Your humble servant in all duty, ANDREW SYMSON.
A
SHORT ADVERTIs.e.m.e.nT
TO THE
READER.
COURTEOUS READER,
You may be surprised to meet with such an abstruse theme (handled in specie by few or none), from the pen of a person in my circ.u.mstances, lying at a great distance from the Universities and centre of the kingdom, and consequently may be justly supposed to want that ordinary help of books and conference with the learned, that others may enjoy.
In the _first_ place, believe that I am so far from affecting vain singularity, (a hateful vice in the schools as well as the pulpit), that nothing of that kind moved me to treat of the subject of the following Discourses. But for my own satisfaction I drew up the following heads, and did not resolve at the first to expose them to public view, (justly fearing the censure of presumption); but I was, by the persuasion of some serious friends, prevailed with to commit myself to the favourable judgment of the learned, (who might sooner commend my endeavours than censure my failings), rather than suppress such a fine subject, which probably might be more fully and largely treated of by others after the perusal of this Discourse. Take this pamphlet then in the rude dress that I could give; at least it may excite thy thoughts, if not to approve of what is here deduced, yet to propone of thine own a more satisfying method of explaining this remarkable phenomenon, which is the genuine design and wish of,
SIR, Your humble servant, The AUTHOR.
???????S?????;
OR,
A BRIEF DISCOURSE
CONCERNING THE
SECOND SIGHT,
_Commonly so Called_.
Many have undertaken to treat of the nature and operation of Spirits; as also of the various manners of divination among the Gentiles, (and but too much used among Christians,) likewise of the perturbation and deception of the fancy, caused by melancholy; and very many speak in ordinary discourses of this called the Second Sight, and the consequences of it, but none that I know handle it _in t.i.tulo_.
That such representations are made to the eyes of men and women, is to me out of all doubt, and that effects follow answerable thereto, as little questionable. But I have found so many doubt the matter of fact; which I take to be the reason that so little has been written of it, that I think it necessary to say something briefly, that may put the existency of it beyond all scruple. If I should insert all the clear instances that I have had of this matter, it would be tedious and unnecessary, therefore I will content myself, and I hope will satisfy the reader, with four or five instances, as follows.
The first instance is by a servant of my own, who had the trust of my barn, and nightly lay in the same. One day he told me he would not any longer lie there, because nightly he had seen a dead corps in his winding sheets straighted beside him, particularly at the south side of the barn. About an half year thereafter, a young man that had formerly been my servant, fell dangerously sick, and expecting death, would needs be carried near my house; and shortly thereafter he died, and was laid up a night before he was buried in the same individual barn and place that was foretold; and immediately the servant that foretold this came to me and minded me of the prediction, which was clearly out of my mind till he spoke of it.
The second instance is after this manner. I was resolved to pay a visit to an English gentleman, Sir William Sacheverill, who had a commission from the English Court of Admiralty, to give his best trial to find out gold or money, or any other thing of note, in one of the ships of the Spanish armada, that was blown up in the bay of Topper-Mory, in the Sound of Mull. And having condescended upon the number of men that were to go with me, one of the number was a handsome boy that waited upon my own person; and, about an hour before I made sail, a woman, that was also one of my own servants, spoke to one of the seamen, and bade him dissuade me to take that boy along with me, or if I did, I should not bring him back alive; the seaman answered, he had not confidence to tell me such unwarrantable trifles. I took my voyage, and sailed the length of Topper-Mory; and having stayed two or three nights with that liberal and ingenuous gentleman, who himself had collected many observations of the Second Sight in the Isle of Man, and compared his notes and mine together, I then took leave of him. In the mean time, my boy grew sick of a vehement b.l.o.o.d.y flux,--the winds turn"d cross, that I could neither sail nor row,--the boy died with me the eleventh night from his dec.u.mbiture,--the next morning the wind made fair, and the seaman to whom the matter was foretold, related the whole story when he saw it verified. I carried the boy"s corps aboard with me, and after my arrival, and his burial, I called suddenly for the woman, and asked at her what warrant she had to foretell the boy"s death; she said, that she had no other warrant but that she saw, two days before I took my voyage, the boy walking with me in the fields, sewed up in his winding sheets from top to toe, and that she had never seen this in others, but she found that they shortly thereafter died; and therefore concluded that he would die too, and that shortly.
The third instance was thus. Duncan Campbell, brother-german to Archibald Campbell of Invera, a gentleman of singular piety and considerable knowledge, especially in Divinity, told me a strange thing of himself. That he was at a time in Kintyre, having then some employment there, and one morning walking in the fields, he saw a dozen of men carrying a bier, and knew them all but one, and when he looked again, all was vanished. The very next day, the same company came the same way, carrying a bier, and he going to meet them, found that they were but eleven in number, and that himself was the twelfth, though he did not notice it before; and it is to be observed, that this gentleman never saw any thing of this kind before or after, till his dying day. Moreover, that he was of such solid judgment and devote conversation, that his report deserves an unquestionable credit.
The fourth instance I had, to my great grief, from one John M"Donald, a servant of Lauchlan M"Lean of Coll, who was then newly returned from Holland, having the charge of a captain. This gentleman came one afternoon abroad to his past-time in the fields, and this John M"Donald meets him, and saw his clothes shining like the skins of fishes, and his periwig all wet, though indeed the day was very fair; whereupon he told privately, even then, to one of Coll"s gentlemen, that he feared he should be drowned. This gentleman was Charles M"Lean, who gave me account of it. The event followed about a year thereafter, for the Laird of Coll was drowned in the water of Lochy in Lochaber. I examined both Charles M"Lean and John M"Donald, and found, that the prediction was as he told me; and the said M"Donald could produce no other warrant, than that he found such signs frequently before to forgo the like events. This man indeed was known to have many visions of this kind, but he was none of the strictest life.
The fifth instance is strange, and yet of certain truth, and known to the whole inhabitants of the Island of Eigg, lying in the lat.i.tude of 56 degrees 20 minutes; and longitude 14 degrees. There was a tenant in this island, a native, that was a follower of the Captain of Clanrannold, that lived in a town called Kildonan, the year of G.o.d eighty-five, who told publicly to the whole inhabitants, upon the Lord"s day, after divine service, performed by Father O"Rain, then priest of that place, that they should all flit out of that Isle, and plant themselves some where else; because that people of strange and different habits, and arms, were to come to the Isle, and to use all acts of hostility, as killing, burning, tirling, and deforcing of women; finally, to discharge all that the hands of an enemy could do; but what they were, or whence they came, he could not tell. At the first there was no regard had to his words; but frequently thereafter, he begged of them to notice what he said, otherwise they should repent it, when they could not help it; which took such an impression upon some of his near acquaintance, as that severals of them transported themselves and their families, even then; some to the Isle of Cannay, some to the Isle of Rum. Fourteen days before the enemy came thither, under the command of one Major Ferguson and Captain Pottinger, whilst there was no word of their coming, or any fear of them conceived. In the month of June 1689, this man fell sick, and Father O"Rain came to see him, in order to give him the benefit of absolution and extreme unction, attended with several inhabitants of the Isle, who, in the first place, narrowly questioned him before his friends, and begged of him to recant his former folly and his vain prediction; to whom he answered, that they should find very shortly the truth of what he had spoken, and so he died. And within 14 or 15 days thereafter, I was eye witness (being then prisoner with Captain Pottinger), to the truth of what he did foretel; and being before-hand well instructed of all that he said, I did admire to see it particularly verified, especially that of the different habits and arms, some being clad with red coats, some with white coats and grenadier caps, some armed with sword and pike, and some with sword and musket. Though I could give many more proofs, as unquestionable as these, yet I think what is said, is sufficient to prove the being of such a thing as the same in hand; and I cannot but wonder, that men of knowledge and experience should be so shy to believe that there may be visions of this kind administered by good or bad angels; there being nothing more certain, than that good angels suggested visions to the prophets of the Lord, before the coming of Christ in the flesh, and particularly to the apostle St John, after the ascension of our Lord; likewise that evil angels presented visions, as well as audible voices, to the 450 false prophets of Ahab; the 400 prophets of the Groves, is as little to be doubted; it being as easy, if not easier, to work upon the sight, as well as upon the hearing. We know but too well, that necromancers and magicians themselves, have not only seen the shapes and forms of things, but likewise have allowed others to see the same, who had no skill of their art. A precedent for which, is the Witch of Endor.
I remember, about 23 years ago, there was an old woman in my parish, in the Isle of Teree, whom I heard was accustomed to give responses, and likewise averred, that she had died and been in heaven, but allowed to come back again. And because she could not come to church, I was at the pains to give her a visit, attended with two or three of the most intelligent of my parish. I questioned her first whether she said she was in heaven; and she freely confessed she was, and that she had seen Jesus Christ, but not G.o.d the Father, or the Holy Ghost; that she was kindly entertained with meat and drink, and that she had seen her daughter there, who died about a year before;--that her daughter told her, though she was allowed to go there, that she behooved to come back and serve out her prentiship on earth, but would shortly be called for, and remain there for ever. She could very hardly be put out of this opinion, till I enquired more narrowly of her children, if she fell at any time in a syncope; which they told me she did, and continued for a whole night, so that they thought that she was truly dead; and this is the time she alleged she was in heaven. The devil took an advantage in the ecstasy to present to her fancy a map of heaven, as if it had been a rich earthly kingdom, abounding with meat, drink, gold, and silver. By the blessing of G.o.d, I prevailed with her to be persuaded that this was but a vision presented to her fancy by the devil, the father of lies; and that she might deprehend the falsehood of it from this one head, that she imagined her body was there, as well as her soul, and that she did eat and drink, and was warmed, while, as her own children, and the neighbours that watched her, did see, and did handle her body several times that night, so that it could not be with her in heaven.
I did further examine her what warrant she had for the responses she gave, which were found very often true, even in future contingent events. She freely confessed, that her father upon his death-bed, taught her a charm, compiled of barbarous words, and some unintelligible terms, which had the virtue, when repeated, to present, some few hours after the proposition of a question, the answer of the same in live images before her eyes, or upon the wall; but the images were not tractable, which she found by putting too her hand, but could find nothing. I do not think fit to insert the charm, knowing that severals might be inclined to make an unwarrantable trial of it. This poor woman was got reclaimed, and was taught fully the danger and vanity of her practice, and died peaceably about a year after, in extreme old age.
I know a.s.suredly, that Janet Douglas, that was first a dumbie, yet spoke thereafter, who had given many responses by signs and words, and foretold many future events, being examined by Mr Gray, one of the ministers of the city of Glasgow, denied any explicitor implicit paction, and declared freely, that the answers of the questions proponed to her were represented by a vision in lively images, representing the persons concerned, and acting the thing, before her eyes. This Mr Gray exchanged several discourses in write with Sir James Turner, concerning her.
By this time, you may see that this theme deserves the consideration of the learned: _First_, to enquire how much of this may come from a natural const.i.tution and temperament, when confounded with a flatuous or melancholic distemper; and what influence an external agent, namely, an angel, good or bad, may have upon the organ of the eye and the fancy, and how far the medium between the organ of the eye and an object visible, may be disposed for their purpose, namely, the air and light; and what connexion may be found betwixt the representations made to the eye or fancy, and the future contingent events that experience teaches do follow thereupon: as for example, a man is seen bleeding, or sewed up in his winding sheets, who is shortly to be wounded, or a.s.suredly to die.
As for the first, all the learned physicians of the world know too well by experience what great labour they have to cure the deceptions of the fancy, especially in hypochondriac diseases; nay, patients cannot be persuaded but they see men, women, fowls, and four-footed beasts, walking abroad or in their chambers. Seldom it is, that a man pa.s.ses any great and turbulent fever, without the trouble of some such representations. It is memorable, that a gentleman, that had been a great proficient in physic himself, imagined at length that there was a quick frog in his belly; and after he had travelled over a good part of Italy, and consulted with the doctors of Padua, yet could not be cured, or dissuaded. He came at length to the learned physician Platerus, in Bazil, who told him, that a frog by certain experience is known not to live above three years, so that his distemper continuing longer than three years, could not be caused by the frog, that could not live so long. Moreover, that his stomach would strangle the frog, and that the frog could not live any considerable time out of its own element, the water; so that the properest and most specific medicines being made use of, it were a shame for him to be so obstinate. At last he was persuaded, and his fancy satisfied. This story is no less renowned of what befell Andreas Osiander, a man learned in most languages. When he was a young man, and being troubled with a quartan ague, a little before the fit he could not be persuaded that he was in the house at all, but that he was in a wood, and much molested with wild beasts and serpents of all kinds; neither could he be prevailed with that this was false, till Facius Carda.n.u.s was called for to him, who cured him for the time, so that he knew his friends that were sitting beside him, and the chamber to be his own chamber; but after Facius had left him, he was troubled with the same opinion and distemper, even till the ague had quiet him. I have myself seen a neighbour of my own, and my parishioner too, John M"Phale, that lived to the age of fourscore years, a man that was truly very sagacious by nature; and though his sight was much decayed, the seat of his judgment was nothing touched; and as he grew weaker, merely by old age, without any remarkable distemper, I made frequent visits to him. One day as I was coming away from him, he told me he had something of consequence to ask at me, and desired all to remove except his wife and another gentleman, that was a friend of his. This done, Sir, says he, I desire to know by what warrant or commission so many of my friends, that are dead long ago, are allowed to come and discourse with me, and drink before me, and yet are not so civil as give me a tasting of it? I told him, that it was only the trouble of his fancy, and his frequent thinking of the world to come and his friends that were gone before him; and he replied to me very smartly, Sir, says he, I perceive it is the work of the fancy, for since I cannot see yourself, (for only by your voice I know you) how could I see them? It was strange that he saw them the very mean time that others were in the house with him, and asked several questions at them, but got no answer. And, for all this, the seat of his wit was as entire as ever: moreover, this trouble left him a little before he died.
Many such illusions are reported of eremites, caused merely by the confusion of the brains, bred by their fasting and unwholesome food, which I shall not trouble the reader with.
If you will ask how cometh this to pa.s.s, take notice of the following method, which I humbly offer to your consideration. Advert, in the _first_ place, that visible ideas, or species, are emitted from every visible object to the organ of the eye; representing the figure and colour of the object, and bearing along with it the proportion of the distance, for sure the objects enter not the eye, nor the interjacent distant tract of ground; and a third thing different from the eye and the object, and the distant ground, must inform the eye. These species are conveyed to the brain by the optic nerve, and are laid up in the magazine of the memory, otherwise we should not remember the object any longer than it is in our presence; and a remembering of these objects is nothing else but the fancies reviewing, or more properly the soul of man, by the fancy reviewing of these intentional species formerly received from the visible object unto the organ of the eye, and reconducted unto the seat of the memory. Now, when the brain is in a serene temper, these species are in their integrity, and keep their rank and file as they were received; but when the brain is filled with gross and flatuous vapours, and the spirits and humour enraged, these ideas are sometimes multiplied as an army, by mist; sometimes magnified, sometimes misplaced, sometimes confounded by other species of different objects, perhaps by half and half, so that the fancy has two for one, one bigger than two of itself, and sometimes the half of one and the half of another, represented in one; and this deception is not only incident to the fancy, but even to the external senses, particularly the seeing and hearing; for the visus, or seeing, is nothing else but the transition of the intentional species through the crystalline humour to the retiform coat of the eye, and judged by the common sense, and conveyed by the optic nerve to the fancy.
Of this we have a clear demonstration from the representation of external objects through a crystal in gla.s.s, upon any lucid, smooth, and solid reflectant, placed before the gla.s.s in a dark chamber, which is one of the n.o.blest experiments in the whole optics.
Now, if these species formerly received and laid up in the brain, will be reversed back from the same to the retiform coat and crystalline humour as formerly, these is in effect a lively seeing and perception of the object represented by these species, as if, _de novo_, the object had been placed before the eye; for the organ of the eye had no more of it before, than now it has; just so with the hearing, it is nothing else but the receiving of the audible species to that part of the ear that is accommodated for hearing, so that when the species are retracted from the brain to their proper organs, for example, the ear and the eye, hearing and seeing are perfected, as if the objects had been present to influence the organs _de novo_.
And it is not to be thought that this is a singular opinion, for Carda.n.u.s, an eminent author of great and universal learning and experience, maintains this reversion of the species, and attributes his own vision of trees, wild beasts, men, cities, and instructed battles, musical and martial instruments, from the fourth to the seventh year of his age, to the species of the objects he had seen formerly, now retracted to the organ of the eye, and cites Averroes, an author of greater renown for the same opinion. _See Carda.n.u.s de subtilitate rerum pagina trecentesima prima._
And it seems truly to be founded upon relevant grounds. I have observed a sick person, that complained of great pain and molestation in his head, and particularly of piping and sweating in his ears, which seems to have been caused by the species of piping and singing which he had formerly heard, but were now, through the plethory of his head, forced out of the brain to the organ of the ear, through the same nerves by which they were received formerly; and why may not the same befall the visible species as well as the audible? which seems to be confirmed by the optic experiment. Take a sheet of painted paper and fix it in your window, looking steadfastly to it for a considerable time, for example, some few minutes, then close your eyes very strait, and place a sheet of clean paper before your eyes, and open your eyes suddenly, you will see the painting almost as lively as they were in the painted sheet with the lively colours.
This compression of the eyes by consent, causes a compression of the whole brain, which forces back the visible species of the painted sheet to the organ of the eye, through the optic nerve, which will presently vanish, if the reflectant did not help to preserve them.
You may see then how much of these representations may be within ourselves, abstracting from any external agent or object without the eye, to influence the same.
The second thing that comes under consideration is, the influence and operation of external agents, namely, an angel, good or bad. It is not to be denied, but good angels may help and dispose all our faculties, excite, elevate, and set them upon edge and action; likewise, that evil angels may perturb, confound, and hurt, our external and internal senses, (when permitted) particularly by stirring the spirits, humours, and vapours, which of themselves, when so stirred, help to make many shapes and representations, either regular or irregular, (as has been formerly observed) and withal, they can colorate external objects far beyond any painter, insensibly to the beholder, _repente applicando activa pa.s.sivis_; and that they can alter the medium interposed between our senses and the objects, by making it grosser or thinner, opaque or lucid, is a thing not to be questioned. For a clear proof of this I hope any rational man will allow me.
That even the evil angels, who were created in a degree above us, must have a more penetrating wit than ours is, and having experienced from their creation, to this very day, and can be present to every experiment found out, or that is committed to writing by the art of man; and withal, being not subject to oblivion as man is, (for they have no material faculty to be obliterated), I say any rational man will allow me, that they can do as much, and beyond what the art of man is able to do; but so it is, that painters can make one object more pleasant than another, distorted and worse favoured than another,--that any smoke may engross the air,--that a cloud removed on or off the face of the sun, give way to the beams of it to illuminate the air, or to eclipse its light,--that vapours and exhalations, from sea and land, multiply and magnify objects, misshapes and distorts them, and makes them of diverse figures, all in an instant, which is observable in hot summer days, especially in the end of the canicular days, for you may readily see about three or four in the afternoon, the same hills (providing they are situated at a considerable distance from you) to be of diverse shapes, forms, and figures, changing very suddenly from one shape to another, for example, from a globe to a pyramid, from a pyramid to a quadrangular figure, &c. All which our ordinary multiplying, magnifying, and distorting gla.s.ses, produce. Moreover, that physicians can administer such medicines as may provoke a man to madness and rage, yea, to fantastic or hypochondriac fits; so also medicines that move pleasant and unpleasant dreams, by exciting the melancholic or sanguine humours, raging or peaceable dreams, by moving the choleric or phlegmatic humour.
How much more can the prince of the air do, and his retinue, who is better seen in the nature of the elements and their compounds; who is better seen in the nature of trees, plants, minerals, stones, the secret qualities of springs and fountains, rivers and lochs, and the influence of celestial bodies, &c. and who is better seen in the const.i.tution of every man, his customs and inclinations, and his present state and bygone circ.u.mstances; I say, in all these, he is better seen than any man, and can accommodate them to his purpose beyond the greatest virtuoses.
Let us therefore consider, that an evil angel being permitted thereunto, can muster in our brain the latent intentional species of external absent objects, and can present the same to the fancy in the methods best fitting his purpose, and not only so in time of our sleep, (for then indeed the fancy sticks with more tenacity to what it apprehends), but also when we are not sleeping, he can deduce these species by forcing them out of the rooms or cells of the brain, to the organ of the eye and ear, and so of necessity a man either sitting or going in the high-way, will hear and see such things as these species do represent; and seeing that naturally it may be done, as would appear from what is above spoken from the strength and force of medicines to operate upon the spirits and humours of man to work strange things, why may not a good or bad angel excite nature to it?
or by an immediate impulse force these material qualities to the organs of the external senses, as well as they can move their vehicles, which are the spirits and humours.
The third thing proposed was, the connexion of these representations with the future contingent events that are observed to follow them, as for example, a second sighted man sees a winding sheet upon his neighbour, or blood running down his face, shoulders, or arms, he concludes that he must die, or be wounded in the face, shoulders, or arms. If you will ask what warrant he has for this, he will tell, he has found by experience, that whenever he saw the like of this, that he found death or wounds to follow. _Quaeritur_, then, what connexion can this representation have with an effect or contingent event not yet existant? For answer to this, G.o.d, who knoweth all things, no doubt imparteth much of the foreknowledge of things, not only to good angels, but also evil angels, for reasons well known to himself, particularly that they might give some true signs, and so have way to deceive in many things besides; and though the signs foretold should surely come to pa.s.s, it does not infer that the doctrine of evil angels, and their lies that they would suggest to mankind, should be credited. This is clear from the 13th of Deuteronomy, 1, 2, and 3, verses, If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pa.s.s whereof he spake unto thee, saying, let us go after other G.o.ds, (which thou has not known), and let us serve them; thou shalt not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your G.o.d proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your G.o.d, with all your heart, and with all your soul. And this is very just with G.o.d when men give themselves over to a reprobate and wicked mind, and evil and unwarrantable practices, expressly against the Lord"s commands; I say it is just with G.o.d to let evil angels or spirits delude them, and give way to these spirits in order to confirm their lies; to appoint signs before hand, which signs, by G.o.d"s appointment, may come to pa.s.s, answerable to the prediction. It may rationally, and very probably be concluded, that Ahab"s false prophets, in number 400, have often foretold truth; and this purposely by G.o.d"s appointment, that they might be the better believed, and more easily persuade to lay siege to Ramoth Gilead; and it is hard to conceive that Ahab should give them so much credit, or they themselves so extraordinary confident, if they had not had many truths suggested to them, and made proof of the same to Ahab. It is not for nought that we are commanded to try the spirits, and that rather by their doctrines, than their signs and wonders, or fair and smooth pretences. Therefore, suppose these evil angels to know a contingent future event, either by a revelation, or natural or moral causes, they may, in the method foresaid make the representation of them to the eyes or ears; as for example, an angel, good or bad, finds that either the lungs, heart, stomach, liver, or brain, are under such a consumption, as may against such a time kill a man; or that he knows the secret contrivance of a potent party that is resolved to wound or kill him, or that it is revealed to him it should be so (which may very well be, as has been above noted), he can easily represent these before hand, though the event should follow but a considerable time thereafter; he has no more to do than to reverse the species of these things from a man"s brain to the organ of the eye.
Here ariseth a question from what has just been said, whether it be more probable that good angels make this representation (because men having this second sight are found to tell truth, and to be innocent in their lives, and free of any paction, either implicit or explicit, likewise free of any fraudulent design, and sound enough in the necessary articles of their salvation), or that it be done by evil angels for the trial of men and women, juggling with their fancy and external organs, and so have a patent way to tell lies among some truths. For answer to this question, I shall not be ready positively to determine these things, but I humbly conceive, that as the representations are oft done by evil angels, so likewise it is probable that it may be done by good angels. I cannot be so uncharitable to several men that I have known to be of considerable sense, and pious and good conversation, as to conclude them to be given over to be deluded continually by an evil angel: Moreover, I conceive that there are many good Christians, if they would advert well, that have some secret tokens and signs of notable alterations to come, suggested to them before hand; and that these signs, some of them are common to them with others, as dreaming, which are often observed to be completely fulfilled, and that some of the signs and warnings are peculiar to some persons, which fail not to answer to the things signified; as for example, I have certainly known a man, that when he found an unvoluntary motion in such a member of his body, particularly his right hand or right eye, that was sure that some matter of joy would shortly come to his hearing; and that if he found the same motion in the left eye or hand, it signified infallibly grief: And that which is more wonderful, the thing to come signified by these signs and warnings keeped an exact proportion with the continuance or vehemency of the motion; if the motion continued long, so did the joy or the grief; if the motion was snell or vehement, so was the matter of grief or joy; and finding that this man was both a good man, and of a right penetrating wit, and had art enough, it moved me to use freedom with several other good men that had knowledge and sense enough to examine circ.u.mstances to a hair. I found very many to acknowledge the very same thing, yet signified by different signs, (which shows they are not _signa naturalia_, but _ex inst.i.tuto_), which puts me in mind of Dr Brown"s observation to the same purpose, in his inquiry into vulgar errors, where he concludes several presentations to be acted in us by our tutelary angels that have the charge of us at the time. Mark this, though the signs be different in themselves, yet to each particular person, his own sign is still significative of the same thing; and why might not this of the second sight be counted amongst one of these? I likewise humbly conceive, that G.o.d might compense the want of many other gifts to poor men, by giving them this minor sort of knowledge. But I would advise all of them that have the second sight, to examine themselves, and to pray earnestly to G.o.d that no evil angel should have power to abuse their senses, because the devil still strives to imitate what G.o.d, or his good angels, communicates to his own children. I know that the common opinion of some philosophers and divines will be objected, and that is, that angels, good or bad, may condense the air, figurate and colorate the same, and make it of what figure or shape they please, so that this representation is made by external objects in effect emitting visible species to the eye; and consequently, that it is not the reversion of the species formerly received; though, as I have observed before, that good and bad angels can alter the medium in a strange way, and can work great alteration on the elements and their compounds, I think it very improbable that any created power can bring the air to that solidity, and actually condense it, colorate, and figurate it, as to represent a man by a beast, or Peter by Paul, especially at such a distance as from one side of a chamber to the other. The miracles done by the magicians of Egypt is their Achillean argument; but in short, I say, that what was done by the magicians of Egypt, has neither been a delusion of the senses, (as some would have it) much less that the devil could produce the creatures _de novo_ of condensed air, and that for the following reasons: _First_, thence it would follow that Moses and Aaron were deluded as well as the Egyptians; but the last is false, therefore the first: _Secondly_, it would follow, that the fashioning and framing of Adam"s body of clay, was but a mean act of creation in comparison of these creatures, if they should be fashioned and framed of condense air, which is naturally a fluid element, not so easily stigmatized as the earth. I do not deny but the devil can s.n.a.t.c.h dead and quick bodies from one place to another, and that insensibly to the beholders, by pressing their optic nerves, as Franciscus Valesius has observed in his _Sacra Philosophia_, and I conclude with Abraham Couley, (no contemptible author) that the magicians of Egypt were after this manner served by the devil, to imitate G.o.d"s power in the hands of Moses and Aaron. Mark, finally, if it were within the sphere of angelical power to take bodies of condense air, what needed them a.s.sume such material and earthly bodies as these angels that came to Abraham and Lot a.s.sumed? whose bodies could be touched and handled, and whose bodies were not found to yield to the touch, as the most condensed air must do; and it is very consisting with reason, that the angels, good or bad, should rather a.s.sume bodies of the element of the earth, which is a great deal more easily brought to the figure and fashion of a body, than the air. Some curious spirits, perhaps, may desire to know whether this second sight be hereditary or propagable from father to son; and I think no wonder that some would think so, because the sanative gift of the king"s evil is lineally traduced to the natural heirs of the crown of England; and there is a whole family in Spain, that has a sanative gift of some particular diseases, which gift is propagated from the father to the son; neither is it diminished or augmented by the morality or immorality of the persons, as has been observed by that famous philosopher and physician, Franciscus Valesius, who lived in that kingdom, and had time and opportunity to examine the truth of this affair. In short, I answer, that it is not propagable from father to son, neither peculiar to any particular family; and as I have observed many honest men, free of all scandal that ever I could learn, to have it; so I have observed many vicious persons to have it who foretold truth oft enough.
Perhaps it may be doubted what should make this second sight more frequent here than in the heart of the kingdom; I answer, that it is the lack of observation and inquiry that it should not be found there as well as here. _Secundo_, that it pa.s.ses under a great odium and disgrace with the most of men, which causes those that see it, conceal it. _Thirdly_, I confess that credulity and ignorance give occasion to evil spirits to juggle more frequently, than otherwise they would have done. But sure it is, that men of little learning and education may be recompensed by notable presentations, not so obvious to others of greater parts. I remember of a n.o.bleman in Spain, that was deaf and dumb from his infancy, and yet was taught by a monk to speak, and understand what was spoken to him, only by observing the motion of his lips that spoke to him. Sir Kenelm Digby saw him, as he tells in his Treatise of Bodies, and the monk that taught him, was a cousin of Franciscus Valesius. This was more than ordinary sagacity and docility, and it is found, that many dumb persons foretel many things before hand, and it is a hard measure to conclude all to be from evil spirits. In fine, as I noted before, as questionless Satan may, and often does, deceive after this manner, so it is as sure, it may be allowed, that good angels may forewarn this way, as well as by other signs and tokens, as Dr Brown observes.
It is observed, that those who have the second sight, have this representation at any time of the day, but indeed more ordinarily in the morning and evening, and with candle light.
The design of these weak conceptions on this sublime theme, is not to impose upon any man, freely leaving every man to follow his own judgment in things that offend not church or state, but that others of greater capacity may be stimulated to prosecute the same in a better method, humbly submitting myself to the judgment of my betters, to whose hands perhaps this pamphlet may come.