birdln --~----------------- The Signs and [ aufes of :Melancholy. their own imagination is fomething t.Jlk_ing in them, arid foying to them all that~~~ 26. When Mc:lancho\y groweth thong, they are almofi alwaycs troubled with hideous Blafphcamng. temptttions, againfi God ?I Chril\, or the S~ripture, and again.H the immorta~iry of the foul: wh~~ comcth partly from then own fctrs, whtch make thtm thmk mol( (agamlt their will) of tl Which they are mofl afraid of thinking-: As the fpiritS' and b)aod will have rccomfe ro the pare r'lat is hurt. The very pain of their fear; doth draw their thoughts to what they fear. As he rha;l~t 6ver-delirous to fleep, and afraid lelt he fh11! not fleep, is fure to wake ; becaufe his fear 1 and d~~ fim keep him wakjng: fo do the ftau amLdejiw of the Melancholy cro(s thomftlves. And wirl;. all; t~e mahce of the D~!Vll plamly here mterpoiethi and taketh advanragc by this difeafe, to tr:mpt and tioubl~ them, a~d to 11)CW_his hatred toGod, and ChriH, and Scripone and to ~hem. For as he can much edicr tt:mpt acholcm:k pcrfon to anger, than another; and a fkgnutick fldhy pnfon r floth, and a fanguinc! o~ h_ot ~empercd pcrf?n w lull,_a1~d wantonnefS ; {0 alfo a melancholy perfon t~ thoughts t,fblafphcmy, mfidehty,and defpan.And oft-wnes they feel av~JJCment ttrgrncy, as :f fi ffi:!hing widiin them urgrd thcfn to !peak,. futh or fuch a blafphcmous or fOolifh word ; and they can have no refl unldS thty yield in this and other fuch cafes to what th·ey are ttrgcd to ! And fome are ready, tb yic:ld in a u·mptatio~ tobe quiet: an_d when they have don~, rhey are tempted utterly ro dcfpa1r becalife they have;: commuted [o great afm: and when the Dev1t hach got this advlnrage of thtm, .he is fiill ft:tting it before them. 27· Hereupon th~y are further tern~red to .rh ink they hav..: cofnm1t~e~ the fin ag:unfi the Holy Gholl; ~ot undcrfiandmg what tha~ Gu IS, but fearing it is theirJ, hecaufe 1t 1S a fe; rtul fin: At leat\ they dunk they fl-toall not be forg1vcn : nor coofidering rhat a tempt.diOJt is one thing, and a fin anothtr; and that no man hath lds cauft to ftar btino- cundem;trd for his fin, than he that is leaft wiUi1tg of it, and moft h.zteth it. And no man can be lejlwiUif 1 gof any tin, than thefe poor fouls are of the hideous blafphemous thoughts which they complain of. 2 8. Hm– upon fome of them grow to think that they are polTelTed of ~evils; and if ir do bur enrer inro tl~t:ii fantafre How polTeffed perfons ufe to aCt, the very tlrengrh ot imaginatiOn will make 1hem do fo wo; fo that I have known tho[c: that will (\.vear, <~:nd curf~, and blafphcam, and imitate an inward alienc voice, thinking themfelves that it is tht: Devil in them that dorh all this. But thtfe that go fo far are but few. 29· Some of thtm t~lt are: near diltraClion, "{Crily think ~hat they bear voice I, and foe lighu, and apparitions, tliat the Curtams are opened on them, that fomcthmg meets them, and {Jirh this ot that to them, When all is but the enour of a crazed brain, and Gck imaginalion. 3o. Many o.f them are aweary of their lives, through the cont\ant tiring perpkxirics of lheir minds : and ' yet afraid of dying ; fomc of them refolutely famifh rhemfelves: fome are H:rongly rernpred to murder fhemfelves, and thty are haunted with the temptation fo rel\lefly, that they c:m go no whither buc they feel as if fomcwhatwithin them, put them on, and faid, DJit, d:J it : fo that many poor crea~ tures yield, and make away thcmfdves. 3 I. Many of them arc refileJly vexed with fear I of wam and poverty, and milhy to their families; and of imprifonment or banilh~nenc ; and Jdl fame-body will kill them; and every one that they fee whifper, they thin.k is plorting to take away t.heir lives. 32. Some of them hy a law upon themfclves that they WJII nor fpeak, and fo Jive Jong in refolute filence. 33· All of them are intractable, and Hiffc: in their own conceics, and hardly per– fwadcd ot'ltof them, be they never fo irrational. 34• Few of them are the bertcr for any Reafon conviction or Counfcl that is given them: If ir ft:ern to fatistie and quiet and rejoyce them ac th; prefent, to morrow they are as bad again: it being the natureof their di[e;;;fe, to thinJt as they do think. ; and their thoughts are not cured while the difeafe is uncured. 35· Yet in all this dillemper, few of them will believe that they are melancholy; but abhor to hear men tell rhem fo, and fay ic is but the rational iCnfe of their unhappinefs, and the for(3kings and heavy wrath of God. And therefote they are hardly perfwaded to take any Phyfick or ufe any means for rhc cure of their bodicsJ faying that they arc well, and being confident that it is only their fouls that arc·diJlrefft:d. ' This is the miferable cafe of theft poor people, greatly to be pittyed ; and not to be defpifed by any ? I have fpoken nothing but what I have ofttn feen and known. And let none defpife fuch : for men of all fbrts do faH into this rniftry; learned and unlearned, high and Jow, good and bad, yea fome that have lived in grcatefl jollity and fcn[uality, when God hath made them teel their fu~ . 9· 3· The caufes of it are, r. Moll commonly fomc worldlyJofs, or crofs 1 or grief, or care, which made too deep an impreffion on them. 2. Sometime txcefl of fo r upon any common occalion of danger. 3· Sometime over· hard and ur:intermiued iludies, or thoughts which fcrew up and rack the fantafie too much. 4• Sometime too deep ft3r.r, or too conlt.mc alld fcrious and paffionace thoughts and cares abom rhedangcr of the foul. 4• The great preparativcs w ir, (which are indeed the principal caufe) are a n:rak.. Head, and Reafon joyned with tlrong Pd[fim: which are oftdl: found .in Women, and thofe to whom it is natural: 5· And in fomc it is brought in, by fome heynous fin, the fight of which they cannot bear, when Confcience is but once awakened. 9· 4· When this difeafe is gonevery far, Direl1ions to the p:rfons themfc.lves are vain, becaufc they have not Re'!fon and free-will eo practife them: but it is their friends abom them that mull have ~he Direl1ions. But becaufe with the mofi of them, arvf at firH, there is fame Power of Ret~fou lcfr, I g1ve ])ircfrions for the ufc of fuch_ . 9· 5· D irect. J:. See that no trrour in Religion be tht cauft of your dijlrtfs: rtpeci:~L'y. un~erftand rv_ell the CQvenant of Grace, and the 1\ichn nf mercy m·~nifeftcd in Cbrijt. Among others It wtll be ufet.ul to you to underfian,d thefe following truths; J, That
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