the matter, dantur in illa hora, 'tis (surely) not they which speak but the Holy-Ghost which speaketh in them. Nature seems not sufficient for such singular performances upon the place. Moreover, their words (like arrows pointed and fired) make a very deep and abiding impression upon the hearts of the hearers, the Souls of men become half unbodyed, while they hang upon the lips of these extraordinary [Page] persons; and therefore surely non vox hominem sonat; there is more in these words then the voice of a Man, and the charms of a little fervent and Pathetical language.

I answer, This devout ardor with the effects consequent thereunto, doth extremely inchant the minds of men with great Opinions of the Men in whom it appears; and is readily received (like the divine fire that came down upon the Sacrifice) as the testimony of God to the person and to all he offers. David George obtained the repute of a Prophet chieflySpaenhem. de Orig. Anabap. sec. 24. assiduo ac ardenti in speciem preces ad Deum funclendi studio. Whereas all these strange phoenomena may be salved by meer mecharical principles, all generally being but the [...]ssue of a natural pregnancy and fervor of temper, exerting it self in fluent words tinctured with religion and Scripture phrases. Where there is naturalis quaedam animi mobilitas (which Quintilian requires in order to speaking well ex tempore) a natural moveableness of Soul, whereby it is inabled to turn it self nimbly and with ease to new thoughts and words, and this ass [...]sted (or rather created) by some more brisk and active spirits, it may equal, perhaps exceed the performances of more advised thoughts. A moderate heat, wherein all the Spirits [Page] flow to their proper principles and fountains, the vital to the heart, and the animal to the brain, and are put into quick but manageable motions, doth raise in a man a more fine and exquisite power of perception, and cause the images of things to appear more distinct, and to come faster upon his mind, then otherwise they would, and by consequence make the Understanding more pregnant, and the expressions more fluent and easy. And therefore when the Orators of old attributed their more fortunate performances and rhetorical inlargements in their extempore declamations before the people, (then much in use) to the special assistance and incitation of God; Quintilian judiciously gives them to the present heat and fermentation of spirits, the great instruments whereby the Soul performs all its works in this embodied state. His words are these,Inst. Orat. l. 10. c. 7. Si quem calor ac Spiritus tulit, frequenter accidit, ut successum extemporalem consequi cut a non possit; Deum tunc adfuisse, Veteres Oratores aiebant, sed ratio manifesta est: nam bene concepti affectus & recentes rerum imagines continuo impetu feruntur, quae nonnunquam mora styli refrigescunt, & dilatae non revertuntur. Which words I shall dismiss untranslated, lest (like liquors put into another vessel) they should contract a flatness and loose Spirits.

[Page] Now these words of Quintilia [...] give a good account of the extempore felcities of the Orators of those times, which themselves had such great thoughts of, that [...] to speak divinely or by inspiration V. Francis. Ferr. de Acclamationib. Vet. l. 3. c. 14.was the usual phrase whereby they exprest speaking fluently, pathetically and with coherence, without more thoughts then just ushered the words they spake. And that Spirit which generally inspires our Divine Orators and makes them un-over with such winning rhetorick, is much of kind with that which incited those civil ones; viz. a natural fervor of temper, excited by some superficial affection, and assisted by a plenty of fit expressions made familiar to them by study and custom. For we find men of very evil livesInterdum ficbat ut preces inter & sacrificia, tantis ardoribus astuaret, ut omnes partes corporis exarde secrent, facies instar purpurae rubcret, &c. Vit. & glor. S. Ignat. per. Anon. c. 9. Ignatius, Dr. Casaub. Enthas. m. p. 214. Hacket, and others eminent for this religious Rhetorick and fervor; and many of these Orators have confest themselves greatly straitned and bound ut (as the phrase is) when in their closets, who are carried with full sails when to act before aExtemporalis actio auditorum frequentiâ ut miles concentu signorum excitatur, secundos impetus auget placendi cupido, velo, inio. Quintil. l. 10. c. 7. Company; because desire of Opinion makes them more concerned, excites affection, and consequently that ardor so essential to a smooth performance. They are (in the Phrase of Plato) [...] ful of the Theater, [Page] are touched with applause, and therefore act to the height of themselves in publick, but are cold and indifferent where the breath of man is wanting to excite and blow them up.

Now our admired Prophets having this natural fervor and pregnancy of Spirit to wing their Fancies, and this heat intended by the new forces of an [...] (as Longinus stiles the Earthy vapor which inspired the Pythia) an enthusiastick vapor of heated Melancholy arising from the hypochondria, it cannot fail of displaying it self in such rapturous and lofty strains of divine rhetorick; as shall be verily thought to flowPs. 68. 26. è vena Israelis, from the same Divine Spirit which inspired the Prophets: when the persons are but heightned by a fume somewhat more gross and unruly then that which inspires our common Poets, whose more happy heats and sprucer fancies have been thought the issue of borrowed Spirits, and therefore the blood of the grape been generally vouched by them the most natural exciter of the poetick vein. Besides, these Prophets are much advantaged for a more lively imitation of Enthusiasm above the more Vulgar pretenders to it, by an exalted Imagination. For the most vehement Objects of Religion, God, Heaven, Hell, the glories of the new Hierusalem, some [Page]prophetick Scheams, being made familiar to their softer fancies, stand before their minds in very distinct and affecting ideas. Now where imagination is thus boiled up and often rub'd upon by the most moving objects, it fails not of raising affections and and consequently expressions great and vehement as the objects are from whence they do arise. And thereforeQuintil. Instit. Orat. l. 6. c. 3. Quintilian, to assist the power of Speaking very movingly and fluently extempore (which the Orators of those times so much endeavoured) adviseth to imprint upon imagination, [...], the images of the things we are to speak about: as if we were to speak about the murder of any person, suddenly to make all the terrible images of the bleeding man to walk upon the Scene of Phancy, and to set (as it were) before our eyes all the black circumstances of the action, thereby to quicken affection, and by that Expression.

I intend not these words to stifle the devout ardors of holy men displayed in affectionate Ps. 42. 1. pantings after God and a divine Nature, in desires too big for words, divine relishes, and that unforced Rhetorick which the abundance of their hearts instructs them unto, when to bespeak God in private. For our Religion could no more please our selves then God, if it could not ravish the [Page] heart as well as renew it, if it were a kind of caput mortuum, an heavy, stark, insipid thing, without heat and Spirit. Heat and zeal is the calidum innatum of the New Man, without which he neither lives nor moves. Only care must be had, that this heat and zeal (like the flame at Pentecost) aspire and mount upward, but without firing the Persons head, and making him of too hot and firy a temper to bear any confinement of Opinion or practice, by Scripture, laws or the Reasons of wise men. I have in all this designed only the disparagement of the ignorant imaginations of those men, which (like the heathens of old) look upon heat and noise, words full of charms thrown out without method or measure upon the suddain, and very vehement affections, the symptomes of a person full of God, and managed by some power transcendent to natural. Whereas all these things, howsoever, like Meteors, they carry an heavenly appearance in the eie of ignorance, we have found of a more common and base Extraction. Nor is the mighty power they may have over the Spirits of others, any argument to the contrary; all fluent language, feathered with soft and delicate phrases, and pointed with pathetical accents, being naturally fitted (as the stage will assure us) to make a deep impression upon the heart. [...]. Plut. [...]. Plutarch [Page] speaking of that rare Art, those Masters of Language, the Graecian Sophists, discovered in composing and delivering of their Orations, tells us, that they raised up a kind of Bacchical Enthusiasm, and transported their hearers, with some honey words, soft and effeminate phrases and accents, and a kind of singing tones. And no doubt those hearers, of whom he there speaks, which used to applaud their Orators at the end of their Declamations with a [...], divinely, heavenly, inimitably spoken; found themselves as much stirred and moved as many a Man at a Sermon, who yet thinks 'tis not the Art of the Preacher but the Spirit of God that warms and excites him.

It is further alledged in vindication of these Prophecies, that they are no evanid and languishing imaginations; but come upon the minds of those that have them with a light and evidence which bears before it all scruple about their divine Original: Now the Devil or Melancholy cannot possibly seal the mind with Opinions which carry that energy with them as these do: so that the very great Strength of the Impressions (like that of Samson) speaks the mighty presence of God with them: For how did the Prophets of God of old know themselves divinely incited but by [Page] feeling the hand of God strong upon them, and hisJer. 20. 9. 11. word in their heart as a burning fire shut up within their bones, whence they were weary of forbearing and could not stay?

I answer, whence these prophetick phancies come to be thus vigorous and importunate shall be inquired in due place; for the present, I assert (yet not I but the 2 Thess. 2. 11. Lord) that there may be an [...], energy of Error as well as Truth, which may strongly carry a man quite out of the hearing of what ever reason may be tendered to disabuse him. [...]. Hist. Eccles. l. 4. c. 10. Theodoret tells us of some Enthusiasts of his time, which receiving the vigorous working of some Daemon in them, took it to be the presence of the Holy Ghost. AndInter hos quidam bend literatus & famolus hoc etiam propria manu in scriptis, quae legi, reliquit & argumentis & conjecturis plurimis asserere conatus est. J. Gers. De distinct. ver. vis. à falsis. Gerson of many others, of which every one had it (he said) certainly revealed to him that he should be Pope. Amongst which there was one of great name and learning which left this revelation in writing with his own hand, and endeavoured to make it good by many arguments and conjectures: and we find in Scripture, false Prophets as much pretending plerophories and strength of perswasion as the true. As for those Characters whereby Gods Prophets were enabled to distinguish infallibly a divine [Page] dream and prophetick impression, in their own minds, from the delusions of the Devil or Phancy, it is extremely difficult at this distance from that Age of Prophecy, clearly to assign them.Mr. Smith. Disc. of Prophecies, c. 4. A late learned writer, from Aberbanel and Maimonides, in this matter thus ventures to resolve his Reader: A Prophet when he is asleep may distinguish a Prophetical dream and that which is not such, by the vigor and liveliness of the perception, whereby he apprehends the thing propounded, or else by the imbecility and weakeness thereof. And therefore Maimon. hath said well. All Prophecy makes it self known to the Prophet that it is Prophecy indeed, that is, makes it self known to the Prophet, by the strength and vigor of the perception, so that his mind is freed from all scruple whatsoever about it. (A notion which he there endeavours to build up by Scriptures, but how short they fall of reaching the proof thereof, the indifferent Reader may easily perceive.) But though I doubt not but the divine illapses made a very deep impression upon the minds of holy men, and came attended with such light and evidence as chased away all shadow of scruple about their divine Original, yet I think to assert this vivacity of impression the distinctive character of divine from pretending Enthusiasms and dreams, is neither true nor safe. [Page] Which will perhaps appear by what time I have shewn the Reader, that the Ancient Interpreters of Dreams proceeded by some such rule as this. Artemidorus gives this difference between [...] & [...], a natural and divine Dream: [...], a common Dream is the meer figment of men asleep, of which he saith, [...]. So far as it appears in sleep it is vigorous and active upon the Scene of Fancy, but as soon as the sleep determines, that vanisheth from the thoughts. But then [...] a divinatory Dream, [...], hath a more lasting energy upon the mind, [...]. Artemid. Oneiroc. l. 1. c. 1. creates a regard of the futurities declared in it, ingageth endeavor, and is made apt extreamly to stir up and excite the Soul that hath it. Besides, if that power and evidence, with which a conceit may bear down the mind to a perswasion thereof, may be preferred the Sign of its divine Original, how many men shall we soon have that will look demurely, and tell the World (as the Sons of Fancy among us used to do) that God hath made out this or that to them, and that this is much upon their spirits, and therefore past question an intimation from God?

As for those accomplish'd Predictions brought to support the falling credit of these Modern Prophets, they will prove butProv. 25. 19. as a foot out of joint. For there was no prophetick [Page] Sign foregoing to assure the accomplishment to be any other then a lucky his. And besides, theSee several Examples in Boz. Eugubin. de Sig. Eccles. l. 6. c. 2. Papists, nay theTul. de Div. l. 1. Sibyllas praevidisse apud multas Gentes pericula divinitus imminentia admonuissc populos, &c. Jambl. de Myst. Aegyp. m. p. 59. Heathens, tell us (and men must be willing to give that Faith they expect from others) of many instances of such Predictions deliveted by their Popes, Religioso's, Diviners, Oracles, very particularly accomplish'd. Now then I demand, were these Prophecies from Heaven, or from Men? If from Heaven, why then do many men think with no more favor of the Heathens and Papists, to whom God seems to give the testimony of Iesus, the Spirit of Prophecy? If from men (assisted by civil Prudence or evil Spirits) then all accomplish'd Predictions are not concluding Arguments of the divine Inspiration of the Authors. But because God in the trial of Prophets hathDeut. 18. 21, 22. directed us to a regard of the issues of their Prophecies, this matter may seem to merit a more close and particular Consideration, to which therefore I shall next apply my self.

CHAP. V.
The failing of Vulgar Prophecies an assurance of their Vanity.

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Vulgar Prophecies referring to the Publick, generally false: that proved from Justin Martyr, and the falshood of some Modern Prophecies particularly instanced in. A fayleur but in a circumstance a sign of the forgery of the whole Prophecy, and why [...]. A five fold account given of the pretended accomplishments of some Modern Prophecies. How far it seems fitting that Prophecies should descend to the circumstances of Events. An account why some of these Prophecies hit and others miss. All Divine Prophecies fulfilled which were absolutely delivered. Some Characters to distinguish such Prophecies by.

THat which may yet more fully secure us in a perswasion of the Vanity of all these Modern Prophecies,Confiderat. 4. is this: All these unattested Prophets generally fail in all their Prophecies, but always in some. Generally in all; viz. such are most fit to assure men of their divine Inspiration, as those onely are which are of a publick reference.Jer. 28. 8. Ieremiah tells us, that the Prophets which had been before him of old, prophesied both against many Countries, and against great Kingdoms, of War and of Evil and of Pestilence; as they also did sometimes of great National Blessings. Now the coming to pass of such Prophecies was the most undoubted evidence of their Divinity: for though the Devil may be presumed able to bring about [Page] some little turns in the lives of private men, yet the spirit of the living creature onely moves in those great Wheels, the turns in States are soly under the particular conduct of God; those Wheels are too great for him to move one way or other. And therefore [...], &c. Resp. ad Orthod. q. 2. Iustin Martyr, when the accomplish'd Predictions of the Ethnick Prophets were opposed to him, returns this judicious Answer; No event which the Ethnick Prophets foretold, either against the Truth of God, or his Worshippers, or referring to the publick Affairs of the Grecian States, ever came to pass; though perhaps some matters of a more narrow concern might, which fell more within the Devil's compass. An Observation more fully justified in the pretending Prophets of later times: what is become of all the Oracular leaves of Grebner? hath not the wind taken them away, and the whirlwind scattered them? (as it did those of the Sibyl.) He prophesied (saithV. Mr Medes Letter to Mr Hartlib, Part. 4. p. 652. Mr Mede) great matters of Henry the fourth of France, which proved clean contrary; of Queen Elizabeth, and other Princes, which never came to pass: I have, I know not how often to satisfie one or other, told them as I now tell you, and yet every five or six years it comes up again as if it had never been discovered. Men are prone to believe anything they would have, &c. And how have all the swelling [Page] Prophecies of Cotterus, Christina Poniativia, and Drabicius, concerning the sudden Conversion of the Turks, the Establishment of the German Churches by Frederick King of Bohemia and Gustavus of Sweden, the sudden Propagation of the Gospel throughout the World, the advancement first of Ragotzi the Father, and then the Son and then the Brother, to the Crown of Hungary, of the dreadful overthrow of the Papacy (many of them delivered about fifty years ago) been delivered of nothing but the wind? even their greatPatiamini Apologiam meam, quam post publicatas revelationes Cotteri, Drabicii, &c. & mox contra omnem spem eventus spei nostrae contrarios, amicorū trepidatio texere coegerat. J. Comen. in Praefar. ad Histor. Revelat. Patrons themselves being witnesses; while yet so inchanted with the Opinion of them as to publish them now as the Oracles of God, when Divine Providence hath encouraged sober Christians to hiss them out of the World. And indeed it is soIsai. 44. 25. the usage of Divine Providence to shame the impatience and curiosity of men discovered in attending to such Prophecies, that I perswade my self it is next to impossible to instance a Modern Prophecy referring to the Publick, that speaks distinctly as to words and time of accomplishment, that failed not in the substance or some eminent circumstance thereof. Now a fayleur but in a tittle, is a dead Flie sufficient to make the whole Prophecy smell strongly of an imposture. Of Divine Prophecies [...] (as the [Page] Master to whom we have had such frequent recourse,Vid. Pocock. Port. Mos. p. 23. well notes) not the greater nor lesser part, substance or circumstance, ever fell to the ground. And He tells us, those words of Ieremiah, Jer. 23. 28. The Prophet that hath a Dream, let him tell a Dream; and he that hath my Word, let him speak my Word faithfully; what is the chaff to the wheat? their Doctors used to gloss thus; Prophecy is a thing pure without the allay of any falshood mixed with it, like wheat cleansed from the chaff; but Dreams and other vulgar Indications have a lie always intermixed, and are like chaff in which there are but some few grains of wheat. God is careful to accomplish the very criticisms and circumstances of his Predictions, because this gives the greatest assurance of their Divine Author. For the substance of Events may possibly be thought Object great enough for the Eye of humane Prudence to see afar off, but circumstances are easily presumed too little for our heavy Eyes to discern at any great removes.

If any Person better seen in the Writings of Modern Prophets, then I have any ambition to be thought to be, is able to instance a Prophecy of any longer date, whose words did exactly touch the Event foretold both in the substance and circumstance thereof; yet he shall alway observe his Prophet to [Page] have failed in some one, nay in very many other instances, if any thing talkative (as it is well the prophetick humor in such persons disposeth them to be) which is a sufficient assurance that he foretold nothing by a divine suggestion. Thus Savanarola (a Dominican) foretold long before, that Charls the eighth of France should come into Italy with a great Army, which came to pass: ButAd haec divinitus fibi patefactū esse dicebat oportere statum Ecclosiasticum per vim armorum em [...]ndari. Nondum quidem istu [...] accidit, sed tunc t [...]mporis prope [...]erat ut ficret. Phil. Co [...]inaeus, de bel. Neap. l. 3. p. m. 586. withal, that God had revealed to him that the State Ecclesiastick should be reformed by force of Arms: which (saith the Historian) hath not yet (nor yet) hapned, but at that time was very likely to have been effected. The Examples of this kind are too great for Arithmetick.

The two branches of this Consideration I find struck at by a double Objection, which I shall endeavor to secure them from. It is opposed to the first, That very many of these Modern Prophecies have been very punctually accomplish'd, though unseal'd by any divine Sign attending the delivery of them. In Answer hereunto, I return, (1.) Meer prudential Conjectures after the Event often commence accomplish'd Prophecies in vulgar Opinion: the common sort of people being apt to invest every thing that lies out of the road of their thoughts and observations with the Opinion of some Divinity lodged in it. Thus that famous [Page] Speech of Seneca the Tragaedian,

—Venient annis

Secula seris, quibus Oceanus

Vincula rerum laxet, & ingen.

Pateat Tellus, Typhisque novo.

Detegat orbes; nec sit terris

Ultima Thule,—

hath been concluded the voice of God, a prophetick instinct referring to the discovery of America in these latter Ages, which was indeed but the voice of a Man, a rational conjecture proceeding upon a probable perswasion, that so great a part of the Globe of the Earth was not all Sea, and so would in time be found.Nec velim quenquam opinari quod haec longius petita sint, aut ex Daemonc aut ex astris, sed ex Aristotelis Oraculo, solum enim inquit ille, prudentum ac sapientum veram esse Divinationem. Card. de vit. propr. c. 42. Cardan having related several very strange Predictions of his, exactly fulfilled, adds, Neither would I have any one think these to have been far fetch'd, either from the Devil or the Stars; but onely from the Oracle of Aristotle, who gives true Divination onely to prudent Persons. This prudential Divination, which is but the foresight of the effect in the promises of some parturient Causes, is familiar with wise and observant men. For a wise-mans heart will tell him more then seven watchmen that are upon a tower, whose office it is to see men and things at distance. Prudence is but the contraction of Providence in the name, and the commendable [...]. Synes. de Reg. image of it in the nature thereof. (2.) Many of these accomplishments [Page]were rather lucky hits then divine foresights. These Prophets are many, and perpetually shooting of their bolts, and it were hard if they did not sometimes hit the mark, especially when standing so near as sometimes they do before they let fly (foretelling things, removed by no great distance of time.) Such a lucky cast was that singular foresight of Tully, reflected upon byPraeclara conscientia, sustentor, cum cogito me de Rep. aut meruisse optimè cum potuerim, aut certe nunquā nisi divinè cogitasse, cāabque; ipsa tempestate eversam esse Remp. quam ego 14 annis ante prospexerim. Epist. l. 10. 3. himself as a kind of divine Testimony to the sincerity of his intentions in reference to the Commonwealth. And the fortunate Speech of that Ancient Greeian Philosopher Lucanus Ocellus, [...]. Lucan. Occl. [...]. Greece hath been often barbarous heretofore, and so shall be again in after Ages, some would be ready now to prefer to the repute of a Prophecy, which was but a loose & conjectural Conclusion built upon an observation that Bodies Politick, as well as Natural, have their decays and years of dotage, and that the deepest dye of any worldly felicity would in time languish and change color. (3.) A great part of these Prophecies are meer impostures, and contrived after the Event, by some idle heads. For it is seldom that we hear of them, till the matters related in them are past; and then these Prophets, having the Event before them to take measure of, make their Prophecy to fit it exactly, both in substance and circumstance, that so there might be the less suspicion [Page] that they saw things to come (like the man but half cured of his blindness) onely in rude generals, and by the heavy Eye of humane prudence. Whereas there cannot be a greater assurance of sophistry in a Prediction, then an over-busie and critical enumeration of Events therein. For Prophecies should deliver the general substance or some one great circumstance of an Event so distinctly that they be not thought loose conjectures, but as to the circumstances of less remark, they should be wholy silent, that they be not suspected onely disguized Histories when once they are fulfilled. For this Reason perhaps the Divine Prophecies come forth (like the pillar in the Wilderness) partly cloud and partly fire, cloudy and obscure as to the lesser circumstances, but bright and clear enough as to the substance of Events foretold. Whereas these Vulgar Prophecies either stay in loose Generals, and like a sack are so contrived that they may be clapt upon any person, but perfectly fit none; or else are most industriously particular and scarce omit a circumstance. Thus the pretendedV. Lib. 8. Orac. Sibyl. Sibylline Oracles tell out Saviors very name Iesus; and whereas the Prophet onely foretels, A Virgin shall conceive, they add, The Virgin Mary shall conceive, and the like. For so it is usual for such Apes of Prophecy to become ridiculous by an over-acted [Page] imitation. (4.) Many of these Vulgar Prophecies o [...] their successes, in all probability, to diabolical efficiency. The Devil first excites such Images in the Fancies of these Prophets, as may probably determine them to foretel many things, which he conceives most likely to fall within his sphere of activity, and then he accomplisheth as many as he can, though with no more of true foresight then that man hath that should think fit, when he knows them, to fulfil many of his Neighbors Dreams. And he is the more ready to interpose his power in this business, because when men shall see their Prophecies or Dreams, of future contingencies especially, thus strangely issued, they will stroke their heads presently, and make no doubt of their near approaches to the prophetick grace; and whilest other men are detained in an idle attendance to such shining vanities, they are2 Tim. 2. 26. [...], taken alive by this Fowler in his net. And this Consideration may probably resolve us why some of these Prophecies so strangely hit, and others miss; viz. because the Devil fulfils as many of them as fall within his compass, and those which his confined power extends not to accomplish necessarily fall to the ground. (5.) Several of these Prophecies are delivered in words so loose and unconfined both as to sense and time, that it were a great wonder,[Page]if amidst the vast varieties of Providence they appeared not fulfilled in some Event and Time or other. Thus it was noted of old of the trueCallidè, qui illa Oracula composuit, perfecit, ut quodcun (que) accidisset, praedictum videretur, hominū & temporum definitione sublat [...] adhibuit ctiā lat [...]bram obscuritatis, ut iidem versus ali [...]s in aliam rem posse accommodari viderentur. Tul. de Div. l. 2. Sibylline Oracles, that they were composed in such dark and undetermined expressions, that Fancy might make them, like a Picture, look to any Person, any Event whatsoever. All this offers us some account of those successes which these Propheticall Essays have sometimes been followed with; and withal conclude the great necessity of some divine Sign to attest the Prophet or Prophecy, that so it may be known that the Event was not a chance, a prudential foresight, or diabolical delusion, but a true prophetical accomplishment.

To the second branch of the present Argument it is opposed, that many of God's Prophecies were never fulfilled. If all were (saithSi omnia, Unde igitur fuit, quòd Israelitici [...]tiam Prophetae à suis ludibria passi, quaeritantibus, Ubi est verbum, &c. Praefat. in Hist. Revel. p. 11. Comenius) whence was it that the Prophets became the publick scorn, the People sarcastically demanding, Where is the Word of the Lord? Let it come now, Ierem, 17. 15. To this Objection (though indeed it merit rather a Censure then an Answer) I return, That ScriptureSee Num. 23. 19. Isai. 34. 16. Josh. 23. 14. 1 Sam. 3. 19. Isai. 14. 24. Mat. 5. 18. Hab. 2. 3. abundantly assures [...]s, that never one word which God spake fell to the ground: and therefore perhaps the LXX chose to render Urim and Thum [...]nim by [...] and [...], Manifestation and Truth, because by these two especially were God's [Page] Oracles distinguish'd from the Devil's: God's being eminent for perspicuity and Truth, and the Devil's for obscurity and falshood. God hath given us this character to know a false Prophet by,Deut. 18. 22. When a Prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, this is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously; and therefore we may rest assured, that God, if he1 Kin. 8, 15. speak with his mouth, will fulfil with his hand. True indeed, we read of some divine Prophecies of great Blessings and Judgments not literally fulfilled: But these (as God himselfJer. 18. 7, 8, 9 tells us) though absolute in their terms, yet were always conditional in their interpretation; and therefore when ever they were not fulfilled in terms, there was some great sin or repentance interposing which gave a very rational account thereof to the minds of men. But all divine Prophecy, absolute both in its terms and intent, constantly was fulfilled. Now when the Prophecy was such, the People might understand by such Signs as these, *If the Prophecy were sealed with the Oath of God, or some equivalent asseveration:1 Sam. 15. 29▪ *If it were delivered as a Sign of the truth of the Prophet's Mission, or of some other more considerable Prediction: *If the Prediction were delivered in terms of the Preter-tense: [Page] *If it were often repeated by the same or more Prophets: *If it were a Prediction of some Evil against things or persons evidently devoted to destruction:1 King. 15. 29. *If the things foretold were of an indifferent nature, not greatly good or evil, and many such like. These I say constantly came to pass: and therefore to those words of the people (which thought a Prophecy delay'd, forgotten) I oppose the words of God appealing to the Experience of these very People: My Words and my Statutes which I commanded my servants the Prophets, Zech. 1. 6. did they not take hold of your Fathers? to which the People, in a more serious temper, return; Like as the Lord of Hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he done unto us.

CHAP. VI.
Many Modern Prophecies proved to arise from Melancholy.

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The strong Opinion of Inspiration in Modern Prophets, proved an effect of the power of Melancholy. Their pretended Visions attributed to the same cause. The Visions of melancholy men, why many, and to them very evident. Their vehement incitations to Prophecy proved also a symptome of Melancholy. How this humor becomes effectual thus to excite to Prophecy. Dying men, why often, in appearance, Prophetical. A natural account of the Prophetical Essays of the Pythia. Plutarch's Philosophical account of some ceasing Oracles justified. The ardors in these Prophets and the Sibyls, natural. The delusions of Melancholy assisted usually by the cooperation of the Devil.

A Fifth Consideration to reprehend the Faith of these Prophecies, is this; Those popular Wonders which shew forth themselves in the Authors of them, Consid. 5. plainly appear but the natural Effects of Melancholy tinctured with Religion. This will appear more clearly if we be a little particular: (1.) That invincible confidence (which inchants the vulgar) of their being divinely inspired. It is ordinary with such such men to take to themselves the titles of the Placuit Deoper me tanquā ultimam suam Tubam Nationibus, &c. Drabic. Revel, Div. Epit. p. 16 Trump of God, the last Prophet, [...] uti Maximil-Montani Prophetis. apud Eus. l. 5. c. 15. the Word and Power of God, and the like; and that with a plerophory that shall bear it self against the strongest Reasons, contrary Events [Page] of things, yea sometimes the greatest bodily severities that can be used to discompose their Dreams. Now as the Heathens holding [...], that the brain was sacred, and the seat of some Deity, when any one neezed they would venerate the noise as a kind of expression of the Deity inshrined in the head; thus these men being strongly possest by this conceit, that they are Goded with God, and that the Holy Ghost is lodged in their heads, not a fancy can rise up therein but it is received with as sacred Opinions as a Papist doth the regs and reliques of his Saint; not a cloudy expression drops from them but it is christnedRev. 2. 24. a depth and a great mystery, their ear cannot tingle but God is thought to whisper into it, and the men cannot dream at the common rate of other mortals.

Whereas all these imaginations are but the issues of that impostrous humor when it passeth into a disease. A Melancholy Fancy is a kind of Incubus and Succubus to it self, serving to beget and to conceive any odd crotchet, and that with so much strength, that it appears before the mind in the certainty of sight or tast. And it is so usual for this black humor to bew [...]tch the mind into some one wild and extravagant conceit, while it appears sound and untouch'd in all its other judgments, that the Greek [Page]Physician hath defin'd it, [...]. Aret. cappad. l. 1. c. 5. A solemn sadness and seriousness about some one odd Fancy without a feaver. Now look as the images which appears before our Minds in a dream, ow their general odness of composure to the power of Fancy over reason in our sleep, but their more particular figures usually to the occasions of the day before: thus the conceits of Melancholy (the dreams of waking men) ow their general wildness and fondness, to the undue figuration of the brain or Spirits by this anomalous humor, but their particular kinds to those mutable occasions of common life, the head is most accustomed to receive impressions from. Men of a more contemplative Genius, conceit themselves inspired with some rare mysteries in Nature, with the Cabbalistick sense of Scripture, with the understanding of the hidden analogies between the sensible and intelligible, and the greater and lesser world, with the Art to cure all the natural leprosies of mettals, and the like: Men whose course of life determines their thoughts more upon civil affairs this humor possesseth with the opinion of their being designed Popes or Princes, or some Restorers of the publick liberty. And persons of a more devotional complexion talk much of Visions, raptures, converse with Angels and prophecie, and are apt to fall down before [Page] every idol of their busy fancy, as if some Deity were lodged in it. Thus this giddy humor moves every man ( [...]sPlut. [...] &c. Plutarch saith the Divinatory Enthusiasm doth) [...], according as he is naturally disposed and inclined.

How the humors of the body arive at an ability thus to impregnate the mind with conceits wild and monstrous beyond the Varieties of Africa, is an enquiry not pertinent here; but to question that so they can, is to speak our selves strangers to all the stories of Hypocondriacks, books and discourses abound withall; and that 'tis nothing but the enormous power of a disturbed imagination that bears down these persons into a belief of divine visions, voices and illapse, sappears sufficiently in that they usually commence Prophets per saltum, and before they are tolerably qualified with knowledg or piety, they become inspired; and that though heaven and earth refute their predictions once and again, an heart deceived by the fulness and importunity of the Impression, hath so turned them aside, that they cannot attend; and therefore are no more awakened out of their prophetick dreams by any contrary events, then the begger out of his dreams of greatness and honor by the rags he wears and the dunghill he sleeps on. An example of which [Page] grossness and non-attendance we have in Drabicius (a German Prophet, of whom so much written and discourst of late) who though he saw his predictions clearly refuted by events, and told thereof at one ear by his Friends and at both ears by his enemies, yet was soJud. ver. 8. [...] carried away by the power of his prophetick dreams as to secure himself in his fond opinion of Inspiration by returning,Hist. Revel. p. 248. Annon vox Dei est quae dicit, &c. Is it not the voice of God whichAmos 3. 7. Joel. 2. 28. saith, God doth nothing but he reveals his secrets to his servants, and that in the later daies he will pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, and young men shall see Visions and old men dream dreams: Scriptures which any pretender to prophecy might have cited in his vindication, as well as he.

2. Those wonderful Visions represented to their minds in some Ecstacy or profound sleep. At such a time some very frightful or lovely images shew themselves upon the Scene of Fancy, and those (as dreams take figure from the occasions of the day) generally made after the likeness of those Apocalyptical or other Prophetick Visions, with which the minds of such persons when awake are commonly entertained and deeply sealed. Now these Visa, by the great singularity of their form, vivacity of representation, [Page] and prophetical analogy, do so wonderfully affect and possess the Mind, and inchant it with such huge fears or joys, that the Melancholy person doubts not to receive them with the faith and affection of Divine discoveries. And therefore if the more terrible aspect of the images represented to his mind, proclaim them the proper emblems of some great evils, he presently concludes that God, who tenders his servants with the care and affection a Mother doth her sucking child, would willingly have them forewarned, that so they might by repentance, prayers or prudence avert the impendent evil from themselves, or fortifie their minds with Christian patience to receive its coming. But if their more delightful form prefer them the types of some joyful Event, as is the freedom of the Church laboring under some heavy oppression, the propagation of the Gospel, and the enlargement of Christs Kingdom; they hastily catch at the welcome token, and that is thought foretold therein which themselves have the greatest passion for. And they are the more soft and easy to such prophetical conceits, because those passions of Fear and Hope, so intimate to our Natures, and which generally govern the Perswasions even of wiser men, are so regnant in their Souls made so impressive by Melancholy [Page] and some tinctures of Religion.

Now these pretended Visions, which conciliate Veneration to these Prophets with ruder persons, will appear much beneath our wonder, if it be considered that Melancholy when it exceeds its just proportions, is very productive of them. This the Philosopher hath noted, [...]. Arist. de div. per insomn. c. 1 Men that are of a talkative and melancholy temper see any kind of Visions. And this, especially because they have so deep a resentment of the most affecting objects, whose images therefore recur to the fancy when they are asleep, in most distinct and lively figures. Now the Visions of such men are the more evident and lively, because of the dryness of their temper (as Melancholicis, propter ficcitatem, visae in somnis prorsus evidentia apparent. Comment. in Hippocrat. de Humor. l. 2. Gallen gives the reason) whereby there are no such mysts and vapors rising up to confound and obscure them, which are the cause why the night-Visions of persons full fed, or overcome with wine, are so confused and leave such languishing impressions upon their waking Fancies. These images being so clear and active, the mind takes them (as the birds did those on the tables of Apelles) for true and real things; and as when we suddainly awake out of some very affecting dream, the figures which its clearness and strength of impression made upon the Fancy, cannot [Page] not presently be blotted out, but we continue for a time to entertain it with the affections of a great reality; thus (but by a more obstinate delusion) are the persons we now speak of imposed upon by an unruly Fancy. For when deep sleep hath fallen upon them, and cut the Soul off from all converse with things sensible, it is wholy immerst in the view of those images which walk upon the stage of Imagination, with which the common sense is as inwardly moved, as if excited by some object from abroad; and therefore it receives them with the Opinion of their being not phantastical but real and divine appearances. As for those Visions these Prophets speak of when they are awake, they may arise from thoseV. Joh. de Guevar. de Inter. Sens. l. 3. q. 30. vehement and intense thoughts, which represent some great Objects to them in very distinct and affecting Ideas; with which the mind is so fully possest and sealed, as not much to attend to the circumstance of the real presence thereof; and therefore easily perswades it self, that object stood before it of which it had so lively a perception, and with which it was so inwardly touched and affected. Besides, nothing so familiar as for men of very impressive phancies and timerous dispos [...]tions to have a continual scene of strange sights presented before them. The [...]. De. Insom. c. 3. Philos [...]pher noted [Page] long ago, that to persons young and that look intensly, if it be dark, there appear many strange images moving to and fro, so that in a great fear they hide themselves in the bed-clothes. Whereas in such sights the Fancy is both Scene and Spectator to it self. This shews that 'tis possible that these pretended Visions may be but the inchantments of Melancholy. But he that considers that Divine Visions were vouchsaft as rarely and upon as concerning occasions as Miracles will believe it probable that they are no other. Did God dispense the favors of these divine visits to the Patriarchs and Prophets so sparingly of old, and are they become now as familiar to some men as dreams to others? Familiars, hath been the title of bad spirits but never of good.

3. Their vehement incitations to prophecy. They feel the new images of things or persons striking with great strength and evidence upon their Fancies, and themselves quickened by a very hot and active principle, whose powers they cannot easily stand against, to make the Vision plain, and to declare to others what conceits and passions it comes attended with: and therefore they conceive that the word of the Lord is as a fire shut up in their bones, and that they are [...], wholy possest by some divine power which they cannot bear themselves [Page] against, nay indeed should not, for who are they that should withstand God? Whereas all these things are but the subtil fallacies which the fumes of hypochondriacal Melancholy, when grown hot and fiery, put upon the Fancy, being as apt to intoxicate the brain, and make it impressive to as odd conceits, as the active vapors of lusty wine. These vapors being carried by the brain with a mighty force, confou [...]d the natural figurations thereof and excite some new Idols therein, which by the s [...]ngularity of their appearance, and importunity of occurrence, cannot but create affections correspondent to themJob 32. 18, 19, 20. which together with those firy Spirits, will put men upon great freedom of speech (that which a very affecting dream will sometimes do) to deliver themselves of those strange thoughts which upon such occasions will rise up within them. Now 'tis no wonder at all (as the [...]. De Divin. per Insomn. c. 2. Philosopher saith) if such kind of men being thus incited to speak very much and of very various things (the Scenes of Fancy being so often shifted by these giddy vapors) that they have some fortunate hits, and true divinations.

That 'tis only the forrein heat of these Vapors which excites these predictions, appears probable in that everyCerebri fla tuosa calcfactio, undecun que proveniat, sub certa temperic constituta incitat ad mira eloquenda, per cantilenas, hominem (que) supra se penè constituit. Christ. à castr [...]. de V [...]ticin. l. 1. c. 21. flatuous calefaction [Page] of the brain whence soever it arise, is apt to make a man ecstatical, to express it self in wonderful speeches, and those often prophetical. The vapors of wine meeting with some constitutions, have strangely ap'd an Enthusiasm; as appears from those Verses of theOvid. Fastor. l. 3. Poet, upon occasion of the truly Iovial doings upon some of their idolatrous Festivals.

Invenies illic qui Nestoris ebibat annos

Quae sit per calices facta Sibylla suos.

There shall you find old men turn'd boies by wine,

Young Maids old Sibyls, who by th' cup divine.

Accordingly in someIn hoc adyto, Liberi, vaticinaturi, plurimo mero sumpto, uti apud Clarium aqua epota effantur Oracula. Macrob. Satum. l. 1. c. 18. V. Is. Vos. De Idolat. l. 2. p. 685. Oracular places, the Diviners used to excite the Prophetick faculty (as they thought) by a liberal, dose of wine or some water which had a kind of inebriating property: such hot and unwieldy vapors (though excited by a feaver) have made dying men so famous, for their prophetical Essays, in all Ages and Nations: though they have been vainly thought (as all Extraordinaries, especially about the minds of men usually are) of a more divine extraction. And that prophetick fit which seiz'd the Pythia placed over some hollow cavern of the Earth, was owing to the subtil [Page] and fiery spirit (asSibylla suscipiebat Deum per Spiritum quendā tenuem igneumque qui crumpebat ex ore antri, &c. De Myst. Egypt. m. p. 66. Iamblicus calls it) thence ascending her tender body andAlibi fatidic [...] Sp [...]cus, quorum exha [...]ation [...] temulenti, futura praecinunt, ut Delphis, &c. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 2. p. 93. intoxicating of her, though in so [...]ewhat a more violent maner then wine w [...]uld have done (in so much as sometimes she dyed in the fit) and sealing her Fancy (already strongly possest with the extraordinary Sacredness of her place and office) with wild conceits which she delivered in as wild a maner: and this account of the pretended inspiration of the Pythia is favored by Strab. Geog. l. 9. Strabo, telling us that she expected the Oracular power being placed ove [...] the narrow mouth of the Sacred cavern, and that [...], from thence was carried forth an Enthusiastick To this purpose Prudentius: P [...]rdidit insanos m [...]ndax Dodona Vapores. In Apoth. tit. cont. Jud.vapor or spirit, which excited the atent disposition to prophecy in her soul, as the wind doth the Musical power of some well-tuned Organ. And therefore I think Plutarch, not so much out, as commonly thought in his Treatise, [...], concerning the ceasing Oracles, (for so it should be rendered,Vid. Molin. Va [...]. l. 3. c. 11. all not being silenced in his time, nor long after) when attributing their Silence in some formerly famous places, to the languishing of that Enthusiastick Vapor which inspired the P [...]ophetess, the caverns (as he conceives) lying continually open being apt (like exposed liquors) to lose Spirits; and to decay it their ancient [Page] vertues. This imposture the Devil abused the world withal, till the light of the Gospel and Philosophy made the fallacy notorious.

To return. As for that mighty ardor whereby they are carried forth to deliver themselves, it is perfectly a natural thing, being but the impatience of that hot and nimble vapor of fermented Melancholy. The Sibyls of old (whichArist. Probl. sec. 30. Aristotle rightly judgeth inspired only by this fiery Spirit) usedSibyllae crebro se dicunt ardere, torrente vi magna flammarum. Ammian. Mar▪ cel. l. 21. sub init. ub. sup. often to mention those divine fires they felt themselves (as they thought) quickned and excited by; which were only the Symptomes of this exalted humor of which the same Philosopher notes [...], &c. it becomes even like boyling water when once sufficiently heated. And that they are only these hot and restless Spirits arising out of the caverns of the body (much of temper with those in the Pythia) which inspire them, appears in that we generally find them [...] (asEuseb. hist. Eccles. l. 5. c. 15. Joh. 10. 20. Eusebius stiles the Preachers, of Montanus his doctrine) Prophets that talk without measure. Their books and discourses are so voluminous as if they feared nothing more then the poor title of Minor Prophets: witness the mighty bulk to which the Revelations of St. Brigid, Drabitius and others swell into. We may [Page] ever have Prophecies from these persons very good cheap. Whereas when the Spirit of wisdom incited the holy men of old, their words were weighed in a balance, their discourses consequent, their seasons of Prophecy few and chosen, and their Doctrine precious as the gold of Ophir.

While I thus salve the strange Phoenomena about these Vulgar Prophets by the powers of Melancholy; I intend not to deny but that the Devil (who works by darkness as God by light) may sometimes interpose, and where he finds the Mind fitted by this distemper for him to work upon, may (to make the imposture more fine and subtil) act it to some expressions beyond the bare capacities of this jugling humor, as to speak languages, to tell some things at distance, as the certain coming of such a friend or Epileptick fit, upon such a day or hour (which the German Prophetess Christina often did.) It seems to have been the received opinion of the Ancient Iews that an high Melancholy or distraction was attended alway with an evil Spirit. whence that speech of the [...]rs concerning our Savior.Joh. 10. 20. He hath a Devil and is mad, upon which Text Mr Mead tells us that they used to stile their Melancholici and Maniaci [...] or [...]. And according to the strain of [Page] all the Jewish Scholiasts (asDisc. of Prophec. p. 250. Master Smith informs us) by the Evil Spirit of Saul nothing else is meant but a Melancholy kind of Madness which made him Prophecy or speak distractedly and inconsistently: and when the gentle aires and motions of 1 Sam. 16. 23.Musick had dissipated these Melancholy vapors the Evil Spirit departed with them.

CHAP. VII.
Probable Arguments to prove all divine Prophecy now ceast.

[Page]

The Cessation of Prophecy now, not absolutely asserted, and why. Five reasons alledged to prove its cessat on, probable. A promise of Prophecy to any Age, the greatest Security that it is not imposed upon by Pretenders to it. No Promise of Prophecy made to the ends of the World. The several ends Prophecy served to under the times of the Old and New Testament: proved unserviceable t [...] any such ends now. Why Prophecy not given now to comfort good men it affliction. Why it exspired in the Jewish Church so long before our Saviors coming. Several reasons alledged against the received Opinion of a Bath Kol succceding to Prophecy under the second Temple. The Original of that speech of Strabo, that Moses advanced him self by the promise of a Religion without Sacrifice or Prophecy, guest at. Such a Religion proved the felicity of this New Dispensation.

THE last Consideration which I shall superadd to disparage the saith of these Vulgar Prophecies is this.Confid. 6. It seems highly probable that the true Prophetick Spirit is now gone up, and that all divine Revelations, as well of future Events as new Doctrines, are wholy ceast in the Church of God. I shall not be positive in this Assertion, because I find a Synod convened in Germany, Anno 1633. where the Divines being moved by some zealous persons to declare themselves against all pretended Revelations and Prophecies, now that God had [Page] so eminently refuted the famous Visions of Cotterus and Christina Poniatovia in the unexpected deaths of Gustavus of Sweden and Frederick of Bohemia, prophecyed of by them, as the Saviors and Restorers of the German Protestants; They declined it, adding, thatNondum ullam Ecclesiam, aut Consistorium, vel Academiam, no vas id genus prophetias penitus rejecisse, aut condemnasse: nos cur primi esse vellemus? Hist Revel. per J. A. C. p. 131 yet no Church, or Consistory or University had altogether rejected or condemned, such kind of new Prophecies, and why would we be the First? Certainly then 'twill very ill become my privacy and obscurity to take the Chair and pronounce confidently that folly is with them all, and that there is nothing of Divine Prophecy now in the world besides the vain noise and affectation thereof. I shall only crave the freedom to tender those reasons which make it seem probable to my self that there are no such extraordinary visits of the Divine Spirit now to be found in the world. Whereof the first is this:

1. God hath by no Promise encouraged our Expectation of any such prophetick inspiration in these latter Ages of the World. Reas. 1. When ever God gave Prophecy to his Church, as it usually came attended with some other eminent gifts, whereby men might understand it was an Age of Extraordinaries; so it was alway ushered by some promise thereof. God gave Prophecy to the Church of the Old Testament, and to [Page] the Times wherein our Savior was first manifested and preached to the world (stiled the Act. 2. 17. last daies, being the expiring times of the Jewish Oeconomie) and there was notice given thereof by a fore-running Promise delivered byDeut. 18. Joel. 2. 32. Moses and Ioel. God would not have so great a gift, that comes forth (as all extraordinary ones do) upon some errand of import, to steal into the world; and men be in danger of losing the benefit thereof, while destitute of any thing to resolve them whether there be any [...], Holy Ghost thus given yea or no. Besides, where we have no special promise, we have no ground at all of expectation or trust, and if we trust our Faith with any pretended Prophecy and Revelation though presented with all the probable appearances of truth, before we know whether God hath made promise of any such matter now, we do but tempt God, and expect he should charge himself with us while we walk in praecipitiis, in waies wherein he never told us we should meet him. A Promise from God in this matter, is (I think) one of the most necessary securities to our faith. There were under the times of the Old Testament undoubtedly, as many persons inspired only by the Spirit of heated Melancholy, and more by a much worse, then now there are; but that which was the great security to the [Page] minds of good men then, that they were not cheated by any of the gilded Prophecies then current among them, was, that God had made them a Promise to send them Prophets from time to time to resolve them in all matters relating to this life as well as the other: and therefore they might presume the Providence of God would be more especially watchful to preserve them (if not greatly wanting to themselves) from being fatally abused while expecting instruction by a Prophecy, a way of divine Sanction in those times. In confidence especially of this divine security, we find evenSee 2 King. 9. 11, 12, 13. 2 Chro. 20. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. 2 Chro. 25. 7, 8, 9, 10. Princes proceeding without scruple to action, and in matters of very great moment, upon the bare word of a Person that pretended to speak from God, though without any Sign (that we read of) given to seal his Mission from God upon that occasion; whereas now a Prince would but fall the Martyr of his own credulity, if trusting his affairs with the most importunate voices of a pretending Prophet against sober Reasons of State, when there appears neither divine Sign, nor promise of Prophecy, to warrant his Faith.

It is readily acknowledged, that none of God's true Prophets but came attested at one time or other with some divine Signs; but yet he that shall consider that these [Page] were not vouchsafed to bear testimony to each particular message which they delivered as from God, and that many Signs were given by them (as the causing of iron to swim, disclosing the secrets of the bedchamber, foretelling the death of some person, and some seeming contingencies) which [...]t is likely fall within the Devil's compass to shew; and that sometimes the Prophets2 Sam. 7. 3, 4. countermanded their own counsels and advices, and that those holy men were no more exempt from the delusions of Melancholy then good men are now; and that Miracles have been so counterfeited by the Arts of Magick, that even wise men have not been able to detect the imposture; must needs grant, that the promise of God to teach men by Prophecy, together with the Prophet his appearing (as the Iews speak) [...] a Man fit for Prophecy, was generally the firmest ground of trust they had to build the faith of the Divinity of his Signs and Prophecy upon. And therefore I think many Signs might more firmly conclude the divine inspiration of men in those Ages to which Prophecy was promised, then the like can do if tendred by any Pretender to inspiration in our own.

Now then, there being not the least air of any promise of Prophecy made to the last Times of the World, we have reason to [Page] think that the Prophetick Spirit is flown back to Heaven (like Elijah) and hath left nothing behind it, but its mantle, its garb and dress, which Imposture sometimes walks up and down the World withal. As for that place of Scripture so often alledged by the Modern Enthusiasts, to justifie the Expectation of Prophecy now;Joel 2. 28. It shall come to pass in the last days that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesie, &c. it is wholy impertinent, because, as [...] Comment. in loc. Theodoret notes, it received its evident and literal accomplishment at the day of Pentecost. But a greater then Theodoret is here, S. Peter, whoAct. 2. 16, 17. expresly fixeth the accomplishment of that Prophecy in the liberal effusions of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit upon that great Day: where we may note by the way, that he seems not to understand the place of Prophecy strictly taken (for Prediction) in favor of which alone it is alledged by our Adversaries, but for those other extraordinary gifts of the Spirit there mentioned, and for which Prophecy doth often suppose elswhere in Scripture.

2. All other extraordinary gifts which anciently attended the Prophetick Spirit, are now ceased. Reas. 2. The gifts of healing, of working Miracles,1 Cor. 12. 10. of discerning of Spirits, of divers Tongues, of interpretation of Scripture, [Page] have all expired with their occasion; and why should we imagine that Prophecy (numbred with them) survives them all? a gift of which I am sure the World hath incomparably less need then of any of the rest! Those other gifts of the Spirit could ease the pains, enlighten the Eyes, resolve the Conscience, presently confirm the Faith of men, which a Prophecy could not do: and therefore whereas we find those gifts very familiarly used, and liberally conferred in the first times of the Gospel, yet we meet with this prophetick gift very rarely exerted by our Savior or his Apostles; and some of the Persons who had it (as if they were rarely to be found) are particularly mentioned in the New Testament;Acts 13. 1. viz. Agabus, Barnabas, Simon Niger, Lucius, Manahen, Silas, the four Daughters of Philip, and some few others. Why then should a Gift, which was of so little name and consideration [...]n compare with the rest, continue in the Church, when all the other (like Scaffolds when the House is built) are taken away, now that the House of God is built up, and the Faith confirmed? Certainly the fond affection which some men have for Prophecy, and that strength of face with which others pretend to it, are the things which suborn their Understandings to believe that so acceptable a gift is honored with a longer continuance [Page] in the World then the rest of its Brethren. If we consult Antiquity, it will appear more likely that this gift alone is faln, there being V. Mr. Smith Disc. of Prophec. p. 272.more frequent mention therein of some Miracles wrought in the Name of Christ, but less is said concerning the Prophetical Spirit, especially after the second Century.

3. Prophecy cannot now minister to any of those great ends, Reas. 3. to which under the first times of the Old and New Testament it did. It served under the Old Testament as a seal of the divine Inspiration of those Scriptures in which it was found; and was a pregnant assurance to present and future Times, that all those Promises, Precepts, Threatnings, found in conjunction with any accomplish'd Prophecy, were equally of divine Original. To this purpose speaks aAuthor Sep [...]. IK. l. 3. c. 8. ap. Vois. in Pug. Fid. p. 101. Iewish Doctor, [...] The fundamental Reason why Prophecy is extant in the Prophets, is onely this, That they may with the greater authority exhort men to an observation of the Law, to divine Worship, and to do what is acceptable unto God, and that Man may be perfect with God, not barely that they may declare things to come. This is found in the Prophets but out of a secondary intention, onely to confirm the truth of their inspiration; and the like reason of Prophecy in Scripture is alleged byOrig. l. 7. cont. Cels. p. 338. Ed. Cantabr. Origen. Whereas these [Page] Vulgar Prophecies cannot (need not) seal any divine Doctrine or part of Scripture if they should be fulfilled; and therefore have no more real value then the seal in separation from the writing. They tell us perhaps (which no wise man much concerns himself to know) that after such a period of time, such a great Prince shall ascend the Throne, such a famous Event shall fall; and if the Prediction chance to succeed, the Prophet looks big, and the People wonder, and that's all. Moreover, Prophecy served (like the Shechinah in the Temple) as a Ecclus. 36. 15. Rev. 19. 10. Luk. 7. 16. Joel 2. 28. Isai. 29. 9, 10. testimony of God's dwelling in and owning of that Church in which it was found. And accordingly the departing of the Prophetick Spirit from a people, if found elswhere in the World, was a Sign God had given them a bill of divorce. Thus God at last assured his rejection of the Iewish and acknowledgment of the Gentile Church, by his taking Prophecy wholy from the one, and giving it at the same time unto the other; that whichOrig. cont. Cels. l. 7. p. 337 Origen andIust. M. Dial. cum Tryp. p. 211. & 245. Iustin Martyr take frequent notice of in their Disputes against the Iews and Heathens. Now Prophecy is no more necessary in this Age then Miracles to witness Christs presence with his Church, for she hath had it liberally already; and when it departed, it went not from her to Iew or Turk, but back to Heaven, leaving [Page] behind it the many virtues of the Spirit, in themselves more undoubted pledges of his favor. And besides, the Christian Church now is crumbled into so many Sects and Forms, that were Prophecy now in the World, men would be apt to receive it as a testimony, not to their Church, but to their Party, (to which purpose the Faction of Rome pretends it;) and therefore perhaps Prophecy was to be found in the more united times both of the Iewish and Christian Church, but went away when they began to distinguish themselves by little Forms and Notions, lest it should seem to witness not to the Truth of God, but humors of Men.

A third Reason assigned by someDeus prophetas mittendo fecit ne opus haberemus Astrologis & divinatoribus & ariolis, quoniam illos consulere possumus, &c. Maimon. apud D. Pocock. P. M. p. 20. Iewish and Christian Writers, why God gave the People of the Iews their Oracles and Prophets to give them the knowledge of Futurities, as the success of a Battel, the issue of a Sickness, the condition of other Kingdoms in after-times, &c. is this; Because else in all likelihood they would have apostatized to the Rites of the Heathen, who had their Oracles and Diviners [...], being prompted thereunto by that natural liquorousness in the minds of men after the knowledg of things to come, asOrig. cont. Cels. l. 1. p. 28. l. 3. p. 113. Origen gives the reason; andDeut. 18. 14, 15. Scripture seems [Page] to assign the same why God gave them Prophecy, even to secure them from all temptation to consult the Oracles of the Heathen, which we find they sometimes did in the1 Sam. 28. 6, 7. silence or2 Kin. 1. 2. absence of the true Prophets. To suppose Prophecy necessary now for this end, to save mens longing after the knowledg of things sealed up in the Counsels of God, is to reproach the World, and to suppose it as liquorish as in its more childish years. Hath not the World out-grown the follies of Auguries, Soothsaying, and profest Diviners long ago, and took up in the resolves of Reason, as the best Oracle to consult in a civil business? and must Christians be thought the onely persons that want a Prophecy to arrest their anxieties in reference to hereafter, and a Prophecy of the certain truth whereof they are as much unresolved as of the issue of affairs? And besides, we shall observe how God sometimes chastised that wanton humor in the Iews, by permitting even his own Predictions to be, not seldom, the2 King. 8. 13, 14, 15. 2 King. 10. 10. 1 King. 11. 31, 40. occasions of very evil Effects.

If we proceed to a view of those Ends which prophecy serv'd to more specially in the times of the New Testament, it will more clearly appear a great impertinence now. It served then as a divine largess to grace the solemn Inauguration of our Saviour to his Mediatory [Page] Kingdom: To assure the acceptance of his person and undertaking with God, who impowered him to confer such great gifts on men. To fore-warn and so to fore-arm young Coverts, apt otherwise to be scandalized by the then approaching persecutions for Christ's sake. To seal the reception of the Gentiles to the dignity of Sonship, upon whom God had bestowed so great a portion of his Spirit. To prefer the Christian Oeconomy to as sacred regards with men as the Iewish had of old, because attended with as liberal an effusion of all extraordinary gifts upon men, as that was. Now it were greatly to under-rate the Reader's time and my own, to prove Prophecy in this Age utterly unnecessary for the service of any such ends as these. So that there appears not any sufficient Reason why we should believe there are any Examples of the Prophetick Spirit now extant in the World. Miracles and Prophecies always came forth from God to serve some great occasions, (his Servants never wrought a Miracle, or foretold an Event, as Juglers shew tricks, or Gypsies tell fortunes, onely to cause wonder or to supply discourse:) now these occasions being long ago expired, it is but reasonable to presume that Miracles and Prophecies are faln with them.

To all this perhaps it will be opposed, [Page] That oft-times a very black and tedious night of affliction covers the Servants of God, and that a Prophecy might then serve as the voice of the Cock to bring the joyful news of an approaching morning of deliverance; and that for this end also God often favored his ancient People the Iews with Prophecy, even to let them understand when their miseries should determine, lest they should grow weary and faint in their minds.

I answer; God hath now supplied good men with higher cordials then a Prophecy to support their sinking spirits with in a day of Evil. He hath confirmed his singular affection to them by the great gift of his Son, he hath told them that all things shall work together for their temporal or eternal good, that they have a merciful High-Priest that is touch'd with a feeling of all their infirmities, that their light affliction which is but for a moment works for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; and are not these Considerations better to them then ten Prophecies? Besides, God having now caused the felicities of the other World to stand before us in so full a light, he would have our minds less intangled with sollicitous and unquiet thoughts about the futurities of this. It greatly becomes us now to be more heroical and manly in our hopes [Page] and resolutions then the Iews were, whose temper was as weak, wordly and carnal, as their way of Worship; in compliance with which God encouraged their service by a Covenant made up of worldly Promises, possession of the Land, the abundance of all things, freedom from evils and bondage. Now, lest in a tedious affliction they should think God had forgotten his Covenant, and should cast about for some new Master, the Prophets were sent from time to time, to resolve them of the cause and continuance thereof, and (that their patience might not tire) to tell them when their warfare should be accomplish'd. Besides, their notices of the felicities of the other World, being so obscure and languishing, might easily render them to greater impatience of the undetermined miseries of this: and therefore when in the times of the second Temple they began to be more clear in the Doctrine of a Resurrection and a life to come, Prophecies of a temporal reference became more rare; as appears from the words of thatPsa. 74. 9. Psalm, written (it is thought) after the Captivity, where the Church under great pressures thus bemoans her self: We see not our Signs, there is no more any Prophet, neither is there any among us that knoweth how long: which words suggest to us a fourth Reason.Reas. 4.

4. Prophecy expired in the Jewish Church [Page]for two or three hundred years before the coming of our Savior. This is a truth of catholick acknowledgment, all Ievish and Christian Writers confess it but only Iustin Martyr, who once and again [...]. Dialog. cum Tryph. p. 211. & 245. tell; Trypho the Iew, There never ceased in your Nation, either Prophet or Prince till Iesus Christ was both born and had suffred. But in this Opinion that excellent Man stands against all the Ancients, and againstPsal. 74. 9. Canon and1 Mac. 9. 27. 4. 46. 14. 41. Apocrypha; and therefore his Testimony not binding. Now if Prophecy ceased then, we have no reason to presume it continues now; for what ever Arguments seem to conclude it necessary to the Christian Church now, would with much more strength conclude the necessity of it to the Iewish then: for the Scripture was then more dark and incompleat then now, the People were of a more weak and worldly temper, the Oeconomy more carnal, the Age more accustomed to Prophecies, Men more in danger of being tempted by the absence of Prophecy to consult the Devil's Prophets and Oracles, then so frequent in the World, and a succession of Prophets more fully promised without any limitation of time, then now. Besides, the reason of its cessation seems to have been catholick, viz. this: It had now ministred to all those great Ends to which it was thought necessary in the Times [Page] to which it was vouchsafed; and therefore (as it is said of David) having thus served its Generation, it fell asleep. For though it be true that the cessation of Prophecy, as also the absence of the many Glories from the Second Temple which the First had, might serve to take men off from looking too intently upon the face of Moses, whose splendor plainly appeared to be nigh to vanishing away, and to quicken their desires after the more inward and abiding Glories of the Messiah's Kingdom, and to cause them to expect that New Dispensation so long promised before, which should restore the Prophetical Spirit more abundantly; yet I conceive this to be neither the onely nor the principal Reason of that long interstitium of Prophecy in the Iewish Church. For the Ark, the Shechinah, the heavenly fire, and the rest, were ceremonial appendices, and served the pomp and splendor of that Lower Dispensation, the utter absence whereof from the second Temple might shew that Oeconomy now waxing old and wearing away; but Prophecy lasted (it is concluded) for at least forty or fifty years under the second Temple, and besides was given rather for Moral then Ceremonial Ends, which having sufficiently served, it was beneath the sacredness thereof to be continued to serve onely the pomp of the Church, [Page] or the curiosities of Men.

The onely thing now occurring to my thoughts, which may seem to weaken the force of this Reason, is the common Opinion of a [...] Filia vocis, a soft voice, heard as descending from Heaven, and was (say the Masters) a lower degree of Prophecy continuing under the Times of the second Temple as a kind of twilight in the Iewish Church after the setting of the Sun of Prophecy; and to which the [...] Targum. in Cantic. cap. 1. Targum is thought sometimes to refer. But as for this prophetick voice, I see no great reason why we should stick to number it with those Iewish Fables mentioned Tit. 1. 14. and invented (as many more were) to serve the glory of that Nation, and to greaten the favor of Heaven thereunto: there being no two Nations so much remarked for vanity and pride, both in sacred and profane Writings, as the Iewish and Grecian; and there are none that have so corrupted Histories, and obtruded so many Legends upon the credulity of the World, to inhance the credit and reputation of their own People. Can it easily be thought that God would now speak from Heaven to them who had turned the deaf ear to all his Prophets, and were now so addicted to Magick, Superstition, and all the Examples of Folly and Profaneness? What reason can [Page] be given why God should silence all the Prophets, the Oracles by Urim, and by Visions, and honor that obdurate People by any immediate addresses? What higher Grace did God confer upon Abraham, upon Moses, nay upon his Son, then to speak to them by a Voice from the excellent Glory? What are all the occasions, upon which they say it was heard, but weak and tri [...]ling, and evidently unworthy of so sacred an Oracle? When Ionathan began his Paraphrase,V. Christoph. Helvic. de Paraph. Chald. p. 12. they tell us he was check'd by a Bath Kol, saying, Quis est ille qui revelat filiis hominum mysteria Legis? When Rab. Iuda Sanctus died, theDr. Lightfoot Hor. Hebr. p. 149. Talmudists tell us, Bath Kol beatitudinem eum plangentibus pronunciavit, and the like. Besides, a Voice from Heaven seems reserved as the more sacred way of divine Revelation (so far is it from being the lowest degree of Prophecy) for the Times of the Gospel. It was aMat. 3. 17. Joh. 12. 28. Voice from Heaven that gave testimony to Christ, that occasioned S. Paul's Conversion; and it is urged as a strong argument against refusing the Gospel, because it is aHeb. 12. 25. turning away from him that speaketh from Heaven: And we shall observe that all the Prophecies of the Old Testament have not that Expression, I heard a Voice from Heaven, so oft as that single Prophecy of the New, the Revelation: God generally making use of other [Page] ways before, to give his Prophets an intimation of his Counsels: So that this Notion cannot greatly prejudice the Reason alledged, having so little color of truth to recommend it. Nor am I alone in this perswasion, finding some learned men speaking Vocale Responsum quod [...] dicitur, sub secundo Templo fuisse, nul lo idoneo testimonio potest comprobari, quamvis Iudaei contra pertendant. Molin. Vat. l. 1. c. 26.very doubtfully of it, and others very Credamne [...]go Deum Populo tam dirâ apostasia laboranti, ita indulgentem, ut è coelo cum iis familiariter colloqui dignaretur, atque iis Oracula tam sublimia exhibere, tamque frequentia ut non paria Prophetis? &c. R. Dr. Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. p. 63.confidently against it. Though perhaps all this be more then I need have said, for this was no personal Prophecy, nor (that I can find) ever asserted to declare things to come, but to direct in some emergent difficulties in common life.

In confirmation of what hath been said, 'twere easy to superadd the many Testimonies of the Ancients to prove the going up of the Prophetick Spirit in this confirm'd State of the Kingdom of the Messiah, who are so full in this perswasion, that (as 'tis noted) the Montanists are by some of the Fathers proved to be no better then Dissemblers when they pretended to the Gift of Prophecy, for that it was then ceased in the Church. But that I seem not to boast in See their several Testimonies in Mr. Smith's Disc. of Prophec. p. 270. another Man's line, I shall dismiss this Chapter with a Conjecture upon a passage [Page] in [...], Geogr. l. 16. Strabo applicable to our present purpose. He, coming to speak of Moses and some Jewish Customs, makes (after the manner of the Heathen) a very invidious relation of what Arts he used to oblige so great a multitude his Followers. One of which, he saith was a promise to deliver to them, Such a worship, and such rites of Sacrifice, as should not trouble the Users of them with any great expenses, nor prophetical raptures and ecstacies, nor any other absurd businesses in Religion. A Speech that assures Strabo not over-fond of such things himself, for else he could not so easily have believed a promise of deliverance from them, the best bait Moses could use to catch the hearts of the Multitude withall. But certain it is that no promise was further from his thoughts then this; for his law was aHeb. 9. 10. Eph. 2. 15. law of rites and costly sacrifices, and his great with was that all the Lords people were Prophets, and nothing that himself more pretended orDeut. 18. 15. 18. promised then Prophecy. I conceive therefore that (as most lies bottom upon some truth) this Relation was originally but some traditional prophecy of the State of the times under the Messiah current (among some others) among the Jews, or else a right opinion of theirs founded in a mistaken Sense of that Prophecy ofDan. 9. 24. 27. Daniel concerning the Messiah, that He should seal up Vision and [Page]Prophecy and cause sacrifice and oblation to cease. Now this notion of the ceasing of Prophecy and Sacrifice might (as some other did) arrive at last among the Gentiles, who understanding it to halfes, might easily intitle Moses to the promise thereof, a Person of so great Name both among the Iews and themselves.

But a freedom from these two is, if not the promise, the performance only of the Mediator of a better Covenant the [...] Moses, who by the offering of himself to God left place for no other then [...], theRom. 12, 1. living sacrifice of our selves to God; and by the more liberal effusions of his Spirit to enlighten our minds, and to place oru hearts above the fears and hopes of this world hath made Prophecy less necessary now, and therefore most likely not be at all therein. Sure I am God hath no where promised it to the ends of the World, nor do men most disposed, by great wisdom and Sanctity, to receive it, either feel it or desire it, and all that ever have, with the greatest wariness, trusted to it, have been at last clothed with shame and confusion; and God in his Providence seems to deliver all pretences to it to persons so extremely ignorant, vicious, vain or hypochondrical, that 'tis become a scandal to profess it, & for a man to pretend an Enthusiasm now, gives notice that he wants a Physician; [Page] whereas heretofore his greatest judgments Miracles and signs came to secure the honor of Prophecy, and of those excellent Persons which profest it.

Now there is scarce any Man but hath a quick sense of the happiness of being freed from a Religion made grievous by so many chargeable sacrifices as the Jewish was: and who so considers that it was so hard to distinguish true Prophecy from false even in that Age to which it was promised, that often the People, and1 King. 13. 18, 19. sometimes the true Prophets were abused by the Pretenders to it, and that it could not but have some uneasinesses therein, while attended with those Isa. 21. 3. Gen. 15. 12. Dan. 10. 8. Jer. 23. 9.vehement transports, consternations, tremors, aenigmatical Visions, and that harshness which the most gentle strokes the hand of God made upon the faculties of those holy men which were acted by it, cannot but value it as a happiness that God hath delivered us now to the conduct only of that sure word of Prophecy, the Scripture, and the evident and gentle Maxims of Right Reason.

CHAP. VIII.
The Conclusion.

[Page]

Private persons not Competent Iudges of Prop [...]ecy, and why. The Decree of Pope Leo touching New Prophets commended. Men formerly and still subject to b [...] imposed upon by seeming Miracles. The discrediting of t [...]ese Prophecies of great advantage to the Church.

LEst these Considerations should not be thought sufficient to disparage that easy faith which private men usually meet these Vulgar prophecies withall; I shall further mind the Reader, that Prophecy is in it self and so hath been judged by wise men a matter too nice and subtile for any, much less for men that1 Cor. 14. 16 occupy [...], the room of the unlearned in the Church, to make an hasty judgment in. Therefore ( [...]s was noted before from Plato) the Laws in the Graecian Commonwealth, appointed [...] some publick Iudges over Enthusiastick prophecies: which institution, whatever further end the State aimed at therein, proceeded upon this acknowledg'd principle, That Prophecy was in the source and sense thereof too perplext and dark a business for the ruder minds of private men to make any steady judgment in.

And therefore as passionately as the Romish Church laies claim to the Spirit of Prophecy, [Page] as the testimony of God to her, yet upon occasion of some Enthusiasts which would define the particular time of the Day of judgment, we find a very severe and punctual Decree made by Pope Leo to limit the judgment of such Persons, the summ whereof is this. Caterum, si quibusdam eorum Dominm futura quaed [...] in Dei Ecclesi [...] inspiratione quapiam revelaverit, &c. Concil. Later. Sub. Leon. 10. Ses. 11. If God have revealed some things to come to any of them, we will by no means that they be presently reputed Impostors, or any way disturbed, (against the Apostolical command of not despising Prophesyings) butVolum [...] ut lege ordinariae tales assertae inspirattones, antequam publicentur a [...]t aut populo praedicentur, ex nunc Apostolicae sedis examini reservatae intelligantur, &c. we will that by an Ordinary law all such asserted inspirations before they be published or preached to the people, be from henceforth understood reserved solely to the cognizance of the Apostolical Chair. But if that may not be without some danger of delay, and an urgent necessity advise otherwise, then that they be notified to the Ordinary of the place, that he taking with him three or four grave and learned men, and having diligently examined the whole business with them, when they shall judg it convenient (upon which we charge their own Consciences) they may give licence for the publication of them. And after many other Proviso's in this affair, the whole is concluded with a severe temporal and spiritual punishment threatned upon the offenders in the premises. Should appear ictus Piscator, the Pope once stricken by such apish prophets became wise, and would no longer entrust [Page]the judgment of them with the sof [...] and ignorant Multitude.

Now Prophecy hath been thus wisely reserved to the cognizance of Persons of more exercised minds, becauseSolent Americani ipsos montes & quicquid communem naturae ordinem egr [...] ditur, venerari. D. Vos. de Id [...]lol. p. 7. humane Nature undisciplin'd is so extremely prone to meet things pompous and vehement with very sacred and solemn thoughts, and to think (as the frogs in the fable, by the bloc [...] which fell among them) if the person make a great noise and busse, come attended with flaming expressions, pathetical devotions, si [...]gularities of gesture and phrase, affected silences and severities, that he is [...]; sent from God extraordinarily, to rule in their minds and lives. Besides, men that have no notices of the compass of natural or diabolical operation, are ready to receive the sudden tremors, frequent ecstacies and other works which fall not within the little circle of their [...]bservation, as the powers of God and exam [...]les Miraculous. And this they may be the more easily tempted to do, because though sometimes the signs these Prophets shew are so thin and weak that the dullest eye may see through them, and discover them to be the delusions of the Devil or Melancholy: (such was that ofZeii excessu signum aliquod (ut Gedeoni vel Maria) dari inflanter petiit D [...]abic. datumque est Frontis punctura & velut igne ambusta. facies (risum ten [...]atis?) Histor. Drab. per. J. A. C. p. 14 [...] ▪ Drabicius and many of Apollavius,) yet sometimes jugling Prophets have acted a Miracle so to the life, that even wise men have been imposed upon by the sine and [Page] subtil management of the imposture; as may apear by that Chapter inMulti eorum admoto igne non uruntur, ignem videlicet repellente Deo intus afflante, vel si uruntur non persentiunt, neque pungentia percipiunt vel radentia vel ulla tormenta.—per invia vadunt [...] ignem feruntur intacti, &c. De Myst. Aeg. Iamblicus intitled Miracula multa fiunt. à Prophetis, andM. Mede Apost. lat times. P. 2. c. 2. & 3. Mat. 24. 24. other writers.

If all these considerations might obtain with men to give no faith or (which is next to it) a very slow and doubtful one to all pretended Prophets now, the happy consequent would be the freedom of the world at last from these ancient cheats, for these little Oracles (like those of old) would soon become less talkative if men were once become less credulous; and God would no more be look'd for in the whirl-wind of raptures, mystical phrases, and ecstatical Orations, but in the still voice of a great humility, a sound mind, and an heart reconciled to himself and all the world; and they would begin to believe God knows better what is good for us then we do our selves, while hiding futurities from us, that so we might not be discomposed by any joys, sorrows or fears born out of due time; and they would cast anchor onely upon his Promises and Attributes, when afflicted with all his waves, and value them as sufficient security to the peace and quiet of their minds in the worst of Evils. Finally all the Ends the Devil [Page] seeks to serve upon such Prophecies would be happily defeated; who if they chance to hit, fails not to possess the Deliverer of them with an impregnable perswasion that he is God's Holy One, his (Urim) sacred Oracles being found with him; and the Receiver with such great Opinions of them as shall render him curious, credulous, anxious, impertinent in his studies, and regardless of the known rules of life. But if they miss, he tempts men to a suspicion of all Prophecy for the sake of the false, and to regard even the Revelations of Scripture but as more venerable impostures.

FINIS.

The Contents of the Treatise of Vulgar PROPHECIES.

[Page]

CHAP. 1.
Some general accounts given of the Argument.

Counterfeits in Art, Nature and Religion. False prophecy one instance of them. What kind of false Prophets the times of the New Testament are freed from. The miscarriage of States oft by occasions contemptible, noted. The present argument sutable to the age, because an age of action, of intellectual improvement, and yet, in many, of Enthusiasm. Several confident pretenders to prophecy of late, taken notice of. The affinity between Prodigies and Prophecies in the general ends of both. Prophecies of evil consequence in States and why. Our Nation extremely inclined toward them in former times. The ancient Ethnick Statsmen how they secured themselves against the prophetick humor of the people. Judges of Prophecy in Plato, who. The Sibylline Oracles of what use among the Romans. The Opinons the ancients had of Prophecy. couched in the fable of Teresia. Religion a great sufferer by them in the Practise, Credit, Doctrine and Foundation thereof. These noted prejudicial to the mind, and why: And to common life. Two examples to evince that, taken notice of. Prophesies as universally attended to as Prodigies, among the Heathens, Jews, Christians, with a threefold account thereof. p. 1.

CHAP. II.
The Vanity of Vulgar Prophecie: detected from the unworthiness of the Pretenders to them.

[Page]

All things and Persons thought by the Heathens to partake somewhat of a Prophetick Power. Wisdom onely excluded by them from any share in that gift. The Perswasion too much abetted by some Christians. To reprehend which, the first Consideration is proposed. That Prophetick Maxim. That Prophecy rests not but upon [...] wise a valiant and a rich man, how understood by the Modern Jews: A conjecture concerning the Reason of it, in their sense. How understood by the more Ancient Jews, shewn at large from their Writings. God's Prophets never mad in a Prophetick sit. Wise-men an ancient ad [...]ition of the Prophets: the title usurped by the Ancient Philosophers and Magicians. Jews, Christians and Heathens required Sanctity in order to true Prophecy. None b [...]rn Prophets of the Jews, and why. Our pretended Prop [...]ets largely proved devoid of all true Prophetical qualifications, and therefore not creditable. The Church of Rome why so fruitful in such Prophets. p. 31.

CHAP. III.
Vulgar Prophecies proved vain from the intrinsick circumstances of them.

Several circumstances in the matter and stile of the Prophecies instanced in, which speak them unwor [...]hy of God. Their being generally delivered in numbers noted as a character of Vanity, and why. The Devil's Oracles of old delivered usually in Verse. Why afterwa [...]d in more natural and familiar forms. Tully's exception against the pretended Oracles of the Sibyls justified. What appe [...]rance of Poetry in the Prophetick Writings. These Prophecies noted to be delivered without an [...] or a very long time prefixed for their accomplishment: Useless [Page] upon that account to any good end. Why Scripture-Prophecies may be allowed a long time to be accomplished in, but not Vulgar. The Devil concluded to influence these Vulgar Prophecies, and therefore not to be credited. p. 50.

CHAP. IV.
The vanity of these Prophecies evinc'd by their coming unattended with Signs.

The difference between a Sign and a wonder. Of what kind of Prophets no sign was to be required. What method the Jews observed in the trial of Prophets. Miracles not a Sign required of all Prophets. Six Prophetical Signs taken notice of. Our Savior's Prophecy confirmed by them all. Signs of the Prophet and of the Prophecy. None of these Vulgar Prophets give a Sign. Their pretended Sanctity no sufficient Sign. Their admired gift of Prayer of as little credit as that. Natural ardor how effectual to enable the power of speaking freely on the sudden: that confirmed by the example of the ancient Roman Orators. Quintilian. [...] of old, what. Why some men fluent onely before company. The great efficacy of exalted imagination to assist an extemporary Rhetorick. Why vehement speeches so mightily move men. What kind of heats commendable in Religion. The powerful impression of these Prophecies no sign of their Divinity. Divine impressions not distinguishable soly by their power and evidence, asserted against some Jewish Rabbins. Artemidorus. Some accomplished Predictions, no safe Sign of the inspiration of our Modern Prophets. p. 58.

CHAP. V.
The failing of Vulgar Prophecies an assurance of their Vanity.

Vulgar Prophecies referring to the Publick, generally false: that proved from Justin Martyr, and the falshood [Page] of some Modern Prophecies particularly in [...]tanced in. A fayleur but in a circumstance, a sign of the forgery of the whole Prophecy, and why. A fivefold acco [...]nt given of the pretended accomplishments of some Modern Prophecies. How far it seems fitting that Prophecies should des [...]end to the circumstances of Events. An account why some of these Prophecies hit and others miss. All Divine Prophecies fulfilled which were absolutely delivered. Some Characters to distinguish such Prophecies by. p. 83.

CHAP. VI.
Many Modern Prophecies proved to arise from Melancholy.

The strong Opinion of Inspiration in Modern Prophets, proved an effect of the power of Melancholy. Their pretended Visions attributed to the same cause. The Visions of melancholy men, why many, and to them very evident. Their vehem [...]nt in [...]itations to Prophecy proved also a symptom of Melancholy. How this humor becomes effectual thus to excite to Prophecy. Dying men, why often, in appearance, Prophetical. A natural account of the Prophetical Essays of the Pythia. Plutarch's Philosophical account of some ceasing Oracles justified. The ardors in these Prophets and the Sibyls, natural. The delusions of Melancholy assisted usually by the cooperation of the Devil. p. 95.

CHAP. VII.
Probable Arguments to prove all divine Prophecy now ceast.

The Cessation of Prophecy now, not absolutely [...]sserted, and why. Five reasons alledged to prove its cessation, probable. A promise of Prophecy to any Age, the greatest Security that it is not imposed upon by Pretenders to [...]t. No Promise of Prophecy made to the ends of the World. The several [Page] ends Prophecy served to under the times of the Old and New Testament: proved unserviceable to any such ends now. Why Prophecy not given now to comfort good men in affliction. Why it exspired in the Jewish Church so long before our Saviors coming. Several reasons alledged against the received Opinion of a Bath Kol succeeding to Prophecy under the second Temple. The Original of that speech of Strabo, that Moses advanced himself by the promise of a Religion without Sacrifice or Prophecy, guest at. Such a Religion proved the felicity of this New Dispensation. p. 110.

CHAP. VIII.
The Conclusion.

Private Persons not competent Iudges of Prophecy, and why. The Decree of Pope Leo touching New Prophets commended. Men formerly and still subject to be imposed upon by seeming Miracles. The discrediting of these Prophecies of great advantage to the Church. p. 131.

FINIS.

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A discourse concerning vulgar prophecies wherein the vanity of receiving them as the certain indications of any future event is discovered, and some characters of distinction between true and pretending prophets are laid down / by John Spencer.

Spencer, John, 1630-1693.

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1665

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— A discourse concerning vulgar prophecies wherein the vanity of receiving them as the certain indications of any future event is discovered, and some characters of distinction between true and pretending prophets are laid down / by John Spencer., Spencer, John, 1630-1693..

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[5], 136, [5] p.

Printed by J. Field for Timothy Garthwait,. London :: 1665.. (Reproduction of original in the Union Theological Seminary Library, New York.)

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