1. HAving undertaken the republishing of the two following Books , and reduced them both under one common Title of Enthusiasme , I think it not amisse to speak somewhat by way of Preface , concerning the nature of that Disease , partly because it may be the better discerned of what good use the Authour's pains are against this distemper of Fantastrie and Enthusiasme , and partly because by a more punctuall discovery of this distemper , the distemper it self , or at least the ill influence of it upon the credulous & inconsiderate , may be prevented . For where the naturall causes of things are laid open , there that stupid reverence and admiration which surprises the ignorant , will assuredly cease . Which is a thing of no lesse consequence then the preserving of that honest and rationall way of the education of youth in liberall Arts and Sciences , and upholding of Christian Religion it self from being supplanted and overturned from the very foundations , by the dazeling and glorious plausibilities of bold Enthusiasts , who speaking great swelling words of vanity , bear down the weak and unskilfull multitude into such a belief of Supernaturall graces and inspirations in their admired Prophet , that they will not st●ck to listen to him , though he dictate to them what is contrary , not onely to solid Reason and the judgement of the most learned and pious in all ages , but even to the undoubted Oracles of the holy Scriptures themselves .

Wherefore for the detecting of this mysterious Imposture , we shall briefly , and yet , I hope , plainly enough , set out the Nature , Causes , Kinds , and Cure of this mischievous Disease .

2. The Etymologie , and varietie of the significations of this word Enthusiasme I leave to Criticks and Grammarians , but what we mean by it here , you shall fully understand after we have defined what Inspiration is : For Enthusiasme is nothing else but a misconceit of being inspired . Now to be inspired , is to be moved in an extraordinary manner by the power or Spirit of God to act , speak , or think what is holy , just , and true . From hence it will be easily understood what Enthusiasme is , viz. A full , but false perswasion in a man that he is inspired .

3. We shall now enquire into the Causes of this Distemper● how it comes to passe that a man should be thus befooled in his own conceit : And truly unlesse we should offer lesse satisfaction then the thing is capable of , we must not onely treat here of Melancholy , but of the Faculties of the Soul of man , whereby it may the better be understood how she may become obnoxious to such disturbances of Melancholy , in which she has quite lost her own judgement and freedome , and can neither keep out nor distinguish betwixt her own fancies and reall truths .

4. We are therefore to take notice of the severall Degrees and Natures of the faculties of the Soul , the lowest whereof she exercises without so much as any perception of what she does , and these operations are fatall and naturall to her so long as she is in the body , and a man differs in them little from a Plant , which therefore you may call the Vegetative or Plantall faculties of the Soul . The lowest of those Faculties of whose present operations we have any perception , are the outward Senses , which upon the pertingencie of the Object to the Sensitive Organ cannot fail to act , that is , the Soul cannot fail to be affected thereby , nor is it in her power to suspend her perception , or at least , very hardly in her power . From whence it is plain that the Soul is of that nature , that she sometimes may awake fatally and necessarily into Phantasmes and Perceptions without any will or consent of her own .

Which is found true also in Imagination , though that Facultie be freer then the former . For what are Dreams but the Imaginations and perceptions of one asleep , which notwithstanding steal upon the Soul , or rise out of her without any consent of hers , as is most manifest in such as torment us , and put us to extreme pain till we awake out of them . And the like obreptions or unavoydable importunities of Thoughts , which offer or force themselves upon the mind , may be observed even in the day time , according to the nature or strength of the complexion of our Bodies ; though how the Body doth engage the mind in Thoughts or Imaginations , is most manifest in Sleep . For according as Choler , Sanguine , Phlegme , or Melancholy are predominant , will the Scene of our dreams be , and that without any check or curb of dubitation concerning the truth and existence of the things that then appear : Of which we can conceive no other reason then this , That the inmost seat of Sense is very fully and vigourously affected , as it is by objects in the day , of whose reall existence the ordinary assurance is , that they so strongly strike or affect our sensitive Facultie ; which resides not in the externall Organs , no more then the Artificers skill in his instruments , but in some more inward Recesses of the brain : and therefore the true and reall seat of Sense being affected in our sleep , as well as when we are awake , 't is the lesse marvell the Soul conceits her dreams while she is a dreaming , to be no dreams but reall transactions .

5. Now that the inward sense is so vigoroufly affected in these dreams , proceeds , as I conceive , from hence ; because the Brains , Animall spirits , or what ever the Soul works upon within , in her imaginative operations , are not considerably moved , altered or agitated from any externall motion , but keep intirely and fully that figuration or modification which the Soul necessarily & naturally moulds them into in our sleep , so that the opinion of the truth of what is represented to us in our dreams , is from hence , that Imagination then ( that is , the inward figuration of our brain or spirits into this or that representation ) is far stronger then any motion or agitation from without , which to them that are awake dimmes and obscures their inward imagination , as the light of the Sun doth the light of a candle in a room ; and yet in this case also according to Aristotle Fancy is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a kind of sense , though weak . But if it were so strong as to bear it self against all the occursions and impulses of outward objects , so as not to be broken , but to keep it self entire and in equall splendour and vigour with what is represented from without , and this not arbitrariously but necessarily and unavoydably , as has been already intimated , the Party thus affected would not fail to take his own imagination for a reall object of sense : as it fell out in one that Cartesius mentions , ( and there are several other examples of that kind ) that had his arm cut off , who being hoodwinkt , complained of a pain in this and the other finger , when he had lost his whole arm . And a further instance may be in mad or Melancholy men , who have confidently affirmed that they have met with the Devil , or conversed with Angels , when it has been nothing but an encounter with their own fancie .

6. Wherefore it is the enormous strength of Imagination ( which is yet the Soul's weaknesse or unweildinesse whereby she so farre sinks into Phantasmes , that she cannot recover her self into the use of her more free faculties of Reason and Understanding ) that thus peremptorily engages a man to believe a lie .

And if it be so strong as to assure us of the presence of some externall object which yet is not there , why may it not be as effectuall in the begetting of the belief of some more internall apprehensions , such as have been reported of mad and fanaticall men , who have so firmly and immutably fancied themselves to be God the Father , the Messias , the Holy Ghost , the Angel Gabriel , the last and chiefest Prophet that God would send into the world , and the like ? For their conceptions are not so pure or immateriall , nor solid or rationall , but that these words to them are alwayes accompanied with some strong Phantasme or full imagination ; the fulnesse and clearnesse whereof , as in the case immediately before named , does naturally bear down the Soul into a belief of the truth and existence of what she thus vigorously apprehends ; and being so wholly and entirely immersed in this conceit , and so vehemently touched therewith , she has either not the patience to consider any thing alledged against it , or if she do consider and find her self intangled , she will look upon it as a piece of humane sophistry , and prefer her own infallibility or the infallibility of the Spirit before a●l carnall reasonings whatsoever ; As those whose fancies are fortified by long use and education in any absurd point of a false Religion , though wise enough in other things , will firmly hold the conclusion notwithstanding the clearest demonstration to the contrary . Now what Custome and Education doth by degrees , distempered Fancy may do in a shorter time . But the case in both is much like that in dreams , where that which is represented is necessarily taken for true , because nothing stronger enervates the perception . For as the ligation of the outward Organs of Sense keeps off such fluctuations or undulations of motion from without , as might break or obscure these representations in sleep ; so prejudice and confidence in a conceit , when a man is awake , keeps his fond imagination vigorous and entire from all the assaults of Reason that would cause any dubitation .

Nor is it any more wonder that his Intellectualls should be sound in other things , though he be thus delirous in some one point , no more then that he that thinks he sees the devil in a wood , should not be at all mistaken in the circumstance of place , but see the very same path , flowers , and grasse that another in his wits sees there as well as himself .

To be short therefore , the Originall of such peremptory delusions as mankind are obnoxious to , is the enormous strength and vigour of the Imagination ; which Faculty though it be in some sort in our power , as Respiration is , yet it will also work without our leave , as I have already demonstrated , and hence men become mad and fanaticall whether they will or no.

7. Now what it is in us that thus captivates our Imagination , & carries it wide away out of the reach or hearing of that more free and superiour faculty of Reason , is hard particularly to define . But that there are sundry materiall things that do most certa●nly change our mind or Fancy , experience doth sufficiently witnesse . For our Imagination alters as our Blood and Spirits are altered , ( as I have above intimated and instanced in our dreams ) and indeed very small thing● will alter them even when we are awake ; The meer change of weather and various tempers of the aire , a little reek or suffumigation , as in those seeds Pomponi●u Mela mentions , which the Thracians , who knew not the use of wine , wont at their feasts to cast into the fire , whereby they were intoxicated into as high a measure of mirth , as they that drink more freely of the blood of the grape : The virtue of which is so great , that as Iosephus phrases it , it seems to create a new soul in him that drinks it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , It transforms and regenerates the soul● into a new nature . But it doth most certainly bring a new scene of thoughts very ordinarily into their minds that have occasion to meddle with it . Which made the Persians undertake no weighty matter nor strike up a bargain of any great consequence , but they would consider of it first both welnigh fuddled and sober . For if they liked it in all the representations that those two contrary Tempers exhibited to their minds , they thought themselves well assured that they might proceed safely and succesfully therein . And yet wine doth not alwayes so much change the thoughts and alter our temper as heighten it , in so much that its effect proves sometime contrary , onely by reason of the diversity o● persons ; some being weeping drunk , others laughing , some kind , others raging ; as it happens also in those that are stung with the Tarantula . Alii perpetuò rid●nt , alii canunt , alii plorant , &c. as Sennertus observes out of Matthiolus . But that which they both seem most to admire is , That the Fancie of the Tarantulati should be so mightily carried away with Musick ; for they do not onely forget their pain , but dance incessantly . Of which Epiphanius Ferdinandus tells a very remarkable story of an old man ninety foure yeares of age , that could scarce creep with a staff , who yet being bit by the Tarantula , presently upon the hearing of Musick leaped and skipped like a young kid . Akin to this is that kind of madnesse which they call S. Vitus his Dance , which disease Sennertus rightly affirms to proceed from a certain malignant humour gendred in the body , of near cognation with this poyson of the Tarantula ; which will help us for the explicating of the Causes of stranger workings on the fancie then has yet been mentioned . As for example , in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which are distempers of the mind , whereby men imagine themselves to be Wolves , Cats , or Doggs .

8. There are severall Relations in the forenamed Authour concerning the power that nourishment has to work upon imagination , and to change a mans disposition into the nature of that creature whose bloud or milk doth nourish him . A Wench at Bresla being struck with an Epilepsie upon the seeing of a Malefactours head cut off by the Executioner , when severall other remedies failed , was perswaded by some to drink the blood of a Cat , which being done , the wench not long after degenerates into the nature and propertie of that Animal , cries and jumps like a Cat , and hunts mice with like silence and watchfulnesse that they do , pursuing them as close as she could to their very holes . This Narration he transcribes out of Weinrichius , and has another short glance upon another in the same writer , of one that being long fed with swines blood , took a speciall pleasure in wallowing and tumbling himself in the mire : as also of another Girle who being nourished up with Goats milk , would skip like a Goat and brouze on trees as Goats use to do . We might adde a fourth , of one , who by eating the brains of a Bear became of a Bear-like disposition ; but we will not insist upon smaller considerations .

9. Baptista Porta drives on the matter much further , professing that he had acquaintance with one that could , when he pleased , so alter the imagination of a man , as he would make him fancie himself to be this or that Bird , Beast , or Fish , and that in this madnesse the party thus deluded would move his body , as near as it was capable , so as such Creatures use to do ; and if they were vocall , imitate also their voyce . This intoxicating Potion is made of the extract of certain hearbs , as Solanum manicum , Mandrake , and others , together with the heart , brain , and some other parts of this or that Animal , with whose image they would infect the fancie of the party . And he doth affirm of his own experience that trying this feat upon some of his comrades , when he was young , one that had gormundized much beef , upon the taking the potion , strongly imagined himself to be surrounded with bulls , that would be ever and anon running upon him with their horns .

10. What happens here in these cases where we can trace the Causes , sometimes falls out where we cannot so plainly and directly find out the reason . For Physicians take notice of such kind of madnesses as make men confidently conceit themselves to be Doggs , Wolves , and Cats , when they have neither eat the flesh nor drunk the blood of any Cat , Dog , or Wolf , nor taken any such artificiall potion as we even now spake of to bring them into these diseases . The causes of which cannot be better guessed at then has been by Sennertus in that of S. Vitus his dance . For as there the body is conceived to be infested by some malignant humour near akin to the poyson of the Tarantula , so in these distempers we may well conclude that such fumes or vapours arise into the brain from some foulnesse in the body ( though the particular causes we do not understand ) as have a very near analogie to the noxious humours or exhalations that move up and down and mount up into the imagination of those that have drunk the bloud of Cats , or have been nourished with the milk of those Animals above named , or taken such intoxicating potions as Baptista Porta has described .

11. We have given severall instances of that mighty power there is in naturall causes to work upon and unavoidably to change our imagination . We will name something now more generall , whose nature notwithstanding is so various and Vertumnus-like , that it will supply the place of almost all particulars , and that is Melancholy ; of which Aristotle gives witnesse that according to the severall degrees and tempers thereof men vary wonderfully in their constitutions , it making some slow and sottish , others wild , ingenious , and amorous , prone to wrath and lust , others it makes more eloquent and full of discourse , others it raises up even to madnesse and Enthusiasme : and he gives an example of one Maracus a Poet of Syracuse , who never versified so well as when he was in his distracted fits . But it is most observable in Melancholy when it reaches to a disease , that it sets on some one particular absurd imagination upon the mind so fast , that all the evidence of reason to the contrary cannot remove it , the parties thus affected in other things being as sober and rationall as other men . And this is so notorious and frequent that Aretaeus , Sennertus , and other Physicians define Melancholy from this very effect of it .

12. Aristotle affords us no examples of this kind , Others do . Democritus junior , as he is pleased to style himself , recites severall stories out of Authours to this purpose . As out of Laurentius one concerning a French Poet , who using in a feaver● Vnguentum populeum to anoint his temples to conciliate sleep , took such a conceit against the smell of that ointment , that for many yeares after he imagined every one that came near him to sent of it , and therefore would let no man talk with him but aloof off , nor would he wear any new clothes , because he fancied they smelt of that ointment ; but in all other things he was wise and discreet , and would talk as sensibly as other men . Another he has of ● Gentleman of Limosen ( out of Anthony Verduer ) who was perswaded he had but one leg , affrighted into that conceit by having that part struck by a wild Boar , otherwise a man well in his wits . A third he hath out of Platerus , concerning a Countreyman of his , who by chance having fallen into a pit where Frogs and Frogs-spawn was , and having swallowed down a little of the water , was afterward so fully perswaded that there were young frogs in his belly , that for many yeares following he could not rectifie his conceit : He betook himself to the study of Physick for seven yeares together to find a cure for his disease : He travelled also in Italy , France , and Germany to confer with Physicians about it , and meeting with Platerus consulted him with the rest . He fancied the crying of his guts to be the croaking of the frogs , and when Platerus would have deceived him by putting live frogs into his excrements that he might think he had voided them and was cured ; his skill in Physick made that trick ineffectuall . For saving this one vain conceit , the man was , as he reports , a learned and prudent man . We will adde onely a fourth out of Laurentius , which is of a Nobleman of his time , a man of reason and discretion in all other things , saving that he did conceit himself made of glasse ; and though he loved to be visited by his friends , yet had a speciall care that they should not come too near him , for fear they should break him . Not much unlike to this is that of a Baker of Ferrara , that thought he was compos'd of butter , and therefore would not sit in the sun , nor come near a fire for fear he should be melted . It would be an infinite task to set down all at large . Sennertus has given some hints of the variety of this distemper , remitting us to Schenkius , Marcellus , Donatus , Forestus and others for more full Narrations . Some , saith he , are vexed and tormented with the fear of death , as thinking they have committed some crime they never did commit , some fancy they are eternally damned , nay they complain that they are already tormented with hell fire , others take themselves to be a dying , others imagine themselves quite dead , and therefore will not eat , others fear that the heavens will fall upon them , others dare not clinch their hands for fear of bruising the world betwixt their fists , some fancy themselves Cocks , some Nightingales , some one Animal , some another , some entertain conference with God or his Angels , others conceit themselves bewitched or that a black man or Devil perpetually accompanies them , some complain of their poverty , others fancie themselves persons of honour , Dukes , Princes , Kings , Popes , and what not ? Much to this purpose may you see in Sennertus , and more in Democritus junior .