[Page]
OF PROPHESIE:
OR, A DISCOURSE
Treating of
- The Nature of Prophesie.
- The Different degrees of the Propheticall Spirit.
- The Difference of Propheticall Dreams from all other Dreams recorded in Scripture.
- The Difference of the True Propheticall Spirit from Enthusiasticall Imposture.
- What the meaning of those Actions is that are frequently in Scripture attributed to the Prophets, whether they were Reall or onely Imaginary.
- The Schools of the Prophets.
- The Sons, or Disciples of the Prophets.
- The Dispositions antecedent and preparatory to Prophesie.
- The Periods of Time when the Propheticall Spirit ceased in the Jewish and Christian Churches.
- Rules for the better understanding of Propheticall Writ.
2 Pet. 1. 21.
For Prophesie came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake being moved by the Holy Ghost.
OF PROPHESIE.
CHAP. I.
That
Prophesie is the way whereby Revealed Truth is dispensed and conveighed to us. Man's Mind capable of conversing and being acquainted as well with Revealed or Positive Truth, as with Naturall Truth. Truths of Naturall inscription may be excited in us and cleared to us by means of Propheticall Influence. That the
Scripture frequently accommodates it self to vulgar apprehension, and speaks of things in the greatest way of condescension.
HAving spoken to those
Principles of Naturall Theologie which have the most proper and necessary
influence into
Life and
Practise, and are most pregnant with morall goodness; we come now to consider
Those pieces of Revealed Truth which tend most of all to foment and cherish true and reall Piety.
But before we fall pressly into any strict Enquiry concerning them, it may not be amiss to examine
How and in what manner This kind of Truth, which depends solely upon the Free will of God, is manifested unto mankind; and so treat a little concerning
Prophesie, which indeed is the
onely way whereby
This kind of Truth can be dispensed to us. For though our own Reason and
[Page 170] Understanding carry all
Natural Truth necessary for
Practice in any sort, engraven upon themselves, and folded up in their own Essences more immediatly, as being the first participations of the Divine Minde considered in its own Eternal nature: yet
Positive Truth can only be made known to us by a free influx of the Divine Mind upon our Minds and Understandings. And as it ariseth out of nothing else but the free pleasure of the Divinity, so without any natural determination it freely shines upon the Souls of men where and when it lifteth, hiding its light from them or displaying it forth upon them, as it pleaseth.
Yet the souls of men are as capable of conversing with it, though it doe not naturally arise out of the fecundity of their own Understandings, as they are with any Sensible and External Objects. And as our Sensations carry the notions of Material things to our Understandings which before were unacquainted with them; so there is some Analogical way whereby the knowledge of Divine Truth may also be revealed to us. For so we may call as well that Historical Truth of Corporeal and Material things, which we are informed of by our Senses,
Truth of Revelation, as that Divine Truth which we now speak of: and therefore we may have as certain and infallible a way of being acquainted with the one, as with the other. And God having so contrived the nature of our Souls, that we may converse one with another, and inform one another of things we knew not before, would not make us so deaf to his Divine voice that breaks the rocks, and rends the mountains asunder; He would not make us so undisciplinable in Divine things, as that we should not be capable of receiving any Impressions from himself of those things which we were before
[Page 171] unacquainted with. And
this way of communicating Truth to the Souls of men is originally nothing else but
Prophetical or Enthusiastical; and so we may take notice of
the General nature of Prophesie.
Though I would not all this while be mistaken, as if I thought no
Natural Truth might be by the means of Prophetical influence awakened within us, and cleared up to us, or that we could not
lumine prophetico behold the
Truths of Naturall inscription; for indeed one main end and scope of the
Prophetical Spirit seems to be the
quickning up of our Minds to a more lively converse with those
Eternal Truths of Reason, which commonly lie buried in so much fleshly obscurity within us, that we discern them not. And therefore the Scripture treats not only of those Pieces of Truth which are the Results of God's free Counsells, but also of those which are most a-kin and allied to our own Understandings, and that in the greatest way of Condescention that may be, speaking to the weakest sort of men in the most vulgar sort of dialect: which it may not be amiss to take a little notice of.
Divine Truth hath its
Humiliation and
Exinanition, as well as its
Exaltation. Divine Truth becomes many times in Scripture
incarnate, debasing it self to assume our rude conceptions, that so it might converse more freely with us, and infuse its own Divinity into us. God having been pleased herein to manifest himself not more jealous of his own Glory, then he is (as I may say) zealous of our good.
Nos non habemus aures, sicut Deus habet linguam. If he should speak in the language of
Eternity, who could understand him, or interpret his meaning? or if he should have declared his Truth to us only in a way of the
purest abstraction that Humane Souls are capable of, how should then
[Page 172] the more rude and illiterate sort of men have been able to apprehend it?
Truth is content, when it comes into the world, to wear our mantles, to learn our language, to conform it self as it were to our dress and fashions: it affects not that State or
Fastus which the disdainfull Rhetorician sets out his style withall,
Non Tarentinis aut Siculis haec scribimus; but it speaks with the most
Idiotical sort of men in the most
Idiotical way, and becomes all things to all men, as every sonne of Truth should doe, for their good. Which was well observed in that old Cabbalistical Axiome among the Jewes,
Lumen supernum nunquam descendit sine indumento. And therefore (it may be) the best way to understand the true sense and meaning of the Scripture is not rigidly to examine it upon Philosophical Interrogatories, or to bring it under the scrutiny of School-Definitions and Distinctions. It speaks not to us so much in the tongue of the learned
Sophies of the world, as in the plainest and most vulgar dialect that may be. Which the Jews constantly observed and took notice of, and therefore it was one common Rule among them for a true understanding of the Scripture,
[...],
Lex loquitur linguâ filorum hominum. Which
Maimonides expounds thus, in
More Nevoch. Par. 1. C. 26.
Quicquid homines ab initio cogitationis suae intelligentiâ & imaginatione suâ possunt assequi, id in Scriptura attribuitur Creatori. And therefore we find almost all
Corporeal properties attributed to God in Scripture,
quia vulgus hominum ab initio cogitationis Entitatem non apprehendunt, nisi in rebus corporeis, as the same Author observes. But such of them as sound
Imperfection in vulgar eares, as
Eating and
Drinking, & the like, these (saith he) the Scripture no where attributes to him. The reason of this plain and Idiotical
[Page 173] style of Scripture it may be worth our farther taking notice of, as it is laid down by the forenamed Author C. 33.
Haec causa est propter quam Lex loquitur linguâ filiorum hominum, &c.
For this reason the Law speaks according to the language of the sons of men, because it is the most commodious and easie way of initiating and teaching Children, Women, and the Common people, who have not ability to apprehend things according to the very nature and essence of them. And in C. 34.
Et si per Exempla & Similitudines non deduceremur, &c.
And if we were not led to the knowledge of things by Examples and Similitudes, but were put to learn and understand all things in their Formal notions and Essential definitions, and were to believe nothing but upon preceding Demonstrations; then we may well think that (seeing this cannot be done but after long preparations) the greater part of men would be at the conclusion of their daies, before they could know whether there be a God or no, &c. Hence is that Axiome so frequent among the Jewish Doctors,
Magna est virtus vel fortitudo Prophetarum, qui assimilant formam cum formante eam, i. e. Great is the power of the
Prophets, who while they looked down upon these Sensible and Conspicable things, were able to furnish out the notion of Intelligible and Inconspicable Beings thereby to the rude Senses of Illiterate people.
The Scripture was not writ only for Sagacious and Abstracted minds, or Philosophical heads; for then how few are there that should have been taught the true Knowledge of God thereby?
Vidi filios coenaculi, & erant pauci, was an antient Jewish proverb. We are not alwaies rigidly to adhere to the very Letter of the Text. There is a
[...] and a
[...] in the Scripture, as the Jewish interpreters observe. We must not think
[Page 174] that it alwaies gives us Formal Definitions of things, for it speaks commonly according to Vulgar apprehension: as when it tells of
the Ends of the heaven, which now almost every Idiot knows hath
no ends at all. So
Psal. 19. Mat. 24. when it tells us Gen. 2. 7. that
God breathed into man the breath of life, and man became a living soul; the expression is very Idiotical as may be, and seems to comply with that vulgar conceit, that the Soul of Man is nothing else but a kind of
Vital breath or
Aire: and yet the
Immortality thereof is evidently insinuated in setting forth a double Original of the two parts of Man, his Body and his Soul; the one of which is brought in as arising up out of the
Dust of the earth, the other as proceeding from the
Breath of God himself.
So we find very Vulgar expressions concerning God himself, besides those which attribute
Sensation and
Motion to him, as when he is set forth as
riding upon the wings of the Wind, riding upon the Clouds, sitting in Heaven, and the like, which seem to determine his indifferent Omnipresence to some peculiar place: whereas indeed such passages as these are can be fetch'd from nothing else but those crass apprehensions which the generalitie of men have of God, as being most there, from whence the objects of dread and admiration most of all smite and insinuate themselves into their Senses, as they doe from the
Aire, Clouds, Winds or
Heaven. So the state of
Hell and Miserie is set forth by such denominations as were most apt to strike a terror into the minds of men, and accordingly it is called
Coetus Gigantum, the place where all those old
Giants, whom divine vengeance pursued in the general Deluge, were assembled together, as it is well observed by a late Author of our own upon
Proverbs 21. 16. The
Mr.
Mede in Diatrib. first part.
[Page 175]
man that wandreth out of the way of understanding, in coetu Gigantum commorabitur. And accordingly we find the state and condition of these expressed
Job 26. 5. Gigantes gemunt sub aquis; & qui habitant cum iis. Nudus est infernus coram illo, & nullum est operimentum perditioni, as the
Vulgar Latin renders it,
The Giants groan under the waters, and they that dwell with them. Hell is naked before him, (that is, God,)
and destruction hath no covering. In like manner our Saviour sets forth
Hell as a great valley of fire like that of
Hinnom, which was prepared with a great deal of skill, to torture and torment the Devils in. Again we find
Heaven set forth sometimes as a place of continual
banqueting, where, according to the Jewish customes, they should lye down in one anothers bosomes at a perpetuall Feast: Sometimes as a
Paradise furnished with all kinds of delight and pleasure. Again, when the Scripture would infinuate God's seriousness and realitie in any thing, it brings him in as ordering it a great while agoe before the foundation of the world was laid, as if he more regarded that then the building of the world.
I might instance in many more things of this nature, wherein the
Philosophical or
Physical nature and Literal veritie of things cannot so reasonably be supposed to be set forth to us, as the
Moral and
Theological. But I shall leave this Argument, and now come more precisely to consider of
the nature of Prophesie, by which God flows in upon the Minds of men extrinfecally to their own proper operations, and converghs truth immediately from himself into them.
CHAP. II.
That the Prophetical Spirit did not alwaies manifest it self with the same clearnesse and evidence. The Gradual difference of Divine illumination between
Moses, the
Prophets, and the
Hagiographi. A general survey of the Nature of Prophesie properly so called. Of the joint impressions and operations of the Understanding and Phansie in Prophesie. Of the four degrees of Prophesie. The difference between a
Vision and a
Dream.
BUT before we doe this, we shall briefly premise something in general concerning that
Gradual variety whereby these Divine Enthusiasms were discover'd to the Prophets of old. The
Prophetical Spirit did not alwaies manifest it self
eodem vigore luminis, with the same clearness and evidence, in the same exaltation of its light: But sometimes that
light was more
strong and
vivid, sometimes more
wan and
obscure; which seems to be insinuated in that passage,
Heb. 1. 1. God who in time past spake unto the Fathers by the Prophets
[...]. So we find an evident difference of
Prophetical illumination asserted in Scripture between
Moses and
the rest of the Prophets, Deut. 34. 10.
And there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face: which words have a manifest reference to that which God himself in a more publick and open way declared concerning
Moses, upon occasion of some arrogant speeches of
Aaron and
Miriam, who would equalize their own Degree of Prophesie to that
[Page 177] of
Moses, Numb. 12. 5, 6, 7, 8.
And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the Tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth: And he said, Hear my words; If there be a Prophet among you, I the Lord will make my self known unto him in a Vision, and will speak unto him in a Dream: My servant Moses is not so, who is faithfull in all mine house; with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? In which words that degree of Divine illumination whereby God made himself known to
Moses seems to be set forth as something transcendent to the
Prophetical illumination: and so the phrase of the New Testament is wont to distinguish between
Moses and the
Prophets, as if indeed
Moses had been greater then any
Prophet. But besides this
Gradual difference between
Moses and the
Prophets, there is another difference very famous amongst the Jewish Writers between the
Prophets and the
Hagiographi, which
Hagiographi were suppos'd by them to be much inferior to the
Prophets. But what this difference between them was, we shall endeavour to shew more fully hereafter.
Having briefly premised this, and glanced at a Threefold
Inspiration relating to
Moses, the
Prophets, and the
Hagiographi; we shall first of all enquire into
the Nature of that which is
peculiarly amongst the Jews called
Prophetical. And this is thus defined to us by
Maimonides in
Par. 2. c. 36. of his
More Nevochim, Veritas & quidditas Prophetiae nihil aliud est quàm Influentia à Deo Optimo Maximo, mediante intellectu Agente, super facultatem Rationalem primò, deinde super facultatem Imaginatricem influens. i. e.
The true essence of
[Page 178] Prophesie is nothing else but an Influence from the Deitie upon the Rational first, and afterwards the Imaginative Facultie, by the mediation of the Active intellect. Which Definition belongs indeed to
Prophesie as it is Technicallie so called, and distinguished by
Maimonides both from that degree of Divine illumination which was above it, which the Masters constantly attribute to
Moses, and from that other degree inferior to it, which they call
[...],
Spiritus Sanctus, that Holy Spirit that moved in the Souls of the
Hagiographi.
But
Rabbi Joseph Albo in
Maam 3. c. 8.
De fundamentis fidei, hath given us a more large description, so as to take in also the
gradus Mosaicus,
[...], i. e.
Prophesie is an influence from God upon the Rational facultie, either by the Mediation of the Fansie or otherwise: and this influence, whether by the ministry of an Angel or otherwise, makes a man to know such things as by his Natural abilities he could not attain to the knowledg of. Though here our Author seems too much to have streightned the latitude of
Prophetical influence, whereby (as we intimated before) not only those pieces of Divine truth may be communicated to the Souls of men which are not contained within their own Ideas, but also those may be excited which have a necessarie connexion with and dependence upon Reason.
But the main thing that we shall observe in this description is, that Facultie or Power of the Soul upon which these Extraordinarie impressions of Divine light or influence are made; which in all proper
Prophesie is both the
Rational and
Imaginative power. For in this Case they supposed the
Imaginative power to be set forth as a
Stage upon which certain
Visa and
Simulacra were represented to their Understandings, just indeed as
[Page 179] they are to us in our common Dreams; only that the Understandings of the Prophets were alwaies kept awake and strongly acted by God in the midst of these apparitions, to see the intelligible Mysteries in them, and so in these Types and Shadows, which were Symbols of some spiritual things, to behold the Antitypes themselves: which is the meaning of that old Maxime of the Jews which we formerly cited out of
Maimonides, Magna est virtus seu fortitudo Prophetarum qui assimilant formam cum formante eam. But in case the
Imaginative facultie be not thus set forth as the
Scene of all
Prophetical illumination, but that the Impressions of things nakedly without any
Schemes or
Pictures be made immediately upon the Understanding it self, then is it reckoned to be the
gradus Mosaicus, wherein God speaks as it were
face to face; of which more hereafter.
Accordingly
R. Albo, in the Book before cited and 10
th Chapter, hath distinguished
Prophesie into these four
degrees. The first and lowest of all is, when the
Imaginative power is most predominant, so that the impressions made upon it are too busie, & the Scene becomes too turbulent for the Rational facultie to discern the true Mystical and Anagogical sense of them clearly; and in this case the Enthusiasms spend themselves extreamly in
Parables, Similitudes and
Allegories, in a dark and obscure manner, as is very manifest in
Zachary, and many of
Ezechiel his Prophesies, as also those of
Daniel: where though we have first the outward frame of things
Dramatically set forth so potently in the Prophet's phansie, as that his Mind was not at the same time capable of the mystical meaning, yet that was afterward made known to him, but yet with much obscuritie still attending it.
This
declining state of
Prophesie the Jews supposed
[Page 180] then principally to have been, and this Divine illumination to have been then setting in the Horizon of the Jewish Church, when they were carried captive into
Babylon. All which we may take a little more fully from our Author himself in his 3. Book and 17. Chapter,
[...], i. e.
Every Prophet that is of a strong, fagacious and piercing Understanding, will apprehend the thing nakedly without any Similitude, whence it comes to pass that all his sayings prove distinct and clear, and free from all obscuritie, having a literal truth in them: But a Prophet of an inferior rank or degree, his words are obscure, enwrapp'd in Riddles and Parables, and therefore have not a Literal but Allegorical truth contained in them. Thus he. And so afterwards, according to the general opinion of the Jewish Masters, he tells us that after the Captivity, in the twilight of Prophesie,
Ezekiel began to speak altogether in Riddles and Parables; and so he himself complains to God,
Chap. 20. 49.
Ah Lord God, they say of me, Doth he not speak Parables?
The second degree which our forementioned Author makes of
Prophesie is, when the strength of the Imaginative and Rational powers equally ballance one another.
The third is, when the Rational power is most predominant; in which case (as we heard before) the Minde of the Prophet is able to strip those things that are represented to it in the glass of Phansie of all their materiality and sensible nature, and apprehend them more distinctly in their own naked Essence.
The last and Highest is the
gradus Mosaicus, in which all
Imagination ceaseth, & the Representation of Truth descends not so low as the Imaginative part, but is made in the highest stage of Reason and Understanding.
[Page 181] But we shall hereafter speak more fully concerning the several degrees of Prophetical Inspiration, and discourse more particularly of the
Ruach hakkodesh, the
highest degree of Prophesie or
gradus Mosaicus, and
Bath col or the
lowest degree of Prophesie.
Seeing then that generally all
Prophesie or Prophetical Enthusiasm lies in the joint-impressions and operations of both these forementioned faculties, the Jews were wont to understand that place
Numb. 12. 6, &c. as generally decyphering that
State or
Degree of
Prophesie by which God would discover himselfe to all those Prophets that ever should arise up amongst them, or ever had been, except
Moses and the
Messiah. And there are only these
In ist is duabus partibus,
Somnio &
Visione, continentur omnes Prophetiae gradus.
Maimon. in
More Nev. p. 2. c. 36. Two waies declared whereby God would reveal himself to every other Prophet, either in a
Vision or a
Dream; both which are perpetually attended with those
Visa and
Simulacra sensibilia as must needs be impressed upon Common sense or Fansie, whereby the Prophets seemed to have all their Senses waking and exercising their several functions, though indeed all was but
Scenicall or
Dramatical. According to this Twofold way of Divine inspiration, the
Chap. 2. 28. Prophet
Joel foretells the Nature of that
Prophetical Spirit that should be powred out in the latter times; and in
Jeremy 14. 14. we have the false prophets brought in as endeavouring apishly to imitate the true Prophets of God, in fortifying their Fansies by the power of Divination, that they might talk of
Dreams and
Visions when they came among the people.
Now for the Difference of these two, a
Dream and a
Vision, it seems rather to lie in Circumstantials then in any thing Essential; & therefore
Maim. part. 2. More Nev. cap. 45. tells us that in a
Dream a voice was frequently heard, which was not usual in a
Vision. But the representation
[Page 182] of Divine things by some Sensible images or some Narrative voice must needs be in both of them. But yet the Jews are wont to make a
Vision superiour to a
Dream, as representing things more to the life, which indeed seizeth upon the Prophet while he is awake, but it no sooner surpriseth him but that all his external senses are bound; and so it often declines into a
true Dream, as
Maimon. in the place forenam'd proves by the example of
Abraham, Gen. 15. 12. where the
Vision in which God had appeared to him (as it is related ver. 1.) passed into a
Sleep. And when the Sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham, and loe an horror of great darkness fell upon him. Which words seem to be nothing else but a description of that passage which he had by Sleep out of his
Vision into a
Dream.
Now these
Ecstatical impressions whereby the
Imagination and
Mind of the
Prophet was thus ravish'd from it self, and was made subject wholy to some
Agent intellect informing it and shining upon it, I suppose S.
Paul had respect to 1
Cor. 13.
Now we see
[...],
by a glass, in riddles or
parables; for so he seems to compare the Highest illuminations which we have here, with that constant Irradiation of the Divinity upon the Souls of men in the life to come: and this glassing of Divine things by Hieroglyphicks and Emblems in the Fansie which he speaks of, was the proper way of Prophetical inspiration.
For the further clearing of which I shall take notice of one passage more out of a Jewish writer, that is, R.
Bechai, concerning this present argument, which I find Com. in
Num. 12. 6.
[...],
Voluit Deus assimilare Prophetiam reliquorum Prophetarum homini speculum inspicienti, prout innuunt Rabbini nostri illo axiomate proverbiali, Nemo inspiciat
[Page 183] speculum Sabbato: illud speculum est vitreum, in quo reflectitur homini sua ipsius forma & imago per vim reflexivam speculi, cum revera nihil ejusmodi in speculo realiter existat. Talis erat Prophetia reliquorum Prophetarum, eo quòd contuebantur sacras & puras imagines & lumina superna, ex medio splendoris & puritatis istorum luminum realium, visae sunt illis similitudines, visae sunt illis tales formae quales sunt formae humanae. By which he seems to referre to those images of the living Creatures represented in a Prophetical vision to
Esay and
EZekiel; but generally intimates thus much to us, That the light and splendor of Prophetical illumination was not so triumphant over the Prophets fansie, but that he viewed his own Image, and saw like a man, and understood things after the manner of men in all these Prophetical visions.
CHAP. III.
How the Prophetical Dreams did differ from all other kinds of Dreams recorded in Scripture. This further illustrated out of several passages of
Philo Judaeus pertinent to this purpose.
WE have now taken a
General survey of the
Nature of Prophesie, which is alwaies attended (as we have shewed) with a
Vision or a
Dream, though indeed there is no
Dream properly without a
Vision. And here before we pass from hence, it will be necessarie to take notice of a man Distinction the Hebrew Doctors are wont to make of
Dreams, lest we mistake all those
Dreams w
ch we meet with in Scripture, & take them all
[Page 184] for
Prophetical, whereas many of them were not such. For though indeed they were all
[...] sent by God, yet many were sent as
Monitions and
Instructions, and had not the true force and vigor of
Prophetical Dreams in them; and so they are wont commonly to distinguish between
[...] and
[...]. There are
somnia vera▪ and
somnia Prophetica: and these
Maimonides in
More Nev▪ Par. 2. Cap. 41. hath thus generally characterized,
Quando dicitur, Deus venit ad N, in somnio noctis,
id Prophetia
minimè nuncupari potest, neque vir talis, Propheta,
&c. When it is said in Holy writ, That God came to such a man in a Dream of the night,
that cannot be called a Prophesie,
nor such a man a Prophet;
for the meaning is no more then this, That some Admonition or Instruction was given by God to such a man, and that it was in a Dream. Of this sort He and the rest of the Hebrew Writers hold those
Dreams to be which were sent to
Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Abimelech and
Laban; upon which two last our Author observes the great Caution of
Onkelos the Proselyte (who was instructed in the Jewish learning by R.
Eleazar and R.
Joshua, the most famous Doctors of that age) that in his Preface to those
Dreams of
Laban and
Abimelech he saies,
Et venit verbum à Domino: but doth not say (as when the Dreams were
Prophetical) Et revelavit se Dominus. Besides, a main reason for which they deny those
Dreams to be
Prophetical is, for that they that were made partakers of them were unsanctified men; whereas it is a tradition amongst them, that the Spirit of Prophesie was not communicated to any but good men.
But indeed the main difference between these two sorts of
Dreams seems to consist in this, That such as were not
Prophetical were much
weaker in their Energy
[Page 185] upon the Imagination then the Other were, in so much that they wanted the strength and force of a Divine evidence, so as to give a plenary assurance to the Mind of him who was the subject of them, of their Divine original; as we see in those
Dreams of
Solomon, 1 Kings 3. v. 5; 15. and ch. 9. 2. where it is said of him, when he awaked he said,
Behold it was a Dream; as if he had not been effectually confirmed from the Energy of the Dream it self that it was a true
Prophetical influx.
But there is yet another difference they are wont to make between them, which is, That these
somnia vera or
[...] ordinarily contained in them
[...], something that was
[...] or void of reality: as in that Dream of
Joseph concerning
the Sun, the Moon, and the eleven Stars bowing down to him; whereas his
Mother, which should there have been signified by the
Moon, was dead and buried before, and so uncapable of performing that respect to him which the other at last did. Upon occasion of which Dream the Gemarist. Doctors in
Berachoth c. 9. have framed this Axiom,
[...],
As there is no corn without straw, so neither is there any meer Dream without something that is
[...],
void of reality, & insignificant. Accordingly Rab.
Albo in
Maam. 3. c. 9. hath framed this distinction between them,
[...],
There is no meer Dream without something in it that is
[...],
but Prophesie is a thing wholy and most exactly true.
The general difference between
Prophetical Dreams and those that are meerly
Nouthetical or
Monitorie, and all else which we find recorded in Scripture,
Philo Jud. in his Tract
[...], and elsewhere, hath at large laid down. The proper character of those that
[Page 186] were
Prophetical he clearly insinuates to be that
Ecstatical rapture whereby in all Prophetical Dreams some more potent cause, acting upon the
Mind and
Imagination of the Prophets, snatch'd them from themselves, and so left more potent and evident impressions upon them.
I shall the more largely set down his Notion, because it tends to the clearing of this business in hand, and is, I think, much obscured, if not totally corrupted by his translator
Gelenius. His design is indeed to shew that
Moses taught these several waies whereby
Dreams are conveyed from Heaven, that so his sublime and recondite doctrine might be the better hid up therein; and therefore sailing between
Cabbalisme and
Platonisme he gropes after an Allegorical and Mystical meaning in them all. His first sort of
Divine Dreams he thus defines,
[...],
The first kind was when God himself did begin the motion in the Phansie, and secretly whispered such things as are unknown indeed to us, but perfectly known to himself. And of this sort he makes
Joseph's dreams, the sense whereof was unknown to
Joseph himself at first, and then runs out into an Allegorical exposition of them in the Book intituled
Joseph.
The second kind is this,
[...]
[...].
[...], &c.
When our Rational facultie being moved together with the Soul of the World, and filled with a divinely-inspired fury, doth predict those things that are to come. In which words by his
[...] he means the same thing with that which in a former Book about the same Argument he had called
[...]
the Mind of the Universe, which mingling its influence with our Minds begets these
[...] or previsions.
[Page 187] And this is nothing else but that which others of his tribe call
[...] or
Intellectus agens, which it seems he understood to be the same with
Anima Mundi or
Universal Soul, as it is described by the
Pythagoreans and
Platonists. Of this sort of
Dreams he makes those of
Jacob's Ladder and of
Laban's Sheep. And these kinds of Dreams,
viz. that wherein the
Intellectus agens doth simply act upon our Minds as patients to it, and that wherein our Minds do cooperate with the Universal Soul, and so understand the meaning of the influx, he thus compares together;
[...], &c. In which words it is to be observed that he calls the matter of the
first sort of Dreams
[...], which
Gelenius hath mistook whilst he translates it
Dei oraculis certis convenientia. With his leave therefore I should thus interpret that whole passage,
Quare Moses sacer Antistes indigitans illas phantasias quae oboriuntur secundùm primam speciem, eas perspicuè & admodum manifestè indicavit; (i. e. by adding an Explication of those
aenigmata of
Joseph's Sun, Moon, Stars and Sheaves, which he himself in his Dream understood not; which Explication is not made in the examples of the
second sort)
quippe Deus subjecit illas phantasias per somnia quae similes sunt veris Prophetiis, (i. e.
[...],
perfectae Prophetiae, sive
[...],
somniis Propheticis, uti loqui amant Magistri.) Secundi verò generis somnia nec planè dilucidè nec valde obscurè indigitavit; qualia erant Somnia de Scala coelesti, &c. Now these
Dreams of
Joseph though they contained matter of a like nature to
Prophetical inspiration,
[Page 188] yet were they indeed not such, and therefore are accounted of by all the Jewish writers only as
Somnia vera; and so our Author endeavours to prove very fitly to our purpose, though indeed upon a mistake which he took out of the Version of the
Though he was a Jew, yet was he trained up amongst the Greeks, and not well acquainted with the Hebrew language. Seventy,
Gen. 37. 7.
[...], &c.
Joseph said, [
Which word is not in the Hebrew. Me-thought
we were binding sheaves] That word [Me-thought]
is the language of one that is uncertain, dubious, and obscurely surmising; not of one that is firmly assured, and plainly sees things: indeed it very well befits those who are newly awaked out of a sound sleep, and have scarce ceased to dream, to say [Me-thought;]
not those who are fully awake, and behold all things clearly. But Jacob, who was more exercised in divine things, hath no such word as [Me-thought]
when he speaks of his Dream, but, saies he, Behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached up to heaven, &c. After the same manner almost doth
Maimonides in his
More Nev. distinguish between
Somnia vera & Prophetica, making
Jacobs Dreams (as all the Jewish writers doe) to be
Prophetical.
The third kind of
Dreams mentioned by
Philo is thus laid down by him,
[...], i. e.
The third kind is, when in sleep the Soul being moved of it self, and agitating it self, is in a kind of rapturous rage, and in a divine fury doth foretell future things by a prophetick facultie. And then, which is more to our purpose, he thus sets forth the nature of those fansies which discover
[Page 189] themselves in these kind of Dreams.
[...], i. e.
The phantasms which belong to the third kind are more plainly declared by Moses then the former; for they containing a very profound and dark meaning, they required to the explaining of them a knowledge of the Art of interpreting Dreams: as those Dreams of
Pharaoh and his Butler and Baker, and of
Nebuchadnezzar, who were only amazed and dazled with those strange Apparitions that were made to them, but not at all enlightned by them. These are of that kind which
Plato sometimes speaks of, that cannot be understood without a
Prophet; and therefore he would have some
Prophet or
Wise man alway set over this
[...]. Thus we have seen these Three sorts of
Dreams according to
Philo, the First and Last whereof the Jewish Doctors conjoin together, and constantly prefer the
Oneirocriticks of them to the Dreamers themselves: and therefore whereas they depress the notion of them considered in themselves below any Degree of
Prophesie, yet the Interpretation of them they attribute to the
[...] or
Holy Spirit; except there be an Interpretation of the Dream in the Dream it self, so as that the Mind of the Dreamer be fully satisfied both in the meaning and divinity thereof; for then it is truly
Prophetical. And thus much for this Particular.
CHAP. IV.
A large Account of the Difference between the true Prophetical Spirit and Enthusiastical impostures. That the Pseudo-Prophetical Spirit is seated only in the Imaginative Powers and Faculties inferior to Reason. That
Plato and other Wise men had a very low opinion of this Spirit, and of the Gift of Divination, and of Consulting the Oracles. That the True Prophetical Spirit seats it self as well in the Rational Powers as in the Sensitive, and that it never alienates the Mind, but informs and enlightens it. This further cleared by several Testimonies from Gentile and Christian Writers of old. An Account of those Fears and Consternations which often seized upon the Prophets. How the Prophets perceived when the Prophetical influx seized upon them. The different Evidence and Energy of the True and false Prophetical Spirit.
FRom what we have formerly discoursed concerning the
Stage of
Phansie and
Imagination upon which those
Visa presented themselves to the Mind of the Prophet, in which he beheld the real objects of Divine truth in which he was inspired by this means; it may be easily apprehended how easie a matter it might be for the
Devils Prophets many times, by an apish imitation, to counterfeit the
True Prophets of God, and how sometimes
Melancholy and turgent Phansies, fortified with a strong power of
Divination, might unfold themselves in a semblance of true Enthusiasms. For indeed herein the
Prophetical influx seems to agree
[Page 191] with a
mistaken Enthusiasm, that both of them make strong impressions upon the
Imaginative powers, and require the Imaginative facultie to be vigorous and potent: and therefore
Maimonides tells us that the gift of
Divination, which consisted in a mighty force of Imagination, was alwaies given to the Prophets, and that
This and
a Spirit of Fortitude were the main
Bases of
Prophesie; More Nev. part. 2. c. 38.
Duas istas facultates, Fortitudinis
scilicet & Divinationis,
in Prophetis fortissimas & vehementissmas esse necesse est, &c. i. e.
It is necessary that these two Faculties of Fortitude
and Divination
should be most strong and vehement in the Prophets: whereunto if at any time there was an accession of the influence of the Intellect, they were then beyond measure corroborated; in so much that (as it is well known) it hath come to this, that one man by a naked Staffe did prevail over a potent King, and most manfully delivered a whole Nation from bondage, viz. after it was said to him Exod. 3. 12. I will be with thee.
And though there be different Degrees of these in men, yet none can be altogether without that Fortitude
and Magnanimitie.
So it was said to Jeremy Chap. 17. 18. Be not dismaied at their faces, &c. Behold I have made thee this day a defenced City;
and so to Ezek. Ch. 2. 6. Be not afraid of them nor their words:
and generally in all the Prophets we shall find a great Fortitude and Magnanimity of Spirit. But by the excellency of the gift of Divining they could on a sudden and in a moment foretell future things; in which Facultie notwithstanding there was great diversitie. Thus he.
It will not be therefore any great Digression here, awhile
to examine the Nature of this False light which pretends to Prophesie, but is not; as being seated only in the
Imaginative power, from whence the first occasion
[Page 192] of this delusion ariseth, seeing that Power is also the Seat of all Prophetical vision. For this purpose it will not be amiss to premise that Threefold degree of
Cognitive influence pointed out by
Maimonides, part. 2. cap. 37.
More Nev. The first is wholly Intellectual, descending
only into the
Rational facultie, by which that is extreamly fortified and strengthened in the distinct apprehension of Metaphysicall Truths, from whence, as he tells us, ariseth the Sect of
Philosophers, and
Contemplative persons. The second is
jointly into the
Rational and
Imaginative facultie together, and from thence springs the Sect of
Prophets. The third into the
Imaginative only, from whence proceeds the Sect of
Polititians, Lawyers and
Law-givers (whose Conceptions only run in a secular channel,) as also the Sect of
Diviners, Inchanters, Dreamers and
Soothsayers.
We shall coppy out of him a Character of some of this Third sort, the rather because it so graphically delineates to us many
Enthusiastical Impostors of our Age. His words are these,
Hic verò monendus es, ex tertio genere esse quasdam, quibus Phantasiae, Somnia & Ecstases, quales in Prophetiae Visione esse solent, ita mirabiles obveniunt, ut planè sibi persuadeant se Prophetas esse, &c. i. e.
But here I must advertise thee, that there are some of this Third sort who have sometimes such strange Phansies, Dreams and Ecstasies, that they take themselves for Prophets, and much marvel that they have such Phansies and Imaginations; conceiting at last that all Sciences and Faculties are without any pains or study infused into them. And hence it is that they fall into great confusions in many Theoretical matters of no small moment, and do so mix true notions with such as are meerly seeming, and imaginary, as if
[Page 193] Heaven and Earth were jumbled together. All which proceeds from the too-great force of the Imaginative faculty and the imbecillity of the Rational, whence it is that nothing in it can pass forth into act. Thus he. This delusion then in his sense of those
[...] which pretend to
Revelations, ariseth from hence, that all this forrain force that is upon them serves only to vigorate & impregnate their Phansies and Imaginations, but does not inform their Reasons, nor elevate them to a true understanding of things in their coherence and contexture; and therefore they can so easily imbrace things absurd to all true and sober Reason: Whereas the
Prophetical Spirit acting
principally upon the
Reason and
Understanding of the Prophets, guided them consistently and intelligibly into the understanding of things. But this
Pseudo-prophetical Spirit being not able to rise up above this low and dark Region of Sense or Matter, or to soar aloft into a clear Heaven of Vision, endeavoured alway as much as might be to strengthen it self in the
Imaginative part: and therefore the Wizzards and false prophets of old and later times have been wont alway to heighten their Phansies and Imaginations by all means possible; which
R. Albo insinuates
Maam. 3. cap. 10.
[...].
There are some men whose Imaginative faculty is strong, either by Nature, or by some Artifice which they use to fortifie this Imaginative facultie with; and for such purpose are the artifices which Witches and such as have familiar Spirits do use, by the help whereof the similitudes of things are more easily excited in the Imagination. Accordingly
Wierus Lib. 3. Cap. 17.
de Praestigiis Daemonum (who was a man (as some think) too well acquainted with these mysteries, though he himself seems to defie them)
[Page 194] speaks to the same purpose concerning Witches, how that, so they may have more pregnant Phansies, they anoint themselves, and diet themselves with some such food as they understand from the Devil is very fit for that purpose. And for further proof hereof he there quotes
Baptista Porta, Lib. 2. and
Cardan de Subtil. Cap. 18. But we shall not over-curiously any further pry into these Arts.
This kind of
Divination resting meerly in the
Imaginative faculty seemed so exactly to imitate the
Prophetical Energy in this part of it, that indeed it hath been by
weaker minds mistaken for it, though the
Wiser sort of the
Heathens have happily found out the
lameness and
delusiveness of it. We have it excellently set forth by
Plato in his
Timaeus, where speaking of God's liberality in constituting of Man, he thus speaks of this
Divination,
[...], &c. i. e.
As for our worser part, that it might in some sort partake of Truth, God hath seated in it the power of Divining: and it is a sufficient signe that God has indulged this faculty of Divining to the foolishness of men; for there is no sober man that is touch'd with this Power of Divination, unless in Sleep, when his Reason is bound, or when by Sickness or Enthusiasm he suffers some alienation of Mind. But it is then for the Wise and Sober to understand what is spoken or represented in this Fatidical passion. And so it seems
Plato, who was no careless observer of these matters, could no where find this
Divining spirit in his time, except it were joined some way or other
cum mentis alienatione; and therefore he looks upon it as that which is
inferior to Wisdome, and to be regulated by it: for so he further declares his
[Page 195] mind to the same purpose,
[...], &c. that is,
Wherefore it is a law that Prophets should be set as it were Judges over these Enthusiastick Divinations, which Prophets some ignorantly and falsly call Diviners. For indeed
these Prophets in his sense to whom he gives the preeminence, are none else but
Wise and prudent men, who by reason of the sagacitie of their Understandings were able to judge of those things which were uttered by this dull Spirit of
Divination, which resided only in Faculties inferior to Reason. So in his
Charmides,
[...], &c. i. e.
But, if you will, we will grant the Gift of Divination to be a knowledge of what is to come: but withall that it is fit that Wisdome and Sobrietie should be Judge and Interpreter. But further, that his age was acquainted with no other
Divinations then that which ariseth from a
troubled Phansie, and is conceived in a dark
Melancholy imagination, he confirms to us in his
Phaedrus, where he rightly gives us the true
Etymon of this
[...], that it was called so
[...],
from rage and furie, and therefore saies it was antiently called
[...]. However he grants that it happened to many
[...] by Divine allotment; yet it was most vulgarly incident to Sick and Melancholy men, who oftentimes by the power thereof were able to presage by what Medicines their own distempers might be best cured, as if it were nothing else but a discerning of that sympathizing & symbolizing complexion of their own Bodies with some other Bodies without them. And elsewhere he tells us that these
[...] never, or verie rarely, understood the meaning and nature of their own
Visa.
[Page 196] And therefore indeed the
Platonists generally seem'd to reject or very much to slight all this kind of Revelation, and to acknowledge nothing transcendent to the naked Reason and Understanding of Man. So
Maximus Tyrius in Dissert. 3.
[...],
It's a bold assertion, yet I shall not doubt to say, that God's Oracles and Men's Understandings are of a near alliance. And so according to
Porphyrius, lib. 2. §. 52.
[...], a Good man is
[...], one that needs not soothsaying, being familiarly and intimately acquainted with God himself.
Likewise the
Stoicks will scarce allow their
Wise man at any time to
consult an Oracle, as we may learn from
Arrian, l. 2. c. 7. and
Epictetus, c. 39. and
Simplicius his Comment thereupon: where that great Philosopher making a scrupulous search what those things were which it might be fit to consult the
Oracle about, at last brings them into so narrow a compass, that a Wise man should never find occasion to honour the
Oracle with his presence. A famous instance whereof we have in
Lucan lib. 9. where
Cato being advised to consult
Jupiter Hammon his Oracle after
Pompey's death, answers,
Estnè Dei sedes nisi Terra & Pontus & Aer
Et Coelum & Virtus? Superos quid quaerimus ultra?
Jupiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque moveris.
Sortilegis egeant dubii sempérque futuris
Casibus ancipites; me non Oracula certum,
Sed mors certa facit—
But enough of this Particular; and I hope by this time I have sufficiently unfolded the true
Seat of
Prophesie, and shewed the right
Stage thereof: as also how lame and delusive the Spirit of
Divination was, which endeavoured to imitate it.
[Page 197] Now from what hath been said ariseth one main Characteristical distinction between the
Prophetical and
Pseudo-prophetical spirit, viz. That the
Prophetical spirit doth never alienate the Mind, (seeing it seats it self as well in the
Rational powers as in the
Sensitive,) but alwaies maintains a consistency and clearness of Reason, strength and soliditie of Judgment, where it comes; it doth not
ravish the Mind, but
inform and
enlighten it: But the
Pseudo-prophetical spirit, if indeed without any kind of dissimulation it enters into any one, because it can rise no higher then the Middle region of Man, which is his
Phansy, it there dwells as in storms and tempests, and being
[...] in it self, is also conjoined with alienations and abreptions of mind. For whensoever the Phantasms come to be disordered and to be presented tumultuously to the Soul, as it is either in a
[...]
Furie, or in
Melancholy, (both which Kinds of
alienation are commonly observed by Physicians) or else by the Energy of this Spirit of Divination, the Mind can pass no true Judgment upon them; but its light and influence becomes eclipsed. But of this
alienation we have already discoursed out of
Plato and others. And thus the
Pythian Prophetess is described by the Scholiast upon
Aristophanes his
Plutus, and by
Lucan, lib. 5. as being filled with inward furie, while she was inspired by the Fatidical spirit, and uttering her Oracles in a strange disguise with many Antick gestures, her hair torn, and foaming at her Mouth. As also
Cassandra is brought in prophesying in the like manner by
Lycophron. So the
Sibyll was noted by
Heraclitus
[...],
as one speaking ridiculous and unseemly speeches with her furious mouth. And
Ammianus Marcellinus in the beginning of his 21
th book hath told us
[Page 198] an old Observation concerning the
Sibylls, Sibyllae crebro se dicunt ardere, torrente vi magnâ flammarum.
This was cautelously observed by the Primitive Fathers, who hereby detected the Impostures of the
Montanists that pretended much to
Prophesie, but indeed were acquainted with nothing more of it then
Ecstasies or abreptions of mind: For that is it which they mean by
Ecstasies. I shall first mention that of
Strom. 1.
Clem. Alexandr.
[...], that is,
The false prophets mingled Truth sometimes with Falshood: and indeed when they were in an Ecstasie, they prophesied, as being servants to that grand Apostate the Devil. Eusebius mentions in
Histor. Eccles. lib. 5. c. 17. a Discourse of
Miltiades to this purpose,
[...].
Tertullian, who was a great Friend to
Montanus and his prophetical Sisters
Maximilla and
Priscilla, speaking of them endeavours to alleviate this business: and though he grants they were
Ecstatical in their Prophesies, that is, only transported by the power of a Spirit more potent then their own, as he would seem to implie; yet he denies that they used to fall into any rage or fury, which he saies is the Character of every false Prophet; and so
Montanus excused himself. But yet for all this, they could not avoid the lash of
Jerome, who thought he saw through this
Ecstasie, and that indeed it was a true alienation, seeing they understood not what they spoke.
Neque verò (ut Montanus cum insanis foeminis somniat) Prophetae in Ecstasi locuti sunt, ut nescirent quid loquerentur; & cùm alios erudirent, ipsi ignorarent quid dicerent, The Prophets did not (as Montanus together with some mad women dreams) speak in Ecstasies, nor did they speak they
[Page 199] knew not what; nor were they, when they went about to instruct others, ignorant of what they said themselves. So he in his Preface to
Esay. This also he otherwhere brands the
Montanists withall; as in his
Praoemium to
Nahum, Non loquitur Propheta
[...],
ut Montanus & Prisca Maximilláque delirant; sed quod prophetat, liber est intelligentis quae loquitur. And in his Preface to
Habakuk,—Prophetae visio est, & adversum Montani dogma perversum intelligit quod videt, nec ut amens loquitur, nec in morem insanientium foeminarum dat sine mente sonum. I shall add but one Author more, and that is
Chrysostome, who hath very fully and excellently laid down this difference between the
true and
false Prophets,
Hom. 29. on the first Epistle to the
Corinthians.
[...],
It's the propertie of a Diviner to be Ecstaticall, to undergoe some violence, to be tossed and hurried about like a mad man:
[...],
But it's otherwise with a Prophet, whose understanding is awake, and his mind in a sober and orderly temper, and he knows every thing that he saith.
But here we must not mistake the business, as if there were nothing but the most absolute
Clearness and
Serenitie of thoughts lodging in the Soul of the
Prophet amidst all his
Visions: And therefore we shall further take notice of that Observation of the Jews, which is vulgarly known by all acquainted with their Writings, which is concerning those
Panick fears, Consternations and
Affrightments and
Tremblings, which frequently seized upon them together with the Prophetical influx. And indeed by how much
stronger and
more vehement those Impressions were which were
[Page 200] made by those unwonted
Visa which came in to act upon their
Imaginative facultie, by so much the greater was this
Perturbation and
Trouble: and by how much the more the Prophets Imagination was exercised by the laboriousness of these Phantasms, the more were his natural strength and Spirits exhausted, as indeed it must needs be. Therefore
Daniel being wearied with the
toilsome work of his
Phansie about those
Visions that were presented to him, Chap. 10. 8. &c. complains that
there was no strength left in him; that
his comeliness was turned into corruption, and he retained no strength; that
when he heard the voice, he was in a deep sleep, and his face toward the ground; that
his sorrows were turned upon him, and no breath was left in him. So Gen. 15. 12. when the
Vision presented to
Abraham passed into a
Prophetical Dream, it is said,
a deep sleep fell upon Abraham, and a horror of great darkness fell upon him. Upon which passage
Maimonides, in the 2
d Part, & 41. Ch. of his
More Nevochim, thus discourseth;
Quandoque autem Prophetia incipit in Visione Prophetica, & postea multiplicatur terror & passio illa vehemens, quae sequitur perfectionem operationum facultatis Imaginatricis, & tum demum venit Prophetia, sicuti contigit Abrahamo. In principio enim Prophetiae illius dicitur, (Gen. 15. 1.) Et fuit verbum Domini ad Abrahamum in Visione;
et in fine ejusdem (vers. 12.) Et sopor irruit in Abrahamum, &c. And in like manner he speaks of those
Fatigations that
Daniel complains of,
Est autem terror quidam Panicus qui occupat Prophetam inter vigilandum, ficut ex Daniele patet, quando ait, Et vidi Visionem magnam hanc, neque remansit in me ulla fortitudo, & vis mea mutata est in corruptionem, nec retinui fortitudinem ullam. Et fui lethargo oppressus super faciem meam; & facies mea ad terram. And
[Page 201] thus this whole business is excellently decyphered unto us by
R. Albo in his Third book and tenth chapter,
[...],
Behold, by reason of the strength of the Imaginative facultie and the precedencie of the Influence upon that to the influence upon the Rational, the Influx doth not remain upon the Prophet without Terrour and Consternation; insomuch that his members shake and his joints are loosned, and he seems like one that is readie to give up the ghost by reason of his great astonishment: After all which perturbation the Prophetical influx settles it self upon the Rational Facultie.
From this Notion perhaps we may borrow some light for the clearing of
Jeremie 23. 9. Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets, all my bones shake: I am like a drunken man (and like a man whom Wine hath overcome) because of the Lord, and because of the words of his Holiness. The importance of which words is, That the Energy of Prophetical vision wrought thus potently upon his Animal part. Though I know
R. Solomon seems to look at another meaning: But
Abarbanel is here full for our present purpose,
[...],
When Jeremy saw those false prophets eating and drinking and faring deliciouslie, he cried out and said, My heart is broken within me because of the Prophets;
For while I behold their works, my heart is rent asunder with the extremity of my Sorrow, and because of the Prophetical influx residing upon me, my bones are all rotten, and I am like a drunken man
that neither sees nor hears. And all this hath befell me because of the Lord,
that is, because of the divine influx that seized upon me, and because of the words of his Holinesse,
which have
[Page 202] wrought such a conturbation within me, that all my senses are stupified thereby. And thus I suppose is also that passage in
Ezechiel 3. 14. to be expounded, where the Prophet describes the Energie and dominion which the Prophetical spirit had over him, when in a Prophetical Vision he was carried by way of Imagination a tedious journey to those of the Captivitie that dwelt by the river
Chebar. The Spirit of the Lord lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, and in the heat (or hot chafing and anger)
of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. So
Habak. 3. 2. O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was affraid; that is, the Prophetical voice heard by him, and represented in his Imagination, was so strong that it struck a Panick fear (as
Maimon. expresseth it)
into him. And it may be the same thing is meant
Esay 21. 3. where the Prophet describes that inward conturbation and consternation that his Vision of
Babylon's ruine was accompanied withall.
Therefore are my loins fill'd with pain, pangs have taken hold upon me as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it, I was dismaied at the seeing of it. Though I know there may be another meaning of that place not improper, viz. that the Prophet personates
Babylon in the horrour of that anguish that should come upon them, whereby he sets it forth the more to the Life, as
Jonathan the Targumist and others would have it; though yet I cannot think this the most congruous meaning.
But I have now done with this Particular, and I hope by this time have gain'd a fair advantage of solving one Difficultie, which though it be not so much observ'd by our own as it is by the Jewish writers, yet it is worth our scanning, viz. How the Prophets perceived
[Page 203] when the Prophetical inspiration first seized upon them. For (as we have before shewed) there may be such
Dreams and
Visions which are meerly
delusive, and such as the false prophets were often partakers of; and besides the true Prophets might have often such Dreams as were meerly
vera somnia, True dreams, but not Prophetical.
For the full Solution of this knot we have before shewed how this
Pseudo-prophetical Spirit only flutters below upon the more terrene parts of mans Soul, his
Passions and
Phansie. The Prince of darkness comes not within the Sphere of Light and Reason to order affairs there, but that is left to the sole Oeconomy and Soveraignty of the Father of Lights. There is a clear and bright heaven in mans Soul, in which
Lucifer himself cannot subsist, but is tumbled down from thence as often as he assayes to climbe up into it.
But to come more pressely to the business; The Hebrew Masters here tell us that in the beginning of Prophetical inspiration the Prophets use to have some
Apparition or
Image of a
Man or
Angel presenting itself to their
Imagination. Sometimes it began with a
Voice, and that either
strong and
vehement, or else
soft and
familiar. And so God is said first of all to appear to
Samuel, 1 Sam. 3. 7. who is said
not yet to have known the Lord, that is, as
Maimon. in Part. 2. c. 44. of his
More Nevochim expounds it,
Ignoravit adhuc tunc temporis Deum hoc modo cum Prophet is loqui solere, & quod hoc mysterium nondū fuit ei revelatum. In the same manner
R. Albo, Maam. 3. cap. 11. For otherwise we must not think that
Samuel was then ignorant of the true God, but that he knew not the manner of that Voice by which the Prophetical spirit was wont to awaken the attention of the Prophets.
[Page 204] And that this was the antient opinion of the Jews
R. Solomon tells us out of the
Massecheth Tamid, where the Doctors thus gloss upon this place,
[...], i. e.
as yet he knew not the Lord, that is,
he knew not the manner of the Prophetical voice. This is that
soft and
gentle voice whereby the Sense of the Prophet is sometimes attempted, but sometimes this
Voice is
more vehement. It will not be amiss to hear
Maimonides his words, Part. 2. c. 44. of his
More Nev. Nonnunquam fit ut Verbum illud quod Propheta audit in Visione Prophetiae, ei videatur fieri voce robustissimâ, &c. i. e.
It sometims happens that the Word which the Prophet hears in a Prophetical Vision, seems to strike him with a more vehement noise; and accordingly some dream that they hear Thunder and Earthquake or some great Clashing; and sometimes again with an ordinarie and familiar noise, as if it was close by him. We have a famous Instance of the last in that Voice whereby God appeared unto
Adam after he had sinned, and of the former in
Job and
Elijah. That instance of
Adam is set down Gen. 3. 8, 9.
And they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the Garden in the coole of the day, and Adam hid himself from the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden: and the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? Where those words
[...], which we render
the coole of the day, the Jews expound of
a gentle vocal air, such an one as breathed in the day-time more pacately. For this appearance of God to him they suppose to be in a
Prophetical Vision; and so
Nachmanides comments upon those words,
[...]
The sense of this [
[...] in the gale of the day]
is, that ordinarily in the manifestation of the Shechina
or
[Page 205] divine presence, there comes a great and mighty wind to usher it in, according to what we read of Elijah, 1 Kings 19. 11. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the Mountains, and brake in pieces the Rocks before the Lord:
and in Psalme 18.
and elsewhere, He flew upon the wings of the wind:
Accordingly it is written concerning Job, c. 38. v. 1.
that the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind.
Wherefore by way of distinction it is said in this place, that they heard the voice of the Lord,
that is, that the Divine Majestie was revealed to them in the garden, as approaching to them, in the gale of the day.
For the wind of the day blew according to the manner of the day-time in the garden; not as a great and strong wind in this Vision (as it was in other Prophetical approaches) lest they should fear and be dismaied. This
mightie voice we also find recorded as rowzing up the attention of
Ezechiel, chap. 9. 1.
He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, &c. So that all these
Schemes are meerly
Prophetical, and import nothing else but the strong awakening and quickning of the Prophets mind into a lively sense of the Divine majesty appearing to him.
And of these the
Apocalypse is full, there being indeed no Prophetical writ, where the whole
Dramatical series of things, as they were acted over in the Mind of the Prophet, are more graphicallie and to the Life set forth. So we have this
Vox praecentrix to the whole Scene sometimes sounding like a Trumpet, Rev. 1. 10.
I was in the Spirit on the Lords day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. And chap. 4. upon the beginning of a new Vision we find this Prologue,
I looked, and behold a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were the
[Page 206] sound of a Trumpet, talking with me, which said, Come up hither, &c. And when a new Act of opening
the Seals begins, chap. 6. 1. he is excited by another voice sounding like Thunder.
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the Seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four Beasts saying, Come and see. And chap. 8. ver. 5.
voices and thunders and lightnings and an earthquake are the
Prooemium to the Vision of the Seven Angels with seven trumpets. Lastly, to name no more, sometimes it is brought in sounding like the roaring of a Lion. So when he was to receive
the little Book of Prophesie chap. 10. 3.
An Angel cryed with a loud voice, as when a Lion roareth; and when he had cryed, seven thunders uttered their voices. Hence it is that we find the Prophets ordinarily prefacing to their Visions in this manner,
The hand of the Lord was upon me; that is indeed some potent force rouzing them up to a lively sense of the Divine majesty, or some heavenly Embassador speaking with them. And that the sense hereof might be the more Energetical, sometimes in a Prophetical Vision they are commanded to eat those Prophetick rolls given them, which are described with the greatest contrarietie of tast that may be,
sweet as hony in their mouths, and in their bellies as bitter as gall, Rev. 10. 9. Ezek. 2. 8.
Thus we have seen in part how those Impressions, by which the Prophets were made partakers of Divine inspiration, carried a strong evidence of their Original along with them, whereby they might be able to distinguish them both from any
hallucination, as also from their own
True dreams, which might be
[...]
sent by God, but not
Propheticall: which yet I think is more universally unfolded
Jeremie 23. where the difference between true Divine inspiration and such false Dreams
[Page 207] and Visions as sometimes a lying Spirit breathed into the false prophets is on set purpose described to us from their
different Evidence and
Energy. The
Pseudo-prophetical spirit being but
Ver. 28.
chaff▪ as vain as vanity it self, subject to every wind:
the matter it self indeed which was suggested in such tending to nourish immorality and prophaneness; and besides for
the manner of inspiration, it was
more dilute and
languid. Whereas
true Prophesie entred upon the Mind
as a
Ver. 29.
fire, and
like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces: and therefore the true Prophets might know themselves to have received command from heaven, when the false might, if they would have laid aside their own fond self-conceit, have known as easilie that God sent them not. For so I think those words are spoken by way of conviction, and to provoke a self-condemnation, verse 32.
Behold I am against those that prophesie false dreams, saith the Lord, and doe tell them, and cause my people to erre by their lies and by their lightness, yet I sent them not, neither commanded them. And this might be evident to them from
the feeble nature of those
Inspirations which they boasted of, as it is insinuated verse 28, 29.
The prophet that hath a dream, &c. And thus
Abarbanel expounds this place, whose sense I shall a little the more pursue, because he from hence undertakes to solve the difficultie of that Question which we are now upon, and thus speaks of it as a Question of verie great moment.
[...] i. e.
Certainly it is one of the profoundest questions that are made concerning Prophesie, and I have enquired after the opinion of the wise men of our Nation about it. What answer they gave to this Question which he anxiously enquired after, it seems he tells us not, but his own answer which he adheres to he founds upon those
[Page 208] words, verse 28.
[...],
What is the chaffe to the wheat? And upon this occasion he saies that old Rule of the Jews was framed which we formerly spoke of,
As there is no Wheat without chaffe, so neither is there any Dream without something that is
[...],
void of reality and insignificant. Maimonides here in a general way resolves the business,
[...], i. e.
All Prophesie makes it self known to the Prophet that it is Prophesie indeed. Which general solution
Abarbanel having a little examined, thus collects the sense of it,
[...], i. e.
A Prophet when he is asleep may distinguish between a Prophetical Dream and that which is not such, by the vigour and liveliness of the perception whereby he apprehends the thing propounded, or else by the imbecillitie and weakness thereof. And therefore Maimon.
hath said well, All Prophesie makes it self known to the Prophet that it is Prophesie indeed,
that is, it makes it self known to the Prophet by the strength and vigour of the perception, so that his Mind is freed from all scruple whatsoever about it. And this he concludes to be the true meaning of
Jer. 23. 29. Is not my word like a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? which he thus glosses upon,
[...],
Such a thing is the Prophetical Spirit, by reason of the strength of its impression and the forcibleness of its operation upon the heart of the Prophet; it is even like a thing that burns and tears him: and this happens to him either amidst the Dream it self, or afterwards when he is fully awaken and roused out of that Prophetical dream. But those Dreams which are not Prophetical, although they be True, are weak and languid
[Page 209] things, easily blasted as it were with the East wind: And, as he further goes on by way of allusion, like those Dreams that the Prophet
Esay speaks of,
when a hungrie man dreams he eats, but when he awakes, behold he is still hungrie; and as when a thirstie man dreams he drinks, but when he is awake he is still thirstie. And thus also the
Chaldee Paraphrast
Jeremy 23. 29.
[...],
Nonne omnia verba mea sunt fortia sicut ignis, &c. But we have yet another evident demonstration of this Notion which may not be omitted, which is
Jer. 20. 9. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his Name: But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up within my bones, and I was wearie with forbearing, and I could not stay. And verse 11.
The Lord is with me as a mightie terrible one. With reference to which Paragraph,
R. Solomon thus glosseth on the formerly-quoted Chap. 23. 29.
[...],
The word of Prophesie when it enters into the Mouth of the Prophet in its strength, it comes upon him like a fire that burneth, according to what is said [in Jer. 20. 9.] And it was in my heart as a burning fire; [and in Ezek. 3. 14.] And the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.
I have now done with the
main Characteristical Nature of Prophesie, and given those
[...] of it which most properly belong to
True Prophesie; though yet the other Two degrees of Divine influx (of which hereafter) may also have their share in them.
CHAP. V.
An Enquiry concerning
the Immediate Efficient that represented the Prophetical Visions to the Phansie of the Prophet. That these Representations were made in the Prophet's Phansie by some Angel. This cleared by several passages out of the Jewish Monuments, and by Testimonies of Scripture.
BEfore I conclude this present Discourse concerning
Prophesie properly so called, I think it may be usefull to treat a little of Two things more that most commonly are to be considered in this
Degree of Divine Inspiration, which we call
Prophesie.
The First whereof is to enquire
what that Intellectus
1. agens
was, or, if you will, that Immediate Efficient that represented the Prophetical Visions to the Phansie of the Prophet.
Secondly,
What the meaning of those Actions is that
2.
are frequently attributed to the Prophets, whether they were Real, or only Imaginary and Scenical.
I shall begin with the First, and enquire
By whom these Representations were made in the Prophet's Imagination, or who ordered the Prophetical scene, and brought up all those Idolums
that therein appeared upon the Stage. For though there be no question but that it was God himself by whom the whole Frame of Prophesie was disposed and originally dispensed, seeing the scope thereof was to reveal his Mind and Will; yet the
Immediate Efficient seems not to be God himself, as perhaps
[Page 211] some may think, but indeed an
Angel: And so the generalitie of all the Jewish Writers determin.
Maimon. his sense is full for this purpose, both in his
De Fundament is Legis and his
More Nevochim. And perhaps he hath too universally determined that every Apparition of Angels imports presentlie some Prophetical dispensation: which hath made some of his Country-men by an
[...] to fall too much off from him into a contrarie assertion. His words are these,
More Nev. Part. 2. c. 41.
Scito quòd omnium eorum Prophetarum qui Prophetiam sibi factam esse dicunt, quidam eam Angelo alicui, quidam verò Deo Opt. Max▪ ascribant & attribuant, licèt per Angeli ministerium quoque ipsis obtigerit: de quo Sapientes nostri nos erudierunt quando aiunt, Et dixit Dominus ad eam
(scilicet
[...], h. e.
per manus Angeli) Gen. 25. 23. For so it seems the Masters expounded this place (where God reveals to
Rebekah her future conception and progenie) of a Propheticall apparition by some Angel; though yet all agree not in it. But it may be worth our while to hear out
Maimon. who pleads the authoritie of all Jewish antiquitie for this opinion that we have now laid down.
Insuper, de quocunque scriptum occurrit, quòd Angelus cum eo locutus, aut quod aliquid ipsi à Deo revelatum sit, id nullo alio modo quàm in Somnio aut Visione Prophetica factum esse noveris, &c.
Moreover, of whomsoever you read that an Angel spoke with him, or that something was revealed to him by God, you are to understand that it was performed no other way then by a Dream or a Prophetical Vision. Our Wise men have a discourse about the Word that came to the Prophets, according to what the Prophets themselves have declared (that is, concerning the several waies
(as Buxtorf
expounds it) by which the Prophets say
[Page 212] the Word of God came to them.) Now
this was (say they) four waies. The first is, when the Prophet declares he received the word from an Angel in a Dream or in a Vision. Secondly, when he only mentions the words of the Angel, without declaring that they came to him in a Dream or in a Vision; relying upon this known Fundamental, viz.
That there is no Prophesie revealed but by one of these two waies, whereof God makes mention, saying, I will make my self known in a Vision, and speak to him in a Dream.
Thirdly, when he makes no mention of the Angel, but ascribes all to God, as if he alone had conveyed it; yet with this addition, that it came in a Vision or in a Dream. Fourthly, when the Prophet saies absolutelie, that God speak with him, or said unto him, Doe this,
or, Speak this,
making no mention at all either of Angel, or Vision, or Dream; and that because of this known Principle and Fundamental truth, That there is no Prophesie but either in a Dream or Vision, or by the ministrie of an Angel. Thus
Maimonides, who, as we see, pretends this to be a known thing and generallie agreed upon by all Jewish antiquitie.
But before we goe on to any Confirmation of it, it will be requisite a little to see what
Nachmanides, his great adversarie in this business, alledgeth against him, which I find in his Comment upon
Genesis 18. which Chap.
Maimonides makes to relate nothing else but a Prophetical apparition of three Angels to
Abraham which promised a Son: they are said to eat and drink with him, and two of them to depart from him to
Sodom, to be there entertained by
Lot, whom they rescued from the violence of his neighbour-Citizens, and led him the next day out of the Citie, before they brought down fire and brimstone from heaven upon it.
[Page 213] All which passages seem to make it evident that this Apparition of Angels was Real and Historical, and not meerly Prophetical and Imaginarie. Wherefore
Nachmanides having got this unhappy advantage of his adversarie, pursues this mistake of his with another of his own as gross in an opposite way. His words are these,
[...]
He that beholds an Angel, or hath any conference with one, is not a Prophet: For the business is not so as Maimonides
hath determined it, namely, That everie Prophet receives his Prophesie by the ministrie of an Angel, our Master Moses
only excepted: for our Rabbins have told us concerning Daniel
and his companions, that they were upon this account more excellent then he, because they were Prophets, and he none. And therefore his Book is not reckoned amongst the Prophets, because he had to doe with the Angel Gabriel,
although he both beheld him, and had conference with him when he was awake. Thus we see
Nachman. as clearly expungeth all those out of his Catalogue of the
Prophets to whom any Apparition of Angels was made, as
Maimon. had put them in: and pretends for this the Authoritie of the
Talmudists; who for this cause exclude
Daniel from the number of the
Prophets, and, as he would have us believe, reckoned his Book among the
Hagiographa, because of his converse with the Angel
Gabriel: But all this is
gratis dictum, and scarce
bonâ fide; for it is manifest that all Antiquitie reckoned upon
Zacharie as a
Prophet, notwithstanding all his Visions are perpetually represented by
Angels.
But we shall a little examine that sentence of the
Talmudists which
Nachman. founds his Opinion upon, which I find set down
Massecheth Megillah, cap. 1. in the
Gemara, where the Masters gloss on that
Dan. 10. 7.
[Page 214]
And I Daniel alone saw the Vision: for the men that were with me saw not the Vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Here they enquire who those Companions of
Daniel were, and then pass their Verdict upon him and them.
[...],
What are those men that were with Daniel?
R. Jeremie said, They were Haggai, Zacharie
and Malachie.
They excelled Daniel,
and he also excelled them. Herein they excelled him, because they were Prophets, and he none; and in this he excelled them, that he beheld a Vision, and they none. Thus those Masters; who indeed denie
Daniel to be a
Prophet, and accordingly his Book was by them reckoned among the
Hagiographa, yet they here give no reason at all for it. But whereas
Nachman, saies that the
Visions of Angels which
Daniel conversed with were
Real, and not
Imaginarie or
Prophetical, it is a manifest Elusion, and contrarie to the express words of the Text, which relates these Apparitions to have been
in his sleep, Chap. 10. verse 9.
And when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep upon my face, and my face towards the ground. And Chap. 8. 18.
Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep. This
sleep was upon the
Verse 15.
Exit of his Vision: For so (as we have shewed before) there was a frequent
[...] from a
Vision which begun upon the Prophets while they were awake into a Prophetical
Dream. So Chap. 7. verse 1.
In the first year of Belshazzar King of Babylon, Daniel had a Dream, and Visions of his head upon his bed; and in this Dream and night-Vision, as in the other before mentioned, a Man or Angel comes in to expound the matter, verse 15, 16.
I Daniel was grieved in my Spirit in the midst of my body, and the Visions of my head troubled me.
[Page 215] I came near to one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this: so he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.
But that the
Talmudists do maintain
True Prophesie to have been communicated by
Angels, we shall further confirm from one place which is in
Gemara Beracoth cap. 9. where the Doctors are brought in comparing Two places of Scripture, which seem contradictory. One of them is Numb. 12. 6.
In a Dream will I speak unto him; the other is Zech. 10. 2.
They have told false dreams: which they solve thus.
R. Rami said, It is written,
[...]. I will speak to him in a dream,
and again, They have told false dreams.
Now there is no difficultie at all in this: For the first sort of Dreams came
[...]
by the hand of an Angel; and the other
[...]
by an evil Genius. And this Opinion is generally followed by the rest of the Jewish writers, Commentators and others, who thus compound the difference between those two famous adversaries
Nachman. and
Maimon. by granting a twofold appearance of Angels, the one
Real, and the other
Imanarie. And so they say this
Real vision of Angels is a Degree inferior to the Prophetical vision of them. As we are told by
R. Jehudah in the Book
Cosri; where having disputed,
Maam. 3. what hallowed minds they ought to have who maintain commerce with the Deitie, he thus goes on,
[...],
If a man be very pious, and be in those places where the Divine influence uses to manifest it self, the Angels will accompanie him with their Real presence, and he shall see them face to face; yet in an inferiour way to that Vision of Angels which accompanies the Prophetical degree. Under the Second temple, according as men were more endowed with wisdom, they beheld Apparitions and heard
[Page 216] the Bath Col,
which is a degree of Sanctitie, but yet inferior to the Prophetical. To conclude,
R. Bechai makes it an Article of faith to believe the Existence of Angels for this reason, that Angels were the furnishers of the Prophetical scene, and therefore to denie them was to denie all Prophesie; so he in
Parasha Terumah
[...],
because (saith he)
the Divine influx comes by the ministrie of Angels, who order and dispose the word in the mouth of the Prophet according to the mind of God: And if
[...] were not so, there would be no Prophesie; and if no Prophesie, no Law. So
Jos. Albo, we may remember, defin'd
Prophesie by the immediate orderers of it, the Angels.
But it is best to consult the Scripture it self in this business, which declares all that way by which it descended from God to the sons of men. The first place which
Maimon. in
More Nev. Part. 2. cap. 42. brings for confirmation of this opinion is that of
Genesis 18. v.
[...]. with the exposition of
R. Chija, which he leaves as a great secret. But that which is more for his and our purpose, is Gen. 32. 24. where
Jacob wrestled all night with the Angel; for so
that man was, as
Hosea tells us; and verse 1.
The Angels of God met Jacob. Neither doth this Interpretation of that
Lucta between the
Angel and
Jacob to have been only in a Prophetical Vision, at all prejudice the Historical truth of that Event of it, which was
Jacobs halting upon his thigh: For that is no very unusual thing at other times to have some Real passions in our bodies represented to us in our dreams then when they first begin. Another place is Jos. 5. 13.
Joshua lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold a man stood over against him. Again, Judges 5. 23.
Deborah attributes the command she had to
[Page 217] curse
Meroz, to an Angel.
Curse ye Meroz, said the Angel of the Lord: which words
Kimchi would have to be understood in a
literal sense,
[...],
for Deborah was a Prophetess, and so spake according to Prophetical inspiration; and so
Rabbi Levi Ben Gersom also expounds it:
Onkelos and
Rasi, with less reason I think, make this Angel to be none else but
Baruch. Though I am not ignorant that sometimes the
Prophets themselves are called
Angels of God, and thence
Malachie the last of them had his Name; yet we have no such testimonie concerning
Baruch, that ever he was any Prophet, but only a Judge or Commander of the militarie forces. In the first Book of
Kings chap. 19. ver. 11, 12. we have a large description of this
Imaginarie appearance of
Angels in the several modes of it;
Behold the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the Mountains, and brake in pieces the Rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, &c. All which Appearances
Jonathan the Targumist expounds by
[...]
Armies of Angels, which were attended with those terrible
Phaenomena. And
the still voice in which the Lord was, he renders answerably to the rest by
[...],
the voice of Angels praising God in a gentle kind of Harmonie. For though it be there said that
the Lord was in the soft voice, yet that Paraphrast seems to understand it only of
his Embassador: which in some other places of Scripture is very manifest; as in 2
Kings chap. 1. ver. 3, 15, 16. where verse 3. we find
the Angel delivered to
Elijah the Message to
Ahaziah King of Israel, who sent to
Baal-Zebub the God of
Ekron to enquire about his disease;
But the Angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, goe up to
[Page 218] meet the messengers of the King of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye goe to enquire of Baal-Zebub. And verse the 16, we have all this message attributed
to God himself by the Prophet, as if he had received the dictate immediately from God himself? And in
Daniel, the
Apocalypse, and
Zacharie, we find all things perpetually represented and interpreted by
Angels. And
Abarbanel upon
Zacharie 2. tells us that several Prophets had several Angels that delivered the heavenly Embassie to them, for that every Prophet was not so well fitted to converse with any kind of Angel:
[...],
Every Prophet was not in a fit capacity of receiving Prophetical influence from any Angel indifferentlie; but according to the disposition of the Receiver the degree and quality of the Angel was accommodated. But I shall not further pursue this Argument. In the general, that the
Prophetical scene was perpetuallie ordered by some Angel, I think it is evident from what hath been already said, which I might further confirm from
Ezekiel, all whose Prophesies about the Temple are expresly attributed to
a man as the Actor of them, that is indeed
an Angel; for so they used constantly to appear to the Prophets in an humane shape. And likewise
Gen. 28. 18. in
Jacob's Vision of a Ladder that reached up to heaven we find the Angels ascending and descending, to intimate that this
Scala prophetica whereby Divine influence descended upon the Mind of the Prophet is alwaies filled with Angels. From this place compared with Gen. 31. 11.
Jacob's Vision of
Laban's sheep presented to him by an Angel,
Philo thus determines in his book
[...],
[Page 219]
[...],
You see how the Scripture represents such Dreams as sent of God, not only those that proceed from the first Cause [God,]
but such also as come by his Ministers, the Angels. But S.
Jerome hath given us a more full and ample Testimonie in this matter, in his Comment on Gal. 3. 19.
The Law was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator. His words are these;
Quod autem ait, Lex ordinata per Angelos, hoc vult intelligi, quòd in omni Veteri Testamento, ubi Angelus primùm visus refertur, & postea quasi Deus loquens inducitur, Angelus quidem verè ex ministris pluribus quicumque sit visus, sed in illo Mediator [Christus]
loquatur qui dicat, Ego sum Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac, & Deus Jacob. Nec mirum si Deus loquatur in Angelis, cum etiam per Angelos qui in hominibus sunt loquatur Deus in Prophetis; dicente Zacharia, Et ait Angelus qui loquebatur in me, ac deinceps inferente, Haec dicit Dominus Omnipotens.
We might further add to all this those
Visions which we meet with in the New Testament, which, as a thing vulgarlie known, were attributed to Angels. So Acts 27. 23.
There stood by me the Angel of God this night, that is, in a Prophetical dream. And Acts 12. when the Angel of God did reallie appear to
Peter, and bring him out of prison, he could scarce be perswaded of a long time but that all this was a
Vision, this indeed being the common manner of all Prophetical Vision. And Acts 23. when the Pharisees would describe S.
Paul as a Prophet that had received some Vision or Revelation from heaven, they phrase it by
the speaking of an Angel or
Spirit unto him, ver. 9.
We find no evil in this man; but if an Angel or Spirit hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God.
CHAP. VI.
The Second Enquiry,
What the meaning of those Actions is that are frequently attributed to the Prophets, whether they were Real, or only Imaginary and Scenical. What Actions of the Prophets were only Imaginarie and performed upon the Stage of Phansie. What we are to think of several Actions and
res gestae recorded of
Hosea, Jeremie and
Ezekiel in their Prophesies.
THus we have done with our first Enquiry
concerning the Contriver and Orderer of the Prophetical Stage: That which was acted upon it, no doubt, every one will grant to have been a
Masking or
Imaginarie business. But there are many times in the midst of
Prophetical Narrations some things related to be done by the Prophets themselves upon the command of the Prophetick Voice, which have been generally conceived to have been acted
really, the grossest of all not excepted, as
Hosea his taking a harlot for his Wife and begetting Children, &c. Which conceit Mr.
Calvin hath in part happily undermined. But we shall not here doubt to conclude both of
That and all other actions of the Prophets which they were enjoined upon
the Stage of Prophesie, that they were only
Scenical &
Imaginarie; except indeed they were such as of their own Nature must have an
Historical meaning, in which an
Imaginarie performance would not serve the turn. For this purpose it may be worth our while to take notice of what
Maimonides hath well determined in this
[Page 221] Case,
More Nev. Part. 2. cap. 46.
Scias ergo, quemadmodum in somnio accidit, &c.
Know therefore, that as it is in a Dream, a man thinks that he hath been in this or that Countrie, that he has married a Wife there, and continued there for some certain time, that by this Wife he has had a Son of such a name, of such a disposition, and the like; Know (saith he)
that even just so it is with the Prophetical Parables as to what the Prophets see or doe in a Prophetical Vision. For whatsoever those Parables inform us concerning any Action the Prophet doth, or concerning the space of time between one Action and another, or going from one place to another; all this is in a Prophetical Vision: neither are these Actions real to sense, although some particularities may be precisely reckoned up in the writings of the Prophets. For because it was well known that it was all done in a Prophetical Vision; it was not necessarie in the rehearsing of every particularitie to reiterate that it was in a Prophetical Vision; as it was also needless to inculcate that it was in a Dream. But now the Vulgar sort of men think that all such Actions, Journies, Questions and Answers were really and sensibly performed, and not in a Prophetical Vision. And therefore I have an intention to make plain this business, and shall bring such things as no man shall be able to doubt of; adding thereunto some Examples, by which you may be able to judge of the rest which I shall not for the present mention. Thus we see how
Maimon. rejects it as
a vulgar error to conceive that those
Actions which are commonlie attributed to the Prophets in the current of their Prophesie, their
travailing from place to place, their
propounding questions and receiving answers, &c. were
real things to sense; whereas they were only
Imaginarie, represented meerly to the Phansie.
[Page 222] But for a more distinct understanding of this business, we must remember what hath been often suggested,
That the Prophetical scene or
Stage upon which all apparitions were made to the Prophet, was his Imagination; and that there all those things which God would have revealed unto him were acted over
Symbolicallie, as in a
Masque, in which divers persons are brought in, amongst which the Prophet himself bears a part: And therefore he, according to the exigencie of this Dramatical
apparatus, must, as the other Actors, perform his part, sometimes by speaking and reciting things done, propounding questions, sometimes by acting that part which in the
Drama he was appointed to act by some others; and so not only by Speaking, but by Gestures and Actions come in in his due place among the rest; as it is in our ordinarie Dreams, to use
Maimonides his expression of it. And therefore it is no wonder to hear of those things done which indeed have no
Historical or
Real veritie; the scope of all being to represent something strongly to the Prophets Understanding, and sufficiently to inform it in the Substance of those things which he was to instruct that People in to whom he was sent. And so sometimes we have only the Intelligible matter of Prophesies delivered to us nakedly without the Imaginarie Ceremonies or Solemnities. And as this Notion of those Actions of the Prophet that are interweav'd with their Prophesies is most genuine and agreeable to the
general nature of Prophesie, so we shall further clear and confirm it in some Particulars.
We shall begin with that of
Hosea his marrying of
Gomer a common harlot, and taking to himself
children of whoredomes, which he is said to doe a first and second time, Chap. 1. and Chap. 3. Which kind of Action however it might be void of true
Vice, yet it
[Page 223] would not have been void of all
Offence, for a
Prophet to have thus
unequally yoaked himself (to use S.
Paul's expression) with any such Infamous persons, though by way of lawful wedlock, if it had been done
really. I know that this way of interpreting both This and other Prophetical actions displeaseth
Abarbanel, who thinks the
Literal sense &
Historical verity of all ought to be entertained, except it be
[...] expressed to have been done in
a Vision; and the general current of our Christian writers till
Calvin's time have gone the same way. And to make the
Literal interpretation here good, R.
Solomon and our former Author both tell us, that the antient Rabbins have determined those Prophetical narrations of
Hosea to be understood
[...]
literally. The place they refer to is
Gem. Pesac. cap. 8. where yet I find no such thing positively concluded by the
Talmudists. Indeed they there, after their fashion, expound the place by inserting a long dialogue between God and the Prophet about this matter, but so as that without R.
Sol. or
Abarbanel's gloss we could no more think their scope was to establish the
Literal sense, then I think that the Prophet himself intended to insinuate the same to us. We shall therefore chuse to follow
Abenezra as a more genuine Commentator, who in this place and others of the like nature follows
Maimonides
[...], making all those Transactions to have been
only Imaginarie. For though it be not alwaies positively lay'd down in these Narrations, that the
Res gesta was in
a Vision; yet the
Nature and
Scope of
Prophesie so requiring that things should thus be acted in
Imagination, we should rather expect some Positive declaration to assure us that they were performed in the
History, if indeed it were so.
And therefore in these recitals of
Prophetical Visions,
[Page 224] we find many times things less coherent then can agree to a true History; as in the narrative of
Abraham's Vision, Gen. 15. (for so the Rabbins in
Pirke R. Eliezer expound that whole Chapter to be nothing else) we find v. 1. that
God appeared to Abraham in a Vision, and v. 5. God brings him into the field as if it were after the shutting up of evening, and shews him the Stars of Heaven: and yet for all this ver. 12. it was yet day-time, and the Sun not gone down:
And when the Sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham; and verse 17.
And it came to pass that when the Sun went down and it was dark, behold a smoaking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. From whence it is manifest that
Abraham's going out into the field before to take a view of the Stars of Heaven, and his ordering of those several living Creatures, ver. 9, 10. for a Sacrifice, was all performed in a
Prophetical Vision, and
upon the Stage of his Imagination: It being no strange thing to have incoherent junctures of time made in such a way.
So
Jeremie 13. we have there a very precise Narrative of
Jeremiah's getting a linen girdle, and putting it upon his loines; and after a while he must needs take a long journey to
Euphrates, to hide it there in a hole of the rock; and then returning, after many days makes another weary journie to the same place to take it out again after it was all corrupted: all which could manifestly be nothing else but
meerly Imaginarie; the scope thereof being to imprint this more deeply upon the Understanding of the Prophet, That the House of
Judah and
Israel, which was nearly knit and united to God, should be destroied and ruined.
The same Prophet Chap. 18. is brought in going to the house of a Potter, to take notice how he wrought
[Page 225] a piece of work upon the wheel; and when the Vessel he intended was all marred, that then he made of his clay another Vessel. And Chap. 19. he is brought in as taking the Ancients of the people and the Ancients of the Priests along with him into the valley of the Son of
Hinnom, with a Potter's earthen bottle under his arm, and there breaking it in pieces in the midst of them.
In this last Chapter it's very observable how the Scheme of speech is altered, when the Prophet relates a
Real History concerning himself, ver. 14. speaking of himself in the Third person, as if now he were to speak of some body else, and not of a Prophet or his Actions; for so we read ver. 14.
Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, &c. The like change of the person we find Chap. 28. ver. 10. where a formal storie is told of some things that passed between
Jeremiah and
Hananiah the false prophet, who in the presence of all the people broke
Jeremiah's yoke from off his neck: For it seems to have been a wonted thing for the Prophets by
Bonds and
Yokes to type out unto the people
Victorie or
Captivitie in war. Not unlike is that we read of
Zedekiah the false prophet, 1 Kings 22. who made himself
horns of iron, when he prophesied to
Ahab his prosperitie against the
Syrians at
Ramoth-Gilead, vulgarly to represent to him the success he should have against his Enemies. But in all this business the
Mode of
Jeremiah's language insinuates a
Literal sense, by speaking altogether in the Third person, as if the relation concerned some body else, and not himself, and so must be of some real thing, and that which to Sense and Observation had it's realitie, and not only a realitie in Apprehension or Imagination. So Chap. 32. we seem to have an insinuation of a
real History in
[Page 226]
Jeremiah's purchase of a Field of
Hanameel his Uncles Son, from the Mode of expression which is there observable.
But other-times we meet with things graphically described with all the Circumstantial pomp of the business, when yet it could be nothing else but a
Dramatical thing; as Chap. 35. where the Prophet goes and finds out the chief of the
Rechabites particularly described, and brings them into such a particular chamber as is there set forth by all it's bounds, and there sets pots and cups full of wine before them, and bids them drink wine. Just in the same mode with this we have another story told, Chap. 25. 15, and 17, &c. of his taking a wine-cup from God, and his carrying it up and down to all nations far and near,
Jerusalem and the Cities of
Judah, and the Kings and Princes thereof; to
Pharaoh King of
Egypt, and his Servants, Princes, People; to all the
Arabians, and Kings of the Land of
UZ; to the Kings of the Land of the
Philistines, Edom, Moab, Ammon; the Kings of
Tyre and
Sidon and of the Isles beyond the Sea,
Dedan, Tema, Buz; the Kings of
Zimri, of the
Medes and
Persians, and all the Kings of the North: and all these he said he made to drink of this Cup. And in this fashion Chap. 27. he is sent up & down with
Yokes, to put upon the necks of several Kings: all which can have no other sense then that which is
meerly Imaginarie, though we be not told that all this was acted only in a
Vision, for the nature of the thing would not permit any
real performance thereof.
The like we must say of
Ezekiel's res gestae, his eating a roll given him of God, Chap. 3. And Chap. 4. it's especially remarkable how ceremoniously all things are related concerning his taking a Tile, and pourtraying
[Page 227] the City of
Jerusalem upon it, his laying siege to it; all which I suppose will be evident to have been meerly
Dramatical, if we carefully examine all things in it, notwithstanding that God tells him he should in all this be a
Signe to the people. Which is not so to be understood, as if they were to observe in such real actions in a sensible way what their own Fates should be: for he is here commanded to lie continually before a Tile 390 days, which is full 13 Months, upon his left side, and after that 40 more upon his right, and to bake his bread that he should eat all this while with dung, &c.
So Chap. 5. he is commanded to take a Barbers rasour, and to shave his head and beard, then to weigh his hair in a pair of Scales, and divide it into three parts; and after the days of his Siege should be fulfilled, spoken of before, then to burn a third part of it in the midst of the City, and to smite about the other third with a knife, and to scatter the other third to the wind. All which as it is most unlikely in it self ever to have been really done, so was it against the Law of the Priests to shave the corners of their heads and the corners of their beards, as
Maimonides observes. But that
Ezekiel himself was a
Priest, is manifest from Chap. 1. ver. 3. Upon these passages of
Ezekiel Maimonides hath thus soberly given his judgment,
More Nev. Part. 2. c. 46.
Absit ut Deus Prophetas suos stultis vel ebriis similes reddat, eósque stultorum aut furiosorum actiones facere jubeat: praeterquam quòd praeceptum illud ultimum Legi repugnasset, &c.
Far be it from God to render his Prophets like to fools and drunken men, and to prescribe them the actions of fools and mad men: besides that this last injunction would have been inconsistent with the Law; for Ezekiel was a great Priest, and
[Page 228] therefore oblig'd to the observation of those two Negative precepts, viz.
of not shaving the corners of his head and corners of his beard: And therefore this was done only in a Prophetical Vision. The same sentence likewise he passeth upon that story of
Esaiah, Chap. 20. 3. his walking naked and bare-foot, wherein
Esaiah was no otherwise a
Signe to
Aegypt and
Aethiopia, or rather
Arabia, where he dwelt not, and so could not more literally be a Type therein, then
Ezekiel was here to the Jews.
Again Chap. 12. we read of
Ezekiel's removing his houshold-stuff in the night, as a Type of the Captivitie, and of his digging with his hands through the wall of his house, and of the peoples coming to take notice of this strange action, with many other uncouth ceremonies of the whole business which carry no shew of probabilitie: and yet ver. 6. God declares upon this to him,
I have set thee for a signe to the house of Israel; and ver. 9.
Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellions house, said unto thee, What doest thou? As if all this had been done
really; which indeed seems to be nothing else but a
Prophetical Scheme. Neither was the Prophet any
real Signe, but only
Imaginary, as having the Type of all those Fates symbolically represented in his phansie which were to befall the Jews: which sense
Kimchi, a genuine Commentator, follows, with the others mentioned. And it may be according to this same notion is that in Chap. 24. to be understood of the death of the Prophet's Wife, with the manner of those funeral solemnities and obsequies which he performed for her.
But we shall proceed no farther in this Argument, which I hope is by this time sufficiently cleared, That we are not in any Prophetical narratives of this kind
[Page 229] to understand any thing else but the History of the Visions themselves which appeared to them, except we be led by some farther argument of the realitie of the thing in a way of sensible appearance to determine it to have been any sensible thing.
CHAP. VII.
Of that Degree of Divine inspiration properly call'd
Ruach hakkodesh, i. e. The Holy Spirit. The Nature of it described out of Jewish Antiquities. Wherein this
Spiritus Sanctus differ'd from Prophesie strictly so call'd, and from the Spirit of Holiness in purified Souls. What Books of the Old Testament were ascribed by the Jews to
Ruach hakkodesh. Of the
Urim and
Thummim.
THus we have done with that part of Divine inspiration which was
more Technically and properly by the Jews called
Prophesie. We shall now a little search into that which is
Hagiographical, or, as they call it,
The Dictate of the Holy Spirit; in which the
Book of Psalms, Job, the works of Solomon and others are comprised. This we find very appositely thus defined by
Maimonides, More Nev. Part. 2. c. 45.
Cùm homo in se sentit rem vel facultatem quampiam exoriri, & super se quiescere, quae eum impellit ad loquendum, &c.
When a man perceives some Power to arise within him, and rest upon him, which urgeth him to speak, so that he discourse concerning the Sciences or Arts, and utter Psalms or Hymns, or profitable and wholesome Rules of good living, or matters Political and Civil, or such as are Divine;
[Page 230] and that whilst he is waking, and hath the ordinarie vigour and use of his Senses; this is such a one of whom it's said, that He speaks by the Holy Spirit. In this Definition we may seem to have the strain of the Book of
Psalms, Proverbs and
Ecolesiastes fully decyphered to us. In like manner we find this Degree of
Inspiration described by R.
Albo, Maam. 3. c. 10. after he had set down the other Degrees superiour to it,
[...],
Now to explain to you what is that other Doore of Divine influx, through which none can enter by his own natural abilitie; it is when a man utters words of Wisdome, or Song, or Divine praise, in pure and elegant language, besides his wont: so that every one that knows him admires him for this excellent knowledge and composure of words; but yet he himself knows not from whence this facultie came to him, but is as a child that learns a tongue, & knows not from whence he had this facultie. Now the excellence of this Degree of Divine inspiration is well known to all, for it is the same with that which is call'd The Holy Spirit. Or, if you please, we shall render these Definitions of our former Jewish Doctors in the words of
Proclus, who hath very happily set forth the nature of this piece of Divine inspiration, according to their mind, in these words,
lib. 5. in Plat. Tim.
[...],
This degree or Enthusiastical character, shining so bright with the Intellectual influences, is pure and venerable, receiving it's perfection from the Father of the Gods, being distinct from humane
[Page 231] conceptions, and far transcending them, alwaies conjoined with delightfulness and amazement, full of beautie and comeliness, concise, yet withall exceeding accurate.
This kind therefore of Divine inspiration was alwaies more
pacate and
serene then the other of
Prophesie, neither did it so much fatigate and act upon the
Imagination. For though these
Hagiographi or Holy writers ordinarily expressed themselves in
Parables and
Similitudes, which is the proper work of
Phansie; yet they seem only to have made use of such a dress of language to set off their own sense of Divine things, which in it self was more naked and simple, the more advantagiously, as we see commonly in all other kind of Writings. And seeing there was no labour of the
Imagination in this way of Revelation, therefore it was not communicated to them by any
Dreams or
Visions, but while they were
waking, and their Senses were in their full vigour, their Minds
calme; it breathing upon them
[...], as
Plotinus describes his pious Enthusiast,
Enn. 6. l. 9. c. 11.
[...]. For indeed this Enthusiastical Spirit seated it self principally in the Higher and Purer faculties of the Soul, which were
[...], that I may allude to the antient opinion of
Empedo
[...]les, who held there were two Suns, the one Archetypal, which was alwaies in the inconspicable Hemisphear of the World, but the beams thereof shining upon this World's Sun were reflected to us, and so further enlightned us.
Now this kind of Inspiration as it alwaies acted pious Souls into strains of Devotion, or moved them strongly to dictate matters of true piety and goodness, did manifest it self to be of a Divine nature; and as
[Page 232] it came in abruptly upon the Minds of those holy men without courting their private thoughts, but transported them from that Temper of Mind they were in before, so that they perceived themselves captivated by the power of some Higher light then that which their own understanding commonly poured out upon them, they might know it to be more immediately from God.
For indeed that seems to be the main thing wherein this
Holy Spirit differed from that constant Spirit and frame of Holiness and Goodness dwelling in hallowed minds, that it was too quick, potent and transporting a thing, and was a kind of vital Form to that Light of divine Reason which they were perpetually possess'd of. And therefore sometimes it runs out into a
Foresight or
Prediction of things to come, though it may be those
Previsions were less understood by the Prophet himself; as (if it were needfull) we might instance in some of
David's prophesies, which seem to have been revealed to him not so much
for himself (as the Apostle speaks) as
for us. But it did not alwaies spend it self in Strains of
Devotion or Dictates of
Vertue, Wisdom and
Prudence; and therefore (if I may take leave here to express my conjecture) I should think the antient Jews called this Degree
Spiritus Sanctus, not because it flows from the Third Person in the Trinity (which I doubt they thought not of in this business) but because of the near affinitie and alliance it hath with that
Spirit of Holiness and true Goodness that alwaies lodgeth in the breasts of Good men. And this seems to be insinuated in an old proverbial speech of the Jewish Masters, quoted by
Maimonides in the fore-quoted place,
Majestas Divina habitat super eum, & loquitur per Spiritum Sanctum. Though some think it might be so called as being the lowest Degree of
[Page 233] Divine Inspiration: for sometimes the ancientest Monuments of Jewish learning call
all Prophesie by the name of
Spiritus Sanctus. So in Pirke R. Eliezer c. 39.
R. Phineas inquit, Requievit Spiritus Sanctus super Josephum ab ipsius juventute usque ad diem obitûs ejus, atque direxit eum in omnem sapientiam, &c.
The Holy Spirit rested upon Joseph from his youth till the day of his death, and guided him into all wisdome, &c. Though it may be all that might be but an
Hagiographical Spirit: For indeed the Jews are wont, as we shew'd before, to distinguish
Joseph's dreams from Prophetical. But this
Spiritus Sanctus in the same chap. (to put all out of doubt) is attributed to
Esaiah and
Ezekiel, which were known Prophets: and chap. 33.
R. Phineas ait, Postquam omnes illi interfecti fuerant, viginti annis in Babel requievit Spiritus Sanctus super Ezekielem, & eduxit eum ex convalle Dora, & ostendit ei multa ossa, &c. And among those
five things that the Jews alwaies supposed the Second Temple to be inferior to the First in, one was the want of the
[...]
Spiritus Sanctus, or
Spirit of Prophesie.
But we are here to consider this
Spiritus Sanctus more strictly, and as we have formerly defin'd it out of Jewish antiquity. And here we shall first shew what Books of the Old Testament were ascribed to this Degree by the Jews. The Old Testament was by the Jews divided into
[...],
the Law, the Prophets, and the
[...]. And this division is insinuated in
Luke 24. 44. And Jesus said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written concerning me in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms: where by the
Psalms may seem to be meant the
Hagiographa; for the Writers of
[Page 234] these
Hagiographa might be termed
Psalmodists for some Reasons which we shall touch upon hereafter in this Discourse. But to return; the Old Testament being antiently divided into these parts, it may not be amiss to consider the Order of these parts as it is laid down by the Talmudical Doctors in
Gemara Bava Bathra, c. 1. towards the end,
[...]
Our Doctors have delivered unto us this Order of the Prophets, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah and the Twelve Prophets, the First of which is Hosea, for so they understand those words in
Hos. 1. 2.
[...],
Deus inprimis locutus est per Hoseam. The same
Gemarists go on to lay down the Order of the
[...] thus;
Ruth, the Book of Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, the Chronicles: And these the Jews did ascribe to the
Ruach hakkodesh. But why
Daniel should be reckoned amongst the
[...], and not amongst
[...]
the Prophets, I can see no reason, seeing the strain of it wholy argues the nature of a Prophetical degree spending it self in
Dreams and
Visions, though those were joined with more obscurity (it being then the
Crepusculum of the Prophetical day, which had long been upon the Horizon of the Jewish Church) then in the other Prophets. And therefore whatever the latter Jews here urge, for thus ranking up
Daniel's books with the other
[...], yet seeing they give us no Traditional reason which their Ancestors had for so doing, I should rather think it to have been first of all some fortuitous thing which gave an occasion to this after-mistake, as I think it is.
But to pass on, besides those Books mentioned, there were some things else among the Jews usually attributed to this
Spiritus Sanctus: And so
Maimonides in the
[Page 235] fore-mentioned place tells us that
Eldad &
Medad, and all the High Priests who asked counsel by
Urim and
Thummim, spake
per Spiritum Sanctum, so that it was a Character Enthusiastical whereby they gave judicial answers, by looking upon the Stones of the High Priests breast-plate, to those that came to enquire of God by them. And so R.
Bechai in Parash
[...] speaks of
one of the Degrees of the Holy Spirit which was superior to Bath Kol (i. Filia Vocis)
and inferior to Prophesie.
[...]. It will not be amiss by a short digression to shew what this
Urim and
Thummim was: And we may take it out of our former Author R.
Bechai, who for the substance agrees with the generalitie and best of the Jewish writers herein. It was, as he there tells us, done in this manner. The High Priest stood before the Ark, and he that came to enquire of the
Urim and
Thummim stood behind him, enquiring with a submisse voice, as if he had been at his private prayers,
Shall I doe so, or so? Then the High Priest looked upon the Letters which were engraven upon the Stones of the Breast-plate, and by the concurrence of an Enthusiastical Spirit of Divination of his own (if I may add thus much upon the former reasons to that which he there speaks) with some modes whereby those letters appeared, he shaped out his answer. But for those that were allowed to enquire at this Oracle, they were none else but either the King or the whole Congregation, as we are told in
Massec. Sotah,
[...],
None may enquire of it but the congregation of the people, or the King; by which it seems it was a
Political oracle.
But to return to our Argument in hand, viz. What pieces of Divine writt are ascribed to the
[...]
[Page 236] or
Spiritus Sanctus; we must further know that the Jews were wont to reckon all those
Psalms or
Songs which we any where meet with in the Old Testament among the
[...]. For though they were penned by the Prophets, yet because they were not the proper results of a
Visum Propheticum, therefore they were not
true Prophesie: For they have a common Tradition, that the Prophets did not alwaies prophesie
eodem gradu, but sometime in a higher, sometime in a lower degree, as among others we are fully taught by
Abarbinel in
Es. 4. upon occasion of that Song of
Esay,
[...],
The same Prophet prophesies sometime in the form of the supreme Prophetical Degree, and sometime in a lower Degree,
[...]
or by the Holy Spirit only. And thus having made his way, he tells us that common notion they had amongst them,
that all Songs were dictated by this Spiritus Sanctus,
[...]
Every Song that is found in the Writings of the Prophets, it was such a thing as was ordered or dictated by the Pen-men themselves together with the superintendency of the Holy Spirit: forasmuch as they received them not in that higher way which is called Prophesie, as all Visions were received, for all Visions were perfect Prophesie. But the Author goes on further to declare his, and indeed the common opinion, concerning any such
Song, that it was not the proper work of God himself, but the work of the Prophet's own Spirit,
[...]. Yet we must suppose the Prophet's Spirit enabled by the conjunction of divine help with it, as he puts in the caution,
[...],
the Spirit of God and his divine assistance did still cleave unto the Prophet, and was present with him. For, as he tells us, the Prophets,
[Page 237] being so much accustomed to divine Visions as they were, might be able sometime
per vigiliam, without any Prophetical Vision, to speak excellently by the Holy Ghost,
[...],
with very elegant language, and admirable similitudes. And this he there proves from hence, that these
Songs are commonly attributed to the Prophet himself, and not to God, there being so much of the work of the Prophet's own Spirit in them,
[...]
Wherefore the Scripture commonly attributes these Songs to the Prophets themselves, and not unto God; and accordingly speaks of the Song at the Red sea,
Exod. 15. Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this Song,
that is, Moses and the children of Israel did compose and order it. So in the Song at
Beer-Elim
Num. 21. 17.,
Then sang Israel this Song. So in
Moses his Song in the later end of Deuteronomy, which was to to be preserved as a Memorial, the Conclusion runs,
Deut. 32. 46.
Set your hearts upon all those words,
[...],
which I testifie to you this day. So all those
Psalms which are supposed to have been composed by
David, are perpetually ascribed unto him, and the rest of them that were composed by others are in like manner ascribed unto them; whereas the Prophetick strain is very different, alwaies intitling God to it, and so is brought in with such kind of Prologues
[The word of the Lord] or
[The hand of the Lord] or the like.
But enough of that: yet seeing we are fallen now upon the Original Author of these
Divine Songs and
Hymns, it will not be amiss to take a little notice of the frequency of this
Degree of Prophesie, which is by
Songs and
Hymns composed by an Enthusiastical Spirit, among the Jews. We find many of these Prophets besides
[Page 238]
David, who were Authors of sundry Psalms bound up together with his; for we must not think all are his: as after the 72 Psalm we have eleven together which are ascribed to
Asaph, the 88 to
Heman, the 89 to
Ethan, some to
Jeduthun, and very many are
incerti Authoris, as it seems, being anonymous. Thus
Kimchi in his Preface to the Psalms, and the rest of the Hebrew Scholiasts, suppose divers Authors to have come in for their particular Songs in that Book.
And these divine Enthusiasts were commonly wont to compose their
Songs and
Hymns at the sounding of some one
Musical instrument or other, as we find it often suggested in the Psalms. So
Plutarch, lib.
[...], describes the Dictate of the Oracle antiently,
[...],
how that it was uttered in verse, in pomp of words, Similitudes and Metaphors, at the sound of a Pipe. Thus we have
Asaph, Heman and
Jeduthun set forth in this Prophetical preparation, 1
Chron. 25. 1. Moreover
David and the Captain of the h
[...]ast separated to the service of the Sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesie with harps, &c. Thus R.
Sal. expounds the place,
[...],
When they play'd upon their Musical instruments they prophesied, after the manner of Elisha, who said, Bring me a Minstrel, 2
Kings 3. And in the fore-mentioned place ver. 3. upon those words
[who prophesied with a harp] he thus glosseth,
[...]
As they sounded upon the harp the Psalms of praise and the Hallelujahs, Jeduthun their Father prophesied. And this sense of this place I think is much more genuine then that which a late Author of our own would fasten
[Page 239] upon it, viz. that this Prophesying was nothing but singing of Psalms. For it is manifest that these
Prophets were not meer
Singers, but
Composers, and such as were truly called
Prophets or Enthusiasts: So ver. 5.
Heman is expresly called the
Kings Seer; the like in 2
Chron. 29. 30. & ch. 35. 15. of
Asaph, Heman &
Jeduthun,
[...], upon which our former Commentator glosseth thus,
[...],
unusquisque eorum erat Propheta. 'Tis true, the
Poets are anciently called
Vates, but that is no good argument why a
Singer should be called a
Prophet: for it is to be considered that a
Poet was a
Composer, and upon that account by the Ancients called
Vates or
a Prophet, and that because they generally thought all
true Poets were
transported. So
Plato in his
Phaedrus makes Three kinds of Fury, viz.
Enthusiastical, Amatorious, and
Poetical. But of this matter we shall speak more under the next head, which we are in a manner unawares fallen upon, which is to enquire in general into the qualification of all kind of Prophets.
CHAP. VIII.
Of the Dispositions antecedent and preparatory to Prophesie. That the Qualifications which did fit a man for the Prophetical Spirit were such as these,
viz. Inward Piety, True Wisdome, a Pacate and Serene temper of Mind, and a due cheerfulness of Spirit; in opposition to
Vitiousness, Mental crazedness and inconsistency, unsubdued Passions, black Melancholy and dull Sadness. This illustrated by several Instances in Scripture. That
Musick was greatly advantageous to the Prophets and Holy men of God,
&c. What is meant by Saul's Evil Spirit.
OUR next business is to discourse of those several
Qualifications that were to render a man
fit for the Spirit of Prophesie: for we must not think that any man might
suddenly be made
a Prophet: This gift was not so fortuitously dispensed as to be communicated without any discrimination of persons. And this indeed all sorts of men have generally concluded upon; and therefore the old Heathens themselves, that only sought after a Spirit of
Divination, were wont in a solemn manner to prepare and fit themselves for receiving the influx thereof, as R.
Albo hath truly observed,
Maam. 3. c. 8.
[...]
The ancient Gentiles made themselves Images, and offered prayers and frankincense to the Stars, that by this means they might draw down a spiritual influence from some certain Stars upon their Image. For this influence slides down from the body of the Star upon the man himself, who is
[Page 241] also corporeal, and by this means he foretells what shall come to pass. And thus, as he further observes, the
Necromancers themselves were wont to use many solemn Rites and Ceremonies to call forth the Souls of any dead men into themselves, whereby they might be able to presage future things. But to come more closely to our present Argument.
The
Qualifications which the Jewish Doctors suppose
necessarily antecedent to render any one
habilem ad prophetandum are
true Probity and Piety; and this was the constant sense and opinion of all of them universally, not excluding the vulgar themselves. Thus
Abarbanel in
praefat. in 12
Proph.
[...],
Pietas inducit Spiritum Sanctum. The like we find in
Maimonid. More Nev. par. 2. cap. 32. who yet thinks this was not enough; and therefore he reckons up this as
a vulgar error, which yet he saies some of their Doctors were carried away withall,
Quod Deus aliquem eligat & mittat, nullâ habitâ ratione an sit sapiens, &c.
That God may chuse of men whom he pleaseth, and send him, it matters not whether he be wise and learned, or unlearned and unskilfull, old or young; only that this is required, that he be a vertuous, good and honest man: For hitherto there was never any that could say that God did cause the divine Majestie to dwell in a vitious person, unless he had first reformed himself.
But
Maimonid. himself rather preferrs the opinion of the wise Sages and Philosophers of the Heathen then of these vulgar Masters, which required also some Perfection in the nature of him that should be set apart for Prophesie, augmented with study and industry;
Whence it cannot be that a man should goe to bed no Prophet, and rise the next day a Prophet (as he there speaks)
quemadmodum homo qui inopinatò aliquid invenit. And
[Page 242] a little after he adds,
Fatuos & hujus terrae filios quod attinet, non magis, nostro judicio, prophetare possunt, quàm Asinus aut Rana.
These
Perfections then which
Maimonides requires as
Preparaterie Dispositions to render a man
a Prophet, are of Three sorts, viz. 1.
Acquisite or
Rational; 2. Natural or
Animal; lastly,
Moral. And according to the difference of these he distinguisheth the
Degrees of Prophesie, c. 36.
Has autem Tres perfectiones &c.
As to these Three Perfections which we have here compriz'd, viz.
the Perfection of the Rational facultie acquired by study, the Perfection of the Imaginative facultie by birth, and the Perfection of Manners or vertuous Qualities by purifying and freeing the Heart and affections from all sensual pleasures, from all pride, and from all foolish and pestilent desire of glory; As to these, I say, It's evident that they are differently, and not in the same degree participated by men: And according to such different measures of participation the degrees of the Prophets are also to be distinguished.
Thus
Maimonides, who indeed in all this did but aim at this
Technical notion of his, That all Prophesie is the proper result of these Perfections, as a Form arising out of them all as out of its elements compounded together. For it is plain that he thought there was a kind of
Prognostick virtue in Souls themselves, which was in this manner to be excited; which was the opinion of some Philosophers, among which
Plutarch laies down his sense in this manner, according to the minds of many others;
Lib.
[...].
[...],
The Soul doth not then first of all attain a Prophetical energie when it leaves the Body as a
[Page 243] cloud; but it now hath it already; only she is blind of this Eye, because of her concretion with this mortal body. This Philosopher's opinion
Maimonides was more then prone to, however he would dissemble it, and therefore he speaks of an impotency to Prophesie, supposing all those Three qualifications named before, as of the suspension of the act of some natural Facultie. So Chap. 32.
Meo judicio res hîc se habet sicut in Miraculis, &c. (i.)
In my judgment (saith he)
the matter here is just so as it is in Miracles, and bears proportion with them. For natural Reason requires, that he who by his nature is apt to prophesie, and is diligently taught and instructed, and of fit age, that such a one should prophesie; but he that notwithstanding cannot doe so, is like to one that cannot move his hand, as Jeroboam, or one that cannot see, as those that could not see the Tents of the King of Syria (as it is in the Story of Elisha.) And again Chap. 36. he further beats upon this String,
Si vir quidam ita comparatus fuerit, nullum dubium est, si facultas ejus Imaginatrix (quae in summo gradu perfecta est, & Influentiam ab Intellectu secundùm perfectionem suam speculativam accipit) laboraverit & in operatione fuerit, illum non nisi res divinas & admirandas apprehensurum, nihil praeter Deum & ejus Angelos visurum, nullius denique rei scientiam habiturum & curaturum, nisi earum quae verae sunt & quae ad communem hominum spectant utilitatem. This Opinion of
Maimonides I find not any where entertained, but only by the Author of the Book
Cozri. That which seems to have led him into this conceit was his mistaken sense (it may be) of some Passages in the story of the Kings that speak of
the Schools of the Prophets, and the like, of which more hereafter.
But I know no Reason sufficient to infer any such
[Page 244] thing as the
Prophetical Spirit from the highest improvement of
Natural or
Moral endowments. And I cannot but wonder how
Maimonides could reconcile all this with the right Notion of
Prophesie, which must of necessity include a
Divine inspiration, and therefore may freely be bestowed by God where and upon whom he pleaseth. Though indeed common Reason will teach us, that it is not likely that God would extraordinarily inspire any men, and send them thus specially authorized by himself to declare his mind authentically to them, and dictate what his Truth was, who were themselves vitious and of unhallowed lives; and so indeed the Apostle
Peter 2 Epist. Chap. I. tells us plainly, They were
holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Neither is it probable that those who were any way of
crazed Minds, or who were inwardly of
inconsistent tempers by reason of any
perturbation, could be very fit for these
Serene impressions. A troubled Phansie could no more receive these Ideas of Divine Truth to be imprest upon it, and clearly reflect them to the Understanding, then a crack'd glass or troubled water can reflect sincerely any image to be made upon them. And therefore the Hebrew Doctors universally agree in this Rule,
That the Spirit of Prophesie never rests upon any but a Holy and Wise man, one whose passions are allay'd. So the
Talmud Masses, Sanhedrin, as it is quoted by R.
Albo, Maam. 3. c. 10.
[...] (i.)
The Spirit of prophesie never resides but upon a Man of Wisdome and Fortitude, as also upon
a rich and great man.
The two last qualifications in this rule
Maimonides in his
Fundamenta legis hath left out, and indeed it is full enough without them. But those other two qualifications
[Page 245] of
Wisdome and Fortitude are constantly lay'd down by them in this argument. And so we find it ascribed to the Author of this Canon, who is said to be R.
Jochanan, c. 4. Gem. Nedar.
[...], (i.)
R. Jochanan saies, God doth not make his Shechina to reside upon any but a rich and humble man, a man of fortitude, all which we learn from the example of Moses our Master. Where by
Fortitude they mean nothing else but
that Power whereby a good man subdues his Animal part; for so I suppose I may safely translate that solution of theirs which I have sometime met with, and I think in
Pirke Avoth,
[...],
Who is the man of fortitude? It is he that subdues his figmentum malum, by which they meant nothing else but the
Sensual or
Animal part: of which more in another Discourse. And thus they give us another Rule as it were paraphrastical upon the former, which I find
Gem. Schab. c. 2. where glancing at that contempt which the Wise man in
Ecclesiastes cast upon
Mirth and Laughter, they distinguish of a twofold
Mirth, the one
Divine, the other
Mundane, and then sum up many of these Mundane and Terrene affections which this Holy Spirit will not reside with,
[...],
The Divine presence or Spiritus Sanctus
doth not reside where there is grief and dull sadness, laughter and lightness of behaviour, impertinent talk or idle discourse; but with due and innocuous chearfulness it loves to reside, according to that which is written concerning Elisha, Bring me now a Minstrel: and it came to pass when the Minstrel played, the hand of the Lord was upon him, 2 Kings 3. Where we see that temper of Mind principally required by them is a
free Chearfulness, in opposition to all
Griefs, Anger, or any
[Page 246] other
sad and Melancholy passions. So
Gem. Pesac. c. 6.
[...],
Every man when he is in passion, if he be a wise man, his wisdom is taken from him; if a Prophet, his prophesie.
The first part of this Aphorism they there declare by the example of
Moses, who they say prophesied not in the wilderness after the return of the Spies that brought an ill report of the land of Canaan, by reason of his
Indignation against them: And the last part from the example of the Prophet
Elisha, 2 Kings 3. 15. of which more hereafter. Thus in the Book
Zohar, wherein most of the ancient Jewish Traditions are recorded, col. 408.
[...],
Behold, we plainly see that the divine presence doth not reside with Sadness, but with Chearfulness: If there be no Chearfulness, it will not abide there; as it is written concerning Elisha, who said, Give me now a Minstrell.
But from whence learn we that the Spirit of God will not reside with Heaviness? From the example of Jacob, for that all that while he grieved for Joseph, the Shechinah or the Holy Spirit did forsake him. For so they had also a common Tradition, that
Jacob prophesied not that time while his grief for the loss of his son
Joseph remained with him. So
L. Tosiphta,
[...],
The Spirit of Prophesie dwells not with Sadness, but with Chearfulness. I will not here dispute the Punctualness of these Traditions concerning
Moses and
Jacob, though I doubt not but the main Scope of them is true, viz. that the Spirit of Prophesie used not to reside with any black or Melancholy passions, but required a serene and pacate temper of Mind, it being it self of a mild and gentle nature; as it was well observed concerning
[Page 247] the Holy Ghost in another notion by
Tertullian in his
de Spectaculis, Deus praecepit Spiritum Sanctum, utpote pro naturae suae bono tenerum & delicatum, tranquillitate & lenitate, & quiete & pace tractare; non furore, non bile, non irâ, non dolore inquietare.
Now according to this notion I think we have gained some light for the further understanding of some Passages in Psalm 51. which the Chaldee Paraphrast and Hebrew Commentators also understand of the
Spirit of Prophesie which was taken from
David in that time of his
sorrow and grief of Mind, upon the reflection of his shameful miscarriage in the matter of
Uriah; and this is called ver. 12.
[...]
a free Spirit, or
a Spirit of alacritie and libertie of mind, acting by generous and noble and free impulses upon it: and ver. 8. it is paraphrased by
Joy and
Gladness, as being that Temper of Mind which it most liberally moved upon and acted; as likewise ver. 12. a like Periphrasis is used of it,
the joy of God's salvation; and ver. 10.
David thus prayeth for the restauration of it to him, and the establishing him in the firm possession of it,
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
[...],
and renew a fix'd Spirit within me. As if he had said,
Thy Holy Spirit of Prophesie dwells in no unhallowed Minds, hut with puritie and holiness; and when these are violated, that presently departs; the holy and the impure Spirit cannot converse together: therefore cleanse my heart of all pollution, that this divine guest being restored to me, may find a constant habitation within me. And thus both
Rasi and
Abenezra gloss on this place, but especially R.
Kimchi, who pursues this sense very largely: and so before them the Talmudists had expounded it,
Gem. Joma. c. 2. where they thus descant upon those words, ver. 11.
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me, and tell us
[Page 248] how
David was punish'd by Leprosie and double Excommunication; one from this Spirit,
[...], which words I find most corruptly translated by
Vorstius in his Comment upon
Maimon. his
Fundamenta legis. I should therefore thus render them in their native and genuine sense,
Per sex menses erat David leprosus (viz.
propter peccatum in negotio Uriae admissum,) & separabant se ab eo viri Synagogae magnae, atque ablata est ab eo Shechinah (i.
Spiritus Propheticus.) Primum constat ex Psalm. 119. ubi dicitur, Revertantur ad me timentes te, & scientes testimonia tua:
alterum ex Psalm. 51. ubi dicitur, Fac revertatur ad me laetitia salutis tuae.
But its now time to look a little into that place which the Masters constantly refer to in this notion, viz. 1 Kings 3. where when the Kings of Israel and Judah and Edom in their distress for water, upon their warlike expedition against the King of Moab, came to
Elisha to enquire of God by him, the Prophet
Elisha (ver. 14.) seems to have been
moved with indignation against the King of Israel, and so makes a very unwelcome address to him,
Surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehosaphat the King of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee: and then it follows ver. 15.
But now bring me a Minstrell: and it came to pass when the Minstrell play'd, that the hand of the Lord came upon him. Which words are thus expounded by
R. D. Kimchi, out of the Rabbines, (with which
R. S. Jarchi &
R. L. Ben Gersom agree for the substance of his meaning)
[...],
Our Doctors tell us, that from that day wherein his Master Elijah was took up into heaven, the Spirit of Prophesie remained not with him for a certain time; for, for this cause he was very sorrowful,
[Page 249] and the divine Spirit doth not reside with heaviness. Others say that by reason of the indignation he conceived against the King of Israel, he was
disquieted in his mind; and touching this they say, That whensoever a Prophet is disturbed through anger or passion, the Holy Spirit forsakes him. From whence learn we this? From the example of Elisha, who said, Give me a Minstrel.
Thus we may by this time see the Reason why
Musical instruments were so frequently used by the Prophets, especially the
Hagiographi; which indeed seems to be nothing else but that their Minds might be thereby put into
a more composed, liberal and
chearful temper, and so the
better disposed and
fitted for the transportation of the Prophetical Spirit. So we have heard before out of the 1
Chron. 25. how
Asaph, Heman and
Jeduthun composed their rapt and Divine Poems at the sound of the Quire-Musick of the Temple. Another famous place we find for this purpose 1
Sam. 10. which place (as well as the former) hath been (I think) much mistaken and misinterpreted by some of
Singing; whereas certainly it cannot be meant of any thing less then
Divine Poetrie, and a Composure of Hymns excited by a Divine Energy inwardly moving the Mind. In that place
Samuel having anointed
Saul King of Israel, to assure him that it was so ordained of God, he tells him of some Events that should occur to him a little after his departure from him; whereof this is one, that meeting with some Prophets, he himself should find the Impulses of a Prophetical Spirit also moving in him, ver. 5. These Prophets are thus described,
After that, thou shalt come to the hill of God, &c.
and it shall come to pass when thou art come thither to the City, that thou shalt meet a company of Prophets coming down from the high place, with a Psaltery, and a Tabret,
[Page 250] and a Pipe, and an Harp before them; and they shall prophesie. And the Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesie with them, and shalt be turned into another man. Where this
Musick which they were accompanied with, was to
vigorate and
compose their Minds, as
Kimchi comments upon the place,
[...],
And before them was a Psalterie (or Lute) and a Tabret, and a Pipe, and an Harp: for asmuch as the holy Spirit dwells no where but with alacritie and chearfulness: And they prophesied, that is, as Jonath the Targumist expounds it, they praised God: As if he had said, Their Prophesies were Songs and Praises to God, uttered by the Holy Ghost. Thus he.
Now as this
Divine Spirit thus acted
free and chearful Souls, so the
Evil Spirit actuated
sad, Melancholy Minds, as we heard before, and as we may see in the Example of
Saul. And indeed that
Evil Spirit which is said to have possessed him, seems to be nothing else originally but
Anguish and grief of Mind, however wrought upon by some tempting insinuations of an Evil Spirit. And this sometime instigated him to
prophesie after the fashion of such Melancholy furie, 1
Sam. 18. 10. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the Evil Spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house; which
Jonathan renders by
[...],
insanivit in medio domûs, or, as
Kimchi expounds the Paraphrast,
[...],
locutus est verba stultitiae. So also
R. Solom. upon the place expounds it to the same purpose.
So that according to the strain of all the Jewish Scholiasts, by this
Evil Spirit of
Saul nothing else is here meant but a
Melancholy kind of madness, which made him prophesie or speak distractedly and inconsistently.
[Page 251] To these we may adde
R. L. B. Gersom,
[...],
He spake in the midst of the house very confusedly, by reason of that Evil Spirit. Now as this
Evil Spirit was indeed fundamentally, as I said, nothing else but
a Soure and Distracted Temper of Mind arising from the Terrene dregs of
Melancholy, Grief and Malice, whereby
Saul was at that time vexed; so the proper Cure of it was the
Harmony and
Melody of
David's Musick, which was therefore made use of to compose his Mind, and to allay these turbulent passions. And that was the reason (as I hope by this time it appears) why this
Musick was so frequently used, viz. to compose the Animal part, that all kind of Perturbations being dispell'd, and a fine gentle
[...] or Tranquillitie ushered in, the Soul might be the better disposed for the Divine breathings of the
Prophetical Spirit, which enter not at randome into any sort of Men.
[...], as
Philo hath well express'd it upon this occasion; These Divine breathings enter only into those Minds that were fitly disposed for them by Moral and Acquisite qualifications.
CHAP. IX.
Of the Sons or Disciples of the Prophets. An Account of several Schools of Prophetical Education, as at
Naioth in
Rama, at
Jerusalem, Bethel, Jericho, Gilgal, &c. Several passages in the Historical Books of Scripture pertinent to this Argument explained.
AND therefore we find also frequently such Passages in Scripture as strongly insinuate to us that anciently many were trained so up in a way of Schooldiscipline, that they might become
Candidati Prophetiae, and were as Probationers to these Degrees which none but God himself conferr'd upon them. Yet while they heard others
prophesie, there was sometime an
afflatus upon them also, their Souls as it were sympathizing (like
Unisons in Musick) with the Souls of those which were touched by the Spirit. And this seems to be the meaning of that story 1
Sam. 19. where all
Saul's messengers sent to
Naioth in
Rama to apprehend
David (and at last he himself) are said to fall a
prophesying. For it is probable that the
Prophesies there spoken of were
Anthems divinely dictated, or
Doxologies with such elegant strains of Devotion and Phansie as might also excite and stir up the Spirits of the Auditors: As often we find that any admirable Discourses, in which there is a chearful and free flowing forth of a rich Phansie in an intelligible, and yet extraordinary, way, are apt to beget a symbolizing qualitie of Mind in a stander-by.
And this notion we now drive is clearly suggested
[Page 253] by the Jewish writers, who tell us that this
Naioth in
Rama was indeed
a School of Prophetical education, and so the
Targum expounds the word
Naioth,
[...],
Domus doctrinae, i. e.
Prophetiae. And
R. Levi B. G.
[...],
Our Masters say That there was a School for the Prophets near the City of Ramah, to which the Prophets congregated: And to the like purpose
R. Solomon. And it's further insinuated that
Samuel was the
President of this School or
Colledge; as disciplining those young Scholars, and training them up to those
preparatory qualifications which might more dispose them for
Prophesie; and also
prophesying to them
in sacred Hymns, or otherwise, whereby their Spirits might receive some Tincture of a like kind. For so we find it verse 20.
And when they saw the company of the Prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the Messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. Where the Chaldee Paraphrast translates
[...] or
prophesying, by
[...]
praising God with sacred Hymns and Hallelujahs, according to the common strain of the Prophetical degree which was called
Spiritus Sanctus. And so
R. Kimchi and
R. Levi B. G. here ascribe it
[...]
to the Holy Spirit. Among these Prophets it's said
Samuel stood as appointed over them, that is,
[...],
He stood as a Teacher or
Master over them, as the
Chaldee Paraphrast reads it. But
R. Levi B. G. strains a little higher, and perhaps too high,
[...],
He derived forth from himself, of his own Prophetical Spirit, by way of Emanation, upon them. Though this kind of language be very suitable to the Notions of those Masters who will needs perswade us that almost all the Prophets prophesied by virtue of some influence
[Page 254] raying forth from the Spirit of some other Prophet into them: And
Moses himself they make the
Common conduit through whom all Prophetical influence was conveighed to the rest of the Prophets. A conceit, I think, a little too nice and subtile to be understood.
But to return, Upon this Ground we have suggested, these
Disciples of the Prophets are called
[...],
Sons of the Prophets: and these are they which are meant 1
Sam. 10. 5. (the place we named before) in those words,
[...]
a Company of the Prophets, that is, as the
Targum renders it,
[...]
Coetus Scribarum, a Company of Scribes, (for so these young Scholars were anciently called;) or if you please rather in
Kimchi's language,
[...],
A company of Scribes, that is, Scholars: For the Scholars of the Wise men were called Scribes: For they were the Scholars of the greater Prophets, and these Scholars were called the Sons of the Prophets. Now the greater Prophets which lived in that time from Eli to David were Samuel, Gad, Nathan, Asaph, Heman
and Jeduthun.
And thus we must understand the meaning of that Question ver. 12.
Who is their Father? which gave occasion to that Proverbial speech afterwards used commonly amongst the Jews
[Is Saul also amongst the Prophets?] used of one that was suddenly raised up to some dignitie or perfection which by his education he was not fitted for. And therefore the
Chaldee Paraphrast minding the Scope of the place renders
[...]
who is their Father, by
[...]
who is their Master? which
Kimchi approves, and accordingly expounds that Proverb in this manner,
[...]
[Page 255]
[...],
When any one was mounted from a low state to any dignity, they used to say, Is Saul also among the Prophets? But
R. Solom. would rather keep the
Literal sense of those words,
Who is their Father? and therefore supposeth something more then we here contend for, viz. That Prophesie was a kind of
Hereditary thing. For so he speaks,
Don't wonder for that he is called the Father of them,
[...], that is,
For Prophesie is an hereditary thing. But I think we may content our selves with what our former Authors have told us, to which we may adde the testimony of
R. Levi B. Gersom, who tells us that these Prophets here spoken of were the Scholars of
Samuel who trained them up to a degree of Prophetical perfection, and so is called their
Father,
[...],
because that Samuel instructed them, and trained them up by his discipline to a degree of Prophetical perfection.
Of these
Disciples we find very frequent mention in Scripture; So 2
Kings 4. we read of the
Sons or
Disciples of the Prophets in Gilgal. And chap. 6.
Elisha is there brought in as their Master, at whose command they were, and therefore they ask leave to enlarge their dwellings. And
Elisha himself was trained up by
Elijah, as his
Disciple; and therefore in 2
Kings 3. it was thought a reason good enough to prove that he was
a Prophet, for that he had been
Elijah's Disciple, and
powred water upon his hands, as all the Jewish Scholiasts observe. And 2
Kings 9. 1.
Elisha sends one of these his
ministring Disciples to anoint
Jehu to be King of Israel. And 1
Kings 20. 35. The
young Prophet there sent to reprove
Ahab for sparing
Ben-hadad King of Syria is called by the
Chaldee Paraphrast
[...]
[Page 256]
[...],
One of the Sons, the Disciples of the Prophets. And hence it was that
Amos urgeth the extraordinariness of his commission from God, Ch. 7. 14.
I was no Prophet, nor was I a Prophets Son.
[...],
He was not prepar'd for Prophesie, or trained up so as to be fitted for a Prophetical function by his discipleship, as
Abarbanel glosseth upon the place. And therefore Divine inspiration found him out of the ordinary road of Prophets, among his Heards of cattel, and in an extraordinary way moved him to goe to
Bethel, there to declare God's judgments against King and people, even in the King's Chappel. To conclude, In the New Testament, when
John Baptist and our Saviour called
Disciples to attend upon them and to learn divine Oracles from them, it seems to have been no new thing, but that which was the common custome of the old Prophets.
Now of these Prophets there were several
Schools or
Colledges, as the Jews observe, in several Cities, according as occasion was to employ them. So we read of
a Colledge in Jerusalem 2 Kings 22. 14. where
Huldah the Prophetess lived, which is called
[...] in the Original, and by the
Chaldee Paraphrast translated
[...],
Domus Doctrinae; by
Kimchi
[...]
a School. So 2 Kings ch. 2, & 4. we meet with divers places set down as those where the residence of those young Prophets was, as
Bethel and
Jericho and
Gilgal, &c. So
Kimchi observes upon the place
[...],
As the Sons of the Prophets were in Bethel and Jericho, so were there also of them in several other places. And the main reason why they were thus dispersed in many of the Cities of Israel was this, that they might reprove the Israelites that were there: and their Prophesie was wholly according
[Page 257] to the exigencie of those times; and therefore it was that their Prophesie was not committed to writing. From hence some of the Jewish writers tell us of a certain
[...] of Prophesie, one continually like an Evening-star shining upon the conspicable Hemisphere, when another was set.
Kimchi tells us of this Mystical gloss upon those words 1 Sam. 3. 3.
Ere the Lamp of God went out,
[...],
This is spoken Mystically concerning the light of Prophesie, according to that saying amongst our Doctors [the Sun riseth and the Sun setteth,]
that is, Ere God makes the Sun of one righteous man to set, he makes the Sun of another righteous man to rise.
CHAP. X.
Of
Bath Kol, i. e.
Filia Vocis: That it succeeded in the room of
Prophesie: That it was by the Jews counted the Lowest degree of Revelation. What places in the New Testament are to be understood of it.
WE should come now briefly to speak of
the Highest degree of Divine Inspiration or
Prophesie taken in a general sense, which was the
Mosaical. But before we doe that, it may not be amiss to take notice of the
Lowest degree of Revelation among the Jews, which was inferiour to all that which they call by the name of
Prophesie: and This was their
[...],
Bath Ko
[...], Filia vocis, which was nothing else but some
Voice which was heard as descending from Heaven,
[Page 258] directing them in any affair as occasion served: which kind of Revelation might be made to one (as
Maimon. par. 2. c. 42.
More Nevoch. tells us) that was no way prepared for Prophesie.
Of this
Filia Vocis we have mention made in one of the Ancientest monuments of Jewish learning, which is
Pirke R. Eliezer c. 44. and otherwhere very frequently among the Jewish writers, as that which was a frequent thing after the ceasing of Prophesie among the Jews; of which more afterward.
Josephus
Archaeol. lib. 13. c. 18. tells a story of
Hircanus the High-Priest, how he heard
this Voice from Heaven, which told him of the victory which his Sons had got at
Cyzicum against
Antiochus the same day the battel was fought; and this (he saies) while he was offering up incense in the Temple,
[...], he was made partaker of a vocal converse with God, that is by a
[...].
This
R. Isaac Angarensis L. Cosri strongly urgeth against the
Karraei or
Scripturarii, (a sort of Jews that reject all Talmudical Traditions) that the grand Doctors of the Jews received such Traditions from the Lxxii Senators, who were guided either by a
[...], or something answerable to it, in the truth of things, after all Prophesie was ceased,
Maam. 3. §. 41.
[...], (i.)
There is a Tradition that the men of the great Sanhedrim were bound to be skill'd in the knowledge of all Sciences, and therefore it is much more necessary that Prophesie should not be taken from them, or that which should supplie its room, viz.
the Daughter of Voice, and the like. Thus he, according to the
Genius of
Talmudical learning, is pleased to expound
[Page 259] the place
Esay 2. where it is said, that
a law shall goe forth out of Sion, of the Consistorial Decrees of the Judges, Rulers and Priests of the Jews, and the great Senate of Lxxii Elders, whom he would needs perswade us to be guided infallibly by this
[...], or in some other way
[...] by some divine virtue, power or assistance alwaies communicated to them, as supposed at least that such an Heroical Spirit as that
Spirit of Fortitude which belonged to the
Judges and
Kings of Israel, and is called the
Spirit of God, (as
Maimonides in
More Nev. tells us) had perpetually cleaved to them.
But we shall here leave our Author to his Judaical superstition, and take notice of Two or Three places in the New Testament which seem to be understood perfectly of this
Filia vocis, which the constant Tradition of the Jews assures us to have succeeded in the room of
Prophesie. The first is
John 12. where this
Heavenly voice was conveighed to our Saviour as if it had been the noise of Thunder, but was not well understood by all those that stood by, who therefore thought that either it thundred, or that it was a mighty voice of some Angel that spake to him: ver. 28, 29.
Then came there a voice from Heaven, saying, I have both glorified my name, and will glorifie it again. The people therefore that stood by and heard it, said it thundered: others said that an Angel spake to him. So
Matt. 3. 17. after our Saviours
Baptisme, upon his coming out of the water, the Evangelist tells us that
the Heavens were opened, and that the Spirit of God descended upon him in the shape of a Dove, and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And last of all we meet with this kind of Voice upon our Saviour's
Transfiguration, Matth. 17. 5, 6. which
[Page 260] is there so described as coming out of a Cloud, as if it had been loud like the noise of Thunder,
Behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a Voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: which Voice it is said the three Disciples that were then with him in the Mount heard, as we are told in the following verse, and also 2
Pet. 1. 17, 18. From whence we are fully informed, that it was this
Filia Vocis we speak of which came for the Apostles sakes that were with him, as
a Testimonie of that glorie and honour with which God magnified his Son; which Apostles were not yet raised up to the Degree of
Prophesie, but only made partakers of a
Voice inferior to it. The words are these,
He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent Glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. Now that this was that very
[...] we speak of, which was inferior to
Prophesie, we may sufficiently learn from the next verse,
We have also a more sure word of Prophesie: For indeed
true Prophesie was counted much more Authentical then this
[...], as being a Divine Inspiration into the Mind of the Prophet; which this was not, but only a Voice that moved their Exteriour Senses; and by the mediation thereof informed their Minds. And thus we have done with this Argument.
CHAP. XI.
Of the Highest Degree of Divine Inspiration, viz. the
Mosaical. Four Differences between the Divine Revelations made to
Moses, and to the rest of the Prophets. How the Doctrine of men Prophetically inspired is to approve it self by Miracles, or by it's Reasonableness. The Sympathy and Agreeableness between an Holy Mind and Divine Truth.
WE now come briefly to enquire into the
Highest degree of Divine Inspiration, which was the
Mosaical, that by which the Law was given; and this we may best doe by searching out the Characteristical differences of
Moses's
Inspiration from that which was Technically called
Prophesie. And these we shall take out of
Maimon. his
De Fund. Legis, c. 7. where they are fully described according to the general strain of all the Rabbinical Doctrine delivered upon this Argument.
The first is, That
Moses was made partaker of these
1. Divine Revelations
per vigiliam, whereas God manifested himself to all the other Prophets in a
Dream or
Vision when their Senses were
[...],
What is the difference between the Prophesie of Moses and the Prophesie of all other Prophets? All other Prophets did prophesie in a Dream or Vision: but Moses our Master when he was waking and standing, according to what is written (Num. 7. 89.) And when Moses
[Page 262] was gone into the Tabernacle of the Congregation to speak with him,
(i. e. God) then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him. By which place in
Numb. it appears he had free recourse to this Heavenly Oracle at any time. And therefore the Talmudists have a Rule,
[...]
That Moses had never any Prophesie in the night-time, (i.) in a
Dream or
Vision of the night, as the other Prophets had.
The second difference is, That
Moses prophesied
2. without the mediation of any Angelical power, by an influence derived immediately from God; whereas in all other Prophesies (as we have shewed heretofore) some Angel still appeared to the Prophet,
[...],
All Prophets did prophesie by the help or ministery of an Angel, and therefore they did see that which they saw in parables or under some dark representation; but Moses prophesied without the ministery of an Angel. This he proves from Numbers 12. 8. where God saies of
Moses, I will speak with him mouth to mouth; and so Exod. 33. 11.
The Lord spake unto Moses face to face.
But we must not here so much adhere to that Exposition which
Maimonides and the rest of his Country-men give us of this place, as to forget what we are told in the New Testament concerning the Ministerie of Angels which God used in giving the Law it self: And so S.
Stephen discourseth of it, Acts 7. 53. and S.
Paul to the Galatians ch. 3. tells us,
the Law was given by the disposition of Angels in the hands of a Mediator, that is,
Moses, the Mediator then between God and the people. And therefore I should rather think the meaning of those words
[Face to face] to import the
clearness and evidence of the Intellectual
light wherein
[Page 263] God appeared to
Moses, which was greater then any of the Prophets were made partakers of. And therefore the old tradition goes of them, that they saw
[...]
in Speculo non lucido, whereas Moses saw
in Speculo lucido,
[...], as
Philo tells us (together with
Maimonides) in his Book,
Quis Rerum divin. haeres sit, that is, without any impressions or Images of things in his Imagination in an Hieroglyphical way, as was wont to be in all
Dreams and
Visions; but by characterizing all immediately upon his Understanding: though otherwise much of the Law was indeed almost little more for the main scope and aim of it but an Emblem or Allegory.
But there may be yet a farther meaning of those words
[Face to face,] and that is the
friendly and amicable way whereby all divine Revelations were made to
Moses; for so it is added in the Text,
As a man speaketh unto his friend.
And this is the third difference which
Maimonides assigns,
3. viz.
[...],
All the other Prophets were afraid and troubled and fainted; but Moses was not so: for the Scripture saith, God spake to him as a man speaks to his friend;
that is to say, As a man is not afraid to hear the words of his friend, so was Moses able to understand the words of Prophesie without any disturbance and astonishment of Mind.
The fourth and last difference is the Libertie of
Moses's
4. Spirit to prophesie at all times, as we heard before out of
Numb. 7. 89. He might have recourse at any time to the sacred Oracle (in the Tabernacle) which spake from between the Cherubins: and so
Maimonides lays down this difference,
[...],
None of the Prophets did prophesie at what time they would, save Moses, who was clothed with
[Page 264] the Holy Spirit when he would, and the Spirit of Prophesie did abide upon him: neither had he need to predispose his Mind or prepare himself for it, for he was alwaies disposed and in readiness as a ministring Angel; and therefore could he prophesie at what time he would, according to that which is spoken in Numb. 9. 8. Tarry you here a little, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you. Thus
Maimonides, who, I think, here somewhat hyperbolizeth, and scarce speaks consistently with the rest of the Hebrew Masters. For we may remember what we heard before concerning the Talmudical Tradition, that
Moses's mind was indisposed for Prophesie when he was transported with indignation against the Spies; though I think it is most probable that he had a greater libertie of prophesying then any other of the Prophets had.
Now this clear distinct kind of Inspiration made immediately upon an Intellectual facultie in a familiar way, which we see was the
gradus Mosaicus, was most fit and proper for
Laws to be administred in: which was excellently took notice of by
Plutarch in that Discourse of his,
[...], where he tells us the Poetrie that was usually interlaced with Riddles and Parables was taken away in his time, and a more familiar way of Prophesie brought in; though he by a Gentile superstition applies that to his
Pythia;
[...], &c.
God hath now taken away from his Oracles Poetrie, and the varietie of dialect, and circumlocution, and obscuritie; and hath so ordered them to speak to those that consult them, as the Laws doe to the Cities under their subjection, and Kings to their people, and Masters to their Scholars, in the most intelligible and porswasive
[Page 265] language. But by
Plutarch's leave this character agrees neither to his
Pythia, nor indeed to
Moses himself (who put a veil upon his face in giving the Law it self to the people) but to our Saviour alone, the Dispenser of the true Law of God inwardly to the Souls of Men; and therein conversing with them, not so much
[...], not so much
Face to Face as
Mind to Mind.
We have now seen what is this
gradus Propheticus Mosaicus, which indeed was necessarie should be transcendent and extraordinary, because it was the Basis of all future Prophesie among the Jews: For all the Prophets mainly aim at that to establish and confirm the Law of Moses, as to the practical observation of it; and therefore it was also so strongly manifested to the Israelites by Signs and Miracles done in the sight of all the people, and his familiaritie and acquaintance with Heaven testified to them all, the divine voice being heard by them all at Mount Sinai; which dispensation amounted at least to as much as a
[...] to the very lowest of the people. All which Considerations put
R. Phineas into such an admiration of this
[...] or
Statio montis Sinai, (as the Doctors are wont to call it) that he determines in
Pirke Eliezer, That all this Generation that heard the voice of the Holy Blessed God, was worthie to be accounted as the ministring Angels. But what
That Voice was which they heard, the later Jews are scarce well agreed: but
Maimonides, according to the most received opinion, in
More Nev. p. 2. c. 33. tells that they only heard those first words of the Law
distinctly, viz.
I am the Lord thy God, and,
Thou shalt have none other gods, &c. and but
only the sound of all the rest of the words in which the remainder of the Law was given: and this, as he saies,
[Page 266] was
the great Mysterie of that Station, so much spoken of by the Ancients.
And here by the way we may take notice, That that divine Inspiration which is conveighed to any one man, primarily benefits none but himself; and therefore many times, as
Maimonides tells us, it rested in this private use, not profiting any else but those to whom it came. And the reason of this is manifest, for that an Inspiration abstractly considered can only satisfie the mind of him to whom it is made, of its own Authoritie and Authenticalness (as we have shewed before:) And therefore that one man may know that another hath that Doctrine revealed to him by a Prophetical spirit which he delivers, he must also either be
inspired, and so be
in gradu Prophetico in a true sense, or be confirmed in the belief of it by some
Miracle, whereby it may appear that God hath committed his Truth to such an one, by giving him some signal power in altering the course of Nature; which indeed was the way by which the Prophets of old ordinarily confirmed their Doctrine, when they delivered any thing new to the people; which course our Saviour himself and his Disciples also took to confirm the Truth of the Gospel: Or else there must be so much
Reasonableness in the thing it self, as that by Moral arguments it may be sufficient to beget a belief in the Minds of sober and good men.
And I wish this last way of becoming acquainted with Divine Truth were better known amongst us: For when we have once attained to a true sanctified frame of Mind, we have then attained to the End of all Prophesie, and see all divine Truth that tends to the salvation of our Souls in the Divine light, which alwaies shines in the Puritie & Holiness of the New Creature,
[Page 267] and so need no further Miracle to confirm us in it. And indeed that God-like glory and majesty which appears in the naked simplicitie of true Goodness, will by its own Connateness and Sympathy with all saving Truth friendly entertain and embrace it.
CHAP. XII.
When the Prophetical Spirit ceased in the Jewish Church. The Cessation of Prophesie noted as a famous
Epocha by the Jews. The restoring of the Prophetical Spirit by Christ. Some passages to this purpose in the New Testament explained. When the Prophetical Spirit ceased in the Christian Church. That it did not continue long, proved by several Testimonies of the Antient Writers.
THus we have now done with
all those sorts of Prophesie which we find any mention of: And as a
Coronis to this Discourse we shall farther enquire a little
what Period of time it was in which this Prophetical Spirit ceased both in the Jewish and Christian Church. In which business because the Scripture it self is in a manner silent, we must appeal to such Histories as are like to be most Authentical in this business.
And first
for the Period of time when it ceased in the Jewish, I find our Christian writers differing.
Justin Martyr would needs perswade us that it was not till the
Aera Christiana. This he inculcates often in his Dialogue with
Trypho the Jew,
[...],
There
[Page 268] never ceased in your Nation either Prophet or Prince, till Jesus Christ was both born and had suffered. And so he often there tells us that
John the Baptist was the last Prophet of the Jewish Church; which conceit he seems to have made so much of, as thinking to bring in our Saviour
lumine Prophetico, with the greater evidence of Divine authoritie, as the promised
Messiah into the world. But
Clemens Alexandrinus hath much trulier, with the consent of all Jewish Antiquity, resolved us, that all Prophesie determin'd in
Malachy, in his
Strom. lib. 1. where he numbers up all the Prophets of the Jews, Thirty five in all, and
Malachy as the last. Though indeed the
Talmudists reckon up Fifty five Prophets and Prophetesses together,
Gem. Mass. Megil.
[...],
The Rabbins say that there were 48 Prophets and 7 Prophetesses that did prophesie to the Iraelites: Which after they had reckoned almost up, they tell us that
Malachy was the last of them, and that he was contemporary with
Mordecai, Daniel, Haggai, Zacharie, and some others (whose Prophesies are not extant) whom for their number sake they there reckon up, who all prophesied in the second year of
Darius. But commonly they make only these Three,
Haggai, Zacharie and
Malachy, to be
the last of the Prophets, and so call them
[...]; so
Massec. Sotah ch. last, where the
Misnical Doctors tell us, that from the time in which all the first Prophets expired, the Urim and Thummim ceased; and the Gemarists say that they are call'd
[...],
the First Prophets,
[...],
in opposition to Haggai, Zacharie and Malachy, which are the Last. And so
Maimon. and
Bartenor. tell us that the
Prophetae priores were so called, because they prophesied in the
[Page 269] times
[...] of the first Temple, and the
Posteriores, because they prophesied in the time of the second Temple: and when these
later Prophets died, then all Prophesie expired, and there was left, as they say, only a
Bath Kol to succeed some time in the room of it. So we are told
Gem. Sanhedrim c. 1. §. 13.
[...]
Our Rabbins say, that from that time the later Prophets died, the Holy Spirit was taken away from Israel; nevertheless they enjoyed the Filia vocis: and this is repeated
Massec. Joma c. 1. Now all that time which the Spirit of Prophesie lasted among the Jews under the second Temple, their Chronologie makes to be but Forty years. So the Author of the Book
Cosri, Maam. 3. §. 39.
[...], (i.)
The continuance of Prophesie under the time of the second Temple was almost forty years. And this
R. Jehuda his Scholiast confirms out of an Historico-Cabbalistical Treatise of
R. Abraham Ben Dior. and a little after he tells us, that after forty years their
Sapientes were called
Senators,
[...],
after forty years were pass'd, all the Wise-men were called The Men of the great Synagogue. And therefore the Author of that Book useth this
Aera of the Cessation of Prophesie; and so this is commonly noted as a famous
Epocha among all their Chronologers, as the Book
Juchasin, the
Seder Olam Zuta, as
R. David Gantz hath summ'd them all up in his chronological History put forth lately by
Vorstius. The like may be observed from 1
Maccab. 9. 27. and chap. 4. 46. and chap. 14. 41.
This
Cessation of Prophesie determined as it were all that old Dispensation wherein God hath manifested
[Page 270] himself to the Jews under the Law, that so that growing old and thus wearing away, they might expect that new Dispensation of the Messiah which had been promised so long before, and which should again restore this Prophetical Spirit more abundantly. And so this
Interstitium of Prophesie is insinuated by Joel 2. in those words concerning
the later times; In those days shall your Sons and Daughters Prophesie, &c. And so S.
Peter Acts 2. makes use of the place to take off that admiration which the Jews were possess'd withall to see so plentiful an effusion of the
Prophetical Spirit again: And therefore this
Spirit of Prophesie is called the
Testimonie of Jesus in the Apocalypse, ch. 19.
According to this notion we must understand that passage in
John 7. 39. The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. To which that in
Ephes. 4. He ascended up on high, and gave gifts unto men, plainly answers: As likewise the Answer which the Christians at
Ephesus made to
Paul, Acts 19. when he asked them whether they had received the Holy ghost,
That they knew not whether there was a Holy ghost (that is) whether there were any
Extraordinary Spirit, or
Spirit of Prophesie restored again to the Church or not, as hath been well observed of late by some learned men. But enough of this.
We come now briefly to dispatch the second Enquiry, viz.
What time the Spirit of Prophesie, which was again restored by our Saviour, ceased in the Christian Church. It may be thought that S.
John was the
last of Christian
Prophets, for that the
Apocalypse is the latest dated of any Book which is received into the Canon of the New Testament. But I know no place of Scripture that intimates any such thing, as if the
Spirit of Prophesie was so soon to expire. And indeed if
[Page 271] we may believe the Primitive Fathers, it did not; though it overliv'd S.
John's time but a little.
Hist. Eccles. lib. 3. §. 37.
Eusebius tells us of one
Quadratus
[...],
who together with the daughters of Philip had the gift of Prophesie. So the report was. This
Quadratus, as he tells us, lived in
Trajan's time, which was but at the beginning of the second Century. And a little after, speaking of good men in that age, he adds,
[...],
Many strange and admirable virtues of the Divine Spirit as yet shewed forth themselves by them. And the same Author lib. 4. §. 18. tells us out of
Justin Martyr, who lived in the middle of the second Century, and then writ his Apologie for the Christians, That
the Gift of Prophesie was still to be seen in the Church,
[...]
Vide Justin. Martyr. in Dial. cum Tryphone Judaeo,
[...].. Yet not long afterward there is little or no remembrance of the Prophetical spirit remaining in the Church. Hence the
Montanists are by some of the Fathers proved to be no better then Dissemblers when they pretended to the Gift of
Prophesie, for that it was then ceased in the Church. And so
Eusebius tells us lib. 5. §. 3. and withall that
Montanus and his Complices only took advantage of that Virtue of
working wonders which yet appeared (as was reported, though doubtfully) in some places, to make a semblance of
the Spirit of Prophesie;
[...].
But then
[Page 272] especially did Montanus, Alcibiades and Theodotus raise up in many an opinion that they prophesied: And this belief was so much the more increased concerning their prophesying, for that as yet in several Churches were wrought many Miraculous and Stupendious effects of the Holy Spirit; though yet there was no perfect agreement in their opinion about this.
To conclude this, (and to hasten to an End of this Discourse of
Prophesie,) There is indeed in Antiquity more frequent mention of some
And that the Gift of working Miracles was ceased in his time, S.
Chrysostome doth more then once affirm,
[...], l. 4.
de Sacerdotio, &c. The like is affirmed by S.
Austin.
Miracles wrought in the name of Christ; but less is said concerning
the Prophetical Virtue, especially after the second Century. That it was rare, and to be seen but sometimes, and more obscurely in some few Christians only who had attained to a good degree of Self-purification, is intimated by that of
Origen in his 7
th Book against
Celsus.
[...].
CHAP. XIII.
Some Rules and Observations concerning Prophetical Writ in general.
WE should now shut up all this Discourse about
Prophesie; only before we conclude, it may not be amiss to add a few Rules for the better understanding of
Prophetical Writ in general.
1. The First, (which yet we shall rather put under debate,) is concerning
the Style and Manner of languaging
[Page 273] all pieces of Prophesie; whether that was not peculiarly the work of the Prophet himself; whether it does not seem that the Prophetical Spirit dictated the Matter only or principally, yet did leave the words to the Prophet himself. It may be considered that God made not use of Idiots or Fools to reveal his Will by, but such whose Intellectuals were entire and perfect; and that he imprinted such a clear copy of his Truth upon them, as that it became their own Sense, being digested fully into their Understandings; so as they were able to deliver and represent it to others as truly as any can paint forth his own Thoughts. If the Matter and Substance of things be once lively in the Mind,
verba non invita sequentur: And according as that
Matter operates upon the
Mind and
Phantasie, so will the
Phrase and
Language be in which it is express'd. And therefore I think to doubt whether the Prophets might not mistake in representing the Mind of God in their Prophetical Inspirations, except all their
Words had been also dictated to them, is to question whether they could speak Sense as wise men, and tell their own Thoughts and Experiences truly or not. And indeed it seems most agreeable to the nature of all these Prophetical
Visions and
Dreams we have discoursed of, wherein the nature of the Enthusiasme consisted in a Symbolical and Hieroglyphical shaping forth of Intelligible things in their Imaginations, and enlightning the Understanding of the Prophets to discern the scope and meaning of these
Visa or
Phantasmata; that those
Words and Phrases in which they were audibly express'd to the Hearers afterwards or penned down, should be the Prophets own: For the Matter was not (as seems evident from what hath been said) represented alwaies by
Words, but by
Things. Though I know that sometime
[Page 274] in these Visions they had a
Voice speaking to them; yet it is not likely that Voice should so dilate and comment so largely upon things, as it was fit the Prophet should doe when he repeated the same things to vulgar ears.
It may also further be considered That our Saviour and his Apostles generally quote Passages out of the Old Testament as they were translated by the Lxx, and that where the Lxx have not rendered them
verbatim, but have much varied the manner of phrasing things from the Original; as hath been abundantly observed by Philologers: Which it is not likely they would have done, had the Original words been the very Dictate of the Spirit; for certainly that would seem not to need any such Paraphrastical variations, as being of themselves full and clear enough; besides herein they might seem to weaken the Authenticalness of the Divine Oracles. And indeed hath not the swerving from this Notion made some of late conceit (though erroneously) the Translation of the Lxx to be more Authentical then the Hebrew, which they would needs perswade us had been corrupted by the Jews, our Saviour declining the Phraseologie thereof?
Besides, we find the Prophets speaking every one of them in his own Dialect; and such a Varietie of Style and Phraseologie appears in their Writings, as may argue them to have spoken according to their own proper
Genius: which is observed by the Jews themselves (who are most zealously, as is well known, devoted to the very Letter of the Text) in all the Prophets except
Moses, and that part of
Moses only which contains the
Decalogue. And hence we have that Rule
Gem. Sanhedr.
[...],
The same form doth not ascend
[Page 275] upon two Prophets, neither doe both of them prophesie in the same form. Which Rule
Cocceius confesseth he knows not the meaning of: But
Abarbanel, who better understood the Mind of his own Compatriots, in his Comment upon
Jeremy ch. 49. gives us a full account of it, upon occasion of some Phrases in that Prophesie concerning
Edom, parallel to what we find in
Obadiah. From this congruencie of the Style in both he thus takes occasion to lay down our present Notion as the Sense of that former Theorem,
[...],
The Prophets did not prophesie in the same manner as Moses did: For he prophesied from God immediately, from whom he received not only the Prophesie, but also the very Words and Phrases; and accordingly as he heard them, so he wrote them in the Book of the Law, in the very same words which he heard from God: but as for the rest of the Prophets, they beheld in their Visions the things themselves which God made known to them, and both declared and expressed them in their own Phraseologie.
Thus we see he ascribes the
Phrase and
Style every where to the Prophet himself, except only in the
Law, which he supposeth to have been dictated
totidem verbis: which is probable enough, if he means
the Law strictly so taken,
viz. for the
Decalogue, as it is most likely he doth. And again a little after,
[...]
The things themselves they saw in Prophesie, but they themselves did explain and interpret them in that Dialect which was most familiar to them. And this, as he there tells, was the reason why the same kind of Phraseologie occurred not among the Prophets, according to the sense of the Talmudists Maxime we mentioned. The like the Jewish Scholiasts observe upon those
[Page 276] false Prophets who did all
uno ore bid
Ahab ascend up to
Ramoth-Gilead and prosper,
[...],
Unus idemque loquendi modus nunquam reperitur in duobus Prophetis: And therefore they made it an argument that these were false Prophets, because they did
idem Canticum canere, for they all said,
Goe up and prosper. And thus the Heathenish Philosopher
Plutarch, in his
[...], thought likewise concerning his Oracle, telling us,
That all Enthusiasme is a mixture of two Motions, the one is impress'd upon the Soul which is Gods Organ, the other ariseth from it; and therefore he saies,
[...],
All Prophetical Enthusiasme, like as also that which is Amatorious, doth make use of the subject facultie, and moves every Recipient according to it's disposition and nature. And thence he thus excuseth the rough and unpolish'd language in which the Oracles were sometime deliver'd, most fitly to our purpose describing Prophetical Inspiration,
[...],
For neither the voice, nor sound, nor phrase, nor metre is from God, but from Pythia her self; God only suppeditates the phantasms, and kindles a light in the Soul to signifie future things: For all Enthusiasme is after this manner. Hence was that old saying of
Heraclitus,
[...],
That the King whose Oracle is at Delphi,
neither plainly expresses, nor conceals, but only obscurely intimates by signs. But to conclude this first Particular, I shall add by way of caution,
[Page 277] We must not think that we can vary Scripture-expression so securely with retaining the true meaning, except we likewise had as real an understanding of the Sense it self as the Prophets had, over whom God also did so far superintend in their copying forth his Truth, as not to suffer them to swerve from his meaning. And so we have done with that Particular.
2. In the next place, for the better understanding all Prophetical writ, we must observe That there is sometimes a seeming inconsistence in things spoken of, if we shall come to examine them by the strict Logical rules of Method: we must not therefore in the matter of any
Prophetical Vision look for a constant Methodical contexture of things carried on in a perpetual coherence. The Prophetical Spirit doth not tie it self to these Rules of Art, or thus knit up its Dictates Systematically, fitly framing one piece or member into a combination with the rest, as it were with the joints and sinews of Method: For this indeed would rather argue an humane and artificial contrivance then any Inspiration, which as it must beget a Transportation in the Mind, so it must spend it self in such Abrupt kind of Revelations as may argue indeed the Prophet to have been inspired. And therefore
Tully lib. 2.
de Divinat. judiciously excepts against the Authenticalness of those Verses of the
Sibylls which he met with in his time, (and which were the same perhaps with those we now have) because of those
Acrosticks and some other things which argued an elaborate artifice, and an affected diligence of the Writer, and so indeed
non furentis erant, sed adhibentis diligentiam, as he speaks.
Lumen Propheticum est lumen abruptum, as was well noted anciently by the Jews. And therefore the Masters of Jewish Tradition have laid down this Maxime,
[Page 278]
[...],
Non est prius & posterius in Lege, We must not seek for any Methodical concatenation of things in
the Law, or indeed in any other part of
Prophetical writ; it being a most usual thing with them many times
[...] to knit the Beginning and End of Time together.
Nescit tarda molimina Spiritûs Sancti gratia, is true also of the Grace or Gift of Prophesie. We find no curious Transitions, nor true dependence many times of one thing upon another; but things of very different natures, and that were cast into periods of time secluded one from another by vast intervals, all couched together in the same Vision; as
Jerome hath observed in many places, and therefore tells us,
Non curae fuit Spiritui prophetali historiae ordinem sequi. And thus he takes notice in
Daniel 11. 2. that whereas there were Thirteen Kings between
Cyrus and
Alexander the Great, the Prophet speaks of but Four, skipping over the rest, as if the other Nine had fill'd up no part of the interval. The like he observes upon
Jeremy 21. 1. and otherwhere; as likewise sudden and abrupt Introductions of persons, Mutations of persons,
(Exits and
Intrats upon this Prophetical stage being made as it were in an invisible manner) and Transitions from the voice of one person to another. The Prophetical Spirit though it make no noise and tumult in its motions, yet it is most quick, spanning as it were from the Centre to the Circumference; it moves most swiftly, though most gently. And thus
Philo's observation is true,
[...]. There must be some kind of
[...] in all Prophesie, as
In his Quis rerum Divinarum haeres sit.
Philo tells us,
[...],
When divine light ariseth upon the Horizon of the Soul of Man, his own humane light sets: It must at least hide it self
[Page 279] as a lesser light, as it were by an
Occasus Heliacus, under the beams of the greater, and be wholly subject to the irradiations and influences of it.
[...], as he goes on,
Therefore the setting of a mans own Discursive facultie and the eclipsing thereof begets an Ecstasis and a divine kind of Mania.
3. The last Rule we shall observe is, That no piece of Prophesie is to be understood of the state of the World to come or the
Mundus animarum: For indeed it is altogether impossible to describe that, or to comprehend it in this life. And therefore all divine Revelation in Scripture must concern some state in this world. And so we must understand all those places that treat of
a new Heaven and a new Earth, and such like. And so we must understand the
new Jerusalem mentioned in the New Testament, in that Prophetical book of the
Apocalypse, ch. 21. And thus the Jews were wont universally to understand them, according to that Maxime we now speak of ascribed to
R. Jochanan in
Massec. Berac. c. 5.
[...]
All the Prophets prophesied to the daies of the Messiah; but as for the world to come, Eye hath not seen it. So they constantly expound that passage in
Esay 64. 4. Since the beginning of the world Men have not heard, nor perceived by the Eare, neither hath the Eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. And according to this Aphorisme our Saviour seems to speak, when he saies,
All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, Mat. 11. 13.
[...], i. e. They prophesied to or for that Dispensation which was to begin with
John, who lived in the time of the twilight as it were between the Law and
[Page 280] the Gospel. They prophesied of those things which should be accomplished within the period of Gospel-Dispensation which was usher'd in by
John.
As for the state of Blessedness in Heaven, it is
major Mente humanâ, much more is it
major Phantasia. But of this in part heretofore.
An Advertisement.
THE Reader may remember That our Author in the beginning of his Treatise
of the Immortality of the Soul, propounded these Three great Principles of Religion to be discoursed of; 1.
The Immortalitie of the Soul, 2. The Existence and Nature of God, 3. The Communication of God to Mankind through Christ. And having spoken largely to the Two former Principles of Natural Theology, he thought it fit (as a Preparation to the Third, which imports the Revelation of the Gospel) to speak something concerning
Prophesie, the way whereby Revealed Truth is dispensed to us. Of this he intended
to treat but a little (they are his words in the beginning of the Treatise of
Prophesie) and then pass on to the Third and Last part, viz.
Those Principles of Revealed Truth which tend most of all to advance and cherish true and real Piety. But in his discoursing of
Prophesie so many considerable Enquiries offered
[Page 281] themselves to his thoughts, that by that time he had finished this Discourse (designed at first only as a Preface) his Office of being Dean and Catechist in the Colledge did expire. Thus far had the Author proceeded in that year of his Office: and it was not long after that Bodily distempers and weaknesses began more violently to seize upon him, which the Summer following put a Period to his life here; (a life so every way beneficial to those who had the happiness to converse with him.)
Sic multis ille bonis flebilis occidit. Thus he who designed to speak of God's
Communication of Himself to Mankind through Christ, was taken up by God into a more inward and immediate participation of Himself in Blessedness. Had he liv'd and had health to have finish'd the remaining part of his designed Method, the Reader may easily conceive what a Valuable piece that Discourse would have been. Yet that he may not altogether want the Authors labours upon such an Argument, I thought good in the next place to adjoine a Discourse of the like importance and nature, (delivered heretofore by the Author in some Chappel-Exercises) from which I shall not detain the Reader by any more of Preface.
A SERMON PREACHED AT THE FUNERAL OF M
r JOHN SMITH late Fellow of
Queens College in
Cambridge, who departed this life
Aug. 7. 1652.
And lyes interred in the
Chappel of the same College.
WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT of his Life and Death.
BY SIMON PATRICK, then Fellow of
Queens College.
Prov. 10. 7.
The memory of the Just is blessed.
2 KINGS, 2. 12.
‘And Elisha saw it, and he cryed, My Father, My Father, the Chariot of Israel, and the Horsemen thereof.’
WHen I saw the blessed
Spirit of our
Brother, shall I say? or, our
Father, making hast out of that
Body which lyes before us, these words which I have now read came into my Mind: And methought I saw the good
Genius of this place, which inspired us with so much sense of Learning and Goodness, taking its flight and leaving this lower world: At whom my Soul catch'd, as I fansied
Elisha to have done at
Elijah, and I cryed out,
O my Father, My Father, &c. Desirous I was (me-thought) that his
[...] might have been a little while deferr'd; that I might have stai'd the wheels of that Triumphant chariot wherein he seemed to be carried; that we might have kept him a little longer in this world, till by his holy breathings into our Souls, and the Grace of God, we had been all made meet to
[Page 484] have some share in that inheritance of the Saints in light: and so he might have gone to Heaven with his Train, taking all his Friends along with him as Attendants to that Glory and Honour wherewith I make no doubt he is crowned. It grieved me in my thoughts that there should be so many Orphans left without a
Father, a Society left naked without one of her best Guardians and Chieftains, her very
Chariot and Horsemen; unto whose instruction and brave conduct not a few of us will acknowledge that they owe much of their skill and abilities. For I do not fear to say, as
Antoninus doth of the
Best man, that he was
[...], a Priest or Minister of God's who was very subservient to him in his great work. If he was not a
Prophet like
Elijah, yet I am sure he was
[...] (as
Gr. Nazianzen I think speaks of
S. Basil) an Interpreter of the Spirit, and very well acquainted with his mind; a man sent down from heaven for our good, and is now gone thither from whence he came, leaving us behind him here, a company of poor Fatherless children, the Sons of this Prophet, weeping and crying out,
O my Father, my Father, the Chariot of Israel, and the Horsemen thereof.
Which sad note would have been most fitly
[Page 485] sung just at the Ascension of his holy Soul: yet give me leave to descant a while upon it, now that we are come to inter his Body, which was the dark Shadow where that admirable and illustrious Learning, Wisdome and Godliness, walk'd up and down and shone through upon the world.
You will easily see at the first glance that Something will here offer it self to be said of
Elijah, and Something of
Elisha: Of
Elijah, in that he is called
Father, the Chariot and Horsemen of Israel; of
Elisha, in that he applies this relation to himself, saying,
My Father,
My Father.
Concerning
Elijah we may observe
First,
His Superiority, Eminency, and Dignity.
Secondly,
His singular Care which he took of others.
Thirdly,
His great Usefulness, or
the Benefit which his Country enjoyed by him.
Concerning
Elisha we may observe the Expression of Three things likewise;
First,
Of his great Affection and Love.
Secondly,
Of the Sense he felt of his loss.
Thirdly,
Of that Honour which he gave him, or
that Respect and Regard which he had unto him.
I shall speak a little of all these, and then parallel our Case as well as I can to Both.
[Page 486] 1. Observe
Elijah's
Eminency, Superiority, Dignity and Worth; which is both signified in the word
Father, and also in the other Expressions,
the Chariot, and Horsemen of Israel. The
Talmudists say of the word
Abba, which is near of kin as can be to this in the Text,
[...]
Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud.
[...], Abba
is a word of honour and glory, even as Rabbi: whence the Latine
Abbas, and our English
Abbot, have been derived to denote the greatest person in a Society. And therefore whom he here calls
Father, is called verse 3 and 5.
Master or
Lord, Know'st thou not that Jehovah will take
[...]
thy Lord, or
Master, from thee today? Elijah was the Head in the Body of the Prophets, the
Dux gregis, a main leading man among the rest. And this was by reason of his Wisdome, Experience and gray-headed Understanding, expressed in the word
Father. He was a Sage and grave person, such an Head as was full of Prudence, Skill & Advice, wherein were molded many sober and wise Resolutions, many weighty and mature Determinations, profound and deep Notions, holy and pious Counsels for the teaching of rawer and greener heads. He was one that did imitate God
the Father of all, and in some sort represent him here below, being an
Oracle among men. And such
[Page 487] Instruments God hath alwaies in the world, Men of greater height and stature then others, whom he sets up as torches on an hill to give light to all the Regions round about; Men of publick and universal influence, like the Sun it self which illuminates all and is not sparing of its beams; Men whose Souls come into the world (as the
Chaldee Oracle speaks)
clothed with a great deal of Mind, more impregnated then others with Divine notions, and having more teeming Wombs to inrich the world with the fruit of them: Men of wide and capacious Souls that can grasp much; and of inlarged, open Hearts, to give forth that freely unto men which the
[...]
the Fatherly Mind (as the same Oracle calls God) hath given unto them; that so in some sort they may become
Fathers in the world in subordination to God. The Sun of Righteousness Jesus Christ is described with
seven stars in his right hand, Revelat. 1. which were the
Angels of the Churches; Men (its like) who were adorn'd and beautified with more then ordinary brightness of Mind and Understanding, and did sparkle with more then common heat of Love and Piety, and did shine as Lights in the world in the midst of a
[Page 488] crooked and perverse generation.
Elijah was such an one; and so was the other
Elias, John the Baptist,
a burning and a shining light; and so also
John 5. 35. shall we find our
Father that is deceased to have been.
2. Take notice of
the Care which Elijah
took of Elisha, and that first as a
Master of his
Scholar, and secondly as a
Father of his
Son, or if you will have both in one, as a
Fatherly Master. Elisha calls him by this name of
Father, because he was
his Scholar; and they used commonly to give this
title to their
Masters or
Teachers: whence
Pirke Avoth among the Jews,
Capitula Patrum, is a Book that contains the wise Sayings & Apophthegms of their Doctors. And so
[...], in the New Testament,
that which is received by Tradition
1 Peter 1. 18.
from their Fathers, signifies nothing else but what their Doctors and learned men in the Law delivered to them; and therefore they are sometimes called
the Traditions of the Elders. Jubal is called
the Father
of such as handle the Harp, Gen. 4. 21. which signifies the same with that which is said of his Brother, verse 22.
He was an Instructer
of artificers in brass and Iron. And hence
Solomon saith so often,
My Son, hear the instruction of a Father. So that
[...]
my Father, my Father, in
[Page 489] the Text is nothing else but
[...]
my Master, my Master. Elijah taught and instructed him out of the Law, but with such a care and
Fatherly affection, that
Elisha was truly his
Son as well as his
Scholar, one whom he loved and tendered, whom he wrap'd as a child in his Mantle when he was following the plough, whom he begot into another shape and made another man, in whose heart he sowed the seeds of true righteousness and godliness, that he might doe more good in the world. For what God doth by Men, that they many times are said to doe. Hence the Apostles call Christians
their little children, and
dear children, whom they had
travailed in birth withall, till Christ was formed in them. They lay in
Gal. 4. the Apostles wombs, & they brought them forth
Christians, and so were truly their
Spiritual Fathers. And we may still see such
noble Souls which God continues amongst men,
whose mouths (as
Prov. 10. 11, 20, 21.
Solomon saies)
are as a well of life, whose lips feed many, and whose tongues are as choice Silver: Men that are
[...]
common Fathers, and will embrace every body as a
Son, so they be but willing to be taught; that have the whole World for their School, and are instilling wholesom notions and rectified apprehensions into mens Minds, and implanting
the Truth which is after Godliness in their
Tit. 1. 1.
[Page 490] hearts: Men that in all meekness, tenderness and Fatherly affection reprove those that oppose themselves; that endeavour to bring them into their wombs, that (if it be possible) they may beget the life of God and of his Son Christ in their Souls: Men who cherish and foster the least gasping, panting life that is in any Soul; who endeavour to free this life from any obstructions that dull and oppress it: and so in every sense prove themselves to be the true
Fathers of the Church,
Common Fathers (as before I expressed it) neither bound up in themselves, nor addicted to any particular Sect, but minding the good of all: Who think that they were not born for themselves, nor to be linked to this or that Body or party of men; but are to be
perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect, who doth good to all, even to the evil and unthankful. A
[...] or natural affection there is in them, which makes them think that every mans childe is their own; and if they could hatch any heavenly life in them, they would willingly cover them under their wings. Such a person was
S. Paul, who went through fire and water, had a pilgrimage through this world upon nothing but briers and thorns, out of his great love that he bare to men:
The care of all the Churches lay
2 Cor. 11. 28, 29.
[Page 491]
upon him; and no man could be weak, but he was weak also; no man was offended, but he burned, it put him in a kind of fever: and all this was easie to him, because he had the bowels of a
Father. Such another was
S. John, who hath every where in his mouth,
My little children. A good old Father he was who breathed forth nothing but
Love to man. And it need be no offence, if I add there was a
Socrates in
Athens; who had so much of this kind of Spirit in him, that he stiled himself
[...],
a Servant of love, and professed that he knew nothing but how to love. He would often acknowledge himself to be an
Ignoramus in all those things whereinto their wise men used to enquire, and that he could say nothing in those Controversies that were agitated about the Gods and such like, (as
Max. Tyrius expresly tells us) but he durst not deny himself to have skill in that
[...],
in the Art of love, wherein he was continually busied and imploied; instructing of their Youth, amending of their Manners and making them truely vertuous; which thing the ungrateful wretches of the City called
corrupting of their children. And truly it is very often the Lot of these
Fathers, which I am speaking of, who nourish up Youth in true piety and vertue, to be esteemed by many
[Page 492] the corrupters of the fountain,
Pestes rather then
Patres of the places where they live. But they fare no worse then
Elijah did, who was accounted
the Troubler of Israel, though he was
the Chariot and Horsemen thereof; a man so useful, that they could not tell how to want him, though they knew not how to value him. And that is the third thing to which I am to proceed: Only let me intreat you that you would think within yourselves in my passage,
Such an one was the party deceased.
3. We have here observable
the Usefulness of Elijah; he was not only a
Father, but the
Chariot and Horsemen of Israel, the Security and Safeguard of the place where he was. He calls him by this name in an allusion to the Chariot wherein he was fetched to heaven, and would express by this form of speech the good service he did for Israel. He was in stead of an
Army to them; like
David, worth ten thousand of the people. He
[...] Sam. 18. 3. alone was able to fight with all their enemies, and by his force to break all their Legions in pieces. And indeed all Good men, especially men of extraordinary Wisdome and Godliness (such as I have been speaking of) are the Guard and Defence of the towns where they reside, yea of the Country whereof they are Members. They
[Page 493] are the Tutelar Angels of a Nation, men that can doe more by their prayers and tears, their vertuous and holy actions, then an host of men, wherein none is of less valour then
Samson or the fam'd
Hercules and
Achilles. How had it been with Israel, had it not been for
Moses, the
meekest man on earth, and yet
terrible as an army with banners? And in what a case had
Samaria often been, if it had not been for this
Elisha the son of
Elijah, who was encompassed about with Chariots and horses of fire to fight at his command? What if I say of such men in the
Platonists phrase, That they are
[...],
the Keepers of the world, that preserve it from being made like to
Sodom and
Gomorrah? And if there had been
but Ten of these holy Champions there, they had shielded their heads from the arrows of the Almighty, and kept the showers of fire and brimstone from raining upon them Good men are the Life-guard of the World, next to God and good Angels they are the Walls and Bulwarks of a nation; for
by their strength they have power with God, as it is said of
Hos. 12. 3.
Jacob. And so the
Chaldee Paraphrast reads these words of my Text,
Thou wast better to Israel by thy prayers then Chariot and Horsemen. They are the Glory of the world, and without them it would be but a rude rabble, a Beast with many heads
[Page 494] and no brains, a mere Chaos and Confusion. And it is by reason of them that it doth not run into such disorder as a company of Children would doe without their Father, or as a multitude of mad Souldiers without their skilful Leader and Commander.
And so I have briefly set before you what
Elijah was, what those who are Eminent for Godliness are, what every good man ought in some measure to be, and what you shall shortly hear our deceased
Father was in an high degree: Men of worth and great renown,
[...] (in a good sense)
men of Name, men that may be taken notice of in the world, that shine by their Wisdome, Justice and Goodness, that chear the world by their Love and Fatherly care of all, that heartily endeavour to doe good, and would not for a world see men perish if they can help it; in a word, men that are as the Soul of the world, without whom it would be a stinking and unsufferable place.
2. Now let us look a while upon
Elisha, and see what he thought of such a man. And
1. We meet with
his great Affections expressed in the very Form of the Words,
My Father, my Father. Methinks I feel within my self with
[Page 495] what pure, dear and ardent love he spake these words; what a glowing fire there was in his breast when he thought of his spiritual Father. He burnt in love to him, as if some spark had fallen from
Elijah's fiery Chariot into his Heart: He was all in a desire, as if the Angels that fetcht his Father, had lent him a waft of their wings, whereby he strove to fly with him to Heaven. There is not a child that can cry more after the breasts that give it suck and the arms of her that carried it in her wombe, then he calls and cries after his
Father, O my Father, my Father! where shall I find my Father? what will become of me without my Father? A tender love and kindness there is to be in our Hearts to all men of what nature or nation soever; no man ought to be
[...]
a lover of himself, but
[...]
a lover of mankind: Yet a more singular cleaving of Souls there should be to those that are good; but the most unspeakable and greatest adhaesion and union to those by whom we have profited in Wisdome and Godliness, and whose lips have dropped the words of life into our Minds. For, as
Solomon
Prov. 20. 15. hath it,
There is Gold, and a multitude of rubies; but the lips of knowledge are a pretious Jewel. We should stand affected to them as the
Galatians to
Gal. 4. 15.
S. Paul, who would have pull'd out their very
[Page 496] eyes, and given them unto him. They ought to be to us
oculis chariores, (as the ordinary phrase is) dearer then our eyes: by which speech God expresses his extraordinary love to his people Israel, saying that he kept them
as the apple of his eye. And indeed it can scarce be otherwise but that there should be an unknown love between such persons, there being such a secret fascination in frequent converse and familiarity, as entices a mans Soul and Heart out of himself. Those Precepts which we imbibe from anothers mouth, naturally call forth a strong affection to flow from us to him; and he who inflames our Souls with love to God, will certainly enkindle a subordinate love within us to himself. The words of Wisdome smite an ingenuous Soul
[...] as with a dart (if I may use
Greg. Thaumaturgus his expression concerning
Origen's Discourses) and cannot but wound it both with a love to Wisdom & him that shoots those piercing arrows into its Heart. They bind a tractable Soul
[...], as it werein indissoluble necessities, so that it cannot but love those words & kiss the mouth also from whence they flow unto it A teachable Mind will hang about a wise mans neck, and thereby they come to cleave and cling as fast together as the Soul of
Jonathan
[Page 497] did unto the Soul of
David. So the aforesaid
Gregory speaks of himself and
Origen,
[...], &c.
This David
(meaning Origen)
hath intangled and bound up my Soul in such necessary fetters of Love, he hath so tyed and even knit me to him, that if I would be disengaged, I cannot quit my self. No,
[...],
though we depart out of this world, our love cannot die; for I love him even as my own Soul; and so my affection must remain for ever. The words of the wise (saith Solomon)
are as goads, and as nails fastned by the Masters of the Assemblies, Eccles. 12. 11. If a Master fix his Doctrine in his Scholars mind, he nailes himself likewise with the same stroke
quasi trabali clavo, by a pin as strong as a beam, to his Scholars heart:
They mingle Souls as they doe Notions, and mutually pass into each other.
2. We have here likewise
the Sense which Elisha
had of his great loss. For these Words are Expressions of
Sorrow and Lamentation, as appears by the words following,
And he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in pieces: and also from chap. 13. 14. where we find
Joash weeping over this
Elisha, and saying these very words of my Text,
O my Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel, and the Horsemen thereof. And methinks I see
Elisha himself
[Page 498] here bedewing his cheeks with tears, and hear these words sob'd and sighed out of his Heart, having lost his dear Father, one that took such special care of him whilst he was in the world. Methinks I see his Heart rent as well as his Garments, and there I see
Elijah graven in letters as great as was his Love. How could he look on himself and not lament to think that he had lost his Head? how could he behold Israel unguarded, and not throw off his own clothes as a token of his
Sorrow? It is said of
Jehoiakim Jer. 22. 18. That
they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my Brother, or ah my Sister; they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah Lord, or ah his Glory: which both shews that this is a Form of speech to denote
sorrow; and that it is an
Honour wicked men shall want, that none shall bemoan their Departure. But the Just shall be had in everlasting remembrance, they shall die desired; and those who can value them, will not let them pass away in silence and with dry eyes. No Tears are spent so well as for the want of God and a good Friend, or a Good man, especially such a one as i before described. And indeed who can think of his gracious lipps, his profitable and delightful converse, his cordial love, without a sigh and a tear, without saying,
Ah my Father, Ah his Glory?
[Page 499] No man will be sooner miss'd then such an one as he: Ten thousand others may steal out of the world, and no body scarce mind or inquire after them; but let
Elijah goe away, and you shall have fifty men goe three days to seek him, that if it be possible they may enjoy his company a while longer. We find that
Jesus himself wept for his friend
Lazarus Joh. 11. 35. at which the Jews said,
Behold how he loved him. Two Souls joined together in cordial love cannot part without a groan, especially a Son and his Father, a Scholar and his Master. The Child cannot hold it self from crying when it wants the Breast that used to feed it; nor can a Soul thirsty of knowledg but be pained, when the Fountain is stop'd that used to quench it. There are not so many of these men in the world but their loss will be as soon felt as the want of a stake in a rotten hedg, or of a Buttress against a bowing wall. He who knows one to have been a Light in the world and a Lamp unto him, will surely be melancholy and sad, when he sees that Light goe out and himself left in the dark, without that
[...], those chearful and beloved beams which used to shine upon him, to illuminate and warm his Soul with a true knowledg and love of all real goodness.
[Page 500] 3. We may further take notice
of the Honourable thoughts he had of Elijah,
of the Reverence, Worship and Respect which he gave unto him. For so we may look upon these Words as an Expression of
the high Esteem he had of him, and
Regard he bare to him, even after he was gone from this Earth, and could do no more kindnesses for him.
Elisha, who had been a minister to him when he was below, and used to powre water upon his hands, could not but have very reverend thoughts toward him now that the Angels came to wait upon him, and in Flames of fire to carry him up above. He could not but honour him as his Elder and Father, as his Leader and Commander, as the General of the Sons of the Prophets, as the very Host and Army of Israel. And indeed the Souls of those men that are as full of God as the name of
Elijah is (which includes Two, if not Three,
[...] of the Divine names in it) cannot but draw our eyes toward them; but then they so dazzle us with their lustre and brightness, they strike us into such amazement at their Perfections, that the weakness of mans nature hath been apt to give no less then Divine veneration to such persons. It had not been lawful I know to have worshipped
Elijah, though he had been an Angel; but yet methinks I see
Elisha bowing down with
[Page 501] some respect to the very
Mantle which fel from his Master, and taking it up as a precious Relique of so holy a man. And I could very well pass some Civility upon the Gown in which this Holy man departed used for to walk, out of the great honour which I bear to him. There was so much of Divinity enshrined in this Excellent man's Soul, that it made every thing about him to have a kind of Sacredness in it, and will make his name to be alwaies as a sweet odour unto us. Though we may not extoll it with Divine praises, yet let it never be mentioned by us without the addition of the Hebrew manner of speech
[...]
His memory is blessed, or of the Greek
[...],
That most Blessed man.
AND so I am fallen unawares in my Meditations upon the
Application of what hath been said to Him that is deceased and to our own selves.
Some perhaps will be angry that I should goe about to compare him with
Elijah, the Man of God; but I have an Apology ready at hand: They will give me leave I hope to doe the same that
Greg. Nyssen doth, who in his Oration at the Funeral of his brother
Basil, compares him not only with
Elias, but with
John the Baptist, the
[Page 502] second
Elias, and with
S. Paul himself, saying that one should not erre if he should affirm that there was in him and in
S. Paul
[...]
one and the same measure of divine love. Suffer me then to use some of his words concerning him of whom we are now to speak.
‘None will require of humane nature to imitate
Elijah in his shutting and opening of heaven, in his fasting so many daies, and going up to God in a fiery chariot; but in other things we will be bold to compare him with that great man, in his zealous faith, in his Cordial love to God, in his earnest desire and thirst
[...] (as he speaks) after that which truly is, in an exact and exquisite life,
[...], in a Conversation so studied that it was in all things consonant with it self, in most unaffected gravity, wonderful simplicity, and a countenance proportionable to the vigour and strength of his Soul, or, in his own words, he had
[...], a look that was not one key below his intent and eager and sprightly Mind. If you look upon his care of those things that were hoped for, and neglect of these things that are seen, on his equal love to poor and rich; in these & such like things He imitated the Wonders
[Page 503] of
Elijah. But if any man will needs urge us to strain a little higher, and compare something in him to his fasting fourty daies; then what say you to an every-days temperance? And if there must be something answerable to his going up to Heaven in a fiery Chariot; then look upon the other way of ascending thither, which is the best,
[...] by an high transcendent conversation in this world, whereby he made a Chariot of his Vertues that he might ascend up unto God.’
But that I may proceed in this Argument according to our former Method,
1. Let us first look upon him in
his Eminency, Dignity and Worth. A very glorious Star he was, & shone brighter in our eyes then any that he ever look'd upon when he took his view of the heavenly Bodies: and now he shines as the brightness of the Firmament, and as the Stars for ever and ever, being wise and having turned many (I believe) unto Righteousness.
I shall speak nothing of his
Earthly parentage save only this, That herein he was like to
John the Baptist, the last
Elias, in that he was born after his Parents had been long childless and were grown aged. Some have observed that such
[Page 504] have proved very famous; for they seem to be sent on purpose by God into the world to doe good, and to be scarce begotten by their Parents. Such are something like
Isaac, who had a great blessing in him, and seem to be intended by God for some great service and work in the world.
But let us look only at his
Heavenly descent, and see how he was allied to God himself; for, as the Poet saies of
Aeneas,
—Contingit sanguine Coelum.
I may say of him as
Nazianzen saies of his Sister,
His Country was Heaven, his Town or City was the Jerusalem which is above, his fellow-Citizens were the Saints, his Nobility was
[...],
the retaining of the Divine impressions and stamps upon his Soul, and being like to God the Archetype and First pattern of all Goodness. And indeed the preserving of the Heavenly Symbols that are in our Souls, and especially the purging and scowring of them from the corruption of Nature, he often spake of; and his endeavour was that the Divine image might be fairly reflected in him, and that it might shine brightly in the face of others.
If I should speak much of
the Vastness of his Learning (a thing not to be passed by,) it would seem to say that I knew all he was; which I am
[Page 505] not so arrogant as to assume unto my self: This I will say, That he could doe what he would. He had such a huge, wide capacity of Soul, such a sharp and piercing Understanding, such a deep reaching Mind, that he set himself about nothing but he soon grasped it and made himself a full possessour of it. And if we consider
his great Industry and indefatigable pains, his
Herculean labours day and night from his * First
April 5. 1636. coming to the University till the time of his long sickness, joined with
his large Parts, &
his frequent Meditation, Contemplation and Abstraction of his Mind from Sensible things; it must needs be concluded that he was a Comprehensour of more then I can say or think of; & if I could, it would be too tedious to give you an account of all.
There is a Discourse which
Charidemus (in
Dion Chrysostome) makes to his Friends a little
Orat. 30. before his death,
‘How that this world is God's house, wherein a gallant sumptuous Feast is prepared, and all men are his Guests: and how that there are two waiters at the Table which fill out the wine to them that call for it; the one a Man, the other a Woman; the one call
[...] or
Mind, from whose hand all Wise men drink, the other
[...] or
Intemperance, who fills the cups of the lovers of’
[Page 506] this world. In this House our beloved Friend deceased staid between four and five and thirty years, and I am sure drank most large draughts from the hand of the former; for he was a
Man, he was a
Mind, he had nothing of that
Woman in him, and never in the least was known to sipp of her cups. He was a most laborious searcher after
Wisdom, and never gave his Flesh the leisure to please it self in those entertainments: and therefore we may be confident with that
Charidemus, that God hath taken him to be his
[...],
his Friend and Companion, to drink of the rivers of his pleasure. In a word, he was
[...],
In vita Porphyrii. as
Eunapius speaks of
Longinus, A
living Library, better then that which he hath given to our College,
and a walking Study, that carried his Learning about with him. I never got so much good among all my Books by a whole days plodding in a Study, as by an Houres discourse I have got with him. For he was not a Library lock'd up, nor a Book clasped, but stood open for any to converse withall that had a mind to learn. Yea he was a Fountain running over, labouring to doe good to those who perhaps had no mind to receive it. None more free and communicative then he was to such as desired to discourse with
[Page 507] him; nor would he grudge to be taken off from his studies upon such an occasion. It may be truely said of him, That a man might alwaies come Better from him; and his mouth could drop
Sentences as easily as an ordinary man's could speak
Sense. And he was no less happy in
expressing his Mind, then in
conceiving; wherein he seems to have excelled the famous Philosopher
Plotin, of whom
Porphyry tells us, that he was something careless of his words,
[...] but was wholy taken up into his Mind. He of whom we now speak had such a
copia verborum, a plenty of words, and those so full, pregnant and significant, join'd with such an
active Phansy, as is very rarely to be found in the company of such a
deep Understanding and
Judgment as dwelt in him.
I have done with his
Learning, when I have told you, That as he look'd upon Honours, Riches, and the eagerly-pursued things of this world, as Vanities; so did he look upon this also as a piece, though a more excellent piece, of Vanity (as he was wont to phrase it) if compared with the higher and more divine accomplishments of the Soul. For he did not care to value himself by any of those things which were of a perishing nature, which should fail and
[Page 508] cease and vanish away, but only by those things which were more solid and substantial, of a Divine and Immortal nature, which he might carry out of the world with him; to which my Discourse shall not be long before it descend.
He was of very singular
Wisdom and great
Prudence, of admirable skill and readiness in the managery of affairs, which I make an account is an Imitation of that Providence of God that governs the World. His
Learning was so concocted, that it lay not as an Idle notion in his Head, but made him fit for any imploiment. He was very full and clear in all his Resolutions at any debates, a most wise Counseller in any difficulties and streights, dextrous in untying any knot, of great judgment in satisfying any scruple or doubt even in matters of Religion. He was one that soon saw into the depth of any business that was before him, and look'd it quite through; that would presently turn it over and over in his Mind and see it on all sides; and he understood things so well at the First sight, that he did not often need any second thoughts, but usually stood to the present resolution and determination of his Mind.
And adde to this his known
Integrity, Uprightness and Faithfulness; his strong and lively, his
[Page 509] waking and truly-tender Conscience, which joined with the former things I spoke of made him more then a Man,
He was (as one of the Ancients speaks)
[...], an Exemplar of true Christian Philosophy and Vertue, and as it were the spiritual Rule, Line and Square thereof: of so poized and even a life, that by his Wisdom and Conscience (were it not that every man should know for himself) one might live almost at a venture, walking blindfold through the world, and not miscarry.
He had
incorporated, shall I say, or
insoul'd all Principles of
Justice and
Righteousness, and made them one with himself. So that I may say of him in
Antoninus his phrase, he was
[...], dip'd into
Justice as it were
Lib. 3. over head and eares; he had not a slight superficial tincture, but was dyed and coloured quite through with it; so that wheresoever he had a Soul, there was
Justice and
Righteousness. They who knew him, very well know the truth of all this. And I am perswaded he did as heartily and cordially, as eagerly and earnestly doe what appeared to be
Just and Right, without any Self-respect or particular reflections, as any man living.
[Page 510] Methinks I see how earnest he would be in a good matter which appeared to be Reasonable and Just, as though
Justice her self had been in him, looking out at his Eyes, and speaking at his Mouth. It was a Vertue indeed that he had a great affection unto, and which he was very zealous to maintain; in whose quarrel he was in danger to be angry, and sometimes to break forth into a short passion.
But he was alwaies very urgent upon us that by the Grace of God and the help of the mighty Spirit of Jesus Christ working in us, we would endeavour to purge out the corruption of our Natures, and to crucifie the Flesh with all the affections and lusts thereof: yea to subdue as much as it is possible even the
[...] in our Souls, those first motions that are without our consent, and to labour after
Purity of heart, that so we might see God. For his endeavour was not only to be
[...], out of the pollutions of the world through lust, but, as
Plotin speaks,
[...], to come to the true likeness of God and his Son, or, in the Apostles language,
to be partaker of the Divine nature. And here now what words shall I use?
What shall I say of his
Love? None that knew him well, but might see in him
[...]
[Page 511] (as
Nazianzen I think speaks) Love bubling and springing up in his Soul, and flowing out to all; and that Love unfained, without guile, hypocrisie or dissimulation. I cannot tell you how his Soul was
Universaliz'd, how tenderly he embraced all God's creatures in his arms, more especially Men, and principally those in whom he beheld the Image of his heavenly Father. There one might have seen running
[...], and he would ever have emptied his Soul into theirs. Let any that were throughly acquainted with him say if I lie. And truly my Happiness is that I have such a subject to exercise my young and weak Oratory upon, as will admit of little
Hyperbole.
His
Patience was no less admirable then his
Love, under a lingering and tedious disease, wherein he never murmured nor complained, but rested quietly satisfied in the Infinite Unbounded Goodness and Tenderness of his Father, and the Commiserations of Jesus Christ our merciful High Priest
who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. He still resolved with
Job, Though he kill me, yet will I trust in him.
[...], saith
Nazianzen in an Epistle to
Philagrius, O bravely done most noble Soul, who canst play the Philosopher, the Christian,
[Page 512] in thy sickness and sufferings; who canst not only
talk but
doe, not only
doe but
suffer! And he told me in his sickness that he hoped he had learned that for which God sent it, and that he thought God kept him so long in such a case, under such burdens and pressures, that
Patience might have its perfect work in him. His sickness undoubtedly was
[...] (as
Nazianzen speaks) a learned disease and full of true Philosophy, which taught him more of real Christianity, and made his Soul of a more strong, able, Athletick habit and temper. For, as S.
James saith,
if Patience have its perfect work, then is a Soul
perfect and
entire, wanting nothing. And
Chap. 1. 4. really in his Sickness he shewed what Christianity and True Religion is able to doe; what Might, Power and Virtue there is in it to bear up a Soul under the greatest loads; and that he could through Christ strengthening him doe all that which he so admirably discoursed of in his life.
But for his
Humility, it was that which was most apparent and conspicuous. You might have beheld in him
[...], (as the same Father speaks) true humility in a most eminent degree, and the more eminent, considering how much there was within him
[Page 513] which would have swelled and puffed up another. But from his first admission into the Universitie (as I am informed by those that knew him) he sought not great things for himself, but was contented in the condition wherein he was. He made not hast to rise and climb, as youths are apt to doe (which we in these late times too much experience, wherein Youths scarce fledg'd have soared to the highest preferments) but proceeded leisurely by orderly steps not to what he could get, but to what he was fit to undertake. He stai'd God's time of advancement, with all industry and pains following his studies; as if he rather desired to deserve honour, then to be honoured. He shook off all Idleness and Sloth, the bane of youth, and so had the Blessing of God upon his endeavours, who gave him great encouragement from divers persons of worth, and at last brought him unto this place. And I challenge any one that is impartial to say, if since he came hither, they ever beheld in him any
Pride, Vain-glory, Boasting, Self-conceit, Desire of honour and being famous in the world. No, there is not the man living that had the eyes ever to discern any thing of this
swoln nature: but on the contrary it was easie to take notice of most profound
Humility and Lowliness of mind,
[Page 514] which made him a true Disciple of Jesus Christ, who took upon him the form of a servant, and made himself of no reputation. And I dare say our dear friend was as true, as humble a servant (without any complement) to the good of Mankind, as any person that this day lives. This was his designe in his studies, and if it had pleased the Lord of life to have prolonged his daies, it would have been more of his work: For he was resolved (as he once told me) very much to lay aside other studies, and to travel in the salvation of mens Souls, after whose good he most ardently thirsted.
Shall I add
[...] (as the Apostle speaks)
above, or
unto all these,
his Faith; I say, his true,
Ephesians 6. lively and working
Faith, his simple, plain-hearted, naked
Faith in Christ? It is likely that it did not busie it self about many fine Notions, Subtilties and Curiosities, or believing whole Volumes; but be sure it was that which was firmly set and fixed in the Mercy and Goodness of God through Christ; that also which brought down Christ into his Soul; which draw'd down Heaven into his Heart; which suck'd in life and strength continually from our Saviour; which made him hearty, serious and constant in all those forenamed Christian Vertues. His
Faith
[Page 515] was not without a Soul; but what
Isidore saith of
Faith and
Works, held true of him,
[...], His Faith was animated, quickned
Lib. 4. Ep. 65. and actuated by these. It made him
God-like, and he lived by
Faith in the Son of God; by it he came to be truly partaker of the Righteousness of Christ, and had it wrought and formed in his very Soul. For this indeed was the End of his life, the main design which he carried on, that he might become
like to God. So that if one should have asked him that Question in
Antoninus,
[...]; what is thy art and
Lib. 11. profession, thy business and imploiment? He would not have answered, To be a great
Philosopher, Mathematician, Historian or
Hebrician, (all which he was in great eminency) To be a
Physitian, Lawyer, General Linguist; which Names and many more his General skill deserved: But he would have answered, as he doth there,
[...], my Art is to be Good; To be a true Divine is my care and business, or, in the Christian phrase,
To be holy as God is holy, to be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect. All that remember the serious behaviour and weightie expressions he used in his Prayers, cannot but call to mind how much his Heart was set upon the attainment of this true Goodness.
[Page 516] I have transgressed too much my bounds, now it is so late; and trespassed perhaps too much upon your patience: Yet I hope I should not weary you, if I should discourse upon his
Ingenuity, his
Courtesie, his
Gentleness and Sweetness, with many other things of the like nature. And let me say thus much, that he was far from that Spirit of
devouting zeal that now too much rages. He would rather have been consumed in the service of men, then have called for fire down from heaven, as
Elijah did, to consume them. And therefore though
Elijah excelled him in this, that he ascended up to Heaven in a fiery chariot; yet herein I may say he was above the spirit of
Elijah, that he called for no fire to descend from heaven upon men, but the fire of Divine love that might burn up all their Hatreds, Roughness and Cruelty to each other. But as for
Benignity of Mind and Christian kindness, every body that knew him will remember that he ever had their names in his mouth, and I assure them they were no less in his heart and life; as knowing that without these Truth it self is in a faction, and Christ is drawn into a party. And this Graciousness of Spirit was the more remarkable in him, because he was of a temper naturally Hot and Cholerick, as the greatest Minds
[Page 517] most commonly are. He was wiser then to let any Anger rest in his bosom; much less did he suffer it to burn and boil til it was turned into gall and bitterness; and least of all would he endure that any Passion should lodge in him, till it was become a cankered Malice and black Hatred, which men in these days can scarce hide, but let it appear in their countenance and in their carriage towards others.
If he was at any time moved unto Anger, it was but a sudden flushing in his face, and it did as soon vanish as arise; and it used to arise upon no such occasions as I now speak of. No, whensoever he look'd upon the fierce and consuming Fires that were in mens Souls, it made him
sad, not
angry; and it was his constant endeavour to inspire mens Souls with more benigne and kindly heats, that they might warm but not scorch their Brethren.
And from this Spirit, together with the rest of Christian Graces that were in him, there did result a great Serenity, Quiet and Tranquillity in his Soul, which dwelt so much above, that it was not shaken with any of those Tempests and Storms which use to unsettle more low and abject Minds. He lived in a continued sweet enjoyment of God, and so was not disquieted with
[Page 518] scruples or doubts of his Salvation. There was alwaies discernable in him a chearful sense of God's goodness, which ceased not in the time of sickness. But we most longed for to see the motions of his Soul, when he drew near to the Centre of his rest. He that had such a constant feeling of God within him, we might conclude would have the most strong and powerful sense when he came nearer to a close conjunction with him. But God was pleased to deny this to us, and by a Lethargick distemper which seized on his Spirits, he passed the six last daies of his life (if I may call it
a life) in a kind of Sleep, and without taking much notice of any thing he slept in the Lord.
And now have I not described a Person of Worth and Eminency? Have we not reason to be so sad, as you see our Faces tell you that we are? But alas! half of that is not told you which your Eyes might have seen, had you been acquainted with him. I want thoughts and Words to make a lively pourtraiture of him: my young Experience hath not yet seen to the height or the depth of these things which I have here given you a rude draught of; and so my Conceipts and Expressions must needs fall far below that excellent degree of beauty wherein they
[Page 519] dwelt in him. Let it suffice therefore to say (that I may keep to the word in the Text) That he was truly a
Father, that he wanted Ages only to make him
Reverend; and that if he had lived many Generations ago, & left us the children of his Mind to posterity, he might by this time have been numbred among the Fathers of the Church.
I have almost prevented my self already in the Two latter Particulars,
His singular Care, and his great Usefulness; both which must needs be concluded from the former:
His Care I say of others as a
Tutor, his
Usefullness as a
Fellow of this now mournful Society. Let me speak a word or two of either.
2. All his Pupils (who are now truly
Pupilli, Fatherless children) began to know in his sickness what it was to have and to want a loving Father, a faithful Tutor; and now they will know it more fully. He was one that did so constantly mind their good, that instilled such excellent pious Notions into their Minds, & gave such light in everything a man could desire to know; that I could have been content, though in this gown, to have been his Pupil. His
Life taught them continual lessons of
Justice, Temperance,
[Page 520] Prudence, Fortitude and Masculine vertue; and above all he taught them
true Dependance upon God, and reference of themselves and all their Studies unto him; with
true Faith in, and Imitation of, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: for which end he often expounded to them out of the Holy Scriptures. And for
Humane learning, the many good Scholars that came from under his hand do witness how dextrous he was at the training up of Youth in all good Literature.
Porphyry tells us of
Plotin, that he was such a carefull person, that sundry Noble men and women with divers others, when they died, committed both their sons and daughters to his Tuition,
[...], as unto some Tutelar Angel, or a sacred and divine Guardian. Truly those that come hither, are in a manner without Father and Mother; but they could not be committed to a more loving Tutor, a more holy and faithful Guardian, that would bring them up in all true Learning and Piety. If any think that he was too severe, let me tell them that they are such as find fault with the Lion
[...], because he looks not like an Ape, but with a stern, royal and Kingly countenance. He both look'd and spake like a man that had drunk into his Soul such
[Page 521] solid, high and generous Principles, as few men are acquainted with, which made him very zealous not only for Righteousness, Integrity and Holiness, but for a
Decorum in all things. He had a great regard for all those things which are mentioned by the Apostle, Philip. 4. 8. for
whatsoever things were true, honest, (or rather,
comely and
grave, seemly and
venerable, as
[...] doth signifie) for all that was
just, pure, lovely, of good fame and
report; if there was any praise, or any vertue, he was most earnest and forward in its behalf.
3. And now what his
Usefulness was, and the
Benefit we received by him, all that bear any share in the government of this Society will be made to know by the want of him. There is not one but will cry out with
Elisha, O the Chariot of this place, and the horsemen thereof: which words seem to express what a
necessary man
Elias was, and to be just like that of
Horace to
Lib. 2. Od. 17.
Maecenas when sick, which we may use concerning him that is now dead,
Grande decus, columénque rerum,
Our great glory, the pillar upon whose shoulders the weight of business of late lay;
O & praesidium & dulce decus meum,
(as he saith in another place) O thou who wast
[Page 522] both my safe-guard and my ornament! who wast a Society by thy self, a College in brief, what a loss have we sustained by thy departure? That must not be resolved by me, nor by any one single person of us, but we must all lay our heads together to tell our loss. To which of us was not he dear? who is there that was not ingaged to him? who can think himself as wise as he was when we had him?
And this our high and dear Esteem of him when he was with us, leads me to speak of that
Honour and Reverence which we all express to his
Name, that
Affection which is in our Hearts to his
Memory, the
sense that is in us
of our great and unspeakable
loss; in Answer to those three foregoing Considerations about
Elisha. But here I must be very brief, and put all together. There is none that knew his
Worth, but honour his very dust. And for my part I honour him so much, that I wish we might doe as the Virgins of Israel did for
Jephtah's daughter, come once a year hither and lament his death; and so at once we might express all these Three,
our Respect, Affection and Sense of our loss. His name is most worthy to be had in a more especial remembrance, and highly deserves to be rank'd among our
Benefactors, he having indowed our Library with all the
[Page 523] Books that he had, and we wanted; and I have reason to believe that if he had not been so suddenly surprised by those forgetful Lethargick fits, he intended to bestow more upon us then his Books, which yet were both many and choise ones, being above six hundred for number, and many of them large and costly; and for the matter of them, many Hebrew Books, (besides some Arabick) many Mathematick Books, many Books of History both Ancient and Modern, as also of Philosophy and Philology both Sacred and Profane.
And whensoever we commemorate his Love unto us, let it be with some
Encomium: let us mourn
quòd talem amiserimus, that we are deprived of such a person; but let us rejoice and give thanks to God
quòd talem habuerimus, that we ever had such an one who hath done us so much good: they are the words of
S. Hierom to
Nepotian, with a little alteration.
But let me tell you in conclusion of all, that herein would be shown
our greatest Love and Affection which we bare to him, this would be
the greatest Honour of him, if we would but express his life in ours; that others might say when they behold us, There walks at least a shadow of Mr.
Smith. And O that I might beg with
Elisha a
[Page 524] double portion among those that I desire should share in the gifts and graces of this
Elijah: This is the highest of my ambition, that many might but possess the riches that lodg'd in this one. They disgrace their Master who have not skill in that which they say he professed; but they who tread in his steps and excell in his Art, shine back again upon him from whom first they received their light. Let me seriously therefore exhort every one of us to imitate this Master in Israel: Imitate him in his
Industry, if not in his
Learning; shake off all laziness and sloth; do not
[...] embody and enervate your Souls by Idleness and base neglect; do not emasculate them and turn them into flesh by drowsiness or vain pleasures. Imitate his
Temperance, his
Patience, his
Fortitude, his
Candour and Ingenuity, his
Holiness and Righteousness, his
Faith and Love, his
Charity and
Humility, his
Self-denial and true
Self-resignation to the will of God: in a word, all those Christian Vertues which lived in him, let them live in us for ever. Let us die to the world, as he did, before we die: let us separate our Souls from our Bodies and all bodily things, before the time of our departure and separation come. Let us take an especial heed lest we doe
[...], as most men doe, lest we
suffer this
[Page 525] lower and earthly world; lest we be drawn forcibly into its embraces, and so held from rising aloft: but let us turn up our Minds continually to Heaven, and earnestly desire
pati Deum, to
suffer God; to be mightily and strongly attracted by him from all Earthy and Sensible delights to an admiration and love of his Everlasting Beauty and Goodness. Let us labour to be so well acquainted with Him, and all things of the Higher world, and so much disingaged in our Affections from this and all that is in it, that when we come to go out of this world, we may never look back and say, O what goodly things do I leave! what a brave world am I snatched from! would I might but live a little longer there! Let us get our Hearts so crucified to the world, that it may be an easie thing to us to shake hands with, and bid a farwell to, our Friends (the dearest things we have) our Lands, Houses, Goods and whatsoever is valuable in our eyes. Let us use the world as though we used it not: let us
dye daily, as our dear Friend did; and so it was easie to him to dye at last.
Dye did I say? shall I use that word, or rather
[...], he is flown away, (as
Nazianzen speaks) his Soul hath got loose, and now feels her wings; or
[...] he hath changed
[Page 526] his habitation, he is gone into the other world, as
Abraam went out of
Ur into
Canaan; or as the same Father saies,
[...], he hath taken his journey into another countrie a little before his Body? He hath left his Body behind him awhile to take a sleep in the dust, & when it awakes at the Resurrection, it shall follow also to the same place. Then shall it be made
a Spiritual body, then shall it have wings given to it also and be lovingly married again to the Soul, never any more to suffer any separation. And at that time we shall all meet with our dear Father and Friend again, who now are here remaining crying out,
O my Father, my father, &c. Then shall all tears be wiped away from our eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither
Rev. 21. 4. sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: Then we shall not need such a Light as he was; for there is no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the Sun; for
Rev. 22. 5. the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Amen.