A general collection of discourses of the virtuosi of France, upon questions of all sorts of philosophy, and other natural knowledg made in the assembly of the Beaux Esprits at Paris, by the most ingenious persons of that nation / render'd into English by G. Havers, Gent.

II. Whether there be any Art of Divi∣nation.

Upon the Second Point 'twas said, That Man, who alone under∣stands the nature and difference of Time, is more solicitous about the future then about the present, which is but a moment; or the past, which concerns him only historically. Hence arises his ardent desire of presaging to satisfie which, he makes use of every thing in the world. Which is an infallible argument of the vanity of this Art of Divination; because effects cannot be fore-told by all sorts of causes, but onely by those wherewith they have connexi∣on, and wherein they are potentially contain'd, as leaves and fruits are in the seeds; and 'tis receiv'd a Maxime, that when an effect may be produc'd by sundry causes, none of them is the true cause; since we cannot from such an effect proceed to the knowledge of its cause. Now Divination is not taken here, as Hippocrates speaks of it in his Prognosticks, when he saith, that nothing is makes Physitians more resemble Gods, then the fore∣telling of what will befall, and hath already befallen their Pati∣ents. For there he speaks of the predictions of Physick; but here to divine, is to affirm an event whereof we see not any cause or probable sign. For if by seeing a Rain-bow I prognosticate rain, or that a tree will bear fruit when it is well blossom'd, or that a sick person that rests ill the night before the seventh day will have a Crisis, this is not Divination. But if, not knowing a pri∣soner nor his affairs, I fore-tell that he will be set at liberty or not; that an unknown person will be married, and how many Children he will have, or such other things which have no neces∣sary, nor yet contingent causes known to me; this is properly to Divine. Whereby it appears, that there is no Art of Divi∣nation: Art being a body of precepts tending to some profitable end; whereas were Divination certain, it would cause nothing but either despair or negligence; and precepts being of things hapning necessarily or most commonly; that whose cause we know not cannot be known by precepts. And therefore all your Soothsayers, Augurs, Sorcerers, Fortune-tellers, and the like, are but so many Impostors.

The Second said, That Divination, which is a prediction of

future things remote from our knowledge, is of three sorts. Either from God, as Prophecy; from Devils, as Conjuring; or from causes purely natural, which is Prognostication or Conje∣cture. Prophecy is a divine inspiration, whereby one fore-sees and declares remote things infallibly. 'Twas exercis'd at first by the Priests of the Law, with the Ʋrim and Thummim, which were twelve precious stones in the high Priests Ephod; and after∣wards by the Prophets instructed in dreams or visions, whence they were call'd seers. Diabolical Divination depends upon some compact, either tacite or express, with the Devil; who being able to declare such things as have appear'd by some out∣ward act, as the authors of robberies, things lost, or such futu∣rities as depend on natural and necessary causes, but not such as proceed from causes purely free or contingent; the Soothsayers his servants can know no more concerning the same then their Master. This Divination is of two sorts. The first is call'd Daemonomancy, when the Devils themselves give answers out of Caves or Images; sometimes by beasts, men, or most frequently by women, rendring oracles by their mouths, stomacks, or bellies, but for the most part ambiguous and doubtful, for fear of being mistaken. The other is call'd Mangania, or Goetia, the most detestable species of which is Necromancy, which draws answers from the mouths of the dead. Others, more remarkable, are, 1. Hydromancy, or Divination by water, into which they pour drops of oyle, or cast three little stones, observing the sections of the circles which they describe. 2. Lecanomancy, by a basin of water, at the bottom of which the answers are heard, after casting thereinto some plates of Gold and Silver, and precious stones, engraven with certain characters. 3. Gastromancy, by glass bottles full of water, in which a big-belly'd woman, or an innocent child, beholds images. 4. Catoptromancy, by Look∣ing-glasses. 5. Crystallomancy, by crystal cylinders. 6. Dacty∣lomancy, by enchanted Rings, like that of Gyges. 7. Onycho∣mancy, by anointing the nail of a child with oyle or tallow, and holding it towards the Sun they see in it what they demand. 8. Aeromancy, by conjurations of the Air. 9. Coscinomancy, by a sieve, and sizzars. All which species of Divination presume either an express or tacite compact with the Devil. But there were three without compact, 1. Aruspices, who drew conjectures from the entrails and motions of beasts sacrificed, from the figures made by melted wax cast into water, call'd Cero∣mantie, or Daphnomancy, from the crackling of burning Lawrel, Omphalomancy, when by the knots and adhering to the navil and secundines, the Mid-wives fore-tell how many Children the new deliver'd woman shall have afterwards. Amniomancy, fore∣telling the Childs fortune from the red or livid colour of the coat Amnios. Parthenomancy, to discover Virginity by measuring the neck, or drinking powder'd Agat, which she that is no Vir∣gin vomits up again. 2. Augures, or Auspices who divin'd from

birds, beasts, prodigies, and accidents, as Pliny reports of the Servilii, that they had a piece of brass money which they fed with Gold and Silver, and it increas'd when any good was to be∣fall their Family, and diminish'd upon some approaching evil. 3. Unlawful Lots are Cleromancy, which comprehends Homer and Virgil's Lots. Alectriomancy, by a Cock eating corns of wheat lay'd upon the Letters of the Alphabet. Oniomancy, by names; Arithmancy, by numbers. Lastly, Natural Divination, which is Conjecture, either taken from the Stars, as Judiciary Astrology; the Air, and its several dispositions; the Sea, and Trees, as when a Plague is fore-told by the flourishing of Roses or Violets in Autumn. Animals also supply some presages, as Mice running away from an house presignifie its downfall or burn∣ing; and Sparrows delinquishing a Country denote the Pesti∣lence and infection of the Air.

The Third said, That the Soul, being immortal, is also capable of knowing things after the manner of eternity, which being a to∣tal and simultaneous possession of endless life, knows all things at once, things future and past as present; which knowledge is like that of a man who beholds a whole Army at the same time from the top of a Mountain; and that of time, in which things are seen successively, is like that of him who through a hole sees every Souldier of his Army pass by one after another. Where∣fore 'tis no wonder if men who affect nothing so much as eternity, and to be like God, desire to know things as God doth, to whom the future is present. Moreover, this inclination being natural to all persons, they must have a power to exercise it in this life, lest it be in vain. Which is done principally when the Soul is loosned from the Body, as in sleep, extasie, deep contemplation, and the agonies of death, in which dying persons commonly fore∣tell things to come.