Book 1. T/>e Temple <?/ Wifdome. 107

raculous a power of phancy, as if ic were able to change che Aire into a reall fliape and formjfo that others may behold it^ as well as he that fram'd it by the power of his fancy.
Now I demand of any fober man, or HeydoHeattj whether this be not a harder Miftery and more un- conceiveable, then all the Magicall Mctamorphofes of Uevils or Witches, For it is eafier to conceive that Genii or fome knowhig thing in the- Aire fhould thus transform the Aire into this or that (hape, being in that part of the Aire it doth thus transform, then that the Imagination of roan^ which is but a modification of his own minde, (houldbe able at a diftance to change it into fuch appearancesjButfuppofe itcould^can it animate the Airethacit doth thus Metamorphize , and make it rpeak & anfwer to Queftions, and put things into mens handS; & teach them how to make Telefms or Talefraans^as fome call them, & what Angels attend them^e^c. O the credulity of befotted Athcifmc ! How intoxicated and infatuated are they in their conceits, being given up to fenfualiity, and having loft the free ufe of the natural faculties of their mindcj But (hall this force of imagination reach fo high as the clouds alfo, and make men fight pitched Battels in the Aire, as they did at Edge-hill, running and charging one againft another, here the fame bold pretender, to wit, and Phylofophy, C^far Va- ninus (who cunningly and Jugglingly tndeavciirs to infufes the poifon of Atheifme into the minds of his reader on every occafionj and anorl er Engliih Aothor of Prodigies, abuiing the Noble Knight Cornelius Agripp a ^v/ho('eEoo\.^ ntxi the Bihle^ I pre- ferr before all the Eooksin the world : Thefe men have reccurfe to thofe old caft Rags of Epimeus his
School
io8 rAe Temple tf/Wifdome. BooK.L
School, the exuvious effluxes of things , and at- tempts to falve thefe VhimomenH: thws ; that the va- pours of mens bqdies^and it feems ofhorfestoo are carried up into the h'wty and fall into a certain pro- portionable pofture of parts^ andfo imitate the fi- gures of them aloft among the Clouds.
But I demandjhow the vapours of the Horfes findc the vapours of their Riders, and when and how long are they comming together:and whether they appear not before there be any Armies in the field to fend up fuch vapours; and whether Harnefs and Weapons fend up vapours too, as Swords, Pikes and Shields : and how they come to light fo happily in- to the hands of thofe Aerial men of War, efpecially the vapours of Metals (if they have any) being| heavier in alllikelyhood then the reek of Animals and men : and laftly how they come todifchargeac one another and to fight, there being neither life nor foul in them ; and whether Sounds alfo have their ExuvU that are referved till thefe folcmnkiesj for ^t Jiborougbm SnffoiJ^i 6 i^2, were heard in the Aire very loud beatings of Drums, (hooting of Mus- kets, and Ordinance, as alfo in other fuch like Pro- digies, there hath been heard the founding of Trumpets, as Snelliut writes. And P//«yalfo makes mention of the founding of Trumpets,and Clafliing of Armour heard out of the heavens about the Ow- I'r/cJ^VVarrs, and often before. But hereat^/W(?«^i all was concluded with a melodious noife of Mufical Inftruments.
1 he ExuvU of Fiddlers it fccms flic up into the Aire too, or were thofe Muiical Accents frozen there for a time, and at the heat and firing of the Cannons, the Aire relenting and thawing, became foharnionioufly vocal? With Vfl^at vain conceits
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