The Hartlib Papers

      A Severe Enquyry

After the Patriarchicall & Propheticall Arte

        Of Interpreting[altered] dreames

by the Light of the Holy Scriptures,

      Of Vncorrupted Antiquity,

      & of Constant Experiences.

It beeing a chiefe branch of the most famous

   & soundest Learning of the Children of the Easte,

    The Abrahamites, Hebrewes, Egyptians,

         Arabians, & Chaldeans.

    digested into foure Chapters.

I^o [Distinguishing What dreames are to be reguarded? words faded on MS fold] & howe to bee reguarded.

II^o & indicating the lawefullnesse of such reguard

III^o & indicating the Holinesse of a due reguard

IIII^o Specifying What are the holy & authenticall rules of Interpreting Dreames.

   Somnium the Fifth kind in Macrobius most properly belonging to the hidden art of Oneirocracy p. 22.

6    Reiteration a 6th Marke. p. 23.

7    Additionall affliction a 7th marke. p. 24.

8    Additionall Omens an 8th Marke. 25.

   To heede Omens no fault but a duety. p. 27.

9    9thly. An individuall marke of pertinency sometimes stamped upon the dreame. p. 30.

10   10thly. The gravity & authority of the interlocutor a[altered from an] Tenth Argument p. 31.

11   A dreame referring to a former Vision of importance is an eleventh note. p. 34.

12     Solemne preparation a twelvth note p. 35.

     as to by in the skins of the sa sacrifice lying in the skins[altered] of the sacrifice neere the altar. p. 36.

     This custome not forbidden by the prophete Esay. p. 37[altered]

     Most prophetique dreames after sacrifices. p. 37

     Hence prophets in skins & hayry garments. 38.

     Pharoah Nebuchadnezzar[altered] prepared p. 39.

Section 2d Chap. first. Howe dreames are to bee reguarded.

Negatively, Not to the affront of Christian religion p. 41.

   2 Not for futures presumptuously p. 43.

   3 Not soe relying as to neglect our owne endevour p. 44.

   4 Not to pretend to the Nicety of all circumstances, p. 48

Affirm. 1 A vigilant eye over the Concernements of gods glory & the good of his people. p. 51.

  2. To bee easily checkt to shun the appearances of evil p. 51.

  3 To hau due reguard of safeguard p. 51.

  4 In weighty concernments beyond humane prudence p 52

5 [Mor positively? MS edge] heedefull in weighty affayres.

     In the treatise of Dreames The Methode.

1 The Preface Sheweing, That trifling dreames are to bee slighted, Divine dreames ought to bee reguarded p. 1.

2 The worke to bee digested into 4 chapters. p. 1. 2.

chap. 1. section 1

   Paragraph 1. That there is a character distinguishing dreames of importance from comon dreames.     p. 2

   Slumbering dreames reporting our trifling Vanityes, or relating to our vices, no otherwise to bee heeded, but that they may bee checked & restrayned. p. 6.

   All dreames relating to secular interests of the righteous, not to bee reiected. p. 7.

1 The weight of the Concernement is the first argument, That the dreame is divine. p. 9.

2 The 2d Argument of a divine dreame is The depth of sleepe to a kind of Extasy. p. 10.

3 Thirdly & consequently Morning dreames more considerable, as generally more defecated p. 12. [13?].

   Not to bee expected, That all circumstances should bee exprest in every part of holy Text. p. 13. 14.

   Nightmares sometimes demoniacall; & ecstasis[altered] divine. p. 15. And horrors of the sleepe sometimes trialls, sometimes punishments p. 16.

   The Third sorte of dreames by Macrobius called Oracle, is the first in order of those which hee

4 recompts to bee significant. The description. p 18

   This a fourth marke 18

   The fourth sorte of dreames by Macrobius

5 called Visio. p. 19. This a fifth marke. p. 19.

   6. Experimentall notes of divine dreamers. p. 20 21.

                      1                              1

Sir

    I designe you a discourse upon Dreames. In which I will first forewarne you, That there cannot bee a greater levity & folly, than to bee serious in the reguard of some dremes. And some kind of reguard may heighten the folly to a greate transgression, sometimes of superstition, sometimes of idolatry, & (in a word) to bee led by Satanicall delusions into every kind of sin. And for this cause, if I did not on the other side find a holy use to bee made of dreames, To the greate & generall concernement[altered] of Gods good people, as it was in all former ages observed; & as it ought in all succeeding ages to bee observed; I would bury the matter in silence; or[altered] (as many doe) in a generall caution disswade from all kind of heede or reguard to Dreames.

Chapt. 1. But, by weighing the matter on all sides accurately, I find many weighty motives, which presse mee to call them under a most diligent examination.

chapt 1. first I discerne a generall ignorance or mistake in thiese times, in distinguishing What Dreames are to bee reguarded, & howe they are to bee reguarded.

Chapt 2. Secondly, As the Holy records doe, in the full series & continuation of the history, make it cleare, that it was Gods most constant

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methode to instruct & preserve those that were most deare unto himselfe by dreames, Soe from the same holy testimonyes I can evince That it is still Gods usuall methode, & wilbe soe to all generations.

Chapt. 3. Thirdly I doubt not, but I shall prove it a greate & necessary branch of Sanctity most heedefully to attend what God shall please to discover to us by this his owne holy Methode: & a grosse kind of profanenesse, too neerely agreeing with the Atheisticall[altered] sottishnesse of this degenerate age, To neglect the nocturnall whispers of the Allmighty.

Chapt. 4 Fourthly, I recompt the interpretation of dreames to bee a very considerable branch of the true <profound> learning of the Easte: a part of that true, old, & deepe philosophy, which fully agrees with the workes of God, & was first revealed by the Author & Governor of the world. In comparison of this The Græcian philosophy was but a kind of childish[altered] babling, a contest of words that bore noe effect, whilst this Orientall Learning did all the wonders.

   And I iudge our moderne ignorance (allthough it bee blowne up with soe much presumption), to bee an effect of Gods iuste iudgement upon this laste age for our generall neglect of the secrete

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passages of his divine Providence.

   In the moderne guarbe, noe man can bee wise or knoweing, without the vacancy & opportunity of perusing vaste piles of quarrellsome volumes, which cannot bee obtaind by a poore man, nor by a travayler, nor by any man, that is attentive to the necessary affayres of mans life: But by this old learning, a poore man assoone as a rich man, &, by fasting, prayer, a holy life, & a diligent reguard to the workes & wonders of God, may in a shorte time [acquyre? altered] the hidden parts of deepe learnin knowledge, & sollide wisedome. Tis strange, That soe many men should soe much waste & tyre themselves with soe little effect in a false way; And, That soe fewe have beene allured by the miraculous operations to take the delight <& honour> which b is offerd unto them in soe many & significant expresses, as doe frequently occurre in those Monuments which themselves acknowledge to bee holy, divine, & infallible. Tis strange That wee should enslave our selves in the chase of that <heathenish> philosophy, which attaineth noething but Vanity & Vexation of the spirite; And despise That, which buildeth up in Holinesse, & admitteth to the Secrete Councells & deare embracements of the Allmighty.

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   I hope, I shall not altogether loose my labour, if in opposition[altered] to this epidemicall errour, I followe closely & diligently the line that is drawne before mee in the holy Monuments soe far as may give satisfaction to the generall misprision; & may allso give a cleare & infallible Light to the present argument.

Chapt. 1.

Sect. 1 And first, For the distinction of what dreames ought to bee reguarded as divine monitoryes, the holy records will give us a large draught, or a fayre line or rule, by which wee may measure out their value. For it is not probable, That Pharoahs Butler & Baker would bee soe much cast downe & troubled as wee reade Gen. 40. 6. 7. for every dreame which floates upon the slumbring phansy, especially when they understand it not to presage any <good or> evill (verse 8). Neyther would that Pharoah, (whose deedes & power in that age doe shewe his wisedome & abilityes) make such diligent search after <the sence of> an ordinary dreame. Neyther could Nebuchadnezzar with any appearance trouble himselfe & all the Magicians & Chaldeans of his dayes, & with the threatnings of death & ruine Dan 2. 5. for a forgotten dreame, if it had not beene pointed out by some noteable impression to bee of extraordinary importance. Neyther could Ioseph fall[altered] under the reproach of a dreamer for two dreames of common ranke. Gen. 37. 19. Neyther could a common dreame fall under such [catchword: a certaine]

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a certaine art & rule, as that Ioseph, being then not much paste the age of seaventeene yeares old, Gen 37. 2. And his Father Iacob (verse 10) & the rest of Iosephs brethren (verses 8. 11) should all interprete the meaning of his dreames. I doe conceive that this arte was very well knowne, & much practised in the family of the Patriarchs. But the choice of theise two dreames, as distinguished from all other; & the application of them both to two distinct significations (verses 8. & 10) doe note, That they tooke not thiese dreames to bee the productions of an ordinary slumber. And yet that thiese dreames were not in the Patriarchicall family taken to bee propheticall Visions, or to bee divine presagements of absolute unchangeable, or fatall importance, it may appeare, in that His good old father Iacob rebuked his sonne for his dreame verse 10. And his other brethren attempted, & concluded to disappointe him of his expectation & of the sense of his dreames.

   By many other scripturall notes wee may discerne the singularity of those dreames which were of weighty signification: But it will bee a more compendious way to our present purpose, if wee trace the Scripture to find out what are those notes of distinction which doe import a weight considerable.

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 Therefore to let goe such fluide glances of the infected phantsy, as doe betray our distempers, & common tumults of the minde in vitious interests, beeing frequent about Light & triflyng matters & <sometimes> reviewes of things paste, & suggestions of things possible: It is specially to bee noted, That in the divine records it is Manifest, That the Significant Dreames were by some notable & remarkeable Circumstance distinguished from others.

   That which Macrobius notes in this pointe may bee fully confirm'd by many expresses in scripture.

   Hee first layeth aside the common dreame, under the name of [Greek: enypnion] in Græke & Insomnium in Latine. This hee thus describes. Quoties cara oppressi animi, vel corporis, vel fortunæ, qualis vigilantem fatigaverit talem se ingerit dormienti: animi, si amator delicijs suis, aut fruentem se videat[altered from viderit], aut carentem; si metuans quis, imminentem sibi vel insidijs vel potestate personam, aut incurrisse hanc ex imaginatione <[imagin?] imagine> cogitationum suarum, aut effugisse videatur: Corporis, si temeto ingurgitatus, aut distentus cibo, vel abundantia præfocari se existimet, vel gravantibus exonerari; aut contra, si esuriens cibum, aut potum sitiens, desiderare, quærere, vel etiam invenisse videatur: Fortunæ, quum se quis existimat vel potentia, vel magistratu,

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vel magistratu, aut augeri præ desiderio, aut exui præ timore. Hæc & his similia, quoniam ex habitu mentis quietem sicut prævenerant, ita & turbaverant dormientis, una cum somno advolant, & pariter [evanescunt? altered]. Hinc & Insomnio nomen, non quia per somnum videtur, sed quia ipso somnio tantummodo esse creditur, dum videtur, post somnium nullam sui utilitatem, vel significationem relinquit.

   To this of Macrobius I will adde, That if the agitation of our wakeing minde bee by any circumstance of Luste, malice, revenge covetousnesse or otherwise vitious; Then as is foresayd, Tis too much that it did once enter into our minds; And wee can make noe better use of the reviewe of such dreames, Than to checke our owne spirits, & to chastice our flesh by Watching, labour, fasting, & other acts of Contrition; To prevent, That by like dreames wee doe not againe contaminate the Spirite, and defile the flesh, as holy Iude sayth. vese 8.

   But when our life is regulated by <the> Light of Gods holy comands: Then[altered] from our dreames wee may expect directions in the functions of our laudable imployment, as St Paul did Act. 16. 9. And againe Act. 18. 9. And In the first of thiese two dreames, St Paul was directed where to imploy his Ministery, & in the second Hee was encouragd to beare the hardship of it.

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 And our Gracious God takeing upon himselfe the interests of their wellfare & prosperity, who truste in him, did Thus by dreame assure Abram Gen. 15. 12. of the promotion of his posterity (verse 14) & of his long life, & peaceable end (verse 15. Likewise the Lord <by dreame> encouraged Isaac to dig wells & fixe his station, in Beeresheba Gen 26. 23, 24, 29. Allso Iacob is by dreame Gen 28. 12. encouraged with the promises of hopefull successe in his way to Haran (verse 10). And Iacob is directed by a dreame Gen 31. 12, Howe to encrease his substance by the Magicall stratagem of pilled rods c. 30. v. 37.

   Thiese are arguments enough (& many more I could produce) to shewe, That all secular interests are not contemptible, nor neglected by God. Who as hee expecteth a reguard to the Ordinary acts (& much more to the High demonstrations) of his providence, & requyreth our Gratefull apprehension of his bountifull supplyes, & gracious deliverances; Soe (many times) by dreames hee doth direct, & councell, & discover his purposes in thiese outward things.

Allso for a testimoney of his ever ruling Providence in all things, & for other reasons to his incomprehensible wisedome fully knowne, The Allmighty doth sometimes discover the ultimate issues of such those weighty affayres which are of deepe concernement to such as wee cannot upon good grounds prove to bee [catchword: very]

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very deere in the sight of God, & in the number of the righteous; And this hee doth by such dreames as come under the rules of his divine Arte of interpretation. Thus Pharoahs Butler & Baker are advertised of their severall successes Gen 40. Yet they both find a weight & sense in the dreame, & <a> shadowe or difficulty in the dreame (verse 6) & a neede of an interpreter 8. And thus the Insolent Nebuchandnezzer is advertised of the Times that shall succeede his dayes Dan 2d.

   And thiese advertisements are apparently to Testify his eye from heaven upon the actions of the sonnes of men. as when Pilots wiefe sent to her husband Mat 27. 19, saying, Have thou nothing to doe with that iuste man: for I have suffered many things this day, in a dreame, because of him.

   And God useth this way of advertisement to restraine men from putting foorth, their hands unto iniquity. Thus Abimelech is restrained from attempting ought upon the wiefe of Abraham by a single Gen 20. 3 or double dreame (verse 6.) And I guesse that this kind of premonishment was before given to Pharoah Gen: 12. 17. as I shall elsewhere shewe.

   And upon better certainety, Thus Laban is restrained from his cruell purposes against Iacob; Gen: 31. 24 And (verse 29) hee declareth himselfe bound to have reguard to this dreame.

   And soe far it is from Truth, That dreames are not considerable to direct us in the affayres

10.

of Life, That from the weight of the affayres, & the extremity of the exigency of our affayres, or from the depth of the Concernement, wee may take an Argument, That the premonition is serious, & from God. Thus Ioseph the reputed father of our Lord Iesus, Tooke heede to a dreame Mat 1. 20, And did not put away his Virgine spouse. And by another dreame Mat 2. 13[altered] adorned his remoovall of his family into Egypt.

   And the Magicians And by a third dreame (verse 19) hee returned into his native countrey. And the Magicians <who were the blessed Virgins Gossips> tooke advise by a dreame of returning into their owne Countrey by another way Mat. 2. 12.

   Therefore by evidences of divine records, I am fully instructed, to confine this reiecting note of Macrobius to the trifles, or Vanityes, or excesses of humane Interests; And not to the exigencyes, & extremityes, or weighty concernements of gods deare people.

   A Second note of Macrobius is[altered] in reiection of such dreames as hee calls in Greeke [Greek: phantasmata] hoc genus Cicero (quoties opus hoc nomine fiat) visum vocavit. sayth hee. And thus hee describes it. Visum est, cum inter vigiliam & adultam quietem in quadam (ut aiunt) prima somnij nebula adhuc vigilare se existimans, qui dormire vix cæpit, aspicere videtur irruentes in se, vel passim vagantes formas, a natura seu magnitudine seu specie dis-

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-crepantes: variasque tempestates rerum, vel lætas, vel turbulentas. In hoc genere est [Greek: epialtes] quem publica persuasio quiescentes opinatur invadere, & pondere suo pressos & sentientes gravare. Of This Phantasma, & of the former Insomnium hee positively pronounceth this iudgement. His duobus modis ad nullam noscendi futuri opem receptis, Tribus cæteris in ingenium divinationis instruimur. What thiese three kinds of Considerable & propheticall dreames are, I will in due place relate.

   Nowe I must not rest upon the bare authority of Macrobius for the totall reiection of those second kind of phantasticall dreames, but I must seriously enquyre, What concurrence I find in holy scriptures

   And first I note, That in concurrence hereunto the holy records doe sometimes expressely relate the weighty dreames to come in the depth of sleepe. Thus it is sayd of Abrahams profound dreame, in which all the weighty passages of his Life, & death, & of his posterity are[altered from is] recompted Gen. 15. 12 And when the sun was goeing downe a deepe sleepe fell upon Abraham; & loe, an horrour of greate darkenesse fell upon him. See here a deepe <sleepe> & noe light glance of the phansy, but[altered] a deepe impression made upon the spirite by an horrour

12.

of greate darkenesse. And when Iacob was wearyed in his travayles, & overtaken by the night Gen 28. 11. & could now take his reste & sleepe upon a heape of stones as well insteede of a pillowe, Then[altered] befell upon <him> the profound <dreame> of the Angelicall Ladder, declaring his safe conduct in his iourney & the possessions & successes of his posterity. And That Pilates wiefe had a deepe impression by the continued & repeated horrour of her dreame, may appeare by her expression; That shee had suffered Many things that day in a dreame.

   And upon this accompt, Tis a very ancient & generally approved note, To distinguish the Morning dreames, as more apt to bee significant, Then such as befall in our first Slumbers. Tertullian expresseth it with a reasone in the very language. lib de anima. cap, 48 Certiora (sayth hee) & colatiora somniari affirmant sub extimis noctibus, quasi iam emergente animarum vigore producto sopore. And Trismegistus in Pimandro neere the beginning sayth, [dium?] suum somnium in sopore gravissimo se accepisse. Tis no affront to this note, That wee read Gen. 15. 12 That when the sun was goeing downe a deepe sleepe fell upon Abraham. For this deepe sleepe might hold him a good length of the night before hee fell into his horrible dreame. And the relation of the Suns goeing downe (in that hot countrey) may import howe his Spirits were tyred & languishing into a deepe sleepe, as it doth allso in Iacob Gen 28. 11. [catchword: Tis.]