One night, after having seen some appearance in the air, as I had just lain down in my bed, one of my feet pained me; after that came a numbness, succeeded with a tingling in my blood; when on a sudden I thought something alive lay upon me, from my knee to above half my leg. Upon this I flung myself out of bed where I thought the creature lay; but finding nothing, Lord deliver me from evil spirits, said I, what can this be? When I lighted a candle, I could perceive no living creature in the place with me, but the poor parrot, who, being frighted, cried out, Hold your tongue, and What's the matter with you, which words I had taught him, by saying so to him, when he made such screaming noises as I did not like. Lord, said I aloud, surely the devil has been here. Hold your tongue, says Poll. I was then mad at the bird, and putting on my clothes, cried, I am terribly frighted. What's the matter with you? says Poll. You toad, said I, I'll knock your brains out. Hold you tongue, cried he again, and so fell a chattering, and calling Robinson Crusoe, as he did before. But after I had composed myself, and went to bed again, I began plainly to see it was a distemper that affected my nerves, and so my terrors vanished at once.
How intelligences are given or received, we do not know; nor are we sensible how they are conveyed from spirits embodied to ours that are in life; or, on the contrary, from us to them; the latter is certainly done without help of the organs, and the former is conveyed by the understanding, and the retired faculties of the soul.
The spirits, without the help of voices, converse, and the more particular discoveries of converse of the spirits, seem to me as follow: to wit, dreams, voices, noises, impulses, hints, apprehensions, involuntary sadness, &c.
Dreams of old were the ways by which God himself was pleased to warn men what services to perform, and what to shun. Joseph was directed of God in a dream to go to Egypt; and so were the wise men warned in a dream to depart into their own country another way, to avoid the fury of Herod. I am not like those who think dreams are the mere designs of a delirious head, or the relics of a day's perplexities or pleasures; but, on the contrary, I must beg leave to say, I never met with any capital mischief in my life, but I had some notice of it by a dream; and had I not been a thoughtless unbelieving creature, I might have taken many a warning, and avoided many of the evils I afterwards fell into, merely by total neglect of those dreams.
I was once present at a dispute between a layman and a clergyman, upon the subject of dreams. The first thought no regard should be given unto them; that their communication from the invisible to the visible world was a mere chimera, without any solid foundation. For, first, said he, if dreams were from the agency of any prescient being, the motives would be more direct, and the discoveries more plain, and not by allegories and emblematic fancies, expressing things imperfect and obscure. 2. Since, with the notice of evil, there was not a power given to avoid it, it is not likely to proceed from a spirit, but merely fortuitious. 3. That the inconstancy of such notices, in cases equally important, proves they did not proceed from any such agent. 4. That as our most distinct dreams had nothing in them of any significancy, it would be irrational and vain to think that they came from heaven. And, 5. That as men were not always thus warned or supplied with notice of good or evil, so all men are not alike supplied with them; and what reason could we give, why one man or one woman should not have the same hints as another.
To all this the clergyman gave answer: 1. That as to the signification of dreams, & the objections against them, as being dark and doubtful, they are expressed generally by hierogliphical representations, similies, allusions, and figurative emblematic ways, by which means, for want of interpretation, the thing was not understood, and, consequently, the evil not shunned. 2. That we charge God foolishly, to say, that he has given the notice of evil, without the power to avoid it; for, if any one had not power to avoid the evil, it was no notice to him; and it was want of giving due head to that notice, that men first neglected themselves, and then charged the Judge of all the earth with injustice. 3. That we ought not to find fault with the inconstancy of these notices; but rather with our weak understandings, by pretending dreams were not to be regarded, and negligent when the voice really spoke to us for our good. It is a mistake to say, dreams have no import at all: we might, with more reason, have said, none that we could perceive the reason of, owing to our blindness and supine negligence, too secure at one time, and too much alarmed at another; so that the spirit, which we might be said to be conversing with in a dream, was constantly and equally kind and careful; but our powers are not always in the same state of action, not equally attentive too, or retentive of the hints that were given. And, 5. To answer the last question, Why people are not equally supplied? This seemed to be no question; for Providence itself might have some share in the direction of it, and then that Providence might be limited by a superior direction; that as to the converse of spirits, he could not call it a stated converse: such a thing there was, but why there was so much of it, and no more, was none of his business, and that no such discovery had ever yet been made to mankind. Nor were we to imagine less of waking dreams, trances, visions, noises, hints, impulses, and all the waking testimonies of an invisible world, and of the communication that there is between us and them, which commonly entertain us with our open eyes.
One time my fancy soared on high, to see what discoveries I could make in those clearer regions. I found that such immense bodies as the sun, stars, planets, and moon, in the great circle of the lower heaven, are far from being found in the study of nature on the surface of the earth. Here I saw many things that we can entertain little or no notion of, in a state of common life, and the emptiness of our notion, that the planets are habitable worlds; that is, created like ours, for the subsistence and existence of man and beast, and the preservation of the vegitative and sensitive life: No, no, this is, I assure you, a world of spirits; for here I saw a clear demonstration of Satan being the prince of the power of the air, keeping his court or camp, with innumerable angels to attend him; but his power is not so great as we imagine, he can tempt us to the crime, but cannot force us to commit: Humanium est peccare. Neither has the devil power to force the world into a rebellion against heaven, though his legions are employed among savage nations, to set up their master for a god, who make the heathens either worship him in person, or by his representatives, idols and monsters, with the cruel sacrifices of human blood. Now, as to the limitations of the devil's power, you must understand, that as there are numbers of evil spirits employed in mischief, so there are numbers of good angels sent from the higher and blessed abodes to disconcert and oppose their measures; and this every Christian, I hope, believes, when he prays to God, the father of spirits, to give his angels charge over him while he slumbereth and sleepeth. For if by these preventing powers the devil was not restrained, the earth would be subjected to dearth, droughts, and famine; the air infected with noxious fumes; and, in a word, mankind would be utterly destroyed, which might oblige our Maker (if I may be allowed the expression) to the necessity of a new fiat, or else have no more creatures to honour and worship him.
As the devil never wanted insinuators, I shall observe, that I learned a way how to make a man dream of what I pleased. For instance, let us suppose one to be found asleep; let another lay his mouth close to his ear, and whisper any thing so softly as not to awake him, the sleeping man shall dream of what has been so whispered in his ear; nay, I can assure you, those insinuating devils can do this even when we are awake, which I call impulses of the mind: for from whence, but from these insinuators, come our causeless passions, involuntary wickedness, or sinful desires? Who else form ideas in the mind of man when he is asleep, or present terrible or, beautiful figures to his, fancy: Mr. Milton represents the devil tempting Eve in the shape of a toad, lying just at her ear, when in her bower she lay fast asleep; and brings in Eve telling Adam what an uneasy night's rest she had, and relating her dream to him. And likewise I believe that good spirits have the same intercourse with us, in warning us against those things that are evil, and prompting us to that which is good.
Were we to have the eyes of our souls opened, through the eyes of our bodies, we should see this very immediate region or air which we breath in, thronged with spirits now invisible, and which otherwise would be the most terrible; we should view the secret transactions of those messengers who are employed when the parting soul takes it's leave of the reluctant body, and perhaps see things nature would shrink back from with the utmost terror and amazement. In a word, the curtain of Providence for the disposition of things here, and the curtain of judgment for the determination of the state of souls hereafter, would be alike drawn back; and what heart could support here its future state in life; much less that, of its future state after life, even good or bad.
A gentleman of my acquaintance, being about seven miles distant from London, a friend that came to dine with him, solicited him to go to the city. What, said the gentleman, is there any occasion for me? No, Sir, said the other, nothing at all except the enjoyment of your good company: and so gave over importuning him. Just then a strong impulse of mind urged the gentleman and pursued him like a voice, with, Go to London, Go to London. Hark ye, says he to his friend, is all well at London? Am I wanted there? Or did you ask me to go with you on any particular account? Are all my family well? Yes, indeed, Sir, said he, I perceived them all very hearty; and I did not ask you to go to London upon any particular account whatsoever, except it was for the sake of your good company. Again, he put off his resolution: but still the impulse suggested to him, Go to London; and at length he did so. When he came there, he found a letter and a messenger had been there to seek him, and to tell him of a particular business, which was at first and last above a thousand pounds to him, and which might inevitably have been lost, had he hot gone to London that night.