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ififpir'd by the Fumes of Liquor. — And yet I don't know whether his Fright be not founded on a Mifaptire- henfion. If Scaliger or any other Perfon alledge, that the Juice of the Grape may be an Occafion of fuch an Effea, i. e. a Means or Condition neceffary to make the Laws that concur to Invention take place ; I do not fee what Religion has to do here, rhore than in any other Enthufiafm', The life of fuch a Means, 'is no ways derogatory to the Power or Goodnefs of God ; who ftill remains the Author Of this, as of any other Infpira- tion ; whether it be by Virions, by Voices, Dreams, or the like. What matters it whether the Sound of a Cym- bal, or the Sight of an Image, or the Effluvia of a Liquor be the Occafion ? So long as he is the Caufe, what matters it what Inftrurnent he makes ufe of? And of all the Bleffings this Juice is made the Occafion of to us ; why mould it be precluded from that, which none of God's Creatures, not even the vileft, but occa- fionally minifters ? The Antients did not think fo meanly of it : they fet up a God on purpofe to prefide over it ; and it even had the largeft Share in their moft folemn Ceremonies of Religion.
THE Infpiration of Orators, bears a near Relation to that of the Poets ; tho being fomewhat groffer, it be- comes more technical, and demands more Induftry, and Art. Quintilian tells us how a Rhetor is to get infpir'd * ;
" not by fupinely lolling and gazing at the next moveable, and carelefly turning things over in his Mind ; but by " imagining the Judge and the Audience prefent, and ftrongly reprefenting to himfelf the Time, the Occafion," &c. He adds, that no body ought to pretend to be an Orator, unlefs he have this Art of Infpiration at com- mand ; fo that he can raife it at pleafure.
WHAT has been faid above, contains fome of the general Principles of Enthufiafm, and their Conneftion •with other phyfical Efieds : and 'twill be eafy to trace and purfue the fame, where they appear in other Cafes, and with other Circumftances. Thus the Infpiration excited by the Orator in his Audience, is refolved, by Ca- faubon, into the Mufick of the Speaker, i. e. the Tone and Cadence of his Voice ; and the 2w!W, or order and placing of his Words : In which laft, how fimple and trivial foever it mdy feem, all the great Matters on the Subjeft allow fomewhat myfterious and unaccountably forcible ; and accordingly make it die principal Patt of Rhetorick. And yet there is nothing in the Whole, bat what refults from the Powers, Properties,' fciV. of the feveral Letters, confider'd as fo many Sounds, artfully combin'd. In effea, there is fome 'Pvfyis, or Dimenfion, and fome UiTeji, or Numbers in all Diction ; much more in that of Oratory : And Mufick it iclf has no Charm in it, but what it derives from thofe very Sources.
NOR muft it be omitted, that the ufe of Metaphors contributes its (hare to the Effea. The Secret whereof confifts in this, that they are, as it were, accommodated to the Senfes ; and prefent fuch Images to the Imagi- nation, as move us moft when perceived in the Way of Senfation f.
A S to that Enthufiafm felt in Prayer, its Caufe is not far to feek. The Powers of Rhetorick, and Mufick -, and of a peculiar Fervour of Imagination, rais'd by an Apprehenfion of the Frefence of God, fsfc will go a great way. We may add, that the antient Heathens made ufe of Dithyrambi'cs in all their moft folemn Prayers ; which Proclus obferves, are peculiarly fit to ftir up enthuflaftical Difpofltions. A Man that rides Pindar's Horfe, cannot well fail of going at a great rate.
BUT the moft extraordinary and unaccountable kind of Infpiration is ftill behind, viz. that of Prophecy, Divination, clifcovertng of Cures by Dreams, &c. which yet may all be produced by Art ; and accordingly, have all been taught and ftudied like other Arts : not to fay, alfo, praftifed like them, for a Livelihood. Schools and Colleges of Prophets, Divines, Augurs, £sV. were numerous both among Jews and Gentiles ; and there was little in their Difciplme, but what may be refolved into what has been already faid. Here, all the Means above mentioned, all the Springs of Enthufiafm, were ufed ; and frequently combin'd together, to make the more compound and extraordinary Effea. The Sight of vaft Objefls, as Rocks and Mountains, wild Profpeas, folitary Groves, gloomy Caves, furious Rivers, Seas, &c. which We find to work fo ftrongly on the Mind, were indulged ; and $ frequent Changes, and fudden Tranfitions made from one to another **. Such unufual Ob- jeas neceffarily fuggefted unufual Ideas ; which were heighten'd by proper Applications to all the other Senfes. And when the Man Was at length got out of the ordinary Syftem of Thinking, into another more unufual and ex- traordinary, tho equally phyfical, or if you will, mechanical one ; what he utter'd was iudged all oracular : It wasnot hisSenfe, or Reafon that fpoke ; and therefore it muft be that of God himfelf. And among a large Train of Objeas which prefented themfelves to him, fome of 'em could not want an Analogy to Things that were really to come ; at leaft, in the Opinion of a Perfon already poffeffed with the Notion thereof. It may be added, that the Prophefies themfelves, had their Share in producing Futurity ; the Evenrs whereof partook of the Prediaions, fome more, others lefs, according to the degree of Poffeffion of the Parties concerned in them. In effea, the Revelations ftill retain'd fomething of the Means made ufe of to raife 'em. Thus, if the one were either agreeable or difpleafmg, the other would be of the fame Kind : And hence a Revelation was artificially produceable of the Complexion required : which was the very Apex of the Art. So that the Divination, when moft perfea, really fuppofed a natural Knowledge of the Thing demanded, and was built on it.
AS to Dreams, &c. there was a Formula for 'em ; the Circumftances whereof might be appropriated to
raife in the Imagination an Idea of the Thing required. After a number of Ceremonies, the Party was to
fieep in the Temple : Pellibus incv.iuit ftratis, fomnumque petivtt. And the Priefts had not only the placing of his Body, and the ftrewing of his Bed ; but alfo the Management of Odours, Sounds, &c. in the Night-time. So that if any natural Means were known for the Cure, here was room enough to fuggeft it to the Patient's Imagination, which was made acceffible to 'em, and as it were put into their Hands. But, if no proper Re- medy were known ; as, 'tis probable, they hardly enter'd fo far into the Part : yet, What was thus fuggefted, perhaps at random, how ftrongly muft it operate, when inforced by the Opinion of its coming by Miracle and Infpiration ? We fee what the bare Prefence and Affurance of a Phyfician will frequentlv do ; even cure Dif- orders far out of the Reach of his Skill : and what an Improvement would it not be to the' Faculty, to have the
furdier Affiftance of a little Shew of Religion and Ceremony ? A deal more might be faid on this Head*
from the Praaice of Exo r c i s m s, Amulets, Phylacteries, cjfV. to which the Reader may turn Iri the Book ; as alfo to the Articles Witchcraft, Ephialtes, fciV.
IT appears then, that 'tis in vain that we pretend to pervert the Order of Nature. Senfation does arid muft inevitably precede Imagination ; which cannot by any human Means come at the fmalleft Grain of any- thing, but what paffes thro' that Canal. There is no harm in faying, that fuch Things are of Divine Infpira- tion ; the Mifchief lies in fuppofing, that thefe are more fo than others ; that what appears only to the Imagina- tion, is more of God than what appears to Senfation : which is, in effea, to fay, that we have fome Know- ledge which we do not receive from God*
T *""• Lil >- v - ** Livy, relating the horrible Rilei of the Saturnalia, fays, " ken
J y:' ct '° i- de ° rat - " -would hereupon be taken as if mad, fall Mo ftrattge fanatical Agi,
T Multos Nemora Sytaque, nmltos Amnes aut Maria comraoVcnr, " fattens of Body, and break out Into Prophefies :" Velut mente cap;
quorum luribunda mens, ere. cic.de ohin, ti, cum agitations Eanatica corporis vaiicuaiii Dec. iy.l. j.
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