CHAPTER XII.

Diagram — Prophecy — May be uttered by any one attracted by the Magnet of God — Platonic Opinion — Cacodfemons — Dagon — Baal — Each man had a good and bad Dsemon — God speaks to man in different ways — Effect of Vegetable Growths — Odd Prescriptions — Furor Divini — The Vision is Twofold — Pillar of Fire — A Light in a Mirror — Ethnicks have also this gift — Prophetic Sleep — Geomancy — Other kinds of Divination — Art of Memory — Vermiform Appliance in the Brain — Plate — Virtues and their Emblems — Letters and their Emblems — Nativities — Astrology — Daemons — Seven Angels corre- spond to Seven Planets — Different Ministries of Angels — Psyche — Physiognomy — Character by Colour — from walk — from stature — shape of the head — eyes — feet — Chiromancy — The Hand — Lines and Figures — The Pyramid.
second section of the “ De Technica Microcosmi Historia ” contains seven parts. A separate title shows a globe of light within a square of darkness. Homo stands at the top, and the circle is divided into portions illustrating Prophecy, Geomancy, Memory, the art of Casting Nativities, Physiognomy, the art of Hand Reading, and the science of the Pyramid. In the centre of all is the figure of the Ape of Nature.”
The first section is of Prophecy, and has a title plate representing Elijah anointing Elisha with a horn of oil, the Spirit, in the shape of a dove, issuing from above ; or it may be Samuel and David ; but the proximity of the river (Jordan) makes the former more probable.
Prophecy is not necessarily the possession of priests and diviners ; for as we see the effect of attraction in the magnet, which can be transferred to iron, and act accord- ingly, so there are those who, touched and attracted by God’s Spirit, act upon others. These persons foretell the
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future, perform miracles, have familiarity with angelic beings. These powers cease, however, if the junction between the higher power and the agent is loosened. The Platonic opinion, that the daemon comes in an illapse on certain persons, who then spoke and acted from his impulses, is that also of the prophet Isaiah. The ancient daemons, or pythons, entered into men, and used the human voice in their utterances. We believe the office of the prophet to be immediately from God. Abraham was immediately com- municated with by God, though also by angels, whom the old philosophic writers called daemons. So with all the patriarchs. We have the divine method, expressly men- tioned in Numbers xi. 25 — And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders : and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.”
Dionysius calls angels “ Agalmata ” — that is, clear mirrors of God’s light. In them the divine glory is clearly seen. A list is given of those who have had this gift, as in the ancient writings, Trismegistus, Plato, Orpheus, Sibyllse, Oracula Chaldseorum, Cassandra Trojana, Merlin, Nostrodamus Gallicus vates.
The gods, false gods of the nations, such as Moloch, Milcom, Chemosh, &c., &c., are but Cacodeemons. They have no mission for God nor angels, but from Lucifer. Therefore it is said that the people sacrificed to devils and not to God, to gods whom they knew not, “ to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.” As it was seen that the Philistian Dagon could not stand upright in the presence of the Ark of God, so neither could the prophets of Baal and of the groves stand before the power of Elijah. The spirit of lying prophecy cannot stand in the presence of God, but by the light and power of Jehovah is silenced. The prophets, or vates, being filled with God’s Spirit, even the lower animals also were made use of in this way, and made known the will of God to men. So
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the evil spirits enter into men also, and, by the power of the devil, try to foretell events. A great number of instances in ancient history are given. From the time of Adam, men have lived in familiar society with angelic beings — Adam, with Raziel ; Shem, with Jophiel ; Abraham, with Zadkiel ; Isaac and Jacob, with Peliel ; Joseph, Joshua, and Daniel, with Gabriel ; Moses, with Melattron ; Elias, with Maltiel ; Tobias, with Raphael ; David, with Cerniel, &c. Thus it is that Jacob speaks to Joseph — “ The anofel who delivered me from all evil, bless the lad.” Fludd seems to believe that, even before Christian times, each man had a good and bad spirit continually associating with him. In this, Jamblicus and Proclus agree with the writer of the Acts, who speaks of S. Peter’s angel. In our Lord’s time, legions of daemons abode in men. The changing of Moses’ rod into a serpent, Aaron’s rod budding and blos- soming, are given as proof of special missions ; and that proof, too, was not awanting among other ancient nations. In what way or mode, then, does God speak to men ? In different ways, in diverse manners, both by persons and by things. Though spoken by man’s voice, the divine message is real. By the threefold word of God, by angels and archangels, by Urim and Thummim, by patriarchs, kings, prophets, apostles, and other faithful men. The message given in vision, in sleep by dreams, or by evident ocular proof and message — the things spoken by God — are not matters of levity. Prophets have been in soul lifted up above their brethren, and entered the higher heavens. Such was Moses, to whom God appears in the likeness of fire, when He gave him the form of the Tabernacle worship. Sin and evil must first be removed before such a measure of the light divine can dwell in the soul. The prophet must beware of intercourse with flagrant sinners. Twelve laws are given to distinguish true from false prophets.
According to the ancient writers, there were different kinds of prophets — those who had the gift immediately from God, in whom the Divine Icon was at once apparent ;
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those mediati, who received the gift in watchings or vigils, or in sleep. The gift was either from interior revelation or brought about by exterior means. Ah extra, by hearing or by vision, the latter manifest and external, or occult and internal ; the external, either from the living or by and through the departed. Magic art, by which higher powers are attracted to earth, also comes under this head. Dif- ferent vegetable growths have a power of this sort, if properly used. These are root, fruit, tree, or herb. Even metals and stones have also power. So they said that, from among vegetables, the verbena and the angelica confer’ power of prophecy, also the stones known as selenites. and hysenise. Albertus Magnus and other magi are of this opinion. Some say, also, that the heart of a mole, still palpitating, if so eaten will enable the eater to foretell future events. These two kinds are under Luna and Mercury. The third sort is “ in sphsera Veneris,” powders, fumigations, odours, and ointments. Under the fourth, in sphsera Solis,” are words, voices, and symphoniac songs. These have power to expel darkness from the mind, as in the case of Saul, who was relieved by the music of David. The fifth grade is under the influence of Mars, in which are vehement imaginations and strong aflections of the mind. And so on till, in the ninth place, the influence Primo Mobili.
There is also a “ furor Divini,” which, the ancients say, proceeds from Apollo, whom we know or call the soul of the world. In the case of Esdras (ii. 14, 38), he is given a cup to drink, the contents like water, but of the colour of -fire. “ And I took it and drank, and when I had drank of it, my heart uttered understanding, and wisdom grew up in my breast and on my spirit, and strengthened my memory.” Similarly we find the case of Ezekiel (iii. 1), Son of man, eat that thou flndest ; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.” Thus were these prophets filled with the spirit of wisdom, so that they could properly teach the commandments of God. To go beyond the sacred'
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books, an honest historian tells of a certain rustic, who, feeding his flock, found a vase filled with a most splendid golden liquor, and, thinking it to be heavenly dew, washed his face and drank of it. Soon he was endowed with such a goodness of soul and excellent wisdom, and his body being renewed and become full of beauty, so that, from being a ploughman, he became the messenger to the King of Sicily. The chapter closes with some curious speculations as to the reason of Cupid being represented as blind.
Vision is twofold — with the outward eye, and with the inward sight. The vision of Jehovah to Israel was in a pillar of fire ; Jacob cries, “ I have seen God face to face ” ; the angelic appearance to Manoah and Hagar ; the tremor or vision of Eliphas, in the book of Job. The internal vision, in ecstasy or without it — a bright splendour seen, as in a mirror, in the mind. S. Paul, in his rapture; S. John, in his apocalyptic visions ; Ezekiel and S. Stephen’s visions were of the same kind. Visions have also been given to “ Ethnicks ” — Curtins Rufus, Alexander the Great, Apol- lonius of Tyana, Bratus. Many others are given. The truth of such visions is believed by Hermes, Socrates, Xenocrates, Plato, Plotinus, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Zoroaster. Olaus Magnus writes that, when in Finland, he found certain magi, who, after magic rites, were able to perform many similar wonders.
The next section treats of the Prophetic Sleep. Sleep, in general, is fourfold — natural, supernatural, diabolic and vain, and inane. Jehovah, the fountain and origin of truth, reveals it in sleep by dreams. Nebuchadnezzar, the butler and baker of Pharoah, Abraham, cast into a deep sleep. God’s message to Abimelech and Solomon. God, by means of angels, transfers to man another and special sense, and by it declares His will. Five different kinds of dream sleep are noted. The devil has power to cast into a deep sleep, and, by fraudulent methods, to excite it. But sanguineous sleep, bilious, phlegmatic, and melancholic-
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sleeps, are also existent. In these, indeed, many horrors appear, but they are res mere inanes.”
The next section of the tractate treats of Geomantia, Geomancy. Fludd’s belief in this part of science has been alread}^ treated of in Chapter X., to which the reader is referred. It is treated of here in six chapters. Another